Preventing Disney Burn-Out for the DH

[Ciyra]

My husband and I are going to WDW for 14 days in the first 2 weeks of May 2014. Neither of us has ever been and we are staying at AKV. We are spending 2 days at Universal, but other than that it is all Disney. I am very excited. He's just happy to do what ever makes me happy. Best husband ever!

But last weekend we were at Disneyland we arrived mid-afternoon on Friday and left mid-afternoon on Monday, so it was about 3 days of Disney. My problem is that at lunchtime on Sunday, he totally ran out of steam and all morning on Monday I ended up dragging him around much to his chaggrin.

Now I am worried about our big trip. Does anyone have any tips/suggestions as to how to keep someone that doesn't really care one way or the other about Disney going during a long vacation? Anything we should go do that can give him a break from the parks? I will be so bummed if he's not into it after three days.

Let me also note that he's not a crabby guy and he really is game to do what ever I want to do. He just seems to get burned out.

 

[nurse.darcy]

My husband and I are going to WDW for 14 days in the first 2 weeks of May 2014. Neither of us has ever been and we are staying at AKV. We are spending 2 days at Universal, but other than that it is all Disney. I am very excited. He's just happy to do what ever makes me happy. Best husband ever!

But last weekend we were at Disneyland we arrived mid-afternoon on Friday and left mid-afternoon on Monday, so it was about 3 days of Disney. My problem is that at lunchtime on Sunday, he totally ran out of steam and all morning on Monday I ended up dragging him around much to his chaggrin.

Now I am worried about our big trip. Does anyone have any tips/suggestions as to how to keep someone that doesn't really care one way or the other about Disney going during a long vacation? Anything we should go do that can give him a break from the parks? I will be so bummed if he's not into it after three days.

Let me also note that he's not a crabby guy and he really is game to do what ever I want to do. He just seems to get burned out.

Yes.

1. 14 days is a long time at Disneyworld. Pace yourself, move slowly and don't preplan every minute.

2. You are going in May. . .that is Flower and Garden Festival time. Try to do the special activities surrounding Flower and Garden (concerts, presentations, etc.). Does your hubby like to golf? Plan him a golf outing. . .if you also golf, join him on that outing. . .world class golf courses there.

3. Plan a resort hopping day. Go visit the different resorts, see their decor, maybe have a drink or a refreshing beverage at a cafe or bar then relax.

4. Have a "transportation day". Take a bus, a boat and the monorail and just go places within the resort. That is really fun and relaxing. . .especially the boat rides.

5. Unlike Disneyland, Disneyworld is filled with some really great dining. Pick a great dining experience and schedule a dining reservation. You will be glad you did. In fact, during Flower and Garden you may need to schedule all good sit down meals. Its not crazy but it is a busy time of year.

6. Plan a special tour. There are many. Some of them include "Behind the Seeds" at Living with the Land, "Backstage Magic" I believe at Magic Kingdom, Epcot's Segway Tour or Wilderness Lodge's Segway tour. Both are very fun experiences.

7. Spend a day or two during your time at Disney relaxing at your home resort. Regardless of whether its a value or a deluxe or vacation villa, you can find something to do for everyone.

Just have fun. Its a great experience. Enjoy your time.

 

[TreeSapp]

My DH was staunchly anti-Disney when we met. He'd been as a kid, but his folks always took him in July when it was crowded and hot. When we started dating he was 25 and hadn't been to the park since he was 15.

The first trip we took (3 days) was really hard on him because he was dead-set on not liking it. I hadn't been in 3 years so I was pretty hung-ho & I wanted to "do it all".

What I learned from "teaching" my husband to like disney (he loves it now) is this:

* Don't micro-plan - Pick 2-3 "important" things to do per day (a certain fancy meal, a favorite show, best ride, parade, etc) and make a plan that let's you do them, but just let everything else flow naturally. Don't wait in a long line if you don't want to. Don't force yourself to stay for the fireworks if its not your favorite.

* Even if you want to be at 'rope drop' and get shoo'ed out of the park at the end of the night... Doesn't mean you have to do 12-16 hours straight, go back to the hotel, have a nap, swim, ride the boat/monorail for an hour, just relax.

* pack snacks, water bottles and dry socks in your day bag/pockets. DH gets cranky at the exact instant he gets hungry - if I can shove an orange or candy bar or trail mix in him he's happy again. It's Florida. It will rain. No one likes wet socks. Even when it's not hot, all the Disney miles can rally dehydrate you. Drink plenty of water.

