Family not excited, looking for recommendations

[Darth Insidious]

I love reading through all these thoughts and suggestions. My husband isn’t a vet but since he’s a double leg amputee he gets approached a lot from strangers who immediately assume and come up to him to shake his hand and thank him for his service!!!

But because of his disability we plan our Disney trips much like you are tackling yours.
Our first trip to WDW is in April and we too have 10 nights. 7 park days and 2 full rest days. The length will save us from cramming in too much in too short of a time! He complained about the length at first but then I explained how the rest days will save him and us!

thanks to your husband for his service. Your trip will be absolutely amazing!!!

Thank you. I hope you have a great trip too!

 

[sdk1231]

Thank you so much! Definitely looking for alternative fireworks viewing.

I was sort of taking of doing a Fantasmic dining package arrival day. We have to eat. It doesn’t have to be super hectic. See a show, ride a couple of stacked rides, see early Fantasmic show, done in 3-4 hours tops. That or eat somewhere fun outside of the parks and then do the fireworks cruise he wants to do again. Boardwalk area is convenient for that.

We went to a Star Wars party last time. It was awesome but I regretted having gone to another park that day. The kids were 5 and 7. 7 year old loved it. 5 year old was dragging. Thinking our youngest now might do okay at after hours stuff if we do nothing else that day and then it’s low crowds, no ride reservations, just explore.

Love the idea of the Fantasmic dining package on your arrival day, hit up a couple rides, check out SWGE at night. That could be great. Fireworks cruise would be great too. Both excellent choices. Regarding After Hours, I agree - conserve your energy and do a resort day that day.

 

[Gir8ffe]

We are going to Disney World next February.

Kids will be 6 (just turned 6 then), 12, and 14.
Husband is a combat vet and does not enjoy Disney. We have been once, 7 years ago.

The youngest is super excited. She wants a BBB makeover, to meet some princesses and other characters, eat at CRT, and hopefully go to a tea party if that’s back. I think I can meet those expectations.

12 yo wants to lounge around the hotel most of the time. She wants to shop, try different foods, doesn’t want thrill rides (but loved them age 5). She wants to eat at BoG. Zero interest in characters. I’m thinking Disney Springs and World Showcase could be really fun for her. Maybe a spa day at the hotel. Pretty much everything I suggest, she says no to.

14 yo wants thrill rides. He’s relatively easy going but will be bored with some stuff. He’s also interested in “any restaurant” and wants to try all food. He is interested in World Showcase and maybe Disney Springs. I’m thinking maybe after hours events for him. If the Day of Thrills Tour is back, maybe that. Also water parks. He’s excited about Galaxy’s Edge. We are going to do some Batuu bounding and also build sabers and droids.

Husband liked the firework cruise we did (pontoon boat at Epcot). That makes sense since he doesn’t love crowds. He also remembers liking Rainforest Cafe for the theming with the kids. He took our middle child to Aurora’s tea party and enjoyed that. Unrushed, uncrowded stuff appeals to him generally. His biggest complaint is “it was too planned out, felt like we were always rushing”. He wants to wake up, decide which park, and just do what we want in the moment. He despised trying to rope drop (despite being an up at 4 or 5am kind of guy). He wants one day off for every two in a park. Husband and 12 yo are sort of on the same page. They’d like to wander for a few hours, snack, ride whatever grabs their interest, then go back to the hotel within a few hours.

So I’m trying to do at least a couple of days without much planned. Animal Kingdom might go okay. World Showcase. Disney Springs. He wants me to do no planning but I know that will mean no fun restaurants, no BBB, and long lines for rides.

Any advice? I think we might have to split up a fair amount of the time to make everyone happy. Any suggestions for the two who just want to browse and take in the area? It’s sort of a hot mess of a schedule trying to accommodate everyone. Most likely there for 10 days. Trying to nail that down if I can come up with some sort of tentative schedule.

I do think I’m just going to accept that husband and older daughter might do a few things then leave for the hotel (perhaps with the youngest). Maybe try to do what my son wants with after hours or stacked evening rides.

Just two suggestions from me: 1) Consider easy mornings and heading to the park(s) early to mid afternoon. My guys (husband and son) do not like an early morning rush and this helps them to be ready to deal with the hustle in the parks. I even let my guys sleep in while I visited a neighboring resort each morning. 2) As you have already considered, be willing to split up at least a day or two if the family wants to do different things.

You may find rethinking how you did the trip last time may make for an even better trip!

 

[DL1WDW2]

Congrats to being thread of the day !
Who knew ?
I hope you have a great trip and return to this thread to post a mini trip report or just to let us know You all survived .

 

[Darth Insidious]

Just two suggestions from me: 1) Consider easy mornings and heading to the park(s) early to mid afternoon. My guys (husband and son) do not like an early morning rush and this helps them to be ready to deal with the hustle in the parks. I even let my guys sleep in while I visited a neighboring resort each morning. 2) As you have already considered, be willing to split up at least a day or two if the family wants to do different things.

You may find rethinking how you did the trip last time may make for an even better trip!

Thank you. Good to hear others had good results not rope dropping. I’m not even going to try. That is one lesson learned from the first trip. That and no parks during the day if we are going to after hours. You made me think yo pull out the photo book from last trip and think about what worked or not and also what stands out as important.

 

[Darth Insidious]

Congrats to being thread of the day !
Who knew ?
I hope you have a great trip and return to this thread to post a mini trip report or just to let us know You all survived .

Thank you. If it would be helpful to others, I can definitely do that.

 

[SwanVT2]

Congrats to being thread of the day !
Who knew ?
I hope you have a great trip and return to this thread to post a mini trip report or just to let us know You all survived .

How do you get thread of the day? Or know you got thread of the day? That's neat!

 

[starry_solo]

Are you flying or driving?
You know your family, but for mine, after flying across the country, we look for something simple and quick to eat and veg in the room.

 

[Blondie58]

We are going to Disney World next February.

Kids will be 6 (just turned 6 then), 12, and 14.
Husband is a combat vet and does not enjoy Disney. We have been once, 7 years ago.

The youngest is super excited. She wants a BBB makeover, to meet some princesses and other characters, eat at CRT, and hopefully go to a tea party if that’s back. I think I can meet those expectations.

12 yo wants to lounge around the hotel most of the time. She wants to shop, try different foods, doesn’t want thrill rides (but loved them age 5). She wants to eat at BoG. Zero interest in characters. I’m thinking Disney Springs and World Showcase could be really fun for her. Maybe a spa day at the hotel. Pretty much everything I suggest, she says no to.

14 yo wants thrill rides. He’s relatively easy going but will be bored with some stuff. He’s also interested in “any restaurant” and wants to try all food. He is interested in World Showcase and maybe Disney Springs. I’m thinking maybe after hours events for him. If the Day of Thrills Tour is back, maybe that. Also water parks. He’s excited about Galaxy’s Edge. We are going to do some Batuu bounding and also build sabers and droids.

Husband liked the firework cruise we did (pontoon boat at Epcot). That makes sense since he doesn’t love crowds. He also remembers liking Rainforest Cafe for the theming with the kids. He took our middle child to Aurora’s tea party and enjoyed that. Unrushed, uncrowded stuff appeals to him generally. His biggest complaint is “it was too planned out, felt like we were always rushing”. He wants to wake up, decide which park, and just do what we want in the moment. He despised trying to rope drop (despite being an up at 4 or 5am kind of guy). He wants one day off for every two in a park. Husband and 12 yo are sort of on the same page. They’d like to wander for a few hours, snack, ride whatever grabs their interest, then go back to the hotel within a few hours.

So I’m trying to do at least a couple of days without much planned. Animal Kingdom might go okay. World Showcase. Disney Springs. He wants me to do no planning but I know that will mean no fun restaurants, no BBB, and long lines for rides.

Any advice? I think we might have to split up a fair amount of the time to make everyone happy. Any suggestions for the two who just want to browse and take in the area? It’s sort of a hot mess of a schedule trying to accommodate everyone. Most likely there for 10 days. Trying to nail that down if I can come up with some sort of tentative schedule.

I do think I’m just going to accept that husband and older daughter might do a few things then leave for the hotel (perhaps with the youngest). Maybe try to do what my son wants with after hours or stacked evening rides.

Sounds very stressful and not like a vacation. Maybe take the little for a couple of days yourself and do a vaca that all will enjoy elsewhere. Sounds like you will come home fully exhausted trying to please each person. WDW is a very expensive place to vaca if some are not really interested. All latter personal opinion since you have asked. (We have a couple older children that no way no how wish to go to WDW at this time. Thus, I have gone alone a couple of times. We do other vacations that more fit where the family is in life today.)

 

[Darth Insidious]

How do you get thread of the day? Or know you got thread of the day? That's neat!

I don’t know how. Someone mentioned it and provided a link. I guess it’s listed on the homepage. Maybe because so many people were being super helpful?

 

[Darth Insidious]

Are you flying or driving?
You know your family, but for mine, after flying across the country, we look for something simple and quick to eat and veg in the room.

We are flying. Should be a 3 hour flight if direct but it’s looking like that might be a very early flight, which I’m not psyched about. If we do anything, it would have to just be a couple hours, low key like dinner and Fantasmic (but even that might be a bit much), fireworks cruise, or maybe Chef Mickey then dole whips and fireworks at the Poly. The last one is most flexible so probably most likely. We might be too tired even for that. We would have been resting in the room since like 9am unless there’s a delay (I will book for the night before). I figure getting up at 3am then 3 hour flight is equally or less exhausting than taking 7 hours to get there with layover.

