Does Your Party Stay Together throughout a Day at Disneyland?

[PragmaticIdealist]

This thread is inspired by Kevin Yee, and his most recent discussion of this topic.

People visit Disneyland in a variety of social groups, and I am curious to know how many of those groups separate during the course of a day and for what reasons.

What are the circumstances that drive people apart when they visit Disneyland and the other Disney parks?

[roxystar68]

Re: Does Your Party Stay Together throughout a Day at Disneyland?

I've been with three friends before, and we split up once or twice because one member of the party didn't like Splash Mountain, so she looked at Main Street while we went on. Sometimes people just don't agree on rides, and they need to split.

[MollyTrolly]

Re: Does Your Party Stay Together throughout a Day at Disneyland?

We usually do stay together however there are times when we split up. One instance in particular was when TheGirlTrolly and I had lunch at Ariel's and TheBoyTrolly and hubby went somewhere else, but then we met up right after.

Usually if I am going to Disneyland with a group I want to experience it with that group so we rarely split off and go our separate ways.

[lazyboy97O]

Re: Does Your Party Stay Together throughout a Day at Disneyland?

Differing interests. Not everybody wants to see the same thing.

[PragmaticIdealist]

Re: Does Your Party Stay Together throughout a Day at Disneyland?

The strange thing is that, among all the different social groups in which I've visited Disneyland (family; friends; dates; co-workers; business associates; acquaintances; etc.), I don't think I've ever had to separate much, except for Space Mountain. It seems to be the one attraction that causes the most trepidation among certain people, although older women seem to also be concerned about getting their hair wet on Splash Mountain.

When I was a little kid, I, personally, was apprehensive about the name of "The Haunted Mansion", so I would never go inside. And, the roars of the Abominable Snowman at the Matterhorn and the dinosaurs of the Primeval World were a little too much for me, too. Still, my parties never really separated due to differing interests.

Each attraction has fairly broad appeal, excepting for specific impediments, like scariness or wetness, or, at least, the perception of these things.

[2DieFR]

Re: Does Your Party Stay Together throughout a Day at Disneyland?

When I visit Disneyland with my family, we always make a point of staying together. Occasionally my sister brings her schoolmates and they want to go off and do their own thing, so that is an exception, but even then they will join back up with us for the fireworks and maybe a spin on the Mad Tea Party. Luckily all the siblings in my family have reached the age (or rather, the height) so that it is very rare that we encounter an attraction where we can't all enjoy it together. It helps too that for the most part we get along pretty well.

I'm especially proud of my mom. While we see other parents that let their kids run loose in the park while they find a bench, our mom will ride the Matterhorn with us even though it's bumpy, get in the monkey cage of Casey Jr. even though it's cramped, and board Gadget's Go-Coaster even though it's grounds for whiplash. In any event, she loves Space Mountain, California Screamin', Tower of Terror, etc. One time the mom of my sister's friend was with us, and she sat out for those three attractions. She asked our mom, "You actually ride those rides?" The reply was an incredulous "Of course!" My mom is a daredevil, and I love her for that. (I took her on the Xcelerator at Knott's too, but that's a different story.)

Disneyland was meant to be a place "where the parents and the children can have fun together." Compared to parks under different umbrellas, Disney parks excel brilliantly at this. But is "family togetherness" still a concept valued by average park guests?

[monotonehell]

Re: Does Your Party Stay Together throughout a Day at Disneyland?

When I've gone with a group, we start together and have lunch together. Then we all separate for a couple of hours for "individual investigations" and meet up later for another group encounter. I find this is the best arrangement as it lets you do some of the things you really want that perhaps some others don't.

[sediment]

Re: Does Your Party Stay Together throughout a Day at Disneyland?

We always split. We have a teenager who wants to go on the wilder attractions, and we have a younger one who won't go on anything.

We're together in real life all the time. No need to stay together at the park.

[DisneyIPresume]

Re: Does Your Party Stay Together throughout a Day at Disneyland?

I ususally stay together. Most of my friends and family have all been there like 5 billion times so it's never a big deal if we miss a ride.

The only time I sacrifice is when I am with kids but I usually let them dictate which rides we are going to go on. No big deal...

[aashee]

Re: Does Your Party Stay Together throughout a Day at Disneyland?

If the group is big it's a good thing to split up. Nothing annoys me more than standing around for a half an hour figuring out what to do next. Cuts down on the potty breaks too.

[PragmaticIdealist]

Re: Does Your Party Stay Together throughout a Day at Disneyland?

If the group is big it's a good thing to split up. Nothing annoys me more than standing around for a half an hour figuring out what to do next. Cuts down on the potty breaks too.

Larger parties always complicate matters. I think Disneyland is best experienced in smaller groups.

