How to pass the next 100 days until my Disney World trip?

by Shelly
(Franklin, TN)

I.AM.OBSESSED!

I cannot think about anything except our upcoming trip to Disney World. We are 106 days out and it gets worse everyday. I believe I have read your entire site. Twice.

I am using a lovely travel agent named Melanie at Blue Sky Journeys and I am really afraid she is going to fire me as a client if I make one more change due to my obsessive reading of reviews.

There is a question in here, I promise! Here it is: How do you stand the wait?!

I can only tinker with my plan so much and my family may kill me if I run through it one more time.

Save me from myself!

There are some people that don’t like Buzz Lightyear
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Photo by Express Monorail

Dad’s easy girl Answer

Shelly,

I may not be the best person to answer this question. I turned my small part time Disney obsession into a huge, full time Disney obsession. Your planning has nothing on mine.

How do you pass the next 100 or so days before your Disney World trip? I answered a similar question a few months ago …

How to wait for a Walt Disney World vacation

My answer to you would be much the same with just a few additions. First, relax a bit, I know Disney can be intoxicating, but make sure you’re not neglecting the fam. You wouldn’t want to miss the babies first steps or words while surfing the internet. (I’m exaggerating a bit, but I’ve been very guilty of not paying enough attention to what’s going on around me while I’m in the middle of a Disney fix.)

Next, feed your Disney fix with family activities. Rent classic Disney movies with Disney World themes and watch them together while you talk about the rides and attractions. Use the time to talk about how your plan will work in the parks.

Hey, I found out what happens when you don’t share the plan with the family, it’s not pretty. Dad makes a plan.

Quit reading all the Disney noise. It will make you crazy. The problem with reading reviews is unless you know the reviewer, you don’t know if they have an agenda or what their point of view is. For example, I’m a meat and potatoes guy so I like pretty basic food. My reviews of say, Victoria and Albert’s will be skewed by my meat and potatoes upbringing. I’m not a big fan of the Grand Floridian because I’m a pretty simple guy.

Someone with more refined tastes might hate the Pop Century and ‘Ohana. (Silly people.) So reading lots of reviews can really confuse you.

It’s hard to believe but when Buzz Lightyear first opened, the first reviews talked about how cheap it looked, how all the targets were cardboard and it was not up to Disney quality. Boy were they wrong.

Instead of reviews, read and reread all of Dad’s pages. When your done with that, move on to Youtube. There are thousands of videos about Disney World. That alone will take you the next 100 days.

Destinations to Travel

 

Dad’s Bottom Line

There are lots of ways to pass the next 100 days. (Flickr is a good source of pictures.) The main thing is to make sure you take care of the family. If you get too bored, send me a note. I can always use some help.

Comments for

Jul 06, 2011 Relaxing Planning
by: Lisa

I certainly agree with you Peggy. I am always obsessed with making each & every WDW trip the best that I really do no take the time to sit back, relax & enjoy the planning. We are going in 13 days & this time I vowed to make this the most relaxing yet fun trip for me & my family. So happy planning to everyone & remember to save some fun for yourself 🙂

Jul 06, 2011 Thanks Dad
by: Shelly

Thanks, Dad, for posting my question. I do want you to know that my obsession is shared by my family. 🙂 We are all looking for pics of the new refurbished POFQ rooms and watching videos of the rides.

Love your site and look forward to the new stuff everyday!

Jul 06, 2011 Do What I Did…
by: Mandy S

…move to Florida! Well, I am doing that next month. We went on trips to WDW in 2007, 2008, and 2010, and had planned to go this year in September. We can’t get enough of it!

Well, long story short, my husband got a job offer in Florida, and we took it! First order of business when I get there – SEASON PASSES!!!!

Seriously, as for how to pass the time while waiting, I agree with Dad. Watch Disney movies. I don’t know the ages of your kids, but when we took our niece (then 4) and two nephews (then 6) to WDW back in 2008, we got a video called “Sing Along Songs – Disneyland Fun.” We also watched numerous Disney movies. We will be breaking these out again with our own daughter (almost 2).

We also bought each child these fantastic books by Tim Foster called Walt Disney World – Guide to the Magic for Kids. They are awesome. It’s basically a pre-made scrapbook with places for kids to put in information about every ride, park, etc. They can get the book stamped in each country in Epcot too! There are also signature pages. I spent several days looking at the books and fantasizing about how much fun we were going to have!

I went Disney crazy before that trip. I also bought all the kids Disney Crocs, and regular Crocs for myself and my hubby.

Definitely take a minute to pre-order a Disney PhotoPass photo CD if you’re planning on getting one. Do some research – I heard that you can save money by buying it before you go on your trip.

I spent a few days making reservations for meals (we had the dining plan).

Make a packing list. That might take a while.

Before your trip, wash/vacuum your car. That will take up the better part of a day.

That’s all I can think of for now! If I think of anything else, I will post again!
Jul 05, 2011 Obsessed with Disney
by: Peggy

I certainly understand the way Shelley feels about being obsessed with Disney. My husband and I planned our 1st trip in December 2010 after 50 years of dreaming. I came…it went…and we had the most wonderful time. It was something we save for and was supposed to be a one-time trip “BUT” I was so obsessed with doing, and see everything that I know I missed so much.

I have been planning since the day I got home on how I was going to make this happen again. We are planning on going either in October or November 2011 and I am still planning BUT at a much slower pace. I found we did everything so fast to get in as much as we could, that it was more overwhelming.

My advice to Shelley would be not to over prepare for this amazing trip. It will come and go and you want to enjoy every moment you are there. We plan to make this trip “quality” not “quantity” this time but either way…you can never lose spending time at Disney World.

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