Going With 81yo Mom!!! Any hints, help?

[Tigger&Belle]

I just got an e-mail from my mom and she reserved her timeshare for early December in Orlando. Yay!!!

Now, I need help planning a trip who will include an 81yo woman. It will be me, my 4yo, my sister (I'm the baby of the family--my sister is 60yo) and our mom. My mom has never been to WDW.

She's in pretty good health for her age, but won't be able to do the thrill type rides, even though she'd probably love to (when I was growing up there was nothing at DL, Knott's Berry Farm, etc that my mother wouldn't try).

My sister and I have been to WDW quite a few times and I plan to bring my 4yo down in the fall so our main goal is to have a wonderful vacation centered around what our Mom would enjoy and be able to do.

I think that she should rent an EVC, but she's stubborn so who knows if she will even consider it. And if she does, who knows if she could safely pilot the thing. lol

Any hints or suggestions? She's not the type to want a day at the spa, etc. (I might be, but she isn't). She's the type of person that is happy doing whatever we want and would gladly sit on a bench if she can't keep up with us (not a complainer--geez, was I adopted??? ).

The thing that she would be shocked about is the cost of food in the parks, and I was going to suggest to my sister that we pay for some of her meals since she is supplying the timeshare. My sister and I are great at saving $ on food--breakfast in the room, snacks, etc, but we like to eat out some.

I know a lot of shows, tame rides (most of MK would be ok), more shows, etc, etc... She would love Tower of Terror, but I don't know if she'd be able to do it. I would have her go through the queue and could use the chicken exit if not up to the ride (that's my sister's and my favorite ride). Same with the safari ride in AK--I think she'd be fine on that, but not sure.

Help!!!! I know that this is not an emergency, but I'm too excited to wait to start planning.

T&B

 

[catnik]

T&B:
What a special time you all will have!

I think you have already started a good list.....focus most of your plans on activities you all can share (shows, parades, tamer rides, etc) then plan alternatives for those times that you and your sister may want to do thrill rides. If she is happy people watching, you should not have any problems. Crowds should not be an issue and the resorts will have holiday decorations up; plan on a resort hopping day where you can go and check out the different resorts (you can do it at her pace and let her rest as needed). Your 4 year old will need down time during the day so your mom will also have that time without feeling like she is "slowing you down". Cirque du Soleil would be a fun treat as would an Illuminations/Wishes cruise. Try to convince her to rent the ECV but respect her independence if she refuses. Invite her to try any ride she feels she is capable of doing......if she was a "daredevil" in her younger days, she still might like to stretch her wings (tho probably not on Rock-n- Roller Coaster!).

As for the cost of things, this worked for us when we brought my mom with us: we told her that it was too difficult to split the bills all the time and that we would keep a running total so she could "pay us back" at the end of the trip. Like your mom, mine was raised during hard times and $3.50 bottles of water and $8 burgers blow her mind! We paid for a lot of the incidentals like snacks, etc. to avoid her feeling stressed by the cost. Then again, she bought our kids all kinds of souvenirs so she definitely did not save any money! It was truly a wonderful trip for us.....hoping yours will be as magical!

 

[Chuck S]

I usually travel with my 80 yo Mom. If she is small framed, and your sister is in good health, you may consider using a standard wheelchair. (Mom had 3 hip surgeries, we travel with our own chair). Or you may try convincing your Mom to go to Walmart and try out their EVC for shopping. Truly, even the healthiest person in that age group can become tired. Since she has never been to WDW, I hope she realizes how much MORE walking it will be than DL and Knott's. I have a feeling she will be willing to "try out" a wheelchair or EVC my mid-day.

The weather is usually cool enough that time of year that leaving in the middle of the day for a couple hours won't be necessary because of the heat, but we like to plan a full service sit down relaxing lunch, with a counter service dinner later.

As far as attractions, since she was a thrill ride fan at Knott's and Disneyland, Mission Space may be OK for her, unless she is prone to motion sickness. It is a very smooth ride. My mom loves it, but seldom does a coaster. Mom also likes Test Track.

