Top 5 ways to sound like a “planner” on your next Walt Disney World vacation

Ok, so OBVIOUSLY you’re the planner of the group. You wouldn’t be sitting here reading this if you weren’t.

However, if you’re like me sometimes you do all the planning for an event or vacation and WHOOSH someone clueless swoops in and takes control and you walk around silently fuming or throwing in jabs at their incompetence lack of planning know-how.

Frustrating, isn’t? So what are some of the top ways you can let your family know “I’ve got this “WDW” planning thing under control? Here’s my top 5.

1. Develop a spreadsheet. – For some reason when people see a spread-sheet, especially when its color coded, they think you have a clue what’s going on. This is to your advantage. He/ She that holds the spread-sheets holds the key to the day. ha! You are welcome to download the whole spreadsheet and use it to help you plan (FOR FREE) if you’d like by just going HERE.

2. Use a lot of Disney lingo – Like spread-sheets being able to use the jargon of the organizations makes you seem even more credible. Sentences like,

“I have a WDW ADR at BOMA in AKL.”makes you cool. Even cooler than smoking USE to make you back in the 50s. Dojn’t know what any of that means? See my three posts on the Disney Dictionary and get “hip” to the Mouse Lingo mannnnnn…

3. Get the Garb – So you might BE a “First timer” at WDW, but you don’t have to LOOK like one. You need the lanyard, nametag, comfy shoes, pins, The whole 9 yards.  Don’t forget your Disposable ponchos whatever you do.

4. Study the map – So you REALLY don’t want to wander around WDW aimlessly, do you? Well get yourself some maps ahead of time and STUDY them. Nobody is going to argue with you when you say (without a map in hand), “Ok, we’re going straight to Dumbo. That’s directly up Main Street and through the castle. Lets go people”. How can you get a map ahead of time? You can get FREE ones custom made way before your trip by going to http://customizedmaps.disney.go.com/.

5. Make sure they SEE YOU PLANNING! Ok, lets be real for a second. The realllllllllllllll reason why it bothers you so bad when someone takes over is that you’ve spent ALL this time working to plan and, quite honestly, you’d like to get the credit for it. When someone else steps up and steels your spotlight it makes you feel like everything you did was for nothing (its ok, I’m a Communications Prof. I KNOW that this is how everybody feels. Its actually a power issue, but we don’t have time for that lecture right now). So if you’re worried about this then the person who normally takes over needs to A) SEE YOU PLANNING B) Know all the work that goes into planning and C) BE TOLD BY YOU THAT YOU’VE GOT THE TRIP UNDER CONTROL! From a Communications standpoint most of the issues we have occur when we “play games” with other people. We feel one way, but instead of calmly and rationally explaining ourselves and why our feelings are hurt, we move towards silence (also known as moping or “masking” (when is when you’re super sarcastic) or violence (belittling, raising our voice, intimidation). This does NOT MAKE YOUR TRIP MORE FUN, it counteracts the whole darn purpose. Stop playing games, get plenty of rest and tell your “spotlight stealer” ahead of time that “you got this”, but hey…. you better REALLY “got this” if you’re going to say it. Don’t drop the ball and not really know what you’re doing.

And when in doubt, don’t forget you can always say “The Disney Diva said…..” and that will straighten them right up.

HAPPY PLANNING!!!

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