Too Much to Take!!!!?????

[Kimmy629]

You could be right Laketravis....that would have been back in 1974 for me. We camped (in a tent) at Fort Wilderness back then. I really don't remember much about MK at all!!

 

[csmith041177]

I agree on the planning sentiment. It is my technique for enjoying the parks 365 days a year. I'm always planning...even if we don't have a trip on the horizon.

 

[Donut23]

We have been commandos but grew out of that, thankfully. The last 6 years we were forced to stop and smell the roses after an accident plopped me into a scooter. 2 knee surgeries looks like a replacement down the road.

We now park plan with ubber-flexibility.....plans are written in the sand at low tide.

Want to know what we discovered? WDW is completely different.....more colorful, friendly, magical and faaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrr more romantic. We wouldn't trade it for anything and magic bands/fp+ work against every aspect of that travel plan. So.....we go to DL instead.

Disney is pricing itself out of our market anyway and DH is a CASTMEMBER! The last 4 co-workers who have returned have all said it's just not worth it at CASTMEMBER prices.........and that's saying something.

We will trade our 2 1/2 hour flights for flight across country to LAX for now to stay as far away as we can from WDW. You can dress in your regimental blues and hit the lines ....... We will mosey around DL.

Have fun! Oops. Stop reading! You will miss your fast pass for The Turkey Leg cart! Run RUN FASTER!

 

[AlexandAndysMom]

I think some people on here freak out. I like to take a deep breath every once in a while and be realistic. They don't want sit down meals? No problem. What does your granddaughter like? What is she in to? Speed and coasters or 'other'? When are you going?

I wouldn't freak out about the FP+. There is no need. You can be flexible. Pick things that are available the morning of. Could your choices be limited? Yes. Does it matter? No. You are at Disney. There is enough to do that it just doesn't matter. And I'm a planner. I'm THE planner in the family. I've stressed over the FP+ and the whens and the wheres and I've decided, it doesn't matter. We will do everything we want, and if it means we have to stand in a line to do it, who cares. My vacation and family time will NOT be ruined because I had to stand in a line for 30 minutes. And we have been before. My kids know what they want and what they are missing. The best part of taking a first timer? She doesn't know what she's missing!

 

[loveshak22]

I think you make a good point OP! I am a planner and I like taking the time to look at all the different options and making reservations and thinking about how we are going to hit the parks. However, I feel like it's all become so rushed that it's not just about planning anymore...it's about tactics and rushing to get to the FP machine as soon as the parks open so you can get a reasonable return time and rush to rides in between the FP return.

My DH and I don't have kids so we always travel in the low season. I grew up in the Orlando area but then I moved away and only went back every few years. My DH had never been so for his 30th birthday in 2006 I took him to WDW as a surprise. I planned our lunches and dinners and decided which park to go to when using the park hopper and even laid out a basic route for the day. There were hardly any crowds and we had a great time! I've been every other year since that trip and even during the low season the increase in crowds take all the fun out of basic planning. It's like I have to get up early and race crowds to make my plans successful, which is what I'm trying to avoid by traveling in the so-called "low" season.

Our last trip was January 2013 and even a couple of the CMs said we picked the best week to come because it had been so busy all month yet there were two days that I felt the parks were really crowded (again, compared to low seasons I've traveled in the past). So even with all my planning for that trip it was frustrating that we had to wait in so many lines still. I probably could have done a better job with the FP system but I didn't think I would need to plan past the basic get a FP and go to another ride given the time of year I was traveling and past experiences.

I guess Disney is just doing a great job keeping the park packed year round...and that disappoints me more than having to do all the planning.

I'm not sure if I am doing a good job articulating my thoughts but hopefully so! I'm hoping to go to WDW in 2015 and see how it goes but if we go during another low season and still hit swarms of crowds in the parks then it'll be a long time before we go back again.

 

[Dannek]

I feel bad for guests who are out of the loop of all the changes going on,I mean I visit the parks 8-10 times a year,I'm on these boards daily and there's still things that have me confused.For example I got my magic bands a couple of weeks ago and they're linked to my AP's but I don't know if I can use the bands to enter the parks if I haven't checked into my room.It's not the biggest deal in the world but I just don't know,do I use my RFID AP or magic band before checking in,does anyone know?

Once you link your AP to your MDX account and get your magic bands, you can indeed just use your magic bands to enter the parks before you check in to your hotel.

I did just that this past September during my first trip with the bands after buying my AP earlier in the year. Hit epcot, entered with my band, and checked into the Poly later that afternoon. You will still need your AP for the discounts associated with it, as that was not coded into the magic bands at that time. I'm not sure if the AP discounts are now attached to the bands or not for AP holders, but I'd bring my AP card in case they still aren't...

 

[disnut1149]

I'm in the minority, I guess, but I'd rather they just eliminate any sort of FP at all. Just have normal lines the way it used to be.

