Is Disney Worth It?

Kevin and I had a long talk about if we thought Disney was worth it on our drive home, and I wanted to write a bit about what we discussed.

The short answer is, no, Disney is not worth it.  For our two day trip, it was $250+  per person, per day.  Maybe it would have been worth it at $250 per day for our entire family of four, but that was a lot of money to spend for what averaged out to a mediocre time.  At the end of our second day, all four of us were completely done.  The kids weren't begging to stay and do something else, and it was only 2:00.

Last year, we spent around the same total amount (a bit less) for an entire week in the Smoky Mountains and Gatlinburg, and we all had a great time.  We all would have liked to stay another day or two, and when we left, we couldn't stop talking about all the fun we had.  It was just a completely different feeling.

I have known for a long time that I am not a Disney person.  There are some people who just get so excited about every aspect of Disney and want to spend at least a week there and want to go back as soon as they get home.  I am not that kind of person.  I have never been that kind of person.  However, I did try really hard to get into into the spirit of taking our two kids for their first every trip to Disney. 

A few weeks before we left, I had even worked myself up to actually being excited and was optimistic that we would have a wonderful time.  I had decided that if we were going to do Disney, we might as well go all out, including letting my five year old wear her Rapunzel Halloween costume to the princess dinner at our hotel, making the kids Mickey and Minnie Mouse shirts, making Dorothy a couple of princess themed dresses, and getting Malcolm a Bedknobs & Broomsticks (his request) shirt.  We had dinner reservations and a plan of attack for rides we thought would fit our family best.  I read about how to make it a fun time for kids who are easily frightened and shy around the characters.  It was a lot of work, but I was actually looking forward to going to Disney.

There were some fun moments in the park.  Kevin and I appreciated that many of college age employees were nerds.  Several liked his Star Labs shirt (from The Flash TV show) that he wore, and a very nice guy made a Dr. Who reference as he helped us with something (which he didn't have to do, we could have just waited our turn).  He was excited when I told him that I got the reference.

I loved the kids' reactions to the characters during our dinner at the Crystal Palace.  I couldn't believe how into it they both got; I really wasn't expecting that.  We accidentally had a great spot to watch the electrical parade, and not being crowded changed what I would have found a miserable experience into a wonderful one.

While there were some good moments, there were also some very low moments and I'm not sure that the highs were high enough to offset the lows.  I was also left with the same underwhelmed impression that I always have at Disney.  I have a hard time getting into the "magic" of the place because I start mentally picking apart the logistics.  I always feel badly for the employees because every single job is just so repetitive and working with the public is hard.

Disney has done a decent job of making some of the lines a bit more comfortable, which was great, but many of them are still just standing in the hot sun, packed in close with lots of other people.  Yuck.  I also just don't see the point in waiting in a 40+ minute line for anything that will be over in five minutes or less.  Thirty minutes is about my uppermost limit before I start getting really crabby.  Besides, the rides at Disney just aren't all that great.  I don't really care that much about all the themeing they do; I'd rather go someplace with less frills and have really great rides.

If I could make one new rule for Disney, it would be to not allow any strollers.  At the very least, no double strollers.  My second rule would be no backpacks allowed.  People with strollers and backpacks (anywhere, not just at Disney) don't seem to have any idea of the space they are using and end up hitting other people (backpacks are kid head height), taking up the entire walking area, and generally are just a nuisance.

Enjoying the Dapper Dans perform on Main Street.  No, really.

Listening to the band play in the hotel lobby.  

 

Lastly, Disney is just a little too fast paced for our kids, especially Dorothy.  I took several pictures of them, where they look miserable, but they are just analyzing things and taking it all in.  Having to make choices quickly stresses them out, but many things have to be done right that second, or you miss out. 

Can't you tell this was her favorite?

Neither kid participated at all in Enchanted Tales with Belle the first time we went through.  They wouldn't even go up at the very end just to say hello to Belle.  However, this was Dorothy's absolute favorite thing we did the entire time.  She and I went again the next day, and she did try to participate and did go meet Belle, but she needed a pep talk from me, and then was mentally trying to get ready herself.

Will we go back?  It's likely that we will do at least one time at each of the parks, but only because the grandparents live down there and we literally drive right by as we go from seeing one set on the west coast to seeing the other set on the east coast.  If we had to make a special trip down to Florida just to go to Disney, we probably wouldn't ever go back.  I'm glad the kids have had the experience because it is such a huge pop culture phenomena with their peers, but it isn't something I'm ever going to look forward to doing again.