Teens in Disney...Bring a Friend??

[MIKETFROMRI]

We have gone through all the stages of bringing our kids to disney. From bringing our first when she was 1 year ( every year after) to bring all 3 of our teens. As they started to get older and wanting to drift from us a little at the parks, they started wanting to bring a friend. Hmmm might work out...our son was great, he brought his friend back to back years and they were awsum. meeting us when told, being back in their room certain time etc. BUT when we tried with our daughter (16) the 2 of them fought for 10 days! Not talking..walking with distance between. We talked to them a few times but really wore on us. It was miserable.Whats been your experiences?
**PS we would pay for the room and meals for them ( we always ate together as group) and they only had to pay for flight and tix.

 

[Master Yoda]

We have done it several times and it has worked out fine for the most part. I can not recall an overly bad issue save for one trip, and even that was pretty minor.

 

[real mad hatter]

Yeh!Teenagers!

I recently done a thread about teenagers and how do you keep the magic alive.I got lots of good answers like give them independence and let them choose rides/attractions and where to grab something to eat,etc,I suppose it's all part of growing up.If I could only turn back time,my son is 14 and tho he's looking forward to this years trip[5th] his excitement is no where near mines.I try to get him geared up like suggesting who ever gets the most points on Toy Story Mania gets to choose a pin,or when we sit down to a meal we play " Man v Food.If you clean your plate and leave nothing you get a $10.00 bill.and I make up trivia questions on the parks.Maybe when he turns 16 he'll be asking me the questions?:wave:

 

[C.FERNIE]

When i was younger than a teen i just went around with my parents but as i got older they asked if i wanted to take a friend. I took mybest friend at the time who was not really a disney fan but wanted a holiday, well turns out he came back six times with us and it was awesome as teens getting to go around the parks by ourselves, we never argued, we just had fun! The one year he could not come i took another friend, who was a disney fan but it turned out to be the worst trip in the world and i was 24 and she was 30. My god i have never heard someone complain so much in WDW, nothing was good enough, and no matter what we did it was not good enough either! the only thing she paid for was her flight, and depsite asking what she would like to do, we would do it and she would complain and moan. Half way through the trip i just wanted to come home lol. Never ever will do that again lol Sadly my best mate who used to come was devasted when i got married.... thought he would never get to go again! I told him we could all go again.... but just not on the honeymoon lol Moral of the story, do not think it matters if your a teen or not, you just have to be happy with spending the whole holiday with one person, and if you can agree to disagree lol :wave:

 

[SuprDav]

Great topic. We are scheduled in December for my soon to be 17 y.o. daughter to bring along her 16 y.o. friend. It will be the friend's 1st trip to the world. We have booked 2 connecting rooms at Pop, so they will both have their own bed & they will share one bath while my wife & I share the other. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. :king:

 

[Master Yoda]

Great topic. We are scheduled in Denember for my soon to be 17 y.o. daughter to bring along her 16 y.o. friend. It will be the friend's 1st trip to the world. We have booked 2 connecting rooms at Pop, so they will both have their own bed & they will share one bath while my wife & I share the other. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. :king:

Don't be afraid to give them time on their own.

 

[JIMINYCR]

our son was great, he brought his friend back to back years and they were awsum. meeting us when told, being back in their room certain time etc. BUT when we tried with our daughter (16) the 2 of them fought for 10 days! Not talking..walking with distance between. We talked to them a few times but really wore on us. It was miserable.Whats been your experiences?

We let our son invite his best friend and it also was a wonderful experience. It must be the differences between boys and girls at that age because friends of ours tried it with their daughters and they also had bad experiences occur. Maybe at that stage in life theres more drama with girls?

 

[SuprDav]

Don't be afraid to give them time on their own.

That was what my wife & I were thinking would be one of the pluses of her bringing a friend. They could have time to visit some parks & do what they like while we do the same.

 

[disneylemons]

We let both our son and daughter bring a friend the year they graduated from high school. We would never let them do the "drunkfest" senior trip.. soooo anyway.. our daughter brought her boyfriend and our son brought his girlfriend (in seperate rooms.. ) and it worked out fine. Our only problem was the girlfriend had never been away from home and was really homesick after day 2, never flown on a plane, was a picky eater, and it was a downer sometimes!.. so make sure you take good travelers!

