When it comes to true "last minute changes" there are no degrees of "upset". Irrespective of whether you made your reservations 180 days in advance, 90 days in advance or 30 days in advance, a true last minute change will upset you equally. There is no rational basis to conclude that one would be more upset in the latter scenario. Once a plan is made it is made. How long that plan aged in the barrel won't change anything. But statistically, fewer changes can be foist upon you the closer in time that you make your reservation in relation to your arrival date. That is mathematically indisputable. A plan made the day before has less of a chance of being disturbed than a plan made 2 days before. And a plan made 30 days before has less of a chance of being disturbed than a plan made 60 days before. And so on. 180 days magnifies the problem. The issue is, where do you set the mark. In my opinion, 60 days seems just about perfect. It works for FPs. And it works for popular, high demand restaurants all over the world. Honestly, I can't understand the resistance to the idea other than "Disney chose 180 so that has to be right." What does Disney know that Danny Meyer or Gordon Ramsay or Jean-George or Daniel Boloud don't know about restaurant management?
Of course it is. The pursuit of any highly allocated commodity is always self induced whether it be collectible sneakers, watches, wine, coins or cars. Or seats on TSMM. Or a table at BoG. One can always simply step aside and get out of the rat race. But when a person spends $5000 to go to WDW, it isn't irrational to think that they want to experience the "best stuff" that everyone is talking about. And to do that, they have to jump into the world of self induced stressful planning. Anyone who wants to limit themselves to "C Ticket" attractions, or is comfortable waiting in 75 minute lines and eating at Counter Service dining locations or the lowest rated Table Service restaurants (talking to you, Tony's), can have a stress-free vacation. No doubt about that. It is only those who aim higher that encounter stress induced planning. But it is certainly their choice.
And this more or less sets up the point /counterpoint of this entire thread. People who go annually are less likely to get upset if they don't dine in that major restaurant that all their co-workers rave about. But the person taking their first trip, or a trip that will not be repeated for 10 years, is less likely to be willing to pass that experience by. That person has to do significantly more planning. I don't think anyone can argue that getting a table at Be Our Guest doesn't require significant planning. It is just that some people don't care about doing that because they already have, and others do care about it because they haven't yet experienced it. The more often you go, the more you have done. The more you have done, the less important it is for you to lock in that special experience. But the original post here was about first timers who haven't planned and are getting shut out of major experiences. In over 30 pages in this thread, no one has yet suggested that planning is not necessary in order to enjoy all those popular experiences. The best that can be said is that those popular experiences shouldn't make or break one's trip. That is purely a personal opinion. The other point that gets made repeatedly here is that first-time guests should be able to become uber planners just like all the super fans on this board. I find that to be rather unrealistic.
Please remain on the topic of answering Karpy111's question.
I totally appreciate wanting to keep questions/answers on track. I think several among us did answer the original question... And then some other analogies seemed appropriate (eg comparing planning for WDW to planning for other trips). I hope we don't have to keep it so narrow that analogies or the occasional digression are problematic.After 32 pages, @karpy111 has yet to return to see if his basic yes/no question was answered by anyone:
Please remain on the topic of answering Karpy111's question.
Specific planning questions are best posed in a new Thread. Discussion of how your plans are affected by Disney's scheduling or questions about planning for other destinations can be posed in the TP Community Board or the Community Board.
Sorry if this was already said but:
Yes, I have the premium vip tour booked for 11/25. That's why I was so curious! I would much rather pay for some kind of $1k fast pass. The ultimate thrills doesn't work for us bc our main focus that day is Epcot/HS, and the ultimate tour is a set schedule of the 4 parks with a group.
Not to get off topic here...but we're waiting on the White House tour too. I visited my husband, who is working in Maryland til July 1st, April 8th-18th. We put in a request I believe 4 weeks in advance (where the max is 6 months and the min is 3 weeks) and were told we would find out 2 weeks in advance from the day they could get us in if they actually could. We found out they were just too busy at the White House so no tour then...but they did say they had availability for a Capitol Building tour with a staff or intern member from our representative so we did that instead. 5 people including us were on the tour and we got to go into the House of Representatives (in Recess when were were in the room) and the Senate (which was actually in session when we were there where Marco Rubio was speaking). It was well worth the tour especially going through the underground tunnels from the building where the State reps have their offices which connects to the Capitol Building. I'm visiting him again from July 2nd-10th to help him pack up and use it as our 1 vacation a year place and they put in a request back in early April for us since we didn't get to go then but added my mother in law and step-father in law to the request. I'm not holding my breath especially with it being right around 4th of July but we'll see.
I've only heard of a few people going on the tours (just by reading various websites) but all liked it a lot especially because they were pressed on time. Yeah the price is well something I wouldn't want to spend (you're also talking to someone who thinks it's crazy to be charged for a side of ranch lol) but I think you'll enjoy it. At the very least maybe the next time (if there will be a next time) you may feel less pressure to get x,y,z done and with a short trip it sounds like you're trying to plan for what's most important for who is going with you.
Hope you have a great time -- would love to hear your review afterwards! We did the SW VIP Day tour last year and LOVED IT! It was a VERY short trip and we wanted to pack a lot in. We thought it was well worth it! And now that there are no SWW for the foreseeable future, BOY ARE WE GLAD WE DID IT!
