Make Mickey shaped pancakes and unpack and play with your souvenirs. Wear the shirt you bought on your trip. Look at old pictures and get your new ones printed. Plan your next trip even if it’s two years away.

After a weeklong vacation I like to bring some free souvenirs back from my trip. It’s great to wake up the next morning to a shower with Mickey soap and shampoo. Arrange your pancakes into a not so hidden Mickey. You can listen to your favorite episodes of WDW radio on your way to work. When you get home, enjoy your pictures and share them with friends. Maybe even try your hand at editing them together into a montage video set to your favorite Disney song. I’ve even been known to spend hours looking for obscure character photos on flickr.com.

Hope this helps!

Hi Daniel,
I can relate to your question. I know the first day back is never a easy thing. I know just leaving the park that last night is hard enough. What I do instantly when I get back is start to go through my souvenirs from the trip. See what new things I get to add to my collection. I then spend time going through the photos/video I’ve taken and relive each day.

Of course once going back to work(which is hard enough on its own), getting to tell everyone about the days and the events that took place while I was gone is always great.

I love to talk to others about Disney. One way to keep motivated is through the various message fan boards. Just talking with other Disney fans/enthusiasts and sharing your details always keeps me looking to the next trip. I pretty much start planning my next trip after getting home from one. Hope this helps out.

Scott

Here is what my family does to help take the edge off of the first day back in the real world:

- Listen to Disney-related music via different stations on Live365.com
- Try to replicate one of our favorite meals from our trip. (“Cooking with the Disney Chefs” is a great resource.
- Start looking at some of the pictures / video that was taken.
and most of all….
- Start planning the next trip – no matter how far away it may be.

That first day back is a real bummer. Sometimes I think my youngest takes it the hardest at times. The thing to remember is that it was great to be there and one day you will be back.

Our first day usually consists of surrounding ourselves with our new souvenirs and trinkets, and then getting involved with the photos! When you are away from the parks we found there is nothing better than immersing yourselves back in the happy memories with the photos taken on the trip!

Well, my personal way of dealing with the withdrawl is two-fold.

1. have a disney ipod Playlist. Mine is a mix of my top attractions, some of the live entertainment, and a LOT of the classic songs.

2. Take advantage, while AT disney, to fill your days. I find getting a lot done gives me lots of good memories to have until the next trip!

I hope that helps, Daniel!

Chris F. in Virginia

How about:
1-Start the next cycle of trip planning before you leave WDW, get excited again early!
2-Don’t unpack the “treasures” too soon, leave that to be looked forward to after a few days home.
3-Realize you can’t go back until the last trip is over. So good news, your on your way!
4-Get over it and head to the nearest Disney store and buy that item you couldn’t make up your mind about at WDW.

Leaving is never easy. but don’t focus on the bad. Think about all the fun you had, and all the experiences you gained from your latest WDW trip.

Coming home from vacation is always difficult especially when it’s coming back from a Disney vacation.

What I like to do when I first return is upload the photos to a photo sharing program – tag and caption and share with friends and relatives.
I also like using the newly acquired souvenirs (there are usually some new shirts or other things that we bring home to keep the magic alive).
We usually also bring home Mickey shaped Rice Krispy treats to have when the situation is especially in need of some magic.

And lastly – read and post on the Disney messaging boards. That helps prolong the vacation and relive some details. Also knowing you might be helping someone else make their trip more magical.

Daniel, you bring up a very good point, I have actually only been to Disney World three times and I never want to come home. The worst thing with Disney withdrawl is that it never only lasts a day or a week, mine lasts when I leave until my next visit. The things I do are pretty uneventful but I go to as many Disney websites as I can and look at pictures, videos, and read articles. Reading Celebrations really helps and so does the D23 magazine, and I often also find myself reading the Kingdom Keepers books over and over, I read other Disney books, I also draw Disney things just like doodling the best I can, I look up Disney history, I watch Disney movies, I listen to Disney music and podcasts, also Lou’s Audio Guides are a life saver (The world just wouldn’t be the same without Lou Mongello). Nothing really helps all the way but it sort of gets me out of my depressed state the best it can, I also go to the Mall of America to the Disney Store, which isn’t easy being in a wheelchair and having to push yourself around that place but sometimes I just need to be there listening to the Disney music, and looking at merchandise and just the Atmosphere cheers me up a little. My wife agreed we can move down to Central Florida someday but she is worried about moving with not really knowing anyone down there. The job issue really worries her too, but hopefully she will come around soon.

I like to start editing together my trip videos. Working on my videos for one to two hours a day usually gets me through the first few weeks after a trip. For example, my last trip was a short weekend trip for my son’s third birthday (and his first trip to “The World”). When we got home I starting editing viedo, photos, and music together and will be looking at something in the neighborhood of five full DVD’s when I’m finished.

