WDW Commando Club

[Disney Commando]

Hi there! I'm sooooooo glad I found this thread! I had no idea that my method of planning our Disney trips had a name - I like it! I've gone to WDW 6 times in the past 3 years, went twice in 2011, twice in 2012, once in 2013, and once in 2014. I went more often when I lived in FL, but now that I've relocated to VA, it's been pared down to once-yearly.

I have spreadsheets for every little detail: vacation packing list, itinerary (includes wake-up times, park hours w/EMH, bus times, flight info, confirmation numbers for flights/hotel/ME/etc), vacation savings plan, etc. I even plan free time, and always was told that it was weird that I did that, but now I know it's perfectly normal! When you're only able to squeeze in a <one week trip that includes a runDisney race (if not two!), you kinda have to be serious planning commando!

You are member #263 I think I can speak for all our members that planning out details is definitely not weird, what I find weird is those who spend all kinds of crazy money to go to WDW and not have a plan, If you look around during the day you will find groups that are getting frustrated because either things are not going as planned or have no idea what to do next, for me that is no way to spend a vacation

 

[Disney Commando]

I am finally out of school for the year and my trip to the UK is almost completely planned and upon me, and my best friend calmly suggests that maybe we should do disney again considering its been a minute. Plus Harry Potter is expanding....without blinking I went sure and then set upon DH and he surprisingly said yes! So yeah I have two months, 3 weeks of which I will be out of country to plan a disneyworld trip....hahahaha...not my style...but hey I am going to be there so screw it! Here goes nothing. I don't know everything that has changed in the last 2 years so help me! Please....hahahaha...I have kept up a bit on the magic bands and FP+ but am way behind compared to where I normally am.

Wow you are going to be quite the traveler the next couple months, AS long as you have access to the internet you should be able to do all your FP+'s and ADR's:good vibes, Is there anything particular that you need catching up on

 

[TanJDis2014]

So awesome that you are planing ahead Commando style! BAM I always tell people that the key to a successful trip at WDW is to have a plan, but be flexible. Keep in mind, rides have interruptions, waits are longer than expected, someone wants to <GASP> stray from your master plan! The nerve of these people! When you look at your plan and the times, don't paint yourself into a corner. If you try and hold to times too tightly (aside from actual FP+ and ADRs) you may find yourself exhausted and if things don't go as planned, frustrated and cranky! The major upside to our Commando approaches is that it reduces our wait times SIGNIFICANTLY! You'll be surprised at how many guests show up and are clueless about rides, FP and a myriad of other things that we have all researched to the nth degree! There are some great planning apps out there. Have you used any of them yet? Welcome aboard and happy planning!

I haven't used any apps. Just lots of notes on my phone and old fashioned paper what are some good apps?

 

[wareagle57]

I didn't know this thread existed. I am most definitely a commando. I went to Disney as a kid 3 times and never really noticed if we were commandos or not, though my mom tells now that she was an avid planner so I think she probably knew what to do. But I went back as an adult for the first time in 2012. Last year I got to go to Disneyland for 1 day and I knew I had to make the most of it. It was right after New Year's too so it was insanely crowded.

I had so much fun planning every ride and every detail in 15 minute increments. It was a crazy day but at the end of it, the people thanked me for getting us on so many rides. Towards the end of the night we were riding Mickey's fun wheel and the people we shared it with said they had only been on 4 or 5 rides because it was so crowded. They were so mad when I told them we had ridden every non-WDW duplicate and still rode most of those too. (Space, Pirates, Mansion, ToT twice, Soarin, Small World, Star Tours, Splash) Not to mention seeing the Aladdin show.

After that I wanted a bigger challenge. All 4 parks in 1 day. Every E-ticket ride and as much of the secondary rides as we could cram in. May 31st a friend and I successfully did it. We rode Space with only 15 minutes until the park closed but we made it. And my friend actually rode it again while I ran to ride Peter Pan and the Carousel before the park closed, making 27 rides in one day. I'll probably never find anyone willing to do it with me, but one day I'm going to try and ride every ride in one day.

