What exactly is a Pre-Trip and Post-Trip Report?

[princessnikitaa]

Hello everyone, I've been hearing and seeing a lot about these Pre-Trip and Post-Trip reports.
They sound very interesting but I'm not too clear on what exactly they are?
What do I write in it? What do people usually put in these reports?

I'd love to do one! It sounds like it'll be right down my alley!
Thanks for all of your help.

 

[nilla]

Pre-Trip reports are basically announcing the trip and telling the story leading up to the actual visit. Planning, etc.

Trip Reports ("post-trip") are the story of the actual trip. I don't do PTRs, so I combine the two into a single report.

What do you put in them? Well, whatever you want! You're the one telling the story, so you decide. Do you want to do text-only, or include a ton of pictures? How much detail do you want to use when describing your experience? Do you write, "Then we rode Splash Mountain", or do you write, "we made our way up to Frontierland, hoping to find a short standby line for Splash Mountain. When we arrived, the board showed a 15-minute wait, so we got in the queue, snapping photos on the way"?

My advice, if you're interested in writing one, is to read some of the existing TRs and PTRs to get a general idea of how different people write them. Then, choose for yourself how you want to go about telling your tale. Read the ones with a lot of views and comments, since they're apparently doing something right

Personally, for me, if I see a TR that doesn't have any photos or doesn't give a lot of detail, I don't read it. I like for the TRs I read to flow like a novel. Make me feel like I'm there with you. Others might disagree, but the most popular TRs do seem to follow that formula.

TRs for me, and many others, are a great way to relive the visit and get over that post-Disney depression. Also, it's one of the few really creative outlets I have. So most importantly, have fun with it!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

I second the advice on reading some TRs and PTRs to get a feel for them if you are considering writing one.

I personally like writing PTRs because its a good format for discussing your plans and getting them into writing and having a community who knows what they are talking about give helpful input into your plans. FOr instance after discussing my different stroller options in my PTR before my last trip DH and I decided to go with the Jogger over the other two options and I was very glad I was talked into making the change once we got down there.

 

[princessnikitaa]

Pre-Trip reports are basically announcing the trip and telling the story leading up to the actual visit. Planning, etc.

Trip Reports ("post-trip") are the story of the actual trip. I don't do PTRs, so I combine the two into a single report.

What do you put in them? Well, whatever you want! You're the one telling the story, so you decide. Do you want to do text-only, or include a ton of pictures? How much detail do you want to use when describing your experience? Do you write, "Then we rode Splash Mountain", or do you write, "we made our way up to Frontierland, hoping to find a short standby line for Splash Mountain. When we arrived, the board showed a 15-minute wait, so we got in the queue, snapping photos on the way"?

My advice, if you're interested in writing one, is to read some of the existing TRs and PTRs to get a general idea of how different people write them. Then, choose for yourself how you want to go about telling your tale. Read the ones with a lot of views and comments, since they're apparently doing something right

Personally, for me, if I see a TR that doesn't have any photos or doesn't give a lot of detail, I don't read it. I like for the TRs I read to flow like a novel. Make me feel like I'm there with you. Others might disagree, but the most popular TRs do seem to follow that formula.

TRs for me, and many others, are a great way to relive the visit and get over that post-Disney depression. Also, it's one of the few really creative outlets I have. So most importantly, have fun with it!

Oh my goodness! Thank you so much.. this was super helpful! I'm one of those people who planning is one of the funner parts of the trips for me. And I remember always wanting someone to talk to about it.. but everyone was tired of me mentioning my plans for the 40th time.. so this is actually exciting for me.

I'll be sure to read up on yours! Yours are so elaborate I love it! Thank you for all the info!

 

[princessnikitaa]

I second the advice on reading some TRs and PTRs to get a feel for them if you are considering writing one.

I personally like writing PTRs because its a good format for discussing your plans and getting them into writing and having a community who knows what they are talking about give helpful input into your plans. FOr instance after discussing my different stroller options in my PTR before my last trip DH and I decided to go with the Jogger over the other two options and I was very glad I was talked into making the change once we got down there.

I'm glad that was able to do that. I'm finding some TRs that I am loving. I'm becoming obsessed!