The unneccessary planning and scheduling

[theburkes]

I am by nature, a planner. I don't like chaos. Every single vacation that we take, I plan... I have an itinerary with where we will be that day, what we want to see, dining, confirmation #'s, etc. I can't help it and this vacation is no exception. I've never been to WDW but my HD has but it has been years since his last visit. I want to make the most out of my time because honestly, I don't know when the next time will be that we will be able to go/ afford this. We've been planning for over a year. I rarely plan as detailed as I have for this vacay but I want to take as much in as I can. No, I don't have ETA's as to what time we will be at a ride and what time we will get off, but I am detailed. I don't see it as a problem, just organized.

We're all different and do things in different ways.

 

[Anonomom]

I've toured with plans and without and for my family, with is better. For us, it's incredibly helpful to have a step-by-step plan telling us what to do in what order. We see so much more and are much less stressed then when we try to decide on the fly what we're going to do.

 

[Ladcassidy]

I am by nature, a planner. I don't like chaos. Every single vacation that we take, I plan... I have an itinerary with where we will be that day, what we want to see, dining, confirmation #'s, etc. I can't help it and this vacation is no exception.

Exactly. My WDW plans are thorough, but the itineraries I put together for past trips to Ireland and Italy had even more details.

 

[mom_of_3_mousketeers]

Well, I'll tell you why we use things like touringplans and EasyWDW for days to avoid/best days, etc. We had a horrible time in 2009. We missed so much and were clueless. Lots of waiting, lots of crying, lots of unnecessary turmoil. I found touringplans and made some for our trip in 2012. We had the best time, hit everything that we wanted to see, no meltdowns, no waiting 2 hours for TSM. I'm doing it again this year. To each their own....no need to blast those for doing it differently than you.

 

[theburkes]

Exactly. My WDW plans are thorough, but the itineraries I put together for past trips to Ireland and Italy had even more details.

I can only imagine if I were going to Europe! I'd probably have to write a book!

 

[Squidgyness]

I don't get why planning is necessary I must admit. Even with the coming of FP+ I'm not going to plan my rides in advance. Ill take what I can get on the day and ride standby for others, I'd rather do that and have freedom than say "no you can't go over that side of the park, we will have to be here in 15 mins and we can't do that"... That is my nightmare.

Planning =\= research. When I went to Malta I was designated researcher (it was my money lol) so I looked at where the museums were, what excursions there were, what eating places etc... But I did not have a specific plan. We had a blast. Every time my family asked me what to do that day or where to go, I had several options ready and they were able to choose the one they wanted and I led the way there. Simple.

Choice is one of my most important principles of vacation. Doesn't matter if soarin is 1hour or 15 mins, what matters is that I can choose to go there or not if I want to or don't want to. That is just how I operate. I understand how others might feel differently, and planning is probably fun for a lot of people, just not me.

 

[huhwhat]

I never do a touring plan.... I rarely even know which park I am heading to until breakfast....I like to stroll around and just let the day unfold...I don't even do FP's

 

[SEA333]

OP ..I'm with you.
I plan to a point but leave some things to chance. I do believe everyone has different ways of planning. In my opinion planning your day to do anything minute by minute is insane. However, whatever planning style makes the other person happy is ok by me....as long as I don't have to travel with them.
I know my non Disney friends think I'm insane for deciding where and when I'm going to eat 180 days ahead of time. But you know what...that's ok with me.

I'm guessing the original poster had no malice towards the person she was speaking about and was in no way going to interfere with their plans. So those of you who started pushing the troll button right away better re-think if everything you've ever typed anywhere could/would not be found offensive by anyone ever!

I'm with you too! I love to read the tips and tricks, and I'm really excited about surprising our kids with our November trip, but other than knowing which days we are doing which parks and having ADR's that coordinate with that, we are doing NO advance planning whatsoever. We didn't plan a thing other than knowing that we would be going to Magic Kingdom for the day last year when we were in Florida (not specifically *for* DW, but for a variety of different vacation activities), and (gasp!!) we didn't get there for rope drop, didn't use even one fast pass, we didn't care which direction we went first, and we wandered around MK the whole day, doing what we wanted when we saw it. The kids pretty much led the way - they were 11, 7, and 5. We did everything we wanted to, and even had time to do Haunted Mansion twice and found a great spot for the parade and Wishes. The park closed that day at 10pm. We arrived at about 9:30-10am.

