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

[PyrotechnicsAtYourCervix]

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.

Ahh the classic MN snobbery thread. 'My 5 year old ds would just hate Disney'. [hhmm]

The emphasis on Florida is surely there because for certain sections of the population going to DLP is commonplace - a yearly thing - whereas a trip to Florida is much more unlikely.

And it is possible to enjoy all types of holiday - seeing your dc happy is priceless though and thats what its all about and as well being able to let them do things that you would never have been able to do as a child.

The advert is a big fat lie though - we are off to Florida next year and there was a mildly interested, 'cool' but certainly no leaping about. Thats what adverts are supposed to do though isnt it - remember that Centerparks ad where the mum was really pleased that her pants had come off in the swimming pool? Because you'd be absolutely delighted wouldnt you. Hilarious.

Lynette - as I pointed out all adverts are designed to do the same, yes even for thing that you like that I might not.

Ahh the classic MN snobbery thread. 'My 5 year old ds would just hate Disney'.

It reminds me of the mums who insist their child hates macdonalds, doesn't like any of the "junk" they serve and would never go there. [hgrin]

I have posted that my children would hate disney and they are way past 5 so have had plenty of time to change their minds. But no snobbery involved as all we do on holiday is crash on a hot beach or spend hours shooting down the water slides.
The only museum i have ever taken them to was the Cairo museum and the only bit they wanted to see was the mummy room ( we have done other sites in egypt which they loved but not on a highbrow level more a creepy this is were they put dead bodies level)and i dont think we have ever set foot in a national trust property.

hating Disney is not snobbery

I've been to the Disney parks in Florida twice. The first time I went I expected it to be awful and cheesey as hell.

I loved it. It is so clean, so well laid out and organised. There is so more more to it than Mickey Mouse. Animal Kingdom, the water parks, the sunshine, the atmosphere, it really did shock me. The other parks are great too, Seaworld and Busch Gardens are fantastic. The shopping is amazingly cheap too!

2 (or more) weeks of Disney would be hell, but then going to any theme park everyday for 2 weeks running would be. The trick is to go to Florida and just spend a few mornings/afternoons at the different parks. You don't have to queue if you don't want to, the food isn't all crap - you can eat outside of the parks you know. Florida has so much more to it than the theme parks, the coast is gorgeous and a great place to holiday.

I agree that the advert is to try and guilt you into going. That's wrong. Go if you want to go, go somewhere else if you don't.

I do think a lot of you would be surprised if you went though, it isn't as hellish are you are all imagining.

If the magic starts the moment you tell them, tell them now and let them enjoy 30 years of anticipation until they can afford to pay for themselves

We didn't go as kids, though it was discussed occasionally. We lived fairly close to Alton Towers so don't think we were too arsed about Disney. A friend of mine went when she was eight and the only thing she remembers about the trip is how exciting it was that she was allowed to eat bacon and strawberries together at the breakfast buffet in the hotel. This has led me to conclude it isn't all that.

I have been to DLP, on a work trip. If you can imagine a small group of people with absolutely nothing in common who otherwise wouldn't socialise with each other going to a theme park in their 30s/40s/50s then that's about right. We arrived late in the evening and had dinner with copious amounts of (free) booze then went to a nightclub. It was all so wrong. I spent the next day, the one when we actually went to the park, spectacularly hungover, vomiting at regular intervals in the Magic Kingdom while small large-eyed animals watched on, avoiding my colleagues and writing postcards to my friends describing the above. It was Not Good. And the Spice Girls were there, randomly, to add to the surrealness. Surreality. Surrealitude

My main memory of Disneyland was getting stuck on Mr Toad's Wild Ride (which was rubbish) unable to get off and having to go around twice. It was hysterical.

I don't really get the whole Disney thing, as a child I thought Mickey Mouse was boring and preferred Warner Bros cartoons. We were a bit older when we went though so the main excitement was about going to America rather than Disney.

"the electronic walkway that takes you in."

What!?

