Disney Trip Rules?

[mgsquared]

So my hubby doesn't want to plan ANYTHING. Every time I ask him about anything he gets all upset that I am "spoiling" things. He wants to be completely surprised.

That's actually fine really because I have stalked these boards long enough to have a set idea of when we should do everything, etc. When we were in Disneyland Cali for one day I did some research and figured out the important things (radiator springs fast pass first!) and we just took it from there.

He wants as little information as possible and just to know the most important things (like what to pack, etc.)


Things for both of us to consider at Disney

1) We will not do everything. We will not even try. We will have fun and enjoy each moment.

2) No dieting in Disney BUT since the meal plans come with desserts and we get snacks- we will often choose the fruit cup as the dessert.

3) ADR's have to be canceled one day in advance or we pay 20$. So if it is too late and we feel like something else- tough cookies. Every restaurant has been researched to have things we would like and to be fun. We will for sure enjoy them.

4) Sunscreen. Daily.

5) Ponchos in a bag daily.

6) We will drink lots of water.

7) No rushing! Fast passes will be booked for the most important things. The rest we do as lines are short/as we feel like it.

8) Rolling with the punches. Sometimes the buses will take an hour. Sometimes we will have to pay for cabs. It's ok. We are in Disney and that is awesome. Nothing is bringing us down.

9) See a souvenir you like? Buy it and have it sent to the room. You can return it to a store later if you end up choosing something else.

10) We are NOT spending the entire day pin trading! (Hubby is well aware he drove me nuts with this in Cali and has promised to not overdo it. It got to the point where he was creepy because he kept stopping to look at peoples chests at their lanyards!

Thoughts? Did I miss anything? He really isn't getting involved with the planning and I just want to make sure we're on the same page so I am not sitting there trying to kill him on our magical vacation!

 

[pepe of ohio]

You got too many rules already... Just relax, enjoy the parks as you get there... No ADR's, no problem, you won't starve....

 

[Alesia]

Is this your husband or your son?

Honestly, If my husband gave me this list of rules for "our" vacation, I would feel pretty disrespected.

 

[KorbensMomma]

Holy cow, I hope that wasn't a real list for your husband, if so I hope he has a good sense of humor.

I would not be happy of someone gave me that list before vacation.

 

[lam0037]

My boyfriend is pretty clueless when it comes to planning, his only request was eating at Artist Point after we looked at menus.

He is letting run the show but I think he would just cancel the trip if I gave him a list of rules, even though he knows how serious I get about planning disney trips.

This is your vacation together, enjoy it. If he wants to do a lot of pin trading, let him. If you don't want fruit as a dessert, get chocolate cake. You definitely have good ideas, ponchos water not being able to do everything, relaxing. But they aren't hard and fast rules. It is always great to have a plan at Disney, and you do. But plans change, as you even noted with one of your rules.

I think you are setting yourself up for disappointment, honestly. Sometimes it's fun to race from ride to ride at rope drop, but you can't because you have a no rush rule. And if your husband does look at pins all day, and you have a rule about it, *YOU* are going to be the one who gets mad and upset instead of enjoying the vacation.

Relax. Know where you're going when, FP and ADR, and then leave everything else open. I think you will enjoy yourself more if you both aren't worried about breaking rules.

 

[mgsquared]

Yes my husband has a great sense of humor and we are two goofy goofy people! (like make up songs to everything we do goofy)

He cracked up when I told him about this post and y'alls reactions!

This is what happens on the internet. One forgets the people reading don't actually know you. Oh well.

I should probably start a new post and try again phrased differently but then we're right back at the "mistakes" post which is what inspired all this. The dessert one is for me. I can't resist dessert and am worried I will get myself sick (another thing I picked up on the boards here) as we are on the DDP. Hubby will eat what he wants as always but I really want to be careful and I think writing down to get fruit will help.
These "rules" are as much for me as for hubby! I don't want to be posting on the mistakes thread after our trip!

