Hi, DisneyOhana. I can completely relate to your worry and anxiety problems. I'm doing pretty well most of the time in the last year. However, just about a week ago, I had a "freaking out" episode over planning my trip to Disney. The interesting thing is that I am not normally a type A personality, but I can often worry just as much and I can also get into type A style trip planning when it comes to Disney.
The good thing is that I was able to realize what was going on and see that I needed to calm down and amazingly was able to do so. Not right away, you understand; It is not like flipping a light switch. I sort of worked through it over about a 2-day period. And now I am able to let some things sort themselves out in my head more naturally. I've been thinking about and dreaming of this Disney trip for a long time and I guess I've thought through it enough that the best ideas are coming together and gelling. Doubts are bound to creep in...What if I see a new restaurant that hadn't been reviewed yet when I was planning and we really want to try it? What if I think I'm likely to be in or near Adventureland at dinner time and it turns out we are somewhere totally different? I can think of a million of them. But I've got a couple of months to go to keep working through my issues. I think by the time I get there my non-type A side of my personality will be able to come shining through and I'll be able to relax and have fun. I'll be at DisneyWorld! How can I not have fun? Only by having the wrong attitude about everything. If I see a new restaurant, maybe I'll get to go back again in a year or 2, and maybe that new restaurant will still be there to be tried on that trip. If we are going with the flow of the day and having fun and end up in a different part of the park than what I planned (or having different reason like a trip to a first aid station--ack) then we can walk to Adventureland when the time comes and just cope and have a good attitude.
So, my ideas are gelling and my travel guides etc, are providing me with good info on how to make decisions and now I'm pretty well decided on which parks to visit on which specific days of our trip. (I've also made a few other important itenerary decisions, like reserving a specific morning or evening to relax.) So after deciding which parks, I'm ready for and have started the process of looking at and matching up restaurant reviews, to
Disney Dining Plan info, to locations of restaurants. I have my first days "touring plan" ready to go with several restaurant possibilities penciled in. And if I can stay calm, I can probably make a final decision and make a reservation. I've read reviews here and other places on the internet, but when I come down to making the decision, if I need to refer back to some info, I'll be using guidebooks and the official web page that tells which restaurants are currently part of the Disney Dining. That is just what works for me. I've got a copy of the
2007 Unofficial Guide and also a copy of
PassPorter's Walt Disney World For Your Special Needs. I would not have thought ahead of time that I'd pay for 2 different guide books. But I got an older copy of the UG nearly a year ago ($1 @ a library sale) and decided that it was worthwhile enough to buy an up to date copy at full price when the date of our trip got close and then I just got the PassPorters book on impulse as soon as I saw it, because it seemed like such a good idea. Now I am so glad that I have both of them. And you might be able to borrow them from your library too. The main thing about the particular PassPorter's book that I have is that because it is does a great job of covering just about every different type of special need, it gives a noise level rating for each restaurant. I am definitely taking that into consideration. With me and my crew having a few sit down meals in quieter settings at least a few days of our trip will probably make a big difference. I have to kids that have sensory issues and get overstimulated even more than normal kids. And DH and I are both normally not crowd people. So, I think that if we succeed at getting quiet restaurants a coule of times, where we can really "decompress" and getting restaurants that are at least not the loudest one the rest of the time will allow us to all have a much better time.
