All the makings of a disaster… I’m bringing two reluctant teens and the in-laws!!

[lurkernj]

Ha! Caught you with the title, didn’t I???

Whelp, hopefully it won’t really be a disaster. We traveled to Disney about 4 years ago, the six of us: Me(43), DH(43), DS(17), DS(14), MIL (73), FIL(73) . We had a fabulous 10 night trip at POR.

This time around, I was thinking that DS17 will be going off to college next year, and the in-laws are in pretty good shape, but they aren’t getting any younger, so we should do one last trip together. So now we're going Sept 23-30.

Now, I love a good in-law story just like the rest of you, but you might be disappointed this time(we’ll all have to wait and see though). I have great in-laws and they enjoy Disney and my kids. Sometimes they are a little absent minded and hard of hearing, so they can provide quite a bit of entertainment in that way. FIL also loves to ask me a million questions, but I’ve grown quite patient with him. I think he gets excited like a little kid about these things. Last trip he kept telling me prior to the trip that I better have enough planned to keep him busy for 10 days. He thought 10 days was way too much, but by the end of the trip, we all wished we had one more day. I’ve been with DH for 25 years, since we were 18, and my family is bizarre, so they sort of adopted me, and are more like my parents than my own ever were. They live around the block from us, and actually don’t drive us nuts, however, they are retired and don’t know what to do with themselves. They aren’t comfortable traveling by themselves (no idea why, seriously), and FIL has only flown once, which was the last time we took them to Disney. They come to all of my kids sports events and are wonderful grandparents. My FIL drives my DS14 to school every morning, even though we only live a few blocks from the school and he is perfectly capable of walking, but I think FIL looks forward to their time together. My MIL likes to come over in the morning after I’ve left for work and do my laundry. My friends think this is strange, but I think it’s awesome.

Here they are, we'll call them Nanny(a little absent minded) and Pop (hard of hearing) (with DS14):


Now, the reluctant teen part comes in the form of DS(17). He “likes” Disney, but has a “been there, done that” mentality about most vacations, and says they’re only going because I have to act like a 4-year old girl (so, what’s wrong with that?). DS14 enjoys Disney and even did a trip alone with me 3 years ago (best trip evaaaa), but he looks up to his big bro, and has formed an alliance with regard to this trip. I have defended myself by blaming it on nanny and pop claiming that they are getting older and we should go while they are still in good health (I’m shameless).

Here is a picture of the little treasures from our trip 4 years ago, I think we'll call them tweedle dee(DS17) and tweedle dum(DS14):


DH enjoys Disney, but not as much as me. He thinks I have an obsession and need to get some help (really?, that’s just crazy talk). Last trip we all took as a group, he said 10 nights was too much, so he joined us all on day 4, which was perfect for all involved. I dragged the kids and in-laws from open to close those first 4 days with not one complaint, then once DH came, we needed afternoon breaks. We will be doing something similar this time around.

Some side info for this trip: DH had a stroke two years ago (I know! he was 41 and in seemingly great health!) and has made an amazing almost recovery. He was a runner before the stroke and in great shape, but unfortunately he now walks with a bit of a limp and gets tired and will need even more breaks this trip. I’ve done my research and sought out some great nap spots in the parks. I’ve been getting him out at night for walks to get him into “Disney” shape so he can build some stamina. Oddly enough, he goes to the gym just about every day, but gets tired walking two blocks. He is not overweight in the least, but he’s been focused on weight training, and hasn’t been doing much cardio. So, at night when we walk, I tell him to pick up the pace and pretend we’re trying to get fastpasses to Toy story mania. He just shakes his head and picks up the pace like a good boy.

Here’s my handsome fella (we'll call him prince charming):

(our friend, who does not enjoy Disney, refers to this expression as "the Disney face")

And then there’s me. DH is correct, I am obsessed. I am most happy when I’m planning a trip to WDW. I haven’t been to Disney as much as I would like, and am sorely disappointed I only discovered this whole obsession 4 years ago. I always had it in my mind that Disney was so expensive and out of reach for us, so my kid’s first trip to WDW was when they were 10 and 13 (we had been to DL twice-camping- when they were pretty small since we had family out west, but didn’t catch onto the obsession there). I had been once as a child, and DH and I went once before we got married, off property. Had I caught on sooner, maybe I would have been able to convert the boys. This will be my 4th trip in 4 years (I also went once with BFF for a short xmas trip). I am an avid trip report reader (lurker, hence the name), but have never done a trip report.

And here’s me (I'll just be referred to as "me"):