Worried about an overplanned vacation

[strangebutspecial]

In the past, my husband and I have always taken the parks as they come. No rushing to get fastpasses in the morning, an ADR once a day, if that. We used common sense, but we liked just wandering in the parks with no particular plan in mind. Sometimes we didn't even decide on a park until that morning.

Now with fastpass+ and 60 day advance windows, I'm worried that the only way to see certain rides will be to plan things down to the minute. I'm worried that it'll take the spontaneity out of the trip. How do you guys cope?

 

[Kalea]

For any trip, I use my trip planning as an option. They are things we can do, and if we don't want to do them... well, we can do something else.

With FP+, you can cancel things and move them around or just not use them. Last year we missed a FP+ for TSMM because the kids decided they'd rather go swim at the resort.

 

[strangebutspecial]

...with FP+, you can cancel things and move them around or just not use them. Last year we missed a FP+ for TSMM because the kids decided they'd rather go swim at the resort.

But did you get to do TSMM at all that trip? I'm just concerned that without fp+, you end up with extraordinary wait times as your only option.

 

[mckelvey72]

I actually like it.....at 180 days out figure out your meals and your meal times. Then when the FP window comes, if you get on first thing (and you aren't going at a crazy popular time), snag the big rides back to back....so start with say TSMM from 9-10 then do another from maybe 9:30 - 10:30 etc. Then you get them out of the way, lunch and/or dinner is planned and the rest of the day is just relaxing.

It worked well for us. We actually like it cause we are not rope droppers so we start our FP at around 10am....get them out of the way in the morning then our afternoons are carefree.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

Unless you are talking about TSMM, A&E or SDMT, everything else is the same. You would have waited 30 minutes for BTMRR in the past, you will wait that same 30 minutes for it now, except you are given the opportunity at any time within 60 days of your visit (right up till the night before) to book a FP for it.

 

[ArwenMarie]

In the past, my husband and I have always taken the parks as they come. No rushing to get fastpasses in the morning, an ADR once a day, if that. We used common sense, but we liked just wandering in the parks with no particular plan in mind. Sometimes we didn't even decide on a park until that morning.

Now with fastpass+ and 60 day advance windows, I'm worried that the only way to see certain rides will be to plan things down to the minute. I'm worried that it'll take the spontaneity out of the trip. How do you guys cope?

Planning is the best way to get to do everything you want to do and planning will take spontaneity out of the trip to a certain degree. There's just no other way to put it!

For our last trip, we made a short list of our absolute Must-Dos. It was a really short list, like 2 a day. And we sort of let everything else happen. And we had a lot of fun. We got a lot less done than we did in the past though.

I think that is the thing with this new system...You have to be willing to put in the pre-planning and also be ok with everything falling to pieces once you get there.

I know for me, that's where the resistance comes from. I have to plan more, which is fine, but you don't get that clean slate every morning anymore. That's what I miss the most, the daily clean slate.

 

[Arden01]

I actually like it.....at 180 days out figure out your meals and your meal times. Then when the FP window comes, if you get on first thing (and you aren't going at a crazy popular time), snag the big rides back to back....so start with say TSMM from 9-10 then do another from maybe 9:30 - 10:30 etc. Then you get them out of the way, lunch and/or dinner is planned and the rest of the day is just relaxing. It worked well for us. We actually like it cause we are not rope droppers so we start our FP at around 10am....get them out of the way in the morning then our afternoons are carefree.

I agree. I like knowing that our big rides can be scheduled ahead and everything else is flexible. And the non-RD option is helpful. What I discovered on our first trip is that RD doesn't work for us every day. My daughters were just too wiped out by 2-3 RD days back to back. Even mid day breaks didn't really help. Next trip, I will alternate RD days with some late mornings and FPP will be really helpful.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

In the past, my husband and I have always taken the parks as they come. No rushing to get fastpasses in the morning, an ADR once a day, if that. We used common sense, but we liked just wandering in the parks with no particular plan in mind. Sometimes we didn't even decide on a park until that morning.

