Taking a friend.......

[CoraJack]

Hi Everyone......

I'm considering taking my son and his friend (both 12 years old) to WDW in October. My husband is very ANTI-Disney so there is no help/support from him regarding my trips and obsession with all things Disney (he keeps telling me to grow up.....) But I digress.

I'm wondering if I can handle two twelve year old boys at the World for about 6 days?

Not only that--but I will be paying for MOST of this other boy's trip because he comes from a big family so I'm sure that they will only be able to contribute just a small amount.

Any horror stories on taking kids not in your own family to the World? Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Christina
P.S.--Homesickness would NOT be a problem. This summer this boy spent half of it at our house. He is not one to get homesick at all and has been on other short trips with us.

 

[Yellow Shoes]

If you like the kid, and the boys are friends, you should be fine. At 12 they are self-sufficient regarding dressing, baths, etc., can carry their own food at restaurants, and can ride everything.

The worst thing that could happen is that they start fighting.

(what am I saying?? My own children fought constantly the entire trip and I still had a blast)

However, I would not recommend that you let them go off alone. Perhaps I am over-protective, but I think 12 is a little young for that, plus you have the added responsibility of someone else's child.

Make sure you have his health insurance info, and some sort of document authorizing you to give consent in case of medical emergency.

I would plan on lots of pool time, and arcade time, if you want to spend the extra $$ (personally, I refuse, and my kids no longer ask)

Also make a packing list, and this is my personal thing, but I insist that everyone have a pack. I might be the mommie, but I am not a pack mule.

I would go to Wal-Mart, etc. and get each kid a disposable camera (or 2). Photos make the best souvenirs (IMHO), and I would guess that his family would enjoy them.

You are a very special woman to do this. Have a great time.

 

[The Mom]

Yellow Shoes had made some good suggestions!

I have brought my children's friends 3 times, but only for a weekend at a time. The biggest problem (which isn't really much of one) is disagreement over activities. My rule is...if you can't agree on a ride, restaurant, activity....Mom gets to decide! After a couple of trips to my favorite restaurant, ride, attraction, or shop, (or even going back to the hotel so I could put my feet up) they learned to compromise. I also made it very clear as to what I would pay for, and what came out of the guest's spending money.

I paid the room in full, and also 3 meals a day. When done as a birthday "party" I also paid for the ticket. Anything else came out of their own money...unless I suggested something, and made it clear that it was my treat! (I think we had ice cream or frozen lemonade) Since we only live a couple of hours away, transportation wasn't an issue.

I think you should be very clear as to what you will be providing, and what the child will be responsible for buying.

 

[hockeymom]

I believe yellow shoes & mom have covered it!!

I think that if the two boys have already spent so much time together, that will probably be a pretty good indication of how well they will get along and as the mom said, if they can't agree, then mom decides! They will be sooo excited, I think that is really awesome that you are doing that, it's really super nice.

 

[CoraJack]

Thank you very much everyone. I hope I can pull all of this off

I'm obsessive about safety and I will be freaking out (and making them take the walkie-talkie with them) when they are in the bathrooms. The bathrooms are really the worst part--esp the ones with two exits/entrances.

Thanks again!!!

Christina

 

[Maria]

I think you have everything covered already! I would just stress out about having his health insurance info and a letter from his parents that says you are in charge or something like that... you get the idea. :animwink:

You are so nice for doing that! The kids are going to have a blast!

 

[Yellow Shoes]

Re the bathrooms...
I think I would send them in, then make sure they came out the correct door, sit them on a bench, then I would go.

That way you know they are OK.

 

[CoraJack]

My fear about the bathrooms is if they DO go out the wrong door then how do I get them back? Walkie talkies are nice, but they often sound jumbled due to all the people using them. And horror of all horrors if the one without the walkie talkie got seperated from the one who did have one!

Christina

 

[Maria]

If the worst happens and they get separated, tell them to go to a cast member and let him know, to leave a message at guest relations and do not move from where they are when they find out they are lost. Then you call GR and find out if someone has the kid with him/her. :animwink:

 

[Michael C]

Hi

I think it really depends upon temperment. Two fun 12 year olds are a blast. Two cranky 12 year olds are a drag. If the friend brings out the best in your son, that's a big plus. If the friend's presence seems to make your son act differently (in a bad way), well I might seriously consider not taking the friend.

Of course, your smart enough to have already thought of these things and a hundred more on your own, and I'm sure you have already considered these things. So, I'll sit back and read and keep quiet.:lol:

 

[dreamer]

With all the great deals in October you will probably be able to stay in one of the DW hotels. That way you can schedule a day or two to do some cheap things like pool hop. (I think any resort guest can pool hop unless the pool is expecially crowded.) Save a character meal for a day off and do Chef Mickey at the Contemporary. I haven't been to that one but a lot of people rate it best.

I think most kids get tired of doing parks every day -- mine do -- and will appreciate the break. And you'll more than recoup any extra cost for staying on site.

