Friends Think Disney Too Childish

[jonrex]

Originally posted by stevered1
... do you think they would let me live there?

You don't know how many times I've had that same feeling about the MK!

I have this dream every so often that I've moved in permanently to one of the onsite hotels. Every day I walk to work and there's the Universe of Energy or Spaceship Earth or the Haunted Mansion. And I think, "Hey, I'll take a quick spin on that ride before heading to work."

Wouldn't that be awesome?

 

[KittyKitty]

I sometimes play a game in my head of which hotel I would live in. Maybe move around. But couldn't bring my cats, so back to reality

We all have our fantasies!!!

Susan

 

[Mickey with an A]

I hear it all the time at work. "Don't you ever what to try to vacation anywhere else?" I think, why, when I have found the perfect place. I love Disney. My dream is to live in Cinderella's Castle.

 

[lc1965]

I think most of us get that a lot. I used to go to WDW annually & make another trip somewhere else. But, I haven't been in 3 years (going 11/2-5) & feel it's time to go back. Lots of new stuff all the time & they take great care of you.

I always wonder about people who go mad picking & planning a vacation -- so they can sit on a beach every day. I'd go out of my mind w/ boredom. It takes all kinds to make a world.

 

[Mickey with an A]

LC1965 - I totally agree with you about the beach. I would be bored to tears spending a week sitting on a beach doing nothing.

 

[DoomBuggyBabe]

Well, I do like the serenity of a visit to the beach every so often, and DH-to-be periodically enjoys an Arizona/Mexico trip, but there HAS to be a yearly dose of the Mouse.

We do have a lot of people -- my folks, my sister and BIL, his mom -- who understand and support our Disney addictions. They have occasionally fallen prey to the Pixie Dust too.

Then there are those who just don't get it. I had an ex-fiance who told me he might consider a trip after we had children. But until then, he thought, what was the point? In his view, Disney wasn't a dignified enough vactaion for solo adults. (But woe to me if I questioned his National Park obsession...)

Shoulda known right there and then he wasn't the guy for me.

Luckily I've traded up and found a real man with an Inner 8-Year-Old who can keep up with mine.

As for those who question our way of thinking, well, let them. It's their loss if they want to be all stuffy and grown-up. And more room for me at the Haunted Mansion if they stay home!!

Cheers,
Q

 

[alisongkc]

I too can relate. I'm a college professor in my early 40s, with a husband in his early 60s who can't understand why I would want to go to WDW, or DL, over other choices.

This summer I squirreled away summer school teaching money to spend on a Christmas break trip to WDW, and can hardly wait. My husband, on the other hand, glazes over when I share some interesting tip I learn on this wonderful website. While he will be accompanying me this December I think he is doing it out of something other than the thrill of the trip. My last trip to WDW was in May of 1995, and we stayed at the old Port Orleans and Dixie Landings. This year we'll stay at POFQ again, we liked it so much last time, but I have made a promise to myself that from now on it won't be every ten years or so before my next visit!

 

[SkipperBubba]

I can relate... but I also was away from the Mouse for 14 years. After a band trip my senior year of HS, I got busy with college, working, and finding people to go with. Luckily, I met, fell in love with and toured the World with my DW-to-be (10 more days!). As you can imagine, the changes in the World were many (my previous trip predated MGM by a month) but it was still Disney and the magic was still alive and well.

The flak I get from coworkers about going there for the honeymoon is unbelieveable. Among the many quotes, "It's for kids", "Why not go to Mexico or Jamaica?", yada yada yada. My answer is usually the same... you see, I love going to the World and releasing the inner 8 year old that inhabits my soul. It's the one place I've been where I can just relax and be amazed. Dreams really do come true at Disney. As a result, if I get flak, I just ignore it and count the days until the next trip.

 

[TheDuckMan]

Yes same here....They always talk about the wild rides at amusement parks. Rollercoaster this, Rollercoaster that. I personally like the laid back feeling of disney and just the comfortable rides. I do enjoy splash mountain because it does have a little of both things I like. I just tell them you go where you want to and I will go to Disney....

 

[RickinNYC]

Like all of you, I have friends who have asked me the same thing or made the same snide comments time and again. In fact, they practically held an intervention during a cocktail party. I felt ambushed when I was surrounded by just about everyone I knew who kept throwing barbs my way. It was ridiculous.

So I simply pointed and said to each, "Rocco and Diana, don't you guys go to Cancun every year? Tom, don't you and Roberta go to the Hamptons every WEEKEND? Evan, don't you and Tarra do cruises almost exclusively, at the same time, each year? Chris, don't you always go to the same spa/resort in San Francisco?" And on and on until they saw my point. Shut them up pretty quick I might add!

Another time, I was spending time with an old friend, boring him to no end about our most recent trip to WDW. His comment was, "I can't believe you guys go all the time. Aren't you sick of it? Aren't there too many kids?" And then, with surprising bitterness and a little sneer, "I can't believe you waste so much money on something so... stupid."

Well, that did it. I made him shut up and launched into my story that some of you may have heard. I explain that Disney has been there throughout my life, through watching the Wonderful World of Disney (in COLOR!) with my older brother every Sunday night, to my first movie (Fantasia), to my first books, and more. And how I took my little brother to his first movie (101 Dalmations). How, when we moved to Japan, leaving our friends behind, in an effort to comfort us, my father took us to Disneyland. And how, upon returning six years later, once again leaving friends behind, first place we went to as a family was Disneyworld. About Gradnight with my best buddies in high school. A gift to myself upon graduating from college. Taking my little brother as a gift to him when he graduated from high school. Family trips. My proposal and subsequent engagement. Secretly holding hands on Spaceship Earth. Strolling the resorts with my best friend and partner for life.

