Well, it happened again

[Pmlocke]

Once again I was questioned at work as to my choice to vacation at WDW, like my wife and I do every year, in February. "You do know there are other places in the world to visit", "Aren't you kind of old to be going to a KIDS place", "How can you keep going back to the same, crowded place every year"? Do these sound familiar to you? My wife and I are in our 60's and we continue to return to Disney for one simple reason-the Magic. Let me explain what I mean by Magic. We, like many of you in our age bracket grew up watching the Mickey Mouse Club, the Wonderful World of Disney, every 7 years a classic returned to the theaters. I grew up in a very modest household and understood that I would never get to experience Disneyland because I knew we could not afford it. Our first trip with my family in 1987 to WDW was my first magical moment. When we came around the corner and saw the castle for the first time, my wife and I started to cry. How many people can say their dreams really came true? Go forward to 2009. I have my 4 year old granddaughter on my shoulders and the princess float came by us. My granddaughter grabbed two handfuls of hair, shouted "Oh Grandpa, it's the princesses" and she started to cry. Which then caused me to tear up. Her joy at seeing those princesses, that I felt, was so overwhelming. I still get a bit choked up when I remember that. There have been other moments between my wife and I, who now travel alone, that have caused us to tear up and embrace each other. Magic. How can you explain that to a generation who keeps their eyes focused on a phone screen? The next time someone asks you why you keep going back, tell them it's the Magic. I'll bet they won't understand, and for that I truly feel sorry for them. 202 days and we are back in the Magic. If you see a 66 year old guy dancing in the street during a parade or getting a hug from Minnie at Chef Mickey's next February-that will be me.

 

[BrianL]

Hey, don't worry about what they think. You know where the magic comes from! In my experience there are people who "get it" and people who don't. I'll be right there with you enjoying the magical moments that bring me back again and again.

 

[disneyseniors]

Hey, OP, I could have written that! But my husband is 72 and I am 69, LOL. We still LOVE Disney. It is our magic, happy place too. We will keep going to Disney until we are not able. I plan on that not happening for a long, long time.
So, if you see a man and woman of a certain age walking hand in hand with a big smile on their faces, you will know it is us!
Honestly, I seem to smile the whole time. There is so much to see and do and experience.
There seems to be so many unhappy stressed faces at WDW nowadays. I can't help but think about where we are at and what we will be doing for the entire vacation! It makes me happy!
Glad to hear there are other "older" couples who still find the joy and happiness of just being at wDW.
We used to get all the comments, too, but I don't care. Not everyone is the same. We don't like beach vacations. Too slow and boring for us. We like the action, activity, and fun at WDW. That's just how we like to vacation and it's no one elses business, unless They pay for it
We like to go the end of FEbruary and first of March. We also like to go 2nd week of December. November used to be our first choice, but not so much anymore. Have fun at disney in February!

 

[Nomad70]

I have loved Disney since I was a child, going to Disneyland every year. Then when my husband and I go married in 1995, we went to Disneyland for our Honeymoom and started taking our first child at 9 months old. Many years and two more kids later we are once again heading to Disney World for our 24th anniversary in September! We have since added two twin girls (grand babies) and they will be going next year with us. You are never too old for Disney! The magic is Real!!!

 

[elbarto007]

OP. This is us too. Always get that from everyone. DH had never been to WDW and we went for our honeymoon. Can’t keep him away now. We have branched out to DCL also though. We Disney!!!

 

[karen4546]

OP this is us also. Only problem i have about going to WDW a couple of times of year is that i can't bring my grandchildren EVERY TIME.

We have done just us trips many times and our trip in April of this year was our best one yet. Everything was great-buses, crowds, food, lines -everything. not to mention that my husband bought an AKV contract for us after we did the tour.

bottom line... enjoy your trips. you can't take the money with you and those precious memories are priceless.

 

[goofyintoronto]

Once again I was questioned at work as to my choice to vacation at WDW, like my wife and I do every year, in February. "You do know there are other places in the world to visit", "Aren't you kind of old to be going to a KIDS place", "How can you keep going back to the same, crowded place every year"? Do these sound familiar to you? My wife and I are in our 60's and we continue to return to Disney for one simple reason-the Magic. Let me explain what I mean by Magic. We, like many of you in our age bracket grew up watching the Mickey Mouse Club, the Wonderful World of Disney, every 7 years a classic returned to the theaters. I grew up in a very modest household and understood that I would never get to experience Disneyland because I knew we could not afford it. Our first trip with my family in 1987 to WDW was my first magical moment. When we came around the corner and saw the castle for the first time, my wife and I started to cry. How many people can say their dreams really came true? Go forward to 2009. I have my 4 year old granddaughter on my shoulders and the princess float came by us. My granddaughter grabbed two handfuls of hair, shouted "Oh Grandpa, it's the princesses" and she started to cry. Which then caused me to tear up. Her joy at seeing those princesses, that I felt, was so overwhelming. I still get a bit choked up when I remember that. There have been other moments between my wife and I, who now travel alone, that have caused us to tear up and embrace each other. Magic. How can you explain that to a generation who keeps their eyes focused on a phone screen? The next time someone asks you why you keep going back, tell them it's the Magic. I'll bet they won't understand, and for that I truly feel sorry for them. 202 days and we are back in the Magic. If you see a 66 year old guy dancing in the street during a parade or getting a hug from Minnie at Chef Mickey's next February-that will be me.

This is so beautiful! It almost made me tear up! Honestly, we've all been there. All of us disney lovers who understand "the magic" have had the same comments from clueless coworkers/family/friends. "isnt that place for kids?", "you know there are other places in the world to visit" etc etc. I just tell them that they can dictate where i go when they start paying for my vacation. Until then, its none of their business.

 

[DeterminedOne]

I'm not tearing up. Got something in my eye ...

 

[DoulaMel]

I grew up watching WWoD and loved Disney movies. My kids grew up on all the late 80s and 90s Disney feature films. I loved it but had some kind of chip on my shoulder about the World. Big corporation. Business. Money. Profit. I am not even sure why or when this happened.

We did, eventually, take our kids to WDW but I had a little bit of that chip with me. It cost us a mortgage payment to go (we had a lot of kids) so we just hit the MK for one day. One of my youngest kids (4) was in line to meet Cinderella and as we turned a corner and she could see her, she looked up at me with those big eyes full of wonder and said, "Mommy, she's real!" Ya. I cried. Cinderella was also on that child's dress and they had such an in-depth conversation about that. the kid still remembers it and that was 17 years ago. Later on in that day, I had one of the older kids and two younger kids with me and my husband had the rest. A cast member took my older kid and asked me and the two stroller babies to follow. She took us up the exit ramp, put us right on the ride, and gave the oldest kid a Magical Moment certificate. I was blown away.

We went again in 2017 with the magical moment kid (now 26) and the youngest kid (now 19) and the customer service, attention to detail and the conversations that happened on a personal level with one of the kids (extenuating circumstances) again blew me away. We are going next month and this will be the fourth time in three years. I would go back with or without (young or old) children. It just makes me happy.