Disney has ruined other vacations

[lizabu]

Disney is still my favourite destination too. I've been around the world too and Disney always has a special place in my heart. I'm glad I've been other places and I will continue to go other places but every year or two I have to make it back "home". You can't take the Disney out of a Disney nut. When I went to Cairo I bought a TShirt with Minnie Mouse all in sequins. When I was in London I bought Mickey dressed as a beefeater in the Disney store. In Stockholm I bought a pooh bear Christmas ornament. I plan to see Disneyland Paris one day. I've been to both US parks and 2 of the 4 cruise ships. The Asian parks would be amazing but I don't know if my travels will ever take me so far. Maybe one day. But Paris is a good bet. I'm almost certain I will make it there.

 

[rastahomie]

I've never been to another resort outside of Walt Disney World, so I don't have a basis of comparison. But I will say that I found the staff aboard the Carnival cruise ship I was on (Liberty, to be specific) to be on par with Disney CM's in terms of friendliness, helpfulness, and all those other things that make Disney CM's the greatest.

 

[cluvsdisney]

I enjoy our Disney vacations but I find the extensive planning tedious and have found that we get much better value and amenities at non-Disney resorts.

 

[mnrose]

Not me. There are many wonderful places to vacation. I've never thought of Disney as a "relaxing" vacation, and that is why I primarily vacation...to get away from things. So, for example, I went to Mexico to an all inclusive in March and that was way more fun (to me) because I could sit and do nothing. LOL.

 

[Disney_traveler]

We will never be able to travel out of the country.
While we do see other places in the US (Vegas, Route 66, New Orleans, southern civil war areas) nothing compares to Disney. Maybe it's just because I took my parents for their first time years ago, but they love it. World Showcase will be the closest we ever get to Italy, France, etc and Animal Kingdom will be the closest Dad will ever be to a safari.

 

[mnrose]

We will never be able to travel out of the country.
While we do see other places in the US (Vegas, Route 66, New Orleans, southern civil war areas) nothing compares to Disney. Maybe it's just because I took my parents for their first time years ago, but they love it. World Showcase will be the closest we ever get to Italy, France, etc and Animal Kingdom will be the closest Dad will ever be to a safari.

Why can't you leave the country? Just curious. Seems an odd restriction. If it's money, for example, it simply isn't true. Disney is an expensive vacation, even on a budget. Many "out of country" vacations can be had for a similar cost. And, seeing the real deal is nothing whatsoever like World Showcase.

 

[Disney_traveler]

Why can't you leave the country? Just curious. Seems an odd restriction. If it's money, for example, it simply isn't true. Disney is an expensive vacation, even on a budget. Many "out of country" vacations can be had for a similar cost. And, seeing the real deal is nothing whatsoever like World Showcase.

Wow thanks for the sympathy, but:
A) mom could never be on a plane that long
B) mom and I both cannot do a cruise
C) dad could never take that long off work and he enjoys working, he doesn't want to retire
Add in that mom is already 55 and the general life expectancy for our side of the family is 60-65 so we are low on time.

 

[GaryDis]

Wow thanks for the sympathy, but:
A) mom could never be on a plane that long
B) mom and I both cannot do a cruise
C) dad could never take that long off work and he enjoys working, he doesn't want to retire
Add in that mom is already 55 and the general life expectancy for our side of the family is 60-65 so we are low on time.

I don't want to get too personal or beat on this, but there's a lot to be said for visiting Canada, especially Toronto and Montreal. I've been to both, flying, but I'd love to take the train up to Montreal one of these years.

 

[indygirl99]

I don't want to get too personal or beat on this, but there's a lot to be said for visiting Canada, especially Toronto and Montreal. I've been to both, flying, but I'd love to take the train up to Montreal one of these years.

That is one of my bucket list trips. Start on the East Coast, Nova Scotia , and take the train across Canada and see what I can see. I think a good 2 months would be ideal.

As for Disney eh been there done that. So much else to see to spend all my vacation time seeing it again.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

Nope
I love all vacations
We just visited Beaches Turks and Caicos last month and I would return there again a million times over VS Disneyworld .
Disney world has changed so much over the years and I don't think for the better
So a trip back every few years is more than enough for me

 

[Aliceacc]

I think the trick is to do an anti-Disney type of vacation. No palm trees, no advance dining reservations, no theme parks.

Our favorite non-Disney vacation spot is Lake George in upstate NY. Lots of tiny shops, lots of restaurants, we spend the day in or on or near the lake. We sleep in, we decide each day what we'll do, we come home rested.

 

[DawnM]

Disney World? Oh wow! That sounds neat. Did they name it after the DISboards?

How did you guess?

 

[DawnM]

To be honest Disney no longer holds the magic for me. Too much has gone away and I really dislike all the planning.

We love to travel though and have gone to Hawaii (not Aulani), London, Paris and just some relaxing beach trips. Such a big world to see and my kids love to go different places.

This is how I am feeling! My kids were upset we dint' go to Disney this past year. One reason was because I didn't have a job lined up yet and felt I needed to be around for interviews, etc.....

We may go next year. I am not sure (summer). But my parents aren't doing well. They live in Arizona. We are planning a road trip to see them next summer and planning to visit a lot of the USA while we are traveling. We have done it before, but the kids were much younger and don't remember a lot of it.

