Describe your WORST travel companion.

[2Xited4Disney]

In Sept of 08 my fiance and I brought our friend and her boyfriend to Disney for a week, we stayed at the Value Suites which worked out nicely. However each day the boyfriend only cared about getting fastpasses over and over again,he demanded Disney upgrade him to Park Hopper because Rock N Roller coaster went down, he constantly mentioned how Universal was more fun, and refused to move before 11am. I never saw him smile, besides the night we spent at Adventurer's Club. He knows that I am a big fan so whenever he was bored he would look up facts on his blackberry and test my disney knowledge which was fun for about 5 minutes but aggravating VERY fast. I vowed half way through the week to NEVER travel to Disney with anyone besides my fiance again. Last summer she and her friends made plans to run the Princess Half Marathon in March, guess who weasled their way in again. Luckily they are staying at POFQ so we won't be with them 24/7, but the only thing he really enjoyed closed two years ago....


Make me feel better and share your horror stories.

[Jennasis]

My sister. She stops at every gift shop along the way to look at the same stuff she saw at the last one. She also hates using FP and whines about it (because she doesn't understand how it works).

We're going with her this fall...joy.

[tpettie]

We took a family aquantance with us last Dec he is 27yrs old and had the manners of a 3yr old. I was horrified. Blew his nose in the cloth nampkin at the table!!! took off his sandals then sat crossleged for dinner at Ohana...... cried because he was feeling like a 5 wheel and felt like we were all rushing him through the starwars gift shop. Never again only family.

[danielle782001]

My mother AND father....Worst mistake was inviting them along to WDW a few years back...

Lets start with the fact that mother must drink 50 cups of coffee a day...She wakes up at 4:30 to make her first pot which of course means noise when we are trying to sleep...The day becomes about when and where will she have more coffee and then the constant trips to the bathroom...At night the bathroom trips woke me up almost every time...During the day she slowed us way down because she would stop at every bathroom she passed...

My dad was very tired from the walking and was also slowing us way down...My parents are not old...Only 60 and 61 at the time...But he was acting like a really old man...He barely cracked a smile the entire trip...The only thing he seemed to like was the two times he played golf...

DH and I thought they would be over joyed being with their grandkids in Disney but it was clear they are just not Disney people :sad2:

[Mrs. Charming]

My mom. She flipped out at the smallest thing (or nothing) too many times to count. She stormed out of EPCOT on us, almost skipped out on the Dessert Party I had booked and prepaid for her for HER birthday. She laid guilt trips, screaming at us, pounding on our door, throwing DD's belongings at us, and at one point was going to leave us at Pop and make us take the DME back to the airport, despite the fact that we'd paid half for the rental car. Oh, and accused us of using her for a "free vacation"... we paid our own way and for HER multi-day, park hopper ticket!

[DisneyBamaFan]

My wife BFF's ex-husband. Went on a cruise with them and he never left the boat. He camped out in a booth by the buffet all day until it was time to shower and change for dinner. He ate so much at dinner that he became an attraction to all of the other diners in the area. Then he hit the midnight buffets and dessert bar before heading off to bed. I swear that the cruise line lost money on him. :lmao: It was nauseating to watch... :sick:

My wife's cousin's daughter. Our last trip to WDW, she wandered off more times than I could count, and she had hourly meltdowns (I am talking psychotic meltdowns here). She is only a child, so only partially to blame, but she was a major nightmare to travel with. :upsidedow

[mygirltink]

For years we would go with all of my in-laws every other year (usually it was 10 to 16 people). For our 20th anniversary in '05 (we had not been since NYE '00), I told my DH that I wanted to go just the two of us. He moaned and complained the whole time I was planning and even up until we got down there. After a few days though we both decided that we would NEVER go again with his family and a large crowd. We never knew how much fun it was when you could do what you wanted to when you wanted to. We had very few sit downs meals when traveling with the crowd but we found that it is great fun to try different places and just relax over a nice meal. We have been at least once every year since and some years multiple times.

