Things to consider with teens (and their guests)

[Pendleton]

So when we first joined DVC, we said when the kids reached a certain age they could bring a friend. YIKES! Well, we were fortunate to have our trip just before all the restrictions, but here are a few things I recommend. As we plan on doing this again, please let me know other things that worked out well for your teen group.

• Plan to meet back for dinner so you spend SOME time together. I avoided too many formal sit down meals mostly for a reduction in time, but we did have at least one. The Rose & Crown dining experience was a big hit with the group, but was a bit expensive for teens since they pay adult $$, but don't have alcohol included that made the cost much more reasonable for the adults.
• Counter Service Meal plan was a life saver. Rather than having to budget for appetites or make sure the kids had enough money to cover snacks, they had a certain number allocated and could manage themselves. Very easy and worked like a charm.
• Drawing has moved the the FAR part of Animal Kingdom (you have to take Rafiki train), but it's cool there and it's a good down time activity without having to actually rest. I didn't have to use fast passes on it as the room is VERY large now, but I did to make sure we got the time we wanted. There is no priority seating for FP vs standing line as they're all lapboards, but this was something all ages liked and we did multiple days.
• Life 360 or the like - I was very nervous about all the people and being responsible for someone else while down there. We had these on all the phones and the older group was allowed to park hop with them on and the younger teens were able to wander within the same park as us. We checked in occasionally and were very confident to always know where they were without having to constantly be asking for check-ins. Definitely helped the Mom anxiety!

These are just a few...What else do you recommend?

 

[tinkerjo]

—We loved taking our older kids +friends. We are rope drop people and would take the younger kids out early and let the teens sleep in and come to the park when they were ready and let them stay in the park late (with cell phones) and use transportation back to the resort. This obviously works better if your kids know how to “do Disney”
—We used gift cards for the kids so they could get food. This was pre magic bands. A $20 gift card and I didn’t have to worry about them eating or losing too much money. This tip is probably obsolete now that there are dining plans and magic bands though.
—And believe it or not, most times the teens would usually find us and tag along most the day. At least until they wanted to ride space mountain 10 times in a row!!
— we also insisted in meeting up for 1 meal, usually dinner
Yea it’s stressful but it always made for a fun trip!!!

 

[LovesTimone]

I don't have teens any more...

When taking others kids along to Disney... limit it to 1 friend...less fighting and arguing... especially with teenage girls...

Make sure that you have a conversation with the parent of the kid, so they know what they are responsible for cost wise( still pad your budget), and what is expect in the behavior department, and what type of clothing or other items will be needed...

We would have them meet us for lunch and dinner.... normally after dinner they would just want to hang out with us, always in the same park until they were over 16 and over... DD was very mature and we did allow her to charge to her magic band... if she wanted to buy something she had a limit, if it was over she had to ask to make sure it was okay...

 

[Cynner]

We're looking to travel with Teens - and my main concern is the 'everyone in the same room' in regular rooms or studios. Costwise - we'd prefer DVC studios, but don't think the teens are going to like sleeping in the same room with the parents. Have folks had success with the 1 bdrm DVC rooms? Was that enough privacy (kids in living room space)?
I'm looking at portable room dividers or something as well. Privacy is one of the main concerns our son has brought up for him and his friend.

 

[RMColosimo]

It's funny, we are getting ready to travel with our girls(three daughters), now all teens. And the wife and I basically laid out all the same things as above, so it is nice to see that we were on the same baseline.

We have Life 360, and the one "friend"(who is my oldest daughter's boyfriend), has already agreed to add it to his phone as well. Of course, my oldest and him are 18, so that opens some other doors.
We always give our kids a gift card, so that they have spending cash, 1/2 the time they just have us hold onto it, but sometimes they carry it as well.
We are trying something different this time, we are staying in a rented camper at Fort Wilderness. It is a 10 person camper, and there are six of us, so hope we have the room to not be on top of one another.
I hope to give my teens the freedom, while still being comfortable. So we shall see.

We leave next week on Thursday to drive down, for 10 days at Disney, June 10 - June 20th.

 

[Trinity524]

I took my 14-year-old son and his 15-year-old best friend in March and did things slightly differently. We are DVC and stay at the Poly studios.

The boys had one shower, and my husband and I had the other shower. Everyone had their own bed, but the boys stayed on the murphy bed together. This year we will have his girlfriend, who is 15, and he is now 15. Everyone will have their bed, and I feel more comfortable with us all being in one room because...well, things can happen.

We were all late risers in March, and the same for this upcoming March. We were together until after dinner (their choice) and then split in the same park, unless we had a lightning lane. I let my son and his best friend go to Magic Kingdom alone after dinner if we were at the hotel.

