How do you carry your itinerary with you around the parks?

[zebrastreyepz]

I keep my plans in Touring Plans after making my own with what we want to do for the day.

I use Kenny the Pirate's touring plans, though, and input them into Touring Plans for a more detailed version of timing by creating my own.

Everything is on the phone now.

 

[goofyintoronto]

My partner and our Daughters have stopped talking to me because I have become obsessive over the plans that I have made for our trip in Sept/Oct this year. I literally have nobody in my familial or social circles that want to hear another interesting fact about my plan to WDW it's pretty much what brought me to the Dis Boards hahaha

I have six different plans that I have put together on the computer. not different plans, but EXACTLY THE SAME plans just with slightly different formatting. I think I may need some sort of emotional help once our time at WDW is over this year haha

This is too funny. Dont worry, you can talk to us about disney day and night. We'll never get sick of it.

 

[Mr. Mysto]

I the past I have used a printout of my touring plan with confirmation #s and FP reservation times in comment fields, it's very quick to refer to. Next time I'm going to experiment with just using the phone, either the touring plans app or mde or a spreadsheet.

 

[Dan Murphy]

On my phone

 

[BarbieGal457]

I just use the MDE App on my phone but I take screen shots of ADR confirmation numbers and FP times as a back up in case the App isn't working. Anything else I might need I would keep in my Notes on my phone.

This is exactly what I do as well. I tend to rely on MDE as well as memory (I can remember everything except math...haha!) but I also take photos in case the app crashes or takes a while to open. Any other activities or such, I keep in a Notes page on my iPhone. I usually keep my phone on airplane mode in the parks so it's really nice to just be able to refer back to a note/photo. I also don't plan TOO much, my 3 FP and 1 ADR a day, so I don't really have much to keep on top of. I've heard of some people taking a screenshot of MDE/notes and making it their phone background each day which I thought was a pretty good idea! That way all you have to do is turn on your screen! I may do this in two weeks when we go.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I like to create a complete itinerary that I print out and either put it in my backpack or leave in the room. It's just kinda there as a reminder if I want to review our plans for the day.



Until this year I also created small cards for each day which I printed, laminated and put them on an 'O Ring' on my backpack for quick reference


This year I took a leap of faith and just went with MDE and must admit I didn't miss the daily cards at all! (That's quite a change after making these for 25+ trips). I also found that we moved our FPs around a lot more this year to maximize the FP option.

I'm glad I had paper in the past but loved the freedom of just using the app.

I will say my one big challenge is that as we are Canadian I am 100% dependent on Disney wifi and it can be sketchy at best in some of the parks or, if the park is busier. I really wish Disney would boost it's wifi since it has made us dependent on it and not all have personal data plans as an option.

 

[BrianL]

"Itinerary"?
I mean really?
I can recall what 3 FP+ selections and times I have and an ADR time and place.
I can also refer to my phone if I need reassurance.
The rest of my day consists mostly of "at RD we're going to hit up these attractions", "After lunch we're going to this section", "We're going to the 1pm BATB show"....
Really nothing I need a minute by minute spread sheet for.
There is such a thing as over planning because if you get off track your whole day is off.
If you have a lose plan then its easy to adjust if someone is say getting too hot and needs a snack or if someone suddenly has tummy troubles.

I print out a card but it's not a minute to minute plan. It's just things where I need to be somewhere at a certain time like FPs and ADRs, also with confirmation numbers for both travel and dining, and then general show schedules, like when fireworks start. I mean, it's a lot to remember over the course of a trip when it varies day to day. I like being able to see it without using my phone too, so hence the print out.

 

[zebrastreyepz]

"Itinerary"?
I mean really?
I can recall what 3 FP+ selections and times I have and an ADR time and place.
I can also refer to my phone if I need reassurance.
The rest of my day consists mostly of "at RD we're going to hit up these attractions", "After lunch we're going to this section", "We're going to the 1pm BATB show"....
Really nothing I need a minute by minute spread sheet for.
There is such a thing as over planning because if you get off track your whole day is off.
If you have a lose plan then its easy to adjust if someone is say getting too hot and needs a snack or if someone suddenly has tummy troubles.

Congratulations on your ability to be better than those of us who don't do it your way?

My "over planning" works for me and, I mean really, isn't that what's most important?

 

[kniquy]

I have my spreadsheet for each day with me and i usually just keep it in my pocket. Usually much easier to look at than trying to get my phone out of my back pack. When we had some free time in our schedule i just pulled out my phone to see which ride had the lowest waits or would try to get another FP. Unfortunately Disney relates itself to having to be a planned vacation - which is good and bad.

 

[PSUGuy]

I didn't read the whole thread so this may have been mentioned. There's a website called Dropbox that gives you, for free, a few gigs of cloud storage. I save all my vacation stuff there including a Word calendar with my itinerary and all confirmations. I can produce any of these in seconds. Also, MDE.

