WDW with Teens..any advice?

[krisku]

Bringing my nephew with us. my son is 14 and nephew is almost that. They will be able to go off a bit by themselves which I'm sure will make a better trip for everyone Any tips out there on anything else?

[imported_PolyGirl40]

We took our nephew along with us last year as a companion to our oldest son. They were both 14. What a fantastic time we had. They're both fun and great kids.

We took walkie-talkies with us. The older boys were allowed to venture off during our Park touring. Which was great because there were several occasions neither wanted to do what my youngest had planned.

They weren't allowed to roam out of the Park. (I'm just not like that.) However, it did give them great freedom. Especially at the resort.

I'm going to bump this up to the Vacation Planning forum for you. Have a wonderful time. --- [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ August 05, 2002, 08:46 AM: Message edited by: PolyGirl40 ]

[DisneyDudet]

Well, being a "teen" myself (i dont' like that term) i can give you great tips! First, you have got to make sure that they aren't run over with Disney Family Fun. If you are staying at the resort, let them come back w/ an adult or the whole group can go back to the hotel and swim and have dinner. It will make them less moody. Don't boggle them down with tons of Disney shows. They will want to ride the rides instead. I'll come back to this page if u have more ?'s. [img]graemlins/mickey.gif[/img]

[loveswdw]

We've taken our kids when they were teens lots of times. They could enjoy time on their own at the pool, or for a short portion of the day, at a different part of the same park you are in, perhaps meeting for dinner. They could also spend time in Disney Quest. They would probably be ok in the water park too. They might enjoy going with the adults to see Pleasure Island.They would also have fun on the water mouse boats, and you could watch from the dock.

[Fangorn]

The key for us has been to make sure the following things happen:

1) They get to experience some level of freedom from the 'herd'. You'll have to work out what that level looks like, but you can do it.

2) Make sure that when you're together as a family, you take their wishes and preferences into consideration. Yes, it requires communicating with them, but you just might learn something about the kids you didn't know.

Here's a few tips we've used to make these things work well.

1a) invest in either walkie-talkies or (better, imho) 2-way pagers. Having these allows the boys to go off by themselves but you can still communicate with them and easily set up meeting points. We discovered that rarely do our boys actually stay on their own for more than a couple of hours at a time, before they reconnect.

1b) take an interest in them. If they've been on their own, ask for a report so you can enjoy their experience (not to check up on them). If they found something they're really excited about, take the time to let them show you (even if you've seen it a hundred times before). [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

1c) when they go off by themselves, give them some spending money for snacks or whatever. And don't ask them for the change or grill them about what they bought with it.

2a) make sure that before you get to the park, you've asked them what THEY want to do. This may not be what you think it is. We've been surprised more than once by answers we've received to this question. Also ask what they DON'T want to do. Having this information can really help you arrange your day in such a way as to avoid any pouting and the dreaded "whatever..." attitude.

2b) meals can be a big source of conflict when there are distinct differences about cuisine. Again, talk about it before hand, and work around the most severe differences in taste. There are enough places around that you're bound to find something you can all agree on for a lovely family meal. For us, that's Italy. DW and I love Mexico, but the boys don't. We plan lunch at the San Angel Inn, while the boys are off on their own. Works great!

Other suggestions:

- take the boys to DisneyQuest. They will love it. Leave them there for awhile while you shop at Downtown Disney, or take in a movie.

- make sure that you've set clear limits on the boys when they're on their own - such as they can't leave whatever park you're in, and they must check in every hour.

Chance are excellent that you'll all have blast.

Hope to hear a report.

Steve

[img]graemlins/mickey.gif[/img]

[WDW crazy]

Have then meet you at a designated place at a certain time and make sure they know where it is. This will make you feel better to personally see them and it will give them the responsibility of showing up on time! Sometimes the walkie talkies won't pick each other up so it is a good idea to meet periodically!