That's wonderful! We need someone to be in charge of vacation planning Abby! We vary from planning tons to not planning at all. I guess that might be because we've done some of these ports before and have a "set routine" - somewhat on account of our having young kids and all. Frankly, I've tried to get my dear sweet spouse to take on a few new things to do but I get polite resistance.
At any rate - I would like to volunteer the notion of running little semi-private DIS cruise deals. Among those things I can think of now are:
1) Secret Mickey (mystery gift giving while embarked)
2) Mickey Ice Cream Bar Speed Eating challenge (usually the event I run)
3) Pajama Party (breakfast being one example)
4) Pirate Party nite photo gathering
5) Scavenger Hunt
6) Fish Extender Contest / Judging
7) Custom Lanyard design and management
8) Custom T-shirt design and management
9) Pre-Cruise and Embarkation day DIS meet
10) Wine and cheese parties/gatherings
11) Linked dining
12) private dining meet in Palos'
... and among past cruises a few specialized diversions proposed include:
1) Guided star gazing
2) Private shore excursions
3) Laundry room meeting ("wink"... not quite sure what to make of that... ?)
4) etc.
Can't recall anything more off hand now... but the size of the gang will influence how many things we might attempt. Obviously, these diversions are not intended to undermine normal Disney activities. Rather they are intended as diversions for DIS friends, neighbors and our kids.
I could conduct the star gazing if there were enough interest - and for things like the Secret Mickey gift exchange - I actually am running a pre-cruise Gift exchange on the other sailing we have scheduled (REPO with Andrew+others). Me and my partner in crime are hosting the gift exchange with two rounds of exchange - one centered on Thanksgiving and the other on Christmas obviously. So far it's been a pleasant and entertaining activity good for lots of laughs and grinnin'.
So... when it comes to planning ... yeah, we're pretty far out in terms of time - but the notion is endearing and welcome. At least, speaking for myself I welcome it!
My sister went on our last cruise with us and she didn't do much pre-planning at all. It drove me nuts! I practically memorized the Passporter.
So for the week (and the year leading up to it), I was the resource for cruise info.
Everyone in our party came to me asking questions. So it's not OCD, it's "not missing out on things you'd probably otherwise miss out on because you didn't do your research"!! My DH does NO preplanning or research what-so-ever. He happily gives me the reins on travel plans. My co-workers made fun of me for being so obsessive about it, but I think after I got back to work saying it was the best vacation EVER, they understood.
