Ultimate FAIL??

[coleandrachel]

Ok, so my wife and I are leaving for the world on Saturday morning... My wife's sister left DW today to come back home. She called my wife a little bit ago and told her that they left early on their last day because .... THE KIDS WERE ASKING TO COME BACK HOME .... They have three kids age 9, 7 & 4 (i think)... Having kids asking to leave DW to come back home.... Ultimate FAIL or no ???

My opinion: uhm... YEAH!

 

[Powerline]

How long were they there?

There's always too much of a good thing.

 

[PyroKinesis]

What does "left early on the last day" mean? Does it mean they were checking out the next day and left the day before, or does it mean they already checked out/were going to check out that day and left earlier than planned that day?

 

[coleandrachel]

They checked in Sunday. First park was Monday. They were already checking out today, but left before the park closed... I don't know, just seems weird that the kids would be asking to leave. I guess they could've been tired... I dunno.

 

[luv]

I'm not sure what an ultimate FAIL is. I wonder what was wrong...the kids or the trip or what. It is very odd for a kid to want to leave Orlando!

Eta: I thought they left the city,

PLENTY of kids ask to leave the park. Their parents have pushed them waaay too hard. They don't get enough sleep. They don't get enough rest. They are exhausted. They can't stand any more of it.

It is good that your friends left. You'd be surprised how often I hear kids asking to leave and parents refusing to let the poor things get any rest.

For many people, these trips are about the parents - moms especially, I'm afraid - and the kids have to endure the parks and the exhaustion. Get up early, stay out late, walk around theme parks and swim! And when the kids say they can't stand it any more, the parents push them further. It's mean and selfish on the parents' part and truly sad for the children.

 

[Patricia Melton]

Well, I can tell you that when my family goes to WDW we stay for 5 nights, 6 days. One year, we for some reason decided to stay longer...8 nights, 9 days. That was a mistake and we never did a long trip like that again.

I don't know if it was just "too much of a good thing" or what, but the 5 nights/6 days seems to be our magic number and the perfect amount of time on vacation for my family. All families are different, but for us we kind of wanted to get back to things we left back home at the 6 day point. Day 7 started to feel like too much time away from our "normal" lives.

 

[AndyS2992]

Interesting but not really an 'ultimate fail' lol

 

[lilclerk]

WDW can definitely be a culture shock if it was their first trip. I brought my nephew for the first time when he was 11 and I'm pretty sure he hated it (he would never tell me that.) But he was a miserable dude the whole trip. I didn't push him hard, we spent lots of time back at the hotel swimming. But I can totally see how the kids would have wanted to go home early if they felt pushed around the parks a lot and were just exhausted.

I brought him again a couple of years later and he liked it a LOT more. I think since he knew what he was getting into, he was able to enjoy it more. He's going with his mom and some of their friends next April and he feels like the expert of the group now.. I'm so proud

 

[Susan Savia]

When my kids were young in the 80s you would of never heard them say they wanted to leave! In fact they'd want to come back to Epcot everyday if they could. They preferred it over MK!!! Our trips were always one week in length. Our time was spent in the parks. No going back to the room for naps and such. They wanted to go and see if all.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Probably depends on the touring philosophy. If they went commando with kids that age, the chances are pretty good that they were just tired. I'm not sure I understand the "left before the park closed" statement, but it might be a clue to fatigue factors.

 

[wiigirl]

Wouldn't call that an 'ultimate" fail...

 

[UberMouse]

We have almost missed flights on checkout day because we go to the parks and stay as long as possible. My kids are 14 months as of tomorrow (twins). They have been to WDW once already and are going back for seven days starting tomorrow. If they grow up and do not like WDW/DL, then I really don't know what I will do. I guess they will be staying with the Grand Parents two weeks out of every year, LOL.

 

[annawilliams]

This is hilarious. When my family goes, we never want to leave! Even as a young teen, we were taking trips 11-14 days at a time and still begging to stay longer.

My parents were super great about pacing ourselves, though. We would go back to the hotel (Contemporary so it was super easy to just hop on the monorail) for meals and to swim, and return to the park after a few hours.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

How many times have they been? When I was a kid we were locals and, yes, we did get bored with the parks. When there we found things to entertain us...mischief, mostly. I do recall some days when my folks suggested going out to WDW but we asked to just go to a park & swim in a lake instead.

 

[bgraham34]

Personally i would send my kids home alone if they wanted to leave early. But hey thats just me. See if they can survive on their own.

 

[MaxsDad]

After going for a few years in a row, we once went for 8 days (Drove down on Friday, going home on Saturday). We had in the past gone to DHS on Departure Saturday morning, as it has EMH. Well, there was a year when my teenagers just wanted to get going home and not go to DHS. I suppose an eight hour ride can seem like something you would just seem to go ahead and get it over with to them.

One of the reasons that has been expressed before when I had a group of 7 drive down, was the end result of having that group spend time at the parks then ride back in the mini van is the stench would be potentially unbearable.

A more recent tradition is going to DTD to do the bulk of the shopping after checkout on the last day. I must admit, this one has got me ready to hit the road, as i am not a big fan of shopping "for fun". I am not happy to be leaving WDW as it is, walking around World of Disney and charging up a balance does not exactly light me up inside.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

You think that's bad? Watch this Video....

 

[rufio]

You think that's bad? Watch this Video....

I've seen this before. I think I would ship my children to military school and go alone.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I think there are just so many factors involved here...much of which boils down to the kids, the family, the specific circumstances, etc. I know my kids were ready to go home this last trip. It wasn't so much that they were tired of Disney, but they missed the dog among other things. They were quick to point out that they loved being at WDW and would stay longer if they could have their Daisy doggy and a few of the other comforts of home. And of course when it was time for us to actually leave, they were sad to leave.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

You think that's bad? Watch this Video....

I think the problem with these kids is that they thought they were going somewhere else they really liked. They didn't get to the "Yay! We're going to Disney World!" because they were stuck in the "Oh no! We aren't going to _____!" Also, some kids just don't like to not know what's going on. Familiarity and comfort can be pivitol. For instance, when my boys were toddlers and the same episode of Blues Clues would air for an entire week straight I found it quite annoying. I had to listen to the same predictable program twice a day every day for a week. After 2 days the kids would be parked in front of the television acting out the scenes as they were happening. It was like annoying IN 3-D! Ugh! I voiced this (forget where) and got a very interesting bit of perspective. Little kids, toddlers specifically, find knowing what's next to be very assuring and empowering. They love it! So, with this new perspective I watched my toddlers with a different set of eyes. Yep, each day that passed they became more and more the experts of that weeks episode which totally delighted them more each time they watched it. They would say the dialogue, sing the songs, have their Blue Clues toys & figures ready to play along. Needless to say, I never complained again. Not even about watching the same stupid Barney episodes for the thousandth time. It made them happy.

I think maybe with these kids that were ready to go home, maybe they were just ready for that comfort rather than the excitement. As much as any trip coming to an end for me blows, once I get home and lay down in my bed it's a total feeling of bliss. Maybe the kids missed friends. Maybe they missed their cozy rooms full of familiarity. Maybe they missed pets or their own comfy beds. There's lots of reasons they could've been ready to get home. Getting a long drive over with is another good reason. Loooots of reasons!