Why can't we slow ourselves down????

[TexasErin]

We go every year taking 10 day trips. We are DVC members, so we know we will be back next year. Still we try to ride everything multiple times.

There are four of us. DD is 16. DS is 10. No one ever wants to skip anything. Here are a couple of examples.... I feel like we can alternate which show we see each year at AK. Last year we saw Nemo, so I figured this year, we'd see FotLK, but DS was disappointed about skipping Nemo.

Another example was the 2 days we went to DHS. (DH's favorite park.) The first day we saw BatB (like we do every year) and I thought to myself that we could cross that off our list since we saw it our first day, but DD wanted to see it again on our second DHS day.

We split up a little bit since DH and DD ride ToT and RnRC, but other than that we don't split up much since it is a family vacation.

We had PAP this trip, but only had a couple of hours to spend at DQ and BB. By the middle of our trip, we are exhausted! We don't take mid-day breaks due to transportation time. We are there for RD every day to beat the crowds. And nobody ever wants to leave at night. So we open and close the parks every day with no break.

Our trips are far from relaxing, even though we know we'll be back.

Anybody else with this problem???? Have you been able to find a way to relax????

 

[snowangel72]

Do you go in the summer? My kids drag me back to the hotel for swimiming. It's WAY too hot to spend the entire day at the parks IMO.

 

[ibcrazie4dizney]

we do the same thing. we go atleast every year, dd, dgd and myself. we have seen it all and will go back and see it again. so, why do we HAVE to see it each time? even things that aren't necessarily our favs, we still feel the need to do them. we are usually at rope drop and most nights close the park. never take a mid day break, we might miss out on something! we usually go in jan but are forced to do a summer trip this year in aug. we are very concerned about the heat. dd has health problems, dgd has heart condition, and I don't do well in heat. so our original plan was to sleep in, maybe do the pool and relax thru the day and head to the parks later afternoon and just take it easy and see what we see and enjoy it. as we started planning and making reservations for meals and activities, things are getting crazy. trying to fit in our fav restaurants and all, we will have to be there some/most days after all. I guess we are just addicts. cant understand when people say they are taking a day off from the parks just to hang out, they probably have the right idea but we just cant do it. have the feeling there are a lot of us out there, especially when I found the dis boards, we are not alone.

 

[wdwfan22]

We are the same way. We don't usually go in the summer, so don't have to deal with the heat much. But I think it's just cuz we enjoy riding and seeing everything. There are a couple things we only do once, but like to ride our favorites as many times as possible.

We don't go every year (at least not my whole family). This next trip will be the first one with all 4 of us in 5 yrs. So we just try to pack in as much as possible. Some people prefer to tour leasurely, and that works great for them. But we take a cruise when we want to relax. When we are at Disney, we go, go, go. We want to fit in everything we can. Not to say we don't take time to appreciate all the surroundings and soak up the atmosphere, we just don't feel like we need to sacrifice riding rides to do that. We love riding the People Mover and just look around at the beauty of the park.

So as long as you are all happy touring the way you do, that's all that matters!!

 

[Stinky_Pete]

I guess I'm the same way. I went on my first solo trip last December and thought how I had already done all the rides and had no one to show around and really wanted to slow down and see the Epcot storytellers and other shows in the parks. The first thing I did when I arrived was upgrade my 6 day hopper to an AP, so I knew I would be back at least once, maybe twice, in the year.

What did I do? Arrive at each park at rope drop and do the headliners to avoid lines and then the other attractions, following a touring plan. I just couldn't relax and let it flow.

I thought I really wanted to be one of those people I read about here who just go from shaded bench to shaded bench in World Showcase, having a snack and "people watching". But I think one of the reasons I have always loved WDW is because I there is so much to do!

I have never been a "lie on the beach all day" kind of guy. I like to have places to go and things to do!

So maybe the trick is to just accept we are the kind of people who like to be on the go.

