Anyone ever been to WDW and had enough not so good experiences that made them sort of temporarily question the world being their happy place?
I have loved WDW for as long as I can remember. Most of my non-Disney friends make fun of me because I love it so much- even my family thinks I'm kooky when I order custom made mouse ears, or special designed t-shirts from Etsy. My husband and daughters humor me and watch Youtube videos of attractions and vloggers trips and WDW updates. Others opinions of this part of my identity has never really bothered me all that much because I was always so content in my own enjoyment of the World. I've been 9 times and don't truly regret any of my trips- except for maybe this last one? On this trip I had a moment where I got it- I saw the way those that can hate going to WDW see it and it scared me a bit.
We just got back from WDW last Wednesday after a pretty long trip- we left right when school got out (for me I'm a teacher and had to work an extra day) for a full 7 nights at Old Key West and 3 day road trip there and 3 days drive back home again- so gone 13+ days - that may be a big part of my "loss of magic." It may be that we ended up at the parks during memorial day weekend, or the opening of Pandora. There are a lot of possibilities, but it just felt... like a lot of "forced happiness" somehow. We were prepped and I planned out things really well- we just ran into a lot of moments that were less than magical. I've gone many times and never had a trip not live up to my magical expectation before- anyone been in this "place" before? Does it mean I'm less of a Disnerd now? Why is it I can't get excited about scrapbooking the trip or even sending photos in to get printed?
Crowds, heat, long waits, negative people around us, cranky kids and one day a sick kid - everything sort of added up to be exhausting and rubbed off a bit of the magic of the place.
Luckily the kids and the hubby said it was one of the best trips we've ever been on- so I'll pat myself on the back that I planned well for a great trip for all of them and they have only the best feelings of the trip. But why isn't it that way for me? Usually just seeing them all be happy would work- but honestly most of the trip they all seemed kinda miserable to be there and now have the rose-tinted glasses that only recall magic moments. Don't get me wrong we made some magical memories- seeing Happily Ever After in person was amazing, we LOVED our room at OKW and as always my youngest daughter had so many encounters with characters that were unforgettable. Not to mention I can think of more cast members on this trip that went out of their way to make special moments for us than any other trip.
I figure if anyone would understand this sort of confusion my fellow Disney fans would. So what do you all think? So much of this place has always been happy and relaxing for me and it feels a bit different right now- does this pass? I feel like I'm in a Peter Pan version of ilfe and it's as though I accidentally grew up and ran out of pixie dust! Help.