The Best Laid Plans...A Commando does WDW

[agavegirl1]

Day Six: Where I have a cold.


Now there are things you can plan for and things you can TRY to plan for. I had been taking Airborne daily protection gummy chews for a month prior to and during the trip so far. I had antibacterial wipes and gel with me at all times. I made judicious use of soap and water. I woke up on day six with a full blown upper respiratory virus and knew I had to tough it out. But, I did fly on an airplane and the day before we left, I helped at the preschool.

The Plan:



Fortunately, Wednesday was to be a relaxing day. We began with breakfast and a trip to the gift shop for daytime and nighttime cold remedies. I was not going to let a runny nose and a scratchy throat ruin my trip. I was also not going to give this to anyone else if I could help. I doubled up my supply of antibacterial wipes and Kleenex and stuffed them into my already overburdened cross-body travel purse.

Today’s morning plan was a leisurely breakfast at the food court followed by pool time and laundry. Perfect. I dosed myself with daytime medication and we grabbed 8 crisp, new dollar bills from the safe. The pop-up hamper was dumped into one of the empty carry on suitcases. We grabbed our refillable mugs full of coffee and headed to the pool, always making sure my “Thank-you Mousekeeping” envelope was clearly visible and placed on a bed pillow.


The laundry room wasn’t very busy and neither was the pool. It was a beautiful day (as were most of them). I’m guessing most guests were at the parks. I got everything sorted and into the washers. I then popped one of my handy dandy Tide Pods into each of the washers and went to soak my lower body in the pool. I did range of motion exercises and then relaxed in a sunny spot. There was some commotion on the CM communication devices. Apparently, there was water on the floor in the laundry room and of course it was coming out of one of my selected machines. I must not have been very bad, they threw a few towels down and left it that way for…at least three days. I was relieved when the washing part was done and I could dry my clothes.

Once our laundry was folded and reloaded into the carry-on, I was all ready for a nap. DBF was ready for more food. I decided taking cold medicine on an empty stomach might not be too smart so we settled for a couple of slices of food court pizza. Not a fan.

We arrived back at the room to find about six towels, six bars of soap and six shampoos. I guess Mousekeeping is kind of limited on how to show their appreciation for tips but it was sure nice to have all those dry towels. It was also lovely to climb into my own bed in the quarantined section of our tiny room and fall into blissful, ill-person, sleep for a while. Now, I always sleep with ear plugs. Not those cheapy ones you get at Target in the pharmacy department, but the actual industrial ones you would wear while operating a jack-hammer or something. DBF watched a movie and I didn’t even notice.


After my refreshing nap, our plan was to freshen up and head back to, yes Epcot…the park where the attractions were beginning to bore us to tears but where most of our ADRs had been made. Tonight, it was Tepan Edo. We had a 4:05 FP+ for Nemo, which we skipped because we had done it Standby with no wait…well except for the endless walk through the overkill queue. We rode Mission Space with our 5:05 FP+ late in our window, declaring it to be our last and headed to Test Track right at 6:05.

Then, there it was, the llooonnnggg walk from Test Track to Japan for our ADR. Now, under normal circumstances this would be a piece of cake. The fact that I had been abusing my body and was ill to boot made it an ordeal. We made it five minutes late but were still seated. It didn’t help that I didn’t really know the restaurant was up a massive stairway.


We were seated at a table with a family of three (English second language), another couple and ourselves. My taste buds being foggy due to the cold, I really wished I could just drink fruit juice, we ordered anyway. I did get a cocktail full of fruit juice to start. I had the shrimp and chicken, DBF ordered the swordfish to try something new. I whipped out my camera. I was really there for the experience.






DBF declared the experience well worth it and the swordfish excellent. I took most of my food back with me and ate the noodles. I declared that everything except fruit juice tasted the same to me. I did enjoy the experience since I don’t live near a restaurant like this. However, it is really expensive for a Tepanyaki restaurant.