Hi Daniel, I know just how you feel. It was a last day at WDW that my wife and I decided that we would sell the house and move down here! The best way I found to avoid “Withdrawal” is to 1st- Realize that you will again be returning to the World. 2nd- Discussing your trip with friends/family and looking at the vacation pics is a big help. 3rd-Anytime you get the “Withdrawals”, I always visited my favorite Disney websites… It’s a great way to get the “Feel” of the parks, and last, join any of the many fine discussion groups, forums and blogs and talk with like-minded fans! Nothing can replace a visit to the World, but always being “In the Loop” so to speak, at least for me helped out! Hope to see you back at the World soon! Bill

I always have Disney withdrawals when I return from a trip to Disney. It usually starts as I am packing my bags to leave! I have many ways of dealing with this. First, I have several recipes from some of my favorite Disney restaurants that I cook up that first day/week back, espcially the Honey Lime Dressing from ‘Ohana – I say especially because it is an easy recipe and I usually have the ingredients on hand. Being a mom of three (a 5 year old, 3 year old and 2 year old), the conversations never end about things we experienced, so there is a lot of talk of our trip and hearing the perspectives of my children keeps me smiling, especially when my two year old refers to Cinderella’s Carousel (which I swear we rode at least 50 times!) as the horse go round. After our last trip, I tried a new way of displaying our pictures. I created a photo montage and put it on DVD for my family members. It is very time consuming, but I am completely immersed in our photos and our favorite Disney songs. Plus, this is a great project for me to work on with my kids. They help chose the photos and songs we use. They are very young, but well versed in Disney music! Anytime we are feeling the Disney urge, we put the dvd in and my kids dance to the music as they watch themselves on TV. Finally, I start thinking about our next trip. We usually can only go every two years, but knowing I will be back always brings a smile to my face. It is never too early to start planning your next Disney vacation!

The first day back is when we go through the couple hundred plus photos we took. We also go to the Disney Photopass web site and check out those photos too.

So funny that this should come up today. I arrived back in the UK this morning from a two week WDW stay. It was my 8th visit and I always get the post Disney blues. I actually listened to the two most recent WDW Radio podcasts on the flight and train home, which helped. Tomorrow when I’m back in work I’ll email my family with memories of the trip and start dropping hints about the next one. 2012 hopefully!

More than anything I’ll wish the real world is more like WDW and I’ll certainly do my best to make it that way!

J

I know whole heartidly what Youre going through. As a kid growing up returning to my home after a day at MK was gut wrenching to say the least! I was always stuck in a fantasy trying to remember the magical day I spent in the park. So saying that you get depressed is understandable. Now that I’m an adult and live miles away from the parks I am envious of resort guest because I have to sleep in my own bed. It’s a good mattress! It’s just not within the Disney bubble and I leave the parks and the magic ends when I get home. I find that what helps me carry over the days or weeks until I can return now is simply submerging my self in Disney information. I have a connectedness that I could not obtain in the early to mid 90s. The internet has allowed me to expand my knowledge and refil my cup with excitment! I am forever seeing Disney from a new angle. Sometimes looking from an old point of view. The fact is now that I am capable I chase the magic. Lou provides a great podcast that allows me to hear historians and enthusiasts and other people that are like me. So when you need a quick pick me up on the Monday morning ride to work, tune your car stereo to WDWRadio! I hope this helps! I am sure millions others feel the same way we do.

Daniel,
I completely understand what you mean! My husband and I like to watch a Disney movie and load our photopass pictures on our first night back. It helps us remember how much fun we had and how lucky we were to spend time in our favorite place!

To help combat PDB (Post Disney Blues!) – I like to look through all the photos of my last trip and listen to park music.

Last year I bought the ‘Cooking with Mickey & the Disney Chefs’ recipe book – so another way to beat PDB is cook up a delicious meal from WDW… I like to make the Le Cellier cheddar cheese soup or Cape May Cafe clam chowder, the bbq pork from Flame Tree BBQ – and a batch of Main Street Bakery chocolate chip cookies!!
If you don’t have the book, some recipes are available at allears.net

I also start to make vague plans for my next trip.. and, ofcourse, listen to WDW Radio podcast!

Hope this helps,
Emma

The first day back isn’t really a problem for us. We have unpacking and laundry to do. Not only that but we take the day to settle back into our “normal” lives. Calling family and friends. Getting the mail, etc. As the days and weeks go on though, that is when the Disney Depression sets in.

My advice:

Write down all of your memories of the trip
Share photos and special moments with your loved ones online
Plan for your next trip, even if it is a couple of years away
Sit back and smile. Afterall, you’ve just been to the happiest place on earth!

How about:
1-Start the next cycle of trip planning before you leave WDW, get excited again early!
2-Don’t unpack the “treasures” too soon, leave that to be looked forward to after a few days home.
3-Realize you can’t go back until the last trip is over. So good news, your on your way!
4-Get over it and head to the nearest Disney store and buy that item you couldn’t make up your mind about at WDW.

