Single Parent Support Thread

[tigger51276]

WL does have valet service as well as bell services to help you with your bags. If you have a handicapped placard, valet parking is free, otherwise it's $12 per day. It is also expected that you tip the valet, I'm a bit more generous and tip $2 at drop off and at pick up, but some only tip $1 each way or $2 on pick up. To me, it's a valuable enough service and I know they work hard, so that's my logic. As far as bell services goes, I tend to tip $1 per bag, since they are usually being handled by two different bell persons (one who takes them at the curb and one who delivers them)

Also keep in mind that the resorts tend to either have parking spaces near check in specifically for those that are checking in. Likewise you can usual park in the drop off area outside check in for the purpose of going in and checking in and then you once done you go out and move your car to the main parking. Of course this is if you don't want to pay for valet services. I've always traveled on my own with my kid(s) and the few times I've had a vehicle there it's never been a problem.

 

[toniosmom]

Hi, I'm Lisa and a now widowed single mom to my wonderful 10 yr old DD!

My DH died in the Haiti earthquake on 1/12, this year has been so hard and full of many changes. After waiting for 29 days, he was finally recovered, brought back to the states and we were able to finally put him to rest.

Please accept my deepest condolences on the loss of your DH. You are right -- when you go to your happy place in March, his spirit will truly be with you. I hope that you and your DD are able to have a wonderful time together.

 

[adsrtw]

I lost my mojo, but I think I have it back finally.

Hello again everybody! It's been entirely too long and I am sorry. I'm slowly and steadily getting back into internet posting. Life hit me hard and things are starting to look up once again. Woo Hoo!


I hope everybody is doing well!

 

[luvmy2babies]

I'm not a single parent, but rather the child of one. When I was 8 years old, and my mom was 7 months pregnant with my brother, my father passed away. Mom never remarried, so she raised the two of us herself.

I know it was not easy for her, my brother and I certainly didn't make it very easy for her. But I think she did a heck of a job raising us. We went without a lot of fancy things, but she made sure we did everything that she thought kids should do, all the sports, the extra curricular activities and clubs, the trips (including two to WDW), the experiences. She encouraged us to follow our dreams and was at all the games, plays, and recitials my brother and I were involved in.

I'm 35 now, and my mother passed away unexpectedly this summer. I'm grateful that I got the opportunity to thank her for everything she's done for me, and I hope she could see the influence she had on me through the way I am raising my daughter.

So with that in mind, I wanted to thank you all for your hard work and your dedication to, and love for, your kids. It's a hard job, but it's worth it, and you'll do just fine.


TL

Thank you for this post. My situation is a lot like your mom's. My dd was nearly 7 and my son was 2 months old when my husband passed away.

I'm sure she was quite proud of you. I can see your love for her in your words.

Hugs

 

[luvmy2babies]

Hi, I'm Lisa and a now widowed single mom to my wonderful 10 yr old DD!

My DH died in the Haiti earthquake on 1/12, this year has been so hard and full of many changes. After waiting for 29 days, he was finally recovered, brought back to the states and we were able to finally put him to rest.

I had to close our business, plan a move back home to WA from CA, find a new home, school, everything for my DD, leave all our friends, but came home to be closer to both sides of the family and my friends here!
We have gotten settled in since our move in June, my DD loves her new school and friends and we trying to live our lifes the best we can each day.

We are going to our happy place in March, know it will be hard without my DH being there, but know his spirit will be!

Thanks for "listening"

My condolences for your loss. I'm sure his spirit will be with you. I hope you and your daughter enjoy your trip.

I'm a widow too. We're taking our first trip soon. Here's to lots of pixie dust.

 

[DisneyMom]

I became a single mother when my DD and DS were only 1 and 3 years old. Their father, despite living less than 5 mi from us, has only seen them 8 times since then and they are now 25 and 27! Our first trip to Disney was when they were 6 and 8 and we went back everytime I could save our pennies and make it happen. I added another son (began as my temporary foster son at age 12 and I just kept him - he's 27 now and in the Army and is much mine as the other 2!)