Most people come here because they are planners and love the experience/opportunity to think about and plan every second of their trip. It's psychologically extended the experience for them. Do I think that some people get a little...ummm...passionate about it? Hahahaha...YES!

As a person equipped with a Masters Degree in Psychology, I simply chalk up the excessive planning of others into the "how the other half chooses to live", and leave them alone - meanwhile going about my blissfully (mostly) unplanned Disney World vacation with excitement and taking the people who make excuses for their excessive planning with a grain of salt.

Plus...as a full-time working mom with three kids who are in year round sports and activities, I am constantly living with a schedule and nagging my kids (And husband!) to "get ready, be ready, let's go here, it's time to go there...hurry up, let's go, stop!, Move!, get your football eqipment...did you find your ballet shoes yet?....hurry, we are going to be late!....yes, you *do* have to go with me to drop your sister off at gymnastics, and yes, we are going to stay to watch because you have soccer right after...."

I do NOT want to have to be "that mom" on vacation, too!

 

[jenben8426]

I admit I have not read all the responses, but for some of us it IS necessary to do that kind of planning. I have an autistic son who likes to see exactly what is coming next. Do we realize that we will get off the whole minute thing--of course we do, but by having the ridemax schedule it takes the guess work of "what do you want to do next??" Most of the time we will finish everything on the list and then we can be spontaneous if we still want to.

By the way--every time we have used ridemax we have always gotten ahead of schedule! As a family with 5 small children it helps to have that plan and guide so we aren't criss-crossing, having melt downs, etc. Will we someday change our touring plan--maybe--but for now we will not mess with a system that works.

 

[DisneyAllyC]

I don't plan out how long the rides and lines will be, mainly because I can't. But when it comes to planning day by day and restaurant by restaurant. That's important

 

[1000HappyWishes]

People will plan how they want to plan. So long as it works for them, it's fine. They aren't making plans for anyone else but them and their families/travel companions, so it shouldn't matter. I'm semi- Type A and I'm while I am a super-planner, it isn't that extensive. I like to know when the park opens, what time we have to get up to get to the park, when our ADR's are (if any) and what time we need to be there, when the park closes, when Wishes is, and what time we need to be in bed at the latest possible. That's what works for me. Does it work for everybody? No. I wouldn't expect people to be concerned about how I like to plan my vacations.

 

[ladeedeb]

I plan because I enjoy it. I love to figure everything out and then have it to base off of once there. If we don't keep exactly to it, it's no big deal, but the fact that I did it can be extremely helpful to us so we don't stand around or have to rush to something.

 

[Michigan_tinkerbell]

I love to "over plan". We have three kids and take vacation every two years and we get the most out if five days

 

[FlightlessDuck]

We don't plan down to the minute on purpose. We know what we want to ride and what order we should ride things in to minimize waiting in line. I hate crowds. I hate lines. That's why I get up to the park in the early morning, and take a long lunch and dinner.

We don't normally plan down to the minute. But that's what TouringPlans.net program does for you. You select what rides you want and it makes an optimal schedule and guesstimates on time. It's not that time consuming to do, really. That's what algorithms are for.

We used touring plan's to-the-minute plan when we went to DisneyLand in July. We didn't spend a whole lot of time worrying about the specifics of times, but we did get to see everything we wanted both days without waiting longer than 20 - 30 minutes for any ride.

 

[luv2sleep]

I don't get it. I saw one woman who had their schedule set to the minute that they are going to get in line for Dumbo and how long it will take them to get on the ride and off(like that is really going to happen) I don't understand why people can't just enjoy it as it comes.

I have been going to Disney World almost every year since 1980 when my parents first started taking us. We have NEVER had a set schedule except for dinner show reservations, have NEVER done a single rope drop and I don't think there was a single trip that we didn't do everything that we wanted to do.

I can understand having a playbook to go by, especially if this is your first or only trip to the World, but many of those who do this crazy planning are repeaters.

Wow I totally agreed with this. Can't believe people can't see the OPs point. When I looked into going to WDW for the first time the incessant planing to the minute completely turned me off. I even canceled a trip because WDW seemed like too much work. When I decided to go again the only thing I planned was 1 ADR to watch Illuminations from behind glass for my sensory averse son, airfare, DME to and from the airport, and a place to stay. I refused to plan anything else. I refused to make rope drop. I've never planned or made rope drop at DL. Ever. Well we has a fantastic time at WDW. Saw what we want and will see more in the years to come.