 

[chocovrdmicears]

We used to be just like you...and I was the driving factor. I always felt if I was IN Disney, I shoud be IN a Park and riding something or seeing something. Every year we would come home exhausted. Then 2 years ago DH AND the kids asked if we could slow it down. So I committed to myself and family that we would make time to *relax* .
It was a "Vacation Changing Moment".
We spent a TON of time laying by the pool and letting the kids swim and relax. DH and I actually spent quite a bit of time in lounge chairs that trip.... And we still managed to see just about everything we wanted in all the Parks. So we didn't ride Splash Mountain or Spaceship Earth 6 times..we rode them once and enjoyed them. And bonus....! We all came home relaxed.

At the end of that trip we all came home feeling like we had been vacation. We saw everything, had a blast, and relaxed.

 

[wdwfan22]

We used to be just like you...and I was the driving factor. I always felt if I was IN Disney, I shoud be IN a Park and riding something or seeing something. Every year we would come home exhausted. Then 2 years ago DH AND the kids asked if we could slow it down. So I committed to myself and family that we would make time to *relax* .
It was a "Vacation Changing Moment".
We spent a TON of time laying by the pool and letting the kids swim and relax. DH and I actually spent quite a bit of time in lounge chairs that trip.... And we still managed to see just about everything we wanted in all the Parks. So we didn't ride Splash Mountain or Spaceship Earth 6 times..we rode them once and enjoyed them. And bonus....! We all came home relaxed.

At the end of that trip we all came home feeling like we had been vacation. We saw everything, had a blast, and relaxed.

Everyone tours differently, and if the whole family doesn't want to go all out, then you have miserable family members. Sounds like lots of time by the pool works great for your family. But if no one in her family wants to skip rides, then they should do what makes them all happy.

 

[chocovrdmicears]

Everyone tours differently, and if the whole family doesn't want to go all out, then you have miserable family members. Sounds like lots of time by the pool works great for your family. But if no one in her family wants to skip rides, then they should do what makes them all happy.

I totally agree! My point is...if you make it a point to take a bit of time to slow down, you might just find you enjoy it! Believe me, no one was more suprised than me at that realization.

 

[Luvchefmic]

I used to be the same way, the only cure for it was moving here; now I move as slow as molasses in VT in the dead of winter


Seriously the 16 y/o you will only have a few years then on to college and sometimes yes sad but true they outgrow Disney I think your whole touring plans will change when only DS is home it goes way too fast this getting older stuff and then before you know it you will be doing your trips adult style totally different Enjoy it !

 

[circus4u]

I used to be the same way, the only cure for it was moving here; now I move as slow as molasses in VT in the dead of winter


Seriously the 16 y/o you will only have a few years then on to college and sometimes yes sad but true they outgrow Disney I think your whole touring plans will change when only DS is home it goes way too fast this getting older stuff and then before you know it you will be doing your trips adult style totally different Enjoy it !

AGREED! When our 4 kids were young, we lived an hour from Disney. After Annual Passes were introduced, we went about every other week and it was always rush rush. Moved from Florida in 1996 and had not been back until Nov 2012. Kids are grown and have families over their own now. This past November was not only our first trip since 1996, but the first time we had ever been to WDW by ourselves! Only plan now is sleep until we wake up, catch whatever bus happens to show up first at the bus stop, and then it is leisurely and whatever we feel like doing! Not too many rides, usually the fast passes we get are passed on to someone else since we changed our minds and wanted to do something else. Have done things like Hoop Dee Doo, Polynesian Show, California Grill dinner, etc that we had never done before -r and we have been going as adults since 1971! We enjoyed that first trip in Nov 2012, we went back for our 40th Anniversary this past May. We already have reservations for another September trip and have plane tickets already for this next November! We weren't sure how it would be this past November -- a lot of memories there with our kids and grandkids over the years, but the nostalgia did not depress us and needless to say, we are having a daRn good time or we wouldn't have four trips planned in one year!

