“You haven’t told them yet?!” is usually followed by, “how did you make it all year without them knowing?” or “oh my goodness, they’re going to lose their minds!” I can assure you, the struggle to not tell Miss O about our big family trip to Disney World was really, really, real.
Because I’m a planner by nature and profession, I look to my trusty packing template for everything from a week long, international conference to a weekend at my mother’s condo 45-minutes away. My colleagues think I’m crazy, but they’re not laughing when I can do a two-day conference trip with just my backpack and still look professional. Once I figured out some fun Disney shirts for our upcoming trip to Disney World, I knew it was time to break out my packing template and get to work.
Since we haven’t been to Disney World in about a million years and have never gone with kids in tow, I wasn’t sure there was any such thing as a “best time to go” no matter how many Pinterest pins say so. With so many special events, seasonal promotions and scheduling considerations, one of the biggest challenges of planning a Disney trip is figuring out when to go. Going with the whole family certainly added a layer of complexity I wasn’t fully prepared for and wasn’t looking forward to debating.
If you have kids, you’ve been in a store with a toy section or a snack area at some point and had your ears bleed while your child demands, in their own special way, to GET ALL THE THINGS. I tell my daughter she can wish for whatever she wants, but all her wishes may not come true. I’m not trying to be a total buzzkill, but let’s face it, she’s not likely to get that 8-foot stuffed bear or a face full of jellybeans every time we go to Toys R Us. I think the same is true of any vacation, especially when planning for a group. Everyone has an opinion and all of them should be mine. I kid. Sort of…
If you’ve ever planned a vacation, you know that there are lots of moving parts. If you’ve ever planned a vacation with your extended family, you have my sympathies. Why would anyone want to juggle that many preferences, wishlists and personalities all while discussing how to have fun together? One word. DISNEY. But let me assure you, this is not your parent’s trip.
Suburban Jackpot 