JimMIA
There's more to life than mice...
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2005
- Messages
- 21,168
We have eased off on our WDW visits. For the first few years, we went twice a year (it's only a 4-hour drive for us), but now we're going once a year. We don't see everything, and we don't do everything, but we don't need to because we know we're going back.
Our DD is now 6 (going on 26!), so she's at a great age for Disney. Every trip there is some new adventure to enjoy. Last trip was the "Fast Track" trip.
But she's also getting to the age where her interests are expanding. She's just as happy watching baby alligators in the Everglades as she is at a character meal. She went to Science & Nature Camp this summer and actually wants me to take her out to the Everglades and show her how the water flows! (She's already given me an explanation of the hydrology that would put many Rangers to shame. "It starts at Disney, goes down the Kiss-Me river drainage to Lake Okee-whatever -- you know, the BIG lake -- then through the Everglades to the ocean...right, Daddy?" Right.)
She loves Disney, but she's also started ice skating and wants to go skiing. She has a keen appreciation for what is real and what is "just a Character," so when I take her to Yellowstone, Minnie will have a tough time competing with moose, elk, bison and bears. If she sees a marmot or a ground squirrel, Minnie's toast.
I think once a year is fine for us right now. I don't think we'll ever stop going. There is so much variety that she'll never run out of new things to see and do. Heck, I have a great time at Disney! But I can see a different pattern evolving where we don't go every year.
*****
As far as offsite dining, it is abundant and very close. It ranges from fast food to fine dining, with a LOT of moderately priced choices.
There is also a LOT more variety in food offsite. Onsite, you basically have the same dishes presented a little differently depending on where you go, and many components of the meals are cooked in central kitchens and trucked to the restaurants. After a few days (especially if you are on DDP) it all starts tasting the same. It's good food, but it's the same stuff, different day.
The fine dining offsite (IMHO) is better than the fine dining onsite. And all of the food is more reasonably-priced than onsite. I think people who don't at least look at the option of renting a car and eating offsite are doing themselves a disservice.
Our DD is now 6 (going on 26!), so she's at a great age for Disney. Every trip there is some new adventure to enjoy. Last trip was the "Fast Track" trip.
But she's also getting to the age where her interests are expanding. She's just as happy watching baby alligators in the Everglades as she is at a character meal. She went to Science & Nature Camp this summer and actually wants me to take her out to the Everglades and show her how the water flows! (She's already given me an explanation of the hydrology that would put many Rangers to shame. "It starts at Disney, goes down the Kiss-Me river drainage to Lake Okee-whatever -- you know, the BIG lake -- then through the Everglades to the ocean...right, Daddy?" Right.)
She loves Disney, but she's also started ice skating and wants to go skiing. She has a keen appreciation for what is real and what is "just a Character," so when I take her to Yellowstone, Minnie will have a tough time competing with moose, elk, bison and bears. If she sees a marmot or a ground squirrel, Minnie's toast.
I think once a year is fine for us right now. I don't think we'll ever stop going. There is so much variety that she'll never run out of new things to see and do. Heck, I have a great time at Disney! But I can see a different pattern evolving where we don't go every year.
*****
As far as offsite dining, it is abundant and very close. It ranges from fast food to fine dining, with a LOT of moderately priced choices.
There is also a LOT more variety in food offsite. Onsite, you basically have the same dishes presented a little differently depending on where you go, and many components of the meals are cooked in central kitchens and trucked to the restaurants. After a few days (especially if you are on DDP) it all starts tasting the same. It's good food, but it's the same stuff, different day.
The fine dining offsite (IMHO) is better than the fine dining onsite. And all of the food is more reasonably-priced than onsite. I think people who don't at least look at the option of renting a car and eating offsite are doing themselves a disservice.