Obsessing about waiting

[turtlechick6]

Just an observation that it seems many people on these boards obsess about waiting in line. Does anybody just relax and go with the flow?

Get the FP+ that you can and not stress about having to wait stand by. So much less stress.

If it was just DH and I sure-I can handle some waits. I have a son with autism though so we can't do waits over about 20 minutes without an issue. So we got him a DAS but with big crowds even that is frustrating since we still have to navigate crowds walking around and find a place to sit etc while we wait for DAS to be ready.

People with anxiety like myself and my son have issues in crowds. I don't like crowds either. If its super long waits or not going at all-I would choose not going at all. It really comes down to that with us.

I think if you are a very carefree chill person-be grateful you are that way. But don't make others feel bad, they were not raised to be that way or were born that way

 

[Disnsyncey]

Just an observation that it seems many people on these boards obsess about waiting in line. Does anybody just relax and go with the flow?

Get the FP+ that you can and not stress about having to wait stand by. So much less stress.

Yeah, most of us do "go with the flow" outside of our FP+ times......but this past month, we basically did almost all of MK on an 7am EMH day with low crowds, and then returned the next day when we were going to see HEA with ALLLLLLL THE CROWDS.......since we had already done most of MK the day prior, we did things that literally did not have lines longer than 20 min (And yeah, it was sad that Philharmagic was the longest we waited) and not let the crowds get to us......if we decided to get in any of the CRAZY long lines, I would have been stressing....cuz the only thing we wouldn't have been "enjoying" were the ride queues, instead of exploring and wandering around the MK....

 

[MickeyWaffles]

It's definitely different if you go frequently. But for those of us who don't, it absolutely is about getting in as much as possible. The last time I was there was 5 years ago (well, with my family - took a quick trip for a race with a friend). We will likely only take 1 more family trip here (and that's even a maybe, this could be our last time!). So, for me, planning is very important. I want to ride all the things I find fun, and all the things that are new since we've been there last (hey, is there a list of that anywhere?!). No matter how much planning, there will still be waits in line, but waiting in lines longer than 30 minutes takes too much time away from other things. So, if I can minimize those waits by planning, I will. If we were going to be back a year later, you're right, it would be far less important to get everything in.

Totally agree. I also think so many factors go into it - everyone is so different. There are so many types of personalities and many reasons why some people are more laid back and some are more regimented. I think the bottom line is that everyone needs to do what is best for them based on their needs and situation. How we approach our trips may change over time based on my kids’ interests and as they have more and more input into what we do.

 

[Cameron1515]

It's Disney. I expect lines and crowds.

That is so true, you walk in those gates knowing you will be lining up at some point

 

[LSUmiss]

Just an observation that it seems many people on these boards obsess about waiting in line. Does anybody just relax and go with the flow?

Get the FP+ that you can and not stress about having to wait stand by. So much less stress.

I don’t stress about waiting b/c I can usually get the FPs I want & if not, skip it if the line is too long. But, I have that luxury b/c I go often.

 

[srwarden1928]

I think of myself as a commando tourer. I swear by touring plans. I carefully plan my FP+. But once I am in the parks, if I want to ride a ride or see a show and I don't have a FP for it, I just get in line and don't worry about how long the line is. The OP calls this going with the flow. By that definition, I definitely do. Now there is a very good chance that I planned that attraction, and there is a very good chance that touring plans recommended that I do it then. But I don't stress over how many day of fastpasses I can get, and I don't stress over how long a line I am waiting in. Depending on the attraction, I might decide to skip it (or skip it for now and possibly pick it up later) if the line is really long and I don't want to wait that long for THAT attraction, but I have happily waited an hour for attractions that I thought were worth that wait.

 

[nighttowll]

I know for us it isn't really about the waiting. It's about the wasting.

There are just so many better things we feel we could be doing with that time. A day only has so many hours. I'd much rather plan out and ride 3 rides in the same time someone else going with the flow might ride 1. There is just so much to see and do. We aren't local and don't go all the time. When we do go, I want to make sure we can fit in everyone's favorites.

Also, if the whole family goes, we have a large group of people. If everyone only picks out 1 or 2 things they want to do each day, there is no way to fit that all in without maximizing our planning and minimizing our waiting. Which person do I tell, sorry we ran out of time to do your choice? It just doesn't make sense to us to waste time waiting if we don't have to.

Our plan is usually rush around, minimize waiting, see as much as possible in as short a time as possible. Then after we've hit all the attractions on our to do list, we can go with the flow the rest of day, (exploring, shopping, parades, shows, scavenger hunts, whatever) and really enjoy it knowing we aren't going to run out of time. If we tried to go with the flow from the begging, we'd be a nervous wreck, worrying about running out of time.

