I can't vacation with you.......

I travel with friends sometimes. They all have their quirks of course and I usually want a little time by myself, but there is one thing I can't abide. Often at Disney, a friend of mine and I might have a conversation like:

"How do they do that?"
Magic!"

Well, another friend is the kind of guy who says "It's not Magic." Yeah, okay. You can get out of here with that. Someone needs a little more pixie dust on their cereal in the morning.
 
I love my sister, but we don't vacation well together -- EXCEPT for Disney.

When we go to other destinations together, she always has a "reason" that she needs to get what she wants -- her choice of accommodations, her choice of restaurant, her choice of activities. Either she just *has* to do XYZ (even if we already had QRS planned) because she's heard about it and it's fabulous and we'll all be thanking her. Or even if we had agreed to trade-off picking things (or adjusted the schedule so she could have her choice yesterday, promising my choice today), she'll suddenly be tired/ill/that just doesn't sound good today. And it's not like I choose things that she WOULDN'T like and might not choose for herself on a different day. I think she just likes it to be her choice... every time.

We seem to do OK at Disney though because I think we have similar plans/strategies. (We were both taught by our mother, I guess. Haha!)
 
We've been to Disneyland now a few times with friends and/or family. When we've all had the most enjoyable time is when there's a couple of simple ground rules that we all agree to:
  1. We are NOT spending every waking moment together.
  2. Everyone is welcome to go and do their own thing separately from the group for a couple of hours, a few hours, or even all day. No hard feelings.
  3. We don't have to eat every meal together.
  4. Our immediate family are rope-droppers, but if you don't want to be there at park opening, no worries. Just meet up with us later when you're ready.
  5. BUT if you hate waiting in long ride lines, then give rope drop a try with us one morning and you will have an amazing time and not have to wait more than 20 min at a stretch in any one line!
When traveling with others has NOT gone so well (whether it's to a Disney park or elsewhere), it's when 1 or more of the following scenarios occurs:
  • the person(s) expect/demand you to spend every minute with them of every day.
  • the person(s) cannot make any decisions for themselves
  • the person(s) need a lot of hand holding
  • the person(s) won't make up their minds on what they want to do, but they expect/demand that you not go off on your own to do your own thing while they sit around for, sometimes, HOURS deciding what they want to do
Some people make great travel companions and others do not! :-)
 
I like to go on music cruises (the kind where the whole ship is chartered). The company I usually travel with will let you get on a cruise that's not sold out for a deeply discounted rate if you're booked on another one at full price. Anyone in your cabin also gets the discounted rate.

My mom has been "joking" about going for awhile now. So I invited her to join me on one of the cheap ones as the ports were perfect for excursions we like. The very first concert, three songs in, she decides she isn't into it and walks away. She complained a bit about us not doing enough together, but we had at least two meals a day together and went on three excursions together. I'm not sure what else she wanted us to do since she decided she didn't want to do the one thing the trip was centered around.

I guess I won't have to worry about her "joking" about going anymore. And at least she didn't pay too much to realize it wasn't her thing.
 


I have a friend who wants to go with us next time we do Disney because we always go, until I found out they went to Florida and did a one day at Disney. Paid for a park hopper, 2 parks, only 6 attractions, fast pass only, saw the fireworks, left at 10 even though there were magic hours until midnight.

Also people who have AP, who don't understand that while I don't have to do open and close each park and do everything. We do have must dos in each park to make each ticket feel like it was worth it.

It's looking like our next Disney Vacation, we will be doing Galaxy's Edge. I don't think I can do that with anyone but my wife because I can't let anyone interfere with my excitement.
 
Sometimes it depends on the people and the trip. I love to travel solo, especially at Disney and I have totally different expectations for solo trips than, say, a road trip with my sister, which was also a lot of fun, but not the same way. I do think it’s important for everyone to discuss their expectations, especially if you are putting together a big family trip, so most of the issues can be ironed out in advance.
 
The worst part of traveling with others is the process loss.

It's hard enough just for my immediate family of four sometimes, but when you add "outsiders" into the mix it can be really frustrating. You decide as a group to meet in the food court at 8:30 and leave for the parks together. One of the party texts and says they're running five minutes late. Since we're waiting anyway, another person decides to run back to their room and get their forgotten lip balm. They're still not back yet when the late person arrives so he decides to grab a coffee. While he's in line for coffee another individual goes to use the restroom. Since we're now waiting for them someone else runs back to their room to grab their phone. it becomes a morning of "well, while we're waiting for so-and-so I'm just going to...," and then we're waiting for them, and we're ALWAYS waiting for someone. And it seems to happen every time you plan a meet-up. Some people never respect other people's time and I feel like I spend way too much of my vacation waiting for them.

I am somewhat "curmudgeonly before my time" though and actually travel happiest all by myself.
 


We've vacationed with friends and family and like others always lay down ground rules. We let them know ahead of time what our plans are each day-- not down to the minute but sites/parks we're planning. They are welcome to come with, meet up, or see us the next day.
 
DW’s best friend is our “no go” for traveling together, which is a shame because her husband is also one of my closest friends. But, she becomes a giant pain within the first few hours and it only gets worse from there.
 
We've done a handful of trips with other families and there's a few that we are pretty similar in personality and vacation style. Problem often is with scheduling more than anything else - it's so hard with families to figure out an agreeable time to do a trip together. We're all somewhat limited in when we can go on trips, so finding days that coordinate is really hard. Maybe once we're empty nesters we'll have more opportunities.
 
Traveled with my family this past summer. Husband,son,mom,dad,and his wife. My mother stayed in our room and we didn't sleep a wink she snores so loud!! I planned so much and tried to keep things simple but in the end I was stressed and unhappy. Everyone else had a good time at least... :/
 
I've learned after multiple trips that I can't do Disney with my brother and his kids. He'll be a jerk to me and his kids will say "this is lame" or think it's not cool to meet characters since it's not really them. The kids aren't even teenagers and ruin the "magic". My nephew will cry if something isn't prepared right, bounce off the walls, and cry if we don't do every single thing he wants even if it's going back and forth across the park. Super annoying. As with my family, it's just too big so it's like herding kittens to accomplish anything and takes so long to get anywhere. I'd much rather just go with my boyfriend.
 
I travel with my DH or my sister. That's the extent of who I want to and will go on vacation with. DH and I went on a sort of a group vacation with relatives of his a few years ago. Other than the time that DH and I got to spend alone together--and the time I spent blissfully alone--it was hellish. And these are people I like a lot. Just not to live with and make plans with on a supposed vacation. Never again. I don't go away often enough to have trips I can sort of write off as experiences to bear up under. I want to enjoy myself!
 
YES! We have ONE group of friends that we will travel with. We have done MULTIPLE trips over the years with various groups, and most have been frustrating, to say the least. It's why we STOPPED telling people we were going anywhere - so nobody could "tag along".

We are up at the crack of dawn, out "doing stuff" all day (no matter if it's WDW or whatever), and we like to go at our own (fast) pace. Our groups of friends all like to sleep late, lounge around, etc. But, expect us to do the same. I don't care what people do on their vacation, but don't expect I am going to adjust mine for yours, and I don't expect you adjust yours for mine. But those groups didn't grasp the concept of "meeting up later' so it just was frustrating.
 
"How do they do that?"
Magic!"

Well, another friend is the kind of guy who says "It's not Magic." Yeah, okay. You can get out of here with that. Someone needs a little more pixie dust on their cereal in the morning.

If the "not magic" guy has knowledge on how it is done, I'd be interesting in hearing it. But only a gruff "it's not magic," yeah, just shut up.
 
We've done a handful of trips with other families and there's a few that we are pretty similar in personality and vacation style. Problem often is with scheduling more than anything else - it's so hard with families to figure out an agreeable time to do a trip together. We're all somewhat limited in when we can go on trips, so finding days that coordinate is really hard. Maybe once we're empty nesters we'll have more opportunities.

That's true enough. We actually have people we struggle to simply find a time to get together with at home because scheduling gets so tight sometimes.
 
That's true enough. We actually have people we struggle to simply find a time to get together with at home because scheduling gets so tight sometimes.

Same here - a simple act of trying to get together for dinner with friends involves a merging of Outlook calendars that never seems to go well.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top