Planning vs. Flexibility - How do you balance them?

[ArielSRL]

You just do your best and go with it. Book any ADRs, book your FPs and make the best of it once you get there.

Be ok with missing some stuff if the plans change while you are there (weather, etc)

Agree with this. I do plan quite a bit but I'm a planner and it makes me feel good to have that in place. But, with that said, I also had to reconcile myself with the idea that we may miss things, or things may have to change, or we may feel like doing different things. Regardless, we have fun no matter what we do!

 

[Oneanne]

OP - you've gotten a lot of good advice here. The things I would reiterate are to do just enough planning to have a framework for what you want to do: study park maps and know where things are, so you don't waste time wandering around or running from one side of a park to the other. Go with your family's natural style, because this isn't going to change just because you're at WDW. Be flexible, both in your pre-trip planning and while y'all are there. Know you can't do it all, so just focus on what you are doing.

My personal touring style has totally changed over the years: currently I only do ADR's for about half of my days, and usually don't book them until a couple weeks out. Sometimes I'll add an ADR the day-of, and have tried some new places based on what was available, that I hadn't thought of before. I normally do RD and book my FP+ between 10am and 1pm when the parks get busy... this also allows me to sleep in and skip RD if I feel like it. I leave the rest of the day/evening open for whatever suits me at the time, and I always park hop. I take midday pool/nap breaks, but don't take complete days "off". As a frequent visitor, I try to balance each trip with my favorite things and new things I haven't done before.

 

[jkh36619]

A coworker of mine is going for the 1st time with his 2 daughters. He is going all out including the deluxe DP. He was asking me about all the character dining places and other good restaurants to visit. I advised him on what would be my choices then told him, "you do realize your whole Disney trip is centered around food. Sit down dining breakfast, lunch and dinner."

Too much food. Too much planning. Too rigid of a schedule. No thanks.

 

[DVC_Dad_Canada]

On the flight to our last trip i sat beside a family who had two children under 6 (from the looks of them). It was their first trip, and the mother lad a laminated excel spreadsheet broken down to 15 minute intervals for their week long trip. To me, that's setting yourself up for an insane amount of stress and disappointment.

Now that I travel with three teenagers, I'm basically doing WDW by myself. Each of us picks two ADRS, one favorite and one new to the family. That's eight ADRs for two weeks. They know where and when to meet me for dinner, and that's it. I set fastpasses on request, but it's mainly done while we are there, and they all have the My Disney app on their phones to set their own. Most days I take the first bus that arrives at our stop and go to that park for the day.

 

[Nancyg56]

We plan ahead but then if the plan goes belly up we are good.

I check out the crowd calendars and make a park plan based on them. I then add ADR's that work with our parks plan. We do not traipse all over WDW to go from one ADR to the next, but we do like to spend time dining, so I make plenty for the family.

WE have a loose idea of times we will visit any park because we are not RD to park close people, but like a mix of daytime and evening activities and entertainment, and include a direction we will start in each park.

I book FP at 60 days and that's it. Done.

Once we are there we know that we have meals planned and FP if we get there. Sometimes we do, other times we are off in a different direction. Unless there is something that one of us really is looking forward to we are not married to any aspect of the plan.

For a first time or infrequent visitor, I would suggest heading to a planning site for attractions, etc. You do not need to use any of that plan, but I think it helps folks acclimate to a park that they may not know their way around, and the times provided by the planner can give an idea of the size of some of these parks.

 

[SaharanTea]

On the flight to our last trip i sat beside a family who had two children under 6 (from the looks of them). It was their first trip, and the mother lad a laminated excel spreadsheet broken down to 15 minute intervals for their week long trip. To me, that's setting yourself up for an insane amount of stress and disappointment.

I have spreadsheets for each day, broken down into 15-minute intervals, printed on index card-sized card stock. Last summer was my first time planning a trip and the first visit with my kids. It went better than I had hoped. My wife, who had been twice before and was rather ho-hum about Disney, absolutely loved it. And my kids had a blast.

Even with a "rigid" schedule, I had built-in flexibility and the foresight to know I might have to scrap my plan altogether. We had to rearrange things here and there on the fly, but that's where having a basic understanding of the park comes in.

No matter your style--rigid scheduler, free-wheeling whatever-er, or somewhere in-between--the two most important things (in my opinion) are a good knowledge of the parks and (more for the rigid folk) the willingness to change your plans in the moment to fit your situation. If you're a planner, know you might need to go off schedule and be OK with it. If you're a free-wheeler, please have a good understanding of how things work.

