One of our 3 kids lives near us and has 2 daughters, aged 5 and 9 - our only grandkids. They are comfortable but not terribly flush. We’ve discussed taking their family with us on vacations. Next summer we are all going to a lakefront resort in Wisconsin, where we can enjoy each others’ company at the lake/pool/hikes/whatever when we wish, and pursue our own interests when we wish.
We realized the girls were a good age to go to Disney, which is likely beyond our daughter’s means. So we discussed a trip the spring break after this one, and the parents were thrilled. But the more we thought and read up on DW, the less it appeals to my wife and me. We’ve each been at least once, and it is nothing we really want or need to do again. While it would be fun to see our grandkids enjoy DW, I’m not sure how much I would want to stand in lines to enjoy that. For us to go would cost several thousand in airfare/hotels/food/tickets... We have the and I have no objection to spending it - but I’m not crazy about spending large amounts on something I don’t really enjoy. Finally, we wonder if our kid and grandkids would enjoy themselves more by themselves, just doing it however they prefer, rather than hauling making it a bigger group activity.
So, we thought we might just gift our kid’s family a trip to DW, and either stay home or go somewhere else ourselves. And enjoy their sharing of photos and experiences after.
How about you? In a similar situation would you rather go with your kids and grandkids to DW, or send them on their own?
I would go to Disney World with my kids/grandkids
I would send my kids/grandkids to Disney World without me
My friend goes to Disney a lot and she takes her mom. Her mom grumbles about everything. It makes the trip exhausting for my friend. But then the next time a trip is being planned, her mom always agrees to go.
If you’re going to go and grumble about standing in line and spending money and not liking the rides or knowing the characters just don’t go. Let the family have a magical vacation on your behalf.
There are things at DW that you will like as much if not more than the grandkids do. Some things you will enjoy doing with them like the Dumbo ride. Some things you’ll appreciate more like the Hall of Presidents and the World Showcase. Spending time with them is priceless.
I went to Disney World with my mother, brother, sister-in-law and their two kids (10 and 14 years old). And yes, it was great fun watching the kids enjoying themselves but I certainly enjoyed it as well. My brother had the whole schedule laid out ahead of time in an Excel document and I just went with whatever he had planned.
At the time, my mother had bad knees (since replaced) and so we rented a scooter for her use. Because of that, she was able to jump to the front of the lines, and they allowed the rest of us to do so as well. A few years later, some people were found to be abusing this privilege. I believe the current policy is to allow only one family member to jump the line with the scooter user. If that had been the case, I think we would probably just had my mother stay with us in the long lines, since we wanted to stay together.
My parents have had family vacations where they paid for myself, my wife, my daughter, my brother, and once, my grandmother. They rented a 5 bedroom vacation home and we did the Disney thing. For half the day we stayed together and went as a family. For the other half they bowed out and it was just my wife, daughter, brother, and I. It was good but we always felt a bit constrained by my parent’s timeline. Not to mention Grandma was about 90 and slowed things down a bit. There were advantages though. It was still the time that having someone in a wheelchair helped to avoid some of the lines.
In 2019 we had a December trip booked but my grandma broke her hip and we had to cancel last minute. A few months later my parents sent my wife, daughter, and me alone. We had an on property room and were able to do things on our timeline. We made sure to get lots of personal photos, did the memory maker, and tried to document the trip as much as possible so my parents could see how much our daughter enjoyed the experience.
Having done it both ways I can say that, as a family unit, we much preferred going it alone. The experience was the best we’ve had. I’m sure that my parents enjoyed being there in person as opposed to living vicariously through photos and video.
Personally I’d recommend the method we used on the 2nd trip. Mom and Dad went at their own pace, allowed us to leave early for the parks and do the rope drop to maximize time. They arrived in the park later in the morning and met up with us. We did a few rides, lunch, and spent time in the parks so they could be with their granddaughter. They went back to the house when they had their fill. They would come back for fireworks and such in the evening. It was a good balance of having us move at a good pace and experience all we could and them experiencing the parks through my daughter’s eyes.
