A Fan and a Cynic Debate Disney Vacations
Thinking of bringing the family to Disney World, but aren’t sure you want to spend the vacation time and/or money? We recently went with the entire extended family and there was a bit of a disagreement in the family as to whether we should go. We went and had a great time, but was it because we were in Disney World that we had a great time? Or was it because we were with the family that made it a great time?
The following debate hopefully will help you decide whether or not to take the family to Disney World. If you want to read more about what Disney offers, then these posts are sure to offer so great insights.
Guaranteed Family Time
Pro:
The parks at Disney World are huge, which means a lot of time walking together. You will share time together with the kids and share Disney experiences. You will have a lot of time to create memories and bond as a family. Sharing a travel experience means an experience you will have together forever, a bond.
Con:
True, if you think waiting in lines endlessly bonds you as a family. Seriously, couldn’t we have used all that money for time in the mountains, or abroad, or together on a beach?
Bring Out Your Inner kid
Pro:
Adults get the chance to be little kids again. It’s Disney World, you can let your imagination run free. Why should the kids have all of the fun? Go hug a character and get an autograph. Have a conversation with Mickey! Go on all of the rides.
Pretend you are watching Peter Pan again, like you did when you were a kid as you fly through the ride. Sing It’s a Small World over and over again until your kids tell you to be quiet. It is fun to be a kid again, letting all of your worries and responsibilities slip away.
Con:
I’d like my children’s inner kid to be developed with their own sense of wonder, not programmed by a corporate conglomerate. That happens through exploring nature and the cultures of others. Not waiting in line to see an underpaid teenager dressed as a rodent.
Professional Photographers
Pro:
Disney strategically places photographers all over the parks. This way you can get family pictures with different Disney iconic backgrounds, like Cinderella’s Castle at Magic Kingdom, The Tree of Life at Animal kingdom and much more.
The photographers will take a pictures using your phone as well. So if you don’t want to pay the extra cost of buying the professional pictures, you will have the same ones on your phone, just not as great quality.
Con:
It’s just another corporate ploy to make you buy even more stuff. What’s wrong with asking someone to snap a photo of the family?
Get Your Steps In
Pro:
The four Disney parks are very large and will require a lot of walking to get to the different attractions and lands within the parks. We averaged 10-12 miles a day of walking. If you have a park hopper (a ticket that allows you to visit any combination of parks per day), you will be able to add more steps. Visit Magic Kingdom in the morning then head over to Epcot for dinner at one of the worlds. While there you can walk around all of the worlds to add to your mileage.
So if you are worried about the not so healthy lunch you just had, don’t worry you will be walking it off.
- Magic Kingdom- 105 acres
- Epcot- 300 acres
- Hollywood Studios- 135 acres
- Animal Kingdom- 403 acres
Con:
Walking on endless concrete to get from one line to another: how enticing! Let me tell you that every minute I was trail running in the Wasatch range last June, I was dreaming of weaving in between the crowds, sweltering in the Orlando humid heat.
Parades and Fireworks
Pro:
Seeing a good parade or a great fireworks show doesn’t happen often in our daily lives, but in Disney World, there are parades and fireworks everyday.
Each park has a different and unique parades and some have shows at night combined with fireworks. The fireworks are long with lot’s of great explosions. Kids and adults alike will enjoy watching the skies light up before the day ends.
Con:
Okay, I’ll give you that a good fireworks show is a very fine, life-affirming thing. But it still means you had to spend the day at Disney to get it.
Watching the Kids Have a Great Time
Pro:
As a parent, watching your kids face light up with excitement is a great feeling. You will definitely get to experience this at Disney World. No matter the age, kids go crazy running from ride to ride, character to character.
You can see what a good time they are having from their body language and expressions. This alone should be a great reason to take them to a magical destination like Disney World.
Con:
Of course, I want my kids to have fun and feel wonderment. But that comes from challenging themselves with new experiences, learning about the unknown, and expanding their horizons. Disney packages a homogenized and sanitized imagination package for your purchase. The issue becomes most pressing because there’s a limited amount of money and time with our kids before they’re grown, and I can think of many better uses for those.
Great Variety of Places to Eat
Pro:
Disney has not limited their dining experience to just burgers, chicken fingers and fries. You can find an array of meals all ov
er the parks. If you want to eat food from different countries, plan your nights in Epcot’s World Showcase, where you can dine on German, Chinese, French, Mexican, Norwegian, Japanese, Italian, American and many other types depending on when you are there.
Head over to Animal Kingdom where you will find a variety of international foods for you and your young ones to try out. If you go during the Food and Wine Festival, you will have a chance to experience many different, small-bite flavors from around the world.
Con:
For the same money, you could eat in those countries. Or patronize restaurants showcasing the great cuisines of the world in your own neighborhood. A corporate leviathan hiring workers from other countries to sling dumbed-down versions of their cuisine does not register as a travel experience for me as a Five Family Adventurer.
Experience Something New
Pro:
The imagineers at Disney World are always coming up with new ideas, rides, and things to do. Each time 
you and your family visits Disney there’s bound to be something new.
We got to visit the new Frozen ride, the new Avatar ride, the new Toy Story land and much more. We even had a chance to trick-or-treat during the Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party. Although not a new concept, it was new to us and the kids. Disney is always implementing something new and exciting for you and your family. Keeps visiting exciting.
Con:
See above. Why pretend you’re soaring across cities and mountain tops when you could actually be doing it? Disney teaches our children to set their sights very low. Travel is designed to make the world an adventure. Not for it to stop in Orlando.
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I totally disagree with the thing about “for the same money you could eat in those countries.” Getting overseas plane tickets, passports, and accommodations for a family costs way more than a Disney trip. I love Disney and have always felt that their versions of places/things sparked my interest in visiting the real thing when I have the money, not replaced world travel for me.
I like your comment and happy that disney could inspire you to visit the real thing!
Will you believe if I tell u that half of the world i have traveled but I have never been to Disneyland. I love reading about it though.
As a huge Disney Fan, I loved this! As much as I love DIsney, and go rather often since I live in Central Florida, I can see the downsides to the parks as well.
This was great! As someone that just experienced a Disney park for the first time, I love seeing it from two perspectives. I also have to say that I agree with things from both sides!
Disney is one of my favorite places so I don’t always agree when people argue “cons” for such a magical place but I agree with them about the photographers. My boyfriend and I got so many photos together with the professional photographers, and when I went to try and buy them it was almost $400!! From now on I’m only asking others to take photos. Plus you won’t have to deal with watermarks
Yeah that’s a bit too much!!!
Very interesting about the pros and cons. It is a good way to evaluate the trip.
It is nice to see they will take pics with your camera so you do not have to buy theirs!
No Joke. Although their quality is better, I’m ok with the quality from the smart phones.
I’m a Disney fan, but I can see the alternate point of view. We do a mix of all kinds of vacations, but almost always hit WDW once a year or so.
I actually would love to go once a year.
Great post! I am not a big Disney fan so the I could totally see myself saying everyone of those cons! Fun post to read!
Ha! Ha! This must be a husband and wife debate. This is the exact same thing that happened in our household. Clearly one of you doesn’t know how amazing Touring Plans is to minimize walking and waiting time, and how you can use discounted Disney gift cards to pay for your vacation and not pay full price on the vacation. 😉 Ok, I’m just a little Disney obsessed. The person behind the “pros” can take me with them next time! 🙂
How could you guess it was a wife husband debate. He knows I’m always right though!
Interesting perspectives. When I took my family, it was really exhausting. WAY more than I thought. But it was amazing to see their faces light up!
It is exhausting
There really are highs an lows about Disney. But I think that can be said about most all similar things.
I love Disney, but found myself agreeing with the “cons” more. Great post about both sides.
It is always nice to get two different perspectives of a place. I can understand your thoughts on this topic. I too have these thoughts when I visit any amusement park. But I have heard so much about Disney that I want to visit the place at least once.
Yes you must visit it once!
I am a huge Disney fan probably as big as my toddler. I really liked the con part of the post as it brings a different angle to the conversation which I found quite interesting.
I don’t think it’s an apples to apples comparison to place Disney next to nature trips, as they provide such different outcomes. I’m all for authentic, nature inspired vacations, but I do love the entertainment at Disney. It’s all about managing expectations.
What a great adventure! I’ve always considered doing this – thanks for the great information!
Such a wonderful post. I like how you incorporated the cons of ” The Happiest Place on Earth”, it gives the article the real experience. Thanks for sharing!
We go to Disney often, and as such, I find we have to defend that decision often. We’re fortunate, though, in that we get to travel other places as well, so a lot of the “cons” don’t become cons for us. It really becomes just that we enjoy being there and have found a way to not get sucked into the go go go atmosphere so we can relax.
It costs a good deal, perhaps prohibitively so, but if you can ever afford a tour guide…that will take away some of those cons.
Boooooo to the cons! 😂 I absolutely looove Disney World. No amount of nay saying shall change it. I definitely think you can strike a balance. The cons here are very final and dramatic. But I shall still happily book my trip (during off season to avoid that heat) while “cons” grumps about it. 😁
Off season, if there is such a thing with Disney, is the only way to go.
If I was married to the cynic, we’d be getting divorced! Luckily my husband loves Disney. We do balance those vacations with other more natural/wild locations like the mountains or the lake.
He secretly loves being there. Anywhere with his family makes him happy 😊
Nicely balanced post about visiting Disney world. It gave in depth comparison. Good read.
There are pros and cons for everything and everyone is entitled to their point of view. But the magic of Disneyland is definitely beyond this debate and I feel is always the best time for some nice and pure family fun. An opportunity to create memories for a lifetime.
You have presented the whole whether to take the Disney vacation or not in a very interesting way. Sure there are pros and cons of every aspect of the place. And one has got to choose accordingly, based on how these pros and cons weigh for them. When we went to Paris, we just wanted to experience the Disney World, so, never thought about these points and just went ahead for it 🙂
I can’t agree more with you. And this is the perfect post to flare up debates – yes debates, the spirit of debating and challenging the order is one thing I’d like to pass on to my children. And given my limited means I’d rather spend them on something more real than these curated world of Disney
It definitely has flared up some great debating.
Yikes! That was well thought out on the pros and cons. I was cheering when I read the pro’s and then I’d go, “Oh yeah, and then there’s THAT…” when I read the cons. Thanks for the very honest approach to both sides of the coin. Just to let you know, I think the pros won. Like you said, it DOES afford a lot of family time with all the walking and waiting and so on…
Thanks. I lean towards the pros😊
Yikes! You did a great job of showing both sides of Disney! I’d be applauding the pro’s and then you’d hit me with some extremely persuasive cons…I’m still voting with the pros. As you mentioned, there’s a lot of family time in between rides and while waiting in line. But the corporate parts…yeah. That’s a bummer!