Can I not plan for this hol?

[Starlet]

Hello All,

It's like 52 days until our holiday. Two yrs ago we went to Disney for the first time and did DDP stayed onsite and I had everything and everyday planned thanks to the wonderful help of this forum and the members.

However, this time we are staying at Universal Endless summer, and got universal tickets, seaworld, busch gardens, aquatica and one fully inclusive day at discovery cove. So the only plan I have so far is my discovery cove date.

How much do I need a plan for this hol? Can I Just wing it? Would you advise having a rough idea by just following the busy day guide?

Might get kennedy space centre tickets but will I be ok to just decide that when we are there?
My kids love waterparks and looking for a more relaxed laid back hol than when we did purely disney. Obviously we could pick the sunnier days for these if it's a relaxed hol.

I've written down loads of eatery suggestion off here and will sign up to the sites over next few days for offers etc. Never really been on I drive so how any tips on what it's like? Is most places grouped together on a strip like when we go on normal spanish hols?

Just noticed volcano bay is never in most recommended optionon busy day guide and on our first saturday there every park we have tickets for is least recommended! Doh

Any input appreciated

[Sweets]

I’ve done a no Disney trip, similar to yours and the beauty of it was no planning. No worrying about ADRs or fast passes. It was great.

I planned lots of places I wanted to eat, rides I definitely wanted to do and that was that. It was great.

[JessBlu]

Yes wing it ! It’s so liberating we loved it !

[7SeasSailor]

International Drive is 11 miles long if that helps.

[Orlando Fan]

Hi Everyone,

We may be an exception to the rule, but our only planning for any Orlando trip has comprised of simply "scribbling on the back of the infamous old fashioned fag-packet" and I don't even smoke!" details of any particular experience we wish to try / visit about a week before we depart.

I would estimate that on average this Wing It Plan approach achieves about a 90% success rate, and with more and more encouragement from Disney year on year for you to... think... plan... book... PAY... etc. I guess it will not be too long before there is a pro-forma spreadsheet available to download for going to the loo? (See what I did there?)

For us the above method has a stress factor of zero, and is proven via experience! ... We have been fortunate enough by making other financial sacrifices to visit Orlando over 20 times, each visit for up to 4 weeks, and only stayed off-site once. Your holiday should be there to enjoy!

Cheers,


Paul

[Picklepuppy]

We did on site at Disney last year and didn’t plan anything and didn’t use fast passes, we saw everything we wanted to and more, so it’s possible to have an amazing holiday without planning

[tomdan]

Originally Posted by Orlando Fan

Hi Everyone,

We may be an exception to the rule, but our only planning for any Orlando trip has comprised of simply "scribbling on the back of the infamous old fashioned fag-packet" and I don't even smoke!" details of any particular experience we wish to try / visit about a week before we depart.

I would estimate that on average this Wing It Plan approach achieves about a 90% success rate, and with more and more encouragement from Disney year on year for you to... think... plan... book... PAY... etc. I guess it will not be too long before there is a pro-forma spreadsheet available to download for going to the loo? (See what I did there?)

For us the above method has a stress factor of zero, and is proven via experience! ... We have been fortunate enough by making other financial sacrifices to visit Orlando over 20 times, each visit for up to 4 weeks, and only stayed off-site once. Your holiday should be there to enjoy!

Cheers,


Paul

See more...

Agree with you. When we first went we planned,planned and more... now we go and decided two days in advance(this is because DS has auisum) and find this works for us. Also if DS has s meltdown all best laid plans go out of the window 😁You can usually find a fasspass available.

[cornishfrogboy]

Having read your opening post, I would be more than happy with your plan as it is rather similar to the Orlando part of our vacations, (We no longer bother the Mouse).

We do not in any way miss all the hassle of planning Disney, Without Disney, everything is so much more relaxing and you can make most decisions at Breakfast.

Volcano Bay? We were there in August. We got in at early opening and did pretty much as we wanted with minimal queuing.

[Picklepuppy]

Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy

Having read your opening post, I would be more than happy with your plan as it is rather similar to the Orlando part of our vacations, (We no longer bother the Mouse).

We do not in any way miss all the hassle of planning Disney, Without Disney, everything is so much more relaxing and you can make most decisions at Breakfast.

Volcano Bay? We were there in August. We got in at early opening and did pretty much as we wanted with minimal queuing.

See more...

You don’t have to plan Disney to be like that we didn’t plan anything last year and had an amazing time and did everything we wanted to! I think there is a misconception that if you don’t plan you’ll miss out but we didn’t miss anything!

[Starlet]

Oooh thankyou so much everyone I feel like a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders! I'm definitely looking forward to just deciding on the days and letting the kids decide too!

I guess now my main unanswered question is how hard is it to decide where to eat for tea?

I saw someone's post about i drive being 11 miles long.
I'm staying at endless summer, be worth while getting this i trolly pass for us all and is there a main/popular area with eatery places more together?