In one day I talked to 2 people who have never...

[Deemarch]

been to WDW!! One of them is a long-time friend. She said to me, "Are you still interested in that place?" She was serious.

How many people have you met that have never been to WDW and have no intentions of ever going?

 

[spiceycat]

I live in Ala (next to Florida) and for Ala a big city - so most people here know about WDW and most have gone at least once.

now we always have move into our state from the West or North - but there are alot of WDW people here - so they get told pretty quickly....

 

[MemereMouse]

I've got friends of over 30 years who have never been to WDW and can't see our going back over and over again. I'd love to take them to OKW but they absolutely refuse to go! I'm sure they think of it as just a big theme park even though they have seen many, many pictures of all the DVC homes. Oh well, it's their loss and they are certainly not going to change our minds!!!!

 

[AJKMOM]

My brother has always said WDW was too commercial. No Disney clothes for his baby, no Disney videos to watch. When I told him we were going in March, 2005 to BWV for a week, he said he MAY go with us, only because his daughter will be 5 then. We'll see. I don't think I could take his complaining about the cost of food, tickets, etc., so there will be ground rules, thats for sure.

 

[DVC Jen]

I know ALOT of people who have never been. Amazing huh?

 

[Deemarch]

One lady told me that she "hates" Mickey Mouse and what he stands for!!!!

I think she might have transferred some thoughts about Politicians to poor Mickey!! LOL

 

[Chuck S]

I don't think I could take his complaining about the cost of food, tickets, etc., so there will be ground rules, thats for sure.

Unfotunately, ground rules or not, be prepared for the endless "Oh my gosh, look what they charge for....." comments. We took a cousin several years ago, now this was not a kid, but a mature woman. It was during the time we has the free park passes. She owns a dairy farm of at least 200 acres and isn't hurting for $$$. She had to pay for her meals and flight...and I got a great rate of $114 r/t for the flight (wish I could do that again). I paid for the car rental, and of course, the park tickets were included with the room.

All this woman did was complain about the price of food,,,"I've never paid $20 for a meal in my life..blah blah blah". She hasn't been invited back. Imagine that!

I know a lot of folks here that have never been to Disney, and have absolutely no intention of desire to go. "After all, we have Six Flags and Sea World right here in San Antonio."

 

[southtown]

I have a friend that hasnt gone since he was a kid and I knew that he would expect too much with the way his brother and I talked about how great it was(his brother was turned into a disney nut after a trip with his girlfriend. Before he went he didnt like it when I talked about Disney and asked how could I go more then once a year. After he went he couldnt wait to go again and ended up going 4 times in one year.He now lives in florida and goes all the time) Knowing they way my friend is with having to have the most up to date things that he wouldnt like some of the older rides like POTC and some of the other classic older rides. So he went and just like we thought when he came back he complained that he thought Epcot was too commercialized with the rides being sponsored by some corporation,and said SSE was cheesy because some of that technology is available today.
I guess you just have people that get it(his brother) and dont get it(my friend),and the ones dont get it,dont want to get it, and no matter how hard you try they will just find something to complain about. My thinking is I aint going to try to talk to someone about something I love that is going to tell me how stupid it is or I am for loving it. Some people are more happy being miserable.

 

[TwirlerGirl]

My DDIL is dis-interested in WDW. She is a native of Hershey, PA
which means Hershey Amusement Park. Her mother's first job was as a taste tester for Hershey Foods which gave them many free trips to HP. She said she is sick of amusement parks and really not interested in going to WDW, even for free. How can I convince her that there is no comparison? She almost fainted when we told her the price of tickets. We are taking the whole family in May 05 and she only wants to do one day at the park. Where do I start?
My mother was another one, she went once when the park first opened and it was just the MK. She never wanted to go back. The park didn't interest her and it was to much walking. No wheelchair for her, she had 2 good feet and a brick wall up.

If I couldn't convince my DM after 7 yrs of asking her to go, how am I ever going to convince DDIL?

