Granny
Yeah, I'm a guy
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2001
- Messages
- 14,434
Sorry this is off topic but I need the advice of people I can trust and who know me and that I'm not trying to be judgemental.
So we picked the dates for our next trip based on that my DD will have her birthday during the trip and the very last day of the trip is when the points go up. The next week it would cost us 20 more points.
I'm at work yesterday talking with a couple co-workers about Disney when one of them starts talking about how he was there with his son and it was gay days. This was me when he said that. I totally forgot about this when we made our reservations. My concerns are naturally that I hear there is alot of PDA going on (my co-worker told me he saw alot). I don't feel comfortable with PDA no matter who is doing it. We had a couple sitting with us in Teppan Edo that kept kissing and it made it a bit awkward. I guess we are just prudes that way. I have also heard that it can be quite crowded in the park they are in that day. So we know we would have to avoid the park they are in for those 2 reasons. I am not liking the idea of having to work my schedule around that. What if there is an EMH or something like that that we won't be able to take advantage of? Does anyone have any experience from being down there at this time who can give us some advice. Unfortunatly we can't really afford to reschedule and use 20 more points.
What do you think?
I'll talk to the crowd issue first.
We visited WDW during Gay Week when my children were 10 & 8 years old. It was also a surprise to us and too late to re-book by the time we found out.
First of all, get their daily schedule. There will be an official WDW Gay Days website...I'm sure you can Google it. Then avoid the park they are scheduled at since it does add significantly to the traffic at that park that day.
When we went, most of the participants wore bright red shirts. So it was relatively easy to avoid the groups when in a park (similar to avoiding the Brazilian tour groups during the summer).
Most of the activities for Gay Days is focused on a Friday and Saturday. On those days, we chose to do off-site activities that we always do anyways. In that case, we went to Sea World and I think Busch Gardens on those two days.
As for PDA's....well, yes there was quite a bit of that. As hot is WDW is in the summer we usually don't see a lot of PDA's of any kind from anyone...it's simply too hot for a lot of close contact. However, we saw more PDA on that trip than we have on any other trip. We too didn't really want to spend much time talking to our kids about it, and were dismayed to see quite a bit. Especially annoying to us was a scene in the resort hot spa that would have been inappropriate for any combination of genders.
The good news? My kids really were unfazed. First of all, kids tend to have a pretty short world of attention that extends about 3 feet around them. So my DW and I noticed much more going on than the kids did. Secondly, when they did ask about something we just told them that those two guys (or women) obviously like each other a lot. That answer was good enough for them...for the most part children haven't built in any judgemental aspects until a little later in life.
I wouldn't go to WDW full of dread and fear of how you will protect yourself and your children from viewing certain things. The bigger deal you make of it the more curious your children will be. I don't know your children's ages but my experience was that it was no better or worse than other hot & crowded times I've gone to WDW. The difference here is at least you can get a schedule to see where the crowds will be headed that day!
Go ahead and enjoy the trip. You don't want to spend 9 months fretting about it. If it really is bothersome to you, I'd urge you to re-schedule your trip for another week and cut it short a day if you don't have enough points.
The reason to go to WDW is to relax and enjoy yourself with your family or guests. If you don't think you'll be able to do that during Gay Days you're probably better off not trying to "make it work". A slightly shorter trip with less anxiety will be a better trip than one that has you on edge the whole time.
Just my opinion. Hope it helps.
