Travelling with friends and family horror stories! For gentle fun.

[eliza61]

I was chatting with another disser on how to help with a trip that includes her DBIL & DSIL and it reminded to me of an horror story with my best friend.

A few years ago my DBFF, my sister and myself decide to do a girls only trip to the world. My Best Friend is a very real "princess" type of person. She complained about every thing.
1st she insisted on wearing 4 inch Jimmy choos to the park. that was a disaster. Then she complained about every thing. Bartenders were too slow, lake at Epcot was too large for illuminations fireworks. Indians at fantasmic were not ethnic native Americans (how she figured this out was beyond me! ) on and on. by day 3 sis and I were ready to tie her to the monorail tracks.

So have you ever invited guest to travel with you and have visions of a perfect memory filled vacation only to end up with your personal version of the Grisworld family vacation?

 

[Princess Sleepy]

I haven't had a horror story yet (although my cousins may have horror stories about me ). But I am going to follow this thread with interest. I am going next year with my MIL, SIL, her DH and 3 kids, my DH and 2 kids, his aunt and uncle, their DD, and her son. I am a planner/commando and I have nightmares about how this is going to go. Reading other people's experiences will a)make me feel better and b)give me hints on how not to behave. Can't wait.

 

[Chirple]

My DH and I were married at the Polynesian in 2006. The only people who had been invited were my mom and my sister. My DH's best friend immediately invited himself, his wife and daughter. That was fine; we had a total of 10 people there.

The tough part was that his friend displayed some really boorish behavior during the trip. After the 3 pm ceremony, we all got changed in our room and hopped the monorail to Magic Kingdom, except for him. He went back to his room at CBR and got drunk. We were all going to the Spirit of Aloha show for dinner; we were all there except the friend. My DH had to wait outside for him to show up (drunk) and was so mad that his friend did this to him.

On a different note (and not Disney related), my cousin and I went on a cruise together when we were in our 20s. The entire time we were away she kept saying she didn't feel well; she's a bit of a drama queen under normal circumstances so I didn't give it much thought. On the plane ride back from FL, she said her scalp hurt. At that point, I was done. I think I said, "Oh come on, your scalp hurts??" The next day she called me and asked if I ever had the chicken pox. Ummm....yeah, why? She never had them and came down with them. I felt a little guilty about getting frustrated with her.

 

[Fantasmic23]

I've posted this story before on other threads, but I'll share it once more.

In the spring of 1990, my mother, stepfather (Now my ex-stepfather as my mother finally saw the light in 2001), sister and brother went to WDW. I wasn't included on this trip, mainly because my stepfather and I hated each other. I was pretty bummed at first but when everyone returned home and told me the horror stories, I was so thankful I wasn't there. I've seen the old VHS video tape footage and it was pretty bad.

My stepfather basically moped and sulked the entire time. Sitting-on-a-park-bench-with-his-arms-folded-over-his-chest kind of moping. My mother claimed he was constantly complaining: "This place sucks", "It's too hot", "It's too crowded", "It's too expensive", etc., etc. On video, he was yelling at my sister and brother for laughing and enjoying themselves while waiting on line for Peter Pan's Flight. I don't know why my mother bothered to film at all because he was constantly berating the kids: "Stop laughing!" "Hurry up and finish that ice cream!" The most magical place on Earth quickly became the most miserable place on Earth. He just wasn't a happy camper ... Ever. In every picture from that trip, he is scowling or snarling. Sure, we laugh over the video and pictures now, but because of his attitude, my sister and brother are very anti-Disney today. I'm slowly working on them, but it's going to take some time.

 

[goofy4tink]

Oooh, so many stories, so little time. There was our second trip to WDW, my dh's first time, when we traveled with another family and their dd. Our girls are the same age so figured it would be nice for them to do stuff together. Well...that lasted 3 days. The other dad just hated the whole getting up, getting going ordeal. Hurry up and wait in plastic land is what he always said. It was a nightmare..he wanted to hang in the arcade or by the pool with a beer when everyone else wanted to hit the parks. Even his wife was mortified. Of course it was her that was the issue at BWV a few years later during a girls only trip. She was horrified to find that we didn't get fresh towels/facecloths every day!!! I had to give her all our facecloths and handtowels to use to fill in until trash and towel day.

