Tell me how a "Type B" family does it!

[Ladyandthepuppies]

I am a Type A planner and honestly love having everything planned to the minute. Maybe that's one of the reasons I love Disney planning so much- it's not considered crazy to make plans a year in advance! But for our Dec 2018 trip, I got shut out of some restaurants we wanted even though I was booking at 6am 180 days in advance. So I am gearing myself up for potential fast pass disappointment. Oh, and I'll be 6 months pregnant when we're there, so I'm "planning" on unplanned breaks when necessary. Please tell me, you people out there who "wing it" and still have a great time- how do you do it? Any tips? What are some fave things to do that don't require any planning?

 

[Soarin4us]

As a former type A, whose family rebelled against THE ITINERARY.... Un-planning is so much more fun. Get some fast passes the day or so before (you can get almost anything except FoP and Toy Story Land), refresh often for fast passes or dining reservations, and go have fun. Don’t rope-drop, your sleep is precious! 24-hours advance planning works GREAT. Enjoy. It’s life-changing . I’ve gotten FoP and Via Napoli, Jiko, and California Grill same-day

 

[StacyStrong]

Haha I'm not sure you can teach winging it

At that point you're planning for the winging it!

I'm not type A, but I do plan a bit generally to get my fast passes and such. When I met up with my friend to do that, my boyfriend kept going “what is there to plan? Just show up”

To him, if you have to wait in a line, you have to wait in a line. If a restaurant is full, you go to one that isn’t.

I think he's certifiably insane.

 

[lbus42]

The only planing we do is to get 180 day ressies so we can set up which park we will do each day (we do not reserve TS each day either). Then we set up whatever fast passes we can get at the 60 day mark. After that we wing it. We pretty much do what is around us at any given time as long as it is not more than a 30 minute wait.

 

[lbus42]

To him, if you have to wait in a line, you have to wait in a line. If a restaurant is full, you go to one that isn’t.

Exactly

 

[hereforthechurros]

We plan each morning up until lunch then leave the afternoon open. If we want to stay at the same park, great! Hop to another one, cool! Go back to the resort to swim... well you get the point. Let’s us plan one ADR a day and FPs but leaves enough of the day for spontaneity as well. Good luck!

 

[Duanerice]

Ha ha, I don't know how type A's do it. I really don't want a schedule on vacation. What park we are going to is about all we plan and that can change.

We really don't care about eating in the parks so we don't need a lot of reservations. There is much better food elsewhere for a much better price. Pretty much counter service is all we do. We have eaten at some of the sit downs in the past but that was back in the days you could make a reservation that day. I have no idea when and where I want to eat in six months

So for us we just wing it. But we've also been there a lot so if we miss a ride or show, no big deal. And we used to have a semi plan for the first couple of hours but that's about it. Now we just wonder around and do whatever perks our interest.

Going for MVMCP and don't have any plans. Just show up and have fun.

 

[hereforthechurros]

Ha ha, I don't know how type A's do it. I really don't want a schedule on vacation. What park we are going to is about all we plan and that can change.

We really don't care about eating in the parks so we don't need a lot of reservations. There is much better food elsewhere for a much better price. Pretty much counter service is all we do. We have eaten at some of the sit downs in the past but that was back in the days you could make a reservation that day. I have no idea when and where I want to eat in six months

So for us we just wing it. But we've also been there a lot so if we miss a ride or show, no big deal. And we used to have a semi plan for the first couple of hours but that's about it. Now we just wonder around and do whatever perks our interest.

Going for MVMCP and don't have any plans. Just show up and have fun.

You’re only a few hours away though and I imagine (although please correct me if I’m wrong) have APs that let you return whenever. Much different from those of us that only go 1-2 a year and spend a lot of money just getting there. Pressure to fit it all in is real :-/

 

[randumb0]

I don't mind planning but I refuse to rope drop.

 

[FigmentSpark]

For me, I have to plan so that my non-Disney-loving DH won't ask why we have to wait so long for a stupid ride he doesn't want to do anyway. If I can keep the family moving and fairly happy, then it's a good trip. It's pressure on me, but the pressure is before the trip ever starts. If I have a good plan, I can enjoy the trip without the stress because I know what I can change on the fly and what can be substituted. That planning, for me, makes my 'job' as lead for our family easier.

