touring plan vs. spontaneity?

[mom2morgan]

I've heard strong arguments both sides of this one, and wanted to hear your opinions. Last time we went, we thought the idea of a theme park "touring plan" (a step by step breakdown of the order to go on rides - I'm sure y'all know the book I'm referring to, or similar) sounded really "uptight" and not very much fun. We just wanted to go to the parks, and ride whatever struck our fancy. YEP! We had a TON of fun...mostly standing around crowded over the map arguing about what to do next. I don't know if we really stood in longer lines, but I KNOW we wasted time going on things we might have bypassed if we'd had a better idea of what "else" is out there. SOOO...this time around, we are sticking to the plan. We're going to try the whole nine yards - we've crossed off the things we aren't interested in and added a few - but essentially we're going to be at each part half an hour before opening, and then go to each thing in the order listed and following the tips. I guess I'll know AFTER our trip if I really like it better! (and if we hate it, we'll scrap it - but I really think it'll save us time and aggravation!)

[tmosier]

What worked very well for my family of four was to have a loose daily and overall plan for our Disney trip, knowing that the whole plan might need to be tossed or changed as we went along. We did not have our days planned to the minute, but rather to segments of the day (morning, afternoon, night). Well, except for ADRs; those were planned to the minute!

Since this would be the first trip for my husband and daughters, we researched the parks and made a list of what we absolutely HAD to do as well as what we WOULD LIKE to do. We scheduled which parks we would visit on which day and made ADRs. Our daily list was prioritized, and we did the most important things first. With the extra time we had, we did whatever. Overall, we each came away having done what was most important to us, although maybe not as many times as we would've liked!

Getting back to your original question of plan vs. spontaneity, I think there's room for both!

[MickeyMomof2]

We usually have a touring plan from rope drop through lunch. This is the time of day when you can really make the most of your time. After lunch, we are much more flexible. We choose FP for things we may want to ride again or we check out attractions that usually don't have as much of a wait. I believe that if you maximize your first few hours, you can still have room for flexibility in your vacation.

[Stich8818]

We just try and go were ever we choose. Like when we went to AK the first thing we did was EE then went from there...then went to the Nemo show cause it started right after we got off EE,then came to the front of the park. MK started in Tomorrowland then went to the left(if you were looking at a map)..I think a lot has to do with FP also. I dont like to plan just go and enjoy!

[garymacd]

We usually try to be very spontaneous when going through the parks. Last year we had DDP and everything seemed to be structured about where we had to be for meals and drink.

Not that that was a bad thing, understand....:thumbsup:

[TIGGER17179]

:mickey:I plan to a certain extent on our days. I know that there are places we have to go and places we can miss so I plan to hit those spots. I also plan around places we want to eat that need RESSIES... If you have a little bit of structure it helps make sure everyone gets things they want. More so since no one in my family can make a decision!!! I wouldn't go without some kind of plan. However I do make those plans loosly in case something comes up...
You need to look at the busiest days verse MH's in order to get the best time out of the parks. It also is a whole lot of fun planning.. makes the excitement build.

[TheRustyScupper]

1) Spontaneity is god.
2) I frequently plan time to be spontaneous.
3) I also plan the spontaneity activities.
4) I live to be spontaneous!

[kaliepooh]

With us, we just like to be on time for our dining reservations. Yes we love our tummies. So we make sure that whatever we are planning to do will coincide with our reservations. It usually works out pretty well. If we are going to plan we usually do so on the bus ride to whatever park we are heading to on that day. Once fast passes are available for our favourites we grab those. We like to enjoy our vacation and we do just that!

We have 49 more days until we get to our most favourite place.:cloud9:

[JRocker]

Planning??

Okay.....here's our plan....
Step One: Open up the park and hit as many of the big rides we can before the other riff raff start pouring in.
Step Two: Wander around aimlessly, jumping in line when the line ain't too long. If the line is too long.....anybody want a mickey bar??

We have a lot of time when we go, so we just sit back and enjoy the whole experience.
When you only have a few days, I think planning is great and it definately saves some time.
Personally, I like the idea of planning out the mornings and making it a free-for-all in the afternoons.

[kathiep]

We find that it helps to go with a plan. Nothing written in stone however, just a general idea of what park you might want to be in on which day. Then we start by doing our serious to do's in the morning. That way, the afternoons can be more leisurely and "relaxed".