Or the time I traveled with my eldest dd...36 at the time. It was mid-August. I had told her that we get up and get going very early due to the heat. Okay...no problem she says. Yeah, until she found out that it is sunny in the morning and then gets overcast after lunch....exactly when we would be returning to the resort for lunch and a swim. So she puts up a huge stink, every morning.....she wants to shower, get all prettied up, and sit by the pool and catch some rays...then go to a park. Of course that meant getting to the pool by 10ish (by the time her morning ablutions were done), sitting there for a few hours, then redoing all the morning ablutions!!! We would get to the parks by 1ish and who do you think complained about the heat and the crowds???? Yeah, like I'm taking her to WDW again!!!

 

[danceintherain]

I went with my family last year. First the planning was a nightmare. They wouldn't commit to anything. Little things I get, but they wouldn't even commit to when to go. I loosened up my planning a little to accommodate them, but meh

Once we got there they argued with me about EVERYTHING. My Dad thought he knew everything about Disney (we lived in Orlando about 20 years ago - weird that I'm that old). He constantly contradicted me about things, even though I had done tons of research beforehand.

Every attraction was a struggle, because not everybody wanted to do everything, but they wouldn't just wait patiently while others did things. It was always "we'll go here while you go there then meet back here." If it was Fantasyland, then fine, everything's really close together, but this was in other parks. One day we were in DHS looking at the Wait Times board. RnRC was listed as an hour long wait (or something like that). Nobody really wanted to wait that long, but they wanted to walk all the way over to check and make sure. Ummm...yes the wait times can be off, but probably not by a lot.

My Mom had lost her credit/debit card before the trip (she puts it in her back pocket instead of her wallet, so she loses it a lot around the house), so she was constantly whining about money. (of course if we had stayed on the property this would not have been a problem, because she could have used her KTTW for room charge) Eventually my Dad went and got her a Disney Gift Card to use, which worked fine, until my brother wanted one of those light up toys that required cash. My husband and I had left them to go back to the hotel, and she called us wanting us to come back to give her cash so he could have one. She was in the World Showcase around Germany, and we were exiting Epcot. Yeah...I didn't go back.

I have always been a picky eater, but I can find something on just about any menu. I've been like that since I was a little kid. (when we went to McDonalds I would get just French Fries, because I didn't like anything else) Well, my younger brother and sister aren't like that. My sister is much better now, but my brother whines constantly until he gets what he wants, which is usually pizza. We were in the World Showcase one day (practically unlimited food options). We decided to eat Counter Service in Mexico (something he usually eats). He wouldn't order anything. I ordered off the kids' menu because the adult menu didn't appeal to me.
Well, the rest of us finish eating and he starts eating my nachos (I didn't want them) then he starts complaining that he's still hungry and wants more nachos. I went up to wait in line again, and got him some nachos, and we had to sit and wait for him to finish.

Another day we had an ADR at the Biergarten. Probably about 45 minutes before the ADR time they decided to go see the Circle of Life show. I should have told them not to, but I wasn't thinking. (we didn't go with them) So we're waiting....and waiting...I'm picturing the walk to Germany in my head and trying to decide if maybe it would be faster to take the ferry, but probably not. By the time they got out, I think we only had about 10 minutes before our ADR time. So I take off walking...moving as quickly as possible...and they're all following me. We got there just in time, but of course everyone was grumpy because they had to run to catch up. Luckily...they all really enjoyed the meal and the show...

They didn't fight with me about getting up early very much once they realized how easy it was to get things done. I mean...who can argue about getting to ride EE 3 times in a row in about 30 minutes?

By the end of the week...my husband and I started spending as much time as possible away from them. We kept coming up with ideas of things that they wouldn't want to do with us. It was fun. We got to explore the Deluxe resorts we had never been to...

I'm pretty sure we'll never go with them again.

 

[Ana~n~Joseph]

I want to play! I have one...or two.

1. 2007 - DH & I decided to go to DW with our BFFs and their DD9 - girls got there first, all was great and then the guys arrived. It was only Day #2 when BFFs DH decided he was done - he didn't want to wake up early, would stay in until 11am sleeping, complained about everything and would not let it go that he had to ride a bus to the parks. All I kept hearing was "man, in Europe we have trains, and they are so much better than this public transportation" - anyway, I was tired of him and my DH (who is his BFF) didn't know where to align in this issue - needless to say, we had to take a break from each other (we were doing EVERYTHING together) and although the whinning didn't stop, I was able to put up with him for the rest of the trip. I had said I would never travel to Disney with him again but then this happened….

2. 2010 - only three weeks ago - DH, myself and DS1 have our magical trip planned alongw with DBFF and their DS5 (yes, the same BFF from 2007 - now mind you, his wife and I travel all the time together and have no problem). So we have this perfect trip planned celebrating my son's 1st Visit, 1st Birthday and their son's 1st Visit and 5th Birthday. Now this trip meant the world to me because I was finally taking my own child - I can't put into words what that meant to me. Anyway, family emergency and his wife (my BFF) can't make the trip and her husband is now taking his DS...(I should have just ran away at this moment but I felt bad for them and I love the DS). Well long story short, we get there, all is well AT FIRST but then the drinking starts. It started in Epcot but it wasn't terrible - social drinking, ok, I can handle that as long as everyone acts civilized - my husband decides to join in, ok, that's fine too, we are all adults, just don't act stupid. So Monday & Tues were good….

Then Downtown Disney the following day happened and well, that was that. He decided to down two bottles of wine during lunch (2 BOTTLES!) with 100 degree weather outside (alcohol + heat = not good). Now earlier that morning the whinning about Transportation began and he just wanted to take cabs (we spent $25 on a cab to get to DTD - I almost died). Before that bottle of wine he had also had some beer (beer + wine + heat = really not good). We get on the bus to go back to hotel to get ready for our adults night and he starts complaining, like a little kid, and making faces, and being SO loud so the bus driver could hear him - then he starts being rude to the bus driver ...we finally make it to the resort and DH and I decide to take a "nap" (we had connecting rooms).....time comes for the babysitter to show up and he opens the door in his BOXERS!!! while holding a glass of wine (yes, he was on bottle #3 - I was mortified!!!) Fine, lets go, he's already drunk, great. He is so drunk in fact that he tipped the cab driver $300 (no joke!). We get to Cali Grill and the drinking continues - we are at the bar waiting for the table and he is being rude and annoying to the waitress...oh it doesn't stop...we then get escorted to our table and he decides to not join us but doesn't tell us - he just disappears and then we spot him at the bar - meanwhile my husband and I are just sitting there looking silly wondering what he is doing - VERY long story short, he completely ruined our meal, we had to apologize like 100 times to the waitors and bartender (that poor poor bartender) and he ended up drinking about 4 beers and at least 4 glasses of wine (I counted - had a perfect view of the bar from my chair).

The following day I was on the phone with DBFF and mentioned the night prior but made it sound like all was good (she is going through a lot right now) - well, she calls him, goes off on him and he decides he is going to get back at me by ruining another dinner - our dinner at DHS. Now granted, DH and I decided to separate from him and just see him at dinner (being the nice people we are) - too bad, he showed up..he would not stop talking bad about me the whole time, I excused myself from the table, took my son and left poor DH there to deal with him. That night I canceled the rest of our dining, reserved stuff for just DH, DS and I and we just went our own merry way. So how did all of this turn out - they are not talking at the moment - DH told him we should consider not vacationing to Disney together and it pissed him off. The end.

 

[stacy87]

Not so much a "horror" story, but when myself and my bff were at WDW in July this year, I found I was getting a bit annoyed!

She is the kind of person who likes to criticise everything and thinks she knows it all - anyway I found she was constantly criticising everything! I did all the organising for this holiday - booked everything and made up our itinerary - I was the one who had to book almost every cab whilst we were there! Then she ran out of money halfway through the holiday, so I had to pay for her (luckily I took lots of spending money!). She did pay it all back, but it did kinda put a dampner on my fun.

 

[MusiqChic99]

Growing up my parents took everyone with us...uncles, aunts, cousins, friends, grandma...Really anyone who wanted to go. LOL

Well I have one Aunt who is cheap. Nothing really wrong with that BUT my parents paid for the trip so the only expense they had was food and whatever they wanted to buy. I guess that was even taken care of because her MIL gave them money to spend for food and stuff on their trip. Once we get there though they didnt' want to spend the money gave to them by her MIL because they wanted to save that and take a "family" vacation when they got home. Constant complaining came because of this because they wanted to make sure anything we did, didn't cost too much money.

I was quite young when this took place but I can still remember my parents being upset about it given that they paid for them a room and tickets at Disney World. We spent most of the trip catering to their needs so not to spend too much on food or anything else. One night my dad said he was taking his family and whoever else wanted to eat out. They stayed in the room because they didn't want to spend the money.

Please note, I'm all for people trying to pinch pennies...we do. But it was hard for my parents to swallow the constant complaining when they had money handed to them for this trip.

 

[MomofKatie]

Ooh, reading these makes me a little apprehensive for our upcoming trip. We are bringing along a friend of DD"s, and I have my fingers crossed everything goes well!!

My "horror story" about doing a WDW trip with others- most of the bad stuff happened before the actual vacation. My SIL invited DD and I to stay with her and her family at WDW a few years ago. They have a friend who is a DVC member, and the friend let them use their points to stay at a 2 bedroom unit at OKW for a week.

When they invited us, I did the math in my head and asked if there would be room for us. They are a family of 5, and the DVC friends are a family of 3. The 2 bedroom units only allow 8 guests, so those 2 families filled the unit. We were assured that no, the friends checked with WDW, and we were fine to stay. So we made plans to stay with them, bought tickets, made travel arrangememts, and prepared for DD to miss a week of school.

About a month before the trip, I got an email from DSIL, telling me that "circumstances have changed", and we were UN-invited to stay with them. We could still hang out with them at the parks, but we weren't welcome at the DVC unit anymore. IMO, DSIL either didn't check with the friends and just assumed they would be OK with overloading the unit, or the friends were told they couldn't do this. Either way, it put a big monkey wrench in our plans.

We managed to find a really cheap hotel on Hotwire, and went and had fun anyway, but we vowed to never again take anyone's word for it when they say "Oh, it will be fine- just stay with us". We also didn't go out of our way AT ALL to spend lots of time with DSIL- they wanted us to change our ADRs and other plans to be where they wanted to be. Uh, not when you reneged on your invite, thank you...

 

[Bradsdadg]

We have been with family or friends on 3 big trips. Two to Disney and one elsewhere. One was with the sister in law and that was alot of fun. One was with friends who decided to become photo hounds and take over 1000 photos that week. We left them in the dust on many of the days as we were sick of the photo posing and pace they kept. The last was not to Disney, but was pretty crazy. When you travel with people who bring their everyday drama with them it isn't that fun. I like to try and get away from the world when on vacation. Not be a complete "B" and search out problems to get your blood boiling...And go figure but we are going back on vacation in about a half a year with the B that is my sister!!

 

[Rora]

I went to Disney with my best friend and her sister. We went in the middle of July and my best friend complained the WHOLE TIME. She complained about the heat, the walking, the crowds, you name it. It certainly took a toll on the Magic.

Also, DH and I are going to MNSSHP in October with 7 friends. It's already a horror story in the making (can't decide who's actually coming, where everyone is staying, did they buy their tickets yet?) and I can only imagine what it will be like when we're there! We won't be able to decide on anything.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We went in June with MIL/FIL. DH and I have just been married 2 years, so this was our first trip with his parents. It wasn't a true "horror" or anything, but I found that all my FIL wanted to do was sit in the hotel room. At first my MIL just did what he wanted, but then she got fed up with it too and started going to the parks with us while FIL stayed in the room at watched TV. I am all about relaxing, but they paid an awful lot of money to just hang out in the hotel room for 5 days.

 

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Okay my horror story from last year.

Me, my mom, and my two sisters were going to the world for the Christmas time. Now my one sister could only come down a week later due to work issues along with her daughter. Now I was 15 at the time, the sister I was with was 26. She complained about every thing! From food, to playing up a mild peanut allergy that she didn't tell my mom ahead of time. Me and my mom were in shorts while she was in jeans, t-shirt, and two hoodies while still complaining that she was cold on the day it rained fairly bad. On the night of the Christmas party, we had reservations for all of us at the CP. It was just thinking that even with the character interaction it would be a fairly quick meal.

It took 2 hours with the 26 year old needing to have pictures from her camera, cell phone, and other camera and autographs. Me and the 4 year old niece... got the spotlight taken by the 'Me first' mentality my sister had. Now all she needed to pay for in advance was her park tickets and the MVMSP ticket for her. Oh and the Imagineer meal for her. When we started to 'ignore' her, she somehow tripped in the smoking area near Sci-fi, doing something to her ankle that caused her to limp back to the restaurant and complain to me and my mom who were finishing up our desserts. I still don't know how she managed to do that without anybody noticing. She will never come to the world with us again... in fact I haven't even spoken to her much since then.

 

[pickles]

I went to Disney with my best friend and her sister. We went in the middle of July and my best friend complained the WHOLE TIME. She complained about the heat, the walking, the crowds, you name it. It certainly took a toll on the Magic.

