Advice on taking a year off

[Raya]

As a trade off for making some very expensive choices last year, I agreed to no Disney trip this year. Now is right around the time that I'm usually making dining reservations and hunting for discounts. We have made vacation plans, but the trip pales in comparison to Disney. I should be excited. Instead, I'm pretty miserable.

Any suggestions on how to handle the year off?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

As a trade off for making some very expensive choices last year, I agreed to no Disney trip this year. Now is right around the time that I'm usually making dining reservations and hunting for discounts. We have made vacation plans, but the trip pales in comparison to Disney. I should be excited. Instead, I'm pretty miserable.

Any suggestions on how to handle the year off?

Treat the new plans as the unique experience that they are and don't compare. We lived out of state for 4.5 years and couldn't get to Florids often. One year was a non-vacation year and the best we could do was a fee days at Virginia Beach. We appreciated the trip for what it was since nothing would make it Florida, or, in your case, Disney.

Just keep researching what will make THAT set of plans enjoyable.

 

[ArwenMarie]

That's tough.

I agree about trying to make the trip the best that trip can be and not comparing it to WDW.

Reading the Tripadvisor forums and reviews for different locations can be fun...Maybe try to find some places to eat that you might not have thought of, or new activities, etc.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Can you find a new activity/ experience at the vacation place that you haven't done before?

It's tough when Disney isn't part of your plans but each vacation can be a new, unique, enjoyable experience!

 

[nalajms]

I would probably stop coming on the boards! It's SO HARD to read trip reports or read posts about Disney knowing that you're not going. I already know we're going to take a year or two off starting next summer.

Kids and I watch Youtube videos of parades and rides. You can only watch the FoF parade so many times.

Another idea is to start planning for 2016 or 2017. Price things out, jot down important dates like when FD is released or where to get the best deals. Good luck!

 

[MataHari22]

Idk, because I said I wasn't going to go this year, and that I would take one or two years off, and I caved in, and booked a WDW trip last week. I am not a good role model for you. Lol. Hello, I'm Dawn, and I'm an addict....

 

[goofyernmost]

It's actually very easy. Just don't go and automatically you will have taken a year off. You can still think about it if you want too!

 

[chelseabun76]

As a trade off for making some very expensive choices last year, I agreed to no Disney trip this year. Now is right around the time that I'm usually making dining reservations and hunting for discounts. We have made vacation plans, but the trip pales in comparison to Disney. I should be excited. Instead, I'm pretty miserable.

Any suggestions on how to handle the year off?

Just put yourself in my shoes where you can't go more than once every 5 years or so and even that is pushing it and not my whole family.... LOL!!

 

[allysetraskos]

Im having a hard time myself, I'm in the same boat.
Were pregnant and I'm using my vacation time this year as part of my Maternity leave... Plus all the expenses that come with a baby. Were putting off a trip until next year
Its hard... I keep entering contests online in hopes that maybe I will win a trip.
You can always use this year as research for how you plan on doing things next year... Thats what I'm doing, reading up on all the people who take small children and things like that.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

You should have known it would come to this!

Can't you fit in at least a weekend? I'll bet if you check right now there will be a BOG right dinnertime open during your other vacation.

Sorry to rub it in. I get the same way and hate it.

 

[Jenny Sanders]

My husband banned me from WDW for a year, so I just started planning early for the next trip (during my year banishment).

 

[BrianL]

Try to look on the bright sides of skipping this year. You'll only be missing out on all the construction walls everywhere! Think about how nice it will be to go back next time and see the new hub, Disney Springs, maybe that new Jungle Cruise restaurant will be open or the Hangar/Indiana Jones restaurant (at Disney Springs). Maybe your trip will coincide with the opening of the Frozen attraction at Epcot (depending on how long it actually is until you return).

There can be positives to waiting a while!

 

[Oneanne]

Also not a good example here... I had planned to take this year off and invest my recreation $$$ in rehabing the vintage trailer I bought last summer, then doing a lot of camping. The trailer turned out to be way too vintage and too much for me to handle, so now I'm headed to WDW Saturday for a solo-trip and already planning a December trip with a bunch of Disney-geek friends.

 

[momof2n2]

Oh man. There are so many other great places to go & see! I'm actually feeling terribly guilty that my son is already 15 and there is so much we haven't done yet.

Driving cross country this year and trying to fit in a trip to Toronto in August.

Go- see something else. And have a blast.

 

[AquaDame]

Think about the things you traded the trip for - they were worth it! Plan 'Disney days' if you can't get it off your mind - themed dinners, watch movies "ride" rides via youtube, all that jazz. Look up recipes from your favorite restaurants online and try to make them at home and above all else, do not compare this years trip to Disney! If you are already feeling disappointed consider what you need to make THAT trip the best trip it can be! Surely you haven't chosen somewhere you don't want to go at all, and if you have to then change it to something else that you at least DO want to see. That will make it way easier - getting EXCITED about the NEW place you are going! Finally, GET OFF THE BOARDS IF IT MAKES IT WORSE. Not because we don't want you, we do! But why think about something if it makes you sad? Hang out on boards dedicated to the new vacation spot or, at the very least, personal finance/frugality boards to see if you can save up to go sooner than you might otherwise.

 

[IrishNYC]

Take it as a learning opportunity to see that there is more out there than a Disney vacation.

 

[amg35]

I had a case of the WDW blues after we got back from our trip last October.it was 9 nights and it was fantastic! The fact that I know we only go every few years and aren't going again until 2017 bummed me out a bit. (although now that it's been a while, I don't feel the need to go back yet)

But....we booked a Royal Caribbean cruise for this year and are going to tour the lakes around Michigan next year. Looking forward to those a lot, but there is no real "planning" involved like for WDW - and I miss it! (that's why I still read these planning boards)

So yes, totally looking forward to our vacations planned the next two years - but I'm quietly going to start planning our 2017 trip next year because I like it! Then after 2017 - Naples Italy!!

Who knows though...maybe I'll get hooked on cruising....

 

[yeheyprincex2]

I would probably stop coming on the boards! It's SO HARD to read trip reports or read posts about Disney knowing that you're not going. I already know we're going to take a year or two off starting next summer.

Kids and I watch Youtube videos of parades and rides. You can only watch the FoF parade so many times.

Another idea is to start planning for 2016 or 2017. Price things out, jot down important dates like when FD is released or where to get the best deals. Good luck!

I stay away from DIS boards if I know Disney is not in the future plans. Its true, its too painful to read all the info knowing your not going

OP I would dive into research for your planned trip and try to enjoy it, knowing you will be back to Disney, planning for the future is fun with all the new things Disney is building/ working that will be ready (hopefully) by your next trip Frozen ride, AK night time show and that new land, completion of DTD

Hang in there

 

[SillySallySews]

We took a year off from Disney when my husband was gone for a year. We could've gone when he came home on leave, but for many reasons we just didn't. We (kids and I) did take a few other short trips over long weekends that year and it was also hard for me to get excited about any of them, but once we were actually there it was lots of fun! We have great memories. Disney will always be our favorite vacation, but switching it up every now and then isn't a bad thing. I think once you get past this time of year when you're normally planning Disney, and you start experiencing whatever vacations you have planned, you'll start feeling better.

 

[momof2n2]

I had a case of the WDW blues after we got back from our trip last October.it was 9 nights and it was fantastic! The fact that I know we only go every few years and aren't going again until 2017 bummed me out a bit. (although now that it's been a while, I don't feel the need to go back yet)

But....we booked a Royal Caribbean cruise for this year and are going to tour the lakes around Michigan next year. Looking forward to those a lot, but there is no real "planning" involved like for WDW - and I miss it! (that's why I still read these planning boards)

So yes, totally looking forward to our vacations planned the next two years - but I'm quietly going to start planning our 2017 trip next year because I like it! Then after 2017 - Naples Italy!!

Who knows though...maybe I'll get hooked on cruising....

Aaaaaaaah. Cruising. Now you're talking!