This question is for the extremely anal-retentive (like me)

[punkin]

MELSMICE, I am sorry, I was not reffering to your post. I thought it was polite and merely stated your opinion. What bothered me were some of the other posts. In any event, I am enjoying my planning and when I get back, I'll be sure to post how closely we actually kept to our schedule.

 

[TRAPPED-PARENT]

You may want to check out Belle5 and her plan to feed a family of 7. All mapped out on where and what everyone will eat!!!

 

[kathylovesdisneyworl]

Unless things changed, on ee days very limited number of rides open early. If you really want to try to plan your morning,I would find out which rides will even be open.

 

[nativetxn]

Punkin, I think you will find that Fantasyland is a lot more busy on an EE morning that you anticipate. I hope it works out the way you hope though.

I think that if anyone cannot make a suggestion or offer helpful advice on this topic, they should refrain from posting. We like to keep things friendly here.

Katholyn

 

[r8ingbull]

I thought I planned out my trip, it goes like this:
Leave Detroit Sunday morning.
Leave Orlando Friday sometime???

Have Fun!?

 

[XStAnt]

Punkin,

I hope you did not take offense at my post. If you felt insulted by it then I apoligize. Your original post did not indicate you were only trying to plan 5 minute increments for the first two hours in Fantasyland on an EE morning. I got the impression you wanted to plan your entire trip in that much detail. You may disagree but I don't believe that is realistic.

I also think you may have problems with the first two hours in Fantasyland. EE mornings can get crowded and Fantasyland seems to always be the busiest land in MK. Unpredictable lines will form even in the am. Children will be fussy. For example: your plan could have you riding Winnie the Pooh as your first attraction, and your second planned ride is Peter Pan. After riding Pooh, your children may want to go on it again instead of another ride (I've seen it happen). Or, the line for Peter Pan could be 20 minutes long, but Snow White may only be a 5 minute wait. It's hard to predict.

I certainly think you're better off doing more planning than less. You should certainly plan meals and PS's, nighttime entertainment, which park to do each day, etc. You should also figure out what rides you definitely want to go on during your trip. A general touring guide can be very helpful. But the key, to me, is flexibility.

I am curious as to how close to your schedule you stay. Please let us know and enjoy your planning.

 

[bigsis1970]

I do the 6 block of time scheduling too.. altho this time I am having more trouble as I will traveling in a BUSY season Mid June
(15th - 21st ) so i maybe adding a few more blocks in... I too Love to Plan but it can be chucked and re-done at any given time .. have fun with what you like to do .. Michelle

 

[cmarsh01]

umm, this is sounding eerily like the Griswald family vacation to Wally World where Dad has planned out every moment with precision for a cross-country road trip. The only problem is everything went wrong, it was a disaster, and when they got there, Wally World was closed for refurbishment.

Enjoy the view, enjoy the ride, the fun is in the journey and time spent with family. I'm leaving in 2 days and I've already unplugged from my schedule.

different strokes for different folks. this folk has done his planning, have a general framework, now its time to let loose, relax, take it as it comes and have a ball with my 3 kids regardless of the circumstances. for me planning isn't fun, fun is fun!

Chris in Cincy

 

[donna in Oz]

punkin,

If I knew where to find a spreadsheet to help you plan in five-minute increments, I would certainly send it to you !!

I, too, am a planner, and although I don't do my planning in such small time frames, I certainly understand your desire to plan in detail. It's fun, it helps build anticipation, and even if it doesn't work out . . . it can still be helpful to have a general idea of where to go next.

Enjoy your planning and keep in mind that your trip will be wonderful, no matter what !!

 

[loriandmatt]

punkin - take heart. you are not alone with the Anal Planning thing. I enjoy it. It gets me stoked for my vacation and i feel like i get the most out of my time that way.

Do i freak if we are not on schedule - no way. We certainly go with the flow, but i feel better having somewhat of a plan. (especailly the first one or two trips. - we are a bit more lax now, but we don't feel the need to see everything as we have made the continuing commitment to return often.)

I have used excel, but found that i prefer the scheduling option inside Microsoft outlook. it breaks things down into 15 min increments. I have also done things the old "pen and paper" method as somone else suggested.

I am a dink when it comes to knowing how to get the files i have to others via the net, so i can't help there. (other than sending e-mail attachements.)

- lori

 

[punkin]

Like I said above, I really only need the 5 minute increments for my EE morning in Fantasyland. Otherwise, I do not microplan to that extent (tho I do plan pretty much everything - and I mean everything - in the mornings until about lunch. then I plan for generally where we'll be in the afternoon, but not as specific) Overall I really enjoy the planning. It's exciting.

I plan to enjoy my trip, believe me!

 

[ejacobson]

If you can plan to that degree of detail yet not let it ruin your trip if things don't go as planned, then more power to you! Have fun planning!

I'm just excited because now I have proof for my husband that I am not the most anal planner out there. We're going in April and as of now we have four of our 7 days designated as to which park we'll go to, the other three days open, and I think three PS. He's freaking out because I plan to too much detail!

Here's the best part. He actually admitted that when we get there he'll probably be happy that I made the PS and had some idea of what to do when, but he wants me to keep it all secret from him until we get there so he doesn't feel the pressure of the PLAN!

 

[punkin]

MY GOD! You must be married to my husband cause he told me the same thing on our last trip

 

[jlaspoq]

I don't mind sharing, but I don't really know how to do it? I don't have any sort of web page or anything....

 

[disneefamily]

Disnee Dad Says........................................Well, this is a horse of a different color! For this plan you don't need five minute increments. This plan always works, has been tested at least seven times, though never in the summer.
Be at rope drop to fantasyland. Hit dumbo first, a slow loader. Then hit Pooh and Mad Tea Party, you should still have no lines.
Come back for Snow White, then Peter Pan and the Golden Carrousel, hit Small World last. Slowest time to do this 56 minutes, fastest time 36 minutes. Send a willing person to get FP for SP or Buzz while you do this and you are in Disney nirvana!
I think this is the best tip for anyone who even wants to look at fantasyland.
BTW We pulled this off on Veterans Days 2001, at 2:00 pm the wait for Peter Pan was 90 minutes! Hum, seven rides in an hour on a very busy day, or one ride in 90 minutes? Tough call, lol!!!!

 

[Redbeard52]

I must admit that when I first read the start of this post, I thought this person was absolutely crazy... But then, after reading the responses, a lot of people bring up very valid points about Priority Seatings, start times for shows, loading of rides, and etc. (I loved the post about the one ride being a "slow loader." I mean, when a person can categorize rides based on the load and unload factor, well, that's a true Disney die-hard!)

Now I don't feel so bad that my friend is concerned that I am overplanning our trip. I only have two PSs for lunch, two PSs for dinner, La Nouba, and an Illuminations cruise planned. Everything else is going to be flying by the seat our pants.

Punkin - knock yourself out and have a great time. I know you will.

Kungaloosh!

 

[Jollymon]

I guess I am the opposite to Anal Retentive. We are going to WDW in about 2 weeks and we have absolutely nothing planned. We play it by ear.

What the heck, being DVC members and Florida residents, we are at the parks every two months, so after about a year, there is not much you have not seen or want to see. We kinda just go and plan day by day, usually spending a couple of hours in a park, coming back to the pools, or riding bikes, etc.

Andrew

 

[anne60]

Punkin -
The unofficial guide has each ride's duration and it is pretty accurate. It even will tell you the average wait time per 100 people in front of you. I used this information for our first trip to WDW for exactly the same reason as you. We had a PS at CRT for 10:15, and I wanted to estimate how many rides we would be able to do in that time. Also, I think the Passporter has maps that show the average walk time from one part of the park to another. This was also very useful, since we had never been to MK and really had no idea how long it would take to walk from land to land. We did SO MANY rides before our breakfast, and had a great time. We actually felt LESS pressure as a result of the planning, because we had more time later in the day to sit back and enjoy the park instead of waiting 90 minutes to ride Peter Pan!! I find planning very enjoyable, to me it is all part of the fun!! Have a great time, and try not to laugh as you walk by the people in that 90 minute line.

 

[CamColt]

Ive been known to be a bit of a psycho planner myself. I tend to freak when something throws a wrench in my plans in general, not just in WDW. What I do for planning is once I have my parks for the day set, I estimate what time we will be there, say MK 8-12:30 , break 1-3:30, Epcot 4-9. Then I make up index cards(I cant believe Im admitting this) for each park visit with a list of all the attractions I want to get done during that visit. Once we are there, we go with the flow(not an easy thing for someone like me), and will go to what we are near, or what ride doesnt have a line, etc... I just try to finish off everything on the index card.
Before our trips people(my mother, nieces) laughed at me, but they all admit it worked great and we got a ton of stuff done. Well, except for that little incident where we had to bolt across AK to get to the LK show after eating a huge breakfast at Donalds(breakfast ran later than expected).

 

[junglejane]

Braque, and anyone else who can help.

I too have excellent excel spreadsheets which I created and am willing to share. Only thing is I have same problem as other posters - don't know how to upload them other than as an e-mail attachment. If someonecan help me with this I will try to get these sheets to you guys over the weekend.