Had to share this with those who 'get it'!!

[goofy4tink]

So, yesterday I get a phone call from a friend, not close but a friend. His son told him that if he wants to plan a trip to WDW, he needs to call me!! Our kids are friends. So he offers to buy me lunch so he can 'pick my brain' about Disney.
Okay. So there we sit. He tells me that he and his wife are kicking around the idea of going to WDW with the three kids (19, 13 and 10). Okay. I ask him when they are thinking of going....wait for it, are you ready??? In three weeks. Oh, and they want to be there for July 4!!! I looked at him and told him that he was out of his mind, that I wouldn't take a free vacation at WDW if it meant being there for that week!!
He has nothing planned, has done no research. He talked to JB and got a price for a pkg through them..came to $7000!!! I told him to book airfare himself and then to call Disney and book their stay with them.
He had no idea where they wanted to stay...said a nice hotel but one that wasn't a boatload of money!! And one he could maybe walk to the parks like at DL!!! Oh dear God!!
I told him he needed to look at the PassPorter I gave him, to decide what resorts appealed to them and to call Disney today!!!! He wasn't going to find much available!!!

Hopefully he reads the book, checks out the sites I gave him to check out and does something today. I thought you all might get a chuckle out of someone who does no planning whatsoever..compared to us, the nuts who start planning for the next trip while still on the current one!!!

 

[jimandami]

Too funny! I have a Facebook friend (we used to be co-workers) who asked me last week if I could help her decide where to stay and what to do. Me, "Sure, when are you going?" Her, "The 3rd week of June"

Alrighty then! She did book at WL and actually got a couple pretty good ADRs (Akershus), but I talked her out of the dining plan since it was such late notice. I just told her as long as she knew it would be hot and crowded and they wouldn't be able to do everything, they would have fun!

 

[goofy4tink]

Pretty much my advice as well. And they want to spend a night and two days at US/IoA as well as a few days at the beach!!! He wanted to know how far away Ft Lauderdale is!!! Are you kidding me? You want to drive over 3 hrs to go to the beach? Head over to Cocoa Beach instead.
Man, in this day and age, with the internet and all that we have to do research with, it boggles my mind to see such lack of knowledge.

 

[trishadono]

Last month when I checked in at Poly the guy next to me asked the cm where the monorail to HS was? He would not believe he had to take a bus. Then insisted the cm show him a map so he could "get his bearings".

Pay all that money for poly and have no clue . By the time you figure it out your vacation is over and wasted.

I personally escort people to disney. I took my friend and her son 2 times. I had my son, we left spouses and older kids home. First time was last minute at Easter so I could only get 2 nights at ASM and 3 at CSR. It worked out fine cause I know how to do it. 2nd time I took then to POR.

Took my parents myself without my family, stayed at CSR.

Took my sister , just us two and stayed at POFQ.

Took my aunt and due to her money constraints we stayed at POP.

My friends had a business trip in Orlando so our whole family, (dh, hs13, dd15 at that time) booked last minute to go with with them. We stayed ay YC. When the husband went to his meetings his wife came with us to parks and pool etc. At night we took them to F&W and they loved it.
I really will use any excuse to go

 

[SA mom]

I think when people start thinking about a WDW vacation, they have no concept of the scope of the place they want to visit.

 

[Missytara]

I am in the same boat, taking her 2 teenage boys. She is a single mom. We are here for 8 days. She wanted to go in town to a bar for the evening to meet some locals, she wanted to do some shopping and then go to the beach for an afternoon (mind you, at home, we live 45 minutes from the beach). Then she thought we should hop over to Universal or Sea World, or maybe a water park.

We have been here since Saturday morning, and we have not left property. We have done lots of things and absolutely nothing. We stayed up talking until 4am the other night and slept until noon and then stayed at HS until midnight last night. She has never been on vacation before and she said she is in heaven.......

