Calling all wdw veterans who "just wing it!" I need help!...

[bumbershoot]

My son is getting older, and I felt he was sort of irritated with me last time...even though he never said anything.

If you're changing it up, despite being scared to death, because of a perceived irritation on the part of your son, perhaps you could talk to your son before going forward?

Maybe he was thinking about school, or his shorts were chafing. Could be all sorts of things going on inside his head. Might as well find out.

Or include him (and any other family members) in the discussions.

My family thought that going with a plan was a pain until I gave them a day withOUT a plan. Then they asked for the plan again. But I don't make a plan that's planned out to the minute, except when I want to be amusing. And you can't do that with FP+ anyway, because you only get a set amount of pre-planned FPs. As for ADRs, I make them because I want to eat. Eating is a good thing. Sitting down to eat is a better thing. So ADRs get made because food is good. Between the ADRs and the ideas of where else we might want to eat b/c we like the food at those places, and the few FP+s, that's a framework for the day.

There's a big gap between scheduling bathroom breaks vs walking in with NO idea of what you'll do. That middle-ground is nice.

You aren't "winging" it as much as you think if you've been there 30 times. Your experience and knowledge of parks and times to realistically do things will help immensely.

You'll be doing so many veteran tricks without even knowing it .. so you'll be sorta planning anyway on the fly.

Exactly.

 

[amberpi]

I have never had the luxury of pre-planning more than a month or so out, sometimes a week, or a couple of days. I get some FPs, try to get a table at V&A and after that, I get whatever reservations I can, and often do same day, within an hour or 2 dining reservations and often base which park I go to after an afternoon respite based on wait times from various apps. Basically, you can do it, it'll be awesome and have your phone handy to make an adr or fp on the fly. It can happen

 

[Oswin]

My family does many successful trips without any ADRs or FP plans in place when we go. We didn't use the legacy system that often and we rarely book FP+ at 60 days out unless it's a new attraction that we've never done before and want to try. We don't plan what park to be at, we just wake up at whatever time we wake up and decide where we want to go that day. If we already know where we want to eat dinner that night, we check if there's anything available that morning. Otherwise, any ADRs that get made are done an hour or two before the meal. We pick from what's available and have managed to get BOG, Ohana, Chef Mickey's, and CRT in recent years this way. Once we decide what park we feel like going to, we just log in and make our FP+ selections on MDE if we feel like doing them. If not, we skip it. We've been to WDW so many times we don't feel the need to push to do a lot of attractions or stay at any park for more than a few hours at a time. We don't use touring plans but we've all been to WDW enough to know where we're going and what is where. We just start in the park and walk around enjoying the scenery, and get on what attractions we feel like along the way. If we get hungry we decide on a quick service location in the park or look to see if any ADRs are available for lunch/dinner in the park or nearby resorts.

 

[Octoberbaby]

Thank you all for the replies and reassurance! I guess my main issue is that if I change it up, I could drop the ball, and blow it. But we do want more flexibility than in previous trips. I'm just wondering how this will work too since it will be summer break.

 

[joannamet]

One of the things I love about winging it is trying things I might not otherwise do if I planned every minute in advance. When you have so many ADRs you might not eat at some of the great CS restaurants like Tangerine Cafe and Harambe Market. You might not visit the wonderful Rafiki's Planet Watch or stop in your tracks to listen to a band at Epcot because you're too busy staying on schedule or hoofing it to the next ADR.

We make 1 or 2 ADRs but the rest of the time we eat when and where we get hungry and we're rarely disappointed in the food choices. Sometimes we just snack our way around the park and skip regular meals altogether. We do plan which park to visit first each day so we can take advantage of FPs but after we do those rides we go where we want and do want we want. No pressure!!!! We always have PH so if one park is busy or we feel like we're done there we can move on.

Planning is essential if you want to ride Mine Train or eat at BOG and there's certainly nothing wrong with planning those activities that are not to be missed. But you can easily balance daily FPs and couple of ADRs with flexibility the rest of the time.

 

[disneyseniors]

As my husband and I get older, we find that we "wing it" at WDW more and more, and..............We Love IT!
We were always structured with adr's and fp's, and I found we were eating when we were not hungry just because we had the adr and it was too late to cancel without paying the fee. We also ate more than we wanted to just to "get our money's worth" out of the dining plan. It got exhausting rushing to the park with designated fp's, and to another park or resort of an adr that was planned 180 days before without too much thought of where we would be but only that we liked the restaurant!
Then 2 years ago, we decided to ditch the dp and adr's and most of the fp's. I admit it was scarey to do it this way!!!
But we found it was so freeing to eat where and when we wanted. We didn't eat as much and felt much better
We stay for 10 days and usually make only 2 or 3 ts adr's, just for our favorites. I pick the days for the 4 parks, and make must do fp's in the am only. Then we rope drop and do the fp's if we want to. There are only a few must do's in each park, and we usually don't use our 3 fp's. In the evening, we decide what we want to do: is it Disney springs?, tour resorts?, go to Epcot for Illuminations or supper?, and that's when we decide where we want to go, if anywhere. We have been known to just go to the general store at the resort, get junk food and pop, go back to the room, and watch tv an relax. Very nice!
We also don't mind standing in lines to attractions. We've met some nice people from all over the world like that. After all, everyone used to have to stand in lines .
I agree with lovestodive, and we won't ever go back to scheduling adr's and fp's every day. So, get over your fears, and go with it. What's the worse that can happen? It's Disney after all