I also will not take my mother again - just the two of us went for a week 3 years ago. We had been many years ago just the two of us and had a great time but this time she drove me crazy - she got tired to the point where I insisted that she get a scooter, she didn't want to ride a lot of rides, she didn't want to eat and drink around the world in Epcot during F&W, and the absolute worse was she wanted to go back to the room early many nights (I love evening EMH and MNSSHP). The best was when we were coming home and she just sat her license and boarding pass on the top of her carryon after going through security - we get off the shuttle and I notice her license sitting there but no boarding pass. I take her out to the gate and sit her down, go up to wait in line at the counter to see what I need to do when someone came up because they had found it. I called my husband and told him to go down to our bar and get the two bottles of wine I had and put them on ice - I needed a drink when I got homE!

[DonaldTDuck]

I've gone to Disney with about 15 different people over the years, usually 1 or 2 at a time. Once I took 3 buddies. In 2006 I took my (now ex) girl friend. We were both over 50 and she had been in 1971 with her late husband. Now one of the things I enjoy about taking newbies is I get to be in charge and every one has been fine with that. Not her. She argued every decision I made. Now she didn't look at a website or planning book before we went, but she was sure she knew better(they wouldn't do it that way). Her only input was telling me she didn't want R&C, she wanted the steakhouse. Well, guess which meal she hated. Yep, all my fault. The ex part came soon after.

[kkacar]

My MIL! OMG never never never again! She complained NONSTOP, about any and everything. We payed for thier room and thier meals all they paid for was thier ticket and 3 day florida resident pass. yeah not much. But it was all too exspensive according to her. And I know it does cost more that staying at a campground BUT we paid for it. Then on top of that if I told my Diva NO she bought it for her. She complained about the expense and then bought her all kinds of PURE CRAP that she did not need. She drove me crazy. Oh and I can't forget the part where we stopped at every bathroom at in all of WDW. And the fact that she wore backless skechers and complained about her feeting hurting and wore long sleeves the whole time we were there (March) and complained about being HOT!

I was so glad that we had the last 2 days by ourselves. Just the 3 of us. Never again will I ever go anywhere with her that requires me to stay overnight with her. And bless my FIL he just smiled and made the best of having a good time with my Diva.

kelli

[justgeorgi]

Ten years ago I took my daughter to Orlando for the national finals of a beauty pageant. She was almost 8 years old. Pageant "friends" who we knew fairly well from another state were also attending and we all decided to go to Disney together after competition one afternoon.

UGH.

They stole a stroller to push their daughter around in after their strollers wheel broke off and just dumped theirs in the bushes. They complained about lines (it was 4th of July weekend) and got into an argument with another guest because their daughter (and mine) were airbrush tanned for the pageant and I'll be honest...it looks "normal" at a pageant when everyone else is tanned but in "real life" it looks FAKE lol. :rotfl2: Another guest questioned why our daughters were "SOOOOO tan" and made a comment about little Jonbenet Ramsey's and the mother went off the handle while in line to meet the princesses. I took my daughter to "the bathroom" at that point and told my daughter who THANKFULLY had been to Disney A LOT that she wasn't going to meet princesses that day because the other Mommy was misbehaving. Then I bought her something to make up for it lol!!!

Needless to say the next day they wanted to go back to Disney after the awards ceremony was over and I said "Oh where are you headed? " They said Animal Kingdom so I told them "Oh...well we might might your there" but headed to MGM and then off to Epcot for dinner. Needless to say it was an awful day with this family.

BTW they didn't steal a persons personal stroller, they just pulled the name out of a Disney rental stroller but I was still in SHOCK and never looked at them in the same way again.

[justgeorgi]

Gee...now I feel bad so I'm going to tell you my favorite person to bring to Disney!

I brought my Nana two years ago the day after Christmas. It was the first Christmas after my Pop Pop died and it was awesome.

We drove down from upstate NY and she never slept...straight thru she kept my hubby wide awake with story after story about literally every minute of her life. We rented her an EVC so she could get around well (she was 79 at the time) and she just trucked around in that scooter like a little daredevil! She went on every ride except Space Mountain and loved RnR Coaster, EE and ToT!

The best part of the trip for me was seeing my daughter get to spend this trip with her great grandmother. It was a very special trip for my then 15 year old and her 79 year old daredevil great nana!

[Eeyore's Wife]

Worst: My In Laws, who dress for Disney like they are headed to a business meeting. Seriously, just plain odd. They also demand to eat at a sit down restaurant three times per day but DON'T make reservations, because that wouldn't be "spontaneous."

Nothing more fun than walking around the world trying to get into packed restaurants. Really, a blast!

