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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to never want to take my dc to Center Parcs, Disneyland or Camp Bestival?

121 replies

bibbitybobbityhat · 10/02/2010 20:09

Will they think I was a tight fisted old meanie that I never took them to these places when they are older?

I sometimes worry about this.

OP posts:
shockers · 11/02/2010 14:32

I'm with you on Disneyland... I would rather have my toenails pulled out. Centerparcs I go to when my mum pays for the whole family but I wouldn't choose it.
BUT... I've just googled Camp Bestival and I want to go!
I saw Madness and The Human League in the 80's so they would be a trip down memory lane ( bit like the year Chic were on at Womad... fab!) And Marcus Brigstocke.... I love him!!
Having said all that, your children will probably only resent you re Disney... it's a well known fact that young children have no taste

Morloth · 11/02/2010 14:33

YANBU, I didn't get taken to anything like that growing up.

Now, however I love Disneyland, but am a roller coaster fan and just enjoy the "Disney Bubble" you can immerse yourself in there. So DS gets to come along as well.

Lighteningbugs · 11/02/2010 14:39

"No Disney IS NOT fun, it is like ingesting your body weight in sugar.." please explain i don't understand

Lighteningbugs · 11/02/2010 14:40

do you mean it is sickly sweet or they force fed you candly floss on entry

Blackduck · 11/02/2010 14:46

It is sickly sweet, it is artifical, it is ...it is an assult on all your senses....
(BTW is your name a reference to the Amiee Mann song?)

waitingforglasto · 11/02/2010 14:47

Of course its fine you dont do those things. I dont like people crowing about how they wouldnt do disney/CP etc because of the snobbery factor though.

We took ds (then 4) to Disneyland in CA as part of a general California holiday and it was brilliant - he loved it and actually I enjoyed it as well - it was a good counterpoint to the deserts/beach/other CA stuff. I think as with most things it is what you make of it - it wasnt even that busy tbh - just needs some planning.

CP has its place as well - especially when parenting is all new to you and you need somewhere to go that will accommodate you plus screaming infant - holidays need easing into gently for some people iyswim.

Dont know about camp bestival - we do ben and jerrys with the kids but the whole point of proper festivals for me is that they are proper festivals - warts and all...

Lighteningbugs · 11/02/2010 14:54

Ahh I see Blackduck and you are correct, I just kind of like it but then I live right near to a beautiful peacful beach so I have my fill of that all year. Name - nope it is a reference to the owl city song, Fireflies. I will look that one up though.

Lighteningbugs · 11/02/2010 14:56

just looked up the song what a weird coincidence [slight hijack sorry]

Blackduck · 11/02/2010 14:56

here

Lighteningbugs · 11/02/2010 14:57

x post

Blackduck · 11/02/2010 14:57

yes, had forgotten the disney ref!!

pigsinmud · 11/02/2010 15:01

Of course yanbu. We went to CP once - crap! Expensive, swimming pool fit to burst - was just yuck. Never going again.

We were meant to be going to Disneyland Paris this year, but we've opted for 2 weeks in Cornwall instead!

We've promised the 4dcs a big holiday in the USA in a couple of years and we might "do" disneyland then. We have only ever holidayed in GB.

Never heard of Camp Bestival.

loubielou31 · 11/02/2010 16:18

You know full well that your children will find all kinds of reasons to blame you for all their issues once they get to be teenagers, not taking them to Disney and the like (my idea of hell btw) can just be one more stick to beat you over the head with .

It will come right after "I never asked to be born" being yelled from the top of the stairs before slamming the bedroom door.

pagwatch · 11/02/2010 16:36

Do you know I think that saying " I will never ..." is always a bit dangerous.

Dh and I were never interested in Disney or stuff - we were the kind of ponces parents who took DS1 to tea at Claridges and thought treating him like a mini adult was a gift. Pretty snobby in a way too

Then we had DS2 and he is obsessed, literally obsessed, with Disney. We took the two of them to Florida and DS2 said words he had never said before, laughed, smiled talked and still talks about that trip 10 years later...
I saw it through his eyes ( and very well done it is too) and it was actually pretty magical.

