What is going on with Disney parks?

[DGsAtBLT]

Part of the reason the old FP system was so great was all the people who stood in stand by cursing the people walking up the FP line who “paid” to cut the line. I miss the days of the clueless guest . Disney now has a vested interest in making sure the max number of people use FP+ and Disney won’t shut up about it. Thanks Disney.

Instead of changing when FP are distributed or holding back some, my wish would be for them to just distribute less so they can lessen the FP to standby ratios, and remove it from attractions that should never have had it added so we could actually have decent options that you could wait in reasonable lines to enjoy during most of the day. Obviously this will never happen, but I also don’t think them holding back for same day would either.

 

[Searc]

I think they are crazy with some of the pricing. I did the dessert party at the Magic Kingdom when it first opened. I think it was around $45 a person, and that seemed pricey for the sorts of desserts you get. And now it is almost $100 per person! If you got special, fancy desserts I could maybe see it. But ice cream and brownies that taste like Little Debbie made them? Disney could do so much better.

I still love to go to WDW, but I am starting to miss the little things they used to do and have. Like butter shaped like Mickey. People that, as soon as the rain stopped, would run out and dry off all of the benches and chairs. Getting shuttled to your resort room the first day. Now they barely even tell you where your room is. Such fun dragging your luggage around as you hunt for your room. I miss all the live music you could find at Epcot.

And don't get me started on how they announce they are cutting Great Moments in History one day, and raising prices the next day.

I did the dessert party when it was $25 per person. No way am I paying four times that amount!

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I did the dessert party when it was $25 per person. No way am I paying four times that amount!

I can’t even fathom justifying it for my family of 5. $500 for mediocre desserts and fireworks we can see from various places for free, well “free”.

It would be cheaper for us to eat at California Grill and take advantage of that firework view. And not just a bit cheaper, less than half the price! Madness.

 

[tlmadden73]

For me Disney has been "worth" the price for the last few years going with my young kids (otherwise I wouldn't go 4 times in this 11 months). But I save tons of money compared to your average guest by driving (9 hours) and staying at Values OR at an off-site condo (shared with other families) (I still have small children ). The nickel and diming doesn't bother me since I don't have to buy those things. The only "nickel and dime" that has upset me is the resort parking fee.

I save a lot of money by going several times before my kids turn 3. If I go in October, it will be my daughters 5th trip .. haven't paid a dime for her except some souvenirs. I chose to get an AP this year because I didn't have to get HER one.

Once she stops being free in November -- it will be really tough to swallow the price to go. Luckily I have about 9 days of tickets left for the family (except her (she wasn't born yet)) that I bought years ago. That will save me a ton of money too.

What gets me is the price of the non-Value resorts. I stayed at the GF in 2010 with my (now) wife and my parents. Two rooms, tickets and the dining plan. We didn't break the bank on that trip and it was awesome. I can't even FATHOM going back to a Deluxe now where the prices have essentially doubled for most things (especially dining and hotels).

But .. people ARE paying that (otherwise Disney wouldn't be charging that price). Don't blame Disney . .blame the people (myself included) who keep paying these prices.

 

[MilitaryMouse]

We stopped going almost 5 years ago. It wasn’t that we couldn’t afford to but it just didn’t feel worth it to us. The entertainment cuts, the feeling of nickel and dime-ing, the reduced quality (hotel rooms, monorail, food choices, increased crowds + decreased park hours), the way they treat their employees when their top execs collect millions in bonuses has made us not want to give Disney our money. They feel cheap, stingy and greedy to us. We’ve literally travelled the world in the last few years for a fraction of the cost and didn’t miss WDW at all (and we were previous AP holders/visit at least twice a year/stay onsite ppl!).

We planned to return this year (next month actually) for DD’s bday but during the planning phase, reading about all the entertainment cuts, talking to some CMs I know about how they’re treated and of course the stupid PP boxes has seriously turned me off. We cancelled our two weeks at AKL and will now be spending that time at Universal - SO EXCITED. I’m sure the loss of our vacation money means very little to Disney, but just anecdotally, the Disney fans I know IRL have all cancelled their trips they had for next year/let their APs lapse and have no plans to return.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Uh, no. I'm a late Gen X-er, and the first SW hit the screen about 5 weeks after I was born. Z comes after X.

