Have you let your teenager bring a friend?

[Chernabog'sMom]

We are considering allowing our 15 yr old son to bring a friend on our next WDW trip. This would be totally at our expense as his parents can not afford it. The boy has never been on an airplane and this is a cross country trip. We have not mentioned it to the parents or the kid yet, we are still in the discussion stages.

I'm wondering if anyone has ever done this and how it has worked out. Were there any special problems/considerations? We're thinking our son will have more fun and it would be a treat for his friend, who we adore. But, it would no longer be a family vacation and I'm afraid I would miss that.

 

[maleficent esq.]

We are considering allowing our 15 yr old son to bring a friend on our next WDW trip. This would be totally at our expense as his parents can not afford it. The boy has never been on an airplane and this is a cross country trip. We have not mentioned it to the parents or the kid yet, we are still in the discussion stages.

I'm wondering if anyone has ever done this and how it has worked out. Were there any special problems/considerations? We're thinking our son will have more fun and it would be a treat for his friend, who we adore. But, it would no longer be a family vacation and I'm afraid I would miss that.

Our daughter is an only child and we would always bring her cousin or a friend with us. It actually worked out great the girls would stay with us for a little while in the morning then go do their own thing. We always paid for the friend and it always worked out well. However, again, there were no other children to contend with.

 

[mom2cookies]

I have four children ages 10 - 15. The last two trips we invited friends to go along. Last year just my 15 yr DD took a friend and this year DD 13 and DD 15 both took a friend. Both times it worked out fine. We invited them over a few times between the invite and departure day so we would all get more comfortable with each other. Of course, we see these same " children" almost everyday as they go to the same school and church as we do. But still, yes, it worked out just fine. We made sure they and their parents had a daily list of planned activities. ( not individual rides of course but which park we planned to go to each day and where we were eatting dinner each day. etc) And we made sure we had their parents cell phone and house phone numbers and they had ours. And we encouraged the kids to call their parents when they wanted or at least every other day. Everything went well.
I'd say go for it!

 

[TENIA66]

How do you divide expenses or do you?

meals??

park tix?

souveniers?

photos??

 

[Chernabog'sMom]

Thanks for the positive feedback. I think it will work. This is a child that we have known for 10 years. We are friends with the parents. Our kids go to school together and we drive them to school and the other Mom picks them up.

Our son is an only child. He has been to WDW twice with us. I think I would feel much more comfortable for him to go off to Disney Quest if he is with a friend.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I was the teenager who could bring a friend and it was fun.

 

[two-plus-twins]

I was a lucky friend that got to go on vacation with my best friend and her parents. We never went to Disney, but I did get to go to Hawaii for spring break my Jr. year in high school. Her parents paid for the rental car, hotel or condo, because they would have had that expense whether I went or not. My parents paid for my plane tickets, admission to places we visited, food, and souvenirs.

It worked out really nice for both of us, she didn't have to do everything by herself or with her parents and I got a chance to go places my parents couldn't take our family of five.

 

[FSUDisneyGirl]

i was the teen-who-got-to-bring-a-friend as well as the friend-brought-by-the-teen-who-got-to-bring-a-friend...LOL!

i think it worked out great! as long as you know the family well, i think it will be fine. i would recommend that, if the family does not have much money, telling the friend ahead of time that meals/tickets/etc are covered...if the parents are going to give you any $, maybe they could give it to you ahead of time. i remember going on a trip as a teen with another family, and it was just a little akward... i wasn't sure what to pay for, etc, so every time we went to eat or into a new place, i felt a little strange.

have fun! : )

 

[bgirl29]

I too would think it would work out just fine. One thing I would do is talk to the other boys parents and make sure they are comfortable with allowing the boys the same amount of freedom as you plan on.

I am thinking of my 15yr old son and his best friend, I would probably allow them to travel around on their own some, but I am not sure that his parents would feel comfortable with that as they have not been to Disney.

So just make sure you have a lot of communication between families.

Good Luck and have a great trip.

 

[isla bonita]

I personally have not brought a friend as of yet with our family.

A friend of ours stayed with us while in florida and her son brought a friend. We awere a group of 11 and we all got on famously. What a great kid he was. I think it is a most generous thing for both your son and your sons friend. What great memories he will have.

 

[DaisyD]

Not to Disney yet but on all other major vacations. I too pay ALL expenses because I am the inviter. It always worked out great. When DD gets old enough I will be bringing her friends to WDW too.

 

[DaisyLynn]

I was always allowed to bring a friend as a teen, being the only teen and the only girl in our large extended family (we'd always go as a HUGE bunch to Disney). It was WONDERFUL! I always brought my best friend (who was basically like a second daughter in the fam anyway) and we made wonderful memories...totally innocent, of course! No, we were good kids...just had a lot of fun meeting teenage boys out and about! I think my parents enjoyed having her there as well. It allowed them some quiet time to themselves. And saved my mother from having me at her side 24/7 (every parent needs some breathing room)!

