I am thoroughly enjoying this. I love how you are giving installments and I was hooked after the first one and keep checking back for more. Its a happy tale 
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Great PreTP! And how sweet is it that Daddy is planning the trip for his girls!!! You guys are going to have such a great time. Great job on scoring those great ADRs and FP+, you got some great ones!
Make sure and look for the BounceBack offer in your room packet. After our first time we were hooked and booked for the next year with the great discounts offered! We weren’t positive we would be back that soon but for a $200 hold we couldn’t pass it up
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I have a BA from Metro State College of Denver with emphasis in Secondary Education. Started with my library district in 1995 as a library page and climbed through the ranks to Youth Services Librarian. A librarian, as you well know, is never boring!
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Part 4: I Need a Support Group
At what point do you realize that you have a problem?
For me, it wasn’t when I bought a second copy of the Unofficial Guide with Kids, just to make sure that I had access to all the most recent information, (even though I could find it easily on TouringPlans).
It wasn’t when I traded in my normal preaching podcasts and The Dan Patrick show for any Disney World-related transmission I could lay my hands on. Lou Mongello, WDW Today, Dis Unplugged and more keep me fed with a constant stream of updates from “the World” during my drive, while loading the dishwasher, and, yes, even while brushing my teeth.
It wasn’t even when I nervously decided to jump in and post a question to the forum here. I had been lurking and looking for answers for some time, but I wasn’t yet ready to become one of those people. You know the type, the Disney abbreves people who reduce family members to mere code letters. For some reason, taking the jump into the forum world felt like crossing over from Disney fan to Disney fanatic. (Consequently, I’m sure none of you ever ‘cheats’ by visiting WDWMagic or the Dis Boards, right?)
Actually none of these things was the cue to me that it should have been.
For me, the realization that I might have a problem came a couple of weeks ago at one in the morning.
DW woke up and I wasn’t in bed. She came in the bathroom and there I was, sitting on the floor in the dark, huddled over a brightly-lit laptop screen.
“What are you doing?!”
I’m sure she assumed the worst.
“Um. I’m tweaking the plan,” was my feeble response.
Tweaking the plan.
That’s what I do now. I tweak The Plan. Now capitalized, mind you.
I’m telling you, I was allergic to spread sheets before. I hated Excel. But now all I do now is spend time in Google Sheets tweaking The Plan.
Today, I just found out that the week we’re there, MK is opening an hour earlier than previously reported. Am I excited? Nope, because it means I gotta change everything in The Plan. (And I gotta figure out if our family can realistically get up and get to MK by 6:50am!)
Or last night, as I scanned the plan, conundrum: should we plan more time in the World Showcase? Yes. Yes, we should. Then what do we give up? We have to give something up! Literally Googled: "do kids enjoy circle of life at epcot?” Now it’s gone. Circle of Life is off The Plan. I’m sure it’s great. I love Pumbaa and Timon as much as the next guy, but cutting them gave us back 25 minutes.
So here it is. THE PLAN. Tweaked, many many times. Hard proof of my dysfunction, open for your thoughts and critique.
If you dare take a look, a couple of things to keep in mind:
-I actually am Mr. Spontaneous. Once on site, I believe that I will be able to go with the flow when needed. But in my head, time for spontaneity at WDW means going into it knowing as much as you can about all there is to do.
-I know this is a lot, and I know that we cannot do it all. I know, I know. But we have to start somewhere.
-Not everything is on here. Haunted Mansion isn’t on here. Test Track isn’t on here. I tried to think through the eyes of 3 girls 8,6, and 2 and then sprinkle in a handful of things that the kid in me had to do.
-Regarding our travel plans: we’re driving from our home in Memphis, Tennessee to the kids’ grandparents’ house, where we will then unveil the surprise of the trip, and then driving the 10 hours to Orlando.
Alright, who’s ready to form a support group? As they say, you’re only as sick as your secrets.
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I have to say we’re sitting here watching tv and I just got the strangest look when I started laughing out loud. I am thoroughly enjoying your writing. I didn’t know I was one of ‘those’ people though. I’ll take it as a compliment!
Did you see my post about using google calendar as your time keeper? I love it and I can sync it to show pop ups on my phone when we have adr’s or fp’s coming up so I don’t forget them.
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Absolutely loving reading these updates. Thanks for sharing your journey.
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Like @outer, I too am sitting here smiling! You have been blessed with a gift the way you write.
I have been obsessed for a while now. I think, given your profession, you will understand when I have thoughts like, have I inadvertently made Disney my idol? A few years ago, I told myself that I would not read the TP blog each day until I did my daily Bible reading. I should be doing that now with the Forum as I’m currently on September 23 and it’s November 14!
When my husband sees me on my phone or the computer, he speaks one word “Disney?”
I like to think I’ve reconciled my love of Disney with my love of God. I hope so!
I looked at your plan. I am assuming you evaluated your plans through TP. What walking speed did you use? If you didn’t use the slowest, I’d consider it so you have time to park strollers and potty breaks.
You have a packed plan. I always keep in mind what I’m going to skip if I get behind.
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This sounds like fun…i am at 23 days, to was booked at 42 days (in part because of the window DS is 2.5) and have been stalking adrs and fp too…
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Ah yes, been down this road…
When I first became obsessed about planning our first trip, I realized that it felt very much like studying for an exam, and it really is. All this work ahead of time helped me memorize park maps and what to prioritize and when what happens and so on, so that in the park, it’s easier to get moving instead of being one of those paralyzed and stuck families on Main St reading a map and saying “what should we do?”
