I've not got any drama right now, but can I have a big a$$ cocktail, too?!
Why yes, yes you can!
lmc318 - I wish I had had a cocktail before bed last night, that way I may have been able to get a little sleep - however I didn't, and nor did I sleep.
im4kycats - That is what we have tried to explain to them is the way is will be - I have spent MONTHS making my plans, planning the details and the how, what & where....It is too late to change some things, nor I am going to b\c they decided now to go. My biggest issue is this.....
I can see that we would be in say Epcot, and it be time for our resort break around 2pm, we tell them we can meet them later after break and dinner at saw Magic Kingdom at 7pm. And here is what I see happening ....MIL "Oh come on, just walk over to China with us real fast...FIL Yeah, 15 more minutes won't hurt" Me "No, we have a plan and we need to stick to it, see you at 7pm....start to walk away (I just don't even argue with these people anymore) then FIL "Well, we wanted you to go so we could buy you ______, but NEVERMIND...........
I don't care what they try to manipulate me with, b\c I am an adult and I can still just walk away, my concern is my daughter. They do stuff like this to her whenever they can (we have limited contact) And they always say something they KNOW she would want.
My DH did call FIL last night, he tried to nicely discourage them from going to Disney (he kept talking about how much it is going to cost them, they LOVE money) and it kinda backfired on him. FIL TOTALLY worked him as only that man can.....he said, "we are just getting old, and this could be the last time we would be able to ever go to Disney and see our granddaughter there"
Yeah, DH is weak, and it totally got to him.....I pointed out (not so nicely)that his father had just played him like a piano.
I feel bad - DH love his parent's but he also knows how they are so he is in a hard spot.
OK, I have issues with my in-laws, but they aren't nearly as bad as yours. Having said that, when I'm dealing with them, they feel that way. We are trying to get my in-laws to go to WDW in two years with us and they keep making excuses because they won't board their dogs. Pugs. Seriously? And we've told them you can bring them and stay at FWR and they are dodging it and now my MIL is in kidney failure sort of out of the blue and has to go on dialysis, so I'm sure that option is gone because as little as they traveled before, now it's going to be none. So as much as I try to get them to see their DGD, it'll be harder now. (ETA this makes me sound awful and that's not how I meant it. I wanted to note I do not begrudge her not traveling due to her kidney failure. She thinks she is going to be able to, but I know better. That was what was in my head when I wrote it, but for some reason I didn't type that. They don't travel now, so her saying she's going to be able to on dialysis, well, I know better. That was my point.) But that's my issue. Yours is different. The common denomonator is drama. Here's my suggestion. You're not going to stop them from coming if they want to come. What you can do is control your situation. Resolve that you will be the bad guy ("you want me to be the bad guy? Fine, now I'm the bad guy."
). In the situation you describe above about Epcot, you turn around and say to them politely, "You know what? That would be fantastic and I'm sure DD would love that, but could you either get it for her and bring it back to the resort or wait until the next time we are here? We really need to stick with the schedule or everyone will be miserable and we just don't want to ruin our time or your time later tonight by doing that." And then I'd give a nod and an OK and turn and walk away. Then you're not denying the gift buying to your daughter or your in-laws, your just asking them to respect your timeline. If they still put up a fuss then you just walk away and explain to your daughter that grandma and grandpa don't understand how tiring Disney can be and this rest time will be good for them too. That grandpa needs it because of his hip and he's trying to do too much and you need to do this to get him to slow down. That it's not all about gifts. It's a lesson learned moment. You don't ever want to talk bad about the grandparents, but if they are using gifts to manipulate to the point where it is interrupting your life and causing issues, then sometimes you need to bring that up with the kids. Avoid the issue whenever possible, but be honest when you can't avoid it. So that's my suggestion. Be the bad guy, but with a smile on your face.
And remember it is your vacation. YOUR vacation. Treat them as gnats. Things that are annoying and there but that you can't let ruin your vacation. OK, maybe gnats was a bad metaphor, but you know what I mean.
Hey, Terri, as for our schedule, here it is:
20th - arrive at MCO around 9:00, get car, check-in, go to DTD for lunch and window shopping, back to POR to relax
21st - MK (it's tradition - we ALWAYS start in MK) until about 5ish then on to EPCOT for Illuminations and munching around World Showcase. If we can get on Soarin' when we get there, great. If not, that's ok
22nd - DHS day. Not sure if we'll hop anywhere in the afternoon/evening or not
23rd - EPCOT.
24th -AK. Then I am going to surprise the older two by taking them to MK for evening EMH (until 1am
).
25th - our day off. I have a spa appointment for 9am. I want to take Amy and Kyle (separately) canoeing. And then dinner at California Grill to see Hallowishes
26th through 28th - hopping, hopping, hopping. We will have to be in EPCOT at 1pm on the 26th because we have a lunch reservation. And, knowing my family, we will spend all day in EPCOT. The 27th we have dinner reservations for Restaurant Marrakesh, so it will be back to EPCOT. But the 28th, we will probably hit all four parks. Yup, we're crazy like that!
29th - go home.
So, that's it. I will update as I tweak it. I will have time this afternoon when my end-of-month starts running. I have to check the park hours and make notes and then I'll see what's what.
Have a great day, everyone!!!
So we're there the entire week together?? I thought you were leaving in the middle of the week for some reason. Ha! Well we'll definitely meet up at Epcot on the 23rd for that margarita! Tequila is in my future!!!
Since everyone is sharing, I'll share about my little family. There are only 3 of us. I'm Lisa, DH is Sean and DD is Katherine. I love all rides but since having Katherine, I get a little motion sickness on spinny rides. I don't care though, I still go on them. It's not enough to make me sick. I go on Mission: Space orange. I go on RnRC, ToT, any of the mountains, although to be honest, old roller coasters give me headaches because of the bouncing, so BTMRR sort of does that. And Splash Mountain is annoying since they changed it so you DEFINITELY get wet every time. I want it to be a surprise. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. I don't want basically a bucket of water dumped on me. DH doesn't care for rides as much as I do, but he'll go on some. He gets motion sickness so he doesn't do intense spinny rides like MS Orange, but he'll do green (boring!). I wonder how I would do on MS now that I get migraines. I never thought of that. I know that's a warning. Oh well, only one way to find out!!! Anyway, DH will do less intense rides like Test Track and BTMRR and such, but he has to take Dramamine first.
DD is new to rides. The only one she's been on without a parent is a little car ride on OCNJ with her cousins. She loved it and I think she'll love rides, but she's an only child, so she hasn't been brave enough to go alone yet. I think Disney will be great for her because we can go on everything with her and it's more than just boardwalk rides.
Here are our plans, loosely. We stick to parks around our ADRs, but other than that we go with the flow:
Day 1 (10/23) - Arrive at 2:15PM. ME to Poly.
La Hacienda de San Angel (4:50PM)
Day 2 - MK day/nap/MK eve
Tony's dinner (5:30)
Day 3 - Akershus breakfast (8:30)
Epcot Day/nap
MNSSHP Night
Day 4 - Tusker House breakfast (8:40)
AK day
1900 PF dinner (5:00)
open night
Day 5 – Open Day
nap/pool
Open night
Day 6 - HS day
Epcot Night
Kona cafe dinner (5:30)
Day 7 - Downtown Disney
4:14 flight home (ME by 1PM)
Oh, and 23 days!! 3 weeks from Sunday!!!!