Best: My Momma, who cried every time she saw the castle. She would tear up and tell me Magic happened at Disney, and that Magic could happen anywhere if you just believed. My mother had incurable cancer and fought it for eight years before she passed. Mom died when I was 16, and I am so thankful for all those wonderful Disney memories she gave to me.

[lorraine31]

My parents. They just don't get Disney and they hate theme parks. In their mind they've been to all the parks, seen them and have no desire to spend time there. Unfortunately for me, I am going with my parents this summer. I want to spend as much time as possible in the parks, where as they want to spend minimal time there and hate the queues, the heat, the crowds and my mum basically hates all rides. Why are they going to Florida you might ask. No idea is my answer, but at least I get to spend some time in the most magical place on earth. It's going to be fun!

[squirrel]

My BIL and sister!

I would get up early for rope drop. I would eat at the resort before going to rope drop. They wouldn't eat! Then we would get into the park and guess what they were hungry. Then we had to search all over for a place that was open and they liked what was served.

At EPCOT, I showed them around Future World a bit til World Showcase opened. Then I told them I was going to go around the World Showcase and I'd meet up with them later. No, they insisted in coming. I told them they wouldn't enjoy it. They followed me around complaining about the pavillions and shows that were boring. I told them to pick a time and place, I would meet up with them-No they wouldn't go off and let me see the part of EPCOT I didn't see the previous visit. They just kept complaining the whole day, by that evening I exploded-I don't think I have ever been that mad.

[DisneyAngie]

This thread is too funny :lmao: (although I'm sure none of these stories were funny when they were actually happening!)

I notice that a few of these are about ex-wives/ex-girlfriends/etc. It's been a long-running joke in my family that before me or my siblings can get married we have to survive a trip to WDW with our significant other to make sure they're really the one. Reading these stories makes that actually sound like a good idea!

[Orlando313]

My family has been going to Disney for a long time, and we've gone with people who we made some great memories with, and we've gone with people who we made not so great memories with. Thankfully, the good memories stick out in our minds more than the bad. We're continually bringing up things we did years ago, "Hey, remember the time Aunt Sue wanted to cut holes in her shoes for her blisters to have room!" It cracks us up to remember.

Now, that being said, there were three people I remember that soured things a bit. One was a friends mom. My friend, and her mom and dad went with us one year, and for her it was one thing after another. I truly believe that sometimes, you make or break your own vacation. I know somethings happen that are truly bad, but she was just a complainer. No joke, every meal she got she sent it back because something was wrong. There was always something wrong. Just her meals. Haha! It's like, oh my burger has tomato, I was for no tomato, go make me another one. I'm like, really? Just rake it off. It was embarrassing sometimes.

The other two were my grandparents. It sounds like this is a story that is familiar with some people. My parents paid their way, but they were sourpusses the whole time. The weather was bad (afternoon thundershowers that cool down the evening), the food was gross, things were too expensive (my parents were paying their way), too many people, etc etc. The best time my grandfather had was going around with the landscapers one day at CB taking cuttings off of some of the plants and asking them questions and stuff. (He owned a nursery.) I thought it was strange, but at least he wasn't with us complaining.

Now, the best person we ever took? My other grandfather who is no longer with us. Yea, he woke up early every morning and whistled while he was making his coffee and woke everyone up, but he never once complained. He was in his upper 60's and kept up with us the whole time, didn't complain about the heat or the people, and even though the food was out of his comfort zone, we always managed to find something he would eat. We got him on every ride, and he was laughing so hard on Splash Mountain that we thought he might have a heart attack.

Now I prefer taking well behaved kids. I like seeing the parks through the eyes of a child, all of the wonderment, and amazement. It's fun!

[MariDisney]

Twice (why the 2nd time, I have no idea) my sister and I paid for and took my mom on trips with our 3 kids. The thought was that she could spend time with the kids (preschoolers at that point) while we did some of the bigger rides. Most of the time would be spent together, but the idea was that she'd pitch in so we could do some grown up stuff.

We knew our mother was insane and difficult before the trips...CERTAINLY before the 2nd trip...but WDW is like labor. You forget about all the pain when you get ready to do it again. Anyway, she refused to wear sensible shoes and wore nonsense with no support. Therefore, she walked so so so slowly. She wanted to stop at every bench. (she was not "elderly" by any stretch at this point) She is also a smoker and literally stopped at every smoking area every time we were within a half mile of one. We'd be walking along to wherever and she'd announce "I'm going to take so and so over there for a bit" (NEVER would say she was going to smoke). Of course, so and so would have preferred to come with us to whatever attraction we were going to.

She is afraid of everyone and everything. She would never in a million years ask for a sauce to be served on the side or anything like that. So, instead she'd be miserable through every possible instance. And, she'd try and find reasons to get back to the hotel starting early in the day.

I wouldn't have minded sending her off to alternate between lounging by the pool and visiting the smoking areas so much if we hadn't really intended for her to help somewhat with the kids.

Never again. Never again. MrsDisneyFan, are you out there??? NEVER again. (MrsDisneyFan is my sis)

[DisKate]

My boyfriend's sister's ex-boyfriend (did you follow that? :lmao:)

We went with him once in November of 2006. He didn't get invited back until this past October (2009) and they broke up soon after.

He complained about everything we did. And the fact that I scheduled all the meals at places he wouldn't really have picked. Now a little side info about that one: we went during Free Dining. We had Free Dining. He wormed his way into the trip (September, 1 month before the trip!) after I had already booked all of our dining. Did I complain? no. I rescheduled all of our meals..including CRT. And asked him for suggestions before I rescheduled. Then he didn't like MNSSHP...and insisted that it would be more fun if we left early and went back to the hotel to swim. Even my boyfriend's sister realized at this point that he would never be coming to Disney with us again.

[jagafen]

My mother.

[jagafen]

My mom. She flipped out at the smallest thing (or nothing) too many times to count. She stormed out of EPCOT on us, almost skipped out on the Dessert Party I had booked and prepaid for her for HER birthday. She laid guilt trips, screaming at us, pounding on our door, throwing DD's belongings at us, and at one point was going to leave us at Pop and make us take the DME back to the airport, despite the fact that we'd paid half for the rental car. Oh, and accused us of using her for a "free vacation"... we paid our own way and for HER multi-day, park hopper ticket!

See...YOU know what I'm talking about!!

[cassiez76]

i've only been on 2 trips where i wasn't with family...HS grad trip and college friends.

HS grad trip was the worst. i hadn't been to wdw in about 8 years at that point and my friends weren't interested in rides and wandering around MK. i ditched them early and did every ride that was open that night! sure i wanted to be with friends but my parents didn't bust their butts to save up for my trip for me not to ride anything. best and worst trip in one.

i just go with immediate family, i don't want to have to kill somebody on vacation at my fav. place!:laughing:

[disnut8]

My husband's aunt. This woman had never been to Disney World so told her sister (my mother-in-law) that she wanted to go "before I die". The woman is only in her early 60s so that's not going to happen soon. My in-laws, the dear people they are, offered to pay for the aunt to go with them. I was to plan the whole thing but I wasn't going. So I planned and got the tickets and the hotel (Pop Century). At the time the three of them were going, I was unemployed so my mother-in-law offered for me to go along as well. I had an Annual Pass so no big deal on the cost since now it was four people.

The aunt had to have her own room (remember, she was paying for nothing) because she snored and didn't want to bother anyone else. My mother-in-law wanted all of us in one room because of the extra expense but the aunt insisted. Once we were there, this is what the aunt told me (after I had repeatedly asked her what she wanted to do so I could plan a bit and she never responded):

She didn't want to go on anything that was "for kids".
She didn't want to see any parades or fireworks because they were "boring"
She didn't want to walk that far
She didn't want to go on anything that involved water

While there, I found out that she did not like waiting for anything (buses included), that she absolutely thought preshows were "stupid" and that if we were admitted to an attraction, we should be able to go right in, she didn't want to be hot and she didn't want to be cold, she didn't like other people doing anything she didn't like and spoke rather loudly about it, and she would much rather be swimming than walking around anywhere.

Nothing seemed to please the woman so after the second day, I gave up and just followed her around. We didn't see all that much and only went to Magic Kingdom because my mother-in-law thought we should go at least for the aunt to see it. And we saw Illuminations only because my mother-in-law wanted to (it's her favorite nighttime show).

