The Over-Planner's Guide to Under-Planning (April & June(?) PTR)

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Hi guys!


For those of you who don’t know me I’m Elle –



That’s me in the middle!

I’m a middle school teacher who’s almost out of her twenties (eep!) who has been obsessed with Disney for a very long time. I love Haunted Mansion, Merida, Tiana, Daisy Duck, and Nick Wilde. I’ve been going to Disney every year since I was 11. I usually go with my best friend Jen (the blonde), who you have all seen in my previous trip reports. I’ve gone to Disney with her almost every year since we were 20. This time, however, she is (probably) not coming with us.


By “us” I mean myself and my childhood friend Liz! She’s the brunette on the left in the picture above!


If you’ve read any of my trip reports over the past three years, you’ll have seen and heard about Liz. We’ve known each other since we were kids, though we really didn’t become as close as we are now until we were in high school and we both started to do theatre together. For the past six years, Liz has been living in Florida and working as a CM. But she recently finished college and moved back home to look for a job up here.


We’ve been talking about taking a trip to WDW this year for a while, but it’s just been talk. Why? Well, if you look at my signature, you can see a (shockingly) different PTR in there – this summer, Liz, Jen, and I are going to Disneyland!


If you know me, you know that I have been spending a whole heck of a lot of time planning this particular trip (the one to California, that is), so I wasn’t really planning for a trip to Florida this year too. But Liz still has the last of her comp tickets from when she was a CM and they’re going to be expired by the time we go to Disneyland. And Liz has a project she needs to finish down in Florida that offered to help her with. And she has an AP to Universal that we would like to take advantage of because I want to go back to Wizarding World.


And THEN we made a joke on New Year’s Day – Liz posted something about having never gone on Everest and our friend Em said she’d hold her hand on it. And through the conversation we basically invited ourselves on their vacation.


So all of that to say – we’ll be going to Disney in April! I don’t know when; I have April 14-23 off, but I know that Easter is important in Liz’s family, so we’d probably leave the 17. We won’t be staying on property, but we’ll be staying with friends.


For me, this is going to drive me crazy because we have nothing set in stone and we really don’t have all that much to actually DO for this trip because it’s going to be so low-key and will be mostly photography-based and aah! I’m going to be in here a lot talking about this, guys. I’m gonna need you all to get me through this and try to keep me from planning!

 

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Huzzah! We Have Dates!

So, Liz and I were talking last night and it seems like we've "solidified" our dates (as much as you can solidify dates you haven't really done anything with) and it seems like our plan of action right now is:

Off Property, April 18-23

We'll probably go out of Worcester Airport so I'm gonna poke at flights today. We'll do about 2 days at Universal, spend the rest of the time in Disney, and probably do something local one night.

 

[Corrine 1973]

Joining in. First of all I am completely jealous of you. Not only have you gone every year since 12 but are going to 2 parks this year. Do you want an older sister???

We are kind of in the same boat. I am going with a friend (who is a current CM) and she is officially making our reservations in February. She has given me dates and resort though but as we all know that can change even after packages/resorts are booked.

 

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Joining in. First of all I am completely jealous of you. Not only have you gone every year since 12 but are going to 2 parks this year. Do you want an older sister???

We are kind of in the same boat. I am going with a friend (who is a current CM) and she is officially making our reservations in February. She has given me dates and resort though but as we all know that can change even after packages/resorts are booked.

I mean I always like new Disney-loving family! Welcome!

 

[Sydney2977]

Your title caught my attention because I am in the same boat right now! I've super planned all of our family's 8 trips and now I am going along with younger DS's high school band as a chaperone in April and have no control over anything- aaaaah! We are also going to Universal, which will be a first for DS and really me too since I only went once with my brother when we were teens. I'll be following along to see how you do.

 

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Remember When I Said I Wouldn't Do It Again?

Let's go back a bit.

December 29, 2010. I was home for the holidays, though I was living in England at the time. I pick up Jen at 10 am and we head off in my little standard VW Bug.