 

[cindyella]

There were 16 of us in June and we all had a blast.. My husband I took care of all the rooms and they paid for tickets and meals. Everyone had fun and no drama. My daughters bf and her family were in the group (first timers) and they are going back with us next trip.
As the kids get older we will bring along their friends.. The more the marrier
My ds just turned 14 and dd 12.

 

[baymenxpac]

i have varying opinions on this. i'm an only child, and i'm super close to my parents. my wife calls me a stepford child when we talk about my childhood. kids would kind of tease me in college for being an all-american boy: i went to disney every year with my parents, i had a curfew until i lived on my own at 23, i wasn't really a drinker. never smoked. baseball player. so there's my background.

when i was just about 16, my parents let me take my girlfriend. we had been together for 2 years (and stayed together for another year and a half). she was my HS sweetheart and we had an amazing time. although, i think that was a pretty unique experience. she was really close with my parents (and my mom in particular), so there was literally no tension or drama the entire time.

i also was allowed to bring a friend twice in my teens. both times, we did long trips (10 days), and without fail, both times, my friend and i were ready to go back home once the trip was done. no crazy fights, just a day or two where we both had worn thin on one another.

looking back on it, i was a very certain brand of kid, and that influences what i'm about to say: i don't know if i'd be anxious to let my future children bring a friend. if they did, i'd want it to be in a shorter trip (4 or 5 nights). the thing is this: each family has their own quirks, and an outsider looks at those things through a very different scope. i never wanted to split up from my parents at the parks, because that's why were there. for a family vacation. i don't know...just looking back on my friendships, i'm not sure that my experience on those trips gained anything from having a friend with me. in fact, quite the opposite. that said, i totally see how it works for some families. it's just such a nuanced topic.

 

[Alison1975]

We have done it several times and it has worked out fine for the most part. I can not recall an overly bad issue save for one trip, and even that was pretty minor.

we brought someone with us in August..never ever again.. ever!

 

[wilkeliza]

I think it really depends on your kids. You should really know the children you bring along and it not be a friend you have seen here and there but never done anything with them.

I never got to go on trips or have friends come with me so I don't have personal experience but now as a young adult I know what type of people I like to travel with and the type I love to hang out with but would never go on vacation with.

If your child and the other kid spend loads of time together anyways (everynight after school, weekends, spring break, summer break, Christmas break etc.) then there should be no problem. However if they only ever see each other at school or youth group or what have you and have never spent a night together let a lone a week or more than you will have issues. It is easy to deal with someone for 3 or 4 hours it is hard to be around them with no escape.

 

[acishere]

We always went with another family in my teens. My parents were divorced by that point so it was done as a way so we both had people our own age to interact with. I had someone to go on the thrill rides with and my mom had one of her friends to have a glass of wine with at the hotel bar at the end of the day.

It usually worked out fine. We went to our separate rooms at the end of the day and sometimes just had dinners separate for family only time. We did one trip where the first few days it was just us until my cousin made a surprise stop by in Disney to see us. My mom will not go on anything that ends with Mountain or Terror so I went on Splash Mountain alone and at 13 it was not as much fun without other people.

 

[plaz10]

I have had good and bad experiences.

My sister took boyfriends while she was in high school - no problem.

Once I took my friend Kate - and she had an emotional breakdown 2 days into the trip because her EX boyfriend went on a date with another girl. So she flew home. (and she had never been to Disney). So as long as you don't take an emotionally unstable girl - you'll be alright! :lol:

 

[Retlaw Yensid]

When I was younger my family would go to the World with two other families. Of course, both of these families were friends from the neighborhood and had children close to the ages of my sister, brother, and myself. Often, the parents would let us go off in groups depending on what we wanted to do. Sometimes we would be accompanied by an adult, sometimes not. It worked out great. Everyone could split into groups and do what they wanted while still being with some of their friends.

 

[Raven66]

We have an only child. Our plan is to hit WDW June 2013 for her 16th bday. We are inviting her best friend to go with us. This girl calls me mom and I refer to her as my other daughter. My daughter says that she will be ok if the girl's parents say no. They said no to the Sept. trip we were planning for last year. Because they didn't want her to miss softball. School's ok, just not softball, anyway, we planned this one for when school and softball were done. So I'm hoping they allow her to come with us. If she can't, we will be going anyway this time. We will pay for tix and lodging. I just want them to pay for flight and food. I know we will have a great time with our without the bff. I hope it's with tho.