How much planning is too much planning?

[disneygirl2022]

Hi! So I'm very much a type A person when it comes to Disney, and now that we are going on our first trip to Disney World(group of four including me, 2 other adults and one teenager) I've been constantly trying to plan. Now, I've seen comments on here about how detailed and thorough other people's planning is, and I want to do that too for our trip, as it will be a sort of once in a lifetime trip, but the other people in my group kind of want to wing it, and just decide what they want to do that day, so I'm wondering what's your opinion on how much planning for a disney trip is too much planning?

 

[scrappinginontario]

I enjoy the planning, studying and preparing portion of getting ready for a trip so I do quite a bit. We’re travelling home now from our first DL trip after 35+ WDW trips so there was a lot to learn for that trip.

My recommendation is to do as much planning and preparing as you wish but also be prepared to throw those plans away on a whim and go with what the group decides. This approach worked well for us.

 

[nw6675]

I enjoy the planning, studying and preparing portion of getting ready for a trip so I do quite a bit. We’re travelling home now from our first DL trip after 35+ WDW trips so there was a lot to learn for that trip.

My recommendation is to do as much planning and preparing as you wish but also be prepared to throw out those plans away on a whim and go with what the group decides. This approach worked well for us.

This is exactly how I feel! Plan to your heart's desire and then be flexible when the time comes. Our last trip had beautiful ADRs, everything perfectly planned, and when it came time for the trip we threw caution to the wind and just were flexible.

It was the best of many trips! My happiness comes from planning and juggling, but my joy comes from being successful at helping provide the "best trip ever, Mama!!"

Have fun!!!

 

[JoeyPeligroso]

I think that it is critical to have a good plan in place to manage the many aspects of a trip to Walt Disney World. Certainly there can be spontaneity as well. However, absent reasonable planning for day-to-day activities, dining, and even scheduled breaks, spontaneity can end up being frustrating if it is used for the majority of the plan. On the other hand, if you plan a resort day, spontaneity can be an excellent plan.

I tend to have heavy planning for days where our party will be in the parks, certain shopping or fun experiences (minI-golf), or doing extensive dining. I build in breaks for pool time, sleep-in days, and resort days. There can be a tendency for “once in a lifetime trips“ to be heavy on touring in the parks. No amount of planning can make this perfect and therefore some spontaneity/flexibility is required. However, it has been my experience over many trips that heavy planning makes a trip more enjoyable once you are there. WDW trips lend themselves well to heavy planning.

You can certainly still give your party many options for spontaneity during a heavily scheduled day. There may be options for picking one ride versus another, and there may be different counter service dining options that you choose based upon the day - even when you have a busy day planned. End of ride shopping might even seem spontaneous to many (although I am quite confident that Disney is very happy when you incorporate some purchases at the end of their major theme park rides!).

I have also found that after having multiple trips to WDW, I am able to adjust much more quickly on the fly to a spontaneous request than I was for the first several trips where I was just trying to figure out how to get from A to B. For example, if a group member has a specific spontaneous dining request, the location of the group at the time of the request matters a lot. Knowing different options and having planned for different options can serve you well in the situation.

 

[sponica]

While my husband hates the hit to the bank account, the reason he LOVES WDW is that the trip is always structured. We always have a rough idea of where we want to be when, but we're also able to adapt on the fly.
Since park reservations are a thing, start there. Lay out a rough plan of park order. If the trip is long enough, book 2 DHS days if rise of the resistance is a priority. That way you have a second day in the event it's offline on day one.

I wouldn't plan down to the minute, but have a rough idea of what part of which park you'll do when and go from there. If there are certain restaurants you want to eat in, book those when the dining window opens.

 

[SleeplessInTO]

No plan survives contact with the enemy... or in my case, my daughter (yes I think I'm funny, she just rolls her eyes at me, the sass on this 6 year old!)

Is Disney better with planning and knowledge? Absolutely. I also subscribe/cling to the idea that people don't know what they don't know - so if my 6 year old misses out on an experience she doesn't know about, its like she didn't miss out at all

I tend to research, plan, read about changes, update plans, and then plan some more. But what I try to do with my planning is maintain the illusion of spontaneity. So I'll book park passes for MK on December 25, just in case we wake up that morning and she declares she wants to go to MK. I can switch to one of the others that isn't sold out (eg if she decides AK is where she wants to go), but the odds of me getting a park pass to MK that day would be slim to none if I'd booked elsewhere. Or if she wants to eat at Space 220 - well, Mama can't make miracles, but its easier for me to drop the reservation I worked hard to get at 60+10 days the day before the meal, than to try to find it for the rest of the trip. (Incidentally if you want to experience Space 220, I highly advise the lounge booking instead of lunch/dinner. Much more flexibility in the lounge, you can still order whatever you want from any menu, or just have drinks.)

Our first trip, I had an itinerary in mind and a list of what we needed to be doing each day, because it was going to be one first and only Disney trip. Well, we were totally exhausted and a few meltdowns were had (mostly by me). Somehow we still ended up enjoying it enough that we decided we'd be back... but I was definitely a little too tightly wound that trip.

