Technology and the Planning

My vacation fast approaches and I am getting straight up giddy about it.  I've got our ADRs and flights booked, travel to and from the airport set up...soooo....now what.  So much excitement but nowhere to channel it?!

With a recent gift of an iPhone, I now know exactly where to channel my abounding Disney love:  making preparations now so I won't have to worry in the parks.  I'm talking about setting up reminders in advance for things to happen while I'm there.  The days of a "clipboard of fun" are behind us, we're moving into the digital age!  There are countless Disney apps out there, but I just want to detail the things that you can do with the software you already have.

(Disclaimer:  You don't have to have an iPhone in order to do this, any smart phone would probably be able to do the trick.  I am going to stick to mostly iPhone phrasing, just because it is with what I am more familiar.)




1.  Advanced Dining Reservations and Parades

 Put all of your ADRs into your calendar with alerts of about 15 - 30 minutes.  If you have any extra details you would like to know about dinner (i.e. hidden mickeys to find, whether you are using a dining credit, activities immediately to follow, etc.).

You will get a little sound when it's time to head to your dinner and best of all, you won't have to check your watch all day, worried that you'll miss it!

You can do the same with all of the parades (whether you want to see them or avoid them).

2.  Park Hours

It is well known that in order to get the most out of your time in the 'World, you've gotta utilize those Extra Magic Hours.  Using your calendar application for these is perfect, but I suggest making an "all day" event that has all the hours listed in it, rather than timed calendar events.  It will help simplify your calendar and therefore make it easier each day (between ADRs and Parades, the calendar will fill up fast).

I made an all day calendar event for each day that details the hours of all the parks.  Don't forget that Future World (labeled FW) and the World Showcase (labeled WS) have different hours.

3.  Notes about individual parks

So you've been browsing all kinds of websites and have found all kinds of awesome information and sights that you want to see in each park and resort, but how to keep track of them?  When it comes to the iPhone, you can set location-based reminders so that you can get a message when you get to a specific place.  You could put these in as reminders on specific days at specific times if you know where you will be each day.  Personally, I like to have some freedom on my vacation, so the location reminders are perfect.

In order to do this, you will need the addresses of each park and you will need to make address book entries with those addresses for each.  Once you've done that, simply go into the "Reminders" application, add the things that you want to do, and then set it to a location reminder of "when you arrive".  It sounds far more complicated than it actually is and now you won't be bound by a strict schedule or huge list while you are exploring WDW.


It may seem daunting, but your technology can free up your days in the parks by keeping you off your watch and/or clipboard of fun and enjoying your vacation!