If you’re a lifelong Disney fan, you may have a good many Disney vacation memories to smile about. You’ll also maybe have seen the way you vacation at your favorite Disney resort change over time. Today I’m here to share our family’s experience…how our vacation style has changed over the years. Perhaps you’ll be able to relate to one (or more) of the stages of the…
Evolution of Disney Vacations
The BK Stage (Before Kids) – We were young, broke and just married. We didn’t know what we didn’t know, but were crazy about everything – the attractions, shows, atmosphere, the details…the magic that hooked us and made us want to keep coming back! No plans, no dining reservations, no FastPasses (they had not yet been invented), but we were blissfully happy and felt so fortunate to have had the experience.
The Stroller Phase – I realize looking back that taking kids in strollers with one in diapers must have been challenging (and involved packing a LOT of stuff!), but I don’t remember that part. I remember taking our time, seeing and doing what we could while fitting in naps and pool-time at our resort. The child-swap option for attractions worked well for us and we loved the three o’clock parade.
The Character Phase – Meet-and-greets, autographs, character dining – we couldn’t seem to get enough! During this phase, we seemed to care the most (compared to any other time) about where and when we could find our favorite characters. Megan was a shy little girl and felt the most comfortable with characters that didn’t talk because it meant that she didn’t have to talk either. Her happiness meeting Donald, Minnie, Mickey and the rest of the gang stands out in my memory especially for this reason.
The Family Motto Phase – This will be different for every family – based on your family’s touring style. This is the stage when you are free to go, go, go! No strollers, no naps, everyone’s tall enough to ride everything. We really liked this phase! The Green Family coat of arms is made up of three gold stags on a blue shield with the motto: Virtus Semper Viridis – we convinced our kids that this meant “We’ll rest when we’re dead” and during the post-stroller, post-character phases, we rose early and hit as many attractions as we possibly could before seeing a nighttime spectacular – after which we’d return to our room, collapse, rise and repeat. 
The motto really means “Virtue is always flourishing” but nobody needed to know that, did they. We felt our five or six days at Walt Disney World was time so precious (and expensive) that to relax at our resort was unproductive. Right or wrong, that’s how we felt and boy, could we get stuff done! We’re still especially guilty of living by the (made up) motto when we visit ports on Disney Cruise Line – we make the most of every minute and return to the ship exhausted.
The Empty Nest Phase – Sounds sad and lonely, but it’s anything but. We can invite our Disney-loving offspring to join us on some trips and sometimes not! Yes, we’re back to vacationing without kids, only this time we know what we’re doing. We know exactly when we want to go (and aren’t vacationing around school and sports), we know where we want to stay, how we want to tour, where we want to eat, and now we know how to relax! Best of all worlds! We’re really making the most of this phase because in the next one, God willing, we’ll be back to the stroller phase again as grandparents… which actually sounds pretty good to us.
How about you? How have your family’s Disney vacations evolved over the years? Which phase are you in now?