I'm going back in December but this time it will be more relaxed. You can bet I'll still have a commando schedule for our mornings though.

 

[Luv2Run]

I'm assuming the Commando Club is pretty much pro-bypass check-in now that they're making that option available, right? I'm a fan of it, especially since we usually arrive pretty late (last time our flight landed at MCO at 11:50pm, we arrived at the resort around 12:45am), so it would be nice to be able to step off ME and go straight to the room to crash. Not that check-in takes all that long that late at night, but still...you don't want to talk to me when it's the middle of the night and I'm weary from traveling and just ready to go to bed.

It looks like POR, POFQ, and AKL have tested this new feature - I wonder if the other resorts will follow suit? And if so, I hope it's soon since we go back to WDW in February!

 

[Disney Commando]

I didn't know this thread existed. I am most definitely a commando. I went to Disney as a kid 3 times and never really noticed if we were commandos or not, though my mom tells now that she was an avid planner so I think she probably knew what to do. But I went back as an adult for the first time in 2012. Last year I got to go to Disneyland for 1 day and I knew I had to make the most of it. It was right after New Year's too so it was insanely crowded.

I had so much fun planning every ride and every detail in 15 minute increments. It was a crazy day but at the end of it, the people thanked me for getting us on so many rides. Towards the end of the night we were riding Mickey's fun wheel and the people we shared it with said they had only been on 4 or 5 rides because it was so crowded. They were so mad when I told them we had ridden every non-WDW duplicate and still rode most of those too. (Space, Pirates, Mansion, ToT twice, Soarin, Small World, Star Tours, Splash) Not to mention seeing the Aladdin show.

After that I wanted a bigger challenge. All 4 parks in 1 day. Every E-ticket ride and as much of the secondary rides as we could cram in. May 31st a friend and I successfully did it. We rode Space with only 15 minutes until the park closed but we made it. And my friend actually rode it again while I ran to ride Peter Pan and the Carousel before the park closed, making 27 rides in one day. I'll probably never find anyone willing to do it with me, but one day I'm going to try and ride every ride in one day.

I'm going back in December but this time it will be more relaxed. You can bet I'll still have a commando schedule for our mornings though.

You are member #264Nice Job on your 27 ride day, as far as finding someone to take you up on riding all the rides in one day, I'd say you are in the right neighborhood here

 

[brettcw23]

I haven't used any apps. Just lots of notes on my phone and old fashioned paper what are some good apps?

Touring Plans has an app and RideMax is another one.

They give you plans based on your travel party, interests, meal times, etc. I'm partial to Touring plans but I have a friend that swears by RideMax.

 

[Disney Commando]

I'm assuming the Commando Club is pretty much pro-bypass check-in now that they're making that option available, right? I'm a fan of it, especially since we usually arrive pretty late (last time our flight landed at MCO at 11:50pm, we arrived at the resort around 12:45am), so it would be nice to be able to step off ME and go straight to the room to crash. Not that check-in takes all that long that late at night, but still...you don't want to talk to me when it's the middle of the night and I'm weary from traveling and just ready to go to bed.

It looks like POR, POFQ, and AKL have tested this new feature - I wonder if the other resorts will follow suit? And if so, I hope it's soon since we go back to WDW in February!

I like the bypass check in idea, the one thing I always do though at check out is go to the desk to check out, although you can just leave without checking out, I like to get a copy of any charges (we never have any) but with all the scammers out there I feel better knowing right there that somehow something hasn't been charged to my room, it would really be upsetting to find out weeks later when your charge card bill comes. you can never be to cautious these days

 

[brettcw23]

Out of curiosity, does anyone here have a tried and true process for organizing your room when you get to your resort? This is something that's important to me. My kids will one day openly mock me b\c i always say "find a home for it.' when i find something just sitting on a table or something.

Aside from unpacking clothes, do you keep your resort room organized?

 

[AirGoofy]

Out of curiosity, does anyone here have a tried and true process for organizing your room when you get to your resort? This is something that's important to me. My kids will one day openly mock me b\c i always say "find a home for it.' when i find something just sitting on a table or something.

