agavegirl1
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2012
What part of plan worked for me and suggestions for others planning
First of all, here is a list of planning tools I used for my trip.
Disney Forums such as DISBoards, wdwmagic and AllEars
Joshs website, easywdw
The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World (I always get an updated copy before trips.
The Unofficial Guide to the Other Orlando
Passporter for WDW
Touring Plans website I purchased the discounted subscription.
Plans and notes from my most recent, previous trip.
What I did that I highly recommend:
Use the previous years park schedule and crowd calendars to rough out what park on what day. For this step I used EasyWDW. When park calendars came out for my actual days, there were few changes needed. I kept checking the website for updates and adjusted accordingly. Having my park days mapped out was important for the next steps.
Get online as soon as you ADR window opens. I was able to assure that I got what I wanted for most restaurants, including Be Our Guest for later in the trip on a day we would be at Magic Kingdom. The two I didnt get were a pre-park opening Crystal Breakfast and a Fantasmic! Dining Package Dinner lots of F! late lunches available.
Just a note for those planning for others
On my trip in 2010, I had not included DBF in planning the restaurants and just selected three ADRs for our five day visit. After arriving, we only kept one of them. In one case the menu didnt appeal to him (Liberty Tree Tavern) and in the other we were seated and did not see a server for over 20 minutes and walked out (Brown Derby). This trip, I kept a running discussion while I looked over the menus online over many evenings. When a restaurant appealed to him, I printed off the menu and got a yes or no vote from him. This way, I wasnt getting charged $20 if DBF didnt like the menu once we were already there, I knew exactly what I needed to get for ADRs and could fit them into the touring plan. Involve others in meal planning, even in an informal, conversational way.
Dont give up on hard to get ADRs. I stalked the cancellation thread for October on the Restaurant Boards and finally got that coveted CP breakfast at 8:30 on a 9AM opening day. I looked on MDE a couple of times a week, more as the trip got closer and found a Fantasmic! Dinner at 5:30 PM at Hollywood and Vine. Not my first choice venue, but a basic American buffet thrown in with our many more exotic choices fit well.
Read about others experiences with FP+ and dont immediately dismiss a negative post as unhelpful. Another persons bad experiences can give you ideas on how to avoid it. The ever popular FP+ bible written by MesaBoy is very helpful. I printed off the first few pages for reference. I like having paper references at my disposal, especially when the thread wasnt readily available on page one.
I was also able to avoid some of the pitfalls of Disney IT by not making major changes to my reservation. I realize if you need to make a major change, this may not help much but having a solid plan prior to making your reservations will minimize changes.
Dont let waiting on hold dissuade you from applying a discount announced later. I may have waited on the phone 45 minutes, but when room only discounts were offered for my time frame, I put up with it. I was credited $166 which may not be much, but was 15% off my value room putting us at under $100/night
Get Memory Maker. Yes, I know it is expensive. Even though I had an I wont wait in line for a photographer policy, I still got 122 impressive, professional pictures with me actually in them. Being the photographer for vacations, I never have photos with me in them for two reasons:
I am taking the pictures.
I dont want to be in the pictures.
Reason one is an easy reason to buy Memory Maker. (Well I had Photo Pass Plus)
Reason two is a tough one but here is why you should still do it Your family and friends have seen dozens of pictures of the castle, Main Street, your kids or Significant Other doing X, Y and Z. They want to see you having the time of your life too. I dont care if you feel fat, have bad hair, look older than you feel, got drenched on Splash Mountain whatever your excuse. Your excuse is not good enough for the people who care about you.
Use a sample touring plan from Touring Plans or EasyWDW and customize. I customized plans on Touring Plans myself since I had a lot of half days. But start with someone elses careful work and go from there. This will give you a good idea of what time of day to go to which attraction as well as the timing of getting there, waiting and riding. You will have a realistic expectation of what can be accomplished. I think Touring Plans is getting better with timing than they originally were.
