breaking up is hard to do

[shadonjenon]

Do any of you split your families up while at the parks?

The reason I ask is because my DD 7 has a heart condition and is not able to ride any of the thrill rides and I don't think it would be fair to have her stand in line so that the rest of us can ride something like EE, when my husband could take DD 13 and DS 9 and ride the thrill rides while I take DD7, and DD2 and stick to the more tame kiddie rides.

My husband thinks we should stick together any opinions?

 

[Terk-1]

When we go as a family, we will do some attractions together, but then split up and meet together later. For example, my youngest nephew wanted to ride Pooh, but his brothers did not, so I took him on that and met up with them later. Also, my middle nephew wanted to see Wishes with me, but the other brothers did not, so he came with me, then we met up later at EPCOT for Illuminations. This way he got to see what he wanted to and did not have to miss out.

 

[outlander]

All of our kids are under 10 years old but with two being 'older' and two being 'younger', we sometimes split up. Not everyone wants to ride the same rides.

 

[Msslaydbug]

We will sometimes split up but usually it is only for a few rides and then meet up again.

 

[dixiedizfan]

When we split up it's never for more than a couple hours at a time.

 

[*Fantasia*]

We can't. My children are only 9 and 7. I'm the only adult. Maybe when they turn 14 and mature enough to ride on their own. I'm a protective mom.

 

[carone0318]

We'll split up for a couple of rides here and there. Especially at MGM, ds doesn't do ToT or RnRC and it is not fair for him to just wait around and dd doesn't want to do Playhouse Disney, so we split and do both.

At MK, ds doesn't like Space Mtn, so I will take him somewhere else, while dd rides Space Mtn.

 

[MassMom94]

Our first visit (2003) we split up a lot because DS (then 5) was very timid and didn't have much stamina. He usually wanted to go back to the hotel way before DD was ready. This last trip he was much more adventurous, but we still split up sometimes because there were certain rides he wouldn't go on (e.g., RnRC, ToT, EE). In your situation, I would definitely split up. Otherwise I predict you are going to have very whiny children as the younger ones have to stand around waiting for the older ones to be finished and vice versa.

 

[matt&jakesmom]

I am not a trill rider myself so my DH and DS's ride Splash Mountain while I stand around and watch. My DS who is 9 has been my buddy when the my DH and our DS (7) go on BTMRR. Well this year I lost my buddy because he wanted to try it and he loved it. They also tried Space Mountain and loved that one too. Needless to say that as I don't mind waiting my the end of the trip I thought this was crazy. I figured that this was just my vacation as was theirs and I don't have to sitting waiting around all day. So on our last day when they wanted one last time to ride their favorites, I told my DH I would be in ToonTown seeing characters. We set up a meeting time and it all worked out good.

Hope you have a wonderful vacation.

 

[btuftee]

Our family groups tend to split up - GF and I don't have kids, my sister and BIL have two little ones, so we're not riding a lot of the same stuff. I find the best way to tour the parks this way (and still 'feel' like you're all doing it together as a family) is to do the rides and shows everyone can do first, then split up and do your own thing, then meet up again for lunch. Repeat in the afternoon, then meet for dinner, at the hotel, etc. This works especially well if you have ADRs and everyone knows the parks well, can stick to a schedule, crowd levels and wait times are somewhat predictable, etc.

 

[DebIreland]

We'll be splitting up sometimes too. Our boys are 12 and almost 10 and they love all the thrill rides but our daughter is just 2 and a gentle little soul, lol, so obviously we'll have plenty of occasions where their tastes clash. We won't split up all the time but certainly on occasion.

We're even dining separately when we go to MGM. I want to take DD to the Jo Jo character meal but the boys would consider that a torturous ordeal so they'll be going to Sci Fi with their Dad.

There'll be a couple of mornings too where I'll go ahead to the park with the boys and DH will follow on later with DD and vice-versa (she can spend some time at a playground or the pool in the morning). Also in MK, I'm thinking while they do Splash and Thunder Mountain I'll go to the Pooh playground with DD.

We're all going as a family to the princess lunch at Akershus - the boys are open-minded about princessy stuff to an extent!