Traveling with others, the good the bad and the ugly

[MissSixty]

I would love to hear your stories. Yes I will admit I like the horror stories the best. I will be traveling with others (other than immediate family) and want to know what to expect! Let's hear it!

 

[ely3857]

My last trip in a villa with...


DF
DF Mam
DF Dad
DF Sister
DF Bil
DF Niece
DF 2nd Cousin
DF 2nd cousin's wife
DF 2nd cousin's son
DF 2nd cousin's daughter

Could have been ALOT worse, early on DF & I said we were having our own car & our own daily plans which is exactly what we did.

I would have gone insane doing everything with them all of the time.

On the few occasions we did attempt to all go together it was a nightmare! DF dad made me & DF be ready for 8.30 (which we were) and everyone else, including DF dad wondered around and eventually got themselves ready at 9.15!!!

One night at Seaworld it took 3 hours to decide when or where we would be eating and gettin everyone up for an 8am adr at Chef Mickeys was nigh on impossible.

Good Luck!



Jodie

 

[chrisn]

NEVER AGAIN!!! Usually not everyone's ideas of vacation are ever the same as yours nomatter how much you have in common. I really think that when it does work it's because the "other" party are passive, or are just happy to follow the born leader (you). My family are opinionated, moody and tempermental complete with whiny, spoiled, bratty a$$ kids. And just so you know both my kids are spoiled, bratty a$$ complainers too (gotta love em!). But I was sick unto death of hearing my sisters girls and their scratchy whining voices..."he touched me, I want to sit on the edge, I'm wet, I'm cold, this ride is stupid, how come they get hats, he always gets to sit on the edge, he's touching me again!" And it's not just the kids. My sister had asked me if I would take her oldest to the park with us because she would be arriving later and her DD wanted to be with our DS. So sure, not a problem but when she finally arrived, she was pi$$ed because I had let her DD ride Mummy without her! Yeah, I'm going to stand around twittling my thumbs or better yet, leave her standing out front of the building alone! Pulleaase! Honestly, I was about ready to blow a fuse the last day and finally about half way through the day, I just counldn't take another second of togetherness so we conveniently lost them in a line queue and went our own way for the rest of the day. And another thing, I am not exaggerating in the least when I say it took her 20 minutes to park and retrieve her stroller at every single ride! We mostly did our own thing THANK GOD because it's the only thing that saved my sanity! This example was just a half day! I think planning dinner or lunch gettogethers or meeting at one of PI's clubs for drinks in the evening is a much better idea. I love my family and I know I may sound heartless and uncaring but honestly, Mother Teresa herself would have had to go confession due to unholy thoughts of bratty kids grating on her nerves! Let me also say that after we went off on our own it was ever so much more peaceful!

 

[jennyl772003]

We went with my MIL, FIL & BIL last summer. What made this trip enjoyable was that we all did our own thing, with some together activities planned. We ate dinner together every night and planned a few afternoons at the parks together.

Otherwise we did our own thing and they did thiers. It was a wonderful time for everyone this way.

 

[Danauk]

We go on all our Disney (and quite a few times non Disney) holidays with our best friends (they are DVC members and use their points for us to go to WDW with them - yes I love my best friends!!) and we always have a great time. We have some things that we enjoy and others that we don't. DH and I are coaster nuts and our friends are not but we really enjoy oneanothers company especially for meal times. So we plan ahead, decide where we are going for the day all together. Then we decide what we all want to do and we do those attractions together, then we split up and do what we want to on our own before meeting back together later. We always have our evening meal together and spend the evenings doing things together. We love spending time this way.
I guess the reason it works is because we know oneanother well and we respect that we enjoy similar and different things and allow for this in our planning. We listen to what we all want to do and we plan our trip so we get to do what we all want to.
I love going on holiday with our best friends and we have lots of memories to cherish with them when we return home.

 

[chop456]

I went with my sister and neice (5) (along with my 2 kiddos-ages 7 & 5) last October. For the most part it was great. However.... my neice takes FOREVER to get up in the morning and she eats as slow as molases. Luckily, we had a few character meals planned, so her length of time eating was not too bad.

