what would you do...teen doesn't want to enter parks

[NJMomto2]

okay, I need help. We are booked for free dining and 5 day park hoppers with 4 night stay at Caribbean Beach with me, my 18 yr old son, and 3 year old daughter.

The 18 yr old son does not want to go in the parks. He does want to go to Universal and he does drive. We are taking my SUV down.

Can I:

1. Drop him off reservation entirely - save $?
2. Leave him on and eat the cost of his ticket. Book more meals at DTD or resort.
3. Leave him on and drop all tickets to 2 day park hoppers. Then upgrade me and baby to 5 day hoppers?

What is possible to help me save money and budget him extra for Universal?

 

[englanddg]

I wouldn't drop him off entirely (unless you are leaving him at home!).

Option 3 is probably the best financial decision, but with free dining how much is it really going to save you? Lessee...1 Adult 5 day is $315. 1 adult 2 day is $192. So, $123 savings. However, you'll still need his Uni tickets. 3 day Park to Park is $204.99. 3 day Single Park is $189.99. So, it's a financial wash, for the most part.

Remembering to upgrade shouldn't be very difficult. Just go do it on your first day or so.

If you drop to a 2 day, you won't lose the Dining Credits, will you? I don't think you do (though, I may be mistaken). And, if that's the case, I'd certainly take advantage of his credits to book some stuff your daughter would enjoy (like, Cindy's Royal Table or a special breakfast!)

 

[NJMomto2]

I wouldn't drop him off entirely (unless you are leaving him at home!).

Option 3 is probably the best financial decision, but with free dining how much is it really going to save you? Lessee...1 Adult 5 day is $315. 1 adult 2 day is $192. So, $123 savings. However, you'll still need his Uni tickets. 3 day Park to Park is $204.99. 3 day Single Park is $189.99. So, it's a financial wash, for the most part.

Remembering to upgrade shouldn't be very difficult. Just go do it on your first day or so.

If you drop to a 2 day, you won't lose the Dining Credits, will you? I don't think you do (though, I may be mistaken). And, if that's the case, I'd certainly take advantage of his credits to book some stuff your daughter would enjoy (like, Cindy's Royal Table or a special breakfast!)

I like it. I know we wouldn't lose his dining with option 3 and he will use some counter service at the resort I am sure.

I am not sure if we can upgrade 2 out of 3 tickets to a 5 day though. And we can't book all our fast passes.

Why are teens so difficult?...

 

[Disneylover99]

If you drop to 2 day tickets, nobody will lose their dining credits, but you will only be able to make fp's for two days at 60 days out.

 

[NJMomto2]

If you drop to 2 day tickets, nobody will lose their dining credits, but you will only be able to make fp's for two days at 60 days out.

Thanks for confirming. I was afraid of that.

 

[Disneylover99]

I am not sure if we can upgrade 2 out of 3 tickets to a 5 day though..

Yes, you can. Do this after you enter your first park at guest services/relations.

 

[NJMomto2]

Yes, you can. Do this after you enter your first park at guest services/relations.

Thank you! Very helpful!

It isn't like my 3 year old wants super popular attractions so fast pass might be ok if we miss out on 3 days.

 

[englanddg]

Thank you! Very helpful!

It isn't like my 3 year old wants super popular attractions so fast pass might be ok if we miss out on 3 days.

Well, it's not like you'd really "miss out", per se. On a positive note, your 3 year old likely is too short for a lot of the "omg this MUST be done with a fastpass" rides, with the possible exception of TSMM. I'd target your FPs at day 60 with that in mind (not necessarily 2 days, you'll be able to do ANY days during your trip, but no more than 2 days...but, it doesn't have to be your two FIRST days, nor consecutive days, I don't think (I could be wrong with that too, but I didn't have any trouble with a longer resort stay, shorter ticket (4 night stay, 2 day ticket) booking my FPs that way for August. So, I'm fairly confident about that.

Take into account the rides she won't be able to do, vs the ones that carry waits that she will want to do, and there ya go.

Then, when you upgrade your ticket, within a short period of time, that upgrade should reflect in MDE, and you should be able to book the rest. Granted not 60 days in advance, rather a day or two in advance, but still...

 

[englanddg]

As a side note, and this will sound odd...maybe even a bit over protective...cause, I mean, he is 18...but, this is my opinion.

I'd look into him NOT driving to get to Uni. Rather, shell out for a taxi each day OR have him take the Lynx (Orlando bus system). I assume he has a cellular phone, so he can keep in touch. To get there by Lynx, he would have to take a Disney Bus to DTD, walk across the street to the bus station, take the #111 to Florida Mall, then the #37 to Universal. The whole thing takes an hour to an hour and a half, but with a cel phone with games on it, I doubt he'd notice (plus it's an "adventure").

Anyhow, I know it's an odd thing, but here's why I think he shouldn't drive:

1) He's 18. Yeah, I know that's silly. We've all been 18. But, Florida drivers (no offence to Floridians) are competitive speeders (and insane with lane shifts). He may decide he wants to speed too. Yeah, don't want to have to deal with the "Mom, I got pulled over" call while at Disney with your 3 year old!

2) Florida drivers...are insane. You don't want to deal with the "Mom, I got into an accident." call while at Disney with your 3 year old! His fault or not!

3) He's not familiar with the roads, which can make it easier to get into an accident.

4) It makes sure his range is limited. Granted you could track him through his cel phone, but with the Lynx or a Taxi being his only options, it keeps him somewhat leashed.

