I’m curious about how much other people’s families help with planning their WDW vacations.
In my family I do all of the major planning. DH and I decide on the timing of the trip and where we will stay. After that I am in charge of pretty much all other details. I consult DH and the kids about where they would like to have dinners and then I select which parks we will go to on each day and what ADRs we will attempt to get. Once we have our ADRs I again consult about what rides and shows everyone is interested in before drawing up touring plans and seeing what fastpasses I am able to get. This then allows me to finalize the touring plans.
Luckily, my family is great about going along with the plans I make. I think I actually prefer them to let me set up the plans so that we get to everything that I want to do! Interestingly DH does all of the planning for the drive down. I don’t care where we stop or where we stay so long as we get to WDW on schedule!
How about the rest of you? Plan it all, delegate tasks or something else?
ZERO! I’m the nerd in our household and my DW is the “free spirit”. So this works out for us. Sometimes it can be frustrating because I don’t want to be the “Fun Dictator”, but my family are truly just happy being on vacation.
I always ask… is there anything that is a MUST DO? If so, I prioritize that since I get to pick the other 90% of what we do. Plus, I’m such a theme park nerd that they trust me to make choices they’ll love.
We’ve used TP for years and once my family saw how streamlined and easy their day is because of my efforts they are thrilled to leave it to me.
I can’t imagine what a pain WDW trips were for my parents who didn’t have TP. We would just walk around overwhelmed going… “What do you want to do now?”
This is my sister’s first trip since 1995 and my nephew’s first ever, and I couldn’t even get her to pick a restaurant. It was “too overwhelming”. I’m sure she’ll be a lot of help in the parks too…
The kids are being surprised so they won’t know about the trip until a few weeks before. They’ll get to make minor decisions while we’re there.
I better not hear one complaint about my plans while we’re there!!
I’m in the ZERO camp. At best, I get some feedback to “How can I make you Happy?!” but even then I get Yawns. And then complaints when we get there and I’ve apparently not correctly mind-read the family.
I will occasionally get a tweet about a new restaurant or a review and I will ask- you want to try it? Other than that no one ever wants to talk to me about Disney, and I could talk about it all day, every day. I must say, I have never received any complaints about my planning.
Last trip was tough since I was the only one who had gone before. First time DH and kids. Next trip, DH has given a few opinions and I think once we book and it’s more real he will have more. I’ve been asking oldest questions just to gather things she will want to do again.
DH loved how we didn’t wait in line— so I earned the planning trust last time!
DH trusts me to plan a great trip. The only info I get from him is when I ask him specific questions, like what table service restaurant he would like most. I like being able to incorporate what he’d like, but am otherwise more than happy to plan the whole thing.
My DH became a touring plans convert on our first trip when we spent six days and hardly waited in line at all. He and the kids like to see what I have planned and make a few suggestions, but they trust me to make sure they get to everything they want.
I hope that they all appreciate your effort! I am such a Type A personality that I can’t imagine leaving decisions like restaurants to someone else. I always have definite opinions about what I want to eat!
The complaints would drive me nuts. My daughters have been making a few more suggestions/requests for our upcoming trip because they know that they aren’t allowed to complain if we miss something they never told me about!
DH works hard and pays for my TP membership. Other than that, they ‘help’ by leaving me to plan and following the plans as I’ve set them.
Seriously, other than, “name one favourite ride” and “which will be our one special dinner”, it’s all on me to plan. Like I said, though, they don’t complain about my plans and that’s half the battle.
I feel you on the ability to talk about Disney all day every day. I try to restrain myself because I know not everyone wants to do it. But I love discussing planning.
My family started out like yours. They still leave me to make the plans but they seem to enjoy talking about it more than they did on our first few trips.
Interestingly DH does all of the planning for the drive down. I don’t care where we stop or where we stay so long as we get to WDW on schedule!
