people think I'm crazy

[kailuagirl]

for going to Disneyland again. I just don't get it. I've only been 4x in my life, two of which were with my DD4. My DD loves Disneyland, just loves it, asks to go there almost every single day. We went when she was 2, then 3 and now she's 4 so we are going again. What is wrong with this? They make me feel like we are bad for going again, and how could we take her so much, my child has never been and she's fine - kinda thing. Granted there are alot of other places we could vacation to, but this is where she wants to go and we make great family memories there. Even DH loves it, he wants to stay at the GCH and doesn't even grumble how much more it costs, he loves it there.

Does anyone else get this? makes me second guess our decision on going and spending all the money to do so. Ughh!! so fustrating.

(I'm not regretting our decision to go, just venting and wondering if anyone else get this from people)

But who cares right, WE ARE GOING TO DISNEYLAND!!!!

 

[elaw]

Yep .... I get that alot as well. People don't understand why i would go to all the way WDW when DL is so close. Plus they always remark "weren't you just there?"
For those that just don't get it ... I just don't tell them anymore. BTW ... I have an AP and go to DLR almost every other Saturday (for 5-6 Hours)

 

[lozzypop]

I get that too. We have gone every year since 2007 (twice in 2009 and twice this year), so my friends and family roll their eyes now when I say that I am going to DL...... again.

I rationalize it this way - if I was going to the same cottage every year, no one would bat an eyelid. DL gives me so much joy and happiness, why would I NOT want to go every year. When it stops being so much fun, I will stop going.

 

[JennyN]

Oh yes, we leave tomorrow from Australia, this will be our eleventh trip to DL with our 16 year old DD. We all get comments each time we book our trips. We just ignore them, they don't understand, we love our time together as a family in Disney. Our DD will soon be an adult but our memories of our time in Disney together will be one of the highlights of our lives. Just want to add we have another trip booked for December to WDW and DL, as well as a trip to DL next November after she finishes school.
Its your life, you know what all those sceptics are missing out on. Just enjoy.

 

[Kittyskyfish]

People who roll their eyes at multiple Disneyland trips act like Peter Banning (from Hook, 1991) - they forgot their childhood and lost their ability to imagine.

Just my .02.

 

[DisneyMomof2inSLC]

I LOVE Disneyland!! I have been once every year since 07 and will have gone twice by the end of this year. My son who is turing 2 in December will be going on his 3rd trip and my daughter who turned 3 in July will have gone 4 times!! I would like to start vacationing somwhere else, but will always do at least 1 Disney trip per year.

 

[ZanderMan]

Yes my co-workers give me the same "weren't you just there" we love Disneyland! My DW has been every year since she was a new born. Her family would go every year for Thanksgiving, so she's been 30 plus times. On our honeymoon we spent 10 days in Hawaii then 5 days at Disneyland. We don't regret a thing about it.*

So who care what others think! You'll live a long happy life for being positive and being happy!*

Have a magical trip!

 

[californiamomof4grls]

Some of my best girl friends growing up roll their eyes. They ask me don't we want to experience something else as a family? Of course these women have never taken their families to DL. So they have no idea the magic that we experience as a family when we go. I have to admit I have a little sadness in my heart that they have never experienced the magic that hits my family as they cross the street and they hear the first note of the music playing as we walk to the gates! In my eyes they are the ones missing out.
Zippadee do dah! Zippeadee day! My oh my what a wonderful day.....

Don't worry about it I don't!

 

[Davids-Coco]

We are going 3x this year... so yes... I get this A LOT!

 

[DisneyLovin]

People just don't understand the magic of Disney.

 

[ddwlms]

.....and yet some of these people who question your sanity will play a round of golf at the same golf course several times a year. I mean: what is up with that?!?!

(says she who is impatently counting down the days till her 3rd trip this year )

 

[tamiandryan]

.....and yet some of these people who question your sanity will play a round of golf at the same golf course several times a year. I mean: what is up with that?!?!

(says she who is impatently counting down the days till her 3rd trip this year )

First of all, its your perogitive. If Disney is your thing, let it be your thing. They may have some of their own traditions that you wouldnt care for. Live and let live.

