Do you have a spreadsheet?

Do you have a spreadsheet?

  • Yes

    Votes: 85 87.6%
  • No

    Votes: 11 11.3%
  • You need to get out more

    Votes: 1 1.0%

  • Total voters
    97
I don't do the spreadsheet - I use Google Calendar. I like that in the early stages of planning I can just use month view and label the whole day with park hours as we start to plan the parks we think we'll do each day. As plans take shape (airline reservations, ADRs, FPs, etc.), I can look at the week or day view and get more specific. I like adding specific confirmation numbers/reservation codes to the event descriptions. I can also link any relevant documents to events to be able to access them on-the-go.

Its not necessary, I just LIVE for the planning - it extends a week-long trip into a months-long hobby. The anticipation and planning is part of the enjoyment for me.
 
I started preparing a budget spreadsheet for every vacation two years ago and it has made it much, much easier to do all the things I want to do--no more coming home to unexpectedly high bills. If I don't have a clearly written budget, I just spend and spend and spend and then the next trip (and/or my day-to-day purchasing power) suffers for it. This year is the first time I've done a schedule tab on my spreadsheet--I used to scoff at the idea of doing that but it's making me happy this time around, so I'm rolling with it. Earlier on I'd added tabs to the spreadsheet where I listed restaurants (both QS and TS) that interest me, events that were likely to be offered during my trip, etc.--just things I wanted to have on my radar. Then things started firming up as I was able to book add-ons and ADRs, and I guess my finger just slipped? Suddenly there's a schedule tab. It's broken down into Early Morning, Midmorning, Lunchtime, Afternoon, Evening, and Night, and there's a space at the bottom where I recently listed my FP+ priorities for each day. I don't think I'll add the FP+ times to the schedule once I have them; I change FP+ around really freely and rapidly both ahead of time and during the trip, so just knowing the park and general time block when I plan to have them is plenty of info. Wherever I have a reservation I have the item and time in the relevant cell and it's a different color to help it pop out. In some spots I have a few options listed instead of a definite plan since I don't know what I'm going to feel like doing.

I don't plan to bring the spreadsheet with me. I always bring a printed budget tracker where I input my daily spending by hand each evening to see how much I've under- or overspent versus where I expected to be, and when I went to DLP last year I just included extremely brief notes in each day's header if I had a reservation or "goal" that day. I think that'll work again for this; the additional details are all in MDE anyway. I'm thinking about creating a few Notes in my phone with lists of top choice QS and TS so if I'm ever at a loose end for a meal I can zero in on something I'm excited about instead of just settling on whatever QS is closest.

Fixed that for ya. :D

Just making a joke, but in all seriousness I do disagree with what you wrote. That's so very dependent on personality. I can and do experience as much as or more than anyone with a spreadsheet and don't have the confines that a spreadsheet creates.
It's funny; even though I did make a schedule tab in my spreadsheet this year, I am still staunchly opposed to using an actual touring plan on my trips. I'm going to see how I like the balance I'm currently setting up--I know which park I plan to be at each day and have roughly one thing per day scheduled, but within my park time I'm not going point to point checking things off a list. I've always just made everything up as I went in the past but this time I had a few specific things I wanted to do with this trip--we'll see if the planning sticks or if I rearrange everything once I'm actually there. I don't feel like it's creating confines since I'm able to change any and all of it (well, except for the non-refundable tour and AH ticket), but something my housemate said when she saw it struck a cord with me--I'm only doing this to myself. As a solo traveler I can lay out a plan exactly how I want it, and as a solo traveler I can change that plan at a moment's notice. When I take her with me in 2021 I'm going to do the absolute bare minimum of scheduling--just the marathon since I'll be running in it, an ADR of her choice to celebrate her birthday, and then a wide, wide open schedule the rest of the week. I think that'll be a lot more enjoyable for the two of us traveling together; if I applied my methodology for the solo trip to that trip I'm certain she would feel overscheduled.
 
Fixed that for ya. :D

Just making a joke, but in all seriousness I do disagree with what you wrote. That's so very dependent on personality. I can and do experience as much as or more than anyone with a spreadsheet and don't have the confines that a spreadsheet creates.
Thanks! I went back and corrected that! (and me a teacher making a mistake like that!) But, I guess you do make fast passes and ADR's? And plan your touring around those? Hats off to you if you can just go into the park and enjoy without these! I don't live that close to Orlando so my trips are fewer and expensive, and I want to get the most out of them!
 
I use a spreadsheet primarily so I can figure out what the budget will need to be based on what we want to do and then it helps me determine how much $$ I'll need at what dates ahead of time to pay for various parts of the trip.
 


My daughters and I sit down and make a weekly schedule. The main things we try to have organized and set are dining and a rough idea of what park on what day. Once we get to to the resort we post the daily dining on the fridge so everyone knows whats "on the menu"that day. As far as FP we make some ahead, and use the app.
 
