Do you divide up?

[Zoemakes5]

It's getting down to crunch time and making PS, etc. and I'm torn. My DD is younger than her brothers (by 5.5 & 7.5 years) and is just so INTO Disney. She wants to see Mickey and do the character meals and immerse herself (kinda like her mommy )
But, at 10.5 & 12.5 my boys will do some of that happily, but not want the all out experience. Would prefer to sleep in, want to go on some of the big rides we won't be able to take her on, want to spend time in Innoventions (that I can see her interested in, but not for as long as they'll want to spend there). She's going to want to play in toon town and stand in line for the characters, shop......I can see it now, she's going to be like a maniac the whole time, pulling us around as she's wanting to run from one thing to another.
There are many many things that we'll want to experience together, but I can see us splitting up alot, and DD and I going over to DLR earlier while the boys sleep in, etc. We already have that for one of our meals, dinner our first night is Princess Meal for DD, I and Nana and the boys are all going to Naples.
So, do you do it? When? How? Why?
Thanks!!!

 

[AZMickeyfans]

Yes, we split up some times. My kids are only 2 1/2 years apart but dd loves to wait for the princesses and see the storytelling. She also likes to wander through the shops. Ds doesn't seem to mind but Dh likes to have that as "boy time" so they go on Pirates again and again and Buzz a few times. We do this at least one day on each of our trips. We use the cell phones to stay in contact.

It was funny, at first I was like "there is no way we are splitting up on our family vacation" but that was when Ds was a baby and it would have been very boring for dd and dh to come back to the baby center and wait for me to nurse and change him. It seemed to stick and now we all get to do what we want and have fun.

 

[CindyH]

DS7 and DS5 like a lot of the same rides (IASW, teacups, BLAB) but differ on others - so usually DH takes the older one and me or gramma will take the younger one. We still do all our meals together, although it's easier when they're both boys (i.e. neither one are interested in princesses, at least, not for another couple of years, LOL).

 

[PattiPB]

It was funny, at first I was like "there is no way we are splitting up on our family vacation" It seemed to stick and now we all get to do what we want and have fun.

That was my initial thought!!!

Countless trips and three different personalities later, we split up whenever the need arises. The best example I can think of is my DS(8) loves to ride Pooh, and nobody else likes it at all. It's become like a "thing" for he and I to ride Pooh alone once or twice while they are waiting for Fantasmic, or wandering through a store. He goes on everything, but I guess that is his "cuddle" ride, KWIM?

I think it's each person's vacation more than everybody's vacation (make sense?) so it is our responsibility to see to each kid's needs and desires.

 

[sameyeyam]

We split up so much that our big joke is "see ya at home when vacation's over"!

My daughter is 14 and wants to ride any & all scary rides (and has been that way since she was little). My son is 8 and thinks almost all rides are scary. One year at WDW (he was about 5) there was only a 2 minute wait for It's a Small World, so of course I drug him onto it. He was terrified when he seen the boats and thought it was going to be like Splash Mt! Yes I was one of those parents that had to drag him kicking and screaming onto a ride. If you ask me it was almost embarassing to have to do that on It's a Small World! Of course we now laugh about the scary dolls in It's a Small World!

Normally we split up in the morning - I take my son on the "kiddy" rides and my husband and daughter go attack the big rides. We usually meet up for a late lunch/early dinner, go back to the hotel to rest, then we have family time in the evening. During family time we ride things like Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise. Basically rides that aren't too scary and everyone can enjoy.

We are flexible on this and sometimes bump into each other during the day and will switch kids for a ride or 2. But for the most part we end up split up. Don't know what I'm going to do when my son grows up and decides to do the scary rides. Guess I'll be stuck on Pooh by myself!

 

[mnasf]

We split up for the first two-three hours. My youngest turned 3 in January. I have a 12 year old and 7 year old who love Space Mountain and such. So I take the youngest to Fantasyland and ToonTown while they ride Space Mountain, Matterhorn, Indiana Jones, get fast passes, etc. Then we meet up and do some things together like lunch, etc. All of my kids will do things like POTC, HM, BL, JC, Tiki Room, etc. No matter the time of year, we all get up and get in line together. We split up on Main Street. Sleeping in may sound good to your older ones until they see Space Mountain's soonest fast pass time is 3 and it has a 90 minute wait. And the line to POTC is huge, too. By splitting up, my dh and older kids get a lot done when the park first opens and so do we. My youngest loves Mickey and Minnie's houses.