Help! My little brother wants to plan our next Disney trip!

[Spyells]

Hi! My 19 year-old brother wants to plan our next Disney world trip. Now, I was young too when I started planning. It's a personal issue not an age one. I'm a detailed and organized person by nature but he is not. I planned our first Disney world family trip in December 2015 with a travel agent. The agent helped with booking certain dining reservations and other logistics. But, I did custom birthday cakes, in-room surprises, fast passes, etc. He seems to think all of this is easy. He also compared Art of Animation and Yacht Club as if they were the same price. He doesn't understand the difference in quality or price in value, moderate, or deluxe resorts. How do I get him to see it would be better to allow me to plan our trip? Thanks!

P.S. I apologise if I posted this thread in the wrong section.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Not much you can do other than speak to your parents or tell him he is planning his own trip and you'll book your own.

 

[siren0119]

Perhaps a better approach would be to come alongside him rather than feeling the need to take over. Your need to drive the bus shouldn' t overshadow his excitement about doing something nice for his family. He also won't learn how to plan if he doesn't have the chance to do it. Rather than taking the stance of "I know better and I'm better at this" (which would undoubtedly put him on the defensive) try asking open ended questions to lead him down the path of decision making. For example....when comparing AoA and Yacht Club, questions like "did you happen to see what the size of the rooms are, and if they are comparable" or "how far is each hotel from the parks?" will start to get him looking at more than just price when choosing hotels.

 

[Gafnorin]

I’d say for the stuff that costs money he can plan when he pays for it. Maybe split so you do the big stuff (resort, air, tickets etc) and he does the fun internal stuff like ADRs and fast passes. And he needs to be open to pointers if plans are really off but otherwise let him have some say.

 

[siren0119]

Perhaps a better approach would be to come alongside him rather than feeling the need to take over. Your need to drive the bus shouldn' t overshadow his excitement about doing something nice for his family. He also won't learn how to plan if he doesn't have the chance to do it. Rather than taking the stance of "I know better and I'm better at this" (which would undoubtedly put him on the defensive) try asking open ended questions to lead him down the path of decision making. For example....when comparing AoA and Yacht Club, questions like "did you happen to see what the size of the rooms are, and if they are comparable" or "how far is each hotel from the parks?" will start to get him looking at more than just price when choosing hotels.

ETA: just because he thinks it's easy to plan doesn't mean he'll automatically 1) mess things up, 2) learn it's not easy and not rise to the challenge.

 

[stephk1981]

Plan together. It may make both of you enjoy the actual trip even more!

 

[Spyells]

Thanks guys!