INLAWS!! screwing with my planning

[jselz]

Hello all,

The planned trip (up too yesterday):
March 10-17: Offsite (only because it was free), all disney, except for a trip to seaworld.

Meet the inlaws:

Melanie (wife's sister): Mother of two. Sweet gal, almost as much as my wife. 1st trip to Disnyworld.

Andy (brother-in-law): Northern redneck, hunting, fishing, outdoorsy type, more hunting trips by self to Colorado and Montana than vacation trips with family. Upcoming trip first out of the state other than hunting trips.

Laura (niece): Nine, loves all things disney. Mommy's girl. First trip.

William (nephew): Five, cross between mommy and daddy, First trip.

Meet the planners:

Wife: Will be second trip to the world. Generally follows my advice (from reading these boards). Helping with logistics of having young'ns around for trip.

Myself: Will be my third trip. Nominated lead planner by inlaws and wife. All bowed down to my trip planning experience until now.


Me: "What do you all wanna do in disneyworld"
Mel, Laura, William: "Yadda, yadda, yadda"
Me (taking notes): "What about you Andy"
Andy: "I wanna go to Gatorland!"
Me: "GATORLAND!"
Andy: "for a whole day"
Me: "GATORLAND!?!"
William: "YEAHHH!, GATORLAND, GATORLAND, GATORLAND?
Me: "GATORLAND!?!, we don't got time for no sticking Gatorland!"

So, anyone been to Gatorland? Could it be possible to change their minds? I have absolutely no interest in Gatorland. Will probably suggest they go and wife and I will stay for some adult time at the parks.

 

[disneefamily]

Disnee Dad Says.................................. I very rarely comment on places I have not seen, but have thought about this place three times, and looked at brousures etc... We have never gone, but it looks to be your typical tourist trap, and we have been to a few of those!
The choice is to burn a couple hours and show you are part of the family, or let them go while you rock WDW! I know what I would choose, but I'm not saying!

 

[pegasusEH]

We have been a couple of times but we are British and not used to dangrous wildlife so we found it quite interesting. It certainly isn't a full day though and if it doesn't interest you in the slightest then I wouldn't go.

 

[letyfrombrazil]

I went to Gatorland on my second trip to US.
It was a little boring but my dad told us that It was a "classic" Florida attraction so we did it.
They had a show when they feed the animals and as I remember... We ATE some kind of food made with crocodile meat.
The good side is that the visit was over soon. (there wasn´t much to do there.)

 

[epcotfan]

http://www.gatorland.com/

There certainly isn't enough stuff to merit a full day of touring. Check out the site for more info. Hey you can go and look at wildlife at Disney's Animal Kingdom. At least the theming is better there and you aren't restricted to reptiles.

 

[DisneyHumbug]

We went when the kids were young. Two things stand out in my mind from that trip: a chance to sit on a turtle (a real big turtle) and the picture of my kids with a small gator (with his mouth taped) sitting on their laps. Would I go again? Probably not, but the kids would want to go out of curiosity. I would send the in-laws by themselves if you don't want to go. You will need some time apart anyway!

 

[SamR]

When sharing a vacation with friends or extended family, we have always found it a good policy to say up front that while we will do many (most?) things together, there may be some activities that will not be shared (due to lack of interest, level of appropriateness for children, etc.). This is usually a good idea anyway for trips of more than just a few days, as it gives the individual families a little quality time by themselves.

In your case, it sounds like "GatorLand" would be a good activity for a "non-shared" day.

 

[kozmo]

Tell him you are taking him to Gatorland and its called Animal Kingdom ,you are going to spend the whole day there!!!

 

[Lucky4me]

My kids LOVED Gatorland!

We have pictures of them with their heads in an (fake) alligators mouth. Very cool.

We were only there for a couple of hours too.

 

[Bichon Barb]

I have no idea about Gatorland, but I have to tell ya that I love this post. LOL.

Take the kid to Dinoland in AK and tell him it's a replica of Gatorland. (That's kind of true, isn't it?)

 

[Gillian]

How about Andy & William go to Gatorland FOR THE WHOLE DAY while the rest of you do something else? Or maybe the girls do tea at the Grand Floridian one afternoon while the guys do Gatorland? And you relax by the pool to recover from all that planning!

Seriously, when you travel as a family it's a good idea to split up anyway. Too much togetherness wears on you after a while.

And please be sure to write a trip report when you get back. I have a feeling it'll be a good one!

 

[strawberryblonde]

Please DO write a trip report when you get back!! That is one I can't wait to read. Splitting up is a great solution. You can always enjoy their pics of gatorland later

Heidi

 

[sillyminny]

I second that thought!
Why do you have to "stick together"? Go try a day of mini-golf (that mini-golf place has two levels) or another museum! There is a children's science museum, Ripley's, lots of other stuff. But if you haven't been to WDW you will not need to go offsite at all.