 

[DVC_Dad_Canada]

I have spreadsheets for each day, broken down into 15-minute intervals, printed on index card-sized card stock. Last summer was my first time planning a trip and the first visit with my kids. It went better than I had hoped. My wife, who had been twice before and was rather ho-hum about Disney, absolutely loved it. And my kids had a blast.

Even with a "rigid" schedule, I had built-in flexibility and the foresight to know I might have to scrap my plan altogether. We had to rearrange things here and there on the fly, but that's where having a basic understanding of the park comes in.

No matter your style--rigid scheduler, free-wheeling whatever-er, or somewhere in-between--the two most important things (in my opinion) are a good knowledge of the parks and (more for the rigid folk) the willingness to change your plans in the moment to fit your situation. If you're a planner, know you might need to go off schedule and be OK with it. If you're a free-wheeler, please have a good understanding of how things work.

To each is own. Personally planning that much isn't a vacation, it's a job, but if it works for you, who am I to judge.

I just feel sorry for the first timers who try to do this, end up behind by noon on the first day, and have a breakdown by day three.

 

[SaharanTea]

To each is own. Personally planning that much isn't a vacation, it's a job, but if it works for you, who am I to judge.

I just feel sorry for the first timers who try to do this, end up behind by noon on the first day, and have a breakdown by day three.

The planning part is before the vacation, and it gets me in the mood and builds up the anticipation. I can certainly understand it isn't for everyone. There's never a one-size-fits-all answer.

We'd like to get APs one of these years. If that happens, planning will likely become less of a thing for me beyond any ADRs or FPs.

 

[CeruleanMoon]

You guys are all so amazing, this is great advice! I'll be bookmarking this thread so I can come back to it.

I haven't been to Epcot or Hollywood Studios in over 25 years, DH has never been to HS, and DS has never been to either, so parts of this trip do feel like a big deal to us! I am a planner by nature, and it is hard for me to be spontaneous without getting stressed, so I will need to work on that. My DH of course is the other way around. Even talking about planning stresses him out, and he'd rather just show up and do whatever. So usually I plan all our trips and then he just follows along.

So...FP's. What happens if you book them all and then end up switching your plans one day to a different park? Isn't is hard to get those rides booked again on another day now that you are doing it last minute?

 

[SaharanTea]

You guys are all so amazing, this is great advice! I'll be bookmarking this thread so I can come back to it.

I haven't been to Epcot or Hollywood Studios in over 25 years, DH has never been to HS, and DS has never been to either, so parts of this trip do feel like a big deal to us! I am a planner by nature, and it is hard for me to be spontaneous without getting stressed, so I will need to work on that. My DH of course is the other way around. Even talking about planning stresses him out, and he'd rather just show up and do whatever. So usually I plan all our trips and then he just follows along.

So...FP's. What happens if you book them all and then end up switching your plans one day to a different park? Isn't is hard to get those rides booked again on another day now that you are doing it last minute?

Yes, hard to get FPs and ADRs are hard to switch late in the game. There are other strategies that can mitigate those outcomes. Scanning for canceled ADRs just outside the 24-hour cancellation window and using rope drop or EMH (if applicable) can help.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

One of the reasons Disney World is my favorite place in the world is because I CAN plan it so easily and thoroughly. I can book ADRs and fastpasses and schedule showtimes and study maps and methods of transportation. I have so much fun planning. It is a challenge to me to make sure I can get exactly the ADRs and fastpasses I want when I want them, and to fit in the shows and attractions that are not in my fastpasses. It is like a puzzle I have to put together to make sure it all fits- and so far, it has fit. Every time. Sure, we always have some sort of unexpected thing happen- like a child having a meltdown because she didn't get cotton candy, or a detour to First Aid because a child developed a blister or a rash, but I plan for how to handle those things, too. I have a plan for the meltdown. I study park maps and learn exactly where the first aid stations and bathrooms are in the parks.

I have an AP, so I can check fastpass times daily to get a good idea of what fourth fastpasses I might be able to get at what time and for what attractions.

I plan in plenty of sleep and rest time. I have a plan for when we get tired unexpectedly. I have backup plans and contingency plans (really, that's my idea of being flexible).

And of course, I am mentally prepared to be flexible with all of it (but I rarely have to be- so far my plans have worked quite well).

I imagine that my planning style would seem like a big pain to some people, but to me it is pure joy. It is not nearly as fun to go other places (and we do go other places) because I am so disappointed when I can't plan everything down to the minute. I stare at their chintzy websites searching for more information and planning tools, but they are just not there.

We have been many times and we have always had wonderful trips. Not perfect trips, but never a bad trip.