How do you keep from going insane? Im Ovewhelmed!

[disneygma11]

Just needed to ask, how in the world do you all keep your sanity? lol I am planning our first Disney Trip ever and it is proving to be quite the challenge for me. I have read a whole book from cover to cover and been researching for days on end till I think my family is becoming bored with me talking about Disney over and over. So, can you lend any advice on how to break everything down into more manageable chunks? I have already booked the resort/tickets, waiting till Summer to book Airfare as I am hoping to get a better deal then. I have been looking for some sort of planner or organizing binder that I could use to help me stay organized.I am normally a very organized person, but there is just so much info out there. I have created a Disney folder on my desktop and started a planning file in there where I take notes of anything I run across that seems interesting. Just could use a few tips on creating a balance so I do not get burned out, Im starting to get a headache with things like, Do I rent a car or not? Do I use the Disney Transportation vs. Rental Car, On Site Vs. Offsite...etc. Any thoughts?

 

[Mrs D]

Just needed to ask, how in the world do you all keep your sanity? lol I am planning our first Disney Trip ever and it is proving to be quite the challenge for me. I have read a whole book from cover to cover and been researching for days on end till I think my family is becoming bored with me talking about Disney over and over. So, can you lend any advice on how to break everything down into more manageable chunks? I have already booked the resort/tickets, waiting till Summer to book Airfare as I am hoping to get a better deal then. I have been looking for some sort of planner or organizing binder that I could use to help me stay organized.I am normally a very organized person, but there is just so much info out there. I have created a Disney folder on my desktop and started a planning file in there where I take notes of anything I run across that seems interesting. Just could use a few tips on creating a balance so I do not get burned out, Im starting to get a headache with things like, Do I rent a car or not? Do I use the Disney Transportation vs. Rental Car, On Site Vs. Offsite...etc. Any thoughts?

to the DIS!

I like using the Passporter's Guide to WDW. It has built in planning sheets that are folders so you can store stuff in them! It really helps me organize my trips!

Feel free to ask more questions; we DISers love sharing our knowledge!

 

[disneygma11]

to the DIS!

I like using the Passporter's Guide to WDW. It has built in planning sheets that are folders so you can store stuff in them! It really helps me organize my trips!

Feel free to ask more questions; we DISers love sharing our knowledge!

Thanks! So you are referring to the actual book right? They have a website too though, do they have planning sheets on it for download or do you know?

 

[DaniB]

While researching our first trip, I literally spent months reading up here! Who knew there was so much to learn about Disney?

I created my own planner and was able to par the essentials to a 1-page spreadsheet by the time we left.

It was easier to divide everything up. I started with deciding on a vaule, moderate or deluxe resort. Then narrowed down to which one. We knew we did not want the hassle of a car and were on ME both-ways.

Then I tackled dining. We already knew we wanted the DDP and plently of characters! On vacation for us means no driving, no cooking, no cleaning. And Disney's restaurants are part of the whole experience for a 1st timer!! Not wasted park time to us. We knew the kids would want to meet characters for photos & autographs. So we booked most of our TS meals as character buffet meals. Plenty of food choices and amounts for all of us, and a great wait to NOT line-up in the parks for many characters. We were able to meet about 25 characters this way.

So, I crossed off restaurants not interested in. And made a list of our top choices and listed the remaining.

THEN I tackled the parks! For each park I made a list of our "must-do" rides/attractions, want to do and absolutly not doing. I also noted what days/times some special events/tours were happening that we wanted to do. MNSSHP, Pals & Pirates Fireworks Voyage, Surfing Lessons.

The hardest part was scheduling everything so it fit together. Once the calendar schedule was released I made a "calendar" and plotted the park hours into it and extra things we wanted to do. Then I was able to come up with a schedule of what days we would be at what park, etc.

And finally, I took the restaurants we wanted to eat at and scheduled them around our park days so it all blended in together. We did not want/get park hoppers so if we wanted to eat at Crystal Palace, I needed to make sure to get the ressie for the day we would be in Magic Kingdom.

Yes, it took a lot of work but it was perfect! We had a great trip!!! And to be honest - I enjoyed the planning!!!

BTW, I have the best-ever 1-page spreadsheet another DIS'er gave me. We kept it folded up in a pocket our whole trip. Listed everything we needed for our trip. If you want a copy, let me know.

Happy planning!