Look, if you have children who have never been and you feel you would like to go then go, BUT PLEASE be aware that anything to do with it will be rip off prices, go prepared and you will enjoy it more, we took in our own sandwiches and drinks to Euro Disney as we were parked aright at the entrance, but by 8pm we had eaten and drunk all of that and had to revert to the rip off food, anyway we only had a minor sting.

We did both parks in a day, there is no way on this earth I would have wanted to go for longer, we were lucky that the average queue was 40mins (work out how many rides you could do in a day, some rides last 3 mins, and how much of your life you can waste), some places it can be much longer, I hate wasting my life in a line, but did it for the kids, no more, never.

I would never ever look on going to Disney as Posh, in fact I never look on going anywhere as posh, I can pretty much go where the hell I want and most times prefer value for money than rip off joints, I leave the chavvy nonsense for those up their own arses who 'think' they are posh

So do it if you can afford it, if not don't sell your body to go, it ain't worth it, your kids can get more out of going to other less rip off places

purits -I don't know what you are trying to say so can't answer, if you have never been, there is a travelator or whatever you call it, like in airports, you stand on them and they move, these extend into the car park with an overhead cover, we parked just at the end of that. Look on google earth and you will see the entrance, cars are to the left, a motorhomes to the right!

I have never seen a travelator at a beach, nor in a wood. I have only seen them in airports.
Is DisneyWorld/Land/Park like an airport?

Disney World is more like an airport than a beach.

Or a wood.

But, you know, airports can be quite fun places.

And beaches can be hellish.

I don't see why anyone would feel guilty about Disney holidays based on that dozy advert.

DD would hate to go to Disney as to do so would mean that I would be in a bad mood permanently, and would moan and gripe all the day long.

I went to Disney Paris (was a helper on a school trip, without dd) and detested the whole thing. Freezing cold, full of surly staff, plasticky CRAP rides and ghastly food. I couldn't wait to leave.

I can't imagine enjoying Disney Florida either, having been to Florida for work trips many times, I can't see wht people actively choose to go there in mid summer. The Florida humidity is unbearable, and Orlando is a shithole.

It doesn't make me a snob - I can just thing of hundreds of places in the world I would prefer to spend a couple of grand to visit with children.

Beaches are great as long as it is very hot and sunny and i have a sunbed with a at least a 3 inch cushion on it. It is a bonus if there is waiter service or a nice man who brings around slices of cold melon.

Brighton on a wet sunday IS hell but worth it once in a while just to eat fish and chips on the pier.

Purits we've taken our DD to some of the most amazing beaches in the world and we live in a house near the woods so she spends a lot of time there - she's also been to the Amazon rainforest (I had always wanted to go) - we've taken her on many cultural holidays (Pompeii, Kenya, Giza etc) BUT I also appreciate the pure escapism of Disney - surely there's room for both types of holidays? I've been lucky enough to travel all over the world but no where else can you have breakfast with Winnie the pooh followed by a treasure hunt with captain hook and tea with cinderella and finish off the day in a boat on a lagoon drinking champagne watching the fireworks over Cinderella castle.

The only thing airports and Disneyworld have in common apart from the travelators are rip off priced crap food and souvineers, miserable foreign staff and a long queue everywhere you look.

I don't know how on earth they have managed to keep the dream alive, all marketing wizardy I guess.

Las Vegas is another plastic place, but has to be seen to be believed, not too great for kids as they are barred from so many areas. I was there woth my son when he was 16 and they were handing out cards in the main street with an offer of two prostitutes for the price of one, we declined the special offer but he kept a card as a souvineer! That gives you an idea of the place where it is non stop, there are no clocks in the casinos so you don't know if it is night or day, useful with jet lag!

Going to go against the grain here but i was reduced to tears watching a then 3yr old dd1's face on walking into the magic kingdom and meeting mickey mouse.
We took the whole family to disneyland california afew years ago and it was just as magical,i think its nice to do if you can but certainly noone should feel that they are depriving their dc if they dont take them.

dh says there is no way he is wasing our money letting our dcs sit on an underpaid overworked predatory adult in fancy dress' knee

but enjoy it if you're there!

