How to get people excited about Disneyland

[Disneylandfanatic]

This sounds like a really silly question right??? I mean who doesn't get excited for Disneyland (well apparently, not everyone loves the parks as much as we do).

A few friends are planning a trip to go to Disneyland in August, and it's not that she is not excited, but she is not sure she will have too much fun. I obviously want her to have a great time (I am sure she will), but I am wondering if you guys have any ideas of things I can do to get her really excited before we go. Just cute little things that can help make her experience magical before we even leave. She has only been to the park once as a teenager and clearly did not do it "right" because she didnt think there was much to do there (WHAT???). I told her she needs to come with a pro like me to see how it is done.

I am planning on easing her into it and not bombarding her with my own personal excitement and craziness surrounding Disneyland. Anyway any tips would be nice (and I am pretty much a broke grad student so nothing requiring lavish gifts lol).

 

[sweethannah]

This sounds like a really silly question right??? I mean who doesn't get excited for Disneyland (well apparently, not everyone loves the parks as much as we do).

A few friends are planning a trip to go to Disneyland in August, and it's not that she is not excited, but she is not sure she will have too much fun. I obviously want her to have a great time (I am sure she will), but I am wondering if you guys have any ideas of things I can do to get her really excited before we go. Just cute little things that can help make her experience magical before we even leave. She has only been to the park once as a teenager and clearly did not do it "right" because she didnt think there was much to do there (WHAT???). I told her she needs to come with a pro like me to see how it is done.

I am planning on easing her into it and not bombarding her with my own personal excitement and craziness surrounding Disneyland. Anyway any tips would be nice (and I am pretty much a broke grad student so nothing requiring lavish gifts lol).

My first trip ever was last year - I was excited about going but wasn't sure that I'd be super enthusiastic.

As soon as we entered the gates myself and my husband were blown away by the feeling of entering another world. The detail, the CMs and the feeling of being a kid again was not something either of us had expected.

I would not oversell Disney to her, instead I would let her walk through the gates and let her experience the magic on her own. She'll be sucked in just like the rest of us in no time.

 

[mystic_path]

Trying to get someone excited who hasn't been before, who isn't a child at heart or, who isn't sure if they will have a good time as they believe Disneyland is a childens park only can be like pulling teeth. A true challenge. I've been there a few times. You can talk their ear off excitedly until you are blue in the face and passing out of exhaustion. But I have found that it is IMPOSSIBLE before hand to get them to understand the fun , and the fact they will feel like they are 10 years old again when they enter those gates.

Disney doesnt go half way with anything. Its all or nothing. You cant possibly tell them about all the little details of the park, the music, the smells, the sounds, the laughter of people, how awesome the rides are etc. Disney magic is not something you can explain to people. It is an impossible feat that no one will ever be able to win. Disney magic is something they have to experience for themselves to fully understand. What may make you excited may not make your friend. But they will find things that send them over the moon, or go OK YEAH YES I AGREE AND I GET IT NOW!

What I would suggest is talk her face off anyway. Anyone going on any vacation is excited to some degree. You may not get that fully excited emotion that you would expect from us Disers, but what you will tell them will be appreciated in the end and make their trip that much easier. They will come back to you later with a TOTALLY different expression. Suggest park tips to save money, how to deal with crowds, where to sit for a parade or show. Tell them about fast passes, and when is a good time to check out a certain land, or about Magic Mornings. Also people LOVE to eat. Tell to them where good places to eat are. Or about Character meals. Tell her what she can do offsite when she needs a break from Disney. You can always show her a few videos from You Tube of things she may enjoy. Tell her your favorite park stories of things that made you laugh or cry of happy. Or my favorite... Set up one of those enchanted phone calls on the day she leaves from her favorite character wishing her a fun time on the trip.

But sometimes to toss them in with a few helpful tips but also not knowing what else to expect is a good thing. It makes it that much more real when they get there.

 

[blackjackdelta]

I would go to Picture of the day" in the community board and look at the photo's..see if there is a" going when "thread and post there along with reading the dailies.

Jack

 

[lk2500]

Perhaps have a few Disney/Pixar movie nights? It would definitely help if she knew all the characters.

My boys are older (15 and 18) and I admit I had no idea who the red haired archer girl was when you guys posted about her, had to look it up....

I haven't seen the Cars movies either, but I plan on watching both of them prior to our next visit at the end of June. I have seen Tangled but not the one with the frog...

If they had a Jason Bourne or an action movie land we'd be set

Also have her read some threads like the one about how to visit Disneyland without riding the rides and the one about how to properly close down Disneyland at night. I learned a lot of small details about the park reading those threads. Any other behind the scenes type stuff might help as well.