Now, when I go with my SIL and her family, I know I'm not in charge. Even if my plans looked awesome and worked perfectly, she'd laugh and still do her own thing, so I 'go with the flow'. I know there are things I won't see and lines I'll stand in that I won't like, but I'm not in charge. And best of all, DH won't blame me for his bad time. heh.

But that's the thing... to wing it, you have to be prepared to let go of things. So you don't go on Peter Pan or you miss the Belle m&g. Or maybe Pirates is down for repairs and the line is now super long at Splash because those people have to go somewhere. It's all good, because you're having fun with your family. Go find a drink or sit on a bench or watch the kids (DH?) do the shooting gallery. Something catch your eye in a shop? Why not stop? Where else do you have to be? That's what the fun is all about if you don't have 'must-do' goals. Well, even if you do have a few goals, just let the rest organically flow. Now have another Dole Whip or maybe a Mickey bar instead. Life's good. You're in the happiest place on earth.

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

I am definitely a major planner with excel spreadsheets for everything. This time we left a few days empty - which is so unlike me. We were traveling with another family so we didn't want to plan all 2 weeks. I have to say we ate in great restaurants that we got day of and some of them we just walked in to a booked restaurant and asked for a table of 11 and got it.

In terms of FPs - boy does refresh work great - it takes patience but it does work. I got many FPs that were completely booked and for the exact times that I wanted for a party of 11. Some the morning of.

We did do a lot of swimming this trip. Especially that we had 2 weeks. It was definitely a more relaxed trip. Enjoy!

 

[markb681]

I simply get 3 FP+ and go the opposite direction the crowd goes...I don't do but maybe one or two table restaurants the entire 10 days I usually go for...that way I'm free to do what I want when I want....not looking at my phone worried IF i'm going to make it to my ADR on time....I'm a rope drop person...get as much as I can do until about 1pm ish...then I head for the gate...go back to hotel and rest and freshen up...roll back out the door around 5pm ish...and enjoy the cooler nighttime hours....MAYBE then have a nicer dinner IF i'm hungry...But I just normally can't eat a full meal when its 95 degrees out...so I just find something quick to eat...but night time is when I slow down and smell the roses as they say...mornings is rush hour!

 

[Love Tink]

Speaking from personal experience: my best advice is to become totally addicted to Disney parks vacations and start to take family trips there every year.

You will find that after the first five or so trips, you no longer need or want spreadsheets. By trip 10, you are that family who sleeps in, takes breaks during the day and doesn't think it is worth walking back across the park for a few more rides when your feet hurt.

 

[Woody412]

I like to have a basic plan for the morning/ early afternoon but nothing set in stone except for the fast passes and a sit down lunch ADR. After lunch we “go where the wind takes us,” whether that’s back to the pool or to the other side of the park.

 

[Duanerice]

You’re only a few hours away though and I imagine (although please correct me if I’m wrong) have APs that let you return whenever. Much different from those of us that only go 1-2 a year and spend a lot of money just getting there. Pressure to fit it all in is real :-/

Ha, nope. MVMCP is the first trip in 8 years (other than marathon weekend and we don't even go in the parks) It's just gotten too expensive and I think we got burned out. When we moved to Florida back in 1986 we had AP's for about 3 years then the kids got older and we had seen everything at that time.

We are (I am, wife not so much), really looking forward to MVMCP. Have fun all!

 

[abnihon]

I used to be an obsessive planner but last trip only planned which park, FP, ADRs and a loose plan for day.
One day we were in line for boat to MK from WL and DS announced he wanted to go in the hot tub. I tried to argue with him about lines etc but no luck... so we went in the hot tub at 8am!
I aspire to one day take the kind of Disney trip where you go to whichever park that the bus comes first.

 

[Klayfish]

In my normal life, I'm much more type A. But when it comes to vacation, I'm the complete opposite. If I had to have a spreadsheet for my vacation, I'm dead serious when I say I would refuse to go. If I had to plan everything out, I'd refuse to go. No way. I'm on vacation, I want to relax and just go where the day takes me. I refuse to rope drop...I get up at 4am at home, I want to sleep in...and I think rope drop doesn't add value anyway. So we're very much wing it people, and have an absolute blast.

How do we do it? There's no secret or magic, as the Nike commercials used to say, we just "Do it". We do make very loose plans 30 days out, so that we can book FP+ in advance (we stay offsite). However, even those plans get changed pretty often. For example, we may have booked FP+ for Epcot on Tuesday. When we wake up Tuesday morning, the kids will say "We'd rather go to HS". Great, fine. We drop Epcot FP+ and pick up HS and we're on our way. The current FP+ system is awesome, fabulous, fantastic. It allows for this level of flexibility, where the old paper system didn't. After we use our FP+, we'll say "OK, what do you want to do next?" There are no pre-made plans, we just do whatever we want. It could be more rides in the same park, hop to another park, go home for the day, etc... We wouldn't have it any other way.

