Being Spontaneous at Disney World
There’s a lot of pressure to plan for Walt Disney World down to the smallest detail. Advance Dining Reservations, dessert parties, dining packages, and other upcharge offerings–plus fear of missing out all makes it seem necessary to meticulous planning. This can create stress and sky-high expectations, and we want to underscore that months of planning are not essential to have a fun Walt Disney World vacation.
While we stress the importance of slowing down and having balance on Walt Disney World vacations, the sheer volume of the planning resources on this blog and sites like it no doubt compounds the stress people have when it comes to trip planning. I sense that there’s a feeling that if you don’t spend 100+ hours planning, getting all of the “best” ADRs, having detailed itineraries every single day and a sound strategy for scoring the top Genie+ Lightning Lane reservations, the trip is a categorical failure.
This simply is not true, and we’ll cover why in this post. I was going to title this Tips for Being Spontaneous at Walt Disney World, but direct strategy for spontaneity sort of misses the point. Instead, this is more generalized; think of it as reassurance that you can have a great trip even without planning every minute detail months in advance.
I’ve discussed this before, but usually we don’t follow our own advice when it comes to Walt Disney World planning. There have been entire trips where we’ve only made one or two Advance Dining Reservations. What we do beyond that is often impulsive, determined the day-of.
Walt Disney World planning obsessives will probably consider this heresy, but I hate spreadsheets. From my perspective, spreadsheets are antithetical to the core concept of vacationing. I understand others vehemently disagree, so to each their own. If you enjoy making spreadsheets, feel free to go nuts at it.
We have done other trips that have involved more planning. Particularly when we take family or go with friends for whom it’s a less frequent experience, we do a solid amount of planning. (We also do a lot of “practice days” that are highly choreographed, but are really for research and not for personal enjoyment.)
In other situations, our visits are more impulsive, booked only a few weeks in advance. For us, spontaneity isn’t just nice from a relaxation perspective, it’s also helpful for learning and improving our planning resources. We make mistakes, stumble upon surprises, and report back with our findings.
For most readers, impulsive trips and doing things for the sake of research are not the norm. You’re usually starting to think about vacation a year in advance, booking hotels and airfare around that time, making other reservations a few months in advance, and doing the more granular itinerary-building inside of a few weeks.
That’s where blogs like this one and social media come into play. While you’re planning your ADRs, Genie+ priorities, or daily plans, you might do some research, and encounter a barrage of advice consisting of various must-dos, step-by-step strategy, and lists of mistakes and pitfalls Walt Disney World guests make. This blog is certainly guilty of some of those things.
With that in mind, I want to reiterate that the tips on this blog are just that–suggestions. Nothing here is an imperative. Instead, think of this in a holistic sense: you read from our knowledge base, incorporating the helpful tips into your own plans.
You should disregard whatever does not appeal to you, is not pertinent, or just seems like crumby advice. If you utilize even 10% of the tips on this blog, you’re way more prepared than the average guest, who still thinks “the Harry Potter park” is at Walt Disneyland Florida.
I don’t believe that are any specific things you absolutely must do or avoid in order to have the perfect Walt Disney World trip. To the contrary, there is no such thing as a “perfect” trip, and trying to chase that illusion is a fool’s errand.
In an abstract sense, I think there is danger in extensive planning: the expectations and stress it creates. If you have a binder filled with daily printouts of customized, step-by-step itineraries, you have no doubt spent dozens (if not hundreds) of hours planning for the trip, and intend for things to go a certain way.
There are a couple of problems with this. First, it can create unrealistic expectations. If you work really hard to get a Be Our Guest Restaurant ADR, and find yourself building up the hype months in advance, there’s a reasonable probability you will be disappointed.
Personally, I think this is one of the big reason so many new things at Walt Disney World have drawn polarized responses. The build-up and anticipation for some of these experiences are just crazy. This often leads to two polarized results: disappointment because the experience was not as good as expected, or heaping of praise due to a desire to confirm one’s preconceptions. (And so the cycle continues.)
You know the adage, ‘the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry’? Well, the Walt Disney World counterpart to that should be that ‘the best planned itineraries of mice and tourists always go awry.’ Walt Disney World runs like a well-oiled machine most of the time, but there are simply too many moving parts for plans to go perfectly.