 

[Satchmo128]

We stay off-site, so we don't have access to 60-day FP+, but we always seem to find the time to do everything we want in the parks! Here is how we semi-plan:
- We go for 8-10 days each trip
- Choose a loose plan for which park/which day (we get PH tickets)
- At least one ADR is made for each day and then as we get closer to the trip, we start to cancel and re-arrange things
- It is nice to be able to use the WDW app to make ADR's the same day and also to change around FP+
- Book FP+ at the 30-day mark (which means having to log in day after day, but that's okay)
- Once we are in FL, we go with the flow! No rope drops or suuuppppeeerrr late nights for us.

 

[MichelleWDWfan]

I wing it for the most part. I'm a rope dropper and like to be at the parks when they open.
It's cooler in the am and I can get alot of rides in before the parks get really busy.

I choose which park I'm starting out at each day and plan my 1st 3 Fastpasses.
I always make my fastpasses for the first 3 hrs of the day (9,10,11)
I also make my ADR's since I like to eat Table service for supper.

I never used to park hop but I do now since I have an Annual pass.
After I use my 3 Fast passes, I really wing it, making fastpasses as I go.
I generally fastpass everything I ride....with a few exceptions.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

Our strategy: Rope drop parks only if/when there are attractions you really, really want to ride and potentially reride in a short period of time, but leave by lunch, don't linger and suffer crowds. Otherwise, just schedule your FPs and a lunch or dinner ADR for afternoon (or even evening) park arrivals. You'll essentially do your "greatest hits" rides, and then otherwise mosey and follow your nose where the day--or short wait times--lead you.

 

[HeatherC]

We used to be big planners and at parks before rope drop, but now what we do is...

Stay at Bonnet Creek...extra room and beautiful Resort
Go for 10 days so we aren't rushed
Book Fastpasses for late morning....we have teens now and sleep is what we all want. So I learned this works much better for us....I usually book first one at like 11 am.
Rent car so we can come and go as we please.
We don't park hop...we stick to one park a day so we can take our time there.
We leave a couple days for the pool, shopping, sleeping in, etc....usually the day after we are at the parks late.

Once we changed how we were "doing Disney" we were all much more relaxed.

 

[Disneylover99]

We will go for two weeks this summer. We won't rope drop or make ADR's. We go to parks every day. Sometimes we hop. I do make fp's 60 days out, but usually end up changing them day of. Some days we don't even end up using any Fp's. It's very relaxed.

 

[BigredNole]

We are the WING IT people, not 100% but a good 90+%. Everyone has to plan FPs because there is no real way around it. We do not stress it either. We decide what park we want to be at that night and get FPs for the night time. They are usually always available because people for some reason want a 9:30AM FP for Pooh. We get to the park at rope drop, go commando style for the first 2 hours. We hit up all the rides we want early to get them in skipping the FP rides we have for later. We usually FP 7DMT because it is not worth the time to wait in line, even at rope drop. We just meander doing what we want. We do everything in a section of the park before moving to the next. We avoid waiting in any line longer than 30 minutes.

As for ADRs, those become a must as well. However, we only do 2, maybe 3. We only do dinners because breakfast is TOO EXPENSIVE. Lunches are meals at the resort or a shared QS meal. We schedule our ADRs for a time that we would be returning to the park from our offsite stay. We finish dinner and then into the park. There is nothing that keeps us from enjoying our time.

 

[NH-to-FL]

We have also made many trips, starting with 1 week a year then two 1 week trips per year, moving off site for two 2 week trips per year and finally we are blessed with the opportunity to snowbird near Disney. My planning has moved from obsessive to relaxed to almost none. Our planning now consists of deciding the night before "tomorrow's going to be nice, let's do Disney". 9AM rope drop, visit a few favorites, then wander and stop in to a few "we haven't done this in a while".

One challenge I think you will face is that without FP+ reservations getting on specific attractions may result in some long waits. Unless you rope drop or stay late. Many attractions you will be able to FP+ the day of your visit provided you are flexible in accepting the offered times but the popular attractions do run out of FP. I know you are looking to have more vacation and less rope drop urgency but perhaps pick one or two parks to rope drop and hit those "few important rides". Then slow down, maybe grab some breakfast, and then wander the park and visit some attractions that catch your attention. Take an afternoon break and then decide what to do in the evening.

