Are you a "vacationzilla"?

[eeyoregon]

Glad I'm not the only one. Last time I had a guy get way too close for comfort (hey, only my DH should be touching my butt), I turned around and introduced myself and when he looked all puzzled I told him that when someone gets that close I make it a requirement to know their name and be taken out to dinner. You'd be amazed how well that works. And yes, it works with women too.

That is brilliant!! Hope you don't mind if I use your line?!

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

That is brilliant!! Hope you don't mind if I use your line?!

Be my guest! Its very effective...I say it with a smile and laugh...but it definitely gets the point across.

 

[Aristomommy]

I tend to fall into the "uberplanner" category, that's how I found the DIS
Once in the parks I tend to follow our plan but have tolerance for potty breaks and unexpected things that may come up. If our kids are interested in something that we didn't plan for, we will stop and enjoy the attraction. Some of the things that DO bug me and may get me cranky are:

1. Line cutters: 20 people join the 1 person who finally made it to the front of the line.

2. Parade crashers: pushing their kids to sit on my lap because they can't see from their spot they found 2 minutes before the parade starts.

3. Character hoggers: parents have characters sign their child's book, hat, pillow case, backpack and birth certificate. Then they proceed to take pictures, video, commentary and have child play ring around the rosie while other children wait patiently and character goes for a break......

4. General attitude "we are the only ones that paid a lot of money to be here so we can ignore all decency, common courtesy and manners"


These people are the minority and we have met so many nice and fun people during our trip.

 

[gris gris]

I am totally not a vacationzilla - it's probably the only time in my life that I really do relax. Actually I did go to therapy to get rid of my obsessive compulsive ways......so maybe I used to be a zilla but didn't realize it

 

[Smartykat]

Glad I'm not the only one. Last time I had a guy get way too close for comfort (hey, only my DH should be touching my butt), I turned around and introduced myself and when he looked all puzzled I told him that when someone gets that close I make it a requirement to know their name and be taken out to dinner. You'd be amazed how well that works. And yes, it works with women too.

Haaa!! this is the funniest thread I have seen yet! Ya'll rock!
I am not a vacationzilla but I actually have seen a Dad in front of Alladin's flying carpets yelling at his crying 7 year old, at 3pm, screaming, " We came here so you could have a good time and now you are ruining it for everyone else!" Parents acting badly in public drains the fun out for me. But it does make my kids look up at me and say to each other, "We love mom because she's not mean."
I think if you ever find yourself yelling at your kids.. in public.. at Disney.. then its time to head back to the hotel for a nap.

 

[slduck]

Ok... I am a bit of a Vacationzilla. The one trip that I tried to got with the flow we ended up confused and miserable. I like to make a game plan, but I have to tell myself.....some times you have to stop and smell the roses. I never dreamed that DD would love the play areas so much. I can't wait to spend more time in EPCOT. After all my planning, I realized that I missed so much last time.

The best part of planning....FOOD.

 

[eeyoregon]

The best part of planning....FOOD.

32 days until FREE DINING!!!!!

 

[Kim1964]

Our 2004 trip was the only vacationzilla experience we had. I pretty much ruined the trip for my family. I had the "we paid a lot of money to be here so we have to do and see everything NOW" mentality, which doesn't mesh well with a 2.5 year old on her first vacation anywhere.

My attitude is a lot different now. One thing that helps is that I know the trip isn't a once in a lifetime thing. My sister moved to the Orlando area, so I know we'll go back at least once a year to see her...and there's no way we'd go that far and NOT do Disney, too.

For our upcoming trip I planned ADRs because we bought the DDP for the first time, and we've already decided which parks we'll go to on which days. We even have one "play it by ear" kind of day because we are going to the P&PP one night and it will likely be a late night, so we're waiting to see how we feel the next day before we make any plans. It may be a day to just hang around SAB, or we might go to Sea World. We were going to buy Sea World tickets ahead of time with the AAA discount, but then I realized my "zilla" attitude would rear its ugly head if everyone was too tired to go. Instead, we can enjoy the P&PP, stay as late as we want, sleep as late as we want (that day, the rest of the time we ARE rope drop, half day in the parks people, by mutual agreement), and not worry about it.

I've come a long way.

 

[bluejaygirl]

Not at all. I didnt go into it with major expectations or plans, so when things were great it was magical.

Like some of the previous posters, planning ADR's for once a day was as much planning as I wanted to do. The rest of the time we tried to play it by ear " do you want to do this?" and said " We can always go back" if the wait was long or there was something better around the corner.

 

[LoveMyDisneyCats]

3. Character hoggers: parents have characters sign their child's book, hat, pillow case, backpack and birth certificate. Then they proceed to take pictures, video, commentary and have child play ring around the rosie while other children wait patiently and character goes for a break......

Love it Birth certificates...that's a good one- but totally true! I especially love when they take pictures of the character signing, then turn and smile with the character, then "oh wait, give mommy the autograph book, we don't want that in the picture" and then another 5 pictures are necessary just to get "the one." I'll admit we have done the autograph book, but now we do one book for my family. Plus, we go enough that DS6 has already got everybody's autograph already. Now we just let DS2 use it as an ice breaker on a few characters the first day or to get anyone new (we're trying to pass 100 different character autographs- I think we are up to 75!). The ring around the rosie is great too!! Seriously! I also love when they tell the kids to ask Goofy this or that...He's not gonna answer people- they don't talk! I can understand a "tell Goofy bye" and wave, but I've heard "Ask Goofy where his son Max is?" or "Ask Minnie what she did this morning" Really- like they're going to tell you...

 

[portia9]

I don't think I have issues with other people because that is out of my control but I think I may be a bit vacationzilla like. I am going to have to be prepared to relax and take it easy while we are there. I am definitely an uber planner

Yvette

 

[portia9]

the birds and butterflies from the princess movies fluttering around your heads

What they don't?

 

[LoveMyDisneyCats]

Oh and as for me, I am (I like to think "was") a vacationzilla. My family actually called me the "vacation nazi" for many years (no offense meant to anyone...think Seinfeld...the soup nazi). But now since we go several times a year, I've toned everything down. Actually, it's my DD6 who cracks the whip these days! We try to say that we'll just go with the flow and have a relaxing, laid back trip, but it's Disney. With a DD6 and a DD2, you can't go and not go to ALL the parks and ride ALL the rides. I figure in a few years, they won't care as much and then we can relax!
No really though, we do much better than I used to. I can't stand making ADRs because you never know what'll come up on that day (but when doing DDP we were forced too to guarantee sit-downs). I never make a day plan/park plan and really don't decide which park were goin to until the night before. The main thing with me is I like to do evening EMH. So on those days, we'll go to that park at some point to do that. But if we start there at 9:00 a.m., noon, or an hour before EMH, I don't care. So see, I am getting better! Oh wait, I am still the mom who plans red with white polka dot outfits for her DDs and gets a little miffed at the end of the night if not a single person noticed I can't help it, I do try, but I can't help it on certain things!

Oh and I just realized that on my last post I put DS instead of DD...oops Guess I haven't posted in a while....either that or I was laughing too hard at the previous posts to actually pay attention to my own.

 

[mom2aredhead]

What they don't?

If they are, then run because they're after your food!