I don't really have a spreadsheet, I have a table, which fits on one side of A4.
it contains a column for each day
a row for park, another for morning, lunch time, dinner time and one for DDP credits used.
I can organise my trip this way, as I can fit ADRs, FPs etc in there.
Then, I have a further thing with a page per day, including actual print out from MDE, incase, of any problems with proving any booking etc.
 
But, I guess you do make fast passes and ADR's? And plan your touring around those? Hats off to you if you can just go into the park and enjoy without these! I don't live that close to Orlando so my trips are fewer and expensive, and I want to get the most out of them!

Here's what we do.... We live in Atlanta, so while it's not next door, it's also not a 5 hour flight. It's 7-8 hours drive. We've been fortunate enough to have APs a few times, so that helps tremendously.

We don't do ADRs at all. We pack all of our own food. Lunch, dinner, you name it. If we do buy food in the parks, it's usually a snack, dessert or QS if we actually eat a meal. The only non QS places we've gone to are in Epcot, and those don't need reservations. So we don't have to worry about food.

For FP+ we "kinda sorta" make plans. Since we're AP holders and stay offsite, we are limited to having 7 days worth of FP+ in a 30 day window, so on long trips we can't make too many anyway. When it comes time for DW and I to "plan" our trip, we go to Dunkin' Donuts for a cup of coffee. We take a single piece of paper (we once did it on a napkin....really). We write down the days we're going to be in the park. Fri, Sat, Sun, etc.... We then pick the parks we want to go to. There is no true rhyme or reason to our selections. We don't look at crowd calendars (don't even get me started on those things), EMH, etc... We simply rotate parks in no particular order. This takes all of 30 minutes or less. When the 30 day window pops up we grab FP+. That's the full extent of our "planning". Reality is that probably half of those FP+ we make get changed the "day of" anyway. We'll wake up and say "We'd rather go to HS today instead of AK". So we drop HS FP+ and pick up AK. Like anyone else, we only have those first 3 FP+ scheduled. We use them immediately upon arrival (usually within an hour), then everything else is completely ad hoc.
 


I use an excel spreadsheet. I don’t do tabs, but I have sections. The top has reservation info. Below that I have a section for dining with dates and proposed meals. Under that I have a list of restaurants we want to try or have checked the menus on and where they are located. Below that I have a list of all the attractions by park. Color coded if it’s a ride or a “show” and a column to denote if it has Fastpasses. Then I have a section with the dates and parks and I fill in their hours so I can plan what park each day, or if we are hopping, where we will start and end. Then I have a fastpass section with my personal priority ranking, then where all the fastpass kiosks are in all the parks for making 4+
, then I have the dates, ride, and time for Fastpasses. My last trip I did cut and paste my dining and fastpass grids into a separate doc and printed out to take with us. As we get closer, I’ll add a packing section, so I can check off what I need to buy and what I already have.
 
I have found my people!!!

I have spreadsheets for everything - vacations, holidays, meal planning. You name it, I have a spreadsheet for it. My vacation spreadsheets start with cost modeling and then become the keeper of our activities from flights to hotels to dining reservations. I probably work on it daily in the months leading to a trip.

The Disney World Spreadsheet (DWSS) is broken down by day and by hourly increments. It includes crowd expectations, park hours, reservations and must dos for each day as well as which area of the park we intend to be in for each segment of time...before lunch, after lunch, after dinner, etc. In my opinion, it is a thing of beauty. In my husbands it is insanity at it's "finest".
 
I love my spreadsheet - it helps me organize my thoughts. Funny thing is, I don't take it with me to WDW!
I mostly use my spreadsheet to visually see where my FPs and ADRs are so I can see them in the scope of the full day/week. I don't use it when I'm actually at Disney.

Same with me. I make it and use it for planning purposes with ADR's and FP but then when the trip starts it's not used at all.
 
I do! I have a workbook with a budget/savings sheet, a food for thought sheet, a sheet reminding me which attractions people have specified as important to them so I'll book the right fast passes, and a sheet with ideas for our resort days. I also have one with disney bounding ideas. :) I won't look at mine once we leave but I need it for the planning phase.
 
Yes! I have one with different tabs that I use to price out different resorts based on number of days, different tickets, dining plans or not. I also have tabs for rides/attractions and their locations in the parks, past park hours, and restaurants and their locations. It goes on and on. When I finally book I have the days and ADRs listed and possible configurations for FPs. I keep analyzing and redoing until we leave. Then when we get there I really only use MDE 🤣
 
Yes I have a spreadsheet, it's colour coded and lists times. I also have a daily itinerary pdf and a list of recommended snacks and qs items from each park and DS 😂
 
Yes I have a spreadsheet, it's colour coded and lists times. I also have a daily itinerary pdf and a list of recommended snacks and qs items from each park and DS 😂
I’ve already expanded my basic daily hours planner to include an hourly breakdown of my days, but now you’ve got me thinking of a snack list too. All you spreadsheet people are a terrible influence!! 🤣🤣🤣
 

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