Hmm. Let me change the name and then it's clearer maybe what I was going for.

 

[kwdw]

With the exception of #2, this looks like a list I and my boyfriend would agree to, regardless of who wrote it! Based on experience, without some pre-agreements like this, we would fight more over dumb stuff because sometimes we would forget what is important to the other person. And as adults, we also know we can agree to change our own rules on the fly. So I get this. While we don't write a list, I have found that vacations are SO MUCH BETTER for us when we chat through expectations before we leave home.

 

[bandksmommy]

Lol I think that's an awesome list. I mean really, it sounded mostly like a vacation mantra "we will be chill......." Not gonna rush everywhere, roll with the punches, don't expect to do everything. We have the same plan, and if more gets done than we planned, GREAT! I'm guessing you edited it and it used to say "Rules for my husband" cause otherwise I don't see the big deal. As for pin trading, I know someone said if he wants to do it all day let him......I disagree. This is where you two being considerate of each other comes in to play. He knows it bugged you last time so while I'm sure you don't care if he pin trades he needs to make sure to balance it other stuff. Just like I KNOW my husband has no desire to hop from line to line meeting characters all day, so we'll pick a choice few and convenient ones as we go and call it a day.

Have a great time!!!!

 

[mgsquared]

Thanks for getting what I mean guys!

Yes. I want a vacation mantra- I want to clear up what could end up being a problem ahead of time. It's the counselor in me! I'm always all, "let's talk everything through" and my goofy husband is all, "let's show up and make funny faces at passerbys!"

Basically the mistakes thread scared me!

I mean really, we are such lax and chill travelers. We usually like to just wander. Even in Cali we tried to hit some important rides but then really just enjoy being in Disney. We have never done a trip where ADR's have to bee booked 180 days in advance and fastpasses 60! This is new territory- especially for him- and I just want that all the surprises are good ones!

Are there any other things y'all make sure to talk about before traveling with Disney newbies that didn't plan?
Not talking things and expectations through before is a recipe for disaster. I have read enough TRs on here to have gathered that!

 

[mgsquared]

bandksmommy- I think it said rules/considerations. I can't remember now. But no, hubby is not pin trading all day!! We are compromising on this. ^_^ We also agreed that I am only chickening out on 4 rides. He hates to have to ride alone but I hate drops. Sigh. Opposites do attract.

 

[artemis4]

My husband does not like planning at all, and he always resisted my efforts to plan our vacations. He just wants to go with the flow and be open to serendipitous turn of events, and he thought that planning prevented that. Crazy man.

With our first Disney trip, I insisted that I plan. He could go through being surprised like your husband wants to be, but I would plan and be fully aware of all the attractions, touring plans, contingencies, restaurants ect. He ended up having the best time on that vacation because we did everything we wanted, we were prepared for everything, and we didn't walk away from spur of the moment fun because I learned enough in my planning to be able to adjust on the fly.

After that trip, he asked that I please do similar planning for all future trips, but let him be surprised. He knows I love the planning, so this makes it more fun for both of us. The trips we've taken since Disney have been fab thanks to this change in his attitude towards planning.

Regarding the rules you've set up, we have similar types of rules for our trips, so I see the loving intention behind them. One rule we had during Disney was that if DH ever said "I've spent a lot of money on this vacation, so XXXXX", I would immediately march all the kids to the nearest ice cream vendor and buy them Mickey bars. One day, he said it in jest because he wanted to go get ice cream. You should have seen the looks on the faces of people around us when he said that, and then those same people were so perplexed when all the kids started cheering "YAY".

 

[mgsquared]

One rule we had during Disney was that if DH ever said "I've spent a lot of money on this vacation, so XXXXX", I would immediately march all the kids to the nearest ice cream vendor and buy them Mickey bars. One day, he said it in jest because he wanted to go get ice cream. You should have seen the looks on the faces of people around us when he said that, and then those same people were so perplexed when all the kids started cheering "YAY".