Sometimes I feel guilty for not traveling elsewhere

[FutureDisneyEventPlanner]

I love Disney. As we all do. I hope to get a job there one day, as my name states. I try to visit Disney once a year. I have gone every year for the last 6 years. I would love to go more but I just can't as I am a young professional and just starting off.

I recently had to cancel my trip in February, as I moved and got a new job. But I really want to go to Disney this year. They have a really good offer out right now and I jumped on it. But I feel guilty.

I am so much closer to the West coast now. I could go to the National Parks or San Francisco or anywhere else. And I really want to go to those places. But I can only really do one trip to Disney this year OR a few small trips, since that's all my salary allows.

This trip I just booked for September has me so excited, but I feel guilty I'm not exploring elsewhere.

 

[amberpi]

Go where makes YOU happy. I'd personally be miserable seeing national parks, but the outdoors are NOT my thing. Find the thing that makes you happy - if that's WDW then do it

 

[wvjules]

There is such a big, wonderful, fantastic world out there, that I feel sorry for those that ONLY immerse themselves in a theme park, year, after year, after year...

You are closer to the west coast so visit Seattle, Portland, LA, San Francisco, Texas, etc. Try someplace new and you might be surprised you enjoy vacationing in the real world.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I mean, unless you’re keeping your family from enjoying other places, I don’t get the guilt. The gal who cuts my hair ONLY goes to the beach. But, her husband would like to take the family to Yellowstone, and sometimes she laments not ever taking her daughter (now 17) to WDW.

Her guilt makes sense because her preference has impacted other people.

 

[FutureDisneyEventPlanner]

I mean, unless you’re keeping your family from enjoying other places, I don’t get the guilt. The gal who cuts my hair ONLY goes to the beach. But, her husband would like to take the family to Yellowstone, and sometimes she laments not ever taking her daughter (now 17) to WDW.

Her guilt makes sense because her preference has impacted other people.

Nope, it's just me, myself, and I! Lol. And my parents who occasionally accompany me.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I'll say it--you owe it to yourself to branch out. There's nothing wrong with having a favorite place to visit, and going back time and again. But, there's a really big world out there that you're not seeing.

We have a ranch we go to every summer. I believe this will be our 23rd year. But, we also go other places--we're doing Universal over the kids' spring break. We took them to Europe last summer. We go on beach vacations. We've been to WDW several times. We do lots of other stuff, besides the ranch. But the ranch is comfortable for our kids, they wouldn't give it up for anything.

Maybe consider alternating--a trip to Disney (World or land), a trip somewhere else? Try a cruise, visit another destination (Europe, Hawaii, Pacific Northwest--whatever catches your fancy). I'm personally not so much of a national parks person, but I'm glad I went to Italy in 2017, and had the chance to bring my entire family to Europe last year. My DH still talks in amazement about the Sistine Chapel, which was also DS12's favorite thing (seriously didn't see THAT coming!). Don't kid yourself that the countries in Epcot are a good substitute. Also, I really opened my kids minds to the concept of travel--they're begging to go on an alpine adventure in Switzerland or a cruise in Scandanavia. Okay, maybe I should have checked my wallet before opening their eyes...

 

[mnrose]

Do what you want. That being said, unless you've been other places, you have no idea what you might be missing. It might be worth trying a few new places. After doing that, if Disney is STILL the thing that floats your boat, go for it.

 

[VandVsmama]

I love Disney. As we all do. I hope to get a job there one day, as my name states. I try to visit Disney once a year. I have gone every year for the last 6 years. I would love to go more but I just can't as I am a young professional and just starting off.

I recently had to cancel my trip in February, as I moved and got a new job. But I really want to go to Disney this year. They have a really good offer out right now and I jumped on it. But I feel guilty.

I am so much closer to the West coast now. I could go to the National Parks or San Francisco or anywhere else. And I really want to go to those places. But I can only really do one trip to Disney this year OR a few small trips, since that's all my salary allows.

This trip I just booked for September has me so excited, but I feel guilty I'm not exploring elsewhere.

You need to ignore everybody out there in your life who is telling you to go to SF, national parks, or elsewhere. You're a young professional, so that means that you have a long life ahead of you to go to all of those places. And like most of us, you have a limited travel budget. AND you really love going to Disney parks. So go ahead and do that because you love it so much.

Consider this other point of view...
Let's say your favorite vacation spot was Hawaii or the Caribbean or a Mexican beach resort. And let's say that you love it so much, you go every year or almost every year. Nobody would bat an eyelash at that. They would just say, "Oh, great! Have a wonderful time!" But your favorite vacation spots are Disney parks. Somehow that means you have to justify or defend your choice? Of course not. That's silly.

** Edited to add **
You will get a lot of different opinions about this. Just ignore all of our opinions and do what YOU want. It's YOUR life, not ours. Go on a trip that works for your budget.

For example, would I love to go on a family trip to Europe? You bet! But life gets in the way of those plans sometimes.