 

[Octoberbaby]

Book Fastpasses for late morning....we have teens now and sleep is what we all want. So I learned this works much better for us....I usually book first one at like 11 am.QUOTE]

[/QUOTE]

Yes, I think that was my issue with my son on our last trip. He is tired of rope dropping, and wants more sleep. Rope dropping has been a life saver these last few years, so I am scared not to do it. However, I do believe I will book some FP for late morning on some days, with the first one being around 11:00.

We decide what park we want to be at that night and get FPs for the night time. They are usually always available because people for some reason want a 9:30AM FP for Pooh. QUOTE]

[/QUOTE]

 

[Octoberbaby]

I am thinking we will try to sleep at least until 9:00am most mornings. I have decided to add some fastpasses, and choose which park to be at on what day.Some of the FP are around lunchtime, and the others late afternoon/evening. I don't think we will plan to rope drop, unless it happens out of habit. My husband may wake us up, and be ready to go. Who knows ...

I am going to try to go with the mindset that this isn't set in stone, and since we have hoppers, and only two adrs, I can pretty much change our plans last minute. That is going to be different since I have always set them in stone due to our ADRs. We may decide to do whichever park has EMH in the AM, take a break then go to the park with evening EMH. I know that usually isn't recommended, but since we won't be cramming many rides in, it might work.

 

[DisneyMim]

We have been going to Disney forever. Been DVC members since 1991 (one of the first!!), are annual pass holders, TIW, go multiple times a year, yada yada. Our kids grew up going to Disney. We have always been very relaxed. Never do rope drop, we are more night owls, even when the kids were little. We look at it as our second home that just happens to have four parks, two water parks, tons of places to eat, etc attached to it!! We were lucky I think because my kids grew up during the time of late nights when they rode space mountain over and over, the characters walked around and remembered them, you did not need dinner reservations, the parks were not as crowded, etc. With that being said I think it is much harder today. Everything is just way more crowded and you need to plan so much more if you want to do anything. For us the rides are secondary. We enjoy our villa, our favorite restaurants and just the whole overall atmosphere. We really like having breakfast in our villa with just us in our pjs and can spend time with each other. As for planning we do make dinner reservations ahead of time. Sometimes we make a few fast passes but not always. We have been going Christmas week for years now and this year we made one fast pass. I know, I can hear the gasping already!! For us this works. I realize this won't work for most people but the op wanted opinions from Disney vets and we are certainly that. I think you have to do what is right for your family. The more you go the more you will know what works and what does not.

Enjoy The Magic!!

 

[bumbershoot]

I guess my main issue is that if I change it up, I could drop the ball, and blow it.

Write out (not necessarily for us) what blowing it would look like. And figure out if that's likely to happen. And if so how it can be solved.

Why is this solely on YOUR shoulders?

If you are changing things because you think (you might be just being vague or maybe you've discussed this with your son-we can't know) your son wants to sleep, then this is about your family. Get them involved. If there aren't talking, maybe they end up liking the trip overall despite being sleepy. Maybe they aren't asking to change it because they don't want to change it.

Get their input. There's no reason the specter of "blowing it" should be only bothering you.

...we will try to sleep at least until 9:00am most mornings. I have decided to add some fastpasses, and choose which park to be at on what day.Some of the FP are around lunchtime, and the others late afternoon/evening. I don't think we will plan to rope drop, unless it happens out of habit. My husband may wake us up, and be ready to go. Who knows ...

9am wakeup.
How long for each to shower?
How long for each to dress and sunscreen and get their park thugs in order?
Coffee needs?
What about breakfast?
Where are you staying; how long will transportation take?
Walking across lot or tramming it or getting off bus monorail boat, how long to walk from there to bag check to turnstile to first ride?

My family is slow. 9am wakeup means we enter a park at noon. And then we need lunch because we barely had a breakfast.

This is why my family gets to deal with waking up early. Because I, the lazy bum at home, am up early at Disney and am irritated at them already if we are entering the parks at noon.

Then again, if we have fully communicated ahead of time, there is always the possibility of me leaving all on my own, leaving their sleepyheads behind. (So far this has only happened at Disneyland)

Maybe your husband can go off on his own and you guys meet him later? If you aren't looking actually loving the idea of sleeping in, if your son is 14+ and trustworthy maybe he can get his own self up and out and to the park to meet you?

We may decide to do whichever park has EMH in the AM, take a break then go to the park with evening EMH. I know that usually isn't recommended,

Emh am then leaving is actually recommended. Not sure about going to the emh pm park.

