a hard lesson learned~large group-inlaws @wdw

[myprincessgirlisa]

hi ladies

well i got back from our wdw trip about 2 weeks ago & wheh!!!!

It was my & DHs 10yr anniversary (we got married at WDW) &
we bypassed a VR to make it a SPECIAL trip for DD (6~the PERFECT age)

we even invited the Grandparents

so after months of preparing & planning~i made stuff, i reserved stuff, i did itineraries, I did EVERYTHING I could to make it special!

WELL!!!!!!!!!

it was NOT what i expected....& just so you know...i kept an open mind about fitting in everything(cause I knew I wouldnt) but this was BEYOND that.....

taking the grandparents was fun....hauling 3 wheelchairs was not!

eating out everyday was YUMMY....paying for 8-10 people was not!!

inviting a large group seemed fun....but managing them was not!!


I missed SO much for DD...after all it was HER trip

I now know the next time I go to wdw that i will
a. not invite the world...lol...next trip is just me, DH & DD!!!...lol
b. pay for them all....Im broke!!!!
c. NEVER go if i have to push 3 wheelchairs again!!
d. realize its MY vacation too & see what i want & do what I want & not try to please everyone else...all the time!!

dont get me wrong...it was a great trip...but i will not repeat it this way again...& if i ever go with a large group again....it'll be a "every man for himself" trip.....its just TOO hard to manage 10 people(3 in wheelchairs)!

I survived & I will be going back!!!

 

[CastleCreations]

I learned the hard way as well, and invited my girlfriend and her two kids. Boy what a huge mistake. Within 2 minutes of being in the hotel, her daughter drew on the walls, spilled juice on the carpet, and her mom didn't really care. Her daughter was a complete nightmare the entire time and boy I totally regret the whole vacation.

 

[myprincessgirlisa]

I learned the hard way as well, and invited my girlfriend and her two kids. Boy what a huge mistake. Within 2 minutes of being in the hotel, her daughter drew on the walls, spilled juice on the carpet, and her mom didn't really care. Her daughter was a complete nightmare the entire time and boy I totally regret the whole vacation.

WOW that really stinks!!!!

Im sure you did what I did the whole trip....just kept telling yourself "your a good person for bringing all these people"

I hope you get a Re-do trip soon!!

 

[momtoBrandon&Jacob]

hi ladies

well i got back from our wdw trip about 2 weeks ago & wheh!!!!

It was my & DHs 10yr anniversary (we got married at WDW) &
we bypassed a VR to make it a SPECIAL trip for DD (6~the PERFECT age)

we even invited the Grandparents

so after months of preparing & planning~i made stuff, i reserved stuff, i did itineraries, I did EVERYTHING I could to make it special!

WELL!!!!!!!!!

it was NOT what i expected....& just so you know...i kept an open mind about fitting in everything(cause I knew I wouldnt) but this was BEYOND that.....

taking the grandparents was fun....hauling 3 wheelchairs was not!

eating out everyday was YUMMY....paying for 8-10 people was not!!

inviting a large group seemed fun....but managing them was not!!


I missed SO much for DD...after all it was HER trip

I now know the next time I go to wdw that i will
a. not invite the world...lol...next trip is just me, DH & DD!!!...lol
b. pay for them all....Im broke!!!!
c. NEVER go if i have to push 3 wheelchairs again!!
d. realize its MY vacation too & see what i want & do what I want & not try to please everyone else...all the time!!

dont get me wrong...it was a great trip...but i will not repeat it this way again...& if i ever go with a large group again....it'll be a "every man for himself" trip.....its just TOO hard to manage 10 people(3 in wheelchairs)!

I survived & I will be going back!!!

Ok I gotta ask. Why did you feel the need to pay for everyone's meals?? Did nobody offer to pay for themselves? I'm sorry you had to go through that. I know that if/when my parents go with us they will probably pay for the entire trip, not to mention meals (although we'll probably be on the DDP!).

 

[myprincessgirlisa]

Ok I gotta ask. Why did you feel the need to pay for everyone's meals?? Did nobody offer to pay for themselves? I'm sorry you had to go through that. I know that if/when my parents go with us they will probably pay for the entire trip, not to mention meals (although we'll probably be on the DDP!).

no prob...happy to answer....we did it cause we knew they really didnt have the money & we thought we were being "nice"...they were in sticker shock the WHOLE trip so we "helped" & sometimes it was just easier for us to pay than to have the server split the check up 4 different ways...ya know?!?

I wanted to do DDP...but DH said his family wouldnt pay that large amount up front thought they could eat cheaper...my answer to that...NOT IN WDW!!!lol...even mc donalds was pricy....lol & besides we're on vacation...no cooking!!!

i try & consider this whole trip a "learning experience"

we did have fun, but it was NOT what I had anticipated at all

 

[momtoBrandon&Jacob]

Well in that case, it looks like you're about due for another trip with just your family. You can call it a vacation from your previous vacation!

 

[halld6479]

I agree 100% about making a vacation dream for a group. I did the same and even covered my step mom and DD meal plans because she just knew they could walk in and get a place, but two weeks out she calls and says I guess we will be doing meals with you guys, yea I thought so, any way I provided DDE card to them at my experience and she complained about ever meal we had, nothing was right she had me in tears at Fulton Crab house with her treating the waiter the way she did, I tipped the poor guy additional 40 for dealing with her. And to top it off they never even offered to spend one cent on anyone of us and they have big bucks but to hear them talk you would wonder how they were going to eat next week. They take cruises a couple times a year, he is retired military 2 star general, and they did offer a thank you this was so nice of you to do this for us, well that came from my dad.
We got home the 11th my b-day and to sons announced can we do this again in 2009? Well we are going to have a family meeting about that one, mom is not covering this one, I will still be paying on this trip. lol

 

[Beth E. (NJ)]

I think you are a better person than I am! LOL

Our trips have always been just us -- my BIL and SIL went once with my inlaws but I couldn't do it unless we split up a lot. We are Disney fanatics and they are not and I think the different styles would make me crazy. They stayed off site with young kids and they planned on going back to their resort to rest. I suggested they rent a van because the bus from the resort operated on a very infrequent schedule and they would waste a lot of time.

 

[becca011906]

Sorry it was such a not so magical trip for ya, we've had one of thoes too...
we took 'friends' with us in '05 knowing that they would never be probably be able to pull of a full Disney trip... we were being ince had a resort that we able for them to share out resort room. so thier room was free. they still complained and said something about everything we bought our kids, usally they can buy themself something every day of our trip, not a big something but still something, they spend a lot of time eating meals in the car while we went to CRT and stuff like that, their girls were nightmares, whined complained, thier 11 year old at the time was in tear standing in line for the haunted mansion, i had my 1,3,5 year olds with me and she was still making a scene. the next trip we took my mom and step dad it was a great trip they were so laid back and easy going!!! This year will actully be our first trip where it's just me and my family!!! I'm so so so so LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!!!

 

[disney[xo]sweetie]

we learned the ard way with friends AND grandparents.
wheelchairs,
and whiners.
you love them, but just not in disney.

 

[eliza61]

we learned the ard way with friends AND grandparents.
wheelchairs,
and whiners.
you love them, but just not in disney.

Aahh yes. The ole' vacation with the family in WDW. It looks great in a TV commercial but most of the time the reality is way different. I think every one unfortunately has war wounds. I had a family reunion at wdw also, used my points to rent a 3 bedroom villa and did not charge any one a dime to stay and my lovely sister (and I use the term lovely very loosely) and her family proceeded to whine about every thing and any thing.
Never again.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We didn't have to learn the hard way, but there is NO WAY I'd take any family with us. DMIL has asked a few times, but it's not going to happen. The only way would be if they're paying for all of it, and I don't think I could turn down a free trip to WDW, but other than that, NO WAY!!! I love the IL's like my own family, but even DH agreed.....if they're going, we're staying home!

