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TheVBs
06-28-2009, 11:45 AM
Since our DD8 was born we've typically been heading to Disney World about every 2 years, and taking different trips in between. The idea behind this was that it was too expensive for us to go every year, and to have some different vacation experiences. But, the last few "in between" trips have seemed nearly as expensive, much shorter, and nowhere near as magical. Am I just Disney spoiled? Last year we went to the Wisconsin Dells, paid quite a bit to stay for a few days in a water park/hotel that was just this side of seedy with employees that obviously didn't have very much customer service training. We had to pay seperately for every tour we took, and when we added up everything we spent for those few days, we could have actually spent longer in Disney World! We just went this past May and one of our best trips ever. I just want to go back next year, and take a pass on the other destinations, at least this once. DH is still set on the idea of going somewhere else. But I think that's slowly changing as we talk about our last WDW trip and talk about some of our in between trips. After reading and participating in posts here for the last few months, I feel confident that I'm not alone in feeling Disney spoiled. How do others handle this?

mickeys_princess_mom
06-28-2009, 12:00 PM
Absolutely Disney-spoiled! I'll own it.:blush:
I keep saying I'll go other places with DH, and I will, but there's always the Magic in the back of my mind, and "we could have..."
:wave:

sassafras
06-28-2009, 12:08 PM
I'm spoiled...and I'll admit it! Every time we talk about going somewhere else (even for 2 or 3 days) we look at what the last trip to Disney cost and find it's a much better value and we know we will enjoy it! :cloud9:

PetefromRI
06-28-2009, 12:37 PM
Ditto on the Disney spoiled.We keep planning on other places and when we add up the cost,it's cheaper to go to Disney.We are empty nesters so it's just the two of us.When the kids were small we couldn't afford to go to the doughnut shop so we only took them twice to Disney.Now that it's just us two we go at least twice a year and sometimes more.We also feel that in Disney it's very safe and we never worry about getting mugged or worse and with the free dining in the fall and other specials throughout the year it's the best bang for our buck.Where else can you go and do nothing at all or keep very busy if you wish with great restaurants and entertainment and even catch a movie if you'd like.I'm tired of explaining to everyone at work or even certain family members why we like Disney so much.It works for us and it's our vacations and that's all that matters.

Daisy'sMom
06-28-2009, 01:10 PM
OK, this is dear to my heart. I never want to go anywhere else. DH wants to go to Italy next year. I am trying to talk him out of it. But his arguments are good. "we can drive over to Disney anytime, it is an hour away", etc. etc. A few years ago, I relented and had a wonderful time in the UK. But as soon as we got home, I wanted to spend a few days at Disney.
So we have been having discussions about next year. If I relent, we go to Italy and really can't afford to spend a week at WDW. But at least we can over on day trips.
I just don't know what I would do if I had to decide either a week here or there. It would always be WDW if I did not live close enough to go anytime. :mickey:

ibelieveindisneymagic
06-28-2009, 01:37 PM
We are totally Disney spoiled, but have had some wonderful non-Disney vacations as well!

It is hard, I would love to go to Disney every year, but then we could never go anywhere else. Williamsburg was Disney-quality, Hershey was great too...I wish we could fold the map and be closer to Disney :mickey:

wdw_bound
06-28-2009, 02:12 PM
DH is the non-Disneyphile in our house, but even he agrees that Disney is good value when you think about what you are getting. Last summer, we went to Atlanta for a long weekend. Visited the Aquarium, the American Girl Store and a few other sites. Had a great time, but by the time we tallied up dining out, hotel costs, various admissions, the weekend did not come cheap (and I'm not including the shopping tab). Would we do it again? Sure, but it isn't fair to expect Disney magic out of it.

So, go, experience other things/places while you can. But if you are going somewhere only because you think it will save you money, my bet is that you will be dissatisfied.

wdw_bound
06-28-2009, 02:18 PM
DH is the non-Disneyphile in our house, but even he agrees that Disney is good value when you think about what you are getting. Last summer, we went to Atlanta for a long weekend. Visited the Aquarium, the American Girl Store and a few other sites. Had a great time, but by the time we tallied up dining out, hotel costs, various admissions, the weekend did not come cheap (and I'm not including the shopping tab). Would we do it again? Sure, but it isn't fair to expect Disney magic out of it.

