I will never go back!

(Ok, just kidding...haha)

Ok, so let me start with introductions.
1st is me...Britteny. 27 year old SAHM to 3 gorgeous boys. We homeschool and love it (most of the time...hehe)



Then there is my hard working husband, turned 29 on the trip. : ) Full time student and worker and father!
(My 2 year old has AMAZING aim )


And last but not least, my 3 gorgeous boys. Brendan (7), Logan (6) and Dylan (2)
Brendan is a HUGE fan of Tinkerbell, the colors pink, purple and green. He's my little free spirit. He doesn't care what you think about him, he does what he wants and likes what he likes.

Logan loves McQueen, loves Spiderman and colors are green, blue and orange. He couldn't be more "typical boy" if he tried...LOL

And my "baby". Dylan. My last little guy. He was supposed to be my "girl", but now I can't imagine life without him being a boy. He was born at 28 weeks and is my little "miracle". He has no physical, mental, or speech delays. Besides his size at 2 (18 lbs and 28 inches) you'd never know!


Then there is my mother in law Carolyn who did surprisingly well on this trip. She had knee replacement surgery a couple years ago and has a metal rod in her back from a car accident several years ago (needless to say, she has to go to the xray scanner thing at the airport...hahaha).

Annnnnnnd then my Father in law Tim. Who I will NEVER travel with again.

Alright, getting started with Day 1 in replies!

 

[awhit066]

I have no words, speechless. All I can say is I would not have had the restrain you showed your FIL.

 

[MITCH 112198]

Loved the trip report, and the FIL. I have a set of the same in-laws MIL and FIl are the same way.

 

[UPbeekeeper]

It always amazes me how some folks can seem to go out of their way to make others unhappy, especially while on vacation. Vacations are supposed to be happy, carefree times. Sorry you had an unpleasant time. I hope you and your family have many more WDW vacations that are HAPPY, MEMORABLE, and MAGICAL to more than make up for this one. You have an amazingly beautiful family!

 

[Disneydreamer23]

aww sorry about your FIL mine is that way to i would NEVER travel with my in laws.. NEVER

 

[drp4video]

It is only my daughter and I (and she is now 24). When she was younger she always took a friend, and once she hit 16 it was just the two of us until last September when we took my mom and her boyfriend (ages 79 and 80). Lots of issues with him no matter where we are and what we do, but you could tell he had a miserable time. And THAT is why we always stay on property so that I was able to put them on a bus and send them back to the hotel when it became too much. (very hard to travel with older people, not so much my mom cuz just the two of us have done WDW together before and it was fine, but he was unbelievable!!!>>and he is no matter where we are, not just WDW). So to the OP, if you ever do travel to WDW with FIL again, stay on property and then he can leave and go back to the hotel whenever he wants.

 

[stevehousse]

Ya I took my MIL on our trip back on May and the first half of our trip was very unPleasant! She got sick on the way down we literally had to stop every hour so she could or puke! She even got some on out can floor! It was utterly disgusting! So the first 2 days we were at the parks she wa trying to he back to the house cuz of her bathroom issues! We had to leave the parks early bit thank god we were at animal kingdom and DHS wen this happened! The rest of our trip turned out okay once she was better! But she still always complained of walking all over the parks. I know she had a good time because she got see my DS 1 and 4 in the world and that was worth the trip alone!

 

[Californian Elitist]

All of your kids are adorable, really, but my gosh, your youngest is freaking GORGEOUS! He's a beautiful little baby. I literally gasped when I saw his picture. Absolutely beautiful, you have a lovely family.

 

[tink65]

Your 3 guys are so cute!! Great trip report....sorry about the MIL and FIL issues. I've learned years ago that the best vacations are the ones we take with just the 3 of us.....me, DH, & DD! Our DD went to Universal for her senior trip in June and loved Harry Potter and especially butter beer!!!!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

I'm sorry to hear about your FIL We traveled with my aunt a few years back and we only had one car and were off property. So we had to leave when she wanted to leave. It wasn't cool since my Mom and are there when the park opens and leave when it closes. We will NEVER travel with family again unless we're on property and don't have to worry about transportation issues.

Isn't Orange Lake awesome? We stayed there in May and we loved it. Our "condo" was on the first road on the right after you came in the main gate. It was great.

Your kids are adorable and glad you haven't written off Disney for good!

 

[BrittanyRose428]

Your boys are so adorable!! Also, I feel your pain about the issues with your father in law. My dad's side of the family is like that, if we go all eight of us we have to all stay together, someone gets tired and we all leave, the complaining etc... Its horrible. Disney is a vacation that you have to really think about who you're dealing with, I don't blame you for how you handled the situation, I would have been exactly the same. Its very annoying to have a family member put a damper on a vacation like that. By the way my name is Brittany also! haha

 

[Tinkerbella16]

Great trip report!!! I must say, I am so sorry that your FIL spoiled things for you.. all that excitement and anticipation leading up to a magical vacation, and most of yours was crushed by someones bad attitude and whining. That, I am sure was a live & learn experience.. you lived it, now you won't ever experience that again because you will be leaving him home from now on! I don't know how you bit your tongue for some of those moments, I would have flipped my top! LOL

 

[MickeyPeace]

Get those kids modeling contracts, use that money to pay for your future trips, leave FIL at home.

