The Non-Planning Planning Thread

[TikiGoddess]

Hi all,

Yesterday I was sitting at my computer, staring at my vacation spreadsheet. It has pages for schedule, park hours/emh, ADRs, budget,attractions, and a packing list. Yes, I'm "type A" when it comes to planning a vacation. I usually have ADRs done 180 days out and know what parks we will be in for each day, have a basic touring plan in mind, etc.

This sort of backfired on us last year, however. We had a wonderful trip (5 nights at POFQ) but it was too planned. Since the girls are older, we were in the parks later than I had anticipated, so the EMH mornings that were in the park schedule were a stretch to get to. Plus we had the dining plan. That kept us to the schedule when we really could have used an early night or an evening in the pool.

So for this year's trip I'm going in a totally different direction. We are staying for 4 nights at the Dolphin. Most importantly, NO dining plan. This way we can come and go as we please. My spreadsheet has a few choices for parks in the morning and nothing planned at night, except for our one family tradition -- Crystal Palace breakfast before the park opens.

It feels very strange to not have plans. But I think it will be awesome to ask the kids every morning -- "where do you want to go today?" :)

Do any other non-planners have advice for someone newly freed from the boundaries of a schedule? ;)

Kathy

[PrettyMinnie]

I'm a planner as well, but your plan to not have a plan sounds like a good one! Have fun!

[Donald]

Welcome to the club!!!

Life is scheduled enough as it is that when I go on vacation, the alarm is off, and so is any schedule.

There is so much to do and see, why rush through something just because you have and ADR at a different park or on the other side of a park.

Grab a :bar:, call 407-WDW-DINE to see what is available around you, and enjoy!!:mickey:

[forever a child]

While reading your post I kept thinking asking myself..."Could you do this?" The answer is nope! I have to have some planning, actually a lot. But we balance it out. I plan our resort, dates, DDP or not, etc. DD reviews the EMH's, special events and we both agree on Dining choices. Then DD lays out our plans on a day by day check list with ADR's and we take our sheet to the park for that specific day. It will tell us if we have ADR's with our confirmation #'s, it will tell us our "must do's" for the day and give us EMH's and options for QS and snack places that we like or that we want to try.

During our May trip we made one change to our plan and DD forbade me from doing it during our Dec trip, LOL. So, I think I have created a monster! I think getting rid of the DDP will give you the flexibility you need. Good luck with the "non-planning." If you stick to it...I would love to hear your trip report when you return. For us..planning is just as much a part of the fun as the actual trip! :mickey:

[alaMode]

but haven't planned anything more than a TS meal or two for our last couple of trips.

We started going to WDW in 2007, and since then we've been 7 times. At this point, my son is older and knows what he wants to do and what he doesn't. I've learned to be more flexible because it adds to my enjoyment of the "off-road" experience of letting him make more decisions.

We don't participate in the DDP anymore because it doesn't make sense for us time-wise or $$$-wise, so that frees us from any pressure to eat according to schedule.

EMHs don't really factor in too much, although we do try to avoid the park with EMH if we're not going to take advantage of it.

So, I plan dates, resort, and make 1-2 TS reservations each trip and if we don't make it to the TS meals, I cancel them.

We look at the schedules when we get there and make a loose plan to follow.

I also try to steer my son towards anything new available since we last visited, but if he's not interested, no big deal. If it's something I really want to do/see, I make sure we go.

We spend more time at our resort now, enjoying the pool and the other amenities because he's into that right now. Sometimes we don't get to the parks until 2pm or 3pm! (absolutely unheard of in the "early" years!)

I admit it is a little discombobulating to let go of the plan, but it is fun to wing it, too!

[slottedpig]

I am trying the same thing planning but not really scheduling an upcoming trip. I can't say this will work but the things I am trying are:
1) go at a less crowded time. We are going to be empty nesters soon so mid September looks great.
2) go to the least crowded park each day. I spent some time at touringplans.com looking at daly crowd projections but basically just avoid EMH and the Studio on days Fantasmic is scheduled. In fact go the park that had EMH the day before.
3) remember that you have been here before and will probably come back. I made a very short list of attractions new to us and old favorites. Every thing else is optional.
4) appreciate your resort. You could have a very nice day without ever going to a park.

