I recently helped a friend plan a trip to Disney World. It was her family's first time to the world with her husband and three young children. She is the ultimate procrastinator, understandably though, she leads a busy city life with a large family. I helped her with the basics- hotels, park passes, to dining plan or not to dining plan. I pushed her to make some basic park decisions and dining reservations with no luck. I sent emails with nice links. Lead her to books I recommended. Nothing. Finally I took it upon myself to make her a nice little plan complete with dining reservations - I was so worried that they wouldn't be able to get into any restaurants at a reasonable time, they wouldn't know which parks to visit and their first Disney experience would be horrible.
It's so hard for a
planner to help a non-planner. For any other trip I can let go- but not for
Disney. I can't seem to get across to my friends how a little planning goes a
long way. They think I'm rigid, obsessive compulsive, a bit loony. Until they
get there.
I always wonder about how people who have never been to
Disney must picture it. I assume they've seen the photos on the website but
obviously these are pretty limited. Based on the website pictures alone, I have
to imagine they think everyone is happy, it's clean, there are always balloons
in the daytime and fireworks at night. Based on pictures, a monorail takes you
everywhere and the castle is always nearby, so close that you can touch it. The
online Disney World is amazing, no waits, perfect skies, perfect temperatures,
healthy grandparents, lots of hand holding. No wonder my friends think they
don't need to plan. It's simple, wake up, eat with Mickey, ride some rides,
carry balloon, eat dinner with a princess, watch fireworks, sleep.
Don't get me wrong- I obviously love Disney but that ain't
Disney, as my friend soon found out.
Here are some statistics- Covering 47 square miles, Walt
Disney World Resort is about the size of San Francisco or two Manhattan
islands. There are four major theme parks- Magic Kingdom Epcot, Animal Kingdom
and Hollywood Studios, two water parks,
Downtown Disney, two miniature golf courses, a Boardwalk area, over 32 resorts,
99 holes of world class golf, more than 230 buses, 12 monorails, a lot of boats
and over 54,000 employees. I can go on and on.
There are so many options, so many choices, so much that
over stimulates that I often see adults and kids alike melt down. Instead of
beating the crowds to the early hour park, non-planners argue over which park
to go to and then join the masses. Instead of relaxing by the pool and enjoying
an afternoon nap, non-planners tear through maps and guide books trying to
figure out which direction to turn. Non-planners find themselves eating in
their third or fourth restaurant choice at 4pm or 9pm.
OK, I'm probably preaching to the choir, but let me clarify
two things. Planning does not take the place of spontaneity - spontaneity
happens everywhere in Disney. Let's boogey over to the Spaceship Earth ride and
try to catch a show before dinner, let's exit this way and ride the monorail,
let's grab a cold one in United Kingdom while the kids shop in the toy store.
Once your in a park, once you've found your way spontaneity will find you! Two,
planning is not a burden- it can take just a few hours and will allow your
family to make decisions together leading up to the excitement of the trip. You
only need some basics- which parks on what days, where should we eat- let's
make reservations and you are good to go.
When my friend returned from Disney she called me and the
first words out of her mouth were in the form of an apology, "Oh my gosh,
I so didn't get it, next time your planning the whole thing!"
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