Originally Posted By TinkerbellPatten First off let me start by saying with much joy and enthusiasm: DOUBLE DIGIT DANCE DAY for me! 99 days til our trip and counting! Understand that I've been here on LP daily (ok, constantly) lurking about and enjoying the planning board and trip reports. Planning is half the fun for me and I've come up with a fun new touring plan for our family's next trip. We will be there the first week of Dec. and are also buying our first-ever APs which has me even more pumped. We plan on going 3 times during our year and are interested in touring a bit differently than our norm. Recently I saw a TV show where the kids are in charge of the family vacation. I thought, what a fun idea for DL! So we are planning the next trip to be where each person in the family "owns" one full day. We always tour together as a family anyway, we don't split up. But on a person's day we will all ride together what that person wants, when they want, go to the shows they choose, we'll dine where ever they choose (within a budget though, no Napa Rose in the budget this time but you see what I mean here.) It's amazing what this has done. To see the kids (DD age 9, DS age 15) sitting in front of the computer studying park maps, rubbing their hands together saying "Mwoooohaahaaa!!!" It's so fun to see them getting excited about the trip planning for the first time. Day one is Monday and will be everyone's day. We all ride our favorites, this day does not belong to anyone in particular. The rest of the days are owned by a family member, in order of age: DD age 9 owns Tuesday, DS age 15 owns Wed., I own Thurs. and hubby owns Friday. I have explained to the kids the possibility of ride closures during off season so they are even busy choosing their back-up plans too. Do any of you do this too? I'm interested to know what are some of your special ways of touring the parks.
Originally Posted By x Pirate_Princess x I think this is a fun idea. DD2 and DD5 pretty much run our days anyway, since they can't go on all the rides I would like to go on anyway. However, when they're a little older, and have no inhibitions about the rides, then this will be a fun idea to try. since we're "locals" though, we usually only do one day on a weekend. But we could always alternate on who owns the days.
Originally Posted By threeundertwo If your kids like playing on the computer, they may enjoy Ridemax.com. It's a really fun way to plan a Disneyland day. You can just keep entering different combinations and changing things around. It's a blast. It will also let you know exactly what's closed for refurb.
Originally Posted By TinkerbellPatten Thanks, 3u2! I didn't know about Ridemax yet but the kids will love it I'm sure. Me too of course ;-) Another thing that's cool to see here is them planning the meals. We have given each kid a set dollar amount for the day: feed all 4 of us on this amount. Now all of a sudden instead of grumbling about eating breakfast in the hotel room, they're seeing how beneficial it is to do this so that they can afford to take us all to the restaurant of their choice on their day. They're studying menus and adding up the cost and saying, "Hmmm... Maybe we should eat breakfast in the hotel, carry trail mix and granola bars in our fanny packs to graze on during the day, and then we'd be able to afford to have a late lunch at the Blue Bayou..." (or in DDs case, she wants Ariel's Grotto, etc.) Wow this is fantastic to see them take the responsibility and really understand what "budgeting" means. And to hear them say things like "we can't afford that!"
Originally Posted By mater4 Tinkerbell that is a great idea. I am also doing the double digit dance. 97 days 14 hrs and counting.
Originally Posted By TinkerbellPatten Hey mater4 maybe we'll see each other there. I'm looking for an LP pin to wear, maybe I'll have to make one? Where to find one, any suggestions?
Originally Posted By ABBY That is a great idea! I bet you guys will have a blast. My next trip is around the same time...I think 96 days now.
Originally Posted By TinkerbellPatten I think we should all wear LP pins so that if we see each other we can meet and greet. I personally don't feel comfortable at arranged meets too much but I'd love spontananeous "howdy's".
Originally Posted By DLTheo You have such great ideas! I love the idea of them planning meals and getting to learn some things about money and budgeting. Also, letting them feel like they get a say, even some control, over what they do on vacation - especially at a place like Disneyland! We're almost to double-digits. Day 102 for us! I agree that planning is half the fun! Getting there is also half the fun, but being there is more than half the fun, so how does that add up?
Originally Posted By TinkerbellPatten Thank you DLTheo... Also since the kids will be missing one week of school for our trip, I am going to ask their teachers if they can turn in their planning notebooks for extra credit. ;-)