 

[wannabeBelle]

hey Dreamer, I thought pool hopping unless it is at a sister resort was strictly prohibited at Disneyworld?? Any help on this would be appreciated as I Am going in October and my sister and brother in law are staying at the yacht Club, me and Mom are staying at Riverside. My sister wants us to come and spend an afternoon at her pool. I didnt think we could. Thanks as always!

 

[The Mom]

Originally posted by wannabeBelle
hey Dreamer, I thought pool hopping unless it is at a sister resort was strictly prohibited at Disneyworld?? Any help on this would be appreciated as I Am going in October and my sister and brother in law are staying at the yacht Club, me and Mom are staying at Riverside. My sister wants us to come and spend an afternoon at her pool. I didnt think we could. Thanks as always!

You might want to do a quick search on pool hopping...it's been discussed fairly recently.

I think the consensus was that Stormalong Bay is pretty strict about it; at the other resorts it varies. However, since someone will be staying at YC, you might not have a problem if you all arrive together, and only 1 or 2 of you present the "proper" resort ID.

 

[Worldphile]

Originally posted by wannabeBelle
hey Dreamer, I thought pool hopping unless it is at a sister resort was strictly prohibited at Disneyworld?? Any help on this would be appreciated as I Am going in October and my sister and brother in law are staying at the yacht Club, me and Mom are staying at Riverside. My sister wants us to come and spend an afternoon at her pool. I didnt think we could. Thanks as always!

Oh Good Lord, not the pool hopping debate again. :brick:

Yes, pool hopping is "against the law" at Disney (with certain exceptions, blah blah blah). It's like not coming to a full stop at a stop sign. Is it illegal? Yes. Do people still do it? Yes. Do some get caught? Yes.

You can get away with it, (and I'm sure many will chime in with how they always do it,) but realize that you may be challenged by a CM and busted if caught.

As for the original poster, the biggest thing to work out is what your "guest" will be responsible for monetarily. That probably has the most potential for friction (for example, if your son has more spending money for treats, souveniers, etc than the other boy, or vice versa, that could cause resentment and grief for you.)

Otherwise, I wish my friends had parents like you when I was twelve!!

 

[nikimsu2002]

When I went in April, my parents let me and my brother bring a friend. They ended up traveling with two 15 year olds, a 16 year old, and a 17 year old. They had both of our friends parents write a letter and send them with a copy of their insurance card just in case. We stayed at a Condo in Kissimee so I don't know how the hotels would have worked out. Both of our friends parents sent them with money for food and sounveniers, but my parents paid for the hotel and we bought the tickets ahead of time with our friends parents paying for that too. When we were in the parks, we split up into groups of 2, and each set had a walkie talkie. We would have required meeting places and time to check in with my parents, but other than that, we were on our own all day. My dad would give each of us $20 for lunch since he was handling our friends money for them and we would be on our own for that and then meet up for dinner. I think it worked really well and we all had a lot of fun.

 

[Mag1575]

Hi Nikimsu2002,

It's great to see another person from Rochester here. Good luck at MSU!


Mark

 

[dreamer]

At risk of talking too much about pool hopping ...

We are DVC members and pool hopping is definitely allowed for DVC members (except to SBay as mentioned). I assumed it would be allowed for other resort guests, too. I don't think you will have a problem if the pool is uncrowded, otherwise they may require a specific resort ID -- in that case DVC members are restricted, too.

I hope you have a great time. By the way (although I know this may be beating a dead horse) I was trying to think of a hook to get your husband interested -- maybe Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island. Does he like that kind of stuff? There have been some great deals on the DD hotels lately. What about sports teams in Orlando? Fishing off the coast? (DW is only about an hour from the east coast.) A charter boat may run $400-600 for a day but wouldn't be much more than all of you at DW. Also, Florida has incredible bass fishing. There are some lakes up in N Fla where a good fisherman can land 5 to 10 pounders almost every day. You'd just have to get used to the hydrilla (weeds in the lakes).

 

[Married@WDW]

We don't have kids of our own, but we take my nephew quite often (was 6 the first time, 10 most recently).

We always put a pack on him that has a sheet of paper with our names, where we're staying, our cel phone numbers (we carry them with us since we have a nationwide plan), his parent's names and their phone number (in case something happens to us). He know if we get separated to immediately find a CM, tell them he's lost and show them the sheet of paper. We've never had to use it (thank heavens!), but it gives me an added sense of protection that he can easily call us if we do get separated.

On the park hopping thing, DVC members can hop to everywhere but Stormalong Bay. Everyone else is prohibited. You can probably get away with it, but it can be very ugly and uncomfortable if you get caught. We saw security come to "escort" a couple from Wilderness Lodge a few years ago back to their resort. To me, it just wouldn't be worth the chance of embarassment and knowing I was doing something I shouldn't would ruin it for me anyway.

 

[wannabeBelle]

Thanks all. And of course my sister would be staying at the Yacht Club with Stormalong Bay as the pool!! Oh well not a huge issue for me anyhow. I dont think my sister is gonna be happy but OH WELL!!

 

[Lilo]

Wannabebelle your sister is never happy. If she doesn't like the Yacht Club I'll go instead she can stay home and watch James. Then you and I can go off to Neverland together and have some real fun.

Lilo:lol: