Advice needed on how to get husband to follow an itinerary

[Picabo]

TinkerShellBell...that's hillarious about your hubby not knowing you were on a plan and now he's asking you to do it again and not tell him. Sounds exactly like mine. He's already sick of me talking about Disney ins and outs and we still have over a year before we go!

QUESTION about EMH (sorry OT) - why is is jam packed? I thought the idea was to let onsite people have less crowds...no?

 

[Aliceacc]

I think the problem with EMH is that there are about a dozen Disney resorts, each with a couple of thousand people, all entitled to the EMH priveleges.

Some touring plans suggest avoiding EMH for that reason.

 

[Tinker*Shell*Bell]

QUESTION about EMH (sorry OT) - why is is jam packed? I thought the idea was to let onsite people have less crowds...no?

A lot of resort guests take advantage of the EMH, but if they don't have park hopper passes they stay there for the day. Then you add in the normal daily count of people who would come in anyway and by noon there are more people in the park because of EMH than there would have been without the early hours.
Early morning hours work great if you do them and then leave by noon-ish...but staying all day at that park can get crazy busy. MGM (now HS) was the worst for that. By noon it was nuts But the first 2 hours was great!!

 

[Diamondintheruff]

My DH thought a plan was a great idea until he got into the park. The months leading up to Disney he would tell everyone how proud he was that I was researching Disney.

Something happened when he actually entered the parks. He was like a little kid in a candy store and couldn't stand walking past an attraction to visit it later. He "forgot" that we were travelling with our kids who are on the timid and anxious side.

We came to a standstill just before illuminations on an EP EMT night. I caved and it was the worst crowded experience we had our whole trip.

Luckily he realized it was a disaster too. We compromised by going over the next days "plans" the night before. I listened to where he wanted to go and he felt like he was included and informed.

FYI- We ended up following the exact plans that I would have chosen myself but this time he felt like he was included in the process and I guess that is the "trick" to it. Although I prefer to think of it as an educational process.

You can read about it in detail just click on my report link.

 

[divawife]

This is a tough one.

My advice:

-If you are on the DDP make those ADR's so you don't miss out. The ADR's sometimes dictate what park you will be in so make sure you make them on the days that coincide with low specific park attendence.

-Hand out printed info on Fast Passes, then let them deal with it.

-Make sure everyone knows that you don't have to go everywhere at the same time. You are going with a lot of people-meet up occasionally but don't travel in a pack.

-Leave a Disney planning book (the smaller the better) in the bathroom. DH will read it, I guarantee! (btw I am not kidding, I do this all the time when I want DH to read an article or something that is not bill or work related). Put post-its in the Fast Pass Section and other important pages but don't over do.

-Have some basic plans, write them down and keep them with you. When DH says "which way know?" or "Isn't there some kind of ride that you fly in?" or "I just want a burger, where can we go?" or "I really want to see the fireworks but not here, too bad we can't see them outside the park" or "What happened to that submarine I liked when I was a kid?" or "There has got to be a way to cut the line, they should think of letting you make a ride reservation or something!" or "Somebody should figure out which day has the less people in which park!" or "Isn't there an air conditioned show around this area?" You will have answers!!!!

Good luck and don't forget to grab a little Disney magic of your own!

 

[Tinkmom75]

Putting the stuff in the bathroom is a great idea. I think that's where my DH does all his most important reading I will just have to remove the other reading material

Thanks for all the great ideas everyone.

 

[ZoZo]

I agree with those who say you don't need a detailed plan to have fun and see "everything."

Before the trip, we just make some ADRs, decide which parks we want to go to on which days, make a couple of other reservations (like behind-the-scenes tours), and that's it. Once we get to a park, we have a general idea of what we want to see, but don't follow a step-by-step plan. I am a middle-of-the-road planner - I plan a few things, but don't get obssessive. I think that being too detailed and gung-ho makes you miss some fun stuff (like taking a break, sitting on a bench, people-watching, etc.). You're so afraid you're going to "miss something" that it takes away from the fun - you run from thing to thing too fast to relax and enjoy yourself.

That's probably not the answer you were looking for, but I've done about six or seven WDW trips and have figured out that this approach works best for me.