This March will be different for us, but I would not be comfortable with them being in a park without us.

As for snacks, we gave the boys a gift card after dinner and paid for everything while they were with us.

I pay for everything (airfare, tickets, DVC room, food) except souvenirs.

 

[Jonfw2]

I took my 16 year old daughter and her 16 yo friend last August. I had one rule: be in the hallway when i tell you to in the morning, and we are good.

They always showed up on time for rope drop wherever we were going, so I didn't ask a lot of questions.

 

[Krystal659]

We're looking to travel with Teens - and my main concern is the 'everyone in the same room' in regular rooms or studios. Costwise - we'd prefer DVC studios, but don't think the teens are going to like sleeping in the same room with the parents. Have folks had success with the 1 bdrm DVC rooms? Was that enough privacy (kids in living room space)?
I'm looking at portable room dividers or something as well. Privacy is one of the main concerns our son has brought up for him and his friend.

This was the reason for our first trip to the Swan, we could get two rooms for the price of our normal Deluxe resort. Marriott was great about making sure the rooms connected (I was a little nervous about teens being two or three floors below us). It worked so well, we have done it three times since. We did get a suite at the Swan Reserve on the last trip and the teens said afterwards they wished they had the two rooms instead (which if you use points, etc., it can cost about the same).

 

[GinnyBear's_mom]

We promised our kids they could either have a party at home or bring 1 or 2 friends to Disney to celebrate their 16th birthday. Our eldest is choosing the Disney with friends trip. I like the suggestions so far- very helpful! We're DVC and thinking about a 2 bedroom at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We are a family of 5 so the 2 bedroom is really our only option since Disney doesn't guarantee connecting rooms. The 2 bedroom with the full kitchen will also help us keep food costs down. We plan on taking a short practice trip with the friends DD wants to bring to Disney, like a day trip to Washington DC or NYC, just so her friends get a taste of what it is like to travel with us and we can see if any issues arise.

 

[Little E]

Hi all! I wished I had found this thread this time last year, but amazingly, I did things very similarly to all of you. Great minds think alike!

DH and I have two boys...DS 21 (college student in a different state from where we live) and DS 18 (high school senior). Spring breaks don't line up for my boys, so last year for spring breaks (2022) we did two separate Disney trips.

I offered a WDW trip to the college kiddo with a friend, and he insisted I come along because he knows what a Disney lover I am! College son picked a friend who goes to college in a different state from our home state and from DS's college state. I drove to pick up DS and together we flew to MCO and met up with the friend in the airport. We had two adjoining rooms at Pop (DH couldn't swing two trips, so he skipped the early March spring break trip), and it worked really well. I had one room and the guys shared the other room. They would have been fine in another part of the hotel, but the CM was able to swing adjoining rooms. I thought for sure that I would never see the two boys, and I was totally fine with that. To my surprise, they stuck to me like glue for most of the week! (Perhaps it was because they knew I'd pay for everything if they were with me???) DS's friend had never been to Disney, and DS and I had a ball watching the buddy experience everything for the first time. It was a great week, and I got to spend so much more time with the boys than I anticipated.

The high school spring break trip was similar to the college spring break trip. DH and I had one room, and my younger DS and his buddy had an adjoining room at Pop. We traveled with another family who has a buddy the same age, and surprisingly, the other family had the two adjoining rooms right next door to our two adjoining rooms. It was awesome! Again, the boys stuck to us like glue! We encouraged them to go off on their own, but they rarely did. They kept saying they liked the fact that the moms planned everything and snagged Genie+ rides for them.

I made sure both of my boys had Life 360, in case of emergencies. I paid for everything for both trips, with the exception of souvenirs and each buddy's flight, so I didn't have to worry about food when I wasn't with them. I know everyone is different, but I'm not comfortable sleeping in the same room with another person's kid, so the separate rooms at Pop worked well. Having two bathrooms for both trips was a godsend too.

This was the first time we'd ever included friends on a trip, and it worked so well, we are bringing the same high school buddy on our spring break trip this year (end of March, 2023). The boys are now seniors, and it will be g great way to end their high school years together. We are newbie DVC owners, and we are taking our welcome home trip, so we won't have adjoining rooms at Pop this year. We'll be staying the first night in a 1 bedroom at AKL Kidani, and then transferring to a 2 bedroom at VGF for the week. I hope we aren't too cramped in a 1 bedroom at AKL. We've never stayed here, but my understanding is there are two bathrooms and two sleep surfaces in the family room? I figure we can definitely squeeze 4 of us in a 1 bedroom for a night before switching to a 2 bedroom. It will be interesting to see if the guys separate from us more this year. I am totally comfortable with them taking off to do their own things in the parks. If they do want to take off and do their own thing, my son will have Life 360 and be part of our family circle and we'll just make a meet up plan. I have a TS meal scheduled each day, so that will probably be our meet up spot if we are not together.