But for us we can't do early morning and late night. The time change makes nights easy BUT we find no evening entertainment interesting enough to stay up for it. Wishes isn't good, I still don't get what amazing about illuminations. We haven't been since the SW thing. (We have been spoiled for fireworks by older Disneyland stuff and even our local area July 4th and are hard to please in that respect, and wdw does not please us) So there's nothing much to do in the evenings for us. It's a quandary.


I think you need to really communicate with your family.

 

[Octoberbaby]

Write out (not necessarily for us) what blowing it would look like. And figure out if that's likely to happen. And if so how it can be solved.

Why is this solely on YOUR shoulders?

If you are changing things because you think (you might be just being vague or maybe you've discussed this with your son-we can't know) your son wants to sleep, then this is about your family. Get them involved. If there aren't talking, maybe they end up liking the trip overall despite being sleepy. Maybe they aren't asking to change it because they don't want to change it.

Get their input. There's no reason the specter of "blowing it" should be only bothering you.



9am wakeup.
How long for each to shower?
How long for each to dress and sunscreen and get their park thugs in order?
Coffee needs?
What about breakfast?
Where are you staying; how long will transportation take?
Walking across lot or tramming it or getting off bus monorail boat, how long to walk from there to bag check to turnstile to first ride?

My family is slow. 9am wakeup means we enter a park at noon. And then we need lunch because we barely had a breakfast.

This is why my family gets to deal with waking up early. Because I, the lazy bum at home, am up early at Disney and am irritated at them already if we are entering the parks at noon.

Then again, if we have fully communicated ahead of time, there is always the possibility of me leaving all on my own, leaving their sleepyheads behind. (So far this has only happened at Disneyland)

Maybe your husband can go off on his own and you guys meet him later? If you aren't looking actually loving the idea of sleeping in, if your son is 14+ and trustworthy maybe he can get his own self up and out and to the park to meet you?



Emh am then leaving is actually recommended. Not sure about going to the emh pm park.

But for us we can't do early morning and late night. The time change makes nights easy BUT we find no evening entertainment interesting enough to stay up for it. Wishes isn't good, I still don't get what amazing about illuminations. We haven't been since the SW thing. (We have been spoiled for fireworks by older Disneyland stuff and even our local area July 4th and are hard to please in that respect, and wdw does not please us) So there's nothing much to do in the evenings for us. It's a quandary.


I think you need to really communicate with your family.

They have mentioned more flexibility and less reservations, and I agree. I am usually alone in the planning process though. We are staying at the Polynesian, so we can get to MK and Epcot quickly, and we aren't too big on breakfast...Coffee is a must though for me. Getting dressed in the morning usually doesn't take longer than an hour or so. I am the slowest, but most of the time we are quick.

 

[momimouse27]

I am a semi-planner. I plan resort stays, a couple of ADR's at special places, and the only FP's I usually do are stuff that we absolutely can't miss and usually only if it's during a super busy time, otherwise I don't mess with it.

I have been over 40 times, and at this point, I really just like to fly by the seat of my pants and do what I feel like and enjoy. I am not a rope drop-per, or a morning person. My favorite thing at Disney parks is nighttime when all the lights come on! The one thing I do pretty regularly is go by a crowd calendar, since I don't like crowds and I like the relaxed feel of a nearly empty park.

You will be fine, and you might even find yourself doing something you wouldn't have otherwise!

 

[Tuptup]

We sometimes plan and we sometimes don't. Both DH and I hd been nearly every year or every other year with our families for 15-20 years, and the two of us have gone 7 times together in 3 years. Some of those were longer (week-long), and most are weekend trips. For our longer-to-us trips, we definitely plan ahead, but with the weekend trips, we often don't even know that we're going until a few days before (like this weekend! just decided to go to AKL).

For the shorter non-planned trips, we make a few key fast passes if we can. Other than that, we plan to eat breakfast in the room, maybe getting one character breakfast in if we can or we want. We plan which parks we at least want to start out in for each day (always Magic Kingdom on Sunday, usually HS/EP on Saturday. We'll hit the absolute musts as soon as we get into the park, especially those that we know will back up quickly and/or that we couldn't get passes for. If/when we use a fastpass, I'll use the MDE app to look for another one. In June, we used somewhere around 14 fastpasses in MK one afternoon. We had no particular direction, but if it looked fun, we did it. I think that's the fun of not planning things! Last time, we played Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom because we'd never done it before. There's just so much to do, especially if you think outside the "must get ADRs" or "must get fastpasses" box!

For lunch and dinner, we typically will either head back to the room and make sandwiches or something else that's easy that we've travelled with, or we'll pop into a quick service. Sometimes, we've gotten table service reservations last minute too just by checking the MDE when we're waiting in line or something.

I find that we have the most fun on these non-planned trips. Just be open and flexible, and it'll be great