Thursday, August 20, 2015

Planning is a... you know.

Less than two weeks from now, I'm heading to Disney World for our two-day Kamikaze incursion into Frozenland. Otherwise known as Disney's Hollywood Studios. Things have evolved a bit since the last time I wrote about this. We have decided to go all in on this and will head over to The Magic Kingdom as soon as we land on Friday, making an already crazy trip even crazier. Why? Because as I was planning this debacle of a trip, I realized that for all the Frozen fun to be had at Hollywood Studios, there was no way to actually take a picture with either Anna or Elsa there. To do that you have to head on over next door to the Happiest Place on Earth, where both characters are waiting for you with open arms at Princess Fairytale Hall. Provided you wait in line for a million hours or something like that. Oh, there's a FastPass, but those were long gone by the time I tried to grab one.



I really don't know what's more difficult: Planning a long Disney trip (like a week or more) or a quick one like this. I'm starting to think it's the latter but that may be because I'm right in the middle of it all. The fundamental problem with planning a Disney trip -long or short- has always been that there is simply way too much to do. Initially, I thought that since the main focus of the trip is Frozen, then it was just a matter of picking those things and forgetting the rest to survive. Not true. Along with the Frozen activities -which are at specific times so you must work around them- there are several "classics" that the girls will not want to miss. Can I go to DHS and not catch Disney Jr. Live on Stage? Not if I don't want a full-blown mutiny. Can I say "not today" to Toy Story Mania? The girls have already made it very clear we have to do that one.

And with 3 small girls, there are so many other things to consider... Have you ever done a seating chart for a Disney trip? I have. Yes, a seating chart. My Mom will be joining us at the parks and with that comes the dreaded problem: Who sits next to grandma? So I have it broken down by ride. On the ones that are two people per seat like Dumbo or Toy Story Mania, I have a chart of who sits with who so everyone gets a turn to sit next to Grandma on a ride. This was pre-negotiated with the girls so they already know who goes where ahead of time.

I am currently working on the Aircraft boarding and traveling procedure. The plane we are taking to Orlando is 2 seats, the ailse, then 2 seats. Not enough room for a family of 5 to seat together. Mayline has to care for the youngest first so they sit together while I'm one seat in front. This leaves the older girls (insert Psycho theme here) alone together across the ailse. Not only that, but because we are waking up so early and have such a full schedule once we are there, I have to figure out a way to make 3 very excited little girls to sleep on the plane. So I have been talking to them about it for a while now about what's gonna happen at the airport and especially while on the plane. Wish me luck.

This is the sort of thing I've been dealing with recently, and I realize this sounds a bit extreme but there are a couple of million things out of my control that can and will go wrong so I'm just trying to deal with the stuff I can control. The schedule is tight and there's no need to screw things up because of something I could have done something about.

In the meantime, I have a race on Sunday: Popular Bank's 5K and my first race since the Puerto Rico Half Marathon back in March. I have done this race every year since 2012 and a PR is long overdue at this distance.

9 comments:

  1. Awww, Disney with 3 little girls! You are going to have SO much fun! This past year at PHM the theme was of course Frozen. We waited the million years in line to see Ana and Elsa! Had we not had our "Frozen" medals we would have just passed them by for sure...lol

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    1. I'm dreading that particular line but that's the whole reason we are going right? Despite that, I'm actually very excited to see my girls react when they see them.

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  2. Oh my goodness, seating charts and all! That's so sweet that they all want to sit next to their grandmother :) And I've heard the line to see Anna and Elsa is much better than it was at the beginning so hopefully it won't be to bad of a wait.

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    1. From what I've read, it's definitely better than the 4+ hours when they first started showing up in the parks but it will probably still be quite a bit. I'll be sure to report it as soon as I can when I get back.

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  3. I definitely think short trips are harder! I'm going for the shortest trip I've ever done: Saturday afternoon-Monday afternoon and trying to fit everything in has been tough! But I will be back for a week in November so it's okay

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    1. It's like, no matter how many times you go, when you cross those gates you just want to do everything! Just in case. You never know when it's gonna be your last.

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  4. Flasks. And sippee cups. All with the same wonderful colorless liquid in them. You're welcome.

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  5. This post absolutely cracked me up about who sits with grandma and the whole psycho reference! I hope the trip goes well and good luck with the Anna and Elsa photos. It seems crazy to me that Disney does not have multiple locations with those characters. It is a bit unfair to the parents

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