Vacationing with Teenagers

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, heroes in a halfshell. Turtle power! I’ve lost my mind. I just spent far too long in Hot Topic looking at neon clothes from the 80’s that don’t fit me and being forced to listen to deep, angry screams coming through speakers. Allegedly it is music. Okaaay. Let’s face it, we’ve all been there before. No, not the store, teenage years.

I don’t have any offspring so I borrowed a few. What I discovered is if you give them limited freedom, meaning they can run off on their own for a specific amount of time then they’re much happier during the vacation as a whole. Now, I’m not here to tell you how to raise your kids or how to handle their mood changes. No, I’m here to show you how I had fun with them by showing you my photos. And by having fun, I am including torture and embarassment.

For 6 months I lived in Miami with my cousins. During that time I “kidnapped” Matthew, my 15 year old cousin and dragged him to Walt Disney World. I wanted to do a few things that would be special for him so we stayed at All-Star Sports because he’s a bowler and plays basketball. Matt’s pretty easy-going and was up for anything I wanted to do although he probably grew tired of all the photos. Heh heh

Here we are in March of 2005. Just a couple of cousins having fun.

As a gift for his Studly 16 (Sweet 16 doesn’t work for boys) I planned a surprise element to his next kidnapping. I invited his best friend Greg aka Greggy Poo (he’s 6’6″) to join us and we kept it a secret from Matt until a few days before the trip. I had to tell Matt because he wouldn’t tell me which WDW park he wanted to visit and Greg’s aunt was generously signing us in as guests since she’s a Cast Member.

I don’t know what Greg said to Snow White but it made her nearly fall down from laughing so hard. The scan blew out the highlights. I fixed them as best I could.

Now that Matt had his best friend with him, he wanted the freedom to run around. With instructions to call me and an alotted time frame, I let them take off. I think all they did was have lunch at ESPN Club and hit a few attractions. The rest of the time they were with me at both Epcot and Universal Studios. I split our trip between The Crowne Plaza near Universal and another hotel that I’m totally forgetting.

I returned to Miami in 2007 for Matt’s high school graduation. You’ll never guess what my present was to him. Oh darn, you figured it out, I took him to Walt Disney World. It was just Matt & I again on a cousins trip. This time we stayed at Pop Century in the 50’s.

Teen angst, it’s a keeper. We watched The World Showcase Players perform in Italy. Not only are teens fun to photograph, but they also make good backpack carriers.

The third teen I borrowed is Zach, my friend Tracy’s son. Zach doesn’t ask to take off by himself but rather to spend time with his mom’s friends. Torturing Zach isn’t easy, unless you (me) and his mom are wearing matching Tinker Bell shirts and you threaten to get one for him as well. We were only kidding about making him wear it but the response we got was priceless.

If your teen or the one you’re renting enjoys the parks and the characters then you’re lucky. Enjoy the time you spend with your family because before you know it the kids are all grown up and then you have to wait until it’s time for you to lead your parents through the parks. I’ll be doing that in September. Be on the lookout for my trip report as I take my mom and her best friend for their birthdays.

No teenagers were permanently emotionally scarred in the making of these photos.