What is it about you that makes you love Disney?

For me I grew up with Disney. My Dad was huge into Disney and it rubbed off on me. When I was young he even got me my own stock into Disney.

But now... fast forward 25 years, with a wife and 2 children... it has a different meaning for me. It keeps me young. I take my kids so they can have an even better experience than what I had as a child. Already my oldest has gone more times than I have when I was a kid and he is only 8! We watch Disney all the time and were just a Disney family. When my parents and my family get together... we will always talk about past trips and the trip ahead.

In a way... I'm like you. Its the magic of it all. I love how it appeals to everyone. I love how after 25 years... nothing has changed!

When I was a child we spent an entire month travelling down the eastern seaboard and all through Florida, it was just a really wonderful time, I always want to recreate it and Disney actually lets me. I have never been to another resort (North America or Europe) that can rival the customer service that Disney gives. I have never seen a frustrated CM, or had anything fixed, handed to me or just wished a day like they do.

Safe, protected.... definitely
Knowledge in a different form .....you bet
Heaven for a foodie......... Completely
Get to shake off real life and just be happy......... that's the ticket right there.

I'll speak on behalf of the forum (and I think others will too) - thank you for your kind words, Belle! I think everyone who is a part of this community wants this to be exactly the kind of place that you described. Safe, warm, and kind. Even when we disagree

What a great topic. I love thought-provoking. I think for me, there are a couple of reasons, some which dovetail beautifully with what Disney is trying to do. For one, it's about memories. I grew up vacationing in FL (Daytona) and my grandparents came to Disney the first year it opened. We made our first trip when I was 7. We came to Disney for church youth trips, and my school senior trip. I loved it so much that I got a job there. So I never go past certain landmarks, or really to the parks at all, that I don't think of my grandparents or certain memories, and they always make me smile.

There is just something about Disney. For all the amusement parks with bigger roller coasters, nothing comes close to Disney's magic and cleanliness. Disney has standards for maintaining the magic, both for the parks, and for their employees, that no one else comes close to matching.

It comes down to this: in animation, in theme parks, everyone else is always imitating Disney. They may do it well, but they will never be the original. (Yes, I know there were theme parks before Disney. But they didn't immerse you in an experience like Disney does.)

I'm all over the place. But I hope that answers it. OH - and yes, I agree with your Freudian perspective. Disney is my happy place. When I had my annual passes, and I was particularly stressed about something, I knew it was time to head over to Disney for the day, and pretend I was on vacation.

One last thing, and I promise I'll be quiet. When I was a CM, I made it my MISSION to bring the magic. I thought to myself, "People are tired. They spend a fortune to get here, and relax, renew, rejuvenate. I'm going to do whatever is in my power to help them with that. To make their vacation as wonderful as it can be." I really and truly considered it a calling. THAT is the Disney difference, I think.

Hi NE Belle! I will not speak for scrappy, my DW, but to me you hit the nail on the head when you said this:

When we get to WDW, the everyday world disappears. We rarely if ever turn on a radio or tv when we are there. We get totally absorbed into the world that Walt Disney created and we live through our imagination when we are there. The sites , the sounds, the smells, the feel and the Magic of Disney is what it is all about. I think we have totally evolved into the type of people Walt intended guest's to be like when they went to his parks. As Walt put it: " I don't want the public to see the world they live in while they're in the Park. I want it to feel like they are in another world." Walt Disney

I think you will find that we are all obsessed with Disney. For me it is the Magic in everything in Disney . From the moment we pull onto the grounds till we leave it seems like the outside world does not exist. Disney does do its best to keep the outside world from you. We too help with this by never turning the tv on and not being on our cell phones. It really is a perfect little world to me while we are there.
I will admit this is the only Disney forum I have joined. I of course have read others but was never interested enough to join them. I do so love the fact that we are a tight knit group that really do seem to like each other. It is also wonderful to have found a group that shares our obsession. I think the more you read the more you will agree you have found a great bunch of poster here (or enablers as JeffC likes to call us).

Lol, I have to interrupt here for just one minute. I am at work so it took me nearly an hour to get my post posted. Only Mase had answered when I first started. I am cracking up yet a bit teary eyed reading Mrhubs response that he was apparently typing the same time as I was doing mine.

You can never get the same experience as actually being there, but it helps alot in between trips!
To see what I mean, click on my link below "My Disney Fix". That should sort of help the feeling!

For me No none of the others do it. This forum probably comes the closest because you can feel the love everyone here has for Disney. I love the trip reports because they really do take me there while I am reading them. I also love to read the excitement of others as their trips are coming up. The movies really do not do much for me as far as giving me that same feeling. We do have some Disney "stuff" around our house. I do admit that looking at it makes me smile and sometimes brings back a memory but it still is not that feeling that for me only being in Disney brings.