The good news is that the online knowledge base for Walt Disney World you reviewed extensively while planning taught you how to approach Walt Disney World. You learned how to approach the park, resorts, restaurants, etc., and that can be applied dynamically to myriad hiccups and snafus as they arise. As with all things in life, knowledge is power.
Usually there is one planner in the family/party and everyone else is going along for the ride. The issue here is that, even though the people going along for the ride offered no input during the planning stages, they will have input upon arrival. This can cause bitterness in the person who spent so much time planning, who now feels that their effort is unappreciated or is going ignored. It also can cause frustration in those along for the ride, who are told the plans are already set, and it’s too late for the input.
Neither perspective here is invalid, depending upon the approach both sides take. On the one hand, advance planning for Walt Disney World is important and your (I’m assuming the “planner” is reading this post, since it’s a planning blog) time and effort to plan should be appreciated.
Conversely, the word “vacation” has a certain connotation, and a trip to Walt Disney World flies in the face of the conventional understanding of that meaning. Many first-timers simply do not know what they are getting themselves into when it comes to WDW. They are not totally to blame by underestimating its complexity; nowhere we’ve visited in the world is as complicated of a destination as Walt Disney World.
Sometimes this dichotomy works out perfectly. Those along for the ride go with the flow, and end up viewing the planner as some sort of freakishly omniscient Walt Disney World tour guide, elevating them to ‘Vacation Hero’ status as they weave past the crowds and lines, and have an amazing trip.
Just as often, it leads to meltdown. Meltdown of a parent who put so much effort into planning the perfect trip, and has found their plans derailed or their efforts under-appreciated. Meltdown of a child who cannot do what they want, or has been forced to tour at a whirlwind pace, when really, they’d be perfectly happy to just play in a splash pad for an hour.
This is something to consider before even starting to plan a trip, and is a good conversation to have before throwing away dozens upon dozens of hours doing potentially-unnecessary planning. This is also why we recommend a balanced approach as the ideal, with pre-planning as well as room to wander and do things on a whim. (Or “planned spontaneity” as we call it.)
In all situations, it’s still important to remember that hyper-planning is not a strict necessity. One of the things we’ve been stressing lately is that it’s often easier to book Advance Dining Reservations last-minute rather than 60+ days in advance. (See our recent Top 10 Tips for Difficult ADRs at Walt Disney World.)
Obviously, this is a YMMV situation as you won’t always have your ‘must-eat’ restaurants available for last-minute bookings, but you very well might. Since we take more last minute trips, one of our top strategies is regular refreshing of the MDX app for last-minute cancellations or ADR drops, and this strategy has proven quite successful for us.
Rather than offering comprehensive strategy for being spontaneous at Walt Disney World (since that’s a contradiction-in-terms), the salient point we hope you take away from this post is that you can be spontaneous at Walt Disney World. Planning is great. We recommend it. But your entire trip does not need to be planned down to the minute.
Moreover, you should not buy into planning recommendations (or hype) that has a dire sense of urgency to it. When it comes to trip planning and social media, there’s a pervasive sense of FOMO that drives many people to spend on unnecessary experiences at Walt Disney World. Consider it a form of keeping up with the online Joneses (or Kardashians, these days). This is exacerbated by certain popular experiences booking up quickly, but that’s less a reflection of quality and demand than it is limited supply and the FOMO machine.
In short, Walt Disney World is a big place with a ton to offer. Even on a “highly successful” trip, you’re barely scratching the surface of the great things to do. Absolutely no single thing at WDW is make or break in the grand scheme of a trip. The pressure to plan a perfect trip is optional, because there’s no such thing (and paradoxically, every imperfect trip can be perfect in its own way if you let it).
