I don’t know if there’s some weird psychological craziness going on in my head (we can’t rule it out!) but I don’t feel like I’m at all excited about going to WDW. Occasionally I have a short flash of it, but then it goes.
I don’t know if it’s exhaustion from thinking about it all so much and putting so much time and effort into planning it, or anxiety about my plans and what could go wrong (I’ve been tracking my flight each day and yesterday it was cancelled – that would be a day lost in the park, including a lost pre-paid dessert party, if it had been my flight). Maybe I’m anxious about leaving my dog behind.
Do other people live in a state of non-stop euphoric excitement in the build up to their trip, or is what I’m feeling “normal”?
I wonder what it’s be like if WDW was like Universal. I’ve put almost zero thought and effort into that part of my trip. I paid $199 for a VIP tour, which covers our first day – front of line access to a dozen or so rides, plus a QS lunch and valet parking – and I bought Express Passes for our other two days, so there’s just no stress. A bunch of fun rides and experiences.
I have other vacations that I’ve booked coming up later in the year. I won’t think about them until the week before. They’re not WDW, but they’re relaxing and fun nonetheless. All this ADR and FPP is a real stress. At least for people like me.
I’m in an earlier phase than you, but my personality is such that I get true enjoyment out of the planning. I like playing around with personalized touring plans and trying out various combos and research and logistics. I’ve enjoyed this forum since I discovered it and pulled a lot of good nuggets. And it’ll get even better when I spill the beans for the kids and they can start to read the guide and the reviews of attractions and give me their ideas. So I guess since the geek in me loves all this, I should be able to stave off exhaustion
I have some of the same feeling. When everything was finalized it was like all the air was let out of the balloon. You spend so much time researching and perfecting, then there is nothing left to do but wait. The only thing that is saving me is that my kids don’t know that we are going in 18 days. I don’t have any big reveal plans, we are just going to see how long we can make it without telling them. I have excuses all the way up to the Magical Express, and even then they don’t know what it is, it will just be a bus to them.
If I tried to wait till trip day, I’d go nuts! Heck, this morning I spent a half hour finding the best place to hide the guidebook where they won’t stumble upon it. For me, it came down to my wanting them to take ownership of the trip and do research and tell me what they want to do so the planning is more collaborative. I feel like that will get me a lot more buy-in for those days when we’re following touring plans like it’s a Navy SEAL special ops mission. I’m doing a reveal on Christmas morning
I, too, enjoy all the planning - getting up early to make FPs and ADRs, working out plans, thinking through every step and possible contingency plans, etc. It’s part of the fun for me. And, yes, there’s a let down after every thing is settled. But more than anything, knowing it’s all done - and (this is important) knowing that we can chuck it all and just enjoy - is very freeing. It gives me a relaxed vacation. Not having to think, and having a framework if we need or want to change on the fly, makes it soooo relaxing!
Also, after many trips over the past 2-3 years, Kamikaze touring is over for us. We take in what we want, sit when we want, eat and drink when and where we want. We don’t run from one thing to another much anymore. Knowing that also makes both the planning and the actual vacation very relaxing.
The tough part for me is re-entry - especially when I’m not sure when the next trip will be.
I understand where you’re coming from. I get a burst of excitement when I have a formal “date” set and book the resort. I have another one at the 180 when I get my ADRs, and another at 60 when it’s FPP time. But there’s a lot of “ho hum” time in between. Then, a week or two before the actual start of the trip the excitement starts to build some. It ramps up again when I get in the car to start the drive, and by the time I’m driving through the gate, I pretty much in full excitement mode.
I enjoy the planning phase, but I’m not obsessive about it because I know that no matter how much I plan, things will change when I get there (and if you don’t go with that attitude, then you will just stress out the whole time you are there). I make TPs because it’s kind of a fun process, but the number of times I’ve followed one, as written, all day, I can count on one hand with fingers left over. I think the most important part of planning is not the sheet of paper you produce, but rather the research that you’ve done so when the unexpected happens (and happen it will) you can make educated “on the fly” changes and keep the day moving along.
