Pre-Trip It’s a trap?!

I have either made the best or worst vacation decision.

In May 2019 I will be combining a Universal trip with my MIL and SIL with a WDW trip with my immediate family.

I love my family but... I’ve come to realize that traveling with them isn’t my favorite way to vacation. It has the potential to get a little tense. But this time it may be better. Maybe?

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I haven’t traveled with my MIL in like 15 years and never with my SIL. But in the spirit of this thread title... I have a bad feeling about this. This portion of the trip also has potential to be good or a disaster.

That’s why I choose “It’s a trap?!” as my pre trip title. I hope everything goes well but gut feeling is that it be messy.

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Part 1: Accio Wine!
  • 3 Nights at Cabana Bay
  • 2 full park days at Universal and maybe partials on the either end.
  • The Cast:
    • MIL
    • SIL
    • and I (BES)
Part 2: Dysfunctional still has the word fun in it, right?
  • 1 night at AKL in a 1 bedroom villa.
  • 6 nights at POP in 2 rooms.
  • 7 days of park hopping
  • The Cast:
    • my parents
    • my younger brother
    • my nephew (who will be 8)
    • and myself
The (mis)adventure begins in 68 days.
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
I have either made the best or worst vacation decision.

In May 2019 I will be combining a Universal trip with my MIL and SIL with a WDW trip with my immediate family.

I love my family but... I’ve come to realize that traveling with them isn’t my favorite way to vacation. It has the potential to get a little tense. But this time it may be better. Maybe?

View attachment 353214

I haven’t traveled with my MIL in like 15 years and never with my SIL. But in the spirit of this thread title... I have a bad feeling about this. This portion of the trip also has potential to be good or a disaster.

That’s why I choose “It’s a trap?!” as my pre trip title. I hope everything goes well but gut feeling is that it be messy.

View attachment 353213

Part 1: Accio Wine!
  • 3 Nights at Cabana Bay
  • 2 full park days at Universal and maybe partials on the either end.
  • The Cast:
    • MIL
    • SIL
    • and I (BES)
Part 2: Dysfunctional still has the word fun in it, right?
  • 1 night at AKL in a 1 bedroom villa.
  • 6 nights at POP in 2 rooms.
  • 7 days of park hopping
  • The Cast:
    • my parents
    • my younger brother
    • my nephew (who will be 8)
    • and myself
The (mis)adventure begins in 68 days.
But it’s a GIRLS trip the first few days!! How could it be bad? (That is only slightly sarcastic!)
But seriously, sounds awesome! I will be down there around the same time. I will keep an eye out for you!
 

Back!Elbow!Shoulders!

Omnia mutantur, nihil interit
Premium Member
Original Poster
But it’s a GIRLS trip the first few days!! How could it be bad? (That is only slightly sarcastic!)
But seriously, sounds awesome! I will be down there around the same time. I will keep an eye out for you!

It being a girls only trip will be way more fun than if our boring (but loveable) spouses were involved.

It will be less fun than a previous girls trip I took to Universal with my college friends. (That trip involved a whole lot of wine and perhaps late night luggage cart rides but that’s a story for another day...)

Ohh nice! I’ll keep an eye out for you and your crew too. It seems like there are a lot of May trips being mentioned on this site.
 

Back!Elbow!Shoulders!

Omnia mutantur, nihil interit
Premium Member
Original Poster
No crew for me in May😎

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Oh this TR has the potential for being VERY entertaining 😂 (it’s ALWAYS funny when it’s someone else’s family drama 😉)

Oh yes. Worst case scenario it'll be an amusing read for everyone and probably very cathartic for me to write about. Best case scenario (if everyone behaves) I will have a fully enjoyable vacation.
 

Back!Elbow!Shoulders!

Omnia mutantur, nihil interit
Premium Member
Original Poster
Background on part 1 of the trip:

For years MIL has stated she wants to go see all of the Harry Potter stuff at Universal Orlando. She considers it a “bucket list” item.

Her sons and husband are definitely not theme park or HP people. Luckily she has two super cool daughter in-laws. Daughters in-law? You get it. We're cool.

This past fall SIL and I decided it was time to begin trip planning. I made a Hogwarts letter and shipped it to my SIL with a stuffed owl. (SIL and MIL both live in another state) According to SIL, the presentation of the owl went well.

She had one of her daughters sneak it onto the front porch, and partway through their visit pulled a: "Did you hear that? I think someone is at the door..." MIL opened the package and apparently was a little confused at first and then really excited.

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I cropped it out for sharing here but MIL is giving a huge and very real smile in this picture.

Then there was several months of no planning. Although we all had a lot of availability no one really wanted to pin down dates for the trip. There was also some drama with potentially including additional relatives.

MIL said we should invite Cousin 1, but then stated that if we did that then we had to invite Cousin 2. All agreed that trip wouldn't be as fun with Cousin 2 so there was an elaborate plan to invite them both but in a scenario in which Cousin 2 was likely to say no. Cousin 1 ended up backing out of trip before Cousin 2 was invited so then the trip was down to MIL, SIL and I again.

MIL then confided that she was glad it was just us three. I don't know why it couldn't have just been that way from the beginning. Oh wait- I do. MIL has a tendency to be very concerned about social niceties and being proper. Like to a point where it gets a bit out of control. She will rarely be direct about any of it- because that wouldn't be nice.

