Stories of bringing friends/extended family with you?

[larryz]

It helped alleviate my parents' fears of me being gone somewhere when they needed to contact me, and I felt that I didn't need to tattle to the chaperone when I was abandoned in Epcot for over three hours.

Pretty adult about the whole thing!

Personally, from what you've said, I think they did you a favor by leaving you alone in Epcot...

 

[larryz]

Wow...reading through this thread makes me feel very appreciative of my Bestie!...
PS: I can think of 20 people off the top of my head that I would NEVER EVER Disney with, however!

Good looking group! It's so nice to see people smiling in Disney photos!

 

[serene56]

After reading all 7 pages I am now worried.

heading out next december for the first "family" vacation ever.

My three kids-- their families-- my niece and her family and my honey.
16 people all total- plus 2 babies not born yet. and another baby that will just be 1.

I always wanted to stay at Coronada Springs and that is where we are booked. But finances for everyone will dictate taht we need to change to Pop Century.

We have 5 rooms and I am sure 5 different personalities.

I am a commando type personality. They have picked the places for sit down dining.


I think what I need to do is tell people we get together in the morning and in the evening for a family photo at each park== and we go our merry way.

Here is my itinerary-- if you want to join me-- great- if its too much it will not hurt my feelings if you want to venture off on your own. I want everyone to be happy.

 

[justakrazymom]

Aug 2011 trip..brought son's then GF..who proceeded to about ruin the trip.. never again will I bring anyone but our immediate family!

 

[justakrazymom]

park== and we go our merry way.

Here is my itinerary-- if you want to join me-- great- if its too much it will not hurt my feelings if you want to venture off on your own. I want everyone to be happy.

Highly sugggest this. We traveled with 21 people total in 2011 and we did nothing but meals and ONE day of touring together ( over 11 days).. meals were a nightmare due to very very different expectations of behavior from the small children. If I was ever to go with a large group again we would make our own ADR;s!

 

[pickles]

my mother is eeyore ..moan, complain, repeat..now she was about 76 when I took her and my kids. I understood the pace needed to be slower(tho physically she is healthy) my kids were teens, not moaner/complainers, but they walk faster than a turtle..mom walks slower than one(again not because she is physically unable, but because she is an eeyore) It was a huge challenge to balance the 2 different touring types. Mom wouldnt entertain herself on a bench while kids rode rides. Mom took a couple hours every morning to get going and wouldnt eat breakfast with us(we did the quick in room thing) by the time she wanted to eat, we were done and ready to go. I tried to suggest she spend time at the resort and rest, but she wanted to go with us. It was a huge challenge, and I understood the plight of her and of my kids.

 

[pickles]

my other exp was meeting a friend down in disney. he had his 11 yr old brat with him. He stayed off property, I was on. We agreed upon which days we would do which parks. I rode rides with his brat, because he cant do like coasters and such. She and I had a decent time at MK, but then princess brat changed her mind and decided she didnt want to go to epcot the next day, she just wanted to be at the pool. I wound up doing epcot alone or I would have missed it altogether.
I am sorry but adults are adults and we had all agreed upon mk the one day and epcot the other, and for me, if brat child wanted the pool she should have said that from the get go. anyways, wont go with them again. between his cheapness and unwilling/unable to do rides and her controlling everything is too much for me. neither of them even liked disney and I am a disney nut.

 

[Hanover]

My ds then 8 and I invited my best friend and her then 9 year old son on their first Disney parks trip a couple of years ago during Star Wars weekends. We had cruised together with each of our entire families a few times and had a great time each cruise so I thought they would be fine to vacation at the parks with us. My son has been going to WDW since birth and has always been more than happy at Disney. Among the things that happened over the 4 of our 5 vacation days:

First dinner was at Chef Mickeys. My friend's son didn't care to meet the characters and would not take any photos. He had literally 4 chicken nuggets and announced he was ready to leave. His mom and I started with a plate of salad and when I said I was going up for a plate of food he asked if I was really going to eat more than one plate of food. His sister called during dinner and made their mom feel guilty for not taking her too so my friend sat and cried.

