So... any planners finding themselves NOT planning their next trip as much??

[Dsnygirl]

I'm a planner... I fully admit it. Always have been, always will be -- my DH says I always have to have a project to be happy, and he's right. :blush: And my favorite projects have been planning out our WDW trips... not to the point of craziness, but to be sure, they were all very well thought out. Park hours, EMH, show times, travel times b/w parks... a lot of it was b/c we wanted to figure out ADRs, but most of it was just for the fun of being able to do it.

So, here I am... 6 months out from our next trip. I waited with baited breath for Disney to release the park hours, which they did on Tuesday. And then -- NOTHING!! I've sat here, looking at them, with no clear desire to plan a thing. :faint:

We know we have to do ADRs... we're going during free dining, our package starts the day free dining begins. So, if we have anywhere special we want to eat, we know we have to plan ahead. But other than that -- I really don't feel like figuring a thing out. It's crazy!

I think it might be b/c I just got back from a wonderfully relaxing trip in January... just a few girlfriends and I, and we really planned nothing. One ADR, the rest we just decided on spur of the moment. (We even went out to the bus stop one morning and took whatever bus came first. SHOCKING for me! :blush:)

But travelling with our girls, I know we have to at least have some kind of an idea what we'd like to be doing -- and we've always held to the idea that our "plans" are really more like the pirate code -- more of a set of guidelines than actual rules :) -- and we've not followed them plenty of times, choosing to do something different at the last minute.

But that being said -- I just don't know what to do with myself. I know we'll sit down as a family and pick our special restaurants, and when we hit them will be based somewhat on where we think we'll be... but other than that.... with no real desire to do much more, I'm completely at a loss!!

God help my family if I start planning our packing this far out to compensate.... :rotfl:

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

When we went at Christmastime 2008, I planned obsessively even down to the order of rides and what time and where to eat CS meals in addition to the TS Adr's....even though some planning was necessary due to the high volume of crowds my mom was very put out with the scheduling....so, I will plan what parks on what days and make our ADRs for our December trip but other than that we will be exploring a more leisurely pace this time.

Still, I can't help but to check Intercot every day for updates and posting questions, reading my planners...you get the picture:read:

[ChipDale2708]

We are going for a long weekend over Mother's Day and the only two things I have made ADR's for are a breakfast at Cape May (on Mother's Day) and dinner there one night since we have never done that before. I have the park hours in a chart and that's it. Not making any sort of real plan. The last two trips I planned everything and due to all sort of circumstances, every plan was practically thrown out the window. This time the 'plan' is to just take it easy and enjoy the resort (Beach Club) and whatever else comes our way. :cloud9: (Although I am watching daily for any news about a Mother's Day Brunch at EPCOT. If that pops up, I'll have to do some planning...:blush:)

[Dsnygirl]

it's a nice feeling, isn't it?? To let go just a little... our first and second trips, I too had really planned everything out, right down to what rides we didn't want to miss, the order of them... but looking back, I think a lot of that had to do with us being new to the parks and trying to figure everything out to make the best use of our time... our first trip was only 4 1/2 days in the parks.

Now, I think my ability to relax about it all and not really want to get over-zealous w/ the planning has more to do with our familiarity with the everything and the fact that we've already done most of what is important to us numerous times, so although there are certainly special rides and meals we don't want to miss, there's nothing that is super critical anymore.

And that is SUCH a great feeling... when I was there in Jan, I saw a woman sitting outside of Animation Studio with two park maps and a notebook, studying the maps and jotting down times, etc., in her notebook and then working with her kids on where they wanted to go next, trying to figure it all out. I felt for her... been there, done that... so glad we AREN'T going back to that!! :silly:

[TinkerbellT421]

I actually feel the opposite. The last two trips (the most recent one and the one before) I was barely involved in the "planning" process. I was working two jobs, one full time and the second one might has well been considered full time even thought "technically" it was supposed to be part time. I was basically working 16 hours a day, plus 8 hours on saturday sundays AND holidays. I was exhausted. DBF took over all the planning, normally I would be involved too, he takes care of all the fininanical aspects of it, but we love to do the "guidelines" planning together as a couple :) Well after not being involved and basically we would get there and he would say oh ok this is what is planned today, adr's park hours whatever, I actually found myself really depressed. I actually felt like it was an out of body experience. Like my body was there but mentally I was off on another planet. I got really disappointed, and emtionally upset in my head because I felt like I was basically a tag along. This year is different seeing I let go of the second job (talk about draining!) so this next trip Im full on in the planning. I might eventually drive DBF nuts. We cant currently do much planning seeing its a little too far in advance.

Too make a long answer short lol, I love planning. It makes me look forward to everything. I feel the magic, I feel like planning is half the fun! :D Now, let me say, we don't plan like: "Ok today is Monday, we have on our schedule Epcot till 2pm, then Magic Kingdom till 11pm" We have more "guidelines, or like tos, or these events are happening on this day do we want to go or do something else...its more a less a "dont forget about this or that" and most of the time the plan changes than what we "scheduled" but thats how we like to do. We look forward to the trip so we put a basic plan together and then throw it to the wind later. But it makes the trip that more special to plan for us :)

[Mogie]

The idea that planning is half the fun is pretty common on Intercot me thinks...
I really enjoy planning and obsess over finding the best flight and hotel rates, finding discounts. But for my first trip back to disney in 20 years in 2008, I went way over board on the research. I went so far as to make spreadsheets of ALL (and I mean all) of the attractions in each park, along with descriptions of the attraction as well as if it was a "Must see", "If we have time" and "Skip it" (because I thought it was too childish or lame).
After getting to the park during very low crowds I realized that NONE of the rides were "Skip its" or even "If we have time" as we were able to go on just about every ride during the week AND I greatly underestimated how much fun all the attractions are for adults compared to my memory as a kid.

