Why Disney?

Hi, I did a search and didn't find anything related to this topic.

So, why do you love Walt Disney World? You may have heard this question many times, before, because few people seem to get "it."

I'm just trying to pinpoint what "it" is. As someone mentioned earlier, we don't need Disney to be happy, but it helps. Well, I certainly feel like I almost need Disney doses sometimes. I just don't understand why. I can't figure it out. Any ideas?

I appreciate the attention to detail, the philosophy behind the resort experience, and the impact on people's lives, but I feel like something deeper and more intangible pulls me back. Don't get me wrong, the little things are important as well, but I feel like those alone wouldn't draw me back. Or maybe they would (?). What is this impact, anyway? Have we all been brainwashed?

Here's what I've come up with so far. We visited when I was younger and I was raised on Disney, so I was naturally excited about seeing the characters and the attractions. My parents always seemed more focused on having a good time there than on extra-curriculars or grades or work. So I think part of it has to do with nostalgia, the people from that moment in time, the fact that everyone was pleasant and friendly and courteous, and went out of their way to enhance our vacation sometimes. Maybe it's the sense that somebody cares, or gives the appearance of caring? I'm not sure.

On the other hand, I feel like maybe I'm outgrowing the World a little; it's certainly not the same experience as when I was younger, which is to be expected. I feel a little creeped out at the thought that everyone is or must be "happy" all the time. Isn't something wrong with this line of thinking? People can't be happy all the time, nor should they be. The vague, positive-sounding mantras of parades and shows and firework displays still evoke some sense of hope and optimism inside me, but I feel like the messages are sometimes vacuous. Maybe they're just open to interpretation; they just seemed to have so much more substance when I was younger. Maybe I was just more optimistic and naive when I was younger.

As I grew older, people started asking me what I wanted to do with my life (and they still do now; stop it! no; the voices!!). I'm still not sure, but at the time, I told them I wanted to go to Disney World (my parents were kind of embarrassed :lol. I was asked what it was about Disney World that made me want to go back. What did I specifically want to work with or do there? I guess they wanted specifics, and now I do too, because I could never answer this question.

I don't know why I have an addiction to Disney World. Has it become an idol or a drug to me? Even in high school, people would ask why I loved it. Some people went when they were older and conceded that it was a great place to have fun, but didn't feel a personal connection or a need to return. Maybe it has to do with childhood, etc. I could never figure out specifically why I was obsessed! I constantly thought about the place, although that would fade after a while and life would become a little more bearable. On weekends, I would look at maps and Birnbaum's guides (this was before we had the Internet) and plan next year's itineraries. Even now, Disney World haunts me.

So again, why do you think you love Walt Disney World so much? If you made it this far through my angst-filled plea, congratulations and thank you very much! This is another really important question for me. I created this thread mainly for my personal issues I suppose, but I'd appreciate any thoughts! Who knows...this may be the spark of a future marketing campaign! Yay; more brainwashing...
:ROFLOL:

Someone did ask something this pretty recently.

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=171720

Oh yes, I'm familiar with that thread, but I'm asking more about profound reasons people feel the need to return to Disney rather than admirable details or memory-inducing elements.

To most people that is the profound reason.

I grew up here and Disney was always part of our family outtings.
That makes disney to us even more special.

azndisneyfan said:

Oh yes, I'm familiar with that thread, but I'm asking more about profound reasons people feel the need to return to Disney rather than admirable details or memory-inducing elements.

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I don't know why I love Disney soooooo much. I'll get a snif of a smell that reminds me of the World; I'll have a feeling that reminds me of a World feeling. It's hard to say. I've been lots of places. The Rockies are beautiful; Deadwood is cool; Glacier National Park is one of the most incredible places I've seen. I want to revisit these places because I want to share them with people I love who haven't seent them. However, I don't NEED to go back to them like I do Disney.
Disney for me is an escape from reality. I tend to be naive and optimistic anyway. I live a sheltered life is what I tell my students. It's not that I am dumb; it's just that I'd rather live in my own fairy tale. I'm aware of the problems of the world; I help when I can by helping charities, praying, and educating students about ways to help the world. Don't take my personal fairy tale as a mental hang-up or anything. It's just a choice for me. I can choose to be bogged down in the harshness of the world - in an enormous amount of things I can't change no matter how hard I work - or I can choose to live my own happily ever after and be optimistic. Disney is this fairy tale world for me.
I'm reading the bio on Walt Disney that came out in October. The movies and Disneyland were his fairy tale world. I relate to that.
I hope this makes sense, and I hope this is the kind of answer you were looking for.