2nd of all... There is nothing wrong with playing some golf at the same place more than once : at least your playing golf haha!!! Now, if I could golf in Disneyland... that would be truely magical!!!!

 

[ddwlms]

First of all, its your perogitive. If Disney is your thing, let it be your thing. They may have some of their own traditions that you wouldnt care for. Live and let live.

2nd of all... There is nothing wrong with playing some golf at the same place more than once : at least your playing golf haha!!! Now, if I could golf in Disneyland... that would be truely magical!!!!

Actually, FTR, golfing is one of my things. I'm right out there with them, so I didn't mean to offend. It was just a point of reference. You could substitute any thing we as humans do repeatedly in that statement. The difference is that some things the GP seems to believe are normal to do repeatedly, and some things bring up the response "again?!?" (no one has ever commented on the amount of times I visit the same golf course, but they do comment on the number of times I visit DLR)

 

[Disneyanajc]

Check out my first trip to Disneyland 1969...once...twice or more a year...People don't even comment any more...They know we are going to Disney

 

[SD33]

This is one of my pet peeves too. Try being a twenty-somethings, childless couple and telling your family and friends you are going to Disneyland again. People either get it or they don't. What is always surprising to me is when someone asserts that Disneyland is ONLY for children. Read any biography on Walt Disney and you quickly understand that Walt's primary motivation for creating Disneyland wasn't financial, or for kids, or even for families (although we all know each of these things played a part to varying degrees). But the bottom line was that Walt created Disneyland because he wanted a Disneyland for himself. His love of rides, stories, technology, innovation, nostalgia, film--all of the things many of us adults like about Disneyland, he liked as well. And while kids flip out over it (and for good reason), it's pretty dang cool for adults as well. But good luck explaining that to someone that has pigeon holed Disneyland as some lesser thing.

The fact of the matter is this. Disney parks are some of the worlds most popular vacation destinations. And in the U.S. Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom destroy most of their competition--even getting (combined) 8-9 times the amount of visitors Waikiki beach gets every year. And who doesn't love Hawaii?!

So the naysayers can say what they want. But my guess is that they probably booked a Disneyland trip, had all the same expectations all of us had the first time we went, and then failed to plan accordingly, stood in insane lines, and watched their children have a meltdown around three o clock in the afternoon after failing to read all of the internet's good advice on taking breaks. Disneyland is a highly organized, massively controlled environment. If you don't do your research before you go, you likely get screwed. And my theory is that those who don't go again are those who, by their own ignorance, ruined their trip the first time around. Everyone else, especially those on this board....well, we didn't now did we?

 

[GhostlyHitchhiker]

People either get it or they don't.

So the naysayers can say what they want. But my guess is that they probably booked a Disneyland trip, had all the same expectations all of us had the first time we went, and then failed to plan accordingly, stood in insane lines, and watched their children have a meltdown around three o clock in the afternoon after failing to read all of the internet's good advice on taking breaks. Disneyland is a highly organized, massively controlled environment. If you don't do your research before you go, you likely get screwed. And my theory is that those who don't go again are those who, by their own ignorance, ruined their trip the first time around. Everyone else, especially those on this board....well, we didn't now did we?

I absolutely agree with this and have seen it myself. I've also enforced these very points to friends we've travelled with, converting them to Disney lovers too! Even friends with no kids!

Disneyland doesn't even require the level of control, preplanning, etc that a trip to WDW takes. Honestly it's just a little common sense. If your child has never experienced something like DL, even at age 8-9 they are going to need breaks or they get overloaded/overwhelmed. Then the meltdowns start. I blame the parents more for the meltdowns because they too have never experienced something like this with the kid in tow and they get just as overwhelmed (sometimes moreso) as the little ones.

"Breaks" doesn't have to mean going to the hotel and enforcing a nap no one really wants either. A "break" can be just finding a quiet spot or quieter ride (Get a Dole Whip and wait for the Tiki Room - Go turtle spotting in the little grotto behind Big Thunder Mountain - Redwood Creek Challenge over in DCA, etc.).

