Friend who made zero plans... Kinda envious

[notrub98]

I have a friend heading down in a couple days with her husband and two kids. They have never been and decided to "Wing it". They made no ADRs, no FP... They didn't even buy tickets yet. She just said "I refuse to plan my vacation to the minute". She's right. I know Disney has made it near impossible to "wing it" but man do I wish sometimes that I could handle that type of plan. I am an uber-planner like many of you and sometimes I wish I wasn't. Her plan looks so stress free... Sure, she will wait in long lines, she will miss dining experiences but they don't care...

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

I have guests every day that show up with no plans to speak of. They think FP is something you pay for and have never heard of Chef Mickey's or CRT or any of the other super-booked-up restaurants. Some of them don't know WDW has four parks.

I even had one family from Venezuela who didn't even have a hotel reservation for the week they'd be here and wanted to know if I could help them with that.

 

[lynzi2004]

I am not necessarily envious of the type of people who don't have ANY plans. The people I am envious of is those that have a hotel, 1 or 2 dinner ressies, and their FP+, but never think twice about them! I'm horrible about second guessing which hotel, which restaurant, and even what time of year! lol

 

[Klayfish]

I have a friend heading down in a couple days with her husband and two kids. They have never been and decided to "Wing it". They made no ADRs, no FP... They didn't even buy tickets yet. She just said "I refuse to plan my vacation to the minute". She's right. I know Disney has made it near impossible to "wing it" but man do I wish sometimes that I could handle that type of plan. I am an uber-planner like many of you and sometimes I wish I wasn't. Her plan looks so stress free... Sure, she will wait in long lines, she will miss dining experiences but they don't care...

Good for them! Hope they have a great time. I would have suggested to try to get FP+ in advance, but even that isn't "necessary". Since they've never been before and are only going for a few days, they can't see "everything" anyway, so they should just go and have fun. I'm sure they'll learn a few things along the way, and hopefully won't get frustrated if they have to wait in lines.

I know it's a controversial topic, but I don't agree at all that Disney has made it near impossible to "wing it". You can absolutely wing it 100% if you want to. You may not get on as many rides as an uber planner, but I guess that depends on your goals. We do far less planning than the overwhelming majority of people here. For our 2+ week trip, we did a total of about 90 minutes of planning...if it was that long. We're WDW veterans, so we have that "advantage", but we also have the mindset of OPs' friend. We refuse to plan things down to the last minute. We do FP+ in advance, of which about 30-40% we wind up changing on the fly anyway that day or the day before. The rest is purely "winging it" and we have a great time.

Great for your friend and hope they have a great trip!!!

 

[rwdavis2]

She's not right. They are going to spend thousands of dollars to spend inordinate amounts of time standing in lines. Have they done any kind of research?

You don't have to plan to the minute. The most we're doing next month is 3 FPs a day and maybe an ADR.

It would be great if you post her reaction when they get back home.

 

[rwdavis2]

I know it's a controversial topic, but I don't agree at all that Disney has made it near impossible to "wing it". You can absolutely wing it 100% if you want to. You may not get on as many rides as an uber planner, but I guess that depends on your goals. We do far less planning than the overwhelming majority of people here. For our 2+ week trip, we did a total of about 90 minutes of planning...if it was that long. We're WDW veterans, so we have that "advantage", but we also have the mindset of OPs' friend. We refuse to plan things down to the last minute. We do FP+ in advance, of which about 30-40% of which we wind up changing on the fly anyway. The rest is purely "winging it" and we have a great time.

Great for your friend and hope they have a great trip!!!

As I mentioned above, other than the fastpasses we are pretty much going to wing it. The park days were chosen not based on crowd calendars but on what unique shows we wanted to see such as Star Wars fireworks at DHS, MVMCP etc. I've already changed about 30% of our fastpasses since making the initial reservations last month. The only ones I can't move are FEA, Mine Train, and Soarin. But being there 8 days leaves ample time to see what we want.

 

[prprincess]

I've winged it with trips and planned every detail of trips, and they've all been great!!

 

[disney is my life]

Our first trip in 2011 was like that. We called once we were in Florida to book a hotel and buy park tickets. We had no clue you had to book dining in advance - we walked up to Tony's in MK and were told it was booked. I still look back on that trip and think it was probably the best one. I think peoples desire to plan so much comes from knowing what there is to do. On our first trip we knew NOTHING about Disney World. Yes, maybe we didn't eat at a TS restaurant and we ate at the same CS place nearly every meal but we weren't aware of what we were missing so it didn't bother us. We had the most amazing time and I genuinely believe it was because we didn't put pressure on ourselves that we HAD to see this show or ride that ride or eat at that restaurant or whatever, we just did what we wanted. While I get that it's different now with the addition of FP+ I still believe it's possible to have a fantastic trip without booking anything in advance. I'm sure they'll have a great time!!