Aside from unpacking clothes, do you keep your resort room organized?

If it was up to me, I would keep all the clothes in the suitcase and the dirty clothes in a laundry bag nearby. When I travel, that's what I do. However, at WDW, our room always looks like an explosion. I think DW uses it as an anti-theft system.

 

[Disney Commando]

If it was up to me, I would keep all the clothes in the suitcase and the dirty clothes in a laundry bag nearby. When I travel, that's what I do. However, at WDW, our room always looks like an explosion. I think DW uses it as an anti-theft system.

We pretty much live out of the suitcase, even with that the room still manages to get stuff all over, the oily time we see the table is when we 1st walk in then it disappears or something until we check out

 

[brettcw23]

I like the bypass check in idea, the one thing I always do though at check out is go to the desk to check out, although you can just leave without checking out, I like to get a copy of any charges (we never have any) but with all the scammers out there I feel better knowing right there that somehow something hasn't been charged to my room, it would really be upsetting to find out weeks later when your charge card bill comes. you can never be to cautious these days

Ditto here. We once made sure my MIL had her KTTK mapped to her cc, but it didn't play out that way. EVERYTHING sowed up on our card. it was fixed easy enough, but to your point, it's good to check!

When using the DDP, I checked our entitlements DAILY. The entitlements got screwed up a few times.

 

[brettcw23]

If it was up to me, I would keep all the clothes in the suitcase and the dirty clothes in a laundry bag nearby. When I travel, that's what I do. However, at WDW, our room always looks like an explosion. I think DW uses it as an anti-theft system.

We pretty much live out of the suitcase, even with that the room still manages to get stuff all over, the oily time we see the table is when we 1st walk in then it disappears or something until we check out

I think I have some borderline OCD tendencies!
I need organized chaos at a minimum. Our house is CLEAN but always cluttered.

I like knowing where everything is and not wasting any time looking for things. I pick up different tips with each trip though. A couple of years ago, I just randomly took one side of the bathroom sink for my stuff. Never considered it, but I took the side with the outlet. Yeah, my wife took over my side every morning when she had to use the hairdryer.

 

[Disney Commando]

10 days to go and this is how our 1st park each day mornings early afternoons are looking

Day 1 - We will be arriving at the resort around 10:30am and my son wants to go to Epcot 1st
11:40 -12:40 Spaceship Earth
12:40 - 1:40 Test Track
1:50 - 2:50 Mission Space but might just get on line after TT so we can hit some of the WS

Day 2 Legoland

Day 3 - MK at RD we will head to 7DMT
9:15 - 10:15 Space Mountain
10:20 - 11:20 Peter Pan
11:25 - 12:25 Big Thunder Mountain
1pm - Haircut at Harmony Barbershop

Day 4 - EMH HS head to Rock n Roll Rollercoaster then TOT
9:20 - 10:20 Star Tours
10:25 - 11:25 Muppets
11:40 - 12:40 TSM

Day 5 - SeaWorld

Day 6 MK RD head to 7DMT
9:25 - 10:25 Splash Mountain
10:25 - 11:25 Space Mountain
11:25 - 12:25 Jungle Cruise

2:30 ADR Teppen Edo

Day 7 Busch Gardens Tampa

Day 8 AK EMH EE & Dino
9:55 - 10:55 Kilimanjaro Safari
10:55 - 11:55 EE
11:55 - 12:55 Dino

Day 9 MK Head to 7DMT
9:10 - 10:10 Space Mountain
10:20 - 11:20 Big Thunder Mountain
11:20 - 12:20 Buzz Lightyear

This is just the mornings, most likely after the last FP is used each day we will hop to another park, we will also be maximizing the time between FP's with smaller rides or shows (I like to plan all that out on the Autotrain ride getting to FL have 16hrs to kill) I only had 1 ADR, since this is a 4 trip year and this is the longest trip, we will be eating late lunches at places like the Splitzville bowling alley, Planet Hollywood, Pecos Bill, and will be visiting some food courts at different resorts (have to save a little cash for Nov trip)

