How Did the Grandparents Do?

[russtwinsmom]

My husband's parents, both in their early seventies will be going with us (DH, me and three kids) to WDW in early March. Staying at WL. I'd like to hear how other's parents fared in the parks. Any dos or dont's? Thanks in advance!

 

[kctwinmommy]

I don't have any advice, but we're doing the same thing in 2009... My parents who will be 60 & 61 when we go are pretty active though, and love to travel! That is part of the reason we're booking so far out, their calendars are somewhat booked - Carribean cruise, Baltic Cruise, Germany for a month, and possibly another European trip somewhere else, and then my dad travels for business almost once a month... But I thought this would be a great trip for them to see through their G-kids' eyes, it's not a place they would ever go by themselves, but with their G-kids, it will be truly amazing!!

 

[Kimi313]

My dad went about 6 years ago so he was 65 and he rode everything. He rode Splash, Thunder, Dinosaur, Kali, and TOT. I knew he would not like Space or RoR. My mom who is six years younger went mostly to the shows. She has bad knees so we went ahead and put her in a wheel chair and she did great. One other time when DD and my nieces were there to dance and it was the middle of the summer, July, mom just went in to watch them dance and that was all. I new the heat and humdity would be too much.

 

[minnierocks]

A trip to WDW with grandparents is worth every penny!

We have taken a trip with both sets of grandparents, and are planning another trip with my husband's parents this Thanksgiving. Both sets are in their 60's, but we also took my DH grandmother who was 80 at the time...
While each trip was different, both were a wonderful time that we often talk about...

The trip with my parents (Dad has bad knees) was paced with the amount of walking he could do. There were times when they would just sit and "people watch", while we explored in the general vicinity. Neither one of them ride a lot of rides, but they rode what they could. We had a fabulous time trying new restaurants and experiencing the different types of food available. They enjoyed the shows and just wandering down Main St. Remember there is plenty to do, even if they are not into riding everything. It's not what you "do" at WDW, it's just the fact that you are there together. We had a great time.

When we went with DH parents, we also took his grandma and his sister. While Grandma is very active and you would never guess her age, we rented a chair, which had a lot of perks . We didn't realize how accomodating Disney was for those who were in a wheelchair. Again we did the shows and enjoyed being there together. DH's dad rode everything, which thrilled my son and they still constantly talk about this ride and that ride. Grandma and MIL spent time tooling through shops, while we rode something and then we would all catch a show. They are not quite as adventurous when it comes to eating new things, so they grabbed a burger, while we went to Japan. DD and Aunt Vicky had a blast learning about pin trading.

Remember that you don't have to spend every waking moment together, that it's OK if everyone doesn't want to do the same thing. There were times when they were done, and we weren't ready to leave yet. They left and we stayed.

You don't know how blessed I feel when I think of these trips. They are precious memories for all of us. I think that we need to enjoy our parents and our children for the time that we have them. A trip to Disney together is magical.

Have a fabulous trip!

 

[sPaRkLeSpAz]

We went in about 98' with my grandparents. We put my granddaddy in a scooter and my grandma walked.. She was in her 60's and he was in his 70's at the time. They both rode about everything. Even ToT.. My grandpa didn't think that the drop was going to be bad and thought all the screams were fake and the people were dummies.. Hehe, he found out later that he was going to be one of the screaming dummies =]

 

[cwnhokie]

For my MIL with bad knees, it really helped to only go to the parks every other day. The one time we went back to back she was in bad shape. She doesn't want to miss anything and won't pace herself once she's there. The day of rest in between helped her tremendously.

 

[sconnell]

Remember that you don't have to spend every waking moment together, that it's OK if everyone doesn't want to do the same thing. There were times when they were done, and we weren't ready to leave yet. They left and we stayed.

I CANNOT agree with this more! This applies when you go with anybody! When we've gone with friends, we've split up in every imaginable configuration and it makes things great! Dad's take the kids, then mom's take the kids, each family separate, boys and girls, etc...
When my mom went with us, it was a little more difficult, because she did slow us a bit, but since it was just her (my dad had just passed 3 months before, it was kind of a rememberance trip) I didn't want to leave her at all. But the times that we did leave her, we took the kids back to the room and she bathed them and played in the room with them and got them to bed and we did late EMH at MGM! It was great! We were able to do things that we couldn't have done with the kids and wouldn't have wanted to do alone. (ToT, RnR, etc.) Mom enjoyed some down time with the kids. We did AM EMH at Epcot this way too.

