How Much Do You Plan Ahead for WDW?

[TDLFAN]

I never plan ahead to WDW. Sometimes, I just go out of the house to go to Target or something and then it hits me.. "oh, nice day to drive over to WDW and take a quick walk at ____".

[MJMcB]

Originally Posted by TDLFAN

I never plan ahead to WDW. Sometimes, I just go out of the house to go to Target or something and then it hits me.. "oh, nice day to drive over to WDW and take a quick walk at ____".

I would love to be able to do that. But its hard when your house is in Jersey

[wvnative]

Being closer to the west coast, we normally go to DL which really doesnt' require a lot of planning for us anymore. However, the kid graduates from HS next year (May 09) and she'd really like to go to WDW. I've got a basic idea of how much it will cost me so I've already started saving. I've started doing a bit of research. I think I know where we'd like to stay. I know about when we want to go (just after graduation) although if possible I may bump it up to spring break. I may need that extra couple of months to save though.

I must say it would be great if I could get pricing for 2009 now. lol We tend to kind of wing it at DL. We'll plan a bit more for WDW. Where we plan to eat will determine which park we are in when. I'm not sure I can do my ADR's 180 days out though. I won't be able to get pricing until Jan and we will go most likely the end of May.

I dunno, I may give up and just go back to DL. Maybe add in San Diego and a day at Universal.

[MJMcB]

Originally Posted by wvnative

I dunno, I may give up and just go back to DL. Maybe add in San Diego and a day at Universal.

Don't give up

[SummerInFL]

Originally Posted by MJMcB

Don't give up

I agree, it's totally worth it and you are already in a great place for information, Mice Chat! There are plenty of knowledgable people here that can help you if you get stuck.

Here is some help, if you don't know about this already.

www.allearsnet.com

LOVE this site, lists menus, hotels, photos...everything.

[shortiemetoo]

Originally Posted by MJMcB

I would love to be able to do that. But its hard when your house is in Jersey

lol or in texas....

[Lindsy1052]

Originally Posted by mamabot

I am getting so excited about my WDW trip at the end of next month! I have done a lot of research this time around. My husband tends to ask a lot of questions about things when we travel, so I figured I would find out everything I could ahead of time.

I have all of our days roughly scheduled, depending on Extra Magic Hours at the parks. We have a day set aside for resort hopping, and each day I have planned rest time. All our ADRs are booked.

How much do you plan when you go to WDW? Do you have a set itinerary that shows which rides to go on each day? Do you take the more laid back approach of going to whichever park you feel like visiting when you wake up? Or do you fall somewhere in between?

What about planning resources? Do you subscribe to the park guides or websites that are more geared toward WDW? Are you the type to have a library of WDW books to help guide your planning?

For anything that requires reservations you want to make those as far in advance as you can to be assured you get the things you really want to do. For dining, they start booking 180 days prior tol your arrival date. This is the one thing you want to do ahead of time or you may not get into the restaurants you want. If you are booking any tours, do those also well in advance.

As to the parks, I don't usually plan them too much. If I get to MK and it is jam packed I will just hope over to another park and then go back later. That is the joy of park hopping. Just be sure to be in the park or near the resort you have your dining in so you don't go nuts trying to get somewhere in a hurry. It's your vacation.....relax and enjoy...It looks like you have the important stuff taken care of.

[Hakuna Makarla]

wow, you all know I am asking lots of questions. searching now all I can. making dining reservations and learning to "stay clear of parks with EMH !
I am still trying to figure out the openings and closings of each park. the WDW site has not posted them yet. but here is my itinerary's
2 days MK, 1 animal kingdom 1 Hollywood studio's and 1 epcot. and 1 day resort hopping and DTD 1 pool day!

I am reading, learning and writing things down in a small notebook.

[MJMcB]

Just for the record. I got home around 11PM last night and am now planning my next trip

[Barbaraann]

Originally Posted by MJMcB

Just for the record. I got home around 11PM last night and am now planning my next trip

This has happened to me also.

Although at the moment, I wish that I knew when I was returning to WDW.

[aimster]

Originally Posted by TDLFAN

I never plan ahead to WDW. Sometimes, I just go out of the house to go to Target or something and then it hits me.. "oh, nice day to drive over to WDW and take a quick walk at ____".

I used to do that when I had an AP. I'd get bored on a Saturday afternoon a lot back then (the then-BF usually worked double shift on Saturdays) and on a whim I'd hop in the car and drive to Orlando. Sometimes I wouldn't even go to the parks. I'd just go to Downtown Disney, grab a bite to eat and just sit and watch the tourists.

[MJMcB]

Originally Posted by Barbaraann

This has happened to me also.

Although at the moment, I wish that I knew when I was returning to WDW.

You will. We all do at some point.

[Stitchy]

as far in advance as possible. The longest I had was for our trip in Sept 06. I started planning during Easter. For our trip last May, I counted down to the exact day when I could make reservations for everything....and even that wasn't good enough. We planned our trip around when we could get into Cinderella's lunch.

[tjcjr]

Just as soon as the trip we are on comes to an end, the plans for our next trip begin. We drive down from the NE and to keep us from getting totally depressed about leaving, we will start making plans on the car (minivan actually) ride home.

Of course some planning for the next trip is also done while we are at WDW in the way of "let's plan to do this, that or the other thing next time"

[FantasticDuck]

My sweetie forces me to make a spreadsheet of the costs and stuff so he can see that. He didn't believe me when I told him I was making dining reservations in April for September! He was shocked. But I had everything ready to go and paid for when we got there so that was nice.

I tried last year to make some sort of list of things to do, but when we got into the park I was so A.D.D. (cause it had been so long since I'd been there) that I gave up on it and we just wandered around and did whatever we happened upon.