{"id":1110,"date":"2011-02-16T12:00:29","date_gmt":"2011-02-16T17:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_guest\/?p=1110"},"modified":"2022-05-05T00:11:54","modified_gmt":"2022-05-05T04:11:54","slug":"do-it-yourself-touring-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/do-it-yourself-touring-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"Do-it-Yourself Touring Plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you are perusing blogs about WDW, it is likely that you are the trip planner<\/strong> in your family or group.\u00a0 As trip planner, you are the person that everyone will look to while on vacation and say, \u201cWhat are we going to do today?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, you are also the person that everyone will glare at when standing in a long line and say, \u201cWe\u2019ve been in this line forever!\u201d\u00a0 or \u201cI wanted to ride Space Mountain first, not Dumbo!\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the years, I have found that the best way to answer questions on the spot or defuse bad attitudes before they start is to have a touring plan<\/strong> in hand for each day we spend in a park.\u00a0 I realize that detailed plans do not work for all personality types.\u00a0 If the idea of a schedule goes against everything you believe about a vacation, then don\u2019t make a detailed plan, but at least familiarize yourself with which attractions are most popular and plan to visit those either very early or very late in your day.\u00a0 The point of a touring plan is not to stifle spontaneity.\u00a0 The point is to experience each person\u2019s favorite attractions and minimize the time spent waiting in line while maximizing the number of attractions you can experience in a given day.<\/p>\n

You can visit various web sites and pay to have a professional create the perfect touring plan for your group.\u00a0 Or with a little reading and planning, you can save your money for WDW souvenirs and create your touring plans yourself<\/strong>.\u00a0 It\u2019s easier than you may think.\u00a0 There are basically four steps<\/strong>: make a list, schedule attractions, repeat for another day, then ordered your days.<\/p>\n

Make a list
\n<\/strong>Using a guidebook, read the descriptions of each attraction in the park you want to visit (e.g. MK, Epcot, HS, or AK).\u00a0 Discuss each attraction with your family.\u00a0 Make a list of the attractions that are most important to each of the family members. This will become your \u201cmust-do\u201d list.\u00a0 Have a second list of attractions that you\u2019d like to do if there\u2019s time. This list would not include any family members\u2019 \u201cmust do\u2019s.\u201d\u00a0 Make a third list of attractions that you (or any member of your family) would not want to ride.\u00a0 This will be rides you don\u2019t even look at, or rides that your group may split up to enjoy.<\/p>\n

Schedule Attractions
\n<\/strong>Using a good guidebook, like The Unoffical Guide To Walt Disney World, find the best times to visit each attraction on your \u201cmust-do\u201d list.\u00a0 Fill in empty time slots with attractions from your second list.\u00a0 Read through your dining options and note several counter service restaurants or snack options that your family would enjoy.\u00a0 Include these on your touring plans as options depending where you are in the park when you get hungry.\u00a0 If you are planning any table service meals, make your reservations and incorporate that time into your touring plan.<\/p>\n

Repeat<\/strong>\u00a0
\nRepeat the above steps for each of the parks you plan to visit.\u00a0 We usually visit one park per day, but if you want to buy a park hopper, schedule your day to fit in your \u201cmust-do\u2019s\u201d in each park you want to visit that day.<\/p>\n

Order Your Days
\n<\/strong>Once you have a schedule for each of your days in the parks, order your days so that you make the most of the hours of operation for each park.\u00a0 If you are staying on property, consult the WDW calendar http:\/\/disneyworld.disney.go.com\/parks\/magic-kingdom\/calendar\/<\/a> and plan according to the extra magic hours.\u00a0 If you are staying off property, you may want to avoid the parks with extra magic hours.<\/p>\n

Type up your daily plans.\u00a0 Discuss them with your family so that everyone knows what to expect.\u00a0 And don\u2019t forget to take your touring plans with you to the park!<\/strong>\u00a0 Last, but not least, give yourself the freedom to deviate from your plan when the situation warrants.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that no touring plan is perfect and there are some things that you will work in once you get to the park.\u00a0 Get a map<\/strong> and Times Guide<\/strong> when you enter the park (if you\u2019re staying on property get them from the concierge the day before).\u00a0 The Times Guide tells show times and character greeting times and locations for the day that you can work in to your schedule.<\/p>\n

I like going in to each park with a touring plan in hand.\u00a0 I always tell my family it is a guide, not strict orders<\/strong>.\u00a0 We can deviate from it or change it altogether, but I refuse to waste any time wondering what we should do next.\u00a0 And I would hate to miss some of the best attractions because we spent too much time waiting in lines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you are perusing blogs about WDW, it is likely that you are the trip planner in your family or group.\u00a0 As trip planner, you are the person that everyone will look to while on vacation and say, \u201cWhat are we going to do today?\u201d\u00a0 Unfortunately, you are also the person that everyone will glare…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-walt-disney-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1110"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85884,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110\/revisions\/85884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}