John C. Shepherd
Active Member
I am so sorry to hear this, hopefully it all turned out for the good for you and your mother. No one deserves that treatment!
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When your parent (or any parent) ruins an experience for you
- Thread starter KBLovedDisney
- Start date
angela02
Member
"Another thing I will never forget from that trip was my mom forcing me to go on Space Mountain. I REALLY didn't want to. She insisted. I cried. I remember making eye contact with the CM there pleading with them to not let me go on. I went on, and I didn't like it."
I recall my mother doing the same thing to my sister, who was 5 at the time, on Space Mountain at Disneyland as she was screaming "I can't take it anymore, I can't take it anymore" and pleading to get off the ride. She did not want to ride much after that my parents continued to drag her on rides throughout the day because they "paid a lot of money to come here!" I remember thinking I would never do that to my kids and I do not - ever!
I recall my mother doing the same thing to my sister, who was 5 at the time, on Space Mountain at Disneyland as she was screaming "I can't take it anymore, I can't take it anymore" and pleading to get off the ride. She did not want to ride much after that my parents continued to drag her on rides throughout the day because they "paid a lot of money to come here!" I remember thinking I would never do that to my kids and I do not - ever!
angela02
Member
It makes you wonder why he even went, does it not? I hope your trips now bring you more joy.
Brad Bishop
Well-Known Member
I experienced a "My dad's having an affair" trip. It was even known at the time. Why he was there, I don't know. He was always a jerk (being generous, there). Still, it's a bad memory. He was always like 20-30ft behind us while we walked around Epcot.
I too experienced a "My dad's having an affair" trip or really ours was "Dad's trying to patch things up with mother after everything happened" trip. Odd. Real odd.
I do need to add that my dad stayed angry a lot of the times because my mom was very irresponsible with money (and still is unfortunately)...
danyoung56
Well-Known Member
I'm happy that I had 2 parents that stayed together till Dad's death (even though they never took me to WDW!).
durangojim
Well-Known Member
My parents were great! We'd usually drive to Yellowstone or the Southwest from Michigan for summer vacation and many times my mom would look at my dad at the end our trip and say, "Disneyland isn't that far from here" and boom! vacation is extended by a week and "We're going to Disneyland". This was back in the early 80s. Sorry for not complaining about my folks but I thought I'd toss some positive vibes in this thread.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
Understandable. I had a wonderful childhood, am so grateful for my parents, even today. They've been married for 43 years, high school sweethearts, and are still an amazing couple.
It's my one fleeting pain on my own parenting, my child won't know what it feels like to grow up in that way, and mostly- the regret that he will not experience what it feels like to have a father.
However, Those fellings do not make me regret my decision to stay single now.
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That is awesome you guys!
If your gut told you to do something and you knew it was for the best for you and your children, then believe it. Don't think the stereotypical couple that stays together throughout their entire marriage is 100% good for their children. My parents were together for 40 something years and there were several times I begged them to get a divorce. Their relationship was an extremely toxic one causing my sister to go down a bad path, and I had to go through many years of therapy (yay, PTSD), and our family is now severely disconnected.
Sorry. Had to throw my rant in there. But that is awesome you stuck with your gut and have no regrets!
allymonkey
Active Member
Have you ever tried to get an overstimulated but incredibly tired preschooler to take a nap in a "quieter area" of the park? Even the long ride on the bus and trek back to the room is less torture than trying to get him/ her to fall asleep in the park. Sometimes it's not even just about getting the some sleep but allowing the child some time away from all of the stimulation the parks offer.
jaklgreen
Well-Known Member
So true, Some kids can sleep anywhere and some need their own quiet space. That is part of being a parent, not doing everything that you want because of the child's needs. To TXDisney: it sounds like you need to take your vacations without other people. Nothing wrong with that, we do not travel with extended family because we feel like you waste so much time trying to figure out what everyone wants to do. We like going at our own pace and not worrying over what anyone else wants to do.
Maxwell_Edison
New Member
This. For our upcoming trip, originally much more extended family was supposed to come along. That fell through, and I'm rather glad because there had been a lot of talk about doing stuff as one gigantic group, which in my experience seldom works out well.
