Who does your planning?

[TammyA]

I do the planning for my family.....and I love it this way!!! The rest of the family provides some input on where they would like to eat and at which resort they would like to stay. Other than that, it's all me. I book everything and make all ADRs. I provide everyone with the trip details and a loosely structured itinerary of which parks on which days. Even though each family member could do what he/she wants and follow their own plan, they all typically follow my plan and that's fine with me. I love the planning almost as much as I like the trip. I happily plan for other family members, friends, friends of friends and sometimes complete strangers who become friends.

 

[W.E.D.]

Wow. Only six of us so far.

I, the Disney Husband, do all the planning.

I love it, and DW is not the Everything Disney fanatic that I am.

She gives me the special moments that she wants included in the trip (ie. spa-day, time at the pool, certain restaurants for ADRs, special events, etc.) and I work them into the master plan.

 

[delaneyc52]

So I am the only vote "for plans? who plans?" In the past, I me myself and I again...did all the planning. After 50 plus trips now...we are "desperados" and do no planning at all...well except for when we're going and which resort. Other than that, we just wander aimlessly around the place.

 

[hmack]

The first two times we went I (the wife/mother) did 95% of the planning. This time I'm trying something new and letting our kids (17 & 13) do a lot of the ADR planning. Giving over the "power" is a bit difficult but I want them to feel invested in the process and it's a great lesson in compromise and decision making.

My husband every now and then puts in his 2 cents, but I think he's just happy that we're going.

 

[Carrie772]

Yes I, the mother, do all the planning. I really really enjoy it! It seems to make the trip begin earlier! I also have amassed a doc that I send to all my and my hubby's co-workers for when they are planning a trip. It jump starts their planning. That way I get to live through them as well!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I (the husband & father) do the planning 99% of the time. I actually get a kick out of it while my wife loves the fact that it's all taken care of. That said, I planned our 2011 vacation to a resort in Wisconsin Dells. My wife discovered that this particular place had fallen onto hard times & was falling apart. So, she took it upon herself to cancel and rebook somewhere better, and it worked out great!! So, it's certainly not that she's incapable But, in the 18 years we've been together, I've made all the rest of our travel plans, and on 2 occasions she didn't even know we HAD plans to go anywhere until the day of the trip

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Planning begins as soon as we get home from our previous vacation.

Slacker! You should be planning at least 2-3 trips into the future!

 

[rmprhp]

I, the wife, mother, daughter-in-law, sister, friend, do 99% of the planning. Not just for our family trips, but for other friends and family as well. I love it. And like the above posters, I am ALWAYS planning "the next trip".

 

[PAcpl]

When we took the kids in Nov 09 my wife did all the planning, I did nothing. For our trip this May I have done a good bit of it. I booked the hotel, etc. I also made the reservations for Cinderella's Lunch and the Boutique for my daughter. I picked out what days we are going to which parks. I have also purchased RideMax and will be making schedules for each of the days. I picked out 2 of the restaurants i wanted to eat at but she made the food reservations.

So, this time it's mostly me but I just had more time to research than she did and thought it was kind of fun.

BTW where is the Disdads section of the board?

Here you go:

Dis Dads section of Disboards

 

[tndisneyfan]

I am a woman, but DH and I plan the trip together. We pick out a date based on DS's school. Then we figure out about how long we won't to stay and what hotel, if we want to DDP or not, restaurants and ADRs, and finally what parks what days. I used to do most of the research but now we don't really need to do much research. He also used to pretty much make me decide what restaurants we went to but I didn't like that responsibility. I think we should decide where we eat as a family, which is what we do now. We enjoy planning together, we even get DS involved so he feels like he has a say so in it.

DH is on the Dis too, he's on here almost as much as me.

 

[John Paul]

Husband here and I do the planning! My wife likes it that way so she has a bit of surprise! By the time I go I have done so much planning and investigating I feel like I have already done it!

