If there is one thing we are consistent about when we travel to Disney, it is having a well-organized plan. It isn’t that we want to script every second of the day, but we do like to have an idea of what park we are going to, when our FastPass+ reservations are, and where we are going to eat. Our plan isn’t as complicated as a D-day landing, but does have a basic framework.
The one tool we use to keep everything organized is a spreadsheet. We originally started using an Excel spreadsheet, but eventually moved on to keeping it online with Google Docs. By using Google Docs, we can both work with and see the spreadsheet at the same time. We organize the columns by days, making sure to include travel days. The rows get broken down into different sections. These sections have changed over time and sometimes change trip to trip.
The top section of rows breaks down into different parts of the days. We include our starting location for the day (where we wake up), planned breakfast location, and our general plans for the morning part of the day (Rope Drop is key). We then detail lunch locations, and afternoon park plans (or activity), followed by any dinner plans. We will list the evening park/activity followed by our sleeping location. Our spreadsheet also includes the rough outline of our travel plan, including flight/train/rental car reservations or driving plans.
If we have purchased the Disney Dining Plan for a particular trip, the next section of our plan includes information designed to help us track the number of remaining meal entitlements — how many meals we have left per person, per day. We don’t keep track of the snacks on the plan since we don’t plan those. We haven’t been purchasing the Disney Dining Plan lately, mainly because the kids now count as Disney “adults,” but they don’t eat nearly enough to make it worth purchasing the plan. The above spreadsheet doesn’t include the Dining Plan since we didn’t purchase it for the above trip.
A new section we have added to the plan is for FastPass+ selections. We list our ride reservations and the time interval for our selections. We don’t always choose the same rides (one of us doesn’t like roller coasters), so sometimes we will have more than 3 listed. We usually can figure out which FastPass+ selections go with which person just by looking. This saves our phone battery since we don’t have to start up the My Disney Experience App just to determine the time of our FastPass+ selections.
The last section of the plan lists the operating hours for any attractions we might want to see, including the hours for the parks (and Touring Plans crowd predictions for the parks), parade times, and fireworks. If we have purchased the Water Park and More ticket add-on, we will list the water park times and the times for the mini-golf courses.
Our spreadsheet helps us organize our plans and our trips. We use the online spreadsheet for planning and print a version with us right before our trip to take with us as we travel. Recording planned park visits and dining locations allows us to determine where we are going on which days, in addition to showing us possible conflicts. It keeps us organized as we move through the days of the trip as well, so we know what we are doing in the following days. Let us know in the comments how you keep your Disney trips organized!
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