I think what I truly love about Disney World is the cast members...They have got to be the hardest working ppl on the planet. They ALWAYS have a smile on their face, 24-7 and are willing to do anything to make your trip better.
One thing I find about going to Disney world is that I consider it more as adventure rather than a vacation.

31 more days Ladies and Gents!! I can't wait to see all the adventures Justcar and myself find.

oh ya, I thought it was so awesome that Scappy and Mr.Hub leave the tv and cell phones off....such a good idea

Thx NE Belle! Here is another if you just want to watch:

I cant agree more with what everyone else said. Also I think this forum is the next closest thing to being there and love how close of a group we have become. It would be awesome if we could all get down to Disney and vacation together

I have never been a member of a forum or on line chat group, never understood how you could get to know someone on line, but I told Mike last night that I have changed my mind now after being a part of this group. You all are so nice and it's just SO cool that we all LOVE Disney!
So, here's my our mini trip report from this morning, because it all ties in to the original thread of why we love Disney.
We have really one week of summer left (we're both teachers) and had panic last night when we realized that tomorrow (today) is the only day we had left free for rope drop that we have been intending to do all summer.
We left home at 6:45 am (tough, even for Disney) took the 11 yr old w us, the teenagers wanted to sleep/golf, fine. Got to MK gate at 8:45, perfect timing for the characters arrival on the train, singing, countdown, etc. We've had passes for 12 yrs now and NEVER done a MK ropedrop!! Highly recommend it, it's so cool! The thing I noticed is how welcome you feel and how happy everyone is. You truly feel the cms want you there and care that you have a magical time! It's like this positive electricity that radiates. I and everyone else just couldn't help but smile and be excited even though we were already hot and sweaty. That's a huge way that Disney is so special, their attention to detail.
We rode: space mountain-said 10 min line, but walked right on
buzz light year no line at all
then to splash mountain- no line, rode twice
Big thunder rr - said 10 min, no line, rode twice
liberty belle paddle boat-no line, very few others with us, Riley had the middle room to herself to lay on the benches
Haunted Mansion- 10 min line, kept stopping, they closed it right as we got off due to mechanical difficulties
Hall of Presidents-no wait (because no one likes it hee hee)
and we were done before NOON!
Since it looked like rain (and it did) we headed home.

We like to think deeper about Disney. We admire all the business decisions they make, how they move so many people so quickly, how they shield you from the real world while you are there, making everything look so nice and perfect. We think about how they staff strategically so that if you lose a child they are found quickly (all my kids have been lost and found quickly, they knew to find a staff member, not hard cuz they're everywhere and so well trained). I know people get mad at cms but you never hear anyone complain about anything, except maybe the heat, and they try to have fans, sprinklers etc. I know people get sick and even die at Disney, but you never see any commotion, drama etc., and that's just the beginning of what we like to notice. We had six flags passes, Busch Gardens passes and have been to many other parks, but we'd just shake our heads and say "go learn how to do this from Disney" kinda ruins it for us so we stick w Disney! We like to analyze people and places and see things differently, deeper, that's what kind of people we are that makes us appreciate Disney.
sorry this is so long, I love psychology and sociology, so this thread got me going!!!!

For me... not really. Its more of a fix than anything. Something to get me by before the real thing. Kinda like jello cheesecake is a nice fix for Cheesecake Factory. Nothing can beat the real thing, but you sure can try to get stuff to help you through it all.

For me its probably goes a bit deeper than just the magic of it all, though I do LOVE the magic and completely buy into it

Some people who know me would say it takes me back to being a child, as i didnt have much of a childhood myself i guess some people would say its a way of getting some childhood back again. (long story short I have Severe Ulcerative Colitis which is basically ulcers all in my intestines. They stop things working and the put it bluntly, everything goes straight through me, not nice in high school I was the smelly kid. Having to clean yourself up from a very young age will make anyone grow up. I have almost died from it twice, once aged 13 and once aged 16). **Really sorry if this is too much info for people, and I am more than happy to delete this is anyone finds it offensive**

I personally would say the reason I love it so much is because it reminds me of my Papa (grandad). I'm not sure of the adverts in the USA but in the UK, one year they had this HUGE ad campaign with a little girl and her grandad. I was Papa's girl, I was the apple of his eye and he was, and still is, my hero. My parents were due to go to New Zealand to see my uncle who doesnt like children and didnt like me (and thus i didnt like him) and one day in the sitting room I was sat on Papa's lap (aged 13 i might add!) and he said 'why dont we go to Disneyworld while mum and dad go to NZ?'. To say I was over the moon would be an understatement! I had never been and always wanted to go, which he knew. I was so happy. This was just before Christmas, on Feb 19th he died. I lost my best friend that day and I don't think I will get over it. I think about him every day of my life anyway, but going to WDW brings me closer to him, i know that sounds really silly as we didnt even make it there. But he wanted to take me, even though he was disabled (used walking sticks and had pins in his legs from a very nasty accident) he was going to take me there and spend days on his feet walking around a big theme park (thats what it was to him) just for me, because he loved me. He was such a special man.