Afterward, we watched Illuminations from a slightly obstructed area near the restaurant. Epcot had EMH so we headed to Future World to see what the wait times were like. Checking MDE as we walked, it looked like nothing we wanted to see had a wait time we were willing to put with. We headed back to the overly crowded Pop Century Bus Stop and waited the 45 minutes in order to get a seat. It is amazing how your priorities change when you are in pain or ill or …both. I downed my nighttime cold medicine, got ready for bed, put in my earplugs and crawled into quarantine. I was down for the count.


Obstacles: Illness…this is a mandatory adjustment and one that happens to many. The ADR/FP+ system just doesn’t allow for such events in any reasonable way. Sure, I could skip a FP+ to arrive later at the park, but I did not know 24 hours prior I would be sick that day. Sure, I would have loved to have cancelled and had a bowl of soup for dinner while watching a movie, but I wasn’t gonna pay $20 plus the cost of said soup to do it.

This is an inherent danger in the Commando Touring Plan style. The possibility that our own health will betray us can’t be far from the back of our minds. I came prepared with medications, vitamins, wipes, Kleenex packs, an entire foot care bag, cold packs and anything else I could think of. It really doesn’t matter if you are completely dead on your feet and are physically incapable of executing your plan. Today I was lucky, the plan was minimal.

Well this report is called “The Best Laid Plans”.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Oh no, illness! You did better than me, I would have been sleeping in bed the whole day. Good job powering through!

I know what you mean about Epcot being so huge. My legs always hurt the most after an Epcot day.

 

[agavegirl1]

Day Seven:

A quick aside…I have never stayed beyond six days at Walt Disney World. I had always found 4-6 days to be adequate. I have also never seen crowd levels creep up so much. I don’t go often. I have been to the world about every four or five years since Epcot opened. I never went as a child. It didn’t exist. That makes about 5 trips prior to this one. We used to go at the end of February. It was never busy. I’m guessing you could call it a crowd level 1 based on today’s rating system. I knew crowds would be an issue for me, as would standby line increases due to adding FP+ where no FP- had existed. I also wanted to get away from cold, so we went to Orlando longer than I ever had before. So “Day Seven” has never happened in my lifetime.

THE PLAN:





Well, since we skipped our AM EMH Animal Kingdom plan on Monday, today, it was important to make AK this morning. Having actually learned that granola bars and coffee are not a substitute for breakfast…we had breakfast. We got breakfast sandwiches at the Pop Century food court and they were filling and quite good. I couldn’t finish mine but DBF finished it off.


We didn’t make it for Rope Drop as a result, so NO Safari and Everest before our first FP+. But there it was, we made it in time for my coveted FP+ for my favorite ride. Expedition Everest.

I wish this ride was in my favorite park, Epcot, but it’s not. We rode. The bird effect was working, the disco Yeti looked a little better and I was not disappointed. Well I was, I didn’t get to see the whole queue since the standby wait was 35 minutes and we didn’t ride it again for the rest of the trip.

I had already changed our 10:30 FP+ to the Safari due to our late start so we rode that next. I did not use the App. I used the computer from our room in the morning. I was a bit disappointed that we couldn't do this first thing in the morning. The animals were always so much more active. Here are few pictures from a mid-morning Safari.







As you can see by the PLAN, we were going to do a bunch of trails and treks and stuff, but I was sick. My sciatic nerve in my right hip was angry and I was resting on every other bench. We grabbed a cocktail and decided to have lunch. Yak and Yeti had told us on day two that they take walk ups. Time to check it out. Yes, they do. Table for two no problem. We had a seat in the lobby and were seated less than five minutes later. The food is very good. The atmosphere is appropriate and comfortable. The price wasn’t bad. It is not a Disney run restaurant. I found out when I got back.


