The freedom of NOT doing Disney

[kbelle8995]

I am planning a trip to Universal in the future so it's great to hear that I don't have to plan. No trips to Disney parks planned. I tried FP+ did not care for it. Too much checking the time on my phone.

I'm looking forward to my Disney lite vacation.

 

[sydneysmom]

I think it is all about how much stress you put into it. You can certainly do Disney just as easily without making ADR's and stressing on everything...people that do stress on WDW planning probably will stress about their plans for Universal as well, just not be able to do anything about it.

It is more about the type of planner you are. DW is the color-coded excel chart type planner, and hates that I can just wing things. Even when she can't use her computer to plan thing out, she still makes a valiant effort on notepads.

She let me plan our trip this year to WDW..and she is trying to plan for Universal next summer...I think she is going nuts trying to figure out which hotel to pick, best days, etc.

Some people will stress either way.

I have to disagree with you a little... when you have kids that want to do character meals, or eat in the castle, you can't just 'wing it'.... you have to get up at 6 am to make ADR's. If you go in June and it's packed and you aren't crazy about waiting 180 min for Rock n Rollercoaster, or 380 min for Anna and Elsa, you do have to make your fast pass+ reservations. If you don't, that's fine, you wait in line... it's just not as fun. With dining, I liked knowing where we were going to go and planning the day. However, it doesn't mean I'm going to stress "either way". I think the pressure comes from the kind of vacation you want your family to have. I don't want to get to Cinderella's castle and they say, no tables available... hey, sorry kid, we can grab a burger instead. That's just me.

Yes, you certainly can do Disney without planning or booking ADR's, I don't think anyone is saying that.... but what you will do is wait... and wait.. and wait. And no, I'm not stressing about everything, nor am I stressing over Universal. As I have said in my original post, I'm excited NOT to plan. I'm happy NOT to obsess over planning the trip. That's the point. Staying on site gives you fantastic perks of early entry and 'unlimited skip the lines'. To me, that's priceless in June heat and crowds. I don't have to make FP+ reservations...

I love Disney... I love everything about it. Especially when we went in September. But going in June and competing with throngs of crowds ? Not so much....to each his own.

 

[sydneysmom]

Last year, I was trying to plan a Disney vacation for our family, but we were offered free Universal tickets, so our plans changed. I never expected for us to like Universal as much as we did. We had 2 days there and didn't get to fully experience everything the parks had to offer.. mainly because we would stop and spend extra time in a certain area that we liked or go back to that area again on a whim just because one of the kids wanted to ride a ride "just one more time!" I worried that our kids were too young, but at 9, 7, 5, and 2 they all had a blast and there was plenty for them to do. The parent swap feature on the rides was awesome as well!

I have considered going back to Disney next spring, but everyone wants to go back to Universal! Yes, we may try Disney again one day.. but we were totally won over by Universal!

Your trip review was one of the very reasons why we decided to commit to an "Only Universal" vacation..... I loved reading about your experiences and how much you all loved it. And it just gets me so much more exited to go!!!

 

[IamJBo]

I think most of the stress does come from the fact that if you don't make those reservations or FP+ then you will have to wait - and no one wants to wait on a vacation.

My family and I always did Disney and Universal because we only ever went every 4 - 5 years. Prior to my next trip I never made an ADR... ever. Of course we took advantage of the old FP when at Disney so that always put it above my Universal experience - regardless of what park (Disney or Universal) we went to we always had to wait for a ride and were turned away from TS dining because we didnt have a reservation - I was used to QS and rejoiced when we were able to get into a TS.

Which brings me to my next point - when it comes to ADR's I think Disney has the upperhand when it comes to dining over Universal. We never made ADR's at Universal because to me it was all the same food anyways. The only place I think I was overly impressed with was Three Broomsticks.

I do believe to "maximize" your magic at Disney you will have to make those FP+ and ADR's. I think it really depends on how high you set those expectations. Growing up I never had the chance to do any of the character dinings but I was just as happy waiting in line and meeting them at their meet stations (or even seeing them walk around the parks).

I do understand the joy of not planning a single thing though - if anything its made me appreciate the lack of planning on my smaller trips to places like Six Flags or Dollywood.

 

[Bluer101]

This is one of the biggest reasons we only do Universal most of the time.

We do visit Disney every now and then but it is just more relaxing staying onsite at Universal. We are a family that likes doing things as the day presents itself. Even at Disney we don't make adr's. I hate planning where I'm going to eat plus what time months ahead of time.

