So - How much should I tease the wife and kids about my solo trip ?

[jcvalenti]

Have to go to Tampa next week for business on Monday, and my Aunt and Uncle will be down there in the middle of a 2 week stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge. My Aunt is a big Disney nut, and a frequent member of our travel group, so I thought it would be fun to pop in and spend a day or two with her, as I know she'll be a little sad as this is her first January trip in years without my Grandma, who passed away last year (at age 95, having been to WDW almost every year since it opened).

My wife was conceptually onboard with the idea, but now that I told her I'm going to stay at AKL (which we've never done), might have upgraded to a Savannah View room, am planning a big dinner at Jiko (our favorite) and may or may not be stretching the trip out an extra day, she's a little less on board with the whole idea. The kids are even less enthused, especially since we've never stayed on property with them (usually opting to rent a house with friends so we can go for an extra week). My 16 year, a big Disney nut, is especially ticked, as he'll be in the middle of finals.

So how bad should I be about this ? I rarely do anything for myself, so this is a rare occurrence. I'm thinking she would probably enjoy receiving pictures at least hourly, of all the cocktails we will be enjoying. Maybe a live Skype from the Savannah at sunset ? She'll probably also enjoy hearing about being in the 80 degree sun, as it should be a grey snowy nightmare in dear old Michigan next week. She told me I better bring home a great souvenir, so I'm thinking maybe a fantastic picture frame so we can blow up a picture of my Aunt, Uncle and I sharing a great bottle of wine at Jiko ?

For those who have found themselves at the World without the family, what's the preferred way of rubbing it in ?

 

[mom2rtk]

Will you not enjoy it as much if you just pass on "rubbing it in"?

 

[ElsasFan]

Do you want to send pictures and updates hourly because you think she would like to see them, or because you want to rub in the fact that you are there and she and the rest of your family is not? How would you want them to act, if your positions were reversed?

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

Agree with @mom2rtk...
But I pretty much believe you were speaking "tongue in cheek".
I would keep as much info to myself as possible, only answer specific questions asked, and speak mostly of the joy of your aunt in having you there to share it with.
I would also offer the family the choice of a stay for only 1 week at AKL vs 2 weeks off site. That might make this more of a "expedition" trip to scope out AKL.
Just my humble opinion...

 

[jcvalenti]

Obviously I'm joking somewhat - the rest of the family are just upset that I finally got a work assignment near WDW. It's been about 15 years since I've been down there for anything other than fun, and that last time was all business. As for how bad I feel about it, I'd certainly be happier if they were there, but I've never noticed a terrible amount of concern when I've had to leave trips early for work, but I told them to stay a couple extra days without me. This will be a fun turnaround.

As for scoping out AKL, I'll definitely be interested to see what it's like, but I doubt staying there with our family of 4 will ever be an option - It would cost about 5x more per night than what we pay to share a luxury vacation home with my sister and her family (we'd have to get 2 rooms or a villa ... no way we could spend a week with the 4 of us crammed in to one hotel room). We wouldn't spend enough time at the resort to justify that kind of markup.

 

[china mom]

I flew down to Disney on two consecutive Saturdays just to text a Disney selfie to my BIL. OK, obviously, that was not the only reason I went but it was still my favorite part. He texted me back a picture of him flipping me the bird. Tee hee.

 

[jcvalenti]

I flew down to Disney on two consecutive Saturdays just to text a Disney selfie to my BIL. OK, obviously, that was not the only reason I went but it was still my favorite part. He texted me back a picture of him flipping me the bird. Tee hee.

My sister has already told me she's blocking my texts for next week.

We do a Podcast together and I think the first topic back will be how much fun it is to go to Disney by yourself. That ought to go well.

 

[loves to dive]

I go solo often, my honey hates to travel and my son is in college but that ain't gonna stop me from going. I have been known to answer a text from one of my brother's saying sorry I can't answer you right now, I'm enjoying a glass of wine while sitting outside in Epcot, or I have been known to send my son a picture of a refreshing drink I'm enjoying or a booth at F&W. Hey, torturing our kids is what we were put on earth for (at least that's what my parenting manual said).