With the AP during booking we got Memory Maker free, that was a nice savings, and we are planning to use it to the Max

 

[brettcw23]

10 days to go and this is how our 1st park each day mornings early afternoons are looking

Day 1 - We will be arriving at the resort around 10:30am and my son wants to go to Epcot 1st
11:40 -12:40 Spaceship Earth
12:40 - 1:40 Test Track
1:50 - 2:50 Mission Space but might just get on line after TT so we can hit some of the WS

Day 2 Legoland

Day 3 - MK at RD we will head to 7DMT
9:15 - 10:15 Space Mountain
10:20 - 11:20 Peter Pan
11:25 - 12:25 Big Thunder Mountain
1pm - Haircut at Harmony Barbershop

Day 4 - EMH HS head to Rock n Roll Rollercoaster then TOT
9:20 - 10:20 Star Tours
10:25 - 11:25 Muppets
11:40 - 12:40 TSM

Day 5 - SeaWorld

Day 6 MK RD head to 7DMT
9:25 - 10:25 Splash Mountain
10:25 - 11:25 Space Mountain
11:25 - 12:25 Jungle Cruise

2:30 ADR Teppen Edo

Day 7 Busch Gardens Tampa

Day 8 AK EMH EE & Dino
9:55 - 10:55 Kilimanjaro Safari
10:55 - 11:55 EE
11:55 - 12:55 Dino

Day 9 MK Head to 7DMT
9:10 - 10:10 Space Mountain
10:20 - 11:20 Big Thunder Mountain
11:20 - 12:20 Buzz Lightyear

This is just the mornings, most likely after the last FP is used each day we will hop to another park, we will also be maximizing the time between FP's with smaller rides or shows (I like to plan all that out on the Autotrain ride getting to FL have 16hrs to kill) I only had 1 ADR, since this is a 4 trip year and this is the longest trip, we will be eating late lunches at places like the Splitzville bowling alley, Planet Hollywood, Pecos Bill, and will be visiting some food courts at different resorts (have to save a little cash for Nov trip)

With the AP during booking we got Memory Maker free, that was a nice savings, and we are planning to use it to the Max

Now that's a full itinerary!

 

[AirGoofy]

10 days to go and this is how our 1st park each day mornings early afternoons are looking

Day 1 - We will be arriving at the resort around 10:30am and my son wants to go to Epcot 1st
11:40 -12:40 Spaceship Earth
12:40 - 1:40 Test Track
1:50 - 2:50 Mission Space but might just get on line after TT so we can hit some of the WS

Day 2 Legoland

Day 3 - MK at RD we will head to 7DMT
9:15 - 10:15 Space Mountain
10:20 - 11:20 Peter Pan
11:25 - 12:25 Big Thunder Mountain
1pm - Haircut at Harmony Barbershop

Day 4 - EMH HS head to Rock n Roll Rollercoaster then TOT
9:20 - 10:20 Star Tours
10:25 - 11:25 Muppets
11:40 - 12:40 TSM

Day 5 - SeaWorld

Day 6 MK RD head to 7DMT
9:25 - 10:25 Splash Mountain
10:25 - 11:25 Space Mountain
11:25 - 12:25 Jungle Cruise

2:30 ADR Teppen Edo

Day 7 Busch Gardens Tampa

Day 8 AK EMH EE & Dino
9:55 - 10:55 Kilimanjaro Safari
10:55 - 11:55 EE
11:55 - 12:55 Dino

Day 9 MK Head to 7DMT
9:10 - 10:10 Space Mountain
10:20 - 11:20 Big Thunder Mountain
11:20 - 12:20 Buzz Lightyear

This is just the mornings, most likely after the last FP is used each day we will hop to another park, we will also be maximizing the time between FP's with smaller rides or shows (I like to plan all that out on the Autotrain ride getting to FL have 16hrs to kill) I only had 1 ADR, since this is a 4 trip year and this is the longest trip, we will be eating late lunches at places like the Splitzville bowling alley, Planet Hollywood, Pecos Bill, and will be visiting some food courts at different resorts (have to save a little cash for Nov trip)