 

[Frozen2014]

I don't think there is such thing as too much planning, but just be flexible to change things when you are there.

We leave this weekend for our second trip to Disney World WDW and we've been to Disneyland once. We book way in advance and I get obsessed with the planning, but I love it! I have a spreadsheet with lots of tabs for different research (hotels, ride with various info, LL times, table and quick service places, weather items as we're going in August, etc). And of course with LL and ILL, that throws in something new to plan and learn. With the nature of LL it's a bit harder to come up with a full touring plan (i.e. since you don't know the time you'll get) but I check thrill-data and genieplushelper sites almost daily to get an idea of the LL patterns and sell out times. And for each day, I have an idea of what to book for first LL and sometimes second (came up with these with our kids). With our last WDW trip, there was FastPlus+ so I had each ride planned out. My husband would joke "when in there do I get to pee?"

My kids even get into it. My DD is always watching videos, and this past weekend, they specifically watched for best snacks at Disney WOrld. For the ones they liked, I noted them down (snack and location) and have them on my printout of my notes that I am brining (including a map of the specific QS places so we know how to get there).

I personally think half the fun is planning and never too much, as long as everything isn't in stone.

 

[WALTSAGOD]

Today’s DW trips need full planning

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Hi! So I'm very much a type A person when it comes to Disney, and now that we are going on our first trip to Disney World(group of four including me, 2 other adults and one teenager) I've been constantly trying to plan. Now, I've seen comments on here about how detailed and thorough other people's planning is, and I want to do that too for our trip, as it will be a sort of once in a lifetime trip, but the other people in my group kind of want to wing it, and just decide what they want to do that day, so I'm wondering what's your opinion on how much planning for a disney trip is too much planning?

You can never plan enough and be prepped for anything but and it's a big but.... if you plan a bunch of stuff to do, times of the day, where to eat, when to eat, etc. all your plans may fall apart really fast if your group isn't on board with what YOU planned.

Even when I plan our trips for my own family, I give them the scoop on what I'm planning and I ask them what's important for them and what sounds good and what doesn't. It won't do a bit of good if you plan an entire trip that your group isn't on board with or has zero interest in doing. I think so long as you're all on the same page, you can't go wrong. I'd meet in the middle with your non planner friend and tell them that you can't just wing it for a first trip as that's literally a recipe for disaster at disney. You have to have some plan and idea of what you're doing each day but you also have to be flexible. You have to know which parks, which days, have a general idea of what restaurants for QS, dining reservations if you want to have them, G+ or no G+ will dictate the touring plan, will your rope drop, omg, the list goes on. I LOVE to plan but I have to have my group on board with the plan and I know I have to block out time for winging it since some of my family are not planners.

 

[Parkhopstacker]

You do you boo.

 

[Frozen2014]

You can never plan enough and be prepped for anything but and it's a big but.... if you plan a bunch of stuff to do, times of the day, where to eat, when to eat, etc. all your plans may fall apart really fast if your group isn't on board with what YOU planned.

Even when I plan our trips for my own family, I give them the scoop on what I'm planning and I ask them what's important for them and what sounds good and what doesn't. It won't do a bit of good if you plan an entire trip that your group isn't on board with or has zero interest in doing. I think so long as you're all on the same page, you can't go wrong. I'd meet in the middle with your non planner friend and tell them that you can't just wing it for a first trip as that's literally a recipe for disaster at disney. You have to have some plan and idea of what you're doing each day but you also have to be flexible. You have to know which parks, which days, have a general idea of what restaurants for QS, dining reservations if you want to have them, G+ or no G+ will dictate the touring plan, will your rope drop, omg, the list goes on. I LOVE to plan but I have to have my group on board with the plan and I know I have to block out time for winging it since some of my family are not planners.

I second this. For planning, I do all the research (and over research) but then for each park, I sat down with my kids and we picked together what LL to try and get first ... and I gave the the stats of what sells out the quickest, what has a later return time, etc and we decided together. e.g. Slinky Dog Dash sells out first...but they decided it wasn't important enough to use up the first LL on so we picked another. So definitely discuss with the rest of your gang to come up with a plan together - or if something specific is important to someone (e.g. only requirement from DH was Boma breakfast so we have that ADR - otherwise he doesn't care and goes with the flow)

 

[Genie+]

Suggestion: don’t be afraid to split up. If 2 of you like to plan and the other 2 want spontaneous, plan some rides and meals together then part ways to explore in your own styles.

After doing many trips from commando to no set schedule, we’ve found somewhere in between is best. We make a list of priorities each trip and craft loose plans around them. Totally spontaneous in WDW doesn’t work well because many things are not always available, and plenty of stuff has good/bad times to hit.

 

[DL1WDW2]

I recommend having Plans .
Maybe they are thinking a specific reason such as Epcot… That would be the one park I kinda understand wanting to explore.
But you will need a plan if you actually want to ride the new Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind for sure!