My wife and I are making our first DLR visit in November. I'm curious how the differences in size between WDW and DLR will affect us. We do have a plan and that is to spend RD till whenever in SWGE on our first day........so there is a partial plan. After that, we got nothing......we see resturants we'd like to try but nothing etched in stone. People keep telling us we won't like DLR because we've become to accustom to WDW. I guess we'll see
Makes the anticipation greater in my mind.
That's exactly my point though. You DON'T have to plan your entire trip in advance. We go to WDW every year at least once and sometimes twice, sometimes for 2 weeks at a time. We make NO ADRs. We make very few if any FPs in advance. And we have a great time. The whole "you have to have a spreadsheet and plan every moment of every day" is fine if you actually enjoy that but that's not how we want to travel so we don't.
I agree completely. So many people show up at WDW as if they were showing up at their local amusement park. They do no research and simply don't understand how massive and how crowded WDW is. Then they're disappointed with the experience. We go knowing full well what we're doing and what our trip will look like. Some days, that means spending the whole day in a park and only doing 3 attractions that we made FPs for the night before, and we're just fine with that.
I bought some of the new Pride merchandise the day it became available on the Shop Disney website. I also selected the Pride Magic Band for my AP when that went affect for a hot minute. For the 20th, I will probably wear the Rainbow hats I purchased. And I am not much of a hat person, but it will be August and hot.
I do agree with what you're saying here for folks like us....diehards
.........but when you(me, anyone of us) think back to your first visit.......did you do the research? I know for a fact when we went back in 1998 we had no clue! Back then it was 3 parks.........and quite a different thing. Like you, I consider myself more of a seasoned WDW traveler......while I plan (less than i did).....I go in with what I believe are valid expectations based on research and experience. I don't wing it because I just "don't" neither point of view is incorrect for the person impacted. I talk to folks traveling to WDW for the first time and try to help with those expectations and they're eyes glaze over.......when they get back they usually thank me because they weren't surprised.
I do agree with what you're saying here for folks like us....diehards
We here are Disney nerds........the vast majority of folks who visit WDW don't visit as often as many of us do. Unless they have a TA setting realistic expectations and helping them "organize" their trip.......most will be overwhelmed with the size and sheer multitude of choices.
Doug
You bet I did. I was a Disney nerd back then too. I watched every TV show and studied every brochure and guide we got from our travel agent and anything else I could get my hands on. I knew that park (there was only one at the time) inside and out before we stepped off the plane in Orlando.I do agree with what you're saying here for folks like us....diehards
Sadly, "downtime in the parks" is no longer a thing. It simply doesn't exist anymore. The crowd level during the "slow" days today is similar to what the crowd level used to be on the busy days years ago. And the busy days are now over the top insanely busy. I think this is the single biggest factor in lower guest satisfaction. It certainly is for me. More and more, I find myself enjoying the parks less because of the massive crowds.
Our first trip was in 1978. We got our park tickets in advance. We got our tickets for SeaWorld in advance. We reserved Hoop De Doo and the Polynesian Luau in advance. It was all done through our travel agent. That was pretty much all the planning one could do at the time. I don't think we had any other dining reservations but it was only a 4-night trip.