Check with your Mom's doctor, and advise him of your planned trip. Ask him about her general health as far as what type of rides/coasters she will be able to do.

Always carry a bottle of water for everyone in your party...dehydration isn't fun and it is possible even in winter. So drink even if you aren't thirsty, older folks can dehydrate quickly.

 

[MouseClubMom]

We traveled to WDW with my mother, who is in her late '70s. The most important thing we did was to rent a wheelchair. She argued it with us until we told her that it could really help out with the kids (then ages 8 and 3) because they could "ride in her lap" when they got tired. The characters always seemed to fuss over Mom and she just LOVED that. We got great seating at the shows where she could stay in the chair. The CMs went out of there way to assist us.

Take it easy - go at a casual pace - and stop for breaks often.

Have a great trip and take LOTS of pictures!!

MCMom

 

[Tarheel Tink]

I took my then 70 year old mother to WDW for her only trip there in December 2000. We lost her a year ago and our memories, pictures and video of that very special trip are priceless to me. She had a magical time. The characters enchanted her (she used a wheelchair most of the time) and the people watching entertained her. Everything addressed above is so true. The food prices, although forwarned and menus with prices shown before the trip, shocked her! She insisted on going on Dinosaur despite my warnings and it really did her in. She listened after that and all went well. I hope your trip gives you magical memories like ours did!

 

[twotoohappy]

Here are few of my favorite things (to do with my mom)

Illuminations Cruise - It's beautiful! Plus, no waiting in crowds, perfect view, nice little scenic boat ride before the show starts - my mom's favorite! Also, you park under the bridge so even if it's drizzling you stay dry (we brought hot cocoa and cookies)

Tea at the Grand Floridian - nice quiet time, relaxing

The land - my mom loves the land boat ride

 

[sweet maxine]

We are going with my 73 y/o Mom as we did last year. She was worried about the heat and humidity, but did just fine. In fact, she really does circles around me! She walks 2 to 2 1/2 miles everyday, and is a tour guide for her senior center where she lives. She loves to cook, and is insistent on doing most of it during our stay in the cabins. I can't imagine what I will ever do without her--she is a dynamo! She has told me that as long as she is supplied with Dole Whips at the MK, she'll be OK!

 

[Bill From PA]

My 78 yr old mom was with us last month. She's had both knees replaced and can walk, but not long or fast. At first she expressed doubts that she'd need help getting around, but I arranged for a Jazzy type chair anyway. While making our connecting flight in Atlanta it because obvious she wouldn't have lasted long in the parks so she was glad to have the chair when we arrived at Swan. In addition to allowing her to keep up, my 2 yr old GD got to ride with her. In short, arrange for a chair and let reality convince your mom.

During our stay, mom did Splash Mtn., Safari and ToT along with other tame rides. When it came time to eat, we didn't make a big deal about it, I just told her that it would be easier if we didn't get separate checks and then I made sure that it went to me. We took breakfast food in a cooler but she didn't use it as I recall. BTW, she treated us all to a Chefs de France meal the night before she departed.

Bill From PA

 

[IvyandLace]

I just wanted to make you aware of the noise level on certain rides and at the fireworks/parades/live shows/etc. When we took my inlaws this past October, that was their main complaint...something that DH and I never noticed before!! Needless to say, it was something that bothered them enough that it would have been nice to consider before we went. Try to keep in mind the noise levels at the restaurants as well...we loved O'hanas, but my FIL had a terrible time hearing the waitress recite her "spiel"-we ended up relaying everything to him again.

Also...don't miss MGM. I think that was my inlaws' favorite park as it reminded them of their childhood and favorite movies. They LOVED the Sci-Fi Diner as well as the 50's Primetime Cafe!

Hope that helps!
IVY

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Wow, thanks for all the wonderful replies!

