Tips for traveling with another family to WDW

[DisneyD]

We have very good friends who went to Disney for the first time last year with their two kids. Sorry to say, I don't think they had a great time because they overscheduled themselves and their kids were quite cranky a lot of the time. All they wanted to do was swim.

Now us: we've been to Disney with DD 10 and DD 9 four times. We feel like we have a pretty good time, see lots of things without getting overly tired.

We want to plan a trip with our friends and their kids. But, I think we need to set some ground rules (their kids get anything they want by screaming, I don't tolerate that with my children and they have a strict budget to adhere to while at Disney).

So, any advice on how to handle things or how to plan a trip? We've traveled together before, but only for 5 days max. This trip would be 9. We really want to do this but don't want to kill the friendship either.

Advice anyone? Want to make sure that everyone has a good time, is not overscheduled, and comes home fairly relaxed.

 

[rentayenta]

My advice would be to make very loose plans together, maybe a few meals here and there and some afternoons in the park. Traveling is fun and stressful at times and being aware of the limitations is key.

Plan a few neat things together and then plan to meet if you can.

I have been on a few vacations with friends who's parenting styles totally differed from mine. I wish I would have had this advice.

Don't worry, have fun, but don't plan more than half your time together.

 

[DisneyD]

Thanks. That's what I was thinking. I don't want our vacation to end up being "their" vacation or "our" vacation because we can't agree on things.

 

[Eeyore's Tiara]

My two cents for what its worth,

We did the two family, different parenting styles, husband styles, etc. and had quite a few conflicts. You really need to try to set some ground rules before you decide to vacation together.

1. Know this: You are going to get on each other's nerves unless youre saints!
2. Let the other family know that its okay to go their own way and meet up for ADR's later.
3. Make sure all members of each party have a say in the plans for the trip. ( My friend, the wife, assured me her dh was just as keen as she was to go on a fireworks cruise only for us to find out later that he was terrified of water . It made for a very unpleasant cruise and the stress from her dh caused my friend to have an epileptic seizure. ) It was my daughters surprise birthday party and let's just say we were all very surprised.
4. Speaking of ADRs, decide which ones are the most important for everyone to be there and stress that point. Otherwise be prepared not to be seated if your full party isnt there.
5. Plan very loosely, someone is always going to want to go against the flow of things. Just chill and be prepared for whatever comes.

If you can manage these 5 things, you might have a pleasant holiday with friends. And hopefully your friends arent on the disboards, cause you may need a place to vent when the trip is done.

Good luck

 

[DisneyD]

Thanks for those tips. Really good stuff.

I was thinking that maybe we could all sit down and name the top 5 things we want to do at each park. I was even toying with the idea of having a "day" for each of us where we make the plans.

I'd really like to do some things separately, but my DH and the other DH are really close friends and I'm sure they'll want to hang out. Plus, our kids are as close as siblings.

This might work, but it's going to take a lot of planning and plenty of "down" time days as well. I'll let you know what we decide.