Starting an itenerary---where do I start?

[alicenwonder99]

I'm getting ready to plan my intenerary and was wondering if there is a good link to get me started. I am specifically looking to plan out my days, such as which parks to go to on which days, what nights to go for the parades/fireworks/etc, which days have the earlier closing, etc. I'm kinda at a loss on where to start.

TIA

Mary

 

[B'rer Karen]

Well I'm sure there are tons of ways to approach this, but I'll tell you what I do. I start out by making a grid on a piece of paper with a box for each day of my trip. Then I list the park hours and parade and show times for each park. If they haven't been released yet, I come up with the best guess based on the previous year. You're mostly trying to figure out what night Spectro and Wishes will be because Fantasmic and Illuminations will be every night. You'll also want to note which park has EE.

The next thing I do is pencil in any specific plans I've already made, like MNSSHP or the dinner shows since these will have to be worked around.

The next thing I do is schedule some time at each park. I always start my first day at MK, so I pencil that in. If it happens to be an EE day I may rethink that. (I avoid EE days). I kind of work out from there scheduling some time at each park, generally going with the day after EE plan. I also look at what park I want to end up at. If it looks like Spectro and Wishes will only be on one night of my trip, I'll want to end up there. I generally park hop to two parks so that would be my PM park that day.

It really becomes a puzzle, juggling what the best days are to do a park and how much time you want to spend there. I try to make sure I have 2 full days at Epcot and MK each (albeit broken up into halves) and 3/4 of a day at AK and a full day at MGM. Then if my trip is longer, I continue to add on in sort of the same ratio. I usually keep a day at the end that I'll play by ear based on what I want to re-do or didn't get done.

You definitely need to have an idea of what is most important to your group so that you know about how much time to schedule at each park. That will help you plan your days.

Have fun!!

 

[Sunkissed]

I pretty much follow the same formula, though I like to use Microsoft Excel. Actually, almost everything for the trip is combined into one nice workbook. I have read and heard from several places that if you are a first-timer, you should leave MK for near the end of your trip, esp. with kids. And like B'rer Karen wrote, avoid EE days. If you want, I can send you our itinerary for Dec. 04 to use as an example. Best of luck!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

First of all I decide how many days I have and how many I want to spend in each of the parks. I then decide if we're going to go to EE. If we're staying off-site (only done that once, but will be staying in a timeshare in December) then we avoid the EE parks. For my upcoming trip my DH and I are avoiding the EE parks even though we are staying onsite. Being just the two of us we we will be staying out later at night and are choosing not to go to the parks early.

For our trip I took a piece of paper and for each day broke it down into morning, afternoon, and evening. We'd decided on some evening things we wanted to do (MNSSHP, Circue, Pleasure Island, Fantasmic) and then put the ones that can only be done on a certain day down for the correct day (MNSSHP). We then penciled in which parks we want to go to on the different days and decided which evening activities would work on which nights.

We also decided to do the Segway tour so needed to figure out which day to do it. We decided to do it on the day we're going to World Showcase since we'll be in the park that day anyway.

Have fun planning!

T&B

 

[lentesta]

Hi Mary,

The Unofficial Guide has a free online trip planner available at www.TouringPlans.com/UG. It'll help you keep track of what you're doing each day.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Len Testa

 

[Harambe]

Plan your days first - then your meals! Our first trip, I planned the meals, and then was a slave to my PS schedule - much to the annoyance of my family!

I also plan on two parks a day.

Example: Tuesday - Epcot (FutueWorld) then AK.

 

[B'rer Karen]

Originally posted by Sunkissed
I pretty much follow the same formula, though I like to use Microsoft Excel. Actually, almost everything for the trip is combined into one nice workbook. I have read and heard from several places that if you are a first-timer, you should leave MK for near the end of your trip, esp. with kids. And like B'rer Karen wrote, avoid EE days. If you want, I can send you our itinerary for Dec. 04 to use as an example. Best of luck!

I forgot to mention that I do put it into Excel once I've got the rough idea. There's just something about visualizing it like on a calendar and being able to erase and move something I like. But then I get it into a color-coded spreadsheet so I can see how much time I've scheduled at each park.

 

[Sunkissed]

But then I get it into a color-coded spreadsheet so I can see how much time I've scheduled at each park.

Ah, color-coding...It's a nasty addiction!

My entire workbook is color-coded, as are my "WDW Tips" index cards.

(Back away, back away slowly! )

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Originally posted by Sunkissed
Ah, color-coding...It's a nasty addiction!

My entire workbook is color-coded, as are my "WDW Tips" index cards.

(Back away, back away slowly! )

You all are too much!!!

Obviously I still have some work to do to get up to speed!

T&B

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

I use Excel to plan my days as well. If you're not comfortable with a spreadsheet program there's always pencil and a calendar.

I start by deciding which parks we want to visit. Find out the hours, is there early entry?, are there special events, parades, etc.? that will determine which day for which park.

Once you decided the days and hours, plan in parades, fireworks and special events. Coordinate meals around those.

You may use my Excel planner and customize it to your liking. You need MS Excel to open/save the file. It will open on the budget sheet, just click the sheet name to view the schedule. It's not entirely my creation, but is borrowed in part from several folks (some here on the DIS).

http://home.comcast.net/~intenseblue98/extremeDisneyPlans.xls

 

[alicenwonder99]

You are all too awesome! Thanks for all the ideas.

I have lots more planning questions that I was going to post in this thread, but I'm going to start separate threads for them so they don't get buried.

Mary
(who needs to learn how to use Excel)

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

This was my first time and I was also overwhelmed. I used this board and a couple of guidebooks, an excel sheet. My favorite tip is you can buy these soft notebooks at a good stationery or art store (I don't think I've seen them at the big chains). They have plastic sleeves with black paper and you can slip in all your WDW letters, notes, cards, etc. They come in various sizes but I like the standard notebook one the best.