Yep. Born in 1974. Had the legit first editions of the action figures. My R2D2 was metal! Saw Jedi in the theater.

 

[mshanson3121]

We planned to return this year (next month actually) for DD’s bday but during the planning phase, reading about all the entertainment cuts, talking to some CMs I know about how they’re treated and of course the stupid PP boxes has seriously turned me off. We cancelled our two weeks at AKL and will now be spending that time at Universal - SO EXCITED. I’m sure the loss of our vacation money means very little to Disney, but just anecdotally, the Disney fans I know IRL have all cancelled their trips they had for next year/let their APs lapse and have no plans to return.

You should email them and tell them this.

 

[Searc]

Yep. Born in 1974. Had the legit first editions of the action figures. My R2D2 was metal! Saw Jedi in the theater.

Me, too! Born in '74, not the other stuff.

 

[EmJ]

The leading edge of Gen Z was 12 when the first SW hit the screen and are likely the biggest original trilogy fans.

I think that was Gen X - 1961-1981. Gen Z follows the Millennials at 1996-roughly 2010.

 

[Chickinvic]

Man, I'm sorry you feel that way about FP+. If they went back to the old FP system, I wouldn't go back. I can get significantly more rides done, far, far easier, and with much less stress than with legacy FP. Planning is far from required and I can get any ride I want on the same day I'm in the park. Repeat rides? Absolutely.

It is the opposite for me. Fastpass+ is pretty useless if you stay offsite, and they have made so many rides and "attractions" fastpass that would have never needed it. The whole tier system is stupid.

 

[Chickinvic]

Most vistors aren't AP holders, which makes this moot. Likewise, they have already announced attendance was down.

That poster is referring to Disneyland where there are significantly more APs.

 

[mshanson3121]

That poster is referring to Disneyland where there are significantly more APs.

I'm aware.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

For me Disney has been "worth" the price for the last few years going with my young kids (otherwise I wouldn't go 4 times in this 11 months). But I save tons of money compared to your average guest by driving (9 hours) and staying at Values OR at an off-site condo (shared with other families) (I still have small children ). The nickel and diming doesn't bother me since I don't have to buy those things. The only "nickel and dime" that has upset me is the resort parking fee.

I save a lot of money by going several times before my kids turn 3. If I go in October, it will be my daughters 5th trip .. haven't paid a dime for her except some souvenirs. I chose to get an AP this year because I didn't have to get HER one.

Once she stops being free in November -- it will be really tough to swallow the price to go. Luckily I have about 9 days of tickets left for the family (except her (she wasn't born yet)) that I bought years ago. That will save me a ton of money too.

What gets me is the price of the non-Value resorts. I stayed at the GF in 2010 with my (now) wife and my parents. Two rooms, tickets and the dining plan. We didn't break the bank on that trip and it was awesome. I can't even FATHOM going back to a Deluxe now where the prices have essentially doubled for most things (especially dining and hotels).

But .. people ARE paying that (otherwise Disney wouldn't be charging that price). Don't blame Disney . .blame the people (myself included) who keep paying these prices.

I’d include the moderates in the outrageously priced category. I don’t think those hotels warrant their rack rates.

We rent points to mitigate the ridiculous deluxe rates, if we no longer could I don’t know that I could go back to paying basically the same price for one of the moderate resorts.

 

[mshanson3121]

It is the opposite for me. Fastpass+ is pretty useless if you stay offsite, and they have made so many rides and "attractions" fastpass that would have never needed it. The whole tier system is stupid.

How do you figure? We had no issue getting 30 day FP and they were very worthwhile.

 

[Morieris]

We planned to return this year (next month actually) for DD’s bday but during the planning phase, reading about all the entertainment cuts, talking to some CMs I know about how they’re treated and of course the stupid PP boxes has seriously turned me off. We cancelled our two weeks at AKL and will now be spending that time at Universal - SO EXCITED. I’m sure the loss of our vacation money means very little to Disney, but just anecdotally, the Disney fans I know IRL have all cancelled their trips they had for next year/let their APs lapse and have no plans to return.

