Planning is bananas

[GeneralTso]

Dining reservations at 180 days out.
FP at 60 days out.

You don't know what park you will be in on what day. I made a lot of dining reservations, mostly dinners.
Not until I made my FP reservations did I know what park I would be at.

It's bananas. Lots of speculation and zigging and zagging.
It all works out in the end, but dang.

 

[piratepride]

That is the best part of the experience! I can't sleep the night before we do ours....the anticipation is comparable to Christmas morning as a kid! The only thing more exciting is the night before we leave!

 

[pattyw]

I agree-planning far in advance is hard. Now, we don't plan a lot of meals in advance. With the cancellation penalty, a lot of cancellations are made within days before the ADR so we are able to secure almost any reservation last minute now. The only FP that are crucial at 60 days out are FOP, Frozen, and Mine Train. We've found the rest at 30 days or less as we have been offsite the last few trips.

 

[dachsie]

I much preferred the midnight times to book things. This 4:30am waking up is for the birds.

 

[piratepride]

Be like me...pull an all-niter!

 

[disneyfantotheend]

I always do mine at 180, but often switch them around as time gets closer and things change. I enjoy the planning, so doesn't bother me. I also don't decompress if I don't get what I am looking for both Dining and FP wise. There will always be another trip for us.

 

[strike4]

My family would rather eat/ride/shop in the moment so this having to plan things out is not fun at all to me.
I left a few days without dining reservations to help out a bit this time.

 

[KelNChrisKYDis]

I love and loathe the planning. I love it because I love spending time planning and researching different restaurants and park strategies. I loathe it because it's completely insane to think I'm picking where I want to eat 6 months from now and I don't know what I want for dinner tonight, lol. I enjoy the process because it's fun to get excited about an upcoming trip. But it is pretty crazy if you think about it.

 

[GeneralTso]

There is always a list of "can't miss" places to eat so I nail those down. Kind of crossed my fingers for Prime Time Cafe because I didn't know what day we would be at Hollywood Studios. Got a res no problem. Probably because there aren't as many people at HS these days. We're just going in to o TOT and Star Wars. Then out.

 

[disneyfantotheend]

don't know what I want for dinner tonight, lol.

Wouldn't surprise me if one day we do have to pick what we actually want to eat rather than just make an ADR at 180 days. LOL That way they know exactly what to order and no food expires and goes to waste. Hahahaha!

 

[SaintsManiac]

It's draining me for this trip. I'm looking forward to Universal next year more and more.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Dining reservations at 180 days out.
FP at 60 days out.

You don't know what park you will be in on what day. I made a lot of dining reservations, mostly dinners.
Not until I made my FP reservations did I know what park I would be at.

It's bananas. Lots of speculation and zigging and zagging.
It all works out in the end, but dang.

I don't know about you, but I think we're getting too old for this stuff! It just isn't fun any more, all this planning. Frankly, that's one of the main reasons why we're thinking of spending more time at DHHI. And since we go there off season, we hardly ever wait at restaurants although we don't make reservations. The only planning involved for us is DH making his tee times, and as a golfer he doesn't mind!

 

[shanew21]

We usually plan our park days around our dining and let the Fastpasses fall as they may.

Sometimes we double book restaurants so we can cancel once FP+ are booked. I hate taking up 2 ressies but there's just no way to plan that far out.

 

[Farro]

That is the best part of the experience! I can't sleep the night before we do ours....the anticipation is comparable to Christmas morning as a kid! The only thing more exciting is the night before we leave!

Oh me too! The trips we are taking the next two years don't require anywhere near this amount of planning and I miss it!

Our trips to WDW are the only ones that make me feel like I'm sort of on vacation for the whole year of planning. I take off work on my ADR and fast pass day, it's a Holiday in our home!

 

[Davey Jones II]

I spent countless hours planning our last trip, and we only had one ADR, for Rainforest Cafe at AK. I changed our fast passes almost daily, and this was just a trip for two (alleged) adults. I enjoyed the planning process at first, but it started to get to me after some weeks of juggling our schedule.

But the saddest thing is that we don't have a trip planned for this year...

 

[jo-jo]

I don't know about you, but I think we're getting too old for this stuff! It just isn't fun any more, all this planning. Frankly, that's one of the main reasons why we're thinking of spending more time at DHHI. And since we go there off season, we hardly ever wait at restaurants although we don't make reservations. The only planning involved for us is DH making his tee times, and as a golfer he doesn't mind!

,
Add the parks hours changes, waiting for buses (I mean those three MK buses come by while we are waiting for Epcot), the reports of disney reducing ride capacity, the room checks, the parking fees.

We have a trip in May with grandkids. And then for the first time in years, we don't have another trip planned and I'm not sad about it.

 

[Tigger in a kilt]

It’s crazy! I travelled round Australia for 6 months with far less planning than is required for 2 weeks in Disney World. As I have been talking to people about our upcoming trip, I have had at least 4 people, all with young kids, say that they had considered going to Disney but decided it is too much hassle. I wonder how much potential businesses WDW loses by making everything so overly complicated to plan. Obviously Disney is not losing so much potential business that it is changing their approach, but certainly the concensus among the elementary school parents in my circle is that it’s not worth the effort that it takes to organise a WDW from the UK.

 

[Ceilidhscot]

Have planned two round the world trips (plus co-ordinated another so could meet parents in Cairns Australia for an anniversary dinner on a separate holiday I had organised for them) but planning for Disney World is far more stressful! With one of the previous trips there were 17 amended itineraries but with just over a week till adr day, I’m panicking that I should have alternative restaurants lined up just in case I can’t get our first choice lol!!

 

[tucky]

I haven't been to Disneyworld yet and am thinking about a trip this summer. I haven't decided how much I need to plan. If I don't do all of this will I still have a good time?
I wasn't expecting to eat in full service restaurants and am okay with that - but after reading through some of the posts I wonder if I am missing out.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

It’s bananas... B A N A N A S.....

(Has been in my head all day since seeing this thread title....thanks OP!!).