I have had osteoarthritis since high school. It definitely forces me to slow down. I’m the tortoise and that’s ok. Really I’m not that slow yet, but I can’t “walk with purpose” for very long without falling into a terrible limp. It keeps me from cross-crossing a park too much.
To answer @Jeff_AZ I am more commando touring early in the day and relaxed in the afternoon evening. Like a pick your own adventure novel. The early part of the story is pretty set. Then, somewhere close to mid-day we land on a pick a, b, or c to fill this time frame before x next set part of the plan. I don’t know so much that it’s slowing down, but the a,b, c choices make it easy to change on the fly to idea d, which is dance in the street because there happens to be a band playing that you didn’t include in your plans. You don’t have to feel bad about missing a, b, AND c because you knew you weren’t getting to all three of them anyway.
Also. If you start dancing in the street on a solo trip I need a video.
It’s easier to do fewer things if you just limit your choices. I find this really hard to do while in the parks. I mostly want to do all the things, and I just run out of time or steam to do them all, which is why the priorities go in the plan first. (I need TP to have a ranking system. Never bump Priority 1 items into the “this happens after your plans finish time” category. )
I keep telling friends I am going to do Princess Weekend solo and when I say I’m doing the challenge they are all “well at least you can run early and go back to the hotel to relax!! Is there a spa you could go to??” and in my head I’m all “are you crazy?!? There are parks to go to immediately!!! For all the hours I can be there!!”
I think people like us relax differently than normal people. I honestly get fidgety and blue sitting at home/in a room all day even if I’m reading an excellent book or something. Must. Move. Self.
I have no idea how to slow down either. I think it would take moving to FL, or at least already having the next trip on the books (which I’ve never done). There is just too much I have to see or accomplish any time I’m there and it feels like failure if I don’t get to everything I intended to on every trip. It becomes a giant game that must be won at all costs or puzzle to be solved, and the fear of being wasteful or inefficient with my precious park time is overwhelming. It’s hard for me to play the long game and readjust what’s really valuable and wasteful. The more trips I can get in, I’m hoping that will calibrate itself.
I just saw this thread and didn’t read through all the comments, so don’t know if this was mentioned.
We had a lot more time than you do in the parks, but we did stop and chill. One option is to head to Tom Sawyer Island and sit on one of the rocking chairs on one of the decks. I sat and watched BTMRR while my kids and DH ran around the island.
DH and DD are dawdlers. They like to walk at a slow pace and stop in many shops while at WDW. DS and I are always trying to hurry them up, rolling our eyes, and tapping our feet at every stop. (DS mainly helps just to keep me from stressing.) We are always the ones who have been on our phones seeking the next FP and re-optimizing our TP’s. Then when we do have to wait in a long line, they complain. DD had several knee injuries in HS with Volleyball and Dance, and somehow, when it’s time to hurry up, her knee pain manages to resurface. It’s maddening! When the trip is over and I ask if she had a good time, she always says that she hates the “rush, rush, rush” mentality that we have at WDW. Then I feel terrible and realize I ruined the vacation for everyone. The answer is to have non-park days between parks, but we can never get our schedules to line up for more than a week. So little time to do everything!
You can’t. I’m not gonna lie to you. You saw my trip report from Universal. I couldn’t stop until I’d been on everything.
My advice…snack often. Walk and eat. You can’t take food into a lot of queues. You can look around then. If you see a show / parade starting, stick around. You may not “have time” to plan a show, but you’ll often find you’ll be ahead of schedule at some point.
I’m excited for you!!
In my TP’s I always put in a 10 minute break after every 2 attractions or 70 minutes - whichever happens first. You’ll habitually be ahead unless you have a lot of toilet breaks!
I am making a real effort to make sure we slow down and relax on this trip. On our trip in 2019, I tried so hard not to over schedule us, but I still felt like anytime we were in the parks we were walking fast with purpose and rarely just stopped to look around.
About a month after our trip DS said his best memory was when we were in Epcot and we sat on a bench and drank smoothies, because it was the one time we were not in a rush, and he could just enjoy the scenery.
That hit me hard, so I am trying to plan time at the pool every day and I’m padding our plans with lots of breaks and things that won’t be awful if we skip them, so that I know we have time to just sit and have a snack and look around and just enjoy being there.
My wife and I made our plans to be much more generic. It wasn’t about specific rides, but time we were dedicating to specific lands, for example. “Morning at TSL, afternoon in SWGE.” When you leave it that open, you are more likely to just absorb your surroundings where you are, rather than moving on to the next thing because you finished the rides.
I know, I can’t help myself! I’m an obsessive planner, I make lists of lists. I spend my life as an ultra type A personality, trying to disguise myself as a relaxed person.
I think that’s why planning for a Disney trip appeals to me so much, there is so much to organize, I feel like I’m in my element and I can finally use my super powers
On our last trip we finally wised up. Those of us who were slow just didn’t do as much. I’m not going on FoP which we rope drop. The speedy ones go on ahead while I mosey along. Find a beverage and a seat. Chat folks up, try to finish my book before it leaves, enjoy the ambiance.
At HS I’m joined by a non Star Wars/Toy Story fan. We’re very good at holding down a bench and waving to Character cavalcades. We’re also not much into shopping. The other two are always off and gone.