 

[kj2mom]

So I went last summer for 4 nights without my children. I didn't tell them I was going because they were headed to their Dad's in a different state for the month. I finally decided I needed to tell them when I got there because I was meeting other friends (a friend's daughter was doing Dance The World) and the chances my two (14 years old) would see pics on social media were pretty high. So anyway, I facetimed them to let them know and my daughter cried and cried. She was very very upset. Over and over I told her that if she was not at her dad's we could not have been able to go because I couldn't pay for it so she wasn't missing out on anything. The first 24 hours were very rough for me, I cried quite a bit myself. I knew in my mind that I wasn't doing anything wrong but my heart hurt because I hurt my children (my son didn't say too much but I knew he was sad. He is going with his band in April so that made it even worse for my daughter because she is the only one not going). Anyway, the first day was bad and finally I talked to my daughter and she was better. This was right when FB live was starting to become popular so on the bus to MK to see the Welcome Show I updated my app so I could live stream the show. She was soo soo happy. From then on I live streamed the parade my friend's daughter was in, her performance show, Wishes, Celebrate the Magic, the Electrical Parade and Fantasmic!. She watched every single one with her brother and enjoyed it. Now, months later there are still a few digs about how she is the only one not going but she has decided to join a club soccer team which I now call her Disney World (seriously, it is wayyy more expensive than my trip to Disney was). Anyway, all of that to say I was soo looking forward to going to Disney on my own..doing what I wanted to do, eating where I wanted to eat, watching what I wanted to watch but in the end I have to say it was not exactly what I had hoped for and I am not sure I would ever do it again. My children were hurt and I hurt because they hurt but they did ultimately decide that they wanted to share in as much of my experience as they could so I shared pictures and videos whenever I could (not to rub it in but so they could kind of feel like they were with me and know I was thinking about them while I was on my adventure).

 

[kniquy]

I am kind of in your same shoes, my husband is a big disney freak and I have a convention in April when i will be staying at BWV. He knows much of my trip will be sitting in long meetings but evening time we will be heading to the parks or going for dinner. I am not trying to rub it in, but i am definitely looking forward to experiencing disney kid free. Every so often i mention how many days until my trip and where my co-worker and i have dinner reservations. Other than that I am certainly not rubbing it in. If anything i am doing research for our April 2018 trip. I do very little for myself, so i do bring it up just how excited i am about the trip, but not in a way that i am rubbing it in. My husband is on the fence and wants to hear about it, but also wishes it was him going too. I did offer for him to come stay with us, but he declined. So when he has a problem with me going I just remind him he had the chance to go too.

If I were you, I wouldn't mention much. Maybe if AKL is someplace that your family wants to stay, start looking into renting DVC points so that you can afford to stay there for a week vs offsite for 2 weeks. I think the experience of staying on site for you and your family may help decrease the negativity you are receiving for your couple of days fun at disney

 

[Ninja Mom]

If it were me, I'd try to turn it around and do something nice for them. What you do all depends on what they like. For instance my husband and teenage sons could care less about Disney so before I leave I load them up with my special chocolate chip cookies to have while I am gone. Sometimes I make their favorite meals before I leave. These are big family feasts that teenage boys with bottomless stomachs love to eat. I know the way to their hearts is through my kitchen. Your wife might appreciate a date night when you get back. Take her to one of her favorite places without the kids. In short don't just SAY that you love her and missed her... SHOW that you love her and you missed her. The same goes for the kids!

It's ok that you get to go away and enjoy yourself. A good way to "plus" your good fortune is to pass the love along to your family in some special way when you return.

~NM

 

[jcvalenti]

They are already assembling a list of things that I need to bring back ... Chip n Dale Crackers (why are they so much better than goldfish crackers?), some taffy, etc. .... and my wife's favorite gift shop on property is at Jambo House.

They should feel somewhat lucky ... I think the only park visiting I'll be doing is maybe a quick trip into AK, which we didn't see much on our last trip. Since we usually go in the summer, I'm curious to see what the park is like when it's not an ungodly hot hellscape. Plus they have great drinks.

I think I need to review the pictures my wife sent when she was in Vegas last year for "work" and see how understanding she was, since that's my second happiest place on Earth.

 

[PSUGuy]

One of my favorite WDW vids is of wifey and I on a balcony of the Swan on the evening of Jan 1 2005. I was the cameraman, wifey was on the phone with our adult daughter. As they were talking I was narrating the scene, the aerials of Fantasmic were clearly visible in the background. Our daughter was VERY jealous which was not our intent but it was the result of my play by play which she could hear. She got over it, her, SIL and grandkids joined us the next 3 March trips, but ya never know how the left-behinds will feel about missing out of the fun.

