Are We The Only Ones

[kasowell]

We have AP's but don't live close enough to just stop by Disney for just the afternoon. Are we the only ones that go just to be involved in the "magic" and enjoy just being there? If a ride is short we ride it, if its not then that's ok too. Are there others that just like being at the happiest place on earth?

 

[The Hendies]

My sentiment exactly!

 

[mjohnson96]

That was how I used to be when I lived in Orlando and worked at Disney. I would just love to go for a couple hours after work and just enjoy the experience. I also like to people watch and enjoy when others are super caught up in the experience.

But now, that I live way up in Kansas and have 2 kids when we go we go to get the most of the experience and just don't have that luxury of being able to breathe sometimes and just take it in.

 

[shalom]

When we do the parks, we hit at rope drop and can be fairly commando until lunch time, so not quite the same there. But we're right there with you on the "happy to be at the most magical place on earth" thing.

just don't have that luxury of being able to breathe sometimes and just take it in.

We only go to Orlando every other year (and don't necessarily do the parks every time). But in our family, stopping to breathe and take it all in isn't a luxury -- it's survival!

 

[crostorfer]

We have AP's but don't live close enough to just stop by Disney for just the afternoon. Are we the only ones that go just to be involved in the "magic" and enjoy just being there? If a ride is short we ride it, if its not then that's ok too. Are there others that just like being at the happiest place on earth?

You have annual passes. You live within driving distance. *You* have plenty of opportunity to stop and smell the roses and enjoy "atmosphere". A lot of the rest of us go once or twice a year. We don't have that luxury.

I used to enjoy just being at Disney. Now, I find that I really, really, really enjoy being at Universal and sitting in the Wizarding World just looking around and drinking a frozen Butterbeer. To each their own, I'm glad you have a place on earth you love to be.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Do you have kids with you? I would LOVE to just stroll around like that, but with kids, it's better for us to have a plan and enough rides to ride.

 

[Suellen]

We live close enough to pop over for a dole whip now. Sometimes we will ride a ride. Sometimes not.

Even with kids (6 and 8) they aren't sad to just go walk and enjoy. We may take in a show or something... ride the ttc or whatever.

However! We used to live 1500 miles away and would enjoy the parks the same way. We would come down... sleep late, swim in the pool and head to the parks after dinner. Sometimes we spent a whole week here and hardly rode any rides.

It just depends what you as a person enjoy! For us it really is about what mood strikes us! We went to DHS on a day off from school a couple weeks ago. Had lunch, saw LAM, saw Little Mermaid and then did the animation class. Loved it!

 

[shalom]

Do you have kids with you? I would LOVE to just stroll around like that, but with kids, it's better for us to have a plan and enough rides to ride.

We do have a plan, but we include "breathing time" in it -- but not until we've been there a few hours, of course. We hit at rope drop and are fairly commando to start, but around lunch time the plan gets much more laid back, with things like "watch the glass workers" or "meet on Main Street and have a snack back in that little alley" or hitting Tom Sawyer Island.

One big one is that, instead of joining the crowds leaving after Fantasmic or the last castle show, we hang out somewhere talking and possibly having a snack for a while; in the rose garden pavilion at the MK or by Echo Lake at HS, somewhere with tables and chairs. The kids are excited but also tired enough they're not too bouncy, and I can just sit there and soak in the atmosphere while they talk about their day. That's breathing time in my book.

Although we only hit a Disney park once, my dad was a commando tourist who'd keep us going all day, and as a child I hated it. So as a parent I work hard to not try to "see it all" or to push the kids to "get my money's worth." If we're having fun, we don't worry about what we're not doing. Which admittedly means we don't see everything, anytime we go. I tell the kids that just means we're motivated to come back.

 

[Laketravis]

We live close enough to pop over for a dole whip now. Sometimes we will ride a ride. Sometimes not.

Even with kids (6 and 8) they aren't sad to just go walk and enjoy. We may take in a show or something... ride the ttc or whatever.

We've been toying with the idea of moving to the Orlando area. How are the schools there?

 

[Suellen]

You have to be very, very careful about where you live and what schools are in your district and what schools are still accepting open enrollment.

Also if you rent I recommend checking with the county to see what school you are zoned for because advertisers lie ALL the time and say they are zoned for our school when they are not.

Our school is fabulous! We picked the school first and then decided to move to the town.

 

[Laketravis]

You have to be very, very careful about where you live and what schools are in your district and what schools are still accepting open enrollment.

Also if you rent I recommend checking with the county to see what school you are zoned for because advertisers lie ALL the time and say they are zoned for our school when they are not.

Our school is fabulous! We picked the school first and then decided to move to the town.

That's exactly what several CM's told us! Apparently there is a very wide disparity between good and bad schools in the district.


Oooops, sorry for hijacking the thread. I'm sure if we lived close enough to WDW (an hour or less), we would certainly go just to stroll around, maybe for dinner and drinks on the monorail loop, etc...

Yeah, I could see us doing that.

 

[Suellen]

I get to listen to Illuminations every single night! <3

We don't get to the parks as much as I thought we would (silly kids want to live a regular life!) plus throw in Sea World (15 minutes away) Universal (20 minutes away) and Busch Gardens (occasionally - 60 minutes away) we just don't have the time to spend aT the parks like I expected. Can't wait for summer!

 

[jeneric997]

I will be right there with you when my kids are older. I do love going at Food and Wine and strolling through World Showcase. We let our kids do Agent P or go ride some rides while we enjoy the drinks!

 

[mickeynut1]

We have AP's but don't live close enough to just stop by Disney for just the afternoon. Are we the only ones that go just to be involved in the "magic" and enjoy just being there? If a ride is short we ride it, if its not then that's ok too. Are there others that just like being at the happiest place on earth?

We always go with the thought of just being there soaking up the magic. We do go to the parks, but we're lucky if we spend 2-3 hours there a day, and some days we don't even go to a park (and we don't have APs). With that said, we are considering taking a short 4 night trip in July or August, which will be a resort only trip with no parks. We just love being in Disney and while we do enjoy the parks, we also love spending time at the resort taking in that Disney magic .

 

[PJ]

We have AP's but don't live close enough to just stop by Disney for just the afternoon. Are we the only ones that go just to be involved in the "magic" and enjoy just being there? If a ride is short we ride it, if its not then that's ok too. Are there others that just like being at the happiest place on earth?

Absolutely!!! After 30 years of once a week trips we're now retired and lucky enough to be 20 minutes from wdw for the Winters. So we are happy to go for just a few hours at a time, and are content even if we only do a ride or two, and have something to eat. We just enjoy being there!

 

[Networth]

As someone that went to UCF and still now lives only 2 hours away I feel the complete opposite. I dislike doing day trips or popping in for the evening and we have AP & TiW. I really will only do Disney when we stay on site and have a real vacation of 7-10 days. It always feels more magical and helps us forget we are in Orlando (hate the place and I lived their for part of college, if WDW wasn't close by I would probably never take 1-4 east from Ponte Vedra). I do Universal day trips all the time but Disney has that "special" feeling. I like the bubble and if I jump in and out of it constantly, it kinda kills the magic for me.

 

[Shaden]

For $5000 .... I am not just going to "enjoy the atmosphere" There is much cheaper and just as nice atmosphere elsewhere.

DO I Enjoy the atmosphere ??? yes, absolutely, but certainly not just going for that.

 

[arielmomma]

I'm with the OP.

We live in MI and have to spend a lot of money to go, but I am long over the whole commando vacationing thing. We simply enjoy the magic of WDW.

Don't get me wrong, I love planning, but more the researching and going in educated aspects (not to mention feeding the excitement!). While there though, I like to have my days free to do whatever we like. We love riding the rides, but even with kids 6 & 9, there are days we don't ride much, especially if it's busy. We don't do rope drop. We hop into whatever line is short. We enjoy watching the glass makers and street shows. The kids love playing in the fountains. We all love wandering around Fort Wilderness.

Even taking this laid back route, I've never felt we haven't gotten our money's worth out of our vacations.

 

[rainboots]

This will be our first trip as adults & our kids first trip (and likely their only). I have everything planned, our FPs made,but I am finding I care less and less about getting it all done. I want to have time to enjoy DDs faces, time to enjoy being on vacation, time to watch my parents watching my girls. I want the trip to be for the girls, if they want to do something more than once, we will. If they want to go back and swim, we will.

I started planning trying To figure out how I could squeeze it all in but not seem so commando because that is my nature. I'm finding if I shift my focus to the people I am with, I am more relaxed and less 'get it all in!'

 

[patty57]

I think some of the common threads to not caring about riding the rides are:
1. Live close enough to drive
2. Travel without kids
3. Have APs and visit the parks frequently (related to #1)

I'm not saying that there aren't those who don't fit into any of the above, and still primarily go just to enjoy the magic, but I think that they are much less common. I believe that most who are paying for airfare and travel to WDW one time per year or less, and travel with kids enjoy the magic very much, but the rides probably take priority.