Are you a Disney Fan Graduate?

[Parkhopstacker]

We’ve all been through it… you go to Disney for the first time and you are hooked. You then go to WDW for the next several times and you are a go go go fan. All rides, rope drop, kiss goodnight, no wasting time sitting, “check things off the list”, “got a lot done”, no time for Swiss family Robinson, scoff at DVC, etc.

But then after awhile and more trips you begin to ease on those things. You start to not care if you don’t get on mine train or Rise. You don’t care if you get there for rope drop or not. And slowly you begin to change your desires and what makes you happy. The little things start to impress you more, you notice smells more or art more and you appreciate the resorts more than you ever did. (For more than just collapsing at night after 18 hours of park time)

I see this in some of my friends… some are in the early stages and I’ve watched some of them go all the way to… graduation.

I’ve always tried to come up with a term that described this transformation and it’s kind of like a graduation. Where the magic for you isn’t rides and saving as much time as possible in lines. It’s staying at a resort all day instead of going to the parks. It’s sitting a bench on Main Street, it’s beginning to appreciate deluxe resorts, all those things.

So have you graduated yet?

(I realize this may just be a silly concept that may annoy people, so don’t take things too seriously here)

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

Definitely. We used to be rope-droppers and stay til park closed. Back when the park actually stayed open late. All we did at the hotel was crash.

Then we had a baby. We went when he was 4 months old and had a slow, relaxing trip. It was great.

Now that our kids are old enough to ride all the rides they want by themselves, we relax. We lay by the pool. We sit on our balcony. We watch people in the park and just enjoy being there.

 

[MICKIMINI]

I remember PRE-DISNEY in the mid 1960's when there was not much more than a billboard at the current location of Disney Springs. My brother and I were fascinated watching anything Disney on TV. In 1973, we went to Magic Kingdom and it was an obsession and I was only in middle school.

I went several times before I was married and from there, converted DH to a true Disney lover. Our son was 3 and he was captivated by MK and EPCOT. I was a featured artist at EPCOT for the 10th anniversary which was an honor and visiting the gift shop and seeing my work was humbling.

Our son is now 34 and married to a true Disney girl. We bought DVC in 1996 and never looked back (OKWE, OKW, SSR, AKV, VB and HHI). It is our go-to place to hang out with our kids a couple times a year. They also enjoy that we gift them couples trips as well. Last year, we grabbed AP's. We do what we want and sometimes just go to EPCOT for a meal. What we do is not as important as just being there...it is the place we can just be ourselves.

I jokingly say I *speak Disney* and am the go-to for friends and total strangers in planning Disney and also buying DVC. I'm happy to do so! It is an obsession, no question!

We are always grateful we are living the dream.

 

[leebee]

Definitely a graduate. Now I'm as much about strolling through the parks, riding only my top favorites, following the nature trails at AK, investigating the Living Seas at Epcot (I know it's not called that anymore), relaxing at the pool bar at my resort, doing TS dining at resorts each night, visiting the lounges. We still have our early mornings, our "dumbo or die" trips, but more and more, we are migrating to the finer things of Disney life!

 

[Genie+]

We’ve all been through it… you go to Disney for the first time and you are hooked. You then go to WDW for the next several times and you are a go go go fan. All rides, rope drop, kiss goodnight, no wasting time sitting, “check things off the list”, “got a lot done”, no time for Swiss family Robinson, scoff at DVC, etc.

But then after awhile and more trips you begin to ease on those things. You start to not care if you don’t get on mine train or Rise. You don’t care if you get there for rope drop or not. And slowly you begin to change your desires and what makes you happy. The little things start to impress you more, you notice smells more or art more and you appreciate the resorts more than you ever did. (For more than just collapsing at night after 18 hours of park time)

I see this in some of my friends… some are in the early stages and I’ve watched some of them go all the way to… graduation.

I’ve always tried to come up with a term that described this transformation and it’s kind of like a graduation. Where the magic for you isn’t rides and saving as much time as possible in lines. It’s staying at a resort all day instead of going to the parks. It’s sitting a bench on Main Street, it’s beginning to appreciate deluxe resorts, all those things.

So have you graduated yet?

(I realize this may just be a silly concept that may annoy people, so don’t take things too seriously here)

I feel like we graduated. We used to run the parks when the kids were early teens. Go go go, do it all and sleep when we get home. It was a blast and we have tons of awesome memories.

Today we love to mix up our days with a vast variety of experiences. For example our next trip starts next week. We start by ropedropping AK with a focus on FoP, Safari and Lion King. Lunch at Ale & Compass in YC then we checkin BW, take a quick nap and head over to MK MNSSHP. Next morning ropedrop HS, do some rides and see Indy for the first time in years, go back to BW for a long nap, hit Epcot, eat very late lunch at Creperie, see Hanson, try for GotG 6pm VQ, travel World Showcase, snack around food booths for dinner, and then get on some rides during Evening Hours. Almost every day we’ll break noon to 4pm with nice long naps to recharge.

That’s the first 2 days and we’ve already experienced much of all 4 parks. There’s 4 more days to go and the days just get better and better. So excited!!! We’ll move over to BLT later in the trip. Have plans to rent a boat around Bay Lake, and visit/eat at Wilderness Lodge and Skyliner over to Riviera, Space220, none which I’ve done yet. We’ll see 4 different night spectaculars and 3 are brand new to us. Our favorite way to do WDW now is spreading our days all over the bubble instead of something like 14 hrs straight at HS. We love always having new stuff to try.

 

[Anthony1971]

We have been spending more time at the resorts for years. Started a long long long time ago when the POLY had a non roped off clear Beach with Hammocks..... Nothing better than laying on a hammock in the middle of the day and hearing nothing by the train whistle from MK. -Long gone memory but there are still some great spots still in existence.