Winging it - no plan at all?

[Bob NC]

We used to be park commando's.

After many trips we realized we can see everything we want to see without being slathering lunatics about it.

I guess the only thing we do that might be commando-like is we are always at rope drop. This isn't a strategy, though. We are just early risers.

We used to be ADR-slaves too. Every waking minute of every day we had to have ADR on the brain to make sure we were always in the right place at the right time.

We haven't made ADR's in years and we eat where and when we want. Before everyone goes crazy about that statement, we do not go to WDW 4th of July week, or Easter, or Thanksgiving, or Christmas weeks.

We frequently walk out to the bus stop with a park planned and if another bus shows up first, well, we'll just go to THAT park today.

We take it casual, we ride everything we want with minimal waits, and we never starve.

 

[eliza61]

We used to be park commando's.

After many trips we realized we can see everything we want to see without being slathering lunatics about it.

We frequently walk out to the bus stop with a park planned and if another bus shows up first, well, we'll just go to THAT park today.
We take it casual, we ride everything we want with minimal waits, and we never starve.

That is sooo us now, we simply walk to the bus stop (if we are using disney transportation) and the first bus that comes is the one we are on. OMG it is fabulous. no more whiny kids asking when's the bus coming.

and I would love to know how the myth that if you don't have adr's you will starve even got started. I swear I think it's simply a cleaver marketing trick by disney.

 

[Suelala]

This November will be my 5th WDW trip, and it has taken the most planning. I guess the crowd level for the week we have always gone in the past, experiencing low crowds, can now be fairly crowded. I havent been in 5 years, so there will be lots of good changes, too!
I found easywdw.com and used that to help me choose a park for each day,planning to avoid EMH parks due to crowds. THEN I had to plan parks for when WISHES, MSEP, or FANTASMIC! were scheduled. Seems they used to be pretty much every night.
Now, no worries! Have the parks picked for each day, just 3 ADRs made, MVMCP tickets bought, and have seen the food lists for F&W fest. Also got Park Hopper this time, which gives us more flexibility for where to go.
Once we get to a park, we can just walk and gawk and go where we want to. I would hate to have a set schedule for the day!
80 days, if I could just make them fly by...

 

[pg0314]

We're going in 37 days and we have absolutely nothing planned beyond "I think we should go to Epcot or DHS the first day". Whenever we've tried to make plans we've always ended up changing them and eventually learned that we're better off just winging it. Yeah, there are times when we don't fit in every last little thing we'd like to do but that's okay ... just gives us an excuse to come back again. And we always have a wonderful time!

 

[tink&her2boys]

I usually plan my days around park hours mostly...then I look at the crowd calendars. We normally go in September, so I don't put too much thought into the calendars. I then plan our ADRs...that's it. What we do inside the parks besides the ADRs is whatever we decide when we decide. We've always had great vacations and have done everything we wanted...without the added stress of getting from one ride to the next at a specific time. Takes all the fun out in my opinion.

 

[goodfood4ursoul]

I think that it depends on the time of year and the anticipated crowd levels. No plan during crowded times can lead to frustration. If you don't care how much you see and do in a day it shouldn't matter. Also if you don't care where or what you eat it shouldn't matter.

Agreed!
And that is why we choose to visit during low crowd times,
because I am not a commando

Seriously, happened to be in FL Dec 30 - Jan. 7.
Chose to visit Epcot on Jan 2 which is supposedly much better than Jan 1.
It was an okay visit, but never again will I go other than early May or mid Sept - mid Oct...

After that experience, I can see why commandos are so commando
There's no other way to do things during busy times and not be incredibly frustrated.
Glad it was a "bonus visit" - we did not stress, simply did what we could
and enjoyed as much as possible.
But compared to previous visits- not at all the same...

 

[Nomad70]

Wing it here too. I make a couple of ADRs, get park hopper and see where we end up. I find if we don't plan too much we aren't disappointed if it doesn't go as planned.

 

[mag73]

We used to be park commando's.

After many trips we realized we can see everything we want to see without being slathering lunatics about it.

I guess the only thing we do that might be commando-like is we are always at rope drop. This isn't a strategy, though. We are just early risers.

We used to be ADR-slaves too. Every waking minute of every day we had to have ADR on the brain to make sure we were always in the right place at the right time.

We haven't made ADR's in years and we eat where and when we want. Before everyone goes crazy about that statement, we do not go to WDW 4th of July week, or Easter, or Thanksgiving, or Christmas weeks.

We frequently walk out to the bus stop with a park planned and if another bus shows up first, well, we'll just go to THAT park today.

We take it casual, we ride everything we want with minimal waits, and we never starve.

Park Commandos I guess we too were Park Commandos

 

[Disney Doll]

We wing it all the time.

About the only planning we do is to make an ADR for what are some of our favorite restaurants. What parks we go to often tie in with that, since we try to go to a park that works for our ADR location.

For example, if we have an ADR at Flying Fish on the Boardwalk, we'll go to Epcot or the Studios that day, so we can more easily get to the Boardwalk area via boat or foot.

But we have been there numerous times throughout the years and are of the mindset of "Well, if we don't see it this time, we'll see it next time".

 

[Cherinva]

I"m a commando planner.....however, I do keep the schedule flexable....for our next trip, I've planned on which park to go to and have made a few ADRs....but 2 of our days we are going to which ever park we decide in the morning.....once we get into the park, we have decided which attraction is first, after that we are winging it.....

Just go and have a great time.

 

[franluvsbubba]

It def depends on WHN u go! If you go whn the parks aren't crowded, u shld prob b fine. If you try to wing it whn everyone & their grandmas are there, you'll b walking & waiting & barely riding all day. You'll also b frustrated as all out doors and just end up doing ANYTHING even if you don't really want to, just cause the line isn't long for tht particular attraction.

 

[shalom]

I'm a commando researcher, but not really a commando at park plans.

I really enjoy the research, but in the parks I might remind someone, "If you still want to see, x, better be doing it," however if they want to just do what they're doing, that's the end of it. I'm a commando researcher, but on the actual vacation I'm anti-commando.

Make sure you make a list of everyone's 1 or 2 rides they most want to do,

This is what we do. If someone particularly wants to do something that's going to get busy, I tell them to do it first thing in the morning, so the extent of their "schedule" is that they start there.

In a group with multiple adults or teenagers, we're also good with splitting up and then just meeting for meals or for dinner. If no one wants to do anything they "need" to get to first thing, we'll start with some rides together, but generally people do the stuff that they most want to do early in the day in ones or twos or threes, then we'll get together and do things as a big group later in the day.

I do think it's easier to "wing it" with smaller groups than with larger, and when it's offseason rather than school vacation. For any group larger than three or four, lot harder and more time consuming to decide "okay, let's do this next" by consensus. Maybe it works better in families who're more unified in their preferences ; we're all over the map, so time apart by interest and then time together is what works best for us, so we do schedule a few things (meals or shows, mostly).

 

[My3Princez]

Being addicted to planning does not mean you have to be a commando in the parks.

I scour the threads here to have all the up-to-date information I will need when I get there...... so we can make informed decisions on the fly.

Here's how our park plans go:

Day 1 - MK. Try to hit the headliners. Catch Castle Lighting Ceremony. Maybe lunch at Pecos Bills

Day 2 - AK. 8 AM lunch at Tusker House. Do Safari then EE. Walk some trails. Leave by 12. MVMCP that night.

Day 3 - Epcot. Late-ish start after party. Get Soarin FP as soon as we get there. Eat lunch at Coral Reef.

Day 4 - DHS. TSMM first. Then BATB and RnR. Stay through for Osborne lights.

Day 5 - MK. Merida meet & greet first.

I'm a commando researcher, but not really a commando at park plans. I subscribe to touringplans but only for the crowd calendar and Lines app. If you can put yourself in the right park on the right day, you won't NEED to be a commando.

There's a happy medium for everyone. Your challenge is to figure out a plan that works for you AND your husband. You can have a plan in your head without being fully committed to it and drive everyone crazy with it.

What I woudn't do is just walk in the park without having done my homework in advance.

I 100% agree with what I bolded above!

 

[CindyT]

We are teachers so can only go in busy times. We plan to go early to experience eticket rides but in the afternoon we play it by ear. Fortunately, we like peoplemover and carousel of progress that rarely have long waits. We get fastpasses for any other rides that have waits more than 20-30 minutes. We did commando touring when our son ws young, but now we relax and enjoy!

 

[eliza61]

Agreed!
And that is why we choose to visit during low crowd times,
because I am not a commando



After that experience, I can see why commandos are so commando
There's no other way to do things during busy times and not be incredibly frustrated.
Glad it was a "bonus visit" - we did not stress, simply did what we could
and enjoyed as much as possible.
But compared to previous visits- not at all the same...

Sure there is.

I think it's more about your expectations. I normally go the last week in august- through the first week in September. I have gone during June, in October (my next trip is the 22 of October) during November Jersey week.

The last couple have been during free dining. Everyone rants about how if you don't have adr's during free dining you are doomed. Sorry but that is totally untrue. We have never, ever in the last 10 years been told there was NO availability.

Now by nature the definition of 'winging it" means you really don't have set expectations. There really is no restuarant in wdw that I HAVE to eat at. lately none of hte park restuarants are all that hot and the signatures that require 2 credits always have an opening. So you can always get a decent meal. Heck I checked on line last week and CRT came up almost every night of my visit. So when I go no matter what the crowd level, when I pop up in the morning I simply call disney dining on my room phone and the great people there always come up with some place for me to eat.