Leaving is never easy. but don’t focus on the bad. Think about all the fun you had, and all the experiences you gained from your latest WDW trip.

I have WDW withdrawl about every day! LOL! I will look at pictures, read the message boards, and relive rides on youtube.

Maybe try putting together a new scrapbook of pictures of past trips. Or make a book and plan on your future trip to WDW.

1. Don’t get out of bed on Monday
2. Or Tuesday
3. 4 Parks 1 World CD
4. Travel Channel DVR of WDW
5. History ch DVD of Modern Marvels in WDW
6. Star Tunnel Music from Space Mountain
7. Peter Pan’s Flight Queue Music
8. Don’t unpack your souvenirs yet
9. Lou’s podcast
10. Lou’s CDs and books
11. Flickr search “Walt Disney World”
12. Start planning your next trip
13. Illegal copy of the full Monorail narration

I know all too well the feeling of WDW withdrawal- I live in Australia, so a trip to WDW is a very expensive one indeed.

Here’s a few things I do to help keep the magic going-

5. Amazon.com- so many books, CDs and DVDs that distill the magic. I like to find park specific content like Lou Mongello’s trivia books and books by imagineers such as Jason Surrell.

4. Music! Partly becuase I am a musician myself, I find that music is a great tool to transport me right to the gates of WDW. Having a stash of park and parade music on your computer or mp3 player is a great way to cue up some tunes when you’re feeling blue. Sing “It’s a Small World”, slay Malificent in “Fantasmic.” It’s amazing how many places you can listen to it- while commuting to work, cooking or doing chores around the house.

3. Have a Disney hobby. Find something Disney related that you can do at anytime of the year. I like to collect Park music for reasons I just mentioned. It’s rewarding to find musical rarities and I can relive the parks at the drop of the hat by listening to my collection. Other Disney hobbies could be as simple as joining a Disney forum (WDW Radio, perhaps?) or something more involving like collecting park memorabilia (anything from attraction props, to park signage or even ride vehicles.)

2. The internet. Websites like wdwradio.com and mousebits.com have treasure-troves of goodies! Keep an eye out for videos by Martin Smith- he spends his days recording various attractions and parades in HD, editing them together into truly spectacular movies that he shares for free for WDW fans.

1. Having friends who understand your Disney passion, and hopefully share it, too. I’m lucky enough to have a few close friends of mine who share my enthusiasm for the parks, and we quite often reminice together about our experiences and memories.

I TOTALLY agree about listening to the Disney streaming on Live365.com – it gets me through between trips/cruises! I have practically memorized the shows that play regularly on each station

I also love watching the specials and fun prerecorded videos that are available of the parks and rides. I take jillions of pix, so first order of business is to upload them and post with comments to Facebook so I get to remember the trip, journal it at the same time (for scrapbooking purposes), and share the memories with others…

Another fun thine is to look at sites with Disney stuff (including Disneystore.com, since they have park stuff now) and treat myself to something that I wanted while at the park and either forgot or did not see. Then I have another goodie essentially from the same trip!

I usually journal during my trip to help with just this situation (which is of course inevitable after the trip is done). My advice is:

-Spend some time re-reading a trip journal and reminiscing with family.

-Look at pictures from the trip and start planning/working on a scrapbook from the trip.

-While working on the scrapbook, have park music or Lou’s podcast going in the background to sing to and listen to.

-Once this is done start planning the next trip!!

-Of course make sure all of this is done whilst wearing your favorite Disney World t-shirt, sweatshirt, etc. and enjoying some coffee out of your favorite Disney mug!

-Finally when the Disney homesick blues really have me down, I make sure to start each day off with some Disney music or an episode of Lou’s podcast during my commute!! This way I walk into work with a smile on my face!

I do all the same things others have listed. Also, I always save all our pocket change while at WDW. When I get home I put it in my special container to save it for the next trip.
AND this time I have something new to do to get through that after vacation let down – I participated like many others did in the Give a Day opportunity by making blankets for Project Linus. I plan to continue making blankets and every time I work on one I will remember the incredible vacation we just got home from.

The senses of smell and taste are best for triggering memories, and you can recreate some Disney sensory experiences at home.

Make yourself a Dole Whip with the real deal:

http://www.unifiedenterprisescorp.com/products2.html

This mix works best with a soft-serve ice cream maker.

Or how about creating some Disney aromatics? You can buy little spray atomizers at health / beauty stores. Fill them almost to the top with distilled water, then add a few drops of your favorite Disney smells, using essential oils, also available at health food stores. Smells that will trigger memories: orange (think Soarin’, or Horizons if you’re old school), pine, cinnamon, lavender (the latter two are used in Mickey’s Philharmagic). I haven’t figured out how to recreate the smell of pirate water, nor can I recreate that great smell of ‘small world water’ but I’m working on it. The former involves old socks, the latter chlorine, but that’s as far as I’ve gotten.