 

[sassy2000]

I agree. Our last trip was June 2 and we stayed at Cabana Bay Resort. It was so much more relaxing. I am the planner of the family and I have to admit that it was nice to just go with the flow, not planning on which park we went to each day. We just got up and decided where we were going. I only made one dining reservation and it was to Ohana lol. We did a character dinner at Islands Restaurant and the place was empty. No waits at any restaurant in City Walk either.
While I LOVE Disney and don't mind planning some things, Universal has definitely won this family over as a must visit park.

 

[Suzie13]

Disney doesn't need to be stressful if you don't want it too. We use to go and not even bother with fast passes or ADRs and to be honest while I have ADRs I am not doing fast passes for anything because why bother, I never did before.

 

[Disneyhappy]

Disney doesn't need to be stressful if you don't want it too. We use to go and not even bother with fast passes or ADRs and to be honest while I have ADRs I am not doing fast passes for anything because why bother, I never did before.

Just curious if you do the headliners at WDW? I've been watching standby times of the must do attractions for us. Without FP+, we would be waiting in line way more than we like. The trade off for Sponteneity is a much longer wait in lines based on our attraction choices. With express pass, we have never waited longer than 10 minutes, usually 5. The only planning we do is when to do the HP attractions and those lines are longer. We love both WDW and UO and will continue to enjoy both.

 

[lazer]

Disney doesn't need to be stressful if you don't want it too. We use to go and not even bother with fast passes or ADRs and to be honest while I have ADRs I am not doing fast passes for anything because why bother, I never did before.

When were you there last? We rarely did fastpasses or a lot of ADRs, but it has changed! If we don't do them, we will wait for the headliners and even 60+ minutes for pirates and other rides that were walk-ons...in October.

 

[Planogirl]

If you want to ride such things as TSMM and Soarin' then I think that it's wise to get FP+. Waiting in the long standby lines would add another whole level of stress for me!

 

[WILDERNESS FAN 55]

I personally go to disney FOR disney. I would never choose a theme park vacation to relax. That's what the beach is for. Universal holds no appeal to me so I would never consider it a top vacation destination in itself.

Honestly I don't understand the stress that everyone is talking about. I've never had a problem making ADRs. Making fastpass reservations are a breeze. In fact it's such a quick process for me I am truly sad when the plans are in place and all there is to do is wait. I think some people make it harder than it has to be.

I'm with you . This stress is all imagined. Some people say you HAVE to make ADR at 180 days but the fact is for most of the restaurants you don't. Yes some it is better if you do. As for FP+ resv it is awesome system. If there was stress it used to come with getting there at rope drop deciding which side of the park to go to first , running to the other side to get fp's then finding out the times for return don't quite fit into your plan for the day. That's the way it was and I/we dealt with it but now we can kick back knowing our touring schedule with little or no surprises. Wish I were going there tomorrow !

 

[Mad Hattered]

I'm with you . This stress is all imagined. Some people say you HAVE to make ADR at 180 days but the fact is for most of the restaurants you don't. Yes some it is better if you do. As for FP+ resv it is awesome system. If there was stress it used to come with getting there at rope drop deciding which side of the park to go to first , running to the other side to get fp's then finding out the times for return don't quite fit into your plan for the day. That's the way it was and I/we dealt with it but now we can kick back knowing our touring schedule with little or no surprises. Wish I were going there tomorrow !

Remind us when your last trip to Universal was so you could actually compare the experiences. Oh...

 

[schumigirl]

I personally go to disney FOR disney. I would never choose a theme park vacation to relax. That's what the beach is for. Universal holds no appeal to me so I would never consider it a top vacation destination in itself.

Honestly I don't understand the stress that everyone is talking about. I've never had a problem making ADRs. Making fastpass reservations are a breeze. In fact it's such a quick process for me I am truly sad when the plans are in place and all there is to do is wait. I think some people make it harder than it has to be.

We got to Universal for Universal. The beach would bore me to tears for a vacation......each to their own. Universal is our vacation destination. But of course if it holds no appeal to you it wouldn't be somewhere you would consider!

We come back totally relaxed after our trips.......we have 18 nights so have never had to rush around at Universal. It's bliss for us. So much more to do around Orlando than parks.

Not everyone loves Disney, and that's ok.......my nephew and girlfriend have just come back from a month in Orlando.......they don't plan to go back to Disney again. They had a nightmare time at Disney and were not the only ones. You may have a different experience of course. I'm glad you had no stress......but there are lots and lots of people who have had stress due the implementations at Disney.

Ditto, first time in 6 years not visiting the mouse.

Can't agree with one of the posters above. I have to plan for Disney, especially with fp+, or we will be waiting in really long lines and missing some meals our kids love. Not planning at all for Universal...and totally pumped about it

That's what more and more people are saying. Not the Disney defenders of course. We never plan anything at Universal, ever and love every minute

Remind us when your last trip to Universal was so you could actually compare the experiences. Oh...