You can have an incredible trip dining booking all of your ADRs same-day and eating exclusively at hidden gem restaurants. You can do attractions on a whim without spreadsheets or even our semi-structured itineraries. You don’t need to ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance or Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind to have a memorable trip. This is important to remember, and we hope this post has helped you take a step back and potentially re-evaluate the way you think about a Walt Disney World vacation.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Do you agree or disagree with our advice about being spontaneous at Walt Disney World? Do you have any hacks for making last minute trips go better? Any tips of your own about balancing pre-planning with spontaneity? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I happily admit to over-planning! I get as much joy out of the planning and the general anticipation as I do from the experience. Part of the fun of planning is to research all of the options so I know what is available, leave plenty of time around the “must do” options, and ultimately giving the choices for family to make decision (eg, should we see Anna and Elsa, or get in line for Cinderella and Belle?). Some things can’t be changed much, like dinner reservations and fastpass+ reservations on more popular rides. Also, using the My Disney Experience app while at the park is a huge bonus. You might have planned for Space Mountain, but if it is temporarily closed, being able to check the queue time for other rides is great. Ideally, leave plenty of time so no one (including the meticulous planner!) is disappointed if things don’t go the way you thought they would.
We took my son (age 7) to WDW for the first time in Jan 2017 and I did A LOT of planning. But both my husband and son told me how grateful they were that I’d done all the research and planned out our days- because we definitely got to do everything we wanted to do and THEN SOME! But it wasn’t planned down to the minute – we only had one ADR for Hoop De Doo Revue and three FP+ each day before we arrived. Much of our schedule was dictated by what we wanted to do each day at the scheduled park. We are early birds and thus found ourselves making it to rope drop almost every morning, which allowed us to have multiple rides per day on some of our favorites by riding early and then having FP+ later on. We were also able to get 4th and sometimes 5th FP+ every day by using the app and checking immediately when we scanned into our 3rd FP+ ride. We rode 7DMT 2 times in one day that way! And we made next-day dinner reservations at Coral Reef using the app as well, after walking past it and deciding on a whim to eat there.
I think having the major items planned but leaving room for movement is the best way to see things you have newly discovered (or in my son’s case, riding BTMR 4 times in one day!)
I went first summer it opened- long lines but no planning. Few years later back with boyfriend late in day which was much better. Our plan that family groups would be gone, much shorter lines and cooler worked. Got married and back in October of ‘79. Didn’t need a plan because so quiet, it was great. As the years and number of parks and people increased so has planning. We like the Christmas decorations so go then. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge first time and it was so quiet our room was upgraded and buses could be empty. We switched to Wilderness Lodge and love it for Christmas. Of course that will be getting harder. I’m the planner trying to keep up with new attractions etc, start making reservations 6 months out. We have favorite restaurants so plan which day for which park on that. The fast pass addition has added another layer. We tend to try and do those last minute in the park. When much quieter it was less stressful. Our daughter got married and we took both of them twice. He got a cold first time and it frustrated me that he stayed in room a lot, which made me feel quilty but all that money and time spent planning Next time got hung up over getting Disney card reward money at town hall. Seemed like I spent so much time making sure everyone else had a good time I didn’t do things I liked to do. Last trip was last year, just 2 of us. Made planning simpler and we indulged in behind the stage tour of Magic Kingdom which was great. So yes, not planning used to be great! Can’t work anymore but just having basic framework with key points and flex time is more relaxing.
I love to overplan, but really enjoyed reading this as a way to share a more reasonable less planned approach to friends who are considering going to WDW and are no where near the kind of planners I am!
My issue with Fast Pass’s is that it is difficult to book them “back to back,” often leaving you with an hour or so (sometimes a couple of hours) between rides that you have to fill somehow. At Magic Kingdom, that isn’t hard since there are more rides, attractions, characters etc. that you can squeeze in. At the other parks, however, attractions are more spread out and fewer. For example, this past summer we were at Animal Kingdom and had a Fast Pass for Na’vi River Journey around 4 p.m., dinner reservations at Rainforest Cafe at 6:15 p.m., and Fast Pass for Rivers of Light. I tried to squeeze in another Fast Pass before dinner, but the system would not allow it, even though we whizzed through Na’vi and had plenty of time, so we ended up kind of sitting around waiting for our dinner reservations. It was beastly hot and we didn’t feel like walking too far. It seems as if Disney has about an hour-and-a-half between Fast Passes, which does restrict you in a sense.
We were to Disney World in 2016. We made our restaurant reservations right when you could. then the fast pass reservation right when you could. the only problem there were conflicts. I could only get a FastPass Reservation in Epcot at the time we had reserved a dinner at the Polynesian resort. Any thought on how to address this situation
I love planning WDW trips. I find the planning process fun. FastPass Plus was a fantastic addition for planners like me. I usually plan rides, rests, shows, characters greets, and meals in half hour intervals. Plus I plan attractions that are near each other to prevent long walks. Having these plans makes the trip very smooth. Luckily, I do not get any remorse if we have to stray away from my plan but I make my plans flexible enough where it is not a big diversion. I have under-planned in past trips and it felt too chaotic.