And I still think about those adverts.

That was a litle bit deep want it??

Robyn I must say of course we want to hear it. That was very touching and special and it is all the stories and backgrounds that make this website special to all of us.

I agree with Vette, Robyn, thanks so much for sharing that!

For me, it just is such a happy place. And it's such a magical experience all around - from the cast members to the parks to the themes to the resorts. It is everything I ever want in a vacation, it takes me away from the stresses and worries of the world. It's so much fun to watch people, especially kids, experience some of that magic for the first time. It kinda gives me hope for humanity. Until I get back home

And I echo everything everyone else said. It's funny, we went in 1971 when I was only 8, and I don't remember much about the trip, and never had an interest in going back, until Joe surprised me with a trip in 2001. It was as an adult that I became so fascinated and enthralled.

Ditto!!!

For me..well I joined another forum back in 2003. I was researching for a trip with my boyfriend. We had only been dating a few months and he had only been to Disney TWICE. I grew up going to Disney and I looked forward to it every year as a kid. When I was 14 I guess I stopped acting like I wanted to go or my parents didn't want to be around me and we stopped going as a family. I went on a few school trips between 14 and 2003 but it wasn't the same. We went and it was just amazing. I loved going with my family but going with him was truly special. We had a very "us against the world" mentality. I came back and wrote a trip report on that forum I mentioned and after that I kept going back to keep the "Disney-ness" running through my brain. Of course one trip lead to another..to another..then we got engaged there..then we went on our honeymoon there. Every trip topped the trip before and we never had a desire to go anywhere else. I left my original forum around the time I came here. I didn't leave on bad terms or anything--I just sort of phased out. I was even a moderator there for about 4 years...I think it had just blown up over the last few years and I felt like I was talking about the same thing over and over again. So I found this place through the suggestion of a friend and I LOVE coming here. It reminds me a lot of what the other forum used to be.

We're not all on this forum for the same reason. I honestly can't answer the OP's question, because I don't know if I "love Disney" or not. I've never been to any of the parks, and since I was a kid I actively wanted NOT to go do DLR. That was a conscious decision at the time, too.

Mrs. Tex and I are thinking about going to WDW in the next few years, though, and I really, really WANT to see the place. What's more, I want to enjoy it so much -- to have such a magical time -- that I forget how much it's costing me, and that I want to do it again. I'm here trying to get my cheapskate mind adjusted to the notion of spending 3-6 month's mortgage on a vacation, and feeling GOOD about it.

Love Disney? No, or at least not yet, but I hope that I will.

First of all, this is a special board you are right! There is no other group like this online and since joining here I have pretty much stopped visiting other boards. The people here are genuinely wonderful.

Next, for me Disney always seemed like my world when I was little! I truly was in a world of my own. I talked to flowers and squirrels, and made up crazy stories. When we went to Disney it was like my mind was alive and in front of me. We went every year as a family and even as I stopped talking to my garden, my family and I still acted as kids until I was in college! Disney still holds our favorite memories and we are planning a trip back- except this time will be with my husband-our new addition to the family!

I love how when you are there, the rest of the world doesn't seem to exist. It is a true escape from every day reality. It is a wonderfully magical place that can make even the most cynical person find something to believe in!

Wow. I've had tears in my eyes a couple of times while reading the additions to this thread that came after my piece. I love that "Disney love" goes deeper than brand loyalty. Robyn - thank you for sharing. I lost my grandfather shortly after visiting Epcot with him for the first time, the first year it was open. I always remember him with every single visit.

Wonderful childhood memories come to life again. I feel safe and free of outside stress. You're just having fun. It's all about family and love. We really bond as a family when we are here. It is truly magical!

Great post!
For me, growing up as one of six children, family vacations were rare....
I never went to disney as a kid.
In 2007, whenI was only dating DH, I REALLY wanted to go to disney..he is self employed, and was hesitant to leave for a week.
I did all of the research for that trip, and we stayed off site, rented a car, went for 8 days, and had THE BEST TIME!!!!
He was thrilled that I loved it so much, and we swore we would be back ..
The following year, we went back, and that was the year we joined DVC.
Since then, we have been at least twice a year.
For both of us, it's just the feeling you get when there...It's a different world, and truly magical...
Some people "get it", some people don't.
Obviously, all of us here do.
When I walk down MAin street, and see Cindy's castle, tears always well up in my eyes, and it makes DH smile.
We also love the restaurants.