Did anyone ever regret their trip?

[brooke789]

This is why we're not a WDW every year family. Our 2013 trip was my and the kids first. We're going back next year just over 3 years later. It feels a little too soon, but we wanted our new son to go at 2 like his older siblings (it was a perfect trip). We'll probably continue going ever 4 years or so.

 

[mickeymom629]

So we've been home almost a month now, the post-Disney high has worn off. And... I confess... I'm somewhat regretting our trip. Oh don't get me wrong, we went, we had fun, we made memories that we'll cherish but... honestly? I don't feel it was worth the money. I'm left now with the knowledge that our kids would have had just as much fun anywhere else, for thousands of dollars less. And... it's pretty disappointing. I really wasn't expecting to feel that way.

Here they are missing one of their favorite theme parks that's just a small local one, asking when we can go back. Not asking when can they go back to Disney, no no, they want to go back to this small one. That now we're too Disney-broke to take them to. I mean, we took our son to the local fair today, and if I were to be honest with myself, he had far more fun on the rides at the fair, than he did Disney. I think because it's just smaller and not as overwhelming sensory wise.


Has anyone else ever felt like that?

I haven't felt like that, and I'm sorry you did. I have regretted little things that we did or didn't do, but not the entire trip. One trip, I lost (I think it was stolen out of my backpack, actually) my entire wallet (containing tickets and cash - extra things I shouldn't have been carrying around in the first place) and I never got it back, not even a bit of anything was turned into Lost and Found. It ruined the last several days of our trip for me (and put a damper on everyone else). But I didn't regret the trip.

Before we started taking the kids to Disney each year, we used to go to the beach. That was just about as much money as going to Disney (on a budget), so I decided to change our summer plans! My kids may have missed that for several summers - I don't know and never asked We have DH's family in Florida, so always combined with a trip to visit them.

I don't know where you stayed or where you ate, or the type of tickets you bought, so I don't know how your money was spent. Like someone else mentioned, it sounds like you spent beyond your means.

Before we were DVC owners, I put money away, bit by bit, for our trips as well as buy tickets ahead of time, and basically budget everything. We only did one or two table service restaurants. I definitely try to keep within a budget. With 4 kids, we always drove, stayed at the value resorts and offsite hotels with free breakfast/happy hours, brought snacks into the parks, etc.. Disney can be done on a budget. If I can afford to buy a ticket or several before a price hike, I think of it as an "investment".

Maybe your kids know that you spent more money than you wanted, and are thinking it is something they will not get to go back to, even though they had fun. Kids are pretty easy, and usually like vacations and family outings, period (until they reach a certain age...).

Don't forget that you had fun and made cherished memories...priceless!!

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Not yet.

I don't expect I'll regret my next one, either, though I may regret traveling with extended family. However, it's necessary to make sure the grandparents get in a WDW vacation with DD at some point, so I might as well get it over with early.

For those of you who said their kids would be just as happy at a local fair, you're probably right. I can imagine the pool and the kid-centric food being the most impressive things for my DD, as well. Luckily, I'm not taking the trip just for her.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Never regret but also we never spend ridiculous amounts of money on resorts or dining plans so we always feel like we get our money's worth and then some.

I think eating outside of Disney and staying off site for 5 days and a water park outside of airfare costs us less than 1000 for two people. And we had a dsmn blassssst

 

[momof2n2]

OP - I understand where you are coming from, I think, and the concern over potentially regretting our planned trip in 2014 is what made me cancel it. I currently have a lot of trepidation about our planned trip for 2016.

For me it is all about return on investment. I know not everyone sees it this way, nor need they.

For my family of 8 to buy 5-day tickets it will cost $2525.60. That is $505.12 per day.
We have a local amusement park that is really a gem. If I have to pay full price for a day there (when we don't have annual passes or find a great coupon) it will come to about $210 for a full day. When we go to that local park we have a blast. We have a genuinely amazing time and leave feeling absolutely satisfied with ourselves. Now - this is where my conundrum lies: if we go to a WDW park for a full day - will we have 2.5 times as much fun? It can't be had. Say hometown park delivers a 9/10 for WOW. Can WDW offer 23/10? No. It can't. It just can't. And this is only comparing the cost of the entry tickets, and not adding in transportation to Florida and accommodations.

Once upon a time I was okay with that. We do love the characters. I am willing to spend more for the characters. Should I pay 2.5 times more?
I used to get very excited about the attraction concepts and the *new* things that were there each visit. Sadly, very little has been added since our last trip in 2011; yet, prices have gone up. And I won't get started on the inception of FP+, but it surely has changed how my family will experience the parks.

