Overwhelmed by it all

[disneybound2010]

When DH and I decided to start planning this trip, I was so excited and immediately started looking up anything and everything for this trip. We didn't get to take a honeymoon and this will be our first BIG trip with DS. We also decided we want to bring along my father and MIL. I've already decided on the hotel, where to purchase tickets and we have already put back a good so we will be pretty good there. I thought this would be the biggest part of it.

Now, reading all the posts and each day finding more and more to do, I am getting overwhelmed by how much there is to do. I KNOW that I will not be able to see everything, but I want to get as much out of the trip as possible. I want everyone to be able to enjoy themselves and I want everyone to be able to see and do what they have their hearts set on. At this point, even the thought of which restaurants to visit are stressing me out. With two years to go, I should not be getting this stressed out already! Anybody else find themselves on Disney overload?

 

[laceemouse]

Get a good guide book and read it. I love The Unofficial Guide! Then relax, you have plenty of time.

To answer your question, I don't get too stressed. Almost anything you can do, see, or eat at WDW you are going to see multiple pros and cons about. We have enjoyed hotels that many others seem to hate and LOVED restaurants that many people pan.....a lot of it is personal preference and expectations. You are right, you will never get to see and do EVERYTHING on one trip.....that's why most of us go again and again

 

[LadyShea]

I also suggest you give the others going with you a guide book, or have them look at the WDW website and let you know what they want to do, a special restaurant they would like to try, etc. I gave my 2 10 year old nieces a planning video and a guide book and asked them for the top 3 things in each park they wanted to do/see

I use this input to create a list of "Must do"s, and "Would be nice if there's time" then make my touring plan around it.

 

[ToddyLu]

Gave my Dad a PassPorter for 2008 last year for his birthday. He was able to look through it all year and we are going in a month or so. Yippeee. One thing we do when we go with my MIL and BIL. We may stay at the same resort and we just set up a meeting time. DH and I are out usually first and then we connect later by cell phones and meet up--no pressure. The only real plan we have are the ADRs and I make those in the early afternoon so everyone has time to everything they want to do.

Also my parents have always lived by a strict budget. So I used a 40% postcard discount which included dining--so my mother would not have to stress about him complaining about the food costs. Not that he is a complainer all the time--he is really great--it just helped eliminate that stressor. We are also flying--found a well price flight and Daddy was in agreement. DH and I will pay for airport parking and we will do a car service to Disney--these are costs we would have had anyway and my parents will not have to worry about it. We are eating at Ca Grill and Brown Derby with our TS points and then we are treating them to Fulton's. Disney can get rather expensive and I want them to have a very magical time. He is 71 and she is 65. DH and I as well as my brother have been so fortunate to have great parents and they saved for years for us to get great degrees and jobs. It is just my way of re-paying them. You never know how much time you have with the people you love. This is my trip of a lifetime with them and I am having a blast planning.

I didn't think we would ever get to December--now we are just a month away

 

[disneybound2010]

I also suggest you give the others going with you a guide book, or have them look at the WDW website and let you know what they want to do, a special restaurant they would like to try, etc. I gave my 2 10 year old nieces a planning video and a guide book and asked them for the top 3 things in each park they wanted to do/see

I use this input to create a list of "Must do"s, and "Would be nice if there's time" then make my touring plan around it.

That is a really good idea! I've been trying to think of something for Christmas for them and this may be the thing. MIL is as excited as I am about this and my Dad is starting to get more excited about it. Right now, it has just been ME doing all the research and planning so it really would be nice to have others input and not have to guess on everything for everyone.

 

[churchpilot]

Gave my Dad a PassPorter for 2008 last year for his birthday. He was able to look through it all year and we are going in a month or so. Yippeee. One thing we do when we go with my MIL and BIL. We may stay at the same resort and we just set up a meeting time. DH and I are out usually first and then we connect later by cell phones and meet up--no pressure. The only real plan we have are the ADRs and I make those in the early afternoon so everyone has time to everything they want to do.

Also my parents have always lived by a strict budget. So I used a 40% postcard discount which included dining--so my mother would not have to stress about him complaining about the food costs. Not that he is a complainer all the time--he is really great--it just helped eliminate that stressor. We are also flying--found a well price flight and Daddy was in agreement. DH and I will pay for airport parking and we will do a car service to Disney--these are costs we would have had anyway and my parents will not have to worry about it. We are eating at Ca Grill and Brown Derby with our TS points and then we are treating them to Fulton's. Disney can get rather expensive and I want them to have a very magical time. He is 71 and she is 65. DH and I as well as my brother have been so fortunate to have great parents and they saved for years for us to get great degrees and jobs. It is just my way of re-paying them. You never know how much time you have with the people you love. This is my trip of a lifetime with them and I am having a blast planning.

