WDW trip planning - walking and thinking

It’s been a few months but the WDW trip planning continues with great excitement!

So what have I been doing these last few months?

While I am still very much not convinced about the need to pay for Genie+, I have been using the time by playing around with the WDW mobile app and learning as much as I can about touring plans.

I have never been the spreadsheet-toting person that just simply has to visit everything in every single Disney park, eat all the snacks and try all the trendy restaurants. Most of my vacations include some research but I do want to HAVE a vacation so I don’t like planning things so much in advance. Things like spreadsheets and touring plans are really not my thing, even though I have seen so many cute templates online (and I DO like a notebook!). Sometimes even just reading the articles about those makes me click away immediately - too boring.

When researching Genie+ I forced myself to read some of those articles and still, I remain unconvinced. I want this trip to be memorable, sure, but I want to have the flexibility to make choices according to how I feel on the day and not because some spreadsheet tells me where to go. I especially don’t like the idea of booking meals so far in advance, and let me explain why.

I feel, like many others, that I don’t want to be a slave to those reservations, which could be the case especially if it is a very hard to get one. Planning my day around a meal doesn’t appeal and, most importantly on this trip, I am traveling alone so I have ultimate flexibility. Also, I still take a long time to eat meals and I do better with many smaller snacks throughout the day rather than a large-ish meal. I discovered this on our last trip to Disneyland Paris where stopping to eat was a rather large time investment, and I felt a bit rushed which isn’t great for my swallowing anxiety. 

For these reasons, I think it’s pretty clear that I’ll have to eat flexibly; maybe carry a few snacks, maybe treat myself to a small item during the day when I need it. I feel that this is what will work better for me, which has the added advantages of not having to make any advanced dining reservations and make me save some money. 

Having made the decision on eating, I also had to consider the other thing that I’ll be doing that week: walking. A lot. 

On that front, I’m less concerned as I usually walk almost every day, especially if the weather is good. It helps me take a break from work and I can catch up with my podcasts and audiobooks, so I have a good base. However, in the last few months, I’ve been more conscious about my walking and making sure that I do make sure that I get out there. Walking has the additional benefit that I can use the time as planning time and I tend to think through things while increasing my step count. While I’ve been out walking I’ve thought about what to include in my park backpack and have been making a note of which shoes are the best for the WDW walking challenge. 

With this in mind, and also considering the Florida weather in October, I’ve also used my walking time to think a bit about packing. Here in the UK, we may get a day or two of hot, humid weather a year - if any at all. So I tend not to own too many suitable items of clothing because I just would never wear them. I’ve purchased a few pieces that may come in handy - and all are thrifted which is keeping in with my New Year’s resolution. 

During my stay in Florida, I will not be renting a car and I plan to get around using mostly my hotel shuttle and Disney transportation. I may also have to use Uber/Lyft and have worked out that this is still considerably cheaper than hiring a car, especially with all those parking charges. It may make things a little trickier if I want to, for example, pop to Target to get some of those park snacks but I think my hotel’s location is pretty good for that. I’ve been studying maps of the local area and also my memories as I’ve been there before (albeit a few years ago so things have changed). From what I have learned, I think the area where I am staying has lots of options for me within a short walking distance and I can always rideshare if needed. 

As I write this I am less than 50 days away from my trip, so I’ve been also taking care of important admin like completing my passenger info online, choosing seats on my flight and, of course, paying the balance on the holiday. Useful information like park opening hours and special events are now available online, making planning which parks to visit when easier. I’ve made another set of changes to my park reservations (all done very easily) and have even made other arrangements for one particular day…

Next time I will share what that day is, and the one incredibly useful tool that I’ve found that may really be a game-changer...