Now Approaching... Sleepingbooty's Sept. PTR (We're BAAACK! 9/26)

[eandesmom]

what I did was print up the menu's and then have everyone read them and rank them on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the best). I then added up the totals and poof, ranking by total points, we had our ADR list.

Everyone liked it as it felt really "fair"

The results surprised me!

 

[glennbo123]

Holy mackerel! That sounds amazing!

I don't try to do that much concensus building. That's one of the perks of being the planner. I basically pick the ones I want. I'll throw out some options if there are a few I think they might like but I can't decide, and I'll ask if there are any places they've been to before that they really want to go back to. But other than that....."It's good to be the king!"

 

[kcandbella]

WOW! You are super organized. I would have never thought of that. I tried giving my parents and sister the UG and having them tell me what they thought sounded good. They didn't care so I had free reign! I did try to pick places that everyone will like. Great idea though!

 

[cinderella crazy]

I really like the idea of letting each person choose a restaurant they would like to go to. We actually kind of did this with our ADRs this time. DS picked T-Rex, DD picked CRT, my Mom picked 'Ohana, DH picked Japan, and I picked Biergarten. It has helped with DS going to CRT. He wasn't thrilled about going to CRT (Apparently, princesses aren't cool to a 6 year old boy) so we explained that if we go to his choice, then he needs to be nice about where DD choses to go.

I love the idea of powerpoint presentations! I never would have thought of that! I may have to steal that idea.

I don't really go on that other Disney board anymore. It seemed like you couldn't have a discussion with differing opinions without the moderators coming on and closing the thread. It also seems like there are a lot fewer people on there then when I first joined. Oh well! I really like the community here (especially the trip report threads!).

 

[Sleepingbooty]

what I did was print up the menu's and then have everyone read them and rank them on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the best). I then added up the totals and poof, ranking by total points, we had our ADR list.

Everyone liked it as it felt really "fair"

The results surprised me!

I'm kind of leaning towards this method. Although I guess I won't have to print out menus since they'll see them on the PowerPoint. Maybe I'll make up ballot sheets, though.

Holy mackerel! That sounds amazing!

I don't try to do that much concensus building. That's one of the perks of being the planner. I basically pick the ones I want. I'll throw out some options if there are a few I think they might like but I can't decide, and I'll ask if there are any places they've been to before that they really want to go back to. But other than that....."It's good to be the king!"

I have done it that way in the past - and everyone was fine with what I picked. I just want to get some group involvement going in!

WOW! You are super organized. I would have never thought of that. I tried giving my parents and sister the UG and having them tell me what they thought sounded good. They didn't care so I had free reign! I did try to pick places that everyone will like. Great idea though!

Actually, I'm not organized at all! I just really like research, and putting together reports, spreadsheets, etc. And making everything look really cool in the process is a lot of fun too.

I really like the idea of letting each person choose a restaurant they would like to go to. We actually kind of did this with our ADRs this time. DS picked T-Rex, DD picked CRT, my Mom picked 'Ohana, DH picked Japan, and I picked Biergarten. It has helped with DS going to CRT. He wasn't thrilled about going to CRT (Apparently, princesses aren't cool to a 6 year old boy) so we explained that if we go to his choice, then he needs to be nice about where DD choses to go.

The only thing I'm worried about with this method, is that if say, DH picked Tokyo Dining - my parents would probably hate it. So whatever I do I need to balance everybody's wishes somewhat.

I don't really go on that other Disney board anymore. It seemed like you couldn't have a discussion with differing opinions without the moderators coming on and closing the thread. It also seems like there are a lot fewer people on there then when I first joined. Oh well! I really like the community here (especially the trip report threads!).

I remember one time, about 5 years ago, when I was a Disney newbie, I posted an innocent question about whether people sometimes make more that one dinner reservation per night. OMG you wouldn't believe the response! I was totally lambasted - and at the time I was really new to that board, I probably only had a few posts to my name. I almost never came back.

I think people are a little more realistic over here.

 

[jordanyosh]

 

[All7OfUs]

That was great!! You have some super ways of pulling the group in and helping them feel involved and participating.

I'm with Glenn though, if I'm the planner, they'll have to like what I pick. Good thing is that there is always something on the menu that everyone will like.

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

I love the PowerPoint idea for ADR's. That's awesome!!!

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Aww, shucks

That was great!! You have some super ways of pulling the group in and helping them feel involved and participating.

I'm with Glenn though, if I'm the planner, they'll have to like what I pick. Good thing is that there is always something on the menu that everyone will like.

That's true - even the most 'adventurous' eateries even have steak on their menu. You can just scoot the leechee nuts to the side.