 

[MiniGirl]

We have travelled with family fairly often over the past 15 years or so (although never Disney). I'm the youngest of 4 and we all live in different states, so a family vacation was the one time we get to all see each other. However, we never tried to all do everything together. It was never expected, and it never would've worked. There were sometimes things that most of us wanted to do, and so we'd do that. We would also try to have dinner together every night. We'd get a place with a kitchen, and 1 family (meaning the oldest and his wife, or the next child and his family, etc) would be responsible for dinner that night. It really worked out well. We haven't gotten together the past couple of years....Hmmm.... I might have to be giving my brothers a call. I wonder if they'd want to do WDW.

Oh well.... I guess I haven't learned anything from these posts.

 

[trivial]

Whew, some scary stories here that almost made me question the extended family group trip I'm organizing for a few years from now. But we all get together often, get along well, and none of them are moochers or whiners (still, we won't be sharing our room with anyone else). Everyone will have a very clear idea of what the cost to them will be and will understand that they're responsible for their own costs.

I don't know the exact size of our group yet, but I've been warned many times about trying to tour the parks as one big group. I didn't really understand why until today, when I read someone's trip report that talked about how they'd constantly be waiting for the others in their group. While it would be nice if we could all tour together without wasting a lot of time, I think that's a nightmare waiting to happen. Aside from everyone gathering for dinner, it'll have to be clear that not everyone can stay together as a large group in the parks.

I'm thinking of coming up with a touring plan that will allow a large group to walk the parks in relatively close proximity, but will allow different groups to do different rides/attractions (the kids will want to do kiddy rides, some will want to do more thrilling rides, etc.).

 

[twooley2]

I can feel your pain. A couple of years back we took my mom who is in a wheelchair and although this is no fault of hers it really was a lot of work. The looks we got from getting on the buses first and getting on the rides first were enough to make you think we stole something from these people. Although after all the work dealing with a handicapped person to add to that is the guilty feeling for taking a handicapped person to Disney.Maybe I care too much what others think hmmm

 

[bumbershoot]

I wanted to do DDP...but DH said his family wouldnt pay that large amount up front thought they could eat cheaper...my answer to that...NOT IN WDW!!!lol...even mc donalds was pricy....lol & besides we're on vacation...no cooking!!!

So are you going to go through the receipts, to see if the DDP would have saved you guys money? Or might that be too painful?

 

[jlw29]

I have an extended family trip planned for January. I'm going to surprise the family with it in a few hours as a christmas present. My parents, grandmother, sister and her 2 sons, my brother and GF, me, DH and our 2 DDs will be going. No one knows that this is for the whole family (except my brother). Each of them thinks it will just be our nuclear family and the one guest (ie parents or just us and sis / kids).

I'm setting my expectations VERY low on this trip, so anything positive will be a plus. We're going to have some park time without the grands / greatgrand who will have trouble keeping up and spend alot of time at the pool house for our together time.

 

[grlpwrd]

I am sorry you had to go through all that, but really I think in the long run you did something wonderful for the family. Being that they are in wheelchairs and older makes me think that they are up in their years, so to speak.

I think in that respect your trip was a success.

 

[teresajoy]

Sorry you had such a bad time OP, sounds like you need a vacation with just your family!

My extended family (sister and brother's families and our parents) and I go to Disney about once every three years. Obvioulsy, since we keep doing it, it's a lot of fun for us all. We rent two houses, right next to each other. Which, I HIGHLY recommended if you are going with a large group. It's cheaper than hotel rooms, and you get more room. We usually pretty much stay together in the parks. Everyone gives in a little, and it works out. We are going again in May, and we are SOOOOOOOOO excited!!!!!

So, don't despair those of you who are thinking about doing a big family trip, it can work out! And, we all still like each other when we are done!

 

[CastleCreations]

WOW that really stinks!!!!

Im sure you did what I did the whole trip....just kept telling yourself "your a good person for bringing all these people"

I hope you get a Re-do trip soon!!

After the fact, they all kept saying how much fun they had and that it was a trip of a lifetime. Even though we only live 40 minutes from the mouse, financially she hasn't been able to take her kids to disney. I felt good, that I was able to provide that for them, but boy...did I ever learn my lesson.