It was a beautiful day and I could have afforded to get wet, but we went on Kali River Rapids sporting our Dollar Store ponchos and Dollar Store flip flops. Both were brought with us in a gallon size Zip Loc bag surrounded by a string bag I got free from a Nascar race. DBF had the privilege of carrying this all day. We dumped our regular shoes, socks and DBFs wallet into the double bag system.. I had my usual Travelon cross-body bag which I wore under my poncho. We rode. Our stuff stayed dry, we stayed dry but had a great time on the ride explaining to our ride-mates that around two or three people would get completely soaked. We were ready. We had all the gear. Two other people who were not wearing ponchos got totally soaked and commended us on our choice of apparel.

When we left the ride, we asked a few line entrants if they wanted our ponchos. Since they weren’t wet. There were no takers. They must have hoped to get wet. We put our shoes on, tossed the $1 ponchos into the trash and headed toward the exit. Just a note to non-commandos, take the free ponchos.


Okay, if you have been paying attention to the actual spreadsheets, (I am guessing a couple of Commandos may be, I have to go pick up a rental car at the Dolphin Resort. Now, this is not the least expensive option to do this. That would be through the MCO Airport, but I only needed one for 48 hours. It I also cheaper to go through the Car Care Center (CCC) but the logistics take longer. I was willing to pay for convenience. We headed to the bus stop for the Swan/Dolphin from AK after our lunch and a very leisurely stroll through the Oasis.

Now, I am pretty much surviving on cold medication so I ask DBF to do the car rental. No way I am going to drive a rental at this point. So, a little bit about renting a car through the Dolphin. National and Alamo I think?
Well, we had reserved, 4 weeks ahead, a midsize car for 48 hours. We arrived to “surprise” an upgrade, for free. It is a big ugly orange SUV. We called it the orange beast. We didn’t care. It was easy to see in a parking lot.


At the Dolphin, you pick up and drop off your rental at Valet Parking. Nothing could be easier. Paperwork is done at Guest Services.
After picking up our car we drove through Disney property to Hollywood Studios. We had an appointment to do something we haven’t managed to do at either WDW or DLR before.

Tonight, it was all about finally seeing Fantasmic! I had never seen it. By Gosh, I am going to see it.

We had a Hollywood and Vine Fantasmic! Dinner and were there in time. The dinner was not worth the price. The venue is cheap cafeteria and the offerings are Golden Corral in quality but…
Fantasmic! Was a wonderful show. It is not the price of premium admission wonderful.

Here comes a complaint that others have repeated. This reservation for a Fantasmic! Dining package required me to search the message boards and MDE for five months. Of course I would have preferred a different venue. Of course I would like to have had an opportunity to simply choose this at 180+ days. I do not understand why a person willing and able to book a special dinner 180 days in advance cannot make this reservation. I planned for 18 months and I still have to stalk websites for that “thing I really want to do”.

As for the show, I don’t know what was not working since I have never seen it. One impression I came away with was that it sure comes across as an opportunity to hawk cheap trinkets and overpriced snacks to a captive audience as you patiently wait for a show with about 7-8 thousand guests.
I am glad I got to see it, I always saw the lines and brushed it off as not worth a wait. I think it is worth a short wait. Our seats were great but I wouldn’t pay that much for the privilege again.


Of course, after Fantasmic!, the park is closed and there is nothing to do but head to the exit. This time, we just needed to remember where we parked the Orange Beast. Luckily, I took a photo of our parking place and we were good to go. This is much better than the Pop Century Bus Stop! Well at least I felt that way briefly. However, in the dark, we kind of got lost looking for the 50’s parking at Pop Century. I think we ended up parking in the 70’s lot or something. Just a little adventure for the next day.

 

[agavegirl1]

The reason for the rental car, was to take a day trip to Busch Gardens Tampa on day eight. I will break from tradition slightly to comment on the day trip since it begins and ends with a WDW resort. I also think other planners may benefit from an overview of the park and whether or not a day trip on an non ticket day to BGT would be worth considering. Stay tuned for my non-WDW day eight.