 

[teentoddlermom]

Lots of people are last minute types. Many people like that do not let things bother them. They might just love it during that high time, and don't care about the cost. They could go, eat counter service, pay huge bucks, not get on any headliners, and still have a great time! It's all in the attitude!
But if they are uptight they are going to be miserable ;(

 

[Epcotgal]

I've seen this many times. The first time a friend of mine went they rented a condo on the west coast of Fla. so they could be by the beach, drove to WDW every morning, AND were there at the 4th of July. I TRIED to warn them! They had a miserable time. So much so it took a few years before I convinced them to go with us with planning. They fell in love, will never stay offsite again, and are now Disney addicts.

 

[Sue M]

So, yesterday I get a phone call from a friend, not close but a friend. His son told him that if he wants to plan a trip to WDW, he needs to call me!! Our kids are friends. So he offers to buy me lunch so he can 'pick my brain' about Disney.
Okay. So there we sit. He tells me that he and his wife are kicking around the idea of going to WDW with the three kids (19, 13 and 10). Okay. I ask him when they are thinking of going....wait for it, are you ready??? In three weeks. Oh, and they want to be there for July 4!!! I looked at him and told him that he was out of his mind, that I wouldn't take a free vacation at WDW if it meant being there for that week!!
He has nothing planned, has done no research. He talked to JB and got a price for a pkg through them..came to $7000!!! I told him to book airfare himself and then to call Disney and book their stay with them.
He had no idea where they wanted to stay...said a nice hotel but one that wasn't a boatload of money!! And one he could maybe walk to the parks like at DL!!! Oh dear God!!
I told him he needed to look at the PassPorter I gave him, to decide what resorts appealed to them and to call Disney today!!!! He wasn't going to find much available!!!

Hopefully he reads the book, checks out the sites I gave him to check out and does something today. I thought you all might get a chuckle out of someone who does no planning whatsoever..compared to us, the nuts who start planning for the next trip while still on the current one!!!

oh boy ate they in for a sticker shock maybe they should think about The DTD Doubletree, they are suites, and although they don't have the on site perks, they do have good park transportation and a lot less then the Deluxe resorts that sleep 5!

I am in the same boat, taking her 2 teenage boys. She is a single mom. We are here for 8 days. She wanted to go in town to a bar for the evening to meet some locals, she wanted to do some shopping and then go to the beach for an afternoon (mind you, at home, we live 45 minutes from the beach). Then she thought we should hop over to Universal or Sea World, or maybe a water park.

We have been here since Saturday morning, and we have not left property. We have done lots of things and absolutely nothing. We stayed up talking until 4am the other night and slept until noon and then stayed at HS until midnight last night. She has never been on vacation before and she said she is in heaven.......

Good thing she has you! Say hi to Piano Bob for me!!!

 

[Sue M]

It's sad when people go, don't plan, and end up hating wdw! I have a friend who did that, didn't even tell me they were going! They did a family trip with their daughters,& grand kids so rented a house. Didn't get to parks till noon, she said they couldn't find any food except burgers or hotdogs and fries and lines were too long!
Too bad. She said she left the planning to her husband and daughter!! Who obv. didn't plan.
If only she consulted me, they would have had a much different trip! If they followed my suggestions.

 

[revdon64]

Thing is, those of us who do plan need the non-planners to continue to be non-planners for the most part. If everybody planned... well, you get the idea.

 

[Missytara]

Good thing she has you! Say hi to Piano Bob for me!!!

You will definitely appreciate this one! We arrived Saturday around after driving 18 hours straight. We got settled in, had dinner, and I told Holly if she would humor me and watch Bob, I would pay her tab for the entire evening.

We stayed to the very end, she had her picture taken with him, etc. She thought it was the most unique show she had ever seen! There was a very pretty teenage girl who ran her little brother around the room for every single kid participation song. She just marveled at the interaction between kids and families.

Needless to say, we are going back tomorrow night!

Holly was our server (she works breakfast at Kouzzina's and River Roost on Bob's nights). I did not get away easy, we had a ton of mixed drinks, but she got like 6 glow cubes, so it was worth it.

