Monday, January 5, 2009

OCD for Disney

OCD = Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
My extremely artistic and talented photographer buddy accurately diagnosed me with this when we worked together a few years ago.

So....I'm a member of a Disney forum and just LOVE reading all the postings, although I rarely post. I've been enjoying other people's trip reports and I decided to start one of my own - but just for me, and as a consequence, just for this blog.

I know it sounds weird that I've started writing a "trip report" 67 days before we leave, but I'm a wee bit weird about this stuff. Plus, I suppose I like to write.

So here's the latest from the Jenn Trip Planning Diaries (it's written in the "style" of the forum I read - with people talking about DHs, DDs, and DSs...):

January 5, 2009

It is 2 months and 8 days until we leave for WDW (!!!!!!) and I figured that it would be amusing to record my current obsessive-compulsive tendencies about this trip so that I can later look back and either say: “I can’t believe I worried about that!” OR “Thank goodness I worried about that!”

On the way into work this morning (I had to go in later than normal, since my kids still haven’t started school and my husband couldn’t be off the whole day), I stopped at the teacher supply store so that I could laminate all the itinerary cards I’d made for each day of our trip.

I also spent a few of my morning hours obsessing about whether or not I should cancel our Tusker House reservation and replace it with a Fantasmic Dinner package or just stick with the current plan of dinner at Animal Kingdom and then we could take a taxi over to Disney Hollywood Studios after dinner if we felt up to it and try to make the Fantasmic showing with the rest of the thousands of people wanting to see it. (I kept the Tusker House reservation, in case you’re curious.)

Our cast of characters:

Me, age 37. Think Belle with a law degree. Seriously – I totally get that girl. I even have brown hair and can be pretty snippy at times -- as Belle was with the Beast and Gaston (ok, very snippy if you want to believe the rest of my family).

Dear Husband, age 39. Hmmm….if I had to pick a Disney character for him – it might actually be Mickey! No kidding. He hardly ever gets upset or mad, everyone likes him tons and he’s really smart. (Ever notice how Mickey gets out of the jams and is the one who figures out all the solutions?)

Dear Daughter, age 9. I’m not sure exactly why, but Ariel keeps popping into my mind when I think of her. It might be the red hair, but maybe I’m also just projecting parental angst onto her (you know, worried that she might some day decide to run away from home to marry a prince or something like that – yikes!!!!). No – now that I really think about it – she is Mulan. No doubt about it – exercise isn’t really her thing (nor is it my thing and it wasn’t for Mulan at first either!) but she’ll work hard at anything if she has a good reason and she’s all about protecting people – especially her family.

Dear Son, age 5 (he’ll be 6 by the time we hit WDW). On some of his rougher days, his temper can be a little bit like Donald Duck but that’s happening less and less often lately. He’s very detail-oriented and good with creating drawings and Lego constructions. He’s definitely a little mini-me of his dad (so I guess he’s a little Mickey) but his dad’s already got the Mickey I.D. in this post. Maybe he’s Simba. He definitely wants to be like his dad and it will be interesting to discover the path he ends up taking as he gets there.

I have planned, and planned, and planned this trip. The biggest challenge is actually trying to make sure that I don’t pack our schedule too full. I think I’ve done pretty well, but tonight I want to take DH through our schedule in detail (unless he’s still working on his real work tonight – you know, the kind that pays the bills) so that I can make sure he’s on board with the plan. (Not sure what I’ll do if he isn’t…but let’s hope for the best, shall we?)

Here are some of the goofy little Mom things that I’ve already done:
- bought little $5 souvenirs in advance for the kids so that Tinker Bell can leave gifts for them each morning (and hopefully we’ll cut down a bit on the “I want this!” refrain…I know, it’s a pipe dream…)
- bought character stickers and cardstock paper from Hobby Lobby and am in the process of creating “autograph cards” for the kids so that they’ll have pre-decorated autograph cards to take when they see the characters (I’ll also buy each of them a small clipboard and I’ve already bought each of them a retractable Sharpie to use since the characters need big pens to use)
- bought matching Mickey t-shirts for all of us to wear one day, probably on the flight there
- picked out PDF designs for us to use for matching t-shirts on our other days in the park (I know….I will probably be the only one of the four of us excited about the matching shirts…but so be it)

Have you noticed a “spending money” theme here? I also plan to buy a more compact backpack (one of those sling ones that doesn’t take up so much room). My excuse for that is that I know I might be carrying it around some since my DH will be carrying his big camera bag. But, honestly, I just enjoy buying stuff for trips – I even enjoy buying the moleskin so we’ll be prepared for the blisters we’re bound to get on our toes!


There's something therapeutic about writing for me....even if it's just writing about our itinerary for the trip. I guess writing makes it real.

No comments: