Do you ever regret not traveling outside Disney more?

[rutgers1]

I will begin this by saying that I sincerely wouldn't trade all of our trips for anything. My wife and I constantly say that DVC was the best money that we ever spent.

With that said, we have had to make a concerted effort over the past 2 years to expand our horizons more. We were getting into a rut where all of our disposable income was going to Disney, and I felt like there was more of the country and world that I wanted my kids to see. To that end, we took several cruises, started an endeavor to run a race in every state, and will be going to Europe this summer (and skipping Disney for the first year in....forever).

Skipping Disney this year has been a bit tough on us. It seems like home for us, so we kind of just "expect" to go every year. But if we are going to go to Europe, there is no way we can afford Disney in the same calendar year.

I sometimes feel like taking my kids to Disney at least once a year for their first 13 years of life has set up some unrealistic expectations for other trips. When you are used to 'round-the-clock rides and entertainment, I fear that some of our more low-key trips won't hold as much interest to them. We have taken a bunch of side trips in the past, but since a Disney trip was always right around the corner, something a bit more dry was more tolerable.

Well, I guess we'll see how they make it through their first non Disney year!

 

[Chuck S]

Yes and no. I love Disney, but I went on my very first cruise last year with friends. It was an inexpensive Carnival Cruise. I enjoyed the cruise and would like to do it again, sometime. But right now, I am planning a big group trip to Disney in 2015, using 3 years worth of points...21 people, 2 2-bedrooms, 3 studios for 8 nights. Without DVC this wouldn't be possible.

 

[Noelle]

I can total sympathize with your feelings. My daughters are 13yo & 21yo and about three years ago, I started getting that same feeling. I love WDW and enjoy going. But I wanted to see more and do different things. My kids just didn't want to go anywhere else. So we started by designating a day or two out of our Florida vacations to leave WDW and drive to places like Vero beach, St. Augustine, Kennedy Space Center, etc. They like going to Vero Beach and have no problems with me booking a couple nights there to enjoy the beach.
Then I convinced the family that we could take a Disney cruise every 18 months and it would still give us our Disney fix. That's worked pretty well. We have done 3 Disney cruises so far - Alaska, Mexican Riviera, & Western Caribbean.
Now, we have an agreement that seems to work for everyone. We take two trips within a year (strategically planned about 11 months apart to get the most of our annual passes - will be three times this year). Then we take 18 months off and do something else. It keeps WDW fresh for us and I get the opportunity to take the family to places that are different.

 

[lisatx04]

We have owned DVC for the last 10 years and so our kids who are now 17 and 15 have grown up going to Disney. We have done the occasional non Disney vacation, like a Rooyal Carribean cruise, which we loved, and a trip to Glacier National Park, which we also loved. This summer I wanted to do something different, and suggested California, another cruise, Mexico- and the kids rejected those ideas. So to keep this trip fresh, we will be staying at OKW, but will be leaving midweek to spend one night/2 days at Universal. Then checking back in to OKW.

Next year, there will be no Disney trip as DD graduates high school and I already said we would take a vacation anywhere she wanted to go. Her choice: Italy!

 

[crisi]

We started out with only enough points for every other year - so we've been able to travel a lot of other places as well.

My kids PREFER the other trips - my daughter likes museums and learning stuff - rides are fine for a day or two - but have her choose Disney or Washington DC, she'd spend a week at the Smithsonian without blinking. My son likes beaches - he also likes his day of rides (bigger coasters than Disney) but a week is dull and too much walking for a kid who wants to sit on the beach, maybe shoot some hoops - all inclusive is great for him.

 

[JimMIA]

DD12-next-week LOVES Disney...but given the choice, has made different choices.

We will be in Orlando in two weeks for the Florida Open Figure Skating Championships. Our ice princess will not go near WDW on that trip. Last year, we had annual passes but she preferred to stay at the rink and watch friends compete. This year, no WDW, but she's looking forward to driving past WDW to Celebration for dinner at Columbia on Friday night. And then walking around the corner to Kilwins!