All the kids (and Mom) are HUGE Disney fans and in fact my DS#1 was married there in 2008!

It is SO worth the memories that you will make traveling to WDW despite it being a bit harder with just one adult. Just being prepared really helped (this board is INVALUABLE) and being flexible.

A few little things I picked up - each of them had their "Disney Dollars" that they had earned with allowances and extra chores but the rule was that they couldn't buy anything until the last day. The first time we went, they spent most of their money the FIRST day and then saw many things that they would have rather had than what they had bought. Having them wait until the last day (and we usually made it a DTD day), ensured that they had given thought to exactly what they really wanted with their hard-earned money and also kept them from hitting mom up when they had gone through their money too quickly!

I also talked a lot about how the trip there was part of the adventure and was to be enjoyed just as much as WDW - if driving, I let them take turns choosing our meal stop, sitting in the front seat, being the designated navigators (LOVED the old AAA flip trip tiks!)

We all love Disney so much that when DS#1 was married there 12/15/08, DS#2 almost didn't get to attend - was deployed in Iraq at the time and leave didn't come through. Well, Mom wasn't about to have that, so I started writing letters to EVERYONE and our State Senator actually took the time to take up our cause, contacted the PENTAGON on our behalf for goodness sake and lo and behold, DS#2 was there as best man!! Those memories are what makes the hard times easier to get through!!

Now I'm starting with the NEXT generation! Only 31 days until I get to introduce my beautiful grandson to WDW!

 

[mommy2mrb]

Please accept my deepest condolences on the loss of your DH. You are right -- when you go to your happy place in March, his spirit will truly be with you. I hope that you and your DD are able to have a wonderful time together.

Thank you for your kind words and thoughts

My condolences for your loss. I'm sure his spirit will be with you. I hope you and your daughter enjoy your trip.

I'm a widow too. We're taking our first trip soon. Here's to lots of pixie dust.

I am so sorry for your loss too I hope your trip with your daughter and son is full of happiness and magic too.
Take care of yourself

 

[4fordisneyworld]

Great thread I just posted over on the DVC misc board several days ago about trying to get excited about being back there in now less than 2wks. This will be our 4th trip back w/o my disney prince and my 2 precious little girls daddy. We lost him less than a week after we had returned home from Disney in 2008. He was such an incredible man and 2 1/2 yrs out I am still not used to being considered a widow and the whole single parent thing that goes with that. I had an incredible friend who is a single parent that I have always admired and never knew what I would do if I ended up in that situation. Well now that I am it is definitely still day by day for us but slowly we are learning to figure it out....I think!
It is comforting to see so many single parents on here. To know that it can be done to visit Disney alone with just your kids gives me hope that I can one day do it. They are 8 and 6 and I am not quite ready to tackle it all by myself but one day.....

Prayers to all of the single parents who make a conscious decision everyday to get out of bed and make it through yet another day
amanda

 

[mommy2mrb]

Great thread I just posted over on the DVC misc board several days ago about trying to get excited about being back there in now less than 2wks. This will be our 4th trip back w/o my disney prince and my 2 precious little girls daddy. We lost him less than a week after we had returned home from Disney in 2008. He was such an incredible man and 2 1/2 yrs out I am still not used to being considered a widow and the whole single parent thing that goes with that. I had an incredible friend who is a single parent that I have always admired and never knew what I would do if I ended up in that situation. Well now that I am it is definitely still day by day for us but slowly we are learning to figure it out....I think!
It is comforting to see so many single parents on here. To know that it can be done to visit Disney alone with just your kids gives me hope that I can one day do it. They are 8 and 6 and I am not quite ready to tackle it all by myself but one day.....

Prayers to all of the single parents who make a conscious decision everyday to get out of bed and make it through yet another day
amanda

Amanda, sorry to hear about your husband My DD is the main reason I get out of bed everyday, without her I would be totally lost. It really sucks having to raise our children without their daddies, but we have to know they are watching over us and cheering us on!!!

