Ok,I'm coming out of lurkdom on your thread.
Your thread just moves so fast...I only have a few minutes here and there during the week to get on the DIS, so mainly just read...by the time I can post a reply, the topic is long gone.
So, Sherry, have the most fantastic time, however it turns out! You deserve this.
And know that your pre-trip blahs will melt away as soon as you get close to DL this weekend. I often have pre-trip blahs, (even when we went to Paris and Italy a few years ago.
) I think it a combination of all the things you listed: overplanning, worrying about all the details, and the money (I know that is always a big one for me....I save up, so it's not that we don't have the money for the trip...it's just the SPENDING of the money, lol. Daughter of Depression-era babies - being frugal was bred into me). Most of the time, I don't even want to go by the time we are supposed to leave, but I can tell you, I haven't ever once continued to feel that way once the trip actually started.
And as much as I am an over-planner, weirdly, the trips I haven't planned as much are actually the ones where I don't get the pre-trip blahs!
So have a fabulous time and know that with your AP, you will be back many, many more times this coming year.
amamax2!!! Thank you so much for joining in! Glad to see you over on this side of town and that you spoke up and revealed yourself to be a lurker on this TR!!
I suspect there are many lurkers - both regular DIS'ers and those I have never heard of. I have a lot of views, but not a lot of posts, which is unfortunate.
I know exactly what you mean about having time to read but not always enough time to post. The same thing happens to me a lot. There are so many good TR's out there, and sometimes I just have time to read the e-mail updates and don't even get on to the DIS to comment, but I'm still following along with the TR in question. Sometimes, if there are a lot of large photos in a TR (like I started out with in this one), my PC will lock up so I can't even get into it on the DIS and I can only follow it through e-mail. I do realize that it's important to all the TR writers to actually know that people are out there, following along, and they want responses and comments from the readers - I think that is important to everyone. So I try to stick with a handful of them that I actually comment on, and the rest of them I read!
I was giggling at your comment about this thread moving fast. If you notice, I started it in October of 2008 (with the House of Poo TR), and we are only on page 78 or 79 or something like that, more than 2 years later!!
It's anything
but a fast-moving thread!! The Halloween thread was fast-moving, and now the Christmas thread has picked up steam. But my little TR has been chugging along, going for long gaps of time without anyone saying anything!! Many times I was ready to abandon posting anything new because I wasn't sure anyone would speak up.
But I anticipate that I will have a big wave of photos coming by the end of next week, so that should keep people tuned in. I mean, I can fire off hundreds of photos in one day at The Grove right up the street. I think, when left to my own devices, I can do some major damage at DLR during the holidays!
Ahh, yes, the Pre-Trip Blahs. I think they can happen before any trip, anywhere (like you mentioned with your Paris and Italy trip, which I am extremely jealous of, by the way). I think most of us get the Blahs. And, you know, I have tried both the super-planning and the non-planning methods of attack. After years of planning, only to have things go awry, I started adopting a lazy approach to planning.
The Non-Plan Plan. The Wing It and Just Let The Chips Fall Where They May Plan.
I think I get the Pre-Trip Blahs because something always veers off course. If my plan could just stay intact and not constantly give me problems, I might be less...blah-y. But there is always something... either I don't have the money I thought I would have because other stuff 'comes up,' or a friends or two or three decides to back out or something, or I have to switch hotels, or I have to adjust the number of days I spend, etc. I have to worry over transportation and what the best way to get to DLR will be, taking into consideration the amount of time, the money involved, the flexibility of the hours, etc.
Honestly, if I could set a plan in motion and not have so many things to worry about - like if I had all the money I needed
when I needed it, and everyone else involved didn't pull any last minute funny business on me - I think I would be much less blah-ish. When so many things go wrong before a trip, it is exhausting!!
