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Original poster

disney - would it be stupid to do no planning and just go with the flow

38 replies

pud1 · 14/03/2014 11:00

we have a trip to Florida planned on the 28th may. myself, oh and 2 dd's ages 4 and 6. flying from Manchester with Monarch ( not sure this was the best idea) and staying in a Disney hotel. we have got a 14 day pass for wdw and universal and a one day at seaworld.

i have booked the Cinderella castle lunch but that is as far as my planning goes. we have not hired a car and plan to get taxis to universal and seaworld.

my question is do i have to plan ahead. i have been looking on the DIBB and it all looks very intense. i have been looking at fast pass+, magic bands ( i think i have managed to order these), memory maker. i have also downloaded the Disney app on my phone.

has anyone just gone with the flow and not bothered with all this in advance. i feel like it is planning a military operation. i dont want the dds to miss out on anything but i cant get my head around all the planning.

please tell me we can just turn up and decide what we are doing on a daily basis without missing out on loads of attractions as they have been booked 180 days in advance

OP posts:
mummymeister · 14/03/2014 15:41

If you go with the flow the flow will be long queues which wastes so much time, makes everyone bored and means that when you get to the front it is never as much fun. sorry but think with WDW you just have to be organised to get the most out of it and not miss out on the things you really want to do. you also need to do things like check height requirements for rides. so many kids bawling their eyes out next to rides they had been promised but then couldn't go on because they were too small. the unofficial guide to WDW with kids is a brilliant book it has touring plans to follow that are really helpful.

FreckledLeopard · 14/03/2014 15:45

I've gone with the flow both times I've been to Orlando with DD. It was absolutely fine.

I think you have to take into account a few things, like whether you want to see Wishes (firework display) one evening at Magic Kingdom (it's not on every day of the week and I think it starts at 9pm, so might make sense to get to the park later in the day so you're not too exhausted), or another evening spectacle. Also when you want to see the parades, but they're on frequently.

We've always played things by ear and been absolutely fine.

Have a great time - we're off two weeks tomorrow!!!!

Original poster
pud1 · 14/03/2014 21:05

Thanks for the replies.

Hope you have a great time freckles

OP posts:
TheVictorian · 14/03/2014 21:24

I think you would be better planning it like a military operation and have a plan a and b so if any parts do not go to plan at least your organised and know whats what.

wordfactory · 14/03/2014 21:27

You need top plan OP.

Each park has days of heavy, medium and light foot traffic, and within each day, certain rides have heavy, medium and light traffic.

Good planning will mean fewer lines and more ride time. No planning will mean longer lines and less ride time...no brainer innit?

OfstedOrganised · 14/03/2014 21:30

Would your daughters like the Bibbidy Bobbidy boutique makeover? Mine loved it, the staff are fairy Godmother's in training and treat them like princesses. They do their hair like a princess and depending on your package will have a Disney dress etc. It's really magical I wanted to do it too. You have to book in advance (like now!) but it's so worth it! Grin

bonvivant · 14/03/2014 21:33

You need to plan as others have said. My top tips are:

  • get there just before or asap after opening - early bird definitely catches the Disney worm (and the Fastpasses)
  • take a break from the parks early afternoon and relax at your hotel before hitting parks again late afternoon
  • take snacks etc for lunch - queues for food can be long, food is standard theme park fare and is $$$ - save your time and money
  • the waterparks are fab - don't overlook them
  • know the various show times/fireworks etc at the various parks. Fantasmic is unmissable!

And have a fab holiday.

ImASecretTwigletNibbler · 14/03/2014 21:40

I think you can just go with the flow if you've never been before or you don't know much about it - that way, you won't really know what you're missing. Just check out the crowd calendar on the Dibb and have a rough plan of where to go on what day. But if you do plan you will give yourself the best chance of seeing everything and with the minimum of queuing.

rookiemater · 14/03/2014 21:44

You don't have to do loads of planning OP, but a little really helps.

I found the DIBB far too intense for my style, this book www.britguideorlando.net/ is good as it's a bit more user friendly.
We ordered the free Little Magic book from Disney wdtc.disneyinternational.com/VPK/?Origin=WDTC. It has little pocket size guides to each park - on our way to the park we'd plan roughly what we wanted to see and check the height restrictions.

Having a rough idea of what parks you want to see is good as is going early - although as I don't think you are going in school holiday time it shouldn't be as busy, plus you are staying in a Disney hotel so will get extra magic hours - which one are you in - they all looked fab?

Things you need to book in advance are - Bibbity Bobbity Boutique - don't have a girl so can't vouch for it's worth, Chef Mickeys Character meal - but if you have the princess meal already booked then you are fine. I booked a few other things, like meals at a restaurant near the Epcot fireworks, but then wished I hadn't as it meant we were tied into certain times for doing things.

Ah one question - do you have meal thingy inclusive? If you do ,you need to book restaurants in advance, you'll struggle to get a meal at most of the Disney places at a civilized eating time if you just rock up .

ImASecretTwigletNibbler · 15/03/2014 10:15

Have a read up about the new FastPass system - it's baffling when you're faced with it for the first time and we wasted a good few hours over it.

rookiemater · 15/03/2014 13:02

Just being nosey twigletnibbler as it will be a good few years before we're back at Disney, but what's the differences between that and the old system?

Tory79 · 15/03/2014 13:09

Basically, instead of going up to individual rides and putting your ticket in and getting a fast pass ticket, you go to one of the fast pass booths, select 3 rides you want fast passes for and do it all in one go. It's still trialling at the moment, I have to say I didn't rate it particularly. When I went to do it at magic kingdom last week I got directed to a member of staff who did it on an iPad thing, and then said I'd need to take a photo of the screen in order to have a record of the times!

I wish they'd go down the universal route and just let you pay to upgrade your ticket to a fast pass ticket, which you can then use on any ride. Much more straightforward!

In answer to the original question, I think there is a happy medium when it comes to planning. Familiarise yourself a bit with what's available, decide on a few things you definitely want to do and make sure you have those planned in (someone mentioned Wishes above, that kind of thing) and go with the flow for the rest of it. That's what we generally do.

Creamycoolerwithcream · 15/03/2014 13:37

When we went to Disney in California which I know is much smaller we didn't have a plan and just let the DC choose what they wanted to do. It worked well, we went Feb half term and just before as there was an insert day and there were very short queues.

rookiemater · 15/03/2014 13:38

Sorry OP slight thread topic hijack

Oh that seems a bit of a shame Tory79, I didn't want to do the big rides and as DS is an only I would wave them on their ride and then rush off and get fast passes for the next thing - it worked really well for us. The fast pass upgrade at Universal was ridiculously expensive when we were there so I'm glad Disney doesn't have it.

OP sorry one more tip I have thought of - buy some walkie talkies, they're great for when you and your DP get separated in the park, much cheaper and quicker than trying to phone each other and the DCs will love them

ReindeerBollocks · 15/03/2014 13:44

Watching with interest. We go in April and have only booked the meal at the castle too.

We have looked into crowd footfall for the various parks and will just play it by ear. We're fairly laid back and couldn't be doing with a military style operation type holiday.

If we miss stuff, so be it. We have a list of things we'd like to do and will try to head to those parks first thing so we get a chance to do them. It's still going to be a good holiday regardless (I hope!).

rookiemater · 15/03/2014 13:51

Reindeerbollocks ( love your name btw) the Disney app for your phone is fab.

Doesn't cost anything and there is free wi-fi at the parks, you can use it when you're there to see queue times and it means you can rush over to the stuff you want when the queue times are low.

We went at Easter too and found that provided we got there when the parks opened, which was easy on the first week as our bodies were still on UK time, we could do loads of stuff by about 10.30-11 when the parks started to fill up. As long as you're there early you'll see absolutely loads, and there's so much at Disney that you're never going to see it all in one trip anyway.

clam · 15/03/2014 14:04

If you want a laid-back "go-with-the-flow" kind of holiday, I wouldn't say Disney was it! I would recommend doing some research, have a plan up your sleeve, and you can always ditch it if you feel like going 'off-piste' on any particular day(s).

But I think you might find it frustrating, once there and having paid a fortune, to find there are things you're unable to do because you didn't know in advance.

ReindeerBollocks · 15/03/2014 14:26

Rookiemater thanks for the tip about the app.

HermioneWeasley · 15/03/2014 14:32

Failing to plan is planning to fail, rookie!

Now get yourself "the. Rut guide to Orlando" and at least find out which days the parks are at their busiest and plan around that.

Then hit the floor and give me 20.

HolidayCriminal · 15/03/2014 14:48

How funny. I've been loads & wouldn't plan beyond taking sandwiches & water.

clam · 15/03/2014 15:43

criminal, the clue is in the words "I've been loads." Therefore you know the score. The OP is a rookie.

And I didn't think they let you take in your own food? We went to Universal Studios in Hollywood last year and it said this:
We allow outside food and beverage of the following nature only: Water bottles (individual size and unopened at time of entrance), baby food, fruits and vegetables. Any specific food for health, dietary or religious reasons on an individual size is permitted, subject to approval at the entrance by park security.

The following items are NOT allowed: coolers or large bags of any kind, any food purchased from outside locations, any beverage that is already open at time of entrance.

rookiemater · 15/03/2014 16:46

Finished my press ups then Grin

It depends what you want to achieve from the trip. DS has no particular Disney favourite movies and the only ride that I we absolutely had to go on was the Despicable Me one at Universal so we made sure we got there early for that. We really enjoyed the general ambience at Disneyworld and sometimes it's good just to be able to wander and enjoy rather than having a strict itinery.

We are on site at both Disney and Universal. Disney was miles better than Universal and there was a reasonable choice of stuff. Most lunches I had a chicken caesar salad at around $10 and it was absolutely fine.

rookiemater · 15/03/2014 16:47

Also what probably helped is that we found that we didn't enjoy the parade type things. DS hates big crowds, and so do we so we actively avoided them.

Original poster
pud1 · 15/03/2014 17:50

Thanks for all your replies.

I think I am going to check when the parks are really busy and look into what we really want to do

I might book the boutique thing

We don't have the dining pass

I was also unsure about the photo thing. Is it worth the cost

OP posts:
ImASecretTwigletNibbler · 15/03/2014 20:15

Get a free Photopass card and get all the Photopass photos taken that you can then come home and Google 'how to get Photopass pictures for free

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