Smashing the Rose Colored Glasses: What Could Go Wrong?
Having had a lousy week to grump, grumble, and worry about things in my life, naturally I've started wondering what could go wrong with my Disney vacation, too...
(Yeah, I know, this post needs some SERIOUS pixie dust. Next post will be happier, I promise.
)
October weather doesn't seem too bad, but it's still considered hurricane season, so that's in the back of my mind as a possible vacation-ruiner. That aside, looking back historically, we could end up with anything from low 90s to high 50s for temperatures, so that leaves a big question mark as to what to bring for clothes - packing will be a last-minute affair! Add to that a generalized personal incompatibility with humidity since DH and I live in an area that doesn't get a whole lot of it, and it could end up not being as pleasant as I'd hoped.
Then again, we could get lovely, rain-free, 75-degree days that make touring the park effortless. It's hard to worry too hard about something this far out of our control, and I've been at the park during a worse time of year than this before (July and September). Worse comes to worse, we'll just keep the ponchos handy.
Fun disruption potential: 1 out of 5
We picked around Columbus day because of work schedules. I can't go during the end of the summer or during any end of a month due to financial book-closing schedules, Sister can't go in the springtime due to when her budgets come in, Mom works retail and can't go during the holiday crunch. October was the happiest medium we could come up with. Sometimes that's just the way it goes, you go when your family can.
Unfortunately, that means we won't be reaping too many benefits of lower season. Touring Plans tells me to expect 6 out of 10 once we hit the Columbus Day weekend. If we were still in the FP- era, I wouldn't be worried because I know the parks well and know how to mitigate lines. Unfortunately, we're not, and while I have a plan for every day, I think we'll be waiting in more lines than I'm used to. on top of that, our schedule isn't lining up all that favorably; the two Epcot days are on the long holiday weekend during F&W, and the Hollywood Studios day is the EMH day. Whoops.
Fun disruption potential: 2 out of 5
Mom called recently to tell me she's having foot/leg problems again. While she's got a doctor's appointment for another steroid injection between now and our departure date, I now have the unpleasant task of researching how and what to do about a wheelchair and its impact on our touring plans, in the event that the latest severe flare-up doesn't go away in time. It would also be a total bummer if she couldn't do the golfing that she's been looking forward to. Between four adults, though, I'm sure we can manage pushing her around the parks.
I have some health things plaguing me, too, that I don't really want to get into, but they are more uncomfortable and anxiety-causing than dangerous or disruptive where park touring is concerned. My biggest concern will be getting enough sleep, as I have had serious issues sleeping since it all began, and even Ambien isn't making much of a dent in that problem.
Fun disruption potential: 3 out of 5
I alluded to some of this in previous posts, but this is NOT a group that has traveled together before, and as such, I'm expecting there to be bumps in the happy family vacation road. Bob in his bad mode is a walking offensive comment machine about minorities, non-Christians, and LGBT folks - which DH, Sister, and I won't put up with for very long. DH is a wonderful guy, but he is introverted and socially anxious, and when he's reached his limit of dealing with people, he gets extremely terse and grumpy until allowed to withdraw, and his fuse is short for Bob's behavior. Sister can be fun to be around, but she can also be a vapid, spoiled prissypants that has to have her way - which elicits eye-rolls from everyone but Mom, who just wants everyone to get along and will get upset if we don't. And me? Well, I'm notoriously inflexible and bound to my plans, and will have to really try hard not to get upset if folks start throwing what I've worked on for the last several months out the window because they've changed their minds.
There might be flared tempers. There might be times where part of the party has to pull the plug and head back to the room to get some space from the rest of us. There might be times where I have to grab my lorazepam and remember to breathe. I fully expect that someone will want to throttle someone else over the course of six park and two travel days, but hopefully there are enough breaks sending people their separate ways to keep the incidents to a minimum. Otherwise, we might get more fireworks than just Disney's nightly shows...
Fun disruption potential: 4 out of 5
Meeting Vacation Expectations
Each of us has very different goals of what a fun Disney vacation is like, and while we've all talked about them to the point that they're not a mystery to anyone, meeting all of those expectations might be hard.
DH's Goal: To have fun time with me and see Disney the way that I see it (yay!) without being forced into too much involuntary family togetherness.
Sister's Goal: To ride all of the rides and see all of the things and experience all of the experiences without wasting too much time on downtime.
Mom's Goal: To have magical family vacation times with her girls without too much disharmony.
Bob's Goal: To golf and eat, then laze about, without having to spend too much more time and money on things he doesn't care much about doing.
My Goal: To go see and ride and eat all my favorites without having to play tour guide for the entire time.
Obviously, no one can have everything that they want 100% of the time, but ideally most people should feel like what they're doing is meeting their vacation expectation at least 80% of the time. Everyone here is an adult, so they're responsible for making that happen, but so far I'm not sure everyone has gotten that message.
So far, everyone's relied on me to make the plans, and if they follow the plans, I think they'll be happy enough - but will they follow them, or will there be a constant struggle between the desire to do what they want to do RIGHT NOW or sticking to the plans everyone agreed on? Only time will tell. You know what they say about roads paved with good intentions...
Fun disruption potential: 5 out of 5
) I then offered to make dinner reservations for all seven of us that night, which Bob agreed to. I didn't find a lot of availability, but I found something at Kona Cafe. Mom offered to pay for it since this hadn't been in the schedule. The compromise was acceptable enough all around, even if it did make the previously-relaxing Day 5 schedule into a less relaxing one.