 

[Coconuts]

All of my friends at work know what a WDW nut I am, so whenever someone decides to finally book a trip, and sometimes they are first timers, they send them in my direction. When I start explaining all the planning that's involved, they just look at me with a dazed expression and all I hear is crickets. They are amazed at my vast knowledge. And that doesn't happen very often. But they are very thankful and have helped out many.

 

[Missytara]

All of my friends at work know what a WDW nut I am, so whenever someone decides to finally book a trip, and sometimes they are first timers, they send them in my direction. When I start explaining all the planning that's involved, they just look at me with a dazed expression and all I hear is crickets. They are amazed at my vast knowledge. And that doesn't happen very often. But they are very thankful and have helped out many.

Ditto for me. People cannot believe how much I have learned from my 9 trips to Disney. But I feel like I am an ambassador of Disney. I want everyone to have the great times I always have.

 

[chrystalc77]

I have a coworker who is the exact same way......she asked me at the beginning of the year if I would help her plan, and I told her absolutely since we aren't going this year I can live vicariously through her. However every time I go to talk to her about it she is standoffish. Her DH works construction, and says that as soon as the job he is on is over they are going to go. No planning, no payment making, no dining reservations. Blows my mind. I don't know if she thinks she's going to ride around looking for a vacancy sign or what, but she doesn't get that people plan for Disney sometimes years in advance, and you need to have some kind of idea of what parks and rides will interest you. I'm afraid Disney is going to chew them up and spit them out!!!

 

[Coconuts]

Ditto for me. People cannot believe how much I have learned from my 9 trips to Disney. But I feel like I am an ambassador of Disney. I want everyone to have the great times I always have.

Ambassador of Disney. I like the sound of that. I always say that my dream job is either a WDW travel agent, so I can always be planning a WDW trip, or a ride greeter.

It's funny but when I do start helping people, and they are newbies, they look at me strangely, like some kind of freak, because I'm more excited about their trip than they are! But thank goodness all of those people have us to help them with their Disney trips.

 

[Heather1979]

LOL. I love this post. I also love the "ambassador". My friends call me a pseudo-disney travel agent because I know quite a bit about taking a WDW vacation.

 

[kimnvbva]

I had the same thing happen to me last week at the gym. Talking to a girl there about going on vacation. She asked where I was going and of ourselves I cheerfully boast Disneyworld! She said we are too! I asked her when and she said in August. Great, where are you staying? I don't know I haven't booked it. What?? that should of been done months ago! Really? She says. Them she says, I really want to have lunch or dinner at CRT. And that new restaurant with Belle for my daughters birthday. Really??? Are you insane???? After I explained to her the ins and outs of planning for months and getting up at the crack of dawn to make dining ressies six months in advance she looked horrified! I felt kind of bad for her. I told her she needed to go home and call Disney right away!

 

[Hooked On The Mouse]

I actually feel really bad for people in that boat, and worse for their kids. But at the same time, just having the knowledge sometimes isn't enough either. I have a friend I work with, and for several years she's been listening to me rave about our WDW holidays and how I can't wait for another one. So last spring she says to me that she'd like to take her family there too. I said, Great! We'll help you plan, we'll even make your ressies for you if you like, and if you start saving and watching for discounts now, next winter would be a good time to go. 3 days later she walks in and tells me she booked with a travel agent and got a deal. The "deal" was an offsite condo with a small car included, no tickets even, so she had to buy them when she got there. They ended up there during spring break, and when they came back and I asked her what they did, she said MK really barely had room to walk so they just walked around and looked at things and went on the Winnie the Pooh ride. I could have cried. The sad thing is they didn't seem to know any different and they want to go back next year. This is after me going on and on about the importance of planning ahead. So you can lead a horse to water, but ......

 

[Yellowstonetim]

It is hard to understand. But then again my son and I listen to podcasts, visit this site and each make excel spreadsheets with EMH, plans, and reservations. I'll even include sunrise/sunset, moon phases, and expected weather highs, lows, and averages.


What? That isn't normal?

In other words: It is hard for me to understand the non-planner.

But, as someone said, as long as they are chill, OK, but if they expect more, it could be painful.