unblieveable!

[DisneyPsycho]

I would be the first person to jump on her and try to convince her that she should have a plan lol.. makes me crazy when people don't have one BUT I always keep in mind that I might be acting pushy so I offer advice and then see if they want more...(my co-workers always ask me to check for deals for their vacations, no matter where they are going) all that being said she is going during a VERY quiet time and will most likely have walk on lines and she is going to think that it is like that all the time and will think you (we) are nuts for all the planning ...My daughter and I were just discussing about how our own commando plans will probably be unneccessary for next week ( not that we won't stick to them!!) I would simply direct her to a few planning websites and remind her that it is free dining time and if she does want to do some sit downs that she should make a few reservations..I personally love the planning stage, it is part of the fun FOR ME.. not everyone is the same way Non planners, for the most part, report great vacations, too

 

[bumbershoot]

for all of us who like to plan and have to 'know it all', there are those who like to wing it. nothing wrong with it.

OK...no one noticed...

"3 parks. Disneyland, that zoo thing and some california adventure"?

There's winging it, and there's simply not knowing where you're going...

At least they are going at a good time (unless they want to eat TS ). Much better than if they went during a holiday or summer.

??? It's summer until around Sept 22. There are *plenty* of schools that are still not open across the country; many don't open until after Labor Day.

And, of course, if she's going in 2 weeks that means she's getting there the week *before* Labor Day weekend...not sure about crowd patterns at WDW, but at DLR, the crowds start the week before a Monday-holiday weekend, and get crazy just before the actual holiday Monday... Since we don't know how long her vacation is going to be, she might well be putting herself right into a summer holiday...

 

[grimley1968]

We have more fun when we don't plan everything out to the last meal than when we do.

Don't get me wrong, I still plan things down to which parks we'll go to on which days, so as to avoid crowds but also easily make the few ADR's we do now. For the most part we prefer just getting counter service in the parks and eating TS in the resorts if possible. We're going with some friends this time, though, and they wanted to eat at some TS places in the parks, so we have a few ADR's with them.

As much as I love to plan out our trips (I have Google calendars of every trip we've made since 2005), I do it mostly because it is a form of escapism from work, etc. For the most part we hardly even look at the calendar when we're there, except for ADR's.

But there is very little in our plans that we can't change on a moment's notice. That is similar in just winging it like the OP's friend wishes to.

I would intervene in a couple of respects with the friend, just to prevent disaster:

- Explain to friend how FP's work, and give a general strategy about how to use them efficiently
- Explain to friend about how "free dining" affect TS restaurant availability at this late date (if they enjoy CS food, then this won't affect them)
- Give friend some WDW transportation pointers
- Explain where parks are, DtD and the waterparks. This is a "friendly" reminder to friend to maybe get online a little and do some basic research.

Yes, all these things can be learned while there, but it's good to know them in advance. As for planning anything else, I'm kind of with the OP's friend. Any further planning beyond that can seem an awful lot like work on vacation if you're running around trying to make your vacation fit carefully laid plans.

 

[Ksquared]

I remember the days you could go to Disney and call in the morning to get a reservation for that night etc. Sometimes I think that was more fun because you could be a little more spontaneous or not have to decide 180 days in advance which restaurants you would be eating in during your trip.

While I've never done touring plans, I've been enough times that I know the parks pretty well; I know how to get from one area to another and which rides are in which general area. I try to plan my days around our ADR's and sometimes I'll take advantage of EMH and sometimes I wont.

With that said, we are going this year for x-mas week for the very first time. I'm nervous about the crowds etc. I have an idea of what to expect and I've decided to make as many rope drops as I can, leave the parks when it's really crowded and use FP as much as possible. In my mind, I have an idea of the best way to get from ride to ride but if it doesn't happen that way I'm okay with it.....so while I don't have my days totally planned out, I at least have a gameplan.

In my mind I figure that the percentage of people are who having the laid back trip are helping the percentage of people who know the ins and outs and have their plans set up.....if everybody read the boards and laid their plans out ahead of time, I bet we'd all be in the same place at the same time and that wouldn't be a good thing....so we need some people in the parks that have no clue to make our plans possible!

 

[carone0318]

We leave in 4 days. I have our meals planned out for each day (TS only, mostly dinners). I am armed with details of what parks have EHM, where the characters are and times for the parks, show times and such, but I have no idea what parks we will be in and when. I'll ask the kids where they want to go the night before and I'll work with that. We go ever yr and get done everything we want to do - if by chance we don't, then we'll hit it next yr.

