What steps do you take?

[ash901]

Trying to plan our first big trip and I'm so stressed and confused. What steps do you take to plan?
My ADR window opens Monday and I feel like I need to have a plan of what parks on which days. I have been reading the easy guide to your first trip but even with that its confusing!

 

[Alesia]

I can plan an entire trip in less than a day:

Step 1: Use the crowd calendar at easywdw.com to choose your days.
Step 2: If you want to make ADRs, choose them based on where you'll be for the day.
Step 3: To make a touring plan, start with the cheat sheets at easywdw.com and take out anything that doesn't interest you. Now you have a touring plan.
Step 5: Read the first couple of posts in Mesaboy2's FP+ thread.

 

[soniam]

I really like Touring Plans. We use customized plans, but the premade plans may be best for you. You might need to register or subscribe/pay to get these. I have had a subscription for so long that I can't remember what's free and what's not. Their Lines app is included with the subscription. Using their crowd calendar and which days have AM EMH (we always like to do that if possible), we pick what parks on what days. Choose your ADRs based upon that.

 

[Mainemama]

Yes, you want to have a general sense of park days, or at least how many days in each parks. Bear in mind that many ADRs do have the potential to be booked well past the 180 day mark. There are certainly ones hat do book up early, but the resort restaurants (well, most of them) and Disney Springs are all much more flexible than you might think. So, make a plan A, but if you change your mind, just rebook something different (and THEN cancel original ADR).

 

[Dismama2boys]

I pick park days first, based on Josh's (easywdw) recommendations. Then book ADR's. Then FP's. We have very young children and must be super-flexible, so we don't really use a touring plan, but we go at rope drop, do tons of stuff early, then use FP's later in the day. It's not nearly as complicated as it seems, at least it doesn't have to be. Good luck!

 

[ash901]

Our crowd calendar is mostly 6's (is that bad?)according to easywdw with the last 2 days being 7. Do I stay away from EMH days due to more ppl choosing that park on that day? We do not have the hoppers.

 

[dkrauss]

Relax............don't make it more than it is. What are your ADR choices? Think that out first. If you have hopper tickets you will have some flexibility. ADR's at resorts will also give a bit of flexibility too......but just a bit. For example........say you want to do the Character breakfast at Cape May Café (my favorite)...........you can then plan Epcot........OR..........HS. If you want a BOG lunch...........you've pretty much committed to the MK on that day.

Ok so you have your list of ADR's (remember more isn't always better here) Now review where they fall from a park perspective..........and plan it out. Think about where your resort is.........and be sure to give yourself travel time(at least think about it a bit) Everyone has ADR's that they must do..........understand your "must do's".........those will be days you be more locked in on. From there see where the other ADR's fit in your trip. I bet you'll find its a bit more open than you first thought.

Now that explanation sounds complex, it really isn't. I always think through my plans on my drive to work.........or in the shower .........ok TMI. Don't forget to have a backup for your must do's, especially CRT and/or BOG..........unfortunately there are no guarantee's with the most popular restaurants. Also be flexible about times..........and if you don't get your optimum time right on 180 days............you can always modify it. Believe me I'm still looking to modify times and I'm on 13 days out.

Most of all, don't stress to much............this is 1st big trip..........make it fun. The worst thing people do is try to do everything. If you're staying 6 or 7 days..........you can't do it. Even with 2 weeks..........you'll be in a food coma.

Best of luck with your planning! Have a wonderful trip

Doug

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

Figure out what parks you will go to on what days, book dining reservations/any tours you plan to do, then book fastpasses when you can.

 

[Alesia]

Our crowd calendar is mostly 6's (is that bad?)according to easywdw with the last 2 days being 7. Do I stay away from EMH days due to more ppl choosing that park on that day? We do not have the hoppers.

The parks with EMH are always much busier. Since you don't have hoppers, you want to avoid the parks with EMH. Follow the easywdw.com park recommendations.

 

[NH-to-FL]

I second Alesia's suggestions. Since you are not planning to have hoppers I also suggest following the easyWDW park recommendations. I have successfully done that for many years. Once you have decided what park on what day you can make your ADRs. Then fill in your touring plan for the park around your ADRs.

And, as dkrauss says, relax. Do some planning to make sure you get to your top priority things and recognize that you will not be able to do it all. Even on a big trip.

And while you are planning I might also suggest that you set aside a few hours somewhere in the middle to just relax and recover from the excitement of your first few days at Disney.

Have fun planning and a magical trip!

 

[msmama]

If you do don't know what restaurants you might want, check out the restaurant board on here or you can look at allears.net for menus for each restaurant.

I just booked a Feb trip the other day and managed to get all of the reservations I wanted. And it's a busy February week. So there are restaurants that you need to book asap, but not all of them. And remember nothing is set in stone! You can always change or cancel reservations.

