Have You Ever Just "Winged It"?

[gap2368]

living a few hours away I have done trips with just 1 or 2 weeks notice and had a great time, I have also added days to a trip right before I was going to leave and had a great time. so yes you can just wing it, but I would still at least make an FP or two if you do not want to do that park that day cancel it

 

[Pigletpal40]

The hubs and I are going on a quick weekend trip at the end of August. We've booked the hotel (Boardwalk)and plan to get two-day hoppers. I'm thinking of not making any ADRs or Fast passes and just winging it. I don't think the ADRs are such a big deal because we don't really want to do any sit down meals on such a short trip, but do you think it's possible to get good fast passes day of? We're not doing Animal Kingdom or the new Toy Story rides. I'm thinking of not buying tickets until we arrive - is that a mistake?

Yes, My wife and I have booked hotel in the car driving down from NH. We used Counter service and Restaurant/Food Courts at the hotels,
All Star and Caribbean, and Yacht Club on another trip. Be realistic with FP's and we would rope drop, stay until Noon or 1, take a break, swim and lunch, go back around 4-5 and stay until close. TS Meals were the hardest to book. When my wife and I went, it was not so bad with two people. When we did a trip with our Kids this way, it was much harder to find TS meals for 4. We had AP's/DVC (no points left) so we got great cash discounts on rooms and 5-20% discounts on some restaurants depending on lunch or dinner. Good Luck

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Go for it. Wake up that morning and decide which park and make your FP+ on your way to the bus. My son went in March during Spring Break and refused to make any FP+ until he was in WDW with his friends. Once he arrived to his resort they got together and made a plan for which park on which day and made their FP+. They got everything they wanted except FOP. They waited standby for that instead. He had a great time.

 

[SarahC97]

Thanks everyone. I'm usually a big planner but with only 2 park days I don't want to be tied to anything and just go where we want. Thanks for the input, it's helping me to put my nerves aside, let go and know the carefree trip I want is possible.

 

[tigger2&pooh]

We just returned from 3 days of winging it. We live 3 hrs away we bought our passes 1 day before we left. We didn't make any ADR but we still enjoyed it. We got FP day of when we decided which park we wanted to do we managed to get Navi at animal kingdom day of but not FOP. Also we did book other FPs but if we were nowhere near that ride we just skipped it. We did a lot of counter service meals we did score a lunch at Canada without ADR and only 10 min wait (mind you there were 5 of us on this trip).

 

[piratepride]

Nope...not in my nature. We always book our dining at 180 days and fast passes at 60.

 

[philbrody]

the compulsive planner in me does plan 'wing it' days during a longer trip. Usually day 4 or so on a 8 day trip and then another morning or evening during the trip. We haven't gotten lucky in a while but I root for afternoon thunderstorms to empty out the water parks and then go there on the wing it evening.

What's funny is I do all the planning and my family laughs at my scheduling, but the days we have nothing planned they ask 'why didnt we plan anything'

 

[Pmlocke]

My wife and I travel down every year, no kids or grandkids since 2013, and we never get fast passes. When we wake up in the morning, we do breakfast at the food court and then walk out to the bus loading zone. Whatever bus is there at that time, that's where we go. We always have a park hopper so after our midday swim break we usually go to another resort. We never get dining ressies either. We go to the concierge and let them find us a nice place for dinner. No fuss, no worries.

 

[TinkSassy]

I like having a basic framework when "winging it" - I'm starting work on a quick Fall trip and I know I want to see Boys 2 Men at Epcot and do a Xmas party that week. Other than that, I will probably just roll with it.

 

[Flamingeaux]

I would make fastpasses just in case. You don't have to be tied to them but it would be nice to have them just in case it fits your winging.

 

[brianerickson]

Sometimes, yeah; I'm primarily a Disneyland guy, so that sort of approach just never really seems to leave you; having said that, however, I still try to have at least one Fastpass at the ready

 

[disneyseniors]

I kinda do both! I book fp's for all our days in the parks, making sure we get the ones we really want in the early part of our stay. Then, the rest of the stay we wing it and just go where we want and most times don't even use the scheduled fp's. That way, we get the few we really can't miss, and still have freedom to wing it. There are a few ts meals we love, so we book them, but only a few.
I find it very freeing to just go where you want, eat when you want, and go to attractions that you want to at the time.
This way, we never miss our favorites, and still have wiggle room. It feels more like a vacation that way to us

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

I love, and i mean love, planning Wdw trips. For me it’s an escape and a way to get excited.

BUT, I totally get what you’re saying, and in fact for this trip we are going to “wing it” for most of it. DH really wants to wake up and go to wherever we feel like it, and I will probably book FPs on the way. We’ve been on everything a bunch of times, we won’t be disappointed if we miss something. There is something freeing about not scheduling it out.

