You spend countless hours planning every detail of your family’s vacation to Walt Disney World. The entire family looks forward to the trip. That day finally arrives. You pack up and fly (or drive) and your eyes well up with tears when you reach your destination. For a week, your worries melt away; everyone is enjoying each second of this highly anticipated event. Then…just like that, it’s over. Everything went as planned. You came, you conquered. You got the Mickey ears to prove it, but time moves on. You get back on the Magical (aka, Tragical) Express and watch your Disney resort shrink behind you as you head to the airport for your departing flight. An unexpected side effect of fulfilling your every Disney dream has it’s grip on you…
You might be experiencing PDVD (Post-Disney Vacation Depression) if:
- You can’t stop looking at your pictures and videos from vacation; they make you tear up more often than not.
- You can’t stop making other people look at photos of your kids meeting the Mouse up close and personal.
- You reset your computer desktop background image to fireworks over Cinderella’s Castle within 1 hour of your first day back at work.
- You fake-plan your next Disney vacation on the official website 4 times per day or more.
- You get lost in daydreams, replaying parts of your vacation in your mind and wish you were back in that very moment.
- Similarly, you say to yourself, your kids, or your significant other (or even worse, complete strangers), things like, “This time 9 days ago, we were _______” (fill in the blank with a magical memory).
- You have been home for 3 days or less and have already started a scrapbook or photo book as a tribute to your time at the Happiest Place on Earth.
- You and your significant other make sad puppy dog eyes at each other when a Disney commercial comes on TV. Or the kids mention something about Disney World. Or watch a show on Disney Junior.
- You seek reassurance from your children that they had the best time of their lives on vacation by constantly prompting them to recall everything from random details to their number one favorite activity.
- You search (and seriously consider) all job listings and real estate offerings within a 30 mile vicinity of Lake Buena Vista at least 3 times a week.
If you have experienced 5 or more of these symptoms in the week(s) following your most recent trip “home,” you should seriously consider consulting with The Affordable Mouse to book your next dream getaway as soon as possible. The symptoms may lessen in severity over time, but expect them to increase in intensity following each subsequent trip to Walt Disney World.
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Candice was raised in east Tennessee. While in college, her best friend dragged her to a Walt Disney World College Program recruiting session at the University of Tennessee and the rest is Disney history. In the Fall of 1999, Candice became a quick service food hostess for Sunset Ranch Market and Fantasmic at Disney-MGM Studios – or what is now known as Disney’s Hollywood Studios. While soaking up her time as a cast member, she met Ryan, a neighbor and a fellow college programmer who worked as a custodial host at Epcot. Four years later, Candice moved to the Midwest and married that boy from across the hall. They now live in Greenwood, Indiana with their two little boys. The Disney-loving foursome took their first family trip to The Happiest Place on Earth in 2013 and Candice is eagerly planning their return. Candice also works full-time at a community mental health center and enjoys taking photographs and blogging at Mommy in the Midwest.
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