The Disneyland No Rides/No Queues/No Stress Anti-Touring Plan:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2922903

 

[Renae De Liz]

I wish I had good suggestions for you! I had friends who did not "get" Disneyland at all, and it drove me batty. In fact, one of them called DL "The Wal-Mart of Theme Parks" Some people just don't understand and there's not much to do but hope they will get it once they've gotten a chance to truly enjoy a park!

Take my husband, his first trip to DL was the one we took together at age 23. He was "convinced" he wouldn't care about it. I could go on and on about the magic and he just couldn't grasp the idea. The only places he'd been to were standard parks with no theming and extreme thrill rides (which he hated). So when i convinced him to take me to Disneyland, he was very lukewarm about it all....UNTIL he rode Peter Pan (our first ride) and flew out over London. I thought he'd not care for it, but after the ride he was babbling about how amazing it was. Riding Pirates was the final push to my side, when we entered that area with the battleship firing, and he exclaimed "It goes on forever! How did they do that?!" (He meant the sky). After that he was hooked and is as fervent a Disney lover as I am.

Anyway, sorry for the story, but I know what you mean! I would suggest maybe a little "Pre Disney party" for everyone, with a disney cake and some little presents to give everyone (could be like a luggage tag, cheap on ebay, or Disney Travelling stuff, etc), each present wrapping themed like a character? This is what I'm going to do for my kids when I announce we're going this month!

 

[DisneytheKid]

Great idea jack. My wife likes the parks but isn't as excitable about them as I am. I'm going to try this as it gets closer to December.

I would go to Picture of the day" in the community board and look at the photo's..see if there is a" going when "thread and post there along with reading the dailies.

Jack

 

[Disneylandfanatic]

OOOHHH Great ideas!!!

How do I go about setting up a disney character calls???

It would be really fun to do a movie night, I also have the disney vacation planning dvd that I could give to her, that might open her eyes to all the things we can do. I am glad that I will be with her so that I can tell her the history and hidden mickeys and details of things that some people just miss because they don't even know they are there. I am really excited for this trip, it will be the first time that I am with someone who is not as much of a diser as I am and I look forward to the challenge and seeing everything through the eyes of someone who thinks it is just a place for kids.

Tanks for all the tips, keep em coming

 

[kayleigh83]

I can tell you from very recent experience... going on and on about it IS the way to go! My boyfriend has never been and wasn't totally into it - in fact in the early stages of planning our trip, he kept trying to convince me we should go to Hawaii instead!

But I was SET on DL and I would NOT shut up about it... I went on and on and on and was very visibly excited. Eventually, he admitted to me that because of how excited I was, he was starting to get excited about it too! If you're that enthusiastic about DL, it will be contagious, trust me!

 

[cp11]

I agree with what people are saying. My mom could never understand our excitement and always said she had no interest. Well, I convinced her to go with me because my husband could not attend while I was running the DL half. Well, needless to say, she absolutely loved it.

She made the comment to me she just couldn't picture and understand it all until she experienced it. But then again, there are the people that just aren't Disney. I have someone I work with that says TSM is the stupidest ride ever and I sat there with my mouth hanging open, saying that's one of our favorites.

Just make sure the suprises keep coming such as first time visitor button, etc. I kept having surprises for my mom and she loved it.

 

[Argento]

They say there are two kinds of people in this world, those who love Disneyland and those who are wrong. I avoid the latter.

 

[xsuki000]

I actually used to be one of those people who didn't know what the big deal with Disneyland was. You couldn't say anything to convince me otherwise. The only thing you can do is bring them there and that's all it'll really take to convince them.

 

[Virgoinab]

I actually used to be one of those people who didn't know what the big deal with Disneyland was. You couldn't say anything to convince me otherwise. The only thing you can do is bring them there and that's all it'll really take to convince them.

So much this!

Here is my story, I love Disney, had been many times, so last year when my husband and I decided to get married (second marriage for both of us) I had wanted to take the kids to Disney afterwards, but, prince charming that he is, suggested, since I and my kids loved Disney so much, that we get married there.

Well, he had only ever been twice in his life, as a kid to wdw and really could care less either way, but he wanted to make me happy.

I of course was over the moon planning not only a 20 person Disney trip, but I was going to be a Disney bride!

Him, he did alot of this during the 11 months of planning.

So, what I did was pretty simple, I let it happen naturaly. I would on occasion bring it up, of course, because we did have a wedding to plan, but I did not go on, and on about about how much fun it was going to be, non-wedding activites at any rate. I would show him pics from here, and the kids and I would discuss our past trips, but not much else.

So when he got there, the wonder that is Disney took over, without me interfering too much by placing expectations on his reaction.