 

[sydneysmom]

I'm with you . This stress is all imagined. Some people say you HAVE to make ADR at 180 days but the fact is for most of the restaurants you don't. Yes some it is better if you do. As for FP+ resv it is awesome system. If there was stress it used to come with getting there at rope drop deciding which side of the park to go to first , running to the other side to get fp's then finding out the times for return don't quite fit into your plan for the day. That's the way it was and I/we dealt with it but now we can kick back knowing our touring schedule with little or no surprises. Wish I were going there tomorrow !

And that is exactly why there is something for everyone. I think it's great that the stress is all imagined in your eyes... perhaps someone else plans your vacation? Anyway, all I know is that when I had to get up at 5 am CST to make dining reservations, it wasn't all that fun. There's alot that goes into making sure your child has a magical time. It was my choice not to wing it....that much is true. But it's also my choice that we didn't want to eat counter service meals for every meal, so I got up to make ADR's. It doesn't mean the stress is imagined... that's completely a condescending thing to say.

 

[WILDERNESS FAN 55]

Remind us when your last trip to Universal was so you could actually compare the experiences. Oh...

Oh Hatter , if you read my post carefully I wasn't comparing anything. Just commenting on how stress free I believe WDW is.
Glad you are enjoying uni. See you in 2018

 

[Mad Hattered]

Oh Hatter , if you read my post carefully I wasn't comparing anything. Just commenting on how stress free I believe WDW is.
Glad you are enjoying uni. See you in 2018

Just curious why you would post on a Universal board since you have never been one time. Disney is REALLY stress free if you aren't dealing with it for 4 years.

 

[johde]

Speaking on the other side, part of this "freedom" is coming from having Express Passes either because you're staying on site or you purchased it. Right now at 10:00 a.m. we have the following wait times.

Forbidden Journey 60 min.
Spiderman - 45 min.
Transformers - 45 min.
Despicable me - 85 min.
Gringotts 210 min.
Flight of Hippogriff 30 min.
Dr. Doom 30 Min.

Everything else is 20 min. or less but that's a fairly long list of rides with good sized waits . Waits that are long enough that you'll probably want some sort of "plan" for the day.

 

[WILDERNESS FAN 55]

Just curious why you would post on a Universal board since you have never been one time. Disney is REALLY stress free if you aren't dealing with it for 4 years.

I scrolled to the top of this page .....yep it reads DIS BOARDS . And who says I haven't been to uni ?

Speaking on the other side, part of this "freedom" is coming from having Express Passes either because you're staying on site or you purchased it. Right now at 10:00 a.m. we have the following wait times.

Forbidden Journey 60 min.
Spiderman - 45 min.
Transformers - 45 min.
Despicable me - 85 min.
Gringotts 210 min.
Flight of Hippogriff 30 min.
Dr. Doom 30 Min.

Everything else is 20 min. or less but that's a fairly long list of rides with good sized waits . Waits that are long enough that you'll probably want some sort of "plan" for the day.

Great info to have !! Thank you for posting

 

[sydneysmom]

I scrolled to the top of this page .....yep it reads DIS BOARDS . And who says I haven't been to uni ?




Great info to have !! Thank you for posting

There isn't any reason to be rude or snarky to people. The thread is in good fun and simply talking about the joys of NOT planning.....that's all. I found to Disney to be magical, wonderful and a dream... however, it was alot of work before and during the trip. THAT IS ONLY MY OPINION. As I'm looking at our next trip, we chose Universal, which seems to be a relatively stress free trip when you stay on site. Again, my opinion. Others have also shared their opinions as well. But I'm not entirely sure why you feel the need to attack MadHattered or belittle anyone that claims that a Disney vacation is somewhat stressful??

 

[WILDERNESS FAN 55]

There isn't any reason to be rude or snarky to people. The thread is in good fun and simply talking about the joys of NOT planning.....that's all. I found to Disney to be magical, wonderful and a dream... however, it was alot of work before and during the trip. THAT IS ONLY MY OPINION. As I'm looking at our next trip, we chose Universal, which seems to be a relatively stress free trip when you stay on site. Again, my opinion. Others have also shared their opinions as well. But I'm not entirely sure why you feel the need to attack MadHattered or belittle anyone that claims that a Disney vacation is somewhat stressful??

Think you have it backwards.......I replied to BigAlsGal and then "someone" else replied sort of snarkily (is that a word?) to me. Read the threads !
Hope you have a great vacation wherever you go.