Bill From PA

 

[jcvalenti]

One of my favorite WDW vids is of wifey and I on a balcony of the Swan on the evening of Jan 1 2005. I was the cameraman, wifey was on the phone with our adult daughter. As they were talking I was narrating the scene, the aerials of Fantasmic were clearly visible in the background. Our daughter was VERY jealous which was not our intent but it was the result of my play by play which she could hear. She got over it, her, SIL and grandkids joined us the next 3 March trips, but ya never know how the left-behinds will feel about missing out of the fun.

Bill From PA

Lol ... my wife Facetimed my niece (who was watching our kids during our Food & Wine trip) to check in on them ... while we were on an Illuminations Cruise waiting for the show to begin. The niece was grim when fireworks started going off and my wife announced "well, I can't hear you - magic is happening. Call you later !" and then hung up. My whole family loves Disney, and our trips together , which makes teasing each other on those rare times one of is down there "rogue" all the more fun.

 

[tcufrog]

Let me tell you a story. One year when I was a kid Aspen, CO got record snow fall right before Valentines Day so my dad decided to go on a last minute solo trip to Aspen to ski missing Valentines Day. Before he left he didn't make any plans to make up to his family, especially my mom. We all loved to ski so we were quite jealous. The first day on the slopes he broke his collar bone poling across a flat area to a ski lift.

Does that answer your question?

 

[Nancyg56]

Hmm... I get that you want to tease them, but under the circumstances in which you are going to be there, I think I would go easy.

I frequently travel without my husband, and he is not at all upset that I do while he is working. He teases me about how nice and quiet the house will be for whatever period of time I would be away. If I thought for one minute that he, or any of my family for that matter, was upset because the stay I was enjoying was one that they really would have enjoyed, there would be no rubbing in at all. I think there is a difference between teasing when all are on board with it, and teasing that might be hurtful, so if your "rubbing it in" has the potential to hurt your family, why would you do this. Personally, I would feel pretty bad that they were home and I was having a blast.

 

[siestakeys04]

When do you plan on taking your family again to Disney? Could you stay at AKL may for 2 nights then switch to the vacation house?

 

[goofyintoronto]

Oh i'd totally be rubbing it! Are you kidding? That would be funny! I'd definitely send pics hourly of things like fireworks, characters, rides, and of course FOOD....it would be fun! yes im a pain in the you-know-what. I'd go all out. They'll eventually forgive you. I guess they kinda have to since they're family.

 

[WhispyPixie]

In our house....our entire family LOVES WDW and has been way too many times to count. A couple of our adult kids go at least once a year with their jobs. (Cheerleading coaches..lol) We all make a point to NOT rub it in. Whomever does will never ever live it down if they did rub it in!!

 

[MelissaGPW]

Have to go to Tampa next week for business on Monday, and my Aunt and Uncle will be down there in the middle of a 2 week stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge. My Aunt is a big Disney nut, and a frequent member of our travel group, so I thought it would be fun to pop in and spend a day or two with her, as I know she'll be a little sad as this is her first January trip in years without my Grandma, who passed away last year (at age 95, having been to WDW almost every year since it opened).

My wife was conceptually onboard with the idea, but now that I told her I'm going to stay at AKL (which we've never done), might have upgraded to a Savannah View room, am planning a big dinner at Jiko (our favorite) and may or may not be stretching the trip out an extra day, she's a little less on board with the whole idea. The kids are even less enthused, especially since we've never stayed on property with them (usually opting to rent a house with friends so we can go for an extra week). My 16 year, a big Disney nut, is especially ticked, as he'll be in the middle of finals.

So how bad should I be about this ? I rarely do anything for myself, so this is a rare occurrence. I'm thinking she would probably enjoy receiving pictures at least hourly, of all the cocktails we will be enjoying. Maybe a live Skype from the Savannah at sunset ? She'll probably also enjoy hearing about being in the 80 degree sun, as it should be a grey snowy nightmare in dear old Michigan next week. She told me I better bring home a great souvenir, so I'm thinking maybe a fantastic picture frame so we can blow up a picture of my Aunt, Uncle and I sharing a great bottle of wine at Jiko ?

For those who have found themselves at the World without the family, what's the preferred way of rubbing it in ?

This is unreleated reply to a much older post about the dimensions of Epcot garbage cans for F&W (cant find currently).... can you please assist? We ALWAYS use the cans for tables and love the tablecloth idea... Can you assist??