* wear good walking shoes/ bring back ups. Nothing is worse than blisters or athletes foot. Have extra shoes i case you soak a pair o e day, you'll have a dry pair later.

* let him decide. Make sure he feels involved in the decision making and doesn't feel like you're just dragging him around

* don't make him decide. If he really has no preferences, just do what you enjoy, but don't over-do it.

* don't be afraid to spend some time apart. You don't HAVE to go on every ride together. Drop him off at the hotel while you head for the pool, spa or even to catch a few rides in the park. Sneak out and buy him a goofball shirt or hat to wear later in the trip or cute matching outfits

* stop to greet the characters - they love to give men a hard time... Trying to steal you away, or intimidate him. DH gets a kick out of this now, but the first time I got I'm line to meet Donald he thought I was nuts

* get your picture taken! Grab a photopass card and anytime you see a disney photographer utilize it. Look up the pictures when you take a break or at the end of the night - it'll get him talking about what he is or isn't enjoying. You're not obligated to purchase any and can view for free. If you have a personal camera, the camera guy/gal can take one with it as well

* don't be afraid to take a day off! Even if you paid for 14 days worth of tickets, if you want a break take it! DH and I got annual passes for our honeymoon and every visit we took a day just to scope out the hotels. Each one has some cool stuff. Half the time, in the end, DH would wind up suggesting that we swing by a park for the fireworks, or parade or a meal just to "ride that ride one more time."

Hope that helps?

 

[mrsclark]

I would say the biggest thing is to take plenty of breaks. Some days DH and I can go from early (early for us on vacation not real world early) until late at night and not get tired. But other days one or both of us gets tired of the crowds or the heat and we want to take a break from the parks.

For example, day 5 of our last vacation - we went to CR and tried The Wave restaurant for breakfast and for the first time. We then took the monorail over to MK - even though the MDE app kept showing very low wait times for most rides, lots of people were streaming into the park. We both looked at each other - said lets not do crowds this morning and got on a boat to GF. We walked around there (we had never seen it before) and then walked by the Wedding Pavilion which was completely deserted so we took some pictures outside and then over to Poly (which we had never see before either).

If one of us gets grumpy it's not fun for the other to keep pushing through at a park so we do something else like go to DTD, go swim, or go take a nap in the room.

During the same night I talked about above it rained a lot of the night so we hunkered down in the room, ordered room service, watched TV and DH played a game on his iPad. For us the emphasis is on having fun together, so we put our heads together and change plans if need be so we can have as much fun together as possible.

 

[PoohLover78]

My younger brother sounds like your husband. Whenever we had family trips to WDW, he'd split from us and go to ESPN on the Boardwalk, rent a bike and just ride across the resort or play minigolf. Once all he did during the day was sit through Indiana Jones and the car stunt show at DHS. He's not much into rides (unless it involves Star Wars - that's another thing he did for 4 hours during a walk-on day....), but we also don't force him to go and give him the freedom to venture off on his own to do the stuff he wants to do.

When he ventures off he finds the most incredible places and has the most astonishing stuff happening to him. He went to DT once with the intention to just have a drink at Rainforest Cafe and enjoy the atmosphere.... well, he ended up at House of Blues during soundcheck for some famous band that was playing that week (I keep forgetting who it was - but the venu ewas priced at $60). He got into the soundcheck for free

I'm just saying, if you're comforable with splitting up, just let him go and do his thing for a while. Or do his thing with him - 14 days is a lot of time. One thing we found out is that World Showcase *always* works with my brother as it's not your regular attraction type area. We love walking around, browsing the countries, chatting, having a drink here or there.... no pressure to get on any ride or see any show. For us, that's chill down that everyone enjoys.

 

[com_op_2000]

It depends on what you and he are into:
sports: golf, fishing, RPDE, marathon, bowling, ESPN Club, WWS/ESPN Zone, etc
shopping: DTD, area outlet malls, large scale malls
drinking: Jellyrolls, Raglan Road, monorail tour of resorts, walking tour of resorts in the Boardwalk area
movies: DTD 24 screen theater some with meals served by waiters
night clubbing: Jellyrolls, Atlantic Dance, Raglan Road, Citywalk
resort tours: monorail tour of resorts, Boardwalk around the lake tour of resorts, AKL/AKV
offsite: Gaylord Palms Resort, Citywalk, swamp tour

 

[mrsclark]

I would also say in addition to taking a break from the park, you may want to take break from WDW for a few hours too. DH had never been to WDW before we went there on our honeymoon in 2007 (I had been plenty of times when I was younger so I was already addicted). So in 2007 we went off property a lot at night to eat we tried a local Mexican restaurant, went to a national chain, and went to a place making Chicago-style deep dish pizza. It was nice for DH and I to get off property. In 2009, we ate off property twice - once for dinner and once for breakfast. Starting with our trip in 2011, we like to stay on property and do all of our eating there. This was a long-winded way to say if your husband starts to get overloaded with all things Disney and just wants familiar or different food, going off property to eat can be a refreshing break.

 

[Ciyra]

Thank you all for your quick responses. I really appreciate it.

The husband is not a golf/organized sports person, but he is an outdoorsy guy, so I think he’ll enjoy the Flower and Garden festival stuff. I will have to look into what kind of stuff they have to offer. He perked up when I told him about Dole Whips with rum.

We are definitely mid day nap kind of people as soon as one of us gets tired or hot, we usually start heading to the hotel, but he’d be content to hang out in the room until 8pm, whereas I want to be back in the park by 5 or 6, but I’m realizing I may need to change this.

I have some follow up questions –

*Which resorts would you suggest for resort hopping? I was thinking Grand Floridian, Wilderness Lodge, and Boardwalk, but if anyone has any “must see” suggestions, I would welcome them.

*Our 180 day ADR window is starting, does anyone have any grown-up or just generally cool restaurant suggestions? We are the opposite of picky eaters, so that’s not a concern.

*What about the waterparks? We have premier annual passes which includes the waterparks. Are they complete madness or can you relax a little there?

*Is it hard to get off property if you don’t have a rental car? We are using Mears to get to Universal, but I hadn’t really thought about “escaping” other than that.

*Are there any times that Disney Quest is not totally slammed with children? I suspect he will really dig the vintage video games.

 

[Random Ninja]

Thank you all for your quick responses. I really appreciate it.

The husband is not a golf/organized sports person, but he is an outdoorsy guy, so I think he’ll enjoy the Flower and Garden festival stuff. I will have to look into what kind of stuff they have to offer. He perked up when I told him about Dole Whips with rum.

We are definitely mid day nap kind of people as soon as one of us gets tired or hot, we usually start heading to the hotel, but he’d be content to hang out in the room until 8pm, whereas I want to be back in the park by 5 or 6, but I’m realizing I may need to change this.

I have some follow up questions –

*Which resorts would you suggest for resort hopping? I was thinking Grand Floridian, Wilderness Lodge, and Boardwalk, but if anyone has any “must see” suggestions, I would welcome them.

Since your husband is an outdoorsy kinda guy, I'd recommend spending a day at Fort Wilderness. They have biking, pole fishing, canoeing, horse-back riding, archery, wagon rides, and a campfire singalong. Plus there's the Hoop-de-Do Review. It's real easy to spend a day at the Fort.

*Our 180 day ADR window is starting, does anyone have any grown-up or just generally cool restaurant suggestions? We are the opposite of picky eaters, so that’s not a concern.

Restaurant Marrakesh is so underrated but it really is a great experience IMHO. The food is good and there's a belly dancer who comes out every hour or so.

One of my favorite things to do for lunch is to get a stir fry bowl from Captain Cooks at the Poly, head down to the beach, and eat lunch in one of the swing chairs on the beach.

It's also fun to pack a picnic lunch, you could get food from the food court grab-n-go, and eat on Tom Sawyer Island. There's a gazebo on the island with picnic tables and a great view of Liberty Square and Frontierland.

*What about the waterparks? We have premier annual passes which includes the waterparks. Are they complete madness or can you relax a little there?

It's been a while since I've been to the waterparks but I remember there being plenty of spots to relax.

*Is it hard to get off property if you don’t have a rental car? We are using Mears to get to Universal, but I hadn’t really thought about “escaping” other than that.

They don't exactly make it easy. Mears does have transportation outside of Disney but check the bus schedules before you go.

*Are there any times that Disney Quest is not totally slammed with children? I suspect he will really dig the vintage video games.

Weekends, afternoons, and rainy days are prime kid-time at DQ. Any other time should be okay. There will still be kids everywhere but they won't be slam packed.