Terrible Anxiety over Disney Trip & If my Touring plans are right! :(

Just over a week until we go on our very first family trip of a lifetime and I’m starting to feel really really really anxious!
Please could someone look at my plan below and tell me if these wait times seem accurate? I have just fed my anxiety by reading posts on the Christmas touring plans not being accurate and I think its tipped me over the edge!
I’ve been planning this 2 week holiday for the past 2 years and the nearer we get to the departure day the more nervous I’m getting!
Do other people feel like this?
I have added the link to my touring plan for MK.
Thanks so much in advance, Kelly x
https://touringplans.com/plans/print?id=3155048
@len

Hi :slight_smile:

Don’t worry !!! :slight_smile:

You’ll be fine !!! :slight_smile:

You’ll have a great time !!! :slight_smile:

Now that we got all of that out of the way, I know how you feel and I know a lot of people here know how you feel too. You have planned as well as possible. You know A LOT more than 95% of people who will be at the parks with you. Be flexible, keep calm, accept whatever little issue that will happen, know in advance which steps you are willing to give up and make sure you take full advantage of day-of FP+ (check often, keep refreshing until you get what you want, don’t get discouraged).

Remember that the plan is to help you. Do not become a slave of the plan; you are the boss. Use it when it works, change it when it doesn’t ! :wink:

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Thank you so much. I really wish I could just relax and get excited, but now I just feel anxious! :frowning: Thank you for your lovely reply x

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I was the same way! We just got back from a week long trip with three generations and I was so anxious (for lots of reasons) but mainly because I wanted things to just go perfectly.

I will say that on some days, the plans went out the window (it hurt my heart a little, I won’t lie) but because of all of my planning, I was able to be flexible, change on the fly and still not wait in a lot of lines. I know it sounds crazy but all of the preparation will still be worth it, even if you end up abandoning the plans. It pained me to not use some of the fast passes I had painstakingly hunted for but in the end, it was still an amazing vacation and I remember thinking, why did I get so stressed about all of this :slight_smile:

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One problem with all the planning and all the money spent on these trips is that we have a tendency of putting too much pressure on ourselves to make sure everything is perfect!

Trust me. It won’t be perfect. That is, unless you redefine what it means to be perfect. That is, to go and enjoy yourself. You create a plan to serve you, not so that you will serve the plan. If things just aren’t going as planned, ditch it (or part of it)! Don’t forget to soak in each moment, rather than worry about getting to the next item on the list!

So, maybe you won’t get to Tom Sawyer’s Island, or get in that ride on Alladin’s Carpets, etc. Oh well! Move along! :slight_smile:

As far as your plan itself, it sounds like an exhausting day! :slight_smile: You have no “wait time” set aside for the fireworks. You should plan to get there early if you want to find a spot, which might mean bailing on whatever comes before it.

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I was in your position 3 weeks ago and feeling the same way! Here is what I can tell you I learned from my WDW trip at the end of November. Some of this you may not want to hear now, but despite what I am about to write, we all had an amazing time! (We just didn’t see as much each day as planned).

(1) In general I found the wait times to be longer than in the Touring Plans. Sometimes it was correct, but more often than not, the wait was longer.

(2) Sit down meals often take longer than planned. We left CRT and Chef Mickey’s about 1 hour and 45 mins after we arrived. We were seated between 15 and 30 mins after our reservation times at these restaurants.

(3) It’s best to try to schedule your 3rd FP of the day in the last morning or early afternoon. After you finish Big Thunder, there will likely be few FP options left (and those left will most likely be for the less desirable rides). Note: I may be reading your Touring Plan wrong, but just to be clear, after your 3rd FP, you can only schedule additional FP one at at time (you don’t get another 3 at the same time).

In essence, what i’m trying to say is that you will most likely not finish everything in your plan as quickly as planned (and will probably have to cut some things out), but that didn’t stop my family from enjoying every minute of our trip!

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I second this point as well. We ended up adding in more down time because my plan had too much running around.

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Ha, everyone and their brother is replying!

How old are your kids? That’s a very long day.

What time does the park open this day?

Having a plan is great…we just got back on Friday from our first family trip. Use the TP wait times on the app, ask live questions in the chat group, and know which attractions are ok to miss if needed. Have fun and don’t stress. It’s meant to be fun!

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I will also say that some of the things I learned from my trip:

  1. If applicable, plan for time to park stroller, find stroller, get kid loaded into stroller…etc. I had never traveled with children before so this generally took longer and I had planned for the stroller time
  2. plan for extra bathroom stops. Again, never having traveled with kids, this was a new one for me and the fact that the kid has to go literally 5 minutes you ask and they say they don’t have to
  3. We only did rider swap on a few rides but it seemed to take longer than TP anticipated. Not sure why
  4. have a plan to use Mobile Order for QS meals. I was amazed at how many people didn’t use this option and it saved us a ton of time, especially for a large group. Have people review menus while waiting in line for rides to avoid spending 30 minutes standing around trying to decide on the mobile order items :slight_smile:
  5. Again, with kids, I wasn’t prepared for them spotting something and wanting to do it right then vs doing it when it fit later in my plan. Some of this is clearly dependent on the child and what you are used to but for me, it required an extra degree of flexibility to keep the peace with a large group.