I love the PowerPoint idea for ADR's. That's awesome!!!

Why thankyou, thankyouverrymuch

 

[All7OfUs]

That's true - even the most 'adventurous' eateries even have steak on their menu. You can just scoot the leechee nuts to the side.

 

[klacey1]

I bow to your planning skills!!
Seriously, though, I have how interactive you're making planning! I'm sure your family appreciates everything you're doing-- and that you really just want to involve them so everyone can put in their input!

 

[Charlefours]

So what's the story on your last trip? Why did you have to eat where you were told to - you've got me curious!

Our last trip (and only trip to Disney) we went with who I fondly call the Disney Masters. We had input on where we wanted to stay (told had to be at least a Moderate level resort) and when we went. DGM (not really my DD's grandmother, she is the mother of my BF but they treat my DD as their granddaughter and refer to them as her grandparents) planned the entire trip--where we ate, when we ate, what parks we visit each day. Don't get me wrong--we had a great time. It was a great introduction to Disney!!

I love how efficient your planning is--spreadsheets with categories powerpoint presentations. Great way to pair things down--take into account your own preferences before presenting choices. I did that too . I would have completely overwhelmed DMIL and DFIL if they looked at ALL the choices (minus the 2 credit TS and shows since we are bypassing those this go around too). IS this the right time to confess I have thought about putting my in-laws through Disney school with my daughter...

 

[Sleepingbooty]

I bow to your planning skills!!
Seriously, though, I have how interactive you're making planning! I'm sure your family appreciates everything you're doing-- and that you really just want to involve them so everyone can put in their input!

I really enjoy doing it. Its too bad I can't parlay this into some kind of paying job! I think I spelled parlay wrong....

Our last trip (and only trip to Disney) we went with who I fondly call the Disney Masters. We had input on where we wanted to stay (told had to be at least a Moderate level resort) and when we went. DGM (not really my DD's grandmother, she is the mother of my BF but they treat my DD as their granddaughter and refer to them as her grandparents) planned the entire trip--where we ate, when we ate, what parks we visit each day. Don't get me wrong--we had a great time. It was a great introduction to Disney!!

Well, as long as they planned things that you enjoyed - it was probably a great way to experience Disney for the first time. If you've never been before, you just have no idea how huge it is, how much there is to know before you go - well, you know what I mean! You don't know how much you don't know, until you go!

 

[GreatBiscuit]

I did a dining PP for our crew, but on a much smaller scale. It was more of a "Here's the places I plan on eating, what do you think of it?" type of thing.
I tend to be much more an adventurous eater than Tracy, though I love me a good steak and have a hard time passing one up. I do like to try things I haven't had before, while Tracy likes comfort food. But the restaurants we wound up with worked reallly well for us. There were a few restaurants on my list that got vetoed due to the menu. (Yak & Yeti for example.) After the dining disaster on our Honeymoon, I learned my lesson and put in the full menus from All Ears.

 

[Sleepingbooty]

I did a dining PP for our crew, but on a much smaller scale. It was more of a "Here's the places I plan on eating, what do you think of it?" type of thing.
/QUOTE]

That's pretty much the tack I've taken in the past. Although I've never done it on a PP. I can pretty much predict where my family will want/not want to eat (they're a pretty predictable crew).

 

[All7OfUs]

Hey Rebecca,

Just saying hi to all my DISPals after my weekend hiatus. Hope your weekend was restful, yet fun-filled!

 

[Dancegrl624]

Saw that you were going to WDW in Sept, so I thought I'd come join in. We'll be at Pop from Sept 22-29! I love your Power Point ideas to show to your family. My DD loves making Power Point presentations with my DH. Looking forward to hearing about your ADR's!

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Hey Rebecca,

Just saying hi to all my DISPals after my weekend hiatus. Hope your weekend was restful, yet fun-filled!

Hey there! I'm usually not around much on the weekends either - too much family stuff goin on. Fun-filled yes, restful no! How was yours?

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Saw that you were going to WDW in Sept, so I thought I'd come join in. We'll be at Pop from Sept 22-29! I love your Power Point ideas to show to your family. My DD loves making Power Point presentations with my DH. Looking forward to hearing about your ADR's!

Hi! And Thanks for joining in! September is my favorite time of year at WDW - have you ever been at that time before?

 

[jenbear123]

Wow, Rebecca. You're really going the whole nine yards! It's great how you're taking everyone's opinions into consideration. Like most others have said, when I do the planning, it's usually what I want. I just make sure it's what everyone else wants. If it isn't, then I change it to something else.

I'd really like to see this powerpoint of yours....