Planning Anxiety

[Christinac430]

Does anyone else get super anxious planning?
In 2018 my immediate family stayed at an all star resort. I booked a year ahead and joyfully planned every detail. This time 10 of my family is going. My mom has cancer and it's her wish to spend time with her grandkids there. We booked this Saturday for may 10 to the 16th. That's LESS THAN 3 MONTHS AWAY. Since I'm the Disney fanatic and have done it before everyone looked to me and at the time I happily took over. Now I'm waking up at 4in the morning wondering how long it will take us on the skyliners and if I should by my kids new sneakers now to break them in and where are we gonna eat and what if I forget something.....ahhhhhh

 

[Meglen]

I would be honest with your family. Every trip will have issues and they need to know this. You cant handle a trip for 10 on your own.. I tried it with 6 and legit hated the trip I was on due to my trip anxiety than unable to come back to earth and ask for help. I LOVE planning disney vacations, but once reality hits when other people/family are involved it sucks due to trying to figure out hwat would make them happy. I would sit them down or talk about what they wanna do and tell them what could go wrong or plan A,B,C type thing.

The amount of money I spend on amazon for things I "think" we might need is.. rather silly thank god my husband loves me

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

I've had a reoccurring dream for the past 2 weeks that we got to Disney and I forgot the magic bands Oh the horror!! LOL

 

[DL1WDW2]

Okay...Get a big piece of plain white paper and fold it like a fan to calm your anxiety and then get another piece of paper to fold into 6 columns with the first arrival date/ Hotel Confirm# Flight info and then every other column can be daily calendar with a theme park and open / closing times. And then start to think about dining Usually SciFi is my very first reservation. And then each park can have a priority must do attraction.
And then slowly figure out all the ways to create those memories for your mother and family.
But I do hate the packing Maybe start one suitcase with those small travel size toothbrushes cause somebody always forgets their toothbrush... and do t forget the swimsuits and flip flops!

 

[Orion Nebula]

Ya we were anxious the first time due to being confused on how everything worked. But once you figure things out it's not a big deal and can actually be fun. We make a spreadsheet up and move things around until we are happy with it. Then of course tweak it running up to the trip. We are due in this Saturday and already changed two dining reservations this week. lol

I wouldn't stress over it, it really makes things rough and takes the magic out of it in my opinion. I would for sure do everything you can to never be in rush mode also.

 

[iloveftwilderness]

I've had a reoccurring dream for the past 2 weeks that we got to Disney and I forgot the magic bands Oh the horror!! LOL

No worries, they sell them there!

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

No worries, they sell them there!

Oh I know, it’s just one of those dumb things. I can’t forget our giant bag of magic bands, we have to coordinate with each outfit

 

[HMANSION LOVER]

Ten is alot. Took extended family (11) so I feel your anxiety. Try to keep it simple. I would E-mail everybody now and ask for favorites or must do's. Any places they want to eat. Make a list and TRY to make it work and I say try because it will be hard as you know . Most of all, let everyone know that you will do your absolute best to accomodate all their requests but it might be almost impossible to make every request a reality. Also remember the trip is not about any one moment in the park or any missed opportunity. It is about the entire time spent with family enjoying a common experience together. I hope you can take a step back, grab a deep breath and enjoy planning this special trip for your mom. And don't forget if someone starts being a "you know what" about something just pull them aside and explain that you were thinking about what Mom woulod like. It just may difuse an unhappy situation taht arises if someone feels shortchanged. I used that when the grandkids were complaing about being at World Showcase. And it worked like a charm.

 

[Christinac430]

Thanks everyone. I think I'm putting more pressure on myself then they are. Honestly they aren't big disney people like my mom and I are. I guess I'm afraid of not knowing something I should. I know even if it was just me and my kids going I would be panicking with less than 3 months. Lol in the last 3 days I have made 3 spreadsheets already

 

[Eastern]

Never wear new shoes/sneakers do Disneyworld. If you do want to bring a new pair, bring the old ones along as well. yw

 

[Christinac430]

Oh I agree 1000% that's why I gotta get them now to break them in. Just another thing adding to to anxiety lol

 

[Dug720]

On the plus side, ARDs can't even be made until 60 days out, so you're still in the running for al of those.