 

[saffsmom]

I (the wife) have done all of the planning.

DH would not know a plan if it jumped up and bit him!!!
(this applies to life in general...not just disney planning)

when it comes to big stuff (resort choice, baby names etc...) i whittle the list down to 2 or 3 choices and ask for his thoughts....

i was SO not a planner before we got married...but SOMEBODY has to do it!

 

[DVC-Don]

I do what planning is done, although my wife may request an ADR or two. I pick the week, book the resort & flights.

 

[StalkerX]

....By the time I go I have done so much planning and investigating I feel like I have already done it!

I hear ya. For me, the planning is all a part of it. As soon as I get the O.K. for a vacation in X month (Still have to clear with the wife for time off and such), my vacationing begins. It's those times between when the vacation ends and new planning begins that stinks (like I am in right now).

Where are all the other DH that plan out there!

 

[LucyBC80]

Where's the "I do it myself"option?!

 

[PAcpl]

So I am the only vote "for plans? who plans?" In the past, I me myself and I again...did all the planning. After 50 plus trips now...we are "desperados" and do no planning at all...well except for when we're going and which resort. Other than that, we just wander aimlessly around the place.

I am slowing turning into that. When we first started going to Disney I had the trip planned out to the attraction. Now we just focus on what resort to stay in, what parks to do on each day and we make our ADRs. I hoped eventually to be so used to Disney that we 100% wing it. But if you don't even know what days you are going to be in each park then how do you eat? We have been in the MK a couple of times and didn't have an ADR and ended up settling for counter service since there was no availability. How do you avoid that?

 

[khertz]

I make a majority of the plans, and when I have something to show DH, I bring it to him for his opinion. He doesn't get too interested in planning WDW trips until they are right around the corner. He helps making decisions when I ask him to, but usually does not want to sit down and make any plans to the extent that I do. However, when we are traveling to another vacation destination other than WDW, he does a majority of the planning!

 

[delaneyc52]

I am slowing turning into that. When we first started going to Disney I had the trip planned out to the attraction. Now we just focus on what resort to stay in, what parks to do on each day and we make our ADRs. I hoped eventually to be so used to Disney that we 100% wing it. But if you don't even know what days you are going to be in each park then how do you eat? We have been in the MK a couple of times and didn't have an ADR and ended up settling for counter service since there was no availability. How do you avoid that?

We don't do ADR's. On a rare occasion maybe one. ADRs means planning and I don't plan! I find the food in WDW (with some exceptions) to be mediocre anyway. Also, we are not huge dinner people. Usually breakfast, a snack later on in the day, and a 5 p.m. early dinner thing. We stay at BWV and will have dinner at Big River Grille or wander over to the Swan/Dolphin restaurants. We also will go off site for dinner We have found great (and filling) hot tasty sandwiches at the Beach Club sundry store, Artist's Palate (SSR) and of course there is DTD for Earl of Sandwich, etc. The second thing we don't do is Disney transportation. We get a rental car each time which gives us the freedom to get food wherever we want. Oh and of course to be this laid back you should probably have park hoppers or an annual pass!

 

[PoohsFan1]

I do the majority of the planning, however DH does put his 2 cents in on where he would like to eat and the same goes with the kids, in fact I let the kids make up a dummy itinerary to see where they would like to eat at and to be honest, they had a very good plan and I have booked most of the restaurants that they chose, there were only a few that I threw in that we have never been to before . And since we always do the DxDP, it was easy for them to figure out our favorites and ones that we haven't been to in a while.

On our trip coming up, my DH did say that he wants to go for a longer trip so we can do a lot more non park days (we would like to do both WPs and DisneyQuest) and also to stay in BLT since we have yet to stay there...that has been our home resort since 2010. I think I can handle both of those requests .

 

[policycobb]

I, female, not a wife, do all the planning. No one wants to hear of my planning and they get tired of me talking about it. But, I'd be the one to blame if my ten months of planning didn't work out.