Last of all remember, you are doing a vacation that so many can only dream about. Be flexible, enjoy and accept that you may not do it all but enjoy what you can do!!!

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I second that. Found MO simply amazing !

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You are very welcome. Do yourself a big favor and stop wasting time being anxious. Life is short, family vacations are way too few and far between. Have a positive attitude, don’t stress out, go with the flow…all lame clichés but totally the ultimate recipe for a great time at Disney. It is so incredibly beautiful and magical there, just enjoy, relax and don’t worry if you miss a few things, you will still have an incredibly great trip and you will have built invaluable memories for your family. :smiley:

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We didn’t even eat QS unless we could MO there. Exception was Sunshine Seasons since it’s like a cafeteria and no real waiting needed. MO will save your sanity. I can’t believe people wait in line for 45 minutes to order a burger. I mean, I know they need to eat and all, but I would lose my mind…

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Thank you sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much everyone.
I have listened to all of you and its all be a massive help.
I have changed the time of arrival to 8am as just realised I had it as 9, but technically it opens at 7am.
I have taken off splash mountain and TS Island to give us more free wiggle time an will add those to the 2nd day as we seem to have more time then as that’s the 3rd Jan.

Thanks for noting the QS as that’s definitely something I plan on using to que less :slight_smile:
My kids are 14 and 7, I think we will end up getting a buggy for the 7 year old as its just too long a day otherwise.

Will plan on looking for a firework spot at 11pm ready for midnight.

You’re all absolutely right about just enjoying and that we are very very privileged to be able to go to such a magical place and we really genuinely don’t that for granted. I think I just want it to be a holiday of a lifetime as it will be the first and probably last time we will ever do it so just want it to go well

Thanks all xxx

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A few other things. 1) I’d skip Barnstormer altogether unless you get a FPP for it. It’s super short and will be less than thrilling after doing the other coasters. 2) make sure to pre-order at BOG. Standing in that line is super boring, ha. 3) You can use MO where it’s available and purchase your meal at any point that day, then hit “I’m here” when you’re about five minutes from wanting your food. 4) I also might go straight to 7DMT instead of WTP first. Maybe that early it doesn’t matter (we didn’t RD it) but I can’t imagine that the line ever gets shorter as the day progresses.

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Just got back from there with my 7-year-old son. He didn’t want us to bring the old stroller, said he wasn’t a baby. We brought the stroller. He spent the entire trip in the stroller. Bring a stroller !!! :rofl:

As said previously, with kids that age, Barnstormer is a complete waste of time IMO.

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Ok removed barnstormer so now we have more time to find a spot for fireworks.
Any tips for best placed to sit and watch so we can see projections on castle and fireworks?
x
https://touringplans.com/plans/print?id=3155048

What you are going through is perfectly normal. I had a full-on meltdown the night before the trip I’m currently on.

The point of the planning is not so much to have a plan as to have encyclopedic knowledge of what’s available, when it’s available, and where it all is. That way you can adjust to conditions on the ground on the day.

I hope you know about the “modify” trick. You can keep forcing MDE to give you new options for FPPs. And sometimes magical things happen and something you thought you’d never get comes up. This is especially useful on the day after you’ve used your first three. Oh, and mobile ordering for quick service restaurants. It’s a huge time-saver.

Things will go wrong. But so many more things will go right. And if you total up the number of amazing experiences you’ll lose count. So many magical moments each day. Some of which will be entirely unplanned. On my first trip the second we arrived at MK they started a mini-parade — almost as if it were just for me! Today, after a long and tiring morning and afternoon, I headed off back to the hotel to be interrupted by a wonderful performance by the Dapper Dans on Main Street. I hadn’t even thought to schedule that.

Focus on the successes — of which there will be many — and not the disappointments, of which there will be a few.

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I don’t have any other advice, but just stopped by to say I was about to post something with a very similar title. Planning this time around is causing me great anxiety. I don’t want to over plan, but am worried about how to plan which park, which day and what each day is going to look like. I’m an anxious person and my system is on high alert right now and our upcoming trip is difficult for me to think about. I really would like someone else to plan it for me, tbh. Anyway, everyone around here has been very kind and helpful.

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Mic drop.

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I noticed after steps 8 and 10 you have over 100 minutes of free time. Was that intended? Maybe someone else already mentioned, but if you move other attractions to earlier it may “naturally” give you more time to find a spot for Fire Works

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