QUOTE]



your best friend must be related to my mother!! we went end of APRIL and still heard about the heat and how we walk too fast. we had dining the first part of our trip and then the 2nd part I had brought cereal and planned to eat cheap(gotta feed 4 kids) mom expected us to eat and then go down to the resort restaurant and WATCH her eat..mind you, when she eats it takes at least an hour and half.
Now, I realize mom is older and deserves a few breaks, but she was too stubborn to get a scooter and more selfish than any of my kids would ever be!
Kids have all voted to not bring her next time..shame as I like being with her, but the complaining is too much.

 

[Chee Chick]

My FIL and his fiancé travelled with us on our last trip. We stayed at the WL. They are the sleep in type which doesn't really work when you have 4 year old with you. So, on the first day we were planning to go to DHS. We were up at 7am, got dressed and went down for breakfast. I was ready to head out to the park at 8:30am. We waited and waited, never heard from them. They finally answered the phone at 10:00a. They got dressed and met us at Roaring Forks. I thought they would grab a quick pastry and we would be off to the park. No, they both got a big breakfast, sat down, and took almost an hour to eat! We didn't get to the park until noon. By this time DS is hungry for lunch and getting cranky. Once we got to the park, they didn't want to see the same attractions that I had planned to see. They immediately went their separate ways! I had waited all morning for that! I told DH I was not waiting for them any longer on the trip. They would come meet us for our dining reservations, but other than that we didn't see them much. I still don't know why they wanted to come on that trip with us.

I'm done going to WDW with parents and in-laws!

 

[DisneyWisher]

I've never had any problems going with a friend from work or my niece and her family. I think what helps is I'm not into itineries and a planned out vacation. Wake up and say which park today? I let them choose. I usually go 3-6 times a yr. I enjoy going with people who don't go often. Plus they were never complainers before Disney. For anyone that has gone with a constant complainer was that their personality before the trip? (ie..I hate my boss, I hate my job, im the only one at work that actually works, I hate my bf/gf,...)

 

[Turkey Lurkey]

A couple years ago, my mom, my wife, and I took a trip to Japan to visit my brother, who was going to school over there. Our 1st day was at Tokyo Disneyland. It was a chilly day, and my mom didn't dress warm enough. The crowds were huge, so we were in LONG lines (We maybe went on 6 rides and we were there all day). Plus mom was having one of her arthritis flare ups, so she was in a foul mood most of the day. And when Mom was in a foul mood, she subconsciously made sure we all were too.

That pretty much set the tone for the rest of the trip. I came down with either the flu or food poisoning for the majority of the trip, and my brother was so determined to show us everything he could in the 4 days we were there, that we were always on the move. (of the five nights we were there, two of those nights were spent trying to sleep on either a bus or a boat) by the 4th night, we were at each other's throats.

It was an amazing trip...but had we just focused on one or two cities instead of a countrywide trek, it would have been so much more relaxed and enjoyable.


TL

 

[Rhongepooh]

We went for my DD graduation present. Her DBF and his mother and other family came that week seperately. Well, they all got in an HUGE argument and we ended up having to let the 2 of them AND our luggage AND their luggage come home with us! It was crowded and his mom smoked! YUCK! Well, she didn't try to smoke in the car but wanted to stop alot to have a smoke.

 

[walkdmc]

For some crazy reason I thought it would be nice to take my nephew and niece (ages 6 and 3) whom I only see once a year, without their parents. Oh, and I took my mom. So, the cast included me, mom, my 2 kids, my niece and nephew. I didn't know my nephew had really bad, untreated ADHD. He was off the walls, literally. The worst part was when I called his parents (they're divorced so I had to call each) and explained what was happening and asked for input disciplining him, they both insisted it was because I was giving him too much sugar. Keep in mind we're in Disney and 90% of the kids are having a lot of sugar and none were climbing Walt's statue. So, we scaled back the sugar for everyone (yeah, that was fun) and there was no change in his antics. At one point he jumped off a 1/2 wall into the crowd leaving the Finding Nemo show, knocking down a woman and her little girl. It was awful.

My mom just ended up staying at the resort with him while I took the other kids out. So, my vision of a great, fun trip with my mom and the kids turned into a big 'ol mess.


BTW, I don't think I would ever travel with another family and try to make a lot of plans with them. Basically, I'll provide the lodging with my DVC points but beyond that, you're on your own. A lot of these horror stories could've been prevented if everyone just did their own thing. If I did want to do something with a co-traveler and I expected them at breakfast at 8am and I called and they didn't answer, oh well. I would never wait until they called back, nor would I keep trying to call them. I'd eat and carry on with my plans for the day. If they want to join me at 12pm or whenever they're ready, fine, come find me.