I just can't understand this at all. Why would you want to wait in long lines and waste so much of your park time? FP got us on and off the rides so fast so we had plenty of time to do other things. I can't imagine trying to keep a 3 year old happy in a 60 minute wait line. To the OP I would try to get your 3 FP reservations so at least you won't have to wait for those rides. Have a great time!!

 

[fla4fun]

Ok, I planned what parks on what days, and made ONE ADR, but that was it back in 2009. I don't like HAVING to be somewhere at a certain time, it just seems to make my vacation more of a chore!! I think I know enough about Disney to know when to be where, where there will be lines at certain times, etc. My daughter hasn't been to the world in years and my granddaughter has never been, so I think I can still get the complete park experiences without all that major planning. Kudos to those of you who enjoy doing this! I do read these boards and trip reports long before my trip comes up, just to see what may be new.

Remember the days when there was ONLY MK and you had PAPER tickets and had to choose ONE big ride off the "A" ticket?????

Yes, I remember the ticket books. Some of my fondest memories of those early trips is the family sitting around a shaded table deciding where to use those precious E tickets - I remember that more than the rides themselves!

Actually, you could think of FP+ as sort of a similar system. With FP+, you make a ride reservation ahead of time, and Disney has grouped attractions into different tiers to try to spread the crowds around a bit. So you get one E ticket ride and a couple D ticket rides with FP+.

To be honest though, I don't like being scheduled on vacation either. For my 10 day trip in December, I had booked FP+ for five of the ten days, figuring I'd have half the days free to be spontaneous. I ended up canceling all the FP+ days except one. I just didn't feel like I could relax knowing I HAD to be at a specific park at a specific time on a specific day. Of course, I have an AP and live close, so I don't have the pressure of trying to squeeze everything in on one trip. But you may want to consider leaving a day or two unscheduled so you can have that spontaneity you like, and schedule them on the other days so you don't miss the attractions you really want to see. If you are at the parks when they open, you can get a lot done without having a set schedule to stick to.

 

[Lucky4me]

The Magic bands/FP Plus kind of mess up my snowbird, AP, go with the flow plans, but I'm hoping since it's not going to happen for another year or two, by the time we go, the whole thing is scrapped and they go back to regular FP. If am edged out because Im not staying on site, I'll buy annual passes to Universal, Sea World and Busch Gardens for less than what I'd pay for a WDW pass.

 

[DisneyDetective]

We only plan ADRs. I am not looking forward to the magic bands for Fast Pass+, can I use my room key if staying at Saratoga Springs?

 

[NMAmy]

We go in late Feb/early March for 11 days. I am so irritated with the new FP+ nonsense that I've completely changed our plans. We'll now be at Universal for 3 days. I'd originally planned to stay at Pop to use MB's/FP+ and now I've changed it to Shades of Green.

We go every year. I usually make ADR's for one meal for most days but that's our only real plan. We park hop and we just kind of go where the mood takes us and I have no desire to figure out where we may be on an afternoon/evening 60 days from now. We've decided to stay at SoG and worry about possibly getting FP's upon arrival at the parks each day. If we don't get them, whatever. We'll take advantage of EMH's and hop to most recommended parks for the evenings.

I love WDW but I think this is our last trip. I'm tired of this manipulative nonsense from Disney and, really, nothing new to make it worth our while to continue coming down. New Fantasyland has nothing we are interested in. And, honestly, they're STILL working on the new Mine Ride? We like to go somewhere warm in the spring to get out of Michigan. I think next year, we'll try the Keys.

 

[ariel326]

I have planned a little bit. We have 2 ADR's scheduled and I know what parks we are going to on what days. I also have some basic routes mapped out so we can get to the rides we want to see quickly.
But we are staying offsite due to DH's work so FP+ isn't an option for us and honestly that is fine.
We are taking our 3 year old. So, really what we see we see and what we don't we don't. He is going to explode the minute we have our character breakfast the first day, so really if we don't get to see every. single. ride. It's not the end of the world to us.

Now when he is 11 or 12 and we have another kid in the picture, that is a different story. Standing in line for space mountain for 2 hours sucks. It sucks bad. So at that time, FP+ or whatever there is at that point will mean a lot more to us.

Yes, you can go and just enjoy the park and not worry about FP's and all that. You just may not be able to do everything you want to do, and if you are okay with that, then go for it. If not, then you need to do some planning.

 

[Karbase8]

I feel your pain OP it's a lot to take in. I suggest buying a good guidebook for 2014. My best advice is learn the magic band system prioritize what rides you and your granddaughter want to do. Take advantage of picking 3 headliners for each park on your bands. If not, Rope Drop is good still to get on what you want or sometimes eveing extra magic hours dependng on the park. You can't do everything, savor what you can. Easywdw.com has calendar predictions which days are best to tour which park. If your granddaughter has never been I suggest one reservation at least to something special like Be our Guest, the Cinderella Castle or a dinner show or character meal. You will have fun no matter what and enjoy!