I know many scoff and will rapidly (rabidly?) point out that a family-owned amusement park doesn't compare with WDW parks. My point is we measure on different scales. For me it will always come down to what can I get for my money. If my kids (2, 5, 9, 11, 13, & 15) are blown away by days at local parks, the local zoo, the local living museum, our beach vacations, our cross-country road trips, ETC., I have a very hard time assigning so many dollars to a trip to WDW. Since they have so much fun everywhere I am going to go after quantity --- because to them it is pretty close to equal quality.

And we do WDW as cheaply as possible. We stay in beautiful, 5-bedroom vacation homes. We buy tix from UCT. We eat our in-park meals with our Visa Rewards points. But in the end it is still a very costly investment.

 

[Magpie]

Never regretted any of our trips, but I think several things play into that:

1. My husband is a master of family budgeting. If we're taking a trip, it's because we CAN afford it. If it means giving something up (like expensive Christmas presents, because the trip is the present), we know that well ahead of time and it's something we've all agreed on. Kids included. Our first trip to Disney wasn't until 2005, when our kids were seven and nine.

2. Travelling down to visit my relatives in Mississippi or spending a week in Disney, all comes to about the same cost. So, if we do one then we're not doing the other. That's the other thing about my husband - he's got all our vacations planned out for the next five years. And budgeted for, too.

3. I'm not the sort of person to dwell on the past. It's over, it's done, we had fun, but I'm more interested in what we're doing tomorrow, than whatever it was we did yesterday.

4. And right now, Disney is my husband's version of the "fishing trip" or "week at the cottage" or whatever you want to call it. We could have bought a boat, and gone sailing like my brother in law, but instead we decided to put our money into annual passes and save up our Airmiles for flights to Orlando. It's what keeps him sane at work, the rest of the year. That might change when he retires. We'll see. I'd like to visit Europe with him, if we can! (Maybe Disneyland Paris! )

So, no regrets!

 

[momof2n2]

BTW - I'm amazed so many people say other vacations cost as much as WDW-based vacations. I can do 2 other vacations for the cost of one WDW vacation.

 

[DekrRini]

OP - I understand where you are coming from, I think, and the concern over potentially regretting our planned trip in 2014 is what made me cancel it. I currently have a lot of trepidation about our planned trip for 2016.

For me it is all about return on investment. I know not everyone sees it this way, nor need they.

For my family of 8 to buy 5-day tickets it will cost $2525.60. That is $505.12 per day.
We have a local amusement park that is really a gem. If I have to pay full price for a day there (when we don't have annual passes or find a great coupon) it will come to about $210 for a full day. When we go to that local park we have a blast. We have a genuinely amazing time and leave feeling absolutely satisfied with ourselves. Now - this is where my conundrum lies: if we go to a WDW park for a full day - will we have 2.5 times as much fun? It can't be had. Say hometown park delivers a 9/10 for WOW. Can WDW offer 23/10? No. It can't. It just can't. And this is only comparing the cost of the entry tickets, and not adding in transportation to Florida and accommodations.

Once upon a time I was okay with that. We do love the characters. I am willing to spend more for the characters. Should I pay 2.5 times more?
I used to get very excited about the attraction concepts and the *new* things that were there each visit. Sadly, very little has been added since our last trip in 2011; yet, prices have gone up. And I won't get started on the inception of FP+, but it surely has changed how my family will experience the parks.

I know many scoff and will rapidly (rabidly?) point out that a family-owned amusement park doesn't compare with WDW parks. My point is we measure on different scales. For me it will always come down to what can I get for my money. If my kids (2, 5, 9, 11, 13, & 15) are blown away by days at local parks, the local zoo, the local living museum, our beach vacations, our cross-country road trips, ETC., I have a very hard time assigning so many dollars to a trip to WDW. Since they have so much fun everywhere I am going to go after quantity --- because to them it is pretty close to equal quality.

And we do WDW as cheaply as possible. We stay in beautiful, 5-bedroom vacation homes. We buy tix from UCT. We eat our in-park meals with our Visa Rewards points. But in the end it is still a very costly investment.