Now with fastpass+ and 60 day advance windows, I'm worried that the only way to see certain rides will be to plan things down to the minute. I'm worried that it'll take the spontaneity out of the trip. How do you guys cope?

We went in December which was our first time with FP+ and it did change our trip. Would I say it changed it for the better? Absolutely not. However I am not trying to say our trip was ruined by the fact that we had to plan so much.

We like to decide what we are doing and where we are going on a whim. ADR's were previously the only thing we had written in stone. Fast Pass Plus really makes this impossible as you have to plan where you will be 60 days in advance. This isn't really pleasing to park hoppers like us. Towards the end of our trip we finally just decided to keep our fast pass reservations as a mere suggestion. Most of the ride waits were manageable so if we let a fast pass go, it wasn't a big deal. We preferred to go ahead and wait standby for 20 minutes then stick around for an hour waiting for our fast pass window to open up. This way we could be on our way to park hopping etc.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

We went in December which was our first time with FP+ and it did change our trip. Would I say it changed it for the better? Absolutely not. However I am not trying to say our trip was ruined by the fact that we had to plan so much.

We like to decide what we are doing and where we are going on a whim. ADR's were previously the only thing we had written in stone. Fast Pass Plus really makes this impossible as you have to plan where you will be 60 days in advance. This isn't really pleasing to park hoppers like us. Towards the end of our trip we finally just decided to keep our fast pass reservations as a mere suggestion. Most of the ride waits were manageable so if we let a fast pass go, it wasn't a big deal. We preferred to go ahead and wait standby for 20 minutes then stick around for an hour waiting for our fast pass window to open up. This way we could be on our way to park hopping etc.

No You Do NOT! I'm sorry but this is often repeated on this site and driving me insane. You do not have to choose where you will be 60 days in advance unless you are talking about 3 attractions (A&E, SDMT, TSMM) in ALL of WDW! Every single other ride and attraction is readily available from the night before you visit that park. On our recent visit I rearranged our FPs after 10pm for the following morning based on our very spontaneous touring and got everything we wanted, including SDMT 3x.

 

[monkeybug]

No You Do NOT! I'm sorry but this is often repeated on this site and driving me insane. You do not have to choose where you will be 60 days in advance unless you are talking about 3 attractions (A&E, SDMT, TSMM) in ALL of WDW! Every single other ride and attraction is readily available from the night before you visit that park. On our recent visit I rearranged our FPs after 10pm for the following morning based on our very spontaneous touring and got everything we wanted, including SDMT 3x.

Did you go during a slower time of year? Were there things that weren't available at 30 days but were abundantly available the night before?

I just ask because while I have been able to get all the FP's I wanted (except A&E), there were some that were quite hard to get and I had to settle for less than ideal times. Enchanted Tales with Belle was just as difficult for me to get as 7D! I had to split my party in two to get Jungle Cruise on the day I wanted it. Maybe because of MNSSHP?
I'm hoping that those things will open up considerably before our trip so I can move them around.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

Did you go during a slower time of year? Were there things that weren't available at 30 days but were abundantly available the night before?

I just ask because while I have been able to get all the FP's I wanted (except A&E), there were some that were quite hard to get and I had to settle for less than ideal times. Enchanted Tales with Belle was just as difficult for me to get as 7D! I had to split my party in two to get Jungle Cruise on the day I wanted it. Maybe because of MNSSHP?
I'm hoping that those things will open up considerably before our trip so I can move them around.

Week before Labor Day, our park days were mostly 5s on the crowd calendar, but during the weekend felt every bit as crowded as 4th of July.

 

[monkeybug]

Week before Labor Day, our park days were mostly 5s on the crowd calendar, but during the weekend felt every bit as crowded as 4th of July.

That gives me hope then!
I didn't have problems in any other park, but the MK is giving me a headache.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I'm not really worried about being overplanned. There's only one day I feel I need to keep as is, since I have an MK ADR, and A&E and 7DMT FPs, but that's a five hour or so span out of a two week trip.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

On my solo trips, I would plan what park what day but used to often change it depending on what bus arrived first.

Now I know I'm not going to do that since I've got FP's booked already and some are harder to get.

That's about my only change I think - upcoming is my first solo trip using Mymagic+ so I'll be seeing how it goes.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

That gives me hope then!
I didn't have problems in any other park, but the MK is giving me a headache.

Yeah, I've never experienced a party day, so that could throw a curveball into planning. Good luck!

 

[MermaidMommy]

Week before Labor Day, our park days were mostly 5s on the crowd calendar, but during the weekend felt every bit as crowded as 4th of July.

FWIW, according to touringplans, the week before Labor Day ended up being unexpectedly light, with crowds as low as 1 some days, including at MK, and not really anything over a 4 all week. Lots of 2 and 3 days, too. It's not surprising that you were able to change FP's so easily with crowd levels that low.

 

[kittyab]

I booked dinner reservations lunches were on the fly. I made fast pass picks but we moved them around too. We attended a hard ticket event and were able to ride rides that were planned for latter fast pass pics and changed the picks all over again.

I did book BBB in advance. I had a coupon for story time with Mary Poppins so I did book that too.

My dh complained about overbooking our trip but really if you dont do any planning you will miss out on stuff.

 

[Mikie]

Funny thing is I TOTALLY get the *feeling* of this being over planned! and my hubby really, really hates the feel! but I think a lot is in my head. I hate to say "I know when/what I'm eating 6 months out" but even if I went to visit family in chicago, I'd already know I was looking forward to my favorite pizza place and not consider that over planned. For the most part, we eat within about a 75 minute window daily, so it's not a stretch to know I'll be ready to eat (and sit!) around 6pm. For rides, without fastpass, we'd still enter a park and look around for something with a reasonable wait time to ride - with fastpass it's just that I've created that "reasonable wait" by tagging myself with a fastpass. If we don't feel like doing that thing at that time, I know I'm passing up that short wait and I may or may not get back to it later - same as any theme park without fastpass.

I think the mind trick is that the effort I put in ahead makes it feel like I "have to" do XYZ now because I planned it! I just have to do my best to adjust my attitude - I've made some plans which are tools to help me make my vacation fun-filled and smooth - but if I change my mind in the spot, that's OK! There are no FP+ or ADR police coming after me

Now, we'll just have to see if I can actually accomplish this attitude when I get there!

 

[Kalea]

But did you get to do TSMM at all that trip? I'm just concerned that without fp+, you end up with extraordinary wait times as your only option.

We did, yes. We rode it at rope drop and had another FP+ that we didn't use.

For us it's just about choices. We have this FP+ we could use or if we don't want to do that, we can go do something else. Yes.. in a few instances, that might mean not riding that particular ride. At least not that day.

I'm the planner.. I check in with DH, but I really do 100% of it. And once we get to the parks, it does not bother me in the slightest if in that moment, we decide the plans I laid out 60 days ago aren't what we want to do.

I get into a frame of mind where I feel like FP+ is an appointment, and I need to be there. But it's really not, and if we don't make it, it's fine.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

No You Do NOT! I'm sorry but this is often repeated on this site and driving me insane. You do not have to choose where you will be 60 days in advance unless you are talking about 3 attractions (A&E, SDMT, TSMM) in ALL of WDW! Every single other ride and attraction is readily available from the night before you visit that park. On our recent visit I rearranged our FPs after 10pm for the following morning based on our very spontaneous touring and got everything we wanted, including SDMT 3x.

The point is under the old plan you could decide the morning you woke up. Now you can stay up until midnight 60 days prior to hopefully get everything you want. I understand many attractions are still available to book much closer to your vacation but in our experience the time choices and attraction choices were even less flexible the closer to our vacation. I know my in laws initially planned to ride anything and after one day in the parks realized the over estimated their tolerance. We tried to log in and change a few of their fast passes for the remaining days but few things were available. Obviously the experience is different for many families and I am glad it worked out well for your family.