 

[agavegirl1]

After my cold medication induced sleep, we managed to get up, grab some snacks from the food court for the road and head to Tampa. I had already printed off the map leading us from Pop Century to the Busch Gardens parking lot prior to leaving home. It costs money to rent the GPS from the car rental company so I was good to go without one.

We remembered sort of where we parked the night before but it took us a while to reach the Orange Beast. It isn’t tough to spot so we found it without too much difficulty. It was 7:30 AM and we planned on being there by 9AM for Park Open. The trip to Tampa wasn’t bad at all. A few slowdowns at exit ramps near the city but very easy. Busch Gardens has good signage and with our Google Map, we had no problems.

Well until we got to the parking lot. It wasn’t open yet. The park opened at 10AM and I was WRONG. Where did I come up with a 9AM opening? We were fifth in line to park. We turned off the car and waited. And waited. About 20 minutes. We watched as staff members swapped out cash drawers, talked among themselves, finally took their positions and “Not So Magically” opened the parking lot. Yes, we had to pay money to park. I think $15.00 but I don’t remember. I was grateful to be moving forward.

We were allowed into the park but it wasn’t open. We were held in an area that was obviously under construction. It was kind of tacky looking. However, the park opened with a flag raising and the national anthem and I was kind of teary at the whole feeling of it. Of particular note, there was seating in the holding area and I had a bench!

When the gates opened, I followed my touring plan from my Unofficial Guide-Beyond Disney. There were four options for park open. I had chosen my priorities and we were able to follow it for the most part. The skyway was closed for refurbishment so adjustments needed to be made. We did not purchase their version of Express Pass but rode and saw everything we had in the plan.

A taste of BGT:











The park closed at 6PM for their special Halloween event but we were done at 5PM and headed toward the exit. We were able to repeat many rides due to low crowds in the time I expected to ride once.


Now for the bad part, DBF loves this park. He told me he could see coming back. For him, these are the rides that have that re-rideability factor that makes it worth the price of admission. He loved Cheetah Hunt, Montu, Sheekra, Falcon’s Fury etc. He also thought the primate trail was better than Animal Kingdom and enjoyed the train ride through the animal habitats. They weren’t as pretty as AK but they had the same animals and the lions were more visible. He is starting to lose his Disney glow and I am seeing it first hand.

It was also great to do counter service instead of obsessively planned table service meals. Yes, we stood in line to obtain our food, but we had food when we were done waiting. For WDW ADRs, we waited after checking in longer than it took us to get actual food at a CS. DBF was re-thinking all those ADRs I had made at 5AM 180 before.
I am including this day, in part because of the effect that checking out this park had on DBF. It kind of changed his attitude on WDW. His thoughts were, “I wouldn’t mind going back to Disney when they have something new that isn’t based on a cartoon in the future (Pandora) with a one night stay at their cheapest hotel an two-day park hopper tickets.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Great updates! We love Yak and Yeti...I never knew it wasn't a Disney-operated restaurant.

The Orange Beast sounds great...looking for those blah rental cars can be tough.

Very interesting to read about BGT. I've never been there, it looks beautiful. We've gone to Busch Gardens Williamsburg, which we enjoy a lot. I've read Disney built DAK to stop people from going out to Tampa for the day.

So sounds like the DBF is done with Disney? (almost)

 

[agavegirl1]

Great updates! We love Yak and Yeti...I never knew it wasn't a Disney-operated restaurant.

The Orange Beast sounds great...looking for those blah rental cars can be tough.

Very interesting to read about BGT. I've never been there, it looks beautiful. We've gone to Busch Gardens Williamsburg, which we enjoy a lot. I've read Disney built DAK to stop people from going out to Tampa for the day.

So sounds like the DBF is done with Disney? (almost)

I don't think DBF is "done" with Disney. He is looking forward to Pandora and Star Wars which puts us quite a few years out. He'd be up for a "Florida" vacation including a few theme park days at various parks with a rental car.

 

[agavegirl1]

Oh, and Yak and Yeti is a Landry's restaurant.

 

[DisneyDreamer68]

Sooooo loving your trip report....I am nervous being a Disney newbie but your report and photos are helping me get to know Disney before arriving on Christmas week.

 

[agavegirl1]

Thanks Disney Dreamer. I try to give honest feedback with a little humor. A combination of good and bad and lessons learned seems like a good balance. I appreciate your encouragement.

 

[agavegirl1]

Day Nine (Day Nine? Why?)
The Plan:



Well, the morning at DHS never happened. While we were at Busch Gardens the previous day, DBF suggested cancelling everything at DHS because, we had done the shows four years prior and to him, they were not worth a repeat. I would have liked to do Star Tours again but he would prefer to sleep in and I was sick, so, something’s gotta give. Apparently that “something is Hollywood Studios”. I had cancelled the ADR for Sci Fi a few days before because I knew I wouldn’t be able to taste the actual food, so it was “all good”. Well, it sort of was.

I was really being challenged on the plan vs. execution thing by this time and had a certain level of frustration. However, Magic Kingdom had Extra Magic Hours so we slept in, did even more laundry, had some pool time and took it easy. Now, pool time really helps my ankle issues so…I wasn't too upset.

We also had to bring the Orange Beast back to the Dolphin. Actually this is a painless activity involving driving to the Dolphin and handing it over to Valet Parking. What didn’t work well was the bus stop. We waited 45 minutes for a bus to the Magic Kingdom. Fortunately, with our new “laid back” touring style, we just sat there and “people watched”. We were learning about WDW with MM+.

We had a few “reservations to make” and as a result of the ridiculously long wait for a bus to MK from the Dolphin Resort, we missed the 4:30 Pirate’s FP+. Well, we didn’t miss it too much, we had already done it twice.
Next, we had a FP+ for Haunted Mansion. What a luxury. There was a short wait, maybe 5 minutes. I had waited 35 minutes on a previous day for this ride and I was in pain by the time I boarded my “doombuggy”.

I don’t believe I ever needed a FP+ for this before during a slower time. Oh, wait, it wasn’t a FP attraction and it is continuously loading. My Bad.
After our FP+ for HM, the plan was to check out Fantasyland for low wait attractions. With nothing we wanted to ride being less than 25 minutes, we just looked around awhile. New Fantasyland is pretty but sure looks like a lot of concrete in some areas. We had a Be Our Guest ADR at 6:30 so we just hung around and took some pictures.

We checked in behind a LONG line of guests with BOG ADRs. The desk told us they were running about 15 minutes behind. We hung out on the bridge for over 30 minutes until our buzzer went off. My ankle was killing me! Groups of 6 or 8 were buzzed and scrambled to find their entire group to get to the check in area. Guests had wandered off to rides, stores or wherever and were surprised their buzzer went off. It was pretty chaotic.
We managed. I took a few more pictures. I sat on the ground. I walked around a bit. I did some stretches along the walls. Would it kill them to put in some benches?




When we were finally called, I was really impressed. The restaurant is incredibly themed and well worth doing. I am still on the fence as to whether it was worth the hassle to get the reservation. I put more effort into obtaining the reservation than the restaurant did getting me seated in a timely manner.



Of course the first thing we did was order a bottle of wine. Our waitress was very busy but very structured in that she always checked on every table while in the room. We liked her. She was awesome and I don’t remember her name but she was tipped well.

Our food was very good. DBF ordered the French Onion Soup and I had the Potato Leek Soup as a starter. We had some other random food after that. I don’t remember well because of pain and wine. I think I had a pork shank? It was way too salty and I couldn’t finish it. The potato leek soup is awesome though.

