Surprise trip gone wrong?

[Weather_Lady]

LOL, and that is why I have never liked "surprises"

My children don't, either. When we "surprised" them with the news of their first WDW trip, we made sure to do it months ahead of time - well before restaurant reservation and fastpass windows had opened - so they could be a part of the planning process, become better educated about what the parks had to offer, and have some meaningful input into where we went and what we did. Every child is different, but mine both happen to be like me -- in the sense that they find the planning of a vacation and the anticipation of "the countdown" to be just as much fun as taking a vacation -- so had we sprung it on them at the last minute with the plans already set in stone, I know they'd have been a bit confused and disappointed.

 

[21stamps]

Absolutely!! one of the things I see on these fan boards that make my skin crawled is when parents use the children as ammo to go to disney and it unfortunately always seems to be the mom. We've hear them all the time..

1) the kids will only be little for a short while, we have to go
2) we have "magical' vacations (disclosure: I now hate and loathe the use of the word "magical"), where the family is together.
this one always has me asking, "what do you do the other 51 weeks of the year, do you ignore your kids"??

As much as I love the mouseworld and I do, we have had many "magical" vacations elsewhere and believe me Disney is a business, lol if you cannot pay that pixie dust goes away quick fast and in a hurry.

I don’t have time to look for it now, but a year or two ago one of my friend’s “shared” an article on FB. I read it, had tears in my eyes, and shared it as well.

The subject was something like “Why we aren’t going to Disney World” (not exact title..sorry!)
It was written by a mother who was taking her son to see the world, the real world. Eating local food in different countries, exploring, learning. It resonated so deeply with me.

I went to Disney growing up, loved it, but I also went many other places with my parents and siblings..loved those places too. I attribute my my passion for travel as a result of my parents.

My kid loves Disney, he also loves other places. There is an entire world to explore..and I want him to see as much as possible.

He also loves local amusement parks, and camping, and weekend road trips.. small “experiences” as an inbetween for our larger vacations. He’s just as happy during any of those as he is at Disney.

Sometimes I read things on social media and wonder.. What is Disney World truly costing your family? When I read about people “saving” “planning” “sacrificing” for more than a year., what are you missing in the meantime? Is a week or two with Mickey Mouse actually ‘worth’ it?
Those people have convinced themselves that WDW is THE ONLY Family Destination.
It’s not though, there’s so much more outside of Disney’s gates.

I just always think that’s so strange, and something I never realized until the past 18months or so.

 

[Pixieish]

I don’t have time to look for it now, but a year or two ago one of my friend’s “shared” an article on FB. I read it, had tears in my eyes, and shared it as well.

The subject was something like “Why we aren’t going to Disney World” (not exact title..sorry!)
It was written by a mother who was taking her son to see the world, the real world. Eating local food in different countries, exploring, learning. It resonated so deeply with me.

I went to Disney growing up, loved it, but I also went many other places with my parents and siblings..loved those places too. I attribute my my passion for travel as a result of my parents.

My kid loves Disney, he also loves other places. There is an entire world to explore..and I want him to see as much as possible.

He also loves local amusement parks, and camping, and weekend road trips.. small “experiences” as an inbetween for our larger vacations. He’s just as happy during any of those as he is at Disney.

Sometimes I read things on social media and wonder.. What is Disney World truly costing your family? When I read about people “saving” “planning” “sacrificing” for more than a year., what are you missing in the meantime? Is a week or two with Mickey Mouse actually ‘worth’ it?
Those people have convinced themselves that WDW is THE ONLY Family Destination.
It’s not though, there’s so much more outside of Disney’s gates.

I just always think that’s so strange, and something I never realized until the past 18months or so.

I would love to travel the world...my husband, unfortunately, couldn't care less. Which I find extremely odd, because his mother STILL travels even though she's well into her 70s, and they did lots of camping, etc. when he was growing up.

We tend to limit our traveling to WDW because I need to plan family fun while keeping in mind my husband's limitations. He's really not pleasant to be around when he's stressed - which is basically anytime we have anywhere to go, even to family stuff - and in new places, he sometimes just can't deal with the unknown, and that is reflected in his mood. (I really suspect he has undiagnosed autism and/or Asperger's.) WDW is the ONLY place I've been able to find where all four of us can have fun together (I swear, hubby is worse than a 10-year-old having a tantrum sometimes), and no one (read: hubby) ends up bored and cranky. We've been together for 26 years, and he didn't seem to be like this about travel or going places when we were young...I'm not sure WHY he's gotten to be like this, but it is what it is.

On a more hopeful note, he recently called me from work asking if there was a Disneyland in Paris (he does flooring and saw a pic at someone's house), and has even joked about taking the boys there, so I'm hopeful that in the future he'd be open to seeing some new places around the world a la Disney and/or Disney cruises. Maybe the familiarity of the Disney name/brand/whatever will balance out the "unknown" factor.

I'm far from a "pixie-duster" and the whole "magical" thing has gotten to the point where it's almost sickening...especially when I see SO MANY complaints about trips gone wrong because people refuse to put any effort into planning their trips and expect the "magic" to just happen. What's beautiful for me, is that my family goes with no expectations other than what's there - rides, entertainment, a room, and having fun together. Anything over and above that is a nice, unexpected surprise for all of us.

 

[BigRedDad]

My daughter had a similar reaction when I surprised her right after school. She was in 1st or 2nd grade and started crying in front of school when we told her. Somehow, she all of a sudden got a strong fear of flying. Not sure where it came from. After a Happy Meal and milkshake she agreed to go. She and I flew down then and DW a few days later. Once we got going, she was fine. I fell asleep and she talked to the guy next to us the whole flight. I apologized to him but he actually thanked me. He said it made his trip so much better and that he missed his grandkids.

 

[JIMINYCR]

I get the point you are trying to make but assuming that those 'poor kids' had some form of deprived upbringing just because they weren't as excited about Disney as you expected them to be, is a pretty horrible attitude to have.

Oh Jiminy, Jiminy... you horrible, horrible, evil, child hating, misunderstanding, insensitive brute.
You all missed my being sarcastic at first and you can pile on me for it. Lesson learned... never post anything sarcastic about children, dogs or old people. Guess I'll have to post warnings from now on.

But I really do love kids, help kids and do a lot of good for kids. Really... I do. Sheesh. Jiminy

 

[NelleBelle]

Hehehe...there, there Jiminy; I totally got the sarcasm and had a quiet chuckle to myself. And love the "sarcasm warning"!

 

[MAGICFLOP]

I hate to say it, but I had a similar reaction 1977 when I was 10. My Mother said we were taking a trip to WDW. I did not fully understand what it was, back then it was just MK. I asked what it was and she described it as like a main street with shops.. I wanted to go to the beach.. We went and I had a blast.. I didn't melt down, I was just interested in shopping