Converting Anti-Disney People

[SBETigg]

My husband and I shared a laugh over this yesterday. Husband used to be skeptical about Disney, but I insisted we honeymoon there and he loved it. Thank goodness. It could have been a deal-breaker Through the years, we have become known as Disney fans to coworkers and friends ("You're going there again?!") and sometimes people ask us (mostly me, through him) for Disney vacation advice. One fellow (husband's coworker) asked lots of questions a few years ago before taking his family on their first Disney vacation. He followed our advice, but came back disgruntled. He seemed to dislike everything. Wilderness Lodge, Artist Point, crowds, transportation, grumble, grumble. We'll call this one Grumpy.

Cut to yesterday, another coworker came to my husband with questions about a Disney trip for his family. Grumpy cuts into the discussion loaded with enthusiasm and some great advice (the same advice husband and I gave him a few years ago). He could not stop talking about what a great family vacation he had, recommending Wilderness Lodge, and a handful of his favorite restaurants (notably, mostly also our favorite restaurants to recommend) including Artist Point. In fact, Grumpy is taking his family back next year, and they are staying at the Poly this time, and he can't wait.

Huh! Isn't that funny? I love it. I guess you just never know. There are some people who genuinely can't get into Disney, and I understand that and thought this guy was one of those. But apparently not after all. Have you made any surprising conversions? Or are you surrounded by people who just don't get it?

[tinkwest]

I don't think I've met too many people who are anti-Disney but rather people unable to comprehend how much we enjoy it. We have received a lot of "You're going there again?!" comments throughout the years. After years of trying to explain ourselves we finally simplified our reply to "Yes! We love it." Everyone has their own thing. My brother probably gets "You're riding your bike across the United States again?" That's his thing. Anyway . . .

I have one friend who always has stories of Disneyland dissatisfaction. But, and even she admits this, whenever she goes with me she has a delightful time. I think it has a lot to do with attitude. I've been in line for an attraction with her when they announce that they are shutting it down momentarily. She exclaims, "Didn't I tell you? The rides are always breaking down when I'm in line. Let's get out of here." I respond, "Let's just stand here and visit for a bit and see what happens." Twenty minutes later we have advanced in the line thanks to all of the people who left and the ride starts loading again. So, instead of starting the day grumbling about the dumb, broken rides we can check an attraction off of our list and continue on with our day. Since she can be impatient with closures and long lines she is anti-Disney unless she has me along to remind her it's all going to be okay.

You have reminded me of once, many years ago, when my sister had a co-worker going to Disneyland for the first time. My sister asked that I send some tips and personal experiences. I was afraid that I might have overwhelmed her with the length of my letter but several months later, after her trip, the young lady wrote to me thanking me for all of my help and saying that it really made a difference in her vacation. I was grateful that she let me know how things had turned out and it made me feel good knowing I had helped.

[Wayne]

I guess the opposite are folks like me who love the original ideas that Walt had and who loved and respected Disney for setting the bar for what a family friendly theme park experience could be like. At one time, as a former professional in the theme park industry, I could count on Disney being one of the only places that I could go and "get away" from the critical eye of supervision and enjoy myself in a theme park atmosphere back in the 70's through the early 2000's. Our visits were at least once a year, and often more, from '76 to '94. Heck, my wife and I honeymooned at CBR for 10 days in '89.

Sometime during the Eisner era, things changed, at least at WDW (haven't been to Disneyland although that is still on the wish list). The bean counters took over and the envelope pushing of the WED Imagineers was reigned in. Value for dollar spent went down in favor of maximizing profit. It became commonplace to substitute cheap meet & greets for real Imagineering of great guest experiences.

Bottom line, our last family trip to Walt Disney World was in 2006. My disappointment in that trip combined with the commentary that I see here and at other sites give me no reason to want to return. Say what you will, but the idea of planning my vacation down to the last minute is not something that I find relaxing. We visit Florida about once a year, enjoying condo time in the Destin area, but, frankly, I have no desire to return at this time to Orlando to visit WDW.

I still have a great respect for the Disney heritage. I just regret how much the Disney company has prostituted that heritage.

[SBETigg]

Understandable, Wayne. You didn't just shut it down. You come from a long history of experience, and you know what it was like at its best for you. I still love it, but I can see where you are coming from and I always hope it gets better. Even with the changes, I usually manage to be spontaneous but it takes some adjustment now and the ability to not count on certain experiences that used to be a given, like riding certain rides without planning far ahead or expecting high quality at every level. Some would argue that things won't change as long as the lemmings keep going back and spending their money, but I really don't think things will ever quite return to the way they were, regardless.

