What do you use to plan in advance?

[RossK]

I'm interested in hearing how people 'draw out' their WDW plans? Do you just wing it and wait for ADRs to open, or do you have a spreadsheet template you use to plan where you'll be and when?

I currently use quite a complex Excel spreadsheet built up over many years... In years gone by, it even did Dining Plan calculations - although we've not had the dining plan for years, so the later revisions don't have it. What has always frustrated me is if I want to swap reservations around, its a lot of copy and pasting. It got me thinking about what other options are out there.

For me, part of the fun ahead of the vacation is planning it out, sort of living the experience a bit in advance - looking at menus, etc.

I'm very tempted to build something a bit more dedicated, but I'm curious to hear how you're all going about your planning?

 

[team bradfield]

I'm interested in hearing how people 'draw out' their WDW plans? Do you just wing it and wait for ADRs to open, or do you have a spreadsheet template you use to plan where you'll be and when?

I currently use quite a complex Excel spreadsheet built up over many years... In years gone by, it even did Dining Plan calculations - although we've not had the dining plan for years, so the later revisions don't have it. What has always frustrated me is if I want to swap reservations around, its a lot of copy and pasting. It got me thinking about what other options are out there.

For me, part of the fun ahead of the vacation is planning it out, sort of living the experience a bit in advance - looking at menus, etc.

I'm very tempted to build something a bit more dedicated, but I'm curious to hear how you're all going about your planning?

I also use a complex excel spreadsheet. Even add daily $ for souvenirs/ fuel, etc. Usually comes pretty close to actual cost

 

[slo]

Sadly, I'm boring and just a pen and paper - nothing fancy.
Right before our trip I type out our itinerary with our ADR confirmation numbers and show times in case the MDE isn't working, which will never happen, but I must be prepared - LOL!!

 

[hardcorestitch]

I'm interested in hearing how people 'draw out' their WDW plans? Do you just wing it and wait for ADRs to open, or do you have a spreadsheet template you use to plan where you'll be and when?

I currently use quite a complex Excel spreadsheet built up over many years... In years gone by, it even did Dining Plan calculations - although we've not had the dining plan for years, so the later revisions don't have it. What has always frustrated me is if I want to swap reservations around, its a lot of copy and pasting. It got me thinking about what other options are out there.

For me, part of the fun ahead of the vacation is planning it out, sort of living the experience a bit in advance - looking at menus, etc.

I'm very tempted to build something a bit more dedicated, but I'm curious to hear how you're all going about your planning?

I “script” the top 3 attractions in my Disney visit (note that I don’t park hop… it may be a different story for you). An example… I pick Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad as my 3 must dos for that day and just standby those 3. Any other attractions are what I consider a “magical bonus”, while any open nearby attraction is a fallback if any of my 3 attractions break down or become simply unavailable.

 

[Disneydawg74]

On paper, I sketch out for each day, park hours, parties/AH on any of my dates, plans for ADRs on each date, anticipated first park for each date (and second park, if planned), top candidates for LLMP, LLSP on each date, or any desired enchanting extras. Then, as I make plans, I note those. I do this on paper, not a spread sheet.

 

[Newsies]

For my family trips it's just a list on my Notes app to keep track of what days we're going to what park and where we want to eat. We don't do a ton of LLs anymore so there's not a whole lot to plan unless there's a hard ticket or some other enchanted extra we want to do.

Sometimes I'll use a Google sheet if I need to keep track of what I've paid/what my outstanding balance is, but I use Google sheets moreso for our cruises where I have to keep a closer eye on the balance, there are more dates to keep track of, etc.

 

[bluezy]

I figure out which parks we're planning to start the day in for each day of our trip. I make a list of LLMP/SP we hope to get for that day. From there, we wing it. We know what rides we want to hit and just keep an eye on standby times and LL availability. No need for any list. We stopped doing TS restaurants a few years ago (unless we book day of) and that has made planning much easier. We have so much more flexibility. We always get park hoppers but rarely plan which parks we'll hop to -- we just decide that day. Some days we don't hop. I do not miss the days of needing a spreadsheet to keep track of everything back when our kids were little and we were trying to do "everything" on each trip. Our semi "play-it-by-ear" trips are so much more enjoyable.

 

[HollowxBastion]

I used word and my notes app to write down anything that interested me and did my research from there forward. Then i compile and organize what i'm doing day by day for the trip

 

[RossK]

What I find interesting is that Disney haven't really built a proper vacation planning tool for WDW. I wonder why... The MDE app, ok it has its flaws, but its quite incredible what it can do in one single app. Seems odd they didn't make something to get people excited about their upcoming trip and help them make the most out of their time.

Our next trip isn't until next year now, so I'm going to try and build something that's web based, so I can access on my desktop but also phone. Our trips are usually for three weeks at a time, so its *a lot* of reservations and needs a lot of advanced planning - and nothing out there quite works. Thought I would ask here to see if anyone knew of anything that currently exists - but seems we're all using a combination of spreadsheets, notebooks etc! Oh well, I like a challenge

 

[wabbott]

I usually print out a monthly calendar from my outlook program and pencil in the daily activities. I'll also print out paper copies of ADRs and tickets.

 

[reddog21]

simple spreadsheet(google sheets or excel(online)), it's used mostly just for dining reservations, LL and a list of snacks/food that might be new we don't want to miss. That spreadsheet link gets shared with everyone that's going so we all know the plans.

 

[CoachBeard]

When I book 11 months out I keep a spreadsheet. The planning is part of the fun but in application it is a loose and fluid framework for me. I love booking ADRs, looking at menus, and using that to budget each day so I can save over the time between booking and trip.

I’ve started to color code a little for dining reservations versus enchanted extras reservations vs hotel reservations. The “thrill of the chase” is quite fun for me but since I travel solo and have a horrible stomach, my plans often change based on how I feel that day.