I hope this doesn't come across as snarky because that's not my intent. Given your feelings for getting a good return on your investment and how much you and your family have a lot of fun everywhere, I don't think you'll ever feel that you've gotten that good return that you need. If I felt the same way as you do, I'd spend my hard earned money on other things. And it's perfectly all right for you to choose any other fun vacation spot over WDW. To be honest, I suspect that your feelings on the need for a good return on your investment might well make you enjoy the parks less. I know that I don't enjoy myself nearly as much when I'm concerned about the money I'm spending. I have a budget and I stick to it, but I don't worry about it constantly. If I did, I wouldn't enjoy myself at all. And for me, even though I could spend less other places, my enjoyment of WDW meets my needs. I don't think it meets your needs, though, and you will be much happier visiting other places and doing other things. So save yourself the anguish and go places you'll enjoy more. You can still have a 'magical' time wherever you go.

 

[momof2n2]

I hope this doesn't come across as snarky because that's not my intent. Given your feelings for getting a good return on your investment and how much you and your family have a lot of fun everywhere, I don't think you'll ever feel that you've gotten that good return that you need. If I felt the same way as you do, I'd spend my hard earned money on other things. And it's perfectly all right for you to choose any other fun vacation spot over WDW. To be honest, I suspect that your feelings on the need for a good return on your investment might well make you enjoy the parks less. I know that I don't enjoy myself nearly as much when I'm concerned about the money I'm spending. I have a budget and I stick to it, but I don't worry about it constantly. If I did, I wouldn't enjoy myself at all. And for me, even though I could spend less other places, my enjoyment of WDW meets my needs. I don't think it meets your needs, though, and you will be much happier visiting other places and doing other things. So save yourself the anguish and go places you'll enjoy more. You can still have a 'magical' time wherever you go.

No offense taken. I believe you are likely spot on. But my mom is lobbying heavily for a trip for my younger girls to get to meet all the princesses/characters, etc.

For us (and I won't derail this) I think the product has changed. We used to visit more than once a year & never wondered.

 

[Julylady]

I have never regretted a trip. However, I have regretted some of the things we spent money on while on our trip. For example, in July we purchased the Frozen Fun package that included a parade with snacks, a special viewing area for the Frozen sing along, and a dessert party for $69 pp. It was so not worth it!! I regret the money that we wasted on that package. On the other hand, we chose not to stay for the MSEP on our last Magic Kingdom night because we were too tired. I now regret that we didn't stay. The girls have never seen it and I think they would have really enjoyed it.

 

[avic77]

That one trip with my husband's family Thanksgiving weekend.... It was hell.
I learned a valuable lesson...go in the off season.
Every trip has had its negatives but had far more positives. My kids will skip movies, field trips, and local vacation destinations for 2 years to save and go back to Disney for a week.
I went on a cruise in 2013 for my 15th anniversary... i would have preferred Disney World instead.

 

[cornflkgrl]

Yeah... I can honestly say now that we'll never be back. I think what is disappointing me the most, is I wanted Disney to be to them, what it was to me as a child. Disney was without a doubt the best vacation I ever went on as a child (and I went on vacations every year that I loved), but, Disney really stood out to me. It was always a dream of mine to go back, then as a parent a dream to take my children, and have Disney be "that" vacation for them. And we loved it, and had fun, but... yeah. I guess on the plus side, at least my children are satisfied with inexpensive vacations, lol.

Didn't you say it was too much sensory-wise? Maybe that kind of environment is just too much RIGHT NOW. Have you considered waiting several years and trying again? I am worried about my kids having the same reaction to Disney. That is why we waited and waited this long to take them. What is too much right now might be more tolerable and enjoyable in a few years. They may just have to be older to experience it and enjoy it the way you did when you were younger due to the sensory overload.

 

[Magpie]

BTW - I'm amazed so many people say other vacations cost as much as WDW-based vacations. I can do 2 other vacations for the cost of one WDW vacation.

For us, this is absolutely the case. Flying to Orlando or flying to Mississippi...? It's still flying. The price is the same. At Disney, all of the entertainment is included. In Biloxi or New Orleans, we're paying on a daily basis for our entertainment. The Audobon Aquarium, for example, is about 24 dollars a person, plus an additional 10 dollars for the Imax. Want to go out to Ship Island for the day? 27 dollars a head. We spend about the same on food in either place. Basically, with a Disney trip, the cost is almost all up front. With a trip to Mississippi the cost is distributed over the length of the trip. I can look at my spreadsheets, and it's really close to the same price in the end. Within a couple hundred or so.

To be fair, we stay in value resorts at Disney and eat our instant porridge breakfasts in our room. On the coast, we stay at Best Westerns and the like and pay for the breakfast add-on.

