I am going to Disneyland in a few weeks with a friend. We are both really looking forward to it but she mentioned today that she is terrified on planes. I fly quite regularly and have no issues with it and have never flown with someone who is nervous of it so wondering what I can do to help her. It was her who suggested we flew so she obviously is prepared to, to get there (and I didn't realise she is afraid of flying).
I was thinking of printing out a map of the park, information on the shows etc so we can look over them and she has something to focus on and thought I might make Oreo cupcakes (if I can find little Oreos) which we can have at some stage on the journey.
Do you think that would make any difference for her or do you have any other suggestions? The actual flight is 1hr 20.
Thank you
ugh .. Do I ever feel for your friend .. I only flew once in my life, at the age of 21 to go see my then boyfriend (now DH) .. I was scared beyond scared and cried from the minute I left the house (parents were driving me to the airport) to the minute I landed in his state .. I cried so hard before take off, the flight attendant moved me to first class so I could sit by her (running joke in the family now, you want first class? Cry 
) I got "wings" and a certificate for flying from the pilot .. But it didn't change my fears at all .. I haven't flown since and hope that I will never have to ..
It "might" be easier for your friend, to fly with you, who flies quite often and can explain things to her .. I heard the wheels making clunking noises and just about wet my pants .. Ask her if she wants to know what the noises are, or if she just wants to focus on other things, like the fun times ahead of you ..
Good luck to you both!
I find that taking something from the doctor for anxiety helps a lot!
Vodka works, too.
seriously, keeping her distracted is probably a good idea. And the vodka.
I'm a white knuckle flyer, and there's really nothing that's going to distract me from holding that plane up in the air:
http://www.pe2000.com/fofwhatis.htm
Except for Transderm Scop (Scopolamine Patch) which does make me blissfully stupid and handily addresses both my motion sickness and irrational fear of flying:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000697/
Interesting aside: My twin sister loves to fly and my older sister just WON'T fly.
HTH
Thanks everyone for your experiences and suggestions. I haven't got on here in a few days (how dare work disrupt my CC time!).
I'll ask her about explaining the noises to her and given how excited she is about going it might be easy enough to distract her on the way at least! I'll see too if she might want vodka 
It is an evening flight both directions so its not an off time for it!
When I was reading your link Jan for some reason I remembered a story a cab driver told me. We were going to the airport and on one of his previous airport runs he had a pilot who normally flew 747s transatlantic but he was absolutely terrified in the the taxi. Flying had no fear at all for him but being in a car and having other traffic near by was a real problem for him.
When I was reading your link Jan for some reason I remembered a story a cab driver told me. We were going to the airport and on one of his previous airport runs he had a pilot who normally flew 747s transatlantic but he was absolutely terrified in the the taxi. Flying had no fear at all for him but being in a car and having other traffic near by was a real problem for him.
My 16 yr old son is taking flight lessons, and he says that learning to drive is much scarier because of all of the idiots on the road.
I, too, have a fear of flying. I've missed out on a number of very fun events because of that fear. When my dad was diagnosed with leukemia and the only way to get to him was to fly, I flew. I always had one of my sisters with me for moral support. They would bring their portable DVD player and we would watch comedies. It really helped just having someone there. My only advice is to not waste your breath explaining to your friend how safe it is to fly. It won't help!
My husband is a pilot and we fly a small plane all the time. I would much rather be in the sky than on the road.
Alcohol or sleeping/anxiety pills, or both!!! 
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