Typing your own Touring Plan whether you make a spreadsheet or use a Word Document and then making changes as they occur, familiarizes you with your plan. For me, I was so familiar with the plan, it was committed to memory. This is very helpful for saving time in the parks. You have a sense of where you need to be when that you do not waste steps.
Based on a preliminary plan, figure out which FP+ you would like and when you would like them. (Based on the what went wrong part, think about having FP+ an hour and 15 minutes apart allows a better opportunity to fit a Standby ride in between).
Get online at the ungodly hour of Midnight (or 1AM) ET to make your FP+ selections as soon as your window opens. Select a block of FP+ pretty far away from when you want to use them. Choose three, even if you want one or two. Then tweak away at the times until they fit your touring plan. Start with your last MK day if you want Anna & Elsa and the Mine Train. Worry about those first.
I ended up with A&E on both of my last two days and coordinated with another DISer to give up one of mine so she and her 7YO could meet the icy duo. I actually did this on purpose. Knowing I was there ten days, and some members were unable to obtain a FP+ for shorter stays, I grabbed two, knowing I could make someones day.
Do not be afraid to try tweaking your FP+ reservations. As long as you dont actually complete the change, you can check for better times or attractions until your window to use them actually opens. I only tweaked a little since I had a decent idea of what I wanted and when prior to going in.
Ask those you are planning for What are your three priorities. Sometimes you will be surprised what their answers are and you may not have even considered their idea. I asked DBF AKA Loren and his answer: I want a Napoleon from the French Bakery, I want to ride Mission Space and I want to eat at that African restaurant (Boma) again. Boom Done. Heck, we ate Napoleons twice. He was not the least bit disappointed by the trip. Sometimes, you have to let the Commando .go.
Thanks to those who have followed along. I will be going to the Sea World Board for a short trip report then on to the Universal Trip Reports. I did not need spreadsheets for these but I did make them anyway a waste of time but helped me to commit park layout to memory.
See You On the Other Side!
Wendy
First of all, here is a list of planning tools I used for my trip.
Disney Forums such as DISBoards, wdwmagic and AllEars
Joshs website, easywdw
The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World (I always get an updated copy before trips.
The Unofficial Guide to the Other Orlando
Passporter for WDW
Touring Plans website I purchased the discounted subscription.
Plans and notes from my most recent, previous trip.
What I did that I highly recommend:
Use the previous years park schedule and crowd calendars to rough out what park on what day. For this step I used EasyWDW. When park calendars came out for my actual days, there were few changes needed. I kept checking the website for updates and adjusted accordingly. Having my park days mapped out was important for the next steps.
Get online as soon as you ADR window opens. I was able to assure that I got what I wanted for most restaurants, including Be Our Guest for later in the trip on a day we would be at Magic Kingdom. The two I didnt get were a pre-park opening Crystal Breakfast and a Fantasmic! Dining Package Dinner lots of F! late lunches available.
Just a note for those planning for others
On my trip in 2010, I had not included DBF in planning the restaurants and just selected three ADRs for our five day visit. After arriving, we only kept one of them. In one case the menu didnt appeal to him (Liberty Tree Tavern) and in the other we were seated and did not see a server for over 20 minutes and walked out (Brown Derby). This trip, I kept a running discussion while I looked over the menus online over many evenings. When a restaurant appealed to him, I printed off the menu and got a yes or no vote from him. This way, I wasnt getting charged $20 if DBF didnt like the menu once we were already there, I knew exactly what I needed to get for ADRs and could fit them into the touring plan. Involve others in meal planning, even in an informal, conversational way.
Dont give up on hard to get ADRs. I stalked the cancellation thread for October on the Restaurant Boards and finally got that coveted CP breakfast at 8:30 on a 9AM opening day. I looked on MDE a couple of times a week, more as the trip got closer and found a Fantasmic! Dinner at 5:30 PM at Hollywood and Vine. Not my first choice venue, but a basic American buffet thrown in with our many more exotic choices fit well.
Read about others experiences with FP+ and dont immediately dismiss a negative post as unhelpful. Another persons bad experiences can give you ideas on how to avoid it. The ever popular FP+ bible written by MesaBoy is very helpful. I printed off the first few pages for reference. I like having paper references at my disposal, especially when the thread wasnt readily available on page one.
I was also able to avoid some of the pitfalls of Disney IT by not making major changes to my reservation. I realize if you need to make a major change, this may not help much but having a solid plan prior to making your reservations will minimize changes.
Dont let waiting on hold dissuade you from applying a discount announced later. I may have waited on the phone 45 minutes, but when room only discounts were offered for my time frame, I put up with it. I was credited $166 which may not be much, but was 15% off my value room putting us at under $100/night
Get Memory Maker. Yes, I know it is expensive. Even though I had an I wont wait in line for a photographer policy, I still got 122 impressive, professional pictures with me actually in them. Being the photographer for vacations, I never have photos with me in them for two reasons:
I am taking the pictures.
I dont want to be in the pictures.
Reason one is an easy reason to buy Memory Maker. (Well I had Photo Pass Plus)
Reason two is a tough one but here is why you should still do it Your family and friends have seen dozens of pictures of the castle, Main Street, your kids or Significant Other doing X, Y and Z. They want to see you having the time of your life too. I dont care if you feel fat, have bad hair, look older than you feel, got drenched on Splash Mountain whatever your excuse. Your excuse is not good enough for the people who care about you.
Use a sample touring plan from Touring Plans or EasyWDW and customize. I customized plans on Touring Plans myself since I had a lot of half days. But start with someone elses careful work and go from there. This will give you a good idea of what time of day to go to which attraction as well as the timing of getting there, waiting and riding. You will have a realistic expectation of what can be accomplished. I think Touring Plans is getting better with timing than they originally were.
Typing your own Touring Plan whether you make a spreadsheet or use a Word Document and then making changes as they occur, familiarizes you with your plan. For me, I was so familiar with the plan, it was committed to memory. This is very helpful for saving time in the parks. You have a sense of where you need to be when that you do not waste steps.
Based on a preliminary plan, figure out which FP+ you would like and when you would like them. (Based on the what went wrong part, think about having FP+ an hour and 15 minutes apart allows a better opportunity to fit a Standby ride in between).
Get online at the ungodly hour of Midnight (or 1AM) ET to make your FP+ selections as soon as your window opens. Select a block of FP+ pretty far away from when you want to use them. Choose three, even if you want one or two. Then tweak away at the times until they fit your touring plan. Start with your last MK day if you want Anna & Elsa and the Mine Train. Worry about those first.
I ended up with A&E on both of my last two days and coordinated with another DISer to give up one of mine so she and her 7YO could meet the icy duo. I actually did this on purpose. Knowing I was there ten days, and some members were unable to obtain a FP+ for shorter stays, I grabbed two, knowing I could make someones day.
Do not be afraid to try tweaking your FP+ reservations. As long as you dont actually complete the change, you can check for better times or attractions until your window to use them actually opens. I only tweaked a little since I had a decent idea of what I wanted and when prior to going in.
Ask those you are planning for What are your three priorities. Sometimes you will be surprised what their answers are and you may not have even considered their idea. I asked DBF AKA Loren and his answer: I want a Napoleon from the French Bakery, I want to ride Mission Space and I want to eat at that African restaurant (Boma) again. Boom Done. Heck, we ate Napoleons twice. He was not the least bit disappointed by the trip. Sometimes, you have to let the Commando .go.
Thanks to those who have followed along. I will be going to the Sea World Board for a short trip report then on to the Universal Trip Reports. I did not need spreadsheets for these but I did make them anyway a waste of time but helped me to commit park layout to memory.
See You On the Other Side!
Wendy
I am a major planner, but not at all commando -- just looking at a schedule with "Jungle Cruise or Pirates," then "Buzz, Astro and Space" and then "Mine Train" makes me feel tired. But it's fun to live that way vicariously once in a while. Thanks for giving me that opportunity. 
