just me and DH - itenerary or no?

[BonSchwe]

The whole family was down in the world in May for 12-days and I had everything planned out with all my priority seatings, early morning information, and mid-afternoon breaks. Worked pretty well except for one nasty Teppanyaki incident with DS4 that we really don't talk about. But anyhow, DH and I are going down without the kids in February (counting the minutes!) and he doesn't want any kind of itenerary at all - wants to be totally fly by the seat of our pants. I'm itchy just thinking about it but I really want him to feel like he has some say in our vacation. Does anyone have suggestions on how we can meet somewhere in the middle so we both feel good about it?

 

[MNSusan]

My husband didn't want me to overschedule us, either. We took the grandkids in 2002 and had a ball. This time, its just us.

But I'd find these cool things to do that require advance planning...

Me: "Did you know we could do lunch with an Imagineer?"
Him: "Really?"
Me: "Yep, shall I book it?"
Him: "Sounds good."

We had a few conversations like that and we're doing the Sunrise Safari, Segway Tour of Epcot, Illuminations cruise, and Lunch with an Imagineer. All things that would be tough to do with the kids.

I've only made one PS, at Narcoossee's, for his birthday dinner.

Just this morning, he asked me if I knew which parks we'd be at on what day and which parks had early entry. The closer it gets, the more he wants planned!

Good luck!

 

[HGD24]

My husband and I don't really plan our days. We usually collect all of the park maps during check in and that night (we usually check in the night before going to any park) then sit together and circle the attractions we'd like to see, rides we'd like to go on and restaurants we'd like to eat at.

We don't try to stick to a plan or try to see and do everything we circled, they're more like suggestions. Of course we do have our 'must do' list and we try to plan for a special dinner or two, but it just seems like more of a vacation if we can wander through the parks at our own pace making decisions as we go along, like "Hey you said you wanted to go on Test Track...are you still up for it?" It really does feel much more relaxed than trying to have a set itinerary for the day....that feels too much like our jobs!

I think it's easier to do this if you don't have kids with you. We don't have kids yet, so we're really enjoying this way of seeing and experiencing Disney.

Hope that helps!!!

 

[pixiedust23]

If you know that there is a restaurant you def dont want to miss, make a PS there. Otherwise why not just "fly by the seat of your pants." You won't feel as rushed and pressured. It will def be relaxing.

 

[spiceycat]

oh I am bad - most of my trips are that way - I make a couple of PS - but that is it - we plan what we want while we are - of course I know each and every park - so we don't get lost.

but being able to relax and still enjoy WDW is one of the pleasure...try it you might like it!

just don't go at a busy time for this - won't work - every restuarant will be booked - and then you will have wait and start to hate going this way. So go the early part of Feb - not after President week when spring break starts.

 

[BonSchwe]

Thanks for all the advice! We'll be checking in 02/12 for 6 wonderful days. Hopefully we will be just missing the crowds. Wish us luck!!

 

[KarenNY]

If you are considering some of the more popular restaurants, you may want to make a PS at least the morning you plan to dine. Walk-ins can be iffy even in slow seasons.
If you're looking for something different to do one morning, I'd recommend the Segway Tour. I just did it a few weeks ago-it was a lot of fun. They do book early.

 

[rwcmath]

Dh and I want to do a Segway tour when we're there just as a couple, and so, things like that we do have to plan in advance. If any other tour interest you, alone or together, this would be the time to do them!

rwc

 

[DFiore1]

Oh Yeah! Deffinately do an Itinerary. I always do. It makes everything so smooth. Plus you dont have to worry about getting a last minute PS if you wanna have a sit down meal.

 

[Chicago526]

It's just BF and me in a few weeks. Due to a few things we wanted to do, I had to plan very carefully, even though we've got 7 days to do it all!

I wanted 2 non-park days to do things like horseback riding, and surprise BF with Richard Petty Driving Experiance. RPDE only operates certain days, and we also wanted to do MVMCP, and that's only certain days. I also wanted to eat in certain restaurants in the parks, so I needed to make PS's, which means we need to plan which parks for which days so I could do that. We also wanted to do HDDR and DTD/PI.

So, I now have a really detailed schedule in Excel showing each day, and each day is broken down to morning, afternoon, and evening. I included park hours and parade times for whatever park we are doing that day. It has all our PS's and tour/recreation confirmations. We have lots of free time on our days off, but our park days are more structered. BF has never been, so this will workout well. He has no expectations, so he won't really know we are on a schedule at all! I made sure there was plenty of time between park restaurant PS's, so we don't feel like we have to run from meal to meal. We can always eat at a snack cart if we get hungry.

Anyway, maybe you should just plan on one or two things per day to give you a "frame" to work with, then leave the rest open so you can just go with the flow.

 

[MiJo]

I usually make them so detailed that it has become somewhat of a joke with my DW. I have even microsized them with a photocopier so they fit easily in my wallet! Last trip, we really did not have one and it worked out well. In the morning, we would sit at the bus stop and hop on the first bus that came along that was going to a park we hadn't been to yet. We didn't really have any PS's so that wasn't a problem. This trip, we hope to do the Segway Tour so we will have to plan a certain day for EPCOT. Other than that, who knows what we will be doing at any given time! With no kids and seven days to enjoy WDW, we can do a pretty loose trip again.