There’s a lot of discussion on Disney blogs and websites about ideal Disney vacation packing lists.  Packing for the average family can present quite a challenge!  Most of the packing lists I’ve seen are somewhat incomplete though.  There are a few items you must not leave at home if you want your vacation to be as fun, as happy, and as successful as it can possibly be.  We all want our Disney vacations to create lifelong memories, right?  Let’s make sure they’re happy ones, shall we?

Today’s Friday Five:  Five critical packing items for optimum Disney Vacation Mental Preparation.…

1. Patience – I cannot stress how important this is!  I don’t know about your kids, but mine march to the beat of a different drum…with a much slower cadence than the one I follow.  In other words, I could easily become frustrated each and every morning of vacation just trying to get out of our resort!  Then there’s the standby lines, the counter service restaurant lines, the waiting for a show to start, the waiting for a rain shower to pass, the time between FastPasses – I could go on and on.  Pack extra patience!  You will probably use every bit you have.  Seriously, knowing before you ever leave home that there will most likely be many things on a Disney (or any) vacation that may try your patience and preparing for that eventuality in advance will help you be so much happier!

2. Rose Colored Glasses:  If you pack these, you’ll have a better vacation.  Here’s the deal – negativity is popular.  Whining, complaining, grousing, general discontent – it’s all in vogue!  This is the stuff rotten vacations are made of.  Put on your positive attitude, look for positives and do NOT focus on negatives.  I’m not delusional.  I know that things break, people are rude, beds are uncomfortable, and accidents happen.  It’s how we choose to deal with life’s obstacles that makes the difference, I believe, in being happy or unhappy – in general and on vacation.  Stop and put on those rose colored glasses!  I hear they come in contact lenses now too.

3. Flexibility:  There’s that oft quoted saying – “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry”.  Yeah, it’s popular for a reason.  So’s Murphy’s Law.  I’m a huge advocate of planning!  I love to plan vacations almost as much as I like to take them – the key to really great planning though, is to allow for changes to the plans.  If you have to get your heart set on anything – try to set it on creating a successful and fun overall experience.  Make those ADRs (Advance Dining Reservations) and FastPass+ selections, but be prepared to change course when and if the need arises.  Sometimes blisters, exhaustion, sweating, a stomach ache, a meltdown, a thunderstorm…well, one or all of those can strike at any time!  Great things are out there to be seen and experienced on a Disney vacation.  Some are in unexpected places – be flexible enough to make new discoveries when the chance arises.  Also, know when to call it a day.

4. Sense of Humor:  You can either let a good soaking on Kali River Rapids ruin your day or you can find humor in the situation.  It’s easy to become cranky, grumpy, grouchy – whatever you favor – when things aren’t the way we want them to be.  If there’s ever a time to look for the silver lining or make lemonade (insert favorite metaphor here) it’s when our children are watching (no matter how old they are) – when our demonstration of how to deal with life’s curve balls shows others how it should be done – with grace and kindness, with as happy a face as we are able to muster.

On our last Disney vacation, Raymond and I caught a bus from Disney’s Hollywood Studios in the late morning and happened to sit near a beautiful family.  The mother, father, and all four young daughters were just an incredibly good-looking bunch.  No one was happy – there was no excited chatter, no smiling, no conversation at all.  As the bus traveled along towards our stop at the Magic Kingdom, the dad said, “First one who catches mom smiling gets a dollar” – I could tell he was just trying to lighten the mood.  The mom spun in her seat and loudly whispered (you know how that sounds), “Stop IT!” then proceeded in a lower tone to chew him out.  When she was finished, she turned back around (with a lot of drama) and proceeded to cry for the entire rest of the trip.  I would never presume to guess what might have been wrong, but I did think about what kind of example was being set for those four beautiful girls.  Please, if you’re a parent – remember to be the grown-up.

5. A little love for your fellow humans:  People visit Disney parks from all over the world and all fifty of the United States.  There are rude people and sweaty ones, people with frowns, people who cry on busses, people who stop in the middle of the sidewalk, people who ram into you with strollers, ones who film Wishes with an iPad over their heads, Cubs fans, wearers of very large beards, all kinds of people!  People who are completely different from us.  I choose to try to be friendly and embrace the variety of Disney vacationers – I’ve made more friends this way and preserved my sanity at the same time.  Of course, there must be a certain level of safety and mindfulness of “stranger danger”, but looking for the goodness and referring to numbers 1 and 4 on this list helps a lot.  Oh, and some folks?  You just need to move away from.

What about you?  What do you pack to help you mentally prepare for your Disney vacation?