Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
portation system allows you, for example, to enjoy a romantic dinner and an early
bedtime while your teens take in the late-night fireworks at the theme parks. After the
fireworks, a Disney bus, boat, or monorail will deposit them safely back at the hotel.
Because most adolescents relish freedom, you may have difficulty keeping your
teens with the rest of the family. Thus, if one of your objectives is to spend time with
your teenage children during your Disney World vacation, you will need to establish
some clear-cut guidelines regarding togetherness and separateness before you leave
home. Make your teens part of the discussion and try to meet them halfway in craft-
ing a decision everyone can live with. For your teens, touring on their own at Walt
Disney World is tantamount to being independent in a large city. It's intoxicating, to
say the least, and can be an excellent learning experience, if not a rite of passage. In
any event, we're not suggesting that you just turn them loose. Rather, we are just at-
tempting to sensitize you to the fact that for your teens, there are some transcendent
issues involved.
Most teens crave the company of other teens. If you have a solitary teen in your
family, do not be surprised if he or she wants to invite a friend on your vacation. If
you are invested in sharing intimate, quality time with your solitary teen, the presence
of a friend will make this difficult, if not impossible. However, if you turn down the
request to bring a friend, be prepared to go the extra mile to be a companion to your
teen at Walt Disney World. Expressed differently, if you're a teen, it's not much fun
to ride Space Mountain by yourself.
One specific issue that absolutely should be addressed before you leave home is
what assistance (if any) you expect from your teen in regard to helping with younger
children in the family. Once again, try to carve out a win-win compromise. Consider
the case of the mother from Indiana who had a teenage daughter from an earlier mar-
riage and two children under age 10 from a second marriage. After a couple of vaca-
tions where she thrust the unwilling teen into the position of being a surrogate parent
to her stepsisters, the teen declined henceforth to participate in family vacations.
Many parents have written the
Unofficial Guide
asking if there are unsafe places
at Walt Disney World or places where teens simply should not be allowed to go. Al-
though the answer depends more on your family values and the relative maturity of
your teens than on Walt Disney World, the basic answer is no. Though it's true that
teens (or adults, for that matter) who are looking for trouble can find it anywhere,