With the AP during booking we got Memory Maker free, that was a nice savings, and we are planning to use it to the Max

Sounds fun. Let me know which one works best - AM or AM/early afternoon FPs. We did 12:30, 1:30, 2:30 FP at Epcot the last time. Walked on to Test Track & Mission Space, Figment, lunch at Seasons, then FP of Soarin, Living Land, and Turtle Talk. We got in Circle of Life, Nemo, Aquarium time, and free Visa picture in there. We double backed for Ellen and we did countries in the PM with Via Napoli ADR. We never did a 4th FP.

I tried to keep out of the sun at the afternoon and time lunch away from peak time. It worked well for us. I've read about getting the morning FPs and then adding the extras thigh out the day.

 

[brettcw23]

Sounds fun. Let me know which one works best - AM or AM/early afternoon FPs. We did 12:30, 1:30, 2:30 FP at Epcot the last time. Walked on to Test Track & Mission Space, Figment, lunch at Seasons, then FP of Soarin, Living Land, and Turtle Talk. We got in Circle of Life, Nemo, Aquarium time, and free Visa picture in there. We double backed for Ellen and we did countries in the PM with Via Napoli ADR. We never did a 4th FP.

I tried to keep out of the sun at the afternoon and time lunch away from peak time. It worked well for us. I've read about getting the morning FPs and then adding the extras thigh out the day.

The ability to get FP+ after you use your first 3 will influence our choices. In some instances, we'd choose PM FP and just hit the parks early and try and get the big ticket rides in. I need to deliberate on this. I'm curious to hear from others' experiences.

 

[Disney Commando]

The ability to get FP+ after you use your first 3 will influence our choices. In some instances, we'd choose PM FP and just hit the parks early and try and get the big ticket rides in. I need to deliberate on this. I'm curious to hear from others' experiences.

How quick you can use a 4th Fps will depend on what you pick, the last couple of trips we found in the MK it is best to try to get the big rides in the AM then when it is time to get a 4th FP if you choose a non E ticket ride like BuzzSRP, POTC, Jungle Cruise we have gotten them from as soon as you get to the ride to maybe 15 or 20mins from the time we made the next FP. You are not really saving a huge amount of time but all these rides have at least a 30min wait later in the day, so 15mins saved on a ride is something else you can do later on

For most of the E ticket rides in the parks we have found that if you can get a FP for it after you use your 3, it will either be sold out or really late, four some strange reason both trips we were able to get Star Tours with almost no time delay on a later FP

 

[brettcw23]

How quick you can use a 4th Fps will depend on what you pick, the last couple of trips we found in the MK it is best to try to get the big rides in the AM then when it is time to get a 4th FP if you choose a non E ticket ride like BuzzSRP, POTC, Jungle Cruise we have gotten them from as soon as you get to the ride to maybe 15 or 20mins from the time we made the next FP. You are not really saving a huge amount of time but all these rides have at least a 30min wait later in the day, so 15mins saved on a ride is something else you can do later on

For most of the E ticket rides in the parks we have found that if you can get a FP for it after you use your 3, it will either be sold out or really late, four some strange reason both trips we were able to get Star Tours with almost no time delay on a later FP

I get the angle regarding using the big rides in a.m b\c thw ait times only get longer as the day goes, ut you lost me one part.

What do you mean by E ticket ride versus non E ticket ride?

 

[Disney Commando]

I get the angle regarding using the big rides in a.m b\c thw ait times only get longer as the day goes, ut you lost me one part.

What do you mean by E ticket ride versus non E ticket ride?

Guess I'm really dating myself now, Way back in the 70's Walt Disney World used tickets for the rides that were lettered A - E the E tickets were the popular or bigger rides, (ex. Jungle Cruise, Small World, Haunted Mansion etc) yup back in the day rides like this were the BIG ones

So the E ticket ride reference is just the Old School Disney way of the 70's of saying popular rides or attractions, a non E ticket ride would be a less popular rides and attractions