Help for my husband who HATES Disney

[LINZ-MCKINZ]

Sorry, this is going to be a rather long post. Bear with me


Let me give you a little bit of backstory. Growing up, my family never went on family vacations. Disney World has always held this almost mythological place in my heart… a place I’ve always dreamed of, but never thought I would go to. So, when I became pregnant with my son, I decided to make an effort to take him on family vacations and that on his 5th birthday, my husband and I would take him to Disney World. My husband, at the time, agreed.


So, next November will be the big trip. It will be my son’s first trip to Disney World (as well as his first airplane ride). It will be my first trip to Disney World as well (or Disney anything, for that matter) and at age 30, I couldn’t be more thrilled!!! My husband, however, is determined to be a stick in the mud.


At first he claimed that our son would be “too young to remember.” Then he was complaining about possibly missing his favorite gaming tournament that he goes to every year (he won’t be; I checked with the tournament organizer before deciding on dates). Then he complains about missing his team play college football (he goes to all the home games. I checked the schedule and we are supposed to play a less important game versus a team we should beat easily). Then he told me how much he hates Disney World because he went there with his mom and younger brother once and absolutely hated it. He also happened to be 14 at the time, and he still doesn’t get along with either his mother or his brother, so I can see why he would have despised the trip back then. I booked the trip and while he has agreed to go, it just seems like he’s determined to hate it and we are still a while way from going.


My question to all of you is what are some things can I do to make this an enjoyable trip for him as well? Any awesome food places, can’t miss things that I need to be doing? Are there any good places that he can watch his College football on that Saturday (I know we will probably have lunch together, then meet up for dinner, but we will probably split up that day so he can watch his football and me and the son can do exceptionally Disney geek out stuff). I know I’m not going to make him a Disney convert by any stretch of the imagination, but I would like him to at least have fun.


I’m not much of a planner, but he usually likes having everything planned out; therefore I’m making it my mission to have things fairly planned out as far as food reservations, etc. He’s a bit of a foodie and a beer snob, so there’s that. If he had it his way, we’d be going back to Hawaii.


Thank you all!!! And thank you for reading my long winded post!

 

[BabyHabs]

My DH and I are pretty honest and blunt with each other. I'd just ask him why he was being a douche and trying to ruin the trip for everyone with his douchy attitude. I'd say, either you go with an open mind and try to have fun, or stay his douchy butt at home and I'd invite along a friend/sister/mother/relative.

 

[LINZ-MCKINZ]

Haha! We already had that meeting and he's agreed to stop being so negative and that he wouldn't miss his son's 5th birthday for the world. So he's willing to shut up about it, go along, and be happy for me and DS. But, he's not going to help me in planning anything, so everything is up to me to plan. I've never been, so I don't know what things are awesome and which things I could skip.


He really hates theme parks and to him, Disney is just another stupid theme park with large crowds, long waits, terrible food, and terrible beer.

 

[dizzy daisy]

Oh no, there is GOOD beer to be found, lol!

I'm so happy for you, that you get to go finally I remember how I felt when I finally got the 'Yes'. My DH wasn't too excited about WDW before our first trip. We are DL veterans and while he enjoyed our many trips there, at first he wasn't onboard with a trip to FL. He couldn't wrap his head around the cost, the reasoning for going all the way to FL when we lived in CA, and why anyone would want to spend a whole week there. I had the douchebag downer talk with him, lol, and he put a sock in it. Still there was a lot of eyeball rolling on his part and pretending not to notice on mine as I worked away at the plan. Well, by the end of day two he told me he was having the best vacation he'd ever had. We were hot, tired and holding two sleeping kids on a dark crowded bus. I was floored, and oh so happy. Part of what he loved about it was he didn't have to do anything. No driving, no planning. It was easy and relaxing, a good escape from day to day life. So don't give up hope that your man won't at least enjoy the trip! My DH loves WDW now, but he's not yet a flag waving dork like me.

Try not to take your DH's less than enthusiastic attitude bring you down, and try not to take it personal. I bet you can find somewhere for him to watch his game, so that sounds like a great plan. Make it easy for him so he gets time to relax and enjoy being with his family. My Dh was fixated on how much everything was going to cost ("terrible, overpriced food" came out of his mouth often even though he'd never once read a single review about WDW food, lol). As a result I researched the heck out of things like menus, photos and souvenirs so I'd know how much money to bring. Since food was such a big cost we ended up with only a couple TS meals and that was just enough for us. He has a massive sweet tooth so I learned where the candy stores and ice cream shops were, lol. I read message boards on how to save money on food and found things that worked for us. I had a grocer deliver some things to our room - his favorite yogurt, some fruit, snacky stuff for the kids, bottled water, his favorite chocolate bars and some booze (That was good because the kids were little (in bed early) and we'd have a quiet drink when they fell asleep.

He had crowd concerns as well. He hated the idea of hopping and was adamant that we not do it, lol. He didn't want to spend time going from one place to the next, so I planned around that and it worked out well for our family. I built a couple days in to the trip to do non-park things (DTD, eating at other WDW resorts and swimming at our own resort). This was way before FP+ so we didn't have much of a schedule to keep when we were in the parks. I poured over maps before we went so I knew where things were in the parks. This added to the ease of it all for him (and for me too).

 

[mjkacmom]

DH and I went once when we were dating (I'd been several times as a kid/young adult), once when are two oldest were little (business trip), and then a week long mega trip with all 5 kids and my parents. He was skeptical, but I spent almost a year planning, and it was flawless. I chose which parks on which days based on crowd calendars, made ADR's that everyone would like, planned fast passes (back when you had to get them on the day), made sure we were on the shortest lines, had enough rest, and were never hungry. We'd rope drop every morning with a plan, have lunch, and then do whatever.

 

[old feller]

Haha! We already had that meeting and he's agreed to stop being so negative and that he wouldn't miss his son's 5th birthday for the world. So he's willing to shut up about it, go along, and be happy for me and DS. But, he's not going to help me in planning anything, so everything is up to me to plan. I've never been, so I don't know what things are awesome and which things I could skip.


He really hates theme parks and to him, Disney is just another stupid theme park with large crowds, long waits, terrible food, and terrible beer.

Take him to ESPN at Disney

 

[ErinInCT]

You are going in November, so as long as you are not going at Thanksgiving you will have great weather and lowish crowds. My daughter (now 15) still remembers stuff from her trip at 4 yrs old. And if you get pics and video that helps, lol. 5 is probably the perfect most magical time for a child to really enjoy it. And hopefully your hubby will get joy out of seeing how much your son loves it.
Ok, you are at the right place for planning! Most of us here are quite obsessive about planning and people will give you GREAT advice. Go to the restaurant board to ask about beer - I think most of the EPCOT countries will have beer and your hubby can partake all the way around the world showcase!! There is an ESPN I think at the Boardwalk where he can watch the game. Or he can stay in his room, lol! You will probably want to do one (at least, lol) character meal to make it really special for your son (my hubby even gets embarrassingly sappy at character interactions - it was a shock). You can tailor it to what your son likes (Pooh, Mickey and friends, Disney Junior, etc). Food at Disney is actually pretty good so I bet your hubby will be pleasantly surprised. Again, the restaurant board will be a wealth of info. There are even sites that have all the menus for every restaurant so depending on your hubby's preference you can plan stuff he would like. Make sure you know what your TOP RIDE choices are so you can get Fast Passes for them so your hubby will NOT have to wait in long lines! (The Attractions page has tons of info and you can post questions to get advice from other parents of 5 yr old boys to see what their sons liked). Not sure if you are staying on site, but we love it - you get immersed in the Disney experience and you never have to drive anywhere (a bus will even take you to and from the airport) and the theming of the hotels is amazing and the pools are super fun! It is worth the extra money to stay on site (imho).
Ok, you have your work cut out for you to become an expert in the next year, but you can do it! Just to prove your hubby wrong and gloat when he has the time of his life!

 

[Pesky]

Send him to ESPN Zone to watch the game. Take a look at dining options that you think he would like and make some ADRs just based on his likes. Wow him with your FP+ prowess. Feel free to decide the crowds are getting too much and hey, let's go relax by the pool. Go miniature golfing. Plan at least one date night when you can drop junior off at one of the camps, where he'll have a blast, and you guys can go grab a nice dinner (or hang at ESPN Zone). Also consider sending Junior on his own adventure like the pirates thing and that would give you guys a bit to chill.

 

[barbaraann]

My first trip to Disney World, was back in 1997. My grandson was 4. My husband, my grandson, and I had a marvelous time. My husband is not a Disney Fan, but he adores his grandson. We rode some rides, swam in the pool, stayed at the Polynesian, shopped a lot, saw the parade, did some character meals, took lots of pictures, and I even had a birthday dinner at Ohana where we watched the fireworks. My husband won't go back, but he still talks about that trip he took with a 4 year old little boy.

I say, don't plan too much. Let the child lead the way.

Have a wonderful time. There's magic to be had even for those who say otherwise.

 

[DisMom456]

Staying on property is definitely a way to streamline the trip, from easy transportation to dining options to additional family activities and amazing pools. i definitely agree that ESPN Zone is a good place to watch any game, but most of the resort lounges/bars have tv's, too, if you find yourself in a different area that day. We skip a lot of the parades because that's where it can get crazy (particularly without fastpasses). But the advantage to traveling with one young-ish child, especially on a first trip, is that they will love what you plan and really don't know the things you might leave out

 

[chewysmom]

My husband loves Disney-but only while we're there. The man is as carefree and as happy as he can be while on Disney property. The second we get home, he's full of loud sighs when I mention Disney, complaining about how expensive it is, how he just enjoys the beach more, etc. He will not help me plan a single thing. It's up to me to pick dates, pick the hotel, pick where we eat, etc. (well, the kids help too!)

SO you just plan your heart out. I made it my mission for our first Disney trip to my my dh fall in love w/ WDW. It didn't quite work out the way I had hoped but I think with every trip he starts to love it more.

 

[lauracitawita]

I remember planning our first trip to Disney with my Husband and daughter. My husband did not want to go. He couldn't understand how we could be spending so much money at a theme park when we could go to Jamaica or something for way less.

We are now planning our 5th trip together. He has a MASSIVE spreadsheet, he is constantly tweaking dinner reservations and fastpasses. We watch Disney vlogs pretty much nightly on his request.

He can't wait until our daughter is too busy or "too cool" to come to Disney with us so we can have an adults only trip to Disney. Hahaha.

You never know what that Disney magic will do to your husband once you get there!

I think planning is very important, though. Read as much as you can on these boards. The more you know, the more fun you will have!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

As a guy, I'll share my thoughts. I got dragged kicking & screaming to Magic Kingdom when I was 17. I though it the most ridiculous waste of a sunny day ever - so much so that when my wife & I took an impromptu trip to Orlando (on airline & hotel points) in 1998, we went to Universal, SW, and Animal Kingdom - Skipping MK altogether.

Fast forward to 2012 & we decided to take our daughters then 11 & 6. Well, I had a wonderful time. MK is still not my cup of tea, but seeing it through my kids' eyes and my wife's eyes (like you OP, my wife never travelled as a kid) made it all worthwhile.

I'm recommend not overloading your time with Magic Kingdom since he's not a WDW fan. We were there 1 day out of 7 & that was more than enough to enjoy the park without princess overload. We'll go back some day and do some of the things we skipped. No big deal.

 

[LINZ-MCKINZ]

Oh no, there is GOOD beer to be found, lol!

I'm so happy for you, that you get to go finally I remember how I felt when I finally got the 'Yes'. My DH wasn't too excited about WDW before our first trip. We are DL veterans and while he enjoyed our many trips there, at first he wasn't onboard with a trip to FL. He couldn't wrap his head around the cost, the reasoning for going all the way to FL when we lived in CA, and why anyone would want to spend a whole week there. I had the douchebag downer talk with him, lol, and he put a sock in it. Still there was a lot of eyeball rolling on his part and pretending not to notice on mine as I worked away at the plan. Well, by the end of day two he told me he was having the best vacation he'd ever had. We were hot, tired and holding two sleeping kids on a dark crowded bus. I was floored, and oh so happy. Part of what he loved about it was he didn't have to do anything. No driving, no planning. It was easy and relaxing, a good escape from day to day life. So don't give up hope that your man won't at least enjoy the trip! My DH loves WDW now, but he's not yet a flag waving dork like me.

Try not to take your DH's less than enthusiastic attitude bring you down, and try not to take it personal. I bet you can find somewhere for him to watch his game, so that sounds like a great plan. Make it easy for him so he gets time to relax and enjoy being with his family. My Dh was fixated on how much everything was going to cost ("terrible, overpriced food" came out of his mouth often even though he'd never once read a single review about WDW food, lol). As a result I researched the heck out of things like menus, photos and souvenirs so I'd know how much money to bring. Since food was such a big cost we ended up with only a couple TS meals and that was just enough for us. He has a massive sweet tooth so I learned where the candy stores and ice cream shops were, lol. I read message boards on how to save money on food and found things that worked for us. I had a grocer deliver some things to our room - his favorite yogurt, some fruit, snacky stuff for the kids, bottled water, his favorite chocolate bars and some booze (That was good because the kids were little (in bed early) and we'd have a quiet drink when they fell asleep.

He had crowd concerns as well. He hated the idea of hopping and was adamant that we not do it, lol. He didn't want to spend time going from one place to the next, so I planned around that and it worked out well for our family. I built a couple days in to the trip to do non-park things (DTD, eating at other WDW resorts and swimming at our own resort). This was way before FP+ so we didn't have much of a schedule to keep when we were in the parks. I poured over maps before we went so I knew where things were in the parks. This added to the ease of it all for him (and for me too).

Our husbands sound a lot alike. The words "terrible, overpriced food" have actually come out of his mouth as well. This is very encouraging!

