leahlefler
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2014
We do "skeleton" planning - so we do get ADR's (we really, really enjoy the restaurants on WDW property so it is important to us). I use a planning site to determine the least crowded day for each park, pick that park as the "main park" for the day, and then schedule the ADR's. When our FP+ window opens, I schedule those for the planned main park. We have park hoppers so we sometimes go to more than one, especially to enjoy EMH during the scheduled hours.
That is all I plan, and we always remain open to change. Last year, we had planned a full day in MK with dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. The day before, we noticed the weather was going to be 83 degrees, so we canceled our LTT reservation with no penalty. We went to MK, used our fast passes, ate lunch at BOG, then hopped over to Typhoon Lagoon and had the most wonderful (and uncrowded) day EVER. So we plan a skeleton trip, but are open to changing it on the fly (though you must cancel a day ahead to avoid a penalty for ADR's). We ended up adding a morning character breakfast at Tusker House because my boys were really into the characters (we didn't expect them to be) and we did that at the last minute - someone else's 24-hour last minute cancellation was our gain.
I would say, determine what is most important to YOU on your trip. If you don't care about restaurants and can eat at off-times to avoid crowds at Quick Service places, then don't worry about ADR's. If you don't care about waiting in line for popular rides, then don't book FP+ or try to grab available ones when you are there. Some rides will not be available last minute for FP+, so be aware of that.
We do have neighbors that didn't plan anything at all (having no idea how much Disney has changed since they were there in the 80's), and they were very disappointed as they didn't understand the FP system and ended up waiting in long lines - they rode only a few rides per day and were frustrated at the crowds. At the very least, if you do not plan, make sure you RESEARCH so you understand how the system works. I think if they had at least known how the FP system worked and had researched the rides they needed to rope drop, they would have been much happier.
That is all I plan, and we always remain open to change. Last year, we had planned a full day in MK with dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. The day before, we noticed the weather was going to be 83 degrees, so we canceled our LTT reservation with no penalty. We went to MK, used our fast passes, ate lunch at BOG, then hopped over to Typhoon Lagoon and had the most wonderful (and uncrowded) day EVER. So we plan a skeleton trip, but are open to changing it on the fly (though you must cancel a day ahead to avoid a penalty for ADR's). We ended up adding a morning character breakfast at Tusker House because my boys were really into the characters (we didn't expect them to be) and we did that at the last minute - someone else's 24-hour last minute cancellation was our gain.
I would say, determine what is most important to YOU on your trip. If you don't care about restaurants and can eat at off-times to avoid crowds at Quick Service places, then don't worry about ADR's. If you don't care about waiting in line for popular rides, then don't book FP+ or try to grab available ones when you are there. Some rides will not be available last minute for FP+, so be aware of that.
We do have neighbors that didn't plan anything at all (having no idea how much Disney has changed since they were there in the 80's), and they were very disappointed as they didn't understand the FP system and ended up waiting in long lines - they rode only a few rides per day and were frustrated at the crowds. At the very least, if you do not plan, make sure you RESEARCH so you understand how the system works. I think if they had at least known how the FP system worked and had researched the rides they needed to rope drop, they would have been much happier.