 

[A&A'sGrammy]

When my son was 18 he brought his friend who was 17. It truly was a great trip. We stayed in adjoining rooms at All Star. They stayed with us most days until 2 or 3. We gave them cash for dinner as this was before DDP. They would then proceed to go to 2 or 3 more parks and water parks. We would finally get to wander at our own pace then head back for a rest and swim!! Some nights we would request their presence for dinner and other nights we would go someplace we always wanted but didn't think kids would appreciate. If we were back in our room before them, I would keep the doors open between the rooms. When they arrived back (always before curfew) my son would peek in and let us know they were back. In the morning we would be up and showered before the boys. My son used our shower while TJ used theirs. This helped speed up our morning prep time.

I loved this trip as it was the first time DH and I had any alone time at Disney since our honeymoon. We still had one of our kids with us but we all had time to do things that we wanted without knowing we were boring someone else.

 

[shelly3girls]

Although we have not done it yet, we will most likely do it in the future. I figure that if I invite a child then it is at my expense. If I couldn't afford it then I wouldn't invite her. I know everyone is different but I think this avoids most of the problems I hear about. Good luck! BTW I think this is wonderful and very generous of you!

 

[sherreis]

We let our daughter go with a friend's family when she was a teenager. They paid for everything - we only had to give her spending money.

I might add, to make sure you get health insurance info, any pertinent medical info you might need in emergency (like allergies). I think we also provided a notarized letter that allowed the friends parents to seek medical care in an emergency.

 

[DVCLiz]

I let DD17 have two friends for an end-of-year graduation gift. It wasn't exactly the same, because I told them in advance that I couldn't treat for the whole cost, but I did for most of it. They each gave me $300.00 to cover the cost of their tickets and some meals, and I paid for the rest. Actually, one girl gave me $400.00 because she said her mom knew I was paying for almost everything, and she wanted to kick in a little more. We stayed at VWL for 4 nights in a 2BR and the Poly for 2 nights in a room that slept five.

I covered the transportation (we drove), DVC villa (on points), two additional nights at the Poly (cash), and most meals. I also gave each girl $100.00 Disney dollars when we got there as a graduation gift. They were delighted, and the whole trip was wonderful from start to finish!!!!

 

[INdisneyfamily]

Our daughters have brought best friends and a boyfriend (they have been together for 4 years) and it is always fun to share our love of Disney especially with those who have never been. Each time we have allowed this it has been someone who we were all very comfortable with and seemed like part of the family. We also pick up the tab but let them buy their own souveniers...although I usually buy them a Disney tshirt or sweatshirt because it makes me just as happy as them. It also makes pairing up on rides for two much easier...no one has to ride with a stranger. I will second that it is a good idea to bring a copy of their medical insurance card and a notarized letter from the parents just in case of emergency. I definitely understand your concern of it not being a "family vacation". I thought I might feel that way too but we were all having such a good time together that it was just as fun. Have a great trip whatever you decide!

 

[INdisneyfamily]

Also we take each of our daughters on the Disney Cruise for their Sweet 16th birthday and let them take their best friend. We get adjoining cabins and it has always been a great trip. Our youngest is almost thirteen...three more years to go!!!

 

[eeyoregon]

Hi-jacking your thread a little...sorry. So, here is my dilema. I am a single Mom and work VERY hard to be able to take my 2 sons to the World once a year. It's a big cross-country trip for us and we look forward to it all year long. DS will be 14 soon and is dying to bring his best friend next year. Other DS will be 11 soon but doesn't really have a super close friend yet. Oldest Disney son got to go to the World when he was 8 alone with just me while little brother stayed home (I was in a Disney wedding and just couldn't handle wedding events and a 4 & 8 year old so left 4 year old home - I know, bad mommy!)

Is it fare to let one son bring a friend and not the other? I was thinking I could use the time that my oldest son goes off with his friend to spend one-on-one Disney time with my youngest son, which we have never had together at WDW. Because I am a perpetually financially strapped single Mom, is it tacky to ask invited friend to pay his airfare/food/tickets and we cover the room cost? The other plus of only 1 friend is that we can still fit in one room where as a 5th person would push us into a bigger more expen$ive room which is not an option.

Thanx in advance for any comments/suggestions!

 

[dixipixi]

We brought our 17 y/o DS's best friend this past June. We also had our 13 y/o with us and he didn't think it "wasn't fair" to him. He has been promised that he can bring a friend with him when he is 16 or so. I feel like it's easier when they're older because they can go off on their own for a while and it's not like they're constantly underfoot.

DH and I did enjoy having time with 13 y/o just the three of us. We were able to relax and enjoy ourselves. The 17 y/o's also watched the 13 y/o for us one evening while DH and I had dinner alone.

As for paying, we paid all of our guests expenses. We knew before we asked him that his family could not afford to pay anything, so we were willing to pay for it. He did bring his own spending money. But I think it is ok to ask the guest to pay for their expenses, as long as you are up front about it when you ask them.

13 y/o's best friend has an annual pass every year, so if he were to go with us, he would have his own tix and I know his family would offer to pay for his expenses (but they can afford it). The money issue is totally dependent on the ability of the parties involved to pay.