Which brings me to my next point, going with the flow isn't relaxing to everyone. I learned the hard way going with the flow does not work well for our family. It isn't relaxing to us, but instead is stressful. We don't enjoy not knowing what we are doing next, and we really like knowing we have a set detailed plan that will allow us to fit everything important to us in. As silly as this sounds, it is comforting and helps us relax and enjoy the trip. The first time I tried going to a park and going with the flow, no plan, it was a complete disaster, definitely not relaxing in the least.

 

[nutshell]

Just an observation that it seems many people on these boards obsess about waiting in line. Does anybody just relax and go with the flow?

Get the FP+ that you can and not stress about having to wait stand by. So much less stress.

Agree to disagree. Standing in line would stress me out. Executing a carefully orchestrated plan that leads to maximum ride time, etc.....pure bliss!!!

 

[fla4fun]

I relax and go with the flow. I am fortunate that I have an AP and go often, so I don’t have the stress of trying to fit everything in one trip. I also don’t like coasters except BTMRR so that relieves me of a lot of the FP angst. Since go with the flow I make very few ADRs, which also relieves me of stress as I eat CS when I get hungry. Pretty much the only thing I have to worry over are the resort discounts, and I can usually find something in my budget. By the time I am in the parks I’m on chill mode.

 

[LSUmiss]

What does this mean?

On the app, if you don’t see the FP you want, often if you continue to hit refresh more choices come up.

 

[loves to dive]

We don't plan, we don't stress, heck half the time we don't even book 3 FPs. We stand in lines, we aren't the type that HAS to ride as many rides as we can but we are frequent visitors. We will stand in line for a hour and not even blink, heck we stood in line for FOP for about 100 min. and we were fine with it. We don't rush from ride to ride or anywhere for that matter. We will just say want to ride x? Yep, the maybe get on MDE or Touring plans and look at the wait times and say well it says the wait time is x, still want to ride? Yep, so we wait in line. We also don't make advance ADRs. We walk around and say are you hungry? Maybe later but not right now. What do you want to eat? I don't care. o.k. I'll look and see what's available. X and x are available at x time, sounds o.k. with me book it. Or we are walking around and one of us will say I'm getting hungry and the other will say o.k. what do you want to eat. Normally, it's I don't know. O.k. we walk around a little more and hungry person says ok now I'm really hungry, other person says o.k. where do you want to eat. I don't know. Walk around some more. Hungry person says if we don't eat right now I'm going to kill you. Other person says o.k. let's eat, x is available right now or in 20 min, hungry person says book it, we will check in now and maybe they will seat us before I faint and/or kill you. No stress, just go with the flow.

 

[nighttowll]

We don't plan, we don't stress, heck half the time we don't even book 3 FPs. We stand in lines, we aren't the type that HAS to ride as many rides as we can but we are frequent visitors. We will stand in line for a hour and not even blink, heck we stood in line for FOP for about 100 min. and we were fine with it. We don't rush from ride to ride or anywhere for that matter. We will just say want to ride x? Yep, the maybe get on MDE or Touring plans and look at the wait times and say well it says the wait time is x, still want to ride? Yep, so we wait in line. We also don't make advance ADRs. We walk around and say are you hungry? Maybe later but not right now. What do you want to eat? I don't care. o.k. I'll look and see what's available. X and x are available at x time, sounds o.k. with me book it. Or we are walking around and one of us will say I'm getting hungry and the other will say o.k. what do you want to eat. Normally, it's I don't know. O.k. we walk around a little more and hungry person says ok now I'm really hungry, other person says o.k. where do you want to eat. I don't know. Walk around some more. Hungry person says if we don't eat right now I'm going to kill you. Other person says o.k. let's eat, x is available right now or in 20 min, hungry person says book it, we will check in now and maybe they will seat us before I faint and/or kill you. No stress, just go with the flow.

I think we'd be a lot more like this if we were local and came all the time. I wouldn't worry about what we did if it wasn't 1) costing me a ton of money and 2) I knew I could come back any time to do the thing I missed.

 

[loves to dive]

I think we'd be a lot more like this if we were local and came all the time. I wouldn't worry about what we did if it wasn't 1) costing me a ton of money and 2) I knew I could come back anytime to do the thing I missed.

We aren't local, it's a 7 1/2 hour drive for us but we have been going to WDW for over 30 years. At first it was every other year because I was a single mom and it would take me two years to save. The last 7 or 8 years I have been going at least every year with my son still going every other year until the last 2 or 3 years when he has been going at least once a year. The last 2 or 3 years I've gone at least twice a year, once with my son, once solo. Last AP round I went 4 times but that's not usual. Even when we went every other year we didn't stress but that was before FPs so you had to stand in lines and you couldn't make ADRs that far in advance. It was before MDE so we would go to Guest Services and ask them to find something for us. We always had park hoppers so that helped. I think for us it's never been so much about the rides but about the place itself. It's always just been sort of our mother/son place and just being there was good enough, possibly because it was so expensive and even when my son was little he knew how much we had to pinch pennies to save to go.

