Winging It?

[VacationDisney]

Has anyone, recently, NOT done FP+ or ADR's?

If you haven't done ANY planning ahead of time, how was the experience? We have friends going at the end of October and they aren't doing any of the planning us "Experienced" Disney people do. They have not been to Disney in a very long time and we have tried to explain to them that things HAVE changed since they were last there.

I have tried to convince them to plan ahead but they are just going to "wing it"

What do you think their experience will be?

[Capt_redshirt]

I did non FP+ and adr days on my last trip... ill say this... finding a slower park is the challenge so they might be able to ride rides with an average wait time of 10 -20 mins (depending on popularity of the ride) they will be in for a rude awakening for table service restaurants tho. most places (not all) will be full. i can recall talking to concierge at the hotel and being told i can get put on a list but the odds are rare. the only exception was the yacht club but i had someone in the industry to help me get in

[VWL Mom]

Having just returned I would secure some ADRs and FP or spend a lot of time waiting. It was not very crowded this week, I'd probably give it a 5, but the standby lines were running 20-30 for the lesser attractions and 60-90 for the headliners and these will increase with the crowd level. Sunday night was are one night without an ADR, started thinking about dinner around 4P and the only thing available before 930P was Olivia's. I will say though, is looked like most restaurants were not staffing at full capacity so there were empty tables not being used. My thought was it due to the end of summer internships.

[Kairi_7378]

My friends did this a few years ago with their 3 kids (5 and under) during the 4th of July week. They claim to have had the best vacation ever. I do not think they were worried about eating in the parks and the only thing they had their hearts set on was meeting Princess Tiana.

I guess it all depends on what their expectations are. Some people are not planners, especially when it comes to vacation, and I have to remember this when I give advice about WDW vacations.

[#1donaldfan]

I'd say do ADR's but for FP's as long as you open the park you should have no problem riding and seeing what you want. We typically do just that and use FP's for much later in the day.

[JabberJaws]

We're going in October and will be winging it, to a degree. We get comp tickets (old CM connection) so won't have our tickets in our possession until the first day of our trip. I plan on linking them to our MBs and making a few FP+ that first night, but really I'm not too worried about it. But, between our CM time and the dozens of other trips we've made over the past decade, we've been to the parks so much, we don't feel a need to plan a great deal. If we get to do things, fine, if they are too busy, no big deal.

I have made two ADRs though, and have looked at crowd calendars and the like to know what parks to do on what days. I think it helps to at least have a general sense of what you want to do, and depending on the situation (for example a couple vs a family of 5) more planning may be needed in some cases than others. I think too much planning makes it less of a vacation and more of a chore though, but to each their own.

[AgentC]

As someone who lives close by, I wing it all the time. I currently have trips planned for Sept, Nov and January and I haven't planned a thing other than the hotel and I haven't even done that yet for January.

I regularly reserved ADRs ahd FastPasses as late as the day before and in some cases the same day.


However the end of October has become quite busy. It is definitely possible to make an ADR the day before or day of and find an available place but it might not be a place they want. So if they have a "must do" reservation, I would make it especially if they want table service in the Magic Kingdom area on a MNSSHP night.

FP+ again depends on what they want to do. If they have a must do such as the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, I would reserve it. In most cases, I've been seeing that booked solid about 2-3 weeks in advance.

There will be rides available with FP+ same day it just depends on what they want to do. AS o right now (10 am) I could make a FP+ for everything in the parks except the Mine Train and Anna & Elsa. Keep in mind that September is slower than October and by 12 rides such as Soarin and Test Track will be gone, but there are definitely options for people who don't want to plan and don't have a list of must dos.

[DonLefNY]

Now that I live nearby for a good part of the year, I wing it all the time. Once and a while I'll make an ADR though, but that's about it.

[BigRedDad]

Very doable and I hate having reservations that tell me where I have to be and when. We usually go for enough time to go to each park 2x. Getting there at rope drop lets you get the big rides in quickly and enjoying the rest of the park throughout the day.

With that being said, I had to do ADRs for some meals. We will be doing FP+ so we know what we have to hit and when.

[forever a child]

During our day trip to MK last summer, we didn't do any planning. We were not going to eat at any TS though and it was before Fastpass+ was available. We had a lot of fun and got to eat at BOG for lunch with only like a 10 minute wait! We did a ton of fast pass rides as my daughter is a master at getting to the kiosk and getting them quickly. We were taking an international student from China there for the day. We opened and closed the park and my feet really hated me for it.

For me, in the summer with the heat, I tend to want to eat a lot less, smaller and lighter meals. So not having ADR's is pretty easy. So it was a great time. I could probably do it for a week long trip just as easily as a day trip if I wanted to. But knowing the parks and attractions helps to do this, IMHO.

[Janmac]

I think their experience will depend on their expectations. If they are merely happy to be at WDW as opposed to their daily life, they'll probably have a great time. If they have any expectations of a trip similar to their last one, they will be surprised - how they deal with that is the question for sure.

When a veteran wings it, it would seem there's a greater chance of having an enjoyable visit, since there is a greater general knowledge base. When a person who has not been in awhile wings it, they are experiencing a lot of new - and possibly fun - stuff while at the same time having to learn the ropes.

A family friend took his daughter to Disneyland, winging it, a couple of years ago. He did not feel the need to return. When he decided, maybe two months at the outside, to go to WDW, he happened to mention it to me. Surprisingly he followed my suggestions regarding fp+, magical journeys, ADRs, etc. Despite an enjoyable visit he still isn't interested in a return trip to WDW. He has realized that his experience at DL might have been enhanced by some advance planning.

Hopefully your friends will be able to go with the flow and enjoy themselves.

Jan

[pixiesmimi]

We are having to wing most of our trip next week also because of a last minute reservation. We were unable to get our military tickets in advance because our ITR had run out so will have to get them at the gate. That keeps us from being able to get FP+ except for the one day that we have MNSSHP tickets for. I am afraid that we won't get to ride all the things we want to do, especially the Mine Train, because of this. But I did get ADRs even though they might not be the ones we really wanted. We are also there for the W&FF so the ADRs don't really matter.