We just want to be there, soak up the atmosphere, and do some fun stuff.

And while FP is pretty great, I often forget that if we don’t have one, it doesn’t mean we can’t get on that particular ride. So we wait in line. I’ve planned so many trips with so little waiting in lines it does go against the grain a bit, but the point is for us to be together in the “world’s happiest place” as a family.

Have an awesome time.

 

[Leelo]

We used to do a very structured touring style. Then a few years ago, we went to Orlando for my husband's work convention and decided to tack on a few extra days for Disney. Since we decided sort of last minute, we did a very casual, no plans touring style and we LOVED it! We do this on most our trips now.

 

[SarahC97]

I love, and i mean love, planning Wdw trips. For me it’s an escape and a way to get excited.

BUT, I totally get what you’re saying, and in fact for this trip we are going to “wing it” for most of it. DH really wants to wake up and go to wherever we feel like it, and I will probably book FPs on the way. We’ve been on everything a bunch of times, we won’t be disappointed if we miss something. There is something freeing about not scheduling it out.

We just want to be there, soak up the atmosphere, and do some fun stuff.

And while FP is pretty great, I often forget that if we don’t have one, it doesn’t mean we can’t get on that particular ride. So we wait in line. I’ve planned so many trips with so little waiting in lines it does go against the grain a bit, but the point is for us to be together in the “world’s happiest place” as a family.

Have an awesome time.

Exactly! Thanks!

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

The hubs and I are going on a quick weekend trip at the end of August. We've booked the hotel (Boardwalk)and plan to get two-day hoppers. I'm thinking of not making any ADRs or Fast passes and just winging it. I don't think the ADRs are such a big deal because we don't really want to do any sit down meals on such a short trip, but do you think it's possible to get good fast passes day of? We're not doing Animal Kingdom or the new Toy Story rides. I'm thinking of not buying tickets until we arrive - is that a mistake?

I don't know, I'm a planner so doing something like that for no good reason makes me cry out WHY?? We did a very last minute MK trip in March and we bought our tix two days prior since we didn't know we were going until two days before and we got some good FP+ but not Tier 1 or popular attractions but still nice to have something booked so the day wasn't a complete cluster. I don't see a point in waiting to get tix. I totally get not doing any ADRs for such a short trip but I think waiting on FP+ is a mistake. And no I don't think you'll get any in demand tier 1 FP+ the day of. Our March one day visit at MK, we were able to secure Space Mountain, other than that we weren't able to get any other good FP+ so we had to take advantage of EMH and stay late to ride the more popular rides.

 

[rwdavis2]

I guess I do not understand the benefits of waiting to purchase tickets, ot to avoid booking any FP. You do not need to use the FP if you do nto want to, and you can move them around when you arrive if you decide you want to.

This ^^^^^

Why would you not make FP+ reservations? You don't have to obsess like a lot of folks do but if you want to ride specific rides then I would make them. You can always change or ignore them.

 

[StacyStrong]

I actually kind of think that not making FP reservations at all when you know they exist just literally makes no sense at all and isn't "winging it." You can still "wing it" and make FP reservations? Literally even if you make some day of and just decide as you go. But to never make any? It just literally makes no sense to me. It's not like getting a FP is some sort of signed commitment that you just HAVE to follow through on.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Not making any ADRs? Of course! There's nothing wrong with that. You said yourself you don't want to sit down.

FPs? I think that's in what you decide you want. Do you want the kind of winging trip where you just see what's available the day of and just explore? Or do you want a little bit of planning? You could if you decided do a hybrid and book maybe just one or two FPs that way you have 1 or 2 rides you'll be looking forward and the rest can be up in the air. You don't have to pre-book all 3 FPs if you don't want to it's just that's the amount that Disney gives you included in your park ticket.

I do agree I wouldn't wait til when you get there but because you're actually only getting 2-day tickets there is no price difference compared to at the gate. I believe it's 3-day and up that have a discount for pre-purchasing vs gate price though this is speaking about buying direct through Disney.

Sounds like you already understand and have adjusted your expectations. Hope you have a great trip!

 

[SarahC97]

I actually kind of think that not making FP reservations at all when you know they exist just literally makes no sense at all and isn't "winging it." You can still "wing it" and make FP reservations? Literally even if you make some day of and just decide as you go. But to never make any? It just literally makes no sense to me. It's not like getting a FP is some sort of signed commitment that you just HAVE to follow through on.

Well, that's not what I'm asking. I plan to make Fastpasses. I am not sure what order we're going to do the parks or what parks we're going to. So, instead of making that choice weeks before we arrive, as I normally do, I want to know if it's realistic to think we can get good same day fastpasses if it comes down to it. Not for the big headliners like FOP or the new rides in TSL, but for stuff like BTMRR, Space Mountain, PP, TT, Soarin', etc.