how structured is your disney trip?

Do you pre plan everything or play it by ear?

Re: how structured is your disney trip?

A bit of both.

I definitely plan ahead which parks we'll be in which days, and I plan our table service meals ahead of time. My priority is also to make sure we get to see the nighttime show at each park. I do leave a few days flexible, usually a mid-week day to just sleep in if we need to, and a later in the week day to decide where we want to go.

I don't follow a specific touring plan like I might make for someone else because I've been to Disney many times, done all that research and pretty much internalized the best ways to tour the parks. If you're a first-timer, I'd definitely recommend following a touring plan.

To me, the idea of just showing up to Disney World with no plan at all gives me anxiety. My heart is beating fast just thinking about it.

My trip is in October. Since April I have had a neat park planner with where I'll be on which dates, where we're eating, when our tours are, and when we're seeing what fireworks.

I'm a person who knows enough to stumble in and do it all on the fly, but I could never bring myself to do that. I'm a planner.

Re: how structured is your disney trip?

I preplan everything THEN we wing it....

By that I mean -
-I plan where we stay.

-What parks we will do each day. Where we will eat dinner (we tend to do 99% sit down dinners - and maybe one breakfast or one sit down lunch - we do this because we don't want to lose park time with the girls - we had a very different touring plan/vacation plan when it was just DH and I.)

-What time we will leave for the parks and return to the hotel, and when we will go back for dinner.

- I plan what rides we will do and in what order we will do them or get a FP etc.

- How we will get around - rent a car/buses etc.

NOW having said that....

My DD#1 doesn't do well in lines - she starts getting very hyper and jumpy and trouble hearing you talk to her. This is largely why I plan in detail so that we can maximize our time in the parks and get everything done that she wants to do in a way she can be happy and easily handle it.

Things never go 100% as planned and with young kids we end up deviating from the schedule. That is FINE with us. Really only the 1st day we do a park do we have a schedule. After that we just wing it - because 2nd days tend to be redo days and days for things we missed so we do those things 1st.

Now I can SAY we will hit dumbo 1st, then peter pan or whatever. But if Mary Poppins walks up to the carousel and there is no line we will JUMP on that then continue on. If say the girls want to ride something twice - we do that and don't worry about it.

I will say we will tour until 12 or 1 pm. Then eat lunch grab CS meal in the park or at our hotel. But you know if it is hot and the girls are cranky at 1145 we leave then. If we are having a blast and they don't want to leave and aren't tired then we stay longer and do more.

I find planning in detail is great because it allows you to get the most done with the least amount of waits and the shortest amount of time. I like having the plan because there is nothing like getting down there and you read it is supposed to be a low crowd day and opps it turns out to be packed. This way we aren't going from ride to ride with 50 or 90 min waits and only getting in 2 things before we have cranky kids.

Now when it was just DH and I- We planned what days we would hit what parks and what sit down lunches and dinners we would do (we did the deluxe DDP because we would do signature 2 TS credit dinners and either a breakfast or lunch at a sit down. We didn't have a real touring plan and just did what we felt like. Lines didn't bother us - and we used the sit down meals as our AC rest and break. We would head back to the hotel mid day if we were tired or too hot and wanted to swim - and would head back and try to hit the late nights in the parks - and stay until closing. VERY different planning strategy but great for adult only trips. But doesn't work at all when you have little ones.

The big key is WHEN you are going - Christmas week for example often sees one or more days when the parks close to capacity. Yup - so if you don't have a strategy then you might find yourself stuck at your resort unable to enter the parks (btw they close the parks 1st to off site guests which during really busy times is a good reason to stay on site). If you don't have a plan you can forget sitting down to eat. You might only get on a handful of rides which might be okay with you if it is an adult only trip - but with kids they will want to ride all or most of the rides, see the parades etc.

Also I saw so many kids in the parks that were totally melting down. Now that can happen to every child - but I spoke to several who saw my girls napping in the stroller saying they WISHED their kids took a break or that they had gone back to the hotel because their kids were there since 8am and it was say 4pm - and they had dinner reservations and their kids were just melting down because they were hot and tired.

BTW I'm also the one who brings the extra outfit in case they spill ice cream or a drink or run through the water attractions, and a ton of snacks just in case. So I think it also depends on your personality.

Re: how structured is your disney trip?

We went in November and did almost zero planning and it went fine. We got FP for the big ones and every ride was 15 min or less.