I didn't think we would ever get to December--now we are just a month away

You and your parents are very lucky and blessed! There is nothing more rewarding to a parent than to have grateful children. It sounds like they did a great job raising you. Have fun and be blessed.

 

[disneybound2010]

Gave my Dad a PassPorter for 2008 last year for his birthday. He was able to look through it all year and we are going in a month or so. Yippeee. One thing we do when we go with my MIL and BIL. We may stay at the same resort and we just set up a meeting time. DH and I are out usually first and then we connect later by cell phones and meet up--no pressure. The only real plan we have are the ADRs and I make those in the early afternoon so everyone has time to everything they want to do.

Also my parents have always lived by a strict budget. So I used a 40% postcard discount which included dining--so my mother would not have to stress about him complaining about the food costs. Not that he is a complainer all the time--he is really great--it just helped eliminate that stressor. We are also flying--found a well price flight and Daddy was in agreement. DH and I will pay for airport parking and we will do a car service to Disney--these are costs we would have had anyway and my parents will not have to worry about it. We are eating at Ca Grill and Brown Derby with our TS points and then we are treating them to Fulton's. Disney can get rather expensive and I want them to have a very magical time. He is 71 and she is 65. DH and I as well as my brother have been so fortunate to have great parents and they saved for years for us to get great degrees and jobs. It is just my way of re-paying them. You never know how much time you have with the people you love. This is my trip of a lifetime with them and I am having a blast planning.

I didn't think we would ever get to December--now we are just a month away

DH and I are paying for our parents as well. My Dad has been through a lot over the last few years,but still managed to be there for me for everything and MIL has done so much for us that we want to share this with them

I am hoping to be able to get one of the ASMU family suites for all of us, but I have made it clear that we don't always have to be together. I know Dad kind of has his heart set on a PH, but I think we are leaning more towards the Base tickets. I told him we could always upgrade if need be I just want this to be very special for MIL and Dad, as well as for DH DS and myself.

 

[delmar411]

Honestly I would hold off on anymore plans for the moment. You don't know what will still be open, what will still be serving what and what rides will be down for rehab in 2.5yrs. That's a really long time away.

Once you get much closer then pick up the current guidebooks for everyone and have a planning party.

JMHO

 

[dismom2]

That is a really good idea! I've been trying to think of something for Christmas for them and this may be the thing. MIL is as excited as I am about this and my Dad is starting to get more excited about it. Right now, it has just been ME doing all the research and planning so it really would be nice to have others input and not have to guess on everything for everyone.

Sometimes it's easier to just make the decisions yourself, at least for me it can be. My DH will ask our kids where they want to eat or go, for instance, and everyone will give a different answer. I find with my family, when everyone wants something different, then someone (or more than one person) will get upset if we have to choose between their suggestions or wishes, and then I feel guilty. But, I can't give in to everything everyone wants because I am not a millionaire. So, for some things I let the everyone help choose, but for other things, I just make the decisions myself (I discuss it with DH, but he is usually up for anything). I find that getting a notebook and writing down everything you might want to do in it, and listing the prices and other information about it down, helps. I can then go back and look at all the places and see the pros and cons of each. That makes it easier for me. I am in the process of doing this myself. And sometimes it's not so bad to just not make plans every second of everyday and just figure some things out when you get there. Unless you are really into having everything planned before you go. Things happen and sometimes you change your mind, or you're tired, or don't feel that great, and you might just want to do something else. Don't worry too much, it will be fine and you will have a wonderful trip no matter where you go and eat, Im sure.

 

[all4fun]

Honestly I would hold off on anymore plans for the moment. You don't know what will still be open, what will still be serving what and what rides will be down for rehab in 2.5yrs. That's a really long time away.

Once you get much closer then pick up the current guidebooks for everyone and have a planning party.

JMHO

I agree with this. You will be able to make more concrete plans that won't have to be changed by some unforeseen event when you get closer to your trip. It's way too soon to get stressed out!

Sometimes it's easier to just make the decisions yourself, at least for me it can be. My DH will ask our kids where they want to eat or go, for instance, and everyone will give a different answer. I find with my family, when everyone wants something different, then someone (or more than one person) will get upset if we have to choose between their suggestions or wishes, and then I feel guilty. But, I can't give in to everything everyone wants because I am not a millionaire. So, for some things I let the everyone help choose, but for other things, I just make the decisions myself (I discuss it with DH, but he is usually up for anything). I find that getting a notebook and writing down everything you might want to do in it, and listing the prices and other information about it down, helps. I can then go back and look at all the places and see the pros and cons of each. That makes it easier for me. I am in the process of doing this myself. And sometimes it's not so bad to just not make plans every second of everyday and just figure some things out when you get there. Unless you are really into having everything planned before you go. Things happen and sometimes you change your mind, or you're tired, or don't feel that great, and you might just want to do something else. Don't worry too much, it will be fine and you will have a wonderful trip no matter where you go and eat, Im sure.

