Post-Disney Blues

Walt Disney World
21

I’m sorry. It can definitely be hard to come down after something that took so much planning. I felt the same way after my wedding and my son’s Bar Mitzvah- I planned for months and then it was over!

We were just there over Thanksgiving and I actually posted here (or on DISboards) about if anyone ever spent months and months planning the “perfect” plan of attack and then bagging the plan once you are there. I got some really great responses and stories of people who did just that. I was feeling worried before we even left that I might return home feeling like I missed the fun and the point of the trip. In the end, I told myself that even if we only did our three FPs each day, that was OK. I kept two ADRs (one for lunch at Sci-fi and and one for Thanksgiving dinner at Boma) and we ended up winging it the whole week. It was scary at first but ended up being a great week, even for my DH who is not a fan of Disney to begin with. We ended up up still managing to do plenty of rides by getting fourth FPs and beyond each day, returned back to the hotel for afternoons to swim and relax, and I even did MK one evening on my won when the rest of the family decided they were done and stayed back at the hotel.

My point is, I am a super Type A planner and it was hard to let loose the plan, but it worked out well. You can’t go back and change it, but maybe think about it for your next trip, whenever that may be. And also maybe explain to your daughter why you are sad about the trip- that can be hard for a kid to feel like a trip was o fun for a parent :frowning: And also be kind to yourself- you were trying to take on planning a HUGE trip for your entire family and you can’t please everyone.

22

I had this with my first trip with my son. He was 5 and I had this vision in my head of the perfect vacation and nothing could have lived up to that expectation. I was stressed during the whole thing, trying to keep everyone happy, keep us on schedule and get in all of the great things I had learned about. I had such anxiety that I left absolutely miserable - I was literally feeling ill all week.

The thing is, no one else who was traveling with us knew about the schedule, they just followed along wherever I went. They had no idea what they did or didn’t miss out on - they had a blast. I had a ‘do over’ trip about 7 months later where I learned from my mistakes and didn’t take it as seriously. And we all had a great time.

Now, DS is 10 and we go pretty regularly. We manage to squeeze in a few new things each trip but remain realistic about what we can and can’t accomplish without feeling like we’re burning out on vacation. That first trip was very much a learning experience.