Resisting the urge to DO IT ALL!!!

[Pooh99]

Knowing my personality... , I am afraid that I am going to be a commando mom on my vacation! I really hate not to get my money's worth when I go somewhere.

I need some tips on how to relax and let go of the expectation that I will see it all, do it all..... If I thought that we were going to be able to go back in the near future, I probably wouldn't be so concerned, but I don't see us going back for several years.

 

[Stratocastermagic]

I'm interested in this subject too. We are going to WDW from the UK for the third time this summer. We have three children. Our two sons (aged 16 and 13) both have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (sometimes also known as 'M.E.') which will limit what they - and we - are able to do.
We planned the vacation when our older son looked like he was beginning to improve - which he has continued to do, but we can't see him being anything like 100% by the summer. What we didn't know then was that the younger son would also develop the condition. It looks like he is going to be quite low for the forseeable future.
We've had real cold feet about having booked Disney with the boys the way they are - but decided it would do nobody any good to cancel. They have a particular problem with early mornings, which won't help with efficient touring of the parks, so we shall have to be selective about what we think we can do in a day and realistic about pacing ourselves. Fortunately, we have 11 days at AKL, so should get to do most of the things we want to do over the course of our stay.
We're also travelling with my parents - my father will be 76 on the day we return to the UK. They'll be fine with early mornings, but neither of them will want to run around the whole time!
Having used Bob Sehlinger's 'Unoffical Guide' on our previous trip (1998), we were expecting to approach the enterprise in a similar manner this time - we shall still need to plan our trip with military precision, in order to be as efficient in our touring as possible, but we will need to look at what our priorities really are.
I look forward to reading any words of wisdom on this thread.

 

[mom2my2princesses]

this is just my 2cents... but we went in march for the first time & i had been researching & planning & strategically going through the maps to see what the best plan of attack is... i didn't want to miss a thing! well i wish i hadn't planned so much -i feel like i rushed us from one ride to another without stopping to enjoy "disney" - we did pretty much everything we wanted to but i will never plan it out the way i did again. it wasn't relaxing & there are things i wish i had stopped to really look at & enjoy. we had our 2 small girls & my mom with us & we went back to the hotel in the afternoon for naps too. i guess my advice would be to try to do the things you really want to do, but dont get carried away & miss the magic. good luck
betsy

 

[lindaso]

I have this problem too and really the only thing that helps me is knowing that we will be going back. We've decided that we will go back every 2 years so I know that we'll eventually get to it.

But let's face it, there's SO much to do that it is physically impossible to do everything even if you were going commando for 2 weeks. It just can't be done. Maybe try to prioritize the things that you MUST see, things you'd like to see and things that aren't so important.

There is hope for you, I've gotten much better over the years. DH was seriously worried that I'd never learn to relax on vacation.

 

[Selket]

I think if you go in and try to "do and see all" then you'll make yourself miserable! Especially if your children are young or with health issues (as another poster mentioned). If you don't have kids and are a healthy adult and you want to do everything then go for it - otherwise.... I have 2 young kids and I pick the attractions I most want to see - for myself and what I think they will like. DH picks his own "must-sees" as well. We work in those things as a priority. Everything else is just gravy! I also found the Tour Guide Mike site was very helpful for planning a vacation that doesn't exactly run on a tight schedule (his site is http://www.tourguidemike.com - you have to pay to access his info). I liked that he gave the best times to catch attractions and conversely, what attractions are best to see if you find yourself at a park at a certain time - or got sidetracked and now trying to figure out what might have the quickest line, etc.

I also made sure we got fastpasses whenever we could and the thing that helped the most is using early entry (if you can stand it! I only did that for the MK cause I hate getting up that early) and using the "e-ride nights" - we had 2 during our August stay. I know there is that new after hours program for resort guests now so that sounds like heaven for me - I'd take full advantage of one or the other depending which end of the day you prefer to be awake

Have fun!

 

[3kidsdisney]

we went to disney 2 yrs. ago when my kids were 2 and 4 yrs. old--I also wanted to do it all but the kids needed naps but we managed to do 1 park everyday then had a day in the middle of th-e week that we did a last character breakfast , then shopping in downtown disney and an afternoon at the pool to get some rest--the kids were in a stroller so they were not as tired as us since we did all the walking--I find my kids misbehave by day 5--they just are on overload and so I am so I just go with the flow and relax and enjoy--now we are going again in May and plan on hitting the things we never did 2 yrs ago-we somehow managed to miss all of tomorrowland in Mk so that will be our first stop but we always manage to have fun---so have a blast

 

[ILoveDiz]

I think you need to have a plan of what you want to see. We stayed for 19 nights last July-August and did not see everything. We did not have a schedule and let the kids pick what park they wanted to see for the day. Well as the trip progressed I realized we missed alot. I am a planner but DH is not.
Anyways, this year's trip is different. I have each park scheduled for at least 2 days before we go to the next park this way we will see everything we need. The kids have helped pick out places to eat and I have at least one PS for each park.
Hopefully in our 21 night stay we can finish seeing the world. My PAP will expire in July

 

[all4fun]

Well, like the pp's said, it is impossible to do it all, so don't even go with that expectation. Our first trip in 1996 we went prepared after reading the "Unofficial Guide". We didn't stick totally to the touring plans but a lot of the hints & tips in the book kept us from going to far astray and by the end of our one-week vacation. We felt we had gotten our money's worth, but knew that there was much much more to see and do so of course, we knew we wanted to come back! (Although at that time we had no forseeable plans or means to.) More recently we have used the Passporter and I love the touring guides in that book! The days we stuck with it, we had a nice enjoyable time and still got to do most of the things we really wanted (and this was a group of six adults), compared to the days my family didn't want to follow the plan, I knew we were missing out on some stuff and yet at the same time felt like we were doing a lot more walking around and getting nowhere fast. I think there's a lot to be said about having a good plan, but not overplanning so you're trying to do too much, and then have failed expectations.

Just try to keep in my that you physically can't do/see it all. Prioritize the "must do's" and try not to stress too much about it.

Have a magical trip!

 

[my3princes]

I made the mistake on our first trip with kids of strategically planning all aspects of each day. I was a mess trying to keep everyone on schedule so that we didn't miss anything. We now go for 2 weeks, plan at least 2 days in each of the 4 major parks and one day in a water park. We have read all the books out there and tips on these boards so I'm sure that a lot of info is in my head, but other than planning which park on which day in order to get a few (4 for next trip) Priority seating we just go with the flow. Everyone in our party is happy and I have never left the World feeling like we missed doing something. I always feel that we get our money's worth without the stress of overplanning. I agree that you should find out what each persons priorities are for the vacation so that those things can be incorporated, but for my family the priorities are things that we would have done anyway. I let each kid pick out a character meal and if the other's don't want to do it, no problem we split up. It can be done, just go with the flow.