However, a couple of major caveats: It was value season, so we didn't really have to worry about managing crowds. Also, we stayed off site and visited family at night after the parks, ate at Cracker Barrel, etc. We didn't eat table service meals at Disney so we had no need for booking ADRs.

Also, our kids' ages are a little atypical - we had a 10 year old and a 19 month old at the time. The 19 month old was too young to know the difference if we missed a popular ride and the 10 year old is mature enough to wait in lines and a bit past the age where there are a million must dos (and tantrums if they don't happen.) Character meals also weren't important to us. So we were very flexible.

We are going back February break and we're going to do a little more planning this time mainly because it's a peak time. I want to at minimum choose the park we're doing each day and have a plan of attack as far as which rides are a priority. I'd like to hit the ground running - have one of us get certain FP while the other takes the kids on certain rides. Maybe map out a rough path we'll take through the parks. That sort of thing.

I think that's it, though. I am a type A personality, but with limits. I can see having a plan for the rides and attractions but the whole idea of ADRs stresses me out because I don't want to feel tied down to eating at a certain place at a certain time.

Re: how structured is your disney trip?

Re: how structured is your disney trip?

Re: how structured is your disney trip?

Posted by JennP

Posted by Lillykat

Posted by Lillykat

If you don't have a plan you can forget sitting down to eat.

I keep hearing this and this is what is starting to turn me off to staying on site. I don't want to commit to ADRs every night but i also don't want to eat counter service for every single meal. So I am starting to feel like I want the flexibility of driving to wherever for dinner.

The thing is you CAN wing it but you might not like the restaurants that ARE available and the times open when you wait until you are down there might be terrible for families (i.e 9 or 930pm). Now if the time is irrelevant or you are happy with any sit down place you CAN be flexible. Personally I can't stand CS so for us we are happy to plan in advance. Besides if you go to a city on vaction a popular restaurant often requires advanced reservations so I don't mind having to book in advance but I think 180 days is silly. 90 or 60 seems more reasonable. BUT the system rewards those who plan in advance.

I get what you are saying and frankly if it were totally up to me I would have no problem winging it because I am a very adventurous eater. If Marrakesh was the only option left, I'd be fine with that. However, the rest of the family is VERY picky, so that wouldn't work for us. They'd starve at Marrakesh.

With a city vacation I wouldn't mind the structure as much because I feel like the days are probably more predictable versus going to a theme park. Also, we usually don't do city vacations as a family.


I'm still torn, so nothing's definite either way.

Re: how structured is your disney trip?

Posted by Lillykat

Posted by JennP

Posted by Lillykat

Posted by Lillykat

If you don't have a plan you can forget sitting down to eat.

I keep hearing this and this is what is starting to turn me off to staying on site. I don't want to commit to ADRs every night but i also don't want to eat counter service for every single meal. So I am starting to feel like I want the flexibility of driving to wherever for dinner.

The thing is you CAN wing it but you might not like the restaurants that ARE available and the times open when you wait until you are down there might be terrible for families (i.e 9 or 930pm). Now if the time is irrelevant or you are happy with any sit down place you CAN be flexible. Personally I can't stand CS so for us we are happy to plan in advance. Besides if you go to a city on vaction a popular restaurant often requires advanced reservations so I don't mind having to book in advance but I think 180 days is silly. 90 or 60 seems more reasonable. BUT the system rewards those who plan in advance.

I get what you are saying and frankly if it were totally up to me I would have no problem winging it because I am a very adventurous eater. If Marrakesh was the only option left, I'd be fine with that. However, the rest of the family is VERY picky, so that wouldn't work for us. They'd starve at Marrakesh.

With a city vacation I wouldn't mind the structure as much because I feel like the days are probably more predictable versus going to a theme park. Also, we usually don't do city vacations as a family.


I'm still torn, so nothing's definite either way.

