Help Me Avoid the Mouse! (Disney World)

[Loper]

I truly don’t understand the allure of Disney. Why pay a ton of money to wait in long lines to see a bunch of fake things? Please explain to me how it is “magical”. It’s all just marketing, most of which is marketing to children at a young age who don’t know any better. Tickets are so expensive that people feel that they have to make the most of their time and spend all their time at the park. What Disney doesn’t show you in their ads are the miserable parents leaving the parks at the end of the day drenched in sweat, exhausted with a bunch of cranky kids. Also, the number of adults that go to the parks without children is just weird.

I live in Florida and could go to Disney every weekend if I wanted to. However, my wife also thinks Disney World is stupid. When my daughter turned 5 she said she wanted to go to Disney. Rather than spend a ton of money on something that she wouldn’t remember, my wife arranged to have breakfast at one of the restaurants where they have the characters come and meet the kids. We spent about an hour and half at breakfast and my daughter didn’t even want to meet the princesses and thought the characters looked creepy. Then we spent another hour or two riding the monorails around the park and visited a number of gift shoos because my daughter wanted a stuffed animal. After about 3 or 4 hours we left, only spent about $150 on a meal, a toy and parking and my daughter was happy as could be thinking that she went to Disney. Could we have spent $15k and a week there, yes. Would it have been a good use of money and time, no.

A few years ago I went to the Magical Kingdom for a day on a work outing. I hadn’t been there probably since middle school. I honestly don’t know if much has changed in 30 years. It was pretty ridiculous. The go carts were on a track (couldn’t freely drive) and at one point the line for the ride went on a bridge over all the go carts waiting to start. Everyone on the bridge was breathing all the exhaust fumes from the motors and coughing. I wondered why the carts weren’t electric and more modern looking. I also went on the Small World ride and noticed that it probably hadn’t been updated in decades, maybe since it opened. A lot of the props in that ride are just painted plywood. After these things and a few other parts I realized that Disney probably hasn’t invested much in the park to make it better in many, many years.

 

[Jimmy O]

Get an air B&B semi close and rent a car! Wife and I took our daughter a couple years ago and we’re all in for around 6K ish. That was doing all the parks that week. Next time we will pick two parks and spend the rest of time on the beach

 

[StuckInTheEast]

All I can say is good luck and do whatever you feel is right by your family.
Ive been 4 times...from the age of 4 to 16 just about same time apart. Never my thing, dragged along with family.
Long of it short, the only goid thing I remember of any of those trips are from age 16, and none of that has to do with Disney short of the fact I was staying at the wilderness lodge....where I met a beautiful young lady a touch older than me, in a bikini i can still remember every detail of, late night in the pool and made some teenage core memories before getting yelled at for showing back up to our hotel room WAY too late/early in the morning...Only good Disney has ever done for me
The mouse aint for everyone, that's for sure.
I feel Im fortunate that my wife and kids have always had zero interest and want to spend our travels elsewhere.
For some folks, that kind of place makes core memories of family adventures...for others it's more the stuff of nightmares. I fall into the latter group, WAY too many people in one spot for me. Id probably be the A-hole that would offer to pay for my wife and kids to go and save money on that trip by me staying and doing side jobs to offset the cost their little adventure if they actually had any interest in going. Im willing to make alot of compromises/sacrifices for my family, but setting foot in that place again aint one of them.
Sounds like you are open to the idea though, so you likely wouldnt be miserable doing it as you seem to know what to expect. Regardless of where you end up, enjoy your trip!

 

[sz28]

Disney’s corporate politics today don’t align with my wife’s and my beliefs, and thankfully, our kids have never even asked to go. They’d much rather go on a long road trip or camp for a week. My parents took me to Disneyland when I was pretty young, but I only remember bits and pieces of the trip. I have far more vivid memories of family road trips, week long trips to the lake, or even vacations where we spent time at water parks and arcades. I feel like the allure of Disney is overrated, but that's just my opinion.

 

[Blowdowner]

I'm talking about Disney World.... my goodness, that Mouse likes his money!

Wife asked to take the kids to Disney World next year. I am all about "Happy Wife, Happy Life" -- so if that's what she want's, I'll make it happen. But I figured I'd at least look into some other options to float by her. 1 week trip, Annual Passes, Animal Kingdom Lodge, air travel, Food... honestly this trip would be pushing close to $15K.

Any other options you guys think I should look into to possibly sway this thing? It would have to be "Grand" probably. Talking small boat cruise to the Galapagos Islands or something crazy to that equivalent, but more family oriented

Kids are 7 and 9, totally cool with traveling. We've done all the major national parks, 10 days in Iceland this year, etc. kids had a blast. Just having a hard time swallowing that kind of money to go stand in lines, bump shoulders with 1,000 people, and hug princesses -- knowing it could be turned into an absolutely amazing nature oriented vacation. Give me all your ideas!

It sounds like you've done a bunch of your style trips. I think it's time for mom and the kids to decide BUT WHY SHOULD YOU BE THERE? Give her the cash literally in her hand that it would cost for you to be there plus Garmin in reach minis or air tags for the kids. Or you can still go and stay at the hotel but once you help them figure out how to get into the park you just go shoot iguanas or something. Shot go during spring you can get a turkey and the days are long.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Imagine going to Florida and going to Disney world rather than going tarpon fishing…..

 

[Fowl Play]

Imagine going to Florida and going to Disney world rather than going tarpon fishing…..

True that… peak mullet run is unlike anything else in the US. Hooking into a 250lb fish, 10 feet from shore, after watching 1,000 of his buddies tear through a 3 mile long wall of bait… definitely a detour worth doing in the fall.

 

[Boarmaster]

As a kid of 10 years old went to Disney once. I barely remember it. When I was 8/9 years old I took a trip with my cousin and my Grandparents from Ohio to Yellowstone in a Ford LTD and a camper. We stopped and saw many things along the way. It was a long trip. About three weeks to a month. But I remember almost all of it. If I only had a week I would fly out to Yellowstone and rent a SUV. Spend the week in Yellowstone. The hell with the mouse and his commercialized world.
The mountains made a huge impression to a flat cornfield kid.
Whatever you do plan on eating out every meal. Going somewhere and having your wife meal planning, grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning up ain't no vacation for her. Don't ask me how I know this….

 

[Yoteassasin]

The simp vibe I this thread is saddening. The guy needs some support. New eland sound like a great idea . If the “experience” type of vacation is what you are looking for what about a Yellowstone vacation and stay at all the lodges in the park the way it used to be done ?

 

[Rich M]

Be ready for traffic and congestion. If the kids haven't been, it is probably a good trip, but yah, $$$.

I live down here and last time was at an Orlando theme park was 1997. You got 3 days at Disney, then hit Sea World and Universal. I work with a bunch of folks who love it and go weekly or bi-weekly. Just like everything else, you do what you want to or have to do.

Other stuff to consider is Cape Canaveral, if you check the schedule, might be able to coincide with a rocket launch. That's neat. Beach over that way is okay, drive south an hour and less people. Could do a flats fishing trip for reds, drum, trout. Duck hunting can be good.

Can do airboat rides near the park and see gators and the vast marshes we have. Not a bad trip.

Someone mentioned Yellowstone - it is crowded too - many of the national parks are crowded and need advanced reservations.

An option is to visit DC - country's history and some serious museums. Everyone should visit at least once.