Is Disney still magical?

[tshaw_32uk]

Just returned from a 17 day visit, 2 days in universal 14 days at coronado springs. Much has happened in the 4 years since we last went and after spending hours learning new systems, listening, reading and watching vlogs, podcasts and websites we werent too sure what to plan or expect in Disney. No matter what anyone tells you, the place has definitely changed. Is it still a place to visit and enjoy? Yes, we thoroughly enjoyed our holiday. Does is still have the famous 'disney magic'? In my opinion no, the pixiedust has gone.

Even saying that i would return every year (if I could afford it) but i feel my 3 children, aged 14, 8 and 6 didnt leave with the 'WOW' that i left with when i was their age. Im lucky to say this was my 8th visit to Disney World and this was the first time i didnt leave in floods or tears and not wanting to go. Instead i left this time with a chorus of boos in a soaking wet magic kingdom with the firework display being delayed every 10 minutes while hundreds if not thousands disney fans continued to get soaked in torential rain. Disney cant control the weather but i will get back to this.

One of the biggest changes was the Genie system and Lightening lanes, we had a 14 day park ticket and never purchased genie+ for any day, with their being 5 of us in the travelling party the costs would of soared by purchasing this. However i will say, YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUY THIS!! Wait times massively over estimated and makes you wonder in Disney want you to scare you into buying Genie+. Haunted mansion posted 45 mins was a walk on, Slinky Dog posted 75 minute wait, on twice in that time. Flight of Passage 70 minute posted time, 30 minute wait. The list goes on. Only time we waited the posted wait time or over was for genuine weather delays on 7 dwarves and splash mountain.

World Showcase, i was sitting looking over the lake on the bridge between UK and France. What was once an amazing view and were you could spend hours people watching and gazing across the lake they have turned it into an eyesore with the Harmonious display screens and for me not worth it. Whether my expectations for this show was too high, but felt it was half hearted in the presentation. Only the last couple minutes when fireworks were fired from the countries was it exciting. Going back to the view, pavilions are looking tired and general appearance poor. No longer does the Aztec pyramind sparkle sandy-gold, the Germany buildings scream of Bavarian beauty and the UK is just stuck in the 80s. Add to this, Cinderellas Castle over ib Magic Kingdom had paint chipping off on the door entry!

The biggest disappointment i had over my holiday was the amount of rubbish lying around. Couldnt believe it and never seen it as bad. Now fully aware this is not a Disney 'issue' as such but i feel guests see parks being ran to the ground and somehow feel its acceptable to drop rubbish. Maybe self entitlement with spending thousands makes people think they can. I found myself picking up rubbish on my last day at magic kingdom and putting it in the bin myself. However i did feel there was a lack of cleaning cast members around, bins were overflowing, popcorn on floor all over Fantasyland, normally someone would be all over this with a broom to clear it up. Littering is not acceptable and if you have done shame on you!

Even with the disappointments, we had a great holiday and created some new magical memories with my family. Think Disney have alot to answer for with the mess they have created for themselves post pandemic and blame lies with Bob Chapek and Josh D'Amaro for stripping to much back from the parks, which leads me back to the booing in the rain, they cant control that but can do so much more to get that 'pixiedust' back. However i feel this is the future of 'our' parks.

 

[Plague]

Disney management have recently said publicly that they will price according to demand - When people stop buying they will start pulling back.
I guess that could extend in the other direction by not bothering with the cost of providing some services properly, like cleaning staff (I believe resort room cleaning is also now 'occasional') - If people still come it can't be a problem.

 

[deno]

We got back yesterday after a 22 day trip. I’ve been trying to muster up the energy to post my own thoughts but can’t manage it.

I’ve read your post and it sort of echoes my thoughts but I have more to add….at some point.

 

[McCrae]

Disney has not fully recovered from Covid and it won’t for awhile. Things are getting better, we visited in March and then July of this year. We noticed big improvements from March…although things are not back to normal. The Magic hasn’t gone forever.

 

[peajay18]

For me, it's the "death by a thousand cuts" of the last few years that has begun to sour me on spending at WDW.

No magical Express, having to pay to park at your resort, the absolute bare minimum of mousekeeping, no free magic bands, food quality and portion sizes shrinking as prices keep rising, a lack-lustre 50th celebration with under-whelming new night-time shows, the same merchandise available everywhere regardless of shop's theme, no "free" dining, individual lightening lane costs, no extra magic hours, mostly unreliable transportation, parks that don't stay open late, cutting staffing resort wide to a bare minimum and paying peanuts, big fanfare announcements that never materialise, and the now complete lack of spontaneity - we all enjoyed planning our trips, but now you absolutely must book everything in advance including your park AND get up at 7am to book your attractions while you are on holiday!