 

[lizabu]

I too am planning my 1st trip there (as an adult). I'm starting by breaking it down by day. We are going for 9 days. This gives us 7 full days in the parks. I want to see the parks in the order they seem the most interesting saving the MK for last as I've heard that if you do MK 1st other parks tend to pale in comparison. On day 1 we want to do Hollywood, Day 2 & 3 Epcot. Day 4 & 5 Animal Kingdom and day 6 & 7 Magic Kingdom. Now that we know where we will be I can plan my ADRs based on what parks we will be in. I chose not to do park hopping as it seems time consuming and there is so much to do in each park I can't see why I would need to. Once I know what park I'm in on a certain day I can also sort out parades and what time they are as well as fireworks displays. For me this simplifies things abit and we aren't going to be running all over the place trying to make it to an ADR. It is a vacation after all. I'm going to use Disney transportation. I'd don't think I need a rental and if I wanted to park t at a park I'd have to pay so I would end up leaving it at the hotel and using Disney transportation anyways.

 

[thebwit]

Ok first pick up the Disney Passporter as previously mentioned.

Since you have your resort planned, next tackle the restaurants you want to eat at and get those reservations made.

Then based on the your dining plan which park you will be at for what day. Even if you have park hopper, I suggest only switching parks once per day max. IE start at DHS then move to MK around dinner time. Disney transportation is nice, but it isn't near as fast as you think it is.

Make a plan for what are your top rides to hit each day, then secondary, then third tier. So long as you hit all of your top rides you will be happy.

 

[teachermommy78]

Your post sums up my thoughts exactly!!! We are going in June and I already feel so overwhelmed! I started a pre trip report (the link is in my signature! I'd love to have you join and we can think through this together!!!!) which is helping me slow down and iron out my thoughts. I just literally posted 4 questions one right after another on this forum. Breathe in, out, in, out. Ahhhhh. I need to get a planner of some sort. Even just to take notes for my wishes and dreams for future trips. Something that has helped me was reading other people's trip reports and pre trip reports. You really do learn from their successes and mishaps.

 

[nkereina]

One thing I would recommend that as soon as you find airfare you are comfortable with, BOOK IT! I work in the Travel industry and the biggest mistake people make is waiting. I've done it myself and ended up paying way more than I ever should have. Industry trends are showing airfare on the incline, particularly with the price of gas going up a lot by summer, so I would look now. Plus it will be one more thing out of the way for you

 

[Mrs D]

Thanks! So you are referring to the actual book right? They have a website too though, do they have planning sheets on it for download or do you know?

Yep - the actual book. I haven't spent too much time on their boards, just a peek around.

 

[disneygma11]

One thing I would recommend that as soon as you find airfare you are comfortable with, BOOK IT! I work in the Travel industry and the biggest mistake people make is waiting. I've done it myself and ended up paying way more than I ever should have. Industry trends are showing airfare on the incline, particularly with the price of gas going up a lot by summer, so I would look now. Plus it will be one more thing out of the way for you

Thanks for the tip! But booking airfare right now is out of the question for us, we wont have the $$ till Summer, so that is why we have opted to wait. I have budget narrowed down and we are working through it, paying off most of the resort/tickets by the time June gets here and then getting Airfare in June. Hope it works for us, we will see.

 

[disneygma11]

Your post sums up my thoughts exactly!!! We are going in June and I already feel so overwhelmed! I started a pre trip report (the link is in my signature! I'd love to have you join and we can think through this together!!!!) which is helping me slow down and iron out my thoughts. I just literally posted 4 questions one right after another on this forum. Breathe in, out, in, out. Ahhhhh. I need to get a planner of some sort. Even just to take notes for my wishes and dreams for future trips. Something that has helped me was reading other people's trip reports and pre trip reports. You really do learn from their successes and mishaps.

Thanks for the invite and Id be happy to join your thread! I started one myself and have spent quite a lot of time on these boards this past week as well.

 

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

1. The very first thing I did for our first visit was to create a Word document that had a column for each day we would be there. The page was horizontal, and I just listed the date in each column and which park we would be in that day. It made it very easy for me to see my plans all in one place. Then, when we started planning our second trip for this May, I was able to just empty the individual columns and enter the new info. I inclued parade times, ADR's, ADR confirmation numbers, etc...

2. I grabbed a spare binder I had laying around, and I put everything into that organized into sections: flights, resort reservations, individual day folders that I can just pull out daily and take to the park with me (the folders have my touring plan for the day, my ADR sheets, and my menus), etc...