I sent for videos for vacation planning and DVC. I had them sent to her house. Maybe after viewing them she'll change her mind.

Sandy

 

[musicalSaranader]

My roommate has never been to WDW. Which is funny because I'm a Disney freak...lol. But to my relief she does want to go eventually!

 

[crisi]

I'm actually more shocked at how many people have been!

We are in Minnesota, so the trip is not undertaken lightly. Yet at daycare when they have pictures up of the kids families, many, many of the kids (we are talking three and four year olds - that age where people who will only go once don't go) have very recognizable backgrounds.

We had the pleasure of taking my MIL and her sister for their first ever trip last year. Neither of them would have ever gone without us (my mother in law had little interest, too commercial, and my aunt in law better things to do with her limited income). Both enjoyed it, I believe, far more than they thought they would.

(My parents live on a lake. My husband is from Minnesota. My son took up fishing at the age of three. Last summer, my husband caught his first ever fish. He is 38 years old, has lived in Minnesota - land of 10,000 lakes - for most of his life, and had never been fishing!)

 

[dlr25]

My parents took me in 1975 and have never been back. We have invited them to join us every time we have gone with our kids. Since joining DVC, we have offered them their own studio or sharing one of the huge 2BRs at OKW. They have never come with us and probably never will. They think it's too crowded, too commercial, etc. We've shown them pictures with no one else in sight. We've explained that you don't have to go to the parks. The pools are lovely, we rent boats, take walks, etc. They have an idea in their head and all the explanations and photos apparently won't change it. Here's the weird part. We are in such a comfortable routine now when we go to WDW that they'd probably only be in the way. We know what works for us and it's kind of nice to not worry about two more people. As for the comments (It's so crowded, it's so expensive, etc.) I think they're inevitable and it would really get on my nerves. We're going to SSR in October and I didn't even invite them this time.

 

[bobbiwoz]

DS lives in Venezuela, and he offered to bring a friend to our Grand Gatherings in December, she said "NO!" Disney translates into all that is bad in our country in her eyes.

We have dear friends who have never been to WDW in spite of raising 2 fine sons into maturity. I've explained the VWL to her and her hubby, and told her that we don't have to do any parks but I would love them to be our guest there. This will be in Dec. '05 and they readily accepted. Amazingly, they also said they would love to do Mickey Mouse things, so I don't really know what's kept them away all of these years.

Bobbi

 

[Deemarch]

I think that we, all of the WDW lovers, see some parts of life from a child's perspective. I NEVER think of how much something costs if it can bring us sooooo much pleasure. (Not being foolish about money, though) I get as excited as kids do when I'm planning a trip, on my vacation or planning the next one before the first one ever comes!!

I guess that's the real difference between the believers and non-believers.

I may have to grow old but I never, ever have to grow up!!!!!

 

[BWVDee]

I am not surprised at all. Many of my neighbors at our FL home (which is only a little over an hour from WDW) have never been to WDW and have absolutely no desire to go. Many of our senior citizen neighbors actually have very bad feelings towards Disney. They feel as though Disney has done nothing but bring more crowds, crime, pollution etc to the area and has not enhanced the area at all. I obviously do not agree with them at all, but that is how many of them feel, including some of our family members.

 

[childsplay]

We have lots of friends who have no real interest in going to WDW, its just not their thing, they think its too expensive, too far away, too childish, too "gay friendly", or any other reason they can think of. My wife's family thought it was horrible when we first went (anti-Disney), of course they only whispered those things in her ear they would never confront me.
Now they just pretty much leave us alone about our Disney trips...which is nice, they understand we love it (I do at least, I still think my wife just humors me, but that's what makes her so special ) and they aren't going to change our minds.........although, you could have knocked me over with a feather earlier this year when they said they wanted to come to HH with us.

 

[ErinC]

I made all the arrangements for some friends of ours to go to Disney this past March. They stayed at WL and during the planning she made several comments that this would probably be there one and only trip ever to Disney. They have three kids and the oldest teenage daughter kept saying that she would rather go to the mountains than to WDW! Anyway, when they returned , they had to time of their lives and can't wait to go back. They loved it and so did their kids.

