Are you the only planner in the family?

[marynvince]

I plan all of our trips. I travel a lot for my job and plan all of that travel as well so I know the best places to get the deals. And my wife is more relaxed if she just knows everything will be taken care of. I take several golf vacations with the guys so I make sure family vacations are fun and relaxing for the family (although they are a bit less so for me since I am making sure all are having a good time).

 

[bobbiwoz]

I plan but take suggestions from everyone! DH is hoping we can get a Wishes Dessert Party ADR for October and I think his idea is a good one, so I keep trying. Also, as a family, we don't all stay together, so we usually have no more than 1 thing planned per day.

I spend more time planning than my DGFs and offer suggestions to them. We'll spend part of a weekend in Cape May planning the Gals' Getaway that's in September. Already we have some reservations, but it's more fun planning in person! Again, we don't stick together, not all of us have the same taste, budget, stamina! One of our group hasn't been since she was 12 years old, and she's so enthusiastic about everything!

Bobbi

 

[nolanboys]

I've always been the planner of the bunch. They all know I will have my chart which will have the date, crowd level, EMH and ADR's. They are always happy to have it planned out. DH and I are going for a long weekend this September and he left everything up to me. But he leaves everything up to me for all our trips. Planning is half the fun for me. We are going to Michegan this summer, and I'm taking a more relaxed attitude to the palnning part. I'm going to try and go with the flow - we'll see how that goes!

 

[cosmos]

I swear, one year I'm going to find a 3 a.m. flight with 4 layovers, request a garbage can view, and book us 14 nights in a row at the same restaurant just to make a point.

 

[TinksApprentice]

DH is the planner of all our trips. He asks for our input, but he also knows what DD and I have on our "must do" lists. He plans and plans and replans. He makes all the ADRs and books our flights and accomodations. Once it gets close to the time of the trip, he sends out the final itinerary (as a spread sheet). That's the only one I really pay any attention to. Then I quietly take it and put it all in my phone calendar and add in magic hours schedules. Once we get there, he's forever asking, "where are we today?"

It works for us and we've never been disappointed.

 

[bgraham34]

I am the only planner in my house. I will get some input from my wife but she trusts my judgement on everything.

 

[MamaDrama]

I am the Disney and Cruise planner and DH does most other vacations.

 

[antree]

I am the only planner, but, my DD has been bugging me this year, with" Did you book our reservations to eat?, where are we eating?, I want to go here and there?, our we getting the food plan? Did you book the food plan?, when you booking the food plan?, did you make enough reservations?" When it comes to her food she has more then enough input. She is driving me crazy!
My DH says nothing, once in a while I'll get from him, "did you book Rose and Crown or Italy?". As you can see it's all about the food, with my family.
I love doing the planning but once in awhile just answer my questions when I ask you.
Most of the time DH doesn't even know when we are going until I say, I booked our trip it's time to goThen I get, Again, "weren't we just there? We are going for how many days! I'll meet you there I can't take 2 weeks off. Are you paying for this?"
I then book everything, get our plane tickets as soon as they go down. Then here comes my DH after all is booked, with I am changing my flight and going with you, or I am coming 2 days after you leave instead of 5 days later What! now your tickets is costing me double what I paid, He can't take the thought of us being there without him
My DS sits back and just keeps asking when are we leaving?
But yea, I do everything. That's OK though it is getting me to Disney!

 

[BabsBunny]

Great thread. I find myself nodding in agreement.

My husband and I are foodies and have been going to WDW since 1989, and he still doesn't seem to get that you can't just wing it for dinner. It's gotten to the point now that I just try to get a feel if there is a special restaurant he wants to go to, and I go ahead and make the ADR's on my own.

We are going with our two teen boys and two of their friends next month. I know it's going to be hot and muggy, so I decided we should get our butts out of bed and take advantage of EMH's in the morning. I asked him weeks ago if he was game for doing MK at 8:00 am with a nice lunch at Tony's before heading back to OKW. He agreed it was a good idea. Well he was looking through the itinerary the other day and said (with a tone) "I could do without getting to a park at 8 in the morning." I cancelled the ADR for the two of us, took MK completely out of our itinerary (it's his favorite park, not mine, let him figure it out) and made one for all six of us at Sci-Fi Diner.

My boys are like their father. They don't want to "hold themselves down to anything", and they certainly don't get to the parks early, and dad and I certainly don't do the parks until midnight. Thank gawd for text messaging so that we can meet up. I don't want to play the commander/drill sargeant on vacation. I have to do that at home enough. We'll have a good time regardless.

 

[dmoore22]

My DW and I work as a team. First we check our calendars to see when we can both be off work at the same time. Once that's established I call to make the reservations as close as possible to the 11 month window. At the 7 month window we will waitlist for where we would like stay. We agree on a first choice and second choice to waitlist. In the meantime I'll make a calendar of our dates showing the morning and evening EMH. Also if there are any special activities or shows going in the parks on those dates. Love those Disney iPhone apps! We use that to determine which park/resort we will probably be in at that time. We then discuss which restaurants we would like to eat at or which one's we've never been and like to try. We get our kid's involved in this also. Each family takes a turn stating their "must do" and a second choice in case the "must do" isn't available. My DW calls to make the ADRs. We use the speaker phone so we can all listen to the CM on the other end and provide input in case we can't get our first or second choice. Using the iPhone Disney app I input the ADR information then email to my wife and kids so they can save it to their iPhone and set an alarm reminder.

