I'm not sure if that post title really explains what I mean so I'll try & make it clearer!
In 1999 I went on my first trip to WDW. And this is how we booked it. On the Monday we were looking on Teletext (there's a blast from the past) & we saw a holiday to Orlando going on the Thursday for £399. Hotel was to be allocated on arrival. We phoned up, booked it & three days later were on our way. As I said, we didn't know what hotel we were staying at, or which airline! We were given our seats when we checked in & I bought a copy of the Brits Guide at the airport to read on the plane. We bought our park tickets when we got to Orlando from the rep. The sum total of our planning was : wake up, see what we felt like doing, & do it. That was it! And it was a fantastic holiday, & the first of many trips back.
But how times have changed!
I'm currently planning a trip next February to WDW & I feel like I'm literally driving myself crazy with the amount of information & planning it involves now. From the very beginning, now not only can we research all the different airlines, we can look at seat maps of each plane, see what their food is like, what entertainment they offer, etc. And as for the hotel choice, there is a seemingly endless supply of information from these boards, to tripadvisor reviews, youtube videos, & if you have a Touring Plans subscription, you can even look at photos of what the view is like from pretty much any room at any Disney hotel!
Then there's crowd calendars & attraction reviews to read, plus now you can look at reviews of all the different restaurants & even look at their menus. Plus there are the "extras" to research, dessert parties, guided tours, etc. And all this planning is necessary as I need to choose & book restaurants 180 days before I get there, plus make fastpass reservations 60 days out!
So now I have to plan in advance not only what I'm going to do, but what park I will be in on a specific date & what rides I want to go on at a specific time & then decide where it is I'm going to eat months before I'm even there!!!!
I'm sorry if this sounds like a whinge, It's really not meant to be, I've just been planning like mad & I've now decided to stop for a while & take a bit of a breather. I was driving myself crazy! Just in choosing the plane seat for example. Like I said, you used to just arrive at the airport & were pretty much allocated a seat. If it was a bad seat then it was the airlines fault. But now I get to choose the seat. So if it's a bad seat, am I going to be annoyed that I chose that seat & it was terrible? Or if the airline changes my booking like they do, will I get frustrated that all my planning was for nothing?
You can see why I'm going a bit mad!
I do love having all the information we have now, & it's great to help avoid make mistakes like eating in a terrible restaurant. But for people like me it can be just a bit overwhelming at times & taking a step back is definitely necessary.
Oh, & don't think I'm ranting that it's put me off going, no way! Flights are already booked! That's one thing done at least. As long as I chose the right seat!
Does anyone else get a bit overwhelmed sometimes by the sheer amount of information & planning involved in a WDW visit these days? Or is it just me?
In 1999 I went on my first trip to WDW. And this is how we booked it. On the Monday we were looking on Teletext (there's a blast from the past) & we saw a holiday to Orlando going on the Thursday for £399. Hotel was to be allocated on arrival. We phoned up, booked it & three days later were on our way. As I said, we didn't know what hotel we were staying at, or which airline! We were given our seats when we checked in & I bought a copy of the Brits Guide at the airport to read on the plane. We bought our park tickets when we got to Orlando from the rep. The sum total of our planning was : wake up, see what we felt like doing, & do it. That was it! And it was a fantastic holiday, & the first of many trips back.
But how times have changed!
I'm currently planning a trip next February to WDW & I feel like I'm literally driving myself crazy with the amount of information & planning it involves now. From the very beginning, now not only can we research all the different airlines, we can look at seat maps of each plane, see what their food is like, what entertainment they offer, etc. And as for the hotel choice, there is a seemingly endless supply of information from these boards, to tripadvisor reviews, youtube videos, & if you have a Touring Plans subscription, you can even look at photos of what the view is like from pretty much any room at any Disney hotel!
Then there's crowd calendars & attraction reviews to read, plus now you can look at reviews of all the different restaurants & even look at their menus. Plus there are the "extras" to research, dessert parties, guided tours, etc. And all this planning is necessary as I need to choose & book restaurants 180 days before I get there, plus make fastpass reservations 60 days out!
So now I have to plan in advance not only what I'm going to do, but what park I will be in on a specific date & what rides I want to go on at a specific time & then decide where it is I'm going to eat months before I'm even there!!!!
I'm sorry if this sounds like a whinge, It's really not meant to be, I've just been planning like mad & I've now decided to stop for a while & take a bit of a breather. I was driving myself crazy! Just in choosing the plane seat for example. Like I said, you used to just arrive at the airport & were pretty much allocated a seat. If it was a bad seat then it was the airlines fault. But now I get to choose the seat. So if it's a bad seat, am I going to be annoyed that I chose that seat & it was terrible? Or if the airline changes my booking like they do, will I get frustrated that all my planning was for nothing?
You can see why I'm going a bit mad!
I do love having all the information we have now, & it's great to help avoid make mistakes like eating in a terrible restaurant. But for people like me it can be just a bit overwhelming at times & taking a step back is definitely necessary.
Oh, & don't think I'm ranting that it's put me off going, no way! Flights are already booked! That's one thing done at least. As long as I chose the right seat!
Does anyone else get a bit overwhelmed sometimes by the sheer amount of information & planning involved in a WDW visit these days? Or is it just me?