We've also done trips with family members a couple of times now - and this next trip will be with extended family as well. We actually make our own plans now , tell our family "this is what we're doing" and if they want to join us, great; if not, they know they are free to do their own thing. I am sure we will still get plenty of time with them. This was after the trips where they told us to make the plans, and then once we were there, they decided they didn't like our plans and wanted to do something different. Whatever! Actually, this coming trip, we are not even staying at the same resort so we might not actually ever see them once we get there! lol.

I do agree with getting a good planning book like the Unofficial guide, mainly for the touring plans. We found the touring plans to be extremely useful on our first trip to WDW. Hopefully they're just as good now. We were able to take in just about all the "must do's" on our first trip to WDW so we felt that was the best $15 investment we could have made in our trip. I would wait until you're within six months of the trip to purchase one though because you want the most current information in print at the time of your trip. Until then, you'll get plenty of information online. Another thing we would do is go to Barnes & Noble, buy a cup of joe, take a stack of Disney/Florida travel guides to a table and spend an hour or so reading them. This was pre-kid of course, lol, so don't know how feasible this is for you. You could also try your public library.

hth

 

[wii fit mama]

I recommend tourguidemike.com. You can sign up now and use it for the two years until your trip and he updates it constantly. Also his boards are very helpful if you can't find the answer on his site. We planned a group family trip a few years ago with family who didn't want to plan ahead at all. We made our day to day plans and dinner reservations for all of us and told them they could go if they wanted. They went to almost everything and at the end of the trip were very pleased with how smooth the trip went and how little they had to wait.

 

[disneybound2010]

I did go ahead and buy The Unofficial guide(with children ideas) and highlighted quite a bit in there. I'm going to take one of the pp ideas and give the guides as presents this year. I understand that I DO have 2 years to plan this so I shouldn't be too stressed out and YES things can always change by then, BUT I like to jump in and know what I am going to have to look forward to and make alternate plans(I am a huge list maker) in case something does close, go into rehab etc etc. I was a tourism major in college and the one thing that got instilled in me was PLAN PLAN PLAN. No matter how much time you have there is never enough time to research(yes this was said to me in class)

Thanks for giving me a heads up on tourguidemike. I am going to look that up as well and I do LOVE all the help I am getting here from everyone. All of you have been so kind and steered me in the right direction every time!

 

[irene_dsc]

I did go ahead and buy The Unofficial guide(with children ideas) and highlighted quite a bit in there. I'm going to take one of the pp ideas and give the guides as presents this year. I understand that I DO have 2 years to plan this so I shouldn't be too stressed out and YES things can always change by then, BUT I like to jump in and know what I am going to have to look forward to and make alternate plans(I am a huge list maker) in case something does close, go into rehab etc etc. I was a tourism major in college and the one thing that got instilled in me was PLAN PLAN PLAN. No matter how much time you have there is never enough time to research(yes this was said to me in class)

Thanks for giving me a heads up on tourguidemike. I am going to look that up as well and I do LOVE all the help I am getting here from everyone. All of you have been so kind and steered me in the right direction every time!

Frankly, I'd advise you to go ahead and splurge on the full UG version - or at least borrow it from the library. There is a ton of information in there that gets completely bypassed in the UG with Kids version, especially on dining. Tho you might just bypass that and read the reviews here, lol. I have to admit, I ended up planning our days largely around ADR's...

 

[kathianne]

My advice---don't get overloaded on information!

We've been to WDW 6 times, all were great trips, but nothing beat the first trip. I planned the first trip just from WDW website, I didn't even discover this discussion forum until about our 4th or 5th trip. There's a lot of excellent suggestions here, but I found a lot of our less enjoyable experiences came from over-researching things. Then it became a "have to do" instead of "want to do".

For our first trip, I planned the air fare and hotel and bought the passes, that was about all my planning. We had a great time with no previous expectations. Then I tried to make the next trips even better, read up on everything, and got befuddled, I ended up almost having a meltdown one day because things weren't working out as I "planned".

Disney is a vacation, not an obligation. You simply can't see and do everything, just enjoy what you find. I so wish we could go back for Christmas, but my dh is being laid off this week so we have to face reality. Just enjoy yourself and don't worry about details!

 

[Missin'Disney]

I agree that you shouldn't try to see and do everything in one trip. there is just too much...even if you went for 3 weeks you couldn't do it all. I agree about holding off a bit before planning your itinerary. a lot can change in a few years. Maybe you can grab one guidebook from the library at a time, and just "browse" it for fun and to get ideas, but don't get overwhelmed with the details this far out. I would wait until you are 6-9 months out before deciding anything concretely.
Good luck.
I'm sure your trip will be wonderful, so try not to be overwhelmed!