 

[Darth Insidious]

Sounds very stressful and not like a vacation. Maybe take the little for a couple of days yourself and do a vaca that all will enjoy elsewhere. Sounds like you will come home fully exhausted trying to please each person. WDW is a very expensive place to vaca if some are not really interested. All latter personal opinion since you have asked. (We have a couple older children that no way no how wish to go to WDW at this time. Thus, I have gone alone a couple of times. We do other vacations that more fit where the family is in life today.)

Thank you for the suggestion. They are all against the idea of a trip with just me and the youngest. They want to go, just want to do different things. I might try cutting out certain park stuff for more non-park activities. Hoping more magical extras will be back by then. The middle one who doesn’t want to do rides wants to take her little sister on Pirates and Pals. She loved meeting Peter Pan. She also wants to go with her to a tea party. The older two want to dress up for Galaxy’s edge, build droids, and light sabers. Stuff like that. The oldest wants thrill rides too though.

 

[starry_solo]

We are flying. Should be a 3 hour flight if direct but it’s looking like that might be a very early flight, which I’m not psyched about. If we do anything, it would have to just be a couple hours, low key like dinner and Fantasmic (but even that might be a bit much), fireworks cruise, or maybe Chef Mickey then dole whips and fireworks at the Poly. The last one is most flexible so probably most likely. We might be too tired even for that. We would have been resting in the room since like 9am unless there’s a delay (I will book for the night before). I figure getting up at 3am then 3 hour flight is equally or less exhausting than taking 7 hours to get there with layover.

Definitely a low-key dinner.

Have you checked the Ears for Each Other Facebook group? There are former Disney CMs (laid off due to pandemic, some not called back) that are licensed caterers so maybe a catered dinner in your suite? or lunch with leftovers for dinner?

I saw a post in another thread about an Ohana chef, Chef Cali of CaliKingCuisine (aka Caleb Wiley), that people seem to like a lot. Lots of posts about how many leftovers they had remaining for another meal.

 

[SleepyDeb]

Just a heads up since you're talking about Fantasmic, in case you haven't seen it before. It's VERY loud (next time I'm bringing foam ear plugs) at points with nightmare imagery and mock battles. I see babies and toddlers being carried out each time. If your hubby hasn't seen it yet, maybe ask him to watch it on YouTube first to see if he wants to do it.

 

[Timandalicia]

We are going to Disney World next February.

Kids will be 6 (just turned 6 then), 12, and 14.
Husband is a combat vet and does not enjoy Disney. We have been once, 7 years ago.

The youngest is super excited. She wants a BBB makeover, to meet some princesses and other characters, eat at CRT, and hopefully go to a tea party if that’s back. I think I can meet those expectations.

12 yo wants to lounge around the hotel most of the time. She wants to shop, try different foods, doesn’t want thrill rides (but loved them age 5). She wants to eat at BoG. Zero interest in characters. I’m thinking Disney Springs and World Showcase could be really fun for her. Maybe a spa day at the hotel. Pretty much everything I suggest, she says no to.

14 yo wants thrill rides. He’s relatively easy going but will be bored with some stuff. He’s also interested in “any restaurant” and wants to try all food. He is interested in World Showcase and maybe Disney Springs. I’m thinking maybe after hours events for him. If the Day of Thrills Tour is back, maybe that. Also water parks. He’s excited about Galaxy’s Edge. We are going to do some Batuu bounding and also build sabers and droids.

Husband liked the firework cruise we did (pontoon boat at Epcot). That makes sense since he doesn’t love crowds. He also remembers liking Rainforest Cafe for the theming with the kids. He took our middle child to Aurora’s tea party and enjoyed that. Unrushed, uncrowded stuff appeals to him generally. His biggest complaint is “it was too planned out, felt like we were always rushing”. He wants to wake up, decide which park, and just do what we want in the moment. He despised trying to rope drop (despite being an up at 4 or 5am kind of guy). He wants one day off for every two in a park. Husband and 12 yo are sort of on the same page. They’d like to wander for a few hours, snack, ride whatever grabs their interest, then go back to the hotel within a few hours.

So I’m trying to do at least a couple of days without much planned. Animal Kingdom might go okay. World Showcase. Disney Springs. He wants me to do no planning but I know that will mean no fun restaurants, no BBB, and long lines for rides.

Any advice? I think we might have to split up a fair amount of the time to make everyone happy. Any suggestions for the two who just want to browse and take in the area? It’s sort of a hot mess of a schedule trying to accommodate everyone. Most likely there for 10 days. Trying to nail that down if I can come up with some sort of tentative schedule.

