When I go to Disney....

[my3sons77]

When I go to Disney:

I don't study crowd levels for months before I arrive.

I don't plan which days I'll be at which park before I even arrive.

I don't plan a rope drop, I already have to wake up at the crack of dawn to get my kids up for school, I'm NOT doing that on vacation too.

I don't worry how I'm going to keep my kids occupied while in line. They behave or they get in trouble. Even my 4 year old knows that.

I don't worry about what I will do with my 4 year old while my oldest boys are on a ride he can't ride. I figure it out when I get there.

I live in the moment when I am there. The only thing that is planned ahead are reservations.

Spending months planning and scheduling exactly what you will do when you get there just doesn't seem, well, fun. Sure it's fun planning the trip but once you get there, just wing it. Life is already full of chaos and time frames. Why do you continue to do that while you should be relaxing and enjoying the vacation you've been blessed to take?

This is Disney World! Magic happens in everything you do. It happens when you are not looking for it or expecting it! Embrace the happiness of the enviroment. Share in the joy of that little boy or little girl that just skipped past you and almost ran you over in the process. Smile at the mother who is trying to calm her tantruming toddler, because we've all been there. A smile can go a long way! Say kind words and strike up a conversation with the teenage kids in line who are being goofy. We've been there too.

Life is too stressful as it is, don't let silly things get you down or make you mad while you are on vacation, especially not while you are at the Happiest Place On Earth!!!!!!!

 

[aceys_h0ney]

Great post! While I plan a little more then you since we love Disney dining, ADRs kinda force us to pick parks. I agree that it's great just to relax and enjoy the day. My husband would often have to remind me not to worry about what we were doing next but to enjoy now. I got so wrapped up trying to make the perfect vacation I almost missed that it already was perfect!

 

[my3sons77]

Great post! While I plan a little more then you since we love Disney dining, ADRs kinda force us to pick parks. I agree that it's great just to relax and enjoy the day. My husband would often have to remind me not to worry about what we were doing next but to enjoy now. I got so wrapped up trying to make the perfect vacation I almost missed that it already was perfect!

That's as far as planning as I get too. If I am doing a dining plan I will plan the park days but a cancellation is only a phone call away. I will call and cancel a reservation if we just don't want to do that park that day

 

[nooneshome]

On behalf of those that do plan and get there at rope drop - thanks.

We plan out the first couple hours of our day. We hit it hard until lunch and then we wing it. We have been so many times we don't have to ride everything, just the things we enjoy the most and a few things we haven't done in a while. We might have one ADR for our whole trip. God bless FD QSDP and all those glorious snack credits waiting to be spent!!!!

 

[pepe of ohio]

We're not planning a war here.....it's a vacation, no different then any other...we go, no rules, regulations, plans, crowd counters, touring guides,or ADR's......we feel the magic every trip, and that's 44 trips so far....I personally think the computer age and these forums has ruined the magic....part of WDW was discovering the magic and receiving pixie dust because you were there in the moment....not looking for it or demanding it.....one example was towel animals....surprise to receive, not disappointed if not but now complained about and demanded....such a wonderful surprise, now ruined.....

We plan our trip, pick our dates, resort and go.....we know what parks have EMH's and attend them......basically, that's it....we hate the dining plans and the chaos they create in dining, will not participate in that madness.....we eat at WDW, by our own leisure. When we wake up each morning, we have no spreadsheet we must follow....our day can change in a heart beat and we enjoy the spontaneity of it......one thing we don't allow on vacation, is wrist watches....we have to be nowhere at any given time...we get hungry, we eat....we want to blow off the day and swim in the resort pool, so be it..did we miss anything....nope...we're having fun, we're relaxed and could care less about anything and would have it no other way.....

 

[disnut8]

I'm with the OP although I used to be a planner, even right down to half hour increments. That really did not sit well with my husband and son so one trip I decided to show them and chucked the plan. We had such a wonderful and magical trip that I never went back to planning. We saw what we wanted when we wanted. If something had too long of a line, we came back. If a FastPass is already gone, oh well, we'll see something else.

I think my life is already too stressful that I don't want to add tons of planning to a vacation. Not anymore. Not since my husband and son showed me how to relax while on vacation. Which is why we are supposed to take vacations anyway.

 

[marmalade]

We are the same kind of family. I think that I why I dislike the DDP anymore, it put to much of a schedule on our day. Which is why this year we took the room discount and only have 2 TS scheduled (both kids picked a restaurant).

I like to do what I want when I want. And that is probably why we have never riden TSM because I just can't seem to put in the effort.

 

[stargazertechie]

I normally spend one day 190 days out figuring out park hours, ADRs, and which parks to go to in the AM/PM.

With my family trip coming up in June, I went into HARDCORE planning mode. My dad will be recovering from chemotherapy, he won't have much stamina, and I have to make the most of each and every minute we have, because we don't know how much energy he'll have. I have a list of "Must do" rides, and made lists of what attractions to hit when. I've NEVER done that before, and I hope to never do it again.

I'm a rope drop sort of gal, and I love seeing the RD shows, and I ENJOY getting up, chatting with the CMs two hours before the parks open. It's how I enjoy my trip, but I get that not everyone's down with getting up at the bumcrack of dawn.

 

[#1hoosierfan]

Hey whatever works for you!!!!

Personally, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, the planning. It is half of the fun for me. I also LOVE all of you that do not make RD a priority..... just means shorter lines for me.

 

[BBandDisney]

Please everyone sleep in and don't do rope drop. It's less people when we are there.

 

[Stephaniesue]

OP- Thank you for this post!

I have been planning our first Disney vacation (which happens to be our first ever vacation). I was doing fine until I found all these webesites and forums (they are wonderful) BUT, they freaked me out! I started to stress and doubt that we will even enjoy our time at the World if I do not plan every moment.

I have since made our ADRs for dinner, and that's about it. I have a general idea of what parks to go to when, but I'm not freaking out anymore.

When we go in Sept we will wing it like you! I this part of our trip is for the kids- we will let them decide. I won't tolerate them throwing fits while waiting in line, wait your turn and get over it!

I'm so relieved to see someone else is planning to not plan like us .

 

[Suellen]

I plan my ADR's and we have things we do out of habit... but for the most part we allow our girls to lead the way.

They are still little and enjoy all the small things that some adults are too busy racing to see all the rides and get all the FP's they can to enjoy.

If we are doing QSDP we ask the girls what park they feel like doing when they wake up. If we don't get to see a ride this time because we weren't there at the right time ~ no big who-dee who. We see it next time.... or we don't.

If they want to stop and watch the trains in Germany for an hour... so be it. If they want to color at Epcot for an entire afternoon... have fun!

We prefer late nights and late mornings... so rope drops are not our things. There are maybe 4 rides we get FP for...other than that we get in lines with 20 minutes of less waiting time.

We are there to have fun and make memories and enjoy our children while the magic is still super real for them.

That's just how we roll.

 

[mkwj]

Hey whatever works for you!!!!

Personally, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, the planning. It is half of the fun for me. I also LOVE all of you that do not make RD a priority..... just means shorter lines for me.

This is me too. Although I don't plan which rides to do when we just start at a specific area and go from there. But I LOVE the rest of the planning. It is just fun for me.

 

[2littlez'sandme]

Me? I love to plan and this time I have my DS who has autism, who needs to 'see' that schedule so he "knows" what is coming next. We're going during a very busy time, so I told him to pick 2 parks per day, and 2 things he really really wants to do at each park. We'll get those done, and anything else is a 'magical extra' thrown in. We're also doing Universal for a couple days, and its the same 'rules' for that park, too.
As for meals, he's not a big eater. Pizza and chicken nuggets work for him. So, we have a couple ADR's for Mama. One is breakfast, and one is our first night dinner at MK, which is tradition... and he 'knows' it. I may add an ADR for another dinner along the way, but I make sure there are plenty of snack credits for him to hold him over til the next meal.

I just need to be sure he gets a 'mini-golf' evening and pool time everyday. I'm sure we'll get it all in and not have to be a rope drop everyday. Maybe just one, because I've never been.

