As word of my trip has gotten out, I have found more and more people wanting to offer advice and suggestions for my trip. While I appreciate their intent, I have a hard time not getting a bit…annoyed for lack of a better term. Then I feel bad for being annoyed, but I haven’t found a good way of saying, “You have no idea how much time I have put into planning this trip.” I just smile and say thanks, and maybe I need to take less pride in my efforts, but if one more person tell me to “be sure you book your fastpasses” I might lose it.
Tell me I’m not a jerk, or at least if I am, that you are too and we can start a club.
In the back of my head I sit there thinking “I know WAY more about this stuff than you ever dreamed of” but I smile and nod and ignore it. Of course, if they say it around friends or family who know me well, they usually jump in going ‘You don’t know who you’re taking to here…’
So, that also happened to me a lot. When someone gives me real basic advice like ‘‘don’t forget to book your fastpasses’’, I smile gleefully like I just found a brethren from a secret cult or something and then I answer something really complicated that shows how much of a Disney geek I am.
It’s crazy how many people have said that to me. Like they are divulging some great secret. In fact a few “discovered” free fastpasses on their last trip. Did you know you can book one fast pass at a time? All of the things I wanted to say got bottlenecked in my head and I only sighed, shook my head and settled on “wow”. They thought it was because they were Disney insiders and seemed pleased at my reaction. Really, I could not believe they thought they were sharing useful information.
My initial reaction is to get upset too, like they are insulting me by thinking I don’t know how to plan a trip like Disney. But then I remember that not everyone is an analytical researcher and planner, and they really do mean it with good intentions.
It’s even worse when it’s bad/wrong advice!!
“You should try to sneak in your own snacks, Disney charges an arm and a leg!” Uh…you can bring in whatever food and drinks you want, but ok.
I must admit this doesn’t bother me. Or at least not as much as when people ask for advice, I give it to them and then they ignore it. “Oh you know you said to book Fastpasses for the Mine Train? Well we didn’t bother in the end because we like to just wing it. Anyway, we ended up just not doing that one because the line was just crazy long. We went on that boat ride with all the dolls instead, that only had a 40 minute wait”.
I just got off the phone with Disney reservation rep - and she was very nicely trying to tell me when I could book my ADRs, or informing me of things like , “That resort is on the monorail…”, etc. I just responded with a few pleasant, “uh huhs”.
Had to listen to my MIL yesterday insisting that you can buy alcoholic drinks with snack credits on the meal plan. I don’t know if this was ever the case, just that it is not the case now.
Me: “That would be awesome, but…”
Clearly it was my mistake for bringing up the topic by telling SIL who is going in 2 weeks that she can get an alcoholic drink with each meal credit on the dining plan.
I wouldn’t mind that so much as it would open up some discussion. My husband and I are the only regular Disney-goers we know so we don’t get to have discussions with others about trip planning. It would be nice to have someone to talk to about their preferences and such.
So funny! This is our first time as a family going to WDW, so we are getting sooooo much advice from friends who have been once or twice before. Clearly, none of them are liners. You’re totally right that their advice is very basic, but I usually just answer with so much detailed information that they say…I thought you said you’ve never been before??
Friend: make sure to sign up for Jedi training!
Me: yes, definitely. We booked a PPO at hollywood and vine so we’ll hopefully be there to sign up before the crowds.
Friend: huh?
Friend: Try to get a fast pass for 7dmt or it will be impossible to ride.
Me: I booked early morning magic
Friend: … whats early morning magic? Is that like early magic hours??
Then they start talking to me about Disney stuff and I am so happy to satisfy my daily Disney talk quota. Turn it into a win-win!
