Friend who made zero plans... Kinda envious

[notrub98]

I will definitely report back after her trip. I have been to Disney 20+ times and consider myself pretty knowledgeable. I could not fathom not planning every detail but that is my personality too. She was fully aware of the drawbacks of not planning and she was very firm that she was not going to live by a "schedule" on vacation. We shall see how she does . I was able to at least convince her that RD is her friend.

 

[VACamm]

I will definitely report back after her trip. I have been to Disney 20+ times and consider myself pretty knowledgeable. I could not fathom not planning every detail but that is my personality too. She was fully aware of the drawbacks of not planning and she was very firm that she was not going to live by a "schedule" on vacation. We shall see how she does . I was able to at least convince her that RD is her friend.

I second this! Please let us know what she did, and how they liked it!!

 

[wilkeliza]

We are a mixture. I have a plan but for now (no kids just adults) the plan can always change. We discuss non-negotiables (there aren't many) and then just go with the flow from there. It is harder now that there is the cancellation fee but the few times we have eaten the fee because we were much happier in what we were doing at that moment and didn't care where we ate.

 

[klmall]

I can't fathom going for the first time without any planning/ADRs etc. in place but it's people like this who make it easier for the predictable planner types. In a way I'm a bit jealous of those who totally wing it but it will never be that way for me. We have been enough times that we pretty much know what we want to do and just make our FP choices, some ADRs (some will be cancelled for various reasons, usually fatique or not in the mood) and a park for each day with parkhoppers so we can change plans. It's rare that we spend the whole day in the same park.

 

[vinotinto]

Is she going with kids? It's all good until her kid decides they *have* to ride the 7 Dwarf Mine Train or Frozen and they are at 90 minutes. If she's not planning, is she really going to RD?

If it's an adult trip, she'll probably be fine. There are lots of nice, no wait attractions, even when it's crowded (Philharmagic, Mosters, the Epcot country movies, Nemo, FOTLK, Beauty and the Beast, etc.)

 

[wilkeliza]

Is she going with kids? It's all good until her kid decides they *have* to ride the 7 Dwarf Mine Train or Frozen and they are at 90 minutes. If she's not planning, is she really going to RD?

If it's an adult trip, she'll probably be fine. There are lots of nice, no wait attractions, even when it's crowded (Philharmagic, Mosters, the Epcot country movies, Nemo, FOTLK, Beauty and the Beast, etc.)

Even if you plan though your kids won't have a clue what 7DMT or FEA is on their first visit so booking FP+ would be hard and then you get there and the kids don't want to ride 7DMT before hand but then see it and suddenly want to ride. Same with FEA. Kids probably don't even know it exists yet.

 

[toolmanjan]

I would love to go back to the days when no planning was needed. We would decide what park we would go to that morning. Make dining plans when we got back to the room for that evening. Rarely felt the need to use the fastpass system.

Now you have to plan ADR's and fastpass+ months in advance. I hate it!

 

[mom2rtk]

I would love to go back to the days when no planning was needed. We would decide what park we would go to that morning. Make dining plans when we got back to the room for that evening. Rarely felt the need to use the fastpass system.

Now you have to plan ADR's and fastpass+ months in advance. I hate it!

It's possible. You just have to be the sort who wouldn't be disappointed missing things. And I'm not.

 

[amy1115]

My DD (11) actually requested that we not plan so much this time! She said, can we please have some days where we don't have to rush to everything? So that's exactly what we're doing this time. We have a few ADR's, we know what park we'll be in on which days, and have our FP's scheduled. As far as being at this ride at this certain time, nope! Not this trip!

 

[Sparkly]

I would love to go back to the days when no planning was needed. We would decide what park we would go to that morning. Make dining plans when we got back to the room for that evening. Rarely felt the need to use the fastpass system.

Now you have to plan ADR's and fastpass+ months in advance. I hate it!

You've always had to plan to some extent though. Just saying.

 

[Mome Rath]

Back in the day if we planned, it was when the park opened and you grabbed a physical map. lol I've been when it's all planned out, and I've been when I winged it. I like it both, but I do think you have to force yourself to slow down if you've planned everything. Now, as a previous poster said, I know 2 first timers; one family planned, one family didn't and the ones that didn't pledged never to go back. At the very least newbies should talk to veterans so that they know how to wing it. lol

 

[mom2rtk]

You've always had to plan to some extent though. Just saying.

I think many who were ok with planning which park they will be in are not ok with planning actual ride times.

And part of the issue these days with planning is that Disney has taken to switching up entertainment offerings and times, park hours, EMH dates, etc. after those plans have already been made.