I exlained that I was raised in a Naval family. I didn't have a hometown to call my own. I couldn't share stories of friendships established in kindergarten. I don't have memories that others have. Only something other military brats would or could ever really understand.

But Disneyworld and Disneyland has always been there. And when I walk down Mainstreet, I feel at home. I feel the same comfort that others experience walking into the house they grew up in. I feel the satisfaction of knowing that my problems are behind me, albeit temporarily.

Some people, as adults, can walk into their childhood home, sit at the same kitchen table, and chat with their schoolhood pals. I can't. But I can visit Disneyworld. It's my personal hometown.

After finishing my story, I kid you not, he sat quietly with a glisten to his eyes and said, "Now I want to go too...."

 

[jkovick]

RickinNYC- your story brought tears to my eyes! That's beautiful.

 

[The Dog]

I must be fortunate, because either my friends won't say it to my face or they don't think it's only a kids' place.

Anyone who doesn't like Disney World probably isn't a heck of a lot of fun to be around IMHO.

 

[lc1965]

rock on. well said.

 

[LorieR]

I held off telling my sister that my DH and me were going to WDW again in November. (Were last there in 9/00, 12/01 and 12/02). When I mentioned it a week ago in a conversation with a group of people she rolled her eyes! She doesn't "get it" either! (She travels to the same place in Canada year after year to ski but I guess that is "different"!)

I have found that for just about every person who rolls their eyes when I talk about Disney World there is another one who loves to talk about Disney just as much as me!!


Lorie

 

[lc1965]

I used to work for a woman who prided herself on how open she was to different cultures & ways of thinking. But, she used to roll her eyes when a coworker, who was in the DVC, & I discussed Disney. She never understood why & just closed her mind to the possibilty that WDW may have something wonderful to offer. She thought it was worthless because it was prepackaged. But, I LIKE that it is prepackaged because it's not a struggle to get through my day.

I live in NYC & I get all the varied of cultures of the world right at my doorstep. I don't need to boast of being open to it because if you're not you simply cannot live here (although some NYers do better than others.) In fact, I'm always surprised when I hear things like that the Moroccan restaurant is always empty -- why?? Moroccan food is GREAT & I eat it all the time! Oh, yeah ... that's right ... some people have never been exposed to it & think it's weird. Same thing w/ religions and different ways of dressing, etc. But, people should, IMHO, use WDW as an opportunity to be exposed to new things like different cuisines, even if they've been somewhat Americanized. So, when I go to Disney it's to get something I can't get much of at home: intuitive & responsive customer service, nice people who speak English fluently, & a virtually hermetically sealed world where I can recharge from having to fight my way through every day just to function. This may sound a bit off-topic, but my point/question is: WHY NOT? Isn't the point of a vacation to recharge & to do & see things you can't do & see every day? To have fun so that when you return to your day-to-day life you can do so with a renewed sense of generosity & contentment? Can't think of a better place to get it than WDW.

 

[Montana Minnies]

Hi
Yes, my sister and I have heard the same, besides that it is so far away and so expensive. But we feel it is well worth it!
It was 15 years between our visit in 2003, when I talked her into going because I was getting tired of listening to her talk about it. Then we went again this last summer (Aug.2004) with other family members and had a magical time! Now we want to go back as often as possible.

 

[kalel777]

I agree with you 100% Ic1965!!!! Im form NYC as well (Brooklyn), and what I love about Walt Disney World is that once you enter, you are in another world, cut off from all the rest of the worlds problems. It also brings me back to my childhood, since my first visit was back in 1973 when I was 4 years old. Once I drive under that 'Welcome To Walt Disney World' sign, my state of mind instantly changes.

I last went to Disney World in Nov 2003, and since then I have become somewhat obsessed with everything Disney (at least everything oldschool Disney, not too interested in Cinderella II, Return to Neverland or Dumbo II...Walt would turn over in his grave). Im more fascinated with Walt Disney himself, his ideals, his dreams, the architecture of the parks...what a true visionary!!!!
anyway, Im going off on a tangent now.

 

[jjpenguin]

Rick - that's a great story! brought a glisten to my eye too. (Soon you'll really be able to call WDW home when you get your DVC membership )

I also find it a place to escape from the rest of the world, but with so much to offer if you want! Little details, sounds, smells, flowers, CM's. Here in Europe not many people even know anything about WDW, they know DLP and don't realise how different the two are!

I'm going solo next week, and it's the ideal place, plenty to do, safe, clean and relaxing and rejuvinating as well.
No where I'd rather be on my own!!

JJ Penguin

 

[Minnie&Nana]

Originally posted by RickinNYC


I exlained that I was raised in a Naval family. I didn't have a hometown to call my own. I couldn't share stories of friendships established in kindergarten. I don't have memories that others have. Only something other military brats would or could ever really understand.

But Disneyworld and Disneyland has always been there. And when I walk down Mainstreet, I feel at home.
Some people, as adults, can walk into their childhood home, sit at the same kitchen table, and chat with their schoolhood pals. I can't. But I can visit Disneyworld. It's my personal hometown.

Rick, thank you!

This was incredible for me to read because I would never have guessed someone else could feel the same about Disneyland and WDW. I also grew up in a NAVY family, but an only child. I went to Disneyland in 1958 for the first time..then WDW after I had children. We went twice a yr and no one could understand why we continued to return. For me it was the one life long connection, the one place I'd known since childhood... and every time I return I do feel like I am going home. Sure, I've been to Europe many times and lots of other places, but Disney will always be the home of my heart.
Thanks for the memories

 

[Eeyore2003]

My brother was one of those that "didn't get it"...........until he went with us this summer. Now he understands!!!