DSNYdaddy,
Oh boy, not really sure where to start. I came everything into the sheet. Since we are traveling with a camper, I have a few more items.
Sheet A holds ALL my reservation info. phone #, prepayment info, .... dining
The following are colums headers going from left to right. then I input data dropping down under each header. At the very bottom I can run budget totals through the sum function.
The major chunk is formatted as such -
Nghts - this shows the number of nights on vacation
Location - Where we will be spending the night - Nght 1 - Forysth GA -
Milage - this is daily driven . Also figure in 100 or 200 during trip at the site.
Date - I ALWAYS use the full date feature - Saturday May 21 2011 - easy format change in excel
Sunrise/Set - daily by location of night. Keep in mind daylight savings changes and time zone changes
RV Site cost - daily cost cost including tax...
Gas - excel equation of =(cell that hold daily miles drive / MPG ) * another cell that holds current gas price. I only need to chang gas $ once and they all update.
Food - Daily This is budget about $40, but also include any extra nice meal like charater meals, or dates with wife Cali Grill..
entertainment - daily . What parks or if the day is scheduled off or another item like, beach, Gatorland, Prirate dress up, MMNSSHP, BBB, golf, fishing.... I also put in ticket cost if I need to by any tickets
I also have a section on the same sheet of must do - based on research and want. These are special things that are normally rigid in schedualing and unable to change. Events Shuttle Launch/Charter meals, Golf res/ BBB/ MMNOSHP or MMVSCP and come off my Daily park hour sheet. sheet B I also come back and update sheet A
On Sheet B - This is where my park strategy really gets going. I list out each park, operating hours, along with extra magic hours by color cells Across the top I list out the dates same format as on sheet A , the #nght of vacation, and any special events for that day and what # day in the park. This way if I we have ADR at epcot, i don't plan a day in animal kingdom. This sheet really provides a visual flow, as we don't park everyday and can schedule down days on those with no magic hours. A new item i added this year was antipated crowd levels for each park. (Side Note, went to MK on dec 25th. We had the BEST day with rides and shows out of all our trips. really!)
On sheet B - I also a daily time sched based on 6-10, 10 - 2, 2-6, 6 to 12. Each park has a color code that runs across the entire sheet. left to right. then in the daily sched I color the boxs to park and can type in spec events, dinning reservations, extra magic hours.
it took me two vacation to build this sheet to where I really like it and it is functional. I now use this for all my trips, less the sheet B for parks. I can plan out an entire year. In fact I was working yesterday on 4th of July 2013 gettysburg 150th anv.