CAPTAIN HOOK
Well-Known Member
Reality is an illusion caused by lack of alcohol
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How Do You Deal With Difficult Party Members?
- Thread starter BrittanyRose428
- Start date
LostPrincessKarleigh
Well-Known Member
I feel ya! I am in a similar bind with my upcoming trip in December. My fiance and I like pretty much the same things (although he doesn't like the meet and greets as much as I do) but his mom and sister have never been. So, I am planning our whole trip from start to finish and I have made it a point that they should tell me if there is something they are "dieing" to do. However, I know they probably won't do any research so I am just planning an easy, tip-a-toe trip with all the high points. (Plus MVMCP. 
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NeedMoreMickey
Well-Known Member
I don't know how many people are in your group but chances of getting them all to do the same thing and be happy about it is pretty slim. I agree with other poster split up, do some things and meet up again. When my entire family goes we are about 14 and I think we only get together about twice a day
Thanks for the input everyone! After spending another day with them, I think the root of the problem is that they simply don't care for WDW. Like I said before they don't seem to "get it." Though they haven't outwardly said it, I get the impression that they don't understand why we're visiting the parks without children. They reminisce a lot about the things they used to do when I was younger, but they have no desire to do it now.
Splitting up also isn't an option for them. We've been staying in for the night at our hotel at about 5 PM every night because a couple of people are tired and don't want to go back out. I don't mind staying in, because like I said, I'm here all the time, I just feel bad that they've come down here and paid for park hoppers and they're going to one park a day and leaving that one park at 4. The whole thing is a mess, and I'm just biting my tongue and humoring them until they go back home. It was very nice of them to come and visit me, and I really appreciate that, but they are clearly not interested in the parks as much as they made it sound when I (attempted) to help them plan this trip.
Splitting up also isn't an option for them. We've been staying in for the night at our hotel at about 5 PM every night because a couple of people are tired and don't want to go back out. I don't mind staying in, because like I said, I'm here all the time, I just feel bad that they've come down here and paid for park hoppers and they're going to one park a day and leaving that one park at 4. The whole thing is a mess, and I'm just biting my tongue and humoring them until they go back home. It was very nice of them to come and visit me, and I really appreciate that, but they are clearly not interested in the parks as much as they made it sound when I (attempted) to help them plan this trip.
Captain Chaos
Well-Known Member
I just quarter the difficult members of my party. Puts an end to that REAL fast.
*** I really don't, just use tar and feathers.
*** I really don't, just use tar and feathers.
Chernaboggles
Well-Known Member
Ugh, what a bummer. Sorry you're having to deal with that! I'm not sure if this will be helpful at all, but maybe change the overall approach? The typical way to do WDW is to try and get as much time in the parks as possible so as to max out the value of the tickets, but that doesn't work for some people. When I first went to WDW I was 26 and I didn't "get it" either. It was too big, too crowded, too hot and I couldn't understand why my husband loved it so much. We didn't even use all of our days because I wasn't having fun. Fast forward ten years and we just went back, but we did a radically different approach to all of our park visits - and now I'm hooked!
For me, the key to enjoying the parks is to take them in 4 or 5 hour blocks with a break in between each one, and to focus on one or two things in each block, with everything else being a bonus. So, we might go to AK to see Festival of the Lion King and have breakfast, and do some of the forest trails to see the animals. When we're getting hot and tired, we leave for a couple hours. We go back out later for dinner and fireworks somewhere, and maybe do a ride or two if the wait isn't too long. Except for Animal Kingdom, I find the parks at night to be much interesting than the parks during the day. Magic Kingdom especially has a kind of carnival feeling that seems to be more accessible to adults than the brightly painted daytime stuff.
Not sure how long your family is staying so this might be coming too late, but if you have at least another full day, try taking a rest in the early afternoon and heading out again at night, if nothing else it'll have novelty value. Sit-down shows might also be a good addition, like the flights of birds thing at Epcot (sorry can't remember the name), Festival of the lion King and Fantasmic. Even for the most jaded adult, Disney does have offerings that are technically impressive and interesting.
It's ok! I can learn from my mistakes, haha. There were so many things wrong with this trip from the get-go. They were originally going to fly here, and have an entire week, and they were going to come in September. When none of the discounts I could get them with my cast member discount appealed to them, they changed weeks, and decided to drive down instead of flying. (Why they drove I'm still not quite sure, I can't imagine what that car ride was like. They're coming from MA btw.) When they changed weeks, they ended up with only 3.5 days in the parks. My friend from MA is visiting at the end of the week, and I'm running the Tower of Terror 10 Miler with her. This trip with her was already planned before my family decided they wanted to come the same week. So their trip got shortened due to me already having a trip planned with my friend, and them deciding to take days out of their trip to drive.
So this whole trip was a mess from the beginning. I honestly don't know how they managed this kind of vacation when I was younger. I tried suggesting things that we could do and giving them a couple of options, but a lot of the time they had this attitude of "Oh we've done that before, we don't need to do it again." Keep in mind that their last visit was 10 years ago, so even if they feel like they've done everything, you'd think they'd want to do it again where it's been so long. Even suggesting new things was difficult. I thought the mine train would be good for them, because the wait wasn't that long (45 minutes) and it was something they hadn't done, but waiting in line was just 45 minutes of grown adults complaining about the heat, humidity, crowds, and their hurting feet. I suggested taking breaks in the middle of the day, but no one seemed to want to take the effort to go back and forth to the hotel. The whole situation was just weird to me. I think part of why I feel so defeated is because I also work here. So when they seem completely uninterested and don't seem to understand why they're here with their adult daughter, it makes me feel like they don't get it at all and it's a bit belittling that I work here. Like I could very easily get over that some people aren't into theme parks, but it's kind of crappy that they came all this way to visit me while I'm here on the college program, and they're overall attitude seems to be, "Oh, this is it?"
Sorry this thread is such a downer on my end! It's nice to be able to vent a little bit during this week though lol. And everyone's advice is awesome, I'm sure lots of guests have a hard time with larger groups.
Chernaboggles
Well-Known Member
You're not a downer! It sounds like a perfect storm of suck, and I'm sorry it's going poorly. Hang in there, they'll be going home soon and you can go back to enjoying WDW your way. Maybe they can fly down another time and it'll all go more smoothly, if nothing else you've got a whole list of things to make sure DON'T happen on the next visit!
MickeyMomV
Well-Known Member
The "Flight" at Whispering Canyon Cafe helps out a lot!!
BoarderPhreak
Well-Known Member
Write up a page or two of suggestions, plans, etc. and hand them out to the party... Then split up into smaller groups.
Meet up for meals and things like that.
Meet up for meals and things like that.
StarWarsGirl
Well-Known Member
I don't have this problem. People who go with me know that it's my way or the highway. I took my best friend last January, and she was perfectly content to let me do the planning. Basically, I did the dinner reservations, the dates, and if I was undecided, I'd consult her. We ended u having a great time. She said it was the best Disney trip she'd ever taken. For larger groups, I always have a plan for myself. If others want to deviate, that's fine. I try to take others into concern, but at a certain point, they'll decide what's best for them