TheIncredibles!
Winner (?) of the Crazy MIL Award
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2010
Probably not the best forum for this but I am hoping some here have had a previous experience etc.
Next year is our 20th Anniversary. We were thinking instead of the usual Disney Trip (We are DVC members) we'd go on a cruise. We have 3 kids that will be 18, 15 and 13 at the time of the cruise. Our oldest is Cognitively Impaired, has sensory issues, hyptonia, small for his age. (He's a little taller than my youngest son who is now 11(he is currently 17) but weighs about 20 lbs less at 71 lbs)
We have been on several cruises but never with the kids. I priced our cruises for Thanksgiving 2016 and was very excited - until I started thinking about day to day activities. At 18 years old my oldest is too old for any teen clubs or activities. So when my other two would be having fun in the clubs etc our oldest will have to be with us and we will have to entertain him. No finding a deck chair and having a drink and relaxing or reading. We will have to find fun things to do with him the entire time and there would be no time for ourselves unless we left all three kids in the cabin and went off on our own. I am not sure I'd even be comfortable pulling my younger ones from the clubs and allowing them to just wander around on their own either.
I have read on some places where 18 year olds were allowed in the teen/kid clubs but other posts that have said they were not allowed. Some have said if they have not graduated yet etc (My son will be a senior that year as we held him back in Pre-k Disabled for an extra year) For obvious reasons he cannot entertain himself and bringing a friend and allowing them go to off by themselves like you could with a neurotypical 18yo is also not an option
I am sad. We can always just go back to Disney but I wanted something different and special to celebrate our anniversary. The kids want to go on a cruise. We can afford to go on a cruise but when you start thinking about it - how much of a great vacation would it be for every single one of us?!?
Just wondering if anybody else has had a similar situation or has other ideas that maybe I am not thinking of.
Next year is our 20th Anniversary. We were thinking instead of the usual Disney Trip (We are DVC members) we'd go on a cruise. We have 3 kids that will be 18, 15 and 13 at the time of the cruise. Our oldest is Cognitively Impaired, has sensory issues, hyptonia, small for his age. (He's a little taller than my youngest son who is now 11(he is currently 17) but weighs about 20 lbs less at 71 lbs)
We have been on several cruises but never with the kids. I priced our cruises for Thanksgiving 2016 and was very excited - until I started thinking about day to day activities. At 18 years old my oldest is too old for any teen clubs or activities. So when my other two would be having fun in the clubs etc our oldest will have to be with us and we will have to entertain him. No finding a deck chair and having a drink and relaxing or reading. We will have to find fun things to do with him the entire time and there would be no time for ourselves unless we left all three kids in the cabin and went off on our own. I am not sure I'd even be comfortable pulling my younger ones from the clubs and allowing them to just wander around on their own either.
I have read on some places where 18 year olds were allowed in the teen/kid clubs but other posts that have said they were not allowed. Some have said if they have not graduated yet etc (My son will be a senior that year as we held him back in Pre-k Disabled for an extra year) For obvious reasons he cannot entertain himself and bringing a friend and allowing them go to off by themselves like you could with a neurotypical 18yo is also not an option
I am sad. We can always just go back to Disney but I wanted something different and special to celebrate our anniversary. The kids want to go on a cruise. We can afford to go on a cruise but when you start thinking about it - how much of a great vacation would it be for every single one of us?!?
Just wondering if anybody else has had a similar situation or has other ideas that maybe I am not thinking of.