Based on your Username, did you ever stay at Shades of Green? It was outdated when I went in 2013, I'd hate to see it now, let alone the cost.

 

[themommy]

Thanks for giving this topic a place of its own.

Personally, I think it's a little bit of everything.

-There's a little bit of economic uncertainty (though I don't think we've quite talked ourselves into a recession at this point).
-There's a good bit about service cuts right now.
-Those cuts coming just off the heels of some massive price hikes doesn't help potential guest perception.
-Even around the general price hikes, you've got to deal with the nickel and dime service charges that are running rampant and getting harder to get around (looking at you resort parking fee).
-The new land isn't performing well. Again, I think it's a combination of factors. Fear of crowds (both in preparation and reaction), untimely weather, delay of attractions, cutbacks to offerings, and a souring of parts of the fan base to recent movie offerings (Last Jedi especially).
-Persistent rumors of even more price hiking and service charge changes (e.g., paid FPs).
-The current construction boom necessitated by too many years of neglecting to fix issues.
-The issues still present within the parks (Epcot now being the most obvious).
-The cutback of extra hours and the advent of paid extra hours. And even fans of the extra charged events are complaining that crowding is a problem.
-The micromanagement of worker hours leading to further cuts in services (shutting down parts or all of rides during fringe times, food locations with limited hours).

What'd I miss?

Smokers. Honestly. I can’t tell you how many people at smoking sections complain and say they aren’t renewing their AP’s. It’s not only the people a mile away in the smoking sections either. Within 1 trip back into the park, you know that mile long trip back through the security and ticket turnstiles, 3 cast members shared their complaints with it. One cast member said her grandmother was never coming back. Another said her husband won’t come with her anymore. Lastly, a cast member that has always loved his job was quitting and has no plans on visiting again until they replace at least 1 smoking section. This was all in one single trip to smoke. I know smoking is not for everyone but, 23.9% of the US adults are smokers. That’s a lot of smokers especially when you count in all of their family members that won’t be going either.

 

[MilitaryMouse]

You should email them and tell them this.

I did. The Bob’s and George have received several emails from me about the various cuts and of course, our cancellation. Doubt they care but if enough people are cancelling and let them know why, they MIGHT start to care

 

[MilitaryMouse]

Based on your Username, did you ever stay at Shades of Green? It was outdated when I went in 2013, I'd hate to see it now, let alone the cost.

I did! I think it was in 2013 too. Maybe 2014. Haven’t stayed there since though.

 

[SaharanTea]

Smokers. Honestly. I can’t tell you how many people at smoking sections complain and say they aren’t renewing their AP’s. It’s not only the people a mile away in the smoking sections either. Within 1 trip back into the park, you know that mile long trip back through the security and ticket turnstiles, 3 cast members shared their complaints with it. One cast member said her grandmother was never coming back. Another said her husband won’t come with her anymore. Lastly, a cast member that has always loved his job was quitting and has no plans on visiting again until they replace at least 1 smoking section. This was all in one single trip to smoke. I know smoking is not for everyone but, 23.9% of the US adults are smokers. That’s a lot of smokers especially when you count in all of their family members that won’t be going either.

We helped some friends of ours plan their first couple of trips. Their second one came after the smoking ban. The dad was pretty bummed about the experience.

 

[SaharanTea]

I'm right at the cusp of Gen X and millennial...which I am depends on whose date range you use. My friends my age definitely had kids later and generally had fewer kids than our parents had...all of us were at least 30 for our first child, and I'm an outlier in my group with two kids; most only have one. Many of my friends also went to graduate school, though, and that tends to push kids later, too, so I can't say how much had to do with spending most of our 20s in school vs our generation, but people having fewer children and having them later has all sorts of impact on things like higher education (fewer kids means fewer high schoolers means a smaller pool of traditional college students), etc, so I could see it having an impact here, too.

Congratulations, you're a Xennial.

Blank name tags and sharpies are on the table. Coffee and cookies are in the corner. Circle time starts in five.