My DSiL has asked me to plan her trip to the world for December 2017. I am working on a questionnaire to find out her interests. Could you please review what I have already done and make suggestions of questions that I am missing? They are taking two girls ages 8 and 3 (nearly 4).
Which hotel(s) are you interested in staying in?
Deluxe? Moderate? Value?
What days are you planning to go?
Are these dates flexible?
How many days of park tickets will you be purchasing?
Do you wish to visit all four parks (Magic, EPCOT, Hollywood, Animal)?
Do you wish to visit one park more times than another?
Are you interested in Park Hopper tickets?
Do you want to choose your own park days?
Do you care which park you visit first? Last?
Do you have any interest in any extra cost events? (Information about these events can be found online).
Dessert parties?
Christmas party?
Special dining packages?
Do you know which restaurants you wish to visit? If so, please list in order of desirability.
Do you want me to make dining reservations for you? If so, I will need access to your My Disney Experience account.
Would you be interested in Character dining?
Do you have interest in dining at Cinderella’s Royal Table? (very hard reservation to get; must get at 180 days out)
Would you be interested in purchasing a dining plan? Quick service? DDP? Deluxe?
Do you prefer to tour the parks early in the morning, late morning, afternoon, evening or late nights?
Will your group require an afternoon break? How long?
Will you rely on Disney transportation or will you drive to the parks? (Parking at the parks is free for resort guests.)
Are you interested in customized touring plans that tell you the optimal order of rides to maximize your touring time?
Are there any “can’t miss” attractions you want me to include? If so, please indicate on the provided lists of attractions.
Do you wish for me to choose your FastPass+ reservations?
Would you want me to make them for you in MDE? If so, I would need access to your MDE account.
Would you like a combination of early mornings and late nights?
for example - last trip, I split in 1/2. the first 1/2 we did early mornings. the second 1/2 we did late nights so we could see the nightime shows. It helps that I had 8 days worth of park tickets. this might be more difficult if less days and all 4 parks have nighttime shows.
That’s really generous of you to help! One thing I’d find out first: budget, or at least budget range. That can help offset expectations and could frame questions like hotels, dessert parties, etc.
She must really trust you! Awesome. And how fun for you, to get to plan an extra trip.
Just a thought, and you may already have considered it or talked to her about this stuff. It just occurs to me that since she asked for help, a detailed questionairre might be an overwhelming first step. I was a WDW planning newbie not long ago, and I remember it well! If you haven’t already covered basics, I might start with 1) budget, 2) length of stay, 3) vacation priorities/interests (park time, pool time, visiting nice restaurants, shopping time, etc.)
Then you could offer your best suggestion along the lines of “you could do 1 week in a moderate with 5 day tickets and one planned pool/shopping day, and afford 3-4 table service meals.” That seems like a good starting point.
Makes sense. I guess then I’d order the questions from basic, high level stuff down to the most granular and make a note for myself of which items are “must answer” during the first conversation.
Another fairly high level question would be:
Given that table service costs 2-4 times as much as counter service, and can take up an extra hour per meal as well as limiting your flexibility, how do you want to balance the two?
This would give a lot of insight into their priorities for allocating time vs allocating money, and tell you how important food quality/healthfulness is to them. That would help when suggesting QS places too; some people want to eat a mac n cheese hot dog, and some really want to find a salad.
Do you prefer to take breaks in the park (finding a place to sit and relax such as a show, just relaxing on a bench, or train ride) or taking the extra time to go back to the room to relax?
Some people may prefer to take the break in the park, instead of battling transportation back to the room while others may prefer to take a nap in their room.
Edited to say: when my son was smaller, we did some of both. One of our favorite breaks was riding the train at MK a couple of times in a row while he napped.
http://yourfirstvisit.net/ has a pretty good structure for planning a WDW vacation for newbies. I would suggest initially taking them through this site step-by-step, as that will provide them with a source of information as well as driving the dialog.