If you want to go hardcore authentic, here are a couple of the suppliers Disney had used for their ‘smellitizers’:

http://www.ffs.com/

http://www.alphaaromatics.com/

These are commercial suppliers, so you may have to buy large quantities. I’ve never done this since I’ve always used store-bought essential oils.

Every visit my son and I buy a load of jelly beans at the Confectionery on Main Street. We bring home enough so we can eat one a day until our next visit. Our ‘family flavor’ is tangerine, so whenever we’re in a Disney mood we’ll eat one of those magic orange pills to keep the buzz going.

Between visits I like to further my ‘Disney Studies’ by reading through my huge stack of Disney literature. This doesn’t necessarily take me back to the parks, but it does increase my knowledge and understanding of the Disney phenomenon. I find this knowledge enhances my appreciation of the parks when I finally do get back there and it makes for a richer experience.

Here’s a good site for Disney book suggestions:

http://www.pizarro.net/didier/

The best overall book I’ve read on Disney is “The Magic Kingdom” by Steven Watts. It’s a brilliant mix of Walt bio, cultural study and historical analysis.

The best book I’ve found on understanding Imagineering, particularly the use of color in the parks, is John Hench’s “Designing Disney”. Hench, like Walt, was a genius. His book is terrific and will teach you to see the parks in a new light.

I also listen to Lou’s show every week of course.

Oh I hear your pain! The dreaded Disneyitis! There’s no immediate cure but there are things I do to alleviate the symptoms.

1. Start planning my next adventure. Even if I can’t book a flight or reserve a room I can dream right!?

2. First morning back in reality it’s Mickey cakes for breakfast.

3. Review my pics and start organizing them for a trip report. Even if I don’t finish or post a trip report (most times) it helps ease the trauma of being far from my laughing place over time.

We love food so we tend to have theme nights where we recreate a favorite Disney meal. We’ve done ‘ Ohana breakfast and Biergarten brats, sauerkraut, and potato salad. Drinking from the refillable mug is a must. I love the music in the parks so Iive on Live 365 at home and at work. There are also lots of great podcasts and blogs out there. I tend to buy alot of stuff to use around the house so I start using it immediately. And as others said, you can’t go back till you come home

If you took pictures or shot video, I always like to print out the pictures and watch the videos. I also like to set out everything I got on the trip and look at it. You could even watch youtube videos of Disney lol (I never have the day after a trip, more like a month or more later) I get depressed when I leave but I always say Ill be here next year and start thinking about it. um, it depends on who you are and what you do I guess. NEVER have nothing to do the day you get back…all you do is say I wish I was there and can never get it off your mind. It really is bad. But theres always something disney to do like watch a movie for example. I am waiting for my next trip hopefully this year because its already been over a year and that week I was like “a year ago I was here and there at WDW” and got that whole depressed feeling again. I hope this helps a little!

Come home and immediately start planning the next trip, look at photos and tune into WDW Radio. Lou helps with the magic and just relish the memories.

Well what always helps me is to watch the home videos I took from my trip,and also watch the disney vacation planning DVD. Also start planning you next trip to any of the Disney Parks, then you’ll actually have something to look foward to. And if you need to sing all the Disney Songs that you know of,unpack all your souvenirs, upload your phtos on to your computers, then watch any disney movie you have.Add popcorn and chocolate almonds they help ALOT!

We’ve found that the video we shoot at the parks is a great way to wind down and get back in the real world. We actually find ourselves on the trip home (usually sad faces) looking forward to getting home and watching what memories we’ve recorded. (It doesn’t hurt to listen to that latest Lou podcast, either). Here’s something we did on our first trip: We made a list of all the “memorable things we heard” on our trip: “Step off to your left, please; please step off to your left.” Or, now, what we remember of the narration from “Wishes” or “Illuminations.” And photos, of course, and the music we’ve bought at the parks. We’ve also made lists: Our 10 favorite rides, our favorite meals on the trip, which one of the four Jungle Cruise skippers was our favorite, and so on. And don’t forget: Every day you’re home from your trip, is one day close to your next visit!

I suggest starting by going through your pictures and maybe getting a scrapbook going or starting on slide shows helps bring the magic home.

Another way I “keep the magic alive” is to plan a “theme night” once a month (or more often) at home. For example:

Grab some recipies for Mediterianian food and watch Aladdin while sitting on a rug in front of the TV. Or make some spaghetti and watch Lady and the Tramp.

Another thought, if you’re so inclined, buy a Disney cook book or search the web for Disneyworld recipies and make a night out of cooking one (or two) for a special Disney Dinner.