So, go, experience other things/places while you can. But if you are going somewhere only because you think it will save you money, my bet is that you will be dissatisfied.

DestinationWDW
06-28-2009, 02:20 PM
Yes.....we too are a family that is Disney spoiled....so much so that we finally broke down and bought into DVC! We figure that maybe someday .... sometime....when we do not want to go to Disney (gasp!) we can use those points to go to Italy or New Zealand or elsewhere....for now, bring on the Mouse!!!!:mickey:

clou1028
06-28-2009, 06:49 PM
You know, I totally agree with you! People think Disney is expensive, but I've, too noticed that when I add up what I spend on other vacations, it is often more expensive than going to WDW and staying at a Value resort during a promotion period. One time I stayed at ASMu for $59 a night! You just can't beat that... where else are you going to get a nice, clean room, great service, a pool like that for $59 a night?

Flights are always cheaper to Orlando, rental cars are cheaper there (we always get a car). We don't spend a lot of money on dining, so it's really an affordable trip for us. Add in all the Disney Magic, and it's like how can you beat it?

tinksmom02
06-29-2009, 12:23 PM
We're Disney-spoiled, too. After our Sept 08 trip, we thought we were done for a while. I started looking into beachy vacations--Jamaica, Bahamas, etc--just trying to gauge prices. Holy moly! What we spent on a Mod vacay in WDW last year won't get us much at a beach resort! And planning what I wanted for a vacation--well, it was easier, and cheaper, to book a WDW club level package!

While it doesn't seem to be cheaper on the surface, Disney definitely does give you more bang for the buck (ours, anyway), and I KNOW that DD will be entertained for a week. Can't say the same about a nice, relaxing beac vacay...although I'd like to try it someday!

snowblack
06-29-2009, 12:48 PM
I agree, we just came home from the great wolf lodge in the poconos PA, We had to wait on line to check in for 35 minutes, then the lady behind the desk was so rude, even though there was an indoor water park, because it was thunder and lightning outside they shut down the water park. we was stuck in thr hotel room until the storm passed. I kept saying if we were in dw we could have put on our ponchos and kept going. :mickey:

EpcotFan182
06-29-2009, 08:15 PM
My family and I are definately Disney spoiled - everywhere I go I always compare it do Disney and say to myself "you know in Disney, they do it this way..."

VolMickey
06-29-2009, 08:50 PM
Ditto!

DVC2004
06-29-2009, 09:40 PM
We go 2 times a year usually. But, last year I was at DL in Jan, WDW in June, DL again in Oct, and WDW again in Dec. And in between all this we squeezed in a trip to Hawaii. :mickey: I'm not Disney spoiled, right?:mickey:

c&d
06-30-2009, 10:30 AM
Disney spoiled but lucky enough to take more than 1 trip a year.

We've found we're always going down for April vacation since we own there. We save our big summer vacation for someplace else (Yellowstone, Maui, Europe).

We do, about every 3 years, a big 2 week stay at Disney.

Every trip we take we always compare it to how it would be at Disney, especially if there are rude employees. We wonder "Where's the Magic?" and "That's certainly not very Disneylike."

TheVBs
06-30-2009, 09:14 PM
Yes! I'm reading all your posts, feeling exactly the same way. I think we definitely get way more bang for the buck at Disney. When I look at all we did and experienced in May, especially those really special moments like DD4 getting called on by Crush, and DH getting to be in the Indy show, there's just no comparison.

We have had good vacations to other destinations. One of my favorites was Bar Harbor, Maine. But still the cost/content comparison fell way short. We would love to go to Hawaii, Yellowstone and definitely want to take a family vacation overseas someday. But right now, the girls just don't seem ready for it. So I figure, why not go back to WDW next year? I'd like to save the other big trips for when they'll really appreciate it and will both be old enough to do all that's offered in those places.

