The WAYSOW Club! (Why Are You So Obsessed with WDW?)

[MouseEarsForAll]

I like Disney and all, but that's as far as it goes...However, someone of you are obsessed, as we all know. Why are you so obsessed with WDW?

[uscgmouse]

It's MAGIC!!!

[OHDisneyMom]

It's addicting!

[JenSop]

For me personally, I started going as a young child, and our grandparents took my sister and I on many regular trips growing up. Those trips were SO special to me - some of my best ever memories.

I still remember my first trip as a little girl. The moment that won me over was watching the fireworks in the Magic Kingdom. (This is before any of the current fireworks shows were in place.) Back then, you could actually stand really close to the castle to watch the fireworks. "When You Wish Upon a Star" was playing through the air, the fireworks were finishing up and there I was - standing next to Cinderella's castle. My little girl self was so overwhelmed with emotion, that I started to cry from the pure joy I was feeling.

My grandfather and I were very close. He even let me help with the "planning" - I felt so special! For the second trip, he let me have a Disney guide book, and I memorized the maps of both parks (it was just MK and Epcot then.) And each trip after that was like going back to a second home that we all knew and loved so well. My grandfather's been gone for many years now, but every time I go back to WDW, I still think of him and feel that he's there with me.

That's where my insanely strong connection to WDW is rooted.

But I have other reasons too. I'm in theatre, and I really appreciate Disney's commitment to creating an immersive theatrical experience in every park, on every ride, in every possible way. No one else does that! When you go to WDW, you are entering another world - a total fantasy. (No pun intended - haha!) So I go to WDW and am in another universe - one of happiness, good memories, thrills, good food, fun times, and more wonderful things than I can list.

So hopefully that gives a little insight into THIS girl's obsession. But I suspect that everyone's reasons are different.

[Missymouse18]

For me, it is almost something I can't put into words, but for starters: MEMORIES. some of my favorite memories of my DS22 & DS17 are memories we made at WDW or from a Disney movie we saw together. We still laugh at jokes we made five or six years ago in the parks, or still laugh at what this CM did or what that CM said... etc.
Plus, who doesn't need a little Magic in their life??? Life is better with Mickey Mouse!

[danceintherain]

My obsession was gradually instilled when I was a small child going to Disney. However, it didn't really take root until I was studying abroad in Prague. It became very clear to me that Disney had the capacity to be an all-encompassing vacation with super helpful and enthusiastic people around to help you enjoy yourself. While I enjoyed my time in Europe, traveling there was exhausting. Everything was so far apart and expensive. I found it overwhelming and not at all relaxing.

I've ran into the same problem now that I'm living in Asia. I keep getting drawn back to Disney. I don't plan on ONLY traveling to Disney in the future, but it is the place where I know how to vacation without having to research every minute detail. I do it anyways, but I have a huge reserve of useless Disney information in my brain, so I CAN plan last minute trips without all the usual worries pertaining to such situations. If things go wrong, I can deal with them more simply AND I know that I'll be able to communicate with the people trying to help me.

Right now, I'm seriously torn, because Tokyo Disney is soo close, but I'm having a hard time justifying the cost in general AND choosing it over some other places, such as the Great Wall. We're leaving here earlier than I originally anticipated, otherwise I may have been able to fit in both.

[BillBrasky]

What are rides at theme parks based on? Movies, comics, myths, legends? Yeah, all of those. But think of it... while most theme parks make rides based off of these things... Disney has made rides that have INSPIRED movies, myths, legends, etc. See Pirates of the Caribbean. Nobody is going to make a movie about the whirlygig at the carnival that comes to your town.

That's magic (aka the genius of men like Walt Disney and Marc Davis). Add two parts nostalgia. Add a few parts history appreciation. I think to be truly obsessed you need to appreciate the history of the parks, the stories of how things came to be, the mysteries of what lays behind the facades. Add in one part great service. It all comes together to make a recipe for obsession.

[Sparkly]

Maaaagiiiccccc.

[gojoe]

Originally Posted by MouseEarsForAll

I like Disney and all, but that's as far as it goes...However, someone of you are obsessed, as we all know. Why are you so obsessed with WDW?

OK, so you have over 1500 post. I think I'm obsessed and I don't come close.
The first step is to admit you have an issue.

I grew up with Walt every Sunday night. My Mom, Dad and I took our last family vacation to Walt Disney World in 1973. We stayed at the Contemporary. My parents and I had the time of our lives. Shortly after my Dad took ill, passing away a couple years later.

I never went back until my daughter move to Orlando and started working at Disney. My children were adult, one with a daughter on the way. I enjoyed it and all but it wasn't until I took my granddaughter and stepdaughter did it bring back the magic of my first trip.

Since then I've been obsessed. We go at least once a year (my daughter and three of my 4 grandchildren live there). I can't put into words how I feel or why I spend my leisure time on these and other sites.

[Rommie]

Because when I was 6 or 7 yo (I'm 29 now), I saw a Mickey Mouse Club where they showed the Mickey and Minnie houses at Disney World. I was blew away and from then on I started researching everything I could about Orlando. I asked my parents to take me there, I asked a lot, but my father was never found of Disney stuff, the consumism side of it and blah blah blah. When I was 11, after asking so much, my father made a deal with me: If I could get only B+ grades for a semester, he promised he would take me there. I studied hard, harder than any other point in my life, because I was determined to accomplish the dream of going to Disney World. God knows how hard I was committed to that task. When my grades finally came, I ran as fast as I could to show them to my father, because I just MADE it. My father took the grades, looked at them, and returned saying he wasn't going to take me there. When I asked why he replied "Because I dont want to". That was a moment in life I realized how things get really unmagical. I kept trying everything in reach to get to Disney by my own, calling Trip Companies and asking if they would offer a free single trip if I could gather a group of 15 or 20 travellers (lol I was so silly) but until now it hasn't happened. Going to Disney World will be a dream coming true. I think so much about it it's part of who I am. It's still kind of sad really, that I know more about a place I've never been to than many people who's been there, and it makes me angry that people who don't care can go there while I couldn't. And I didn't ask for anything else other than I Disney World. Sorry for the wall of text. I was going to post my story, sooner or later.

[MouseEarsForAll]

Originally Posted by gojoe

OK, so you have over 1500 post. I think I'm obsessed and I don't come close.
The first step is to admit you have an issue.

I grew up with Walt every Sunday night. My Mom, Dad and I took our last family vacation to Walt Disney World in 1973. We stayed at the Contemporary. My parents and I had the time of our lives. Shortly after my Dad took ill, passing away a couple years later.

I never went back until my daughter move to Orlando and started working at Disney. My children were adult, one with a daughter on the way. I enjoyed it and all but it wasn't until I took my granddaughter and stepdaughter did it bring back the magic of my first trip.

Since then I've been obsessed. We go at least once a year (my daughter and three of my 4 grandchildren live there). I can't put into words how I feel or why I spend my leisure time on these and other sites.

I'm not obsessed! LOL, I just talk a lot!

[JennaDeeDooDah]

As a child, anytime my mother would tell me about Heaven, it sounded as though she was describing Disney World. It was this wonderful place where there was no pain or sorrow - only complete and total joy. To a six-year-old, that sounded like Disney. I always had such wonderful times on my family vacations there.

When I was a junior in college, I applied and was accepted into the College Program. I thought it would be great. I would get to help make the magic instead of just experiencing it. I would make wonderful friends who loved Disney just as much as I did and I would get to go to the parks for free all of the time. Well, while all of this was 100% true, I also grew up more in that semester than I did in all my other college semesters combined. I took away some of the most amazing memories and there is not a single area in any of those parks that doesn't tell a story or bring back something wonderful to my mind. I'm a completely different person while there. There is no such thing as stress, just pure joy and magic.

[KristiKat]

It brings back so many great memories for me and I feel like a kid again. As others have said it's MAGIC.

[MomiTo2SwtGuys]

When I step on property I can feel the MAGIC. I love all the memories I have made with my family there.

Disney is the only vacation that I have ever taken and not thought about work, bills, pets at home, etc........ while I am gone.

[goofy4tink]

It's truly a happy place for my entire family. My dd has been going since she was 5...celebrated her 6th birthday on that first trip. She is now 18 and heading there, with two best friends, for her graduation gift. First time on her own...same with the other girls.
We have tried various other vacations...the mountains, Cape Cod, NYC....my dh gets nudgy. He doesn't vacation well at all. He is good for about 2 days and then goes back to 'work mode'...he would leave us and go back to the office. But, at WDW, he can stay in our villa, do some work for a few hours everyday, and then meet us later on. And he can get some work done in the evening before heading out for dinner. So it's a win/win for us.
We were there in April 2011 for our last big family trip. Then, dh and I went in Oct with another couple from church. And in early Dec, dd and I went together for our last mother/daughter trip before she heads off to college. With tuition to be paid now, it will be awhile before I get to go back. And that makes me sad. But, we no longer have to wait for school to be out in order to go as a family or even as a trip for dh and myself.

Yes, it's an 'amusement park' in all reality. But, it's truly magical. It's our home away from home...my happy place. There is always something to do. We can hang at the resort and just relax. We can head off to a really nice dinner. Or we can just head to the parks and enjoy the attractions. A win/win.