We don't eat in WDW restaurants, so that eliminates the dining reservation issue...or on the rare occasion we do, it's QS.

 

[tzolkin]

I’m sure this sounds completely ridiculous, but I always feel that I do so much planning so that we can be spontaneous.

Some years I have been excessive with the prep work— color coded charts, index cards, restaurant menus, packing lists months in advance, etc. Doing all of this satisfies my Type A need to organize all the information. But I really don't have "a plan" in the sense that most people here talk about it. We never make ADRs (did the dining plan one trip and it was 10 days of pre-scheduled hell) and I hate that the new FP system makes me feel like I'm forced to you to plan our park days way in advance. Years ago, we always decided either the night before or the morning of which park we wanted to go to (often in the afternoons, we would just let the kids decide at the bus stop).

For our family, being familiar with everything and having all the information readily available allows us to make informed decisions about what we want to do while we were there. We can quickly glance at a color coded chart and see that we should hit MK for EMH tomorrow morning and because we are familiar with the park layout, ride popularity, FP & rider swap we can come up with an efficient "touring plan" while we're going through the gates. Because we are so efficient at hitting rides in the morning, we are perfectly content to leave the park by around 11, relax at the resort, and just do whatever we feet like that evening. Now that the kids are older, not having a "plan" is even more helpful because everyone is free to do whatever they like. If I had a touring plan and ADRs that I felt compelled to stick to, I know that I would find myself getting annoyed if DD wants to leave the park to go back to the room for a nap by herself or if the kids want to sleep in while DH and I wander over to France for breakfast.

 

[YesterDark]

I am a Type A planner and honestly love having everything planned to the minute. Maybe that's one of the reasons I love Disney planning so much- it's not considered crazy to make plans a year in advance! But for our Dec 2018 trip, I got shut out of some restaurants we wanted even though I was booking at 6am 180 days in advance. So I am gearing myself up for potential fast pass disappointment. Oh, and I'll be 6 months pregnant when we're there, so I'm "planning" on unplanned breaks when necessary. Please tell me, you people out there who "wing it" and still have a great time- how do you do it? Any tips? What are some fave things to do that don't require any planning?

Go sub to touring plans and use their ADR tool (assuming it's still there). I used it last year and got everything I wanted though I was booking up to a few days before we flew down.

As far as me, I'm a major planner but I don't plan down to the minute. I think vacations shouldn't be ruled by an itinerary. I plan out spaces, I make sure we know where we're always going for Lunch/Dinner so we don't waste time debating where to eat. I know when parades/shows/fireworks are so we can be ready for them if we want to go. I plan on spaces to rest and sit down. The rest of the day is bouncing between our 4th and beyond fast pass and doing what comes to us.

 

[Nancyg56]

I like to have a basic plan for the morning/ early afternoon but nothing set in stone except for the fast passes and a sit down lunch ADR. After lunch we “go where the wind takes us,” whether that’s back to the pool or to the other side of the park.

This is as far as I plan as well. Basic structure so we are not wandering around for hours trying to decide what to do at any given time. I spend time upfront choosing the park per day, and a coinciding meal, and add if we want to enter a park at night for evening entertainment. We select FP when it is time, and we also know what direction we will start out in for the park. After that, who cares? If we wait in a line, we wait. If something better comes up we ditch the FP. We seldom need to make changes to meals, for some reason my family is very invested in our food! LOL!

At home I need to be organized, and I have a structure that I generally need to adhere to. On vacation I refuse to get caught up in worrying about getting it all done, or seeing everything. WE cannot and we won't so it is best for me to take that expectoration off the table.

I believe that there is no "wrong" way to vacation, therefore there is no "wrong" way to do Disney. If we are okay with the total cost of vacation, so be it. A few hours in any park may be enough for us on any given day, but we make up for that somewhere else on property. Just as some families cringe at the thought of not having every detail, down to snacks and bathroom breaks set in a spreadsheet, my family would mutiny and leave me and my color coded sheets in a pool of dust if I even presented them with this kind of plan. LOL! Shoot, my nieces think we have overplanned them by booking meals and planning park days.