A Planners Nightmare

[sweetyk83]

I’m struggling over here too. Have nearly cancelled many many times. I have heavily planned every single trip we’ve done. So part of me is thinking it may be fun to have a trip that isn’t “planned” as usual.
What was so funny to me is that for all these years I’ve written everything on paper. My husband would scoff and say, “use spreadsheets honey!” He even tried to teach me how. I just ignored him cause I liked my method. Of course this year I finally decided to make spreadsheets and do it legit. Then all this goes down!
My lesson:never use spreadsheets again. Haha!

 

[jennyq87]

I’m struggling over here too. Have nearly cancelled many many times. I have heavily planned every single trip we’ve done. So part of me is thinking it may be fun to have a trip that isn’t “planned” as usual.

Give it a shot! We've started scheduling less and less each trip.. sometimes it really is nice to have the freedom/flexibility to just wake up and say "what do you want to do today?" instead of hurrying to get to an ADR or FastPass.

 

[Eeyore's Tiara]

LOL! My family doesn't laugh - they just give me the side-eye! I am so with you. I plan, then re-plan, then throw everything out and re-plan again. I keep drafts and drafts and drafts and then, when it's "final" (it never really is), I finally e-mail it to myself, print out hard copies and then stash multiple copies in my bags in case I happen to lose one (I'm not very technologically savvy so I still use paper, LOL!). I have to say, I'm so glad I don't have anything booked until November because I have time to watch all of this take shape. If I had something booked for this summer, I would be going NUTS right now!

OMG! YES!!! This is so me. My family doesn't realize how much effort is put into their vacation enjoyment....

 

[Tormania]

I too am a planner, hell that's part of the fun: Making the commitment to finally going, planning where to stay, book rooms (DVC rental for us) 11 months in advance, read disboards daily for months, plan ADRs, FPs, etc, etc, etc..... So all of the unknowns are tough to deal with, especially since we just hit our 180 day window this past Sunday and no ADRs to be made.

My wife laughs at me, she is excited. I guess I'll worry for the both of us.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Hi - I'm Lumpy1106 and I'm a planner
(Hi Lumpy 1106)

Yeah, so I've been planning my August trip since we came back from our last trip 2 years ago - OK, OK, since DURING our trip 2 years ago - I don't know why I lied just then.

Kinda feels good to get that out there - thanks.

 

[maryj11]

There are planners, and there are those who go with the flow. I am a planner. I make a spreadsheet with the days of my trip, park hours, EMH, crowd calendar predictions from various sources - and I do this months in advance. I then plan my park schedule, choose likely (and backup) ADR's to try at 180 days. Finally, about 90 days out, I plan the rides and attraction my family would like to visit each day and plug everything into a touring plan and evaluate results (and pick likely FP's for each day - since I also track FP availability at 60+ days out using some available online tools).

Part of the joy of my trip is in the planning and this situation of not knowing what's going to come of my August trip is frustrating. On the other hand, the rest of my family hates planning and they are laughing at me

I love planning! I’m frustrated, I had my days and dining reservations all planned. Dining was cancelled and I have no idea what I’m doing since we have to have reservations to get into each park. Will crowds be low at all parks? Will I even need to worry about the hard to get fastpasses. Will there even be fastpasses ? Will my favorite restaurants be open?

 

[maryj11]

OMG! YES!!! This is so me. My family doesn't realize how much effort is put into their vacation enjoyment....

It’s like an addiction, but so fun to have to look forward to! I love sitting and planning in the evenings. I do that instead of watching TV

 

[Splat10]

i think there will be plenty to plan going forward, it is just maddening to not be able to do it yet because we don't have all the details. My trip is late August so i've decided my best course is just to put it away until we get more info and then be flexible when on the ground experiences start rolling in. You better believe i'll have a massive plan by time we get ready to leave (or cancel).

 

[mrsap]

Hi - I'm Lumpy1106 and I'm a planner
(Hi Lumpy 1106)

Yeah, so I've been planning my August trip since we came back from our last trip 2 years ago - OK, OK, since DURING our trip 2 years ago - I don't know why I lied just then.

Kinda feels good to get that out there - thanks.

I have tears in my eyes!!!!!!!!!!!

Made me think of this...

 

[maryj11]

Hi - I'm Lumpy1106 and I'm a planner
(Hi Lumpy 1106)

Yeah, so I've been planning my August trip since we came back from our last trip 2 years ago - OK, OK, since DURING our trip 2 years ago - I don't know why I lied just then.

Kinda feels good to get that out there - thanks.