And being in the park sometimes feels like the actual exam, when you put it all into practice. 
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Loved reading the plan – oops, I mean, The Plan.
Not sure if you are interested in feedback. Just a couple thoughts: it has happened to me that when I had a perfect plan my kids would “de-rail” it by wanting to do something “silly” with a low or non-existent wait time, like the carousel or play in the Dumbo tent, instead of heading at top speed to Peter Pan… But, you know, every minute spent spinning on the carousel is another few people in front of us in line at Peter Pan!!! But once I was done hyperventilating, I decided to embrace what they wanted. My DD7 loves playing on the playground in the Dumbo tent more than anything, so yes, it’s a playground, but it always gets a good 20 minutes of its own, at least. And DS3 loves the carousel more than anything, so yes, we stop for that carousel ride first thing.
The other thought – I’m sure this is totally family-specific and kid-specific and “YMMV” and all that. But just to share: my kids are natural early risers, so usually have to go to bed early to make sure they get enough sleep, and they don’t really nap. Seriously, DD7 stopped when she turned 2 and it was a nightmare, she just physically can’t do it. That means, when I take them for an 8 or 9 AM start, they are getting tired or grumpy and ready for a break around 11. So we get out of the parks by 12 noon, usually. When I push it later, I regret it. Then we come back later for a few hours, then early to bed. I say this only because I saw on Thanksgiving you want to do 6 AM til midnight, which sounds AWESOME. And I also think, oh man, no way my own kids could handle it, ha ha.
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I just read this aloud to my husband… and the look he gave me said he can relate. 
(He’s no Scrooge, though, and he’s really genuinely excited about our January trip.)
And I must echo the others, @JonMcIntosh. Your line about Googling your Circle of Life question made me lol. 
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I too enjoy reading this and I am impressed that this is your first trip. You write well, and I am enjoying reading all of the stages of your planning.
DW woke up and I wasn’t in bed. She came in the bathroom and there I was, sitting on the floor in the dark, huddled over a brightly-lit laptop screen.
“What are you doing?!”
This cracked me up. I spent lots of time making plans before my last trip. I would research the best order for the rides, what time of day to do what, wrote up a TP, and then did not use it, I was comfortable enough with all that I set up, that while in the parks I knew what to do when, with a little help from the lines app for what lines were what times.
Keep up the great writing.
Still munching the jelly bellys, anyone??
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Just looked over The Plan. One thing to be derailed by is autographs. I see FPP for those that you can, but at Hollywood studios for example there is Mike & Sully for pictures, Buzz & Woody among others. If the girls get into it be prepared to stop whenever they see someone.
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Love it!!
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@B_squared, thanks for the feedback. Definitely interested in it as a first-timer.
A few thoughts to answer you:
A. Re: kids derailing the plan, On our heavy day at MK, we’ve got an hour before lunch to do anything we want in and around Fantasyland and then 45 min or so before dinner to do the same in Adventureland. I am concerned, after @Jedilogray’s comments about autographs at HS. Our day at the studios doesn’t leave much wiggle room due to all of the show schedules.
B. Re: that crazy long T’giving day. Yes, I’m concerned too. That’s why I was initially not excited about a 7am rope drop, because that’s due to be our RD Day.
It may not be feasible.
-The reason we’re doing it is that’s the only way to catch those late evening FP+'s, the parade, Wishes, etc. etc. AND to be able to catch RD for all of that early morning touring fun.
-It will only work if they (and me!) will all sleep in the afternoon, otherwise we’re screwed. We’re normally not nap takers except for our youngest, but all of the walking could change that. The days around T’giving day we get to sleep in a bit, so its not dawn to dusk every day.
I don’t know. If you had other thoughts, I would love to hear them.
@atomic Thanks for the encouragement, and for the tip on BounceBack, @Houstonmama. We’ll take a look for sure.
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This is a lot of fun guys. Thanks for reading along.
@Outer1, that’s the irony… now I’m one of those people.
@JustKeepSmiling, Disneydolatry. That’s it. I’m guilty for sure. It’s time to relax and trust that everything is in place. (Oh, and to your question, most of our plans are set to “relaxed” but our busiest days are set to “very relaxed.”)
@Sally_Carrera, I think I’ve Googled every specific question I can think of. From: “What’s the best way to surprise your kids with a Disney trip?” to “Should I tip Mousekeeping?” etc. etc.
@Jedilogray and others, keep the tips coming. I can use all the help I can get.
My boys are older, so this might not translate to your family, but we had a lot of pre-trip conversations that really helped them manage expectations.
The boys agreed that our priority for our first trip would be to try as many things as possible ONE time. This made it easier to move on to the next thing on the plan.
The boys agreed to trust Mom’s plan, and spent a lot of time reading it and tracing our planned path on the maps in the weeks leading up to the trip. This made it easier for them the stick with the plan during the trip because they felt like it was their plan too.
The boys liked reading the menus for the restaurants we planned to visit. They knew what they wanted to order before we even got there.
Finally, I threw out my plan for our last day (repeat MK day) and let them choose repeat favorites. They LOVED that.
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Great advice, @SallyEppcot. This will actually work with our oldest who does better with clear expectations and she can help motivate the others.
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Another home run! You do have a talent for storytelling! Thoroughly enjoying your planning adventure!
Glad you are now ‘one of us’ (which, like @Outer1, I never really knew I was - but thanks!) 
Can’t wait for the next installment - I think The Plan looks amazing!
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