We usually don't tie too much of our plans to our ADR's. It gives us more room for flexibility. Most of our ADR's are for dinner so we have a lot of room to change things up during the day. If we get to a park and it's too crowded, we can go somewhere else. We just always go back to the room late afternoon and refresh before heading back out again.

[cal5755]

We do BOTH!! I have days that are scheduled from morning til evening..... for instance Day 1 is land, check in, then go to Epcot for lunch and the countries..then dinner at GG and some of the Land rides then back to the hotel. Day 2 - no park planned so after breakfast at Chef Mickeys one of the kids will have their day in charge. Day 3 is MK starting with an 8:00 BBB reservation with plans all day (including break time) dinner at LTT and fireworks etc. Day 3- breakfast ADRS and then no plans so another child get their day in charge.... this is how we do our vacation.. some days are really schuduled tight and the others we take a very relaxing pace and let the kids decide where to go and what to do.

[Wells]

If you want to do everything at least once, you need a plan. If you are thinking of using a plan from a popular non-Disney approved book, which has a website of there own, these plans work well (from my own experience).
People don't generally notice it but the "spontaneous" tourists do get caught up in a "heard mentality" without realizing it, which is why these plans work....

[tinksmom02]

I attempted the touring plans last trip, but for some reason they didn't really work for me. What I prefer is to have a list of park hours, ADRs, and some of our must-do attractions. We can have a broad structure for the day, but we're not techincally following a plan.

[Snow's Mom]

I hate standing around arguing about where to go next, which is why I'm in charge. I ask my family what they want to do before we go, work it into our itinerary, and then boss everybody around the whole time. I'm relentless! And I have to say it's the only time my family listens to me.

We want to do and see as much as possible. We're still flexible (as in when we were too exhausted to follow the plan and opted to take an afternoon off).

I started with ressies, since we had DDP and our last trip was all about eating. Chose parks, worked in breaks, followed touring tips. We took in a ride or two here and there that weren't on the list and skipped a few that were, but all in all, the plan worked well.

Besides...I love the planning! Makes the time before the trip go faster.

[bkfree]

I agree that you need to have at least a loose plan in place.
My first step in planning a trip is to write down(sorta on a graph) the days we will be there and the hours for each park those days as well as who has EMH in the am and pm. This is the first step of the plan. I know that we love early hour at Epcot, late hours at MK as well as late at AK, so this is my starting point. I insert these into my schedule and then fill in the other parks next.
My next step is writing down the TS places we want to dine at and then arrange them according to our park days and make the ADR's.
That is the extent of my overall plan.
This will be our 3rd trip with the kids,so we are very familiar with the layouts, rides and shows.
We try and it the "musts" first and then just relax and go with the flow. Lunch and snacks are spontaneus.Because we stay for 7 days and use PHopper tickets, we never waste time in a long line, we leave and find something else, knowing we will come back and hit it before our trip is over.
There is so much to do, that we never stand around in longgggggg lines, that is very unmagical.
By having the parks we visit preassigned to a day and by having a dinner ADR each day, this allows me to be able to relax for the rest of it and the major decision making is done.

[Figment52]

I guess we sort of do both. Most of our planning is in the pre-trip stage, though. We'll pick out places to eat, if we want to do a tour, or anything else that requires ressies, or some sort of advanced planning.

Once we arrive, we plan very little. We always do MK the first full day, then Epcot the next. The rest of the days are determined by ressies, or EMH, or whatever we feel like doing when we wake up. This will be our 11th trip, so there is very little we haven't seen, except anything new since last time. Last trip we did the free dining, and although free food was great, we felt it really limited our time outside of the dinner table. Normally, we don't eat TS a whole lot, so we felt the schedule was a bit too stringent.

If it was the first trip for someone, or a large family gathering, than I would suggest planning out the trip much more. WDW is very overwhelming for a newbie, or even on the 2nd or 3rd trip. Not to mention if you've got 15 or 20 other people on the trip. But otherwise? There is just so much to see and do that it really helps to allow some spontaneity and flexability, or you could miss out. You know what they say - life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.

[BritCody]

We do a little of both. We arrive at the park at least 20 minutes prior to opening. While we wait to get in the park we discuss what we want to do. So we will have a general plan of the first 5 or so attractions. When we stop for lunch or dinner we also discuss what our next few attractions will be after the meals. However if we see a character we want to meet, a few pictures we want to take, or if someone makes a suggestion along he way. we will break from our general plan

[katzctkpt]

No plans for the parks. Which ever bus arrives first at the depot is generally the one we take. Then we stop at the first ride and go. Now dinner since you have to make advance ressies that's about the only thing preplanned.