I don’t think I would really “grumble” about it. But it just isn’t the sort of thing my wife and I enjoy - not to mention enjoy spending a good chunk of change on. Neither my wife nor I tend to enjoy crowds or standing in lines. And the “payoff” of all the planning and waiting - a few minutes of Disney entertainment - isn’t really all that meaningful to us. I understand many folk are huge Disney fans. We appreciate Disney, but are not such fans.
The idea of seeing our grandkids’ enjoyment when they see/meet their favorite characters, etc is appealing. But I’m just not sure how many thousands of $ that specific experience is worth to us. Yeah, we could go down there and mostly stay in the hotel while they go to the park. Or go to the park and pretty much find a nice bench to sit and people watch. But again, is that enjoyable enough to be worth the expenditure.
While we a pretty financially comfortable, we are not stupid rich. And, as a comparison, what the 2 of us would save by not going to DW is probably more than we will spend taking the 6 of us to the Wisconsin trip. So if we stay home we could send them on this trip AND book another trip for the 6 of us. Or put the $ in their college funds…
Get to the park before opening, as soon as they drop the rope, run to the busiest ride so you can get on with little/no wait. Then run to the next busiest ride. Repeat until the lines get long.
There’s also books & apps that will plan your day for you, exactly what time to get to each ride to minimize your total wait time over the day.
ETA: There isn’t really a rope. There’s a bunch of smiling cast members subtly but effectively blocking the entrance ways.
Do you mean YOU enjoyed it more when you went without the grandparents, but the grandparents enjoyed going themselves?
I assume that has something to do with ways to minimize lines - such as the scooter exception you mentioned. The whole idea of having to plan things like a military expedition - as muldoon describes - kinda turns us off. And, yeah, we could be comfortable hanging by a pool. But to be perfectly honest, if we were to incur airfare and hotel expenses, Orlando FLA is pretty damned far down on a list of places we’d like to go. IF we wanted to go to FLA, we’d greatly prefer someplace on a beach. Which we could propose as a subsequent vacation…
I’m not a grandparent but I was once a kid. A kid’s enjoyment of someplace like Disney World can only be hampered by the addition of more adults; the fewer the better. If this is really a gift for the kids just write the check and stay out of the way.
Thanks to both of you. I remember when we went, there were days when the parks opened early but only for those staying at Disney hotels. We took advantage of that a couple of times. (Also, when we went, they still had the bus that would pick you up from Orlando airport while someone else took care of getting your checked luggage, which was delivered to your hotel room.)
There’s also an entire system of what used to be called Fast Pass (and was free) but is now Lightning Lane (and costs $). Basically you reserve a ride slot months ahead of time.
My mother took my sister and I to Disney Land back in 1991 when we were both teenagers. Even back then, my mother didn’t care for crowds and she’s never been one for rides, so she didn’t really have a good time, and consequently we only spent 5-6 hours in the park which was kind of a bummer. I’d take mom and let her do the bulk of Disney with the kids. You don’t have to hang out with them all the time for everyone to have a good time.
It depends on the kid, but that’s a good point. The 5 year old is probably still at the age where they’ll be content to go at the adults pace, but the 9 year old might be wanting to go on every ride possible as quickly as possible.
As part of the planning apps/books (co-written by occasional poster here, Len Testa), they’ll tell you to definitely go to the early opening parks, but as soon as they start to get crowded switch to another park. Because the parks with early opening wind up being the most crowded every day.
My little family, including my daughter who was about 14 at the time, enjoyed the trip by ourselves more with just us than we did the other times (when my daughter was 4 and 10 respectively). The freedom to do what we wanted without having to worry about 3 other people who were slower moving and less interested in the parks themselves was a better experience for us.
My parents really enjoyed the times they were able to visit the parks. The first time we went they spent the majority of the day with us. We moved more on their schedule which meant being a bit slower getting to the parks, moving a bit slower, taking longer breaks. We felt constrained by their schedule.
The second time we went it was a better experience for everyone. We went to the park on our schedule and my parents joined us when they could. Cell phones meant it was easy to find each other when they were ready to come. They didn’t feel the need to join us on rides that had no interest for them and they still got to experience first hand the joy my daughter was experiencing. This is the approach I would use to maximize everyone’s enjoyment.