My real concern would be you said your mother has cancer. That puts her at added susceptibility to things. I felt very safe at Disney last week, but I am not immunocompromised and I had already had one dose of the vaccine. I also live in NYC, so unless I stayed isolated in my apartment, I have had to be around people, not all of whom are fabulous on masking and distancing. Does your mother's doctor feel that it is safe for her to travel right now? Even with Disney's guidelines, things are not 100% safe. I know she wants to spend time with her grandchildren, but how is she - and how are you - going to feel if this trip to spend time with them exposes her to something that costs her her life? I'm not trying to be a downer - and I love Disney as much as anyone on these boards (more than some by a lot of the posts I see on here nowadays) - but it is something to consider.

 

[Blondie58]

Does anyone else get super anxious planning?
In 2018 my immediate family stayed at an all star resort. I booked a year ahead and joyfully planned every detail. This time 10 of my family is going. My mom has cancer and it's her wish to spend time with her grandkids there. We booked this Saturday for may 10 to the 16th. That's LESS THAN 3 MONTHS AWAY. Since I'm the Disney fanatic and have done it before everyone looked to me and at the time I happily took over. Now I'm waking up at 4in the morning wondering how long it will take us on the skyliners and if I should by my kids new sneakers now to break them in and where are we gonna eat and what if I forget something.....ahhhhhh

If 10 people are going to WDW together (I believe) it is going to be hard to please all at all times. I would plan on doing some dividing up and meeting up etc. To think 10 people will be lockstep with a variety of ages and likes and dislikes is a lot. When I plan for a group I make a master spreadsheet for all. I have column one as the day and date, column two what we are doing for each meal, column three what park we will be in and what fastpasses we have (yes, I know there are not fastpasses now), and column four miscellaneous. Everyone can look at the spreadsheet and give input BUT we do not start discussions and share input without a starting scaffold in front of us. That would be a nightmare!!! We make adjustments, all share input, and we come up with a final plan. Girls do not like Mission Space so we go do Spaceship Earth while the guys do Space. Girls go do Beauty and the Beast while guys do Areosmith. Girls may do a spa day while guys do a pub crawl. One time half of us went to Sunday Brunch at the Contemporary and the others wanted to go to Whispering Canyon. Some have done a tour while others have done cocktail/pool time. AND we sometimes make adjustments while we are at WDW. Per meals we have some that wish to eat three times a day and others skip breakfast so we factor this in. Per the kids and sneakers - do they really need? If they do this would be a decision you have to make no matter. Yes, you will forget something BUT is it the end of the world? You will be at the most Magical Place on Earth!! PS. Go to Pinterest and search for WDW packing list. This will help. Your Mom may need breaks and r and r throughout and their may be grandkids that can go from sun up to park close. If this trip is for your Mom and family to make wonderful memories build the scaffold of the trip around Mom and then add to it. (I had an emergency out-patient surgery four days before we were to go to WDW five years ago. We did not cancel. Yes, I had pain killers and adjusted greatly what I could do BUT it was more fun to be at WDW with the warm FL temps than being in cold OH with snow. I did more people watching than ever but it was all good. My only complaint was being so tired. There were times I had to sleep and could not keep up but with cell phones and great Dinsey transportation I could easily find people.) Some peope would not ever do this but it works for us: We take half as many clothes as we need and have one night of down time to hang out at the pool and do laundry. It saves us dragging so much luggage around and makes travel easier. We pack Tide pods in our tennis shoes and have for laundry night.

 

[noahdove]

I have started a Disney bag. Every time I think of something, I toss it in there. I do have a check list to double check. Please remember, you are to have fun... Break down the parks and ask the family which ones they want to spend more time in. They may have ideas that you haven't thought of, especially you being the fanatic. good luck.

 

[LuvMyEAR]

The above advice about lockstep for 10 people is very important, and likewise to frame the trip around your mother, taking into consideration her energy and stamina.

I would be looking to put my head together with the other adults in your travel party and see if it would be practical to rotate times with your mom. For the most part, a party of 10 really cannot “do” anything together, not even sit together in most restaurant. Just my opinion, but I would look to keep mom within a group of 4 - 6 most of the time and do the best we could to rotate that special time with her fairly. just That way she would have a chance to concentrate on the family members with her at any time, instead of always finding that part of the group was too far away for conversation or other interaction.

That is not to say that you cannot do things as a full group, by any means, but full time quickly turns into a herding exercise.

I can twist myself into knots before a trip, and it is 2 simple things that seem to do me in. All the pre-vacation housework, and the packing. The actual park and ADR plans are “committee” decisions, even if I am the one who makes the actual bookings. We have a broad range of interests and tastes in our group, and we nail down (reserve) what we want to do together, and those who wish to do additional things are responsible for making those arrangements. This works very well for us.