 

[PoohsFan1]

Yep, we are right there with you. Our Disney vacations normally last anywhere from 10-12 days, once if not twice a year. We are not commandos by any means, but we do make sure we ride rides multiple times and see our favorite shows....we could never skip on a show every other year, it just wouldn't feel right for us. We have our must do places to eat, both Signature and character meals with a few 1 credit meals in between (we love Disney restaurants ). DH calls what we have a virus, but a good virus and one that we don't want to find a cure for. We do have one thing going for us, we always find at least one thing that we have never done before for each of our trips. For instance, we would do at least 1 new restaurant a trip and we always stay at a new resort, also for our upcoming trip we are going to our first F&W festival. We also just got back from a DLR trip (first time going there) and next year we plan on taking our first Disney cruise....both not WDW, but they are still Disney related .

 

[Robo]

I can relax at home.

 

[Luvchefmic]

I can relax at home.

In the castle right because I truly believe you live there you just know way too much

 

[Robo]

In the castle right because I truly believe you live there you just know way too much

Ah, if only...

 

[North of Mouse]

We go every year taking 10 day trips. We are DVC members, so we know we will be back next year. Still we try to ride everything multiple times.

There are four of us. DD is 16. DS is 10. No one ever wants to skip anything. Here are a couple of examples.... I feel like we can alternate which show we see each year at AK. Last year we saw Nemo, so I figured this year, we'd see FotLK, but DS was disappointed about skipping Nemo.

Another example was the 2 days we went to DHS. (DH's favorite park.) The first day we saw BatB (like we do every year) and I thought to myself that we could cross that off our list since we saw it our first day, but DD wanted to see it again on our second DHS day.

We split up a little bit since DH and DD ride ToT and RnRC, but other than that we don't split up much since it is a family vacation.

We had PAP this trip, but only had a couple of hours to spend at DQ and BB. By the middle of our trip, we are exhausted! We don't take mid-day breaks due to transportation time. We only the parks every day to beat the crowds. And nobody ever wants to leave at night.

Our trips are far from relaxing, even though we know we'll be back.

Anybody else with this problem???? Have you been able to find a way to relax????

I wouldn't know how to tell others to slow down, relax, and take time to 'smell the roses'. If it's your (family) personality to go commando, then that would be hard to change IMO.

We go most years once, and sometimes twice, for 10 nights, but we go 'with the flow' and plan out very little in advance. Usually we'll make about 4 ADR's and wing the rest.

We are generally 'relaxed' tired when we leave, but not exhausted. We always see/do what we want to instead of doing something different because we missed it last time. In 10 nights we always see/do everything we'd like, and we don't stay 'all' day in the parks.

For starters, just plan in advance 'not to plan every thing' and try to relax and wing it.

 

[Love Tink]

I can relax at home.

Yes! Exactly! (And not just at home, but at the beach or the mountains or anywhere else we could - and do sometimes - go.)

If we're in Orlando, it's because we want to go to the parks. And we're always exhausted by day four, and hobbling by the time we leave for the airport...but we wouldn't have it any other way,

 

[lroger01]

The only real solution to not skipping things is to get in better shape. My goal is to train for a marathon but instead of actually running one I'd go to Disney.

Those of you that run marathons, how long can you tour without getting tired?

 

[bellaally]

It sound like OP is ready to slow down. My sister has knee problems and refused to rent an ECV for our January trip so I alternated rope dropping and then going back to the resort early or arriving later, or even staying at the resorts enjoying the pool and then heading into the parks for dinner. It was lovely and we stayed at AKL so there was plenty to do and see. I would recommend if your kids want to do everything split up, let them pair off. They probably have a cell phone just tell them to meet you for lunch and then you guys could do a couple of things together. We have been 3 times and we still have things we didn't do and that's what we prioritize we might do a couple favorites but we enjoy just being in Disney.

 

[BigAlsGal]

We also haul buns. This up coming trip I vow we are taking days off. We usually hit a park every day. This time 4 park days 3 off days. It's just so hard on everyone. It turns us into cranky people.

We'll see if I can actually put my money where my mouth is.

 

[rachel09985]

Yes I have that problem! I always try to plan in pool time but just knowing that there are parks out there that I could go in is way too tempting. We always feel bad just relaxing.