I was/am the planner for our last 2 DW trips (and any/all future trips). Despite our best efforts, we have never made rope drop. I tried to schedule us with AM FP and a group dinner reservation (lunch too for the trip we were on the dining plan) but also schedule lots of free time. Lo & behold, my younger son became a HUGE Sorcerer’s of the Magic Kingdom fan. He would rather do his card missions & find people to trade cards with than ride most of the rides! Anyone want to send me cards from their Xmas trip?
Hi my husband and I have just booked to go to WDW for the 1St time not to sound stupid but what are rope drops? I think I need to work on my planning lingo! Thanks
When the park opens
Thank you 🙂
Each park usually has a little opening show to welcome guests to the park, after which they “drop the rope” at which the guests are all lined up- Picture horses at the beginning of a race, lol! Anyway, it’s a great way to see the parks with way less people than usual (i.e. a good time for photos), and can usually (but not always) guarantee you a short-to-no-line for your first ride, and perhaps a short line for your second as well. Thus, you can save your first Fastpass for later, say, an hour or two after open.
Just make sure you get there at least 30 minutes before open.
The way we always plan trips to WDW (and other locations) is to let each member of the trip pick 1 thing they really want to see/do. We make sure to schedule time for that particular event by making a reservation or scheduling it however we have to. The rest is all free-form. We have had many fantastic laid-back adventurous vacations. Disney has so much to offer if you slow down and thoroughly explore. Also, as many have noted, if you do miss things, you have an excuse for another trip!
I definitely overdid the planning last year but when hurricane matthew kindly came and upended our plans mid holiday we just relaxed at the pool bar, met some great people and waited for things to reopen, managed to get last minute reservations and I think the key is to plan a bit but not to mind too much if it doesn’t work out. After all , Disney is so fab there would be loads to see even if you just sat all day on the pavement in MK!! x
Great post! I tend to OVER-OVER-DO the planning for every trip to Disney (Land, World, Euro) and plan to the very last minute. So far, this has worked perfectly, and I am seen as this Vacation Hero you mention by the rest of the group, but we have never been more than 3.
We will be planning a huge family trip in a few years and by “WE” I mean “I”, and there will be 6 or 7 non-english speakers relying on me. I’m terrified of this frustrations you mention as they will all have an opinion and I don’t want to become a minute-by-minute dictator lol
I went to WDW for my Honeymoon and my husband got distracted by EVERY CASTLE or STRUCTURE that wowed him, but he soon understood that if we followed the schedule he would have time for that later. Hope he tells the rest of the group so they understand, as he now says this was the best vacation he ever had 🙂
I still think FP+ is a MUST 60 days in advance for the first few days so we do not miss the rides we really wish to enjoy, but I will also leave 3-4 days as “choose your own” park or rides for the rest of the group to go wherever they want. I will only make a few advance dining reservations as I do not think it will be so easy to keep the whole group together for lunch or dinner at all times! So we will be on a schedule but they can also relax or have a say in the trip. Hope this one goes well too!
Hi Tom,
Just a quick note – I don’t know if it’s my browser or computer, but last night and today every time I viewed a post, after a few seconds the page would jump to the first comment reply after your blog. It just did it again while I was writing.
And it happens to different blog that are posted. This never happened before. I willl continue to monitor.
FYI
Thank you for this post. My first trip was extremely over planned and my family did not enjoy the lack of freedom. As you said, some of the fun is “stumbling upon” things that weren’t on your agenda.
However, I absolutely think that you do need a rough, overall plan. I am always surprised when I talk to people who show up to the parks with no tickets, no Fastpasses, no idea of what they’re going to do, but then become frustrated when they are unable to experience certain attractions or dining experiences.
I would say that at minimum, you should learn a bit about the parks and go in with an idea of what your priorities are before you arrive. Having a few goals or target attractions will give you direction, but won’t make the day feel over scheduled.