A couple of years ago, DH said that he'd like to take a family vacation to Yellowstone National Park. I priced it out. It would cost us MORE than a week at Disneyland. Seriously. No joke. So you know what we did instead? Went to Disneyland, had a fabulous time, and laughed at how silly all of the nay-sayers were being. We'll go to Yellowstone some day. Not this year, though.

 

[kimblebee]

Go where makes YOU happy. I'd personally be miserable seeing national parks, but the outdoors are NOT my thing. Find the thing that makes you happy - if that's WDW then do it

I would take a national park any day over lying on a beach somewhere. I can’t imagine anything worse..and I’m saying that as someone who’s had -30C weather for three weeks.

 

[Kitty 34]

I sometimes think it's weird that I haven't been to Disney since 2006 but I'm still a regular on this site. I love this place but probably won't be doing WDW in the near future. So, OP, do what feels right to you.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I get it, I feel that way too. I feel like I should want to travel to other places, but I don't. Disney World is my happy place! I mean, I do want to go other places, but if I am going to choose between spending $4,000 to go to Disney or $4,000 to go to Europe, I seem to pick Disney.

 

[disykat]

It's YOUR vacation, spend it how YOU want to.

I've found that over the years my vacations went in cycles. In my early 20's I mostly visited family or went camping with friends. In my late 20's I had some money to do a Europe trip and some more getaway trips. When we had the kids, it became more about visiting family and/or taking the kids to places as a family. Now DH and I have done some long road trips just to explore. Overall, it was our call and we don't regret any of the choices we made. We look back fondly on all our trips and have never once thought "we should have...." I love that I've been lots of places through the years, but honestly some of my best memories are from places we returned to numerous times over the years - in our case the beach. The world will still be there if/when you're ready to explore it.

If Disney is what you honestly want to do, do it.

 

[Floridaman999]

I would take a national park any day over lying on a beach somewhere. I can’t imagine anything worse..and I’m saying that as someone who’s had -30C weather for three weeks.

Yeah, but you like that cold stuff. I don't know how you do it. It almost makes it to the I can't even category.

 

[Jennasis]

Not me. I love Disney (and Florida). It makes us happy to visit there so that's where we go. 3 more trips planned there this year. Next year it will be Florida for a beach/Kennedy Spaceport trip and a week at USO.

I don't have any desire to visit Europe, Nat'l parks, camp, Alaska. Not my thing. No judgement on those who love it.

 

[torene03]

I used to be in the Navy and I did a deployment along with some friends to Australia. All they did was find the nearest bar and drink, saying “this deployment is every other year, I’ll come back next time and do other things”. And you know what? That year my friend got pregnant and didn’t go back. Now, I know she wouldn’t trade her son for anything and would rather have him than a trip to Australia. But she had a huge opportunity to see amazing things and just saw the inside of a bar.

I love Disney too, but it will always be there, and there are other places and experiences that make me happy. You’re young and free, stretch yourself, take amazing photos, have incredible experiences! You can always come back home to Disney, but see what else is out there too.

 

[focusondisney]

Absolutely nothing to feel guilty about. Your vacation, your money. You are a grown adult. You don’t need to answer to anyone about where you go on vacation or how you spend your money. If someone else wants to pay, they can have a say over where you go. But if you’re paying, no one else’s business where you go.
We have gone to WDW couple of times a year for many years now. I have no interest in a cruise; my DH has no interest in Europe; camping, hiking skiing- not for us. And guess what, I have siblings who only vacation at WDW too.

And strangers on the internet who know nothing about you have nothing to say about where you go either. Not everyone needs to visit Europe before they die. And you’re not a lesser person if you don’t. If you just want to go to Disney, go & enjoy!

Now, if there are places that you really want to go & regret that you haven’t been, that’s a different story. That takes discipline & hard decisions. Only you can decide which it is.

 

[VandVsmama]

The great thing about vacations is that there’s a lot of different options for everybody.

For example:
My parents loved Hawaii and going on cruises.
My boss loves going on expensive ski trips, Hawaii, and going to see NASCAR races.
My sister likes everywhere exotic. The harder it is to get to, the better.
My BIL and SIL really love camping. Specifically, tent camping. I hate camping. But I love that they enjoy it so much.
My MIL thinks that all vacations are frivolous and a waste of time and money. So she never goes anywhere.
A friend likes vacationing in Mexico.
Somebody else I know loves going on fishing trips every year.
Other people I know only go to national parks.

There’s something out there for everyone. It’s kind of like ice cream. Most of the time, you really like chocolate. But once in awhile, you want to try some of the other 31 flavors. And that’s fine too!

 

[FutureDisneyEventPlanner]

I should mention, I do travel to other destinations when I can. I'll be driving to some of the closer National Parks this year. I'm going to London and Paris next year, and Disneyland Paris of course.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

Eh, whatever floats your boat. If it's Disney once a year, then go for it if it makes you happy. My sister and I go every two years on odd numbered years. Can't go this year because of a family wedding in Jamaica, and it feels weird to not have a WDW trip planned.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

OK...