That age-old issue - your non-Disney friends want to join you at Disney

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

I'd be annoyed that they want to "hijack" a day that you already have planned out.

Is there another day on your trip that would work better for you? If so then suggest it.
Otherwise just be honest and say that you already have this day planned for you and your sister specifically and make sure the friend knows going on a whim is not really how you do your vacations so if they want to join you it would have to be planned in advance.

 

[brockash]

I would love for you to join us but we already have reservations for things! Lets plan another trip together instead

This...also if they want to join I would just be very upfront with your itinerary and how you plan to tour. - If they think that sounds like something they want to do then they can, but I'd just be very clear with how you're going to tour and let them know it's really not for everyone.

 

[Miffy]

You should feel relieved, not even a teensy bit guilty.

A (former) friend of mine kept wanting to come to WDW with my sister and me and there was no way on earth it would've worked out, for about 3 million reasons. So I just told her no. And, btw, this isn't the reason we're no longer friends.

 

[MICKIMINI]

Don't do it! You'll stress until and during the vacation...stress when your friend is ruining your day and may not be able to get your mojo again during the trip. "The trip has been planned out and I can't change it now." Change the subject and don't talk about the trip.

 

[gmi3804]

"You probably don't want to do Disney the way I/we do Disney. You might want to re-think going, as much of our trip is already planned out with things we want to see and do."

 

[MamaMermaid]

Stick to your guns.

 

[disneyfan150]

Like, if I wanted to do Disney cheaper, I'd have stayed home and watched Samantha Brown reruns. I'd rather cut 2 days off of my trip and do it bougie-r,

Oh my gosh, this cracked me up!! I totally agree!

I save all year for my vacations so I can spend and enjoy worry-free. The last thing I would want are budget tips DURING the trip.

Good call in regard to the party idea.

BTW Oh Samantha!! I used to love those videos.

 

[trishadono]

I have a dear friend from home who is trying to invite herself for a day/night on an upcoming trip with just me and my sister. It's like, the worst case scenario. Not staying onsite when you'll have been there for days before they arrive, wanting to fly in in the morning and join us for a park day (DSis and I are annual passholders, and the day my friend wants to join us is a day that we were planning to splurge on premier passes plus individual LLs in another park), and we have Geo-82 res for 2 already booked, and no way will be able to change those. To be clear, I adore my friend, I absolutely love her to pieces, but I am not good at doing a relaxed WDW day like she is proposing. I have a long, expensive flight when I go, and I prefer to respect that investment and have a PLAN when I arrive. I am SURE I sound awful, but it's just - this is one of my few happy, stress-free places to go.

I have my friend talked down in lieu of a beach day or an Xmas party later in the year (Xmas party might be ideal if she really wants to do WDW for a day because it is an all-in cost, it doesn't really matter where she stays, and there is a ton going on that can be approached in a relaxed manner), but I still have a pang of guilt. I'm curious - to my Disney veterans out there - what are your "so-and-so wants to crash my trip" stories, and how did you approach this?

Worse my dh invited the wives of his friends for me to babysit while he golfed with the guys.

Lucky we are close family friends. So I mixed things up and amused them a while. They were too cheap to buy park tickets so we rode boat, skyliner and shopped.

Of course dinner plans Christmas week were not available last minute so we had to split up at YSH. Next year same happened so last minute again they booked res in Orlando. I’m not leaving Disney bubble again, we were stuck waiting an hour for an uber back. No thx!

I don’t like the golf trips. The men wait until last minute and I always have to amuse the females and they won’t go into the parks. However I go to wdw so many times a year I feel I owe dh a nice trip and helping this way makes him happy.

Usually it’s only 1 day of my trip so not too bad. They always love the Disney resorts and things yet keep booking offsite. Go figure. (Yes they have the means but cheap husbands)

 

[cisco911]

We have friends we love to travel with. Both our families a relaxed and go with the flow. BUT, even with them I refuse to go to Disney. People ask me all the time why we never want to go with anyone and I always tell them that Disney is too expensive and too big of an animal to try and make multiple groups happy. We are disney people and plan out things like you are suppose to. Some people just think it is another amusement park.

Funny story, my wife's friend went down with her family in the spring. They were telling us how it was their first time with the kids and they were just going to wing it. Offsite, no LL, etc. I think I must have started to twitch uncontrollably because my wife had to kick me under the table.

 

[Disturbia]

We have friends we love to travel with. Both our families a relaxed and go with the flow. BUT, even with them I refuse to go to Disney. People ask me all the time why we never want to go with anyone and I always tell them that Disney is too expensive and too big of an animal to try and make multiple groups happy. We are disney people and plan out things like you are suppose to. Some people just think it is another amusement park.

Funny story, my wife's friend went down with her family in the spring. They were telling us how it was their first time with the kids and they were just going to wing it. Offsite, no LL, etc. I think I must have started to twitch uncontrollably because my wife had to kick me under the table.

Should I kindly say maybe you guys aren’t ready to visit WDW yet. I mean it would be better than me having a heart attack right. The stonewalling is getting to me as we are getting ready to purchase MVMCP tickets and I’ve gotten 0 responses to you guys need to familiarize yourselves with the rides so we can plan where we want to be for ADRs and LLs.

I paid for 2 rooms so $400. Not a huge loss in the big scheme of things if we cancel. I thought of switching to a cruise.