Why Disney? Because it's an escape. It's a retreat (for me, close to home) that I can escape to and forget work, forget bills, forget any worries for even a few hours. Anyone with a job or responsibilities can understand the necessity of having a place to clear your mind. For me, WDW is that thing. Sometimes just being home and doing nothing can achieve the same thing, but a lot of the time if I'm home, I know there are things I need to do and can't relax until it's done (ah, the fun of having a home-based business). At WDW, I don't feel the need to have to do anything.

I-4Warrior said:

Why Disney? Because it's an escape. It's a retreat (for me, close to home) that I can escape to and forget work, forget bills, forget any worries for even a few hours. Anyone with a job or responsibilities can understand the necessity of having a place to clear your mind. For me, WDW is that thing. Sometimes just being home and doing nothing can achieve the same thing, but a lot of the time if I'm home, I know there are things I need to do and can't relax until it's done (ah, the fun of having a home-based business). At WDW, I don't feel the need to have to do anything.

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+1

My sentiments exactly. I put my brain on 'coast' for a while, and let Disney take care of me. (that's why when a cell phone goes off it distracts me; as if I'm pulled back into the real world)

C&D said:

+1

My sentiments exactly. I put my brain on 'coast' for a while, and let Disney take care of me. (that's why when a cell phone goes off it distracts me; as if I'm pulled back into the real world)

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>>>>>>

I think that is why I like Disney, too. Living close by it is like taking a whole vacation away from work and the worries of living even if you are there for just one day. It revitalizes you. But for me so does Sea World or even driving to the next county and going to a beach that isn't just right outside my door.
Shhh don't tell other Floridians, but I really like being where the tourists are and feeling like a tourist for a day, too. And as I joke around here with people who rarely go to the parks: I like eating my way through the theme parks.......

A lot of people make the comment that it reminds them of their youth, or trips with their families when they were younger.
I didn't have my first trip to Disney until I was 20 or 21, so this definitely doesn't hold true for me.
My DH is a true Disney nerd. He took me on my first trip almost 10 years ago. At the time I didn't know what to expect, but I had high hopes. When I was a kid, we didn't have a lot of money and a trip to WDW seemed extravagant.
The way that I felt, when I first stepped into the MK, is the same feeling I have felt on our 7+ trips since then. That castle just makes me feel like a 5 year old little girl all over again. I think that if you can truly allow yourself to let go of everything else around you, there is something magical that happens.
We have since shared this experience with my mom, step-dad, and sister, my husbands whole family, and some friends. It was my family's first trip, and my mom loves the castle so much, that she keeps a framed picture next to her computer at home.
Our 3 year old will be making her 4th trip this October and our 1 year old son will be making his 1st. Sharing the world with your kids is even more special.
I also think that sometimes enjoying clean, family fun is more exciting than adult fun. Not that adult fun doesn't have its place.

Just love the feeling of being a 5 year old again....although, some would say I act that way often!

Someone once asked me why I keep going back to Walt Disney World time after time. Here's what I told them:

If your Doctor gave you a prescription for a medicine that made you feel young again, made you feel safe, made you and your family feel closer to each other, made you forget all your cares and worries, made you feel happy, and kept you smiling for days....wouldn't you want refills on that prescription?

azndisneyfan said:

Maybe I was just more optimistic and naive when I was younger.

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One of the reason I love going back to Disney is that it makes me feel more optimistic and naive. I mean, who here wanted to grow up and have to learn about crime and politics and stop really believing that all our wishes will certainly come true if we just wish hard enough?
But in WDW, the fact that those things don't matter, even for just a little while is a wonderful feeling to me.

I have to agree with most of what everyone has said thus far, but here is my take.

DisneyWorld is not a theme park as some people has said it is. WDW is a place where the young and the old are the same. A place for me to go and not have society looking down on me for wearing an oversized Goofy Hat, a place where a 6'2" man waiting in line to see Mickey Mouse is not an assumption of a person who is trying to kidnap a child.

For the few days each year that I am lucky enough to visit WDW, the rest of the world goes away. Cell Phone turns off, and the rest of the world is put on hold and for that brief time I can relax.

For me WDW is best described by the theme of Wishes. I wish to go to a place where my wishes can come true and for the most part this is the place. Every year when I leave MK for the last time I feel saddened and do not want to leave.

WDW is a place where I feel welcomed, how many places can a person go and truly feel welcomed?

It's another world, hence Disney World, where else on earth can you go and get the feeling you do there? I mean honestly, I have always been a Jersey Shore lover but even thinking back to the many summers we spent there as a family it does not come close to the feelings I get thinking about the 3 times we spent a week at Disney World with my family.

This is truly an inspiring thread....just reading it and your heart-felt thoughts gives me a sense of hope and a bit of the Disney magic and child-like wonder that you all give witness too!

Just yesterday I recieved my tix to the P&P Party....on one was a picture of all the dwarfs going down Splash Mountain with Grumpy in front of the boat....."Where everyone is happy, no matter what your name is" was the quote written under the picture.

Gotta love it...just receiving the tix gave me a thrill!

Andrea

Scooter said:

Someone once asked me why I keep going back to Walt Disney World time after time. Here's what I told them:

If your Doctor gave you a prescription for a medicine that made you feel young again, made you feel safe, made you and your family feel closer to each other, made you forget all your cares and worries, made you feel happy, and kept you smiling for days....wouldn't you want refills on that prescription?

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I agree... Some people don't get why we keep going back... I like to do other things too, but nowhere makes me feel like Disney does. No worries, no cares, it is another world. There isn't another vacation that makes me cry when I get there and cry when I leave.
Maybe it's the *Pixie Dust*

Perhaps on some sub-conscious level we have memories of a time when we were in our own wonderful world… A time when someone protected us from the bad things in life… A time when we had no cares in the world. We did not have to worry about feeding our families or providing a roof over our heads. No worries. Life was good. We got to go to the movies to see what are now classic films like Pinocchio. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Mary Poppins Snow White, The Jungle Book. 101 Dalmations. (The animated version if you’re as old as I am). Like a good thrill ride we loved the heroes & were frightened by the villains. And walked away with a warm feeling when the happy ending came.
When we go to Disney those warms feelings rise up from our sub-conscious and we get to live in that safe world again.
It’s just enough of a break so that when we return to the real world we can say: Life is good!

For me, it is the little things...

...sitting in the Hollywood Hills Ampitheatre as the sun sets, feeling the night Florida breeze rush in, and listening to classic Disney music as I prepare to see Fantasmic.

...taking a boat ride from Epcot to MGM, seeing the hotels, and feeling the wind on my face.

...eating an amazing dinner at the beautiful California Grill, stepping outside to the veranda, and watching Wishes under the light of the moon.

...getting out of bed at 6:00 am to watch the sun rise from a hammock at the Coronado Springs resort.

...seeing Festival of the Lion King, catching a bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and eating at Boma near an African wildlife preserve.

...eating at Narcoosee's while the sun sets behind the seven seas lagoon.

...swimming at 2:00 am in the resort pool with only the sounds of crickets in the air.

...sitting under the light of a world shocase lagoon torch, listening to world music, and relaxing with family and friends before Illuminations.

...seeing a child come to life when they meet their favorite disney character.

...having a stroller run over your heel six times a day.

To me Disney is a religion, a way of life if you will. I go every year and really wish I could go more. My friends think I am nuts, but at times I think they are the ones that are nuts. Now that I have kids and a family, I get to see it through there eyes. It seems every year I go, I find or do somthing new. I just cant get enough. I remember times when I thought I may be crazy till I found this forum...........It was nice to see that there are thousands of people just like me. I have 49 more days till my next trip and started packing months ago. My wife and I are already talking about next years trip. This year will mark my 22 time in Disney World, and I pray there are hundreds more to come.

Scooter said:

Someone once asked me why I keep going back to Walt Disney World time after time. Here's what I told them:

If your Doctor gave you a prescription for a medicine that made you feel young again, made you feel safe, made you and your family feel closer to each other, made you forget all your cares and worries, made you feel happy, and kept you smiling for days....wouldn't you want refills on that prescription?

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Great Response

Why do I Love Disney?? I think in part it's a un answerable question. Sure it brings happiness and joy to millions, and people marvel at the cleanliness and attention to detail.

For me I don't know if words can describe it. People are always shocked when they find out I'm going to Disney again. Ive only been 6 times but I would go every year if I could! I'm 26 years old and my first trip was when I was 6. I think I Love it more now then I did then! People always ask if I'm taking my kids(i don't have any) to which I say no way kids would just slow me down, then they usually look at me puzzled.

Ive been to all inclusive resorts in Dominican and Costa Rica and I love them but they don't compare to the Euphoria and Bliss of a Disney Vacation! I wish I could relocate to Florida and go more often(currently in Ontario Canada). The majority of my friends think "yeah maybe i would go when I have kids one day" but it's not just a kids place. They don't understand that young and old couples alike Love Disney and they don't need kids to go. Last time I was there (May 07) My wife and I were eating in Le Celier in Epcot and we were beside this older couple and we heard them tell the waitress they come a couple of times a month. A single tear welled up in my eye, I hope perhaps when I'm retired I can make Disney a Permanent fixture in my life!!