 

[SaintsManiac]

Planning is fun for me, but we do "wing it" for the most part while we are there.

 

[JasonMouse]

A. Planning is fun! That's why I don't agree with surprising your kids the day of!

B. You don't actually have to follow the plan. Think of it as the "default" or the back-up plan in case it's a crowded day or something. ADR's can be a pain to remember to cancel is all, so I don't make many of them.

C. Exception: if you want to see me at Disney, your plan NEEDS to be in sync with mine, because I just got off Pirates and I'm not waiting in line another 20 mins, so txt me l8r!

 

[thingwithwings]

We'll be mostly winging it this time around--the three adults in our party prefer to take things in a more relaxed and sedate way rather than rushing from reservation to reservation in a bid to "do it all." I think that tends to be fun for some people (my dad and one of my best friends from college among them), but it's just not us. We've got a handful of ADRs and two FP+/day, at the most, and my DH and BFF (the other two adults in the party) think even that's too much planning.

I tend to think the right amount of planning depends on your expectations for the given trip. Will your trip be absolutely ruined if you have to wait an hour for a ride or can't get a table at a specific restaurant? Are you more alright with playing things by ear and maybe swapping out the really popular stuff for the "hidden gems" instead? That sort of thing.

(and full disclosure on me: even though I've booked those FP+ and ADRs, the best times I've had at WDW the last several times I've gone have been the times just wandering aimlessly down Main Street or through World Showcase, so)

 

[disneyseniors]

I have a friend heading down in a couple days with her husband and two kids. They have never been and decided to "Wing it". They made no ADRs, no FP... They didn't even buy tickets yet. She just said "I refuse to plan my vacation to the minute". She's right. I know Disney has made it near impossible to "wing it" but man do I wish sometimes that I could handle that type of plan. I am an uber-planner like many of you and sometimes I wish I wasn't. Her plan looks so stress free... Sure, she will wait in long lines, she will miss dining experiences but they don't care...

If it's possible, please report on how it went for your friend after their trip. It would be interesting to hear how it went for them without all the planning. Thanks!

 

[Mintycake]

A friend of mine did this. She enjoyed her trip with her family (they were there for 4 days -skipped epcot). No ts restaurants because they did not do adrs. They got into 50s prime time as a walk up by chance. No 7dmt. No character meets except for buzz at hs. Lots of waiting in line. It was a case of what she didn't know didn't bother her. And she lucked out going at a lower crowd time.

 

[NuJoy]

My husband and I feel our Disney vacations are special occasions and treat them with love and care. That requires planning.

 

[rwdavis2]

My husband and I feel our Disney vacations are special occasions and treat them with love and care. That requires planning.

Exactly. We rarely wait in lines longer than around 20 minutes and I won't even consider 45. So some minimal planning is necessary. One does not have to plan to the minute but spending thousands of dollars should involve some planning. I'm not paying for park tickets/hotel/plane to stand around waiting. Even just walking around a park is good.

 

[kellyjeanie]

I'm sure she'll have fun if that's the type of vacationer she is - I think even with Disney you have to do the level of planning you're comfortable with or you'll be miserable. A planner trying to wing it may feel like things are too chaotic to relax, while someone who prefers to play it more loose could feel tied down with too much planning. I'm glad this board exists to give those of us who are planners somewhere to commiserate!

 

[wench]

I love planning a WDW trip. And I love winging a DLR trip. Funny how that works.

OK, I do make some ADRs for DL, but I don't obsess over them like WDW.

 

[Rickat96]

Planing the trip is as much fun as the actual trip itself.

Why else would anyone be glued to the computer screen on ADR day, FP day at the wee hours of the morning?

 

[disneyfantotheend]

I have heard people do this that will "Never go back to Disney again!" and I heard people who did it and fell in love with Disney. t really depends on your expectations. For a first trip, I hope they at least have a general idea where things are.

 

[mom2rtk]

I have heard people do this that will "Never go back to Disney again!" and I heard people who did it and fell in love with Disney. t really depends on your expectations. For a first trip, I hope they at least have a general idea where things are.

Exactly that. I would be very disappointed with the limitations from not planning. Others would happily miss some stuff to have a more laid back time. It's going to vary wildly by person.