 

[elaine amj]

More the latter. It was an insanely expensive vacation, that now means we get to do nothing else the rest of the summer. They're begging to go back to this other park, and there's just no money to do it. And I'll admit, it kinda grieves me that after Disney, they'd be missing this other park so much after what they just saw! But no, as far as when we were there, everything more than met our expectations!

Its partly just kids being kids. One year we had annual passes to Cedar Point and we had planned to go on a Saturday. On the Friday evening, we were at a local festival with a friend and his little ones. My kids (who were probably around 8/9 by that point) begged and begged and begged to go on the rinky dink ferris wheel. I explained over and over that they would get to go on the giant (and much nicer) ferris wheel at Cedar Point the next day and it was already paid for. No way was I spending good money on the tiny ferris wheel. But they kept begging. In the end, my friend insisted on paying for them to ride and they were happy.

UGH.

On top of that, we were just in DLR - and honestly, it was really hard to get my kids out of the hotel room (apparently, it's wayyy more fun to watch TV in a hotel room) to go to the parks. My DS in particular is asking for a vacation where he can just hang out in a hotel room. Thankfully they are old enough now that they can stay in the room while DH and I go out. It still feels like a waste for me though.

we have been once and had a good vacation but felt a bit stressed and overwhelmed, everything was so complicated and we felt we missed a lot by not knowing things. i have booked another trip this dec and when i spoke to my youngest ds about it, he sighed and said 'okay, but disney is very tiring'. what i *heard* was it wasn't worth it, the fun he had did not equal the walking, waiting, etc. but upon further reflection, he had a raging fever for the first 2 days and really felt like crap. of course he felt tired!!!

i have done more planning for this trip, which also involved planning more down time. the canadian dollar is so low right now, i am considering cancelling so i DON'T feel like op when we get home...

When we came home from our first trip (a short weekend), DH and I were on a high - we had absolutely LOVED it. A few weeks later, I told my DD we were going to go back....this time for 10 WHOLE DAYS!!!! Her face dropped "Mom, 10 days is way too long". Turns out I had jammed so many things into our weekend I had exhausted my kids. They were thrilled to go back after I promised to slow the pace down.

OP - I understand where you are coming from, I think, and the concern over potentially regretting our planned trip in 2014 is what made me cancel it. I currently have a lot of trepidation about our planned trip for 2016.

For me it is all about return on investment. I know not everyone sees it this way, nor need they.

For my family of 8 to buy 5-day tickets it will cost $2525.60. That is $505.12 per day.
We have a local amusement park that is really a gem. If I have to pay full price for a day there (when we don't have annual passes or find a great coupon) it will come to about $210 for a full day. When we go to that local park we have a blast. We have a genuinely amazing time and leave feeling absolutely satisfied with ourselves. Now - this is where my conundrum lies: if we go to a WDW park for a full day - will we have 2.5 times as much fun? It can't be had. Say hometown park delivers a 9/10 for WOW. Can WDW offer 23/10? No. It can't. It just can't. And this is only comparing the cost of the entry tickets, and not adding in transportation to Florida and accommodations.

Once upon a time I was okay with that. We do love the characters. I am willing to spend more for the characters. Should I pay 2.5 times more?
I used to get very excited about the attraction concepts and the *new* things that were there each visit. Sadly, very little has been added since our last trip in 2011; yet, prices have gone up. And I won't get started on the inception of FP+, but it surely has changed how my family will experience the parks.

I know many scoff and will rapidly (rabidly?) point out that a family-owned amusement park doesn't compare with WDW parks. My point is we measure on different scales. For me it will always come down to what can I get for my money. If my kids (2, 5, 9, 11, 13, & 15) are blown away by days at local parks, the local zoo, the local living museum, our beach vacations, our cross-country road trips, ETC., I have a very hard time assigning so many dollars to a trip to WDW. Since they have so much fun everywhere I am going to go after quantity --- because to them it is pretty close to equal quality.

And we do WDW as cheaply as possible. We stay in beautiful, 5-bedroom vacation homes. We buy tix from UCT. We eat our in-park meals with our Visa Rewards points. But in the end it is still a very costly investment.

I tend to do my calculations in a similar fashion. For us though, WDW DOES deliver quite a lot more fun than our local (very good - it is Cedar Point, after all!) amusement park. Plus, my DH and DS don't do thrill rides, so WDW is where we can do most of the rides TOGETHER. I liove that my DH is enjoying himself too - most of the time, his fun is just watching the rest of us have fun.

That said, I came up with similar math after our cruise. We've done one on RCCL and one on Disney. We enjoyed both - and we would ALL like to cruise again.....but I just can't justify the cost as for the same amount of money, we can spend double the time at WDW and do so much more. I price out cruises several times a year but haven't got the numbers to work yet.