3. I have another Word Document that I copy and paste the occasional idea I like from the Disboards into.

4. This is our plan of attack for each park for the 10 days we will be there:

*HS: Dinner at Hollywood and Vine Fantasmic Dining package with seating for Fantasmic at 9 PM
*Epcot: Dinner at Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge (we will leave the park just a little bit early to go to AKL where we will be staying for 3 days, so we can use the night vision goggles to see the animals)
*MK: Dinner at Ohana at the Polynesian Resort then back to MK for Wishes
*Open schedule day: I like to plan some days with no reservations so we can do whatever we want on that day...sleep in...swim...Downtown Disney...whatever park we want...Plus we are using it to switch resorts to Coronado
*HS: with lunch at 50's Prime Time, and dinner at Sci-Fi (here is where I made up for the day before with ADR's)
*MK: Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique to get princessed up and then lunch at Cinderella's Castle
*AK: with Tusker House for the Nemo Package (if you schedule around 1, they give you tickets to Nemo so you can guarantee a seat)
*Open schedule day: again, this day we will do what we want. If someone wants to spend extra time in a certain park, we are able to do that b/c we only have counter services planned.
*Epcot: Teppan Edo for dinner
*MK: Crystal Palace breakfast (we are paying out of pocket for this one b/c we wanted to go there for a breakfast and couldn't decide what reservations to drop) ...then sadly...home...

We stick to one park a day and scatter them so we don't lose interest in one park (it would be hard to lose interest, but you never know). Most importantly, when I get overwhelmed with planning, I write down the things I still need to accomplish in a to do list and walk away. I had to do that when planning our days and ADR's. Walk away, decide what is important, and go back.

 

[gpeters93]

You question made me think about what the current me (10 trips) would have said to the young me when I was planning my first trip.

Everyone in this thread has made good planning suggestions, and the forum is full of plenty more. I'd like to offer an alternative answer to your question about sanity: Don't plan every last detail. You may worry less and enjoy it more if you embrace the idea that there is no absolute answer to many of the standard questions like car or bus, on site or off site, etc.

If I had the chance, I would have told the young me the following:

1. Book the travel and the hotel early.
2. Get the park tickets you need in advance (unless they're part of a package with your hotel).
3. Pick just 5 must sees (in a day) for each park you plan to visit.
4. Travel light.
5. Allow yourself the pleasure of exploring and discovering. Don't learn it all in advance.
6. Accept imperfection - in yourself and others.

I hope you have a great time.

 

[jpkkld]

I love to hear everyone's planning techniques! I must be crazy... but this is literally the only place I can talk planning and not have to watch my audience's eyes glaze over.

First, prioritize! The most expensive items are probably the best place to start. After that, pick one topic and focus on it. If you're trying to decide on a rental car or Disney transportation, don't get sidetracked with hotel info or DDP discussions. You don't have to make decisions too early in the process (except for hard-to-get ADR's), but sometimes it pays to "overplan". The rental car is a great example - if you find a good deal, book it! If you decide to cancel later, there's nothing lost (not true of airfare or hotel, though).

Whenever I'm browsing DISboards or looking through a Disney-related website, I open 2 files on my computer and leave them open. One is my "Tip Book" in Word. The other is a crazy Excel file. I can't function without them. If I tried to keep all of this in my head, I would explode!

My Tip Book started out as a bulleted list of tips. When it grew to many pages, I organized it into categories. When that got cumbersome, I subcategorized it, entered some "headings", and started using the "document map" feature in Word, which is basically a clickable table of contents. It's now formatted into small 3.5x5" pages that fit into an index card binder. It's 141 mini-pages long. I don't bring my guidebooks to Disney, but I do bring my Tip Book! It's been an excellent resource, as it was written specifically for my family, the parks we visit, the hotel we're staying at. And since I took the time to "do it right" for our last trip, this time all I'm doing is updating the details. I'll print it out and punch holes about 1 week before we leave.

Toward the end of my planning last time, I buckled down and worked out daily itineraries. I included those at the beginning of my book. I really couldn't have figured out the itineraries until I was a few months into planning. Even using Touring Plans, there are extra details that get tricky to work in.

My Excel file is a hodgepodge of critical number crunching and fluffy to-do lists. But it's all in one place! On one tab, I have my overall "budget" assessment - listing airfare, hotel charge, rental car, tickets, DDP, other food, etc. I then check different weeks and different hotels, cross-reference the flight costs, mess around with adjusting a day here, 2 days there... it's convoluted and insane. I had 15 different plans mapped out for our March trip. I don't see any way to make it easier! But spending that time has saved us $1000 already.