 

[tinkerjo]

Hi all! I wished I had found this thread this time last year, but amazingly, I did things very similarly to all of you. Great minds think alike!

DH and I have two boys...DS 21 (college student in a different state from where we live) and DS 18 (high school senior). Spring breaks don't line up for my boys, so last year for spring breaks (2022) we did two separate Disney trips.

I offered a WDW trip to the college kiddo with a friend, and he insisted I come along because he knows what a Disney lover I am! College son picked a friend who goes to college in a different state from our home state and from DS's college state. I drove to pick up DS and together we flew to MCO and met up with the friend in the airport. We had two adjoining rooms at Pop (DH couldn't swing two trips, so he skipped the early March spring break trip), and it worked really well. I had one room and the guys shared the other room. They would have been fine in another part of the hotel, but the CM was able to swing adjoining rooms. I thought for sure that I would never see the two boys, and I was totally fine with that. To my surprise, they stuck to me like glue for most of the week! (Perhaps it was because they knew I'd pay for everything if they were with me???) DS's friend had never been to Disney, and DS and I had a ball watching the buddy experience everything for the first time. It was a great week, and I got to spend so much more time with the boys than I anticipated.

The high school spring break trip was similar to the college spring break trip. DH and I had one room, and my younger DS and his buddy had an adjoining room at Pop. We traveled with another family who has a buddy the same age, and surprisingly, the other family had the two adjoining rooms right next door to our two adjoining rooms. It was awesome! Again, the boys stuck to us like glue! We encouraged them to go off on their own, but they rarely did. They kept saying they liked the fact that the moms planned everything and snagged Genie+ rides for them.

I made sure both of my boys had Life 360, in case of emergencies. I paid for everything for both trips, with the exception of souvenirs and each buddy's flight, so I didn't have to worry about food when I wasn't with them. I know everyone is different, but I'm not comfortable sleeping in the same room with another person's kid, so the separate rooms at Pop worked well. Having two bathrooms for both trips was a godsend too.

This was the first time we'd ever included friends on a trip, and it worked so well, we are bringing the same high school buddy on our spring break trip this year (end of March, 2023). The boys are now seniors, and it will be g great way to end their high school years together. We are newbie DVC owners, and we are taking our welcome home trip, so we won't have adjoining rooms at Pop this year. We'll be staying the first night in a 1 bedroom at AKL Kidani, and then transferring to a 2 bedroom at VGF for the week. I hope we aren't too cramped in a 1 bedroom at AKL. We've never stayed here, but my understanding is there are two bathrooms and two sleep surfaces in the family room? I figure we can definitely squeeze 4 of us in a 1 bedroom for a night before switching to a 2 bedroom. It will be interesting to see if the guys separate from us more this year. I am totally comfortable with them taking off to do their own things in the parks. If they do want to take off and do their own thing, my son will have Life 360 and be part of our family circle and we'll just make a meet up plan. I have a TS meal scheduled each day, so that will probably be our meet up spot if we are not together.

That’s awesome!! Glad you had such good trips. Sounds like you have good boys!!!

 

[GinnyBear's_mom]

We'll be staying the first night in a 1 bedroom at AKL Kidani, and then transferring to a 2 bedroom at VGF for the week. I hope we aren't too cramped in a 1 bedroom at AKL. We've never stayed here, but my understanding is there are two bathrooms and two sleep surfaces in the family room? I figure we can definitely squeeze 4 of us in a 1 bedroom for a night before switching to a 2 bedroom.

You should be fine in the 1 bedroom at Kidani, especially since it just for 1 night (AKL and VGF owner here). There are 2 bathrooms in a Kidani 1BR, not at Jambo though which is why you will sometimes see conflicting answers to that question. There is a sleeper sofa and a sleeper chair in the 1BR living room at AKL. Enjoy your trip!

 

[Little E]

@GinnyBear's_mom Good to know! Thank you so much!

 

[JayMass]

I have teenage twins (B/G) and we stayed at BLT in a one bedroom villa last summer. It was great because we had our own bedroom, bathroom and shower. The kids (16 at the time) had the other bathroom and shower. We had one kid on the pull out couch and the other kid on the pull out chair. It was great. Expensive, but great.