Envisioning
Envisioning. We do it every day. It’s something that we do in childhood and continue to practice when we become adults. So if we do it in our everyday lives why not also do it when we plan our Walt Disney World vacations?
So what is envisioning? How can we use this technique to help make for a successful trip to Walt Disney World? Let’s take a look.
A Definition
What do I mean by envisioning? I see this as a special technique by which we hope to foresee both how events might roll out and how those options might be put in front of us on a day-to-day basis. By doing so we best prepare ourselves to meet and react to those events.
For instance, let’s say we have a big meeting in work. We would imagine how the meeting would start off, what the discussion topics will be, the possible discussion paths, potential decision making moments, and most importantly, how we will approach the whole meeting.
So envisioning is basically a planning tool that we use to somehow, not necessarily predict, but understand, how the future may evolve and how we can best make use of that future.
Now we need to apply this technique to our WDW vacation plans.
Segmenting the Vacation
When envisioning a WDW vacation, it is best to break the vacation up into components to best study these specific areas. For our purposes, let’s look at the components that make up a Walt Disney World vacation and try to understand how envisioning can be used for each one.
First there is the transportation component, of getting back and forth and also traveling while in WDW. Then there is the lodging component; where to stay and why. A significant component involves dining such as where and how often to eat. Finally, the largest component of all involves park touring, as this component has a significant effect on all the others.
We will take each one of these components and go through some envisioning scenarios to help understand how to use envisioning to prepare for a WDW vacation.
Getting There and Getting Around
When you plan your vacation, you obviously need to figure out how you will travel to Orlando. Envisioning what your options offer you will help make for the best option for you.
For instance, if you travel to Orlando by car, you will envision the journey and how long it will take to drive to and from Orlando.
As you envision the journey by car you will arrive at a sense of whether this option falls into the convenience or inconvenience column.
Envisioning will shed light on such things as cost of motels and meals and gas and other components that come into play.
If you fly, you have to be aware of factors such as time, the cost, and the need to plan far in advance to secure airfare.
By envisioning your modes of transportation you can see what works best for you and make what you feel suits your purpose. That’s what envisioning is all about.
Also, keep in mind that how you navigate around the WDW is important as well, and envision how it would be to use WDW transportation or rent a car. This will require you to really focus on your potential itinerary and touring habits.
As you really think about how your days will take place, you will be able to judge as what will suit you best nas a means of transportation during your vacation.
Do you want the hassle of dealing with a rental car or do you substitute the word “hassle” with the word “convenience” based on the envisioning you go through?
Think about it.
Lodging
For the first-timer, the practice of applying envisioning to the lodging component may be somewhat difficult. It is hard to imagine the pros and cons of staying in certain resorts either on or off the property unless you are very familiar with the area.
Budgetary constraints may help whittle down your choices, but it is important to know what resort options are there and to envision how your general touring habits will be so that you are choosing the best resort for you. This means location, access to and from your room (directly outside or via foyer or hallway), and most importantly, access to transportation.
Envision how you prefer your mornings to begin and your days to end. What resort is best suited to achieve how you envision those times? That is important.
Remember that budgetary constraints come first and they will help to eliminate the need to focus on more resorts than you really need to when envisioning your lodging.
Meals
Did I mention food? Oh yes, it is a huge part of envisioning the vacation in so many ways.
If you can truly envision how you see your dining habits for the vacation then that provides you with guidelines like how much to budget for your meals, where exactly you are going to eat, how many times per day to eat, as well as the cost breakdown of counter service to sit down meals, and even snacks.
For instance, if you know that you want to eat at certain restaurants in certain parks, then you will plan your days at the park to the point where by you will know when it’s best to eat at those restaurants. The same goes for counter service meals at that park.
For some people, their park touring itinerary can become as detailed as, “…we will go to EPCOT in the morning and in the mid-afternoon we will head over to Magic Kingdom.” If that’s the case and Kona at the Polynesian is a planned restaurant, then why not envision going to the Ticket and Transportation Center from EPCOT and either walking from there to the Polynesian Resort or taking the monorail to the resort and enjoying that planned meal at Kona?
Also, and this may seem a bit anal, but let’s say you are thinking about trying that thing called Dole Whip? Why not make a note that just after or before you take a spin on the Pirates of the Caribbean that you can stop by Aloha Isle and try one of these treats?
The envisioning of how you would do certain things will also make for a very optimizing effect on your trip planning and help you to avoid wasting time, money, and energy because it will help you plan.
Park Touring
This is the big one because it involves the main component of your trip. Just how do you see your trip unfolding in regards to park touring?
How often will you visit certain theme parks? Will you visit one theme park more than the others? Will you visit one in the morning more than others? The obvious park that comes to mind is Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Will you hold off morning visits to other theme parks? Many people do not see the need to visit MGM early because attractions in that theme park do not really get going until mid-morning.
Also how do you see your touring within the parks?
As you envision your park touring, keep in mind that you should always give yourself options because you never know what the crowds will be like. For instance, if the wait times at Splash and Big Thunder are too much for you, then maybe the option is at that time to do Pirates and Dole Whip and come back later, maybe during a parade time when the queues are not so long.
Maybe if the lines for Soarin’ are too long then you best get a Fastpass and then have breakfast, lunch or a bite to eat at the food court, and then use your Fastpass . You will not be wasting time because instead of waiting idly in line you are taking care of a dining moment and then making the most of your time.
So envisioning your primary and secondary options for park touring can be a real plus in making the most out of your trip.
I should also mention that this practice of envisioning your options will eliminate some stress if things do not go according to plan. This is because you will have explored options well in advance of your trip and you will be prepared.
Envisioning and Planning
Sure, you’re saying, “Hey Mike what’s the difference between planning and envisioning?” Good question. The difference is that in the overall scheme of things planning is actually phase one and envisioning is phase two.
Phase one (planning) gets the ball rolling as far as when you are going and how long you plan to stay and also gets you thinking about where you are going to stay and other things.
Phase two (envisioning) gets into more depth as to just how you see the vacation taking place and actually helps you make decisions that enable you to mold the vacation components so that the vacation does in fact unfold as you see or expect it to unfold.
I’ve been doing envisioning for years and it has always helped me deal with situations that I end up being prepared for and has made my vacations much more enjoyable.
After all it never hurts to do as much as you can to help you enjoy your vacation and work towards helping you… Remember the Magic.
Next Time
Have you ever thought about working as a cast member and what jobs you’d like and what jobs you wouldn’t like?
I have.
Next time we’ll look at some of these jobs.
Until then…class dismissed.
