MIL problem!!!!!! HELP!

[jump00]

Help!!!!

My brother and his family are going to WDW for their very first time. (Yah !!!) However MIL (even though it's a 7 day trip only wants to purchase a 3 day hopper pass with water park option (she already bought it). Her "travel agent" friend said 3 days is MORE than enough!!!! I told my brother you need at least 7 days to enjoy all the parks and since they are buying the meal plan you need to have access into the parks to eat at them. MIL wants to sit by the pool and RELAX! Since SHE is paying for the trip do you guys have any advice on how my brother and his wife can handle this DELICATE situation. YOU guys are the experts.

Jump00

 

[Cobern]

Help!!!!

My brother and his family are going to WDW for their very first time. (Yah !!!) However MIL (even though it's a 7 day trip only wants to purchase a 3 day hopper pass with water park option (she already bought it). Her "travel agent" friend said 3 days is MORE than enough!!!! I told my brother you need at least 7 days to enjoy all the parks and since they are buying the meal plan you need to have access into the parks to eat at them. MIL wants to sit by the pool and RELAX! Since SHE is paying for the trip do you guys have any advice on how my brother and his wife can handle this DELICATE situation. YOU guys are the experts.

Jump00

Have him buy another ticket or once they get there upgrade them

 

[abner1776]

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

It sounds like MIL is interested in TL and BB so maybe you would be better off with the 4 day(5th free) PH pass with water parks which would give you 5 park days and an equal water park days. 5 days would be more than enough to do all of the parks and then a few days to share with MIL at the water parks.

Let MIL stay with her 3 day PH pass which would give your family a day or so without the MIL....which maybe EXACTLY what everyone needs....if you get my drift. Keep in mind, that your MIL could be doing this on purpose...she maybe smarter than you think !!!

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

hopefully her travel agent friend told MIL to purchase the tickets as part of a package from Disney (since they want to get the meal plan and the only way to get it is via a package (room, meal plan and tickets) or a ticketless AP situation)

Since they can upgrade the tickets onsite (once they realize that 3 days is not enough) - I wouldn't panic over it right now.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Since MIL wants to sit at the pool and relax, I don't see how a 3 day pass is a bad idea. It doesn't sound like she wants to spend 24/7 with the rest of the family.

Sounds like a win-win to me.

 

[EagleScout]

A few humble suggestions - 1) if you really need/want more days to the pass (which sounds reasonable to want at least 1 or 2 more days, if not 3 or 4 more), once you get there, you can always "upgrade" and/or expand the park tickets when you arrive, 2). If upgrading is not an option due to having no spare cash other than mil (or due to concern of having battles all trip), remember that a 3 day park hopper with water park can actually be a pretty "full" vacation - with the water park supplement on these tickets, those days can be separate from the park days - in other words, you can have 6 days of "fun" - 3 park days, and also 3 separate days of the water parks or disney quest. So have 1 day mk, 1 day epcot, and 1 day split between dhs and ak, then 1 day typhoon lagoon, 1 day blizzard beach, and 1 day disney quest (on disney quest day, maybe also do the fantasia miniature golf, which is usually included in the packages). If you alternate a park day with a water park/dq day, and plan your days based on emh, etc, you should still see a LOT. 3) for dining, while it is true that many of the restaurants are in parks, many are not. 4) remember to keep things in perspective, which having a toddler has done for us - remember that a disney vacation should be judged like olympic figure skating - you get points for what you do, you do not "lose" points for what you "skip". Good luck, and remember any disney vacation should be fun and not everyone has one, and try not to make yourself too crazy in a "struggle for pleasure".

 

[Cheshire Figment]

If you go to the locked sticky Everything About WDW Tickets in this Forum, especially Post #6, you can get a lot more information about adding days. An easy way to get to the sticky is by clicking on the link in my signature. The ticket sticky is your friend!

 

[BeerMe]

How old is MIL? Will she hold up physically on 7 park days?

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Since MIL wants to sit at the pool and relax, I don't see how a 3 day pass is a bad idea. It doesn't sound like she wants to spend 24/7 with the rest of the family.

Sounds like a win-win to me.

ITA. MIL spends 3 days at the park, 4 at the pool relaxing, and the rest of the family pays to upgrade their tickets to 7 days once they've arrived and has a great time on their vacation!

 

[WDSearcher]

ITA. MIL spends 3 days at the park, 4 at the pool relaxing, and the rest of the family pays to upgrade their tickets to 7 days once they've arrived and has a great time on their vacation!

Agree! There's no reason why MIL needs to be forced to purchase longer tickets unless your brother can't afford the upgrade on his own. And if he can't -- and MIL is indeed paying for everyone -- then I think the family would need to have a "Disney Vacation Meeting" and talk about how much the kids want to do, how long that will take, and find out if there's any wiggle room in how much money MIL is willing to spend.

Grab a decent guide to WDW, talk about each park and what you want to see, map it out a bit and see how much time you really need.

