Possibly taking one of my kids friends

[ironpig70]

Okay so we have started thinking about a trip next May 2014 yeah I know a long ways off but we need to start saving.

Long story short DD 14 mentioned it to her best friend of years and years and she said she wants to go.

Pretty sure her parents will let her and pretty sure that the finances are not a problem as both her and my DD did a school field trip to DC with my DW.


Now for finances there is a clear monetary amount in the dining plan and airfare its an added person so I can point to it and say its "X" amount of dollars. This is the easy part.

Here is the hard part and I dont know how to approach it. As on one hand I'd love to take her and my daughter would love to have her and it would make us a party 6 which would make rides so much easier.


The issue with going from 5 to 6 is hotels. At 5 we can stay at POR but when I hit 6 we then have to go to a value family suite. I am fine in values but a value suite is more than POR. Just looking at numbers I am getting about a $350-400 difference.

I know not a huge difference but I am sure there will be several additional costs associated like bigger rental car to airport, extra food, etc.


I guess the question is how to factor all this out? Do you even worry about it? Or just say heck with it and be glad that you could bring a friend to the Magic and love that your daughter got a trip of a life time with her best friend.

 

[ccgirl]

Okay so we have started thinking about a trip next May 2014 yeah I know a long ways off but we need to start saving.

Long story short DD 14 mentioned it to her best friend of years and years and she said she wants to go.

Pretty sure her parents will let her and pretty sure that the finances are not a problem as both her and my DD did a school field trip to DC with my DW.


Now for finances there is a clear monetary amount in the dining plan and airfare its an added person so I can point to it and say its "X" amount of dollars. This is the easy part.

Here is the hard part and I dont know how to approach it. As on one hand I'd love to take her and my daughter would love to have her and it would make us a party 6 which would make rides so much easier.


The issue with going from 5 to 6 is hotels. At 5 we can stay at POR but when I hit 6 we then have to go to a value family suite. I am fine in values but a value suite is more than POR. Just looking at numbers I am getting about a $350-400 difference.

I know not a huge difference but I am sure there will be several additional costs associated like bigger rental car to airport, extra food, etc.


I guess the question is how to factor all this out? Do you even worry about it? Or just say heck with it and be glad that you could bring a friend to the Magic and love that your daughter got a trip of a life time with her best friend.

Talk it over with the friends parents. IMHO, I would ask for the airfare and park tickets and see what they feel about the dining plan. All other things I would pay for myself. I wouldn't have them pay more money because I needed additional accommodations or bigger car rental etc. But, that's just me. YMMV.

 

[powellrj]

I would never invite one of my kids friends unless I was going to pay for everything. To be honest, that is why we hardly ever invite friends because we can't always afford the extra person and I would never invite anyone and expect them to pay.

 

[gwynne]

Talk it over with the friends parents. IMHO, I would ask for the airfare and park tickets and see what they feel about the dining plan. All other things I would pay for myself. I wouldn't have them pay more money because I needed additional accommodations or bigger car rental etc. But, that's just me. YMMV.

I'd do something similar. I'd see what they think, ask for park tickets and airfare, and a reasonable amount of spending money.
That's all I would ask for. Anything else, hotel, rental car, dining plan for their child, I'd pay for myself.

 

[mommyrosa2]

Okay so we have started thinking about a trip next May 2014 yeah I know a long ways off but we need to start saving.

Long story short DD 14 mentioned it to her best friend of years and years and she said she wants to go.

Pretty sure her parents will let her and pretty sure that the finances are not a problem as both her and my DD did a school field trip to DC with my DW.


Now for finances there is a clear monetary amount in the dining plan and airfare its an added person so I can point to it and say its "X" amount of dollars. This is the easy part.

Here is the hard part and I dont know how to approach it. As on one hand I'd love to take her and my daughter would love to have her and it would make us a party 6 which would make rides so much easier.


The issue with going from 5 to 6 is hotels. At 5 we can stay at POR but when I hit 6 we then have to go to a value family suite. I am fine in values but a value suite is more than POR. Just looking at numbers I am getting about a $350-400 difference.

I know not a huge difference but I am sure there will be several additional costs associated like bigger rental car to airport, extra food, etc.


I guess the question is how to factor all this out? Do you even worry about it? Or just say heck with it and be glad that you could bring a friend to the Magic and love that your daughter got a trip of a life time with her best friend.

