I love Disneyland! I have been there somewhere between 300 to 400 times. Pirates of the Caribbean, Club 33, Blue Bayou, Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones, Tiki Room, Jungle Cruise, Small World, Matterhorn, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Dumbo, Peter Pan, Snow White, Mr. Toad, Dole Whip, Bengal Barbeque, Churros, Beignets, Billy Hill and the Hillbillies performing in the Golden Horseshoe (before their contract ended), Main Street Electrical Parade (in the 1990s), Fireworks and more!
In 1995 I went 41 days in a row!
Annual Passes were only $99 (or $199 including premium parking and no blackout dates).
I am in the middle— don’t love it, don’t hate it. Somewhere in storage I still have a booklet with leftover A,B, and C tickets. Wonder if anyone nowadays should have a clue about them.
Went to grad school near DW, and went enough times with family, friends and classmates that we all knew where every bathroom was. There were some cool things, like the fountain that made water cubes and the quest to find all the hidden mickey’s. And who remembers that the original layout of the Disney-MGM studios (now Hollywood studios) looked like a hidden Mickey (you could see it when you looked at the map of the park). Looking for the hidden mickeys made you feel like part of the subculture/inner circle and kept the kids entertained in the lines.
When granddaughter is old enough to go we will definitely take her. But I was just in Orlando a week or 2 ago, and spent the downtime at a resort with no DW or Universal studios affiliation whatsoever. No desire to go near DW this trip. Poolside drinks were preferable. Last year we were at Universal briefly, but a family emergency pulled us out early. We stayed at a kitschy hotel called the cabana bay that was a retro 60’s design with the Jetsons cartoons playing on the wall and every detail was 60’s, down to the toiletries in the bathroom.
We rotated going to the Keys and DW when son was a preteen, teen. Yearly passes were under $100, and those were for off season times. Some trips were Universal and SeaWorld. I’d happily go again. Still, I doubt we hit DW more than 2x a year.
Love DisneyWorld! Visited probably 15 times over the last 25 years. . My kids (older teens at the time) said our Christmas visit was one of the best Christmas vacations ever. Just love the vibe and how pleasant and helpful the employees are. Going next month for a senior grad gift and I can’t wait!
I’ve never been. Never taken my kids. Both have been to FL as adults but not sure they’ve been there. The one year we decided to do a real travel vacation, we ended up on a barge going down the Mississippi from Memphis to NO. Mostly Jersey Shore beside that. I don’t feel the loss; hope they dont either!
We took the kids once when they were young and loved it. Everyone was happy everywhere you looked! I had hoped to go back again but we never did. I even joined a Disney website group and was active on it for many years. Really nice people, just like this site.
We went to DW four times between 2009 and 2014. We all loved it. Took a break and did a huge National Park trip and then Europe. Just recently was feeling nostalgic and thought I’d look into booking another trip to DW. I visited some of the old forums I used to belong too, and the current vibe is so negative, how the place is understaffed and dirty, they nickel and dime you to death, lines are insane. I decided I’m not going to pay 5-10K for that. I was going to look into DL but with Star Wars opening this summer, crowds are going to be bad. Maybe someday we’ll go there though. Now I’m looking into a Great Britain trip.
@abasket, I also thought we should take the kids to Disney once and that it would be a glorified amusement park. Wasn’t like that at all. Really surprised us.
@jym626 —my dad was able to get special books of tickets that had a greater number of E tickets in them. He was with NASA and acted as a safety inspector for many of the rides before DW opened.
I love DW but the price really gives you pause and the need to plan your trip in advance and figure out timing etc is a real turn off. We’ve been opting for Universal instead but it’s been a long time since I’ve been there also.
My dad still has a couple of tickets to get in and I’ve read that they’d still be honored. Should my sister ever finish his estate, I’ve thought about going there with her for nostalgia. He has some B ride tickets too, but of course, those are pretty worthless except for the memories.
Anyone remember the Swan Boats at WDW? They weren’t there long, but were one of my sister’s favorite rides.
I saw on our news that Hershey Park won an award this year for best roller coasters. We haven’t been there in eons, but it’s relatively close (maybe an hour+) so we’ve been debating going again this summer. When we were last at Busch Gardens (Tampa) a couple of years ago our heads didn’t take too kindly to the roller coasters - even our favorites - so I’m not so sure it’s a good idea. This getting old thing is a bummer. Wonder what Hershey’s equivalent to “It’s a Small World” is. That could be our speed in “roller coasters” at this point.
We’re a huge Disney family. We would go every year if we could afford it… I wish we had bought into DVC before we had kids.
As a family of 5, we tend to stay Deluxe. We’ve stayed at the Polynesian, the Boardwalk and the Beach and Yacht Clubs, with the Beach Club as our favorite.
Our last trip was in July, and as always it was wonderful.
We’ve always managed to get a great discount. In the past, we’ve worked with an online travel agent who is wonderful . I’ve always asked her to start us at the Beach Club, but to change to another Deluxe that can accommodate 5 if the discount is significant. One year I opened my email during my 3rd period study hall to find that she had saved us $1000 by moving us to the Yacht Club
Our niece is a project manager with Disney Imagineering. Last year she got us the Friends and Family discount, which was a significant savings on our room.
With 2 kids in college, though, it will be a few years before we can get back.
I went in college with my friends (over 40 years ago) and then H and I took the kids when they were 10 and 5. We had fun, but it was not my kids favorite vacation. Oddly enough, my kids and I love rides (especially roller coasters!) but we much prefer Busch Gardens for that.
Like some others here, we would rather spend our money traveling to other places.
@gouf78 and @bjkmom - Thats’ cool about the extra E tickets. Safety first ;). A friend’s son worked for NASA but then switched to being a DIsney Imagineer. When they were building something that looked like the Swiss Alps, they felt it needed to be authentic, so took a trip to… the Swiss Alps.
I went to the Magic Kingdom at WDW when it first opened and took dh there a few years later.Since then we’ve been dozens of times. Our kids liked Epcot best, especially when they did a special Homeschool Day and had some of their engineers, scientists, computer wizards and other amazing folks giving demonstrations for the older kids. They’re still huge Disney fans.
We’ve stayed at many of the hotels/resorts, and these days like the Wilderness Lodge and Polynesian best for overall experience. Staying in a savanna room at Animal Kingdom Lodge was pretty special, too. Watching the animals being fed and interacting so close to our balcony was the best part of that trip.
We get nostalgic for some of the rides and attractions that are no longer there. The Skyliner gondolas at Magic Kingdom were a fun way to take a break and enjoy the view. MGM Studios/Hollywood Studios (whatever its current name is) lost some of its appeal as some attractions weren’t updated or were closed. The main reason to go there became Star Tours. Future World at Epcot has had some down years when attractions were closed after losing corporate sponsors. I still miss hearing Walter Cronkite doing the narration in Spaceship Earth.
These days our kids like to go to Epcot for the Food & Wine festival and enjoy “drink around the world.”
I’ve been to DW over 10 times. Love it! We travel a lot and our family trips to Disney are the ones my kids treasure the most.
If you really put in the time you can create an itinerary that does avoid lines. We’ve stayed on property and off.
I get tearful just remembering the wonderful times we had there with my boys.
We’re going back next year!
