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View Full Version : Help... Help... I am in a Disney planning nightmare!



slanders
04-18-2005, 06:52 PM
Okay...now that we are getting closer (April 28th) and I just got Ridemax I am loosing my mind with planning what rides do we pick, what ones do we go on twice, when do we do it all, what if we miss something!!!! on and on and on. I am starting to drive myself a little crazy trying to plan the perfect trip so that we dont' miss anything and don't have to wait in line too long.

MAKE IT ALL STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

My mind is spinning with this ridemax thing. It is great but making me soooo wild with planning.

HELP...

LOL


Sonja

Earkid
04-18-2005, 06:54 PM
There, there Sonja. Don't worry, it'll be OK. To take the pressure off of you I am generously offering to take your place. :)

bradk
04-18-2005, 06:56 PM
how many days (and which ones) are you going for?

SCUBAbe
04-18-2005, 06:59 PM
take a deep breath and make two schedules. i make one just in case by some miracle I get there by 8am...then I make one for 9 am and one for 10am...sometimes we eat breakfast first..:)

slanders
04-18-2005, 07:02 PM
how many days (and which ones) are you going for?



We arrive in CA the morning of the 28th...and we are doing Disney on the 29th, and then May 2nd and May 3rd. Also doing the beach and the Medieval Times Dinner.

I can't wait.

Sonja

rentayenta
04-18-2005, 07:02 PM
I have been there....sort of.

When we used Ridemax in December, I did three itineraries per day, altering start times by an hour each time. I went as far as listing how many times I picked each attration. We were there for 5 days and used Ridemax for 4 of them.

You are not alone. :)

mkcbunny
04-18-2005, 07:07 PM
Sonja, you are definitely not alone. I was feeling that very way about ride planning JUST LAST NIGHT!!! [See thread entitled "Freaking Out: Husband's 1st Trip" LOL]

All will be well. It's just a passing panic. Breathe. If you are using Ridemax, you will be fine. Follow the above advice regarding having various options, and remember that planning in advance is important to maximizing your experience ... but once you get there, don't be so rigid that you aren't having fun. Be open to things not on the plan, and riding twice in a row when you can, and eating a turkey leg or having an ice cream.

Breathe.
Breathe.
Breathe.

bradk
04-18-2005, 07:13 PM
nice. well, i'd say the first thing to do would be to study the calendar on disneyland.com and list any shows you want to see so you can accommodate for them in your schedule. also, any meals. you're probably best off scheduling a meal just prior to a show if the show schedules allow for it, as i'm assuming your stomach will appreciate seeing snow white on a full stomach more so than riding BTMRR.

you might want to do DCA on the 29th since that's the one night it's open the latest, it'll also help you avoid the late afternoon / evening crowds that DL is going to build up from locals. when DCA closes, you can hop over to DL for the fireworks and fantasmic and a few rides.

you'll probably have so much time in DCA, i'd even recommend using the slow option in ridemax if you can find a schedule you like. that'll give you a more relaxed opportunity to take in the sites and opt to go ahead of schedule, giving you time for the few attractions you probably don't want to miss after dark, like the sun wheel if that's your thing.

if you want to play it really slick, you can take your chances with the late fastpass, you can go (off schedule) to DL first thing on friday, get a FP for Indy, head over to DCA for the rope drop, and then cash in on the Indy FP later that night. it'll only take one person to get the fastpasses, but they'll need all the tickets to do it. that might also be a prime time to take in some breakfast.

and now my brain is starting to hurt.

mkcbunny
04-18-2005, 07:18 PM
and now my brain is starting to hurt.

You are going to have to take a day or two and go offline before your trip. Otherwise, you may have a meltdown from all the research. :)

Klutch
04-18-2005, 07:39 PM
Just relax. It's great that you're planning, but don't get carried away. You don't have to have every minute on an itinerary. As long as you get to the park early and ride the most popular attractions first, you can do whatever you want after that.

It's OK to enjoy some spontanaity at Disneyland. That is, as long as you're not just showing up at 10AM on a Saturday in the Summer without a clue. :eek: Of course, which you are not. :)

Opus1guy
04-18-2005, 10:56 PM
Good thing you're not going to Walt Disney World instead. You'd really be stressing out over planning there!

Don't overplan. Just make of short list of must-sees and go with the flow and have fun! :)

sdfilmcritic
04-19-2005, 03:16 AM
Make it all stop, you say?

Just go with the flow and try not to over stimulate your family with too many scheduled events.

That's the best piece of advice I can think of.

Terri
04-19-2005, 08:23 AM
Here's what I'm doing:
We have a 4-day pass, my husband, my 11-yr old son, and myself (the Disneyland fanatic!). My DH is wonderful as he has fun if we have fun, so I've grabbed balcony seats for fantasmic! and the fireworks the first night we're there.
Then...I made a list of everything I want to do and had my DS do the same thing. Then I cross-referenced the 2 lists. Now...we did the breakdown of 4 days. 1st day is only Disneyland - hit ridemax for 1 ride of everything on DS list except HISTA, Innoventions, Tom Sawyers Island & 1/2 of Fantasyland with our final ride before Fantasmic!
2nd day is DCA and do everything - 1 time only - with Ridemax.
3rd day is whatever and wherever the boys want to go in either park. I may go off by myself in DL for awhile, then we meet up again. This is the day my DS calls the shots and we do what he wants to do however he wants to do it.
4th day is the day set aside for DL only and we do everything we didn't do on the 1st day and anything else we may want to repeat before we go home. Probably a ridemax day.

So...the plan is to slam out important stuff the 1st two days and then use the 2nd two days as a clean-up of anything we missed or want to repeat.

Since we are staying at the DLH, we are taking a couple of days inbetween park visits to hang out at the pool and do an Angels ballgame (I grew up in Anaheim...gotta love the Angels!).

It's a lot, but there is a lot of downtime. I figure we could do it all in 3 days, but wanted the 4th day as a cleanup...

we'll see if it works! :p

3894
04-19-2005, 09:00 AM
MAKE IT ALL STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Step away from the Ridemax. Be in the moment at the resort. Enjoy what you can. What you don't get to will be for another time.

Seriously.

Hakuna Makarla
04-19-2005, 09:34 AM
Okay...now that we are getting closer (April 28th) and I just got Ridemax I am loosing my mind with planning what rides do we pick, what ones do we go on twice, when do we do it all, what if we miss something!!!! on and on and on. I am starting to drive myself a little crazy trying to plan the perfect trip so that we dont' miss anything and don't have to wait in line too long.

MAKE IT ALL STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

My mind is spinning with this ridemax thing. It is great but making me soooo wild with planning.

HELP...

LOL


Sonja

one word MUKTA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Ok I got MUKTA on the brain but...

if you have MUKTA you can be sure you will get every ride in and not sweat any of it!!! Ok, YOU better email her, she is the most awsome disneyland guide ever!!!!!!!!!