Daughter wanted to stay at ASMovies instead of CSR

[DisLiss]

We would discuss WHERE we would go, but in terms of saying “This is the resort/hotel we want”? Never. It would never have occurred to us to say “But we don’t want that place, we want this one.” We we’re just happy to be going on a trip.
There is input and then there is a whole family trip changing because of what one kid wants.

In my family now, my kids are happy to go on a trip, and if we just said "We're going here. It's all settled.", they'd be fine with that. But if we asked for input and they gave it, then we might opt to make a change.

I may have missed it, but I didn't see anything to indicate that the OP hadn't opened the door to discussion and opinions about their trip, so given our experiences, I found it easy to imagine that they did.

 

[DisLiss]

We have never stayed at ASMovies, but it always reminds me a bit of AoA with the movie characters outside.

We did, however, stay at ASMusic once, and while we were not in a big hurry to rush back, we didn't have any problems with it either. And now, in fact, that they have renovated the family suites there, I'm kind of on the fence about perhaps giving one of those suites a go in the future because I love the larger fridge and the big kitchenette area.

 

[Lilsia]

I find it intriguing that you grew up with no input on your family vacations, LOL! It's always very interesting to me to learn how different people/families do things.

We rarely had what anyone would call a vacation. It was mostly just going to visit family at their house. But the few places that we did go, our parents did not ask our opinion. They were paying for it and were in a better position to know what is reasonable and what isn't. Kids have no clue about your finances and what you can afford or what you consider appropriate. I think that you will find that that was very common "back in the day". We always had our kids write down what they wanted to do and we tried to get at least one thing that each individual wanted. But if I am paying, I am staying where I want to and feel the most comfortable. Besides, wanting to do something that your parent's would not let you do is a very good incentive to work hard to achieve those goals.

 

[Lilsia]

We would discuss WHERE we would go, but in terms of saying “This is the resort/hotel we want”? Never. It would never have occurred to us to say “But we don’t want that place, we want this one.” We we’re just happy to be going on a trip.

There is input and then there is a whole family trip changing because of what one kid wants.

LOL I know exactly what you mean. We would never dare tell our parents that we want something other then what they picked out. Vacations were very few and far between and I was just happy to go anywhere. We definitely grew up with the "when you pay for it, you can pick" mentality. Plus, with more then 1 kid, which kid gets to decide? That is just asking for problems. I don't see anything wrong with that. It made me want to work harder to do what I wanted. For my girls' HS graduation gift, I told them that they can pick where to go on a vacation. But after that, I decided where and when according to my budget.

 

[SL6827]

We would discuss WHERE we would go, but in terms of saying “This is the resort/hotel we want”? Never. It would never have occurred to us to say “But we don’t want that place, we want this one.” We we’re just happy to be going on a trip.

There is input and then there is a whole family trip changing because of what one kid wants.

Its just me and her. Its not that huge of a deal. We may end up at AoA by the time January comes around. Or at CBR, who knows?

 

[mi*vida*loca]

When I do mother daughter trips I ask DD for input and we pick a resort together. I have final say but it’s a trip for us together and we enjoy planning together. This next trip she would love to do BC but at those prices I doubt it’ll happen. I’ve explained this to her and she’s cool with it. I’ve told her I’m not comfortable renting dvc right now and she understands. We discussed a split stay but we’re kind of over split stays. So unless we find a great deal a moderate it is. If she wanted to stay value I would give it a try but we like pool slides and hot tubs. Lol.

When we do family trips we discuss where we’re going but the kids have no say in where we stay. That’s too many opinions and it just gets chaotic.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Its just me and her. Its not that huge of a deal. We may end up at AoA by the time January comes around. Or at CBR, who knows?

I haven’t even booked yet and I’ve changed my mind about 35 times a day. Lol.

