Family in FL ruining vaca anyone else?

[Hallowishes]

LOL you guys are cracking me up! we used to have the same problem when my gradma lived in sarasota. sometimes we had to lie as to where we were! i totally understand and want my vacation to be a "vacation" in every sense of the word!

 

[WaDiWo]

YES YES YES!! I totally understand!!

Remember that you are there on vacation, a time to relax ... relatives aren't necessarily relaxing.

*** AND ... have you guys noticed that many local Florida residents (including my relatives) are NOT disney experts??? (unless they're on the Dis!) I find that I get more detailed and accurate information from these Dis boards that from my family there.

Plus people on the boards tend to love and appreciate disney. My local florida relatives have some sort of disdain for it, like, "oh yeah, everyone thinks Tower of Terror is cool, but that's for tourists, you should really go check out _____"

whatever.

glad to be amongst friends here.

 

[darrengs]

There are two things that my wife has ever said that I have done right (besides marrying her of course). One was Tivo and the other was not staying with family years back when my brother got married, we were the only ones who actually enjoyed our vacation that week.

 

[miss missy]

I know what you mean. I have a hard fast rule though... when I am on vaca, I don't go with, stay with, ect. I don't answer cell (unless its immediate family). I am MIA period lol. Everyone knows I am like that I have family in Naples, but they never bug me. I would say politely decline. Its hard I know. But how many weeks in the year can we just be off ALL duties???

 

[miss missy]

YES YES YES!! I totally understand!!

Remember that you are there on vacation, a time to relax ... relatives aren't necessarily relaxing.

understatement of the YEAR

 

[susiemouse]

We have the same problem, we don't tell relatives we are coming until the last minute and that our package is all inclusive. We tell relatives that we do not have a rental car and that we will take advantage of our all inclusive stay because we were able to get a great deal! We make separate plans to visit family at other times during the year. It doesn't mean we don't love our family, we just want quality immediate family time.

 

[DisneyWisher]

I don't live Orlando but my father did, he got so sick of relatives asking to stay there to avoid paying for a hotel. So believe me that not every relative wants your company. We live in Ft Lauderdale and when I was a teenager Spring Break was a big thing down here. Over the years back then we had many cousins that would come stay with us to go to Spring Break. My parents hated it. They would have to drop them off at the beach and wait for a phone call asking to be picked up. After about 5 yrs my mother called her siblings and said "tell your kids no more, If I wanted more kids to worry about I would have had more". Recently one of my cousin's daughter wanted to stay with me so she could hang out in South Beach. I told her you are better off getting a hotel down there because I don't drive to Miami. I have an Aunt that lives in L.A. and refuses to have company because she said everyone expects her to drive them sightseeing. She is safe from me as much as I would love to see Disneyland I am too afraid of earthquakes. LOL Many times being on the phone with her they would have one. Nothing major just a little shake but its enough to freak me out.

To the OP give your relative a few years when you bring up Disney then they will pretend they won't be home.

 

[littlbugmom]

My big sister lives in Florida. I love having her join us for a couple of days during our vacation.

The thing about her is this----she is a fun person to do Disney with!! She's a happy person who loves to laugh and have fun. What more could you ask for while visiting the World? I don't think Disney is her idea of a great vacation (she prefers a beach and a boat) but she fully immerses herself into *our* idea of a great vacation and that makes for some fun times.


That said, I have other siblings who would NOT be fun to vacation with.
I'm glad they don't live in Florida. For those of you with family there, I think I'd tell them how much a small family vacation means to you and arrange to meet for a day AFTER Disney.

 

[dpuck1998]

My mother lives down there, but we always have her met us at Disney. We come and go as we please and if she wants to join us when we tour great...if not that is fine too. My brother and family lived down there until last year, that was a bit more hectic. They moved slow and once you get 9 people in tow, it can become very difficult getting around and getting ADR's.

 

[polineedyan]

we have friends, and friends, and family all in the area..and yes, if they all find out we are there, they want to see us. It is difficult. One of my wifes friends has ended (allegedly) the friendship, because we were 'unable' to visit her this time around..whatever..
As another poster said, its very easy to just not tell them you are going. They dont bother with us any other time of the year, just when they know we're coming..which also irks me.
We always just either dont tell em, try to compromise, or suggest they meet up with us at Disney. Suggesting they buy park passes is usually enough to send them back to the swamps. I even had a friend offer to pay for my park tickets to go fishing with him..no thanks.."next time"

 

[rockundergirl]

There are two things that my wife has ever said that I have done right (besides marrying her of course). One was Tivo and the other was not staying with family years back when my brother got married, we were the only ones who actually enjoyed our vacation that week.

lmao! thats funny stuff

 

[G66]

In a related topic, I have frequently have friends ask for WDW trip advice. When I tell them to stay on property, they insist that they will save a bundle packing into a relatives condo for the week. Then they come home and talk about how expensive it was for single day park tickets, and the parks were already crowded by the time we got there bla bla bla.