We got stuck in traffic in New York for hours, but made it to DC by 11. We stopped at the top of Virginia for the night, then continued on the next morning. We didn't get to Kissimmee until 10 pm.

I drove the entire way.

Why?

Because I was the only one who could drive my car. It was, like I said, standard, so the other person I was traveling with (Jen, if you've ever read any of my other TRs) couldn't drive my car. It was pretty grueling and exhausting. But you know what? I really like road trips.

So, I'm going to be honest. I'm really, really bad at this not over-planning thing.

Friday, I had PD for half the day. I am one of those people who needs to be doing something else in order to be listening to speakers; if I'm looking at the power point or directly at the person presenting my brain wanders. So I may or may not have done research for this trip.

What did I find?

Well, the flights TO Florida were like $200 or less. But the flight coming home? That was close to $700. That's more than I've ever paid for one plane ticket (okay - maybe not. One flight home when I was in grad school cost a pretty penny but that was a transatlantic flight) so I started to look at other options Both Liz and I have driven the coast in our cars and neither of us want to do it again, so I looked into renting a car for a road trip.

And you know what? It's about $200 from Hertz using a AAA discount and honestly even without the AAA discount it wouldn't be all that expensive. The cost of gas will bring that up another $100 or so depending on what car we get, etc., but after sending the idea to Liz we both like the idea.

We also decided to do 3 days in Disney and 1 in Universal. Liz has an AP for Universal and has 2 comps so she'll only have to buy 1 ticket for herself. It also gives us two das to spend with friends and 1 day when we just character hunt for a project that she's doing for her niece.

So my "under-planning" turned in to me still planning more than I needed to already. Oops!

 

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Your title caught my attention because I am in the same boat right now! I've super planned all of our family's 8 trips and now I am going along with younger DS's high school band as a chaperone in April and have no control over anything- aaaaah! We are also going to Universal, which will be a first for DS and really me too since I only went once with my brother when we were teens. I'll be following along to see how you do.

Welcome! Oh, I had anxiety when I chaperoned a HS trip one year! I hated not being in control. And yay for a day in Universal! I haven't been to Universal in about seven years, but that day we were only there for Harry Potter so we weren't there for too long - I'm excited to spend a day there and see what's changed.

 

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Guys, It's January

At some point I think this PTR is going to turn into a self-help blog because I CAN'T STOP MYSELF!

Guys, this is a problem.

It is January. 24 January. There are 82 days until I go to Florida.

I have the majority of my outfits planned already guys.

On the plus side, Liz does too. Because we are the worst possible people to allow to plan together. I figured my outfits would be -

1. "It's a rope drop to forever kind of day" tank top from Once Upon A Mickey Tee with a pair of fireworks ears I won from Earful Tower Designs

2. "Magic Kingdom Mountain Ears" shirt from Main Street Press with a pair of arrow ears from Magically Made Ears

3. "Ohana" shirt from 2319 Threads with a pair of Lilo ears from FairyGodsisters (I may or may not have been planning this outfit for months)

4. "Must Be A Weasley" shirt from Painted Arrow Designs with a Ravenclaw bow from Magical Ribbons

5. blue/white chevron dress with blue-accented cowboy boots for a night out in Orlando

Guys. This is not okay. I figure I'll wear flip flops or a pair of sneakers with the outfits but I do need to get a lightweight wrap with most things because we'll be about an hour away from where we're staying when we're in Orlando and I get cold at night in April or in the AC.

My mother also bought us (and Jen) mini backpacks because she knows we struggle with comfort vs. convenience with park bags. They're actually for Disneyland, but I'm hoping they'll be good for this trip as well. I'l have to bring another purse with me as well, for non-park days (I'm not a fan of backpacks generally) but between the two I should be fine.

Ugh, I already have this much planned already and there's 82 days to go we're gonna be in trouble!

 

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Snacks?


