Disney Family Vacation Nightmare

Mr. DS · March 16, 2008, 08:56:16 AM

I just got back late last night from a Disney vacation. My wife's family decided to go with 20 or so people to the land of "happiness". After 10 days of whining and crying (and the was just the adults) I think I'm cured of any and all Disneyploitation for the next 10 years. To make it worse it was a Griswald comedy of errors.

1.) My wife popped her knee out of place and couldn't walk for a few days.
2.) Two people ended up with bronchitis.
3.) My son ended up with strep throat.

Mix all this with bickering and everyone standing around taking about what they want to do and not actually doing it, and it tested my sanity. My son unfortunately was way out of his routine so he spent the vacation crying a lot. However, we managed to get a lot done and did our best to have fun.

So anyone else have a similar Disney/vacation experience?

ER · March 16, 2008, 11:21:32 PM

Well, I've only been once, and I remember enjoying the heck out of it, but we did have an experience of sorts that gets brought up from time to time when we recall Disney World.

My parents were fairly young when they got married, my father was still in college for much of my early childhood, and so when he got out of school and was able to take Mom and me to Disney World when I was six, it was a proud moment for him. He wanted everything to be perfect.

We were on the boat safari ride the first day there, having the time of our lives, and there were these louts from somewhere on the East Coast on the boat next to us, being crude, spitting over the side at the water and the autoanimatronic creatures there, and I think they'd had too much to drink, on top of everything else. Well, one of them spat a loogie RIGHT on my dad's shoulder. HUUUGE hunk of lung butter, majorly gross. And then the guys laughed about it, no "Sorry, bud" nothin', just laughed! So my dad went from zero to sixty and was about ready to throw the guy who spat on him off the boat, into the water, they almost got into it, words flew, tempers flared, the boat was stopped, and ugh, my poor mom was just mortified.

Funnier in retrospect than at the time, but the rest of the trip worked out pretty well.

Oh! Before I forget, Dad has bad luck at amusement parks. There was the time we went to a local one, not knowing it was Gay Pride Day there, and if a man wore red it meant he was looking to hook up with another man. And, you guessed it, my dad wore a red tee shirt there that day.

ulthar · March 17, 2008, 07:51:07 AM

DS, Sorry to hear your trip did not go well. I"d say that the root of your main problem was the size of your group. A small, single family can much more easily decide a game plan than a larger group.

Back in January, we ent to MK for one, very long day. We had a long weekend and my sister happened to be FL, so we drove down. MK on Saturday (12 hours!!), Sea World on Sunday and drove back on Monday. It was great (I've been to Disney a bunch - first time was the very first year they were open).

It's good to have a game plan, but allow it to be flexible. You really cannot see EVERYTHING in one fell swoop. In my opinion, that's a mistake a lot of people make - they think they have to see everything. There's just too much, nerves get frayed, parents/children get tired.

My wife and I went the first summer we were dating. We had a three day pass, and stayed at a campground (in a tent) over in Kissimee. We packed lunches and used the following general strategy: one park in the morning, back to car for lunch, a different park in the afternoon. That break midday and park change really helped keep the fatigue factor relatively low - change of scenery goes a long way.

Maybe someday you'll get a chance to go back. If you do, remember the KISS principle, relax and have fun.

Mr. DS · March 17, 2008, 11:28:20 AM

QuoteOh! Before I forget, Dad has bad luck at amusement parks. There was the time we went to a local one, not knowing it was Gay Pride Day there, and if a man wore red it meant he was looking to hook up with another man. And, you guessed it, my dad wore a red tee shirt there that day.

I'm giving you karma for that statement because 5 years ago we went when they had that. The day was "magical" to say the least.

Yeah Ulthar, we kind of went our own way eventually and got a lot done with no problems. The issues seems to arrive when everyone else was around.

odinn7 · March 17, 2008, 03:37:46 PM

Never been there but I have some horror vacation stories...I won't go into them but let me just say this:

Every year, for some reason, the in-laws ALWAYS have to come with us on vacation. I cannot relax. I cannot feel comfortable in the place I paid for. I cannot feel right about anything. I feel like I would be better not even being on vacation. My conclusion? In laws and extra family other than the spouses and children add too much stress to a vacation...they don't belong...and should stay the f*** home....or better yet...go on their own freakin' vacation.

Patient7 · March 17, 2008, 06:01:11 PM

That sucks about your dad EMMR, it happened to me once and I threw that shirt out when I got home.

asimpson2006 · March 19, 2008, 08:20:42 AM

It's been a long time since I've being to a Disney World like 12 years or so. I went during Spring break when I was in the 3rd grade which seemed forever ago.

Anyways I went with my cousin and two of my aunts which was nice at the time. I didn't like the long lines at every where I went.

Ditto what everyone else said about seeing it. You really can't see everything in one day, even if you had the park to your self.

We ended up going to several different parks during out time down there. If I remember we went to the following parks:

Disney World
Universal Studio
Sea World
Some water park that I can't remember the name of for the life of me, and I think maybe something else, but I don't remember.

I had a nice time but I hated the long lines mainly because I was an impatience little kid.

Torgo · March 19, 2008, 10:39:57 PM

asimpson2006 · March 20, 2008, 06:35:27 AM

Quote from: Torgo on March 19, 2008, 10:39:57 PM

KARMA for you Torgo.

Mr. DS · March 20, 2008, 08:32:03 AM

Indeed, Karma to Torgo

BoyScoutKevin · March 21, 2008, 03:17:41 PM

Nope, but I usually travel by myself. And when I travel with someone else, excluding one church group, the most has been four other people--friends and family.

I've forgotten how many times I've been to Disneyland since the mid '60's.

Since 1984, I go to Walt Disney World every four years, so another trip is planned for this year.

I've been with Disney Cruise Line six times, and I have another one planned for this year. It's a repo cruise from Florida to California, through the Panama Canal, so I'm looking forward to that.

I've even been to Disneyland Paris twice.

And Disney has started its own tour company. It's called Adventures by Disney. Last year I was on their Philadelphia to Williamsburg tour, via Washington, D.C., and I enjoyed it so much I have two more planned this year.

After I get off the boat and spend a week with my family in southern California, I'm up to L.A. on one of their tours, which include backstage visits to Disneyland, Disney's California Adventure, the El Capitan Theatre, Jimmy Kimmel Live, the Muppets Studio, and Walt Disney Studio.

Then after I retire later in the year, I'm taking their Australian tour. It begins in Cairns, then goes to Ayers Rock, and ends in Sydney. As this will be my first visit to Australia, I'm looking forward to this trip as well.