So, in summary, Dinner at BOG is worth my attempts to secure said reservation but NOT worth the actual money spent on the meal. You gotta go for the atmosphere. We didn't bother waiting to meet our host. He had just come back from a break and the line to meet him was crazy.











After dinner, we decided to watch the fireworks from Frontierland and maybe catch a nighttime ride on BTMRR. The coaster has a 35 minute wait, about 15 minutes beyond my tolerance so we settled in to watch the fireworks. We could see them well enough and actually had a bench to sit on. Somehow, the wind managed to carry a hot ember or something up under my glasses and directly into my eyeball. I headed directly to the restroom to flush my eye out and it was a little sore for the rest of the evening.

Now Magic Kingdom had EMH this night because there was no Halloween party, and if I hadn’t been sicker than heck, I had planned to stay. I couldn’t. Dang the plans, I needed nighttime cold meds and my bed yet again.

After dinner we went to the bus stop. The new articulated busses shorten your wait at MK. It was helpful. I was grateful.


Obstacles Identified: Health or lack thereof – adapt, adapt, adapt. Crowds and longer wait times – for this, I came to the conclusion that using EMH is not worth the crowds that build. In the future I will skip the park with EMH and go on a recommended day. If it means missing the fireworks, so be it.
I think the guidebooks need to revise their recommended times to visit the parks. There really is no slow time.

 

[agavegirl1]

How did that picture get in there twice?

 

[OregonGirl]

I feel like I am among my peeps.

Wendy, I love your Excel sheets and am doing something similar for the upcoming trip of Hubby and myself in February 2015. All our friends call me the Commodore because of my tendency to finitely plan everything. In my job, I sort of have to, but I'll be the first to admit that it spills over into my personal life.

DH is also not as "in" to Disney as I am, so I feel you. I have 'dragged' him along 4 different Disney trips over the past 3 years, and I have found that as long as I plan new experiences for each visit (and fit in a cruise here and there as well - his favorite vacation activity), then we are good.

Sorry to read about your ankle. Jealous of your BOG ressies. This most recent trip in February came to be just a few months ago and so the 180 day window was already behind us, and there are NO ADRs for BOG. I am waiting, literally, until Christmas day when I can make FP+ for lunch (not as ideal as the dinner, but something).

Looking forward to the rest of your TP. I am a long time lurker and don't often post, but we are a childless, slightly older couple and I identified.

- Carey

Me: 34 DH: 44 Furkid: Dogmatix
- Nearly Yearly Boardwalk CL Guests, 10+ yrs -

 

[agavegirl1]

Oregongirl AKA Carey. your post made me smile. i have always considered growing up as an optional thing. I am not Peter Pan but my name really is Wendy. Mom actually named me after the character.

Don't worry too much on a first Disney trip with a Disney detractor. It will be the next one that you have to encounter resistance.

 

[agavegirl1]

Day 10 (Last Day Sort Of)
The Plan:
I do not have a plan for this since I only had 3FP+ for BTMRR, Seven Dwarves, and Anna and Elsa.

Well this was it. Our last morning at WDW. We were checking out of Pop Century and just going for our FP+ reservations for the morning. Sure, there were other plans in there but by now we realized they weren’t going to happen. We had a BTMRR FP+ for 9:05. Well, we weren’t going to make it, cold medication etc. Strangely we got a knock on our door at 9AM for “Mousekeeping”. The “Mousekeeping Supervisor had told our particular employee that we would not be in our room so go ahead and get it ready for the next guests. We were there, in the room because we chose not to ride a ride and they wanted to clear us out. So….I answered the door and said “Hi” Our Mousekeeper informed us that her supervisor told her we would be at MK. I guess MM+ is “doing it’s thing” for staffing. We did leave within 15 minutes and left our bags at luggage services.


