Taking new people

[madurbi]

Thsi year I am going back to Disney in June. My parents and I are dvc members. We are taking my girlfriend, her parents and two of her brothers. her two brothers have been to Disney when they were too young to remember it. It is going to be so much fun taking them there so they can experience all of the rides. I enjoy taking someone to Disney that has never been there more then just being there myself. It is going to be awesome. Does anyone else feel this way about showing new people the experience of Disney World?

 

[jann1033]

we have had good and bad experiences...good if they get into disney but one group we went with spent the whole trip criticizing....yuck, nothing like ruining it for everyone

 

[Eeyore2003]

We took my brother and family, (kids 8 and 11) for their first time a year ago last July. It was wonderful. Seeing it all again new through their eyes was priceless and so much fun. It brings back all the excitement of your first time!!!

 

[Crazy4mandms]

We took my sixteen yr old neice last year. We did the opening at MK, we thought she would be thrilled and be all smiles and jumping up and down...we got nothun!!! She was just kinda walking around looking all bummed out...then I realized, she was OVERWHELMED!!! She didn't know how to deal with it all!! She had barely ever been out of our city before let alone never out of the state and here she is at this magical place with sooooo much to take in! I think she had only ever been to one amusement park before so to see what WDW had to offer was over the top for her! After awhile she got into it and she can't stop talking about what an awesome place it is. This year we are taking one of my younger DSs friends. Same type of situation (he doesn't have much and his mom has advanced cancer)...he's nine and I can't wait to see the look on his face! This will be a good one ...we took him somewhere this summer and stayed at probably the worst Holiday Inn I've ever stayed at....he calls his mom and says "this is an awesome luxury hotel'!! Can't wait to see what he thinks if I get my way and stay at the AKL!!!!!!

 

[Steffi]

....he calls his mom and says "this is an awesome luxury hotel'

This brought tears to my eyes! How sweet! It's going to be fun to take him to WDW.

 

[SnackyStacky]

A word of caution:

We took a newbie the right after labor day this year. We warned him and WARNED him, and WARNED him again about the heat and the staying hydrated. He didn't listen and ended up not keeping food down and too exhausted to move on our last day there.

Be sure to all but dump water down your newbie's throat if you're going during the warm months!

 

[jennymouse]

I've had both good and bad experiences as well. Love it when it's good though!

 

[disgram]

We are taking newbies in August, too!! I am a little concerned about the boy who is going to be 15. The rest are girls. That might cause a problem, as they are his sisters!! I am looking forward to the experience of seeing my friends enjoy my favorite place. Just hope they "get it" like the rest of us! If they don't, what do you do?? I don't want it to spoil my DD's vacation. Any ideas??????????? Maybe I am just borrowing problems.

 

[Crazy4mandms]

disgram....we went twice with extended family of all ages and we realized that their ideas were different than ours about what to do at WDW. My suggestion...let everyone make their own plans and go their own way (if old enough!). Use some sort of communication (like lots of cell phones for each group!!) so that nobody is sitting around waiting for other groups to meet (this totally annoyed me the first time around! We'd have a time to meet, one group would be off on a ride, another still waiting in line and I am sitting wasting valuable Disney time!!). Be flexible

 

[jann1033]

ditto the above...we ended up just kind of saying lets go our own ways( which caused another problem since we "didn't want to be with them" oh well) but it was really ruining our trip too. even when everyone likes it it's nice to have some alone time so everyone can explore on their own.. like maybe a day or 2 where you have a "free from each other" day but meet for dinner. i'd discuss it all before the trip so everyone is on the same page

 

[Marthasor]

This year we are taking one of my younger DSs friends. Same type of situation (he doesn't have much and his mom has advanced cancer)...he's nine and I can't wait to see the look on his face! This will be a good one ...we took him somewhere this summer and stayed at probably the worst Holiday Inn I've ever stayed at....he calls his mom and says "this is an awesome luxury hotel'!! Can't wait to see what he thinks if I get my way and stay at the AKL!!!!!!

God bless you. I hope you, your family and your DSs friend have a wonderful trip.

I am bringing my DH, my 2 DstepS's and my DIL's in December. I am the only one who has been to WDW before and am making all of the plans - I made dinner ADR's for each evening, so at least we have a meeting place and can share a meal together even if we end up going off in little groups (my Ds's are very different, so I'm anticipating one going somewhere with grandma, one going with me and DH, etc.) I don't want to get to crazy with planning even though I am completely capable of that!!!

I hope everyone has a good time! I was a little worried at first - I had asked everyone who their favorite Disney character was so I could surprise them with t-shirts for the trip and my DMIL responded "Tweety Bird" AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! I wish I could find a t-shirt with Cinderella's fairy godmother on it, because that is her to a tee!!! Even if it isn't her favorite "Disney" character

Have fun everyone!

 

[LaLa]

We are leaving on Friday with newbies. We are each a family of four with children roughly the same age. They have been friends of ours forever and I hope we're all still friends on the return trip. Actually, I am really nervous. We are Disney freaks and they have never been. They can only relate it to Six Flags. We have tried to prepare them for the crowds, heat and rain and THE MAGIC, but we shall see....We have actually been a few years ago with another family of friends and while we did have an awesome time, we also got on each other's nerves a little too. So this time around, we have set aside "Split up days" I just told them that we may want to do some things they may not, so let's just take some time and split up, that way we both can have some family time. Everyone was very receptive, so I hope it goes smoothly. But even if it doesn't, we'll still be DISNEYWORLD, right? How bad can that be?

 

[ksdave]

Let me start by saying that we are theme park commandos. Don't like to waste a minute.
We did a trip with friends of ours in 2001. Two days at Universal followed by 5 days at WDW. BIG MISTAKE. Even though we told them for months before about getting up early, being at the parks when the gates opened, hitting as many rides in the first hour as possible, taking the afternoon break, the need to be at the restaurants before your reservation time, etc., etc., it didn't help. The first day I knew we were in trouble when we had to stop outside the gate to USF so they could all start putting on sunscreen . Then there was "the potty training". Their two-year-old daughter was just started on potty training a couple of weeks before the trip. Having eight other people stand around while Mommy takes her to the bathroom every five minutes was the back breaker. We split up after 2.5 days and met only for dinners, Illuminations and Fantasmic after that.
Kind of put a strain on the friendship after that.

 

[WonderBelle]

I am taking a newbie in Oct. I can't wait! It's a girls only trip. My DM,DD my DF and her DD. She's so excited. I'm planning on showing her the top things and taking our time. This will be their first trip so everthing she sees will be new and exciting. I can't wait for her DD to see the characters. My DD has been to WDW 3 times this year alone and she's 5 so she loves the characters but it's not like seeing it though the eyes of a newbie. We are doing the princess lunch So I'm sure the two girls and the moms will have an amazing time. Something I try to remeber when we go with a big group is, this is not going to be my last trip to WDW and for some of my family or friends this will be their first and last time. So I try not to sweat the small stuff. Just be happy your in WDW!

 

[Kitterleen]

Taking newbies in Nov. Decided to make it easy on everyone by doing what they want to do. We've been many times and would like to see them enjoy it as much as we do. Of course, I have a list of "must see/do" and they're willing to let me be the tour guide to a degree. Looking forward to a fabulous time watching their kids take it all in for the 1st time.