In reverse, I was talking to another friend who keeps wanting me to go to Six Flags with her this summer. She can't believe that I have never in my life, ever, ever , been to Six Flags. (She has never been to Disney) I just explained to her that I grew up in Florida, we went as Day guests to Disney at least a couple of times a year, and I just think that anything less would be a disappointment for me!

 

[UConnJack]

Well, I never went until 5 years ago with my then fiancee, I never went as a child. We bought the DVC during our 2nd trip during the milleneum celebration. I can see why people don't understand the desire to go back multiple times, but most people don't get how its more than just the parks. It's an entire isolated fantasy world where you can forget about the rest of the world, with plenty of other activities other than the parks.

To be honest, I personally can't see me going back more than once every few years, there are too many other things to see and do in the world. But its nice to have one place your familiar with and happy at that you can regularly revisit. While we don't trade out that much, we would never have bought it if it were limited the WDW only, we do like to go other places (and love the option of HHI and VB). As a matter of fact, I think I would add on at VB or HHI before any other property (unless they open another off-site location which I wish they would). As a matter of fact, the final justification we used for buying was that we used our first two years of points to book our honeymoon hotels in Hawaii (Kapalua and Mauna Lani - fabulous!), which would have cost a few thousand dollars right there.

My brother has yet to go, but we plan on bringing him and his family at some point. I do have a friend who will not go, he too hates big buisness and commercialism (lets face it, Disney is both). To him Disney, WalMart, Home Depot, and chain resturaunts are the decline of civilization. Plus, being a history buff and teacher, he still hasn't forgiven Disney for trying to build the history park in VA on the historic sites.

 

[Scoootch]

I've talked to people who've never been and say they still have no interest. Until recently my DBIL and DSIL were some of the most "never been and probably never will" people I'd ever met We of course have been going every year for years now - long before moving to FL and whenever the conversation has come up, they have always made comments like "you're going to WDW again?!" and "don't you ever get bored of WDW and doing the same thing over and over" "it's just a theme park". And of course we roll our eyes right back thinking "they will never understand until they try it just once". Well, they came down this past January for our dd's christening and while they were here we talked them into going to MK for just 1 day for a day trip and WHAAA LAA!! Within the first 2hours of being their they said "Wow - we would have never realized" "this is so much fun". We of course did a full days treatment of starting out with Breakfast at Chef Mickey's with the characters and then to the MK and ended the day at O'hana at the Poly and seeing Wishes while eating there. And while we finally felt like now they won't ask us why we are going yet again, I knew they had a good time but never expected this --- My DSIL called me last week and asked me all about buying into SSR!! Talk about shock!! They now seem to have done a complete turn around and even researched buying into DVC before this phone call! I hadn't even taken them to one of the DVC resorts that day - they are buying sight unseen! I still am totally floored!

So yes - I have encountered some people (more than just my dbil and sil btw) but I think if people only knew.....at least half of them wouldn't knock it before they tried it

 

[goldilocks_63]

I took them last year to OKW (2BR-gave them the Master

and they said, Oh' how lovely..... everyone is so nice.... Oh, you don't even know your at WDW.

I then gave them free tickets, just left them out.... and they ventered out of their own to Epcot, spent the day around Germany one time, another at Mexico (reading books in the sun, and drinking Margaritta's....)

I think they're starting to understand there really is something for everyone.

We meet up for dinner some nights, sometime's go to the pool together, but I tell them the only rule is to do what you want (it's your vacation) and to have fun.

SO..... They've asked to go again, so I'm booking Easter again at OKW.

FYI - Step-Dad has medical issues, (diabetise sp? and quadruple -bypass heart surgery) and won't use the wheelchair or motorized because of pride.

But they had a lovely time riding the boat to DD and exploring, and I bet next trip they will go over to SSR and explore there too....

Mom says she wants to do outlet shopping.

So I think OKW is really nice for those who want a non-Mickey type of stay.