As for the wait times - either Disney are inflating them to encourage Genie Plus purchases, or they just can't get reliable info to the guests.
Neither options are a good look for the biggest theme park company in the world.

I know Covid will be blamed for most of this, but I find it very hard to believe that we'll get anything we have lost back, as WDW is still making money hand over fist.

In my opinion, the only absolute wins for WDW recently are the Skyliner (it's truly is great if you are staying at Caribbean Beach!) and the new security process for entering the parks.

*edit: spelling and added EMH to the list.

 

[McCrae]

For me, it's the "death by a thousand cuts" of the last few years that has begun to sour me on spending at WDW.

No magical Express, having to pay to park at your resort, the absolute bare minimum of mousekeeping, no free magic bands, food quality and portion sizes shrinking as prices keep rising, a lack-lustre 50th celebration with under-whelming new night-time shows, the same merchandise available everywhere regardless of shop's theme, no "free" dining, individual lightening lane costs, mostly unreliable transportation, cutting staffing resort wide to a bare minimum and paying peanuts, big fanfare announcements that never materialise, and the now complete lack of spontaneity - we all enjoyed planning our trips, but now you absolutely must book everything in advance including your park AND get up at 7am to book your attractions.

As for the wait times - either Disney are inflating them to encourage Genie Plus purchases, or they just can't get reliable info to the guests. Neither are a good look for the biggest theme park company in the world.

I know Covid will be blamed for most of this, but I find it very hard to believe that we'll get anything we have lost back, as WDW is still making money hand over fist.

In my opinion, the only absolute wins for WDW recently are the Skyliner (it truly is great if you are staying at Caribbean Beach!) and the new security process for entering the parks.

Stacking LL rides is also pretty awesome.

 

[MichelinMan]

Disney has well and truly lost its magic.

If you want the magic, go stay at Universal instead, IMO. Cabana Bay was everything that Disney used to be like, in particular housekeeping and the staff.

 

[leiaorgana]

Based on my own experiences of our first post-pandemic trip back to WDW, I’m going to have to disagree with a lot of what’s been said and posted here. We were there 19th June – 10th July and had an amazing time and the magic was still definitely there for us but I guess YMMV. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from that trip due to all of the cuts/changes/scaremongering on here by other posters and the experiences of several friends that went the month before we did but it turned out to be much better than we ever imagined it could be and was the perfect first trip back for us. (We’ve been going annually every year Covid aside since 1991).

Now, I’ll preface this by saying I prefer Universal in general and we never stay onsite so the cuts of the Magical Express, reduced transportation and Extra Magic Hours etc don’t impact me or my family in any way but I understand and can see why those disappearing or being cut back on could make or break someone else’s holiday and leave them with a bad taste in their mouths when it comes to how WDW is being run now and I’m very much in the ‘Fire Chapek’ camp, I’ll add, for different reasons.

Since I qualify for DAS, we only bought Genie+ on the days we went to MK and DHS so we could double up on some rides since it’s not worth it for us at the other parks and the only ILL we bought the entire time we were there was to have a second ride on GOTG: Cosmic Rewind after riding it via VQ earlier in the day. The crowds seemed to be much lighter than we’ve ever seen them that time of year before and we actually couldn’t believe just how quiet MK was on the 4th July this year compared to the mayhem we’ve seen there on that day in the past there and we were able to ride everything we wanted to (sometimes multiple times a day) in all of the Disney parks that we went to during that trip.

As for pixie dust? Maybe it was because one of us was celebrating a special birthday or maybe we were just lucky with all of the CMs we came across this trip who were all so kind and friendly to us and told us they were glad to finally have international visitors coming back but we ended up getting free preferred parking at DHS one day, free pretzels and bottled drinks from carts several times, free dessert at pretty much every table service we ate at (yes, even at breakfast!), at BOG we received a special birthday card signed by Belle and The Beast along with a plate of grey stuff with a candle in it. It seemed like we were getting better tables with nicer views without even asking for them because we were celebrating and lots of “Happy Birthday’s” from CMs out and about in the parks/on rides and other random guests were going out of their way to say it when we went by them in the parks. We also had some really fun interactions with the First Order Officers on ROTR thanks to the badge and other characters that were hanging around in the parks and at Topolino’s when we went there for brunch.

I think I saw more characters randomly out and about in the parks/resorts themselves this year than I have before in recent years (Chip and Dale having a picnic in the park at DHS, Daisy hanging out at the Yacht Club whilst we were waiting for a breakfast reservation there one morning, all of the characters out in their 50th anniversary clothes waving to people coming into MK from the train station that morning, Kylo Ren interrogating me about the Resistance since I was wearing Ahsoka Tano Minnie Ears at the time, Winnie The Pooh out catching butterflies on the grass by Figment) and those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head along with the great character interactions we had at Tusker House, Hollywood & Vine and Topolino’s.

