Is it just me or is that Disneyland Ad designed to make you feel like an utter bastard for not taking your children there?

[DoctorAnge]

This is meant to be lighthearted but no other advert for anything makes me feel this way. Esp if you watch it with your children present; The lifting, swelling, string music and the look of joy and glee on the children's faces and smug contentment of the parents. To top it off it's a "thank-you" to all those wonderful families who let Disneyland share in their celebrations at the time they told their children of this holiday. Surely they are actors?

Although I completely see why you would want to go there and maybe it is a nice family break this advert irritates the hell out of me. It's more that just presenting an attractive product or aspiration, it makes you feel..bad somehow for not doing something amazing for your children, and Disneyland is very, very pricey.

Maybe IABU? - post Chrstmas burn-out

[Anniegetyourgun]

We went for a weekend to Disneyland Paris when DS4 was 6. The third member of the party was DS1, who was 18 at the time and just about to go off to Uni so I thought it was important to get in a last-ever holiday with him. He did the daddy thing, carrying DS4 on his shoulders, accompanying him on rides that were a bit too scary for me, and taking him out for an extra wander round in the evening when my feet were shredded. The weather was absolutely foul, and there was that depressed, slightly dirty feel to everything, as other posters have mentioned; but then again I'm British so I'm used to it, and we actually did manage to have a whale of a time.

But cheap it was not.

[CaptChaos]

Loving the moral high ground waving going on.

It's a holiday, maybe not your cup of tea, but that's all it is. People have fun in different ways, and some random person wanting to go to DWF isn't going to impact at all.

DLP is great fun if you go at the right time, most of our friends have gone and loved it, but found the peripheral stuff was extortionately expensive. DWO on the other hand is a different planet, great fun if you can unpurse your lips long enough, plus it's in the sunshine, which makes everything better.

We don't watch TV, so don't see adverts, but I can imagine that they, along with all successful ad campaigns were designed to make the product look like your life would be worthless without it. That's what ad companies are paid to do, regard this as a job well done!

[yohohoho]

spending two weeks queueing for rides is not a holiday.

I agree. That's why we go in January. No queues. And don't go to parks everyday. There is loads to do. That's why people go. Its better weather than Paris and more to do.

I would never recommend anyone goes in the summer. Hurricane season and you can queue just to into shops.

[Tryharder]

I wanted to do the Disneyland surprise thing with the kids but underestimated how well DS1 could read and he saw it on the calender 2 weeks before we departed!

I have been to DLP twice and it was good. Spoilt by the queues and shitty weather.

I want to go to Florida though but prefer Universal Studios and Harry Potter World to Disney.

[PoppyWearer]

FWIW, I am absolutely not a Disney-lover (the opposite) but we took the DCs there back in the summer and we all loved it. The Fast-Passes and early park access meant we beat the queues for everything we wanted to ride.

Would go back in a heartbeat.

But yes, the adverts are manipulative.

[trapclap]

why are people interpreting it as 'taking the moral high ground' if a person doesnt want to go to Disney Land??

Increasingly on MN, it seems the privileged want everyone else to validate their choices on everything

I go camping every year in UK for our holidays. I love it, the kids love it. A lot of people would hate to go camping in the UK. I don't care what anyone else thinks about camping or holidaying in the UK.

I would rather not go on holiday at all, than go to Disneyland, whether that be Florida or Paris

[yohohoho]

trapclap its not that people don't want to go. Its the 'they went and did have children' and 'i could't think of anything worse' and I thought she was on crack' attitude.

Or the attitude that on here that Disney is the devils work. If you don't want to go don't. But there have been several threads in so U about how shit disney is. Usually by people who have never been.

[yohohoho]

Sorry the first one was 'they went didn't even have children' as though that's illegal.

[yohohoho]

Oh and 'my children would rather die than go, lucky me'

And 'i haven't been myself but.. Yada yada yada'

[sarahseashell]

YANBU - dislike that ad and the guilt-trip-ness of it

[dixiechick1975]

For anyone thinking of Disney I'd recommend the dibb and disboards forums.

