How do you convert people?

Walt Disney World
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This will be my fifth trip to WDW and my TPs have never let me down. I’ve always had a great trip and had minimal waits in line.

Fast forward to June 2020. My nephew and his family of 7 will be joining us. I’m so excited for them to go. They went a couple of years ago on their own. When I mentioned FPs to them, they asked what those were. I told them and they looked at me like I was crazy. Apparently, they did not use them the last time they went. Additionally, they want to eat at CRR. Like any good Liner, I was up early at 180 days and got us a table. He just asked this past weekend if we were going to make reservations. I explained that I did it at 180 days out and he was ok, very casual, no thoughts about how late this weekend would of been to secure ADRs.

I keep telling them about TPs and how great it is, but they just don’t seem to grasp the difference it can make. They love to just stroll and if they see a ride, get in line and wait an hour and a half. I’m excited their going, but they are already driving me a little crazy.

How do you convert/convince people that TPs are the way to go? I don’t want to seem like a control freak with her spread sheet and TP plans, but I also don’t want to go and ride four rides all day long and stand in line for hours and hours. I need to find a balance.

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Can you tour separately and just meet up for the occasional meal or experience?
I would not enjoy touring with people not on board with our touring style.

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Additionally, I wouldn’t suggest trying to ‘convert’ them. I wouldn’t like to feel pressured into converting to their style of touring, so wouldn’t put pressure on them to do so. I just wouldn’t tour with them :rofl:

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I agree with @Shmebulock. I’ve gone with people that had very different ideas of fun in the parks. We usually hung with them for an hour or so, then went our separate ways until lunch, or dinner. It worked out well.
I hope you have a great time! :slight_smile:

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How long is the trip - can you do the “let’s” try things this way for one day early in the trip and see if experiencing it convinces then?

In general, do you think there really is resistance, or is it just not knowing? Could you sit down with your whoever is “in charge” for that family and show them a basic touring plan?

Last thought, you could be a bit sneaky and do a plan with the setting for least amount of walking. Then you could determine a starting point and ”meander” along your plan coincidentally hitting desirable wait times

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Following. It’s my first time planning for a group of 9 who are not Disney planners and have limited knowledge of what is at each of the parks. I’m making reservations and fastpasses based on my best judgement for our group. They are all good with it and going with my planning flow. I just don’t know how to convince them of my touring plan without being bossy. I haven’t even mentioned a touring plan yet. I’m planning on just “suggesting” it as we go. So on arrival night “park tomorrow opens at 9am. If we want to get there when the park is least busy, is it ok if we leave the room by 8am/7:45/7:30?” Then let them decide the meet up time. On the way to the park: “Our first FP+ is XYZ at such-and-such time. I think we can accomplish this, this, and this beforehand. What do you think?” Hoping this strategy works. I just don’t want to spend an entire trip explaining my logic.

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I kinda went with this theory, too. My touring plan for MK goes from Fantasyland to Frontierland to Adventureland to Tommowland. Then, evenings are free for everyone to decide what they want to do that they missed or want to do again.

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I would book FPP and try to walk in that area during the window. Or tell them it’s just 3 rides let’s pick 3 and play the rest by ear. I agree with others that if thinks go south tell them you’ll meet up later. You have no obligation to spend the entire day with them.

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I would say “Just give me the first day to show you how a TP can help”. You won’t have to do anything else to convert them. I did this with a family trip in January. They were amazed at how much time it saved. Only thing is that I didn’t build enough breaks into the plan. I think you need to plan more breaks with larger groups.

I would also book FPs. Maybe ask them what the favourite rides are so you can prioritize, but otherwise do your Liner thing!

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First of all - family of 7? Ditch them if at all possible - large family groups are the worst to deal with. You have been warned… :wink:

In terms of converting people, you will drive yourself crazy trying to do so. Unless you are willing to go along with their lack of planning and happily stand in lines with them, the best approach is to tell them “This is my plan and you are free to follow along if you wish.”

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Some people are planners and interested in maximizing their time and money. Many others aren’t. I don’t think you can really convert people.

Personally, I’d go ahead and book FPs for them, but if they do or don’t use them is up to them. Plan to meet up at certain times (for the meals/FPs that are together maybe?) - but staying together in a large group with such different touring styles sounds miserable.

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This is what I do when traveling with my parents, I have also found that it works really well to keep us from missing stuff without having to keep checking my list.

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I don’t work hard at it. I explain that my family doesn’t wait in lines. I tell them how. I give them the website information. They can take it or leave it.

Truthfully the fewer converts there are the better my life is

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I stand on street corners and tell them all they’re going to hell.

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I see now, though, that you’re trying to get them to embrace them for this particular trip. I misread it before and until I saw the responses above mine I wasn’t clear on why you are trying to convert them.

If I were you I would ask them the stuff they want to see. Toss it in to a touring plan how they would probably do it. Ie walking along, stop at POC, Splash, BTMRR, in that order, etc. Set it to arrive when they want to (10 am anyone?), etc. Do not optimize. Run it that way and show them how it works out. Show that side by side with an optimized plan with optimal arrival time. Let them be amazed.

IMO the product sells itself if you can get people to take a moment to look at it.

