THAT BEING SAID, while I love Disney, sometimes it's nice to have a change, for learning. If all you know is being treated like royalty at a Disney resort, the more you do it the more you're gonna hate experiences that AREN'T Disney.
I can't help it. As the years go by, I've gotten worse, and it's WDW's fault. It's totally spoiled me from going anywhere else, not even Disneyland. When I first went to Disneyland some 15 years ago, I thought it was awesome. I also took driving trips to nearby amusement parks and enjoyed them. I visited my national park many times and hiked to the lakes. I took my kids camping and slept in tents. We drove to Seattle every year and visited the Space Needle and the Pacific Science center and Woodland Park zoo. We went to San Diego and stayed at this 1400 square feet beach front condo with floor to ceiling windows facing the ocean, and we visited Legoland and the San Diego zoo.
Back in college, I studied French for 4 years. I was planning to visit Paris some day.
And then, I started going to WDW, and all that stopped. It showed me that everything I did in the past really sucked, I just didn't know it. I took the family back to Disneyland about 7 years ago. Instead of feeling awesome, I barely put up with it. I tried the Disney Dream cruise 10 years ago, after which we were taken back to WDW for 14 nights. I was so relieved to be back. I felt completely stuck on that boat even though we had perfect weather and we spent a day at Disney's private island. If I had gone on the cruise before WDW, I think I would have adored it.
Over the years I lost most of my French from lack of use. (While I was in France, Epcot, I listened to people speak and couldn't understand a word they were saying! However, I can still read most of it.) My mom's been nagging for years for me and kids to go to Europe with her (she will pay for it), but no way am I going. I've been teaching myself Spanish (I love languages) for years, and I'm getting pretty good. I can understand about 90% of what people are saying on Spanish Disney channel shows, and I can express myself on a basic level. But no way am I going to Europe, I tell my mom. There's no magic express, no dedicated buses to take us where we go and back, no dining plan, no MDE, no rides for the kids, no thanks! I know that many Europeans speak English, but many don't. Why, when I was at WDW a few months ago, I ran into an Uber driver who didn't speak English. I was able to speak Spanish to him, and he understood me and said I was good!
It is exactly as you say: "If all you know is being treated like royalty at a Disney resort, the more you do it the more you're gonna hate experiences that AREN'T Disney." There's nothing I can do about it. It's like developing an allergy as you get older, and you can't just will yourself out of an allergy. In fact, when I went to Disneyland last time, I felt GUILTY the whole time, like I was cheating on Magic Kingdom, and MK isn't even my favorite park, Epcot is.
And we are not even much of a royalty at Disney. We only stay at Pop mostly. It does make us feel like royalty, though. Especially when I remembered in our tent days, when it rained so hard that the roof of our tent gathered about a gallon of water and I pushed it out in the morning. That memory made Pop feel like luxury, so it was good for something.
It's unfortunate that WDW spoiled us with things such as DME and now taking it away, and not even providing a paid option. But that doesn't change the fact that WDW is my one true love and nowhere, nothing can compare to it. (My husband knows full well that WDW is my other lover that he pays for me to visit.)
However, if my one true love becomes unavailable, I am willing to explore other options. I recently booked a trip to Universal because WDW hotels are booked up for October, even though I said I would never go to Universal. When my one true love doesn't have time for me, I find my mind suddenly opening up to new possibilities.
(it was probably on its death bed by '83)
