No worries everyone! If that previous post came off as overly-sensitive, please don’t take it that way! I was laughing as I read what everyone liked about trip reports (FAMILY PHOTOS!) and then I looked at my empty trip summary. Hilarious! 
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To take this a bit further: I think trip reports provide different value depending on what the reader is looking for. Sometimes I want to know timing of how long things took from A to B, sometimes I want to see pictures to see how crowds are looking. Sometimes I just want a distraction from work (or my crazy kids). When I was planning my first trip in 2018 I soaked up all trip reports for every little detail. I appreciated every single one then, and every one I’ve read since.
Thank you to everyone who has done a trip report!
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Ha! Same for me. Like you and @eightyeightkeys, I know I’m not REALLY a lurker. There are a handful of people who post all the time, which is awesome and keeps the community together. Even as someone who doesn’t engage a ton, I feel like I know you. There are also a bunch of us that post occasionally, and maybe feel like we’re lurking a bit more than we should.
I’m definitely going to try to at-least 
a bit more, even if I don’t have words to say. Yep. Introvert here.
Also, Thanks @Jeff_AZ for the Z1. 
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Just to bring everything down for a moment, I am currently boycotting all trip reports.
You bloody people simply do not understand how wildly frustrating it is that we are still banned from entering your fricken country. You all prance around like everything’s back to normal and COVID is a distant memory — a transitory event that had no long-lasting consequences.
My June 2020 trip has ultimately been postponed by over two years to August 2022.
Imagine how that feels, and then fill the forums with other people’s jolly trip reports.
Bitter? You betcha.
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Yep-all of this applies to me as well! 
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So I am an intense liner member when I am in trip planning mode. Here every day, keeping up on everything, and contributing because my ADHD compels me to share what is in my head.
When it comes time for our trip I start out strong and then at some point lose time and/or focus and disappear. It isn’t intentional, but we are all in the moment and I kind of stop posting. Then I get wrapped up in post trip home/work issues and forget to come back and finish the reports.
I will strive to do better this time!! I will also work hard at not disappearing between trips. I miss interacting with fellow Disney people…not many others get it and my family mostly just humors me! 
That all said, I also apparently have two different user accounts here. I started with @minniemouse27 and used that for years. During one of my lulls between trips I forgot my log in information and signed up again with @minnie27mouse. They are both me.
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Did you know that if you come here and log in every day for 365 days you get a special badge in your profile? Not a Randall badge, a TP badge. Here’s mine:
Go on and set your sights on it You’ll be glad you did!
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2020 put me into a similar situation. I didn’t look at the forum for a year because I couldn’t bear to think of some of the special trips we’d lost (both Disneyland and WDW) and not having a date for when I could next plan was the worst of it. If somewhere in 2020 someone had said, by X date or when X measure is reached, you’ll be able to plan a trip again (and feel safe about taking your high risk as of yet unvaccinated child), it would’ve been so different.
Now that I have hope for that child (and 2 of my other children) to get vaccinated Sept/Oct, I feel like I can finally start planning some make-ups for DL late 2021 and WDW in 2022.
I can’t imagine not being able to enter the country for it and still having that uncertainty of a future date. All this to say, no judgement here on the bitterness.
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I hear you and so wish circumstances were different for you and that you could travel. I understand how much of a needed escape from the real world a trip to Disney is, and I’m so sorry you’ve had to cancel several times!
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I would also have accepted this:
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Currently, I enjoy reading Trip Reports because it makes me happy to see you all enjoying your family vacations after the crazy past year.
But before my last visit, I especially appreciated getting the latest information with the on-the-ground reports to help with my planning and what to expect. So much has been changing the past many months, it was important to keep updated with specific times, protocol, etc. I noticed many other people diving into various TR’s leading up to their own. So the latest helpful info is important to many people (even lurkers) 
For my own trip report, I felt it was important for me to give back to the TP community:
I figured people would appreciate the report for various reasons. Some stuck at home, others need a glimmer of hope and positivity after a long winter:
And I appreciated the caring liner community:
I love, love, love taking and sharing photos for you guys:
As I mentioned earlier, some folks joining in before their own trip. Glad I could help:
TR’s are also a place to welcome new liners:
I love to share my ideas and any info with you all, so you can use too:
Sharing a TR is a good distraction from the real world for you guys that…well…need distracted:
Trip Reports make great memories!!! 
Oh…almost forgot… I found out TR’s are a great place for folks to discuss their pets! 
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I’m pretty sure I never got that coffee.
You convinced me to go through with it. I’ll just keep the other two out of it for the most part so I can say with honesty that I’m reporting for reference. My solo time (I actually have a lot of thanks to naps and SRL) during a family trip. He knows that although I’m not good at TP’s themselves, I’m fanatical about all the other planning.
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Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES! Thank you for your trip report - it was very helpful for my planning, especially UOR.
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I couldn’t have said it better. All of this!
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I like seeing what others like in a trip report. I just started reading them with @the_darlings report. I definitely like the personal story component of a TR; the enjoyment or *emotional experience * connected to what things made the trip particularly good, bad, or memorable. It makes Disney a more personal experience rather than a systematic process. The tips in TP and from Liners are invaluable, but I can get so caught up in the procedure of it all, the experience gets lost. I think that naturally fades as trip numbers add up. (At least for me.)
I agree with all @Jeff_AZ’s points above. All are great elements of a TR. I haven’t decided if I should do one because I don’t keep as good details as some of you in regards to timing and specifics. This was also a challenging trip, so I may end up projecting that into a TR. I’ll enjoy reading through them.
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Do one! Don’t feel like you have to have timings and specifics. It’s your report, so it’s up to you what you want to include or emphasize.
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These are good tips! I usually start a trip report but feel like I am so bad at writing them that I eventually give up. I really can’t do a live report because my brain would become overloaded! Yet while certain tid bits come up on my trip, I find myself thinking I need to share them in a report! Maybe I will try to finish my most recent one.
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I have done live trip reports because I know myself: I would not write them when I return. I try to convey information on what is up in terms of procedures, crowds, what’s open, when the buses really arrive (vs. official schedule!) and stuff like that.
And when I can share some of the fun.
On photos, you don’t have to share photos of your family – I sometimes post a photo or two from photo pass, but mostly I share photos of the parks and such – especially food! – to help me tell the story. So families that have concerns about posting photos of selves or kids should absolutely be reassured it is not expected, and a trip report can be useful without them!
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