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I had 7, and the TP went out the window the first day. Ended up doing the what FP+ can we get next. Too much variance in what people wanted to do and I found they dawdled a lot more than I would. I would recommend if you have an idea of what ADR’s people might want to do - make the reservations. I did not do BoG for lunch because my SIL said she didn’t really like it, then when we were there she was like are we going to BoG for lunch? :woman_facepalming: Of course, for 7 there was no chance of getting a reservation. The only ADR we did was Oga’s, and for that I booked a couple options of times.

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Background. We’re a family of 6. It was “just” us for Disney, but we frequently travel with another family of 4, so I’ve learned a lot along the way about accommodating for groups! I’m the designated planner, so it does make me a little crazy at times…,

I think I’d decide what my priority is. Is it to see what you want to see and give them solid advice they can choose to follow or not? Or is it that you want to spend time with them and show them a great time with less concern about what you actually see? Both are valid. But expecting to see everything you want to see AND spend time with them AND have them have a great time might be unrealistic.

In the first instance, make up your typical touring plan and share it with them and they can opt in to whatever parts they want. You can get their input on meals and whatnot so opting in may be appealing, but no need to concert them.

In the second instance, you are basically a tour guide. You can still slip in your couple of top priorities for the day, but it’s mainly about sharing their enjoyment. Find out their priorities (either by specific attractions or types of activities…coasters, shows, shopping, dining…). You may sort of need to slip out of your head and into theirs to think about what they will enjoy.

Get their top priorities at each park worked in solidly (either FP or early in day) so if things get off track, you’ve still the priorities covered. Also, get clarification if they want to stick together or occasionally or regularly split up (depending on ages/heights or interests).

Also, build in some flexibility, either through breaks or attractions you are willing to sacrifice. This way, if they start to linger someplace unscheduled, you can say “We can definitely shop here a while, but we’re going to skip X. Are you ok with that?” or “Can we hit this next FP and then we’ll come back here right after that?” Have times when you can say “Which of these 3 things would you like to do, or should we just wander around for a bit?”

I cannot stress this enough. Be intentional about restroom breaks! If each person requires an individual 10 minute restroom break a couple of times a day, it will chew through a TON of time. When you have a good restroom opportunity, remind EVERYONE to go. Even the adults. Beg if you have to. “Could everyone humor me and just go?”

And put this at the top of each TP if you need to (because I tend to forget if I don’t remind myself):
Enjoyment > TP

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I have brought different families with us, and had different experiences with each. I almost always plan for a group of 11 or more. The most important thing we do, is we have 4 days to ourselves after everyone else leaves where we do whatever we want at the pace we want and see everything we missed.

With large groups, I am very clear with them that we are there to pack as much as we can into our days and they can join us for as much as they want or they can opt out of anything, but I really encourage them to meet up with us for FPP+ and the ADR’s. I make sure they are ok with me booking FPP+ for them, so they can ride with us. They have the option to use it or not.

If they seem to want to stick with us (and I have invited them and want to spend the time with them), I make a touring plan, but realize that we will not get to all the things. I put in some extra buffer, because they will always want to stop for a bathroom and a soda and a little snack on the way to try to rope drop FOP (this actually happened!!!) In those moments, I have to decide whether to leave them behind or do some major calming exercises and just go with it.

I usually also am clear at the start of the day that my family wants to see/do these certain things, and what time we plan to do them. Then they can opt in or out. Then throughout the day, I try to be flexible in between those things we want to catch, and you do have to allow more time for getting places, eating, etc.

I have found that most people want a little time for themselves to relax, so we make sure everyone knows it’s ok to separate or to get to the parks at different times. When they see how much more we did than they did, they might try harder the next day. One family took turns coming early with us and sleeping in depending on how tired their kids were, so I worked with them on which days were more important to rope drop, and then they went back early to get to bed the night before.

I have had some who want to keep up with my fast paced days, but they are still never quite as fast as we are on our own. When I have the extra 4 days on the end, I am much more relaxed with going at their pace.

One other note, it is actually harder on my husband to watch my precious plans get tossed to the side, and he gets very frustrated when we are wasting time waiting for people to catch up. I need to work on some calming exercises for him! I would say make sure to be open about your expectations, and let them know you want to spend time with them, but also want to get the most out of your vacation, and let them decide how much to join you. Then lower your expectations a lot. Sorry that got so long!

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Mostly repeating what others have said, but I would

a) just book FP’s for the whole group and try to make them go with you without trying to explain planning to them
b) go your own ways and meet up for a few things

My wife doesn’t care at all what I plan and the family just follows with me, I don’t try to explain it too much to her, they are just happy to tag along and skip lines

On the couple of occasions I’ve gone with extended family who do like 3 rides and spend the rest of the time at restaurants, we’ve met up with them for a ride or two and lunch or dinner, the rest of the time we are happy to go our own ways.

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Not sure what you mean by “joining us”. 7 more people is a lot to plan for. If they went a couple years ago and did not have any complaints, I’d let them do their own thing. Maybe meet up with them occasionally. If you had planned to do everything together, you might be doing more harm than good because someone is not going to be happy! Probably very frustrating.

I would not say that they need to have a TP. But definitely FP+ reservations. They would appreciate those when the time comes. So encourage and help them get some FP’s at least, maybe spread out through the day.