 

[FortForever]

A 3 day ticket with water park option will actually give them 6 days of parks ... with 3 of them in the water parks.

 

[Disneychix]

You don't need access to the parks for 7 days to enjoy the meal plan. There's plenty of dining, even character dining, in the resort restaurants.

Also, MIL's TA is saying she'll only need 3 days + WP, which you are having a fit about, but you are acting like this same TA by TELLING your brother he'll need 7 day park tickets. Why is your opinion better than the TA?

 

[ses1230]

Since MIL wants to sit at the pool and relax, I don't see how a 3 day pass is a bad idea. It doesn't sound like she wants to spend 24/7 with the rest of the family.

Sounds like a win-win to me.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Have him buy another ticket or once they get there upgrade them

Yeah, that's about the easiest fix ever. If your brother wants more than what she is paying for, just buy it.

 

[dansamy]

You don't need access to the parks for 7 days to enjoy the meal plan. There's plenty of dining, even character dining, in the resort restaurants.

Also, MIL's TA is saying she'll only need 3 days + WP, which you are having a fit about, but you are acting like this same TA by TELLING your brother he'll need 7 day park tickets. Why is your opinion better than the TA?

This. Keep the 3 PH/WP&M tickets. Alternate between theme park & a "more" option. MK, TL, AK, BB, EP, DQ. For the non theme park days, make ADRs at resorts or DTD. Make park ADRs on days you'll be in a theme park. Easy, peasy lemon squeezy.

 

[It'sWDW4me]

CheshireFigment pointed you to the ticket sticky. Once your DB and family have used their tickets to get into a park, DB can upgrade his tickets to as many days as he'd like and MIL can keep her tickets at 3 days if she likes.


Personally, I can't imagine spending only 3 of 7 days in the main parks nor can I imagine spending 3 days at the water parks but that's just me. Maybe DB and family will find that's enough for them, maybe they'll want more main park time.


I would suggest that they start researching resort dining options (there are PLENTY! ) since MIL won't be able to join them for dinner inside the parks on 4 of those days.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

If they are staying at WDW then maybe MIL can sit by the pool and relax whilst the others upgrade and do more using the transportation. That's the joy of Disney each to his/her own . When we went with my sister and kids and my parents my poor parents were exhausted as they were forced to do far to much by my BIL. Now they talk about 'that ordeal in Florida' rather than it being a great experience it should have been. Please don't repeat my families mistake I pleaded with my sister at the time but she had her plan and that was that!

 

[CandleontheWater]

My question is will MIL be insulted or "put out" if the family decides to add days to the ticket after arrival? If she is paying for the trip, she may be envisioning a family trip where they spend lots of time together, not she at the pool and the parents and kids at the park. If this is the case, good luck. You may have to go along with MILs plans since she is footing the bill.

How old are the kids? Maybe if they start talking to MIL about how excited they are to go on this attraction or that attraction she will get the idea that more theme park days would be better than more water park days. Has MIL ever been to Disney before?

 

[dansamy]

My question is will MIL be insulted or "put out" if the family decides to add days to the ticket after arrival? If she is paying for the trip, she may be envisioning a family trip where they spend lots of time together, not she at the pool and the parents and kids at the park. If this is the case, good luck. You may have to go along with MILs plans since she is footing the bill.

How old are the kids? Maybe if they start talking to MIL about how excited they are to go on this attraction or that attraction she will get the idea that more theme park days would be better than more water park days. Has MIL ever been to Disney before?

That's why I think DB should just do the three park days & each WP plus DQ. They'll use *most* of the tickets MIL has purchased. They won't offend her. If she decides to sit by the pool (or in a lounger at a WP) while the rest of them play, it's all good. It allows her the option of joining them without also having to upgrade her ticket. If they go to DQ one day while she lounges at the pool, she can still meet up with them for a meal or join them at DQ, etc.

 

[Tormania]

Agree! There's no reason why MIL needs to be forced to purchase longer tickets unless your brother can't afford the upgrade on his own. And if he can't -- and MIL is indeed paying for everyone -- then I think the family would need to have a "Disney Vacation Meeting" and talk about how much the kids want to do, how long that will take, and find out if there's any wiggle room in how much money MIL is willing to spend.

Grab a decent guide to WDW, talk about each park and what you want to see, map it out a bit and see how much time you really need.

This. You need to have a "meeting" with the MIL so that EVERYONE knows what everyone else's expectations are for the vacation. It's great that MIL is paying for everything, but does that make you a prisoner to her schedule and goals or can you and the kids still do everything you want to do as well? If you are a "hostage" to the MIL's whims and wants, you and the kids may not have near the amount fun you are anticipating and it could lead to "disagreements" on site as the family wants to do different things all the time.

Definitely get all of this cleared up first before you leave. Shouldn't be too difficult to add extra days onto the park hoppers if they were bought thru Disney if you go that route. Good luck!

Thanks again for reinforcing my thoughts that if we EVER go to WDW with family it will be on OUR schedule, OUR plans, and if the other folks want to do something else they are are THEIR OWN.