Where are you getting your dose of magic? Lost magic

[nycdisneygal]

We are traveling more! Europe and hopefully Asia next year. We went to Hawaii (not Aulani) and loved it! We do Universal for our theme park fix. We did a combo Disney and Universal trip this year and my 6 year old preferred Universal!

 

[Karin1984]

If you love characters and shows: Go to Disney cruise line. Especially longer cruises.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

Why would anyone put a vacation on their credit card and not pay in full every month.

Some people believe there is some kind of massive financial overhaul coming and all their debt is going to be somehow erased, so they think it's okay - and even a good idea - to run up their debt.

We haven't been to WDW since 2017. My favorite trips were my very first couple starting in 2011 when my kids were quite young, and then after that I was constantly comparing each new trip to those favorite ones, and feeling disappointed. The crowds were already increasing quite badly, I felt like we were getting much less for much more cost, and really none of us have much of a desire to go back at this point. They are a good memory, but we've largely moved on. We do national parks, hiking, exploring other countries, Disney cruises (but will consider other lines in the future). If we take a trip to Southern California we would maybe spend a day or 2 at DL since we've never been there, but it wouldn't be a whole trip built around Disney. I would also like to do the Tokyo Disney if we get to Japan, but same thing, it would just be a day of our trip, not the whole purpose of it.

Like others have suggested, you might check out a Disney Cruise. I never thought I would be a cruise person, but we really enjoyed it. A nice mix of active adventures while in ports, and relaxing while at sea.

 

[Moliphino]

Go to WDW and then go to Disneyland. The difference is outstanding.

DL still has a lot of the moneygrubbing that is what has made WDW not worth it. They've also had price hikes and the ever increasingly expensive Genie+. I don't want to deal with any of it.
Plus DL doesn't have Epcot or the bubble. It's just not as immersive an experience.

I would love to go to Tokyo DL. The OLC is perfectly happy to spend tons of money on making those parks great. None of the Disney owned parks get that kind of investment.

 

[RedAngie]

Why would anyone put a vacation on their credit card and not pay in full every month.

Because I like to pay interest charges.

 

[RedAngie]

Double post so I’ll edit.

Sometimes I don’t have enough money in my standard account to pay off CC vacation charges in full. I CAN easily transfer money, but I’m too lazy.

When one has a forest of money trees growing in the backyard, one tends not to care about a hundred dollars in interest charges a year.

 

[BrianL]

Double post so I’ll edit.

Sometimes I don’t have enough money in my standard account to pay off CC vacation charges in full. I CAN easily transfer money, but I’m too lazy.

When one has a forest of money trees growing in the backyard, one tends not to care about a hundred dollars in interest charges a year.

Yeah, I always pay my credit cards off every month, however there was a time when I couldn't necessarily always do that. Credit Cards are a tool that when used responsibly can be helpful, even if some interest gets paid. Of course it can get out of control for some which is a problem, but there's nothing wrong with using them for the advantages they provide as appropriate.

 

[MillauFr]

DL still has a lot of the moneygrubbing that is what has made WDW not worth it. They've also had price hikes and the ever increasingly expensive Genie+. I don't want to deal with any of it.
Plus DL doesn't have Epcot or the bubble. It's just not as immersive an experience.

I would love to go to Tokyo DL. The OLC is perfectly happy to spend tons of money on making those parks great. None of the Disney owned parks get that kind of investment.

Orange County California is a bubble. For me it is the far superior rides they have in California. Pirates in Florida is a joke, Test Track, Dinosaur, Buzz? Why doesn't Disney give its flagship park the best rides?

 

[Smugpugmug]

I would love to go to Tokyo DL. The OLC is perfectly happy to spend tons of money on making those parks great. None of the Disney owned parks get that kind of investment.

If you can do, do it! I went to TDL and DL in the same year and no offense but it made DL look like a Six Flags in comparison. I'm reading from locals that TDL has issues too with no entertainment returning yet but if that's the only problem then I'll take it.

 

[DVC Dom]

We have 3 little kids (all under 7), and we enjoy our time at WDW. Our success lies in not worrying about the increased costs of things (but we can't control it, we only budget for it). and instead look at ways to maximize your "time". So, we never rush around trying to pack our days with rides...we lazily go from pool to lunch to ride to walking, etc.

Also, wee enjoy the genie+ LL+ park ressie changes...and here is why. While yes, they add cost and restrictions....they have reduced crowds at the parks, so walking around is more enjoyable. and once you spend the money on those perks...they save you time. One of our best days at VGF was entering the park to ride Seven Dwarves using LL+, and then starting to book afternoon Genie passes (anything after 4pm). We then proceeded back to the VGF pool for the next 4 hours, took a nap, and then during that time, I booked 4 more fast passes....so by the time we walked back into Magic Kingdom, I had 5 Fastpasses lined up between around 4 and 7. It was bliss.

We focused on what we could control, and in turn, our entire family enjoyed our week at WDW.

 

[Weeki64]

For me, the magic of Disney World has been eliminated. The removal of perks and increased costs have finally taken their toll. I’m not going to spend time listing each gripe because they’ve been talked about exhaustively on message boards. I spent this last year acting like I had broken up with a lover (who was actually just Disney World). I know, I know. I’m pathetic that I would base so much of my happiness and joy around traveling to a theme park, but I did! I went through anger and resentment and depression. It wasn’t pretty. How did I even get to this place of being hooked on Disney? Remember back in college (I’m talking early 2000’s) when it was frowned upon to be a fan of Disney? Let’s face it, even though it wasn’t cool to like Disney in my late teens and early 20’s, everyone my age (millennial) always held a torch for the golden years of animated movies like Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. But for a long time, anything that held the Disney name was dead to me. Then around 2009 Disney animation was resurrected with movies like Tangled, Princess and the Frog, Frozen, and Brave. Animated movies started improving and Disney got some credibility back. Then the parks came into my life when I took a trip to Disney World, paid for by my in-laws, in 2012. It was my first time at Disney World since I went as a 10 year-old in 1995, and WOW! I was hooked. The magic I felt, from the moment I was whisked away from the airport by Magical Express to the beauty and cleanliness of Coronado Springs resort, was indescribable. I felt pure joy. The parks and rides amazed me. I felt that something that was missing in my life had been found! Since that trip I spent years telling family and coworkers how a Disney World vacation was expensive, but worth it because of how much was included! There were no worries from arrival to departure! I was all in. I bought DVC and have been to Disney World 15+ times since that 2012 trip. Now I’m here, venting about my broken heart on a message board. So if you’ve even made it this far in my rant….

What are you all doing to get your dose of magic right now? Is it still Disney for you? Have you found something new? I’m asking out of curiosity and I guess desperation to recapture the feeling that only Disney has given me the past 10 years and is now lost.

I have not found anything to replace the magic yet. I’m not sure it’s possible.

 

[JaxDad]

We did a solid year of WDW when the kids were young—all the parks, the deluxe resorts, character meals, etc. It was great. I didn’t think about it at the time, and I certainly neither encouraged nor discouraged it, but thank goodness none of us got blasted by pixie dust, or magic, or whatever. I THINK I understand it, but probably not totally. We just moved on to other vacations, including the other Orlando theme parks. Our recent vacations have primarily been to small towns near state and national parks with lots of hikes, waterfalls, wildlife, and the occasional touristy attraction. These include Tennessee, Upstate New York, Alaska, and South Dakota. I’m considering a return to Europe next, especially if the exchange rate remains favorable.

 

[SteveH]

@JenboJambo like you I feel that Disney has lost it's way in a great many ways. We had Disneyland in July 2019 and WDW February 2020, and for now those will be the last of our trips for some time. I no longer feel that we get a good value for our vacation dollar. Plus, many things Disney has done annoy me to the point I prefer not to financially support them. We bailed on our planned trip for WDW's 50th weekend and instead took a trip to the big Island of Hawaii & Maui - had just as much fun as a Disney trip and maybe more I'd say... at a lower cost. We had so much fun we went back to and visit Oahu and Kauai 8 months later.