Ha, conflicted for sure. I had to hold myself back to prevent over planning for 8 days at the parks, on property, so we followed all the booking “rules” to take advantage of your tips. As another poster says, we’re going at Christmas–yup, the worst and best possible time in the world. It did feel necessary to over plan so we aren’t competing for spots when we arrive.
I’ve not visited Disney since 2003, and my husband and 12-year-old have never been, so this is a big trip for us. But, I still recall that most wonderful feeling of being at Disney many times during Christmas.
I can remember the awe of my first visit to Disney World, 1972. I had NO IDEA at the time how fortunate I was or that it was a new park. We visited often at Christmas, as we lived on a farm with a dairy and crops, so that was the best time to go for our family. I know Disney parks are very different today, with so much to offer.
I’m very much looking forward to strolling, watching all the twinkling lights, hugging the characters, eating great food, and taking it all in once again. Mostly I can’t wait to watch the faces of my family members. Hakuna Matada, and the cycle of life begins again 😉
Thank you for the great reminder to let your hair down and have fun! See you at the parks as we enjoy the Magic!
Tom, I wish I’d had this post to read 2 years ago! We did DL in 2015, then WDW in 2016/17, and both times I planned to the hour for each day. Yes, I even had the dreaded binder :)! Did these hundreds of hours of preparation lead to an excellent vacation? More like a nearly failed marriage, with resentment directed to me when I expected unending thanks! Part of my problem was, I wanted to cross off all of the check boxes, as this was my wife and kids’ first visit to those parks. The thing is, there should be just one check box when it comes to planning a Disney Parks trip- Be with those you love, and love the time you spend together! Great article, you covered so many points, it felt like you were writing based on my experiences these past 2 years.
We are 35 days out from being fortunate enough to take a 3rd trip in as many years (WDW), and my planning is at a minimum. Obviously, I want to know what is available, and I’ll make FP+’s (I’m relaxed now, not insane! :)), but if we decide not to do the parks that day, or do them in a different order, well, Mine Train will have to miss us, we’ll be busy enjoying the “Happiest Place on Earth” with each other.
On our last trip, the situation you describe with the planner and followers came to the forefront. I’m the planner and we had Frozen FPs in advance, but I knew we’d want to do Soarin’. The solution was to rope drop Epcot, and I was reminded why we aren’t a rope drop family. We scrambled to get to the park and still found Soarin’ with a 90-minute wait. This led to a meltdown on all sides, and it really impacted the day (and partially the trip). We’re going again in January, and we’re not doing any rope drop. We’ll try to ride at night, and if we don’t make it, I’m okay with it. I’d rather have a good day. I’m still doing too much planning, but the goal is to make it work for our family.
I was guilty of this on our first trip… Especially with dining…. We went again and just returned had more down time and more fun…
Oh good grief – now that I’ve spent (as you say in your posting) the past 6 months planning, upon planning, upon planning for my trip to DisneyWorld this Christmas, I am so CONFUSED! I do feel that I’ve overplanned but, mostly because the operative word here is CHRISTMAS, I’m nervous about changing anything at this point. To summarize, I’ve made dinner reservations for each night and have at least two Fast Passes for each day – I’m staying 6 nights at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. I mention all this because I’ve been retired for almost 20 years now and I ABSOLUTELY HATE FOLLOWING SCHEDULES! an attitude which I know does not lend itself to a Disneyworld vacation. I have never been to Disneyworld at Christmas (actually only been there twice before – the last time being 2007) and I chose it this year because my husband of 40 years passed away on Christmas Eve of 2016 and, trust me, I don’t want to be HERE at all during this holiday season and I thought Disney would be the most fun place – especially because there will be so much new for me to see after not having been there for so many years. Basically, do you think I should cut back on my current arrangements and kind of fly by the seat of my pants for a few of the days that I’ll be there?
Hi Susan. See my reply to the post below (or above, not sure how this works). From my failed attempt at building a comprehensive plan (and my own expectations!), I would personally suggest that your planning is great, now just be mentally prepared to change it ALL (or scrap it) based on your groups’ needs (including yourself). Look at what you have planned as a resource, with the main goal being to enjoy yourself! Maybe we’ll see you there (amongst the other tens of thousands of faces!
