They do exist!

[klo1335]

I know plenty of folks who go to Disney without an uber level of planning ahead of time and have a vacation they enjoy very much.

I agree that you don't need an uber level of planning. But at least a little bit of planning can help on the long run. I guess that I am just the minority. I even plan when we do beach vacations or just a day at a local waterpark.

 

[ariane37]

I don't get involved anymore when people tell me they are going even though they know we go all of the time. I don't want to feel responsible when things go wrong. Honestly, I just change the subject now.

That was nice of you to try to help though! Hopefully she will take a look at the book she bought

I'm the same way! I had friend show me her list of ADRs for her first trip and it looked like they were going to spend their entire vacation traveling from resort or park to another just to eat. I just smiled and said "I hope you have a great trip".

I've pretty much stopped giving advice and getting involved in other peoples' planning too......for one thing, I think I may have scared a couple lol. Then it got to the point where, even just to answer 1 or 2 questions they'd ask, b/c the knew I was knowledgeable regarding Disney, became too detailed and long - no simple answer to many questions. I actually did buy an extra Unofficial Guide and I'll hand that over for people to read, some do and thank me, others say thanks but it was too much to read - whatever the case, I offered but didn't push tons of advice on them

 

[Alesia]

I agree that you don't need an uber level of planning. But at least a little bit of planning can help on the long run. I guess that I am just the minority. I even plan when we do beach vacations or just a day at a local waterpark.

I agree that planning is helpful, but I completely disagree with the idea that not planning means that you will have a miserable trip. I think that having a good attitude is more important than any amount of planning.

 

[klo1335]

I completely disagree with the idea that not planning means that you will have a miserable trip. I think that having a good attitude is more important than any amount of planning.

I agree. Some people just aren't planners. My husband hates planning things like dinners out (birthday's, anniversary), vacations, etc in advance. But then he is one to complain when it doesn't go how he wants it to go and it is usually because he tried to do it last minute. I am sure people have great trips without much planning.

 

[Colleen27]

The problem is that there is such a wide degree of what "planning" constitutes. I have always been more of a researcher than a planner, but like to keep my options open. I like knowing the best time of day to do what, but prefer to make my actual choices on the ground depending on where the spirit moves me..... which is probably why I don't like FP+. I've always marveled at the number of people who plan to the minute. I have subscribed to Touring Plans, but only for the crowd information, never to make an actual touring plan.

I'm the same way. I do a lot of research for any trip, not to lock in plans but to be able to make good choices on the fly. I leave tomorrow for a weekend in Chicago with DD's 8th grade class and even for that I have notes on the neighborhoods we'll be in (good restaurants, interesting sights) during the time we'll have to explore on our own. For our June trip I don't just have the Disney stuff in my notes - I also have interesting places to stop on the drive down/back, including restaurants in certain places I know we'll be stopping and areas to look for (or avoid) when finding a cheap room when we're too tired to drive any further. And yeah, that's probably why I'm not a big fan of FP+ either; even though I do a lot of research in the pre-trip process I don't like having a lot of locked-down clock-watching appointments once we're already on the road.

Here is what I thought was the most significant part of our brief conversation. She said that they expected to be overwhelmed by all the things going on at the MK (not the planning) and didn't want to spend all day in long lines. When I said that some lines would be long, like for the mine train which would be an hour or a little longer for most of the day, her response was "Oh, that's not so bad, we're used to that at Great America (the Six Flags park in northern Illinois)".

My brother opened my eyes to that same thing on the trip he joined us for. I hadn't realized how spoiled I'd gotten with good planning and FP to avoid lines. He's a Cedar Point passholder and never springs for their front of the line pass, so to him 40 minutes for Everest was nothing. And because of that attitude I rode standby for the first time ever and realized I'd been missing a really interesting queue that added a lot to the overall experience.

 

[elaine amj]

I know - a 40-60 min line is really not that bad if you are used to other amusement parks. We have been to Cedar Point many time so we are more tolerant of longer lines.

That said, one of the joys of a Disney vacay for me is NOT waiting in lines the pre-planning I do helps us maximize our rides and I absolutely love not waiting in more than 10-15 minute lines.

But yes - most people I know who go to WDW don't plan like DIS'ers. When people ask me for tips, I try to keep it super low-key. unless they look interested. I do have a good friend going in August who seems pretty willing to take my advice. So for the first time, I am going to develop detailed touring plans, etc for someone else since I will help him make his FP+. He is using my TA who will pay for an itinerary planning service. He's a little take aback - but very open Most people who ask me for tips...you can tell they start shutting down pretty quickly so I keep it light - telling them to study how to use FP+ and use a crowd calendar and consider easywdw's cheat sheets.

 

[Micca]

I love to talk to people about WDW, but when offering advice I keep it very general. I give them a couple of websites to check and recommend a guide (for first timers.) From there, I tell them to feel free to ask any questions after they've done a little browsing around.

We WDW fanatics are the outliers*, it's probably correct that 90% of guests don't do any research or planning at all. Yet WDW attendance grows steadily from one year to the next, and profits? Holy smokes are they turning a buck! It takes all kinds of patrons to generate this kind of success, and the mouse has proven it's got the mojo.

* I never used this word at all until a few months ago, now I'm seeing it everywhere.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

I always have given the advice to stay on site, book ADRs, book FP and just enjoy yourself at other things when it gets crowded or hot. Very few people take it that I know. They go down stay off site. Don't get hopper tickets, end up spending a lot of their time at the motel they choose because the crowds everywhere are horrible and it all just costs too much.

 

[mgentry210]

My name is Melissa and I am a planning addict. Admit it, if you are reading this most of you, like me, has at least one spreadsheet for your next trip and a subscription to some website.

 

[catfan98]

On our short trip last week, my wife and I sat in seats across the aisle from each other and the seats on either side of us were occupied by a family of 4 making their first trip to Florida. The children were a boy and girl who looked to be about 5 and 7 and they were making their first flights.

I was sitting next to the mother, and she said they were staying in a house offsite and were planning to spend 4 days going to WDW. She said she had done some planning but hadn't gotten any FPs because "you can get them when you get there, right". I gave her some brief advice about getting the FPs ahead of time, even the day before if possible, and said that there might be some things like 7DMT that probably wouldn't be available. But, because of the low crowds expected last week I said they should be fine. I also suggested getting to the park as early as possible because that would let them do some things with the shortest lines of the day.

Here is what I thought was the most significant part of our brief conversation. She said that they expected to be overwhelmed by all the things going on at the MK (not the planning) and didn't want to spend all day in long lines. When I said that some lines would be long, like for the mine train which would be an hour or a little longer for most of the day, her response was "Oh, that's not so bad, we're used to that at Great America (the Six Flags park in northern Illinois)".

This highlighted for me one of the things that the Disers who have visited WDW dozens of times tend to forget. We often hear people on these boards say that they won't wait more than 20 minutes for anything. And I guess that's understandable when you are talking about your tenth, or twentieth, or fiftieth ride on a certain attraction. These frequent visitors are aghast at the idea of a 30 minute wait for Pirates, HM, or JC, or a 15 minute wait for IASW. For first time visitors those waits will seem like nothing for their first opportunity to experience some of these classic attractions. And they will enjoy their trips a lot more than the jaded veterans who go into the day expecting to enjoy them less than previous trips. And many of them will go home excited about returning again some day in the not too distant future to experience some of those things again and to do some of the things they didn't get to the first time. They will be experiencing the joy and magic that some frequent visitors seem to have lost over the course of what may for them be too many trips to the same place.

As first timers, this describes us. We are going in early June and we are aware that there will be heat, humidity, and crowds, but we are just so excited to finally get to go. We have stood in lines (sometimes an hour or more) at an amusement park near our hometown to ride a ride we or the kids wanted to ride. We are so excited to go to Disney that even the long lines that I know we will stand in for some rides don't bother us. We are just excited that we will be able to say, hey, we are at Disney!! I will admit though, that I have researched, read and gleaned lots of info from this forum. I stumbled across it by accident and it has really helped me to plan some aspects of our trip. I have an ADR booked each day for a TS meal (moreso to get out of the heat than anything), I have our FPs booked for each day we will be there, and we are also going to be there at RD each day. I have tinkered with touring plans, and even though I don't think I'm an uber-planner, I have tried to plan some things. Thanks to the DIS boards, I feel decently prepared. And did I mention, that I am excited?!?!

 

[klo1335]

And did I mention, that I am excited?!?!

Yay!

 

[larryz]

It's actually possible that we here on the DIS are the outliers as opposed to the OP's hygienist.

Extremism in the planning for Disney is no vice!

 

[Pappa Bear]

As I read some of this board's post about planning, it seems to me as though some people are planning a military campaign.

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. Thus spoke General Dwight David Eisenhower, one of the greatest planners in world history.

Some DISers plan their WDW trips in the same manner Ike planned the D-Day invasion and some of you plan more thoroughly than Ike did. Others have more general plans and tend to react to whatever situation the park throws at them. They react and adjust as best they can when circumstances change much as allied forces reacted on the beaches at Normandy when many parts of their plans fell apart. I tend to be in that second group but others in my family are definitely in that first group. I don't feel that there is one correct way. You do whichever works for you and your group.

“No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.-Helmuth von Moltke. No matter how thoroughly you plan, you cannot dictate what will happen when circumstances change.

Anyone DISer who does not think that these military maxims apply to planning for a visit to the world has never encountered a frantic parent pushing a stroller at top speed weaving through a crowd because he or she is late for an FP or an ADR. The plans were well made but for whatever reason did not survive the reality of that day's park visit. And you best get out of the way if you want to avoid physical contact.

 

[Aerinha]

Any vacation that costs as much as Disney deserves some planning respect. At least an hour of you life should go into reading blogs, posts or a good guide book if it is your first trip or first trip in 10 years. Know the basics than chuck what you don't want to do.

I read two reviews that just floored me. A woman who stayed at YC and complained no one told her Epcot was so close, she waited out front for a bus because she didn't know the hotel abutted the park. Going that oblivious is sad. Then there was the one who ranted for over a paragraph that their hotel didn't have monorail access. If you book a non monorail how can you be mad it didn't have one? That is like going to Idaho and complaining Big Ben wasn't there.

So many people complain they couldn't walk into any TS restaurant and eat. Any book or Disney website will tell you ADRs are a must if you want TS. Review after review complain of "starving" children because parents didn't reserve breakfast and can't figure out to walk to the hotel QS.

No, you don't have to plan everything, but at least know you needed to plan before choosing not to.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

one time when I was in WDW I was sitting next to a family at Boma who had come down with free dinning and hand no reservations and they had there concierge get them anything they could when they checked in.

 

[Planogirl]

I will be fine waiting in long lines at WDW as soon as a ticket costs the same as one at Cedar Point. Yes, I do expect more from WDW because their prices are quite a bit more. It's all relative.

As for planning, we do plan a little. We know to plan which parks based on things that are going on and also we know to make ADR's for those hard to get places. We also did our required FP+ mostly so we could ride the mine train. I doubt that we'll ever plan any more extensively than that.

 

[vanyel]

My name is Melissa and I am a planning addict. Admit it, if you are reading this most of you, like me, has at least one spreadsheet for your next trip and a subscription to some website.

Love my spreadsheets! How could one go to wdw without spreadsheets? Seriously, this is one place I love to plan for but I've learned that when someone asks me for advice, they don't really want to know everything that I think they should know I usually refer them to the unofficial guide and to disboards. If they ask specific questions, I answer them. Even though I do a lot of planning, I don't worry to much about doing everything and still feel we can have some flexibility and get in what we want. Last person I gave advice to paid no attention to it then came back and said they wished they had planned more but they still had a good time. Next time they're going to plan!

 

[NavyDad]

As I read some of this board's post about planning, it seems to me as though some people are planning a military campaign.

