Plan of attack for WDW vacation?

[WDWgirl413]

We have our own game plan but I am curious to know how others plan, schedule, organize & take on Disney.
How do you decide what see first?
How do you plan your park days?
EMH or not?
Non park days?
Early risers or night owl?
You get the idea...
I'm looking forward to everyone's reply!

 

[dzneelvr]

Since you have your own game plan...greatEnjoy your vacation

 

[darthbrazen]

I use Tour Guide Mike's Days to plan our vacation. It worked great for us when we used it last. It's about $20.00, and I like the culmination of information I find on the site. It's not free like Disboards, but I have found info on it, that wasn't on DisBoards, or other sites in the past, along with a host of great Disney Fans.

By using his least busiest days, we were able to hit a number of rides all before lunch on some days. We rode everest 4 or 5 times before lunch along with several other rides in Animal Kingdom on the day we chose. My daughter and her friend rode the Tower of Terror over and over for about an hour. I know I got on it at least 3 times during their continued enjoyment of it... LOL

We also try to put some breaks between things.. for example.. park one day, water park the next, but that doesn't always work out.. LOL

 

[WDWgirl413]

Good to know. Thank you! I'll look into that. What time of year did you travel?

 

[purpledisneyprncess]

Hi!! My answers in purple below.

We have our own game plan but I am curious to know how others plan, schedule, organize & take on Disney.
How do you decide what see first? It depends on the park we have chosen. We do whatever is on our family's priority list. For EX: we didn't get to see ETWB in MK last trip, so this trip DD and I will do it 1st thing, and DH and DS will do whatever big ride my son wants.
How do you plan your park days? Looking at crowd calendars. Also, last trip we didn't do MK until 3rd day of parks. This time around we are doing it 1st even if crowd calendar is suggesting it be busy. Then the rest of the days we are going w/ the predictions. We go to all 4 parks.
EMH or not? This will be first trip staying ON property! We will do EMH if they are in the AM. If PM and we are not soo tired, we may do them.
Non park days? We have one relaxing off day. We plan to visit DTD, I have a reservation for afternoon tea at Grand Floridian for DD and I, and then swimming at the resort as well- I know the kids will want to do that!
Early risers or night owl? We are early risers. Not super early but we are out of the hotel between 7-8am.
You get the idea...
I'm looking forward to everyone's reply!

 

[WDWgirl413]

Hi purpledisneyprncess! Thanks so much for your planning info. I think I'll replan some of my days now!
Wow- you're out early (or at least to us). DH & DS wake up at the crack of noon. I'll usually get out early & get my vitamin D poolside until they're awake. Maybe it's time for me to plan some early days!

 

[darthbrazen]

Good to know. Thank you! I'll look into that. What time of year did you travel?

We went during the Fall about the 3rd week of september if I remember correctly, and had a great time using TGM. You may be able to use this discount code as well for a few dollars off the TGM sub - A82E8-2AH. I'm not sure if it is still good or not though.

 

[WDWgirl413]

Thank you! I'll look into that!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Cynister]

First I'd start with anywhere you need to make a reservation. So if you want to schedule character meals, or reservations for certain tours, etc., call way ahead in advance (in some cases several months) & get the reservations in. Once you know where your reservations are for the day, then you can plan to be in that park for that day. Fill in the blanks in between with other parks you haven't seen for days without reservations.

Use the crowd calendars from Undercover Tourist & EasyWDW as guides to help you pick days for which parks when.

 

[pepe of ohio]

We're not foodies, just a couple of old codgers... Early risers, best part of the day to us, is watching the sun come up and the resort cone to life...

We're usually at the pool with a tray of breakfast food as soon as the food court opens... We beat the sleepy heads, no food court congestion and we are at the bus stop in plenty of time to do RD at any park, even EMH parks...

We go to whichever park we like, EMH MK morning only a must... No crowd counters or best/worse park stuff for us...

Same with dining, no dining plans, maybe one ADR, we eat where and when we want... As I said, WDW is not about the food for us,... It's parks and fun... We do break from the parks noonish, spend time at our resort pool and enjoy drinks then head back out...

We don't close parks either, usually had enough way before closing time and shop our way out, casually ....

All in all, it's a non-structured trip... No planning. No reservations... no subscription services... Just carefree vacationing!!