Anyway, I totally agreed with the OP. Can't believe that person was flamed for stating an opinion.

 

[jennylyn_b]

I don't get it. I saw one woman who had their schedule set to the minute that they are going to get in line for Dumbo and how long it will take them to get on the ride and off(like that is really going to happen) I don't understand why people can't just enjoy it as it comes.

I have been going to Disney World almost every year since 1980 when my parents first started taking us. We have NEVER had a set schedule except for dinner show reservations, have NEVER done a single rope drop and I don't think there was a single trip that we didn't do everything that we wanted to do.

I can understand having a playbook to go by, especially if this is your first or only trip to the World, but many of those who do this crazy planning are repeaters.

The reason you don't get it is exactly in your post: you go almost every year. Period
Many dont get that opportunity. They feel from reading all the posts and threads here and the guide books and touring plans that they HAVE to micromanage the trip to have a good time and see it all. They only get to come to WDW once or once every few years and the trips are 5-6 nights.

Now we are lucky and go every may and oct/nov for 11-15 nights a trip. We make our one Ts ADR a night for dinner and have a rough outline of what parks we think we will do in which days. Often we change the park plans based on what we want to do when there. We don't worry about we didn't get to do this or that because we know we will be back.

This is what makes us happy and works for us but that doesn't make it better than the micro managers. Us regulars know you can't possibly do everything in one trip and don't try.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

I never do a touring plan.... I rarely even know which park I am heading to until breakfast....I like to stroll around and just let the day unfold...I don't even do FP's

We often decide on a park while we're eating breakfast, or *gasp* get on the first bus that comes. We do park hop, I randomly do ADRs 180 days out based on the restaurants we really like. So it's not a big deal if we end up at a park and our dining reservation is somewhere else.

We'll do FP if it means we otherwise wouldn't get on a ride, sometimes, but single rider lines are great, too. We definitely don't care all that much about planning.

 

[Anonomom]

Wow I totally agreed with this. Can't believe people can't see the OPs point. When I looked into going to WDW for the first time the incessant planing to the minute completely turned me off. I even canceled a trip because WDW seemed like too much work. When I decided to go again the only thing I planned was 1 ADR to watch Illuminations from behind glass for my sensory averse son, airfare, DME to and from the airport, and a place to stay. I refused to plan anything else. I refused to make rope drop. I've never planned or made rope drop at DL. Ever. Well we has a fantastic time at WDW. Saw what we want and will see more in the years to come.

Anyway, I totally agreed with the OP. Can't believe that person was flamed for stating an opinion.

I think they were criticized for being judgmental/rude about someone else's choice. IMO, it's bad form to start a "can you believe this guy!" thread calling out another poster from another thread (and, btw, that poster was roundly mocked in her own thread and took it graciously).

If you look at this thread specifically, you'll see a whole bunch of people who plan (but who aren't criticizing the more seat-of-the-pants approach) and a whole 'nother bunch of people calling that first bunch crazy. Honestly, what I don't get is why it bothers the OP so much that some people are planners? How does that harm OP (or anyone else) so much that it calls for starting a thread for the express purpose of questioning people's sanity? Live your life, enjoy your trip, and save the unprovoked snark for a more worthy occasion.

 

[RMulieri]

1)Not everyone can be fortunate enough to go once a year or more than once a year.So for them, this is how they manage to see everything they want to.Also not everyone can afford 7+ days at Disney and are trying to have the most vacation on the least amount of days
2) Some people LIKE To plan.IF that is their choice, why does it mattter to you? It isn't bothering anyone else and it doesn't affect you.Go about your trip and enjoy it the way YOU like to and let those that plan do it their way.
Personally, I don't get the need to worry about how other people choose to do their vacation

 

[shyjade]

I've learned the hard way that some planing is necessary to maker sure we can do the things that are most important to us (in the least amount I'd time), but allowing flexibility and room for error us also equally important.

That's why parkhoppers work so will for my family. We decide before our trip which parks we will visit at RD and on which days. We normally do morning EMHs then hop to a different park by lunchtime, often deciding which one that day (based on how RD touring has gone during the week).

Our last trip was the only time we didn't hop and was the least fun we've had at Disney. I felt too much pressure to make the most of each park since I knew we couldn't come back. It stressed me out!