Ungrateful family?

[shortypots]

Any one have any issues with family that are ungrateful? We are getting a grand villa on Sunday and taking my entire family- mom, dad, sister, Brother in law, 2 nieces, 2 brothers, and my nephew, 11 in total. We had originally planned to have my sister, bil, and the 2 nieces in one bedroom, my youngest brother, his son, and my mom and dad in 1 bedroom, and the middle brother on the sleeper sofa in the living room. Of course, with us as the owners, we are taking the master.

My brother at Easter dinner, exactly 1 week before we leave, tells me "I am 32 yrs old and deserve a bed." We have been planning this trip for well over a year, and now 1 week before hand tells me he "deserves a bed". Now granted, when we were growing up the youngest were the first to not get a bed, however, the way he worded it makes me think you ungrateful little @X$^&!!! Then the youngest brother doesn't want to stay in the same room with my dad since he gets up 50 times in the night to use the restroom.

If someone was offering me a free place to stay in the happiest place on earth, and said they only had a sleeper bed, I would say "OMG, thank you for offering- that is so nice of you!" It is almost like they feel entitled to it!! So far, I haven't heard a thank you yet, but we haven't gone yet, however, with the way everyone is acting, I am wondering if I am even going to get a thank you!!

Ultimately, we ended up putting all the kids in the room with my sister, and my 2 brothers will share a bed in the room with my folks, but I have never in my life heard so much complaining for a room that they didn't pay for!!!

I have never in my life been so stressed while planning a vacation. I hardly slept this weekend because my family had been complaining so much. I have already told my husband it is a shame because I like traveling with my family, but I guess not all at once. My DH and I were even trying to figure out how to make it an every year trip, but I don't think I can handle the stress that often.

Wasn't really looking for responses, just needed to vent. I am just hoping the complaining doesn't continue into the vacation!

 

[Brian Noble]

My brother at Easter dinner, exactly 1 week before we leave, tells me "I am 32 yrs old and deserve a bed."

My response would be: No problem. Just go to www.disneyworld.com, and book yourself a room. Have your credit card ready.

 

[Daddio]

Leave family at home. Take friends instead. It always works out much better.

David

PS, I'm sure in the end it will all work out for you and you will be a hero.

 

[LoveKermit]

Until the kids are older, I cannot travel with my SIL. Nothing is ever "what she expected." She doesn't like surprises, but she doesn't like to plan.

I totally understand the difficulty of travelling with family. On our last trip, DH and I sat up real late gossiping about her. I felt like a teenager.

 

[n2mm]

Wow, you are a great person because if my brother had said that to me, I would be handing him the number for CRO and telling him to call and book himself a room. God love you.

Sadly, you will probably have more horror stories to share when you return. I can see it now. You get up and your family will ask what "you're" cooking them for breakfast.

I would love to have a family reunion, but can barely travel with my adult kids and families as they bicker too much between themselves for my enjoyment. I barely made it through Easter dinner this weekend. I can only travel with only ONE of my adult kids and her family. The others get invited every few years and when my son comes (which isn't often) I get him a place at a different resort.

Please post back, and good luck. Try to have a good time and remember, it is YOUR vacation too and if you have to, you might want to remind them of that!

 

[dvc at last !]

My response would be: No problem. Just go to www.disneyworld.com, and book yourself a room. Have your credit card ready.

loved your response

 

[kdepot]

My response would be: No problem. Just go to www.disneyworld.com, and book yourself a room. Have your credit card ready.

Let me add "At a different resort"

 

[cseca]

My response would be: No problem. Just go to www.disneyworld.com, and book yourself a room. Have your credit card ready.

That was my first thought as well!

To the OP, try not to stress because you don't want to get sick before or during your trip. If I were you I'll just tell them which room you want and everybody can fend for themselves. They can even throw darts to figure out where they'll be sleeping...

Try to have fun!

What you're posting is one of the reason I'm very weary about inviting our extended family on a DVC trip. But I desperately want to do it sometime soon... I'm just glad we have the option to do something like this. Instead of spending tens of thousands of $ just for 1 vacation.

Good luck!

 

[CocosMeme]

I totally understand. My husband and I bought 600 points (three 200 point contracts) at AKV 3 years ago with the intent of bringing our kids and grandkids to stay in a grand villa at least every other year and use the other years for our own travel. We have 3 grown sons with 2 DIL's and 6 grandkids. We have yet to get them all to agree on a time to go that is convenient with everyone. This year they decided to go snow skiing instead and could not take another whole week off to go with us to Disney. They have never been for a whole week and complain that it will be too long and stressful. They have only been commando style for 4 or 5 days before. Meanwhile, my DH and I have been totally enjoying our points. WE have been to Disney 3 times, HHI once, Viva Italia with ABD (using points for 1 of us), and are going on ABD Southwest Splendors in the fall. My grandchildren are dying to go, but it is their ungrateful parents who are draging their feet. Oh, they have also complained the week tickets would cost them too much. Here I am offering them a free Grand Villa for a week, and they scream about the cost of park passes! We at least have one son who would go whenever we ask. But he is a college student. After reading your blog, maybe I don't want to book a family trip.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

My sister hated having her **FREE** Boardwalk studio with a HUGE balcony overlooking the village green, crescent lake, and spaceship earth.

Since she and her husband are smokers, (before the non-smoking policy) we reserved them a studio, and me, dh, and my other sisters family stayed in a 2 bedroom. We had hoped, and asked to all be close together.

She had been upgraded from POP to a 1 bedroom at SSR the night before, and wanted to go back, or wanted me to give up my 1 bedroom at the very least. (DH said no can do...but I was actually willing to do it.)

On the last day of the trip, they got up bright and early so they could go to Daytona to see the empty racetrack on the way home.

My sister explained the sidetrip to Daytona as ... "we didn't want the trip to be a complete waste!"

Sadly, my 11 year old niece thinks Walt Disney World is a boring money trap. I recently asked if she (the 11 year old) wanted to join me and DH on our next trip and she said NO!

So yeah...I think I know about ungrateful relatives. Oh, and we are nuts for liking WDW too.

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

OP:

As others have said, it is also your vacation & you might have to remind them of that. You should take whatever bedroom you want (the master) and they can all figure out where they are sleeping. Anyone who doesn't like it can get their own room & pay for it themselves.

I hope you have a wonderful vacation & they appreciate the trip. Have fun & post back after the trip & let us know how it went.

Here is some pixie dust

 

[toniosmom]

I've got one of those too.....my sister. I could bend over backwards for her and she will find something to complain about. I will NEVER and I mean NEVER vacation with her again. And I've felt that way since prior to buying into DVC!!! That's just the way it goes sometimes. It's a shame because people that you think will travel well together sometimes surprise you with how selfish they can be. I agree that you should give the CRO phone number to anyone who complains. And.....tell them all that there are two bedrooms up for grabs -- YOU figure out how you are going to sleep in them. We'll be in the master.

You may want to consider some time apart during this upcoming vacation.....or at least when you start to hear some grumbling, RUN (do not walk) to the nearest exit and spend some time away from everyone.

I hope it all works out well for you and that upon your return, you post that you all had a great time together.

 

[shortypots]

My response would be: No problem. Just go to www.disneyworld.com, and book yourself a room. Have your credit card ready.

Funny you should mention this. I had to call MS to find out how to handle the payment of the dining plan if my sister arrived before I did (they are all paying me for it, I know- could have issues getting the cash from them). So since I had to call anyway, I checked to see if there were 2 -2bd savannah views available, and unfortunately there were not (however, we would have lost 2 beds anyway and replaced them with 2 sofa beds.) But the CS asked me why I would want to change from the grand villa, and I told him what my brother said. The CS told me (jokingly) to let him use my dvc discount for a studio at $359/nt- that should shut him up! haha

I also forgot to mention the worst part. My brothers are so selfish they would let me 61 yr old mother and my 63 yrs old handicapped father sleep on the sofa just so they can have a bed.

 

[oct2014]

OP
This part of the problem with a GV though. The common space is great, but people like to go back to their own rooms and they don't like shared bedroom walls (BWV and Jambo). We took family for Christmas and we basically didn't give them the choice of getting their own rooms because WE wanted a GV and wanted everyone to stay together. For all that everyone LOVED it while we were there, I've already heard the same concerns about next year.

I don't consider it ungrateful (although people could be more tactful and telling you a week before is ridiculous) unless someone could not go were it not for your points. Otherwise we aren't necessarily doing our guests the favor we think we are doing them.

Going forward we are just going to get smaller units. Less points, more privacy!

Caroline

 

[spiceycat]

have you consider 4 studios....

or maybe a 1 bedroom for you and 3 studios for them.

 

[Starr W.]

DH and I just don't take our sisters with us anywhere! My sister and I will take "girls trips" as DH and 2 DS's for more than a few hours drive her nuts. I even have problems getting her to "stick" one of these trips, all non-DVC. Really tired of being the one who has to call the TA and cancel 1 day after we make the reservations.

Sister wanted to tag along to HI this summer, if I paid. I . She's still miffed that I showed her how she could book her own rooms if she came along.

DH's sister is going to Myrtle Beach for the first time this summer, offered to get her something via our Wyndham points or RCI/II extra vacations(she'd pay us). Never been but she knows everything and she's actually paying more for her place than if she went to Redweek and rented a unit via owner at the Marriott(best TS in MB imho). She believes she's getting a great deal. and you can't tell her otherwise, even if you show her the prices(DH and I make up fake webites, according to her)

 

[TagsMissy]

Wow that is crazy!! I am so sorry to hear that and I am so GRATEFUL that my bro and his family were just happy to go they didn't care if they had to sleep on the floor let alone have private beds and bedrooms. We had 7 people, 4 adults and 3 kids in a 2BR -- we took the master other than the 7 year old wondering why we always got the private room nobody said a single word/cared. ((though the kids did claim the jacuzzi tub at Kidani lol and we other than actual sleep time had an open door policy so nobody felt confined to any one location and often the kids were hanging out in the Master with hubby and I))

The kids took turns between beds and sofa beds/sharing or not except the very last night... Mom and Dad told the kids you three are sleeping on the pull outs in the living room we are getting the room to ourselves tonight they were actually happy to not have to be with mom and dad in the bedroom as they got to stay up late lol

I hope they understand just how generous you are being to get a Grand Villa and what it means to just be with family. Honestly at the end of the day I am so tired I just pass out so what if they have to share a bed/room... they should be asleep!

 

[fers31]

I have a similar ungrateful story. I bought into DVC in 2008 and immediately started thinking of trips I could take my family along on. Being 30 at the time I was happy that I was able to do this so went right to my family with possibilities of family trips. So I mentioned to my mother that maybe sometime we could all go to Hawaii. Her immediate response was “that’s a long flight.” So I offered that we could just go to Disney where she responded “that’s so much walking to do.” I feel like there was another offer right away that was quickly brushed aside as well but I forget (probably the reason I still am on good terms with her.) So this past May I decided to go to Vero Beach. I mention this to my mom and point out that there won’t be much walking and she’ll mostly be relaxing in the sun. She responds with “but it’s already getting warm in Long Island by May, we’d rather go away when it’s colder here.” So I quickly respond with “but there’s a chance we could possibly see sea turtles coming up onto the beach to lay there eggs, that would pretty cool huh?” And without missing a beat, she says “won’t they close the beach for that.” So, sometimes no matter how hard you try, you just can’t win with your relatives. On a side note, I currently have a Tree House Villa reserved for the week after Thanksgiving for my parents and brothers so we’ll see what happens.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Any one have any issues with family that are ungrateful? We are getting a grand villa on Sunday and taking my entire family- mom, dad, sister, Brother in law, 2 nieces, 2 brothers, and my nephew, 11 in total. We had originally planned to have my sister, bil, and the 2 nieces in one bedroom, my youngest brother, his son, and my mom and dad in 1 bedroom, and the middle brother on the sleeper sofa in the living room. Of course, with us as the owners, we are taking the master.

My brother at Easter dinner, exactly 1 week before we leave, tells me "I am 32 yrs old and deserve a bed." We have been planning this trip for well over a year, and now 1 week before hand tells me he "deserves a bed". Now granted, when we were growing up the youngest were the first to not get a bed, however, the way he worded it makes me think you ungrateful little @X$^&!!! Then the youngest brother doesn't want to stay in the same room with my dad since he gets up 50 times in the night to use the restroom.

If someone was offering me a free place to stay in the happiest place on earth, and said they only had a sleeper bed, I would say "OMG, thank you for offering- that is so nice of you!" It is almost like they feel entitled to it!! So far, I haven't heard a thank you yet, but we haven't gone yet, however, with the way everyone is acting, I am wondering if I am even going to get a thank you!!

Ultimately, we ended up putting all the kids in the room with my sister, and my 2 brothers will share a bed in the room with my folks, but I have never in my life heard so much complaining for a room that they didn't pay for!!!

I have never in my life been so stressed while planning a vacation. I hardly slept this weekend because my family had been complaining so much. I have already told my husband it is a shame because I like traveling with my family, but I guess not all at once. My DH and I were even trying to figure out how to make it an every year trip, but I don't think I can handle the stress that often.

Wasn't really looking for responses, just needed to vent. I am just hoping the complaining doesn't continue into the vacation!

Almost verbatim of what happened on our trip last October while staying in a Kidani GV.
Ours did not turn out well at all...

MG

 

[delaneyc52]

Remember the old adage -- no good deed goes unpunished!