I reject this idea that somehow vacation planning is unique to Walt Disney World. When I go on a cruise (with any cruise line), I research things, plan a rough itinerary, make some reservations and buy some tickets. When I go to Hawaii, I research things, plan a rough itinerary, make some reservations and buy some tickets. When I go to a new city, I research things, plan a rough itinerary, make some reservations and buy some tickets.
Completely agree. Most places require advanced booking nowadays.
We tried to go to a couple popular historical sites in the Northeast 10 years ago and found out that it wasn't possible at the "last minute." Every time slot was sold out for the weekend we were in the area. If we want to go to a concert, we have to figure out how to access the presales and be ready with our CC as soon as tickets go on sale. I felt bad that I didn't get passes to see the synchronous fireflies in TN last year until I found out that, "Over 20,000 people enter the lottery each year, and only 960 vehicle passes – 120 per night – are distributed."
Basically everywhere we've been in the last decade, we've had to make at least some advanced bookings for activities and dining we want (and family/friends have often missed out because they neglected to make reservations). Even if I want to just go to a semi-fancy restaurant in my own city, I have to make reservations a couple weeks in advance. And that's all after I've researched to even know what activities, etc, we want to attend. And all these places have different booking timeframes - at least WDW is fairly consistent and almost completely done on their app.
I recently booked a quick trip to NYC and spent an inordinate amount of time researching hotels. Same with an upcoming trip to Paris. Both are more expensive than most WDW hotels (even though WDW hotels are overpriced). If I book any Disney-owned hotel I can generally rely on the room being clean and safe, and if it isn't, they'll make things right. The same cannot be said for other brands. The Disney hotels also have included transportation to entertainment. But when I book hotels in cities, I have to do much more research on guest ratings, room sizes, amenities, locations, transportation (safe walking paths/distances, subway stops, drive times, parking,...).
I currently have multiple internet pages open on my phone because I'm trying to sift through the seemingly hundreds of options for visiting the sites we want to go to in Paris - self-guided vs tours, if tours then which ones,... It took me about 10 minutes to book
Disneyland Paris including hotel, park tix, their skip the line service, and dining (we've never been before, and I even checked the Disneyland websites for multiple countries to compare prices).