Please stop calling a trip to Disney a "staycation"

[disneysteve]

I love you guys. I really do. But on this week's show, Julie described their recent stay at the Yacht Club as a "staycation". The term has been similarly misused on the podcast previously. I realize you all live in Florida but actually going to a Disney hotel and staying there overnight isn't a staycation.

A staycation is when you stay at home. That's kind of the whole point. The term became popular during the recession when people couldn't afford to travel but still wanted to do something special. Rather than paying for airfare, hotel, rental car, etc., they stayed home but did day trips, went out to eat, etc.

 

[PetesDragon]

I misuse it all the time too I guess. Living in jersey if I don't leave the state I refer to in state getaways as a staycation, even a weekend down the shore.

All depends on the person using the term I guess.

 

[AndyPok1]

I've always heard it in the context of the way Julie and the others use it. A staycation is referring to a vacation that is local to you. It's extremely common to here it by people in Orlando, whether it be staying at Disney for the weekend or at a golf resort, or just doing stuff on I-Drive.

 

[rockingrollercoaster]

people will use the term as they see it.......................what a staycation is to you may not mean the same to another, why does it bother you so much???

 

[*NikkiBell*]

I just looked it up and this was the first definition I found:

A staycation is a period in which an individual or family stays home and participates in leisure activities within driving distance, sleeping in their own beds at night. They might make day trips to local tourist sites, swimming venues, or engage in fun activities such as horseback riding, paintball, hiking or visiting museums.

I think it can be used either way. Because they leave close by, technically they are within driving distance and visiting local tourist sites. They're doing so "at home" because they live there.

Here's two other definitions I found online (all within the top five of search results):

Definition of STAYCATION

: a vacation spent at home or nearby

staycation

A vacation spent close to home.

 

[disneysteve]

I misuse it all the time too I guess. Living in jersey if I don't leave the state I refer to in state getaways as a staycation, even a weekend down the shore.

All depends on the person using the term I guess.

The first definition Nikki posted is the one I'm familiar with. So an Orlando resident using their annual pass for a day at a Disney park would be a staycation but actually checking into a hotel for a couple of nights would be a vacation even though they live in town.

Maybe the term has come to mean something different than it's original usage now that the recession is over.

If we leave our home and stay at a hotel, we have always called that a "vacation" regardless of how far we traveled to get there. We have taken vacations within 60 miles of our home lots of times (the Jersey shore is a perfect example). If it's a day trip, it could be called a staycation but once it involves an overnight stay, it becomes a vacation.

 

[MedicBill]

...but what if you consider Disney to be your home?

 

[disneysteve]

...but what if you consider Disney to be your home?

Now that's a good way to look at it. Maybe it's all of this time that I'm stuck in NJ that is the vacation and our time in Disney is the staycation.

 

[disneydad78]

hum. then why do I always feel stressed. I take "staycations" all the time then.



why did I respond to this thread?

Julie just keep being cute!!!

 

[Stacy's a freak]

Let's face it - we're all just jealous that the team gets to visit our happy place while still being "home". Staycation or not, I'm jealous either way.

 

[schoolbelle]

We call staying at a hotel within our state a "state-cation" (we like to make up words at our house). As for just going to a touristy site nearby or going out to eat and sleeping in your own bed we call that a date

Anyone who can take a staycation or state-cation to WDW is blessed

 

[NancyIL]

I agree with Steve about an overnight anywhere being a vacation - or "overnight getaway." However, I have never used the term "staycation" to refer to a daytime activity from home. That's just a "day trip" to me.

 

[mytripsandraces]

I thought it referred to taking time off work (vacation time), but not going away or doing chores.

 

[Magpie]

I thought it referred to taking time off work (vacation time), but not going away or doing chores.

Yes, this is how we define it, too. Time off work, but not going anywhere. Having your vacation right at home (as in, on your couch!). Day trips are permissible. Overnights are overnight getaways, not staycations. Disney World's practically its own state, so I can't really see a multiday stay on property as being a "staycation", even if you are a Floridian.

That said, telling people they can only use a term in the way you think is correct never works. Language is a living thing, and trying to control it you might as well be shouting into a hurricane of "Irregardless". "Literally". "The maddening crowd..."

 

[wiigirl]

...but what if you consider Disney to be your home?

Good point

 

[NancyIL]

I thought it referred to taking time off work (vacation time), but not going away or doing chores.

Yes!

 

[mjaclyn]

When I think of the term 'staycation' I think of taking time off from work or your regular household duties to stay home and have fun around the area without spending a ton of money. There are people I know who take 'staycations' to get certain things done around their house that they don't normally have time for as well. I'm sure it can mean different things to different people. For me, it would involve staying at home and taking day trips around my area.

 

[ArielSparrow]

If you are a an hour or two away, I don't care if you call it a staycation (although I wouldn't use the word if it involved a hotel stay - that's a weekend getaway, overnight trip, etc), but everyone please stop calling vacation a cow. Vacay is perfectly acceptable, but I always do a double-take when I see vaca. Especially since it has some less-nice meanings associated with it.

 

[WebmasterCorey]

Considering that Disney is basically in our backyard, I will continue to call it a “staycation”, especially if we only stay there for a few non-working nights. It wasn’t what I would consider a vacation (for us), as odd as that might sound. I still drove home to feed the dogs.

 

[disneysteve]

Considering that Disney is basically in our backyard, I will continue to call it a “staycation”, especially if we only stay there for a few non-working nights. It wasn’t what I would consider a vacation (for us), as odd as that might sound. I still drove home to feed the dogs.

Love the sig pic on Dumbo.

I guess I'm just being a stickler on semantics. Vacation means you vacate your home and stay elsewhere. Staycation means you stay at home. But apparently the term has come to be used to mean something else for a lot of people which is news to me. I'm happy to agree to disagree here.