Hear Me Out: Don’t Plan Your Disney World Trip At All

We were standing in line to ride Frozen Ever After in Disney World when the couple behind us began to argue. They needed to get in line for the Ana and Elsa meet and greet and then get to their lunch reservation at the Coral Reef restaurant by 11 a.m. if they were ever going to make it to the Bippity Boppity Boutique for their afternoon appointment. Did they need to leave the line, or would they have time for the ride?

Things got heated and snippy, while their two girls looked pained as their parents argued. One kid pulled on their mom’s shirt.

“I just want us all to feel happy,” she said.

Up until that point, I was sort of kind of regretting that I had done basically no planning coming into our first-ever trip family trip to Disney. I booked the cheapest room at the cheapest resort on the property (which, I was surprised to find, was right around a very reasonable $100 a night). Then I bought us park tickets. And that was it. We just showed up.

My plan was to not have a plan: As a busy single mom who didn’t have the time (or, honestly, the will) to plan out each day from dawn to dusk, my strategy was to rawdog Disney and see what happened.

I didn’t make a single meal reservation. I didn’t buy any Lightening Lane passes. I didn’t look into special events or activities that required extra money or reservations. I didn’t even look at park hours, rope drops, or “Disney hacks.”

My two kids and I? We’d just walk around the parks and see what happened.

I had two worries: The first was the FOMO feeling that other people at the parks who had really done a deep dive into Disney would do something amazing we missed or have a better time overall. The second was that I wouldn’t be getting every dollar out of my trip unless it was intricately planned to stuff as much magic into it as possible.

Neither fear materialized.

Here’s what I loved about my lack of planning: We were able to enjoy our days with so much less stress. There was never a time we had to be anywhere in the parks. There was never a day when we couldn’t see something in the parks and do it on a whim. If we liked something, we could stay longer. If we didn’t like something, we could leave. If we got tired, we rested. And I didn’t have to guess or anticipate what my two daughters (ages 10 and 12) would like to do. They got to tell me, in real time, what they were interested in.

We also got the chance to discover things. During our days, we would wander past something cool and decide to investigate it. And since I hadn’t read every Disney blog under the sun, these things were a total surprise.

Just one example of this: We were in the Avatar section of Animal Kingdom, which all of us decided we loved. We stopped to eat at the quick service cafe there, and we were completely delighted by the incredibly fun and creative Pandora-inspired menu. The dessert was a magical purple “pod” filled with mousse. The kids’ hot dog looked other-worldly rolled in puffed dough. My shrimp pasta had bursting bobas in it. It was such a whimsical surprise to all of us, after being immersed in the world all morning. And I realized that if I had researched the park and planned our meal, it wouldn’t have happened this way at all.

It also gave my kids more control of the trip, so that it could be more fun for them. After all, isn’t that what Disney trips are all about? I was really surprised to find that their favorite thing in Disney was the World Showcase in Epcot, where we could walk to different “countries” around a large lake and experience each culture’s food and music. We ended up spending almost two full days in Epcot, something I would have never guessed if I had tried to plan ahead. Who knew my kids would rather explore “Morocco,” get grilled kebabs, and get henna art on their hands instead of riding rollercoasters at Magic Kingdom? I didn’t, until they told me.

Listen: I very much get the Type A tendency of motherhood to plan out everything and be ready for anything. It’s basically a survival tactic that we hone from the moment we meet our first child. Planning has always helped us as moms and it’s always been our friend. But there’s also a such thing as over-planning to battle our own anxieties, and we should be watching for it.

If you are stressing and over-planning the perfect Disney trip, I’m here to tell you: You do not have to do a thing. If one or two special activities that you’ve heard about need a reservation, go for it! If you know your son absolutely must do the light saber making thing, that is great. But if you don’t have a minute of time or a molecule of energy to make sure everyone has fun at Disney before you even get there, I want you to know that it won’t make much of a difference. Not planning might even lead to a better time and happier kids. And it will probably cost less, too.

Back to the Frozen Ever After ride: The arguing couple escalated. The dad left the line in a huff, and the mom and kids reluctantly followed him. After all, they had a tight schedule of fun to follow. My kids and I? Our day was a blank page rolled out before us, and we had exploring to do.

Sarah Aswell is a Deputy Editor at Scary Mommy and Romper, where she leads the news and trending team, the social media team, and Scary Mommy Book Club. She also regularly contributes humor, essays, and original interviews to the site.