So, I would label us semi-commando - laid back, but armed with tons of information!

 

[klj27]

The thing I keep thinking is what a pp said.... she isn't winging it.... she doesn't even know what state she is in!

 

[NYUBwayBaby]

Not everyone has to have an itinerary. My family never does. We just do our own thing and I've always loved our trips (15+ in 22 years). We just go with the flow. Granted, we never ate in the parks when I was younger or really stayed on property (or even in a hotel- we stayed at a KOA most of the time). Different people have different styles. Having any sort of real itinerary on vacation makes me crazy. The most we ever really do is plan out which park we're going to. When we actually stayed at Pop and got a free DDP my parents would go to the desk in the morning and see what was opening and just make a reservation for whatever. We had a great time and really enjoyed the restaurants we ate at.
In all honestly, someone coming in and telling me how I should do it (like my BFs mom is likely to do for the next trip) would drive me bonkers.

 

[MHSweb79]

It's interesting to note that the non-planners tend to post something like "we've gone 15-20 times in the last X years and we never have a plan! We sleep in and jump on the first bus that arrives!"

Well, yeah - if I were lucky enough to go 15 or 20 times I wouldn't need a plan either. But some of us feel lucky to go 2-3 times in 10-15 years, and we want to see and experience as much as we can while we're there, without spending our whole day waiting in lines. Planning can make a tremendous difference in those circumstances.

I agree with filling this friend in on the very basics- such as the four parks and Downtown Disney, how to use FP's, understanding the effect of EMH, dining expectations, etc.

 

[W.E.D.]

this will be our first wdw trip, we're going with make a wish, and staying at give kids the world. maw books our flights, rental car, accomidations and park tickets. the only planning i'm gonna do is to check out touringplans once we know our dates, make one or 2 adr (cs is fine with us), read lots of dis boards for tips, then go and have a good time. we want to be able to come and go as we please, and not worry if we don't get to do.everything we want to do. that gives us an excuse to start planning our next trip!

My family went on a MAW trip in '03. You will love Give Kids The World! Take a little time to check it out before heading to Disney. It's a great place. And take advantage of the free ice cream!

 

[WDSearcher]

soooo. I have a friend who just decided YESTERDAY to take her family to WDW in TWO WEEKS!!!! I told her that if she insisted on going so soon that I would help her try to get an itinerary hammered out. her response?

"nah.. its a vacation. we'll just wing it"



then she was like " there's what 3 parks. Disneyland, that zoo thing and some california adventure?"

I just walked off muttering.

If this is a good friend, I think I might pick up one of the various guides to WDW and give it to her as a "pre-trip" gift. Just so that they understand the scope of the place. If they way to wing it, that is certainly their choice -- and a lot of people who do wing it have wonderful trips. However, it would be helpful of you to let her know that Disneyland and DCA are both in California, and if she's going to the Florida parks, there are four of them and she might want to skim through the book just to know.

It's up to her if she wants to open the book or not, but it would be a nice gift on your part.

 

[lucyem]

If this is a good friend, I think I might pick up one of the various guides to WDW and give it to her as a "pre-trip" gift. Just so that they understand the scope of the place. If they way to wing it, that is certainly their choice -- and a lot of people who do wing it have wonderful trips. However, it would be helpful of you to let her know that Disneyland and DCA are both in California, and if she's going to the Florida parks, there are four of them and she might want to skim through the book just to know.

It's up to her if she wants to open the book or not, but it would be a nice gift on your part.

Thats a really good suggestion. Winging it is fine. But to not know where you are going????

I had to bite my tongue last week. I ran into the parents of a friend of my sons. They are going to Disney for the first time in years. No ADR's, mom refuses to plan ahead, taking their son to see WWOHP while sending daughter to a princess breakfast. Remember she said no ADRs. I mentioned the crowds at Universal this summer and she said she hated Florida and they would not be back again if she had anything to say about it so had to go now.

 

[Metro West]

We've done over 20 WDW vacations, have never made a rope drop, wouldn't dream of a touring plan, make very few ADR's ahead of time. We've always had a great time.

 

[d1gitman]

OK...no one noticed...

"3 parks. Disneyland, that zoo thing and some california adventure"?

There's winging it, and there's simply not knowing where you're going...

oh, i noticed but figured it didn't matter. they will find out that it is MK, AK, DHS and Epcot soon enough

??? It's summer until around Sept 22. There are *plenty* of schools that are still not open across the country; many don't open until after Labor Day.

