We never took our kids to Disney (the weren’t big into Disney stuff as kids), but we took them to Universal because you can’t really go to Hogwarts in real life, but you can at Universal. We also took them to England and Scotland and it was great, but for full Harry Potter immersion Universal was the best. I think that’s why most people go to Disney and Universal and theme parks and for the rides. Please do not try to ride the bison in Yellowstone! (I worked there one summer, you would be amazed.)
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@Creekland, very sorry to hear about that. I assume their intended audience is up to age 15, but I have come across adults who actually go to Disney on their own (often with other couples) which is mind-blowing to me as there are few places I would rather go less as an adult.
@MADad, ShawWife and I traveled a lot before kids and then concluded that until the youngest was five, international travel probably didn’t make sense. I think we did Disney during that intervening period (I had an industry conference that was actually at Disney World and the family came and played and I went for a day or so with them). I was impressed at how well they delivered for the kids. we made a practice of taking our kids on one or more fairly exciting trip a year. In addition to nearly annual trips to ski in the winter and hike in the summer in the Canadian Rockies, we took them to Europe several times, China, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, Central America, Mexico many times, etc. They love traveling generally and take international trips on their own at least once a year and, even better, as young adults still love traveling with us.
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Have you seen the New England boarding schools? All the Choate dining hall was missing was the floating candles.
Also, the Michigan Law Library gives Hogwarts a run for its money:
We found a lot of magic in both places. 
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We took our kids to Disney when they were young, probably up to the oldest was 10 or so. After that we offered trips to them and they never chose Disney. Once even when we were in FL we asked them if they wanted Disney or the beach (we went to FL a lot, so they were quite familiar with both) and all three said, “beach” in less than 30 seconds (no thought required). They’ll enjoy Disney when we’re there, but it’s not a destination they pick on their own.
We all fully agree that real places are better for us, except my mom was unable to travel to Europe and wanted one final trip with the family. Fortunately we also did the Atlanta aquarium that was awesome, in itself + staff). I just wish we hadn’t added Disney.
@Sweetgum But you can go to the Harry Potter studio outside of England! https://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/ We did this in 2012 and it was amazing. And we aren’t even huge Harry Potter fans. We really liked the movies, but not obsessed like some. My parents took my sister’s family a few years later. I think she said it was a bit more commercialized, but still very cool. You could walk through all of the sets! The dining hall! And at the end, you walk into a room where they had the model used for filming. I got chills. Another lady broke down in tears, lol.
I am a roller coaster junkie, so Universal is better for me. That said, we did Disney when the kids were 6 & 9. Saved for like 10 years in order to be able to go and do an all inclusive staying at the Wilderness Lodge without worrying about $$$. It was super fun with great memories. And yes, the customer service was AMAZING when we were there. But still, I don’t see us going back until we have grandkids. I did look to see about the Star Wars part, but it was just too $$$ for us.
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Well we are going to Disney in the beginning of March. I never thought it a tourist trap, but I haven’t been since 2015. I will let you know how it goes.
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H and I went to Disneyland (we are less than an hour and a half away) on a Tuesday in December because we wanted to see the holiday decorations. It was absolutely mobbed. I told H before we went that he couldn’t complain as we had not been there for probably 10 years. The year before D1 went to kindergarten (1997) my parents bought us all yearly passes to Disneyland. It was such a fun year as we took the girls monthly for a couple hours and had a great time. Disneyland is so different now and I know we won’t go again until we have grandkids.
We live about 30 mins or so away from Disneyland (in Anaheim). I’d say we took our kids once or twice a year when they were growing up, plus they went other times with friends, with school, and with Girl Scouts with D. The last time I went was about 4 years ago when I supervised our school orchestra who were playing at Disneyland. It was fun, but very crowded. The last time H went was about 15 years ago when his office did a family day and all the employees and their families got tickets…
I’d be fine never going back to Disneyland again. I probably wouldn’t say no to going again, but it’s gotten so expensive.
I’d probably just let their parents take them and do other stuff with the grandkids…but that’s me. My SIL went once with her grandkids and their parents…and that was the first and last time. She said it was just too exhausting…
I went to Hollywood Studios for a day, mid week, towards the end of January prep pandemic and it was empty. I did a ton of rides with almost no waiting. What I struggle with is how expensive it’s gotten.
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Doesn’t bother me at all to have this Disney stuff on here, but also I’ll be a “What Do You Think About The Disney Parks” thread would get some action. 
What is interesting to me is that if the parks are so packed as indicated above, there are A LOT of families who can afford the $$$ it takes unless you’re really local to finance the trip.
Just visiting AAA once years ago to consider taking a trip with our 3 kids to Disney felt like a tourist trap!!! 
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Yes! Theme parks are so expensive!
