What to do when kids get bored with Disney?

[donkortajr]

In January, my wife, 4 kids, and I spent 7 nights at Bay Lake Tower and invited another family with 2 kids.

I have been a WDW dweeb all my life. It holds lots of sentimental memories for me and when I got married, my wife really loved WDW too. In the almost 20 years that we have been married, we average a trip about every 2 - 2.5 years. That’s one of the reasons we purchased DVC in 2008.

This year my kids just didn’t seem as into it. We I enquired why, I got the response “things get boring and all the same when you go somewhere every couple of years.”

I almost cried. I’m one of those kinds who would go stay for a week every 6 months if I could afford it. I’m even happy just riding my ECV around the Magic Kingdom and people watching for hours at a time while soaking up the atmosphere.

Any suggestions for bringing the magic back to my kids on the next trip?
-Sad Donald

 

[Granny]

Have you tried doing things other than the parks? Disney Quest, miniature golfing, renting boats and bikes, water parks, etc?

You didn't say how old your children are, but if they grew up on Disney movies (especially the animation), there is just so much there to connect to. And if they are too young to do the thrill rides, maybe they will "grow into" WDW.

You can't force them to love Disney, however. One thing I'd strongly suggest is to make the trips very casual...no commando touring, rope drops, etc. Let them sleep in, enjoy the pools, etc.

I guess one question would be...where would they rather go on vacation? That might help you form thoughts on how to make a WDW vacation more appealing to them.

 

[WDWMom]

Honestly, this hasn't happened to us, but I didn't think BLT wasn't all that teen friendly. Atleast from my perspective. My boys are 14 and 16 and MOVE. We stay at OKW and they shoot hoops every day multiple times. Sometimes it is just one boy, sometimes it's 12. Always seem to find guys who will share the court with them. They play tennis, shuffle board and darts too. All of it within 100 ft (actually probably much less) of space. We haven't found that at any other resort. But that is important to our family and maybe not so much for others.


Other things we do are pool hop, sleep in, only go to parks 2-3 days of a 10 day trip, 2 days of water parks. We also go out without them in the evenings so they have time alone. For the most part they get along and will hang out together. They will go to DTD via the boat and grab dinner, ice cream and watch girls

For us, we are on vacation and Disney is secondary to that.

 

[SerinaShelby]

My boys are 14 and 16 and MOVE. We stay at OKW and they shoot hoops every day multiple times. Sometimes it is just one boy, sometimes it's 12. Always seem to find guys who will share the court with them. They play tennis, shuffle board and darts too. All of it within 100 ft (actually probably much less) of space. We haven't found that at any other resort. But that is important to our family and maybe not so much for others.


I agree - OKW is my 16 year old sons favorite resort. Having all the sports, as mentioned above, easily accessible is huge for him. I have found that the resorts and activities that he enjoys now at Disney are different than when he was younger. He still finds Disney to be one of his favorite vacation spots - we just enjoy different things at Disney now.

 

[JimMIA]

Any suggestions for bringing the magic back to my kids on the next trip?

Take Granny's suggestion a step further and let the kids plan the next trip. Not all of the details, but the general idea of where they want to go, what they want to do.

And use a liberal interpretation of "magic." Not all magic starts with a capital "M," and the Mouse does not hold an exclusive on magic.

There are magical beaches, magical ski runs, magical cities, magical scenery, magical history, etc. And if watching the sun set over the Grand Canyon or stumbling onto a little fawn grazing in the dusk at Shenandoah isn't magical, I don't know what is.

 

[ogguls22]

I also find that the BCV is a great place for teens. Just walking around the Boardwalk and watching the Epcot fireworks at night keeps them entertained.

 

[edk35]

I also find that the BCV is a great place for teens. Just walking around the Boardwalk and watching the Epcot fireworks at night keeps them entertained.

I agree. We love BCV and I think families with older kids do love BCV a lot. For the past few trips we have tried to mix it up a bit. We try different DVC resorts too. Our kids love hanging at the DVC resorts, love the water parks, love DTD and the boys enjoy Disney Quest and the miniature golf places. In Nov. 08 we went to Sea World one day. In Jan. 09 we went to Universal for two days on our Disney trip. Last summer we went to Vero after Disney to try something different. My oldest son is 17 and has been complaining for the past 2 years about Disney being boring. He just went in Jan. for his 16th trip. We let him bring his friend along and that MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE. I know the time is coming soon when he will NOT want to even go. He has already said he does not want to go back any time soon. Our oldest, dd 20 LOVES DISNEY and wants to go all the time. Our yougest son is 12 and LOVES Disney. He would go with all of us, just me and dh or just me and him. So I hope he will be like his big sister and enjoy it past his teens. It is hard to figure out when to go once you have kids in college so we have had to scale back. Gone are the 3 trips per year we did a few years. We are going on a Disney cruise in June 2012 to add yet another dimension to our Disney trips. This is actually for our oldest son's graduation. I say GET THEIR OPINIONS on what to do at Disney. Try a different resort, go a different time of year, try HH or Vero... OR A CRUISE.

 

[edk35]

My boys are 14 and 16 and MOVE. We stay at OKW and they shoot hoops every day multiple times. Sometimes it is just one boy, sometimes it's 12. Always seem to find guys who will share the court with them. They play tennis, shuffle board and darts too. All of it within 100 ft (actually probably much less) of space. We haven't found that at any other resort. But that is important to our family and maybe not so much for others.


I agree - OKW is my 16 year old sons favorite resort. Having all the sports, as mentioned above, easily accessible is huge for him. I have found that the resorts and activities that he enjoys now at Disney are different than when he was younger. He still finds Disney to be one of his favorite vacation spots - we just enjoy different things at Disney now.