And the food cost too much but that didn't stop the aunt from eating the most expensive thing on the menu. She would just loudly say how much it cost (after taking the receipt from my father-in-law's hands to cluck over it) while chowing down on her bacon double cheeseburger.

After the trip, my father-in-law very politely said that Disney World was not for the aunt at all.

[kschafer]

I went with my parents, brothers, SIL's and neices/nephews (15 total)

Somehow between my older brother and his wife, they could only watch their infant child. their 2 older children were assumed to be with one of the rest of the group. More than once, our group got split up entering a theater show and my brother turned to me and said "is Carrie with Dad?".

Gee bro...I got my 2 kids, yours aren't my job!

[liamkelly]

my mom, evry half an hour she has to go to the bathroom. when we get in the parks she just walks around and has no clue what she is doing . walks slower than a turtle :( and has to stop and take a picture at evrything she see's

[Pixie Princess]

Best: My Momma, who cried every time she saw the castle. She would tear up and tell me Magic happened at Disney, and that Magic could happen anywhere if you just believed. My mother had incurable cancer and fought it for eight years before she passed. Mom died when I was 16, and I am so thankful for all those wonderful Disney memories she gave to me.

That is a beautiful story.. made me cry. Thank you for sharing.

[ksjayhawkfan]

My husband. Yes, you read that right. My husband of 15 years hates Disney and would prefer to never set foot in a Disney park ever again. :confused3 But I still love him, and respect that he hates it and I dont ask him to go anymore. I just plan the trip with the kids and he has fun fishing and skiing with his buddies :)

[Orlando313]

My husband. Yes, you read that right. My husband of 15 years hates Disney and would prefer to never set foot in a Disney park ever again. :confused3 But I still love him, and respect that he hates it and I dont ask him to go anymore. I just plan the trip with the kids and he has fun fishing and skiing with his buddies :)

Wow, that's sad. I'm feel sorry for your kids who are missing out on some great memories with their dad. It's selfish on your husbands part to not make an effort for his kids even if he does hate it. I'm glad I have those memories with my dad.

[cuethemusic]

Without a doubt, my Dad has been the worst person i've been with at Disney. He's a heavy smoker, so automatically he is against the place in general because he can't seem to get a grip on smoke-free places (honestly- you can't just manage not even an entire day without a cigarette? lame). Whenever we are waiting in line he complains of the wait (note, he doesn't say a word a Universal about the wait, this is mostly him just being a baby about the fact that he can't smoke). He literally has to stop at every place that serves food and THOROUGHLY inspect the menu...EVERY SINGLE PLACE! It's beyond annoying and time consuming. He gets pissed if we want to go on a ride that he doesn't want to go on or if we want to go on a ride more than once. Also, he had to take breaks a lot from walking around because "disney needs to do something about the sun being directly on the guests!" As though he expects to make WDW in it's entirety an indoor themepark. Fat chance sir, I will not be going with you again! Disney has become so much more enjoyable as I've gotten older and don't have my 'Danny-Downer' Dad tagging along.

[LilGMom]

The worst? That is easy since we are still stewing over wasting our vacation with them. :headache: DH, somehow, convinced a friend of his to go during the same time that we were going last year. We figured that it would be fine, our kids all get along great, they are foodies too and had never been to WDW. Wow, I'm still kicking myself for agreeing to it. The first day or two went fine but then every time that DH and DH's friend would laugh of have a good time the friend's wife (we'll call her "X") would have a fit. I got so tired of her yelling at him, insulting him, trying to put him down, complaining about him, and basically making an **** of herself that I tried for three more days to convince them to go off and explore by themselves. Never lucked out at that and it was very uncomfortable to be around.

A close second would be one trip with the ILs who bickered like little kids over the silliest things. With them though DH told them where to stick it and we walked off and left them. :) They've gotten better so now they are tolerable to deal with at WDW and we all know to just meet up occasionally.

[Pixie Princess]

My worst was with my mom. First I tried preparing her in advance as to the kind of shoes she needed, but she waited until she came to my house to buy shoes. We spent 2 hours at the Nike outlet for shoes! I love to shop, but not for 2 hours in the Nike store. On top of that she couldn't break them in properly, so you can imagine the resulting blisters. Then, I let the "inmates run the asylum" when it came to planning our days. HUGE mistake. My mom is very indecisive, and I should have known better. But some friends had given her guidebooks and I wanted her to get to do what she wanted. No decisions drove me crazy! There was an oppressive heatwave the week we went that, in looking back, I now realize completely drained her. Bless her heart she just kept pushing along, but she didn't seem like she was having fun which hurt my feelings and annoyed me. Compound that with the fact that the heat was doing nothing to improve my mood and the whole trip was pretty much a near disaster.