 

[ktlm]

Yep- the new FP+/MDE totally drives me crazy. I hated it. I do plan. I pick which parks which days and plan 1 ADR a day (sometimes 2 for a day of the trip, if we decide to do a breakfast and then dinner, or have an extra restaurant we want to fit in). I also previously planned which ride I wanted to make a beeline for to get fast passes 1st thing in the morning (TSM, Soarin, Peter Pan). That's fine and I don't mind it at all. This planning a ride schedule in advance beyond the first FP we normally get in a day absolutely stinks. We go to WDW at least once a year (or we did before FP+- now that is in question) and I spent 3 hours trying to tweak the times so that we wouldn't be criss-crossing the park based on where I thought I would be during certain times of the day. It totally didn't work. FP+ kept us tied to the phone, was stressful, and made us criss-cross the parks and lose time. Trying to change FP+ while in the parks was next to impossible- MDE rarely worked for that, and when it did you would get messages that there were no times available for a ride you could walk to and pick up a regular FP that kicked in 40 minutes later. It stunk and we used it at a time when there was not yet tiering and regular FP was still available. The tiering and lack of regular FP, is why we have not booked a trip yet for 2014, and why it is doubtful we will do so. The direction WDW is going, it is going to be much worse for our next trip. It was really nice for the 1st FP of the day we usually get. I would set that one at 10:00 a.m., then I wouldn't stress if we were running late in the morning and when we got there, we would just go do things in that area until the FP+ kicked in. That worked well. Aside from that, our regular way of doing the parks, is that we generally go to an area, check the headliner- if the line isn't too long, we ride standby- If there is a FP that kicks in within an hour or hour and a half and the line is over 20 minutes, we grab a FP, then do everything else in that area until it kicks in. We then ride, finish up the area if we have not, and move on to the next park area. We don't go in hugely crowded times, so most rides this was not a problem, and it was very efficient. Now with FP+, we felt like we wasted a bunch of time running back and forth, left areas unfinished, and I sure felt my shopping time was pulverized as I rarely had time to browse the shops before having to run to another area. I will say that we really liked the magic bands themselves- and that says a lot because DH and DD normally absolutely hate wristbands.


We only have one kid. I expect for families with multiple kids who have different favorites the tiers are a nightmare. For example, how about a single parent with a one kid who loves Soarin and one that loves TT but either neither is old enough or is too scared to ride alone. You can't FP+ both rides. So, even if each kid only FP+ one of them, the parent can not FP+ both- not that they would leave one kid standing there. One kids favorite has to be picked for FP+, and the other kid gets left out. In a 2 parent family, the parents could split up- but if one kid likes both- they are left out in the cold on one of the 2 rides, unless the family agrees to split up again for someone to stand in line for an hour or more, or the whole family decides it is worth it to wait again.

It also would have been awful for us when DD was little. DD was obsessed with Peter Pan when she was little, when one FP for it was used, we got another-- we would FP that one probably 4 times in a day. If she didn't get multiple rides on that- it wasn't a good MK day for her. Other than maybe 1 FP for Pooh, that was it. We didn't FP any of the headliners. Now- she wouldn't be able to ride it more than once unless we stood in the long line over and over.

FP+ really stinks.


That said- it may stink, but it isn't going anywhere, so OP I think you are going to have to use it if the 11 year old wants to ride any headliners without huge lines. The system is user intuitive for initially setting up 3 ( on their schedule, not yours) and you will easily figure it out as it guides you through- but tweaking can take some time- it isn't hard to do and it is user intuitive as long as you are aware you can move one at a time- it is just very glitchy and involves moving things around like a puzzle to get times to come up. Just know to set 3, and then go in and change them 1 by 1, to the times you want and that you have to move things out of the way, to get other times to appear. Some people recommend that if you want morning and afternoon times, to pick the evening schedule it proposes for you- that way you can move them indidividually without having to shuffle things out of the way. Also- if you want a parade or nightime show (illuminations/fireworks), you have to have a FP+ set in that time slot or it won't come up as an option. Go ahead and set the FP+. Just because you have them set doesn't mean to have to use them- but you may very well wind up doing so due to the line lengths when you are there. By the time of your trip, they might have MDE working much better in the parks so that you can make some changes while there- but based on our experience, I wouldn't count on that and I would initially pick times you think may work for you.

 

[AaronInWI]

I think some people on here freak out. I like to take a deep breath every once in a while and be realistic. They don't want sit down meals? No problem. What does your granddaughter like? What is she in to? Speed and coasters or 'other'? When are you going?

