To Plan or not to Plan?

[Brother Smith]

We are off next week with our children & nephew for our second Orlando holiday (hooray). Our first trip (in August 2001) was great but we thought we could have done & seen more if we had planned better. For this trip, we have spent ages planning our Itinerary using Dis and the Unofficial Guide. However, a colleague at work (who has never been to Disney/Universal) said we will take all the enjoyment & spontaneity out of the trip by planning. Personally, I dont believe you can enjoy a parks holiday without planning? What do you think?

 

[SEVANS2208]

Depends what you like, I suppose. I always plan but towards the end of the holiday we normally let one theme park slip as we're all comepletely shattered by then. My family took the "mickey" out of me this year because of all the planning I did but they thanked me for it afterwards!

Guess I'm just not a spontaneous person!!

 

[Stuartpaul]

Without a doubt plan.

By all means leave 'free' time to do other things (discovered during the trip) and don't worry about deviating from any plan.

We've definitely found a plan to be more than useful. For example, - you don't want to come out of a park close to midnight having seen fireworks etc. and then have to be up early the next morning to head off to another one.

Even if you only have a basic outline of what you want to do you'll find it helpful.

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

We don't really plan as we like to choose on the day/night before what we fancy doing. We will put together a chart showing all the park opening times, parades, visiting tips, etc. We then add to that any hard ticket events we've booked (such as Discovery Cove) plus any restaurant reservations we've made. That chart (which we print out and take with us) then helps us plan our holiday as we have all the useful information we need, but still have as much flexibility as we want.

Regards

Rob

 

[Homer Timpson]

However, a colleague at work (who has never been to Disney/Universal) said................................


Says it all really

Been 8 times now - and the first few times we went we'd have missed soooo much had my wife not planned an itinary .... bless her.

I travel to Turkey each year in June and planning that involves - not taking my shaving gear, taking a few t-shirts and shorts, sun screen and money....then chilling out for 2 weeks

I couldn't imagine what I'd miss if I had the same approach to what Florida has to offer

Brian


p.s Rob

You don't make plans - but you make a chart, organize events and book dinner reservations in advance. Is this the difference between making arrangements and making plans

 

[Beejayjay]

Homer,

Your work colleague apparently takes the minimalist approach with his comments...

I'm certainly not one for miltary style planning for holidays, but any trip to WDW etc, definitely needs some basic palnning or you could miss out on lots of stuff.

As mentioned before, be prepared to be flexible about it, but have a plan of action of some sort in mind. I'll be taking info on park hours, shows, events and such, printed off of the Disney, Universal and other parks websites, just so we can see all the stuff I know shouldn't be missed by my partners kids on this, their first visit.

The websites will of course also have lists of and information on rides & attractions so you can pick out ahead of time what you might want to do that you perhaps haven't previously, or simply remind you of things that you did which may have slipped your mind.

I do think lots of people here go a bit too far with the planning - check out some of the planned itinerary posts on the Orlando Hotels and Attractions Forum for evidnece of that - but each to their own, and as I said, a bit of forward thinking really can save you lots of time and aloow you to get the most from your trip without exhausting yourselves !

Happy planning !

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Originally posted by Homer Timpson
p.s Rob

You don't make plans - but you make a chart, organize events and book dinner reservations in advance. Is this the difference between making arrangements and making plans

When people say they plan I assume they mean that they decide in advance what park/attraction to visit on which day, how long to stay, what to ride, etc. We tend not to do that, but we do make sure we have enough information with us to make sensible decisions on the day. We probably have three or four events planned (dinner reservations, etc) during the entire fortnight - the rest we make up as we go along. I think the term 'organised' is a better description than 'planned' for the way we approach our time in Orlando!

Regards

Rob

 

[jimmybog]

I think planning is essential if you will be there during busy times. At the least check out the park opening times and when the fireworks and parades will be. Check also for when early entry days are and if there are any special events going on. Also you may want to check which attractions you want to do in the parks and see which ones are the most popular and plan round them. THe minor attractions you can decide upon at the time. EVen though, I'm sure many peoples plans go out the window at some point. A lot of people do not realise how tiring the parks can be. There is a lot of walking and waiting to do. We're going to do the parks on 9 out of our 14 days and have rest days in between doing the water parks or mini golf ( You will notice I do not include shopping in the rest days as I do not consider shopping a restful pastime!!!).