I’m Never Taking My Kids to Disney

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What used to be a treat reserved for a special few has become sort of a right of passage in today’s parenting circles…

I’m Never Taking My Kids to Disney

“When are you taking the kids to Disney?!,” moms will ask each other online in mommy groups, while waiting in the hallways to pick up, or any time an extended break period is on the horizon at school. There are people who make careers out of Disney vacation planning and Facebook groups dedicated to insider tips and tricks. Let me say this before I go much further: I’M NOT JUDGING DISNEY ENTHUSIASTS. Y’ALL DO YOU!

I’m just saying that, unless something changes (like my kids become entirely new people) I’m never taking my kids to Disney and here’s why:

1. It Costs HOW MUCH?

For the price of one Disney cruise for four people, I could rent a beach house in Charleston, SC FOR. SIX. WEEKS. Let me say that again. A beach house, literally sitting in the sand, yards away from the ocean for a month and a half, in my favorite place on God’s green Earth. All that for the same rate as a week at sea with grown men and women trying to pay back the loans on their performance degrees by living on a boat dressed up like mice. Yeah, but that’s a cruise. Okay…The parks aren’t much better. A few years ago I had a friend who worked as one of the aforementioned travel planners and she casually quoted me a trip for three kids and two adults at a mid-level resort on the Park, with a dining plan at around $4,000 for six nights and seven days. That’s three weeks in Charleston people. Plus…

2. You Have To Get There

Taking a car trip over three hours with children should really be the litmus test for “could you withstand torture for long periods of time or would you crack and give all your intel away?” From my home office where I am currently sitting, it is nine hours and 29 minutes to the gates of the Magic Kingdom, which with boys who have the bladder control of a bus full of 80 year olds the second their seat belts snap into place, and an SUV that gets 16 MPG highway, would really end up being somewhere around 27,464,528 hours, by my exact calculations. During every trip anywhere at all, somewhere around hour two, there has already been at least one fist fight and my car smells like road kill although I am positive I didn’t hit anything.

“Well you could fly!” Yes. I could. I could also take all my clothes off and run down I-40, but that sounds more sane than taking three kids seven and under on a plane.

3. Y’all Can’t Even Act Right at Dollywood

For as long as I can remember, I had season passes to Dollywood. After his retirement, my papaw worked there for “something to do” so I quite literally grew up there in a lot of ways. Naturally, when Maddox and Walker were around three and four, I wanted to share in the magic of Dollywood with them. Except…taking them to Dollywood is misery. No one wants to go to the same places, ride the same rides, see the same shows. No one wants to eat the same foods. It’s too hot. The water rides are too wet. (Not making that up. That is literally a thing that was said to me this summer.) Everyone is on a hunger strike until we get there and suddenly my kids turn into ravenous starved creatures on the hunt for every food. Rides that were fun the last time are now terrifying to even look at. A few hours in, I kick myself for trying to take them to a theme park for the day.

I cannot imagine this same scenario after $4,000 and 10+ hours of travel time in a park that is a million times larger and a million times more crowded. I like to have some semblance of relaxation on my vacations, even if it comes in tiny five minute bursts of looking at the ocean before I have to jump up and tell the boys they can’t put seaweed in their pants. Shlepping around a theme park for a week, married to our itineraries lest we miss anything we paid for and planned for sounds terrible.

4. They Don’t Remember Anything

Maddox has actually been to Disney with his dad about three times. His dad went to college in Florida and has several friends and family members there, so it has become something they do on their summer vacations together. When Maddox got back this last time, I asked him what he did: “I swam in the pool! In the part that goes to four feet!,” he told me. “That’s great baby, but…like…what did you do at Disney?” “I don’t remember. We rode some ride with a bunch of creepy kids who talked about the world being small.” Cool. His dad booked one of the nicest hotels on the Park where they stayed for three nights, and all Maddox remembers of the trip is swimming and It’s A Small World, and I totally relate to that.

When I was about eight, my mom and her husband at the time, took my two step-sisters and me to Disney World. I remember fighting with the girls in the back seat because I got stuck on the side of the car that always had sun coming in the windows and it wasn’t fair. I remember the last night there it was my turn to sleep in the top bunk, but I fell asleep early and no one could lift me that high, so one of my (awake) step-sisters got to sleep in it instead, and I was so furious I woke up in the middle of the night and tried to drag her out by one leg under the guard rail. (I was very sweet and shy as a child.) We rode Peter Pan. The pool was made of salt water, not regular “pool water.” That is literally all I remember. We were not rich by any means and I’m sure my mom saved like crazy to take us all there and all I remember are those four things. Yikes.