Anyway, I'm rambling, but yes. I've gotten this in the past as well. What's funny is it's either the people who don't "get it" or the people who are secretly jealous and wish they could go as often as you do.

 

[mabdallah]

My husband and I went 2 years in a row without children and people did question us about why we would go there again. Now 2 years later i find myself planning another trip for my daughters 3rd birthday and people think i am nuts. They say she is too young and she will not remember it. But i just think its not for everyone and we all choose where we spend our money and take our vacations. Its all about your family and what you like and how you make memories. We just love Disneyland!!!!

 

[SD33]

I absolutely agree with this and have seen it myself. I've also enforced these very points to friends we've travelled with, converting them to Disney lovers too! Even friends with no kids!

Disneyland doesn't even require the level of control, preplanning, etc that a trip to WDW takes. Honestly it's just a little common sense. If your child has never experienced something like DL, even at age 8-9 they are going to need breaks or they get overloaded/overwhelmed. Then the meltdowns start. I blame the parents more for the meltdowns because they too have never experienced something like this with the kid in tow and they get just as overwhelmed (sometimes moreso) as the little ones.

"Breaks" doesn't have to mean going to the hotel and enforcing a nap no one really wants either. A "break" can be just finding a quiet spot or quieter ride (Get a Dole Whip and wait for the Tiki Room - Go turtle spotting in the little grotto behind Big Thunder Mountain - Redwood Creek Challenge over in DCA, etc.).

Anyway, I'm rambling, but yes. I've gotten this in the past as well. What's funny is it's either the people who don't "get it" or the people who are secretly jealous and wish they could go as often as you do.

I'm gonna second the jealousy thing too. Some people likely don't like that you have found something, or someplace, worth visiting again and again. And that is kinda sad.

Also, I can't believe how many of our friends have been and didn't even know FASTPASS existed. Seriously?! It really is just common sense. A little prior research goes a long way. We're taking two of our friends on our next trip this December and plan to give them the kind of time they didn't have last time they visited. Expecting converts

 

[GhostlyHitchhiker]

They say she is too young and she will not remember it. But i just think its not for everyone and we all choose where we spend our money and take our vacations. Its all about your family and what you like and how you make memories. We just love Disneyland!!!!

At 3 she might remember some parts of the trip when she grows up actually. And she will definately remember it WHILE she grows up for a couple of years for sure.

My DDs went the first time at 9 months and 6 months. And you know what? They don't remember a thing! *We* do. And I have the pictures that they love looking through even now. Oldest DD is 13, youngest is 10. Oldest DD remembers some things from her trip at 3 and youngest DD remembers some things from our DCL cruise when she was 4. They don't remember any of the trips before then, but would I change my mind now and have not gone? Not a chance!

At the time, they loved those trips even at the infant stage. They loved certain rides, people watching, the characters, etc. I have amazing memories of every trip and wouldn't give them up for anything in the world.

 

[GhostlyHitchhiker]

I'm gonna second the jealousy thing too. Some people likely don't like that you have found something, or someplace, worth visiting again and again. And that is kinda sad.

Also, I can't believe how many of our friends have been and didn't even know FASTPASS existed. Seriously?! It really is just common sense. A little prior research goes a long way. We're taking two of our friends on our next trip this December and plan to give them the kind of time they didn't have last time they visited. Expecting converts

I know of several people who thought you had to pay extra for Fastpass (similar to Six Flags parks or something). They thought Disney of all places was money-grubbing (I've set them straight on this too) and charged extra for everything. They also think food costs are sky-high, which some places are some places aren't, just like every other theme park or vacation destination.

It's not just that you have found someplace you enjoy going again and again, though that is part of it. I'm convinced it's more the bonding your family has in a place like Disneyland. Most of us on the DIS boards are *not* those parents you see screaming at their kids "you're in the happiest place on earth so shut up and stop crying". I have to restrain myself SO much to not slap those parents...

We're the ones all wearing Mickey Ears (DD13 has Tron Mickey ears she and DH *made* with glow-wire and everything), goofing off in the hour-long line for rides because FastPasses are gone and you just HAD to get on Star Tours one more time. We're the ones who make our own Pixie Dust and don't "expect" it either.