Now, he has bought us annual passes and we are going twice this year, and twice next year.

 

[xsuki000]

I think it's because when you get there, every single person that is there wants to be there. Everyone's smiling and it just lifts up your mood. I really do feel like it's the happiest place on earth. Whenever I have a bad day, I go there and being around all the smiling excited faces just makes me happy.

 

[DizMe]

My first trip ever was last year - I was excited about going but wasn't sure that I'd be super enthusiastic.

As soon as we entered the gates myself and my husband were blown away by the feeling of entering another world. The detail, the CMs and the feeling of being a kid again was not something either of us had expected.

I would not oversell Disney to her, instead I would let her walk through the gates and let her experience the magic on her own. She'll be sucked in just like the rest of us in no time.

This! I honestly wouldn't try to "bring her around" before the trip. This can backfire--some people will dig in and have a kind of knee-jerk reaction, so even if they get there and would have loved it they've convinced themselves that it's overhyped. And to be honest, I'm like that. I don't want someone trying too hard to convince me how much I'm going to love something.

Disneyland will take care of all of that for you if she's one of us

 

[PinkBudgie]

I agree keep it low key and don't try to convince her. She's already going.

Focus instead on what it has that she likes. DH likes DLR but not as much as I do. One thing he really likes is walking around DTD in the evening and listening to the "street artisits" playing their music. So, I bring that up once in a while because DH is a big music person. Does she like plays? Tell her about Aladdin. Shopping? Tell her about DTD. Just help her to make a connection with things she already likes but try not to talk about it all the time.

I could talk about DLR for hours so I have to hold myself back when talking about it with other people.

 

[cfrith5]

Omg, like I couldn't already be excited enough! This thread is making me even more excited for our visit next month!

 

[mybestieismickey]

I'm in the don't push too hard group. Talking about what to expect, favorite things, etc is one thing. Going nuts is another. Telling someone they will love something is something else entirely. I would say, don't build expectations too high.

We went at the end of April with DH's family and DBIL and DFIL were less than excited.

DFIL who had been before was mostly not excited I think because he didn't want to have his expectations unmet. When DH was a kid they went a few times and it was a miserable experience for him. Obviously, he hadn't met me yet and didn't know the right way to do it. We had a great trip a couple of years ago and he finally "got it." But, he's still a subdued not too excitable guy and while he was looking forward to the trip he was not as consumed as some others of us were. He had a great time in April, but I don't think he had as much fun as our first trip together. He did mention a few times in the days after we got back that it was surreal to be home.

DBIL had never been before. His wife was I think the most excited person for this trip (keep in mind we were going for my birthday) and she was totally overwhelming him. Crazy amounts of research, non stop talking and plans, and to top it all off, she was checking wait times on Mouse Wait constantly and telling him what the current wait for rides were. Two months out. DBIL was not excited. At all. Then I found out that he was kind of excited about the trip, but mostly nervous about it. He was afraid he would have the wrong reaction and that the rest of us would be disappointed. I stepped in. No more Mouse Wait public announcements. And no one was allowed to ask anyone what they thought about anything. Except what/where they wanted to eat. I think that really took the pressure off. DBIL had a mostly good time.

My last lesson learned from the April trip was listen to each other, your own body, and body language. Especially body language. DSIL was just so excited to be at DLR, that she wasn't paying attention to DBIL. When the rest of us left the parks to take a break and nap (7AM MM), she pushed through. And he stuck it out with her to not hurt her feelings. She didn't even stop for him to get snacks. By the time we met up with everyone for fireworks, both of them were tired and cranky. She was snapping at everyone and DBIL fell asleep on his backpack on the ground while we were waiting

It sounds like a nightmare trip, but they learned their lesson that day and went much slower the next few.

Have fun on your trip and don't spend the whole time weighing every decision. Chances are if it's something you enjoy, your friend will too. And if they don't at least they know now.

 

[guynhawaii]

Aloha,

Recommend to maintain your happiness, joy and excitment of the trip. Don't change your emotion. However, don't make it an issue with anyone else.

Case in point. When I first took my wife and two children (ages 5 and 4) to DLR in 2006, when wife was not excited. I just played it cool. She was just going through the motions. However, once she walked under the RR tracks and entered the land of Happiness, she quickly changed over from the Dark Side.

After our one-week stay at DLR, she couldn't wait to go to WDW! Now we are planning on our second DLR trip and she is just as excited as our children!

 

[Am588]

This thread makes me feel so much better! I'm bringing DBF with me to Disneyland for the half marathon...and he just isn't excited at all about it! He hates roller coasters and thinks DL is just a larger Six Flags. I think once we get there he'll realize it's so much more and get excited about being there