You guys are making me rethink this trip that my family (not myself) is planning for next year, extended family included...starting to think up excuses
JohnD
Well-Known Member
Where do I begin. This in reference to me as an adult going with my parents only several years ago. They paid for the trip as a birthday present. It was a colossal failure. Here are the "bullet points":
- We had brunch at Raglan Rd. on our first day. My Dad had horrible allergies. At one point he said he wanted to "get the H out of here". That pretty much set the tone of the trip.
- In Epcot, I had planned on our grazing the food booths during the F&G festival. Dad was having none of it. He wanted lunch NOW. Cantina in Mexico wouldn't work. Too much on his stomach. We quickly went to Norway and popped into the cafe. That would do. Sigh. . .
- We had dinner reservations at 'Ohana. My plan was we would take the bus from CBR then take the boat from MK to the Poly across the lagoon. Should have driven. Here's why. Parents every 2 minutes wanted me to check my watch, call Disney, etc., to make sure we didn't miss the ADR. I did this over and over while on the bus. When we got to MK, I was so flustered, we saw a boat getting ready to leave and boarded it. As we were backing away from the dock, I realized we were on the ferry. Too late now. "John, keep calling!" Then we get to the TTC and have to hoof it through the construction to get to the Poly. Oh, BTW, we had a wheelchair for Mom. She can walk around the house just fine. But couldn't navigate all the walking at WDW. Dad was wheeling her as fast as possible. So much for a leisurely meal at 'Ohana.
- We had an ADR at CG. I was telling the folks about my plans to go to WDW the following month in May after Mother's Day. I would drive from Tallahassee to visit the folks in Jax and celebrate Mother's Day with Mom. Then I would drive to WDW for the last SWW. My mother was fixated on my "driving out of my way" to visit her in Jax. I asked her why she was fixated on my driving route. It's not out of my way when the plan is to visit her for Mother's Day. Does she not want me to visit her? Why is my driving route any of her business anyway? Needless to say, the conversation went down from there. It was complete silence on the monorail resort loop back to MK. I accompanied them to the bus station and waited for the bus. When it arrived, I saw them on and didn't accompany them. I told them I was blowing off steam in MK instead.
- Our last day was in AK where it rained all day, of course. We got to Kali. I was going to ride it since I had the poncho on anyway. Dad said go ahead, we'll wait. Mom, said, no we don't have time we need to keep moving. I held my tongue and said, okay, but you're going to wait in the Everest gift shop while I ride that instead.
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Brad Bishop
Well-Known Member
Now that I'm older and divorced: I would not do any trip with extended family. I know it sounds like a nice time, but trying to get everyone to decide on this, that, or the other plus the finances involved (or lack thereof) and then all of the emotions and "I want to do this" and "Why can't we do that?"... It just sounds like, and the ones I have experienced, not a good time.
Keeping it to just a few people is, to me, a good time.
I've done trips with my daughters in the past and we just did what we wanted to do. Easy peasy.
I'm taking my grandson in 3 week. Just him and me. It should be easy. "I want to ride Pirates!" - "Ok.. Let's check out the wait time for that but I'll make sure it happens before we leave." - Easy.
Keeping it to just a few people is, to me, a good time.
I've done trips with my daughters in the past and we just did what we wanted to do. Easy peasy.
I'm taking my grandson in 3 week. Just him and me. It should be easy. "I want to ride Pirates!" - "Ok.. Let's check out the wait time for that but I'll make sure it happens before we leave." - Easy.
I would have told them that y'all had an ADR at Tower of Terror.
Your parents: "Why are those people screaming?"
Your response: "Oh, that's just an effect with audio animatronics.. It's actually a really nice restaurant, but we have to take an elevator..."
JohnD
Well-Known Member
I would have told them that y'all had an ADR at Tower of Terror.
Your parents: "Why are those people screaming?"
Your response: "Oh, that's just an effect with audio animatronics.. It's actually a really nice restaurant, but we have to take an elevator..."
LOL! They had 3 day Fla Resident passes. Two days at Epcot. One day at AK. I'm an AP, which is why I could hop into MK to blow off steam. I left out that their day ends at 3:00 pm. Not so much a nit but when it hits 3:00, they're done. Considering their age, I'm fine with that.
angela02
Member
Our solution for the extended family travel situation is to usually meet somewhere to eat, lunch or dinner, and then go from there. If they want to do exactly what we are doing or we want to do exactly what they are doing great. If not then it was great seeing them for the day and then we can all go our separate ways. We establish this agreement before we leave on the trip and no one gets their feelings hurt.