too much planning?

Calypso · Post by **Calypso** » Apr Thu 17, 2008 11:28 am

I have to admit, I started the mega-planning for our first trip to WDW when my daughters were 1 and 4 years old. I think it was part of the mommy-thing to make sure naps and regular meals are part of the schedule.

the ones who showed up late, paid a ton of money, have no idea what they want to see or do,

These are the people I usually see. Family (and clearly not blood-related to me) went to EPCOT and missed a large portion of EPCOT because they "didn't know it was there." WHAT???? How do you NOT know Test Track is there???

Post by **horizons1** » Apr Thu 17, 2008 2:43 pm

I know some "planner" types who would actually be MORE stressed out if they didn't plan. Needless to say I do not take vacations with these people.

Sleeping Beauty 5 · Post by **Sleeping Beauty 5** » Apr Thu 17, 2008 9:28 pm

cccmouse wrote:The only thing that we really spend time planning is where we are going to eat. There are so many good restaurants that we never seem to get around to all of our favorites.

I usually stick to planning our dining reservations too. We've done the tours and seen everything already but the only other thing I might say I plan is what day to do what park based on the EMH

RREng77 · Post by **RREng77** » Apr Thu 17, 2008 9:50 pm

We don't so much plan as we do a BUNCH of studying. That way, we know what we plan to focus on at each park, but we can pick parks based on our feeling that day, rather than knowing from the get-go where we're ending up every single day.

The downside to that idea these days will be the advent of the "plan your dining six months in advance" program. We usually don't know we're going six months in advance!

In fact, the majority of our trips were scheduled about 12-15 weeks in advance...

Cazza and Livvie's Mum · Post by **Cazza and Livvie's Mum** » Jun Sun 22, 2008 10:36 am

We are not 'planners' only in that if we do ADR's it's because we are there for a special occassion. The only thing I definitely know is that our first full day at WDW will be spent in MK and our last morning the same. The rest of our time at the World is a go with the flow type of thing. A friend of mine planned her first trip to precision with FP's for this then going to a ride then ocming back to use FP and timing shows, even timing lunch, dinner, etc. She arrived on a Thursday as we did, we met her husband and son on the Sunday evening and asked how their stay was going. He told me his wife was in bed, she was so stressed she'd actually thrown up adn felt exhausted. She didn't even give them time to sit down and eat a Dole Whip, they had to eat on the run!!!!! She then followed my advice to just get lost in the magic, take as much in as possible but most of all relax and enjoy your time there! 15 days out of 365 isn't long enough and when you charge around you miss the details, the fun, the magic and then you need to recuperate when you get back home. Not what a vacation is supposed to be.

Post by **Len90** » Jun Sun 22, 2008 12:19 pm

I believe that planning is a great thing to give each day a backbone. It helps you see everything that you want to see and to accomplish all of your goals. However, I don't like planning out to the exact details of everything you will do in the day. My personal feeling on this is to plan the backbone. For example, the dining reservations. Make those in advance to set yourself to the park you will be in. From there, let the magic take you away!

spodie · Post by **spodie** » Jun Tue 24, 2008 9:08 pm

When we go, we usually don't decide what park we are going to until we get to where the busses pick you up at the resort and then do whatever rides we feel like when we get there. It's nice to live only a few hours away!

Cazza and Livvie's Mum · Post by **Cazza and Livvie's Mum** » Jun Wed 25, 2008 9:07 am

It's nice to live only a few hours away!

Don't rub it in!!!!! This is what I intend to do, move to the US and be minutes away from the magic!

Then I wouldn't have to plan/save and go as often as I wanted.

kcarts · Post by **kcarts** » Jun Wed 25, 2008 1:28 pm

I absolutely love planning for the vacation. It's very fun and builds the anticipation of getting there. However, I never use the planning once I get down there. I use it more to get excited about going. Even the dinner reservations I may make, I ususally end up cancelling when I get down there. We usually find somewhere else we want to try and make the reservation for there. It's funny, the last trip to WDW I took, I met my parents and my sister and her husband. When we met in the lobby of the resort, we all looked at each other and tried to figure out what we wanted to do. None of us had anything planned the we wanted to do first. Or for the rest of the week. It was one of the best trips to WDW I've had.

wdwannabe · Post by **wdwannabe** » Jun Thu 26, 2008 12:20 am

I enjoy planning our trips. I don't go too wild, but do like to have an idea where we will be going, but then just let it go, as to what we see and do. With the idea that we are going in the less crowded time of year, I feel we can let the scheduals be just for our non Disney life. But, we do like to get to the gates at opening on most days, and plan a day or so for sleeping in. When we do go it's at least for a week.

Everyone has a favorite so we do those, and then try something new that we didn't get to do last time and of course there is always something we did not do on this trip that we do next time.

sallyporsche · Post by **sallyporsche** » Jul Wed 02, 2008 7:20 am

I love planning and, now that my boys are older and enjoy the dining experience far more than before, ADRs and what restaurants we will try are essential. Otherwise, I make a calendar of the days we will be there and which parks have the extra magic hours on which days and try to make a general plan of what park to start at each day. But it's not written in stone. We are park hoppers and tend to end up at Epcot more often than not. But, to my sister and I, we aren't truly at WDW until we see the castle at MK. Last trip, MK was our third day and it just didn't feel like we were "there" until that day. Next trip, it will be our big extended family all together with one little one who has never been there before and others who haven't been there in over 13 years. So, I am trying to plan a bit more so that they get to see what they want, but not to be too rushed around. We relaxed a lot more the last trip and we all had the very best time. Trying to find that balance will be key to the next trip.

Sherri in MI
ASMusic Family Suites 2009

srik · Post by **srik** » Jul Wed 02, 2008 8:09 am

One of my favorite things is the planning phase of a trip to WDW. But we don't do much more than decide what parks on which days, and really only do that so far in advance to make sure we get ADRs where we want.

The rest is more the imagining of our days than actual planning. There's no "master plan" for each day regarding which attraction to do in which order or what bench to sit on at 10:15 for 7 minutes...

99Soulz · Post by **99Soulz** » Sep Thu 04, 2008 11:25 am

We typically visit each year as DVC members and as our family has grown to 14 people (2 grandparents, 6 parents, 6 kids) we do need some element of planning to be able to spend time together as well as letting the various-aged kids get their fill too. We usually book and ADR for each day so we can all eat together. I know some peope think the sit-downs take you away from the parks and magic but it is truely part of our magic to sit down for a couple hours and reflect on the day and plan the rest of the night.

I will say I "plan" weeks/months in advance to just look forward to the trip. And by "plan" I mean try to see which parks work out best with the ADRs we have for that day...etc. I did see a family on one of this summer's Travel Channel specials on WDW that planned out everything from the moment they walked into the park. I mean EVERYTHING. He had a card for each person that stated the attraction and time they should be doing it. The clip from the show showed them getting off Kali RR and while he looked at his card he said "Wow, we are 15 mins ahead of schedule". How that can be fun, magical, relaxing....etc I have no clue.

aboden · Post by **aboden** » Sep Thu 04, 2008 1:11 pm

I am one of those that don't plan anything, even arriving and leaving is a battle lol I just go with the flow and see what I can when I can. Maybe my lack of planning is why i'm not married

lol

But I agree if you like to plan everything go ahead, it's better then what I do but if your stressing out about it you might need to take a step back and reflect,

packwingfn · Post by **packwingfn** » Sep Thu 11, 2008 7:16 pm

I like to plan on what park I will be at what day and such but other than that, I hate having ADRs and having to make sure that the day revolves around the ADR. I know it's so hard to find walk-ins for most sit-down restaurants but if I get turned away, I can always find somewhere else to eat.

I try to enjoy as much of the magic as possibile. I think most of my planning is just for me to excited for the trip but when I'm down there, I try not to think about what we've done so far and what we haven't....

And if I miss an attraction, It just makes me more excited for my next trip.

I do remember one year, I remember regretting not spending enough time in World Showcase. AND ever since that trip, I have spent the most time their compared to any other area of WDW.