 

[nighttowll]

We aren't local, it's a 7 1/2 hour drive for us but we have been going to WDW for over 30 years. At first it was every other year because I was a single mom and it would take me two years to save. The last 7 or 8 years I have been going at least every year with my son still going every other year until the last 2 or 3 years when he has been going at least once a year. The last 2 or 3 years I've gone at least twice a year, once with my son, once solo. Last AP round I went 4 times but that's not usual. Even when we went every other year we didn't stress but that was before FPs so you had to stand in lines and you couldn't make ADRs that far in advance. It was before MDE so we would go to Guest Services and ask them to find something for us. We always had park hoppers so that helped. I think for us it's never been so much about the rides but about the place itself. It's always just been sort of our mother/son place and just being there was good enough, possibly because it was so expensive and even when my son was little he knew how much we had to pinch pennies to save to go.

This is kind of how we feel about Universal. We have season passes there and try to go 3 to 4 times a year. We really enjoy just walking around and taking in the atmosphere, even if we aren't necessarily riding anything. But Universal is much smaller, and we almost always have EP, so we don't worry about lines there.

Disney is a big trip for us, maybe once every 5 to 10 years. We will do the occasional party or 1 day trip every one to two years if it works out, but that's about it, so we feel we have to really pack everything in.

I'd love to be 7 hours away. It's a two day drive for us which is part of what prevents me from going to FL more often, as I need 4 days alone just for travel. With my work schedule, it's hard for me to get days in a row off. If I could make a long weekend of it, we'd go more often. Wish we were about 6 hours or less away.

 

[No.1000]

What does this mean?

It means that I make fastpasses as soon as I can and if I don't get the ones I want or the times I want, I modify my choices until I do (or occasionally until I give up. LOL).

 

[pjhootch]

I obsess about not obsessing.

I do not want to wait more than I have to. But I am also pretty cranky about having to plan too much, too far ahead of time. I prefer going with the flow as much as possible. That is easier said than done these days. So I do plan enough to optimize my ABILITY to wait as little as possible while still not being exactly certain what we will do when for most of each day.

Sometimes it looks and feels like obsessing. lol

 

[BelleF]

Well, in my case, I love planning, for me, vacation starts at home deciding where to stay, the best day to go to each park, which FP to take, if we're going to book any ADR...
With that being said, we come from very far, and it's an expensive trip for us, so whenever we can go, we try to maximize our time there, and get to do most of the things we wish to do. There are many things that we decide on the spot: for example, we usually don't make reservations for lunch or dinner, so where to eat is almost always decided bases on our location and hunger
Or we may decide that we want to repeat something instead of what we had planned, or just watch a show and relax.
I don't think 'overplanning' is a bad thing, as long as you enjoy it!

 

[Planogirl]

I'm somewhere in the middle. I won't wait in long lines but I will try to get fastpasses and adr's for attractions and restaurants that are important. I'm ok with skipping most of the rest if we have to.

 

[CeruleanMoon]

As others have said, it's not necessarily about lacking the patience to wait, but rather not having the luxury of being able to "waste time" waiting. It would not be wise for me to make the assumption that, "well we can just see it next time!" My son is 10 and this will be his first visit to Epcot and HS. For years I talked up my memories of The Great Movie Ride, Catastrophe Canyon, and Universe of Energy, but now these are rides he will never get to see. By the time the next trip rolls around different rides could be gone, he could have aged out of that attraction, or the ride could be down the one day we go. It's important to me to maximize the time we have in each park, because I don't know when the next time will be.

 

[BarbieGal457]

Honestly, 99% of waits in Disney don't bother me. It's Disney and I fully expect to wait. That said, I would never wait HOURS for one attraction, and I go for enough days that I have time to return to things if I think the line seems too long. I am also lucky in that I am able to go what I consider frequently. On my boyfriend's first trip, at Test Track, our first ride, he was huffing and puffing and I finally got it out of him that "I didn't think there would be lines!!" I laughed until I realized he was serious. Luckily, the rest of that week was dead (week after New Year's) so it wasn't too bad line-wise. In all our trips after that, he went along with me with the flow and it's all worked out well since.

I can understand why people who don't go as often, have limited park time, or have smaller children would stress about long line waits, but for me that's just something I accept can and in fact WILL happen and I don't let it worry me. Overall though I'm a very go with the flow person. I book my ADRs and my FPs and then let the wind and my whims take me wherever else I go. I have pretty terrible anxiety so I've been working on not stressing about things out of my control, wait times included. I just soak in the Disney atmosphere and appreciate that I'm in line at Disney instead of behind my desk at work!