So, I know it’s early days, but what are your favorite snacks to get on a road trip? We basically plan to only stop for coffee/Chik-fil-A/bio breaks (us and the car) but I’d like to start compiling a list of what we’ll need to get for a road trip?

Why?

Well, I’m notoriously bad at getting snacks for a road trip. I’ll get goldfish and that’s about it. Maybe some Mr. Pibb and water. But I mean all I eat for lunch every day is granola, an apple, and vanilla yogurt so I’m also not the best judge of what real people eat.


So I reach out to you guys, you gurus of road tripping and planning things: what would you bring on a road trip to stave off hunger?

 

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Does It Count As Planning If I didn't Do It?

Liz and I have been talking back and forth with Em recently and since she had to make her ADRs recently she asked us to let her know if there was anything we wanted to be added on to. We can't go to the breakfast for A and L's birthdays since it's on Easter and we won't be in Florida yet (Liz's family puts VERY big emphasis on spending Easter with family, so I'll spend the day getting ready after Easter dinner).

Liz and I went to the mall after I got out of work today so she could find some black tops for work. i went with her very specifically to tell her not to get anything else lol. But while we were there we looked through Em's MDX and found an ADR on the Wednesday we're down there that she had made for Rose & Crown. She went in and changed the ADR to add us onto it so we can have a meal together.

Her friend that's traveling with her, J, wants to drink around the world with Liz and I, so that day may be the best option for it. Hopefully!

 

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PTRs: Your Personal Agony Aunt

Sometimes I really do feel like my PTRs become my agony aunt. Seriously, like there is a point that you hit where nobody but this void of a thread you started is the only place to get your Disney-related anxiety out.

This is 90% me projecting.

But I haven't posted in my PTRs in a while and I figured I should!

How's the weather where you are? We have blue skies, we which is nice! It was supposed to snow all day. I mean, as it is, we've had like 3 feet of snow in five days, which is better than 3 feet of snow in 2 days which has happened on many occassions before. Of course, it's also our third snow day in a week, so I'm going a teeny tiny bit stir crazy when it comes to wanting to plan Disney stuff!

What's sad is that I have to put the Walt Disney World planning on hold for a few days.

Why?

Well, we're kind of waiting to see about a new job for Liz. She had an interview on Wednesday and she hasn't heard anything yet. To be fair, Thursday the company was supposed to have a second interviewee to come in but the entire state was basically shut down so I'm sure that it didn't happen. We've all got our fingers crossed for her, but if she does get it she's worried she won't be able to go on our trip to Disney.

So, the trip's on hold for now. Thankfully the only thing I have to do is buy tickets so it's not a horrible thing. Fingers crossed that she gets the job AND our trip stays on course!


EDIT: She got the job!!!!!! I'm so excited for her!

 

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A Little Change

So, if you come in here, you may notice a couple things.

One - you may notice I no longer have a ticker ticking down to April anymore

Two - you may notice the PTR title has changed slightly.

So, Liz got a hard no on going away in April from her new job - it's the same week her boss goes out on maternity leave and a lot of other people had already asked for the week off because it's vacation week well before she was hired on. Which is fine - I'm glad we got an answer! We've been kind of waiting on a final verdict for about two weeks.

Currently, our plan of action is to push the trip back. We still want to go, so we have two choices as of this moment:

1: we go over Memorial Day but that's probably the harder of the two options because I would only be able to go those three days, I wouldn't be able to take a day off the Friday before or the Tuesday after due to the way my job handles vacations - which makes sense. I could see people taking advantage of it big time.

2: we can go at the end of June once I get out for the summer. As of right now I'm getting out Thursday the 22nd, but we're supposed to have another nor'easter this week (ugh!) so I may not get out until the 23rd. I'm hopeful we won't go to the next Monday (pleasepleaseplease), so we're going to plan that out and see how that works out for us.

 

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I'm Gonna Be A Disney Hobo!

So, this morning my plans changed.

Again.

Shock, right?

So I got a text message this morning from my friend E, the woman who we were going to be meeting while we were down there. She asked if I was definitely not going and I explained that I had been trying but I couldn't afford a flight and tickets and a hotel myself.