A friend of mine just went through this. She planned a trip for herself and her daughters when her oldest asked if she could bring along her best friend. She wasn't sure how to best approach it either but knew that she couldn't pay her way completely. After running some numbers, she called the girl's parents (friends of hers as well) to see if they even knew that the daughter wanted to go. They did and before she could give them a number, they actually asked her to figure out how much more it would be for her to go. She had already run the numbers and they were fine with it. In the end, they paid their daughter's way (airfare, park tickets, food money and spending money). My friend took care of the room and paid for her dinners which were TS dinners.

 

[Poohforyou]

I would never invite one of my kids friends unless I was going to pay for everything. To be honest, that is why we hardly ever invite friends because we can't always afford the extra person and I would never invite anyone and expect them to pay.

This is how I feel as well. DD is bringing a friend on vacation with us this summer for the 1st time and we fully intend to pay for everything with the exception of her personal spending money.

 

[okeydokey]

Your DD bringing a friend is a benefit to her and your family so I would cover as much as possible, the room completely and meals at least.

 

[ssawka]

Honestly, with 6 I would consider staying off-site. I am usually the last one to say that, but I think you would get much more band for the buck. Alternatively, you could look at renting DVC points, but with 6 I believe you would need a 2 bedroom villa.

 

[NorthernGrl]

I'd look into 2 value rooms before the family suite. As much as I love the suites for my family, there isn't too much privacy for a non family member, and 4 of the 6 sleeping spaces are pull outs. At least when there are 2 rooms, everybody gets a bed.

If I were to be taking a friend, I would cover the room and ask their family to cover flight, park tickets and food. I'm all for paying for your guests, but this is a trip to Disney, not camping, KWIM?

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

Okay so we have started thinking about a trip next May 2014 yeah I know a long ways off but we need to start saving.

Long story short DD 14 mentioned it to her best friend of years and years and she said she wants to go.

Pretty sure her parents will let her and pretty sure that the finances are not a problem as both her and my DD did a school field trip to DC with my DW.


Now for finances there is a clear monetary amount in the dining plan and airfare its an added person so I can point to it and say its "X" amount of dollars. This is the easy part.

Here is the hard part and I dont know how to approach it. As on one hand I'd love to take her and my daughter would love to have her and it would make us a party 6 which would make rides so much easier.


The issue with going from 5 to 6 is hotels. At 5 we can stay at POR but when I hit 6 we then have to go to a value family suite. I am fine in values but a value suite is more than POR. Just looking at numbers I am getting about a $350-400 difference.

I know not a huge difference but I am sure there will be several additional costs associated like bigger rental car to airport, extra food, etc.


I guess the question is how to factor all this out? Do you even worry about it? Or just say heck with it and be glad that you could bring a friend to the Magic and love that your daughter got a trip of a life time with her best friend.

We invited DD13's best friend this past summer and paid for everything. We will do the same when DD10 turns 13. We rented points for a 2BR villa and enjoyed the extra space and the kitchen. We did not do the DDP, but we paid for her meals and ticket. Since I picked all the places to eat, I didn't want her parents to pay for her meals. It was one of our best trips.

 

[bbangel]

I would work out the difference between what it costs to go with your family and what it costs to bring the friend. So the difference in what it costs for the room is really her "share" of the room cost. The other extra costs I would cover.

I would also look into the cost of renting DVC points as that will give you much more space/privacy than a family suite. Plus you would get laundry and a kitchen (oh and a jacuzzi style tub!) It might be worthwhile cost wise, especially if you order in food/drinks/snacks.

 

[VroomVroomLightning]

I would look in to two rooms at a Value. You could request connecting rooms, and then have two bathrooms available as well.

 

[punkin]

I wouldn't ask for money for the hotel room. Tickets and transportation make sense, but not anything else. I took DD's friend (they were 13) and her mother paid for tickets and gave the child spending money. I paid for hotel (we stayed off-site and girls got their own bedroom). If it was just us, we could have done a value on-site for a lot less. I also paid for all food if the girls were eating with us. If they went off by themselves and ate, it came out of her spending money.

 

[buzz2400]

I don't think you should ask for money for the hotel.