So when you ask what we do to get our magic... we're NOT going to Disney, we're planning our third trip back to Hawaii and enjoying our at home Tiki Bar & Lounge (prices are way better then Trader Sam's too)

 

[tony67]

PC DEV did a good talk about this yesterday on his you tube channel

Personally I gave up on Disney around 10+ years ago and started going to Universal primarily with side trips to Disney every couple of years - even staying at a Universal Hotel when going to Disney - unfortunately seems like everyone is going to Universal now and its slammed

The stuff I see now boggles the mind

 

[Moliphino]

Orange County California is a bubble. For me it is the far superior rides they have in California. Pirates in Florida is a joke, Test Track, Dinosaur, Buzz? Why doesn't Disney give its flagship park the best rides?

Not to me. You don't get the same feeling of being cut off from the real world at DL. When I go to WDW I don't see the outside world the entire time I'm there, at DL you can see it from the parks. We did 4 days there in 2016 and it was fun, but it wasn't even enough to fill those 4 days. I'm sure it's a bit better now with Avengers Campus replacing Bug's Land (which was adorable, but completely useless).

 

[BrianL]

Orange County California is a bubble. For me it is the far superior rides they have in California. Pirates in Florida is a joke, Test Track, Dinosaur, Buzz? Why doesn't Disney give its flagship park the best rides?

Well, you have a point on some of those, but WDW has a lot of stuff that DLR does not, plus the better versions of a few rides too. WDW has Flight of Passage, Expedition Everest, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Slinky Dog Dash, plus the very new Cosmic Rewind and soon to be TRON. Not to mention, I'll hold up Epcot classic Spaceship Earth as a high-point. Also, I would argue that the HM at WDW is a bit better, plus the original Tower of Terror - not to mention WDW still has a People Mover, so there's that!

We can cherry picl all day of course, but DL is also great - It's great that they're different! And yeah, the Anaheim Resort Area isn't quite a bubble, it's still pretty nice to be in.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Orange County California is a bubble. For me it is the far superior rides they have in California. Pirates in Florida is a joke, Test Track, Dinosaur, Buzz? Why doesn't Disney give its flagship park the best rides?

They do give their flagship park (Disneyland) the best rides.

 

[Tink-osophy]

...not to mention WDW still has a People Mover, so there's that!

And thank goodness for that!

 

[Moliphino]

- not to mention WDW still has a People Mover, so there's that!

And Carousel of Progress and Country Bears

 

[Darcy03231]

While we can still afford to go, we choose not to. For us, the experience isn't worth the premium price. We've found we can vacation in other destinations, have as much (if not more) fun than WDW, for less money.

Last vacation was an 8 day cruise, with 2 days pre-cruise in Miami. We had a buy one, get one free on Delta. We also had a $75 on-board credit and a free dinner for two in a specialty restaurant. We went to Aruba, Bonaire & Curacao. Total cost, including everything but souvenirs was (airfare, hotel, taxi, tours, etc.) $3,642. We didn't buy the alcohol package as neither one of us are big drinkers, but when we wanted a drink we got one.

We did a catamaran/snorkel trip in Bonaire that was absolutely amazing. We've never been on a more professional snorkel trip. They offered reef safe sunscreen, scuba shirts/suits for those that wanted one, kept the tour to 24 people, split us into groups of 8 with a guide, and would point stuff out for us and then come up and tell us what we were seeing. They also offered an amazing lunch, all for $75/pp.

For Curacao we booked a private 6 hour island/sea turtle snorkel tour. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the island and packed about 12 hours of information into 6 hours. He even went out of his way to try to find flamingos in their natural habitat when he found out that I love flamingos. Curacao is a great island and DH and I are already planning to return for a land-based trip. Tour was $500 for the two of us. This did not include lunch, but we stopped at a local place with fresh delicious local food, that was super cheap.

We've been to Aruba multiple times so just got off the ship here to walk around and get some souvenirs for the grandkids.

There's no way we could have gone to WDW for 10 days for what we paid for this trip.