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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to fucking hate that guilt inducing advert with the excited children going to disney?

197 replies

PyrotechnicsAtYourCervix · 30/10/2011 09:47

I could never afford to take mine so could never give them that amazing, exciting, happy feeling which appears to be the best thing you could ever give your children. I am a failure as a parent.

Thanks Disney you Bastards.

OP posts:
tiredemma · 30/10/2011 10:49

We went to Florida in 2007 and I have to say that it was a great holiday- we all loved it- kids had a fab time (so did I). Going next year (october) - agree with earlier poster who said its a great brand.

My inlaws hated it though.

zippadeedoodaa · 30/10/2011 10:49

We've just been (In laws paid as otherwise we would never have been bothered able to afford it). It was expensive and exhausting and yes my kids had a good time but do you know what it really truly isn't that amazing and we won't go back .
Best bit MIL tried to have one of those "magic moments" telling DC's about Disneyland trip - DD said "what's Disneyland?" and then carried on playing so MIL was robbed of the reaction she had hoped for.

GuillotinedMaryLacey · 30/10/2011 10:56

I've not seen it, but then Disney is my idea of hell so it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference to me if I did! I got slated on here for saying that grown adults who cry with excitement over going to Disney need a kick up the arse :o

stressheaderic · 30/10/2011 11:01

It is a very clever piece of advertising. And it is sort of true - I remember being told we were going on a plane for the first time (aged 10, to Germany to visit relatives) and being super super excited and jumping up an down.

Never went to Disney though - way out of our league, growing up. I am a French teacher now though so have taken a few groups of pupils (and got to go for 'free') and it is a little tiny bit magical, I have to admit.

Maisiethemorningsidecat · 30/10/2011 11:02

We would like to take the kids - they are desperate to go, but having worked out how much it would cost for the 5 of us to go in the school holidays my eyes haven't stopped watering.

I went to Florida pre-kids and did the parks/beach/everglades. It was pretty good, I have to admit - but I suspect it would become a bicker-fest for DC1 and 2, as most of our holidays seem to be Angry

Lookattheears · 30/10/2011 11:04

We took great pleasure driving past Disney in AMERICA on our RV tour a few years back.
None of us would go there if you paid us. My kids just don't get the advert at all. Clearly we are odd, though Grin

feralgirl · 30/10/2011 11:12

I fucking loathe Disney for the way they buddy up with unethical companies like McD's and also the way they depict women. I also totally agree with MaryLacey in finding it deeply cringeworthy when I see grown-ups being all obsessed with Disney.

I'm sure my kids would enjoy it in a few years but they're never going to go for the same reasons that my parents never took me. Plus we'll never have enough money anyway. I'd much rather go to Legoland.

So yes OP, YABU. It's fair enough to want to go to Disneyland if that's your thing but it's U to feel guilty about not being able to afford it.

Morloth · 30/10/2011 11:16

Kids shouldn't be at Disney anyway.

I once rode California Screamin 3 times in a row after a lunch that consistet mostly of mahoosive margeritas.

unhappysqueezer · 30/10/2011 11:20

I too have been drunk in Disney- It's an enlightening experience.

Acekicker · 30/10/2011 11:41

All adverts are designed to make you feel like that though aren't they? [hsad].

If it helps, the reality of us telling DS was somewhat different. The holiday had been a year in planning but we refrained from telling DS who was 5 until Christmas (we were going at Easter). It was all planned out with the family we were going with and we sat down to watch the promo DVD of all the stuff and then tell DS at the end that in 4 months time WE WOULD BE THERE!

He loved the DVD, thought it looked awesome, we then said 'and guess what Aceboy - we will be going there at Easter'...

DS said 'oh...can I have a biscuit please' and wandered off into the kitchen. That was it...no bouncing excitement, no 'when are we going, how long is it', no passionate hugs of gratitude - nada!

Funnily enough the adverts aren't like that! Oh and we got stuck due to the volcano for 12 days and all of us were bloody glad to finally get out of there...it took about 3 months before the stress of that wore off and we could actually look back with fond memories. [hgrin]

feralgirl · 30/10/2011 11:55

Ooh, I retract what I said before. Being pissed out your skull at Disney sounds like great fun!

cidrenomore · 30/10/2011 12:00

When my DSM told my DD's 'we're going to 'Eurodisney' they looked blankly at her, cos is called Disneyland Paris now....
They enjoyed it, but was no magical 'telling them' moment.
Hotel pool slide was best bit. With NO queue!!!!

LisasCat · 30/10/2011 12:05

My parents took me when I was 8, so I'll share my memories...

