Small breaks/distractions

This is my first time to WDW and I am honchoing the trip. My family has mostly bought into the idea of having a touring plan (or at least they are letting me think they are). Right now our first MK day is pretty packed, my mother in law reviewed the plan and mentioned that there isn’t any time on the plan for bathroom breaks, which is true. Looking at the “free time” on the TP it looks like we don’t have any until the afternoon.

I am wondering how other people account for things like that. I will also have my almost 5 year old with us, so I figure there may be other distractions along the way that slow us down. I started adding in little 5-10 minute breaks every hour or so, but I didn’t know if there was a simpler way of doing it or if that some how works itself out by setting the walking speed to relaxed.

I’ve never built bathroom breaks into the plan… unless it’s a large group all traveling together (which just takes longer to do everything, in general) it doesn’t take more than a few minutes and I’ve never found that a TP has to be followed down to the second. To be on the safe side I ALWAYS set the walking speed to relaxed, so that may be part of my success.

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Use slow walking pace. Add a 15 min break every 2hrs and allow 60 mins for cs meals and 90 mins for ts meals is how we do it.

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I don’t account for that stuff, or shops, or grabbing a snack, or just sitting for a moment. IMO that’s when you are starting to get too rigid.

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Ok, thanks, after I started adding in the breaks it felt like I was missing the broader point of this and may be going into over plan mode. Just needed a sanity check

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Definitely set to slowest walking speed and a 15 min break every 2-3 hours (when there isn’t lunch or dinner) really helps keep the plan on track with young kids. Because bathroom breaks aren’t quick with kids! And you may want to stop have an ice cream :smiley:

If you are planning bathroom breaks - you NEED A VACATION!!!

You need to think of the TP as a guide and not a manifesto. I don’t know when specifically you are going - but things change in the park ALL THE TIME. Rides go down, wait times are way off (either higher or lower), etc. But PLEASE don’t follow the plans at the costs of having fun (especially with the 5 year old). Literally take time to smell the flowers. Follow the plan, but if someone needs to pee - for God’s sake let them. If someone wants something to eat - get it. If someone wants to look in a store - enjoy the store. Use the TP to plan but please enjoy the moments of the trip.

We usually have a plan - but if something is off - we just change it. We were able to do Space Mountain 3 times in a row as we hit it at an odd time and it was worth the changes that it rippled to the rest of the plan

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Perfect advice right here.

Have you been spying on me??? :wink: That’s exactly what I do!

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I agree with David…it’s not all about the rides! Disney parks are beautifully themed and a joy to look at too! We have been numerous times to Disney and still not seen everything…don’t break your back…enjoy your holiday :grinning: Once you have been once you will be hooked!!

Exactly what davidtyost said… have your plan as a general strategy so everyone has an idea of what’s going on for the day but remember that the world won’t end if you get off track. Even if you get completely off you can always use the Lines app to help you shuffle your plans on the fly (look at current waits and projected waits to help you decide whether to do something now or wait) and it’ll still be a great day so definitely try not to think in terms of the clock too much.

One thing that helps me keep my micro-managing tendencies under control is to flag ADRs, FastPasses, and just a couple of other things as the “must dos”. Everything else is just bonus fun then, and I stress out less over thinking I’ve missed out.

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Agreed!! We have the MUST rides, the ADRs and TRY to do the FP - but we flip things around.

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Thank you all for providing some much needed perspective. I suppose for now I can suspend my plans to train everyone’s bladders to survive the riggers of a forced Disney march.

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Ha!! Its easy to get trapped. We laugh (now) about a trip many years ago that changed our toon. We (ok me) said “Stop having fun here - we are are late for having fun there!!!” That was my turning point. It is so hard - WDW is VERY expensive and it is very easy to get caught up on basing the level of fun solely on the # of rides you experienced.

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Another thing to take into account is the Sorcerers of the MK. Basically you pick up cards at the Fire House and then dart around a particular land in the MK “solving” a mystery. It is a lot of fun. our kids 9 and 12 still love it. But we will do one or two and then do rides in the area then do a few more etc and keep it really loose. Oh - we’re by Thunder mountain - lets go do that - and then get back to Sorcerers. So plan to do things like that too. A 5 year old can certainly do it (as well as the parents)

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Sfl

@tbarnes06 I feel you , this is our 3rd year in a row going to WDW. My wife only agreed to return if I promised to walk with her and ds,instead of clearing the path 15ft ahead of them. With my 6’6 250lbs self clutching my TP note card, yelling over my shoulder " let’s go, we were supposed to be at Space Mnt. 5 min. ago!!!" Don’t over think it. RD-11, noonish you’ll accomplish the most.

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SFl?

I think that means save for later…I have seen people tag that way in Chat sometimes so they can come back and reference closer to the date they go

Thanks, yeah, I am trying to tamp down my type-a-ness in all this, I want to be a help to my family, not a pain in the neck

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