Like BlackBeltDisneyGirl, I use another tab to list all the critical data for each day, each park - who has EMH, what the crowd levels will be, which parades and fireworks are scheduled. I color code the good and bad (red=bad, green =good). This helps me figure out which park we'll be in each day, since we're not hoppers. This also helps with ADR planning.

Another tab is my DDP assessment. I spend far too much time evaluating the DDP, but at least I KNOW in the end that I've made the best choice. One thing I've learned is that this assessment has to be redone for every trip. Hooray!

I have a screwy packing page too. I write down which specific bags are coming - all bags, carryons, checked bags, even my purse. Each bag gets a column. Then I list what will go into the bags. Every last item! When I read a tip to bring a power strip with all the electronics cords plugged in and labelled, I immediately added "power strip - loaded" to one of my bag columns.

I actually have a separate tab just for toilletries. There are so many rules, and they seem to change so often! Rather than write down the rule, I just categorize each item - dry carryon, 3-1-1, or checked bag. E.g. - I put a sample-size sunscreen in my 3-1-1 and a full-size sunscreen in my checked bag. I DON'T just write "sunscreen" on my packing list.

I have another tab "To Buy" and yet another "To Do". Whenever I buy or do ANYTHING, I check it off - I don't just delete it, since I may want to have that record for the next trip. All items purchased go straight in my Disney box. Then they don't get lost or "repurposed" by dh!

There truly is SO MUCH to consider, remember, and decide. There are also so many options at any given moment. Keep yourself as organized as possible, and it will be less overwhelming. Take a break once in a while - read a novel (a short one!), go to the movies, have at least one non-Disney conversation every day. Also give yourself permission to "make mistakes". The magic of Disney cannot be planned. But a well-planned trip can offer many opportunties for the magic to happen.

 

[m-tinkerbelle]

I feel just like you! Last time I've been to WDW was in 1996 and everything has changed so much that I feel like a first-timer
But, try to not to get too overwhelmed with organization. You're supposed to enjoy this planning process. Allow your family members to make decisions too, they might come up with unexpected and clever ideas. Don't let the planning rely on you exclusively.
Also, think of things you and your family would love to do and make a list rather than creating a schedule for each day. Plans can change because of weather or unexpected events. Just remember, mornings are great for the busiest attractions, as well as fireworks & nighttime shows' time. Fastpass is a must! This is almost all you need to know for the very basic planning (IMHO).
And, keep in mind you'll need to rest! If you're staying on-site, go back to the hotel after lunch and take a nap, and come back later in the afternoon. Or, stay in the parks, but come back to the hotel early in the evening. Get some rest everyday or you'll see how easy it is to get in a cranky mood at the happiest place on Earth.
Read as much information as you can, these boards are an incredible source of useful tips and info. But don't become a planning freak (this goes for me as well). You can't have everything under control!

remember, HAVE FUN planning and organizing. If it becomes overwhelming take a couple of days off planning ;D

 

[Soexcited!6]

While researching our first trip, I literally spent months reading up here! Who knew there was so much to learn about Disney?

I created my own planner and was able to par the essentials to a 1-page spreadsheet by the time we left.

It was easier to divide everything up. I started with deciding on a vaule, moderate or deluxe resort. Then narrowed down to which one. We knew we did not want the hassle of a car and were on ME both-ways.

Then I tackled dining. We already knew we wanted the DDP and plently of characters! On vacation for us means no driving, no cooking, no cleaning. And Disney's restaurants are part of the whole experience for a 1st timer!! Not wasted park time to us. We knew the kids would want to meet characters for photos & autographs. So we booked most of our TS meals as character buffet meals. Plenty of food choices and amounts for all of us, and a great wait to NOT line-up in the parks for many characters. We were able to meet about 25 characters this way.

So, I crossed off restaurants not interested in. And made a list of our top choices and listed the remaining.

THEN I tackled the parks! For each park I made a list of our "must-do" rides/attractions, want to do and absolutly not doing. I also noted what days/times some special events/tours were happening that we wanted to do. MNSSHP, Pals & Pirates Fireworks Voyage, Surfing Lessons.

The hardest part was scheduling everything so it fit together. Once the calendar schedule was released I made a "calendar" and plotted the park hours into it and extra things we wanted to do. Then I was able to come up with a schedule of what days we would be at what park, etc.

