Disney World and Mental Health

I can definitely resonate with this post. Booking our trip for April has certainly given me hope as we stay inside our safe bubble at home. Planning and reading give me a calm feeling. I get very sad thinking that we may have to cancel since we have a high risk family member. I am hoping they have a vaccine and at least they will have access to it before we go. That gives me hope. I also wonder if once school starts and if we are exposed and get it, I would feel safer going to DW as a celebration.

I will continue to plan our trip and figuring out what we can do there. I think at this point any trip will bring happiness even though I said if SAB is closed we wonā€™t go. :wink: Just going to a friendā€™s pool yesterday brought happiness to the teens, which is hard sometimes!

Iā€™m going to keep on planning and hoping for our April trip!

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I resonate with this post too. My wife and I had a raging debate a couple of weeks ago about taking advantage of the special resort offer WDW has for annual pass holders in September (we didnā€™t). Finally she asked WHY would I even want to go now? Without even thinking I told her being there takes me back to the time I watched the Wonderful World of Color every Sunday night as a child (yes, Iā€™m that old). For me itā€™s an emotional attachment that brings back memories of great happiness.

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Like many on this post, our next trip is planned for April 2021. Iā€™ve been planning it since 2018. I booked rooms at 499 days out. Part of our stay is DVC and I walked a reservation for 2 months because itā€™s a really really hard one to get (2 bdrm club level at Jambo). I started making some tentative touring plans (had to put them in 2020 because 2021 wasnā€™t even opened up yet in TP). Iā€™ve been churning credit cards to earn points that will cover things like airfare, car rental, and the hotels. Iā€™ve been maximizing the use of my Disney Visa in hopes to cover most of our food costs.

But now, Iā€™m in a space where there is nothing else I can really do to move plans along any further. Disney isnā€™t selling APs at the moment, so I canā€™t even make park reservations (and our trip is more than 10 days, so I canā€™t just get a 10 day ticket and convert once Iā€™m there). The rooms we have booked are all club level, but nobody knows what that is even going to look like next year. And FPsā€¦thatā€™s obviously a big question mark. Not to mention dining. And fireworks. And parades. And all the extra up charge events that Iā€™m such a sucker for. Oh, and SAB. I booked at YC specifically because of SAB. If itā€™s not open, Iā€™d rather be at BWI. Oh yeah, but BWI doesnā€™t have an opening date yet.

What I am finding is that, even though I am still over the moon excited to go back to Disney, my real joy comes from the planning and anticipation. Everything about my trip seems up in the air. I canā€™t nail down any details. So I actually find myself more frustrated. I still love reading everyoneā€™s trip reports. It does bring me joy to follow along and picture myself there too. But ultimately, I want to be picturing my trip, and there are just too many question marks to get that clear picture.

Wow, that was not meant to be a downer, Iā€™m sorry. Itā€™s just where I am with Disney right now. I still love Disney and canā€™t wait to be back, but the control freak in me wants answers about what itā€™s going to be like to be back. And I understand that nobody knows and I donā€™t blame Disney at all for the lack of information. Iā€™m just ready for some certainty.

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My family actually has more fun on our road trips and cruises than Disney and we can do easily twice as much. But itā€™s still someTHING Iā€™m placing my hope in. Itā€™s humbling to find out Iā€™m so shallow.

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Me too. Iā€™ve found ways to be happy during the pandemic. There are many who have had it so much worse.

I donā€™t know that my reliance on Disney is a good thing - it simply ā€œis.ā€ I believe in frugality, optimism, making do, family, and other principles that tell me if Disney ceased to exist, I could and would move on and find other ways to keep my mental health. And maybe I should be doing so anyway (although I think thereā€™s nothing wrong with Disney per se). But Iā€™d be lying if I didnā€™t say Disney occupies that space in my head and heart right now! And Iā€™m glad it exists.

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Another way to look at it is Disney World is simply a hobby. We do hobbies because theyā€™re fun and they bring us joy.

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Change the word Disney to travel and that would be me!

As I wait right now for TA to call me back about. at cruiseā€¦

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That is rank heresy, reeking of brimstone. Your immortal soul is in peril if you keep that up.

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Itā€™s just my natural musk. :slight_smile:

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For me it is travel, family, travel, good food, travel, planning future trips and travel :grinning:
And not only Disney. The more I research a particular destination, the more I am eager to go and see it in person

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This reminds me of episode 5 of the Imagineering series which includes the earthquake in Japan. Imaigneer Daniel Jue brought me to tears with this clip:

But this is the quote I was really thinking of from Bob Weis:
ā€œI once asked John Hench what does all of this mean, whatā€™s the deeper meaning of all this and he said the meaning of the parks is very simple, youā€™re going to be okay. By that he meant it doesnā€™t matter whatā€™s happening in the world, it doesnā€™t matter how screwed up your life is, or whatever that might be. Itā€™s reassurance that sense of comfort. That intangible is what we have to do.ā€

My kids were laughing at me because I watched this episode with tears streaming down my face. It just felt like it was written in response to the pandemic and these uncertain times. It certainly resonated with me.

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Iā€™ve realized how important travel, especially international travel, is to me. If all the theme parks vanished Iā€™d be sad, but Iā€™ll be a lot more upset if flying to other continents continues to feel like an unwarranted risk.

Thereā€™s the friends and family thing too. My brother lives in England and my closest childhood friend lives in Korea ā€“ I hate not knowing when Iā€™ll be able to see them. But zoom calls help on that front. Researching and planning for and then exploring new places doesnā€™t really have a substitute. At least thereā€™s lots of Ontario and the rest of Canada we havenā€™t seen, so we actually do have a weekā€™s vacation planned for 2 weeks from now. It wonā€™t be as culture shock-y as I enjoy, but it will be fun.

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This had me bawling as well. Because it is dead on. Whatever is going on - personally, globally, whatever - when youā€™re in that bubble you are just reassured and for a little while everything actually IS okay, and you get the sense that all will be well.

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Agreed - this is a great clip and the sentiment is so relevant! Iā€™ve honestly been worried to revisit The Imagineering Story while the parks were closed because of the existential threat to the parks and how that will make me feel watching it. Even now with Disneyland still closed, Iā€™m not sure how it would feel to watch it! (P.S. please oh please let Disneyland open safely soon!) :slight_smile:

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:cry:

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:musical_note: Iā€™ve been all around this great big world in the summer and the fall,
But I canā€™t wait to get back to the States
To the most magical place of all :musical_note:

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Your trip is sooo far off. Dont let that director be a Debbie Downer. Hopefully by then this country will be in a much better place! Dream away!

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I donā€™t often post on the forum but this thread compelled me to, because I relate to everyoneā€™s sentiments so much. Iā€™m in therapy for anxiety, and one of the things my therapist encourages me to do for self care is to have things to look forward to. Having a Disney vacation to plan gives me that, plus something to focus my thoughts on, and something to calm me down. The anticipation of a Disney trip is a happiness that no other place seems to provide for me and my family, and all the planning that goes into it (or used to anyway) helps to build up that anticipation of all the joy and fun weā€™ll have. Itā€™s an amazing stress reliever, and to have that taken away has been a challenge to my mental health as well, even though I know weā€™re lucky in so many ways. Iā€™m comforted to know that you guys feel this way tooā€¦most of my friends and extended family donā€™t get it at all.

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Thanks for sharing your experience.

This makes me feel better. I will take it as permission. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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I could not have said this any better if I tried. For me itā€™s not specifically WDW, but I need at least something. I currently have nothing. I sometimes wonder how much longer I can keep up with thisā€¦

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