Remember i suggested this to you? And you hummed and hawed?
I think I called it “planned spontaneity”.
You really should try it sometime. Oh wait, those two hours you have … well guess what? You now have some planned spontaneity in your plan. Ha ha, gotcha! 
It’s only horrifying when you have whiny, tired, annoying, kids bugging the living crap out of you - which you don’t, so it will be awesome. My husband could sit and look at those swinging monkeys, or lemurs (?) for hours (near ROL). The beauty is you can do ANYTHING YOU WANT. Most of us don’t have that luxury so shut up and enjoy it 
I am certain you will find it thus.
Many people enjoy being horrified; I suggest this is a good experiment for you.
Perfect. Consider this your few moments to place an emphasis on this task. 
It won’t work unless you get a scooter, I’ve been keeping up with your plans, you’ll be walking too much to get enormously fat.
Try to set a target of “mildly obese” instead!! Remember life is all about realistic goals.
I’m a planner. It makes me happy. Standing around saying “what next?” makes me lose my shit. We’ve been upteen times, several with large groups (18 one trip and 30 another). To be fair, our normal group is 7. That trip with 30 of us was the most fun to plan. I even planned for the breakdown I knew my SIL was going to have on day 3. The last time we went, the kids and DH said they didn’t want to be so strict with ADR’s and FPP’s. Sure, I’ll play along. Day 4, DS20 says “it’s better when mom plans”. For this trip in a few weeks, I’m planning, but not telling them anything. That way, they think it’s spontaneous and fun, but really it’s all figured out. Like magic.
My dh complains about all the planning that I’m doing (not him) for the months leading up to the trip…and then is grateful when we aren’t waiting hours for rides and have dinner reservations.
This trip, he is opting to stay at home and I’m taking the kids…but is still complaining about the planning. LOL
Not that I’m an expert from our one trip, I just did research, but there is so much that so many are missing…
Yes, this!! I’m constantly modifying and doing game-day walk-throughs in my head.
The majority of people really know very little or sometimes nothing when they arrive at Disney World/Disneyland. You can tell by talking to people or by observing them in the parks. I used to be one of them. I know so much more now than I ever did on my previous trips to Disney. My upcoming trip is the first time going to Disney World where I am actually going armed with knowledge. It’s all thanks to online forums/chats like these that I’ve gained so much knowledge. In the past I just went and did whatever. This time I’ve planned a trip for 11 months, the amount of research I’ve been able to do in 11 months is crazy, it seems like every day I learn something that I did not know before. This will allow us to do so many things on this trip we have never done before.
My coworker just went to Disney World in January and I helped her plan her trip. I gained a lot of knowledge from that experience as well. My coworker literally knew nothing about Disney World, and I mean NOTHING. Most people don’t know much about Disney because they don’t actively spent time online on forums, in chats, watching videos, reading reviews. They just show up and figure it out on the go. I planned the entire trip for my coworkers family because she needed and wanted the help. It was a practice run for my upcoming trip in May. So I was happy to do it.
One thing that the whole BG situation at DHS proved to me is that there are actually a lot of people who are at least reasonably well informed about WDW. Thousands of people know enough to be inside DHS before the park opens and use MDE to get a BG in less than a minute every day.
Just yesterday I said something to my husband about fast passes and he was like, do we really need to pay extra for that? And I was like…no, we don’t, because they are free? And then he told me someone at work told him they paid for fast passes and I was like, at least one of you is confused.
I agree with you on this. I think there is a large group of people who at least have some information, otherwise how is it that there are FPs and ADRs that are difficult to get at 60 and 180 days or seem to know when to get FPs for extended hours or when a new ride opens? There will always be those who are lost, but most people I know IRL at least know some information.
Exception: Club Level extra FPP are actually paid for
About the payed Fastpass thing, I think there are several factors that cause confusion. First, the language when you buy a ticket is that FP selections are included in the ticket. It kind of sounds like an add on that happens to be there for that particular ticket, which might not always be there. A lot of parks have some sort of FP system, and sometimes they are payed, including other Disney parks. And also the logic of “if it were free, it wouldn’t work”, which is partially true (it really is impossible for everyone who is going to AK one day to get a FP for FOP, but instead of charging directly for FPs, Disney adds a layer of indirection with changing for hotel nights that increase your access to FPs instead).
After our last trip where I felt like we waited in a ton of lines and basically had just an ok time, I determined that I was not going to let that happen again for our trip in April. What I’m discovering is the more I research, the more I realize there’s more to discover. It’s kind zen actually. But we are going to have an AMAZING time this time, in no small part because I have found so much we missed last time that we are going to be doing so many new things. Plus all the new stuff that just wasn’t there before.
But how many of you have experienced the “glassy eyed look?” This is when someone mentions they are going to Disney and I start giving advice. Ten, maybe 15 minutes later when I stop to catch my breath, that’s when I realize they’ve gone catatonic. Too much knowledge at one time, I guess.
When someone tells me they are going to WDW I get excited for them, but I don’t offer any advice. I’ve found it best to just answer specific questions if they ask and stick to that.
I have begun to do the same thing. It just seems folks don’t really appreciate the advice. It’s all in good spirit and you want them to have an awesome experience. But it seems most don’t really want to hear about it. And that is fine. They may learn soon enough on their own. Or not.
I make sure they know about the ADR and FPP window and just tell them I’m very knowledgeable and would be happy to help if they want and leave it at that.
I have always kept my answer short when people fine out we have been to Disney and they ask about our experience. I say we got to do almost everything and reference the TP website for great information. Some look it up and get overwhelmed, others look it up and come back saying they are thankful I gave them the info!