[PragmaticIdealist]

Re: Does Your Party Stay Together throughout a Day at Disneyland?

It should be noted that Walt Disney planned certain areas (Central Plaza; Tom Sawyer Island; etc.) to specifically allow parties to separate, if they need or want to do so.

I prefer staying together, myself.

[fo'c's'le swab]

Re: Does Your Party Stay Together throughout a Day at Disneyland?

I certainly have never visited DL with a party large enough to be considered a hindrance, but I like staying together as much as attraction preference will allow. I am not a big Splash Mountain fan--don't hate it as some would have you believe--and I also wouldn't stop to view Fantasmic!. Aside from minor adjustments, I like a group .

[tinkermonkey]

Re: Does Your Party Stay Together throughout a Day at Disneyland?

For me, it depends on what you consider a "party." My last two trips were planned with friends and we definitely did not stay together the entire time. Part of the group did on the first trip and I think we pretty much stayed with them the first day we were all there. At the end of that day, my husband asked "are we going to be doing everything with them all week?" and I thought about it and said "nope!" So we would go our own way for a while and eventually we'd get a call saying they were heading to a certain place, would we like to meet up. Sometimes we did, sometimes we didn't. But it was for an entire week. If it had been all of us for just a day, we probably would have stayed together more.

But my immediate family of 4 - we stay together for the most part. The exception is usually found when hubby wants to go to Innoventions and I want to go shopping.

[monotonehell]

Re: Does Your Party Stay Together throughout a Day at Disneyland?

I think that there's a big difference between the wants of a group who visit the Park a lot and a group who are Park virgins. The first time I think it's better to share the wonder, maybe after a few times it becomes more familiar and you'd want to split.

This leads to a second related question: Do you think it's better to experience Disneyland for the first time by yourself or in a group of good friends?

[Spidergrrrl]

Re: Does Your Party Stay Together throughout a Day at Disneyland?

I think it depends on the party - how many people, and who is it? Also, is it a day trip or a vacation?

My experience has been when it's a group of between 2-6 goint on a day trip, be it family or friends, we usually stay together for the entire day. For me, six people is about the maximum to be easily manageable. When I used to go on NYE w/ friends we were together for the entire day, the only time we'd split up was in the evening when half of us would stake out a spot for fireworks, while the other half would go on a ride, then the half that went on the ride would wait while the half that was waiting would do something.

When I've gone with family, what we did was usually dictated by what the youngest person was willing to do. We rarely split up because it was just easier for us that way. For me, those visits are about the kids - I love experiencing the park through their eyes. Sure, I love Space Mountain, but I save that for when I'm with a different group.

When I vacationed in WDW with a group of nine friends, we spent some of the time in a big group, and some of the time in smaller groups.

[PragmaticIdealist]

Re: Does Your Party Stay Together throughout a Day at Disneyland?

I did go one time with a couple of my friends from university, and neither one of them had visited in quite some time.

They also had never seen Fantasmic! before, so I made the sacrifice and staked-out spots along the Rivers of America for all of us.

I wish Disneyland would offer complimentary reservations for shows like it once did.

[mousechild]

Re: Does Your Party Stay Together throughout a Day at Disneyland?

I have been to the park with both Large and small groups. The smaller groups tend to stay together longer and the splits occur with ride choice and teen-agers wanting to go off withou Mom and Dad (been on both sides of this). With Large groups the splits tend to come sooner because after you hit about 15+ people movement really slows down. Once we had 28 people and when we all got together movement stopped and a split was required just to get us moving again.

[DISNEYJUNKIE]

Re: Does Your Party Stay Together throughout a Day at Disneyland?

Its also a life cycle thing as children we stayed with our parents, as teens we hung with our friends, as dates we once again stayed together as well as young marrieds. We had kids and we grew! parents , kids and grandparents with an aunt or uncle or two once again all together for the duration.The babies get a bit older and mom and dad can sneek off for wild time on Indiana while grandparents and children go on POTC. And when the children become teens it will be off again on their own. And maybe if we are really really lucky grammie and papa can sneak off for a quiet ride on the Mark Twain. We all are very considerate of one another and each others desires when in the park , sometimes it makes us all slow down and savor each little bit...we let grammie roam the train station and all of the stores and side shows , we let papa enjoy the Golden Horseshoe and looking at the watches on Main St, we tolerate SIL in Inoventions and the Main St Cinema, We follow dd on a mission for a Churro, and we do of course anything the little ones want to do ( I climbed up that fake tree to see Tarzan for the first time in 15 years and didnt die! )

[DISNEYJUNKIE]

Re: Does Your Party Stay Together throughout a Day at Disneyland?

PS I have also been with Magical music days and the dreaded Cheerleaders no , no one stays together or really wants to with groups that large . We usually met with other friends / parents for a meal and off in different directs we went afterwards.