Next morning we Went to Hollywood Studios and by 10:30 my friends son wanted to leave and go back and swim. I felt like we needed to show them how to get back to the resort via Disney transportation so we missed the Star Wars parade which was our favorite thing during SWW. They came back for dinner at 50s Prime Time but her son hated the waitress told "what to do." They left after dinner but we stayed for the Hyperspace Hoopla. Afterwards my son was chosen to ride Star Tours with Chewbacca and an Ewok. My friends son was mad he missed it once we told them later that night.

Day 2 we went to the Magic Kingdom and every ride was either boring, too slow, too fast, "for babies" or too scary. He told us "shorts are for wimps" and he had jeans on each day. He had one pair of jeans with him so my friend washed them each day. He got soaked on Splash Mountain and wanted to go to the resort to swim and dry his pants. He was too hot all the time in his jeans but refused to wear his shorts. They came back to MK for Wishes and we staked out a great spot an hour in advance and when the first firework started he said he had to use the bathroom so they missed it.

Next day we were going to go to AK but my friend said with her son's attitude she wasn't going to spend the money on their tickets and she wished she could fly him home early. My ds and I went to AK and had fun. My friend's son was taking photos on our Animal Kingdom Lodge balcony with her brand new camera and dropped it. It fell 5 stories and completely broke.

Last morning my friend's son woke us all up at 5:30 after he peed their bed they were sharing. He refused to be quiet in any way and we were all up for the day. We were going to go back to MK but he said "I saw the castle once, why would I want to see it again." He wanted to stay at the resort and order "free room service" and watch tv. They had been on Disney cruises with us before and he orered a lot of "free" room service and thought the Disney resorts would be the same. They stayed at the resort and swam, etc while my ds and I went to Epcot instead.

I really, really like my friend, but her son was next to impossible to deal with. I asked her if he liked the trip and she said yeah, he loved it?!?

The next year we went again during SWW with my friend and her 8 year old daughter for her daughter's first parks trip. They stayed in their own room. She was just as miserable in the parks as her brother and it got to the point I told her that everything was not always about her and what she wanted and to be nicer to her mother. She said that it was HER vacation and her mom had to do what she wanted. She also refused to wear sneakers or her new Keen sandals and would only wear her plastic dressy shoes with a heel. That didn't go over well with all the walking so she just wanted to stay at the resort and swim. My son and I did our own thing and they joined us from time to time so it ended up working out fine in the end.

I'm considering letting my DS15 take his 16 y/o best friend this June for his friend's first Disney trip, but I'm also keeping all of these stories in mind!

 

[mhnewcomb]

Highly sugggest this. We traveled with 21 people total in 2011 and we did nothing but meals and ONE day of touring together ( over 11 days).. meals were a nightmare due to very very different expectations of behavior from the small children. If I was ever to go with a large group again we would make our own ADR;s!

I totally concur! I don't even want to think about ADRs for 14...though we are going to try for at least one at Chef Mickey's. I don't want to miss out on the baby girls' first visit with Mickey!

 

[serene56]

Highly sugggest this. We traveled with 21 people total in 2011 and we did nothing but meals and ONE day of touring together ( over 11 days).. meals were a nightmare due to very very different expectations of behavior from the small children. If I was ever to go with a large group again we would make our own ADR;s!

I know there are a few adrs they want that I do not-- and honey thinks there are a few we are not doing them as we may need our own time.

example-- they want Ohana for breakfast-- we will take Kona.

since there are 3 babies-- we can stay together in the morning. to do all the major rides and get them out of the way-- and then move on.

 

[nansmama]

I really, really like my friend, but her son was next to impossible to deal with. I asked her if he liked the trip and she said yeah, he loved it?!?