I start secretly planning the day we get back from Disney. We go every year and my family makes fun of me for always looking up Disney stuff

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

There are planners, and there are those who go with the flow. I am a planner. I make a spreadsheet with the days of my trip, park hours, EMH, crowd calendar predictions from various sources - and I do this months in advance. I then plan my park schedule, choose likely (and backup) ADR's to try at 180 days. Finally, about 90 days out, I plan the rides and attraction my family would like to visit each day and plug everything into a touring plan and evaluate results (and pick likely FP's for each day - since I also track FP availability at 60+ days out using some available online tools).

Part of the joy of my trip is in the planning and this situation of not knowing what's going to come of my August trip is frustrating. On the other hand, the rest of my family hates planning and they are laughing at me

I am the exact same way. Actually I have every excel spreadsheet that I have made for over a decade. We too have an August trip and I had gotten all the ADRs we wanted even hard to get ones like CG Brunch. So sad to see everything get cancelled but with everything going on in the world I am not getting upset over the lost ADRs. I have no idea what will happen for August also. Waiting closely for info.

 

[DisneyFanJenn]

Another avid planner here. Currently going nuts after watching all my perfectly planned ADR's vanish from MDE this week.

 

[Llama mama]

I am a spreadsheet girl!
l love the challenge of fp and ADR’s. I book cabanas, and do a flexible schedule.
BUT with that said........
The lack of info coming from Disney lately for our end of July trip is really aggravating me.
I booked a trip at Universal for the first time!!
I am currently carrying both trips. I am completely dumbfounded at the lack of planning necessary for a Universal trip. I have a Royal Pacific so we get Express passes and they are doing Early Entry. I have two teenage daughters and we have never done Universal. I need to make a decision soon.
Ironically I have a Thanksgiving Universal trip booked with the whole family this year.
But Disney is seriously pushing me to just get season passes and utilize my end of July trip to Universal too!!!!

 

[krisp66]

Same! My family makes fun of me, but then always remarks on how smoothly our trips go and how we get to ride everything and eat everywhere we want. I get as much pleasure from planning trips as I do from going, and actually kind of love waking up early on that 60-days-out to get just the right FPs at just the right times. Winging it give me hives! And now here we are, winging it...

 

[kniquy]

Part of the joy of my trip is in the planning and this situation of not knowing what's going to come of my August trip is frustrating. On the other hand, the rest of my family hates planning and they are laughing at me

Reading your description fits me to a T. My family does appreciate my planning efforts because after our trips are over they are amazing that they were never hungry and never really had to wait in any long lines. Well that's cause I spend 6+ months planning. We have a November trip planned and i've just thrown up my hands and will sit back, watch everything unfold and then hopefully 60 days out be able to gather some loose plans. We don't know what to expect or what systems will work with or against us, but we are going into this trip with a different attitude. We will just roll with the punches and make the best of it. If this was my once in a lifetime or every 10 year trip i would probably cancel, but we will be back again to do what we couldn't do this trip.

 

[ChelleyC]

I am also a planning monster — so glad I’m not the only one! We have a trip planned for late July-early August and still aren’t certain if we are going. With the lack of information and rumors of resort changes, it’s hard to be excited. To add insult to injury, my child’s school just announced they are starting a week early (during our trip). Ugh! I’m hoping for some announcements from Disney soon. Right now my spread sheet is empty!

 

[jschlaud]

MY PEOPLE!! I love planning trips. This will be only our second Disney trip, but I have loved planning it all. It was so sad to see all my ADRs go poof! We are currently still planning to go in November and the unknown is killing me.

 

[serene56]

I am an extreme planner. I have a boy who is a spectrum I plan emh mornings. Use FP and out by noon. So far emh and FP are gone. I have no idea how to plan. I can not see him waiting in lines I am seeing about DAS. Never needed it before because of my careful planning

 

[gharter]

Our October trip looks to be the least palnned trip we have ever had. Not because thats how I had it planned.
We had all the ADRs and they were awesome, and they're gone.
No idea wha twill happen when we can get our ADRs and what ever replaces FPs.
For planners, this is not comforting.
However, I have come to realize this trip may have the least time in parks that we have ever spent. We have been to WDW enough times, that I'm OK with that.

 

[MrsPete]

On the other hand, the rest of my family hates planning and they are laughing at me

I'm a planner too -- maybe not to the extent that some of you have described. My family, though, doesn't laugh. They don't like to do the planning, but they love the benefit of packing the most into a park day /never forgetting anything for the room /having all the best restaurant reservations!