Which Park, When?

The second step for planning your Disney trip, after purchasing your park tickets and signing up for your My Disney Experience account, is deciding which parks you will want to go to on which days. This allows you to begin making dining reservations (180 days in advance of your trip) as well as Fastpass+ reservations (30 days in advance of your trip, 60 days for resort guests).

Planning Your Disney Trip in 10 Simple Steps

I am probably weird, but one of my favorite parts of any trip is the planning. My mom is the exact same way. I love having spreadsheets and comparison charts, and our upcoming Disney World trip is no different. In fact, I am probably a little more obsessive about planning this time around, dealing with both the reality of my surgery recovery, the fact that in August, Florida is a bit toasty and humid, and also that this is my first time traveling with my in-laws.

My mom and I were discussing it a bit, and as she said, planning for our own family is easy because we all travel the same way and enjoy the same things (what, isn't it normal to ride Buzz Lightyear eight times in a row?). But, when traveling with anyone with whom you have not vacationed before, there is a period of time during which you'll have to get used to each others style. Talking in advance about what our respective priorities are and what we'd all like to get out of the trip will eliminate some frustration and confusion on the ground.

Right now, this is how my planning plan (don't laugh at me) looks:
Step 1 - Identify days we'll be traveling
Step 2 - Book hotel rooms
Step 3 - Decide which parks we'll be in and when
Step 4 - Make dining reservations (up to 180 days in advance)
Step 5 - Make first round Fastpass+ reservations (up to 90 days in advance)
Step 6 - Make daily touring plans
Step 7 - Plan out outfits
Step 8 - Packing list for suitcases
Step 9 - Packing list for in-park bag
Step 10 - GO TO DISNEY

Don't worry, I will catch you up on steps 1-3 in future posts, and you'll probably see multi-post breakdowns of steps 4-7.

What do you think? Anything I am missing here?

An Exciting Announcement!

Ladies and gentlemen, exciting news...

All American Surgery Update - Three Months

What I Would Have Done Differently - PATIENCE
This is really nobody's fault but my own. Before the surgery, my doctor's told me that full recovery would be at least a year out. And I believed them, but I really didn't believe them. I knew it'd be a slow process once the walking boot came off and I started moving on my own, but I didn't realize it would be this slow. Patience has never been my virtue.

I had my three month checkup at the beginning of the month, and handed over my walking boot in exchange for a very sturdy brace complete with boning and more straps than I know what to do with. The Physician's Assistant told me we'd be looking at wearing that for 2-3 weeks, with its removal directed by the physical therapists I could now start seeing. I, of course, thought this meant I'd be off like a shot...how wrong I was!