Graphic design and layout is one of those things I “do”. So, for the last “big” trip that my wife and I took, I created a very elaborate “tour booklet” (similar to the one you see in a travel agency for “see Europe in 10 days” tours). For each day I outlined which park we would be going to, what times we would be leaving the room and getting back, what some of the major attractions we would be doing, where we would be eating, etc. I also imbedded a few pictures for each day. A second section had a map of all of the parks and resorts that we would be visiting, and a third section had print-outs of sample menus for the (14) TS meals that we would have. I presented it to her two weeks before we left, along with the “reveal” that out last dinner there would be at the V&A Chef’s Table. I had fun creating the book, and it helped her a lot to know what was in store for the next day (she has virtually no interest in the planning phase and trusts me to come up with the best plan).
That sounds cool! I’ve been planning to do the same kind of book for a post-trip souvenir.
Sometimes the family gets a little annoyed when I’m stopping to take photos of small details of the park, but I plan to use those to add some atmosphere to the book.
I’m an avid photographer who specializes in architectural photography. Needless to say WDW is a feast table; a typical week will yield over 1000 pictures…This drives DW crazy, but she knows it’s what I like to do so she is tolerant. Usually… Although comments like “Oh look, a pebble that you haven’t taken a picture of - you really need to add that to your collection” are not uncommon…
I’ve been completely-normally tracking the flight I’ll be taking in two weeks time to see if it’s on time and imagining how I’d deal with it when it’s not (and getting excited when it arrives early).
Yesterday’s flight was cancelled! My initial response was unbridled panic. Then I looked at my plan and figured out a way of making up the lost items in the plan on other days.
They have a video you watch on the bus (Magical Express) to tell you all about WDW.
If your plan was for the big reveal to come when you pulled up to the resort, they’ll know as soon as the bus leaves the airport and the video kicks in.
I’m sure you can find a recording of the video online… Just in case you needed something new to research! (wink)
Tried that - didn’t quite work out as we hoped. We told DD that we we going to FL to meet up with my DMiL who was visiting “old friends” - we said that it was probably going to be boring for her, but it was important to Grandma so we expected her to be on her best behavior.
We anticipated that once we arrived at MCO and she saw Disney signs the complaints would start, and we would continue to say that we can’t go because of all the time we have to spend with Grandma’s “old friends”. After all, she had been tormenting us with her antics for years, so why can’t parents get a bit of revenge? Nope, not a word. Driving past exit signs for WDW, still nothing. Driving under “The Sign” - not a peep. She was ruining this for us!
Finally we announce “We are meeting up with Grandma at WDW - her old friends are Minnie and Mickey!” She simply says “Oh, OK” and falls asleep in the car seat. Looking back on this, we were fortunate that we did not have an epic meltdown like you see in the Disney Reveal Fail videos. DD (still) does not cope well to changes in plans, good or bad,
@profmatt, next time pay KennyThePirate to do the planning for you. Then you can just go to WDW and enjoy the plan he’s put in place for you. The other suggestion is just go with the flow. If you’re there, and something happens to throw off your plans, roll with it. Nothing will happen to you or your family if you don’t make that next FPP. We’ve even blown off dinner reservations in the past if it meant keeping sane. I’ll take the happy thoughts approach every time over the super stressed out, running through the park, yelling at your kids approach that I see almost every time I go. No thanks. It really is the happiest place on earth if you let it be.
Good luck!
Oh it won’t be relaxing. I told my family “Disney is not a vacation, it is an experience”. And it was true. And it was the most amazing, fantastic out of this world experience we’ve ever had. Just try not to focus so much on your spreadsheets that you don’t look up and just enjoy the atmosphere. I rushed around, plan in hand, that I didn’t do that enough. I Plan to on our next trip!! I can not wait to hear about you ur trip after all this planning!!!
My kids were much the same when we told them. They didn’t know what it was. Now they are super keen, so much so that I’m worried or might be a let down when we get there!