 

[corky441]

I was blessed - my parents moved down to Lake Buena Vista in the late 80's so my Dad could be close to the Mouse. They lived in the Hidden Valley modular home park which is just up the road from Downtown Disney on Apoka-Vineland road just past the Winn-Dixie.
Bob reminded me so much of my Dad - they must have been clones...

I have so many wonderful memories of the visits to WDW. The first few times we visited we stayed with them, after that we decided to try to stay in every hotel by Downtown Disney then started with the resorts. My parents were happy to "not" have us staying with them. They got to visit us at a new resort each visit - we'd plan our trips so we would have at least one day just with them - which usually turned around with my Dad wanting to go DTD to "just look around", then we'd have a great dinner offsite somewhere. THe rest of our trip was ours. Of course my parents had annual passes, so they would meet us at one of the parks for a few hours if they felt like it.

My Dad passed away several years ago - but everytime I go to WDW - I know he's there with us.

well - my point is - don't do what you don't want to do. Compromise with your family - they won't be around forever...

 

[maiziezoe]

My moms entire family (parents, sister, brothers, cousins, etc.) live in Melbourne. As a kid it was great because we went to Florida at least once a year and stayed with my grandparents for several days then we would go to Disney for several days then back to the grandparents for a day or two.

I'm trying to do the same thing now that I am an adult...except we stay in a hotel in Melbourne, visit Disney, back to a Melbourne hotel. That way, we can visit with my family (at the zoo, beaches, dinners, etc.) and feel like we are still on vacation.

I complain about it sometimes because there are times I would like to do 10 days at Disney, not 10 days split between Disney and my family... but my grandparents will not be here forever. I can't imagine blowing my family off and that being the year I lose a grandparent. Oy, the guilt.

 

[zendisney]

I have an Aunt in St CLoud... here's how we do it. We set up one night to meet for dinner. It usually works out nicely. The Auntie "guilt trip" no longer works on me. Don't get me wrong. She still tries and her son loves to tell me how much he and I quote "hates the mouse and all the corporate trash they lay out." It is so annoying when he is along because he tells us Disney is a waste of money blah blah blah. I try to be polite and suck it up but it can be difficult. But for one night ... I do it. The rest of the time is ours.
There are other times when we just don't tell her we are there but sometimes she finds out from my sisters. I feel a teensy bit of guilt. sooooo. I guess whatever works.
Anyway, I just had to get my 2 cents in...

 

[daisyyy]

Love my friends and family, but it's my vacation.... I booked my trip back in March, and just made my ADRs for our sept trip.... I haven't told my friends that we will be going... yet... I know they will try to "meet up with us"... I know they will eventually find out we were in FLA... We go every year.. and our christmas card usually has a pic of us in Disney... so, I can't lie to them that we didn't go.. but I figure the longer we wait, the less chance they may have to make arrangements.... I made our ADRs already for just us 6.. so they can't be added since you know how hard it is to make ressies.... and finally.. my DD asked me .."when we go this time.. can we just go by ourselves?".... We always seem to have another family or relative tag along on all of our previous trips.... It's hard enough getting just the 6 of us to do something,.. and all be happy at the same time... why throw another monkey wrench.... so.. I am trying to avoid the topic.. which is difficult.. I don't want to hurt their feelings that we don't want to see them. but we don't!

 

[rockundergirl]

reading all your posts, I'm starting to see that a lot of what you expect out of your Disney vacation is about how you traveled as a child. When i would with my mother as a child, florida seemed like a whole diff world to me, we would look at books about it together, and take the time to plan, because it would be just her and myself out of our environment. I think i still want part of that, Part of the fun of my trips in the planing and needing to know what to have with me .. making adr's .. deciding what day to tour each park, getting the most from my money.. blah blah,, and wither its true or not, a lot of the "adventure" of it is lost when i have a family home to go to / stay at /deal with while I'm thr.
And personally I think that if you move away from your family, its your job to come home to visit, not my job to make my vacation about seeing you cuz i happen to be in the area.

 

[EDuke98080]

This thread cracked me up! We have relatives that moved to Kissimmee last year and we use it as an excuse to take more trips! We make plans to do our WDW stuff and also plan a couple of dinners on property with them - our treat. We always stay at a resort as we wouldn't want to trouble them with guests and invite them to come hang out by the pool with us etc. It works because we do just enough visiting and lots of WDW fun. They have told us that they love that when family comes to visit in FLA that they are relaxed and on vacation and fun to be around. They also don't have to deal with all the dysfunctional stuff up North like the divorced parents who can't be in the same room at an event and the hassels of extended family baloney. We too have our fair share! So I guess when we buy a house in central FLA the lesson to be learned is don't tell anyone?

 

[lugnut33]

I have the opposite problem. Relatives I didn't even know I had, want to stay with me and know if I can get them FREE tickets LOL

Can you hook a brother up?

 

[FireDancer]

I will formally throw my hat in the ring to act as any one of your proxies when your relatives bug you. I will fly down, stay with them, pretend to be related to them and eat with them as long as I get some park time. I'll even laugh at their jokes, pet their animals, and find their children adorable...all with straight face(well, other than during said laughing). This goes double for the winter months.

All I ask for as a fee is my expenses.