We also want to get back to CA and show the kids around. They remember it, but they were 6 and 8 when we moved away and so it would be nice to go back when they are old enough to remember it.

We may or may not visit Disneyland while we are out there. We haven't decided. Not sure we will have enough time.

 

[katriscari]

ME! We went many places growing up as far as vacations go...from Disney to Mt. Rushmore to the beach....but, now that I am a mom and took our first trip as a family in May 2014 I've never enjoyed anything more than Disney World, and I've never look forward to trips like I do when Disney World is involved. I've gone a couple of other places, and I do enjoy them--Cape Cod for instance, but the planning and so many different things we can do with our kids at Disney World make me love it most of all. 249 days until my baby's first trip! We cannot wait. He will be 9 months old My 7 year old has gone 3 times in the last 2.5 years. We may buy DVC resale a little more into the future too because I love it, and so does my husband. We love getting to the airport & having no responsibility until we have to go back to the airport I am also really bad when I price other vacations. Most of the time they come out costing more than Disney World, and that steers me right back down to Florida lol.

 

[PollyannaMom]

We've been in a Disney pattern ourselves (well, an Orlando pattern...we do "that wizard place" too) for so long that that "is" vacation for us - but that has way more to do with my folks living there in the winter, and wanting to see them during the same trip, than with other places not comparing. We took several different vacations before they moved, and enjoyed those as well.

But if you love Disney, I say there nothing wrong with sticking to that! There is something comforting about going back to a familiar place.

 

[Klayfish]

I just returned from a great trip to Atlantis in the Bahamas. It was relaxing and fun but yet, it wasn't Disney! Has anyone else felt this way? Growing up, my parents were Disney fanatics so "vacation" was synonymous with Disney World in my family. I didn't think people went anywhere else on vacation. We went once a year but once my younger sibling reached his 20s, my parents moved on to cruises. While I enjoy cruises and tropical vacations, nothing compares to Disney. While in the Bahamas, I kept comparing it to Disney! While it was awesome, it certainly doesn't hold a candle to my favorite place in the world. I'm never sad about leaving vacations, except when it's a Disney vacation. I never look forward to vacations the way I look forward to Disney vacations. Does anyone else feel that way? Maybe I just have a sick obsession!

Oh my goodness, no!! WDW is my happy place and I absolutely love it, I guess I'm one of the Disney apologists who gets sick of hearing people whine that Disney "isn't what it used to be". But at the same time, it's not the one and only place to go. My wife and I used to be timeshare owners at Harborside at Atlantis. You really can't compare WDW to Atlantis, they're so different. Atlantis is on a small tropical island and is beach tropics vacation spot. I would argue that Atlantis is really the "Disney World" of the Bahamas. Where else in the Bahamas can you go that will have the variety of attractions in one location that Atlantis does? Think of how many slides, pools, etc...Atlantis has. The other resorts on Paradise Island and Nassau are mostly the beach, a pool or two and the casino. We're dying to get back to Atlantis, but it's so incredibly expensive...more than WDW. We'd need to rent a 2 or 3 bedroom place at Harborside, and it ain't cheap. For a tropical getaway, Atlantis is incredible. To me, it more than just holds a candle to Disney, it's right on par with it. Just very different style vacations.

 

[nugov2]

I love Disney, the rest of my family...not so much. Nobody wants to go back. They have a been there done that attitude. I do love all vacations though and we have a great time anywhere. I've never understood why anyone would want to vacation at the same place year after year when there are tons of amazing places all over the country/world, but I would like to continue to go back to WDW occasionally. So far I've been out voted the last couple of years.

 

[cabanafrau]

We like variety in our vacations. We will revisit destinations, but want to keep exploring.

That said, I don't see us returning to WDW until things improve significantly. The current state of the resort and the scheduling required to do even a fraction of what we used to enjoy there simply wandering and seeing where the day took us is long gone at this point. If we feel the need to enjoy Disney we'll head out to DLR.

 

[andiraye]

To me, a Disney trip is extra special but it hasn't ruined other vacations. We just took a week off from work and spent it visiting with family and going to a local amusement park and local beaches with our kids. We let the kids stay up late, went to ice cream shops at night, got into some deep conversations with our kids about life and the universe and laughed a ton. When asked where we went for the week we answer "nowhere," but honestly it was awesome.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

ME! We went many places growing up as far as vacations go...from Disney to Mt. Rushmore to the beach....but, now that I am a mom and took our first trip as a family in May 2014 I've never enjoyed anything more than Disney World, and I've never look forward to trips like I do when Disney World is involved. I've gone a couple of other places, and I do enjoy them--Cape Cod for instance, but the planning and so many different things we can do with our kids at Disney World make me love it most of all. 249 days until my baby's first trip! We cannot wait. He will be 9 months old My 7 year old has gone 3 times in the last 2.5 years. We may buy DVC resale a little more into the future too because I love it, and so does my husband. We love getting to the airport & having no responsibility until we have to go back to the airport I am also really bad when I price other vacations. Most of the time they come out costing more than Disney World, and that steers me right back down to Florida lol.

I agree nothing beats a Disney trip, when your kids are little. Enjoy those trips, while yours are still young. Some kids, like mine, outgrow it in their preteens or teens, especially boys. Before someone gets all excited, I know some boys continue to want to vacation there. I have a nephew who is a Disney nut. IME, he's the exception not the rule.