It’s 16 days until our WDW trip of a life time begins, and I’m already dreading the end of it.I’m completely obsessed by all things Disney at the moment, constantly checking my plans, on this forum and Lines, watching Disney youtube videos. But in 28 days it will all be over. We’re moving back to Australia just after our trip (currently living in London) and we’ll probably not make it back to WDW for a very long time. How am I going to cope knowing this may be the only WDW trip we take with our kids? I can’t imagine the emptiness I’ll feel at the end of it. Yes the memories will last forever, but it’s been the build up and planning as much as the trip itself. has anyone else on here done a WDW trip and not gone back for many, many years? How did you cope?
Start planning the next one
does not matter how far off it is.
write a fun trip report when you get back. make a memory book.
even if you aren’t going back to WDW any time soon, maybe you will be vacationing somewhere else and can start planning that trip. just enjoy what you have coming up for now! you can always answer other peoples questions on here when you are back too. 
Why not start planning your trip to Tokyo or Hong Kong or Shanghai Disney? It’s not WDW, but it will be great, too.
A couple of thoughts:
Stay active on the Forum, passing on your knowledge and helping others have as good of a time that you did. In TKTS way you also get to live vicariously through others.
Take all of the planning knowledge that you have gained and apply it to vacations other than WDW. This is going to sound heretical to many here, but there is a big, beautiful world out there and going to WDW year after year is a huge waste of vacation time IMO.
+1 on activity. And youtube, and news reports, and google streetview and … and… annnnd…
No matter what you do … The Disney depression … it never goes away till that next trip.
The struggle is real. It took me close to a month to really reacclimate after our trip last month. I’m still here on the forums and other groups, sharing my knowledge as well.
One other thing I did, and took me a few weeks to figure out to do so, is I created a day by day itinerary for our next trip (easily 2-3 years away) while everything was so fresh. Incorporated what worked, changed what I thought could be better. This actually did help with a lot of my post trip letdown. And now, if circumstances change, and we can go sooner, i won’t be left scrambling.
But seriously, enjoy your trip, you’ll make great memories, and you’ll have new adventures soon enough.
We’d love to go back to Tokyo Disney, it was amazing. But the planning side of it just isn’t as intense & involved as WDW. It’s so much easier to get to from aus though so a good alternative.
Good suggestions! We’ve been living in London for 2 years now and taken our girls to so much of Europe. I do obsessively plan for all holidays but WDW has really fed that fire with the amount of info that’s available, and the passion of others on the forum. We’ve burnt through our savings though so no more trip s of any kind for quite some time 
Take lots of pictures and make a scrapbook or memory book. I find that choosing the pictures, backgrounds and flourishes for the book and putting it together helps. When its done just looking at it with the kids or grand kids brings back the memories. Last trip I had mugs made with some of my favorite photos. So I get to smile and remember with my morning tea.
Definitely “remember” to enjoy the trip, even if your plans have to change a little because of circumstances beyond your control. Your planning is the reason even the hiccups should have little effect on the “fun.”
Let the kids know ahead of time that the faster they cooperate for a picture, the faster you can move on to the next fun thing you have planned…which leads to:
Make a photo book! Have the whole family help. Get multiple copies created, and pack them away.
If the kids are strongly drawn to something, linger a while. Try to even plan something that one of the kids might want to linger for a few minutes - example: Those “Jumping” water fountains kind of near Figment at Epcot. I’d say any kid under 10 who sees those things is gonna be enthralled for a good 10 minutes. Have fun trying to time a picture perfectly when the water jumps over their head. (Just an example…)
Remember to have fun yourself. Every planner has to try to keep the fam “on track.” I wasn’t having maximum fun for our first trip. I plan to stop and smell more roses on our next (and final) trip.
I’d say if you plan it right, and you indulge a little bit in some extras, you’ll not really "need " to go back.
Funny you should mention this… we started investigating this about a week ago when they announced cheap cheap flights there.