 

[Dug720]

Also be aware if you're planning to do everything together, you're going to at least in line split into 2, possibly even 3 or 4 groups on the lines to maintain correct physical distancing. Whoever is in the lead group can tell the cast member asking how many "10", but for proper distancing, they are asking larger groups to divide themselves between multiple line spacings.

 

[Christinac430]

On the plus side, ARDs can't even be made until 60 days out, so you're still in the running for al of those.

My real concern would be you said your mother has cancer. That puts her at added susceptibility to things. I felt very safe at Disney last week, but I am not immunocompromised and I had already had one dose of the vaccine. I also live in NYC, so unless I stayed isolated in my apartment, I have had to be around people, not all of whom are fabulous on masking and distancing. Does your mother's doctor feel that it is safe for her to travel right now? Even with Disney's guidelines, things are not 100% safe. I know she wants to spend time with her grandchildren, but how is she - and how are you - going to feel if this trip to spend time with them exposes her to something that costs her her life? I'm not trying to be a downer - and I love Disney as much as anyone on these boards (more than some by a lot of the posts I see on here nowadays) - but it is something to consider.

On the plus side, ARDs can't even be made until 60 days out, so you're still in the running for al of those.

My real concern would be you said your mother has cancer. That puts her at added susceptibility to things. I felt very safe at Disney last week, but I am not immunocompromised and I had already had one dose of the vaccine. I also live in NYC, so unless I stayed isolated in my apartment, I have had to be around people, not all of whom are fabulous on masking and distancing. Does your mother's doctor feel that it is safe for her to travel right now? Even with Disney's guidelines, things are not 100% safe. I know she wants to spend time with her grandchildren, but how is she - and how are you - going to feel if this trip to spend time with them exposes her to something that costs her her life? I'm not trying to be a downer - and I love Disney as much as anyone on these boards (more than some by a lot of the posts I see on here nowadays) - but it is something to consider.

It was a long and hard decision. Both of my parents will be fully vaccinated by our travel date. It's incredibly difficult for my mom emotionally during all this. There is so much she would love to do. She is stage 4. treatment works for a little then stops. Then we change treatment then things look good then it stops working and on to the next. Her doctor is very supportive and knows when she does go out every precaution is taken. To be honest I myself struggle. I want her to enjoy the life she has but I want her for as long as I can. Ultimently it is her life and I can't imagine her position so I go along with what she wants and try to make it the best I can for her with the cards we were dealt. I will say talking this out has definitely pin pointed the anxiety. Thank u for the therapy session lol

 

[JessicaW1234]

It was a long and hard decision. Both of my parents will be fully vaccinated by our travel date. It's incredibly difficult for my mom emotionally during all this. There is so much she would love to do. She is stage 4. treatment works for a little then stops. Then we change treatment then things look good then it stops working and on to the next. Her doctor is very supportive and knows when she does go out every precaution is taken. To be honest I myself struggle. I want her to enjoy the life she has but I want her for as long Ultimently it is her life and I can't imagine her position so I go along with what she wants and try to make it the best I can for her with the cards we were dealt. I will say talking this out has definitely pin pointed the anxiety. Thank u for the therapy session lol

I have also planned for a family trip for 9 and fully appreciate the stress that comes with it!! Just remember that because you know both about Disney and what your mom enjoys you are perfect for the job. Plan what you think will be the best experience for her and great memories for all of you and you will be a great success. Come back often if you are trying to sort through choices and we will help you

 

[DisneyMama811]

Okay...Get a big piece of plain white paper and fold it like a fan to calm your anxiety and then get another piece of paper to fold into 6 columns with the first arrival date/ Hotel Confirm# Flight info and then every other column can be daily calendar with a theme park and open / closing times. And then start to think about dining Usually SciFi is my very first reservation. And then each park can have a priority must do attraction.
And then slowly figure out all the ways to create those memories for your mother and family.
But I do hate the packing Maybe start one suitcase with those small travel size toothbrushes cause somebody always forgets their toothbrush... and do t forget the swimsuits and flip flops!

just had to jump in to say, not Disney related but while we were dating my then boyfriend (now husband) booked a long weekend at a waterspa...in the middle of Canadian Winter... 4 hours away ...3 hours in he realized he didn't pack a swim suit thankfully we found a hardware store that had some believe it or not

 

[DisneyMama811]

Never wear new shoes/sneakers do Disneyworld. If you do want to bring a new pair, bring the old ones along as well. yw

I made this mistake once, ended up with 11 blisters on one foot our first day in MK