Dd's Bestfriend With Us To Wdw??

[disney_me]

Just wanted to hear from other families if you have ever taken your childs BF to Disney with you??

We leave in 2 wks and just wanted to hear the positive and the negatives of your trip.

DD's BF has never been on a plane or left the state of Delaware. She is a wonderful girl and I'm hoping everything will be ok. (Both girls are 11)

Thought please!!!

 

[Snow Shoe]

We have tried it twice with our DD friends. The first time the friend was home sick every day. She would call home every night begging her mom to buy a plane ticket and bring her home. Mom never did by the way. The friend started gripping and complaining about the forth day of our 9 day trip. It became very unpleasent for all. One of the bad things about it all was that we paid for eveything, plane & park tickets, meals, etc. The second trip was with another friend of DD in H.S. and at the last minute litterly, picking her up at her house, she backed out. Once again we had paid for it all. I then vowed not to ever invite someone along unless they paid for it all themselves.

 

[Atchley]

Depends on the friend. DMIL and DFIL took DSIL best friend one year. Friend got homesick and called home crying everyday. By third day friends parents sent money to purchase plane ticket home. My in laws had to waste part of a day taking her to the airport to get home. By the way, she made them miserable while she was there.
Not all friends are the same. If you know this girl well and she is very familiar with your family, then I'm sure it will be fine. My BF would have been but then again she was at my house more than she was her own and got along with my family great! If you don't know this girl incredibly well, then I would wait until next trip and let your family get familiar with her and vice versa.

 

[stargrazer]

I commend all of you that consider doing this for extended vacations. We do a lot of overnights, and as much as I enjoy some of my DD friends, there are several that I wouldn't even consider bringing for one day, much less one week!

For DD next BDay, she's trying to decide if she wants a party at home or an extended week-end at Disney with a girlfriend. (We would do both but this little girl comes from a family w/no money and we would pay for every ticket, meal and souviner). I'm very proud of my DD for even considering basically 'giving up' a party in order to take this friend.


Sorry, I guess I got off topic for a minute...anyway, as a Girl Scout Camp Counselor and a mom, I would not bring a girl that hasn't been away from home much unless you are ready and prepared to deal with possible extreme home sickness. IMO.

Have Fun!

 

[DeeDeeDis]

My three sons have been bringing friends off and on with us for as long as i can remember and we have never had any problems

I am a little confused. Are you actually thinking about telling an eleven year old two weeks before her trip to wdw that you changed your mind and no she can't come with you?? Isn't that a little mean?

Maybe if you pick up a little journal/autograph book and disposable camera each for her and your daughter then they could get excited about documenting their first big trip togather on a daily bases for themselves & her mom. And make it some type of treasure hunt for her to find the 'perfect' gift to bring back to the family.

Good luck and dont worry too much, just keep them busy, i'm sure your'll all have a good time. be sure to bring a camera on the plane to take pictures of her "first flight". Be watchful, if she looks frighten or sad be ready to distract her, change her train of thought onto something else

 

[Darcy03231]

While it wasn't WDW I took DD's friend on a cruise with us. It couldn't have worked out better. I know the family well and the girls have always gotten along great. My DD had been on some weekend trips with them and their DD had been on some weekend trips with us. We never had any issues of homesickness. The girls had a great time and still talk about it. DD's friend says to this day it was the best vacation she ever had.

 

[ohiominnie]

I remember going to WDW when I was in 1st grade. My parents had a huge motor home and they were taking my grandparents and my uncle (who was a bit younger than my brother!) So my parents wanted me to have a friend, so I invited a friend from my class. We drove to FL, seeing sights along the way, spent a few days at WDW, then drove back.

What this friend's parents failed to mention was that Diane (my friend) wet the bed....every night! So every day we had to pull the motor home into a laundry mat and my mom had to wash the sheets.
Then at the first place we went, my mom says to Diane, "Would you like to pick out a small souvenier from here?" Diane pulls out her "souvenier money" and it's a whopping $5!!! Mom sent her with $5 and nothing else!!