Well, she offered me space in her room, if I can get plane tickets and my tickets. And I probably can manage it! And I can probably afford to bridge to an AP while I'm down there! I'm so excited again!

 

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Glad you're still able to go!

 

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Glad you're still able to go!

Thanks! I am too!

 

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And Suddenly I Need to Plan

Oh, goodness guys! So much has changed recently!

So, here's the plan of action now that I've officially told E that I'll be going with her about two hours ago:

1. Get flights! My plan is that I'll fly down on Saturday, the 15th. The cheapest is going out of our local airport, which means taking the only flight of the day at 5:18. I'll get to Florida by 8:18, and since E and her family have to drive past the airport on Sunday I'll probably just stay at the Hyatt that night, which leads me to...

2. Make a reservation at the Hyatt for the night. That's actually easiest, I'll do that when I get home from work!

3. Get tickets for Disney. We're staying at AKL, in a villa, and I'm the only one (at the moment) that doesn't have an AP. I plan on getting one while down there, I just can't afford it in one go.

4. Get new walking sandals

This seems super simple, but I'm actually kind of panicked about getting so much done so fast! I can do this, I can do this!

 

[Sydney2977]

Oooh, great news! AKL is awesome too. How long will you be able to visit? Do you have park and dining plans yet? Hahaha... so much for not planning!

We leave in less than two weeks and I'm still not sure what park we're going to the second day. The not planning thing is really throwing me!

 

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Oooh, great news! AKL is awesome too. How long will you be able to visit? Do you have park and dining plans yet? Hahaha... so much for not planning!

We leave in less than two weeks and I'm still not sure what park we're going to the second day. The not planning thing is really throwing me!

My brain seriously went "Oh, you don't need to plan anything after all because you'll be with people who have already planned their trip" to "OH NO I NEED TO COORDINATE EVERYTHING!!!!!" I'm currently in FP mode (literally - the website just crashed on me so I'm waiting for it to reload) and then I'll put up an update to update my "no planning" (ha!)

 

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Coordination Is NOT My Game

Today I was able to buy my park ticket! So, basically, I plan on bridging once we get down to Florida - I have enough money to just buy it now but

1. My bank is a teeny little thing and I have more than enough problems with their system as it is let alone to try and make such a large payment at once
2. I have two more pay periods between now and this trip (this coming week and then the day before I leave), so I feel way more comfortable with the idea of having the money I need to spend on this trip already back into my account before I take out what I need to bridge as well as my spending money.

I'll be honest, I'll probably end up doing what I did this time. See, like I said above, my bank is a tiny local credit union and it is horrible. Like, I want to move my account because I have no access to my money horrible but because my father's name is still on my account (tells you how old the account is - I've had it since I was old enough to have an account!) I have to have him with me to close it out and our schedules do not match up. I'm hoping by this summer we'll be able to coordinate something. Anyway, to circumvent the probability that my card wouldn't work on the Disney website and I wanted to get my FPs done ASAP, I took out the cost of the ticket plus a little extra as a safety cushion, swung over to my local Rite Aid, put the money on a Disney gift card, and used the gift card to pay for my ticket. Huzzah!

Now, one thing I am not used to is having to coordinate my plans with other people's. Not in a "I don't like to brag, but" sort of way, but in a "I usually plan the trip because I'm insanely organized and am probably developing a twitch" sort of way. So, once I got my ticket, I went to get my FPs squared away.

Two things about my FP selections:
1. I tried to coordinate with E's plans as much as possible but she's had hers for a few weeks now so some things are not offered anymore
2. This is the kiddos' birthday trip (3 and 1 respectively) so there are a lot of kids things. I chose not to do a couple of experiences because I thought they were a bit more geared towards the family than me.

