The kitchen. Everyone has this image of "cooking" on vacation and how they dread it. Well, it's what you make of it. If you want to spend hours over a hot stove, you can. But why would you? If you want, you don't have to cook a single thing, you could always eat out or order in
.DW and I spend that time together talking, laughing, and the kids get involved too. Same with "cleaning". We don't polish furniture, scrub floors, nothing. That's why there's a cleaning fee for the house/condo we rent.
Agree with all this! And with young kids my idea of a "relaxing" dinner isn't to try to get everyone to sit still for over an hour, not whine constantly when they are hungry and dinner is still a ways out as seating is running behind, etc.
I think there is such a thing as too much togetherness. Especially if your ideas of what a vacation is are very different, which it sounds like they are.
Yea-we have vacationed with In-laws before but we had our own units, and they didn't stay as long as we did.
OTOH-6 days in a single room with kids is the absolute max my DH will tolerate-and that is really pushing it. So that is our idea of too much togetherness LOL
First off I 100% understand not wanting to share a house with others. Been there done that with Hubby's family and barely lived to tell about it. Never again! We still vacation together every few years but never under the same roof. Space and separation are a very good thing for our sanity.
LOL! For me it depends on which set of in-laws...Went on a girls trip to WDW this past October with DH mom and sister-had a blast!
We get this discussed before we book and leave home
THIS may actually be the most important piece of advice regardless of whether you stay with family or not. Differing UNSAID expectations can taint any vacation!!!
MIL is just incredibly insistent that it is a family vacation and she wants us to all be together. I am going to look into Bonnet Creek and talk with Dh about it.
Maybe BC would be a good compromise and your family could have own unit.
Also-uber is incredibly easy and fairly cheap to get to/from parks if peeps go at differing times.
My DH dad and step mom came down with our kids a few years ago (DH and I were already in Orlando for a work conference) and they stayed a couple days. We ended up in different offsite resorts, but the times in the park with the kids/grandparents my son STILL talks about (4 years ago now). He loved that Grandma liked the same rides he did, they did Star Tours 4 x in a row and when they caught up with rest of us those 2 were giggling like crazy. Priceless memory. We had a very loose/relaxed touring schedule, a couple sit down meals, and no must-do-or-die expectations.
So don't discount your MiL desire to have a "family" vacation, but do be clear on expectations-including what the MiL is expecting
Good luck and have fun!