It's my practical side that gets to me, here. I have read all posts and this is starting to bother me in a different way. I think we can swing a $10000 trip and do a Disney trip with the extras. If I get a deal/promo it won't be that much. My real issue is putting the money to better use for the great grandkids instead. I really don't want to pinch pennies to save $1000 and be more miserable doing Disney in a lesser way. I think family moments are important, but I like getting value from a trip and in reality the great grandkids parents are a concern, too. I think this has been nagging at me. It took all these posts for me to realize there are underlying issues, too.
It's just getting to Florida and doing Disney once there that will be a challenge for the parents of the great grandkids. I know the day of arrival and departure will not have time at the parks. For one, I'm sure I will have to do later air flights. Mom won't get up early; I'm sure. Then, settling in the resort will take more time for them. It's like everything is in slow motion. I can picture mom wanting to sleep the morning away each day. We can't handle the great grandkids on our own or I wouldn't care. We can help some, but we can't take over completely. I can see mom doing a three hour day and being done with the parks. She'd be happy to take a nap, enjoy the pool where she could just watch the kids in the pool and skip the parks except for a short look. Or worse yet stay in the resort room and watch television. I'm not sure about dad's drive and energy, either, but he has a good job and he has a physical job; so, I think he would have endurance. I don't think he would go to the parks without mom. There's no medical condition with the parents for real. To put it simply, they are not driven. Getting them to walk the entire Disney park will be a challenge. Hubby and I are very different people. We are driven and even with our limitations we don't let it stop us from doing anything really. We take a rest if needed, but we can accomplish an eight hour day at the parks easily when we are on our own. I know with the grandkids it will be more exhausting for us and so I would like to see us do 6 hours a day at the parks. I would be satisfied with 6 hours at the parks per day to get our money's worth. We could go off on our, but that's not really the point of this trip.
We know the great grandkids like the Disney characters, but we have no idea how they will react to the crowds, waits and so forth at Disney World. With the parents probably very willing to bail this could be a disaster. I could see the trip being a big waste of money. We will surely have a serious talk with the parents with our concerns. This has to be handled carefully though or we will be sure to offend. We don't live in the same state; so, we don't see them on a regular basis. The bonding with the great grandkids isn't that good; because, we don't see them as much as we would like to. I don't think they would want to be with us without one of the parents. The bond is very strong with mom; since, she is a stay at home mom. This is one of the reasons we wanted to do the trip; so, we could have strong quality time with everyone at the Happy Place.
For us, it won't be a satisfying trip if we are not in the parks for at least 4 hours a day and would prefer 6. It took all these posts to realize this is more complicated than just spending the money for the trip.
