The Multi Family Vacation

Last week I was on a wonderful Disney cruise to Alaska. My husband and I are celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary this year. We spent our honeymoon at Disneyland and wanted to spend our 40th there too. We were hoping that all of our kids and grandkids would be able to join us. But boy, has it become very expensive to go on a Disney vacation! With that and everyone's school and work schedules, it just wasn't going to happen. One of our sons did some research and found that a Disney cruise to Alaska in May is a pretty good price since school isn't out yet for most people. He figured for his family, it would be about the same amount as spending a week at Disneyland. So, I looked into it and he was right. Yes, Disney cruises cost quite a bit more than other cruise lines. But it was a better price than I thought and it would be a brand new experience. So, we went for it.

It was a great week and a great cruise. We did go with my son, his wife and our 4 year old granddaughter. I'm not sure what my daughter-in-law expected the week to be with us there, but on the last day she said she thought we were great travel companions. I guess she liked that we didn't think we had to be with them every minute of the trip. That reminded me of what I have learned about multi family vacations. So, here are some of my ideas for how to make a multi family vacation fun and minimize stress for everyone.

First, remember that everyone vacations differently. Some people like their vacation to be on a schedule. They want something to do every minute of the vacation. Others like to sit back, relax, read a book and not have anything planned. If you try and schedule too much, some people will hate it and if you don't schedule enough, others will hate it.

Second, the larger the group, the harder it's going to be to please everyone! Yes, this is a family vacation, but don't expect to spend everyday all day together! You may end up wanting to kill each other before the trip is over! The point to a family vacation is to create some great bonding moments and happy memories.

I have found that the best strategy is to have one scheduled all family activity for each day. It's usually a meal since everyone does need to eat. The gathering is for that meal only. Example: Everyone get fast food and meet at the park at 5:00pm for dinner and picture taking. The rest of the day is theirs to do as they please. The "schedulers" can schedule their other activities around it and the "relaxers" still have lots of time to relax.

Each individual family will still feel like they have control over their own vacation. And you don't have the stress of having to plan every activity for everyone so you can enjoy your vacation too!

Do you have any ideas on making multi family vacations a success? If so, please share your ideas or experiences with us!