 

[MomOTwins]

Count me in as a kid who had zero input on vacations growing up. Vacation typically meant going to stay with our grandparents or other relatives except one trip where our grandparents paid for a hotel in a mountain resort area. Hotels weren't really in our parents' budget. The one time we visited a disney park, it involved us staying an hour away as part of a different vacation, going down for a single day trip and then leaving early (before fireworks, to my immense disappointment) so we could trek all the way back to where we were staying. My DH had a similar experience--his family would go to a beach condo a 12 hour drive a way for family vacations, or the parents would leave DH and siblings with grandma/grandpa and go on a parent-only trip.

I'm sure a psychologist would tell me that the reason we go so overboard on disney trips with our kids is we're overcompensating for our own childhoods or something like that, but we for sure spoil our kiddos! The general rule at Disney World is what they want, they get because vacation is a happy time for everyone (within reason, I drew the line once at an insane star wars lego at disney springs... although I still can't believe what I paid for lightsabers and droids at Galaxy's edge). That said, even I would draw the line at staying at somewhere I didn't want to just so my kid preferred it. I get it though, you're just being an extra nice mom. But you should totally feel you can say no if you really don't want to stay there.

We had a similar issue with the Universal portion of our trip... the kids were really disappointed when they found out the hotel we are staying at didn't have a pool slide. So I just sat them down and explained, hey, this resort makes the most sense for us because (1) it is one of three hotel that gets us express pass; (2) we saved $800 by staying there versus the one they liked best, and (3) we can easily walk to the parks unlike the third hotel. And we were going to universal to do harry potter world so they will have a great time no matter what. I was really pleasantly surprised by how quickly they came around and said they understood and were really looking forward to it after I explained it.

 

[mom to minnie&mickey]

MANY more folks feel this way than people can imagine!(The term "VALUE RESORT" needs to be changed IMMEDIATELY-automatically creates a negative "stigma".)

To MANY,the Values are just plain FUN!

Absolutely this! I remember back in 2007, our first Disney trip at Pop, walking out towards the hippy dippy pool and seeing it surrounded with all the fun icons, palm trees etc., people swimming and having fun and thinking " if this is value what the heck are deluxes like?" It was just magical and we have never looked back. All of our trips have been at "value" resorts.....but to me they feel anything but "value." They are fun, clean, have a great food court with so many choices and basically give us everything we need for a fraction of the cost. Also, all the perks (Disney used to give to onsite guests) were always the same regardless. We will see what the future brings. Granted, the deluxes we have visited are wonderful and a lot more peaceful and on a non-Disney vacation we have stayed in similar ones but at less than half than what Disney charges.

 

[mkb3]

We just started going to WDW back in 2017. Frist Trip was Deluxe, Second was moderate and third was value. We have seen no drop in enjoyment at any resort level. In fact I think we have enjoyed our Pop trips the most as with the preferred room we are much closer to drink stations, dining (though not as good as Mod and Deluxe) and transportation. Next trip we are going back to Moderate, because of availability and the desire to try something new.

As for including kids in vacation plans, if I had said anything to my parents about what I wanted they would have canceled everything to prove a point of who is in charge and about being grateful . As for me we are a family of 3 and we include our daughter in almost everything. We tell her all the time, we will listen to her input, but that does not guarantee we will go with her choice.

 

[Wendysofftoneverland]

It is on my bucket list to stay at ASM and I really want a room in the dalmatian section. Looks fun!

Dalmatians section was my first on-property stay

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Dalmatians section was my first on-property stay

I was tempted to book ASM for this trip with DD but one of the reasons I'm not is because she will be going there for her senior trip less than two years after. Her school does ASM every year for 4-5 nights. I like to mix it up. But then I also don't want to pay $200+ a night for Pop either.

 

[CheshKAT]

Her and her friend like to take pics with the big icons at the resort.

That's awesome!!! The best place for icon pictures are the All Stars and Pop. We enjoyed both AS Music and Movies when the boys were small. We stay at Pop Century now but we'd stay at All Stars if we had to. The boys are 19 and 20 now but they would still stay at the same places. We are open to close park goers anyway. I think you made a great choice for your girls <3 Good Disney parenting in my books

 

[SL6827]

Well even if we stay elsewhere, or at ASM, I will make sure she gets her photos ops at some point.

 

[Tigger's ally]

I am really going to be doing my home work in regards to finding out if there will be any big tour groups there when we visit. If I find such, I will change it up. I have done that before.

I see why your husband said ....

 

[DizneyFamof4]

We would discuss WHERE we would go, but in terms of saying “This is the resort/hotel we want”? Never. It would never have occurred to us to say “But we don’t want that place, we want this one.” We we’re just happy to be going on a trip.

There is input and then there is a whole family trip changing because of what one kid wants.

You really cannot compare a typical family trip to a WDW trip. When we go other places, our girls do not have any idea what type of hotels there are and they really could care less between a Hyatt, Holiday Inn etc. But WDW is totally different and I always get the whole families opinion before deciding. When we are ready to plan a WDW trip, I will ask them if they have a preference, based on my budget for that trip. It also depends on what type of trip, if it's mainly a park trip then I am not going to foolishly waste my $$ on a resort that we will not be there much.

 

[DisLiss]

You really cannot compare a typical family trip to a WDW trip. When we go other places, our girls do not have any idea what type of hotels there are and they really could care less between a Hyatt, Holiday Inn etc. But WDW is totally different and I always get the whole families opinion before deciding. When we are ready to plan a WDW trip, I will ask them if they have a preference, based on my budget for that trip. It also depends on what type of trip, if it's mainly a park trip then I am not going to foolishly waste my $$ on a resort that we will not be there much.

I agree. If we're heading somewhere new for all of us it's very different from when we're heading back to a favorite vacation spot. And that's true both now, for my own family, as it was when I was young and going on trips with my parents, too.

We used to spend time at the same beach location every year, so we definitely had opinions on what we may like to try, or to repeat, or to never repeat, LOL!

Which is a lot like how it was when I was a teen and had several years of going to the same location under my belt.

Some of the posts make it sound like there are little pint-sized tyrants demanding their parents bust budgets to meet their every whim, but I assure you it was nothing like that at all. My dad would hand me the latest AAA tour book (I'm showing my age, there. ) and I would start looking for places we had never gone before. I certainly didn't insist we go to any place I found, but I suggested them, my parents okayed some, and same for my siblings.

Even now, when my DH & kids meet my parents someplace for vacation, and we're all paying separately, we still have things that we come up with and that my parents come up with.

 

[Dug720]

You really cannot compare a typical family trip to a WDW trip. When we go other places, our girls do not have any idea what type of hotels there are and they really could care less between a Hyatt, Holiday Inn etc. But WDW is totally different and I always get the whole families opinion before deciding. When we are ready to plan a WDW trip, I will ask them if they have a preference, based on my budget for that trip. It also depends on what type of trip, if it's mainly a park trip then I am not going to foolishly waste my $$ on a resort that we will not be there much.

Even at Disney as adults, if my parents are footing the bill, they make the resort selection.

We're clearly the weird group - in many things.

 

[DisLiss]

Even at Disney as adults, if my parents are footing the bill, they make the resort selection.

We're clearly the weird group - in many things.

I don't see it as weird at all. As I said earlier, I find it interesting to hear how different people each do things their own way.

As adults, we've taken turns over the years. We tend to all pay for our own resorts, but we take turns choosing the resort, and then we all stay at the chosen resort, whether it was our choice or not. because eventually there will be a trip when we choose. But if my parents invite us to dinner or on a special excursion, then they both choose and foot the bill. There are no strict rules, though. Sometimes they may pick something, but we each pay our own way. Or sometimes we choose something, my parents come along, and then they decide to pay anyway.

 

[Lilsia]

You really cannot compare a typical family trip to a WDW trip. When we go other places, our girls do not have any idea what type of hotels there are and they really could care less between a Hyatt, Holiday Inn etc. But WDW is totally different and I always get the whole families opinion before deciding. When we are ready to plan a WDW trip, I will ask them if they have a preference, based on my budget for that trip. It also depends on what type of trip, if it's mainly a park trip then I am not going to foolishly waste my $$ on a resort that we will not be there much.

But would you stay at a hotel that you dislike and are uncomfortable in just because your child likes it? Even though they would be just as happy at a hotel that you picked?