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. Thus spoke General Dwight David Eisenhower, one of the greatest planners in world history.

Some DISers plan their WDW trips in the same manner Ike planned the D-Day invasion and some of you plan more thoroughly than Ike did. Others have more general plans and tend to react to whatever situation the park throws at them. They react and adjust as best they can when circumstances change much as allied forces reacted on the beaches at Normandy when many parts of their plans fell apart. I tend to be in that second group but others in my family are definitely in that first group. I don't feel that there is one correct way. You do whichever works for you and your group.

“No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.-Helmuth von Moltke. No matter how thoroughly you plan, you cannot dictate what will happen when circumstances change.

Anyone DISer who does not think that these military maxims apply to planning for a visit to the world has never encountered a frantic parent pushing a stroller at top speed weaving through a crowd because he or she is late for an FP or an ADR. The plans were well made but for whatever reason did not survive the reality of that day's park visit. And you best get out of the way if you want to avoid physical contact.

1. This is one of the greatest compliments I have ever received

2. I blame strollers

 

[famy27]

I will be fine waiting in long lines at WDW as soon as a ticket costs the same as one at Cedar Point. Yes, I do expect more from WDW because their prices are quite a bit more. It's all relative.

As for planning, we do plan a little. We know to plan which parks based on things that are going on and also we know to make ADR's for those hard to get places. We also did our required FP+ mostly so we could ride the mine train. I doubt that we'll ever plan any more extensively than that.

Word. I have season passes to Six Flags Great America. It cost me $300 for the year for a family of four. I'm thinking of adding the dining planning, which will give me meals and snacks all season for $70 or so. We go a few times per month and ride what we can. We went on opening weekend, stayed for three hours, rode four rides (all smaller rides, no headliners) and headed home. We try to pick less crowded times to go on the headliners, and we generally splurge on the FlashPass at least once per season. There really is no advance planning required, other than checking the weather. If crowds are horrible, we go home and try again another day. Not at all an option for us when we fly to WDW.

I think that there are two kinds of non-planners. The first group would be knowledgeable non-planners. They know that there are certain things that they likely can't do without a reservation. They don't care. They just head to Disney and go where the day takes them. They wander up to the podium at Le Cellier and see if they can get a same-day reservation. When it works, they are thrilled. If it doesn't, they grab some fish and chips from Rose & Crown. They have a good time because they have no expectations. The second group would be unprepared non-planners. They have no idea that planning is required. They think a trip to WDW is like a trip to Six Flags. They've seen some commercials of kids riding Dumbo with Mickey and Minnie and eating at CRT and think they can just wander into MK and do these things. When they find out it's not possible, they are angry and disappointed.

Doing at least some minimal planning and/or research is definitely advisable for pretty much any vacation. My DH surprised me with a trip to SF for my birthday. We leave next week. He asked if there was anything special I wanted to see. I was really interested in doing the Alcatraz night tour. He went online to book it and discovered that it books up about 90 days in advance. There wasn't a single ticket available between now and July 31st. Some of the popular restaurants in SF and Napa book early, so we'll likely be shut out of those. Some advance planning would have really served me well for this trip. We'll still have a great time (as many Disney non-planners do), but I know better for our next trip.

 

[Nancyg56]

Many/Most? first timers have no idea about the planning aspect of Disney.

Some of these people will have a miserable time and say never again. And some of these people will actually have a great time and get hooked.

We ran into a family staying at the BC with us on a Thanksgiving Holiday. They were so nice, especially after finding out that they knew nothing. Instead of bemoaning the fact that thecould no get into a character meal or that they were lost in terms of WDW magic, they used the trip as their research. WE helped them with aps for thier phone, hooked them up with planning websites, and heped them plan what time they had, but honestly, for us, it was wonderfl to wathc these parents show their kds how to make the best ou of a situation that was not what was expected. They enlisted their kids to be part of the research team, making sure that they shared things they were going to do on the next trip, all the while making sure the kids enjoyed the trip they were on.