[EeyoresBestFriend]

I admit that I was one of those people. After my first trip ever to DL in 1989, it was fun but I had no desire to return. In 2000, after much persuading by my DH, I agreed to go to WDW for a trip. He recalls this as the biggest mistake of his life. I love the World. People call me a Disney addict, but truly, I am only a WDW addict.

Over the years, we have taken many family for their first times to WDW and most have enjoyed it. More than anything, no one seems to truly understand what it is about until they see it for themselves.

There have been a few converts and a few 'meh' people from our travels, but they all speak fondly of it when we reminisce. And yes, a lot of them do become "instant" experts!!

[Giggy]

My parents did this to themselves, in 1998 we only planned to spend 1 of our 3 Florida weeks in Orlando which they decided to do "for the kids" before we went and did other things. In the end even they enjoyed WDW so much that in our second week (when we were not too far from Orlando) we travelled back a couple of times and our third week where we travelled around ended with 2 more days in Orlando.

WDW was enjoyed so much by everyone that we have returned another 3 times, trip #5 is also provisionally in the pipeline for when we find a time the whole family is available.

[TheVBs]

I can't say that we've ever given a real try at converting any anti-Disney people. If someone brings it up, I'll tell them about what we enjoy and what I think they would enjoy (i.e. told my s.i.l & b.i.l. about the F&WF, not that they'll ever try it). But I haven't tried to really sell anyone on it.

I will definitely give advice when asked! My other s.i.l. & b.i.l asked us about it once, but only wanted to do one day in the MK for their family of 4. Expensive day, so they felt compelled to try to do everything, took no breaks, went from park opening to closing and the kids were actually crying by the end of the evening because they were so exhausted. They hated it - go figure.

Now, our neighbors just took their first trip. They have a 3 year old little girl. They took our advice about how long to stay, booking FP+ and ADRs, knowing what was in each park and picking your must dos. They had a wonderful time and would love to go back!

[baldburke]

I can't say I'd try to convert anyone either. You either like it or you don't. Just like anything else, for every person that doesn't like it there's another two or three behind them that do. We certainly don't need more people at WDW! Slow seasons are a thing of the past! But as noted above we tend to focus on things we've learned over the years on how to make a WDW vacation successful to maximize enjoyment without breaking the bank.

[SBETigg]

Agreed on not trying to change the minds of anyone who has been there and knows how they feel. But in the case of people who have never been and don't know what to think, who ask for an opinion, I'm willing to offer one. For me, it was important that my spouse enjoyed Disney enough to go with me. And as for his coworker, we really were surprised that he changed his mind so drastically after the fact. Not that we tried to convert him-- no handing out pamphlets or preaching, just answering his questions. But he converted himself to a fan somehow, quite unexpectedly.

[joonyer]

We gave up trying to convince our best friends to go with us on a no-kids trip. They went several times when their kids were small, but where we have continued to love going to WDW, they have no desire to go anymore. They've never been without kids and we tried to convince them how much fun we could have on an adults only trip. but they weren't buying. We've traveled other places with them and always have fun, but we finally gave up and went to WDW without them. Different strokes for different folks.

[Pally]

We gave up trying to convince our best friends to go with us on a no-kids trip. They went several times when their kids were small, but where we have continued to love going to WDW, they have no desire to go anymore. They've never been without kids and we tried to convince them how much fun we could have on an adults only trip. but they weren't buying. We've traveled other places with them and always have fun, but we finally gave up and went to WDW without them. Different strokes for different folks.

We did an all adult trip to Food and Wine. It was the best time. No kids to worry about. You can just relax and enjoy.

I find people either love it or they just don't get it. Don't even really talk about Disney to the people who don't get it. Or people who have never been and have a negative opinion about Disney. Basically calling all those who do go suckers.

[kpen625]

We have been many times and feel like there is always something new and different to see. Our up coming trip will be the first for our daughter who will be almost 4 when we go and we are so excited because she is already saying how she can't wait to meet Mickey!!! I think that like so many other things you either do or you do not and that is totally cool if you do not... I always can't believe that someone will say "you're going again," or "don't you get sick of going there?" Standard yes and no answer

[Arielfan98]

Well one of my high school teachers seems to think that Disney World is filled with nothing but screaming, crying children and therefore he will never go. I tried to convince him otherwise, but he wouldn't listen. As for other people, they appreciate Disney from a regular individual's standpoint. However, they do not understand the incredible love for Disney that we have .