WDW with teens -- who aren't your own.

[slmaynard26]

Welcome to the DIS! I just wanted to tell you that I think it's great you are taking your cousin. I hope you have a wonderful trip.

Hi Beth,

Thanks for your personal welcome. With so many people on the board, I am pleased and surprised to hear from a moderator. I think my cousin and I will have a great time. She's a wonderful kid!

 

[slmaynard26]

I guess another point is, I think Pop and the AS ones tend to get a lot of teens and kids during Spring Break??? Whether this is good or bad is your opinion, but I heard a lot of reports of them being pretty loud. We stayed at CBR, which we enjoyed a lot, but the main pool is getting renovated now.

The different resorts have such different motifs, I think it is more a matter of taste, and somewhat of convenience. With 2 of you, the room size probably isn't as much of an issue.

I think I have decided on POFQ because of the beauty of the resort and its economy for the amount of money I have to spend. I agree, I think that fewer loud Spring Break-ers would be staying at POFQ.

I did once stay at CBR, but I had a very bad experience there. I think it has now been refurbished and renovated to some extent. I may think about it again, though. I do like all the bright colors and the feel of the resort.

 

[slmaynard26]

First, I would get POA just in case- My younger brother nearly sawed his thumb off with a chainsaw a few weeks short of his 18th birthday and the ER would not allow me or my grandparents to sign for his medical care. They put pressure on the bleeding but would do nothing more for him. It took more than 1 hour to locate my parents while he sat there in pain with nothing more than a pressure bandage.

My 14 yo dd said you should try CBR, this is the resort she would stay at if given the opportunity. Also, make plenty of time for shopping and boy watching, lol. Straight from the mouth of a teenage girl!

I think it will be important to get medical releases, yes. I would be beside myself if something serious (such as your case) occured and I couldn't reach either of her parents, hundreds of miles away in Indiana.

I have been thinking about other resorts, and I know that POFQ is definitely at the forefront. I may have to look into CBR some more...as I said to another poster, I had a bad experience there once but I am sure things are different now. Thanks for your help!

 

[slmaynard26]

What a great thing you are doing!! I have little ones so I can't give you a lot of help, but maybe a few things.

I am from Indy also, and the airport is usually madness on Friday (well busy for Indy anyway!). We do like getting down there in the evening so we have a full day for a first day, but plan on getting to the airport in plenty of time. I don't know where she goes to school, but in Lawrence Township that Friday is a snow day meaning we get it off if we have not had a snow day. Of course, when booking you wouldn't know this.

We just stayed at the Poly in October and loved, loved it! That said, some of our reasons were because of the little ones - easy and quick access to MK, fun pool, but not an overly big slide for my six year old, big enough rooms for the five of us, and a balcony to sit on while the little one napped. If it were just me and a teen, I would probably think about the Epcot area resorts or my DH and I loved Wilderness Lodge on our honeymoon. It is not quite as expensive. There are people on the resorts board who can answer any question you have about the different resorts!

We are foodies and have at least one sit down meal a day. I am sure my kids think that is what all people do! Frequent the restaurants boards, and you will learn all you need to know about the different restaurants. I would definitely do at least one character meal just because they are fun! Sci Fi is also very fun and different, but the food lacks - stick to burgers if you decide to try it. Have fun! You are giving her such a great experience!!

I wasn't sure about Indy on that Friday. We are from the Pendleton area, and there is no such thing as a free snow day for us! I guess we could always try flying out on Sunday, which I am sure would be a little easier, but at that time in March, everything is berserk at the airport anyway.

I love Epcot, and I too would love to stay at one of those resorts. As time gets nearer I may be able to scrounge up more cash (since it's just me and my single income, I have to balance resort cost against how long we want to stay, and I want to stay a long time!) to check out those resorts. I have stayed at the Dolphin once before and loved it, but I think I would rather go with some Disney magic at the Yacht or Beach if I went to an Epcot resort.

Thanks for your help! I may have to consult with you a little more about Indy's SB airport traffic!

 

[slmaynard26]

In September my dd 15 took a friend for 10 days, I had the parents give a medical release form, medical ins. card, dental card, rx card, high school id,
copy of birth cert and a letter giving myself permission to transport her daughter from NJ to FL(the letter included the dates, names). I know this may seem like alot but you want to be covered, just in case of a problem in the airport or a medical/dental emerg.

We stayed at the BW dd's friend was in love...she thought it was so pretty.
I booked all the dinners(LeCellier, Chef's, Coral Reef, etc), they both ate and loved every meal. During the day they ate wherever for lunch(mostly Wolfgang) and went off on their own and we met up throughout the day. But dinner was our time together to check in. So spend the time making nice dinner reservations and planning I think most kids really appreciate it.

Hi! Thanks for your help. I am so glad to hear you say that the teens liked LeCellier and Chefs. Those are two of my favorites! That makes me feel a lot better about booking some of those for sit down meals. I think she and I will be on the go quite a bit but to me there is nothing like a late-ish dinner at Epcot and then watching Illuminations!

 

[slmaynard26]

I can't help with all of the questions, but I can with a few. I am 22, when I was a kid and a teenager my dad and I would go every February break. Now I go as often as possible with my husband. Anyway I know I would have appreciated the deluxe resorts. As far as how long you should stay, I would talk to her about that. As far as I am concerned now there is no such thing as staying to long. When I was a teenager and would go with my dad, I would love WDW and want to stay for a long time, but at the same time I wanted to be home with my friends and/or boyfriend. So by the time we got home I would be glad to get home. It doesn't sound like that would be much of a problem for her the way you describe her. Plus going with your cousin is more like going with your friends than with your dad. I would suggest you talk to her about it and ask her where she wants to stay and how long she wants to stay.

You sound a lot like me. My dad and I went about every other year either at Spring Break or after Christmas for many years, and I was the same way. I hated to leave, but at the same time I was glad to be home at the end of it. I am going to talk to her to see what she thinks. On one hand, I think she will say that she wants to stay the full 10 days we could be there, but I am also concerned that she might not understand exactly how much you're talking about when you talk 10 days.

Then again, half the reason to go a longer time is to build in more time for rest and relaxation. To maybe spend half a day at a resort sleeping in and then a water park later, that sounds very nice!

Thanks!!!

 

[slmaynard26]

have your cousin's parent call their insurance company and find out if they have a specific form that they require a non parent to have in hand to permit usage of the minor's insurance coverage (you should have some type of med p.o.a. for services but that does'nt mean that the insurance company does'nt have their own provisions for covering services). you might also want your cousin's parent(s) to give you a verbal 'crash course' in how their insurance works (with mine for example it would make a huge difference in coverage despite the nature of the injury weather i took one of my kiddos to an urgent care instead of an e/r-any e/r would be covered, any non participating urgent care would not). another thing to have on hand that would be helpfull is just the basic info. that any med provider is going to ask for with a new patient-allergies, med history, name of current doctor, name and address of employer under whom the insurance is issued...if an emergency came up it would be easier to just be able to whip that info. out.

I think those are excellent ideas. I think I will make a list of the things I might need to get and show them to my cousin's mom and go from there. Luckily the mom and dad are pretty easygoing so I don't think that such info would freak them out. I think they will understand that I just want to be prepared in all cases. Thanks for your input!!!

 

[irene_dsc]

I think I have decided on POFQ because of the beauty of the resort and its economy for the amount of money I have to spend. I agree, I think that fewer loud Spring Break-ers would be staying at POFQ.

I did once stay at CBR, but I had a very bad experience there. I think it has now been refurbished and renovated to some extent. I may think about it again, though. I do like all the bright colors and the feel of the resort.

Well, the room we stayed in seemed to have been refurbished relatively recently. But, I probably wouldn't do it this spring simply because of the big pool renovation project - I'd wait until they have the new pool. (Tho, with 10 days, if you really want pool time, you can do the water parks.)

 

[kitten818]

Your post caught my eye because I'm 25 and I'm taking eight 13-14 girls to the world this summer. Of course, I'll be with 3 other adults.

For medical, I'm going through Girl Scouts (this is a girl scout troop that I lead) to make sure that I have all their info and all paperwork is cleared through Girl Scouts. But I would think in your case it would be very important to get any medical worries taken care of so that if something happens you and your cousin are ok.

We planned on staying at Pop Century for cost, but now it looks like we will be renting a pool home because it is even cheaper and we can get discounts on car rentals through my husband. When I asked the girls, they were most concerned with having a nice pool. I think that they could appreciate the calmer and prettier atmosphere of a moderate or deluxe, but at the same time, I think that it wouldn't be the largest thing to impact their vacation.

From what I can tell, the girls I am taking are looking forward to the parks, the parks, the parks!! All 4 major parks, the water parks, and Disney Quest are their focus. I also got them interested in the restaurants by including them in the decision process. I picked out about 20 different places that I knew would suit them well and they voted for their favorites. Whispering Canyon Cafe, Coral Reef, and 50's Prime Time Cafe were their top choices. Of course, that might be because I explained to them how Whispering Canyon Cafe and Prime Time Cafe are all about fooling around with the servers. Coral Reef was entirely their thought process. A bunch of character meal choices were high up along with the fancy California Grill (they wanted to dress up).

I'm planning something similar to what you said for the days - go to the parks in the mornings, take a break in the hot afternoon, and go back at night. We are planning a fairly long trip - 12 nights, so it was important to take it slower during the days.

I suppose I could report back to you when I get back in August - what they liked (generally) and didn't like (generally). Otherwise, I just know what they THINK they will like.

Have fun with the planning and get her excited about it by having her pick things after you have already narrowed down the choices. You are the expert and know what the cool/fun things are. And she'll enjoy picking her favorite of the selections you've made.

Good luck!