Why do you plan things?

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M y older sister Erica HATES! that I do this!! ! On our trip to Disney World today I was "planning" do X,Y,Z then she snapped at me we didn't have to "plan everything." IMO I had less fun not knowing one thing we were doing to the next. Going "on a whim" "take it as it comes" "go with the flow." etc. (sayings she says.) IMO planning is more fun you've set yourself up to do certain things and have fun doing them. Sure we have 4 day tickets so we can go back 2 more times between now & the end of May but since we didn't "plan" things out better we ended up riding 90ish% of the rides and seeing NO CHARACTERS!

My nephew is 4 and this is his 2nd trip to Disney World (He went to Animal Kingdom Friday) and Magic Kingdom today. On our trip today (he went with only mom/dad Friday) Today we got ZERO Character photos. I'm hoping we can "PLAN" things better next time. I'd like some good photos of him and some characters. So I thought I'd ask other Apsies/WPers etc. WHY do you "plan things?"

Thanks!

For recreational activities, I don't "plan" anything - I set goals instead.

For instance: "Get to Disneyland at opening ... visit the Haunted Mansion, the Jungle Cruise, and Splash Mountain ... Have lunch ... see if the Matterhorn is open ... ride the submarines ... watch a parade ... see the fireworks ... take lots of pictures ... go home."

That's not what I call a "plan" just a series of goals, taken in no particular order.

Because surprises piss me off.

Just looking at this thing makes me nervous:



I know you're in there, a**hole. I'm not turning that crank.

The issue mainly is seeing characters HAS to be in an order since some of them are in "designated" area between X & Y time during the day. So you HAVE to "plan" your Disney World trip around not just the lines to rides but also visiting Mickey and *insert characters.* Yet we did NO character visiting today. Such ashame IMO.

You need to be able to speak up if there is something you want to do, especially on something like a family trip, vacation, or day outing. The next time your sister snaps at you trying to bully you around to her way of doing things, snap back at her and put your foot down until you both come up with a compromise.

This isn't an issue about planning things, but about standing up for yourself and taking some responsibility for how things work out in your life.

Simply put, if I didn't plan ahead I'd only do things that I do regularly (i.e. my routine), unless someone told me what to do. Since I'm coming form not liking planning, preferring spontaneity and routine over it, I think I understand both you and your older sister.

If I were you I'd try to find a middle ground between meticulously planning and spontaneity that both of you would accept and find satisfactory. Even a simple time-division between planned / spontaneous activities could do.

I can very much relate to this, zeldapsych. I did something very similar, some 10 years ago. My mother, my aunt, my cousin, and I went to a zoo I liked very much. Upon entering the zoo, you're given a map, with nice little pictures of the animals where they're located, and all the animals on the map are numbered. Numbered! So to me, that says "Order! Structure! Follow the yellow-brick road!" So I'm very eager to start with animal # 1 (the penguins) and proceed from there, so that I'll get to see every single animal in the park. However, as the day progressed, it appeared that especially my aunt and cousin didn't appreciate the route that we were (or that I was) taking, because admittedly sometimes the order of the numbers didn't really match with the most practical route to walk. All this led to frustration and anger, and about halfway into the day, everyone was angry. Of course, I was clueless as to how my schedule wasn't simply accepted by everybody else, and I certainly wasn't willing to accept my wrong. But then, I was only 14 or 15.

You ask 'WHY do I "plan things"'. I do it to create order and structure in the chaos that surrounds me. But that is only part of it. Of equal importance is that I believe(d) planning things in that way allows me to get the best out of what I wish to do, or what I wish to achieve. In the case of the zoo, it would -in my mind- optimise the experience because I could spend a set amount of time and attention on every animal. Nowadays, I don't like zoos as much as I used to, however, because I think the pens are too small for the animals, and inevitably form a prison.

I should also add that I have toned down my preoccupation with planning things, as I've also found that my own personal plans ended up bogging me down, making them counter-productive. Revising my plans and schedules failed, so I've mostly done away with planning, and try to do stuff on whims now.