Yeah, that's what my daughter's friend said too, that she had fun. My dd and I were like, really??? All she did was complain, LOL. Maybe complaining is big fun to some kids!

 

[amberpi]

The first time my folks and my husband's folks met was at F&W Fest. We all flew down, it was a blast (we usually go as a family every year, yes, I'm 32!); have done numerous girls weekends there; hosted a 4 day 8 girl bachelorette party there, and most recently took my BIL, SIL and DN in Sept. Never had a bad trip.

Some of my trips not involving WDW have not been such glowing successes but those can either be classified as "completely unorganized nightmares of which I was only a bystander" or "too much traveling which got out of hand and was easily solved with a nap."

 

[LisaBi]

It is usually just DS and I. Last trip we went my BFF and her son. He seemed a little bored, but didn't really complain and seemed to have a pretty good time. What got to me about touring with others was all the extra time. Waiting on each other, deciding where/when to meet, etc. And potty stops were the worst. We would stop because someone needed to. No sooner would we get moving again, and someone else needed to go. It just felt like I spent a lot of time just hanging around waiting on them.

 

[carrie1626]

After reading all 7 pages I am now worried.

heading out next december for the first "family" vacation ever.

My three kids-- their families-- my niece and her family and my honey.
16 people all total- plus 2 babies not born yet. and another baby that will just be 1.

I always wanted to stay at Coronada Springs and that is where we are booked. But finances for everyone will dictate taht we need to change to Pop Century.

We have 5 rooms and I am sure 5 different personalities.

I am a commando type personality. They have picked the places for sit down dining.


I think what I need to do is tell people we get together in the morning and in the evening for a family photo at each park== and we go our merry way.

Here is my itinerary-- if you want to join me-- great- if its too much it will not hurt my feelings if you want to venture off on your own. I want everyone to be happy.

If you( I mean anyone) plans to spend too much time together, you'll be miserable. I would suggest a "pool time morning or afternoon", meet up for one of the parades and fireworks, plan a character breakfast/dinner and that's about it.

 

[Murron]

We had my brother and SIL with us last year. We have never before had family with us in WDW. And, by the way, we've been going each year or several times per year since '71. We are kinda set in our ways. Anyway...we actually did have fun with them. My brother is a bit overweight and the heat gets to him, so he would take a day here and there to relax by the resort pool or on the BWV porch til we got back for dinner. But we made those plans knowing each other and our habits ahead of time. So I think that's key. When you decide to go as a group, get the rules on the table ahead of time. E.g., if you can't or don't want to keep up, say so and bus it back to the resort to relax. If one family eats three times per day and they other two with snacks, discuss that! If you are just open and forthright things go pretty well.

 

[shalom]

I think what I need to do is tell people we get together in the morning and in the evening for a family photo at each park== and we go our merry way.

Here is my itinerary-- if you want to join me-- great- if its too much it will not hurt my feelings if you want to venture off on your own. I want everyone to be happy.

That's pretty much what we do on our multi-generational family vacations. We'll plan a couple of things to do together for sure beforehand and throw out some requests, but mostly it's, "I'm doing this tomorrow, want to come?" kind of things. For WDW we'd schedule the parks ahead of time but I know my family would be there hours before my brother's, because they don't like getting up in the morning (neither does my hubby, but he gets outvoted, plus he now understands the advantages of getting there early).

One advantage of staying onsite at Disney is that everyone has transportation -- that's often the toughest thing about big family get togethers, trying to coordinate transportation according to various schedules.

 

[marmar]

DD is an only child. We always found it went better when we took a "hostage". (our car broke down on a trip to a state park and the girl's parents had to drive 2 hrs to rescue us..... hence the term "hostage")

When our 25th anniversary was approaching we made a deal with DD's best friend's parents. We took their daughter to wdw in May for a week and they would keep our dd for a week while we went to hawaii. The girls had a wonderful time. They entertained each other while DH & i went at our own speed. the experience was so good we took a new bf 2 years later.