H used to work at Disneyland back in the 70’s and 80’s and he remembers during the week when there were no major holidays and it wasn’t summer, the park wouldn’t be crowded at all. In fact, it would get quite slow. He said it would usually be business people who were in the area for a conference and they got free tickets or just wanted to come in and see the park and buy some stuff for their kids. My cousin’s granddaughter works at Disneyland now, and she says it’s never not crowded. Even on their slowest days (which are usually weekdays not during the summer and not around major holidays or three day weekends), they’re still pretty busy. She says the only time it’s not busy is when it’s raining…
Even on Super Bowl Sunday its super busy. I remember when my kids were little taking them to Disneyland on Super Bowl Sunday and it was usually a lot less crowded. That’s not the case anymore apparently! I guess everyone else thought it would be a good day to go to avoid the crowds (I hate when everyone else gets the same idea to avoid the crowds!).
Took our kids to Disney World a few times and we all have fond memories of those trips. I was the queen of the stay on-site budget planning (camped in tents at the campground, for example, just like I did with my parents when I was a kid; carried in snacks, etc.). Husband I went once without kids – literally the week before everything shut down in March 2020. We hand sanitized frequently but were surrounded by thousands of people at the fireworks, shows. Weird to think back on that trip now. There have been so many changes since then that I’m not really interested in going back – except that we all have one day left on a never-expires ticket.
Our son surprised his fiancee with a four-day trip to DisneyWorld last weekend. He said that, even with his military discount, the all-parks passes for the two of them were just under $1,000. 
Sorry, not happening here.
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DD was interning at Disney during college and could go to Disney for free as well as earned six day passes for others to go with her. It took me long time to persuade her to take us on those passes and other family members refused to go even for free. Four of those passes just expired. I can see how it’s fun for kids though
Been there, done that on the Warner Brothers tour. It’s not as immersive as Universal. You are very much looking at props and how the movies were made. It’s cool, but it’s not like being there. We also have been to many of the filming sites in England and Scotland. My favorite of those was Alnwick Castle because they had a broomstick riding lesson. You can’t really feel like you are at Hogwarts and Dragon Alley in any of those places, though, like you can at Universal. Now as a grown adult human I will take Scotland and England and Ireland over Universal any day, but for an 11 year old, going to Hogwarts at Universal dressed in your Hogwarts robes surrounded by others dressed in costume is pretty magical. We first took our kids when they were 11 and 13. They loved it. I’m sure as adults now they would pick going back to Scotland or Northumberland or London.
I think Universal and Disney could meet the definition of a very well done tourist trap. They are all about parting the tourist from their dollars after all, but they do it very well.
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You need to check that “never expires” ticket. I actually have a couple too. They keep changing the rules (which they shouldn’t but it’s corporate greed). Read the rules but an older ticket may only be good for “X” dollars. So bought for 20 bucks a million years ago is worth? 20 bucks towards the price of a new ticket.
Luckily they are still good. I called a couple of years ago and asked. They show in my app as having one park day left and I know I have several waterpark days too. They’re these:
The exception is tickets that were purchased with the “No Expiration” option, which was available until February 22, 2015; those tickets expire only when the last admission is used, no matter how long it takes. You can’t get these tickets any more, but if you have some in a drawer, they’re valid and don’t expire.
We live about 3 hours from Orlando and when the kids were little would go to Disney a few times a year. Lots of people would say, “But you could go to Europe for the price of those trips!” except for us we couldn’t.
My parents would buy us the Florida Resident annual passes for Christmas, back then the kind with blackout dates would be less than $1000 for all five of us for the whole year. We would go on off times so we could get cheaper hotel rooms and we brought tons of our own water and food to save even more money. In fact when S23 was about 5 years old I asked him what his favorite part of the day was. He said having a picnic in our secret spot. I would pack lunches and stick them in a small cooler under the stroller. We had a spot away from the crowds that had a few tables and never had anybody else there where the kids could eat and run around a bit and apparently he loved it - never even needed to spend all that money. 
I do like Disney (well, not as much lately as the prices and crowds and new fast pass systems have all gone crazy) but trust me, I would have much rather have been visiting somewhere new every year. As soon as we got to the point we could afford it we did start exploring tons of new places!
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I have more than one of those–long before 2015. Do they still have “E” tickets? LOL.
The VIP booklets had extra “E” tickets in them.
My dad was a safety engineer for NASA who inspected Disney before it even opened. He walked the Jungle Cruise as a dry ditch. He basically wrote their first hurricane plan (hurricanes? what’s a hurricane?).
What I mostly remember is when we finally went to Disney after it opened is that he took us down a back road in the middle of nowhere. We all said “NO WAY is this the entrance!” --and it wasn’t of course but it was the only entrance he knew. Long before GPS!
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One of the biggest money makers at Disney is weddings, and I sure hope those aren’t aimed at 15 year olds.
My daughter attended one at the Four Seasons at WDW and I’m sure it was over $100k. Not sure how much Mickey and Minnie was involved, but do know many of the guests went to the parks on the days before and after.
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