Our older son has always like OKW. Both boys love the community hall and the sports.

 

[dbs1228]

I know what I would do, stop taking them and let them know you are going without them I can honestly say that has never happened and my girls are almost 20, 18 and 16 and have been going every YEAR 10 nights for 16 years!

 

[jecskc]

In January, my wife, 4 kids, and I spent 7 nights at Bay Lake Tower and invited another family with 2 kids.

I have been a WDW dweeb all my life. It holds lots of sentimental memories for me and when I got married, my wife really loved WDW too. In the almost 20 years that we have been married, we average a trip about every 2 - 2.5 years. That’s one of the reasons we purchased DVC in 2008.

This year my kids just didn’t seem as into it. We I enquired why, I got the response “things get boring and all the same when you go somewhere every couple of years.”

I almost cried. I’m one of those kinds who would go stay for a week every 6 months if I could afford it. I’m even happy just riding my ECV around the Magic Kingdom and people watching for hours at a time while soaking up the atmosphere.

Any suggestions for bringing the magic back to my kids on the next trip?
-Sad Donald

You need a new kid. I am available for adoption. I would NEVER get bored with Disney !!

 

[Brian Noble]

Any suggestions for bringing the magic back to my kids on the next trip?

You can try doing new things on the next trip---fishing, parasailing, etc. But, ultimately, Jim might be right. It might be time to visit someplace new. It happens! I just got back from my annual thaw-out trip, and while I had a great time, I'm not itching to get back right away as I usually am.

 

[DVCconvert]

What to do when kids get bored with Disney?


I'm afraid it might be time to consider euthanasia.

 

[Figment2]

Send the kids to camp and you and the Mrs. go to Disney yourselves. Spend time at the Food & Wine festival or the Flower & Garden festival or make your own festival.

Just because they don't want to go doesn't mean that you can't go.

JMHO

 

[corpcomp]

At the risk of saying this, there are a lot of other attractions in the area. Our DS 15 is somewhat bored with the rides now so we take him to, dare I say it, Universal for a day. That really perks him up and is a park geared to older teens looking for heart stopping thrill seeking rides.

DW and I then stop at Martgaritaville for a burger in paradise. - great burgers. But we personally love Disney more. Just the variety is sometimes good to have.

 

[skylynx]

The day my kids (now 18 and 15) say they are bored going to Disney is the day they get left home. Isn't likely to happen. They still count the days until we go and can't sleep the night before we leave!

Maybe that's because their parents also count the days until we go, and can't sleep the night before we leave.

I think it also helps in between Disney visits we take trips to our land just outside Rocky Mt. National Park for hiking and elk bugling-time. The kids love all things Disney and have been on several Disney cruises, but we also have taken them to places like Alaska and Maine and Wyoming-as many national parks as we can manage-so they don't expect all their magic to come pre-packaged!

 

[toniosmom]

I'm a single mother with a DS6 and during our last trip in December, I heard the dreaded words "I'm bored". He actually walked around with a frown at times and all I could say was "You at the happiest place on earth....why are you so unhappy?" It was a rough week -- the weather was freezing, so we couldn't swim. That completely changed the dynamic of the trip for us. My son loves (actually needs) to swim when we are there. Since we typically travel just the two of us, he meets other children at the pool and has some quality "kid time". Typically, we do parks for only half our trip and swim every single day. Because of the cold weather on our last trip, it is going to be a long time before we go during any of those "iffy" months again. Our next trip is mid-April, so it is highly likely that we will be able to swim every day and we should have a much different experience. In early November, we are ending our trip with a short 3-day cruise on the Dream -- my parents and two nieces are joining us, so that'll improve his trip.

I agree with others -- you need to change things up. Your vacation doesn't have to consist of only four theme parks and swimming. There is so much more to do and see -- even (huh?) outside of Disney.

Good luck planning!

 

[DizGirl20]

let the kids plan the next trip. Not all of the details, but the general idea of where they want to go, what they want to do.

Great idea! Thanks, I'm going to stash this one away in case I need it in a few years...

 

[daisyduck123]

We try to do something new each trip.
Some things we've done:

Illuminations Celebration Cruise
Cirque de Solei
Wilderness Lodge sleigh ride
MVMCP

**Planning to do the Epcot Segway tour this summer!

 

[PatMcDuck]

We usually stayed at BCV, our home resort. (actually owned at OKW originally and sold that and re-bought in when BCV was offered for sale)/ The teens LOVED staying in the Epcot area, because at night they would go out and walk around and even meet other teens, play a few games.

My kids are grown now, 25-23-21 and 19, so we also turned to split stays at Universal and Disney to add to the fun and interest. We let them bring a friend one time. We ALWAYS spent time at the water parks, and DisneyQuest. Lots of time in the resort pool, and rented the water mice boats a few times..... When Comedy Warehouse was open, I took them there a few times at night. On a few trips, we made it a point to pool hop once per trip, like to WL or BW pools. "Just" going to the parks for the rides and attractions may not be what they want after while. ME? I could also just hang in the parks at any time.

PS son #2 moped thru a 3 day Disney CRUISE! that we took after a 4 day WDW trip; our only cruise ever. The photos of us boarding the ship are now (almost) funny, he is all mopey face, as he is about to board a cruise ship! I was ready to throttle him.

 

[taaren]

I find it amazing that all four of your children are bored with it and not just 1 or 2 of them!
You could always see if they would prefer to go spend a week with their grandparents or an aunt or uncle? Love my kid, but doing vacations the way you want to when you work hard to be able to take them is important, so if they're not going to be happy there, then let them do something else and spend time reconnecting with your DW.
Particularly if they are teenagers, maybe they are ready to do something sans Mom-and-Dad? Then they'll appreciate your presence and flexibility all the more when you're at home again.