If you just book with a travel agent and turn up you will pay a fortune and spend all your time queuing.

It is a holiday you need to plan for. We went in October to disneyworld Florida and had a fantastic time - we didn't queue more than 5 mins for anything.

Touring plans.com is great for deciding when to go - why plan to go when it is 10/10 busy when the week after is 3/10.

[AfterEightMintyy]

Utterly ridiculous to get defensive and personally affronted if other people say they wouldn't want to go on the same sort of holiday as you. Ridiculous, ridiculous, ridiculous.

[Offred]

Yep, agree with the posts that say that is what advertising is for, they make you feel shit then offer a solution. That's the whole point.

Disneyland doesn't work for us, the kids don't want to go and neither do we, we kind of almost pity people who would enjoy somewhere like Disney. Probably the twins would enjoy it but that's only because they are 3 and haven't learned better yet. We do holidaying in castles, climbing mountains, swimming in rivers etc which is MUCH more exciting and hardly costs anything!

[EweBrokeMyManger]

Offred you just spectaculary proved mintys point wrong. We dont need your pity thanks, we enjoy festivals, mountain climbing, city breaks AND Disney thanks. They all have their place and arent really comparable.

And I dont think swimming in a river is more exciting than Summit Plummit(massive vertical waterslide) for example - maybe more restful, more soulful but more exciting? Nope.

[StepAwayFromTheEcclesCakes]

can't think of anywhere I would like to go less, fortunately both Ds's got to go to the Paris one whilst on a school trip so we didnt have to explain why we would not go. Actually neither of them thought much of it and have had no desire to ever go back... Phew

[Itsjustmeanon]

YANBU

[Itsjustmeanon]

P.S. We went to Disneyland as children. It was fun, but I got fed up of being stuck in a theme park after a few days, and we preferred the water parks to the theme parks. We were 14 (older DB), 11 (me), and 7 (younger DB) at the time.

We enjoyed our holidays to Barbados much more than Disneyland.

[FeckOffCup]

Yes the ads are designed to do that as others have said. I don't think they are allowed to directly target children anymore in ads so they are pulling at the parents' heartstrings instead.

As far as the disney parks themselves go, different strokes for different folks isn't it, I've been with DH to Orlando before we had any children and I've been to DLP with DH and DD, enjoyed both holidays although theme parks aren't everyone's cup of tea I don't know why people have to be so sneery about it. I have tried camping, it wasn't for me but I don't go around telling campers that they should be going on a real holiday and sleeping in a tent is stupid. And as for feeling sorry for families that enjoy going to disney, get a grip. There are lots of things in this world that invoke pity in me, someone's choice of holiday is not one of them.

[yohohoho]

Offred you just spectaculary proved mintys point wrong. We dont need your pity thanks

excellent point.
I don't care where people go. It seems the people who don't go care that others do.

I wouldn't say we go to Florida every year. My kids would rather die than go to a festival and we have a MUCH better time.

[whiteandyelloworchid]

that advert is amaster piece on making parents feel guilty and we have boody well been with dd, yet everytime it makes you feel guilty as if you should go again

they should have bloody well built it in the uk, not paris, or if they had to build it in france they could have at least built it near some sandy beach on the south coast. not somewhere where the weather is like here

[threesypeesy]

i love the advert.... were now pricing it as a treat for dds, though after reading this thread we are re thinking booking for june, maybe change to sept/october

anyone added on the disney cruise?

[StairsInTheNight]

we go camping every year. And are off to Disneyworld in Feb. I dont pity anyone who dosent like the same things i like, that would imply my choices were in some way superior.

[Offred]

It isn't where people go on holiday it is when people think going to an expensive, crowded, commercialised, capitalist, vacuous resort owned by a stupid corporation is great and enjoyable I feel a bit sorry for them because they miss out on a lot.

[Offred]

I'm pretty glad so many people go to Disney etc tbh, I hope they continue going!

[freddiefrog]

Enjoying Disney and climbing mountains isn't mutually exclusive you know