I'm sure you'll have a great time.

[Janmac]

Good luck!

I am also an obsessive compulsive type A planner with all kinds of charts, etc. And you're right, as your kids get to different ages, different touring plans seem in order.

When our grandkids were teens we tried a different no plan touring plan which was basically touring afternoon and evenings instead of mornings and evenings. The weather messed with that, as the usual June half hour showers turned into hours of torrents.

I suggest you have a keen eye on the overall situation - when and where the EMHs are, etc. Arriving at late an early EMH park is not good, as you have discovered. Have an alternative in mind, if you can. An example would be from a few trips ago when our group arrived at MK at 11 am. We knew there'd be a crowd, even tho we were visiting in Sept. Some of our group were determined to go to MK, because of certain souvenirs they were after, but when my grandson and I saw the crowds at the turnstiles, we faltered in our resolve.

After much frantic fruitless brain searching on my part for an alternative my grandson said we haven't been to Downtown Disney yet this trip. It took a bit of transport time because even CMs didn't really know how to get there from MK but we encountered very few people at DD and had a great couple of hours there.

Here's hoping going planless works out for you and your family. When are you going? I hope you can post a trip report to let us know how it worked out.

Btw, after our non-plan trip, we went back to planned trips, at the request of the others in our group. And even the teens requested being at the parks at rope drop. Go figure. :confused: Maybe they are as type A as I am.

Jan

[teambricker04]

Yea! I bet you will find it a whole different experience!

This is usually how we travel. Generally we book last minute and play it by ear (haha! :mickey:). My family has been known to book on a Saturday night and be at the park the next morning... and that includes a flight! We have never planned TS meals or shows until we are at WDW.

I still think you are able to plan some of it, but with the opportunity to take things and leave things... as you are type A you can still make some spreadsheets!

My big tips from last minute planning or non planning are to:
1) Know which parks have EMH that day and the hours of each. This way if you want to park hop, you may have an idea of which park is a better option. I usually type it up before we go and then I don't have to think at all about it on our trip... Just look at the times and pick!

2) It can be hard to think of a great place to eat when you aren't sure where you'll be. If you like eating all kinds of food, keep a list handy (like on your phone or something small and foldable) of the CS & snack options for the parks. This way if you are making your way through the park you don't get stuck eating hot dogs or hamburgers the entire time. I found that when I wasn't sure what was around we ALWAYS eat hamburgers. Ugh. I made my list from the info section, but I bet there are places online that you can find the same info ready to print.

3) Consider finding TS as you go, if you would like to sit and eat. Lunch time is a great time to do it. I have actually never been turned away from a TS during lunch on any trip! Maybe a 15 minute wait or so, but never told no!

We love traveling this way and probably couldn't plan every meal out if we wanted to! My DH and I figure we are there just as much to relax as to have fun... plus we know we will be back so it doesn't slay us to miss some of it. We just booked for August and this is the first time in my life I have had a trip planned this far ahead... I don't know what to do with myself!

Good luck with your non-planning planning!

[Cinderelley]

My only suggestion would be to plan what day you will go to which park. When I go with my kids, we plan very few TS meals, but I have always gone by intercots which parks are busiest on which days list until my last trip. On my last trip, my partner in crime decided he wanted to do another day at DHS, so we rearranged the days to accommodate that. I didn't mind the rearranging, but was I shocked at what a difference it made in crowds. :eyes:

[TikiGoddess]

We used to take advantage of the morning EMH all the time. Since the kids were little and got up early (and went to bed early) it made sense.

But since the last trip, the girls are wanting to be out at night longer (they'll be 8 and 6.5). We try to see either the MK parade or Illuminations on one night. And that meant, on the last trip, that we were getting up later in the morning and missing most of the EMH.

So this trip we will play it by ear, except for one day. If we get up early, we'll try to get to the EMH park. Going in the summer means EMH is an hour of cooler temps in the park. But we will definitely park hop after lunch... EMH parks are definitely more crowded during the day. If we don't get up early, we will be at the gates for opening at a non-EMH park. We'll take a break in the afternoon, have dinner at the resort, and then decide what we want to do for the evening. That might include swimming, parks, fireworks, DTD... Who knows! :)

I'm really beginning to like this idea...
Kathy
Kathy