So for wingers the frustration is gone, we generally don't care if we ride TSM 4 times in one day or eat at Le Cellier every visit.

To wing it is to let go of the "must accomplish X number of rides" or the trip is wasted thought pattern.

I think the problem is people almost always assume that "winging" it means some thing "less" like if we don't ride Soarin well the trip is incomplete and that's really not true.

so for me the difference is the "winger" will get to TSM, check out the wait time or grab a fast pass. If they decide to do the ride that's cool BUT if they don't do the ride, that's also totally cool. Where the commando, if they don't do TSM or it doesn't go quite as plan (say can't get to the park at rope drp) the frustration sets in.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm a commando researcher, but not really a commando at park plans.

Yes yes and more yes. Except that now my family has started to realize the power of the plans I used to try to make, and they have requested, nay, demanded, that I make plans again for our upcoming week-long trip to Disneyland. (when we next go to WDW I will probably be in commando-planning heaven!) We simply get more done and have more fun, when we plan ahead. Vacations aren't for relaxing for us; they are for having as much FUN as possible. And that's what the planning is all about for us.

We were there the first week of August. I have two teens with no patience for waiting in lines. I also knew that at each park there were about 4-6 must dos for us. So, I used a plan for the morning at each park. Arrive before rope drop and scheduled our must do attractions. We were done with them by lunch time. Then we winged it from there. Some days we went back to the resort for a swim/nap. Some days we pulled some more fast passes and caught a show or two.

I was happy with our approach. My kids were amazed that we never had long line waits and liked being able to call the shots after lunch. I didn't want either of them getting so tired and burnt out that they were going to be pills the next day.

Beautiful!




OP there is a massive, huge, BIG difference between "yay I'm in the parks, now what is here?" and "arrive at gates at oh seven hundred, visit restroom half an hour after entrance to parks, get FP for Space Mountain 5 minutes after that" and having the screaming mimis if there's a line for the bathroom that gets you to SM FP line 6 minutes after instead of 5. I strive to be there, in the middle.

But I have a husband and son who tend to forget that they are hungry until they are freaking out and I have to figure out when the last time we ate was. So scheduling meals is important. I've been at DLR when hunger hit (without tantrums, yay!) right as hunger hit everyone else in the parks and the line is AGES long. I've been at DLR when we went to get a pizza and the pizza place was closed for the evening. I've learned a lot of what NOT to do at DLR, and I apply it to WDW. So we need to make sure we're scheduling food, scheduling food times, keeping an eye on the clock.

And therefore it only makes sense to have a plan, so we aren't stuck in an hour long line when we're supposed to be at an ADR.

AGain back to my previous experiences at DLR (our times at WDW so far have been weird, because a lot of it has been with family that visits quite often and doesn't tend to eat a lot IN the parks, they aren't quite our norm)...I've had a plan that everyone ignored. Next time I had a plan *in my head* so that I could pipe up with a sudden and amazing and really good "idea" when the others stopped (in the middle of the walkway, of course) to pull out a map to see what should be done next...the idea is stated, agreed upon, the map goes away, and we have more fun, more quickly. Went the whole day doing that, everyone agreed that that day was way better than the previous time (when they made fun of my plans and ignored them). Huh, wonder why? OH yeah, we had more fun when those "ideas" kept magically coming to mind.


So if you're with people who won't appreciate a *written* plan, but you WANT to plan, I recommend that tactic. Helps to increase the fun, at least for us!

 

[OhhBother]

Thanks everybody!

We totally ignored the "which park which day" on the crowd calendars - we don't have park hopper, so we just picked the park with extended hours as the park to hit each day.

I don't think you have to plan out every move, but the strategy you've outlined above -- along with a lack of planning -- means you're going to be waiting in lines when you could be having fun.

The extended hours days are, without fail, the busiest in each park. Even if you have no other plan, avoid going to those parks on those days.

Just my two cents.

 

[larryz]

Like a few other recent posters, I fear I will become that screeching commando Mom, and suck the fun out of it for everybody, if I have a tour plan in my hand.

Those of you who just go with the flow and wing it - does this work well for you?

Some of my best trips have been totally unplanned other than "let's do the MK today." Contrary to popular belief, you CAN have fun that way.

 

[mom2rtk]

I don't think you have to plan out every move, but the strategy you've outlined above -- along with a lack of planning -- means you're going to be waiting in lines when you could be having fun.

The extended hours days are, without fail, the busiest in each park. Even if you have no other plan, avoid going to those parks on those days.

Just my two cents.

OP, do pay attention to this. The poster is absolutely right. This is the reason 2 people can go to Disney the same week and one come back saying all they did was wait in lines, and the other saying it was great and they barely waited in line all week.

Being a commando researcher can help you avoid the NEED of being a commando in the parks. This is how putting yourself in the right park on the right day can allow for a much more laid back approach.