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I've been reading this book, Mini Mickey, to get the scoop on the various theme parks

It's just a few more days until we leave for Disneyworld.  I posted previously about my spontaneous plans to take a side 3-day trip to Disney on a visit down to my parents who are Florida residents.  I've done Disneyworld previously on several day trips during my life, but the key is that I've never done an overnight or never planned.  In other words, it's always been a crowded, disorganized disaster.

I know a bit more about how to go now, and with the advice of friends, I've spend the past month working up a detailed itinerary for our 3 days/4 nights in Orlando.  If you asked anyone who knows me, "detail-oriented" is probably the last phrase they'd use to describe me.  My desk is a cesspool of baby products, media kits and random mail I have yet to sift through.  My kitchen, well, there's always something to be loaded and unloaded from the dishwasher... and the floor always has some unidentifiable crushed up food on it. 

But I was determined to do this trip the way my super-organized friends do it - I have two that recently came back with glowing reports of "no lines." 

So here's what I've done:  I registered for Tour Guide Mike.  It's an online service and "Mike" tells you all the secrets to which parks to attend when, what rides and restaurants work for you (based on a survey you fill out in the beginning - for us it's all about "preschool age" rides and attractions) and in what order to see things.  It's forced me to make reservations for meals each day - which I hope will be a good thing.

I've also been reading a book a friend gave me called Mini-Mickey - a pocket sized guide to seeing the parks that provides "tour plans," to each park day. 

And I've made my own itinerary.  I have print outs I've compiled based on all the research I've done now for which park we're hitting each day, and in what order we go on what rides.  It's very un-me and incredibly detailed. 

I'm so excited to see if it works and minimizes our line waits and crowds.  I'm also nervous;  I don't do crowds well and I'm bringing my parents who are even more crowd-phobic than I am.  But strapped with schedules and a ton of info I didn't have before, I hope I'm better prepared.  We'll be visiting Downtown Disney, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom.  I'll report back about each in another two weeks or so!