Do you go to WDW for your kids?

[Brian Noble]

However, the focus of our upcoming Disney vacation is on our kids and, after reading these boards for a while, I am starting to wonder if anyone else is choosing to vacation at WDW mainly for the benefit of their kids.

Not really. We treat trips to WDW (and, really, all of our vacations) as focused time to spend with one another. WDW is just the "stage" on which that happens. It turns out that the "stage" has things that everyone enjoys doing. But, we don't plan dining/touring/whatever around what the kids are likely to like*, and we don't sacrifice adult sanity for the sake of the kids. So, we don't book things that only one member of the family will enjoy/participate in. Instead, we have one or two "special" things that everyone will enjoy in some way. For example, we've never done BBB. We might someday do the Pirates League, but all four of us would do it, not just the kids.

This take on vacations hit a bumpy road in, of all places, a Disney cruise. The Disney ships almost encourage *too much* "separate" time between kids and adults. On the one hand, it was nice that my DS could spend hours and hours playing video games in the Edge. But, that's *all* he wanted to do. Getting him to watch the Tracy's Arm fjords with us was like pulling teeth, though once he came up to the stateroom, he really enjoyed it. All in all, I'm just a little ambivalent about sailing with DCL again.

(*---we do avoid things we *know* they won't like. We've never taken them to Bistro de Paris, for example.)

 

[bless7ings]

Yes, I agree! At Disney I feel I get my husband back that I dated! He's still fun, just has to be more responsible... not always as foot free as when we were dating. It's fun to have that guy back!

We go because we all LOVE WDW, but the a lot of the love of the trip for DH and I is seeing the kids so happy. An added benefit for me is that it's the only place DH will totally let loose and have fun. DH is a lot of fun, don't get me wrong, but he has a high profile, serious job and is very focused on his work. Fortunately, he doesn't "bring his work home with him" as the saying goes, but when we are at WDW, he is a sight to see. Here is a picture of him taken in the total darkness of the TTA...

Not exactly his typical persona in his daily life as a Department of Defense supervisor.

 

[mickey'sbff]

I'm only a teen, but I'm sure my parents and brother only go cause me and my sister like it so much.

 

[bless7ings]

We go for me. My kids prefer to go to Hawaii.

What's the price difference in vacations, if I may ask. Also taking into consideration the immenities of each location. (moderate, deluxe, food plan, inclusives etc.)

 

[Brian Noble]

and, really, all of our vacations

I should add that we do a lot of "non-Disney" vacations as well. Last February, my better half took the kids to Orlando during President's week---and went to Universal and Sea World, but *not* WDW. We get passes every year to our local (and very good) amusement park, Cedar Point. Other places we've visited include the Colorado Rockies, the Wisconsin Dells, the Smokies (twice), and OBX (many many times). We have a trip to Paris in the pipeline for summer 2013, and spent several days exploring Vancouver before our cruise this summer.

 

[pbrim]

I've got to admit that my two "kids" are TOTALLY uninterested in going to Disney, and are quite dismayed when I go without them. However, being as they are cats, they wouldn't be allowed in anyway and they are dismayed anytime I leave the house, so not really an issue.

 

[jorybella]

I have to say I agree with you to a point. I do not have a Disney shirt, matching family shirts, Dis home decor, etc. or a favorite character.

That just isn't my style. But that doesn't mean we didn't enjoy the parks.

We had a great family vacation! My husband and I found WDW to in fact be magical in the way that it truly brought back wonderful childhood memories. Nostalgia is a great thing. We loved how our son was just thrilled with everything from meeting the characters to riding the rides.

 

[luvmy2babies]

I don't know. I mean I love it there, but if they didn't like it (I knew at least my daughter would) I would not go back. And since due to their ages and current sizes and personalities, I'm somewhat limited in what we can do, I guess you could say that I do. There's more there we can do together though than most places. I can say though that if I didn't like it, I would not take them. There are too many other choices out there.

Now, I am a single mom and don't have another adult to consider, so whenever I plan any trip it is with their enjoyment at the front of my mind, even my son who is not yet 2 years old. Our upcoming WDW trip actually came about because my church and two others are grouping for a Caribbean Cruise (Carnival) June 23-30th. I love cruising and so does dd, but ds has not cruised yet and looking at the itinerary, it didn't appear to be a good one to introduce him to it. It appeared very adult oriented and reading Cruise Critic the ship seemed to be the last one in the fleet people took small children on. So, I decided to take them to Disney World instead. The cruise was going to run me upwards towards $4K and for that amount of money, I don't want to hear "It was fun mom." I want to hear something like, "Mom, that was the best vacation ever!" And I want to hear it over and over and over again.

First trip to Disney, we walked into MK and saw the castle. My daughter grabbed my hand and said, "Mom, you made my dream come true." I thought to myself, "Wow, we just got here and the trip is already made." Later in the week, my son met Handy Manny and his smile…

But I did have just as much fun as they did. My activity just for me on our last trip was collecting pins. I'll likely do it again next time. Next trip I'm adding in a bit more for me though. We're going to stay at Wilderness Lodge instead of All Star Movies. If one is available I'm springing for a courtyard view. One of the things I love about vacations is hanging out on a hotel balcony while they sleep.

 

[kakiegirl]

No we definently do not go just for my daughter. DH and I love Disney and I am sure we will continue our trips to the World long after she has left home. Our whole family are Disney Addicts. As a matter of fact DH and I tried to plan a long weekend to Disney last year without DD (12), but she was just too sad, we had to relent at the last minute and let her come. It was a non-park trip we resort hopped and went to DTD. When we got home she commented it was the best Disney trip ever, I guess because she thought she wasn't going to get to go.

 

[disneysteve]

I'm not saying we don't do things for our kids or go places they like but they don't make major decisions in our house about vacation or anything else. When we are spending a significant amount of money on something like vacation thats a major decision in our house and they will not get to make that. We regularly go to 'kid' activities and destinations in our area but that is a $20, $30, $40 decision for the afternoon or the day not a week long thousands of dollars outing.

Understood, and I agree completely. I'm just trying to think out loud what we would do if we were not Disney fans and our daughter asked to go. Maybe we'd plan a trip to Florida to include a visit to WDW as part of that trip along with activities that DW and I were interested in doing, just as we have taken trips elsewhere that included some kid-oriented activities during the trip.

The great thing about the central Florida area is that there is so much to see and do outside of Disney. We just got back last week and went to Kennedy Space Center for the first time which I've wanted to do for years. Last year, we spent a day doing the zipline adventure at Forever Florida which was a blast. We wanted to go to Bok Gardens this year but didn't have time so we'll hit it next year.

So if we were not Disney people, I could see us doing a week in Florida, taking DD to the Magic Kingdom for the day and doing other activities the rest of the trip.

 

[disneysteve]

I don't know. I mean I love it there, but if they didn't like it (I knew at least my daughter would) I would not go back.

Ah. That's an interesting question. Would we go if our daughter didn't like it? If she really didn't enjoy it, we likely wouldn't go back, at least not with her. Even though we are the parents and we make the decisions, we still want to do things that all of us enjoy. Otherwise, the trip just isn't much fun. So if that were the case, my wife and I would find a way to go without her - have her stay with friends or family. We have taken 2 childless trips to Disney since having her. Once was when I went for a work conference in Sarasota and we did a side trip to Disney. The other was when we met up with another couple to attend the preview and grand opening of Animal Kingdom, so our last non-kid trip was in 1998. Every trip since then has been all 3 of us.

 

[Florimel]

WDW is our DD's favourite place to go on holiday, so we would go just for her. Happily the DH and I, the "big kids" in our family have such fun that we go for us as well!

Our first trips to DLP was supposed to be just for her, but we all had such fun together we rushed about like kids wanting to see and do everything. Seeing her beaming with excitement was wonderful, but we all have favourite things to do now. First trip to WDW was had the "we'll only do this once so we better do it right" tag so we planned everything into 11 glorious hectic days except rest. Frantic, overheated, overtired fun - but we had to divert from "The Plan" and chill out for a bit eventually. The just once idea was never going to stick though.

We all enjoy different things and we keep going back. Tink flies over our christmas tree and Mickey is on our kitchen clock, but it's all fairly subtle I hope! In the planning for our upcoming trip DD (future DISer) got us to choose our top three rides and top three restaurants, so we could make them must dos. Holidays for us are for the whole family, and DD likes to see us having our own fun just as much as we love to see her getting excited.

Hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

[Pixie Princess]

Our first trip was absolutely motivated by taking my DD. Not that I didn't want to go, but I wasn't all crazy obsessed the way I am now. I had been to a conference in Orlando, and spent one evening at DTD with colleagues who were Disney vets. I decided then that my DD would probably really like WDW and I should give the place another shot. I had been in HS w/ band, but did not have particularly fond memories. Epcot was only a year old and we were '"forced" to stay there all day. I was bored senseless, then we only got 4 hrs. in the MK the next day!

I came home and planned a trip for May when school was out. Colleagues at work who had been told me how great it was going to be to see WDW through my DD's eyes, so I was pretty excited about that aspect of the trip. The research and planning were all fun, and then the day came. After our first day in the parks I was hooked. Now we are AP holders (she's about as obsessed as I am now), and generally we go nowhere else for vacation. My ex takes her to the beach etc. so she does get to see more of the world than WDW, but for me, I'd rather spend my money on Mickey. You get alot of bang for the buck, and I like to do things when on vacation, so WDW is the perfect place us.

 

[Patience]

We go because we all LOVE WDW, but the a lot of the love of the trip for DH and I is seeing the kids so happy. An added benefit for me is that it's the only place DH will totally let loose and have fun. DH is a lot of fun, don't get me wrong, but he has a high profile, serious job and is very focused on his work. Fortunately, he doesn't "bring his work home with him" as the saying goes, but when we are at WDW, he is a sight to see. Here is a picture of him taken in the total darkness of the TTA...

Not exactly his typical persona in his daily life as a Department of Defense supervisor.

I love this!

 

[joell51868]

We go for both us and our children. We love it! I've loved it since I was a child and have gotten dh to love it as much as I do. This morning he asked me if we would still go when the kids are older and dont want to go anymore...heck yes!!!

 

[sparks19]

how does one answer this question? I love Disney. if I didn't have a child I would still go to Disney. I am able to enjoy Disney on my own (sans children) but I enjoy it SO SO SOOOOOOOOO much more when I get to share it with DD.

Like someone else said... we go to Disney for the whole family. not just for DD, not just for me. it's for everyone's enjoyment. if everyone else hated it we wouldn't keep going. There are other places we could go that DD also enjoys... like the beach.


So yes we do it for her but no she's not the sole reason we go to Disney. it makes it even more enjoyable to share it with her and basically all of my planning is centered around her because I just enjoy watching her experience all those things and it's a bonus that I get to do them myself too but take a trip to Disney JUST for the child? no. We go for the whole family experience

 

[Patience]

Your post seems to suggest that people on the DIS are those who have Disney-themed homes, wardrobe and memorabilia collections and that bringing their children along on a Disney vacation is an afterthought.

Absolutely not. In fact, I think the people on the DIS are some of the most extraordinarily helpful and friendly people around. I appreciate and respect everyone's thoughts and opinions, even if I don't always agree.

Peace!

 

[smitch425]

I love this!

Me too!

 

[mm1971]

I love Disney, but we don't have Disney-themed items in the home or clothes. Disney World has always been one of my favorite places, but the trip we are taking in October is solely for DD. All of our ressies and plans are about her. I told DH if she wants to meet characters all day, then that's what we will do.

DH is upset we are not eating in Germany, but I told him this was Paisley's trip and we are eating the princess breakfast

My DD 9 and I are spending a Dad/Daughter vacation in 7 weeks for the halloween festivities. Just us two, leaving W (you'll notice no D in front of the W) and DS at home. It will be a full 6 days over over the top daughter activities. Can't wait to see what she decides to do!

 

[LCoulter]

DH and I honeymooned in WDW 17 years ago and try to go at least once a year prior to having DD because we loved it as adults. DD is now 4.5 and has been with us to WDW 5 times with another trip coming up before she turns 5. Because of her, we are going more frequently, each time is a different experience as she gets a little older. If we didn’t have her, we would still go, just the two of us, once a year.

We do tour the parks differently because of her, skipping most rides that she can’t go on, riding the “kiddie” rides such as Dumbo and the Teacups because of her, and meeting the characters. It has been a whole different experience seeing Disney through her eyes. Her next goal height is 44 inches so she can ride Everest with us…she is one inch shy of that and we are looking forward to that new experience for her.