This child will probably find Gator Land his fav thing but he will love Animal Kingdom better. Especially Rafiki's petting area (I avoid this my kids are 6 to 10 and too old).

 

[loriandmatt]

We loved Gatorland....but then again, we are some of those rednecks you are talking about. (this smiley guy would be perfect if it only had a few less teeth or a big old chew in! - Not making fun of anyone here, except myself. And no, i am not missing teeth!)

Seriously - We hit gatorland on our way out of town on our check out day last year. My son (then 6) loved it! It's a very "guy" kind of place and kind of like South of the Border....ya know it's gonna be tacky, but ya just gotta stop and see it once....get a 'fridge magnet to prove ya been there, and get back in the car.
It is a bit steep in price for such a tacky exploration, but we were lucky to get some discount coupons off of their website.

I feel your pain about the in-law on a WDW trip though. This past June we went with DH's sister, her barbaric husband and their two daughters as well as my MIL. NEVER AGAIN. I highly recomend the discussing of and planning of "seperate times". It would have helped our situation. (the problem we ran into was when we suggested it they would pull the old...."well, we don't know this place like you do and we will just be walking around in circles. We'll just come with you." Meanwhile, they don't roll out of the rack until 10:30 and then the kids get *****y at 7 if they aren't in their beds. We are just not used to that. We are a early and all day kind of threesome. I could go on forever!!!!)

Don't deny the poor kid Gatorland - if his pop is the self absorbed louse you describe, he may never get back to experience it. (and every little redneck kid should have his picture taken on a gator with it's mouth taped shut!!!) Swing by for a half day or suggest it on a "separate time".

Good luck (and be sure to pack your candy and valium - or what ever calms you - and all should be fine)

- lori

 

[dansyr]

I say split up !!!!
Let those of the group who would like to see gators go to gatorland.
The rest of the group do what they want.
Everyone gets what they want and no one feels they didn't get to do what they really wanted to do.
Everyone will be happier in the end.

 

[eeyore0062]

GATORLAND?????

Just plan it for the very last day, and hope that after all of the Disney magic, they will forget about it!---lol!

Seriously, split up... just because you are going on this trip at the same time, doesn't mean that you have to do EVERYTHING together (ugh!) That doesn't usually work with families who have similar interests, let alone with families with as diverse interests as you seem to have.

As Gillian suggested "How about Andy & William go to Gatorland FOR THE WHOLE DAY while the rest of you do something else?"

Have days where everyone goes about their own business and you meet up for dinner... it will give you something to talk about while dining, and it may keep a family fued from insuing! You may find that you only want to spend a small amount of each day together, then split until evening... worked well for us, when my parents and brother and sister in law went. All my brother and sister in law wanted to do was sit by the pool (in Disney World, everyday? c'mon!.. but to each his own!)

Good luck!!!

 

[lejaf]

I am completely in hysterics over this post....what a hoot.

But to the point....Gatorland...it's a good half day activity. My kids 8 6and 1 at the time all loved it. We spent the morning in the pool went to Gatorland and then came back for the rest of the afternoon in the pool. It was a nice break from the crowds and what not of the big parks. Our favorite part was feeding the lorikeets. We were the first in to feed them in the morning and it was pretty wild. I have some pretty funny pictures of my son (the bird fanatic) completely covered with birds. There's a couple of gator shows and there's a little play area for the kids to get wet and there's LOTS of gators to see and there is a train ride which we waited far to long for.

So send the in-laws and they'll come back to tell you about everything you missed and you can tell them you can't wait to see their pictures and meanwhile you will be content in knowing that you had a better time while they were gone! (THere's discount tickets to be had everywhere so make sure they don't pay full price!)

 

[smfnj]

I agree with you, "We don't need no stinkin' Gatorland"!!!!!!!!!!!!1

steve

 

[susy]

Gatorland?????

I am apalled! It sounds like more of this "hunting" nonsense.

Alligators are nothing but TROUBLE!!!! They would have to pay ME quite a bundle to look at those things.


As far as the trip, make sure you have lots of time part. That is my only advice!!!!

 

[jselz]

Originally posted by lejaf
I am completely in hysterics over this post....what a hoot.

Originally posted by smfnj
I agree with you, "We don't need no stinkin' Gatorland"!!!!!!!!!!!!1

steve

Thanks for the reply's all. Humor was the 2nd intended point of my first post. It was just we were all sitting around, wife, sister-n-law, kids, all talking Disney. In comes Andy with the Gatorland thing. I had no idea he even knew any other entertainment existed in Orlando (must of heard at work ). I just had to smile to myself in think "typical Andy".

To be serious, after I reread the post a day later, I may have "portraid" Andy a little hard. I enjoy the same "outdoorsy" type stuff he does, just not to the same extreme. I do feel sometimes takes too many vacationy trips without his family.

We are planning seperate time for the 2 familys, also we will take the kids for a time, so the other couple can go be adults. I will definately find something else to do besides Gatorland. Maybe I will "wait" for them at Blizzard Beach.