We were dressed and ready for …..meeting Anna and Elsa!. I had bought special shirts for the occasion. Not because I really cared, but, the kids at the preschool really cared and my niece really cared. So, here we are. The shirts were purchased online at Hot Topic.


Oh My, Elsa was so cute and so conversational and so excited about my Olaf tank top. Yes, we had a FP+ for this. And yes, I was on the internet at midnight 70 days in advance.



After our M&G with the Frozen sisters, we took on last ride on the Mine Train and headed back to Pop to pick up our bags from luggage services. They found us a Taxi immediately and we were on our way to……Hilton Garden Inn at Sea World.

Obstacles: None...this was our last day we only planned on three hours in the parks.

Overall impression? I really need to work on the DBF (AKA Loren) on going back. I also need to recognize my own limitations, set new priorities and modify my expectations.

For those of you interested, I will be moving to the Universal Studios Forums, Sea World and Other Forums for the rest of the trip since it takes place at Other Parks.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Great updates! Love your Frozen tee-shirts, very cute. Really made the pictures adorable, love it.

Kudos to you pushing through the cold and getting as much done as you did.

I would love to follow the next part of your report as well, I will try to find it on the other side!

 

[agavegirl1]

WDW Summary:

Come On, I’m a Commando. Of course there is a summary. This is a summary of obstacles and adjustments. I will talk about the parts of the plan that worked after that.

Obstacle:

Hunger.

Plan Adjustment:

No more snacks and coffee in the room and hope it will suffice as “breakfast”. Touring, especially with “thrill rides” requires real nourishment. In the future, plan in breakfasts. Lunch can be more flexible. Maybe an order for Garden Grocer for more substantial offerings than what will fit in a suitcase?

Obstacle:

Failure to use available tech in a timely manner.

Plan Adjustment:

Make sure you know the capabilities of MM+ on your phone App before park arrival. Play around with it. Also, know that changes cannot be made to a FP+ once the window opens. I had always used the “Lines” App to check ride times and continued to use it along with MDE…well after day one when I failed to use it to find out where Jammitors would be.

Obstacle:

Varied expectations of members of the travel party.

Plan Adjustment:

Here, the commando in you has to take a back seat to the “Happiness Quotient”. That is, the combined enjoyment factor of all members of the group minus the aggravation factor of the group as a whole. Is your level of aggravation from having to change your plan higher or lower than the aggravation of the rest of the travel party from actually following your plan. Can you achieve a higher level of net happiness by ditching the plan?

Obstacle:

Some parks have become “boring” to you or a member of your travel party.

Plan Adjustment.

Make sure that while planning, you identify new things to do and concentrate on the new vs the old. While we did find Sum of All Thrills in Epcot, this does not have a FP+ so planning around the new activities should be prioritized.

Obstacle:

Illness.

Plan Adjustment:

Review your next few days’ plans as soon as you recognize your limitations. Good communication with your travel party is critical. Cancel any ADRs you don’t think you will make or that no longer appeal to you. There is no sense in paying for an expensive meal you can’t taste. Reduce your park hours to the highest priorities. Get adequate rest.

Obstacle:

Spontaneous Opportunities

Plan Adjustment:

Here you will need to prioritize “on the fly” Whether it is a party breaking out at your resort with interesting people or a food booth at Food and Wine, you need to get your mindset okay with allowing for the spontaneous. Sometimes a small adjustment is all that is needed, sometimes it’s a large chunk of the day. Remember the “Happiness Quotient”.

Obstacle:

Too many reservations in a day.

Plan Adjustment:

While I don’t feel that most days had “Too Many” planned, adjustments did need to be made. However, for the unforeseen obstacles (such as spontaneous distractions, illness) it might be wise to schedule “appointments” further apart. Example: You will spend the morning in MK and leave after a QS lunch. You want to use your FP+ in MK in hopes of getting a 4th at AK later for Kali. Rather than the one hour between FP+ at MK, try to add a little buffer of 10 minutes or so while adjusting your reservations. If a ride breaks down or stalls (happened to us several times) you will not be racing to your next FP+ to get there in time. I wish I would have done an hour and 10 minutes between many times.