Fun times ahead

 

[jm106]

I love to plan and I love to have a great time doing it. My kids are enjoying the anticipation. I plan whether in WDW or St Thomas or Hershey park. Not every moment, just an idea.
We can plan and have an idea of parks we want to get to or rides we want to see and ...
We can still have a great time. It doesnt take away from ANY of our fun.
We are flexible, we can change or be spontaneous and have room to relax if we need.
We did make more ADR this time because we are being open minded to trying DP.
We have not made it to RD, we have entered early but why not, we are there to see WDW and get on rides so if we are awake, we are heading to the park.
We do what makes us happy just like others dont like to plan so they dont and are happy with the choice. Not sure why ppl make planning my fun such a negative thing.

Why do you continue to do that while you should be relaxing and enjoying the vacation you've been blessed to take?

I work darn hard for my chance to go, so I want to make it MY own fun

 

[Planogirl]

I do go to rope drop and plan which park for which day but that's generally about it. We only had two ADR's during our last visit.

I like rope drop because I don't like waiting in long lines. We can get the headliners done early and still use our fastpasses for revisits if we wish to.

 

[rachel09985]

Well if you plan ADRs you are planning on which park you are going to be at for that day!

Thats the only thing out of your list that I plan. I don't look at that crowd level thing either- I don't get why people pay for that??

I definitely don't plan on which rides we will go in in order. Only Soarin And TSM because you have to do those first.

I do make a schedule that has all show times and our reservations and the park days but I don't have an itinerary of what times we should see the shows at and then what rides we should go on when. Thats a little too crazy!

I dont do rope drop either because I am not a morning person! however this trip I want to go to Animal Kingdom and MK rope drop!

 

[OllieDannyandMe]

This is Disney World! Magic happens in everything you do. It happens when you are not looking for it or expecting it! Embrace the happiness of the enviroment. Share in the joy of that little boy or little girl that just skipped past you and almost ran you over in the process. Smile at the mother who is trying to calm her tantruming toddler, because we've all been there. A smile can go a long way! Say kind words and strike up a conversation with the teenage kids in line who are being goofy. We've been there too.

Life is too stressful as it is, don't let silly things get you down or make you mad while you are on vacation, especially not while you are at the Happiest Place On Earth!!!!!!!

I do all of the things you have said above, and yet, I do all of the planning that you do not do. Why are the two mutually exclusive?

For me, the planning (well, really, it is more dreaming than planning) allows me to extend all of the joy. Some of us really REALLY love the planning!

It allows me to live at Disney 365 days/year!

 

[rachel09985]

I do all of the things you have said above, and yet, I do all of the planning that you do not do. Why are the two mutually exclusive?

For me, the planning (well, really, it is more dreaming than planning) allows me to extend all of the joy. Some of us really REALLY love the planning!

It allows me to live at Disney 365 days/year!

Yeah!! Its not necessarily planning, its looking at all of the stuff that I am going to be doing and imagining myself doing it! Its called prolonging your vacation =)

I think I have gained weight because all I do is sit on my computer, watch videos of rides, look at pictures of food, figure out what I am going to eat, buy, and see! Lol!

However, I think it does make it not as exciting when you actually get there because I have been looking at stuff about this trip for the past 6 months!! I just can't resist though.

 

[LisaTC]

Fun is relative and personality specific. Planning is comfortable for some, winging it is fun for some. The DDP have made ADR's a necessity, you almost have to plan some portion of each day, even if it is just an ADR. To each their own. We've never been to WDW. I'm planning because I don't know if/when we'll ever get to come back. It seems to me that planning is essential. In looking at all there is to do/see, we can eliminate some things that wouldn't necessarily be a "to die for" thing. The enormity of the parks makes it difficult for a first timer to just "show up." We, however, do not have the DDP. We don't eat the way the plan is set. We have a few ADR's only.

I like investigating what there is to do and see. That is what's fun for me. My DH leaves the planning to me. He trusts me and wouldn't want to even so much as pick a place to stay! He says just tell me when and where. Yin to my Yang.

I can't sleep in if my life depended on it. We're a family of early risers between school and work. Rope drop here I come! I see the benefit of getting there early and doing our chosen rides/attractions and then meandering about in the afternoon.

That's like saying you want to wait to find out the sex of your baby because you want to be surprised. Who says you're not surprised if you found out ahead of time??

Luckily, there are those like the OP and those rope drop aficionados... and all those in between or we'd all be alike, standing in lines at WDW like Stepford families! Perish the thought!