Going to Disney with people who don't want to be there?

[Alucard84]

Anybody have any experience with this. Our trip last June was me, my daughter, and my neices first trip to Disney. My wife and her parents have been several times back when my wife was younger. Anyways, it was all 6 of us on this trip. They are nice people, but they, admittedly, were just there for my niece and daughter. They really had no interest in anything Disney. They had no interest in making the most of our 4 days in the parks. I kind of felt bad for them because they had paid all of the money for tickets and rooms and they ended up riding less than 10 rides the whole trip.

Anyways, has anybody had experienced this and how did you cope with it.

 

[luvsJack]

Are you assuming they didn’t want to be there because they didn’t ride? I don’t ride a lot of stuff but still enjoy being there. And I ride even less at Universal and still love it.

At MK for instance, I will ride POC, HM, Jungle Cruise, Buzz and PP. That’s about it that my family likes to ride. I spend the time they are riding other stuff either just wandering around enjoying the atmosphere, catching a show, people watching or just taking a break. Sometimes if they have a long wait on whatever I wil re ride something I enjoy.

Is it possible they enjoyed themselves doing that kind of stuff?


Way back when I was a teen my parents took me and my bff to MK. At that time there was a wonderful restaurant where Tony’s is now that served a great breakfast and had rocking chairs on the porch. Every morning we would eat there and they would finish their coffee in the rocking chairs. Every night my friend and I would come back out to find them in those chairs. For years I felt so bad thinking they spent the whole week in those rocking chairs! In truth they did everything we did! Lol

 

[Mome Rath]

Well, I think that it's perfectly fine not to ride rides, one of my trips was almost over and I realized I had ridden maybe 2 rides. Sometimes it's fine that the focus is on family instead of Disney, lots of people go there to see others experience Disney, as strange as that may sound. If they don't act put out, or upset, then there's no problem that I can see. The only time I'd see a hitch is if they prevented others from doing things based on their own dislike, or actively complained the whole time.

Are you asking because it may happen again in the future?

 

[Newsies]

I think I'd try to emphasize all the great non-theme park offerings WDW has now and see how they respond. Do you think they'd like a night of shopping, fine dining, and maybe a movie at Disney Springs? What about mini-golfing at Fantasia Gardens? Maybe a spa treatment? Would they love the lazy river at Typhoon Lagoon, or even just relaxing at the resort pool for an afternoon? Try to find out what they typically like to do on vacation, then you can recommend some great non-Park things for them to do.

Or, conversely, they loved the parks after all, they just don't enjoy rides. Like @luvsJack said, some people enjoy the ambiance of WDW without going on a lot of attractions. Good luck!

 

[Alucard84]

The father in law practically hates Disney. Thinks its way to crowded and expensive. The mother in law is indifferent. She said she was just there for the girls. Both have mobility issues so most of the time, they parked there scooters in the shade and waited for us to get done. I'm glad they got to go with us, but I wished they had enjoyed it. The one perk to having them there was they could take my daughter back to the room when she got tired. They usually left the parks before 3 and didn't come back.

 

[Alucard84]

Well, I think that it's perfectly fine not to ride rides, one of my trips was almost over and I realized I had ridden maybe 2 rides. Sometimes it's fine that the focus is on family instead of Disney, lots of people go there to see others experience Disney, as strange as that may sound. If they don't act put out, or upset, then there's no problem that I can see. The only time I'd see a hitch is if they prevented others from doing things based on their own dislike, or actively complained the whole time.

Are you asking because it may happen again in the future?

I really don't see them going back, but may be wrong. Combination of the cost of going and the mobility issues. They pretty much just wanted to take my niece to Disney once while they still could.

 

[MudQueen22]

My parents don't like going to Disney, but they want to go to be with the kids. They found out we were going next year, and they asked us why we didn't ask them. (We are taking a separate vacation with them.)

My father-in-law doesn't care for it at all because it's so expensive. I'm surprised he will even pay value prices, but I think my mother-in-law talks him into it. They went once about ten years ago, and they plan to go with us on our next trip.

Although I like Disney, I'm not really a big theme park fan. My husband loves them, and I go for him and the kids, I people watch, and I watch them ride rides. I guess the more elderly crowd feels the same way; they don't love it, but they probably don't hate it either.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I think it's ok that people do WDW their own way. If their sole reason to be there was to take their niece to WDW while they still could, I think that's very touching. We traveled as an extended family about 13 years ago and my, then, father-in-law (he has since passed), used a scooter for the trip and really couldn't do a lot. He probably rode less than 10 rides during that trip as well, but he still enjoyed it! He enjoyed eating at all the restaurants, seeing the fireworks and taking in the sights. We were once there over Christmas week (which was SO crowded) and DS and I were sitting on a bench by BTMRR where we struck up a conversation with two grandparents who were simply sitting there waiting for their kids and grandkids to get off the ride. They told us they were the designated "stuff holders". They seemed perfectly content to simply be in WDW with their family even if they didn't go on all the rides. Did they complain about the trip or about being there? Just because someone didn't experience WDW the way you would doesn't necessarily mean they didn't enjoy themselves!

 

[disneydreamer1980]

My sister hates Disney. Which is weird, since we’re a dvc family full of Disney lovers. She just doesn’t go, because she knows she won’t have fun. But a few years ago she went with my parents and me and my family and basically stayed in the room the whole time. You can’t make everyone happy and it’s not up to you to be disappointed if they don’t have fun. Disney world is just not for everyone. Just go to WDW with those who enjoy it and save the big family trips for the beach or somewhere else everyone likes.

 

[Crispity]

DH and I love WDW so much that we've been 7 times over the past 6 years. However, the reason that we love it is that it's magical for our kids. We had never ridden any of the height restricted rides until the last couple of trips when our oldest was tall enough for some of them, and it didn't bother me one bit. There is not a single ride that I would be upset about missing (last trip, which was our first time seeing Pandora, I gave our rider swap FP for FOP to another family because it scared DD when she rode with DH, and she didn't want to ride it again). DH feels the same way - rides just aren't that important to us.

What is important is the time together as a family, the joy on my kids faces, and the lasting memories for all of us (I'm amazed at some of the things my oldest remembers from trips when she was under three). WDW is not somewhere that DH and I would ever go on an adults only trip (there are a lot of places I would rather go sans kids - especially for that kind of money!). However, I think it is the absolute best place for a family vacation, and I genuinely love our time there, even though I don't care much about the rides. Sometimes, doing something for the kids is enough

 

[kokomos]

My Dh doesn’t love the parks as we do and has some mobility issues. We stay at offsite resorts. He now drops us off at the parks and goes back to the resort to enjoy the amnesties, pools, lazy rivers, goes to movies, takes naps, etc then picks us up in the evening. Win win for all of us.

 

[amy1115]

My Mom went with us on our trip in 2013 and she really didn't like it at all. She didn't ruin our trip or anything like that, but I guess I really wanted her to love it because we do, and it just wasn't for her at all and she ended up staying at the condo a lot of the time. It's really a bummer when it works out like that, but I'm still happy she went with us and gave it a try at least once. Now she's perfectly happy to cat sit for us when we go. We've figured out that our trips are much more enjoyable when it's just our family.

 

[KenHutch]

You should ask them if they had fun that way you know. On our last trip this past June one of the daughters maternal great aunts (she usually comes with us) did not ride a single ride, not one. I did get sort of angry about paying for her ticket and the food plan for us until I got a chance to talk to several of her neighbors (they check on her often). She informed them that she had an incredible time. Every time we got in line for a ride she was off on her ECV and looking for CM's and pins. Turns out she added almost 500 pins to her collection thru trading. So you never know what makes people happy.