I do think I’m just going to accept that husband and older daughter might do a few things then leave for the hotel (perhaps with the youngest). Maybe try to do what my son wants with after hours or stacked evening rides.

Do not do unplanned days. I might suggest that you should do the opposite of “a couple of days unplanned”. I think the fam needs to be involved in the research and be obligated to pick out some stuff. And then plan the heck out of it. I’d be adaptive if things don’t pan out, but it sounds to me that you are going to get thrown under the bus if they all don’t have the time of their lives.

 

[Darth Insidious]

Definitely a low-key dinner.

Have you checked the Ears for Each Other Facebook group? There are former Disney CMs (laid off due to pandemic, some not called back) that are licensed caterers so maybe a catered dinner in your suite? or lunch with leftovers for dinner?

I saw a post in another thread about an Ohana chef, Chef Cali of CaliKingCuisine (aka Caleb Wiley), that people seem to like a lot. Lots of posts about how many leftovers they had remaining for another meal.

Thank you.

 

[Darth Insidious]

Just a heads up since you're talking about Fantasmic, in case you haven't seen it before. It's VERY loud (next time I'm bringing foam ear plugs) at points with nightmare imagery and mock battles. I see babies and toddlers being carried out each time. If your hubby hasn't seen it yet, maybe ask him to watch it on YouTube first to see if he wants to do it.

Thanks for the warning. We went last time. He liked it as long as we sit in the back row.

 

[brockash]

I think you're wise to recognize that there's not much to be gained by forcing anyone to do anything they're not really into. (In fact, is it even an option for husband to stay at home? I don't want to assume that "combat vet" automatically equals PTSD, but there's a lot about the WDW experience that could be challenging.) But there's also the fact that even somebody who's not that "into it" gets sucked in by the experience and has fun after all. Our 13yo daughter was all "I don't even care about WDW, I just want to do HP" before our trip, but wound up enthusiastic. Give your 12yo room to change her mind at the last minute and opt in if she wants to.

The parks are, by their nature, a "sensory overload" experience. Aside from the intensity of rides, there are crowds, noises, pushing and pulling; there are even scents and music piped in to make sure you don't have an un-stimulated moment. The Genie+/ILL/VQ systems have us on edge, feeling that we must fight competitively, and that if we relax and take our time we're leaving money and/or "fun" on the table. It sounds like your husband might enjoy some of the places that are oases from the stimuli. It's basically all the things that nobody tries to elbow their way into because they're not as exciting. Some of those, for me, off the top of my head:

• Tom Sawyer Island
• Tomorrowland People Mover
• Carousel of Progress and Hall of Presidents (though that might be a little too zen?)
• Epcot World Showcase in general, especially the garden areas of China and Japan
• Lots of corners of AK like the animal trails

And in general, many sit-down meals can provide a nice respite. Jiko was dim, tranquil, and an amazing meal. Sometimes the right table makes all the difference; the "butterfly booth" in Skipper's Canteen is awesome.

For folks who don't like rope drop... and don't like crowds... and prefer to be unplanned... sometimes evenings can be great times. If you get Extended Evening Hours, go for them; maybe consider buying an After Hours event? You get everything husband and 14-yo are looking for: relatively empty parks, do stuff in whatever order you want, and you can wake up at 7pm .

I too was going to suggest DH stay home. My dh is also military and has gone twice with us to Disney and just. doesn't enjoy it which stinks for him while we're there and really stinks to be around too, so he doesn't come anymore. We all prefer it that way.

 

[Darth Insidious]

I too was going to suggest DH stay home. My dh is also military and has gone twice with us to Disney and just. doesn't enjoy it which stinks for him while we're there and really stinks to be around too, so he doesn't come anymore. We all prefer it that way.

I certainly understand the suggestion and discussed it with him but he wants to go. He just doesn’t want to spend long hours or several days in a row in the parks. I may have to remind him he can go back to the room if he isn’t having fun. You are definitely right it can impact everyone.

 

[sdk1231]

I certainly understand the suggestion and discussed it with him but he wants to go. He just doesn’t want to spend long hours or several days in a row in the parks. I may have to remind him he can go back to the room if he isn’t having fun. You are definitely right it can impact everyone.

DH returning to the room works well for my family, but it took some convincing. At first my husband was reluctant to leave us in the park and head back to the resort. I remember clearly standing at Splash Mtn while our kids were riding. He told me that he wanted to head out but felt bad about it. I reminded him that this vacation is for all of us and that his happiness and comfort are important to all of us. He continued to hesitate until finally I said something to the effect of him killing my park mojo. We both laughed and he went on back to the resort. After that, no problem. Our family park policy was established. When he's "done", he heads out. No guilt, no feeling bad. Knowing that he can leave whenever he wants makes the park time he spends with us way better - he has way more fun.