Thanks for your reassurance Matt! Luckily, my group consists of my niece and myself so I don’t have to please many!!! and I’m financing the entire trip so I’m currently subscribing to the “she who has the gold, makes the rules” theory plus Angela is usually easily pleased and I’ve kept her informed at all of my planning stages. I will stay as flexible as possible but when my OCD kicks in, I somehow become powerless. Again, thanks for your reply and I’m sure all will be well once we get there and the Disney magic happens. Happy holidays which I guess we’ll be sharing even though we might not know it in person!
Sincere condolences for your loss Susan. It sounds like you have a really sensible, balanced plan. Like many people have said much of the fun is in doing the research and it is good to have a few things scheduled in. I hope you have a wonderful time!
We planned dinner and fast passes each day. Dinner was the only thing we stuck to because we wanted a good meal each day and it was nice to rest while someone brought nonpark food. We cancelled and/or changed fast passes throughout the trip. Having a plan ensured I would get to do all my “must dos” and left me without stress. Being flexible while I was there was easy and let me enjoy the trip. I say do the planning but don’t be afraid to change the plan. We went over 4th of July and managed to get everything done with time to wander and explore. The app is a must have and made changing plans easy.
Jenny, thank you very much for your response. Your experience has made me feel much more at ease about my entire planning process. Susan
I think it’s very important to plan and have a plan going into it. The important thing is just having an open mind and knowing that things will end up changing, but it’s still going to be a blast! I think a big point he’s trying to make is that you don’t HAVE to plan for months to have a great time. Have a great trip 🙂
Going in December without a fastpass for Flight of Passage. We are not early morning, rope-drop people so should I just forget about riding it? Or, with 5 of us (2A, 14, 9, 7), and all of our first time to see Pandora (only youngest two first time ever to Disney) should we wait the 2-3 hours to ride? Or just wait for a couple years when we plan to come back.
Don’t bother its 90minute wait at park open last week at 180 minutes by 10am… Getting to animal kingdom and taking the path less traveled to dinoland and asia you will get a ton of things in before 10am and with no waits at all…I rode the Mount Everest Rollercoaster 4 times in 30 minutes with no wait at all.
Personally I would recommend getting to all parks 15 minutes before open (I am not a morning person either)… You can ride 4x the rides in a day otherwise.
Brad, we just returned from a visit to WDW. Flight of Passage is amazing and if the wait is 90-70 minutes or less, the queue is great and its worth the wait. We waited 75 minutes with our 10 and 7 year old amd they were fine too, just make sure you hit the restrooms before getting in line! Keep an eye on the wait times via the app and dont hesitate! I would however say that Navi River journey is not worth a wait over 45 min, as the queue is not scenic and the ride is 5-6 minutes. Its beautiful, but if you have to chose one ride to wait long for, pick Flight of Passage.
Thanks Christina. We have a FP for Navi River b/c I couldn’t get one for Flight. I really want to ride it and hoping the waits aren’t crazy long. Like you said though, the long wait doesn’t seem so long in a good queue.
I am guilty of this, trying to squeeze every precious minute out of the time at WDW to feel as if I’m​ getting my $’s worth. It has resulted in a pushback about halfway through the first day from the rest of the family. Of course I felt that “if they would just follow my plan like good little minnons, they would see how much fun they can have.”
How ironic that no one ended up having much fun.
It wasn’t until I realized that we were 90 minutes ahead of schedule (and praising myself for that feat of wonder) that I relented to going off schedule for a bit. Whalaa, all the fun rushed back into the room. Smiles came back to faces, and no more “that’s not on today’s schedule” from me anymore.
I didn’t throw away my plan, just used it as a guide of what could be next or as a reminder.
I actually felt freer myself, shifting the goal from conquering WDW to creating happy memories.
In 31 days we return. I have done the dinner and fastpasses, and have created plans through touring plans.com. However, I have promised my family that I will not drag them around at a breakneck pace this time. If we miss something, we miss it. I even heard these words come out of my mouth when my daughter asked if I had gotten Be Our Guest reservations, “i haven’t and I will keep trying. But if we don’t I don’t think it will ruin our vacation. Do you? We are still going to have an amazing week even if there is some restaurant or ride we don’t get to do. Think of all the things we will do, not the few we way not. Plus, that just gives us a reason to come back again.”
No way I would have taken that attitude before.
So thanks for the article and reinforcement that vacations are to be fun, not conquered.