What drove me crazy was that each morning when we entered the park, my sister wanted to have a sit down breakfast. Hellllloooo - the first 90-minutes in the park are crucial. You have your best opportunity for those rides at this time. My kids and I would be done eating in 10 minutes max and tapping our fingers to go on the rides.

Yes, I will go with my sister again. However, I think we will enter the park together, have a sit down meal together, and leave the park together. The rest of the time we will be alone!

 

[Tegra89]

I have a trip planned for March with about 15 family members going. We decided to do our own thing and meet up to eat dinner or a nice lunch together everyday. Now that doesn't mean that we can't hang out together in the parks together but atleast we know that feelings won't be hurt if we don't.

 

[Msslaydbug]

We have traveled with my parents for 3 trips now and this May will be our fourth. We enjoy their company. And it makes for wonderful memories. They won't always be around. My parents pretty much do what we want to do.

now we went with another couple to Vegas this weekend and it was a nightmare !!

 

[lclark0621]

I would post the whole thing, but I am afraid someone maybe watching me.

Lets just say, you NEED to plan private time EVERY day! And dont complain about your dinning when you tell someone "oh you just plan everything!"

 

[momrek06]

My family has traveled with my parents, our best friends, and my sister and like many of the Posters...just going with our own kids generally works out so much better. Twice I have taken my parents and they perferred to sit in their hotel room or in the lobby of WL (when we took them) as they informed us on their 2nd visit to WDW they do not like crowds.........WHATTTTT, why did you select to come then....my sister's visit with us, she was all over the place...let's eat here as she won't eat over there, let's do this but she perfer's to do that....UGH...she was a "flip-flopper" for sure and finally my best friends, will we went with them twice and had the times of our lives. My DS' and their DS' got along fabulously. Well the third time we all went together, for some reason their youngest (6) at the time REFUSED to go on absolutely everything and anything at the Parks. He was afraid of anything 3-D and my friends YELLED at him all week long and he cried all week long. The older boys got along wonderfully but it was a real chore when even just ONE child is miserable. SO since 2000, all our trips have been with just our kids or just DH & I...safer, I feel.....

 

[joshsmom]

I posted this on another thread--but it's just so worth repeating because I tell you, I thought I was in HE** for most of our trip!!!

Last year we thought it would be *fun* to have another family go with us. DS and my friend's DS are the same age. She and I work together and then she had a DD that turned 14 while we were there. I should have known it wasn't going to go well when she wanted me to do ALL the planning and didn't seem that interested in what we were going to be doing. But, I thought maybe she just trusted me and was afraid to give suggestions?? I made sure to ask what they really wanted to do/see so I could make sure we did those things. We'd been to Disney several times and knew we would be going back, so it really didn't matter if we didn't do all the things we wanted.

Well, BIG MISTAKE. They were VERY late sleepers--didn't want to go to the parks until around NOON!!!! When I asked her about this WAY before the trip, she said "well, we are usually up and moving by 8," so I didn't panic. TOTALLY different when we got there. I bought the kids the Disney Touring for Kids book so they could see what they wanted to do. When we got there, her DS did not want to ride ANYTHING at all. He grudginly got on POC, HM, and TTA, but he just wasn't interested. He dragged his feet and wanted to sit down ALL THE TIME--but not on rides. He just wanted to sit down. He was mad because he wanted to hang out at ASMo and swim.

Finally after being there 5 days and trying not to get with them, there was a EMH at MK. They didn't want to stay and left around 7pm. We stayed until about 1:30 or 2:00am and had the time of our lives. The next day, FRIEND called me and said she wanted to take DD shopping and wanted to leave DS with us for the day. We told her we were going to MGM for Star Wars Weekend and we would be there ALL day and late into the evening (another EMH). She actually asked me to CHANGE MY PLANS and take her DS to Epcot because he wanted to see Illuminations that night. I told her this was our only chance to do SWW and that's where we were going. She said her DS didn't like SW and decided to keep him with her. What a BLESSING!!!

Needless to say, I've learned my lesson. I'll help people plan, but I doubt I will ever go with anyone again. WHAT A NIGHTMARE!!!

 

[k5thbeatle]

Went with friends. Never again. By the end of the evening we found ourselves trying to ditch them. Everytime this thread comes up there are dozens of horror stories.