5. It’s a Better Trip When You’re Older

Purely opinion here, but I went back to Disney as a 17 year old and you know what I remember to this day? Every single thing. It’s still magical and mind-blowing as a teenager or a young adult, plus you can do more. I could ride every ride and there was no screaming and fighting over what to see and do. I ate when I felt like it and I saw shows when I wanted, and at night I watched fireworks and thought that it was a really neat place to be. I was about to be a college freshman and thought I was too cool for 99.9% of everything, but something about being there and experiencing it on my own terms was really joyful and fun. In two days, I planned to see and do all I wanted, and when we left I wasn’t burnt out at all.

Being able to take ownership of my time there cut out all the drama I deal with now as a mom herding the boys around while trying to get input from them as to what they want to do. Plus, this time the trip was part of a graduation gift from my family and it felt really special and earned versus just another vacation.

So, feel free to ask me all you want, but I promise you, I’m never taking my kids to Disney.

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Ashley
Mama to Maddox, Walker and Finn plus three unruly dogs: Nick Carraway, Ladybird, and Charlotte. Owner of Nest, a custom painting and furniture restoration business run out of my SoKno home. I've written for Knox Moms since 2014, and have also written for The Dollywood Company, Her View From Home, and Today.com. I'm a recovering type-a personality, overcaffinated, sleep with too many pillows, am a better person near water, and love a good British period drama or anything about gruesome true crime. I'm going to die trying to pet something I shouldn't or lifting furniture I have no business lifting, and am a firm believer in convenience meals. Probably a top contender for the title of World's Okayest Mom.

10 COMMENTS

  1. You rock. This is litterally my sentiments exactly. I brought my kids last year, reluctantly. We brought our babysitter, my 13 year old stepson, 7 and 4 year old sons and 1 year old daughter. I only brought them because I had a conference at Disney and I couldn’t spend a week there without them, it would have felt like I was cheating on my husband. All I remember from those two days (and about $800 to enter said horrific parks), was screaming at each ugly, hot, ungrateful little face, while sweat poured from my body, was that they better smile and pretend to love this experience because I just spent their college tuitions to pay for it. MISERABLE.

  2. Yes!! Mine act like total fools at fairs, theme parks, the dang grocery store 😂 If they were anything less than totally amazed and overjoyed I think I would lose my mind.

  3. What you neglected to mention which you might have felt was trampling on Disney enthusiasts is how dare this be considered a rite of passage? This is not a tooth loss or menstruation. This is contrived and marketed to teach kids to love consumption and to place parents who cannot afford it in the poorhouse. My essay would have gone on much much longer. As soon as my children were born I made it clear that unending love is reserved for family and friends who love you back and not princesses and mice. They (10 and 8) would also consider a trip to Disney torture and I take that as a parenting win on many accounts.

    • Yes. It’s sooooo unaffordable. My kids go to private school and with that expense every month I’m not likely to have thousands extra for Disney. We are lucky to go on vacation a lot of the time. I totally see that side of things too.

  4. Absolutely loved this article. My ex (& new wife) have taken my 3… 3 times (Disney, Disney Cruise & Volcano Bay) in the last 5 years… More power to them… my kids have had the “experience” & I haven’t had the misery of everything you mentioned!

    • Yes!!!! My oldest’s dad takes him and I feel like it’s the best of both worlds; maddox goes to Disney and I don’t have to 😂😂

  5. I respect this post so much but I can say I had a mostly positive and wonderful trip to Disney with my babies. Disney and my kids was amazing! We recently took our kids to Disney this past spring (ages 3.5 and 1.5) Yes it was hard and exhausting (oh wait I also ran in 3 races while there) but worth every single moment. The magic of it all was just perfect. It was an adventure that I needed a good couple of sleeps to recover from but I would do it all again. We did Disney on a budget and spent about the same as we would if we took our family to the beach for a week. We drove 8+ hours and didn’t have any issues (unless you count the sick kiddo ALL THE WAY HOME- again the only major negative of the trip). But I get it. Disney is not easy to do with kids. It can be extremely expensive and overwhelming but I went in with the expectation that you will not get to do a lot of things and limited spending. I was okay with that b/c we will go again and experience something new next time. But that is just my story and everyone is entitled to their own opinions. All in all as you said it best… Y’all do you! (Love that line!)

  6. This makes me sad. Going to Disney is an experience, an adventure… it’s magic! Seeing Disney through a child’s eyes is one of the most wonderful things I have ever experienced! Seeing my daughters expression when the monorail came charging in… if you could only see the picture!

    Just a few tips. DONT use a travel planner! They will book you at the most expensive hotels with the most expensive add ons. She may have been your friend but I promise you there are MUCH better options!

    Rather than staying on property, book off site or use Air BNB!

    AND did you know you can bring coolers with FOOD into the parks!? Whatttt?? Yes I know! Set your goal on one meal per day in the park and the rest out of your handy dandy cooler!

    Rides? Make a game plan ahead of time! Look up the rides online and look through them with the kids. Figure out who wants to go on what and then you momma bear make the plan!

    Lastly…. set aside all your stresses, go in knowing it’s not going to be perfect. Go in with no expectations and just have fun!!

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