I was also going to mention with six people, you might want to stay offsite or get two rooms at a value resort. You would have to figure out the cost difference for each (remember you have to pay for parking if you stay offsite). We recently stayed at a condo unit booked through disneyneighbor.com. We loved it. we saved a lot of money on food since we were able to cook our own. It wasn't far from disney either.

 

[robinb]

Okay so we have started thinking about a trip next May 2014 yeah I know a long ways off but we need to start saving.

Long story short DD 14 mentioned it to her best friend of years and years and she said she wants to go.

Pretty sure her parents will let her and pretty sure that the finances are not a problem as both her and my DD did a school field trip to DC with my DW.


Now for finances there is a clear monetary amount in the dining plan and airfare its an added person so I can point to it and say its "X" amount of dollars. This is the easy part.

Here is the hard part and I dont know how to approach it. As on one hand I'd love to take her and my daughter would love to have her and it would make us a party 6 which would make rides so much easier.


The issue with going from 5 to 6 is hotels. At 5 we can stay at POR but when I hit 6 we then have to go to a value family suite. I am fine in values but a value suite is more than POR. Just looking at numbers I am getting about a $350-400 difference.

I know not a huge difference but I am sure there will be several additional costs associated like bigger rental car to airport, extra food, etc.


I guess the question is how to factor all this out? Do you even worry about it? Or just say heck with it and be glad that you could bring a friend to the Magic and love that your daughter got a trip of a life time with her best friend.

When I brought my DD's friend(s) we paid for hotel and food and they paid for airfare, park tickets and spending money. I know a lot of people will tell you that you have to pay for everything because you are inviting the girl, but this is a trip to WDW not a trip to the local water park.

 

[Colleen27]

If you're planning on renting a car, why not think about staying offsite? We priced out a 2 bedroom condo at Bonnet Creek and it came in cheaper than one room at a Disney moderate resort. That's where I'd stay if we were taking a friend in addition to the whole family - we only ended up at CSR because we left 2 of the kids home from DD11's trip with her BFF.

Personally, how I approached it with the friend's family would depend on what I knew of their finances. If you're reasonably sure they're willing and able to pay for the trip, I'd tally up the cost of the ticket, airfare, and dining as the cost I presented to them. I'd cover all of the other, less clear costs of adding an extra person. But that's just me. We knew DD's BFF's family couldn't afford the trip so we covered the whole thing, and I feel beyond blessed to be able to make such amazing once-in-a-lifetime memories with the girls.

 

[DaisyD]

If you invite you pay for everything but souveniers. We took our kids friends with us to Breckenridge skiing quite abit. That was very expensive flying there and lift tickets, rentals, and food but they were there for my kids benefit.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

First off, I would talk to the girls parents before saying yes to your dd or letting the other girl know. You never know what reasons they may not want her to go, so you don't want them to have to be the bad guys.

As for paying, I'm not sure what the right thing to do is. As a parent, I would never let my child go with someone without paying for a big chunk of it. Honestly, I would feel like I was getting off easy only having to pay for airfare, tickets and meals for one person! LOL

 

[pigletto]

We invited dd's friend last summer. We stayed in a Fort Wilderness Cabin and that might be an option for you. We went during free dining and the Cabins qualified for the DDP with 1 quick service and 1 Table Service, while a suite at AoA was more expensive and only qualified for Quick Service. 5 of us in the cabin worked well. We only had to schedule showers so that everyone had their time and we could still make rope drop. One bathroom wasn't ideal, but workable.

As for cost, her friend brought her own spending money, but we covered everything else. Not everyone can do this or wants to do this and I understand that completely. In our case the friends parents did offer but I know they struggle and I could not take money from them for our family vacation. I am sure we could have done it differently but I just wanted her to be able to come without it being a burden to her parents.

It worked out beautifully. Part of that though is that this kid spends so much time at our house and is delightful, kind and respectful. DD has other friends who though I like, they wouldn't be the best fit for a family vacation.

 

[elaine amj]

I think who pays would depend on the entire situatiopn and each family's comfort levels. If my child was invited, I would definitely offer to pay and be perfectly willing to pay (if I could afford it). If the family insists on paying, I'm OK with that too. And vice versa.

If you prefer not to pay the child's way then just make the offer to the parents clearly spelling out how much it would cost to them. Then it's their decision to accept or not accept. As long as everything is spelled out clearly when you invite her, I think its fine. It's completely rude if there are surprise expenses later down the road.

How sweet to offer to share your family vacation with another child!