Even though it was ruined for you, sorry to hear that, I bet your kids have some great memories.

 

[MickeyPeace]

I have a Canon Rebel T3i! Thank you so much!

The other camera I used a lot was a Canon Powershot ELPH 100 (much easier on the wallet) and it takes pretty decent pics if you time it right!

We used an Olympus Stylus Tough 6020 for the water pics : )

Thats funny. I just bought the Canon Rebel T4i for my next trip Oct 1. (If I go, my last trip was my worse ever too! I should write that trip report).I have a Canon Powershot Elph 300 for point and shoot and water pics. You can just buy a waterproof housing for the Powershot and have a second camera for the water parks.

 

[mouselover321]

Your kids are precious! I'm sorry to hear about your FIL. I bet your kids had a blast though!
Just think, next time you know not to bring your FIL and you will have a blast too!

 

[ddrongowski]

I would absolutely agree with you!! I can not wait to just have all my boys there and not worry about what anyone but US wants to do

First off GREAT TRIP REPORT!!!!!

If you ever go to WDW again and have someone acting like that, I suggest looking them straight in the eyes and say the following. "Do I look like Snow White to you? Then stop acting like Grumpy." or "I know Snow White and the seven dwarfs live here, but you do not look like Grumpy to me, so STOP acting like him."

 

[LeCellier.Lover]

I'm so sorry to hear that your FIL ruined your family time together....
BUT on the bright side yay yay for going to Disney! AND even though you had rough patches it sounds like your family did get some good memories in there (like when you guys watched Wishes!).
Also your kids are THE CUTEST THINGS EEVEER!!!! I hope you're able to make it back to the World soon enough with just your family so you can have a RELAXED, enjoyable vacation!
I enjoyed reading your TR!

 

[Spikerdink]

Maybe I missed it....but where was your husband during all of this? It really should have fallen to him to say, "Dad, this is a magical time for my family. I am sorry you can't see the excitement in your grandson's faces and take the time to build memories of time you spent with them when they were kids. But if you feel so strongly about it, we can meet you at the hotel later. I think you can get a cab through guest services if there aren't any in the parking lot."

You shouldn't have been the bad guy, and you also should not have had your magical trip sprinkled not with pixie dust but pixie pee.....

 

[flynnibus]

Sorry to hear of your downers on the trip

first rule of group travel - don't be scared to split up!
second rule of group travel - you don't have to share everything

I would have told the inlaws you're free to go, but we want to spend more time here, we'll catch the bus and meet up with you at XYZ 'if you want'. The odd-man-out is free to be odd, but at their own expense, not everyone else's!

 

[Gabe1]

Oh Sister I feel your pain. We arrived one year with me, DH, DS, DD, my Mom and Dad. Dad was your FIL.
We were to be there from December 23 -Dec 30. I lived your vacation except we were at least on property when Dad decided we had to go and then swayed and tricked my kids to go back with him to the pool, "we like the pool better, right grandkids?" We don't want to eat there, we like the hotel food better, right grandkids?"

Towards the end of my Christmas trip I was so upset, I called my travel agent, rebooked my return flight and added 9 more days to our current trip 7 for the days my Dad ruined, 2 for pain and suffering. DH drove my folks to the airport on Dec. 30th and we then started our family vacation. My credit card took a hit but I didn't care. Never traveled with my Dad again, Mom has and always welcome.

 

[Britt]

Maybe I missed it....but where was your husband during all of this? It really should have fallen to him to say, "Dad, this is a magical time for my family. I am sorry you can't see the excitement in your grandson's faces and take the time to build memories of time you spent with them when they were kids. But if you feel so strongly about it, we can meet you at the hotel later. I think you can get a cab through guest services if there aren't any in the parking lot."

You shouldn't have been the bad guy, and you also should not have had your magical trip sprinkled not with pixie dust but pixie pee.....

*Sigh* I absolutely agree with this too. To be honest, Josh rarely notices when he's being snubbed by his dad. He's so used to it, FIl has done it to him his entire life. He talks down to him and disrespects him. He's so used to it anymore he almost doesn't notice.

He's JUST like his mother, very non confrontational (which kind of works out because Im usually the louder voice). He just kinds of rolls his eyes and just rolls with the punches where as Im more like "Hey, wait....we were supposed to do this. If you dont want to, then sit over there while we do" or something.

I was trying very hard not to let my boys see me being to....."forward" or disrespecting their grandfather. It irked me SO bad that I was trying to respect those lines when he couldn't do the same, you know? : (