When your ready to do the parks by yourself you'll know it!
My DD who is 10 and I have done DLR many times by ourselves, but this will be the first trip to WDW without my DH. He wasn't into DLR as much as WDW so we went a bunch (lived in CA 6/03 - 6/10).

We are day by day too, yesterday marked the 10 month since he died, I am starting to worry about getting through the holidays....we always came up to WA for xmas and had xmas eve at my DM house, so this year since we moved back up to WA I am having xmas eve in our new house, hoping the change of "scenery" will help a bit.

Maybe if it would help us mommies who lost their DH, we could PM each other when we hit a rough spot.

Here's to getting through another day the best we can....I have adopted a saying...."It is, what it is!"....some days it just is.

So have a wonderful trip I hope you have a magical time!

 

[4fordisneyworld]

Amanda, sorry to hear about your husband My DD is the main reason I get out of bed everyday, without her I would be totally lost. It really sucks having to raise our children without their daddies, but we have to know they are watching over us and cheering us on!!!

When your ready to do the parks by yourself you'll know it!
My DD who is 10 and I have done DLR many times by ourselves, but this will be the first trip to WDW without my DH. He wasn't into DLR as much as WDW so we went a bunch (lived in CA 6/03 - 6/10).

We are day by day too, yesterday marked the 10 month since he died, I am starting to worry about getting through the holidays....we always came up to WA for xmas and had xmas eve at my DM house, so this year since we moved back up to WA I am having xmas eve in our new house, hoping the change of "scenery" will help a bit.

Maybe if it would help us mommies who lost their DH, we could PM each other when we hit a rough spot.

Here's to getting through another day the best we can....I have adopted a saying...."It is, what it is!"....some days it just is.

So have a wonderful trip I hope you have a magical time!

Mommy2MrB~
I am sending you a PM after i type this
amanda

 

[mommy2mrb]

Mommy2MrB~
I am sending you a PM after i type this
amanda

got it Amanda, will write you back tomorrow morning, I'm always up early. Thanks for sharing your story

 

[toniosmom]

I know how hard it is to parent a child alone. However, being a single parent was somewhat my choice. It was either be a single parent or not a parent at all since I was divorced many years ago and have not met Mr. Right #2.

Having said that, I can only imagine how difficult it must be to be a single parent while grieving the loss of your spouse. While your children are the light in your life, it doesn't fill the hole left by such a loss. You are also trying to fill that space in your children's lives as well.

My son never had a father, he doesn't really know what he is missing. "I" know what he's missing because I have a great dad and I often feel bad for him. I just pray that I am enough at this point.

I admire you all...

 

[mommy2mrb]

Thank you Toniosmom! such kind words.
I hope your dad is a big part of your DS life....my two DBs, DFIL (my daddy died when DD was almost 3 from Alzheimers) and an BIL (when it suits him) are here for my DD, they in no way take her daddy's spot or even try, but they are here and support her.
You are right about our kids being the light of our lives, I hope and pray too that I'm doing and made the best decisions for us so far this year!

thanks again

 

[JCK1027]

Hi...I am a single mom of a 5 year old son. I have planned a trip for us to visit Mickey and the gang at Disney World. Needless to say we are both very excited to go back - I have been to Disney World many, many times over the years and my son has been there a couple of times however we traveled with my ex. Since this will be my first trip traveling alone with a 5 year old I was wondering if anyone had any advice or tips that might help make our visit go more smoothly. Thanks.

 

[pjbeagle]

I took my DS and DD for our first solo (just the 3 of us) trip three years ago. There pro's at Disney now. DD was 5 at the time. My only advice would be don't overdue it. Hit the parks but call it a day when you get tired and hit the pool after the parks.

We're going to skip Dinsey this year. We did the cruise and parks this past July/Aug and had a blast. We're going to head back to Myrtle Beach with the family again in 2011. We haven't been there in 5 years.

 

[Singleminnie]

I am planning to move to Florida sometime in 2011 with my three DDs. I was wondering about the experience of other single parents moving out of state away from their ex. I know it depends on the state where you live, I live in NE. My ex hasn't been involved in our DDs lives and just recently he began some of his visitations. I have been documenting all of this because I have a feeling we will end up in court. My decree only says I have to give him 45 days notice.

 

[toniosmom]

Hi...I am a single mom of a 5 year old son. I have planned a trip for us to visit Mickey and the gang at Disney World. Needless to say we are both very excited to go back - I have been to Disney World many, many times over the years and my son has been there a couple of times however we traveled with my ex. Since this will be my first trip traveling alone with a 5 year old I was wondering if anyone had any advice or tips that might help make our visit go more smoothly. Thanks.

I have traveled alone with my DS5 twice and both trips went very well. We stayed in a villa, so I had a full kitchen and laundry in the room. This was key for us because my son doesn't do well in restaurants (he has some special needs). We also took our sweet time doing whatever we wanted to do. Not having meal reservations helped A LOT -- we didn't have to be anywhere at any special time. My son doesn't do well if I rush him around. If he simply mentioned that he was getting tired or wanted to leave a park, I immediately headed for the exit. We took swim breaks every single day and many times, never went back to the park, but relaxed in the room. It is important to TAKE YOUR TIME and don't worry about seeing every single thing. Take your cues from your son -- there may be a day or two where you don't visit a park at all.

Good luck -- have a wonderful time!

 

[kckmom]

Hi everyone, I am a single mom of 3 amazing daughters. My husband decided last year that he was going to pack his things and move to his brother's house so he could 'focus' on his work. Apparently being a husband and father was more than he could handle. A few weeks later he asked me if I was going to file for divorce.

Needless to say I have, and am very excited to move on to a new phase of my life. My dds have had to adjust to a tremendous amount of change (Dad leaving, moving to a new town, new school, very little money) however, they have handled all the changes and loss better than I could ever have hoped.

We used to travel to Disney on the 'odd' years, and we always had such an amazing time. This was supposed to be another trip year, but due to the changes, I am not sure I can make it happen. My dds deserve the absolute best and I don't want to book a trip and have to scrimp on everything and worry about money the whole time. Not enjoyable. Also, I am a little worried about doing the parks with the 3 girls alone, how do I handle rides, etc.

Anyway, wanted to let you know that I respect all of you for handling parenthood alone, for caring enough about your children to do what you can to make their lives happy and for being on this thread to help all of us to plan for our next trips to Disney!

 

[kckmom]

Great thread idea, I'm a single mom for just about a year now, before that I was happily co parenting with my husband of 15 years. Our daughter is 12. Kind of sounds like he died doesn't it? Nope he basically got up one day announced he hadn't had enough fun in his life and he needed to go to be with a woman he had had been having an emotional affair with for 4 months. His midlife crisis progressed and I divorced him pretty quickly. He is in the throws of a very bad depression and couldn't/wouldn't work with me to save all we had built. He went from a very involved and loving dad to being a ride and a pay check to our daughter. 2 weeks before this all came out we were at Vero Beach and WDW on a family vacation. No one who knows us ever would have seen it coming he literally became another person. But on I go, adjusting to being a single parent is hard but I am doing it. I am just now feeling able to think of going to Disney again. WDW was a very special family thing for us and to know that on our last vacation he was calling his girlfriend kind of soured it for me for a bit for awhile.

I am so sorry for your troubles. Amazing how much people can change, isn't it? I hope that you can get through that negative and enjoy Disney again with your dd very soon.

 

[tinker_princess]

Hi everyone!!!! Im a single mommy to a wonderful daughter . She just turned 6 last week and for her birthday I promised her our trip to disney. This will be her first trip to disney but my fifth trip. we are both so excited. I am surprising her with a trip to BBB.