Tell me how a "Type B" family does it!

[KenHutch]

You can still plan to your hearts content you just have to change the style a bit. An example several of my daughters relatives say they love to go to Disney but they want to sleep in no rope drop they say. But this same group will get up for a breakfast. So I plan on prepark opening breakfasts and they will get up for those. I plan further I plan the breakfasts for restaurants near rides. IE Tusker House = Kilimanjaro Safari. For sleep in days remember just schedule your fast passes a little later. I even manage to schedule breaks (without telling anyone they are scheduled). I am a Senior IT for US govt. I cannot do that go with the flow thing. My Marine heart will not allow it.

 

[mamaofsix]

I'm a type A planner, but I will say that some of our best experiences have happened when we couldn't get the reservation or fp we wanted. If you didn't get the ADR's you wanted at 180 days, research and pick something else. Your family may end up liking it better! Same deal with FP's.

This year, we wanted to try Garden Grill for our Candlelight Processional Dining Package. I was SO disappointed that we couldn't get one. But our plan B, Biergarten, is looking just as great as I read reviews and watch videos of that restaurant at Christmas. Now, I'm glad my Plan A didn't work out

On a completely un-Disney note, our family just returned from a trip out West. I've had it planned for 2 years. But, Forest Fires. So many of the things we wanted to do were canceled at the last second, However, we still had a fabulous time asking locals what else we could do and trying out different places than originally planned. It was a blast!

 

[alliecat523]

We don’t plan beyond deciding which parks to visit in which order. We limit table service meals as we feel this can be a waste of time (especially if you’re not a frequent visitor). All those hard to get ADRs open up 24 hours in advance, if you’re worried. Never had a problem getting in somewhere that we wanted.

Like some have said, this is my vacation and I’m not going to stress over it. I’ve been on Uber planned trips before and they feel like death marches to me. They end up being all about adhearing to the schedule vs. just having fun.

 

[Beer Me]

I'm not type A but I plan in a stress free way. it's become kind of a routine
- Stay on site for transportation and emhs
- Length of stay is important. 6 nights is my minimum requirement to feel like we have some free time throughout the trip.
- But park hoppers to allow more flexibility. Have tickets for every day we will be there.
- Plan which park we will begin each day (based largely on morning emh which we rope drop)
- Plan one "free" day about halfway through.
- Make FPs at the morning park early for better chance at additional passes.
- We typically make one ADR per day usually dinner. Can be anywhere with hoppers but we try to consider logistics. No single restaurant is a must -do. There is always something good available

Thats it. Kind of sounds like a lot but it gives structure without minute by minute planning. We have made plans 6 months out but also just a few weeks out and had a great trip either way.

 

[StacyStrong]

This is my first adult trip making ADRs. We usually just do QS. Even still, we only made a couple - but we are really interested in trying some restaurants this trip. Still, we said that if the day or two before the ADR, we don't think we will want to do it based on our plans, we will cancel.

The only other thing we plan is what morning we will start a park in and FPs.

I don't remember doing any ADRs as a kid, but it's possible I did? I should ask my family. We stayed off site most times when I was younger. We stayed at either the Swan or Dolphin ONCE for a soccer convention.

 

[gharter]

We use a combined plan. I have all of our meals booked at 6 months. We know where we want to eat and when. Days and times when we don't know are left blank and filled in that day. I book all the FPs at 60 days, ususally for the mornings if possible. After that, we do what we want based on where inthe park we are and how the lines are.
I will still try and book FPs and refresh often, but no set schedule.

 

[P800aul]

We type A although I feel we could go Type B now we know what we are doing. The thing about planning is it keeps the teenagers inline, by that i mean they look at the plan (taped to the refrigerator door in the condo) shrug their shoulders get dressed and go without argument, so type A we will remain while ever that works. One thing I will say is I think for first timers Type A is the way to go, I've seen on a few Facebook group, were a first timer for the UK with a 14 day ticket, two children and a dinning plan has being told to not worry and wing it (type B) Telling a first timer these days to wing it is bad bad advice.

 

[_19disnA]

All those hard to get ADRs open up 24 hours in advance, if you’re worried. Never had a problem getting in somewhere that we wanted.

I agree. It's NOT like EVERY restaurant is by reservation only. If the wait at one is too long or you can't get a reservation, there are lots of other choices.

