Planning without obsessing

The biggest way to get the most out of your Disney Vacation is to plan ahead to be sure you understand what you want to get from your vacation.  Followed closely by getting up early and getting to the parks before the crowds.  You can seriously get more done in the first hour the parks are open compared to the next three hours.

So the question of the day is how to plan without killing the fun.  Here are some tips

• Plan how your getting to Disney and if your driving have some ideas of towns that you would like to stop in if you need to split your drive up
• Pick out dining locations first and make Advanced Dining Reservations
• Hopping between parks is only a good idea if you are going to get up early as you will likely end up at your hotel in the afternoon for a nap (or a swim)
• Make a list of must do rides (be realistic you wont be able to do everything) so take a few minutes and look through a book that lists the rides and evaluate their value to you and your family.
• I always like to leave the last day unscheduled so that anything that we missed or realized might be a good idea we can get to or take the day to enjoy our favorites again.
• Plan how your going to get back

I am not a big fan of planning the order in which we ride everything but I do believe in studying the maps and understanding what is in each park and making sure that I don't get stuck somewhere and have to double back and waste my time.   Funny story at the end of a day my daughter (5 at the time) and I got stuck trying to figure out how to get out of the park while a parade was going on, it was late and my daughter was tired.  We could not figure out how to get out of adventure land and she thought we were going to get locked in the park.  It was a little stressful but at least it is a Disney memory she has not forgotten.

Planing is a fun way to make your Disney Trip a part of your entire year and to keep your kids involved and aware of what kind of planning it takes to make the trip happen.  My sister made fun of me for planning out all of our dinning reservations for our family trip (I had to get 8 people to each pick 2 restaurants and then work them all out for the time we were there).  However, when she went with her husband and they could not get in at most of the restaurants that they wanted to eat she told me how much she had wished I would have helped her for this trip.