How "planned" do you plan as a solo?

[Emtgirljen]

ooh, even mid-way through my trip/when it's half "used"? I understood you could only upgrade up to the point you first use your ticket to "walk through a park gate", but maybe that doesn't apply to AP?

I upgraded my 5 day ticket to an AP last year on I think (park) day 2 or 3 of my trip.

 

[JillianS1128]

amazing, thanks! yeah, I guess it'd be weird if they didn't allow that...."why no, we don't want more of your money". Not exactly their MO

 

[e mcduck]

im an obsessive planner (part of my job too) and part of what i love about going solo is that i can be an obsessive planner. i have to stomp the breaks when i travel with friends and it takes half the fun out for me lol.

but yes, fast passes at the very least. have fun!

 

[apxstitch]

I'm an obsessive planner, I enjoy thinking about all my different options for each day. I will probably only use it as a guideline though if something else gets my attention while I'm in the parks.

 

[Helvetica]

I plan everything. I want to have my ADRs all set out ahead of time and my fast passes booked on the first day that I can book them.

I want to know what I'm doing beforehand so I'm not wondering what the heck I'm going to do when I get there. I also have a tendency to procrastinate, so if I don't have a plan I worry I'll spend too much time trying to get myself out the door. If I know I have a breakfast at Tusker House at 8:15 am with rope drop at 9:00 am and a FoP Fastpass at 9:15 am, it helps me stay on track.

 

[Shaun C.]

Short version? I don't. I may have very general plans ("I want to have dinner at this restaurant on this day"), but when it comes to almost everything else, I wing it. My first time at WDW (back in '96-ish?), I was still old enough to be solo (even though I was technically there with my parents and still a high school student), and I spent about 6 hours riding the Tower of Terror repeatedly, just because I wanted to. It didn't hurt that being a solo traveler is sometimes like a FastPass in itself (or at least, it was at the time!)

I'm definitely not a planner.

 

[JonathonW]

ooh, even mid-way through my trip/when it's half "used"? I understood you could only upgrade up to the point you first use your ticket to "walk through a park gate", but maybe that doesn't apply to AP?

Ticket upgrades (whether they're to upgrade to an AP, or just to add a day or convert to Park Hopper) can happen anytime (1) before 14 days after first use (when the ticket expires) and (2) before close of business if you've used the last "day" on the ticket. Disney doesn't really care when you give them more money, as long as you give them more money.

On topic: I took my first solo trip last year and I'm in the process of planning my second solo trip this year. I'm somewhere in the middle in terms of planning: I'll pick which parks to visit on which days (and I do park hop, pretty much every day), I'll schedule FastPasses accordingly, and I'll book ADRs. I don't do much planning ahead beyond that, though-- part of the reason I like going alone is that it's flexible; planning every second of my trip would kind of defeat that. So I'll make sure I've got FastPasses for anything I absolutely must do, and everything else I just play by ear.

Worked out pretty well for me last year (although crowds were pretty light post-Irma while I was there); we'll see how it works out this year.

 

[hedg12]

We've done both ways, and I can honestly I enjoy it more when we don't plan. We just booked for Feb. and aside from trying to get an ADR for Ohana, I'm not gonna plan anything. I don't care about FOP, or Slinky Dog Dash, or 7DMT, or any other ride enough to have to plan a significant portion of my day around riding them. But that's me, ymmv...

 

[ArielSparrow]

I plan to the max.

Well, I hold myself back a bit for my husband's sake. I would plan every minute and run us like a military but he wants to keep buffer and windows for the unexpected (good or bad). He's the free spirit and I'm the control freak but I think we found a good balance. I ensure that we hit the priorities and he ensures that things don't become a duty.

So I have a several-generation spreadsheet and schedule ADR/FP+ and have a general outline but indicate which things we are okay with dropping.

 

[JillianS1128]

Thanks, team!! I am officially at 60 days out, and I made all my FP+ choices today! That's all I'm going to plan. I'm not going to make any ADRs, or plan any park hops or anything. I will take the rest as it comes! I do have a hopper, so I'll just wing that.

Sept 1 - arrival day! I'll land at around 12:30pm, and just play it by ear (add an extra day to my hopper if I land in tine and spend the evening in a park, or wander DS, or who knows?!)

Sun, Sept 2 - MK! I was originally planning on HS for this day, but the way FPs worked out, I changed it a bit. This is the one day I might rejig re: FPs, since it was a last min park day change, I just picked random things:

11:40am: Barnstormer
12:40pm: Peter Pan
1:40pm: SDMT

Mon, Spet 3- MK (MNSSHP - don't know if I will do this or hop somewhere else in the evening)

09:35am: BTMR
10:45am: SDMT
12:00pm: Peter Pan

Tues, Sep 4: AK!

09:00am: Dinosaur (mostly to use up a FP lol)
11:25am: FOP!
12:30pm: Lion King

Wed, Sep 5: EP!

10:15am: Soarin'
11:40am: Mission: SPACE
12:55pm: Spaceship Earth

Thurs, Sep 6: HS! (will likely do EP EMH first!)

12:35pm: SDD!
1:55pm: RNR
3:00pm: Frozen (lol)

Fri, Sep 7: MK! (may do MNSSHP this night! otherwise I'll hop somewhere else)

10:30am: SDMT
12:00pm: Splash Mountain
1:05pm: BTMRR

Sat, Sep 8: AK!

9:45am: FOP!
10:55am: Dinosaur (again with the using up of a FP!)
12:30pm: Nemo

Sun, Sep 9: HS!

9:55am: SDD
10:55am: RNR
12:30pm: Beauty and the Beast (but likely have to be airport-bound around 2pm, so have to play this by ear)

Gonna play around with it all a bit, especially now that I added another MK day...

 

[indoshakespeare]

Just made my FP selection myself. Here's my plan:

Sep 2:
Land at MCO around 3pm
Disney Springs (tentative)
See Happily Ever After from TTC (tentative)

Sep 3:
Be Our Guest Pre-Park Opening 8:25 AM, then Meet and Greet with the princesses at rope drop.
Plan A: Hop immediately to Epcot. 12:25 PM reservation for Akershus and hope to ride Frozen Ever After on Standby, then hop to Animal Kingdom
Plan B: Stay longer in MK then hop to Animal Kingdom

FP:
4:45pm: Kilimanjaro Safaris (may miss it and just explore instead, meet Pocahontas, jungle trek etc)
5:50pm: Expedition Everest (I know I could do single rider but don't know what else to FP)
7:00pm: Flight of Passage

Sep 4:
EMM at Magic Kingdom
Plan A: stay in MK all day, then evening EMH at Epcot (tentative)
Plan B: hop to Epcot in the afternoon and hope to ride Frozen Ever After on standby then 5:20 PM Akershus reservation

FP:
9:45am: Space Mountain
11:00am: Enchanted Tales with Belle
1:00pm: Haunted Mansion

Akershus reservation 5:20pm just in case I want to do plan B. The reason for this early dinner is if I don't see HEA on Sep 2 or if I don't like the view from TTC, I want the option to hop back to MK to see it. Tentative evening EMH at Epcot to catch Frozen Ever After if standby time for it was too long in the afternoon

 

[JillianS1128]

Great! you got FOP!!

I think you'll be ok with no FPs on the 3rd if there's nothing you really neeeeed to do (but what do I know!).

 

[indoshakespeare]

I managed to get a BoG Lunch for 9/4! I think I'll cancel the BoG breakfast and ropedrop Hollywood Studios on 9/3