Oh, and ADRs were mentioned too! E has ADRs all planned out for the week. I'm taking her brother-in-law's place in the room, but I'm not 100% sure if he's still coming or not so some of the plans are up in the air on my end. So when I mention ADRs know that I'm not 100% sure if I'm going to them or not. The only one I definitely know I'm going to is lunch at Rose & Crown.

So, my plans so far:
SATURDAY
- I'll be flying out of our local airport at 5:15, so I'll get to Orlando around 8:30-9. I'm going to get my bag and head to the Hyatt in the airport for the night.

SUNDAY
- E will pick me up from the airport on their way to the parks from her in-laws.
- Magic Kingdom day! My FPs for the day are all the same as E's and her family so:

* Small World 12:15-1:15 (E's is for 12:30 but it was the closest time I could get)
* Meet Mickey (I may not do this with them but I figured I'd get the FP just to be on the safe side. I can always change it) 2:20-3:20
* Pooh 3:45-4:45 (5 minutes earlier than E's)​

- Dinner is at 5:15 at Chef Mickey's.

MONDAY
- Check in day at AKL
- Breakfast is at 10:30 at 1900 Park Fare (mmm, strawberry soup <3)
- Hollywood Studios Day!

* Star Tours (E & co are doing Toy Story but there were no more FPs available. Figured I'd go with my favorite ride instead!) 12:05-1:05
* Disney Junior Live on Stage! (I may just go single rider on R&RC during this time but I also really want to watch the kids) 1:20-1:35
* Frozen Sing Along (I'd blame this on the kids too but I adore this show) 3:00-3:15​

TUESDAY
- At the very least the afternoon's going to be in Magic Kingdom, who knows what the morning will hold!

* Little Mermaid 1:45-2:45
* Haunted Mansion 2:55-3:55 (E's got Mine Train starting at 2:40, but none are available for me at the moment. I figure this way I know I do HM and I'm still in the area)
* Meet Tiana and Rapunzel 4:00-5:00 (E's is just after that. I would say I may give this one up, but I have a Rapunzel outfit planned so, no. No I'm not.)​

- Dinner is at Kona at 5

WEDNESDAY
- Epcot late morning/afternoon!

* Figment 11:45-12:45
* Soarin' 1:35-2:45 (E & co. have a FP for the Frozen ride at this time.)
* Turtle Talk 3:15-4:15 (this is another one where I'd blame the kids but I actually love it and nobody ever does it with me)​

- Lunch is at Rose & Crown at 12:35

THURSDAY
- Check out
- 8:30 breakfast at Boma
- Head over to Animal Kingdom

* Festival of the Lion King 10:30-10:45
* Finding Nemo the Musical 12:30-12:45
* E has a FP to see Mickey & Minnie, I don't know what I'll do yet. May ride Dinosaur, may just take pictures!
​

FRIDAY
- Flight leaves at 1:55 so I don't know what I'll do yet.

​

 

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Let's Talk Shoes

So, shoes. They are the bane of my existence.

I have very flat feet, and after a day of standing and walking, my heels are sore and my ankles are swollen. I tend to put icy hot or tiger balm on my feet at night to help them relax as I sleep and it works great!

But...

(we all knew there was a but)

On Christmas Day, I went out to my car in a pair of Bearclaws to grab the tights I had left in there so I could start getting ready to go to dinner and found the only piece of ice on my sidewalk. Down I went. I am shocked I didn't break my left knee cap or get stitches (okay, I probably should have gotten stitches but my feeling was 'I am going to Christmas dinner and nobody's stopping me!") but it took a month to heal. It still hurts a tiny bit if I sit for too long with my knee bent but the bump is finally gone (the scar however? Nope). But I was so focused on my left knee that I didn't realize that it had messed up my right ankle until January.

I have heel supports now that take the pressure off fabulously, and I do plan on bringing my Vans which are my comfiest pair of sneakers because they stretch so much. I also bought a pair of Sanuk sandals on recommendation from the boards. Any other recommendations welcome! I like traveling with three pairs (not counting the flip flops I bring for the pool or walking around the resort) because I can rotate during the day if need be.