Just got back from WDW

[jeters_boy]

My wife started crying when we walked out of MK for the last time, and has been totally depressed ever since we flew back in today. Is there anything I can do to help her out of this post Disney depression? I'm worried!

 

[LoraJ]

Give her a hug, tell her you love her.
And then let her start planning your next trip.

 

[DisneyBlonde]

Plan another trip

 

[Buckalew11]

Buy her a book! It is called Mousejunkies. She will totally relate to it and she will hug you for buying it for her. It was written by a DISer and is wonderful.

(I may be the unofficial spokesperson for it, lol)

Seriously though. Good book, great read. Plus, tell her you'll take her back sooner than later.

 

[amsyw]

I too get depressed after a WDW trip. We just returned a week and a half ago.

I know with mine it is because I know it will probably be 2 years before we are back. But I try to look at the bright side that I WILL be back.

I also think some of it is the the building up and planning and getting excited. The countdowns, making ressies etc. Then you blink and its OVER. You build up so much, sometimes for a year or more. Then 1 week later its over!

I hope she gets better as the days pass. I am, I'm just looking forward to our next trip, tomorrow is one day closer!!!!

Hugs to her and to you as you help her. I know my dh has been my lifesaver with mild depression on more than one occasion.

And thanks Buckalew for the book suggestion. I will have to look for it!!

 

[GeorgeG]

When we lived in New York I would get the same way when it came time to leave WDW. Even though it would be a year away, I just started planning the next vacation by thinking about what we really wanted to do again, what we didn't get to do and will the next trip, etc.. Sometimes the planning helps a lot, but your friends and family will probably think your crazy. They're just jealous!

Now that we live in Florida, we just go back anytime we want. You may have to give some thought to moving.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

We are die hard Disney fans. We go at least once a year and have been since DD was born. So I recommend that you never take her on the Disney cruise. I cry when I go through the gates at Disney and the family laughs at me. I get depressed when we leave (we all do) but never cry.

Took the cruise for the first time in January, DD9 cried her eyes out the night before we got off the boat. It took her a few minutes to calm down before she could blurt out "I don't want to get off the boat!"
I scheduled our next cruise within the hour of getting off the ship (DVC points). If you think leaving the world is bad, try the cruise.

And start planning the next trip! It always cheers me up.

 

[Luv2Scrap]

I am always planning my next trip, even if I don't have a date set yet. If I am not in planning mode, and I don't know if I will go back, I tend to get really bummed out, so I "pretend" it's going to happen soon, just a matter of picking a date (even if it's not really true).

Maybe you can start "planning" the next trip with her. Even if it's two years from now, it's still fun to have it in mind that you are definitely going back sometime in the forseeable future.

 

[Luv2Scrap]

You know, I just thought about one other thing.

After the first time I went to Disney in 1/07, I became pretty obsessed with getting back, and DH was pretty against it at that point. It wasn't long before I realized that I had inadvertently said some things that made him feel like he wasn't enough for me, and that I was never going to be happy again unless I was at Disney.

when I realized that was how he felt, I worked on re-evaluating my everyday world, and have come to really appreciate all I have. I don't want to cruise through 51 weeks of the year on autopilot, just waiting for that one week to be happy!

Now I am at a point where I feel like I try to be as happy with my everyday life as I can be, and going to Disney is just the icing on the cake!

 

[Mouse Maineac]

I agree. Plan another trip...it's the best way to overcome the sadness of leaving the happiest place on earth.

 

[KSchwagg86]

get her on here to do a trip report!

 

[anniemae]

Oh I like the trip report idea!!!

It always helps us to start planning the next trip. Pick an estimated date, start talking about how you will save money, what hotel you will stay at etc. It really helps.......

 

[Tina]

I agree. Start planning the next trip.

I also second the recommendation for the Mousejunkies book. I just started reading it and love it.

 

[missypie]

I bet that a lot of people are having more serious depression when leaving WDW because in this economy, with so many facing unemployment or reduction in hours, they don't know when they'll get back.

We've always taken terrific vacations, but this year I had a pay cut, I'll have another next year and we start paying college tuition in a few days. For the first time in I don't know how long, there is no "next trip" to plan.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I booked another trip to get out of my depression.

 

[Sheree Bobbins]

 

[ChefBilly]

Disney withdrawal is a harsh reality!

Here's how I deal with it:
- Read trip reports on the DIS
- Listen to a Walt Disney World station on live365.com
- Watch trip videos on Youtube
- Plan another trip

Disney withdrawal is how I found the DIS all those years ago.

 

[Buckalew11]

Disney withdrawal is a harsh reality!

Here's how I deal with it:
- Read trip reports on the DIS
- Listen to a Walt Disney World station on live365.com
- Watch trip videos on Youtube
- Plan another trip

Disney withdrawal is how I found the DIS all those years ago.

Me too!

It was where I learned that other people really loved WDW also. It was a great feeling.

OP, this happened to me when I was 8yo. I'm 44 now. At 8, we took our first WDW trip from NJ to FL. It was only the MK.

When we returned home, I became depressed. At 8, I did not even know what depressed meant. it was not a word I'd ever heard. I just knew my heart ached and I missed that place and I was very sad.

I remember my mom asking me what was wrong and I told her. Boy was that the wrong thing to say. I got this long lecture about how "lucky" I was to have even gotten to go, how expensive it was, how far away it was and you could only go once. It just wasn't something our family would be able to do again.

That last part scared me the most. "You can never go back?" Like, you can only go once and they don't let you go anymore and I'm 8 and it is over for me???? That was what my mind sure heard.

But, the reality is, you can go back and if you work hard enough and save and all that good stuff, WDW will take your money and let your come through the gates! Again and again and again.

But WDW withdrawl is very real and as blessed as you feel for getting to go, there is that *selfish, maybe?* part of you always desiring another trip. Unless you somehow get your fill...
But that hasn't happened to me quite yet.

BTW, ChefBilly is the author Mousejunkies. He definitely "gets" WDW so anyone who feels like they "get" it will enjoy the read.
ChefBilly, I will now try to shut up about your fantastic book. (I'll be waiting for #2, btw.) I am sorry if I'm talking about this too much, guys. Just be glad y'all don't know me in RL.

 

[Handbag Lady]

Take her to Disneyland!


(That's where I go when I start to miss WDW.)

 

[Judy from Boise]

I usually spend a good week cropping all of my photpass pictures, then another week making my photobook, after the first 3 weeks it gets easier because you get sucked back into real life