Bill From PA

 

[Grandmawolf]

I'm just curious what others do as far as referring to their itinerary throughout their trip. Do you have a digital version on your phone? Do you print out a hard copy and carry around with you? If you have a hard copy, what size is it and how do you keep it from getting worn/ripped from constantly referring to it? I have a couple ideas of what I might do, but I'm interested in hearing/seeing what others do. Feel free to post pics if you have any!

ETA: Personally, I am a very visual and tactile person so I like the idea of having a physical itinerary to refer to. I'm a graphic designer so it's fun for me to create a cool layout and have it laid out exactly how I want to. I'm trying to figure out the best way to do that. I want to be able to have enough room for notes here and there throughout the days, so it can't be too small. I might get a little half size notebook of some sort to add pages and keep in my backpack. Not really sure if what I'm imagining even exists!

I'm just curious what others do as far as referring to their itinerary throughout their trip. Do you have a digital version on your phone? Do you print out a hard copy and carry around with you? If you have a hard copy, what size is it and how do you keep it from getting worn/ripped from constantly referring to it? I have a couple ideas of what I might do, but I'm interested in hearing/seeing what others do. Feel free to post pics if you have an

Laminate small cards(3x5), cannot rely on phones. I will laminate small size of maps too. I write the parking spot of our car on the back of a card also!

 

[ColoradoMom12]

I create a document (sometimes it’s a fancy spreadsheet, other times just a list I type quickly in a word processing program, it just depends how much we have going on) on my computer and then save it to iBooks. I also print a hard copy and keep a copy in my backpack. We also keep a copy or two in our room so we can quickly refer to it without needing to get to our phones. I tend make mine very detailed, including what time we need to leave for a park/dining reservation. It takes some of the stress out of the vacation for me, lol. I’m not sitting by the pool doing calculations of what time I need to have everyone dressed and out the door!

 

[Klayfish]

Free yourselves from the shackles of itineraries!!! Be free, be liberated!!

Relax, I'm just yanking your chain...there is no wrong way to do Disney. Even though it's something I personally would never do, we really are freestyle people, I enjoy reading the creative things people do.

 

[eric1985]

I use the Google Calendar app. I create an email address and have everyone in my party sign into the app on their phone using that same email. It will pop up with reminders for Fast Passes and Dinning Reservations in the event anyone goes their own way.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Free yourselves from the shackles of itineraries!!! Be free, be liberated!!

Relax, I'm just yanking your chain...there is no wrong way to do Disney. Even though it's something I personally would never do, we really are freestyle people, I enjoy reading the creative things people do.

Don't you know us at all by now

I even have sunset times on my spreadsheet!

 

[Minniemouse07]

Don't you know us at all by now

I even have sunset times on my spreadsheet!

I had this written down at California Adventure last summer. They turn on all the lights in Cars Land (along w/ music and a bit of a "show") just before sundown!

 

[patster734]

During the planning stages, I’ll use a word document to record my flight date and times, my expected park days, any ADRs, and my preferred FP+ times. After making my FP+s, I’ll primarily use MDE for reference. By the time the trip occurs, everything should be memorized, but I still will access MDE when necessary. Because we are very familiar with all WDW parks and Disney Springs, outside of the FP+s and maybe a sporadic ADR, most of our visit is random. I also typically don’t change FP+s once they are booked, but I will check for available ones on the MDE app once I’ve used the original three.

 

[Wdw1015]

I create a document (sometimes it’s a fancy spreadsheet, other times just a list I type quickly in a word processing program, it just depends how much we have going on) on my computer and then save it to iBooks. I also print a hard copy and keep a copy in my backpack. We also keep a copy or two in our room so we can quickly refer to it without needing to get to our phones. I tend make mine very detailed, including what time we need to leave for a park/dining reservation. It takes some of the stress out of the vacation for me, lol. I’m not sitting by the pool doing calculations of what time I need to have everyone dressed and out the door!

I feel as though we are long lost sisters separated at birth! I could have written this...

 

[Dan Murphy]

I have used Trip It app several times, very good.

 

[workintheory]

I, too, prefer a tactile approach for most things, but I found my printed plans were really inconvenient for me last December in the thick of crowds and clinging children. I then tried to consult the notes on my phone, which is where I had preplanned everything in titled notes, but I found the constant unlocking, swiping, and tapping to also be laborious, and keeping the MDE App open was a drain to my battery. I don't really want to be constantly fidgeting with my phone in Disney!

I ended up taking a picture of the printed daily page I was never digging out of my bag and saving it to my phone's lock screen. It wasn't perfectly visible but it was the best of both worlds, and sufficient enough. I'm hoping to do that again for each day on our next trip, but perhaps with the extra planning I'll be able to make a format that's easily distinguishable and doesn't lose any of my information in the borders.