Poppyandme - I read your last post in disbelief, how can you enjoy that fake cr@p more than some of the places you mention, it could give the wrong impression to people wanting to go. Be truthfull, it is a person who's turn ot is to get in a fancy dress costumes, as for a lagoon it's a man made hole, and the champagne would be some cheapy chavvy overpriced rubbish, fireworks I agree are good and plastic castle fun

Oh! And please share the pure rip off price of that plastic experience so people can make a judgement of what they would spend the money on.

Manathome - I never said I enjoy it more! I said I can still appreciate it - yes it's all man made and plastic but the look on my DD's face every time we go there is priceless. Would I go on my own without DD? No. But I enjoy it when we are there because she has such an amazing time. We've only got a few years left until she's likely to grow out of it, until then I' m happy to spend one holiday a year there. We still get to do our grown up holidays and DD loves them too - I think we've got a good balance :)

Cost wise it's pretty expensive but no more than we spend on other holidays.

How old is your daughter, mine are 9 and 2 yrs old, my 8yr old's attitude was 'Oh another person dressed up', but she loved the rides. The 2yr old was limited on rides but scared stiff of the dressed up people, but certainly not in awe of anything. I think 9 is past it, Alton Towers would maybe be better, as for the 2yr old, maybe a couple of years, but sorry she has missed out because they are not having another penny of my money.

We just stopped off on the way to the South of France in our motorhome as it was about 20km off our route, it cost 15 Euros to park for the night in the park, had I flown over, paid for taxis from the airport or a train, then paid rip off prices in nothing special hotels I would not have been impressed, I am SO glad I did it the way I did because even if I had just drive there for the sole purpose of going, not passing, I would have been madder with myself.

It has something as thousands flock through the gates daily, so as I said maybe I am grumpy, or have seen the light

Now please don't ask me if I take my kids to any of those ghastly plastic Father Christmas grottos, you would seriously think I was grumpy

Sorry I meant 9 not 8, although she is 10 in a couple of weeks

She's 10 manathome but a young 10 due to some sn. To be fair I've heard some awful things about Disneyland Paris and wouldn't go there myself as I think I would be comparing all the time. One thing to remember is that DLP is much smaller that WDW and doesn't have a lot of the outside the park attractions like the resorts and boardwalk etc not to mention Universal, Busch Gardens etc.

I've been to Alton towers and thought it was dreadful and not very clean but that was about 18 years ago, certainly way before I'd ever been to Disneyworld.

Everybody is different but Disney seems to bring out such an emotive reaction in people. - so what if we like it, it doesn't mean everyone else has to!

I have never done Alton Towers so can'y comment, I have done Florida and California, I agree the weather helps a lot, but the queues especially in the heat, I just hate them.

We were lucky at Paris, it started to bucket down with rain at about 9.45pm, and yet people were STILL taking their places for the light parade sitting on the kerb stones, they were utterly bonkers. We left not long after that with people still sitting in the rain with plastic capes on, I think it was cancelled in the end as well as the fireworks.

I am still trying to learn these codes people come out with on here, I just guess at some but they are very confusing, hopefully I will get the hang of them

I don't think my children are really that aware of it, so no, I don't feel guilty. They have never talked about it at all and it is probably because I have never really talked about it either, as I'm not that interested! I'm sure that I would enjoy their joy if we went but adverts don't make me feel guilty.

My sons asked me about this ad a few weeks ago. They couldnt understand why the children in it were getting so excited about "pretend characters prancing about in a funfair". Phew! They also dont like McDonalds particularly (except a Bacon McMuffin when travelling somewhere early), and have little time for the toy ads that are on all the time at the moment. They are 10 and 8 and I am sooooo thankful for the chat we had about how and why adverts work/dont work, when they first started watching commercial tv