Well it is obvious that the actual problem was not her, but it was me. I ruined that trip. Driving home I realized it, and felt horrible for ruining her first (and probably only thanks to me) trip.

[seobaina]

Best: My Momma, who cried every time she saw the castle. She would tear up and tell me Magic happened at Disney, and that Magic could happen anywhere if you just believed. My mother had incurable cancer and fought it for eight years before she passed. Mom died when I was 16, and I am so thankful for all those wonderful Disney memories she gave to me.

Lovely story! :hug:

My worst - 2006, 6 adults (all friends) went. One of us did no research, made no plans, isn't a disney fan, hates crowds & hates heat but insisted on coming! Need I say more? :confused3 The trip was so stressful I burst into tears on the last day and not because I was sad to leave. :sad2: We are no longer friends...the friendship only lasted a year beyond that.

The best - my best friend of fourteen years! We pretty much like the same things and she is just as happy to get a character autograph as I am. If there's things we don't both wanna do, we compromise and support each other or we seperate off and meet back up. Fun! :hug:

[Brian_WDW74]

This thread really has little to do with theme parks attractions and strategies, so I've moved it to the Theme Parks Community board. :)

[DanMedix]

step-mother-in-law (who thankfully spent the majority of the trip in the hotel doing crossword puzzles), and sister-in-law (soon to be ex SIL) who proved to be the proverbial thorn in my backside during the thanksgiving '08 trip. (see prev trip report for more info on that one)

[jak07]

My BIL!! We have gone with him sooooo many times and we always leave there saying, "never again", but we always do!

We plan OUR trip that includes the my dh, myself and 2 kids, plus my MIL who lives close to Orlando. He always invites himself and his kids and we always have to rearrange dining plans. The few trips where we asked where he wanted to eat or stay, he gave the response, "Doesn't matter, whatever you choose is fine". Ok, so we do and then he complains and moans the ENTIRE trip. He doesn't like that restaurant, or this hotel, why are we going to the park this day, he and the kids want to go to another park. We tell him to go to the other park and we can meet up later. He never does!:confused: He refuses to get up for rope drop, but if we leave without him, we won't hear the end of it.
His kids are 11, 8. Ours are 7 and 1. He claims that his kids are: too old for characters and don't like them and they don't like parades either. He gets mad when we want to do younger rides too. His kids want to ride roller coasters. Ok, fine, go ride the roller coasters and we will meet at x time. Nope, doesn't happen. He walks beside us complaining the ENTIRE time!!
My dh and I just talked about this today. We just realized that we haven't done a parade in a long time, because they "don't like parades". What is funny is his kids have asked if they could visit characters and watch the parades. It is him, but he blames it on his kids!:confused3
My dh and I are trying to figure out when we can sneak down there and this time NOT tell him that we are going.

Now, MIL is great. She doesn't care what we do or eat, she just enjoys being there. She even has a leg issue and keeps up with us anyway. (she refuses to use a wheelchair). She never complains and if she is tired, she takes a bus back to the hotel.

[Mortlives]

The worst for us was not too bad at all. We once went with SIL and her daughters. We had a great time. The only thing we found really frustrating was their sense of time. We are early risers, they are not. And for them, park-hopping entailed going back to the resort, showering, changing and re-doing makeup and hair. Huh? But that's the worst thing we can say. We still had a great time.

[Amanda_the_awesome]

Any time I have gone with friends.
First time when I took a friend she was not into the magic at all, everything was just oh that was cool, it wasn't even an exciting oh thats awesome! It just seemed like she didn't want to be there. She was on the phone with her parents most of the time and it just made me feel really sad that she seemed to be having an awful time.

