What to do when kids get bored with Disney?

[eliza61]

I know this is probably sacrilegious here on these boards but.....

How about going some where else besides Disney!!! I know it's hard to believe but there's this big wide world outside the gates and you know what, it's actually fun out there.

Ask them where they would like to go on their next vacation. We brought a small contract simply because we wanted to be able to bank the points and do other things.

How about a shorter trip. 4 days instead of 7.

Even dh & I go other places, we're off to Paris this May. before heading back to the world.

Next year, no disney. we're planning a white water rafting trip in Yosemite. I've never been to the national parks and I'm actually excited

 

[UConnJack]

I second the recommendation to take a year off from Disney and go somewhere else on vacation.

On our last trip in January for the Marathon weekend, our DD (8) and DS (4) enjoyed it, but obviously weren't all that into it. We too were a bit underwhelmed. My daughter even cried that she didn't want to go because she missed here school friends after the Christmas break (she got over that pretty quick).

Even the most die-hard Disney fanatics (like my wife especially) can get worn out after going 2-3 times a year. We have been in a borrowing mode for the last 7 years, so I think we are going to skip WDW this year and let our points catch up back to even. Instead, we are going to go to California this summer. We are going to cheat a little and go to DL/CA for a couple days, but most of the trip will be other things like Yosemite and Death Valley NPs, Legoland, San Diego Zoo, and Hollywood.

Frankly, we have been feeling a bit guilty about bringing the kids mostly to WDW every year. There is so much more to see and do in the world. My wife and I used to love going to NPs, historical locations, etc. but found it easier to go to WDW. Now that they are a bit older, we are really going to try and mix up our vacations. WDW will always be a mainstay, but I think it will be wetter for everyone and help keep our enjoyment of WDW fresh to mix it up.

 

[arthur06]

We just finished a EDW/DCL trip in December, have BWV in April and BCV/BLT in Sept/Oct. I know that is a lot of Disney for some, but for us, it seems about right. Our kids are 10, 4, 2 and really enjoy Disney. We have AP's right now and it just makes sense to get our value from those.

However, after those 3 trips in 10 months we are taking some time off from Disney! DW turns 30 in Jan, so we are planning a Vegas or Mexico trip. Then we will do something in the summer of 2012, possible Hershey, PA and the Northeast or Smoky Mountains or possibly California.

We have also tried to make a point out of trying new things on our trips as well. We have done Cape Canaveral, Daytona, US, IOA, Siesta Key, Busch Gardens. There really is a ton to do in central Florida.

If that doesn't work, you could always put them up for adoption!?

 

[JBx3]

I agree with those that have posted to try another DVC resort outside of Disney. We did AKL 5 trips in a row over a 2 year period and were ready for a different avenue.

How do we try another vacation without tying separate funds to it was our goal. So it was very easy for us to try HHI since we already had points to spend. We did a spur of the moment 4 day trip last June and it turned into a homerun! After exhausting all the park stuff, this was a whole different vacation.

A. Much slower
B. Much more family time together versus racing to this park and that park just to get a day in.
C. Also, a bonus was instead of flying to WDW, we drove to HHI and driving along brought us a whole different dimension to vacationing.

Turned out we like it so much, we did a HHI add on, and have now decided instead of 2 trips or so to WDW each year, we will do 1 to HHI and 1 to WDW.

Really the easiest way to revive any type of being tired of WDW, is to use a few point and try HHI or VB. It really works!

 

[nickspace]

Don't take the kids and go with adults.

 

[WDWMom]

I agree with those that have posted to try another DVC resort outside of Disney. We did AKL 5 trips in a row over a 2 year period and were ready for a different avenue.

A. Much slower
B. Much more family time together versus racing to this park and that park just to get a day in.
C. Also, a bonus was instead of flying to WDW, we drove to HHI and driving along brought us a whole different dimension to vacationing.

Really the easiest way to revive any type of being tired of WDW, is to use a few point and try HHI or VB. It really works!

You can still stay at WDW and have a relaxing vacation. We do it every year. We only go into the parks 2-3 days of a 10 visit. The rest is relaxing around the resort and pool hopping. Just because you are at WDW doesn't mean you have to go, go, go. It's the choices you make while there.

I see this in my nephews. My SIL is the go, go type and has to see and do everything. The boys hate it. We can all be hanging out and she will want to go do something. They boys will tell her they want to stay with their cousins at the pool. SHe'll take off with the baby and go do her thing, but the older 2 and my bro will stay with us. I think she has finally learned. We are all going down in 3 weeks and their AP's expire about 3 days into their trip and don't plan to renew. She was asking me about where the best places are to pool hop and what we do on non park days. I'm really looking forward to hanging out with them this trip since they won't be going full speed.

 

[JBx3]

I see you mentioned 10 day trips and yes, if we went for 10 days we to could find down time. When our average trip is 6 nights, half of those days are in parks, then a day downtown, then the boardwalk, then........it goes quick no matter how hard you try to slow it down.

When you pull park time out of the HHI factor, all of the sudden time is on our side.

I know at WDW it is how you handle the time, however, no matter what we try to do to reign it in....we just go, go, go. And we don't have a problem with that, we simply like the pace change of HHI