 

[nkereina]

I can plan an entire trip in less than a day:

Step 1: Use the crowd calendar at easywdw.comto choose your days.
Step 2: If you want to make ADRs, choose them based on where you'll be for the day.
Step 3: To make a touring plan, start with the cheat sheets at easywdw.com and take out anything that doesn't interest you. Now you have a touring plan.
Step 5: Read the first couple of posts in Mesaboy2's FP+ thread.

This. In addition to the crowd calendar, you'll also want to check which park has EMH and avoid those, as mentioned. If a park has PM EMH on one night, then the next morning would be a great time to hit that park at rope drop. Majority of people will be there the day before to take advantage of EMH, and will be sleeping in the next morning. I'd also decide which parks on which days based on EasyWDW's most and least recommended parks which takes all of this into consideration.

 

[loves to dive]

Most important understand you are not going to see and do everything there is to do there so don't even try it. Don't over plan, it's vacation and I've seen people who have such a rigid plan with every minute planned (I'm talking planning bathroom breaks) and in the end are just exhausted and unhappy because they were too planned out to enjoy the little moments. If you have kids, understand they are unpredicatable. You may think they are going to enjoy the heck out of meeting dopey and turns out they just aren't interested. Make sure your plans are flexible, someone is too tired to go on, stop, rest even if you don't go back to the room take a break and relax. If you can't get ADRs or FPs for something, don't stress, it's not the end of the world and you will enjoy yourselves even if you miss riding x,y or z.

 

[ash901]

Thank you guys so much. I didn't purchase the hoppers, because I felt that added to the park confusion! I think I have 'where we are going when' figured out. One more question, easywdw has AK as a 6 on Sunday May 22, 2016 but touring plans has it as a 9??? Any reasons why they would be so different? The rest of the week seems to match up.

For example Easy wdw has AK as the go to park on May 22 but TP has it listed as a 9.
Trying to decide if I should switch my epcot and AK days, although I like the idea of AK being the first park we visit.

 

[Starhart81]

Thank you guys so much.I didn't purchase the hoppers, because I felt that added to the park confusion! I think I have where we are going when figured out. One more question, easywdw has AK as a 6 on Sunday May 22, 2016 but touring plans has it as a 9??? Any reasons why they would be so different? The rest of the week seems to match up.

Go with easywdw. Touring plans uses data, while easywdw uses common sense. Touring plans number is off because AK used to have EMHs on Sunday this past May, and this upcoming May there is no EMH on Sunday.

 

[ash901]

Thank you @Starhart81

 

[whiporee]

I know others are already in, but my suggestion would be to not get too caught up in the character meals. One or two are great. but more than that can really hinder your plans. One year my wife and I booked a character meal every day for a week, and not only was it a hassle to get to, a lot of the fun for the kids went away.

If you've got a princess loving daughter (or son) then try for CRT for breakfast. BOG is hard to get and not much of a character M&G because the Beast doesn't move much. I'm a fan of Crystal Palace because those are easier to get (I've walked up there three times). Chef Mickey's will let you hit the major Disney characters. And then don't worry about the ADRs -- you'll always able to find food somewhere if you're hungry.

 

[kiford]

We do something similar but a little bit more complex simply because we've been a number of times and know what we want to do. We incorporate the desire to do nighttime parades or fireworks, late EMH (we never do early), we don't do RD, we do late breakfasts, shopping that we'd like to do, and we may have special tickets or events that we are doing. I look at all of that and the crowd levels (I use a different touring plan but the concept is the same) and based on that decide which parks to go to on which days. We do buy park hoppers but, again, we know what we want to do and how we like to tour. Then we book ADRs with plenty of time before and after to get there and get to evening events, then fastpasses. That gives me a basic structure for the days but is completely open to changing due to incidents outside of our control and how we might feel at the time.

Because it's just the two of us, we do TS for breakfast and dinner but don't book anything else in between. If we want something to eat in the middle of the day, we'll either grab a snack, do QS or see if any of the TS places have walk-ups. This gives us the middle of the day as completely open to sudden changes of mind.

My best advice to you is to think that there is no such thing as "must-dos", even if it's something your kids really want. There are only "want-to-dos". If you have the mindset that you have to do something and it doesn't work out for some reason, there is disappointment and if you have any roadblocks you will be rushing around to get to something and not having fun and being stressed. If you have the mindset that everything is open to change and that there are many other things to do instead (and there are), you will be much more relaxed and will probably be able to do and see more. Don't forget that there are more than set attractions. There are performances out in the open areas - if you're running about rushing to get to the attractions, you'll miss them.

We've been 8-9 times and there's always things that we don't get around to doing but we still have a great time.