[TinyDancer]

We have ridiculous plans before we go. And there are certain things that are non-negotiable like being at the park an hour ahead of time, the particular places where we eat breakfast every time, MK is always Dumbo first in the am, stuff like that. And I make a ride by ride plan, though when we get there we know the place so instinctively that we *feel* what is a good thing to do next.

But I have to say, this is pretty much how we run our WDW trips: :director::walk::walk::walk:

[Simba'sBud]

I agree that you need to have at least a loose plan in place.
My first step in planning a trip is to write down(sorta on a graph) the days we will be there and the hours for each park those days as well as who has EMH in the am and pm. This is the first step of the plan. I know that we love early hour at Epcot, late hours at MK as well as late at AK, so this is my starting point. I insert these into my schedule and then fill in the other parks next.
My next step is writing down the TS places we want to dine at and then arrange them according to our park days and make the ADR's.
That is the extent of my overall plan.



I second this suggestion!!

It has worked very well with us so far by allowing a sort of 'free' feeling while in the park, but giving a little structure to your eating schedule so that you don't 'skip' a meal because you were so wrapped up in doing stuff. This makes for some very CRANKY souls in your party!

[BMan62]

Plan:
1) Which park to start in for the day
2) Which direction to go when entering the park
3) Which ride/show/attraction strikes our fancy as we pass by
4) What time do we need to leave for our ADR
5) Where do we want to go for evening show - Wishes/Fantasmic/Illuminations??
6) Back to room to get ready for tomorrow.

[garymacd]

1) Spontaneity is god.
2) I frequently plan time to be spontaneous.
3) I also plan the spontaneity activities.
4) I live to be spontaneous!

Rusty, you crack me up! I am going to have to find time in my calendar to give a spontaneous outburst of laughter over your plan.

[CU Tiger]

We make an open ended plan. We list the rides/things we “must do” and another “want to do” list. From these lists, we get the fast passes for the “must do’s” and do the “want to do’s” while waiting for our return time. Nothing is set in stone. Flexibility is good. :mickey:

[biodtl]

We're pretty much off the cuff types. The closest we come to a touring plan is knowing that we will do MK the 1st and last days and Epcot the 2nd day (because that's just what we do every time). The other parks and the repeats are up in the air, unless we have an ADR.

We usually don't have many ADRs, unless it's something special, but this year we have one almost every day, so that has required a little more planning.

[mom2morgan]

No plans for the parks. Which ever bus arrives first at the depot is generally the one we take. Then we stop at the first ride and go. Now dinner since you have to make advance ressies that's about the only thing preplanned.

Oh.My.God. Despite the fact that this has a certain whimsical appeal, I gotta admit that I'm having a panic attack just thinking about it. No kidding - I'm actually hyper-ventilating ;-) I'm a really structured sort of person....I think you and I would kill each other before we found the first ride, LOL

[Bringonthemouse!]

The only thing we plan is which resort we'll be laying our heads down at and which flight we'll take to get us there. We also stay away from ADR's as who knows which park we'll be in at any given time and we don't want to be tied down AT ALL!
It's "Fly by the seat of our pants" for us two chicks (DD16 and I)!!!:mickey: If we're having a grand old time at DHS and feel the need to enjoy a decadent dessert in France at EPCOT, we'll hop on the ferry and do just that.:cloud9:

So how many of you are breaking out in a sweat just reading this......?:D

[GOLFDISNEY72]

Just got back and used a touring plan for the first time. We normally go the first or second week in nov when the crowds are light. I was very nervous for our first summer trip because of the crowds. I could not believe how fast we got around the parks. I am now a believer in them and will use them every time.

[Young@Heart]

We use our own touring plan, and it's always worked great for us! :thumbsup: I don't think we could do WDW w/out a plan, esp. since we tend to go in summer, when the crowds are thicker. It also helps DC to know when we'll be getting to their favorite attractions. :mickey:

[kakn7294]

After the last 3 trips of ADR's and planned events like MVMCP, Candlelight Processional package, Fantasmic dinner package, and P&PP, this next trip, we're mostly winging it. We do have a loose plan for which parks on what days, we do have a couple of ADR's with friends, and we do have a couple of Intercot mini-meets planned, but the rest of the time will be all spur of the moment. I think there are advantages to both systems - I'm just tired of the structured trips right now and am ready for just going where ever the magic takes us.

