We're Going To Disney World

The time has come. The official 2007 family vacation will be to Walt Disney World.

Despite having architected intricate business itineraries, planned demanding adventure vacations requiring the concurrent shipment of mountain bikes, associated equipment and 150-pounds of formula for a four-month old to the remote Utah desert and coordinated numerous complex multi-day roadtrips, planning a Walt Disney World vacation quickly exceeds my skills. In addition to boasting its own lexicon (Disney Dining Passes, Park Hopper Passes, Magical Express shuttles, Fastpass ride-cutting vouchers, Extra Magic Hours, etc.), the trip-planner's decisions are never ending:

• Are you staying in the park or out?
• If in the park, which resort?
• If a resort, do you need a Standard or Preferred room?
• How are you getting there?
• Flying? How are you getting to the resort?
• Which parks will you visit?
• Will you visit more than one park a day?
• Where will you eat?
• How are you going to pay? (Hint, it's not as easy as you might think... I'm not sure they take cash!).
• How many nights you staying?
• Did you want to visit the waterparks? Oh, that's extra.
• Do you need a parks pass for your last day?

The list goes on. But it's all good.

I've already begun a simple Excel spreadsheet. Charting all the requirements and costs, the worksheet already has grown to resemble a small office's quarterly operating budget. Apparently that's some of the magic of a Walt Disney vacation.

After spending just an few hours on the (sloooooooooow) Walt Disney Web site travel planner, I'm reminded of being in a Las Vegas casino. Money soon assumes a surreal quality; it's almost like it's make believe... I'll take the fifteen-hundred-dollar airfare package, give me a thousand dollars of park passes, another thousand dollars of dining passes, comp me with the Magical Mickey Express on arrival and departure, pass me five-hundred in park hoppers, give me six nights at one-forty-nine per, add forty a day for a fridge, etc.).

Our neighbors (seasoned WDW veterans) have been kind enough to fill us in on the Birnbaum Walt Disney World guidebook. Recognizing that a WDW vacation surpasses my expertise, though, we're enlisting the assistance of a certified Walt Disney World vacation travel planner (yes, there is such a thing; apparently a professional travel agent isn't sufficiently educated to book such a trip).

If you've been to WDW recently, and have any tips you wish to share, we'd appreciate hearing them. Please post them as comments or e-mail them through.