So, in my head, I'm already planning mid-late October 2010, MNSSHP, Pirate makeovers.... :cool:

azcavalier
07-01-2009, 10:29 AM
Yep, so true. While we all love Disney in our family, my wife is really the driving force behind the WDW vacations (and since she has a high-stress career and is the breadwinner, i'm not gonna complain). And that's where she wants to go. I just tried talking her into saving up for a trip out to LA and DisneyLand next year, but a week-long trip, with airfare from Virgina, *without food costs*, and it's still topping $5000. We can do a longer trip to WDW in September/October WITH food for around $3000.

Plus, for our 15th anniversary, we talked about going somewhere else (just the two of us) like DC or Asheville, NC, but after looking at all the costs, it's just as much as flying to WDW and staying at the Boardwalk for the week. So guess where we're going in April???

NJGIRL
07-01-2009, 11:29 AM
I see where you are coming from and while I think a vacation anywhere is expensive I have to disagree about going to Disney every year (for our family only not yours). We do Disney every other year and on our off years we go different places like you are doing. While we love our disney vacations I would not trade our other vacation destinations for any thing. We have seen so many amazing places and once in a life time things. My son has seen so much of this country that his teachers are amazed at how much he has learned through our vacations. We have been to the Grand Canyon, Niagra Falls, Washington DC, Las Vegas, NYC, Williamsburg, Cape Cod, Philadelphia, Newport, Toronto,Baltimore, Bahamas and the list can go on and on. This year we are going to Italy!

Believe me, we have friends that go to Disney 3times a year and I think that they are entitled to do what they want on their vacation and I do see the attraction of going there but I have to side with your husband on this. There are too many wonderful things out there to see to limit our experiences to Disney only.

jaredkari
07-01-2009, 11:45 AM
We are definately WDW spoiled. We try to go at least once a year. Everytime we go somewhere my wife and I just look at each other and say "We should have gone to Disney World!!!"

We went to Wisconsin Dells a few years ago and you are absolutely right. Other places nickel and dime you to death!! Now I know WDW isn't cheap and they have expensive stuff but the way we do WDW is we get the dining plan, we stay on property, and we only buy a few things (we aren't big disney collectors). We don't have to worry about any expenses once we get there. WE LOVE WDW!!!!:mickey:

Tink#64
07-02-2009, 12:17 AM
We are definitely WDW spoiled! We won't even do other "amusement" parks now, because they all fall so short! 2002 was our 1st trip, DS's were 4 & 6 and it was the 1st trip for all of us! We took the next year off & did something else & then DH & I were both itching to go back! We then went 3 years in a row for our big family vacation & during that last trip, youngest DS asked several times if we had to do certain attractions! :ack: So DH & I decided we were going to start visiting WDW every other year with other trips in between. We always have taken long weekend trips, Gatlinburg, Nashville, etc & we camp with family & friends, but we only take one "big" vacation" & we want everyone to be happy.

This year was our "off" year & we went to Myrtle Beach for the week, had a great vacation & alot of quality family time, but now we're just chomping at the bit to get back to our "Laughin Place"! I think visiting every other year helps us really appreciate WDW more, but gosh I miss it sooooo much on those years we don't visit! We enjoy our other vacations, but then part of me worries that DS's might one day decide they are too old for WDW! :faint: So then I start thinking - Forget the other trips! We should just give in & go to WDW every year! :D Gosh knows we spend almost as much for those beach vacations! But they are soooo relaxing! And watching my guys play in the ocean :surfing: while I'm just relaxing in my beach chair :vacation: Ahhhhhhh! So who knows? We just need to win the lottery, retire & do it all every year! :cloud9:

TheVBs
07-02-2009, 02:35 PM
Winning the lottery would be the perfect solution!

I think, Tink#64, you got right to the heart of it for me. I've had so many other parents tell me that their kids (not much older than ours) are just not into Disney anymore. :confused: I guess my idea of going back two years in a row, is really about enjoying Disney while it's still magical for our girls. I know that just because other kids have lost interest, doesn't mean that ours will, and I hope we'll enjoy a lot more Disney vacations in the future.

I used to be the driving force behind going other places every other year. But the last couple of vacations really felt like they were missing something. I wouldn't want to never go anywhere else. It's a big dream of ours to see Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. But, I just thought a couple years (or three?) in a row of Disney might not be a bad idea. :blush: