Do any of you just wing it?

[carcam51]

DW said to me while we're planning "I don't want to have a schedule beyond what our FP+ are. I want to be able to walk around and do what we want. If we see a street performance that we want to watch, I want to be able to stop. If we pass a ride with a short line, I want to be able to stop on a whim." There's a reason I married her...

That's exactly how I want to tour this time!!!

 

[Klayfish]

However, if 'winging it' means riding that bus for 20 minutes and getting to the destination park and still not having a clue at all of what you're going to do, then you've crossed an imaginary line where you're paying Disney a lot of money to stand around just inside the park entrance deciding what to do. Complicate it by crisscrossing the park 3-4 times jumping from one random attraction to another and you've now wasted a lot of time, which is in this case, also a lot of money.

Keep in mind that it may be your "imaginary line", but it's not everyone elses. We don't ride the buses, we bring our own car, but the concept is the same. There are plenty of days where our "schedule"...such as it is... is to be in a specific park for the morning. Let's say we have 3 FP+ for MK from 10am to 1pm. It's not at all uncommon for us to wind up in another park (either immediately or after going back to our rental house for a while) with no FP+ and no preconceived idea of what we're going to do. We'll walk into the park, pull up MDE and go from there. We don't intentionally crisscross the park for no reason, that's for sure. Yet, we don't say "Well, we're in Fantasyland, so we have to stay here". Sometimes we have crisscrossed the park, simply because there was a ride we wanted to go on and the wait was short at that moment. Frankly, sometimes during that crisscross, we never make it to the ride we were heading to. We may pass something we wanted to stop and see, or pass another ride that the kids will say "Oooohhh, let's go on that", and so we stop. If that's wasteful to you, I understand, but it's not wasteful to us. We're on vacation, to us that means relaxing and having fun. We want to be "efficient" where we can, but never at the cost of being able to relax and do what we want, when we want.

Disney has eliminated the "winging it" philosophy.

Completely disagree with that. They've eliminated it only if you let it be that way.

 

[HopperFan]

and by that I mean, I know which parks and which days, and I have my FP+ and my ADRs already booked, but aside from that, how many of you just go with the flow from that point on? We are leaving on June 3rd - it's me, DH and DSs (16 and 14). DH has never been and DSs were too little to remember most of it, so it will be like a first time for all. I want to make sure everyone has a good time, but I don't want to run everyone ragged either! Can you have a relaxed time without a "plan"?

That's not winging it winging it means having a hotel room. The end.

Have done the printed out step-by-step to making my FP+ the night before when we decided which park. Both ways is fun. Last regular trip we showed up, made last minute FP+, ate QS when we were hungry, changed our mind on the fly, got distracted by a character meet and changed our FP+ as we went. Had a blast! You'll be fine. BE FREE! and you'll be surprised at the magic you'll have you would miss with a plan.

Our last trip was for Pandora AP Preview so we had HEA and Pandora planned, all else was winging it. Three days and lots of fun.

 

[HopperFan]

DW said to me while we're planning "I don't want to have a schedule beyond what our FP+ are. I want to be able to walk around and do what we want. If we see a street performance that we want to watch, I want to be able to stop. If we pass a ride with a short line, I want to be able to stop on a whim." There's a reason I married her...

This was our April trip. 5 adults from 3 states (four young ones and me) that decided to just have fun. We had no where to rush to so we took in the sights and you see more when you aren't hustling to the next. We caught glimpse of Rabbit and Eeyore doing a pop-up greet in the little street off Main so they were leaving so we wandered Main St until they came back. We then heard Geppetto was coming out in Fantasyland, found out where and hung out enjoying the sites until he came, one of our best greets ever! We caught street entertainment, ate when we felt like it wherever we were and we rode most everything ... laughing and having fun. We staked out early for our Wishes Farewell tour, and left feeling like it was one of our best trips ............ with no ADR, and no FP+ booked until we were in car heading to WDW. Even then we changed them up each day. It's great to be able to enjoy the distractions rather than running to our next appointment.

 

[gruffudd242]

For us we just make ADRs for the places that we know that we want to go to, other than that we just play it by ear.

 

[kmv]

That's what we do. We end up with more QS than we would probably want but we hate being tied down to too many restaurants and specific times. This year we will be htere 5 days and have 4 ADR's. We never have an actual touring plan.

 

[Pmlocke]

My wife and I are in our 60's, we travel down to WDW every spring. We make ADR's, only because we want to be sure we get in to our favorite dining locations. Other than that-nothing. Here is a typical day for us. We wake up when we wake up. No alarm. No need to rush to wake up, eat and make the rope drop. Once dressed we have breakfast at the resort. We then walk out to the bus zone and whatever is there we get on. It could be EPCOT, MK, AK doesn't matter. We never make fast passes. When we get to a ride, if the wait is more than 20 minutes we keep walking. We are there for 7 days and trust me, going without a plan is so restful because you never have to be anywhere-except for dinner. Now I know what all of you young parents are saying. There is no way you can do a trip like that and you are right. I have been to WDW with my kids and my grandkids and I understand your frustrations. Let this just be a foretelling of what your future holds for you when you are older, wiser and without kids.

 

[shannonkb]

If it's something we really want to do and need to make reservations, we'll do that. Otherwise it's just go with the flow or whatever we're in the mood to do next. Only made 2 ADRs for the upcoming trip and will probably plan a few FPs when the time comes. We don't want to feel tied to a strict schedule but rather leave it mostly flexible.