The good news is that, even though I still have some things I'm concerned about for this upcoming trip (like $$$), I am just in that Let the Chips Fall Where They May mode. I am snapping out of the Blahs and am starting to get the excitement back. For some reason, last night I was thinking about how I am excited to revisit ToonTown. Oh, I won't be taking any exciting photos in ToonTown that everyone else hasn't already seen, of course, but I am happy to get back there and have the chance. When I had my last multi-day stay at DLR in 12/2008, my camera died in the rain - mid-ToonTown photo-taking session. So I have had that "need a do-over" feeling about ToonTown lurking in the depths of my brain ever since!!
Or you could hug both.
I can just see the headlines now.
"Woman removed from the PPH due to excessive hugging."
I stressed so bad over our trip in June. I was so afraid that I wouldn't have enough money for the trip. I had the tickets all taken care of, the room all taken care of and I figure way more money for the food and gas. We ended up bringing trip money home.
I hope that it all goes the same for you.
Michele - You may just see me on the news, being 'escorted' out of the PPH...while clutching the giant tree!
I remember that your June trip was a big deal. You had already had setbacks - planning a holiday trip that didn't pan out, health problems on previous DLR trips, etc. That June trip was very important, I think, and you wanted to be sure it went smoothly. I'm sure you didn't want any additional bumps in the road. Money is such a big issue because if you underestinate what you will need, you can be in trouble while at DLR.
I tend to overestimate what I will need for food, for the most part, but this year I actually think I may have underestimated. Add to that the fact that, at this moment, 2 days from DLR day, I still don't know if Shawn is planning to back out on me or if I will have to shuttle it down to Anaheim!!
It can all be very overwhelming. Once all the basics are ironed out, such as the money and who's going and how am I getting there, then once I am there, I'll be fine. Tired...but fine!!
I have been up all night with a sick 6 year old and have been reading your very entertaining TR all night From the beginning. Kudos to you as I have gone into other trip reports that I only read a few posts then left for greener pastures. Wanted to comment on the age thing though we took our daughters for the first time at age 3 & 4 in 1990, it was a nerve wracking experience they were good children but too many things caught their eye and it was a chore figuring out where they were going to dart next as mom & dad were the least interesting thing they saw that day. I grew up in Southern California and went to
Disneyland many many times at least 25+ but currently I live in Montana 1129 miles from DL it has been 8 years since my last trip and it is 15 days until my next one. We only have one child left at home and this will be his 1st trip to DL. I think we have chosen the perfect time for it he is 6 years old and in November he reached 48" tall which means there will not be a single ride that he will not be able to get on due to height restrictions.
Welcome, TheColtonsMom! I knew there had to be someone else out there who wasn't speaking up yet!! Thank you so much for joining in and for sticking with this TR when you usually leave for greener pastures!!!
I am very honored that you continued reading!! I wish I could actually access my Trip Report from my cell phone so I could post updates while on the scene at DLR in a couple of days, but, alas, the TR will have to wait until I return from Disneyland next week. (Eventually I will get a laptop.) But, again, I anticipate I will have tons and tons of photos when I return, so I should have a lot of new material to post for a while!!
I'm excited to hear you have a DLR trip coming up in a couple of weeks!! I assume you have seen many Disneyland holiday seasons over the years. It's really so beautiful at this time of year.
It sounds like you picked the perfect time to go for your son's age and height! I hope you all have a wonderful time.
Tomorrow is a re-do of AK*, and hopefully I won't be quite as much of a popsicle as I was the first time LOL. (something like 40 degrees, me in shorts and short sleeved shirt, b/c I just wouldn't listen to my cousin's husband)
But I wanted to like someone different. It seemed like everyone was into Simon or John. It's just fun/funny re-visiting things of the past like that. Lots o' shoulder pad action going on in that video! 
woohoo
I am assuming that if she were planning to cancel she would have contacted me by now, but who knows with her? All I ask is that she not let me know at the last minute that she cannot come because that will not give me a time to order a shuttle.
He was a smoldering cauldron o' lust!! Loved him!! Such a wasted life and unnecessary death.
