teenagers!

[jaynes]

They should go with friends to avoid boring moments !!

 

[kgkmom]

Last summer, we asked friends of ours to share a 2BR with us. Our DD's have been friends since kindergarten and were both turning 16. The only problem my DD had was when her friend's dad changed plans on the last day and didn't let our DDs meet up (he wanted a full day with just his family-no biggie except for the last minute change). But that was the only glitch. We sent the teens off on their own with instructions to check in every 2-3 hours, and to meet us for meals. It worked great! I had alone time with my DS, my friends had couples-only time and all had a generally great vacation.

This year, we're trying to take a different friend of DD's (the friend will be sans parents), and I've asked her parents to pay for her plane fare, park tickets, and spending money. I'll pay for the lodging and meals. Luckily again, this friend is a doll and my son loves her too, so hopefully we'll have another great experience.

I'm grateful that my DD still loves Disney. She and I especially love going just the two of us, which I try to do once a year. I think she's going to be a Disney-lifer .

 

[dallastxcpa]

I think all kids go through the I'm too cool for Disney phase. The trick is to find what appeals to them; is it fishing, golf, maybe the richard petty driving experience? We went to Disney's Hilton Head Island resort last year and the kids loved it but, they are all soooo looking forward to WDW this year. (Well okay I also bribed them with Harry Potter at Universal)

 

[BEASLYBOO]

As an only child I remember it was sometimes lonely and boring, and I'm sure my poor Father sometimes got tired of riding the more boisterous rides with me over and over. There's also nothing wrong with wanting to have some one to pal around with other than a sister or brother. God also blessed me with one child so I knew early on that I would be bringing his best friends with us. Our families are close, so I've brought them with us since they were 7. DS now 13, enjoys some alone time with me but it's always more fun with his best buds and frankly the 3 of them together are just a hoot, especially now that they've discovered that the cheerleading squads frequent Disney. Now I anticipate the times coming when he'll want to go without me (Maybe at 18) and that'll be o.k. too!

 

[d-r]

for our next trip my six-year-old is more excited about fighting darth vader than hugging mickey

 

[DeeCee735]

We have boy/girl twins and when they were in their early teens we started taking one mutual friend on our trips. I knew they'd be happier and have that much more fun with a friend, and not "just" mom and dad

It also worked out for DH and myself. We would go to restaurants together and sometimes get two tables, giving us the chance to watch the kids, but dine just the two of us, and they got the chance to feel more adult and be alittle on their own, while not being out of our site.

We've been taking one or two friends each trip as they've gotten older and now that they are adults, it's even more fun!

We all still LOVE our Disney trips!!

 

[TinkGirl]

Ok. After reading all these replies, there is still hope! I said something about it tonight, and he said just some parts of the trip will be boring. This trip we can't bring friends. We are bringing my sister in law and her husband. They have 2 kids that were supposed to come and hang with their cousins, but life got in the way. We have a 2 br that's pretty much full, so he'll have to tough it out with family. If we lived closer, we'd probably let them stay at home.

 

[NJ2Boardwalk]

Fortunately I have two girls close in age so they are each others companions. BUT as far as "we think Disney is boring" or "we don't want to go"....I have a 14 yo that says that, but I tell her as long as I'm paying for the vacation, I get to choose. If she doesn't want to go, we can find a place for her to be. Her choice. When she is working and earning her own money...then she can choose the place.

 

[JCLNJ]

My kids dd 17 and ds 15 still love going to Disney and we have a great time. They go on all the roller coasters several times. My son was 9 months old his first trip and we usually go 2 out of 3 years. The year we don't go to Disney World we go to HH.

My dd was admitted to the hospital on March 1 and we had reservations to get on a plane to Disney on the 25th. My daughter was very upset thinking she may not be able to go, she worked hard in physical and occupational therapy and she was discharged the morning we were flying. She would have had to stay another week but they thought emotionaly it would be worse for her. We were unable to do some of the things we normaly do this trip but still had a great time and most important had quality family time.

We have also gone to Alaska twice and rented an RV. Our kids loved it and would be mad at us if we were to go with out them. I guess we are lucky that our kids enjoy spending time together as a family.

 

[PEANUT1]

I agree about leaving the 15 year old home..or at least offering it to him. I don't think you can bring a friend for only him..that would not be fair.

 

[Brian Noble]

We're not big fans of bringing friends along on vacation, though we do sometimes travel with another family. For us, vacations are a time for us to all spend time together and reconnect.

Perhaps it is worth sprinkling in the infrequent "non-Disney" trip? I know when I was that age, the Disney parks were "kid parks". Space Mountain was *okay*, but Epcot (which had just opened) was super-boring. Even spending a day or two at (gasp!) Universal or Sea World for some "real coasters" might help spice things up.

(FWIW: Manta at Sea World is the bees' knees. Awesome flyer.)