 

[mickeyfanachey1999]

I have never regretted a trip. Right now I'm a little stressed about having two trips so close together though. The first thing I do when we get back is ask the family when we want to go again. But I agree, it's not for everyone. We go often enough that fp+ works great for us. We don't eat TS so we don't have to make ADRs. The planning for me is more because I enjoy it than because we have to.

 

[csjordan]

So we've been home almost a month now, the post-Disney high has worn off. And... I confess... I'm somewhat regretting our trip. Oh don't get me wrong, we went, we had fun, we made memories that we'll cherish but... honestly? I don't feel it was worth the money. I'm left now with the knowledge that our kids would have had just as much fun anywhere else, for thousands of dollars less. And... it's pretty disappointing. I really wasn't expecting to feel that way.

Here they are missing one of their favorite theme parks that's just a small local one, asking when we can go back. Not asking when can they go back to Disney, no no, they want to go back to this small one. That now we're too Disney-broke to take them to. I mean, we took our son to the local fair today, and if I were to be honest with myself, he had far more fun on the rides at the fair, than he did Disney. I think because it's just smaller and not as overwhelming sensory wise.


Has anyone else ever felt like that?

I, nor anyone in my family, have never regretted a trip. Not once. We have AP's and go a lot. It's our magical, happy place! We have gone/will go 6 times this year for a total of 21 days and each trip is something different! We used to have AP's at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, and have gone to Carowinds, locally, a lot recently, but never once have my children said they would take either of those over Disney!

 

[alicat8]

Didn't you say it was too much sensory-wise? Maybe that kind of environment is just too much RIGHT NOW. Have you considered waiting several years and trying again? I am worried about my kids having the same reaction to Disney. That is why we waited and waited this long to take them. What is too much right now might be more tolerable and enjoyable in a few years. They may just have to be older to experience it and enjoy it the way you did when you were younger due to the sensory overload.

I think this is HUGE to consider. My daughter is 3 and not a fan of waiting in lines or creepy dark rides-she still has fun, but she'd much rather run free in a park or around a pool all day. I get that, but right now I'm going just as much for me as I am for her. I like going, so we go. I LOVE seeing her on Small World and getting so excited to meet the characters and knowing all the songs, but I know it's not her happiest time being in the parks all day. I hope one day she'll love it as much as I do, but I assume if it happens, it won't be til she's a lot older and can appreciate all the details. My obsession and desire to go every year started when I was a teenager, but it never would have gotten there if the seeds weren't planted earlier!

 

[mort1331]

the trip no, going with my inlaws yes

So our first trip we took my SIL and her son. That was hell being on someone else's schedule. I should have known, but I did not let it ruin my vacation, and I learned from it. March 2016 she's coming again, I am staying home and just the moms and kids are going. Not to feel sorry for me for staying home, that was my choice. I take one of my daughters every fall for our own time and will again in 2016. The regret of taking family was a learning point for me, make sure you know who your going with and will get along.
The regret was not enough to stop me from coming back, now own DVC and have added on.

BTW - I'm amazed so many people say other vacations cost as much as WDW-based vacations. I can do 2 other vacations for the cost of one WDW vacation.

It depends on where and when your going on either trip. We are in Toronto, Canada and for us to take the same time flight to the east coast where family is and stay and play there is the same or more then going to WDW. ( Now that our dollar sucks that is a little different, but all things the same)

 

[TeamSy]

I don't regret it, but it definitely stresses me out. I feel like I put a lot into planning, which sometimes makes it disappointing when all your time and effort doesn't pan out the way you want, which I could see leading to regret for some.

And I get what a lot of you are saying, about return on investment. Disney prices increase every year, but I'm not sure the product does. For example, Disney Dining used to be a VALUE. The prices went up, yet they took the option of doing App, Entree, and dessert away. I don't mind spending a lot of money, but I also expect a lot in return, like you get what you pay for. Disney keeps charging more so I feel like I expect more, which definitely leads to disappointment.

We just returned from a vacation to French Polynesia. It was EXPENSIVE, but I feel like we definitely got what we paid for. I'm not sure that I feel the same about Disney. We still go, but it's just a matter of lowering expectations so the regret isn't there. Is it fair? No. But hopefully, one day in the upcoming years, after all the new and upcoming changes it will surprise me!

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Again I think that you shouldn't over do it on your budget then it puts that stomach hole feeling....

If the park itself is amazing but you don't think you got enough for your money scale back a bit!