Ok.. I am wondering if any other parent has felt this way while at Disneyland.

I lived 20 mins from Disneyland and virtually grew up there one summer when i had an annual pass. Now i live 1500 miles away but get out to visit family every other year. My daughter (7yrs) has been to Disneyland twice now and had a blast! We play "Name that ride" in which she asks five yes or no questions to figure out which ride i am thinking of. Its always lots of fun and good times when she goes.

Well, over christmas i needed to go out and visit an ill grandmother. Since mom, dad, and sister have annual passes we decided to visit the happiest place on earth for the day (Dec 23). We all enjoyed the rides but i felt as if the day there was not all that fun without my daughter. Nothing about the day really stood out and there was not as many laughts and smiles.

Have any parents who have gone to disneyland without their children ever felt the same way?

I appplaud you for the effort to go to the land without your child, but find myself admitting outloud that I have wanted to come without the kids, but every time feel incredibly guilty that I can't do it! Maybe you felt guilty all day and that is what took away your ability to enjoy it. All this means is that you must return VERY VERY soon with your daughter to re capture the magic! yay! see, we always find a reason to return sooner than we have planned! :)

My husband tried getting me to agree to go for our 15 year anniversary..and for a slight second I thought, "oh yes...let s go." then a slight second later I did not think, "how will we tell the kids....." I thought...."How will they NEVER find out...EVER that we went without them?" :)

I look forward to seeing your countdown clock soon!:)

(((Hugs)))

-Christine

I guess some more background is in order.....

I am a single father and xmas 2007 was a year in which my daughter was scheduled to have xmas with her mother. Therefore, i was childless and grandmother had sudden medical problem. So i decided to rush out to california and spend about a week out there visiting (since i did not know if it would be the last time). Disneyland was intended to get away from the hospital for the day. Grandmother was stable and i did not suffer from any effects of that while at Disneyland. To me Disneyland was just not the magic kingdom without my daughter, just another amusement park with rides to enjoy. Guess the real magic of disneyland is the children you take and their enjoyment of the park.

I don't believe you can only have magic with your kids at Disneyland. My hubby and did WDW for our 10 year anniversary and had a great time, not that we didn't miss the kids but it was a nice time for us.
June 2006 my friend and I hooked up and spent just a mom's day at Disneyland. We had a blast! Did things and shopped and did not rush around like we do with our kiddos. We are planning another Mom's day this summer when we are both out in Cali to visit family and we are going to include the Segway tour in DCA too!!
Don't feel guilty, there is no reason you could not have a good time without your daughter, perhaps just not having your daughter there and thinking of her and how she would have enjoyed being there with you prevented you from enjoying your day trip. I love my kids more than anything and we have a great time when we go together but some "mom" or "dad" time is nothing to feel guilty about. Just my two little cents. :)

Please use this existing thread (http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=90749) to continue the discussion.

Adrienne