So yeah I went way over board with the planning. The next year we went I had a lot of fun planning flights and finding the best hotel rates, and making reservations...but after that was done I had a loooooong wait for the trip...then I discovered these forums, and other sites with photo reports, and historical disney archives to keep me excited.

[spoiledraf]

I've always been a planner. Lots of ADRs, shows, tours, fireworks, whatever, and nobody really appreciated it. Actually thought I over did it. And I probably did. Next trip, (5 days) also in 6 months and we are going with my sis and bro in law and their kids. They only have two ADRs and thats the only planning they are doing. We have almost always done breakfast eery morning in the past but this year, it's eat n the fly. Hmmm... this may be a new awakening. I've been enough times to know where I'm going and you can get all the info when you get there so maybe it's not so necessary to have a spread sheet and a binder notebook with all the details and maps already in there.We'll see....:mickey:

[Dsnygirl]

Too make a long answer short lol, I love planning. It makes me look forward to everything. I feel the magic, I feel like planning is half the fun! :D Now, let me say, we don't plan like: "Ok today is Monday, we have on our schedule Epcot till 2pm, then Magic Kingdom till 11pm" We have more "guidelines, or like tos, or these events are happening on this day do we want to go or do something else...its more a less a "dont forget about this or that" and most of the time the plan changes than what we "scheduled" but thats how we like to do. We look forward to the trip so we put a basic plan together and then throw it to the wind later. But it makes the trip that more special to plan for us :)

I completely agree with you on that.... I find the planning to be half the fun of the trip, which is why I'm in such a quandry. I WANT to plan, but I don't want to at the same time!! So weird... but even though I'm not "planning" at this point, we are going to have to sit down as a family this next week and get our ADR's figured out, which will necessitate some form of plan, and one of the day belongs exclusively to my DD, as she turns 13 one of the days we are there. :) So, that will be her day to call the shots.

And of course, I am on here every day, checking up on things and just enjoying the feeling of knowing we are going, it's getting closer, and sharing the excitement w/ everyone else. So, even though my pen hasn't hit paper yet -- I'm wearing out my computer!! ;)

[TinkerbellT421]

And of course, I am on here every day, checking up on things and just enjoying the feeling of knowing we are going, it's getting closer, and sharing the excitement w/ everyone else. So, even though my pen hasn't hit paper yet -- I'm wearing out my computer!! ;)

And I thought I was the only one!!! :) :blush:

have fun planning!!! :)

[Trev&Ev Mom]

And I thought I was the only one!!! :) :blush:

have fun planning!!! :)

You're not alone...:mickey:

[Frog]

Ya know, my wife and I both have jobs that we have to do alot of planning for... so when we go on vacation, we really don't want to plan too much... we may make a reservation or two to eat, but honestly we would rather be as spontanious as we care to be while "off". I love the idea of going to the bus stop and catching the first bus that shows!! (boy, I hope it's not Downtown Disney! haha)

[DizneyRox]

Agreed...

I've found planning the trips to be a drag lately... So much that we've decided to not go this year. That solved that problem...

[ransam]

i've noticed the more i go, the less i plan. and that's just casue i know it so well.

i still buy tghe 2011 disney guide book, and still anticipagte, and of course still get on boards...but i don't plan as much.

[kemps@wdw]

We have found that over the years we plan a little less each year. Mainly because we're older and our DD is older, so it's really no longer necessary for us to "do it all". We do still make at least 2-3 ADRs and plan our parks schedule around that. And, of course any tours and/or dinner shows, we book those in advance as well. Other than that, our hopper options allow us to pretty well cover anything we want to. And even though WDW isn't really a "wing it" kind of place, we've been there enough to know how to get the most out of our time there and still enjoy a little relaxing down time as well.

[princessjojo]

I too have let go of a lot of planning for our June trip. Our last few trips have been planned out completely down to exactly when the laundry would be done while on vacation. The only things planned for this trip are the dates and our ADR's. I even went as far as to plan nearly all of them at DTD and the resorts so we wouldn't be restricted to a park at a certain hour. We can go to whatever park we want on what ever day. It feels so liberating.

[javamama]

I haven't planned much this trip except BBB for dd, and two ADRs(maybe 3). We aren't even doing the DDP which makes things even easier for me this year. I'm really happy, about doing things more on a whim since my kids are older now, and we can now go longer without eating, and they've eaten at all the character meals, we've had great TS meals over the past couple years. I'm excied for this trip, I am however going to pick a nice meal for Mother's Day.

[Cinderelley]

My planning has been the same since we started going. Plan which parks on which days, where our big meal for the day will be, and any hard ticket events we will be attending. That is it. I know it is more than some and less than others, but it works well for me.