Factors which can come into play: different tastes for food, time of day you eat, budgets, attitudes towards walking, attitudes about waits, interests, give & take or lack thereof, what rides you will or won't do, preferences in accomodations, time you like to wake up and get going, time you like to call it a day, do you like to shop as you go, and on and on.

We generally are very cautious about vacationing with friends and family. Not saying it can't work but some ground rules and time for privacy must be set in advance.

 

[NancyIL]

There's a reason I love, LOVE, LOVE going to WDW solo!

 

[yellowfish78]

I love hearing the horror stories too, because I can include myself with them. I went with two girlfriends from college for a long weekend at Disney. They said no problem with getting up early, we've never been there, show us Disney etc..etc..
My Disney: At the parks for opening, enjoy the rides asap, then relax sightseeing around the parks for the rest of the day and hit the rides again.
Their Disney: Going to Pleasure Island, spend $75 a night (or more!) on drinks, sleeping until noon. Don't ride RnRC or ToT, but Teacups are ok. Repeat.
By the end of the trip, I ended up leaving a note on the table and going to Epcot by myself. Got to ride Soarin', saw Crush, helped a camera CM reach her quota for the day, rode Test Track, shopped in the Worlds, and ate lunch...all before they met me at the park.

The big thing is to make sure you plan time for YOU. We are doing this again (not the same people thank goodness, another couple) and they have already concluded I'm "Too Disney" for them. We've agreed to 4 days together (out of the 9 we are there) to go to the same park and eat lunch or dinner together, but not tour the parks together. That's it.
All I asked from them was a picture of the four of us in front of one theme park.

 

[runwad]

Nope my rule is no family or friends on vacation. Went on vacation once with the in-laws and we won't be having a repeat of that anytime soon. I like to go where I want to go when I want to go without waiting for a pack of mules to get moving. When family asks if we want to go here or there with them, we just say nope we already have our own plans...makes for a much happier family. Kudos to you who can go with your family and friends and have a great time, i really wish I could.

 

[bubba73]

The Good - you can share your love of Disney with someone that hasn't experienced it.

The Bad - They may not care.

The Ugly - When they get an attitude about lines, crowds and just decide that they don't want to do anything and try to make you feel guilty for wanting to keep going to the parks without them.

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Our last trip to WDW was with 13 family members. I have to say we did all get along and have a wonderful time. What we did was meet every morning at the selected park. We would do all of the rides that everyone wanted to go on as a group. By lunch time we would split for the day. With a group that big you have so many different interests. My kids wanted autographs. My nieces wanted more roller coasters. My mom wanted to shop. So it really worked out well. We all had the afternoons to spend with just our immediate family. By the next morning we were all ready to be together again.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

We took the parents. They made us push em around in wheelchairs. It's like c'mon guys, spring for a scooter!!! We were pooped by the 3rd day. And still they wouldn't budge.
Next time they spring for a scooter, wheel themselves, or walk, or they're staying home.

We went to another themepark with friends. We're wake up early, get to the parks, grab some quick bites if needed to tied us over til lunch, get to some of the biggies first, then just relax and smell the flowers and do fastpass types.
They're wake up at 11, get there at 2, bring everything except the kitchen sink bring your own food types. They must like lines because they don't even use fastpasses or anything. They just go around and if it's a long line they get in it.

Total incompatibility. So we resolved if we ever went with them to Disney, we'd probably just agree to meet somewhere at certain times and do some things together like watch the fireworks or parades and the rest of the time go on our own.

I think that's the way to go. If you go with someone else just schedule some things to do together like meet for lunch and then fastpass thunder and splash or watch the parades and fireworks together and go seperate when you need to.

 

[traciedee]

I hate traveling with other people. It seems if it's your own family you all know how to deal with each others moods, likes, dislikes, etc. My whiney kid never annoys me as much as someones elses whiney kid. Mine are teens now and amusement park commandos. They can deal with a lot of heat and crowds and are pretty good sports about most everything.

This year we decided to do a first time June trip to DW for a week. Heat, humidity and lines await us! My 68 year old mother, who just had knee surgery and hates the heat, humidity and most rides has decided to join us.

Mine is a story in the making......