The truth? Next week, we are going to Disney World for the very first time in the kids' lives!
We didn't know if we could swing Disney this year, budget-wise or time-wise, but the answer ended up being yes. With school and other obligations, we realized that we would have to book the trip at the last minute (3 weeks in advance) and we would have to suck up the cost. Since booking the trip, we have been obsessively planning.
(I suspect my friends might be about to stage an intervention. It won't work. {sticks out tongue} Seriously, they love me, but they don't understand just how much planning soothes my nerves!)
First things first. I got out my planner and created a section just for Disney.
Understand, I have a great working system of a capture page in the front of the planner, a weekly spread, and a monthly spread, so I was not going to mess with that. If you have a system that works, use it!
The Disney section is only for extra stuff. Usually, stuff like that would go in the project or files section, but I knew I would be using the Disney notes too much in the next three weeks to justify hiding it in those parts of the planner. A special section is justified anytime you are working on a major project. (I would do the same if I was buying a new house or having a baby. Anything huge!) (Yes, I did just equate a trip to Disney with having a baby.)
While researching Disney, I discovered that I needed to buy quite a few things. Apparently, I need a backpack filled with water bottles with filters, hand sanitizer, and cheap ponchos. Who knew? I have a separate coupon planner that I use for grocery and shopping lists, so for now, anything the internet said I NEEDED to have went on my capture page. (Shush it. Needed, people. They said I NEEDED it.)
Tasks, as usual, went on my weekly pages. We had to buy and download the touringplans app, where I had to enter parks and reservations while my husband entered the attractions we hoped to see. (Division of labor is a fabulous thing.) There are maps to be acquired and printed. Tinkerbell care packages to be put together. All of those tasks went inside of my regular set-up so that nothing slips through the cracks.
Would there be anything left for the Disney section of the planner? Why, of course!
A list of park hours is handy.
I made a checklist for when we arrive at the park, since there were too many things to do to fit everything on my weekly pages. Things like requesting wake-up calls (in a character's voice), giving the Tinkerbell gift to the boys (filled with stuff like autograph books and glow sticks for nighttime parades), and plugging in the charger for the computers and phones in the room made this list. I won't forget to check this list because I noted "@resort: checklist" in my weekly pages.
The kids are going to go wild when they realize there is no actual sheep herding farm. We aren't telling them until we arrive at the gates.
Etcetera.