I’ve tried using some apps and other things but it’s too difficult for me.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Just use (and reuse) a spreadsheet for each trip. It often starts a year in advance, then DVC bookings at 11 months, airfare, and a general layout. Sometimes we need to finalize who will be joining us, since many don't plan as far out as we do! Once we're to 90 days or so, lay out plans for ADRs. Make park res, if necessary. Lately, check car rental pricing almost daily, hoping for the one day special that saves us money on the ridiculous cost! After we confirm ADRs, we lay out potential LL options. Rinse and repeat as often as possible! Needless to say, my spreadsheet has many, many sheets in there!! But I wouldn't need or use anything more complicated than that. We used to lay out costs for potentially using the DDP, but we have never found it to work to our benefit, so that's not even part of the planning anymore.

 

[RossK]

This was actually really useful... I've started building something and you all gave me some ideas I hadn't thought about which I'd like to try and include. I never found anything better than the spreadsheet which I've used for coming on 10 years now. I'm pretty good at building web apps/phone apps, but as I started drawing this out over the weekend, I realised this is not as easy at it looks to do!

One of the posts here gave me an idea... How good would it be if in your planner, you opened up a reservation and had a button "What should I order from here?" and it leverages AI to look across review sites to tell you the "must eats" for that location? I just did this directly in ChatGPT to get a feel for the quality. I carefully made a prompt to tell it how to interpret the reviews and where from, as well as how to output the data. I then used Citricos dinner service, and this is the exact output it gave:-

• Guava-barbecued Short Ribs — This is the signature order for a reason: rich, tender, and repeatedly singled out by diners as the standout plate on the menu.
• Oak-grilled Filet Mignon — A reliable top-tier choice that Disney keeps front and centre on the dinner menu, with reviews praising how exceptionally tender it is.
• Sweet Corn Bisque — This is one of the most notable starters at Cítricos, and Disney itself highlights it as a recommended way to begin the meal.
• Cucumber Martini — Notable enough to earn rave comments from diners, it is a refreshing cocktail pick that pairs especially well with the restaurant’s rich entrées.

Only problem is that to build this into an app, it needs to use ChatGPT API which is not free. But its ok for me for personal use as even for 50+ restaurants, I don't think it'd be more than a couple of $.

I'm quite excited for this. Sorry, I'm nerding out a bit .

If it works out, I'll post some screenshots!

 

[reddog21]

Honestly if it's something that works for you just pay the $20 per month, I do.

I got so tired of visiting certain websites for menus, only to find them wrong or outdated, which was consistent across multiple food sites. I used ChatGPT to scrape Disney World for all the menus and put them into an Excel spreadsheet, which worked for about 99% of them. There were a few broken links, but the time saved is incredible. On top of that it organizes them however you want.

I love a good nerd thread, I'll be following along.

 

[RossK]

Honestly if it's something that works for you just pay the $20 per month, I do.

I got so tired of visiting certain websites for menus, only to find them wrong or outdated, which was consistent across multiple food sites. I used ChatGPT to scrape Disney World for all the menus and put them into an Excel spreadsheet, which worked for about 99% of them. There were a few broken links, but the time saved is incredible. On top of that it organizes them however you want.

I love a good nerd thread, I'll be following along.

haha you've come to the right place for a nerd thread

I actually have ChatGPT Pro (the $200/month version) because I'm a heavy user of Codex. But, none of the ChatGPT plans include API access, which is annoying. This is always charged separate. So if I want this to be "seemless" - not choping and changing between screens, I need the app to send the request to the API. OpenAI want their cash!!

I'm actually just building a rough outline of this now to see how it works! Of course, all of this is totally unneccssary, but it is also absolutely neccessary

 

[BeckyEsq]

I use an app called Tripit for the really important things, flight and hotel reservations. I have a Google doc with a table set up for each day, with each day broken into AM, MIDDAY, PM, EVENING and, because I'm a nerd like this WEAR (where I plan out which outfits we will wear -- this helps with packing). When make my dining reservations I just add them into the table. I will print this out and take it with me, but I don't drag it to the parks because everything I really need is in MDE on my phone.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I use my notes app.

It'll look something like this:

March 2025 Itinerary

Monday 3/23 -
RD MK, break, DHS PM
Breakfast - Crystal Palace
Lunch - Snacks
Dinner - Resort QS
LL - Tiana, PotC, HM (pull additional LL's for DHS)
RD plan - PP, Dumbo

Tuesday 3/24 -
Sleep in - Get to Epcot by 11 am
Breakfast - in room
Lunch - Booths
Dinner - Booths
No LL
Arrive and go straight to WS

Once I've secured ADRs and LL's I add the times in for that.

Then I have separate notes for foods I want to try, any souvenirs I want to purchase, any extra experiences we may want to look into and any LL drop times. I have those all separated by park so it's easy to look at in the morning before we head out.

 

[RossK]

I use an app called Tripit for the really important things, flight and hotel reservations. I have a Google doc with a table set up for each day, with each day broken into AM, MIDDAY, PM, EVENING and, because I'm a nerd like this WEAR (where I plan out which outfits we will wear -- this helps with packing). When make my dining reservations I just add them into the table. I will print this out and take it with me, but I don't drag it to the parks because everything I really need is in MDE on my phone.

ah yes, I use TripIt too, but generally only for work trips as they sync in there! Its quite a cool app, I like that you can forward email confirmations and it automatically ingests it and adds it to the plan. And you've just given me another idea for my own planner

 

[RossK]

Ok so I have built a very light weight test, and it worked pretty well on first attempt!! AI, when used correctly, can be really cool... I just added a Kona Cafe breakfast to my plan, and then clicked on the recommedations button, and this is how it looks!