  • a whole load of queueing, for everything, rides, food, even the bloody toilets
  • stressy travel arrangements to get to the park first thing every morning to make the most of the ridiculous amount of money they'd spent for tickets
  • fairly average rides that even Thorpe Park would be a bit embarrassed by
  • the song It's A Small World After All, which featured on one of the rides, and then planted itself in my brain for the next 20 odd years, and still pops out at stupid moments

I have always preferred Chessington.

ChunkyMonkeyMother · 30/10/2011 12:05

I hate them too - Its as if they're saying "Oh look at us! Two weeks in FLORIDA!" Its not even Paris - Which maybe in the distant future we could think about.

You know what though, when we were younger my Mum n Dad organised a surprise holiday to Scotland - We were just as giddy as those kids in the advert, they didn't tell us till we were in the car which they had packed the previous night, they had originally told us we were going to our Auntie's house but when we had been going for about an hour they told us - I'm amazed they didn't crash we were so excited! We went to see some family and then to Loch Ness - It was a fantastic feeling and I still remember it today!

charitygirl · 30/10/2011 12:06

I'd rather gouge my eyes out than go to Florida - if I ever take the kids to the States, it'll be to somewhere interesting. Sorry, kids. You might get to go to the one in California though.

edam · 30/10/2011 12:06

Blimey, being stuck in Disneyland for 12 days is my idea of hell. I do hope you spent most of them in Paris instead, Acekicker?

Walt Disney was a bastard. Mate of McCarthy's, IIRC. All sorts of dodgy stuff. Still, thanks to his kind at least we got Sam Wanamaker over here, which means we got the Globe theatre and Zoe W as well. (Sam was one of the actors drummed out of Hollywood for daring to associate with left-wing types during the McCarthy 'commie' hysteria - the stuff that inspired Arthur Miller to write The Crucible.)

Disney is also responsible for all this pink princess marketing shite being so predominant - they decided they could make more money by marketing all their princess types separately from the films. (I don't mind pink and princesses if girls make a free choice to like them, but they aren't - it's rammed down their throats by companies wanting to make money out of them.)

Having said that, we have been to Disneyland Paris, courtesy of MN - fantastic competition prize. Ds loved it. BUT I don't think anyone should feel guilty for not going. And Disney were really, really difficult to deal with - I had to get MN onto them to sort the prize out, if it had been left to Disney to handle we'd never have been.

Robotindisguise · 30/10/2011 12:08

Watch the BBC. You will never see it again.

senua · 30/10/2011 12:20

Never went to Disney though - way out of our league, growing up. I am a French teacher now though so have taken a few groups of pupils (and got to go for 'free').

Pray, do tell: how much do they learn about the French way of life and how much French do they speak whilst at EuroDisney? Hmm

VivaLeBeaver · 30/10/2011 12:22

I've been to DLP for 2 days. I don't think its any better than Alton Towers apart from DD being a bit bowled over by meeting Micky and the odd Princess. It was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. We did all the rides in the first day.

TheSecondComing · 30/10/2011 12:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Maisiethemorningsidecat · 30/10/2011 12:27

They get to oggle the French youth - what more do you really want at that age? Grin

mildertduck · 30/10/2011 12:29

I loved it but enjoyed the Universal parks and Busch Gardens more.

(I was 16, and we stayed outside the Disney complex)

Acekicker · 30/10/2011 12:29

edam - it was Orlando Disney... To be fair to the tourism industry over there, they were fabulous and didn't exploit us - Disney gave us all free tickets for 14 days, restaurants were doing BOGOF on meals if showed them the boarding pass etc, we got an amazing deal on the villa as the rental company figured it would have been empty if we weren't there.

However the magic does fucking fade a bit when you're stuck in limbo, not getting paid leave from work, insurance won't cover it and you know that even with all the discounts, freebies, offers etc you're still going to be seriously out of pocket.

We were lucky in that we hadn't spent every single penny we had during our original 2 weeks but there were plenty of families who had done. They were the poor sods who ended up in Travellodge type places attached to malls in the middle of nowhere with vouchers for food courts (airlines were only obliged to feed and shelter you)... Much though I love MrAce and DS, I would have killed them after a week (never mind 12 days) of us being in a single hotel room and eating at Taco Bell every day. We were very lucky that we were in a position to choose to spend our own money and keep the villa, car etc on for the extra holiday. It was truly odd at the airport waiting to come home though - I supsect it's extremely unusual to have flights full of British tourists who are all delighted to be leaving and practically cheer when the plane takes off!

Toughasoldboots · 30/10/2011 12:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

horMOANSnomore · 30/10/2011 12:47

Every time I see that advert, I hope those children actually did get to go to Disneyland (Florida, America).

What a disappointment if they were only used as actors and were told at the end of the shoot, "Actually kids, we were only pretending for a telly advert."