 

[budgie]

We used to only pre-plan our ADR and what park we wanted to do that day (usually planned around where we were eating) but never really made touring plans more detailed then that. We found that we were wasting a lot of time wandering and walking doing it that way. We make loose plans now to include attractions, parades, etc.. and we found we miss a lot less and have a lot more time without feeling stressed about having to be at a certain location by an exact time wit the exception of the fp.

 

[North of Mouse]

Disney has eliminated the "winging it" philosophy.

No, not for us!! Thankfully, we are all free to do as much, or as little planning as we want.

No one certain thing works for everyone. We each have our 'relaxing' zone, and the planning and scheduling of most people would either change our vacation destination, or keep us home. We 'will' relax on vacation!!

 

[Angeliki19]

I'm so jealous reading all of these "wing-it" philosophies! I really wish I could do it... I just don't know how, ha! I am too type A. But our last trip really felt so rushed and like we were just checking things off a list at some points. I had a spreadsheet with pretty much every ride, character meet and greet, show, etc that we wanted to do, in order. We did accomplish everything, and it was during level "10" crowds, so I know it was useful. But still, I felt like it was a little less "magical" then some of our previous trips.

This next trip, I am really going to try and abandon the spreadsheet! I know its not "winging it", but if I could stay with just FP's and not plan everything else in between, I think it would be a good balance for us. Also I realized that we have been on enough trips now, that we don't need to do EVERY attraction. That's where it began to feel like checking things off a list. Our kids are getting older each trip and have different interests and just because things like Peter Pan and Small World are classics, we don't have to feel pressured to ride them every trip. We usually go for 10 days, and even with that, there just isn't time to do everything, plus relax!

So we likely will still have a plan for where to go each day, our 3 FP's and maybe a few ADR's spread out over the trip, but I won't plan rides in between. I have to get out of the mindset that a "successful" trip is one where we saw everything, but more that we just enjoyed every minute! I think every family has to figure that out on their own.. there is no one formula that works for everyone. It just all comes down to, what is your family's priorities and how will you best enjoy your vacation!

 

[Klayfish]

No, not for us!! Thankfully, we are all free to do as much, or as little planning as we want.

No one certain thing works for everyone. We each have our 'relaxing' zone, and the planning and scheduling of most people would either change our vacation destination, or keep us home. We 'will' relax on vacation!!

Amen!!

 

[Klayfish]

I'm so jealous reading all of these "wing-it" philosophies! I really wish I could do it... I just don't know how, ha! I am too type A.

I'm not a fan of those personality classifications, "type A" etc...but if you had to classify me I would unquestionably be type A. Big time. However, at WDW, I just don't know how else to explain it. I just don't care. It's my happy place. I will not be rushed, will not stress over being at point x at exactly 5:43pm. I'm there to have fun, relax and take it all in. As Nike once advertised...Just Do It!!!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We do what you do OP. To me that is planning! Although when I do a mother/daughter trip next year I want to go with 1-2 ADR's and do day of ADR's if we want to. I will still do FP+ but up to change that on the fly also.

I think you can definitely wing it at WDW. I think more important than a plan is being knowledgeable with the parks so I read here. I know that certain rides fill up quicker. I know which rides usually have shorter lines. I know if you eat at off times lines are shorter. Things like that. It makes navigating the park a bit easier.

I could definitely be dropped off at any park, buy a one day ticket and have a blast without a plan.

Our best trip ever was in 2011 where we only knew about 4 weeks out that we were going. We had a few ADR's and completely winged it. I don't even think we pulled more than 1-2 FP a day, if that. We had an amazing time.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

and by that I mean, I know which parks and which days, and I have my FP+ and my ADRs already booked, but aside from that, how many of you just go with the flow from that point on?

OH!! THAT kind of winging it!! Yes - all the time. . We know the parks well enough that this works quite well for us.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I would think most people plan and schedule leading up to the trip. This eliminates the stress for me while I am on vacation. To each his own, though.

 

[leebee]

Here's how I plan:
>Look at crowd levels and park hours, and decide which park we'll go to on which day.
>Based on the park, I'll make ADRs. We have a couple of restaurants we always want to go to, so I'll make those ADRs (for example, on AK day we always eat at Boma), but we don't always do a sit down meal each day, and NEVER more than one per day. Usually our ADRs are for dinner, around 7pm (we eat late).
>FP+.. I hate them, but realize their usefulness for headliners. However, I usually try to plan them so they are spread out so we have time to tour and wander in between "appointments," except for Splash and BTMRR because they are in the same area of the park. It'd be silly to wander over there twice during the day! (I truly miss the paper Fps).


That's about it. I wouldn't even do that much except we only get to WDW every other year, and I know there are some things we'll not want to miss! We aren't rope drop people- we'd rather be in the parks late at night, and can't burn the candle at both ends, so we usually head for a bus at about 10am to go to a park (breakfast in the room as we dress), and have never had a problem doing everything we want. HOWEVER... at the Studios, and I always feel like we are constantly criss-crossing the park, or missing something. Last trip, I used Touring Plans for the Studios and am happy I did. We didn't criss-cross, we saw everything we wanted to (which is almost all of it, even LMA, which is now closed), and even had dinner at Biergarten (in Epcot) before going back for Osborne Lights. I never felt like we were rushing to be someplace by some specific time- mostly I just planned out a loop and we tried to stick to the times, sort-of. It was pretty good... but at the rest of the parks, we just float around, for the most part, and did everything we wanted!

 

[Cinderella94]

Real winging (aka zero plans) it is my nightmare . And that's fine - making one ADR per day and 3 FPs per day, with a loose outline of what we'll rope drop that day, is other people's nightmare. The parks need a good mix of us both to keep the crowds balanced out .