[TheAdventurer]

I never have a plan. One reason is that I don't like criss crossing the parks, I really like soaking up the atmosphere of the different areas. So I don't want to do Pirates, then Space Mountain, and then Jungle Cruise. When I enter Adventureland, I am in Advertureland mode, and want to do everyting in there while my imagination is taking me to a place of Adventre. Then I'll move on to Frontierland, where I'll soak up the feel of the Old West and enjoy that for a few hours.

If a line is long (or at least too long for the value I place on the attraction) I'll just skip it, not too worried about it becasue I've already done it tons of times, and I'll be back plenty more. Occasionally I'll track back for a ride that I really don't want to miss, if the line is long and Fast Pass doesn't have a return time within an hour or two, but not very often.

[BelleLovesTheBeast]

We do a little of both.

The longer we are in Disney the less park planning I do...except for ADRs of course.

Usually we go over the park maps before we go. Partly to plan and partly because we are so excited. We decided which attractions we don't want to miss. Once we get to the park we pick up a map and start in which ever direction we feel like that day. Hitting those must see attractions first.

On our 10+ day trips we hit everything so we don't really plan out what attractions to see. We just start in one direction and follow it around the park visiting every attraction.

[bruin1344]

we only do small amount planning like picking the days to go to a particular parks and adr thats about it

[Goes4FastPass]

We just try and go were ever we choose. Like when we went to AK the first thing we did was EE then went from there...then went to the Nemo show cause it started right after we got off EE,then came to the front of the park. MK started in Tomorrowland then went to the left(if you were looking at a map)..I think a lot has to do with FP also. I dont like to plan just go and enjoy!

This is a very good plan.

I've talked to those spontaneous people and they talk about how swell it was just to go with the whim of the moment. When I ask them what they did I find I'm have a conversation with Goofy:

Did you ride Splash Mountain?
Garsh! What's that?

Did you ride Expedition Everest?
Dyuk, Uh there was a line when we got there so we didn't.

Where did you eat?
Duh, heeyuk, everthing was booked so we ate hot dogs every day.

Did you use FastPass?
Garsh no! It costs extra doesn't it?

[Mr. Incredible]

After 10 trips I've got the perfect approach boiled down to the "three Hs"

- hit the biggies early :number1:
- hang loose :party:
- have a pocketful of FPs by late afternoon :secret:

[rwdavis2]

We usually have a touring plan from rope drop through lunch. This is the time of day when you can really make the most of your time. After lunch, we are much more flexible. We choose FP for things we may want to ride again or we check out attractions that usually don't have as much of a wait. I believe that if you maximize your first few hours, you can still have room for flexibility in your vacation.

This is how we did the MK this past January. By 11:30 we did all the rides we wanted except Jungle Cruise and spent the rest of the day doing things at a leisurely pace. I rode the TTA for the very first time and got to see SM with the lights up (it had broken down after lunch).

I would always recommend a touring plan especially during crowded times of the year. But, IMHO, the best advice is to get to a park at rope drop. Our goal is to avoid wasting time in lines. I won't spend more than 20-30 minutes waiting.

Bob

[Mrs Bus Driver]

1) Spontaneity is god.
2) I frequently plan time to be spontaneous.
3) I also plan the spontaneity activities.
4) I live to be spontaneous!



:eyes: :jaw: :doh: :notworth: :funny:

I couldn't have said it better :mickey:

[mom2morgan]

LOL - very well put! And THAT's why I'm going with a pretty solid plan this time. If it is too much we'll drop it and go back to the old way of
just a rough plan - but I feel really good about planning our time better. We didn't do TOO bad last time, but I think we ended up a lot more exhausted than we needed to be. Our WORST mistake was not arriving for opening, because we figured we'd have more fun if we were rested.



This is a very good plan.

I've talked to those spontaneous people and they talk about how swell it was just to go with the whim of the moment. When I ask them what they did I find I'm have a conversation with Goofy:

Did you ride Splash Mountain?
Garsh! What's that?

Did you ride Expedition Everest?
Dyuk, Uh there was a line when we got there so we didn't.

Where did you eat?
Duh, heeyuk, everthing was booked so we ate hot dogs every day.

Did you use FastPass?
Garsh no! It costs extra doesn't it?