This Is Totally Liberating

[jrtoastyman]

I've been to WDW several times. Not near as many as some of you, but enough to consider myself very familiar with the parks and process of planning a trip. Every trip I've ever taken has been booked well, well in advance, with ADRs, etc. made and at least some modicum of a plan of attack going into the trip.

Not this trip. Decided last Thursday night that we'd be going to WDW this Sunday, giving me basically 10 days lead time. I'll tell you what, it's surprisingly a pretty awesome feeling. There's no stress about whether or not I'm going to get reservations at Be Our Guest or other popular places, because there's not a chance in the world I'm going to get in anyway. Bibidi Bobbity Boutique? No way. In fact, really the only thing I have time to do is go to the parks and enjoy myself.

I'm sure there are some of you that will object that you really enjoy the planning process, that it helps you get excited for the trip, and I completely agree with that, too. Thankfully, we have another trip to WDW later this year (in 219 days, in fact), so I still get to look forward to planning that one. For a short trip, though, just picking up and going without an advanced plan is a real kick. I expected it to be more stressful, but the opposite is true -- with so little time, I'm kinda forced to just throw up my hands, wing it, and let my experience in the parks govern what we do and where and when we go.

Will be interesting to see how this unfolds, though, for sure!

For those of you that have to travel to WDW (i.e., not locals that can go on a whim), what's the quickest turnaround between the time you decided to go to WDW and your arrival?

 

[jade1]

IThere's no stress about whether or not I'm going to get reservations at Be Our Guest or other popular places, because there's not a chance in the world I'm going to get in anyway.

We kinda did this a couple months ago.

We just went to MK at 10:30 one day and got in line for BOG lunch, we were one of the first groups in. Is was tasty and not expensive, and a great way to tour the castle.

 

[LSUfan4444]

For those of you that have to travel to WDW (i.e., not locals that can go on a whim), what's the quickest turnaround between the time you decided to go to WDW and your arrival?

One time we went in about a months notice, but still planned everything.

Good luck and make sure you let us know how it all worked out.

 

[wahoostampingirl]

My dh and I decided to take an anniversary trip about 3 weeks ahead of time. We were only there for the weekend and it was our first trip without the kids. Very different kind of trip, but I'll agree that it was nice not to plan so much and just see where the days took us. We had a great time.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

My last trip was August 2011. Initially XH was supposed to take the kids with his mother. Well about 4 weeks before the trip something came up and he couldn't go. He asked me if I would be willing to take them. Ummm heck yes!! It was paid in full with dining plan and tickets.

Within those 4 weeks I got ADR's at BBB, Ohana's, The Castle, Italy and somewhere else I can't remember off the top of my head.

I winged it with touring plans. Before I planned which park on which day but I didn't worry about it this time. We had park hoppers and could go back for our reservations if needed. This time we saw who had EMH and decided where we were going late the night before or when we woke up. It was the end of August so not extremely busy.

We met every single princess without waits. Saw Wishes. We did EVERYTHING we wanted to do. It was such a different experience and hands down the best trip we ever had.

Now my next trip I'm excited to be planning it again. I like doing both. Having the best of both worlds.

 

[Bean786]

That's awesome! Before I moved near the world I'd say I'm not going to disney and then wake up durning my trip and be like let's go! It's always a great time!

 

[jrtoastyman]

We kinda did this a couple months ago.

We just went to MK at 10:30 one day and got in line for BOG lunch, we were one of the first groups in. Is was tasty and not expensive, and a great way to tour the castle.

Yeah, we'll probably try to hit it for lunch. We went 3 times on our last trip, so it's not the end of the world if we don't make it on this trip. Having already done it, the primary impetus for going there is honestly that the food is so much better than the other MK dining establishments, but I can make do with a good ol' Pecos Bill's burger in a pinch.

 

[jade1]

Yeah, we'll probably try to hit it for lunch. We went 3 times on our last trip, so it's not the end of the world if we don't make it on this trip. Having already done it, the primary impetus for going there is honestly that the food is so much better than the other MK dining establishments, but I can make do with a good ol' Pecos Bill's burger in a pinch.

Ah I see-yea to be honest once was enough. Will attempt dinner one day but overall not a must do anymore for us.

 

[idofabric]

We desided to go down May 9-14....last weekend. So we will have about 13 days from the day we desided till we get there.
The quickest from when we desided till when we got there was under 6 days. Worked great. In fact most of our trips are in the under 3-4 weeks time, from desiding to go to when we do get there. My DH works strange times...and we don't allways get a lot of heads up about what is going on at his job.
But we have gone with a large group 2nd weekend of Oct. for the last 5 years..... up to about 20-30 of us going this year. Turned that planning over to the middle DS and his DW... I just advise and make sure we have enought beds to sleep everyone!

 

[bjscheel]

5 weeks. It was fun! I think I got one or two ADRs in, and surely planned which park which day. At this point we could take a trip without planning much, and don't care too much if we get ADRs, but still know well in advance that we are going, so....I plan.

Sometimes I think I won't plan which park which day, but then I look and there are obvious things to avoid (Star Wars Weekend) or hit (morning EMH or an ADR), so it all falls into a plan anyway. And we have never gotten PH, so we plan accordingly.

 

[skylynx]

I'm a planner to some extent (ok, so I am the family Travel Witch), but I draw the line at deciding where and when I am going to eat 180 days in advance and letting (often mediocre and almost always overpriced) meals drive my vacation. I'll make an ADR for something special I know we want to do, like the Hoop-dee-do Revue or the Rose and Crown for Illuminations once in a while, but I really, really hate the idea of letting a dining reservation control which park I go to at which time, regardless of the weather, how tired I am, how much I've already overspent, etc.

I can absolutely see a reason why some folks to plan out meals so far in advance, but it isn't for me or my family. To me, deciding in March where I want to eat lunch in September just starts feeling a lot like work and I envision "Akershus" or "Fastpass for Big Thunder Railroad" showing up on my Outlook calendar like every other obligation.

The older we get, the more we prefer to "wing" our Disney trips. Other than knowing where we will be staying and having some rough plans like "sometime during our stay I want to have a beer and fondue at Territory Lounge" we just don't have the temptation to schedule everything down to Excel spreadsheet-style detail because then it becomes as scripted as a workday. It limits our ability too much to change our minds. Plus who knows how hungry we are going to be at any particular time...with meals for four nearly anywhere sit-down easily breaching $100, I sure want to have hungry people with me! It helps when your kids are older and don't have to eat at any specific time, too.

We also try to work in mid-day breaks between hopping parks to go off Disney property and eat somewhere like Bahama Breeze near Crossroads Plaza while visiting the Disney outlet. We always have a rental car and enjoy what for us is a lot better quality food for a lot less money. That is not as appealing an option if you don't have a car or are traveling with little kids/strollers, but we find it a welcome respite, especially when the parks are open late. Taking 3 hours or so "off" in the middle of the day can really be a nice break from crowds.

So you aren't alone, OP!

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

My DBF and I had a six-week lead time for our upcoming Memorial Day weekend trip. (We changed from a DLR trip--our "home" Disney destination--at the last minute we could easily do so.) It was long enough lead time, though, for me to go ADR-crazy. Not a DLR priority, but I kind of fell into the swing of how you plan things for WDW.

My DBF took one look at the list and put his foot down. ("I don't want to have my vacation dictated by the park I have to be in for dinner.") So out when Les Chefs de France, Liberty Tree Tavern, and Hollywood Brown Derby. We kept a Biergarten dinner ADR on our first Epcot day, decided to go QS the rest of the time--and put the money we would have spent on TS into an extra resort night! The only one I really wanted was Brown Derby, but we'll get there next time.

 

[Kiwini]

We usually start reserving and planning a year in advance. The third time we went was the most spontaneous; after a school auction we co-chaired, we decided to go with the other co-chair family one month later, during spring break. To me, anticipation adds to the experience.

If you want to channel your inner Ludwig von Drake (or Sheldon Cooper, if you prefer), here is the math behind this:
http://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/sds/docs/loewenstein/AnticipationDelayed.pdf

"The model discussed in this paper modifies Discounted Utility by recognising that anticipation, like consumption itself, is a source of utility"

 

[Postal68]

I've been to WDW several times. Not near as many as some of you, but enough to consider myself very familiar with the parks and process of planning a trip. Every trip I've ever taken has been booked well, well in advance, with ADRs, etc. made and at least some modicum of a plan of attack going into the trip.

Not this trip. Decided last Thursday night that we'd be going to WDW this Sunday, giving me basically 10 days lead time. I'll tell you what, it's surprisingly a pretty awesome feeling. There's no stress about whether or not I'm going to get reservations at Be Our Guest or other popular places, because there's not a chance in the world I'm going to get in anyway. ?

We did this last year. I get limited time off in the summer and I had the first week of August off. I wanted to spend a long weekend at Niagra Falls but I was vetoed. We decided what the hell let's go to Florida/Disney even though we had just been there at the end of April combined with a Disney Cruise.

It worked out so great. We decided about a week out. I got last minute round trip airfare for all of us for only $350 and we rented a house with it's own pool for a discounted price of $600 because it was the only week the owners had opene so I negotiated a discounted price. I hadn't been to Disney in June, July or August in about 15 years because I remember how horrible it was during the summer months. We weren't going to sweat it and we were just going to be happy with whatever we happen to get in during our days at the parks. Surprisingly we were able to do everything fairly easily and we had a great, relatively stress free vacation(there's always going to be some stress when you have a teenage boy and girl...LOL )

 

[letthewookiewin]

Our last trip was only booked a couple of months before we went. Since we were on the DlxDDP, I still booked two ADRs a day. For our upcoming trip we do have 5 ADRs booked. Since we aren't doing hoppers this trip, I did plan which park we will go to on what day, but that is the most detailed planning we usually get. We don't make plans on what rides to ride and in what order.

IMHO, whether you wait until the week of to book and go with no plans, or have every minute of your day planned before your 180 day out mark (so you can make your ADRs) as long as your family has a great time on the trip, every planning style is the correct one.

 

[mrsltg]

We're sort of doing the same thing this time, OP. We planned this trip about five months in advance, but only made five dining reservations (unheard of for us as we usually do at least one sit down meal per day) and only know which park we are going to three of eight park days. It is very different for us. I've usually mapped out when we'll see the nighttime shows, parades, EMH, etc. This time we only know we're going to AK on arrival day (we barely spend half a day there anymore so it makes sense to do it then), Epcot on a Sunday, and MK on a Monday. That's it. Nothing else planned. For people like us, this is a HUGE step down. We'll see how I do once I get there...