This brings us to January. My parents had proposed part 2 of this trip for early May. I seized on this opportunity to combine trips and to finally pull the trigger on scheduling Universal. The dates I proposed for May worked for MIL and SIL and so we finally booked.
 

Back!Elbow!Shoulders!

Omnia mutantur, nihil interit
Premium Member
Original Poster
Trip Part 2 Background

Sorry for the delay. My work schedule was weird then I had a bad cold. Also I was struggling with this particular post.

Just how can I sum up decades of family drama in a succinct post? How about a vignette from my last family trip...

Last trip the cast was me, my parents, my nephew, my little brother and his girlfriend.

My parents invited the girlfriend along. They stated multiple times it would be great for bro to have someone to hang out with. My parents both mentioned how bro and gf could off on their own and/stay out later than the rest of the group etc.

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At one point during the trip my dad and I were in the POP food court. He started to freak out on me that my mom was upset that bro was spending too much time away from the family.

(He really wasn’t- maybe 2 times max they went off from the rest of the group. Asked permission both times. Permission granted both times.)

So dad is upset at me that mom is upset at bro for doing the very thing that they both said he could do.

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I pointed out that 1) talking to me about it wasn’t very useful 2) it wasn’t fair to bro to tell him something was ok and then expect magically that he would know that he should do the opposite of what they said. Dad was not amused but I think he knew I was right.

So hopefully gives you a general idea of what I’m dealing with.

For this trip (and IRL) I’m constantly living in that poison goblet scene from The Princess Bride. (“Are you the sort of man who would put poision in his own goblet or his enemy’s?”...)

Bro is also in the same boat. A big reason that I’m going in May is so he doesn’t have to deal with the ‘rents alone.

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zurgandfriend

Well-Known Member
I did a family gathering trip about 10 years ago. Every family stayed at a different resort. The expression herding cats applies to that trip. My advice is suggest what to do each day, say this is what I am doing who wants to come along then go.
 

Back!Elbow!Shoulders!

Omnia mutantur, nihil interit
Premium Member
Original Poster
I did a family gathering trip about 10 years ago. Every family stayed at a different resort. The expression herding cats applies to that trip. My advice is suggest what to do each day, say this is what I am doing who wants to come along then go.

That sounds like a great plan- for a more normal family. 😂 If I can ever get DH to go (and the trip involves either of our families) I will definitely try to go for different resorts.

You sound like an awesome sister 😀

Thanks. I try. He’s about 13 years younger than me so it’s not a traditional sibling relationship. Glad I can pass on some of my insight/wisdom on our family to him.

Sorry you are dealing with this. I read that with so many feelings. And now I feel vindicated in why I will only go to WDW with my DH and kiddo. And maybe friends. Your mom and my mom should go bowling.

You'll still have a great time. I swear.

Thanks. And sorry to hear that this all was familiar to you. Maybe it’ll all make for a good memoir someday?
 

Back!Elbow!Shoulders!

Omnia mutantur, nihil interit
Premium Member
Original Poster
Trip Part 2 Background Continued:

Early on January morning I got a text from my Dad saying that they were planning a May trip and wanted to see if DH and I could go.

DH was an obvious no. He has no love for theme parks. (Or for being with my family for a week...)

I showed DH the text and threw out the possibility of me going.

DH:
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BES: 357856

My thought process:
  • I have the vacation time.
  • I have the disposable income.
  • I can and should go in solidarity with my little bro
  • It should be at least a little less stressful than last time (more to follow)
  • Life is short. Will I regret going more than I would regret not going? I think the opportunity for future family trips is going to diminish over the coming years.
So I reluctantly said yes to May. Then I started the process of bartering to get the weekend of May 11/12 off of work. At this point I started to talk to MIL and SIL about coordinating the Harry Potter trip as well.

Let’s take a moment to acknowledge how awesome DH is. In the first half of 2019 I will be taking a total of 3 weeks vacation without him.

Other than being confused about why I would put myself into all of the family drama he hasn’t batted an eye. He isn’t concerned about the time or cost. (“Well BES,-you work really hard and it makes you happy so do it.“) He’s a keeper.

49 days out today. 😱 This is coming up fast.
 

Back!Elbow!Shoulders!

Omnia mutantur, nihil interit
Premium Member
Original Poster
Soon after the trip dates were finalized Disney released room discounts for May. My dad was reluctant to book though. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Finally he was ready and then reported a slight issue. No availability at POP. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I poked around on the site and figure out only our arrival night was unavailable. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I got an idea. 🤔

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Told my dad to book a POP room for rest of the nights and not to worry about the initial night.

I booked my POP room and also booked a standard view one bedroom villa at AKL-Jambo for the initial night.

My family had all mentioned how much they would love to stay at AKL after a Boma visit last trip.

My family had been strictly moderate resorts for all of our early trips but have been priced out of mods in recent trips. I knew there was no way they would ever be able to stay at a deluxe.

I was trying to figure out how to reveal this pixie dust to them. Luckily (or unluckily) MDE spilled the beans first. It also showed my family my secret solo trip plans. 🙄

They were very excited about AKL and surprisingly supportive of the solo trip.

Or so I thought...
 

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