What's your method for the parks?

[Tosha]

I have my itenerary all mapped out, but today I thought about something..

I only set up certain parks on certain days. Is it best that I set aside what rides, attractions, etc we want to do most and go for those? Right now my plans are to just go with the flow and do what we come across at the parks that we think is interesting, pretty much a "play by ear" plan.

Do any of you do it like this, or is your days planned in much detail...like " This this or that ride is what we'll hit for sure today". HAs anybody done both? If so which do you find easier and most of all, more fun?

It's getting soooooooooo close! Just 32 days until we are there, but who's counting

 

[mericletwins]

I love your picture! We aren't planners and don't know what parks we are going to in advance, but my advice might be to have the kids look at a Disney travel book. Birnbaum's Disney for kids might be a good one and have each of them pick out one ride/attraction they want to make sure they do in each park. You and DH should pick out a ride or an attraction also. Anything you do above and beyond that is a bonus. Have a great time!!

 

[Ellester]

You are going at such a busy time, I think you will enjoy it much more if you have some idea of what you want to do each day. Hit your must sees in the morning, the parks will get busier and hotter as the day wears on. Use FastPass to minimize your queue time as well. We used Tour Guide Mike on our last visit and I will definitely use his plans on future trips. We barely waited in line at all, a huge plus for our family. You may find that without at least a basic plan you will be spending more time in lines that you would like. Have a great time!

 

[PollyannaMom]

.....my advice might be to have the kids look at a Disney travel book. Birnbaum's Disney for kids might be a good one and have each of them pick out one ride/attraction they want to make sure they do in each park. You and DH should pick out a ride or an attraction also. Anything you do above and beyond that is a bonus. Have a great time!!

I second this! We plan for each person's must-do things, and then follow the Disney magic in between.

 

[disneynan]

Tosha,

You will arrive at WDW just as we depart, 21 days left for us!

I look at the daily schedule for the parks and plan which park we will visit on which day, but then we go with the flow once in the park. We usually start with a big ticket ride at opening and then go from there. I have started having discussion with the kids about which rides/shows they won't mind missing this trip as we would like to spend time in the water parks.

I have decided that we will avoid all EMH parks this trip as we are going during a busier time of year (hopefully this reverse psycology will put us in a less crowded park). The kids were not sad to hear that as they will be able to sleep a bit later. We may visit MK one night when they are open past midnight just for the experience, but will see how tired everyone is on that day.

Here's hoping we both have fun, safe trips with minimal rain!

 

[Tosha]

thanks everyone!

Now how do I find out what there is to do at each park? I have maps, but they don't show us what the rides and attractions look like, kwim? Can I do that on the website I used to book our trip?

 

[Kenenitz]

Tosha,

I have decided that we will avoid all EMH parks this trip as we are going during a busier time of year (hopefully this reverse psycology will put us in a less crowded park). The kids were not sad to hear that as they will be able to sleep a bit later. We may visit MK one night when they are open past midnight just for the experience, but will see how tired everyone is on that day.

Just a suggestion.. I have never done this myself.. as we are only planning our first family vacation as we speak. However, a friend passed on some info to me and one of the suggestions were to take advantage of the EMH's.. but in a unique way. Apparently.. if the MK is open till 1 in the morning, the next morning, there are less people out early... I guess the thought is that if everyone is hanging out in the park till 1 am, they are all still in bed at 8 the next morning.

Like I said.. never tried it, but I thought I would pass on what I've been told.. maybe someone of the veterans can shed some light on this.

 

[disneynan]

I have heard that as well. I have also heard that you should visit the park that had EMH the day before as most people will have gone then. We will try this when we go - just 20 days until we leave!!

 

[Tosha]

Thank you for all your suggestions.

It's too late for me to change my park days and times, as all my ADRS and itenerary is all together.

I have decided to put together a list of must do's and I'm glad i did! If we went with the original "go with the flow" plan, we probably would have missed out on alot of our faves! We are now hitting the attractions on our list FIRST, then if there is time after hitting all those, we will THEN just go with the flow.

I have a list of our must do's in our PTR

 

[tammy1210]

Just wanted to say that's exactly what we did last year - before we left each person picked the rides/attractions that were MUST's - then, we decided which way we were going to go through the park - my friends thought I was crazy for planning so much - but, it worked out great - we weren't rushed/crazed - we enjoyed it so much - we got to do all of the must's and then had plenty of time to "go with the flow". Have fun!

 

[sk!mom]

We utilized getting to the parks at rope drop and riding tons of rides with no waiting in the morning. Head to the most popular rides first, of course. We gathered fastpasses as we were moving in the am to use as soon as the lines picked up so we really never waited more than 10 or 15 minutes. Our one line was when we ducked into Toy Story in a driving rain storm- only time we were caught in the rain all trip- it was raining really hard so we just decided to stand in line as it was evening and that was our more relaxed touring time.

Have fun!!!

 

[SmallWorld71]

Thank you for all your suggestions.

It's too late for me to change my park days and times, as all my ADRS and itenerary is all together.

I have decided to put together a list of must do's and I'm glad i did! If we went with the original "go with the flow" plan, we probably would have missed out on alot of our faves! We are now hitting the attractions on our list FIRST, then if there is time after hitting all those, we will THEN just go with the flow.

I have a list of our must do's in our PTR

This is basically what we always do and it works well. We bascially plan out our 1st hour or so of the day which involves riding or getting FP's for those rides where the line will build very quickly. (Soarin, Dumbo, Peter Pan, EE etc...) After getting the "biggies" done, it is much easier to relax and enjoy the parks and enjoy whatever comes along. (For example, my kids ended up spending 1/2 hr. bird watching with the CM's in Maharajah Jungle Trek one year. Another year they spent over 2 hours going from country to country working on their WS masks. Not something that could have been worked into plans.) I also ask each kid what are their 2 or 3 "must sees" for the day and figure out how to work it in. I ALWAYS make sure to ask them and am sometimes surprised by their answers. Sometimes there are certain rides they want to ride, or it might be characters they want to meet or they really want to see a parade etc...

Have fun!

 

[Ratpack]

Good choice to have a plan. We have always found the "go with the flow plan" to result in more walking, more waiting, more frustrations and less riding. Our trips usually consist of two parks a day, one in the morning and then another in the evening. The one in the morning is more structured to where we will go and what we plan to ride. The evening park is more go with the flow and just enjoy the ambience of the park.

 

[Tosha]

I am so happy that I asked this question here! Otherwise, I would have had a recipe for disaster!

 

[cerberus]

thanks everyone!

Now how do I find out what there is to do at each park? I have maps, but they don't show us what the rides and attractions look like, kwim? Can I do that on the website I used to book our trip?

We are going August 17. I have been looking at the maps here and have then helpful

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/myVacation/customizedMaps/index?id=CustomizedMapsSampleMapsPage

 

[vcgirl925]

We are doing it that way this year. I'm going to let the kids set the pace. We have our "must sees" but other than that we'll go with the flow. I've been there so many times that its ok that i do everything in one trip because we'll be there again next year. I always find it more annoying to plan out every little detail.

I would schedule what days to do what parks, schedule cs or ts meals, and then plan your days according to that. Like Tuesday - Magic Kingdom - Breakfast crystal palace 9AM, Must sees - Pirates, the mountains, dumbo, buzz, and seeing the princesses. As you go through each "land" do you must sees first and then do anything else that catches your eye and the lines aren't too bad.