Does Anyone Else Get Panicky?

[ruadisneyfan2]

Absolutely lot's of pics and vids!
Already have multi tiered packing lists.

My wife helped me understand what's going on with me.
I always have a meltdown before Christmas, one right before a big trip, and one right before something huge and new that I can't really control. So of course I'm in a state of Aspie overwhelm almost non stop. All 3 of those things are wrapped up together in regards to this trip.

So intellectually - I know that I should try to make the most of it no matter what comes of it - but with so many aspie triggers being smacked at once - of course I'm freaking out.

This is when it helps to know yourself when it comes to trip planning. For me, I'm not an early morning person, though I have to be for work, it's not "me". So I stopped choosing 6 or 7am flights. I don't like myself and how I am when I need to get up at 2:30am for a flight. For me, it's just not a fun way to start a vacation. Dh would always choose the earliest flight of the day if it were left up to him, so now I don't ask him. I'd much rather choose a late flight the night before. Another thing with me, is/was when our kids were little, pulling off the whole Santa/Christmas thing, in addition to working FT, was overwhelming. I quickly learned to start early but I always felt like I never had enough time or felt guilty that time spent shopping meant time not spent with the kids. They would always get a week in early November with 3 days off school so that became our travel week but it was awful for me having Thanksgiving coming, my mom's birthday to shop for, start Christmas shopping, ds with an early Jan birthday, all in addition to an already stressful/fully packed regular life schedule, kids homework, school projects, after school activities, etc. At the time, it was worth the stress for the financial incentive of being able to travel off peak and kids only missed 2 days of school. A 7-nt cruise could be a lot more affordable, but as soon as they were out of school, we stopped traveling that late in the fall season. I recognize that it's a busy time for me and I would later pay the price for my week of relaxation in the sun.
I also get very stressed with winter travel, dealing with planes being de-iced, so I stopped choosing that time of year also.

So my long-winded point is don't blame yourself for feeling like you do. Instead, choose vacations so that you're not creating the "perfect storm" of anxiety. If you already know Christmas prep leads to meltdowns, pick a different timeframe when you typically expect life to be more "quiet & boring". At least that's one less meltdown to combine with the "something new & huge" and "big trip" meltdowns. If this is your first Disney cruise, do another one so that it's no longer something new & huge. Your next cruise then would only be a "big trip" meltdown instead of 3 combined. After several Disney cruises, it won't even be a "big trip" anymore, you'll have a saved list from last time, and you'll be super-experienced at everything, and there will be no more meltdowns.

It took me several instances of "learning the hard way" to finally accept that I just don't want to travel at certain busy times of the year, that it would only add more work to an already busy time, and that the relaxed post-vacation glow quickly gets wiped out much more quickly when I have to hit the ground running on my return and rush rush rush being stressed. Even if others can pull it all off with finesse, I know that's not me.

 

[auntlynne]

 

[unveilmyeyes]

I'm reaching that stage where there's nearly less than 10 days left to go and I'm starting to panic.
What if our flight gets canceled, what if Disney has gone completely dumbed down and the whole cruise sucks, what if weather keeps the ship from sailing? And on and on it goes - does anybody else get like this right before a cruise?

I think it's worse then it used to be this year because the trip is 3 years in the making and because a successful holiday season is also rolled up into a successful cruise.

Of course the whole cruise will not suck but if you’ve sailed with other companies you may be disappointed in some aspects.

 

[KKKKCS]

I don't get panicky, but I do acknowledge that there could be issues with transportation and try to plan accordingly. We always fly in as early as possible on the day prior to boarding, plan hotel to port transport early and always have a back up of Uber and Lyft. As for disappointment in the cruise, we are just off the Wonder 4 night San Diego/Cabo cruise, my first since 2019, and I was a bit worried about how things would be. I am happy to report that it was wonderful, magical, fantastic, and dreamy (see what I did there? ) In fact it was one of the best cruises ever. All the cast members seemed as happy to have us there as we were to be there. The Christmas decorations were awesome, the revamped Dreams show was great, and the new Frozen show was the best we've ever seen in 14 Disney cruises. We had the best main dining room service team we've ever had, and Tiana's (1st time for us) was amazing. Palo was as delicious as ever, and the elimination of the buffet service during brunch, which we were ready to be disappointed by, was a non event. The only disappointment for us the entire cruise was the new DVC members celebration. What a yawner and waste of 30 minutes.

I guess my advise would be to plan as best you can, and instead of worrying about being disappointed, be ready to enjoy yourself and have a great vacation! Good Luck!

 

[katmigordon]

We have cruised Disney before - even been on the Wonder before, though its been about 7 years. The big thing here is flying in the night before a cruise - we've always driven before. I've only ever been on a plane a couple of times and never since all the trouble with the pandemic and worker shortages. And never when getting there by a certain time made a big difference. Never with more than a carry on - so all of this is new for me. Never with me having massive mobility issues along with a spouse who now also has them... so mostly? The big new scary thing is the airport.

It has been so long since we took a vacation I just forget what I get like right before, and no top of that this is the first Christmas I've planned to do more than go through the motions for (the last couple were rough - I slept through Christmas last year.) But for the first time I feel like maybe I can start celebrating again and move beyond the loss of my mom. My long winded way of saying it has been a couple of years and I forgot what I get like on years when I'm excited for Christmas. So it all just sort of showed up for me at once, and until I sat down with Deb and she said "ok you always have a melt down right before AB & C so of course you're freaking out..." that I was able to put together what was going on with me.

Just WANTING Christmas again is huge for me - I've always been a holiday girl, but after my mom passed it was so hard esp. w Christmas which was always such a big thing with me and my mom.

So my long-winded point is don't blame yourself for feeling like you do. Instead, choose vacations so that you're not creating the "perfect storm" of anxiety. If you already know Christmas prep leads to meltdowns, pick a different timeframe when you typically expect life to be more "quiet & boring". At least that's one less meltdown to combine with the "something new & huge" and "big trip" meltdowns. If this is your first Disney cruise, do another one so that it's no longer something new & huge. Your next cruise then would only be a "big trip" meltdown instead of 3 combined. After several Disney cruises, it won't even be a "big trip" anymore, you'll have a saved list from last time, and you'll be super-experienced at everything, and there will be no more meltdowns.

 

[ironz]

I hope you have a wonderful time! I do hope you update us, as we are all crossing our fingers it all goes well. Try to not sweat the small stuff-- there are likely to be a couple of hiccups, traveling this time of year, and maybe *everything* doesn't go to plan, but that is part of the adventure. We're all pulling for you!

 

[jimmymc]

I get panicky if I feel I'm not prepared. Making checklists ahead of time and following them on important dates leading up to the vacation takes all the stress out of it.

 

[mamaburrito]

Wishing you safe travels! Hope to see you on the 2nd part of your cruise - we are on the same sailing. Let us know you made it safely.