Parents outnumbered on Wish Trip - what to do? Bring extended family?

[HyperPippi]

We're a bigger than average family, but not huge. We have four boys - the oldest is the wish child (10). The others will be 8, 6, and 3 by the time of the trip. But we hardly ever try to vacation alone. We usually try to go somewhere with my husbands family, simply because the boys are quite a handful. (The older three have already been diagnosed with ADHD... it's dominant on my side, as I have it too.) We did manage a small 3 night trip to St. Louis (we're in Chicago) this past Spring break, so we can manage a couple days with just the two of us parents. But I'm kind of worried about having just the two of us parents for a long trip.

Last Spring break, we had both grandparents and three uncles with us on a drive to Myrtle Beach for a week. That worked really well. We're already going to extend the wish trip with renting a house (really cheap compared to a hotel suite for our size family), but I'm trying to decide if we should invite the extended family along to try to come with us for the whole wish trip. Obviously, they wouldn't be free admission, and they wouldn't get the priority of the genie pass. So this is kind of a tough call for them. They'd probably drive (all the way from Northwest Indiana). The uncles have vacation time but don't have a lot of savings, and the grandparents are retired. The tickets alone (especially with us planning on park-hopping) will be quite a bit.

With them, we'd be able to split up and have people go back mid-day and rest if they need it. I know the older two (and perhaps the 6 year old) will resist that, but I imagine the 3 year old will have a heck of a time if we don't do naps on these days.

Has anyone else brought extended family with them for a wish trip? None of us (and none of them) have ever been to Orlando before, so we're all WDW newbies. We're thinking of going the week of Halloween and extending it to the week afterward. We weren't going to do WDW the extra days afterward. We were going to do Legoland, Kennedy Space Center, and a day at the beach. We figured it's probably the only time we'll ever make it to Orlando, so we should do this just once, even though it means more days out of school. But oh man... it's going to be rough if it's just us.

What do you suggest?

 

[Friend of a Mouse]

I've had multiple wish families bring extended family. In my eperience, the etended family got to stay in the villa, but paid for their own tickets, food, etc.

Many found it helpful when they had smaller children or just liked sharing the wish the family who had supported them. I've also had families with multiple children go down with just the parents and do well by pacing themselves. Your wish organization should have a policy. I know MAW (whom I wish grant for) has specific procedures for people whoare brought along on wish trips.

Talk to your organization and invite your family if they are able to come, but make sure they're aware that you know financially ti may be difficult and that you arenot expecitng it. Have a plan B. Perhaps as a family plan to go in the morning to the parks, spend time at the Village in the afternoon, and then return int he evening. With the genie pass, you will get a lot done in a short amount of time and may find that you ALL benefit from a break

 

[Roseanne Whiting]

I completely understand. We are leaving Friday for my sons wish trip. It'll be me and my husband plus four kids ages 9, 7, 5 and 3. Both grandmas are accompanying us just for Saturday and Sunday. Unfortantly they are not allowed to stay with us at GKTW so they got a hotel nearby. They just couldn't afford the whole trip themselves. So we are just going to play the other days by ear. I plan on taking advantage of the lounges in magic kingdom and Epcot if everyone just needs a break. I've heard they are really nice.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) If we talk about GKTW, the villas are "paired".
2) In other words, two villas are built basically side-by-side.
3) This allows for the extended family to stay with the Wish family.
4) However, as mentioned above, travel and park tickets are not typically covered by the MAW groups.
5) But, if staying in a villa, any food within GKTW is free.

 

[Wendydagny]

Our maw chapter actually gave us comp tickets to cover my sister and in laws. They also offered to include our nanny completely in our trip as a "caregiver". (We accepted the former but declined the latter.) we have six children, and our very medically involved youngest child was the wish child at almost 4.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

Our maw chapter actually gave us comp tickets to cover my sister and in laws . . .

1) Kewl.
2) Very nice of them.