We are back! Back to life, back to reality. We had an amazing trip (I will put together a trip report soon!) it really was priceless.
With that said, when we landed locally on Sunday I was literally flooded with tears. I have not stopped crying and tearing up for 48 hours. I miss the togetherness we felt in Disney. I feel like I am in mourning.
Please tell me some of you have had the same experience? I feel out of my mind. And so sad. Like everything looks and tastes grey.
Btw- we have done Disney before and other vacations- this has never happened with prior trips.
It’s real, but helps to put in perspective that this kind of sadness is a million times better than the kind you get and hold onto when not even being able to take the trip.
Most here will say the best solution is to start planning the next one.
We had one family trip early on where there was a lot of unplanned mayhem and I think my DW and I were a little relieved to be driving home, but most of the time it is a huge letdown to leave.
Especially last year I think - now that our kids are older and we took a very relaxing resort vacation with only one park day. We compensate by talking about the trip and looking at our photos.
I feel for you. I think we’ve all been there! All of the planning, prep, time, and then it passes so quickly. If you can’t plan a trip back to Disney right away, plan something. Even if it’s just to see something local to you, that you never have, maybe that will help get you out of the funk…
It is definitely real. For us planners, we eat, sleep, and breathe Disney leading up to the trip.
Start planning the next trip, even if it’s 2 years away–think of ways to make it your dream trip, explore new resorts, restaurant menus, special events. Help friends/family plan trips and talk about all you’ve learned, ideas for ways to do it better, etc. Stick around the forum here and discuss others’ trips endlessly.
The uninterrupted time with my kid is the best. It’s funny how we can be in crowds and yet just focus on each other. That’s what I miss when we come back to the craziness of life. Sending hugs!
With prior trips you came home to an un-Covid reality.
You’re missing Disney, but also mourning before times.
Besides trip planning, look around each day for joyful things. The spring flowers around our area are so much more this year. All the shades of green in the new leaves boggle my mind.
You could incorporate a little Disney at home. More fairy lights. A lush planting bed. Disney play list.
Yeah, I can totally relate to this. In fact I have a whole emotional coping cycle after a trip. The Disney depression lasts about a week. Then for about 2 months I really miss it, but my need to go back is satiated for the most part (especially if it was a long fun trip.) Then the urge to go back starts growing and the only cure is to book another trip!
What is weird is that no matter when my next trip is booked, it could be 3 months or 12 months in the future, as long as I have a trip booked and am in the planning phase I am in a good place mentally. We rarely go more than 12 months between trips which helps. Even sneaking in a long weekend trip fills the Disney tank back up.
COVID was brutal, not knowing when the next trip would come.
It’s better to have tears when you get home than to have tears on your vacation!
I always feel sadness at the end of my vacations, but I usually make them long enough and frequent enough that I’m glad to be going back home and know I’ll be back soon enough. But then again, I wish I could go more frequently.
Usually it takes a few months for the Disney blues to catch up with me, just because I have sooo much to do and focus on when we return from a trip. But it is most certainly real. And after these past couple years with all the different types of losses we’ve individually and collectively experienced, to some extent are still experiencing, when we experience those magic moments it just hits a little harder than before. That’s my experience at least.
Agree that for planners it isn’t just about the trip being over but the planning itself.
Not having my phone buzz in the middle of the night with dining reservation notifications is kind of the same bittersweet feeling of not having one ear on the baby monitor anymore after your kids pass that phase. Sure you sleep better, but part of you feels a little empty.
It’s a bit easier if you can start planning another! I have a “road map” of what I want to do in various theme parks through 2026 and a dream trip to Tokyo DisneySea.
