Confessions of an obsessive planner... Let the countdown begin!!

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Hope, I'm pretty sure Ann's wedding is on the same day as Summer's!

 

[-Hope-]

Hope, I'm pretty sure Ann's wedding is on the same day as Summer's!

Oooh, that's right!

 

[-Hope-]

ONE MONTH UNTIL DISNEY!!

This time next month we'll be at the hotel in St. Louis, getting ready to fly to Disney! I'm making itinerary cards for each day of the trip; I'll have one for myself and the kids will each get a copy, about index card size, to hang on their lanyard. This way they can check for themselves what we'll be doing next instead of asking me every two seconds! The items in red are Jace's top priorities and the purple are Kya's. I don't really have any additional priorities for this day so at least for today it's just the kids'.

At one point we were planning to do Characters in Flight while at DTD but both of the kids changed their mind about this one- I am SOOO relieved! Not only is it saving us money to skip this but I have a healthy fear of heights so I wasn't sure how I was going to do with it.

Oh, and you are probably noticing that lovely layover and just how long our travel time is. This was the cheapest flight that arrived in Orlando the earliest so I went for it.

 

[-Hope-]

Eek, that itinerary is too small! I'm going to try again...

Ahh, that's better.

 

[BabyEeyore]

Yay for one month away!

The plans for that first day look good! Layovers do stink, but I would have picked the same flight if it got to Orlando earlier and was cheaper!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

The lanyard sized itinerary is a great idea! Now that we're going to have more people on our trip, I'll have to steal this idea too

 

[Charlefours]

Love your cards!! I especially like how you have the kid's wishes color coded. I think when DD gets old enough, I would like to give her a little card for each day too. Great way to avoid, what are we doing next conversation all the time!!

 

[-Hope-]

One month from today we will be enjoying our first full day at Disney.

This will be our first of two Animal Kingdom days. I decided to do two days because it was proving impossible to get in all three shows, rides, trails, and character greeting and still get to our ADR on time. Since we'll be leaving shortly after lunch on both days its really two half days but it just seemed less stressful this way.

My itinerary is, of course, color coded.

My goal; Jace's goal; Kya's goal

The blue time listed for the shows is the time we will try to attend. I also listed later times just in case we miss it and want to try for a later show. These times are the main reason I haven't printed out the cards yet- I'll have to double check show times right before we leave and then finalize the itinerary. They usually don't change much but a thirty minute difference could be another ride or trail we could do instead of sitting around waiting for a show- or missing a show because it started earlier than we thought!

So...

I'm really looking forward to our evening on this day. The kids and I have watched several youtube videos of character interaction at 1900 PF and it just looks like so much fun. I remember being genuinely excited to meet characters when I was at Disney when I was 17- there's just something about it that makes you a kid again. My two are growing up so fast, 10 and 11 already, and I just can't wait to experience this with them.

To make the evening extra special I ordered the chocolate slipper dessert this morning. I have pretty much blabbed everything else that was supposed to be a surprise but I've managed to keep this one under my hat. I can hardly wait to see their faces when it comes! I also added "Jace and Kya's first trip" celebration to our dinner. This is our first full day and I want it to be special!

Another special thing that I hope works out is taking the ferry back to MK during Wishes. Our ADR is at 6:15 so even if we get seated late I think we'll be finished before Wishes begins. In fact we may end up waiting around for a while- but GF is supposed to be beautiful so I figured we'd just explore the resort if we need to. I've read that some of the ferry captains will actually stop in the water until Wishes is over so you can view from the middle of the lagoon. I'm trying not to get my hopes up about this because any number of things could prevent this from happening but I think it would be magical.

So, that's it for our first full day at Disney- any thoughts?

 

[Victoriasmom98]

What??? Robbie doesn't have a colored goal????

 

[-Hope-]

What??? Robbie doesn't have a colored goal????

If you knew him you'd know just how funny that is!

Robbie will have a good time once we are there, especially seeing the kids have a good time, but he has no interest in discussing, planning, or setting goals in advance.

 

[-Hope-]

Good Morning everyone!

I meant to write a little about my touring plans yesterday and I forgot. Those who have been following along for a while know this but may have forgotten and I wanted to explain to the newcomers why I have such, ummm, detailed touring plans.

First of all, studying the park layouts, reading about all the rides and attractions, and deciding what we want to do has been F-U-N!! I love planning and one of the great things about Disney is that there are lots of opportunities for planning.

Next, my family, especially my dh, does better with a plan. If we are left to meander and wander we a) waste a lot of time and b) never has as much fun. When we were on vacation last year we went to wander 'the strip' in the town we were in and wasted a lot of that day because we couldn't decide what we wanted to do. It was one of the least fun days of our trip and I don't want a repeat of it.

My personality is such that I can make a very detailed plans but still remain flexible. When the time comes if we love pin trading or character greets more than we think we will then we'll spend more time doing those things. I don't mind missing an attraction because we decided something else was more fun. I DO mind missing an attraction because we were in the wrong place at the wrong time, possible standing around deciding what to do next.

Finally, unlike many DISers this is probably going to be our only trip to the World. We love to travel and right now can only afford one family vacation per year (or a few long weekends but I digress). We want to see lots of places and things and as much fun as it has been planning this trip I know we won't do it again, at least not for a very long time. That means we have to soak up as much fun as we can from this trip. HOWEVER we also have to honor our personalities which means we'll need time to swim and relax because if we overdo it no one will have fun. That means that having a plan helps us make the most of our time while still having some downtime.