And finally, I took the restaurants we wanted to eat at and scheduled them around our park days so it all blended in together. We did not want/get park hoppers so if we wanted to eat at Crystal Palace, I needed to make sure to get the ressie for the day we would be in Magic Kingdom.

Yes, it took a lot of work but it was perfect! We had a great trip!!! And to be honest - I enjoyed the planning!!!

BTW, I have the best-ever 1-page spreadsheet another DIS'er gave me. We kept it folded up in a pocket our whole trip. Listed everything we needed for our trip. If you want a copy, let me know.

Happy planning!

That sounds wonderful. Can you please please send it to me??
tricia4huckabee@gmail.com

 

[rachdd]

I feel after you have booked the next most important step is to pick your park days. I use touring plans to pick my park days then I book my restaurants. I had to change around a couple of my park days the other day and change my ressies (because of ESPN weekend) and I still got just about everything I wanted. I feel that being at the right park on the right day according to the crowd calender is a MUST although we are going against it one day so that my boys can go to ESPN weekend at HS. Also, since you have so many days I would definately pick my days with the calender instead of by interest.

Just FYI these are my days (we will be there about the same # of days):

Thurs - arrival day T-Rex late lunch/early dinner then Fantasmic
Fri-Hollywood Studios
Sat - Magic Kingdom
Sun - Epcot
Monday - MK in AM then Epcot PM
Tues- Animal Kingdom
Wednesdy - where ever we want (this is basically a daywhere the kids can redo something they want or something we missed)

We are not big hoppers except the day we split MK and Epcot and if we decide to do any PM extra magic hours.

My next bit of advice would be to take a deep breath and enjoy. I had been to WDW atleast 10 times before I discovered the DIS and I still learned so much! Have a great trip after all you will be at the most magical place on earth!!

 

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

I love to hear everyone's planning techniques! I must be crazy... but this is literally the only place I can talk planning and not have to watch my audience's eyes glaze over.

First, prioritize! The most expensive items are probably the best place to start. After that, pick one topic and focus on it. If you're trying to decide on a rental car or Disney transportation, don't get sidetracked with hotel info or DDP discussions. You don't have to make decisions too early in the process (except for hard-to-get ADR's), but sometimes it pays to "overplan". The rental car is a great example - if you find a good deal, book it! If you decide to cancel later, there's nothing lost (not true of airfare or hotel, though).

Whenever I'm browsing DISboards or looking through a Disney-related website, I open 2 files on my computer and leave them open. One is my "Tip Book" in Word. The other is a crazy Excel file. I can't function without them. If I tried to keep all of this in my head, I would explode!

My Tip Book started out as a bulleted list of tips. When it grew to many pages, I organized it into categories. When that got cumbersome, I subcategorized it, entered some "headings", and started using the "document map" feature in Word, which is basically a clickable table of contents. It's now formatted into small 3.5x5" pages that fit into an index card binder. It's 141 mini-pages long. I don't bring my guidebooks to Disney, but I do bring my Tip Book! It's been an excellent resource, as it was written specifically for my family, the parks we visit, the hotel we're staying at. And since I took the time to "do it right" for our last trip, this time all I'm doing is updating the details. I'll print it out and punch holes about 1 week before we leave.

Toward the end of my planning last time, I buckled down and worked out daily itineraries. I included those at the beginning of my book. I really couldn't have figured out the itineraries until I was a few months into planning. Even using Touring Plans, there are extra details that get tricky to work in.

My Excel file is a hodgepodge of critical number crunching and fluffy to-do lists. But it's all in one place! On one tab, I have my overall "budget" assessment - listing airfare, hotel charge, rental car, tickets, DDP, other food, etc. I then check different weeks and different hotels, cross-reference the flight costs, mess around with adjusting a day here, 2 days there... it's convoluted and insane. I had 15 different plans mapped out for our March trip. I don't see any way to make it easier! But spending that time has saved us $1000 already.

Like BlackBeltDisneyGirl, I use another tab to list all the critical data for each day, each park - who has EMH, what the crowd levels will be, which parades and fireworks are scheduled. I color code the good and bad (red=bad, green =good). This helps me figure out which park we'll be in each day, since we're not hoppers. This also helps with ADR planning.

Another tab is my DDP assessment. I spend far too much time evaluating the DDP, but at least I KNOW in the end that I've made the best choice. One thing I've learned is that this assessment has to be redone for every trip. Hooray!

