Oy vey......I've lived with this for roughly 10 years (longer if you include when I was a kid). Listen to this (this is a little rant, I'm sorry) :
First my dad, who went to Disney twice when I was younger, but because we went in July the last time he went, he swears up and down that it's always too hot, it's always too crowded, it's always too expensive no matter when you go. He literally DOESN'T BELIEVE ME when I tell him you can get discounts on rooms, tickets, etc and get decent weather if you know where to look. He goes
"There's no way you can get a discount, that place would never let that happen, and it's always too hot, you couldn't pay me to set foot in those parks ever again..."
Then you have one of my brothers, who after my last trip to Disney (in 2010), literally told me "Well THAT was a waste of money, should've used it for something else...I don't know what you were thinking.". He says he has no desire to go because he's in that group that assumes the 1-day base ticket price that the media always shouts out is always that and never discounted. As in if you go 10 days in the parks, you're spending over $1000 on the tickets, which we ALL know is simply not true. (my dad is also in this group, go fig). You try to explain how it works and they don't wanna hear it.
Then to top it all off, you have my sister and her family, who went JUST a few years ago, and she also went there with her husband for their honeymoon, saying it's too expensive and you can't ride anything because of the crowds (they went during Spring Break, which I warned them would be busy). She even has a daughter, my niece, who has a severe peanut allergy, and was impressed that the chef in each restaurant came out to go over the menu with them for said allergy, and yet she STILL says it's overrated.
I just visited family in PA a couple of weeks ago, which my sister and brother came from NJ to visit as well, and my cousin and her daughter (along with a couple other family members) recently came back from a July trip to WDW for a dance performance. My cousin and her daughter
loved it. They're already planning to go back in 2021.
My sister, my brother in law AND my brother proceed to tell them,
"Oh, why do that? I mean you've been to Disney once. You can move on now. When you've been there once, you've seen it all. Try somewhere else! It's loads cheaper!" and when my cousin and I tell them about the skyliner and all the new rides and stuff coming (she stayed at CBR), my brother in law goes
"Oh, how much does the skyliner cost per ride? Because I know Disney, and NOTHING is ever free there. Probably $10 one way..." and we tell them it's free, and they literally DON'T believe us and tell us that we're just being idealistic. I mean we have a little 9 yr old girl sitting
right there in the conversation holding her Stitch plush that she got at Magic Kingdom, and they're bashing Disney like there's no tomorrow and saying it's a waste of money in front of her.
It bothers me, because those of us in my family that love Disney know how it all works, we know the discounts, we know the right times to go,
we just get it. We try to tell the other half of our family the tips and tricks we've learned, and they ignore it all, and then complain about things they could've clearly avoided had they just listened. Then they have the nerve to borderline INSULT us and act snobby when we say we're going to Disney. I'm just grateful that I live close by to my other brother and his family that are DVC members and love Disney to death, and my cousin and her family up in PA love it too. The rest of my family? It's almost like a civil war at this point. I won't even tell them I'm going for my birthday in Feb next year, because I know what they'll say, and for my birthday trip even? I do NOT want their negativity bringing it down at all.
and sorry for the mini-novel. This topic just brings out a lot for me lol