 

[kctwinmommy]

Remember that you don't have to spend every waking moment together, that it's OK if everyone doesn't want to do the same thing. There were times when they were done, and we weren't ready to leave yet. They left and we stayed.

That's what I was going to plan on doing... I figure they'll want some time to themselves. But I also thought about planning something (Maybe the BBB) with just my mom, DD, and me! And maybe the Princess meal, but that was a little more than we could spend, so we'll probably just all do the less expensive character breakfast! But I do agree with you, that pacing things and giving everybody a chance to do what they want can make it a great trip!

 

[candydog]

I went with my grandparents in 2005. I'm 15, they're in their 60s. My grandad was willing to try most rides, but some of them were a little fast for his liking. My grandma was happy to see her grandkids enjoying disney, and was more happy to take care of my younger brother (2 at the time) while the rest of us went on rides. My parents were there too so there was a good range of ages in our group including my other younger brother who was 11 at the time. Living in Spain most of the year after moving there for their retirement, they were used to the heat, and although they knew the holiday wasn't the kind of trip they were used to, they still found loads to do.

 

[chrissybear]

We went to WDW with MIL(63)& FIL(67) in Nov. We told them ahead of time that it was a lot of walking, and MIL should think about getting a scooter, she has bad hips. She didn't want one, she said that she wasn't crippled, she would walk. The first few days she was walking real slow, and she had to stop and rest every few minutes, and you could see that she was in pain. By the 3rd day we convinced her that a scooter would be helpful. She was so much happier with the scooter. She was no longer in pain, she was able to enjoy things so much more. They went on many rides that I would have never pictured them on. MIL always wanted to try splash so we went over and watched the logs come down the hill, that was a mistake 'cause she chickened out. It was a great experience taking them. I have been to WDW a few times with my family DH, 2DD, and DS, but it was really neat seeing WDW through the eyes of my FIL. He was amazed by so much.

 

[birkner]

I got quite a kick out of this thread. I am the GM that plans all the family WDW and DCL vacations. My kids and GK's expect me to do all the planning for them. They just want to show up and have a fabulous time.

As you can imagine, I love this thread!!

 

[PaMom001]

In Dec. '05 my parents, DM75 and DDad73, went and had no problems. DM even had leg surgery about 6 weeks before we went. Like other posters said, you don't have to stick together. If they don't want to go one day that's fine. If you have one car and they want to leave, you can get back into the parks again without paying parking again. Just save your parking stub.

 

[pigletforever]

We just booked our next trip for October 2007. MIL is going with us and she is 69. SHe has trouble walking and when I was talking to the CM about it being her first trip and worried about her walking the CM said to get a scooter and have fun. The CM said her parents get one everytime and jsut share it. MIL has been hesitiant about the trip and the all the walking. We are just going to get the scooter and tell her that her and I will share the scooter -

 

[russtwinsmom]

Thank you all for sharing your experiences. We think this is going to be a great trip for everyone, and for once I am looking forward to a slower paced trip to the parks. After all, it will be a great excuse for not having to ride ToT for once!

 

[DawnMarie]

My MIL did just fine. The first day she had an evc but she walked as well. After that she walked and would grab a seat when she needed. She doesn't like any spinning or fast rides so she just did the shows.

My ds's absolutely loved having grandma on vaction with us, mom & dad did to. They got a chance to be her tour guides. It was and will always be worth it to me. I thought is was funny when she went into one the shops to buy something my youngest tried to pay for her, of course she was having none of that.

 

[diseyore]

Just took my parents 78 & 76. We went to Epcot. Grandpa has a bad ankle and hip but refused a scooter. We took everything at a slow pace and didn't take them on Test Track, but did do Soaring and made the mistake of taking them on the green side of MS. They did comment that they would like to come back when they could just mosey more and not try to take it all in. I think they looked really tired. Don't know if they would survive more than 1 day.

 

[byoung]

If they are active great.

 

[Mousema]

OK, I have everyone beat. I took DM, 86 in September in the heat and humidity. She did the easy things like the shows, KS in AK, WDWRR, etc. She took her time and did great. I would go in the mornings and ride everything I wanted to, we would meet for lunch and then I would swim or rest. About 4 we went back to the parks and DM did what I did. It was great! Now I'm going again but she says, I've always wanted to go and now I've been.