Next time two years after that I had taken another friend. She was scared of EVERYTHING. EX she cried like a baby and left the park when we "forced" her to ride Spaceship Earth ( this girl was 18 at the time) . She threw a fit because we were not doing what she wanted us to do. Like on our first day we went to the MK and she just wanted to ride the Tea Cups and go back to the room and was crying and stomping her feet because that was not what we were doing. She also claimed that we forced her to go on HM. She was crying and stomping in that as well. I was really embarrassed and I do not get embarrassed easily. So finally after her being with us for two days and messing up our trip my mom told her just to stay back in the room and do what she wanted with a few choice words. She left and went home early. Not going to lie I was pretty happy. I just hate it when others don't seem to feel the magic.

[DisCopper]

I am proud to say that I'm going to ruin this thread by saying I've never really had a bad experience traveling with someone to Disney.

I've been too many times to count, and with a huge variety of people (friends, family, coworkers) and I've been insanely lucky that I haven't had to endure the horror stories I've heard on here.

The worst I had was a friend of a friend who joined us. He was a first-timer and basically just followed along- knowing that everyone else in the group had been multiple times. Unfortunately, he got aggravated when he found out things that we'd missed after the fact (for example, we didn't do the auto stunt show at DHS and didn't have time to go back). BUT... overall, he was a good sport about it and didn't really complain. He may be telling people it was a miserable trip, but he certainly didn't bug us.

Sorry to hear everyone's misery!

[mattkrass]

Wow, you guys have made me appreciate how non-demanding my travel partners have always been. I mean, my Dad always did drag us in to the Hall of Presidents, but that is all. My girlfriend and her family were also very accomodating, except her father also dragged us in to the Hall....

The only time my girlfriend's family and I/her had a confict, we just agreed to meet up later, problem solved!

Though I must admit, as not nice as it might be, I do enjoy reading this posts!

[xanphylus]

Hmmmm.... Two of my trips were great on certain levels and nightmares on others if that makes any sense. :laughing: We had a great time, but there was that certain element of anger.

One trip, my honeymoon actually, my DH lost the keys to the car and the cast members were of no help whatsoever. They couldn't even tell me that my car would not be towed off the grounds that night! :confused::scared1: I was sobbing and crying and we were the LAST people to leave that parking lot (it was about 4 am) and we still didn't have our car. But that was just an accident and it wasn't really my hubby's fault, although I did ask him "want me to put the keys in my zipper wallet?" where he answered, "No, I got em!" :lmao:

My next nightmare was 3 years later, when we took my mom with us to help with the kids. She broke her foot day 2 and was worse than the kids after that. She was horrible on crutches, couldn't push herself in a wheelchair and was super scary on the scooter. :rotfl: I don't blame her for being in a bad mood, but I was actually glad when she stayed behind the few times she didn't feel up to cruising the parks.

But the trips were great too! :thumbsup2 My DS turned one there and ate with Winnie the Pooh and loves every character. And on my honeymoon, we spent all the time we wanted just strolling around the park holding hands. :lovestruc

[cmusschoot]

I took my mother in law to Disney in September. We were there at F & W festival, and staying at the Boardwalk 1 bdrm. villa. Me and my 2 kids 2 and 4 years old.

I took her because I felt guilty as I always take my kids and my mom, so I thought it would be nice to invite my MIL....

My husband does not like to travel...so I usually vacation at Disney without him :)

I was 5 months pregnant (3rd baby), it was a great hotle, I had a double stroller...etc.

Having my MIL there was like having a teenager with me, she was capable of helping me...but didn't, not once did she help push the stroller, carry the diaper bag...help make meals etc. She complained of the heat and complained of a bad foot...

She walked SO slow that I had to slow down...that was slow down while I was pushing the stroller and carrying the bag...

I do love my mother in law, she is really good to my family!! I just won't be taking another Disney vacation with her...

Felt nice to vent!! :)

[PoohsFan1]

In Sept of 08 my fiance and I brought our friend and her boyfriend to Disney for a week, we stayed at the Value Suites which worked out nicely. However each day the boyfriend only cared about getting fastpasses over and over again,he demanded Disney upgrade him to Park Hopper because Rock N Roller coaster went down, he constantly mentioned how Universal was more fun, and refused to move before 11am. I never saw him smile, besides the night we spent at Adventurer's Club. He knows that I am a big fan so whenever he was bored he would look up facts on his blackberry and test my disney knowledge which was fun for about 5 minutes but aggravating VERY fast. I vowed half way through the week to NEVER travel to Disney with anyone besides my fiance again. Last summer she and her friends made plans to run the Princess Half Marathon in March, guess who weasled their way in again. Luckily they are staying at POFQ so we won't be with them 24/7, but the only thing he really enjoyed closed two years ago....