The only negative experiences we had with CMs this trip were at Mama Melrose’s because we were one of the last seating’s before the restaurant closed for the night and they were running behind schedule and so our server basically rushed us through our meal because it was clear she just wanted to go home at that point and at Dok-Ondar’s in Galaxy’s Edge we were given wrong information about the legacy lightsaber hilts we wanted to buy. We were told the one we wanted was sold out even though we’d already been told by a different CM working there that it wasn’t and so we had to politely ask them to go check for us and guess what? They miraculously found one since it wasn’t sold out! I just chalked that one up to bad training or lack of knowledge on that particular CM’s part but the rudest TM I’ve ever encountered was working at the ET ride this year but I won’t get into that here.

Overall, the parks were spotless when we were there this summer other than when other guests made a mess in the restrooms and left it that way for someone else to clean up. There was always custodial staff around either cleaning the restrooms or changing out the bins and I never personally saw any trash overflowing from the bins inside the parks or in the ride queues or around the parks unless someone had just dropped it since there always seemed to be a CM around to deal with it when we were there. I had friends who were there for a few days in May though who told me the parks were filthy and that they hoped it wasn’t like that when we went.

The only thing that I’d say particularly bothered me about this trip was the lack of merchandise available, especially in Galaxy’s Edge there was a lot stuff I was hoping to buy but they were out of because of supply chain issues but I understand that can’t be helped given the current circumstances.

We’re going back again this year from the 23rd Oct – 13th Nov and I’m even more excited to go back for that trip and experience all of the Halloween happenings there for the first time than I was for our summer trip this year.

 

[nicksinger8]

Difficult one to Judge. I don't think I can really compare with my own childhood because things are just different when you are a kid. I went in 1991 when I was 9 and it was just astonishing. But then the world was so closed off - I thought Disney might be a bit like Peter Pan's playground in Southend! You didn't have mobile phones or ipads so you could get truly immersed in the country and Disney. The whole trip was 'magical' - might as well have been Alice in Wonderland. It was all so different. Even just being in Orlando - I had seen nothing like Showbiz Pizza (i.e. those Pizza/arcade places - now Chuckie Cheese). You just can't do that anymore. Not just because of technology, but the world is smaller - countries have learned from each other - especially the UK and US - and things feel more similar.

I went again in 2004 with my then girlfriend (now wife). We had a fantastic time - appreciated different things as an adult (like theming and the World showcase), but still you had that sense of being cut off (smartphones only arrived in 2008).

And just back from my most recent trip. First time in nearly 20 years - me and my wife (now 40) and our girls (8 and 10). We had the most wonderful holiday - we also went to New York for 3 days in addition to 11 at WDW. There were moments of magic for sure - the Magic Kingdom fireworks and MK at night. Driving into the world for the first time. First time on Main Street always gets you. My kids absolutely loved the rides and experiences. They hadn't done much research so I think they were shocked at how it compared to Chessington and Lego Land. I'll ask them in 20 years how they look back at it, but they seemed to have a fantastic time.

Has the Magic gone? For me it didn't feel the same as it did 20 or 30 years ago. But I really put that down to the way the world has changed especially technology. Disney always had long lines - at least it felt that way. This time I didn't queue at all - with a good touring plan from the unofficial guide and Genie + I managed to mostly avoid that. Yes it was very expensive, but my parents saved for years and years to go back in 1991 and we stayed in really cheap places. Maybe the staff are less cheerful than I remember - but the world is a more cynical place and that American enthusiasm - maybe it doesn't fit the same way as it did in 1991. The rides are at a new level - Flights of Passage, Rise of the Resistance - just astonishing. Best MK fireworks I have seen.

I was looking at my phone more than before with Genie + and checking times etc. But I found the MDE a really useful tool - I suppose it is the same with all tech like this. Positives and negatives and it is how you use it.

You can't have an experience like it anywhere else. Maybe after 20 years I just wasn't jaded.

 

[PalmettoPath]

Disney has not fully recovered from Covid and it won’t for awhile. Things are getting better, we visited in March and then July of this year. We noticed big improvements from March…although things are not back to normal. The Magic hasn’t gone forever.

Agree with this sentiment. We travel frequently and like you, from last August, to March to this August (just got back) good changes each time. I have not noticed garbage that others have, so maybe we've been lucky that way. We don't like Genie+ etc., but over my 50 years of traveling there I have seen and experienced a lot of things I didn't love. But they come and go and don't affect the overall Disney magic for us.

 

[whiteness]

I’ve seen a lot of changes over the years, but I don’t recall being called out as a “Legacy Fan” by Disney management before. This doesn’t bode well for the future.