Catnik, the resort hopping is a good idea and WL is supposed to be beautifully decorated for Christmas and would be an easy trip from the MK. I figured having my 4yo would be a good thing because we would be going at a little slower pace. Having my sister there will help with the logistics of everything, especially if we end up with an EVC or wheelchair. Good idea about not splitting the bill all the time, especially at the sitdown restaurants. My sister and I are great at bringing water, snacks, etc with us, and when we went in February and we spent very little on food. Even her tightwad husband was impressed. We would do some of that this time, but I told my sister that we would need to sit and rest and have a good mid-day meal with our mom. She's not going to make it running around like we did from opening to closing, afterall.


Chuck S, that's a great idea to check out the EVC at Wal-Mart! Would give her an idea of what it's like so she could make an informed decision. We could probably handle pushing the wheelchair or if she doesn't want to rent anything for the week we could use a rented wheelchair as a back-up if she gets too tired on an individual day. My mom has had double hip repacement surgeries and will have a hip reconstructive surgery this summer. I know that she has some heart problems, but good idea about checking with her dr before to find out his opinion on what types of rides would be ok and which ones we should cross off the list. That was also my thought about a mid-day meal--a good time to recharge and we can always eat back at the timeshare for dinner if the parks close early, even if it's ordering pizza. I don't think she is prone to motion sickness and I bet she would like to try Mission to Space. My 4yo should be tall enough to do it by December so we don't need to swap it.

MouseClubMom, I'll feel my mother out about the EVC or wheelchair. One thing that I thought of is that the EVC would never fit in my sister's car trunk. Ugh. I would think a wheelchair would, though. Did you rent a wheelchair for the week or daily from the parks? Yes on the slow pace--I tend to have a hard time with that, which is one reason that I will go down with only my 4yo earlier in the year. I can do the things that my mom won't want or be able to do and have Jake get his feel of kiddy rides so we won't have to spend as much time on them in December. Don't tell my husband, but my APs are good through early February so I'll try to eek out a long weekend, possibly with one of my older children before my AP exprires.

Tarheel Tink, I'm glad that you had a wonderful trip with your mother. what nice memories to have. I would warn my mother of the food prices, but, like your mother, she would still be in shock. She lives in a little town in southern Oregon and eats out at cheap senior price buffets. Yikes, what a difference WDW would be!

Maybe I should bring our video camera--my DH is usually the one in charge of that, but I suppose that I could manage not to lose it. Or I could use this trip with my mom as an excuse to get one of the little digital ones...

One thing that I will need to figure out is her tickets. We'll probably be in the parks for 6 days (we'll have the timeshare Sun-Sun), but the 6 day hopper has plusses with it, which she would have no use for. I know that tickets are not transferable, but do they have a name on them or could I keep the plusses for a future trip. Seems a waste to not use them. There's a chance that we might want to bring her to Universal Studios since there's a lot she could do there, in which case I could go with the regular 5 day hopper for WDW, if there is one.

I need to start a WDW notebook, don't you think?

T&B

 

[Tigger&Belle]

It took me so long (with all my morning interuptions lol) to type my reply that I know have a few more messages with more great hints waiting for me! Thanks all of you!


Twotoohappy, I think my mom might like the Illuminations Cruise. I'll look into that. I can't imagine my mother at a tea, but I could be surprised. lol The Land boatride would be right up her alley. I didn't do that with Jake in Feb because the lines were long and I had another fastpass in use, but that would be a good thing for my mom and the rest of us.

Sweet maxine, that's great that your mom has so much energy! Staying active like she is doing will do so much to She sounds like a great lady! My MIL is 70yo and is a lot like that. She would probably enjoy WDW, but my FIL would not, to put it mildly.

Bill From PA, did you have a wheelchair or an EVC? Since we're not staying at WDW it dawned on me that the EVC would never fit in my sister's trunk. That's good that your mom went on and liked ToT and Safari. My sister was in Africa and went on a Safari recently and I know that she'd like to share the Safari ride with our mom since she didn't share the real thing. Splash MT would be fine I'm sure.

IvyandLace, I'd never thought about the noise levels. My mom isn't bothered at all by loud noise (I think she's a bit hard of hearing), but she might not be able to understand the wait person in a restaurant with all the background noise. We would bring her to 50's Prime Time Cafe for sure. My sister and I went last Feb and we REALLY got into it. I got in trouble and had to sing "I'm a Little Teapot" with my "cousin" (another customer). It's a fun place! I think that my mom would enjoy AGM, also, especially the Great Movie Ride. She'd also like the Millionaire show.

Thanks for teh great responses!

T&B

 

[sweet maxine]

Hey TiggerandBelle!

My Mom is also from Oregon, and I have to say, she is used to different things. She is a very thrifty person, not out of necessity, but I guess she grew up with very little. I mentioned to her about eating at the Rainforest Cafe, and told her the prices. I also told her that we could buy the vouchers and use them to make it more affordable. She is aghast at spending that much money on food! I guess I should have just surprised her, but I think she would feel uncomfortable and might not enjoy her meal as much.

May I also say that she is paying for half of our trip, despite my objections. She says you never know what will happen by next year, and let's just enjoy what we have today. I think I am the one feeling bad now, but she insists on doing it. She lost her brother to cancer last year after he had been given a clean bill of health 8 mos. earlier. She lives so far away from us, and we just can't wait to see her again. She inspires me everyday with something she does or says. I hope your family enjoys your trip. Those memories will always be with you.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Sweet Maxine, for my mother is was being a child during the depression that really shaped the way she is. She was raised with very little so feels the need to scrimp most of the time. These values have served me well, even though I'm not cheap like my mother. She does enjoy traveling and is in an RV club. It takes a lot of energy for her to get ready for her camping trips and I think it's great that she's still doing them. My dad died 16 years ago so my mother has been alone for lots of years.

Where in Oregon does your mother live? My mom lives in Klamath Falls.

It is hard being so far away from aging parents--something that we didn't anticipate when we made our move from Texas to Maryland 12 years ago. I don't know why I didn't put more thought into it at that time, since we'd already lost my dad. I suppose I'm a slow learner. lol Of course sometimes the reality is that a person needs to go where the jobs are. My in-laws are in California so we are far from them, too. My kids are at a tough age to uproot at this point, though (16, 13, 10, and 4yo), so we are pretty rooted here.

T&B

 

[Bill From PA]

The EVC we used actually could fit in a trunk. My SIL is a dealer rep for Pride Mobility, a manufacturer of such things and he had one dropped off at Swan for us. We'd take it apart and load it on the bus when travelling that way instead of waiting for the bus driver to use the chair-lift. I'd at least contact a few dealers down there to be ready to get a chair if needed.

As for the Plusses, we mark the number of Plusses left on each ticket at week's end and use them up on the next trip.

Bill From PA

 

[sweet maxine]

T & B, my Mom lives in Corvallis, where OSU is located. We (my daughter and I) have been to visit her once, and have to say that it is the most beautiful place we have ever seen! We visited the coast and stayed in a friend's house at Yachats (spelling?). My daughter loved playing in the tide pools with the starfish.

My Mom remarried and moved to Oregon about 8 years ago to a man who is 82 (and quite a hoot!). The people in Corvallis seem so friendly and down to earth. I hoped to visit her this summer, but we decided upon the Disney trip once again. She decided to pay for half, and we argue about this daily. Well, not really argue, but I just wish she would let me treat her. I owe her so much for all she has taught and given me in my life. There is no way I can ever repay her. I am trying to teach my children the lessons she taught me and hope I am doing OK. She is a Southern lady and the folks up North really get a kick out of some of the things she says and her cooking!

If I could live close by to her, I would. It is just not possible due to my husband's job here. His own Mom does not speak much English or drive so we must stay here to look after her.

 

[Eeyore2003]

Our trip in (hot) August 2001 was with DH, 16 y/o son, myself and my 80y/o mother-in-law.

We went to the parks early. She did not do RNR, but since I have motion sickness, neither do I. We don't do Space Mountain, as that is not exciting enough for DH and DS.

Other than that, she did everything with us. Test Track, Splash Mountain (which she LOVED and did twice), Tower of Terror (wish I could post that picture) you'd love it. She's sitting there absolutely smiling from ear to ear having the greatest time, and I'm sitting there in my "usual" thrill ride position, eyes closed tight, head down, hanging on for dear life.

Like I said, we went early so that it was cooler, she did start "wilting" a little by about 11:00, but by then I've got pretty much everything in that we really cared to do. We walked a little slower than we usually do and sat down when she wanted to. We took that afternoon break (I always do anyway). We were there 5 days. One day she layed down and took a little nap, all the days she swam in the pool. This seemed to pick her up again, and then we'd go out later in the afternoon for a nice dinner and the night time show.

Since we had no little ones, we didn't even do any of the "kiddie" rides, that will be fun with and nice with your little one. Your mother is really just going to love being there and watching her grand-daughter. I don't think I would have had my MIL do the two rollercoasters, although, I really don't think Space Mountain is that bad if she's in good health.

It will depend upon what kind of health she's in I'd say. My MIL was in pretty good health, no heart problems etc., she didn't have any problems with the rides I mentioned and actually had a great time, but she did poop out and needed that afternoon break, we took it slower and let her set the pace, but then the rest of us had already done everything before and didn't really care what we did or didn't do.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Bill, I will look into the EVC. I didn't realize that they can fold up. Thanks! I was more concerned that the pluses would be wasted since they are non-transferable andmy mother wouldn't want to go to a waterpark, etc. I doubt if she will go back to WDW in the future, but even if she does I don't think she would ever use the plusses.

SweetMaxine, My DH and I went to school in Corvallis. I love that town, except for the rain. Oregon is a beautiful state and the coast is especially nice. I might go out to Oregon at the end of the summer to help my mom after her hip surgery. I think I'll be traveling almost as much as staying home if I spend a week in Oregon in August, a week at WDW the end of Sept into early October and the week with my mom at WDW in early December. My husband might not be too happy, but I usually bring our 4yo with me, so at least one noisy kid is out of the house.

T&B

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Eeyore2003, I think that going with the heat and crowds would do my mother in. Knowing her she's going to want to see everything she possibly can so I'm glad it will be cool and not too crowded. Sounds like you had a great time with your MIL. My mom would probably love Tower or Terror and unless her dr says no we would try that. Thankfully my 4yo likes ToT since I'm a bit obsessed with it.

T&B

 

[Eeyore2003]

Oh, I just happened to think, we didn't do any of the simulator rides. For some reason nobody cares to do them anymore. The boys liked them when they were little and DH went with, but now nobody seems to care about them. I don't know if they would be good or not. But with the little one, you probably may not want to do them anyway. So other than simulators and the 2 coasters she did everything. There's just so much and it's all so much fun, that I whatever you decide to do, I don't think anyone will feel they've "missed" anything!!!

 

[sweet maxine]

T & B, I know you will enjoy all of that time traveling. Just be careful and safe. Mom will agree with you about the rain! She calls sometimes just to hear about the weather here!

Back to your Mom--I know we didn't see or do everything we hoped to last summer at WDW. We looked at the guidebooks and decided that we would take a slower pace, and if something looked fun, we would enjoy the moment. We tried to use some of the advice from the books, but we knew there was no way with a 2 y/o that we could keep up with that. We took a lot of rest periods (that's what the Dole Whip stand is for!), and returned to our cabin to refresh for a little while. It never bothered me to be on a slower pace, and I think we all came back with good memories. It looks like you have a really good plan for your trip. I wish we could be there in Dec. to see all the decorations! What fun!

I will have to tell Mom that I met someone on the boards from Corvallis. What a small world!!