I wouldn't freak out about the FP+. There is no need. You can be flexible. Pick things that are available the morning of. Could your choices be limited? Yes. Does it matter? No. You are at Disney. There is enough to do that it just doesn't matter. And I'm a planner. I'm THE planner in the family. I've stressed over the FP+ and the whens and the wheres and I've decided, it doesn't matter. We will do everything we want, and if it means we have to stand in a line to do it, who cares. My vacation and family time will NOT be ruined because I had to stand in a line for 30 minutes. And we have been before. My kids know what they want and what they are missing. The best part of taking a first timer? She doesn't know what she's missing!

If there was a way to "favorite" a post, I would do it for this one.

 

[Canooknic]

When we booked our latest trip I very nearly got sucked into the crazy world of planning every minute, then I thought about last year and how relaxed we all were and how much fun we had so all I have booked 1 meal at BOG, one character breakfast at H&V and FP+ for TSMM & TOT on that day. That's it. Maybe we're just lucky because we go in February so crowd levels are low but we didn't queue for more than 20 minutes in 9 days and the predicted levels for our next trip are even lower than last year!

I loved having supper and letting our boys decide where to go the following day, only once did we have to wait for a table for supper - it really was a complete shutdown from our usual life of schedules and routines - it was great!

 

[tndisneyfan]

I feel bad for guests who are out of the loop of all the changes going on,I mean I visit the parks 8-10 times a year,I'm on these boards daily and there's still things that have me confused.For example I got my magic bands a couple of weeks ago and they're linked to my AP's but I don't know if I can use the bands to enter the parks if I haven't checked into my room.It's not the biggest deal in the world but I just don't know,do I use my RFID AP or magic band before checking in,does anyone know?

I feel you DOOM. We travel to WDW 2-3 times a year (or more) for the last 5 years, and once a year for the 5 years before that. I thought I had it figured out. I'm so confused on my Magic Bands and APs. I still have time to figure it out though.

 

[songkat]

I completely agree. We have never gotten FP and the only thing we got FP + for on our recent trip were the MK parades and Fantasmic. We do plan what parks to go to on a specific day and make ADRs but we for example in the MK go to one land and do everything we want there and then go to the next one. We leave some time during a trip open to resort hop or maybe go back to a park since we always add on the park hopper feature.

I've gone without planning. I've planned every minute, and I have hired someone else to plan for me. I prefer to hire someone else now

However, any approach can be fun. You just have to know some of the limitations. For instance, if you don't plan in advance, to expect to eat at CRT or go to BBB. Sure there is always a chance, but chances are slim.

The only time in all my trips that I ever used FP was my last trip - we pulled it just once for Soarin' because there was no choice but to do that or wait two hours. As nice as it was, it's not our favorite way to tour the parks. We don't want to be expected to be somewhere at a certain time when we're there.

I did book a few FP+ for my upcoming trip just because I could, but I wouldn't be upset if I couldn't do that. I'm using maybe 4 for the entire trip just because they're there, and I put them at the beginning of the day so that I don't need to spend my day running around to make a certain time period.

I just can't understand this at all. Why would you want to wait in long lines and waste so much of your park time? FP got us on and off the rides so fast so we had plenty of time to do other things. I can't imagine trying to keep a 3 year old happy in a 60 minute wait line. To the OP I would try to get your 3 FP reservations so at least you won't have to wait for those rides. Have a great time!!

I can count on one hand the number of times that I had a 60 minute wait. In fact, I doubt I have ever had that sort of a wait. Maybe 45 minutes for Soarin' the first or second time I rode it, but otherwise, if a ride shows more than 20 minutes of a wait, I skip it and come back to it later when it's less of a wait.

Oh wait, I did do another wait for about 40-45 minutes - it was Peter Pan, and it moved slowly only because the FP holders were put on the ride more than the standby crowd. I counted - 12 standby people, then about 30 FP people, then maybe 10 standby, then another 25-30 FP. That's the only reason that ride's SB lines are so long, and it's a ride that doesn't need FP.

I'm not saying that FP isn't valuable; it is, and I would imagine especially during busy times. Since I don't go at the heaviest times, that's not something I really need to worry about. And I'm not normally traveling with children, although I did once with a 12 year old back in 1984, and then with 9 and 10 year old girls in 2008. On both of those visits, we never used any FP (obviously, it wasn't avaialble in 1984). But I can definitely see how valuable it is to not need to wait for a long time with a little one.

Also, I had no idea that people pulled Fast Passes all day long to go on nearly every ride that offered it. I thought that people used FP maybe once or twice a day, but all day long? The idea of needing to keep an entire day scheduled like that is not something that I want to do when I travel.

As for planning - I'm the queen of planning. I love pouring over information and photos on where I'm staying, what sort of plane my flight is taking, and reading up on the various attractions that I will see. But I don't extend that to planning what time I will visit attractions.