I happen to enjoy Marrakesh and DD loved it too. Well you could book places that are no credit holds and cancel if you aren't ready to eat and then see what is available and can then switch or cancel. There are a few good CS places where they have some decent healthy options that you could fall back on that aren't typical CS (bc I am not a CS fan but they had some nice options. ) While sometimes the restaurants have signs that say no walk ups you can go to guest services and they have a sign with all the restaurants and can look up any restaurant in WDW and seevwhat is available. I had a friend get into chef mickey's and CRT same day b/c of cancellations. We have switched dining while down there before so it is possible if you are flexible.I don't know it doesn't bother me too much b/c we only do one sit down and do it as a dinner. We eat early 5 or 6 so we are done and can ride the attractions or see the parade or fireworks. That is part of why we don't do lunch or breakfast bc it does get in the way of our touring. I think you can do WDW the way that suits you if you are wiling to be a little flexible. I have to say having a car is nice. I know people who do stay onsite but have a car and when they want to be flexible do go off site. So maybe something to consider. You get on site perks but flexibility to come and go as you please. Plus easier to wing it and dine out of the parks at another resort if you drive.

Re: how structured is your disney trip?

For me, I think planning well gives you more options. If I know in advance which nights I can see Fantasmic! I can work around it and make choices rather than being stuck on the last night having to miss it or miss our tradition of seeing Wishes on the last night.

Planning well also means that if by noon we've seen all of the headliners, we can take it easy the rest of the day and repeat what we want, or go on low capacity rides or just relax. We don't have to make it an all day ordeal to see the rides and attractions we want to see

Re: how structured is your disney trip?

Depends what time of year you go, if you have kids and what age and what you want to do.

We went just before DS was 3 yo.

And did not do a dining plan and so glad we did not.

WHY?
- I don't know what I want to tomorrow night. How will I know how I feel like eating in 6 months.
- I don't like a bunch of sit down for a formal meal all the time. We went one time to a "fancy" restaurant for the whole trip and that was more than enough. We had the DVD player for DS.
- DS was not going to sit every meal to be a 1+hour meal every meal
- We had our own snacks delivered at our resort (with bottled water, milk, etc..) and saved $$$
- I did not sacrifice eating standing up or crap just because I did not have a dining plan. I had chickent salads, etc..
- I did not want to be in the middle of something we were enjoying and tell everyone to stop because we had this dinner reservation I made 6 months earlier.

For us, I loved the freedom to eat when/where I wanted.

I do suggest you DO make a reservation for Character Breakfast.

But for the rest, I just cannot be that structured when I am on vacation. I want rest and freedom.

That did not mean we ate burgers and pizza at every meal. Far from it. You can eat fruits, yogurt, salads, etc...

The only real planning was resort, airplan tickets and ordering from gardengrocers.com(equivalent of peapod there), get the park tickets with park hopper. Because again, I did not know how I felt which park I wanted to do that day and I HATE being stuck into previous plans I can't really change. So if one morning we did Magic Kingdom, I did not feel bad with the park hopper to go to Epcot in the afternoon.

I will do the same when we go back.

Message edited 7/27/2012 1:01:15 PM.

Re: how structured is your disney trip?

We plan what parks we are going to,on which day.

We usually do mk the day we arrive, the hs the next day. The mk again for a day. The next day Epcot and finally ak.

So with that in mind, we make ADR,'s for meals in the park we are going to be in. That's a very oddly worded way to,say if we are going to be in mk, we make our ADR for mk.

But we are not above park hopping or changing our plans. And we don't make ADR 's for every meal. Like if we did a character meal for breakfast, we will wing it for lunch and dinner.

how structured is your disney trip?

Our only plans are meals, and not EVERY meal, which we often change (or cancel) once we arrive.

how structured is your disney trip?

Thanks for the feedback!

I have done Disney before but, I usually only planned what parks we would visit on what day before we went and then did all of the planning once we were there (since it was DH and I, we had flexibility on where/when we would eat).

This is going to be a whole new ball game with DS. I am planning on hitting the parks in the morning and then going back to rest midday and doing the pool in the afternoon. We're going off peak so I think the parks close early.

I've booked two character breakfasts - I felt that was the best time for DS and he wouldn't be in the middle of riding rides or anything beforehand.

how structured is your disney trip?

Do we plan yes - how much depends on the time of year and age of kids. We stay off site at a timeshare with a kitchen so breakfast is always in house we do lunch and some dinners out but dont stress about it.

Our first trip just DH & I - low crowd season, we made absolutely no plans just showed up and it was absolutely fine. Had a lot of great meals enjoyed the evening shows and Downtown Disney.

Second trip with DS who had just turned 4 we went with the mindset that this trip was for him. We researched a bit before so we had a good idea what attractions, shows etc he would enjoy. He surprised us by wanting to meet every character we saw and he waited patiently on line with his autograph book for each one. We ate when we wanted to did a few TS dinners, more off site dinners. We didnt do a ADR character meal because we were not sure how interested he would be - we could not get into one once we were down there - that was a mistake but he was more than happy to meet his friends in the parks.

