It's always so nice to find out that there are other humans around.
We've been to
Disneyland many times, have had two LONG trips to WDW, and 3 visits to Universal (where we don't actually melt down, or don't melt down as much, interestingly). We have had LOTS of practice in flipping out on each other in turns.
We've learned that most of the freakouts have to do with FOOD.
Wrong food. (we learned that DS and DH cannot have corn syrup, HFCS, or corn syrup solids, thanks to our various Disney trips and watching their reactions and finding out ingredients...hubby gets ANGRY then passes out...DS gets violent and runs in circles then falls asleep hard)
NO food. (they both get really wonky without food, and the worst is that if asked about hunger during that time they will say "NO WE ARE NOT HUNGRY" so I have started telling them to be quiet until they eat something and letting them be)
For me, I can't generally have a beer in the middle of the day. (I get cranky!) Or a mixed drink (had one at Tusker House and got super-cranky). I do just fine, however, at Epcot with my souvenir mug beers and my Grand Marnier slushies (different days, or hours later, not together)
WATER. (we must have access to water at all times)
Not enough sleep. (that gets all of us)
Plans changing. (that's a problem for me. I don't like surprises and I don't like plans changing unless I'm totally behind the change)
You can see that there are opportunities during which *sometimes* all of those things combine. Yikes.
Oh, and the noise! That gets to my son, revs him up so it's hard to be reasonable. And it starts to bore into my skull, making it hard for me to think properly. Realized this problem in Tomorrowland at Disneyland, and it went together with the sudden realization (while wondering why DS was flipping out over a souvenir and why DH was having a tantrum right back at him) that we hadn't eaten for almost 9 hours. Whoops.
Someday we'll get it right! Like I said, we seem to do well at Universal, but it's just so relaxed there when you're staying onsite, and we take at least 4 days to do it, and we have a few places for our fave food that we actually think about while we're there, AND we stay hydrated while there...so that's probably why.
Maybe you should market those shirts, I bet you could sell a ton!
I bet she could! If she doesn't want money, she could offer up the design on the DIS-igns board!!!
The person in our family that usually has a meltdown is me.
I have a thing about dirty faces.....Still gets my blood boiling just thinking about it.
Offer to lick his face clean. Hopefully it'll gross him out so much that he'll just clean it himself.
We had our family moment at Epcot. What is it about that park that brings out the best in families?
It's huge! It should be two separate, smaller, parks. Just when you think you're done, there's that whole OTHER section to do!
We usually try to get our 'blow up' moments out of the way while we are packing for the trip.
Probably a good idea.
....He's usually pretty laid back, but for some reason restaurant prices start making him psycho after a couple of days, and he will randomly blow right before we order.
Something about the combination of five hungry kids and one hungry husband just isn't good.
Add in Disney prices and things are likely to get ugly.
Gift cards instead of credit cards. Shows that the money is already totally budgeted, planned for, that you KNOW the prices, KNOW what your family wants to eat, and you've got this. Feed (and water) them early and often. Carry protein-filled snacks, and budget in for apples and pineapple and other tasty, fresh treats!
You've got the food thing down in all ways, and hopefully he'll stop thinking about it. Oh, and no matter how you pay, perhaps you should be the one to pay the check, every time!
Lesson learned though do my own research before we go on vacation because if I trust DH I'll spend all day surrounded by rides and never even know they are there.
We had a HUGE argument during our honeymoon, too. After that it was like "well, that's done with, let's move on", LOL.
Then, of course, I have to hear my husband's, "I told you so. You always plan too much. You always think we can do everything." Aye.
I'm wondering why Disney doesn't film some of these moments for their commercials. Can you imagine? The OneRepublic song playing in the background, shot of the castle and princesses with children running, and then a couple screaming at each other, kids having tantrums, and the words: "For the TRUE Disney experience" float across the screen
. Doesn't really have the same punch as the current ads, I guess.
I think it would be awesome! See, I don't find it surprising that meltdowns happen, and I don't buy into the happiest place nonsense. Sure it's awesome, but put that much pressure on people, combined with heat and rain and humidity (and big temperature changes at Disneyland as soon as the sun goes down) and MONEY and all of that, and it's going to happen!
I think a few "real" ads would actually help.
Unlike many of you, we don't confine ourselves to just one meltdown during a trip. No, we have many of them, big and small.
....but really let her have it when we got home.....considered divorcing her but I am letting herself redeem herself with our upcoming trip in 6 days we are going for our anniversary and her birthday without the kids....our cell phones will be left in the hotel room...
I first thought "why don't you put MORE pressure on this trip?". Then I saw.
...my wife never took my subtle hints or the big ones.....i blow up at her after we got home even thought of dvorcing her over her rudeness and inconsiderateness (if thats a word)....In 6 days my wife and i are returning to Disney without kids for the first time for her birthday 6/13 and our 9 year wedding anniversary and 12 years together on 6/14...
And I realized that circumstances already HAVE put a HUGE amount of pressure on it!
I really hope that you're joking about divorce over this. Or if you're not, I hope that there's much more going on, and it's not about just this. Instead of hinting, just say something, BEFORE you bother to get angry with it.
(my husband-then-fiance pulled a secret-to-him "if things go better on THIS trip, then I'll stick around" thing on me, and he's *lucky* I stuck around while he got his head together and stopped overreacting to things he should have just talked to me about, so your posts have struck a serious nerve with me!)
By the way, I do get that playing a game on a phone can be annoying, when you're trying to have family bonding time. On the other hand, is it possible that *she* was annoyed at something, and was trying to be with the family but also be a little separate? If you've read through the posts, you'll see that a LOT of people need to separate for a bit, either by leaving, or sitting on a bench, etc, when annoyed. Get some space to get their heads together. Is it possible that something like that was going on?
Or maybe she's just addicted to that game like Alec Baldwin, LOL, and needs to work on that.
We decided to head to Toon town one mid-afternoon. It was very crowded and nothing much took our fancy but we decided to go to Mickey's house to meet him. The line did not look bad from the outside but after being in a while we realised we had made a big mistake! The line seemed to wind on forever......I'm sure it would have been fine if it had not been such a busy time but we won't be taking any chances!!
In case anyone ever convinces you to go back, might I suggest going at the beginning of the day? Or get a Disneyland *package* deal that includes ToonTown Morning Madness that gets you in an hour before TT opens to the public.
It's also good to realize that Mickey's house IS a line. It's a line with stuff in it, and that's hard to see when it's packed to the rafters, but there are things to look at and climb on and pose with, to make it seem not as much like a line, LOL. It's a line all leading to the meet/greet.
Just in case anyone ever convinces you to go again.
You know where this is headed... DD had a meltdown... screaming and crying from pure exhaustion... thank goodness we were the only ones on the bus that night because I ended up whipping out my breast and nursing right there.
Yay that she got her milky goodness right then and there.
Having taken three toddlers, I've had my share of meltdowns. Our most recent stupid moment came, however, when we toured AK without a stroller or carrier for DS22 mos. He did a bit of walking, but of course he was carried 95% of the time. Talk about parental exhaustion!
OH goodness! Yes you must bring the Ergo, at the very least, with someone that age.
After he apologized for not listening to me in the first place and I stopped being a baby, we ended up having a great day in Orlando, getting boba tea, and looking around a comic book shop before heading home early and napping before he had to go to work.
Where did you get the boba tea in Orlando? Do tell!
....finally he sits down and takes his shoes off...they were filled with little rocks from the playground. Man did I feel like the worst mother in the world at that moment.
Our next Disney trip is coming up later this year and no matter what I will not lose my temper again. I don't ever want him to feel the way my mom made me feel growing up.
I doubt if there is one parent EVER who hasn't missed a big huge clue from our kids that they aren't *just* randomly whining, who hasn't later realized that they were, indeed, trying to tell us something important. Don't beat yourself up over it. And remember, DH missed it, too.
Hey...I think it's OK for kids to see us not be perfect. You had a mother who NEVER treated you with kindness, it seems. So you don't realize that all parents mess up, all parents lose it sometimes. It's a normal thing, something that helps children figure out what's right and what's not, to lose a temper every so often. And if you were wrong, you admit it. And that helps them, too.
Semi-related...from when I was 7ish to 17 my mom was dating/living with/married to this man. They didn't have the best relationship, but they hid their problems from us. I remember *one* fight they had, and it was had because, apparently, I'd walked in while he was making a present for me. (it was actually about much, much more, of course). He left for a year. Came back, they married. Then they were just having problems, but none they ever showed us. After my HS graduation, he filed for divorce and just left.
Turns out they were fighting ALL the time, for years. Never showed it. But I got to know the underlying tension, and thought that was NORMAL. So as I went into adulthood, for several years it was like I was trying to find that tension again. Dated totally inappropriate guys that I could fight with then make up with, and fight again, so that tension I'd grown up with and felt comfortable with was always there.
I finally had counseling and realized that it wasn't normal, and that my mom had done me NO favors by hiding it all, because I'd thought everything was fine, and that the household tension was normal and something I should find.
If you do get annoyed at DS, and I'm sure you will (we are all human, and so is he!), and HIDE that, he'll feel the feelings of the annoyance, but see your smiling face telling him it's all fine, and that won't be good for him, either. Maybe not as bad as your mom was, but still....showing appropriate emotions in appropriate ways is a really good life lesson to have under your belt. I encourage you to lighten up on yourself and just try to be as human as we all are.
My worst was the trip my family took when I was 20. The main tension was that my mom wanted us to all be together and was still convinced I was 12 and would be graped and murdered if out of her sight. I, on the other hand, had just flown in from college and was reveling in the autonomy and freedom of life on my own. And, perhaps, a little too invested in my image of myself as a vagabond traveler ... Immovable rock, meet unstoppable force. It hit a boiling point on day 3, Discovery Island. After what, in my mind, was two days of being drug around like a toddler with all my wishes utterly ignored (I strongly suspect my mother has a different perspective) I announced out of the blue I was going to Disney Quest. And taking my younger sister with me. Mom freaks out because we're messing with The Plan (DQ was scheduled for 2 hours on day 5) and we were going off on our own without a responsible adult (which, in retrospect, was probably true) and she would NEVER SEE US AGAIN after we were abducted and, and, and...
I, on my side of the rink, was having a melt down worthy of a well-practiced toddler because OMG I'm 20 and living on my own and being chained to my terrible family (you know, the ones who paid for me to go to WDW and who I only saw on breaks) and, and, and ...
My little sister was, of all of us, the one adult. She walked over to a cart, bought two frozen bananas, unwrapped each, and calmly stuck one in my mouth and one in mom's. We both took a moment, walked to opposite sides of the street, and then came back and talked about it like reasonable human beings.
Unfortunately my mom got the last laugh. She let Sis and I go to DQ but we learned that day that there are NO busses from parks to DTD and we learned that quite emphatically. We never did get there ...
Best story! Best way of telling the story, too! Awesome!
Glad they worked 
Once she got something in her, of course, she'd realize that whatever had set her off was not such a big deal, after all, and do this sheepish, "nevermind." 