 

[LINZ-MCKINZ]

As a guy, I'll share my thoughts. I got dragged kicking & screaming to Magic Kingdom when I was 17. I though it the most ridiculous waste of a sunny day ever - so much so that when my wife & I took an impromptu trip to Orlando (on airline & hotel points) in 1998, we went to Universal, SW, and Animal Kingdom - Skipping MK altogether.

Fast forward to 2012 & we decided to take our daughters then 11 & 6. Well, I had a wonderful time. MK is still not my cup of tea, but seeing it through my kids' eyes and my wife's eyes (like you OP, my wife never travelled as a kid) made it all worthwhile.

I'm recommend not overloading your time with Magic Kingdom since he's not a WDW fan. We were there 1 day out of 7 & that was more than enough to enjoy the park without princess overload. We'll go back some day and do some of the things we skipped. No big deal.

Thanks! It's good to get a guy's perspective on this. We will probably do one day at MK as a family and stay for the Mickey Christmas Party. I figure I'll take the kiddo back briefly on that Saturday while I send my husband to the ESPN club to drink and watch the College Football games.

 

[LINZ-MCKINZ]

Thanks everybody. A plan is starting to form. I still have a little over a year to become the Disney expert

I've set up to go the second week of November 2016 staying at the Caribbean Beach for 7 days on the deluxe dining plan. I'm paying for this entire trip through plasma donation, so I don't have to listen to any whining about cost. I also decided on the deluxe plan so that a) again... I don't have to listen to the DH whine about cost b) to provide a nice relaxing midday and evening break with a nice meal and c) to wow him with awesome food experiences (he loves good food and I keep hearing the "terrible, overpriced food" even though he hasn't looked at a single menu).

I figure with the dining plan I would do a regular TS for an earlier lunch and a signature for dinner. Not the best value, I know, but it's what will work best for our family, since none of us are really breakfast eaters.

So I figured I'd need to wow him food wise right off the bat, so maybe Sanaa for the lunch on arrival day? Hubby is an adventurous eater, so it might work. Maybe California Grill at some point. Biergarten for sure at some point because both boys love German food. I suppose Coral Reef because DS is obsessed with ocean creatures. BOG for dinner on Magic Kingdom day because DS LOVES the Beast. Possibly a couple more character meals in there. I have 7 days worth of meals to plan. I guess I better get started on my spreadsheet and mark my calendar for ADR day.

That's about as far as I've gotten in the planning process so far. I've still got a year to do this. I'm soooooooooooo excited!!

 

[Eoywin]

My husband isn't a huge Disney fan - he was happy to go for our daughter's 5th birthday. She is almost 7 and she still remembers it.

We are going to Disney next year without him

 

[mjkacmom]

For your first trip, I'd suggest not doing the deluxe place. We did the regular, and still had tons of snack credits left. TS dining takes up a lot of time. One sit down meal is plenty - there are many good CS restaurants. We usually had a grab and go breakfast (snack credit, food from room), and either a late lunch after getting in a lot, or had a sit down dinner. I can't imagine even having an appetite for more than that!

 

[Planogirl]

My DH has never liked Disney so I mostly left him at home. However when he decided to come along, I basically left him alone and let him do his own thing. I discovered that he liked the hotels and restaurants but really disliked the themeparks so DS and I would go to the parks without him usually. He was happier and so were we.

 

[gatormom2tots]

I remember planning our first trip to Disney with my Husband and daughter. My husband did not want to go. He couldn't understand how we could be spending so much money at a theme park when we could go to Jamaica or something for way less.

We are now planning our 5th trip together. He has a MASSIVE spreadsheet, he is constantly tweaking dinner reservations and fastpasses. We watch Disney vlogs pretty much nightly on his request.

He can't wait until our daughter is too busy or "too cool" to come to Disney with us so we can have an adults only trip to Disney. Hahaha.

You never know what that Disney magic will do to your husband once you get there!

I think planning is very important, though. Read as much as you can on these boards. The more you know, the more fun you will have!

This is pretty much our story....dragged my DH to Disney for the 1st time as a weekend before we left on a cruise out of Tampa. Knowing he HATED crowds, I spent a good 6-9 months planning our trip and researching how to best utilize our time. This was way back in the day before FP+ and we used a great app called ridemax and advice from Tour Guide Mike (how's that for a blast from the past!).

It was a wonderful trip, over Easter weekend, and minimial line waiting. On the drive home after our cruise, my husband said "Forget the cruise, we are going back to Disney next year." We have been die hard fans ever since- as seen by my signature.

The best plan is TO plan...don't make the mistake of thinking you can just wing it and have a great trip. Be informed and knowledgeable how to be plan for your family style. For us, it was minimizing wait times since DH hates waits.