So, when you look over my plans and think a) you haven't done enough compared to me, or more likely, b) that I'm absolutely nuts just remember that this is the kind of trip that is right for US and everyone has to figure out for themselves what works for their family.

 

[-Hope-]

Okay, onto my plans for this day next month...

But first, I have to start off by saying that I'm so glad Stephanie had this one month from today idea- I'm having so much fun doing it and it's getting me very excited about our trip! When I finish laying out our daily plans I'm going to post the things that the kids and I are most looking forward to, another of Stephanie's great ideas.

So, September 27 is a Monday and we'll be spending it at Epcot. We have two days planned for Epcot and both are pretty full days because it is the park I'm most looking forward to. Our first morning will be spent at FW and then we'll be on to WS in the late afternoon/evening. As you can see we have each chosen a goal for morning AND evening. I love these goals (another great idea from Stephanie) because it makes me feel like we know what do if something comes up and we can't do it all. It's also given me the chance to talk with the kids about priorities and let prepare them for the idea that we might not be able to do it all but we'll still have fun!

I have a lot planned in our morning but if we don't have time to do it all it will be okay- I only have one thing planned for FW on our 2nd Epcot day and don't plan to arrive until around 10:30 or 11. If we miss something on this first day we'll just come a little earlier on the second day and do it then.

I'd like to leave the park around 1-1:30 for our break and am interested if you guys think that's doable with this plan. Keep in mind that we have three GAD vouchers we're using for FP (one of them on this day, one at DHS and of course one at MK) so we won't have to double back to gather then use FP.

So, what do you think? Anyone care to guess what FW attraction we've saved for our 2nd day??

 

[-Hope-]

I forgot to mention that on the touring plans under Innoventions I have the main things we want to see listed (including Jace's goal for the day) but we will explore for as long as we can/want.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Normally if you had to run for FP's, etc. I would say that it would be pushing it to get all those things done, but I think with the instant GADs you will be able to do it all! Not sure how long Turtle talk takes though, that would be my only concern b/c there are only certain times for it, right? Like a show?

I'm so excited for you, I'm going to have to live vicariously through you!

 

[-Hope-]

Normally if you had to run for FP's, etc. I would say that it would be pushing it to get all those things done, but I think with the instant GADs you will be able to do it all! Not sure how long Turtle talk takes though, that would be my only concern b/c there are only certain times for it, right? Like a show?

I'm so excited for you, I'm going to have to live vicariously through you!

Thanks Karen, I keep running it through in my head, looking at times, etc. and I think it's manageable but that's all based on reading, not actual experience.

The book I have says Crush is only 7 minutes and I think it runs continuously, as one show ends another begins. I'm not sure about that but it isn't listed as having a show time on Steve Soars so I think that's right.

 

[starann]

Wow, you put me to shame!!!!!! We will have a plan for the day, certainly not as detailed as yours!!!!!

Are you doing hte Photopass CD? I found some neat cards on the DISign thread to tell you where the PP photographer are. DO you want me to semd the link to you? Or are you so uber organized that you have them already?!?!?!

 

[-Hope-]

Wow, you put me to shame!!!!!! We will have a plan for the day, certainly not as detailed as yours!!!!!

Are you doing hte Photopass CD? I found some neat cards on the DISign thread to tell you where the PP photographer are. DO you want me to semd the link to you? Or are you so uber organized that you have them already?!?!?!

Yep, I don't call myself an obsessive planner for nothin'. And yes, I do have those PP cards.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

 

[-Hope-]

Laugh it up- where do you think I learned it??

 

[-Hope-]

First of all- woot, my ticker's back! myvacationcoountdown.com has been down for a couple of days but I was (im)patiently waiting for it to go back up because I didn't want my ticker to start all over! Whew!

Anyway, on to Tuesday September 28- DHS. This is pretty much a 'show' park for us. My kids have no interest in in ToT or RnRC and Star Tours will be down when we're there. So, we're only riding two rides at DHS- Great Movie Ride and TSM. We'll have the GAD vouchers though so even though TSM is only listed on our touring plans once we'll probably ride it at least twice, maybe three times (which is the number of FP vouchers we'll have for it with the GAD).

There is a bit of downtime between some of the shows where there won't really be enough time to do a planned activity or attraction. For example there's an hour and 20 minutes between IJ and LMA for us to eat lunch. We won't need that long!! But I think these moments will be good times for us to do some character greeting, pin trading, PP pics and just enjoy the atmosphere. I think it will be great to have a more laidback day and that we're going to need it at this point!

As you can see Miller Lite made the itinerary. The thing is that dh doesn't like Budweiser products which is pretty much what they have at WDW except for a few locations. He also doesn't like the imported beers that he'll find in Epcot. We've been to Germany a few times- pretty much the beer capital of the world- and he doesn't like the beer. Ah, well.

I don't have a priority or goal for the morning except making sure the kids get theirs met. Like I said, it's going to be a laidback day!

I was concerned about fitting in all the stuff that we want to do in the evening but couldn't really move any of it to the morning because of show times. But then I read on the WDW website that park hours indicate when they stop allowing people in and that we still have another hour after that time if we're already in the park. I think that extra hour will give us plenty of time.

Oh, and I'd already picked TSM as my priority when I asked Jace so it is really his as well- he picked the Muppets as his backup since we don't both need the same goal. He loves the crabby old guys.