 

[disney212]

I do all the planning, not that I mind but a "thank you" would be nice.

 

[Princess Tink]

I'll admit it, I love planning our trips. I seem to be alone in that regard in our household, though. I'm not asking for enthusiasm, but a little beneficial feedback would be nice!

"I'm going to start booking restaurants, do you have any you want to add to the list?" "I don't care. You know what I like."

"Should we get the Premium Annual Passes again this year, or get the regulars instead? How many times do you think we'll do water parks?" "Whatever you think is best."

"Do you want to upgrade to a two-bedroom this summer and invite such-and-such, or would you rather save the points for a Halloween/Christmas trip?" "I'm up for either."

I swear, one year I'm going to find a 3 a.m. flight with 4 layovers, request a garbage can view, and book us 14 nights in a row at the same restaurant just to make a point.

What level of cooperation do you get in the pre-planning?

I could have totally wrote this... I love trip planning, but the lack of cooperation when asked specific questions is annoying!

 

[KateB]

Oh my! This is exactly what happens in my house! When I pitch the idea of going my DH's response is usually... "That's fine with me" How long should we go?... "Whatever you think" I am booking our meals where do you want to eat (or not eat)?... "As long as we go to Narcoossee's you always pick good places"

SERIOUSLY!!!! Any help would be nice! But hey at least I get the exact trip that I want! hehe

 

[SamSam]

Oh my! This is exactly what happens in my house! When I pitch the idea of going my DH's response is usually... "That's fine with me" How long should we go?... "Whatever you think" I am booking our meals where do you want to eat (or not eat)?... "As long as we go to Narcoossee's you always pick good places"

SERIOUSLY!!!! Any help would be nice! But hey at least I get the exact trip that I want! hehe

Exactly! As long as there are no complaints, I don't mind doing all the planning. What I don't like is when you ask for opinions, get none, then get a "well I wish we had done......". I put a stop to that quickly, if you won't input in the planning stages, then you CANNOT complain.

 

[kjm4]

I do all the planning for the trips. We usually travel with my brother's family and they leave everything up to me. I get no complaints and many thank you's. It has worked out great and we've had a lot of fun. I have traveled with up to 5 other families with lots of kids of varying ages and it was difficult. ADR's were a challenge; getting everyone anywhere on time was hard. Come to think of it, that whole trip was a challenge! Finally I just told everyone what time we were leaving for the parks and my family left on time. If we were able to meet up with them later; great. If not, that was okay too . It worked out well. By the end of the trip almost everyone decided to follow our plan. They had more fun and were able to do a lot more.

 

[PSC]

Guilty as charged - I'm the only planner. I agree a little input / appreciation would be nice.

Last December we vacationed at THV with a tree house full of people. It was only supposed to be 4 of us, but word got out and before you know it we had some hangers on. My brother-in-law was having a serious discussion with my son and I overheard something like "you don't want to be like your dad and plan for everything - just let life happen". I couldn't help but think - you are only here because of my planning and you are making fun of me?

Guess what I'm planning for my brother-in-law now?

 

[JWG]

Yup. I'm the planner. Don't know that the DW could find Disney much less know a phone number for them.

It's ok, it means we do what I want to do and no one has the right to complain about it. We're staying 10 nights on our next trip and have 9 ADRs. Guess who got to pick each and every restaurant?

It does get annoying sometimes, and I did have a "moment" when I was upset I had to plan my birthday. But, other than that, I'm over it.

It gives me something to do between trips and it means I control where we stay, what room size we have, where we eat and what extras we schedule.

I'd love to say it's only Disney I'm responsible for, but I've also planned all of our other trips as well.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I'm definitely the only planner. DH has NEVER called MS and probably doesn't know how to. He doesn't even know (or probably care to know) any of the DVC rules. The other day, just for the fun of it, I asked him how much he thought points cost. "About $75?" "And how much were they when we bought?" (In 2002) "About $70?" He was shocked that they were $75 when we bought. Maybe it's best he's clueless!
The only thing is that our 30th Anniversary is coming up at OKW, and I saw a beautiful anniversary cake on the Cake Thread I want. I showed him the picture of it and told him it would be a real nice "surprise", but I don't know if he'll figure out how to get it.

 

[DVC Grandpa]

I do the planning and make the reservations although it often gets tweaked by my better half.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

I swear, one year I'm going to find a 3 a.m. flight with 4 layovers, request a garbage can view, and book us 14 nights in a row at the same restaurant just to make a point.

What level of cooperation do you get in the pre-planning?

I laughed out loud on this one! The entire conversation felt like deja vu! Like the others, though, I LOVE planning. And, when DH and the kids neglect to provide feedback, I tell them no griping is allowed. When they truly seem to appreciate it is when we're starving, and we can practically walk into our favorite restaurants because dear ol' mom planned ahead!

Best of all, I get to to mostly pick where we stay, and I LOVE to resort hop! Every booking is an adventure!