Obstacle:

Chronic problem or injury

Plan Adjustment:

Before you even leave for vacation, make sure you are up to date with your doctor. I usually get an injection every twelve months. I got one in August. It usually lasts a year. This time it didn’t. I should have asked for recommendations for footwear, injection timing, etc. from my doctor before leaving.

Also, my problem is chronic but the sciatic pain as a result has only happened twice in my lifetime. If I had trained a little, I would have been more prepared for all the walking.

Communication with your travel partners is very important. Don’t do what I did. I kept the pain to myself for a day before communicating to DBF. I only told him when I just stopped walking, sat down and did some stretches. I told him I would need to pause every so often to walk from now on.
Now, DBF does not really know how many times a day I have to do this in normal life so here is another caveat. Constant exposure to your traveling party may reveal things of which you were not aware…like my pain and DBF’s ability to be easily bored with something he has done one or twice. Communicate. Stopping for an adult beverage to recap the day so far is great for a couple who imbibes.

Obstacle:

Unexpected Crowds

Plan Adjustment:

For me, I just had to lower my expectations for the current trip for what I could accomplish. For the future, I will not use EMH. I found them to be of less value than in the past. The days where I skipped them or just went to the recommended park to begin with, were more enjoyable. I am about 5’1” tall and a little claustrophobic in large crowds so these parks were more comfortable. As I mentioned in the report on Day Nine, if I miss the fireworks, I’ll be okay.

Next Up…What Worked and Worked Well.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I agree about breakfast. The coffee and snacks in the room don't work well for us either.

I think the key for us is having enough fat and protein to be satisfied. Protein bars can work. Even something like a serving of whole milk or a whole greek yogurt with whatever you are eating can help bulk up an in-room breakfast. I think the idea of a well-planned Garden Grocer order is a good idea. But yeah, nothing beats a real meal on vacation!

We usually schedule lunch really early because we don't do a hot breakfast in the morning. I'll often get in-park ADRs as soon as they open for lunch. That way we get to the park, get some stuff done and then refuel with real food relatively soon.

 

[Disney Commando]

I must commend you on your Obstacle & Plan Adjustment Summary
Just acknowledging a obstacle and then being able to adjust the plan, puts you way ahead of the normal guest that has no plan to start with or a very text book plan

As a Commando knowing is half the battle, now that you know your obstacles, I'm sure they will be addressed 1st when planning your next tripwhich hopefully will lead to a smoother time

 

[agavegirl1]

I must commend you on your Obstacle & Plan Adjustment Summary
Just acknowledging a obstacle and then being able to adjust the plan, puts you way ahead of the normal guest that has no plan to start with or a very text book plan

As a Commando knowing is half the battle, now that you know your obstacles, I'm sure they will be addressed 1st when planning your next tripwhich hopefully will lead to a smoother time

It is amazing that the last two times I obsessively planned a WDW trip it came together nearly flawlessly. Members of the travel parties thanked me over and over for my research and planning as we nearly ran through the queues from attraction to attraction. The differences I've discerned are:

*This was a repeat visit for DBF. I had not anticipated he would be bored after a four year hiatus of certain attractions.

*I needed a longer vacation to assure we we could fit in some attractions due to the 60 day booking for FP+. I should have figured more down time would be required.

*I didn't count on getting sick.

*I was completely taken aback by the change in crowd levels from 2010 to 2014. I had always made use of morning EMHs but the combination of FP+ beginning earlier than FP-, overall crowd increases, incentives to stay onsite, longer standby times in general for secondary attractions...messed with my plans.

Touring Plans will adjust their algorithm as more data with FP+ becomes available and this will work itself out in time.

Meanwhile, I learn a little more every trip.