She would happily join Crisi's DD in Washington DC -- especially for the Smithsonian museums, but surprisingly also for the monuments and memorials. Last trip, she was greatly moved (at 10) by the Vietnam Wall, the WWII monument, and the Korean War monument.

She is also a budding "Parkie," but so far has only experienced Everglades (like a ranger - deep into the backcountry), Yosemite, Great Smokys, and Shenandoah. One of our vacation options this year was either Grand Canyon (and other nearby spots) or Yellowstone/Grand Teton. But instead, she wanted to solve a flu pandemic by attending a week-long residential Duke University TIP CRISIS course.

Last December, we took her BFF's family with us to OKW. They could only stay one night because of school commitments, and the girls chose UNIVERSAL rather than Disney. (We were there for a full week, so DD got plenty of Disney).

As much as we love Disney, I feel like we would be horribly shortchanging her if we didn't explore other vacation options. There is more to the world than make-believe.

 

[bwvBound]

FWIW, I'm a second generation Disneyphile. My mother claims the only vacation her family ever took was cross country by train to visit Disneyland in 1955. She raised me and my siblings on Disney movies, TV shows, music, clothing, games, books, etc. I've grown up with "Disney in my backyard" and honestly can't possibly count the number of visits I've made to Disneyland. If anyone is 'tainted' from too much Disney, it could be me. This is a fairly common SoCal upbringing - so I'm not alone. Of course Disney feels like "home"!

Gladly, my family also took us on lots of other trips, outings and adventures and we've followed the same pattern as adults. Of course there is Disney in our lives -- but there are still plenty of other pursuits as well: 4x4 camping; horse clinics/shows; cruising; road trips; and "other timeshare."

We characterize our travel style as "opportunistic." If there is a great deal out there -- we try to fit it in! Sometimes that feels like "too much cruising" if that is where the deals are or "too much Disney" if that is where the events are. Somehow it all works. We are seeing the world and enjoying the journey.

----
Thanks Mom and Dad for the many wonderful vacation memories: Schroon Lake, NY; the beachhouse on the Jersey Shore; the road trips across country; RV camping; rail travel across Europe; and later cruising and timesharing with you after we were grown. You set a great example for us!

 

[oldfastpassxpert]

I was raised on Disney as well. While I love other activities, there is only one Disney. As far as theme parks are concerned- there is only disappointment at other parks for me.

cB

 

[Sammie]

We have been able to do both due to conservative living.

We prefer to have multiple trips a year, one Disney, a couple of non Disney to a large house, dining out, movies, or new car. Basically except on vacations we are very frugal.

 

[bobbiwoz]

My motto was "there's more in Florida than Disney." We did not buy into DVC until we were empty nesters and our sons were on their own for 5 years. There was not DVC in the 1980's when our sons were growing up.

Both boys have thanked us for the National Parks, State Parks and National Historic Sites we visited together.

We have been lucky, this month DH and I visited Graceland, The Little Rock High School that was integrated in the 1950s and Hot Springs Arkansas! All of this was en route to Houston where we gave our son his very large collection of Baseball Cards! We had to rent a van to fit it all!

 

[tgropp]

When our children were smaller, we saved to take a Christmas vacation at WDW. As the children grew older, they thought that it would be nicer to take a non Disney vacation. Now that they are married and one with a child, they WANT to go to Disney. When I suggested a cruise, it WAS a Disney Cruise. Go figure!

 

[dwelty]

I think how you choose spend your vacations depends on where you live. We live in Southern California, we have Mountains, Deserts and the Ocean within 90 minutes drive of our front door, as well as 2 world class cities. There are also 6 national parks within a half a days drive.

We can spend long weekends exposing our kids to other experiences besides Disney. On Thanksgiving break we spent 4 days hiking Zion Canyon and Bryce National Parks. That being said, we would never give up at least 1 trip a year to a Disney destination. this June we are going to Hilton Head. There is something about the Disney experience that I just can't put my finger on that makes it special. Any Disney destination does this for us.

 

[Dean]

I will begin this by saying that I sincerely wouldn't trade all of our trips for anything. My wife and I constantly say that DVC was the best money that we ever spent.

With that said, we have had to make a concerted effort over the past 2 years to expand our horizons more. We were getting into a rut where all of our disposable income was going to Disney, and I felt like there was more of the country and world that I wanted my kids to see. To that end, we took several cruises, started running an endeavor to run a race in every state, and will be going to Europe this summer (and skipping Disney for the first year in....forever).

Skipping Disney this year has been a bit tough on us. It seems like home for us, so we kind of just "expect" to go every year. But if we are going to go to Europe, there is no way we can afford Disney in the same calendar year.

I sometimes feel like taking my kids to Disney at least once a year for their first 13 years of life has set up some unrealistic expectations for other trips. When you are used to 'round-the-clock rides and entertainment, I fear that some of our more low-key trips won't hold as much interest to them. We have taken a bunch of side trips in the past, but since a Disney trip was always right around the corner, something a bit more dry was more tolerable.

Well, I guess we'll see how they make it through their first non Disney year!

Disney is a smaller but important part of what we do for vacation. There and HH are the only places we try to do at least EOY. WE have other options we do consistently but less often like HI, Aruba, Gatlinburg and cruises. We try to alternate comfortable known locations with new horizon's. This issue is the very reason I caution people about overbuying DVC or looking at DVC to use for non DVC options.

 

[nooch]

We fell into Disney because our kids have dietary needs that can be difficult to meet. Disney is so accommodating that we bought into dvc as all inclusives are absolutely price prohibitive given their needs. We aren't fans of cooking on vacation (that's for the other 355 days of the year) so disney and it's dining options are awesome for us. As our boys grow we plan on expanding their experienced but until then disney is a great fit. We are looking toward aulani in a few years. Growing up I had one plane ride (age 8) to go to disney. As a young adult I travelled throughout Europe and to the NA coasts. Our kids are already experienced travelers who will only get more experienced as they grow. For now - disney is great for us.

 

[emilymad]

We bought a small contract with the intention of either taking years off or taking turns going to HHI. We also travel lots of other places. We have done lots of non Disney cruises and more local road trips. We used our points for Aulani. We are in London now for our second Europe trip in two years. We don't have kids yet so we are taking this time to travel.

Having said all of this we truly value our Disney vacations. The experiences at Disney are a level above any of our other vacations. Having just finished up 10 days in Europe we are exhausted. So much more than a Disney trip. We have been saying we are so glad our next vacation is in Disney! It is a lot more work to plan and deal with a non Disney vacation.

We feel lucky that we can do both but we never regret traveling to Disney so much.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Not really. We are not adventurous travelers. We like to get away. We like having the familiarity that comes with frequent DVC trips. We are older so navigating unknown territories is not fun for us. We'll take bus trips for that.

We have been to Europe twice. There is a lot of stress that comes with foreign travel. At this point we want to relax, be at a first rate familiar vacation spot, in the US. Disney is what give us this.

 

[Mrs.Milo]

We think of Disney and DVC as our "get away and unwind place". That's always a good place to go.

 

[Micca]

DW and I saw a fair bit of the real world before our kids were born. While we're interested in other locations, we find that we're happiest at WDW.

I wouldn't pass up a chance to try a new country or place in the U.S., but it's easy and fun being a DVC member at WDW.

 

[SamSam]

We have been able to do both due to conservative living.

We prefer to have multiple trips a year, one Disney, a couple of non Disney to a large house, dining out, movies, or new car. Basically except on vacations we are very frugal.

Sounds like us! We live very frugally for our 'normal' life but splurge on our vacations, Disney and non-Disney. Most of our friends and family think our income is about triple what it is! They just don't understand living frugally to do other things.

We love our DVC but also love other trips.

 

[Wedgeh]

Sounds like us! We live very frugally for our 'normal' life but splurge on our vacations, Disney and non-Disney. Most of our friends and family think our income is about triple what it is!

Yeah that about sums it up for me.

Returning to the original question, this is probably the first year I feel like I may have booked 'too much Disney' - at least for DW's sake - having persuaded her into visiting twice this year. Having the AP was just too tempting for me, we'll definitely take at least one year off next year.

That being said we're lucky enough to have seen a lot of new places last year and the WBTA will be visiting some new ports for us.