Let's just say between my dad having to spend so much time with his in-laws, my grandma refusing to help at all with meals or clean up or anything, my brother and my uncle fighting ALL the time, and the Diane issues, it wasn't that much fun.

Now, 5 yrs ago we took dh's younger sister (she was 13 at the time) on a 2 week trip. Night number 1, she was crying in the Artist Point bathroom b/c she was miserably homesick. She spent an hour on the phone every night crying to her mom. She couldn't wait to get home. We paid all expenses.

4 yrs ago we took my neice on a WDW cruise and 9 days at Disney....she was 18. She spent LOTS of time on the cell phone to her friends back home. Skulked around and hardly smiled. Found every excuse to go back to the room to sleep and/or talk on her phone. We paid all expenses.

You'd think we'd learn. Of course, Dh's sister and my neice all talk about what a WONDERFUL time they had at WDW. Would have been nice if they'd have shown it THEN.

Dd wants to take a friend sometime, but I don't think I'll ever go there! Our trips are usually 2 weeks and that's a LOOONNNGGG time to have to deal with someone else's kid! Her one friend was homesick and crying when dd took her to her youth group meeting a couple years ago....30 minutes away. No WAY I'm taking that girl to WDW 1000 miles away!!!!

 

[INdisneyfamily]

We have had wonderful experiences taking my oldest daughter's boyfriend and middle daughter's best friend. It is so much fun sharing our love of Disney! Our youngest, 13, would like to bring a friend but we didn't start it with her sisters until they were 15. We are going for 12 days in June and just don't want to risk a friend being homesick. My advice would just be make sure you all know each other well and are very comfortable spending time together. My daughter's boyfriend and middle daughter's best friend are like part of our family so it has always gone very smooth. Good luck!

 

[disney_me]

My three sons have been bringing friends off and on with us for as long as i can remember and we have never had any problems

I am a little confused. Are you actually thinking about telling an eleven year old two weeks before her trip to wdw that you changed your mind and no she can't come with you?? Isn't that a little mean?

Maybe if you pick up a little journal/autograph book and disposable camera each for her and your daughter then they could get excited about documenting their first big trip togather on a daily bases for themselves & her mom. And make it some type of treasure hunt for her to find the 'perfect' gift to bring back to the family.

Good luck and dont worry too much, just keep them busy, i'm sure your'll all have a good time. be sure to bring a camera on the plane to take pictures of her "first flight". Be watchful, if she looks frighten or sad be ready to distract her, change her train of thought onto something else

No!! thats not what I'm doing. She is going with us I just want to see IF anyone had problems with friends on trips. We have paid for her plane tickets and we are covering all meals. Her parents bought her parks passes ( thier choice) and we bought her a ticket into The Pirate and Princess Party.

She and my daughter get along great!! and DD's friend fits into our family just right.

Just looking for comments

 

[hollyb]

Just remember that even best friends need a break from each other sometimes. So if you see that they are starting to get on each others nerves try to seperte for an hour or 2 just to give them down time. Is your DD an only child? Will she be jelous with someone else on her trip?

Hope the girls have a WONDERFUL time!!!!

 

[DeeDeeDis]

Disney-Me

so glad to hear to that

I think you may be worring about something that won't happen. You said yourself she fits into your family very well, sounds like she spends alot of time with you family.

Your'll have a ball and how exciting to be able to introduce someone to disney -thats one of our favorite parts of bringing our kids friends - showing em the magic (the last "child" we introduces to wdw was 19 years old - he was like a kid in a candy store)

 

[grlzmom]

Our oldest dds each took a friend on our 12 day Disney trip last year. We took the autotrain down. Neither girl had been away from home or ever left the state before so it was such an adventure for them. Since we did the inviting, we paid for everything except souvenirs.

The trip worked out wonderfully and all the kids had a great time. It was nice to see Disney from a first-timers perspective.

The only sticky situation we had is that when we ate out, the girls kept ordering water to drink and the cheapest thing on the menu We encouraged them to order what they wanted, but they seemed to like water and chicken fingers.

We plan on inviting friends again on a future trip. It really added to the magic.