Make me feel better and share your horror stories.

:rotfl:

Your story kind of sounds like our worst travel companion. 10 years ago my DH and I thought it would be fun to go a vacation with our dear friends (DH's best friend who was his best man at our wedding and his girlfriend which he was planning on proposing while in Florida). Well, the girlfriend is usually nice, but I think that her "friend" had come that week because she was....well not so nice (since this is a family forum, I won't say what I really wanted to say). The first full day that we were there, we decided to go to US/IOA and about 4 hours into the day, she decided that she was too hot and tired and demanded that we all go back to the condo because she was DONE. Since the van that we all rode down in was her parent's, she thought she was in charge of the whole trip. DH and I wanted to stay (since we paid for the full day ticket anyway), but ended up going back because she said that if we didn't go with them now, then we would have had to of found another ride because she was NOT coming back for us. Being the stupid young couple that we were, we agreed to leave the park. Each day after that she would complain that she was too tired, or that it was too hot, and would have a frown on her face the whole time.

Well, DH's best friend decided to propose to her (after DH and I kept asking if he was sure she was "The One") and while he was proposing she at first said no, but with some persuasion by our friend, she said yes :sad2:. It wasn't until after she got her ring did she lighten up and started being the nice person that we once knew.....Oh yeah, this couple that I just explained to you about, well they have been divorced for 5 years....go figure.

[mrsdisneyfan]

Twice (why the 2nd time, I have no idea) my sister and I paid for and took my mom on trips with our 3 kids. The thought was that she could spend time with the kids (preschoolers at that point) while we did some of the bigger rides. Most of the time would be spent together, but the idea was that she'd pitch in so we could do some grown up stuff.

We knew our mother was insane and difficult before the trips...CERTAINLY before the 2nd trip...but WDW is like labor. You forget about all the pain when you get ready to do it again. Anyway, she refused to wear sensible shoes and wore nonsense with no support. Therefore, she walked so so so slowly. She wanted to stop at every bench. (she was not "elderly" by any stretch at this point) She is also a smoker and literally stopped at every smoking area every time we were within a half mile of one. We'd be walking along to wherever and she'd announce "I'm going to take so and so over there for a bit" (NEVER would say she was going to smoke). Of course, so and so would have preferred to come with us to whatever attraction we were going to.

She is afraid of everyone and everything. She would never in a million years ask for a sauce to be served on the side or anything like that. So, instead she'd be miserable through every possible instance. And, she'd try and find reasons to get back to the hotel starting early in the day.

I wouldn't have minded sending her off to alternate between lounging by the pool and visiting the smoking areas so much if we hadn't really intended for her to help somewhat with the kids.

Never again. Never again. MrsDisneyFan, are you out there??? NEVER again. (MrsDisneyFan is my sis)

NYC with her was worse. I love her and would do anything for her but I will NEVER go on a trip with her again.

[ashleighbass06]

Mine was my mom's boyfriend's daughter. She was 12 at the time and we would all be ready to leave but we'd have to wait for her to put on her shoes...which would take a full five minutes. On the first day she spent all of her money so that her dad (and occasionally me) would buy her things. She refused to sleep in the same bed as her dad, so she slept on the floor and claimed there was a mouse in our room...

We had a 24 hour drive down and she made eating impossible. We would stop at McDonald's and she would insist that she didn't like McDonalds and that we had to go to Burger King. So, the next time we stopped at Burger King and she said that she hated Burger King and wanted McDonalds!

It was so ridiculous, my mom and her boyfriend weren't speaking when we got home. And yes, they're still together, but we don't do vacations anymore.

[PrincessYessenia]

As much as I hate to say it...DBF! :laughing: He walks so leisurely and takes his time with EVERYTHING and I'm the exact opposite. I make a plan and I try to get from point A to point B as quick as possible and he gets mad because I'm "rushing".

I've been to WDW over 100 times in my life, so I know it like the back of my hand. I get there, I know what I want to see and do, and I want to do it right away, then have time later in the day to relax...and then DO IT AGAIN!

There's nothing I hate more than a "let's walk so and look around like there are no rides to get on and no important things to see" type of companion! grrr :headache: