Can you go to WDW too much?

[chimera]

I'm not asking for me...I'm asking for my kids.

DD12's first trip to MK was at age 3.5. I will never forget the look on her face when she saw Cinderella's castle for the first time. It was magical!

DDnearly2 has been going to WDW since she was 9 weeks old. Her vocabulary already includes the words monorail, Mickey bus, Mickey Mouse, PoohBear, Buzz, Woody, etc... We've worked out our DVC points to include 5 trips for the year (a total of 13 nights in studios). There's a good possibility that we'll do more day trips as she gets older. Are we going to lose the magic for her?

 

[spiceycat]

I don't know - it definitely spoils some kids....they now expect a 2-bedroom when they travel - sorry only at WDW!

 

[Alexander]

Whew! I couldn't figure out how you do 13 nights in 5 trips! Duh! You are in Sarasota!

DS has been to WDW 8 or 9 times since he was 2. That would be in a 3 1/2 year span. Everytime he finds something that becomes his favorite thing to do. Some trips we spend very little time in the parks....we swim. Other times we are at Typhoon Lagoon day after day. Two trips he was fascinated by the little train outside Germany in Epcot. If you don't force the trips, and allow her to move at her own pace at the things she enjoys, I don't see how you could ruin it for her!

 

[Lesley]

Our second child has been going to WDW since she was 6mo...our third since she was 2 1/2 months old. I've been told the baby can say "Mickey"...though I've never heard her...apparently while I was at yoga class a few weeks back she became enthralled with my screen saver.

Our second child will be 5 in less than a month and usually mentions something about WDW every day....like "when we are at Disney World can I (fill in the blank) ?"

We've often joked about WDW being our "real" home....

But the kids (at least our oldest) realize that WDW isn't something that's automatic or that we can just do all the time with no consideration of practical matters. I think they can tell that the more often we go, the more of a budget we have to stay on. I'm not entirely sure they realize that we give up things in our everyday lives in order to go to WDW....like we don't eat out all the time, or make lots of day trips here and there...

"Too much" is such a subjective thing....my dh and I seem to realize we've been going too much for us, but the kids would love to go every couple of weeks! I do think if we were there that often they'd ask to do something else for a change. Really, I think the worst that can happen is that you get tired of it and decide to do something else for a while. I agree that its best to see every visit as an individual thing...our worst times were when we had expectations that our trip would be like previous trips. I mean, WDW really is a different place each time you experience it, if you're open to that.

 

[rocketriter]

My motto is: Too much is just enough.

 

[OneMoreTry]

My kids get a little tired of it. We have to do some beach trips.

My wife wouldn't care if we never went back.

I could go every month.

 

[dougmatt]

My daughter (now 17) actually bails out on most of our trips now (stays with relatives back home)... Says she's been enough for now, and has too much going on at home (cheerleading, band, school, etc)... Still she plans on having her wedding there one Day (hopefully not soon!!!!!!!!!) so the magic isn't totally gone. On the other hand, my son (15) refuses to miss even a 3 day speed run causing him to miss athletic events... Just depends on them..

Which is why I have said to some who post about wanting to "will DVC to their kids" you just don't know whether they will want it by then..

D

 

[goofyforlife]

I let my mom take my DD to WDW every year from age 1 to 5. (we were just out of school and couldn't afford to go ourselves.)

We started taking her ourselves after that. One trip at age 5, 1 at 6, 1 at 8, 2 at 9, 1 at 10 .....

BUT there are times when she says "I'm bored with Disney."

We took our Dec trip without her but she didn't mind staying home.

It'll be Dec 2005 before we go again.... Maybe it won't be as boring for her by then.

 

[NYsHiddenMickey]

No...

 

[HookdonWDW]

Our oldest dd became jaded when she was 17. She decided that she'd "been there, done that, had the t-shirt", so we let her stay home, with supervision. You know they were supervised well when they are HAPPY upon your return .

Then it came time to book our trips for the next year, and since she was now our resident "Killer of the Magic" , we decided to plan our trips for after she left for college... why subject her to the horrors of a DVC trip??? So we planned a 10 day trip during ds's(9) fall break. And a funny thing happened...

Right before graduation, she requested that we take her down to WDW for a "last trip" before she hit college, so we went for 5 days after graduation. Then she thought about the October trip and was bummed that she couldn't go. Sorry, school comes first.

Now she's a worldly sophomore in college, and suddenly DVC isn't such a bad thing. In fact just the other day, she was hinting that she'd like us to plan a trip around her schedule :

So, in my experience, even though they eventually get jaded and to "big" for WDW, take it away for awhile, and they'll shrink right back down.

 

[DVCconvert]

No, not if you have an open mind and heart!

 

[athenna]

No such thing as too much!!!

 

[MDonley]

Our DS, almost 20, hasn't lost the magic ... he just prefers to look for it at VB instead of WDW. I think it might have something to do with the fact that his childhood memories aren't that far in the past and he looks for the more adult things to add to those memories. If we could afford to take "behind the scenes" tours and such all the time, I'm sure that he'd be on them until he had the whole spiel memorized word for word. Come to think of it, I'm sort of that way with the Jungle Cruise ... it's a good thing they modify the verbage now and then!

 

[chimera]

Thanks for the opinions. I think we're likely to continue going to WDW as much as possible. Don't know what we'll do if the little one doesn't like it some day!

 

[jennz]

I agree with the poster about finding different things to do. DD is almost 7 and has been 5 imes in the past 3 years (2 family trips and then I take her a few days each summer while we stay with my parents in Orlando). Our "rule" is we have to try something new each trip and we both have had a blast. Last year we did several things we've never done before, we take it slow or run, depending on our mood, etc etc. I was worried that she would get bored of it but absolutely not! DH and I have also decided to take advantage of this time while she's loving it just in case...

 

[Momof5cubs]

My oldest ds, who will be 12 when we go to WDW in the fall, has decided that he doesn't want to go this time. He has gone almost every year since he was 5 (some trips with us and some with Grandma), and has just decided to sit this trip out. He has been taking some trips abroad with his Grandma and I think he may prefer that type of trip over WDW right now. I'm sad, but there is no point in forcing him.

 

[debloco]

No.

 

[newholidayx2]

I would have to say NO because each trip is different

This Aug will be our first mother/son WDW vacation
our first time staying 14nights

our first time staying at Pop (WL is a return)
our first time staying at Beach Club Villas

our first time at Liberty Tree dinner
our first time at alot of the EpCot PS lunches
our first time at the Boardwalk restaurants
our first time at Cape May brkfst
our first time at Chef Mickey's brkfst (we have done dinner)
our first time at ------- (you get the idea)