I could have stuck to my guns and continued to be a bit of a wanker about it but I am glad I didn't. It remains the happiest he has ever been - and we have been back since and will go again I am sure.

In fact one day I will be 70 and he will be middle aged and I will still be taking him - hopefully.
Never say never

(But Disney Paris is the most awfuk pile of shit - don't go there)

pagwatch · 11/02/2010 16:37

oooh. Awfuk was a typo but actually it works.

Disney Paris is awfuk

PrincessBoo · 11/02/2010 16:43

I bloody hate Disney. Would happily take DS to Paris though (if we could afford it).

We went to Centerparcs on our honey/familymoon! It was fun but it's pricey - was convenient as we could get childcare and go off on our own - but you can go to some fab places for the same money.

We're going to WOMAD this year. Would like to go to Glastonbury (haven't been since 2004) but as we're going to be ttc soon I don't want to be there and be pregnant - I like to be a bit wild at Glasto and wouldn't have taken DS anyway.

I think even if you go to all these places by the time the kids are old enough to start feeling hard done by there'll be something else they've missed out on.

We spent years at bloody Pontins when I was growing up. I was jealous of all my friends who went abroad.

CountessDracula · 11/02/2010 16:44

I have no desire to go to disney or CP either

CB is fun though! It is not like going to Glasto or something at ALL

I don't think they will suffer at all if you don't take them though. It's not like they are starving or neglected is it!

PrincessBoo · 11/02/2010 16:45

I meant I'd happily take DS to Paris btw - not Disneyland Paris

BariatricObama · 11/02/2010 16:46

camp bestival looks excruciating, i suspect there are alot of hotch potch gypsy tops floating around

Kwini · 11/02/2010 16:58

YANBU. I'd sooner gouge out my eyes with a spoon.

Grew up in Florida for three years and never went to Disneyland. I don't feel I missed out on anything.

Why not save up for Eurostar tickets to Amsterdam or Paris - somewhere real, where the kids can actually get some exposure to the wonderful world of travel?

bearcrumble · 11/02/2010 17:05

Bibbedybobbityhat - are you an East Dulwich Mum then?

Original poster
bibbitybobbityhat · 11/02/2010 17:25
Wink
OP posts:
FimBOW · 11/02/2010 17:27

One thing I will never do though is the holidays I had as a child. My parents never drove, so every year I was subjected to Wallace Arnold coach holidays. I was the only kid there amongst the white haired brigade. I suppose my parents were making the effort to take me somewhere, but they were never particularly child friendly holidays and I used to get put in hotel rooms on my own, which at 7/8/9/10 is pretty damn scary.

jendaisy · 11/02/2010 17:29

Don't go to camp bestival unless you are a middle class Guardian reader who has never been to a festival before (if this is you you will love it...otherwise you will think it's pants).

Disney is kind of hell for adults but kids think it is magical, there is nowhere else like it and I have taken my DD there twice in acts of selflessness. Blows any UK theme park out of the water.

Center Parcs is frightfully middle class and completely overpriced but have been there quite a few times (always paid for by my mum who bloody loves the place), and my DD does love it, it's worth going just for the pool which is amazing (and free once you are in there).

ShowOfHands · 11/02/2010 17:38

DD went to her first festival at 11 weeks and has been to lots since. Folk though, 80s stuff is special hell imo.

Center parcs, my parents were always saying was overpriced middle class nonsense. Now they take us every year. For a week, for a 6 bed lodge whatsit it costs just under £200. It's self catering, we only do free stuff like cycling and swimming, walking, watching the wildlife, having picnics etc and it's lovely. No cars, not busy as it's off peak and I've changed my mind about it entirely.

Disneyland I have no opinion on whatsoever.