Trips: Relaxed, Commando, or Somewhere In Between?

[cruisingkat]

Totally relaxed - we only go to the park for about two to three hours and then back to the resort or mini golf or shop. In the evening (Wed-Sat) we go to POFQ to hear Elliot Dyson at the Scat Cat Club.
We even play bus roulette to decide on a park - whichever park bus comes in first after we get to the bus stop is the resort we go to.

 

[MouseEarsForAll]

Lots of in-betweeners!

 

[kathy884]

I'm not sure any of your selections fits our touring style. We usually just do three theme park days per trip and three non park days where we relax at our resort and/or do smaller attractions. Our first two theme park days (Day 1 and Day 3 of our trip are commando big time -- to the extreme and great fun by the way) -- up a rope drop and at the front of the line, each party with a copy of the touring plan in hand, and we follow the plan (decide night before what to add or skip) -- jogging to the first attraction (often the first people on the ride), staying at the park till it closes. Great fun, but super structured. We have a big group, so planning our theme park strategy ahead of time together works so well. Hey we just do one Disney park a year and we want to get our monies worth since the one day cost is about $90 pp (Since we just go one day, cost per day is very high). We hit our first day at SeaWorld the same way. Sea World is day 1. A Disney park is day 3.// Days 2, 4, and 6 (sleep as late as we want, relaxed brunch at condo, a little tennis, a little swimming, maybe something like the Titanic attraction or Gatorland, relaxed dinner (order pizza or go some place like Sweet Tomatoes), family games or movie at the condo and visiting with family, time hanging out on the balcony / patio just talking, enjoying the nice weather. And theme park day #3 (Day 5 of the trip) is a second day at SeaWorld (that great pricing (second day free) gets us there again, plus we love the park). We get there later (not at rope drop), have plans to just do a partial day, but end up having so much fun that we usually stay till closing on this day too.

So bottom line: Two Commmando days, Three relaxing days, and one in between day is the pattern on almost every trip.

Note: We go high season -- Christmas, busy spring break weeks, and IMHO touring plans if you want to do a lot on your park days really help.

 

[MouseEarsForAll]

I'm not sure any of your selections fits our touring style. We usually just do three theme park days per trip and three non park days where we relax at our resort and/or do smaller attractions. Our first two theme park days (Day 1 and Day 3 of our trip are commando big time -- to the extreme and great fun by the way) -- up a rope drop and at the front of the line, each party with a copy of the touring plan in hand, and we follow the plan (decide night before what to add or skip) -- jogging to the first attraction (often the first people on the ride), staying at the park till it closes. Great fun, but super structured. We have a big group, so planning our theme park strategy ahead of time together works so well. Hey we just do one Disney park a year and we want to get our monies worth since the one day cost is about $90 pp (Since we just go one day, cost per day is very high). We hit our first day at SeaWorld the same way. Sea World is day 1. A Disney park is day 3.// Days 2, 4, and 6 (sleep as late as we want, relaxed brunch at condo, a little tennis, a little swimming, maybe something like the Titanic attraction or Gatorland, relaxed dinner (order pizza or go some place like Sweet Tomatoes), family games or movie at the condo and visiting with family, time hanging out on the balcony / patio just talking, enjoying the nice weather. And theme park day #3 (Day 5 of the trip) is a second day at SeaWorld (that great pricing (second day free) gets us there again, plus we love the park). We get there later (not at rope drop), have plans to just do a partial day, but end up having so much fun that we usually stay till closing on this day too.

So bottom line: Two Commmando days, Three relaxing days, and one in between day is the pattern on almost every trip.

Note: We go high season -- Christmas, busy spring break weeks, and IMHO touring plans if you want to do a lot on your park days really help.

That would probably be in-between.

 

[janiejake]

Middle of the roader, here, too. Commando? Absolutely not. But, we have a general plan, and are willing to change things up, based on crowd patterns, and our general desire to "do" a certain Park. DH is big on Park entertainment, and there is nothing musical that he won't stop to listen to. We PH, and it's rare to be in only one park for the day...unless it is Epcot. We make a few ADRs after reviewing Park hours. Flexible is Fun.

 

[autismgoesdisney]

I am with the majority here. In between.

I admit in the past I was a total commando. Now that we go every year, we have changed our ways. It is ok now for me to sit by the pool for a full day if the kids want! I NEVER would have done that two years ago!

Now, every trip we plan what day we will do each park. Last year we changed some things while ON vacation, while in the past I never would have okayed that lol! We also do the dining plan so we have an ADR each day that we try to keep.

Other than that, I willl now do without a touring plan and just do what the kids/hubby and I want to do. The kids now have their favorites that they love to ride over and over again. As long as crowds are low, I LOVE that!

 

[hops&dreams]

We're in-betweeners too. But extreme in-betweeners. (does that make sense? It will in a second, after I explain.)

This is what I did for our last trip, and we enjoyed it so much we're doing it for our upcoming trip as well:
I plan the first 4 days with a park on each day. AK is our 4th park and our sleep-in day (we don't enjoy AK nearly as much as the other parks, as we are already at our local zoo alot, and behind the scenes there a fair amount.) The rest of the trip, we just have ADR's that we have to get to, at resorts, so we re-visit whatever parks we feel like. This usually includes another full day at Epcot, and even dropping into MK to go one one ride on our way to dinner or another park. When we get into a park, even during the first 4 days, we just walk in and meander around, hopping on rides that look interesting as we pass them. Of course, some parks have their rides that we MUST do, like Star Tours (we're Star Wars freaks in this house!), IASW, ToT, etc.

So, relaxed, but on a loose schedule. Does that make sense now? Clear as mud, right?

 

[Dan Murphy]

Relaxed. I am there for a vacation, not a mission. I do plan what park/s on what days/nights, preferring the low crowd parks rather than the high crowd ones.

 

[bowbat]

In-betweeners leaning towards relaxed.

We plan out which park we'll go to each day & decide which attractions are "must dos." We get to the parks fairly early (but not rope drop) and knock out our must dos first thing. Then we just sort of leisurely stroll around and do whatever the mood strikes. Our late afternoons & evenings are almost always spent just chilling out at the resort. Our upcoming trip we don't even have any ADRs. We did, but cancelled them because we just didn't want to feel locked in to anything.

Our main goal is to relax & have fun. If lines are too long or we miss out on something, well, we'll do it next time.

 

[wahoostampingirl]

Our family is in-betweeners, but only because I can't convince them to be commandos! I like having touring plans and following them. My dh and kids think they just want to go with the flow. However, I've noticed they are actually happier when we follow a plan. So like some other posters, we go commando in the morning and take a more relaxed approach in the afternoons and evenings. We do go every year, but I still want to do everything!

 

[RedfromNL]

In between.

We sort-of plan ahead when we will do what. But if the wheather decides to interfere or we just don't feel like it we are able to change our plans rapidly.

But I do like to plan ahead, just to have a frame of some sort as a basis for any holiday. Plus I always have a list of alternative activities and when everything is open. Nothing is so annoying as saving something for the last day and then finding out that that museum/park/whatever is never open on a monday!

For our Disney-holiday I planned when to do what park, but we have hoppers in case we change our minds, even halfway the day I made a few reservations, the rest is wide-open, depending on our mood.

Just two months now!!

 

[MouseEarsForAll]

We're in-betweeners too. But extreme in-betweeners. (does that make sense? It will in a second, after I explain.)

This is what I did for our last trip, and we enjoyed it so much we're doing it for our upcoming trip as well:
I plan the first 4 days with a park on each day. AK is our 4th park and our sleep-in day (we don't enjoy AK nearly as much as the other parks, as we are already at our local zoo alot, and behind the scenes there a fair amount.) The rest of the trip, we just have ADR's that we have to get to, at resorts, so we re-visit whatever parks we feel like. This usually includes another full day at Epcot, and even dropping into MK to go one one ride on our way to dinner or another park. When we get into a park, even during the first 4 days, we just walk in and meander around, hopping on rides that look interesting as we pass them. Of course, some parks have their rides that we MUST do, like Star Tours (we're Star Wars freaks in this house!), IASW, ToT, etc.

So, relaxed, but on a loose schedule. Does that make sense now? Clear as mud, right?

Yeah...

 

[Chellymouse]

Back in the day, we were die hard commandos. Out by 7am and being in by midnight was "early" for us. Now that we've had DVC for a few years and go a little more often, we are more in between. Yes, there are certain things that we want to do and we book at the first available minute to ensure we get to do those things and there are a few restaurants that we make ADRs on the first day of our 180 day window, but we don't plan nearly as much as we used to.

 

[blondietink]

For us it depends on the weather and time of year and park hours. For summer when it is so hot, we go in early, break in the afternoon and then go back to the parks for late, late hours. Or we just go in at 4 pm and stay until 1 or 2 am when it is so, so hot.

In the winter time, when all the parks close early, we are very much commando people .... got to get things done before the parks close for the evening. Get in early again and stay until they close.

Spring and fall it is a combination of the two depending on how hot it is and how late the parks are open.

 

[OKW Lover]

About all the planning we do now (after uncounted number of visits) is to plan a nice meal or two beforehand and perhaps meeting some DIS friends. The rest is totally winging it.

 

[bizeemom4]

Total Commando. I can relax anywhere. I go to Disney to do everything that I possibly can in the span of 10 days.

 

[souris]

I like to tour commando-style... I also have a trip binder with dividers... I know which parks are to be avoided, what we should eat as snacks to max credits, tips for parade and show viewing I do this so my family can have a relaxed trip... they rarely have to wait more than 15 minutes for a ride, they have a great view of parades and get to see so much! So commando for me, relaxed for everyone else I travel with!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I need more details to answer. How "commando" are we talking about?

We have a binder
We have a touring plan, but NOT down to the minute
We have ADRs.
We WILL go off script of the feeling suits up, usually if we are ahead of ourselves.

So, that probably puts us somewhere between "commando" and "in between"?

 

[MouseEarsForAll]

I need more details to answer. How "commando" are we talking about?

We have a binder
We have a touring plan, but NOT down to the minute
We have ADRs.
We WILL go off script of the feeling suits up, usually if we are ahead of ourselves.

So, that probably puts us somewhere between "commando" and "in between"?

Okay, then you are 'in-between'! It doesn't matter what you are in-between of(Example: commando-relaxed, relaxed-inbetween, etc.). As long as you can put an 'in-between' before it, that is what you vote for!

 

[goofy289]

We plan our mornings like crazy so we know what fast passes to get and what rides/attractions to hit early before lines. Then, after an afternoon pool break, we are pretty relaxed with what we do. It's kind of nice because then we can be flexible and do things that everyone wants to do.