letting kids take a friend ?

[cropper]

Daughter, 15, would love to take a friend. But we can't afford to pay for an entire trip for a friend.
Obviously the room would be paid for since we are DVC.

Isn't it weird to say 'we would love to take your child but you will have to pay for *****'?

Have you ever asked a friend or been asked?

 

[cedricandsophie]

I have a disabled daughter and we always take her best friend. We pay her entire cost because the parents couldn't afford it. But I don't see anything wrong with asking for help toward or the entire cost of transportation. I assume you would pay for food and tickets? If you are only providing the room, you would Need to add up the cost of air, tickets and some allowance for food. That's where parents may say it is too expensive but it doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[cropper]

We would do the food.

 

[Msmithmd]

It's a good question. Personally I would call the other parents without involving the girls in the discussion. I would do that before you've said "yes" to your own daughter.

If someone were inviting one of my kids to stay with them on "their" trip for free, I would certainly be paying for my child's travel, park ticket, meals, and incidentals. But I have the ability to do so without a significant financial stress. And I couldn't extrapolate that to someone else's situation.

If on the other hand, one of my children were to ask a friend along on a trip of "ours", I would expect to pay all costs for that kid's trip myself, but I wouldn't say "no" if their parent decided they wanted to pay for some or all of it themselves.

Double standard, I know- but that's what I would do.

 

[lisatx04]

We are going in June and DD is bringing her friend. We are flying from Texas and we own DVC. Friends parents are paying for the girl's plane ticket, and I am paying for park ticket and food. Room is obviously paid for.

We are also going to Universal for 1 night/2 days, and I am paying for all of that as well.

 

[JimMIA]

We would do the food.

Lodging and food would be a great gift.

Providing airfare would be crazy, IMHO -- airfares are nuts these days.

And...working downward from $110 per day for park tickets would also - IMHO - be crazy.

I would have a candid discussion with the the other parents about the numbers involved, because people who don't go to WDW regularly have no idea. Look up the actual prices, lay it out, and let them decide.

I'd do lodging (obviously), food (not cheap), and some incidentals like photos, matching teeshirts, etc that would be truly special for the two BFFs.

We recently did such a trip, which was abbreviated because my daughter had a week off and her BFF did not...so they (BFF, Mom, and Dad) only stayed one night. The other day IcePrincess12 told me her favorite trip EVER (out of about 20) was that one.

Why? "Because Caroline was with us."

Can I get a collective "Awwwwww" ?

 

[tgropp]

in the mid 90's When our children were younger they always had best friends that were envious of them going to WDW so we made a deal with them. If they paid airfare and park ticket, we would look after everything else. The friends parents all thought that this was a very fair deal and were quite appreciative that we would do that for their children. And this was always over the Christmas holidays. They just felt that it was a vacation of a lifetime for their children.

 

[TSMMANIAC]

When we included our son's friend we paid for the room and all food and any extra activities like water park. His parents paid for plane and park ticket. We wouldn't have been able to do it otherwise and we knew that this wouldn't be a financial hardship for his family. We had an honest discussion about the entire situation.

 

[keaster]

Our daughter wants to take a friend in March break 2016. We've already talked to her mom, and said we will cover the lodging and food, she will need to cover airfare and park tickets. She was totally okay with that.

 

[Chuck S]

When I take adult friends, I get the room, but they pay their own food and park tickets. Now, if I had kids, and were to take a friend of one of the kids, I'd probably pay the food, but ask the parents to pay for the park tickets...assuming you're driving, I'd also wouldn't ask for anything for the expenses en route. If you're flying, I'd ask the parents to pay for their child's flight.

 

[cropper]

Thank you for all your responses. I very much appreciate everyone's input!!

 

[SuperRob]

I think asking the family of the friend to pay for their own expenses is totally reasonable. If you're having your meals in the villa, maybe you could cover that. Meals out they would need to have spending money for, unless you're feeling generous.

Just because it has been brought up before, remember that this is a major responsibility you'd be undertaking. What if the friend has a meltdown, or the kids have a falling out? What if they get homesick? What if they're misbehaving? There are a great many factors here, but only you and the friend's parents can come up with what to do in those cases.

Good luck! I hope it works out for you guys and you have an awesome trip!

 

[BillPA]

If you do bring a friend for you daughter, get a copy of her parents medical insurance cards and a note allowing you act on her behalf. Hopefully you will not need any of this info, but it's better to have it incase you need it.
Have a great trip.

 

[robhawk]

We did park tickets and food. Parents paid for air and extra spending money. It was great for us and DS to have a bud to hang with. They were 17 though so they could do some stuff on their own.

 

[rentayenta]

Daughter, 15, would love to take a friend. But we can't afford to pay for an entire trip for a friend.
Obviously the room would be paid for since we are DVC.

Isn't it weird to say 'we would love to take your child but you will have to pay for *****'?

Have you ever asked a friend or been asked?

Not weird at all. I think as long as the specifics are worked out and agreed upon, it is a good idea. We did this with DD's best friend. We payed for the villa (DVC) and her meals/F&W. They paid for her flights, tickets, and souvenirs. I did use points for one leg of her flight though. We also bought her a few trinkets and pins to trade.

 

[WDW Traveler]

I don't think it is weird at all to ask. We are doing this exact thing (in less than 2 weeks! ) We told DD15 to see if any of her friends could come with us. We offered to pay for the hotel (obvious) and her food. Her parents would pay flight and park tickets. When she found "the friend", I ended up speaking with her dad, he told us that we didn't have to even pay for her food. They would send her with enough money to cover that too. They were just thrilled that we invited her. We will end up just paying for her food when we pay the bill anyway. But it was generous on their part to offer to pay everything.

 

[tlh]

It seems like if the other parents were Disney people, and they wanted to cover their kids food the parents could look up about what each meal would cost and give the other parents a Disney gift card for their behalf for like sit downs.

 

[francie57]

We have been taking our kids friends for years and now we are taking their significant others. When they were teens we took care of everything except the airfare. Now that they are all working they take care of airfare and have all bought their own annual passes. We still take care of the villa (now we are DVC owners), food and drinks.

 

[dbs1228]

My DD's all have brought friends and the stipulation was friends needed to pay airfare and park tickets, (3 DD's plus 3 friends at once!) and I did a big grocery shopping so there was food for all meals. I cooked most dinners in the villa. If they wanted to eat in the parks they paid for themselves including my own DD's but that was all discussed before friends were invited.

 

[hjgaus]

We LIVE in Southern California and are AP holders PLUS DVC members so we stay @ VGC a lot of the times. Our kids have friends that are also AP holders so when we let them invite someone to stay the night we ONLY have to take care of food and once in a while a short drive. Although their friends usually like to carry their own spending money so no big deal for us!! We really love sharing our villa with friends or family who appreciate what Disney is rather than they just get to stay at some fancy place and if you have an AP that must mean you LOVE Disney just as much as we do!!!