Honestly, excessive planning and preplanned schedules makes a trip to Disney less of a vacation for us. If this is your first time at Disney, not sure how you could possibly know where to eat since you have never seen any of the restaurants. Most likely you aren't even going to know where you will be at dinner time before you actually get a sense of how long you want to stay at each park and/or what you want to do each day.

 

[tex1989]

Speaking from personal experience: my best advice is to become totally addicted to Disney parks vacations and start to take family trips there every year.

You will find that after the first five or so trips, you no longer need or want spreadsheets. By trip 10, you are that family who sleeps in, takes breaks during the day and doesn't think it is worth walking back across the park for a few more rides when your feet hurt.

This!! Certain aspects of my life have been leaning to a more type A personality but when it comes to WDW I have been becoming more and more B. Full disclaimer though, it is just wife and I, we have AP's we go several times a year and we have been over 36 times since 1989. Kids are grown and go on their own now. As a result my planning goes something like this; 180 days out, make some ADR's. Get some, don't get some whatever. Second rule MK the first full day, MK the last full day. Other days if the ADR's match the park, fine, if they don't that's fine too. 60 days book FP+. Make AK later in the week to increase shot at FOP. Make sure we get Soarin at Epcot, and one Toy Story Ride at HS. Other than that get what you can. Go on vacation and other than ADR's and FP+ do what ever you want to the rest of the day.

I read on a thread here the other day that someone had 45 minutes between exiting a ride and their ADR in a certain area of a certain park, and wanted to know how to spend those 45 minutes. I cannot even conceive that level of planning! It is a foriegn language to me. Part of the overall experience to us is wandering around looking in shops, walking around resorts, and enjoying the themeing of it all. I plan nothing beyond that. Oh other than maybe leaving a day open to play golf, or a morning open to go fishing. Other than those things we go, take it as it comes and enjoy the vacation.

 

[MischaOz]

I probably fall somewhere in the middle. I think the key is to be flexible and willing to change your plans if something doesn’t go as planned, and also to have enough knowledge of “back up” attractions to fall back on if something happens and your plans have to change. On our last trip we had FP for Splash and BTMR, but as soon as we got over there all outdoor rides closed due to weather. So we decided to go to Tom Sawyer’s island instead and then played Sorcerer’s of the MK. It ended up being an awesome day!

 

[Riss]

My family is probably one of the epitomes of no planning. In fact, this trip we're taking in less than a month is the first time we've ever really made ADRs and FPs prior to leaving for the trip!

We're a family of 6 (my parents are currently 51 & 50 and we four children are between the ages of 19-24) who have been going for years with the high school band (every other year since 2009). That was part of the reason we didn't plan anything, though. We knew what day we were going to be in the parade and only planned that day. For the others, we literally woke up in the morning, looked at the some app, and determined which park looked like it had the lowest wait times. I don't remember what app my siblings had used before, it may not have even been the Disney one? I'm not sure but it like had the parks color-coded as to which ones were predicted to be the lowest, so we went there those days. It may not have even been an app, they could have Googled something.

My family also went during the time of paper fast passes, but we still never grabbed any, except for like one or two over the course of the entire trip. We did the rides we knew we liked and just moved on. This actually allowed us to experience different things each time. We actually didn't even really see some shows until last year, like Fantasmic or Mickey's Philharmagic. We shifted our focus each time and were able to discover something new just by simply wandering over to something and deciding to try it out.

We also had never done an ADR before. Well, we did one but it was very spur of the moment, like walking up and asking if it'd be possible to eat there. We always ate breakfast and then maybe grabbed something at a place that seemed interesting for lunch in whatever park we were, and dinner was typically at like 11pm, as in the case with our last trip, at the hotel or at a QS in the park, depending how late the park was open.

It was basically us just doing what we felt like when, with no schedule and no place to be. We got up in the morning and hoped to leave between 9-10 with no real time set to hope to return by. We did a lot of things spur of the moment because they looked interesting and probably spent a lot of time at things people might think are "unnecessary" because we thought that they were interesting and wanted to see more.

I say, just go with however you feel that day and if you need to plan, plan for the things you know you like. But if things seem interesting, things you didn't even know were there, then go ahead and try them, you might find something you truly enjoy and want to do again!