I have a screwy packing page too. I write down which specific bags are coming - all bags, carryons, checked bags, even my purse. Each bag gets a column. Then I list what will go into the bags. Every last item! When I read a tip to bring a power strip with all the electronics cords plugged in and labelled, I immediately added "power strip - loaded" to one of my bag columns.

I actually have a separate tab just for toilletries. There are so many rules, and they seem to change so often! Rather than write down the rule, I just categorize each item - dry carryon, 3-1-1, or checked bag. E.g. - I put a sample-size sunscreen in my 3-1-1 and a full-size sunscreen in my checked bag. I DON'T just write "sunscreen" on my packing list.

I have another tab "To Buy" and yet another "To Do". Whenever I buy or do ANYTHING, I check it off - I don't just delete it, since I may want to have that record for the next trip. All items purchased go straight in my Disney box. Then they don't get lost or "repurposed" by dh!

There truly is SO MUCH to consider, remember, and decide. There are also so many options at any given moment. Keep yourself as organized as possible, and it will be less overwhelming. Take a break once in a while - read a novel (a short one!), go to the movies, have at least one non-Disney conversation every day. Also give yourself permission to "make mistakes". The magic of Disney cannot be planned. But a well-planned trip can offer many opportunties for the magic to happen.

I know what you're talking about with the glazed eyes! I can't help but talk about it! No matter what I do, I end up talking about Disney! The other day we were watching Mean Girls, and the girl said "Jambo" which reminded me of Animal Kingdom Lodge, and then I was off!!! I started talking about it in the middle of the movie. I had to shut myself up. After that I took a couple days off from Disney planning.

I just started my Excel file! I never thought to do it, so thank you for that. I have tons of Word documents similar to some of your excel tabs. I have my packing list, my do not forget to pack the day we leave list, my list of what needs to come with us everyday to every park, and then special items we will need based on certain rides such as Splash mountain or our reservations at BBB, what goes in each carryon bag, my itinerary, my daily touring plan within the itinerary (b/c ya gotta have a general plan and a more detailed "hopeful" plan), tips, t-shirt designs, dining plan entitlement use plan for each day, dining plan punch card, etc... It will be nice to have it compiled into one place.

I agree about the flights and such. Our flight had to be booked this week b/c for some reason over last weekend, our flight shot up $700 per person, then went down again. I knew something was up b/c how could it go up that much? It was a thousand dollars per person! I told my mom to stop panicking, and that it would probably go back down. It did, but it was higher than before, so we booked then and there. It was better anyway b/c we had to shuffle everyone around the last time on the plane b/c they had my four year old in the very last seat of the plane by herself! This time we got to pick our seats!

My first trip to Disney was the one where I didn't know that much. It was still perfect. This trip I know so much! I am a wealth of knowledge from only researching since October. It helps that I had a lot of down time due to surgery. So, all in all...We should all just breathe...relax...and remember that it's not only the end result that matters...It's the journey that's really important. For us Disers, the journey is all the planning we do to make our destination magical.

 

[jpkkld]

our flight shot up $700 per person.

And I was patting myself on the back when our flights jumped just $70 per person! (AFTER I'd booked, thank goodness) I totally understand your mom's reaction!

Yep - glazed eyes. Dinner around here has been strangely silent. I'm trying to control my Disney fanaticism. But apparently, no one else talks!

This year, I'm going to stick my list of park items inside my park bag - laminated and attached somehow. I hated having to dig the list out twice a day last time.

I thought of another thing I do - later in the process usually. Once I have most of my details hashed out, I make multiple copies of flight numbers, car rental confirmation #'s, hotel confirmation #'s, ADR confirmations #'s - everything! One copy goes into my daily itineraries (in the front of my Tip Book). One copy goes on index cards in my coupon file (separate index cards to correspond to the file tabs - car, hotel, dining, etc.). The last copy goes in my phone's calendar. That way - NO MATTER WHAT - I know I have my confirmation numbers with me. There is NO WAY I would be without at least one of those 3 items! And yes, the phone should be enough - but what if I lose it/break it/get it wet??!!!

And it's funny - for all my compulsive planning, I'm not a commando park-goer. We take it pretty easy. 'Cause I KNOW I've got it under control. Hakuna Matata, right?

 

[Barling]

DaniB
If you see this post would you mind sending me a copy of that spreadsheet you were talking about? Thanks
msdurling at hotmail dot com