BF had never been on a plane or out of the state before and I planned an ultimate disney vacation. She spent a lot of time totally overwhelmed. They went off on their own sometimes, but ate all meals with us. BF and I would skip out for EMH and come back at 10:00 to gather DH & DD who are late sleepers. DH & I would go back to resort for afternoon naps but the girls would stay at the park and meet us for dinner. In both cases when the girls started getting cranky with each other, I would go someplace with one and DH took the other. When they got cranky with us, we sent them on their own.

I was always careful on which bf to take to wdw. The ones I chose were so happy for the opportunity that our trips were always a delight. And DD had a much better time.

 

[Atchley]

Taking DD and her BF and DS and DNephew to WDW in June. Hoping that everything goes smoothly. I will be a mother to all of them for those 10 days so they will be treated as my own. BF is already mine. (She calls me her other mother because I scold her as I do my own.)

 

[stindall]

In 2009 my parents went down during the beginning of December. It was sort of a birthday trip for my Dad whose birthday is on the 6th. My brother brought a friend too. My Dad decided it would be fun to surprise my Mom so he invited my moms best friend (we'll call her sarah) to come down a few days after their arrival and surprise my mom at a Christmas party. Sarah then invited me as a birthday surprise to my dad. I said yes (obviously) but was a little nervous because while I had known Sarah for a number of years, I'm not very good at conversing with people and being sociable. I asked if I could invite my husband along. It wasn't going to cost much more and he gets along really well with my family (we live close and spend a lot of time together) so I didn't see it as an issue.

Not long before we left for the trip Sarah decides her niece (who I was good friends with at the time. We'll call her Bethany.) was going to come too. I wasn't very excited about that because while we were friends, we were kind of opposite and I had a feeling no good would come of it. She was a bit shallow and had a knack for being dramatic. Sarah had a friend who worked part time at Disney (we'll call her Charlotte) so she got us room discounts, picked us up at the airport etc. We didn't think we'd see her again except for maybe taking us back to the airport. We actually didn't even know she was getting us discounts and picking us up until we were driving to the airport.

Arrival evening was really great (we arrived on my dads birthday). My husband and I went and got the cake I had ordered from the boardwalk and spent a little time there and at Epcot. Sarah and Bethany surprising my mom went really well and then the surprise for my Dad was so great! The next day we headed to Epcot and low and behold Charlotte is there with her kids. The entire day she kept forcing her weird kids to hang out with my brother and his friend and she was really obnoxious. When we were alone with my family I let them know that we didn't want to spend our entire vacation with her and her family and we were surprised we had spent that much time with them already. They agreed and said they were not too fond of her either.

The rest of the evening we kind of did our own thing and tried not to pay too much attention to Charlotte and her kids and tried to enjoy ourselves. Somehow everyone else got wind of what we had said and the next day Bethany starts causing all kinds of unnecessary drama. (Charlotte and her kids showed up again) It split our group up and soured the entire day. We went down there to have a nice family vacation, not spend it with people we didn't know or like. The rest of the vacation was a nightmare. On our last night there Bethany and Sarah started talking crap about my husband and our marriage and or lives (which had nothing to do with anything!) in our room with my parents. They were being so awful they even upset my husband whose a typical guy and doesn't get upset at much. We slept on the floor in my parents room because it was so awful. The next day we ended up taking a taxi to the airport. We're no longer friends with them. (although my parents are for some reason.)

Lesson learned, we will never travel with anyone who we don't spend time with regularly and are 100% comfortable with. We've taken vacations when I was younger with friends of mine or grandparents and had no problems at all.

 

[NHKristy76]

My dd, 5 at the time and I went with my friend and her 5 yo dd. She left the Magic Kingdom at 7 pm so they could go to the hotel for a hot bath and to watch tv. (Park was open until midnight).

HAHAHA!

I would have been this friend. My daughter, at that age, desperately needed to be kept on her normal sleep schedule. She's 10 now and it works well for us to all stay out late some nights but not all.