And, of course, if she's going in 2 weeks that means she's getting there the week *before* Labor Day weekend...not sure about crowd patterns at WDW, but at DLR, the crowds start the week before a Monday-holiday weekend, and get crazy just before the actual holiday Monday... Since we don't know how long her vacation is going to be, she might well be putting herself right into a summer holiday...

i would venture the bet that the weekend of Labor day will be crowded beginning on Fri evening and ending Mon morning. That has been our experience with holidays that are celebrated on Mondays.

 

[KellyNY]

Thats a really good suggestion. Winging it is fine. But to not know where you are going????

I had to bite my tongue last week. I ran into the parents of a friend of my sons. They are going to Disney for the first time in years. No ADR's, mom refuses to plan ahead, taking their son to see WWOHP while sending daughter to a princess breakfast. Remember she said no ADRs. I mentioned the crowds at Universal this summer and she said she hated Florida and they would not be back again if she had anything to say about it so had to go now.

You not going to believe it. I searched local tour companies, and could not resist to check what they offer in Orlando and some call Disney World DL, unbelievable, they claim to be professionals.

 

[brooklynnbaby]

Our friends did that... someone else bought their tickets, someone else booked lodging, and they just went. NO planning. And guess what?!?! While they had their good moments, they really didn't have a great time. It felt so bad! They complained about not being able to get into any restaurants and character dining, grumbled about the ridiculousness of getting autographs (and having to keep telling their kids, "NO! We're not getting autographs." ), and being stuck "walking around and standing in lines all day." Oh, and "Magic Kingdom was a waste of time. Don't bother going, just go to Animal Kingdom." !!!!!!! They figuered our FP and Baby Swap, thankfully.

While I think some last-minute trips can be successful, there HAS to be some planning, no matter how last-minute.

 

[bytheblood]

I do know people who go and wing it and have a fantastic time. It is all about people's personalities. If you are not uptight, anal or require details to a T, it is totally possible. People do it all the time.

 

[Maliki2]

soooo. I have a friend who just decided YESTERDAY to take her family to WDW in TWO WEEKS!!!! I told her that if she insisted on going so soon that I would help her try to get an itinerary hammered out. her response?

"nah.. its a vacation. we'll just wing it"



then she was like " there's what 3 parks. Disneyland, that zoo thing and some california adventure?"



I just walked off muttering.

Well its better than my wifes friend who went on free dining and used double TS credits for pizza on multiple nights!

 

[grafxgirl]

We had a friend who wanted to do WDW back in the spring and asked us for advise on planning since we are DVC members and Disney veterans. We told her everything and I even offered to do all the leg work for her since I do some "fun work as a travel agent" for my MIL's travel agency, which specializes in Disney vacations.

Several weeks later, we get this message that she decided to "wing it" and go down, no planning, no advanced resort reservations, no dining. She said, although they had a good time, they will listen to us the next time.

See thread here:
http://www.shannondale.org/forum/showthread.php?19499-Disney-Advice

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Some people are perfectly fine to get up late, hit the parks at noon, ride a couple of things and see a couple of shows. I know, those people aren't here on the DIS, but I'm pretty sure they exist in nature.

There's plenty of info on all the parks once she gets there.

I think the issue is more than they seem to have done no research. They don't even know how many parks there are or the correct names. What are the chances that they understand the park pass system (MYW), or the transportation, or fastpass.

Planning isn't necessary, but some pre-trip research usually is. Would you just pack your bags and go overseas without looking into the details of the country beforehand?

I remember the days you could go to Disney and call in the morning to get a reservation for that night etc. Sometimes I think that was more fun because you could be a little more spontaneous or not have to decide 180 days in advance which restaurants you would be eating in during your trip.

Whenever I hear this it makes me think of people that say "I remember the days when a house cost $5000, no one had cell phones, a computer filled an entire room"...etc. Nostalgia always makes things look different/better than they actually were. There were different issues with WDW when it was smaller, just as there are now that it is larger.

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

Keep in mind that most of us in Dis are probably not normal. I mean come on, even when we're not at WDW, we're still thinking, talking and writing about it.

So it's almost to be expected that most of us are going to do a fair amount of planning. I couldn't imagine going to WDW without lining up some ADR's and at least having a general plan of which park we're doing in the morning and which park in the evening. But for the vast majority of "amateurs", they're probably not making ADR's, they're not wondering if Tour Guide Mike is better than Touring Plans and they've never heard of a crowd calendar. These are also the same people who, instead of getting a FastPass and seeing/riding something else in the meantime, will stand in the standby line for 90 minutes to ride Soarin'. Hey, if they're happy, who am I to judge?