As a kid our family was lucky if we went at least once a year...EXTREMELY lucky if we went twice a year! Looking back at those times as a kid there is so much more that stands out to me and I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I knew this was my ONLY time I get to go for the entire year, and back then there was no Mice Chat, no Mice Age, no internet to hold you over till next year. Just the souveniers and pictures. With that mentality even as a kid I valued every single minute I spent at the park! Crowded or not I didn't care, I made friends in line and before I knew it I was at the front. I miss that!
I bought my first AP when I was 22 (2003) and my gf at the time and I used it countless times on our days off (which happen to be the same days in the middle of the week!). We loved going up and spending a day there, if it got too hot or crowded we would leave..and my entire mentality of going to the DLR started to evolve. 9 years and 9 AP's later I finally started noticing something different about my trip...I was still having a blast and having fun but...the value was slowly dimishing each trip. I felt like my perspective switched from "I need to value and appreciate this place" to "This place needs to value and appreciate me". It stopped being a place I was privileged to be at and became a place I felt should be privileged to have me there, I became self-entitled and prentitious when it came to the DLR...NOT GOOD
I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I kind of miss those times when I only had that one time a year where we would go for a day or two and that was it. Where the park became so much more than just a place to go on a day off. It was a destination for an amazing vacation, a day that was marked on my calendar months in advanced and closely watched with anxious excitement. It was a GOAL for us as a family to make it to Disneyland and I feel like I've lost site of that. With the ability to go as much as possible or whenever it's convenient to me just kind of kills the magic and excitement that it once generated...all this sort of just hit me at once about a month ago and the more I think about it the more it makes sense, at least to me.
I still love going, especially now that my daughter can ride all rides that are 40 inches and under but I don't want her thinking that this is a place we can just go to for whatever reason. I want her to value and appreciate the park as much as I did as a kid and I think I might finally drop our AP's and make this a destination once again. A place we save up and spend a few days enjoying once a year and that's it. I think it would be great for her...and especially for me...
Does anyone or has anyone ever gotten to this point as well? Did you have to change it up as well?
I bought my first AP when I was 22 (2003) and my gf at the time and I used it countless times on our days off (which happen to be the same days in the middle of the week!). We loved going up and spending a day there, if it got too hot or crowded we would leave..and my entire mentality of going to the DLR started to evolve. 9 years and 9 AP's later I finally started noticing something different about my trip...I was still having a blast and having fun but...the value was slowly dimishing each trip. I felt like my perspective switched from "I need to value and appreciate this place" to "This place needs to value and appreciate me". It stopped being a place I was privileged to be at and became a place I felt should be privileged to have me there, I became self-entitled and prentitious when it came to the DLR...NOT GOOD
I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I kind of miss those times when I only had that one time a year where we would go for a day or two and that was it. Where the park became so much more than just a place to go on a day off. It was a destination for an amazing vacation, a day that was marked on my calendar months in advanced and closely watched with anxious excitement. It was a GOAL for us as a family to make it to Disneyland and I feel like I've lost site of that. With the ability to go as much as possible or whenever it's convenient to me just kind of kills the magic and excitement that it once generated...all this sort of just hit me at once about a month ago and the more I think about it the more it makes sense, at least to me.
I still love going, especially now that my daughter can ride all rides that are 40 inches and under but I don't want her thinking that this is a place we can just go to for whatever reason. I want her to value and appreciate the park as much as I did as a kid and I think I might finally drop our AP's and make this a destination once again. A place we save up and spend a few days enjoying once a year and that's it. I think it would be great for her...and especially for me...
Does anyone or has anyone ever gotten to this point as well? Did you have to change it up as well?
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