When with a group 4 or more stay together or split up?

[toolmanjan]

My wife and I learned early on that we have totally different priorities when at WDW. She enjoys low key rides (HM CBJ PP IASW) and of coarse shopping. I like thrill rides and some shopping. None of us are meet and greet people. So to relieve the friction we split up and pursue our own choices at times. When our children now 20 and 23 join(ed) us we always told them if there is something you want to do, don't let us stop you. (once they were teenagers)

When the kids were young we always worked in "kid-less" time for each other.

FYI we have never ever went to the parks with a plan (except an ADR, Fastpass or a intention to do a certain attraction)

My question, are we the norm or the exception?

 

[85glht]

Doesn't matter if it is normal or not, it works for your family and that is what really matters..... Being happy on vacation! We usually stick together and when one wants to ride an attraction and the other does not, the ones that do not want to ride will sit out while the others ride the attraction and meet up afterwards either in a store or at/near the attraction exit. It is much easier these days to find one another with everyone having a smartphone.
The only plans that we need are ADR.... Fastpasses are a plus but not etched in stone. (Hate this new system)

 

[ChasingLeslie]

We just went on our first trip with the kids (8,5). Mostly we stayed together, but my DD doesn't meet the height requirements for some of the big thrill rides so we would rider swap and one of us would take her to do something else. The kids and I are very into the M&G and my husband is less so, but he'd humor us.

 

[Kittyoko]

When a group has different interests and limited time, I think it's fine to split up. With texting nowadays, makes it easy to communicate. We only stuck together in the late evening when our phones were nearly dead haha. Next trip, we're bringing an extra battery or portable charger or something. We just make sure to eat meals together so that we can share our day with each other.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We do this a lot! My DH would rather stay out of the parks, to be honest! My DS8 can only handle about 4-5 hours of park time per day. On a typical trip to WDW, we may spend mornings together hitting the rides we all enjoy, then go to the pool and, sometimes, we will drop DS at a kids club, while my DH goes back to the room to read and I hit EP again to just wander around WS. I think the nice thing about WDW is that, there is so much to do, you really can adjust your vacation to suit a vast variety of vacation styles.

 

[KrazeeK120]

I'm ashamed to admit I'm a fraidey-cat when it comes to rides, and DH rode several of the roller coasters solo until I worked up the courage to join him (and now I have no idea what I was so scared of!). Last year, I was pregnant, so obviously not able to do most of the headliners. We split up several times...I had the pleasure of experiencing rides like Winnie the Pooh, Little Mermaid, IASM, and Gran Fiesta tour alone while he did Space, Splash, Big Thunder, 7DMT, and TT. I wasn't jealous one bit.

Next time, we'll have our son with us and at 18 months, will be to small for anything with a height requirement. We'll probably stay together most of the time, but I know we'll split up a couple of times so we can each do some things we want to do. He loves TT and I want to see the new Soarin', so I plan to take our son to the Nemo ride while DH does TT, and then he'll take him to Turtle Talk while I go to Soarin'. I've not yet been able to ride 7DMT either, so I'll probably do that while they do Dumbo or something.

As a PP said, in this day and age, it's incredibly easy for people to stay in touch with one another via texting, etc. Disney is a place I feel comfortable navigating alone, and splitting up enables us to do some things we each want to do.

 

[jennygirlmt]

It doesn't matter if it's the norm if it works for you! I've been shocked at how different everyone vacations, but you all just do what works.

So far we've never vacationed just the five of us. With grandparents we tend to stay together bc we are all there to witness the kids enjoying it!

When we go in Feb it'll just be the five of us and the kids will be 6, 4 and 18 months. We will stick together for most of it and just split when the 6 year old wants to do some of th coasters that the younger can't/won't.

I have no doubts we will split more as the kids grow and have differing desires! (And when it doesn't take both of us to corrale them )

 

[scrapquitler]

My wife and I learned early on that we have totally different priorities when at WDW. She enjoys low key rides (HM CBJ PP IASW) and of coarse shopping. I like thrill rides and some shopping. None of us are meet and greet people. So to relieve the friction we split up and pursue our own choices at times. When our children now 20 and 23 join(ed) us we always told them if there is something you want to do, don't let us stop you. (once they were teenagers)

When the kids were young we always worked in "kid-less" time for each other.

FYI we have never ever went to the parks with a plan (except an ADR, Fastpass or a intention to do a certain attraction)

My question, are we the norm or the exception?

Well, we do the same thing, but we are usually a party of 3 now that one child is away at college. Sometimes DH and I do something and DS does something else, other times the boys go off together and leave me alone. It just depends on what we have planned or want to do and what mood we are in. Sometimes they go to a park and I stay in the room for a nap. I'm a big fan of 'whatever works' being what we do.

 

[HeyIt'sMe]

My family (party of 3 that includes our 19 year old DD) split up sometimes. There have been times that I have gone to Disney Springs (when it was still DTD) or resort hopping by myself while DH & DD stayed back at the resort pool to swim. DD & I went to AK one year without DH because he didn't have any interest in going so he stayed back and relaxed at the resort.

My DD's boyfriend has joined us on a Disney trip and one night he & DD went to MNSSHP while DH & I had a nice date night with dinner at California Grill and then drinks around the monorail loop. DD's boyfriend is joining us again this year and while we'll probably all spend most of the trip together I'm sure there will be times that we split up and do our own things.

 

[alex9179]

Our kids were still pretty young on our last trip, 9 and under, so we've stuck together for the most part . Certain rides we'd split up due to height or a kid not feeling up to a particular thrill but we never ventured far, more likely waiting in the gift shop at the end or finding a playground. I have so much fun watching them during the rides and my favorite pictures are from the attractions, so it's nice to be there together.

Next year my oldest will be 13 and we think that she and her brother, who'll be 12, can explore without us in a park if they want to. They don't like the thrill rides as much as the rest of us. My youngest will be 9 and will stick with DH and me. His siblings would probably ditch him "by accident", anyway, and RUIN the trip

If it were just DH and me, we'd stick together because we like to do the same things.

 

[Southernmiss]

While at Disney in May, our family of 6 stayed together. Kids are 22, 19, 17 and 14. We told them the could go off on their own together or in pairs, but they really didn't at the parks. I sat out Mission Space and waited at the exit for them. Dd enjoyed the Japanese store while dh and her brothers and I looked around the koi pond.

Ds22 met friends in the college program at Disney Springs one afternoon. We caught up to him later that evening at Disney Springs.

And on our very last day (we also did 3 days at Universal) the 3 youngest slept in ( they were exhausted)and we were done and back to the hotel before they were moving! Oh and I sat out a ride on Rip Ride Rocket- once that day was enough for me!

We all enjoy each other's company and don't mind doing something we don't necessarily love but that someone else wanted to do.

 

[Nancyg56]

We generally travel as a group of at least 5, many times 9. WE split up. We begin together most times, ht a few attactions together and then at least one of use tends to wander. My DD just went with her DH and their14 YO DD. My DSIL went off by himself a few times (mostly for a DOle Whip, I'm told) but he does not last at the pool, and my DD loses interest in pin trading.

You do what works for you, that is all that matters.

 

[laura3773]

My family splits up. We go with my parents and sometimes my sister and brother in law and there have been days we haven't seen them at all except in passing on the monorail.

I'm actually having some anxiety around my upcoming trip because my father in law is coming and I know he will want to hang with me, DH and DD, but we've planned a nice date night at food and wine while Pop-Pop takes DD (wouldn't be surprised if he surprises her with MNSSHP).

 

[Dreamport]

When we were kids, we'd stay together as a family for mostly the whole day. There would be maybe one day out of the trip where we'd split up for a bit because someone was too young/short/scared to go on an attraction. Now that DSis and I are grown, we've taken a half-day to ourselves and even broke off a bit each day just to get some breathing room. Time apart is actually being planned into the next trip because, while we love each other and agree on most things, there are just some attractions we're not interested in again or can't ride anymore or just don't care about in general. It's nice to go off and come back later to share stories of the different experiences.

 

[Nancyg56]

When we were kids, we'd stay together as a family for mostly the whole day. There would be maybe one day out of the trip where we'd split up for a bit because someone was too young/short/scared to go on an attraction. Now that DSis and I are grown, we've taken a half-day to ourselves and even broke off a bit each day just to get some breathing room. Time apart is actually being planned into the next trip because, while we love each other and agree on most things, there are just some attractions we're not interested in again or can't ride anymore or just don't care about in general. It's nice to go off and come back later to share stories of the different experiences.

This is why we plan dinner together every night. We enjoy spending time discussing the day and many times we end up talking about past trips that our day reminded us about.

 

[aretha30]

You do what works for your family. We stick together for the most part, our 8 yr old hates thrill rides like BTMRR and SM but will ride prime evil whirl (why, we have no clue). So we split up for the headliners and switch so that our 13yr old rides twice and both by DH and I can ride. If we are doing standby we get rider swap and the other takes our 8 yr old on something he likes until they are done. At waterparks it's a different story, we split up most of the day. One of us with each of the kids, meeting up at one point or another. For us it's all about family time so we compromise and making sure that we're all happy.

 

[dreiwhit]

My family of four would occasionally split up if my daughter wanted to do a princess meet & greet and my son didn't want to. I took my son somewhere while my wife took my daughter. We use two way radios to keep in touch and we have our cell phones as a backup, so we can meet up with them anywhere afterwards.

OP, do what is best for your family and what makes y'all happy!