such a thing as too much planning?

[Tinkerbell]

There’s planning and then there is rigidity


I’ve usually got an idea of what day we are doing something and where. ADRs are booked for each day, but changed if needs be. I posted last week my concerns about the military precision of booking FPS etc , I will book some, especially for the little one but I’ve decided that on this visit, a four year old will dictate the days events rather than the adults

The BIG BIG factor for me is though... is this a once in a lifetime trip or the start of many once I. A lifetime trips. Those of us who have been many many times, and believe we will go back can afford to not do that, Miss this and not seee this other. I can understand the needs of a beginner to WDW to feel a) overwhelmed by the planning and b) fear that they’ll not see everything
My answer really is

Plan the basics , which park which day, ADRs if any and those “must do” FPS. The rest will just fall into place

[jothp]

We (well I really) always have a plan. I start by mapping out which days we will visit which parks to try and make sure we visit on less busy days and are spreading out our visits to the same park. I book ADRs around our planned park days.

Once I've sorted the basic outline, I start on planning each day.

If we are going to a park for rope drop I always know the first few rides we're heading to, to make use of the shorter queues and then pick some FPs that follow a sensible route around the park to minimise walking. I'll then write into the plan other nearby rides with short queues, or character meets, or shows in between the FPs. I'll also know for each day roughly how long we're planning to stay in the park and have a list of possible snacks or QS meal locations for if we get hungry. We find the plans help us each day because they mean we don't waste time trying to work out what to do next.

I enjoy making the plans but we do have to be flexible because sometimes rides are shut or the weather is bad or we're more tired than expected etc... Often, we find that we follow the plans quite closely for the first few days but as we get further through the holiday we change the plans around more and more to reschedule things we've missed or to revisit favourite rides/parks (or because we drove all the way to Kennedy Space Center to find I had left the tickets at the hotel! ). I've always been lucky enough to be able to change FPs or ADRs to suit our new plans.

[Tesh11]

[QUOTE=jothp;13323823]We (well I really) always have a plan. I start by mapping out which days we will visit which parks to try and make sure we visit on less busy days and are spreading out our visits to the same park. I book ADRs around our planned park days.

Once I've sorted the basic outline, I start on planning each day.

If we are going to a park for rope drop I always know the first few rides we're heading to, to make use of the shorter queues and then pick some FPs that follow a sensible route around the park to minimise walking. I'll then write into the plan other nearby rides with short queues, or character meets, or shows in between the FPs. I'll also know for each day roughly how long we're planning to stay in the park and have a list of possible snacks or QS meal locations for if we get hungry.

This is exactly what I've started to do. I do appreciate plans may change though.
Find it quite overwhelming with how much there is that I want to do! Definitely need 3 weeks next time 😉

[Jedi Princess]

I’m the planner, and the others are very happy to leave me to it.

I like to research restaurants, watch Tim Tracker, follow people on Instagram, use the busy day guide and get tips and advice from The DIBB. I have our itinerary on my phone, and also in a notebook.

This will be my Dad’s last trip, and his only request for the holiday is to see Pandora and ride FOP. I’ve managed to get FP’s, I did have to swap around some ADR’s though.

I think for the amount of money we are spending, planning and researching is essential (for me). Sometimes our plans have changed, and we just take it in our stride.

I can’t wait to see my Dad’s face when he finally see’s Pandora😁

[Pantaloons]

Originally Posted by Tesh11

So obviously adr's and FP goes without saying, but how much more planning do you do? My husband caught me studying the parks maps in bed 😊 So I can work out which order to do everything in, and said I'm going to far now! Do you try to schedule parades/meets and greets in before or wait till your there?

See more...

Honestly, yes.
Be prepared to either chuck your whole plan out the window in a worst case scenario, or cut it down by 50%

We binned our whole plan after 2 days because of Hurricane Irma last year. It meant we lost 2 full days in the parks, but on the plus side, it was September which meant the parks were empty with a lot of rides being walk ons or 10 minute waits. That freedom meant we basically managed all 4 Disney parks in 2 days and could freely change plans around Universal / VB as we seen fit.

Sure a few things like Cirque du Soleil and KSC were cemented in place, but dont be downharted if you have to shuffle a few things. Its a holiday. Plans change.

When we arrived, we realised most ADR's werent for us, so cancelled well in advance where possible. We were more than happy to grab a bigger lunch when we felt like it, or finish up early and go for dinner and then sit together drinking in Disney Springs

[DisneyMadMummy]

I like to plan, it's part of the holiday for me!

However, i did see someone not long ago had done a minute by minute plan. Not even joking, there were planned toilet breaks and specific time for waiting in lines etc. That's too much for me.

[captain-codeye]

I don’t like to plan much, it’s supposed to be a holiday and on holiday we like to go with the flow and how we feel at the time.

We are fortunate enough to have 4 weeks every year so can fully appreciate that we have flexibility that if it were a 2 week, once in a lifetime trip we wouldn’t have.

However I do believe that you can’t go completely unprepared.

All I normally do is work out what parks according to the busy day guide best fit for the days we are there, I put them in the planner, then if we wake up and fancy a park day we know where to go.

However this year for the first time in 4 years we are doing Disney! So I have booked adrs and will book fast passes, very unlike us.

We will have to know a day in advance if we are not going as I will need to cancel the adrs and fast passes, I may cancel the adrs nearer the time if it’s going to stress us being tied to something on a particular day.

[orlandonewbie]

I like to plan but I don’t share any of the plans with the children. Then nobody gets upset if it’s changed. I feel like they got the full magic of Disney when we went for the first time last year because I knew what we were doing and where things were so nobody else had to worry about it.

[Merryweather]

I’m a serious planner but when I’m actually there I only really stick to ADRs, everything else is moveable! The one thing I do tend to do is take a spreadsheet with me so that I’ve got a note of the rides I really want to do so that I don’t miss any of them out. I do, however, leave some “free” time either for naps (I’m getting on a bit) or to revisit parks where I still have things I want to do!

[jothp]

Originally Posted by Tesh11

This is exactly what I've started to do. I do appreciate plans may change though.
Find it quite overwhelming with how much there is that I want to do! Definitely need 3 weeks next time 😉

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Having been a couple of times does make the planning easier because I know which things my family are happy to miss. Some days the plan works really well and we do get everything done and more. Other days we might have to miss a few things and others we just ditch the plan completely and do something else.

I find having the plan helps us because if the girls do want to change things around I can make it clear to them what it is we'll be missing if we do change.