My wife and I took our then-5 year old and 2.5 year old in May 2005. We were born-again first-timers, as we were last in WDW in 1990. I definitely did NOT want to have to conform to any kind of plan or schedule. Our lives are like that 7 days a week, and I wanted freedom from that. We both work full-time in professional, stressful jobs with lots of responsibility, plus there's also that little parents-of-two-preschoolers-thing.
I just used my brain.
And here's something to make many of your heads spin and have purple heffalumps fly out your ears -- we let our 5 year old son decide which park we went to each day.
In the months leading up to our trip, I had a great time learning everything I possibly could about WDW. Thank goodness for DISboards. I also went to MANY other websites and some other message boards. I studied the Unofficial Guide and Birnbaum's like they were the Bible itself. I gathered every piece of knowledge that was gatherable (is that a word??!!), plus got a lot of opinions along the way, from the DIS and the other places. I got all the info I could possibly get except what I could get from actual experience.
My 5-year-old ALSO had an encyclopedic knowledge of everything a 5-year-old wants to do. He watched that WDW planning DVD every night for about 6 weeks leading up to our trip. He could tell me from memory what attractions and rides he wanted to do in each park. Star Tours excited him more than anything, so on our first day in Florida we got to MGM by about 5:30 p.m. based ONLY on his stated preference at lunch that day. Later that night when we asked him, he said he NEEDED to go to MK the next day to ride Goofy's Barnstormer and do Mickey's Toontown Fair. With that info in mind, I prepped him for what we'd be able to do that first time in MK and what we would have to wait for another day during the week (as we weren't into being absolute commandos).
I had some generalizations in my head, such as avoiding a park on EMH day (if not using EMH), not waiting in a long line for Spaceship Earth at the beginning of the day, the ins and outs of FASTPASS, and other ideas and thoughts obvious to we who are well-versed in WDW knowledge.
Basically, I learned the information BEHIND what goes into making a kick-a$$ touring plan, and I knew how to use it. I was able to make decisions on-the-fly, and it worked perfectly. We did and saw EVERYTHING we wanted to, in a very efficient and FUN manner, because when I was presented with any situation I knew how to assess all the available data and devise a really good plan for what to do over the next few hours.
We had a dinner ADR (then called PS) for each day, but that was a "just in case" thing -- we're more the counter-service type on vacation, anyway. I canceled each ADR as soon as I realized we wouldn't be in the "right place" that evening. We did do Hoop Dee Doo Revue, and since I'd already paid so much money for it I was pretty motivated to make that appointment. We also kept one ADR for a character dinner (we really only wanted to do one, anyway). And you know what, my wife and I felt kinda stressed having to time it just right to get to that ADR. Even with a good touring plan, there are uncontrollable variables such as transportation delays, long lines at rides, not wanting to wait around too long ahead of time, etc.
To me, it was fun, it was like being a detective, or an artist. It was a really fun challenge, I enjoy mental puzzles. And this was one with a good cause -- my kids' smiles.
We'll be doing it exactly the same this November. And by exactly the same, I mean no prior planning of touring plans.
) I'm not trying to sway anybody, just offering my opinion.