Dunno, it was something that popped in my mind.

 

[Disneylover99]

I also want to add, you can go to guest relations and pull your son's two day ticket off of your MDE account and place it on a hard ticket and it can be reassigned at a later date to him or to another adult.

 

[TXTransplant]

You didn't mention this, but is he at all interested in the water parks? He could spend a couple of days at Typhoon Lagoon/Blizzard Beach, maybe meet some kids his own age, and he could use the Disney bus system to get there (so no driving mom's car). His meal credits should work there, too.

And he's 18 years old...have you considered asking him to chip in to cover the extra expenses resulting from the fact that he doesn't want to go into the parks with the tickets you already paid for? Don't make him pay for his entire portion of the trip, just the difference between what you've paid and anything more that it costs for him to do something different.

As a side note, it's not that far to Universal...I rented a car and drove from there to Magic Kingdom and back on our last trip. But I think I'd be a nervous wreck if I let my son drive my car in an unfamiliar and crowded city. I know it would negatively impact my enjoyment of the vacation because I'd be worrying the whole time!

 

[TTMom]

Has the 18yo been there before? I'm going to assume that he has, and he is just no longer interested in attractions that WDW has to offer.

I'm with a poster above - I wouldn't drop him off of the reservation, unless you are planning to change his plans completely and leave him home. Without getting into an ethical debate (I see too much of that on here! Why can't we all just focus on the MAGIC?), the first thing that comes to my mind would be his ability to get into the room at CBR when he was done at US.

Right now the current deal on US tickets is buy a 2-Day Park-to-Park ticket and you get one free. Honestly, though, while it sounds like a good deal, it's less than a $20 saving.

Obviously, when it comes to the driving, you know your son and his track record the best! If you thought that he was going to be able to navigate the drive (heck, you might have driven there with him a thousand times already!), then I would think that him going to US solo would be no problem. Another alternative, in addition to those listed above, is Uber. I have been looking into the service and they seem to quote me a price of quite a bit less from a WDW resort to US.

Maybe keep one day free for some family time? Let the 18yo sleep in and return to the resort in the afternoon for some pool/family time and dinner together at a resort hotel or DTD?

 

[Pumbaa_]

I would leave him home

 

[NJMomto2]

I also want to add, you can go to guest relations and pull your son's two day ticket off of your MDE account and place it on a hard ticket and it can be reassigned at a later date to him or to another adult.

I like this idea as I feel we would easily lose track of it on a magic band

 

[ForMyBoys]

I think 18 year olds do change their mind. He might be really excited about going to universal, but is he really going to enjoy it alone? In the end he may realize that he wants to hang w/ the family for a day or two, so I'd at least keep the 2 day ticket option.

Question for other posters, if she did keep it a 5 day (so she can still make FPs and such) and he ends up not going into the parks at all, I assume that 5 day ticket can still be used on a later trip and reassigned since it wasn't used?

 

[NJMomto2]

I would leave him home

Lol. I really thought it was going to go this way with him staying home but he said he wants to come to just walk around. He does have his own car at home. I am slightly worried about the house if he stays home alone and I have a 15 hr drive to do each way. But he isn't too social so it may be ok.

Many have stated the fear of him driving my car. I am a worrier too so it will scare me but he has been driving for 3 solid years albeit with some dents on his car now and my car is a lease.

I agree he should chip in when he doesn't want to participate in the family plan.

It leaves so much to consider. I included him in all ADRs to be safe.

He has been to WDW about 4 or 5 times for 1-2 weeks each and has been to DL a few times too so he is just over it. We haven't seen Harry Potter World but have been to US many times as well but it has been about 7 years since we went in FL. We used to live by U.S. Hollywood so did that one a lot with actor friends that get free passes.

Last year for Easter, I brought him and he sat in the hotel room making a mess and only came in the parks to ride Everest, Space Mountain, and eat at BOG.

Ahh, the life of entitled, spoiled children....

 

[chartle]

...

3) He's not familiar with the roads, which can make it easier to get into an accident.

....

I swear every time I have been in a vehicle on I-4 I see an SUV or Minivan on its side in median.

 

[chartle]

One other comment I hear a lot. "Can he bring a friend?" Though possible at 18 it has it own pitfalls.

Good luck. My sons would go to WDW in a minute.

My son was just looking at his pin collection. His former girlfriend gave him a DLR 60 year pin and he had to do some rearranging on his lanyard.

 

[Disneylover99]

Question for other posters, if she did keep it a 5 day (so she can still make FPs and such) and he ends up not going into the parks at all, I assume that 5 day ticket can still be used on a later trip and reassigned since it wasn't used?

Yup. That would be an option as well.

 

[Nettester]

I'd vote for having him pay his own cost of his Universal day, especially if he said he really wanted to go on the family trip (even to just walk around) while you were doing the planning. Maybe he just wants a day to himself? That's not so bad. I'd have him pay for other arranged transportation (taxi, shuttle, etc) if he really wants to go to Universal. You don't need to worry about him driving while you're trying to enjoy your vacation. Maybe he'd opt for a waterpark or walking around Downtown Disney by himself rather than buying a Universal ticket and transportation and food expenses. Personally, I wouldn't change a thing on your Disney tickets/plans because that is such a pain, and at the last minute, he may change is mind about taking on the extra expense and going to Universal alone. Or maybe he'd do his own thing for half a day and join you in the late afternoon/evening.