Our trip last month we did more planning - DS is 8 and we brought our 11yo nephew. High Season - we only had 2 days because we also went to Universal. if we didnt use touring plans FP and the lines app we would have been standing in lines for hours and not experienced half of the attractions. The boys had very specific attractions they wanted to see and things they wanted to do. Getting to the parks at or near rope drop with a plan was key. Planning was important but we were flexible. Thinking about it now we didnt make meals a focal point of our visit, we only had one ADR and we ended up cancelling it. While DH & I love a fine dining experience the boys could care less and are past the character meal stage so we didnt bother. We ate when we wanted to and never had a wait. Lunch tended to be on the early side since we had an early start to the day and it just worked out.

Re: how structured is your disney trip?

I do think it is worth having a plan and then detour as needed. I checked the sites that predicted traffic.

We went on our first WDW vacation this spring. I skimmed some guidebooks and they all seem to agree with the rope opening and start at the parks. I thought this was helpful since it was our first time there since we were kids. DH and I were not Disney people. Now we are hooked!

The next time we go, I want to make sure I know when all the shows and parades are. I didn't know how much DS would LOVE these. I am going to make it the priority.

You should also take advantage of fast pass. I didn't really know how these worked but they are awesome. You could always decide not to ride them but if you are in the vicinty, I would grab them.

I'm also not sold on staying on site. We like the convenience of being able to drive to Target, DD, eat out, etc. Our kids are young and not yet in school so we can go during off peak good weather times. Once they are older, we will probably have to pay top dollar to stay on site (Polynesian has the best location). During crowded times, I think being able to go to the parks earlier than the public or later would be really important. As for now, we still need to swing by CVS and Target for diaper wips, milk, etc and it is convenient for us to have a car.

Re: how structured is your disney trip?

Re: how structured is your disney trip?

Plan like crazy and then go with the flow -- LOL!
We like to plan out which parks we are going to do and then make out ADRs around that. We only went once with a LO and we totally played a lot of the day by ear based on his needs. We went to a park in the AM, headed back to the hotel for his nap, and then went out for dinner/to a different park/fireworks, etc. based on what we felt like doing that night. We always get the park hoppers so we have maximum flexibility.
We planned one of our trips a fwe years ago and did the whole touring plan, arrived at rope drop, etc. and we were exhausted and just stressed adn miserable so we quickly abandoned the rest of the itinerary and just enjoyed ourselves!
I think you need to be balanced and do a little bit of both. If you are going with LOs it is worth researching and planning - best rides, best restaurants, etc. for LOs so you know your LO will be happy. Based on the age you can also figure out which shows and parks will be best. order their favorite snacks, etc. from garden grocer, etc. Then show up ready to have a great vacation and take it from there.

Re: how structured is your disney trip?

This is our first trip, but I'll tell you what I have planned so far. I used the unofficial guide's website to find out which parks should be the most and least crowded on each day. Since we are staying off site we are avoiding parks with high crowds and extra magic hours.

We have two ADRs out of the five days. I'm traveling with two toddlers so I didn't want to set myself up for disappointment with too many sit down meals. One ADR is in the park we will be in that evening and the other is at a resort we will then stay at to watch the fireworks and water parade from.

Again, I have two toddlers so we are doing one park a day- I'm thinking like a 6 hour run. Then there is some other activity scheduled for the other half of the day- like the ADR I mentioned before or Downtown Disney. There are also some other local attractions I have written down- haha I kind of want to see the world's biggest mcdonalds, which is nearby.

As the dates come closer I am going to use the book to select which attractions are a priority and try and figure out a rough plan for walking through the parks.

Re: how structured is your disney trip?

We're going on Sunday with my 17 month old DD and my sister and her husband and their two kids. We've planned loosely. We didn't do the dining plan because we are staying off property. A relative of mine works for Marriott and we got a two bedroom villa for $500 for the week! We are going to shop for breakfast food and also lunch stuff for the kids. We figure we'll eat in the room before we leave and bring some lunch options for the kids so they don't melt down if we aren't quite ready for lunch or our reservations aren't until later. We only made one reservation per day. We figure we won't be at the park for the whole day since we have young kids. We know what rides/shows we want to go to but we don't have a set itinerary as far as hour by hour.