Cost of going to DW waaaay too high.

[LittleBuford]

I’ve been twice in the last year…it was fine…for us.

But the costs were high for the return…and the crowds were low…and we don’t really care about ride counts…

these last 2 months sound really, really bad…haven’t heard anyone other than a newbie or seldom say there’s anything good about this warped “chappie world” they are slinging

I'm not surprised people aren't enjoying themselves under the present circumstances. Besides the pandemic, the introduction of a new and controversial line-skipping system is bound to bring problems. I just hope they prove to be teething problems that are resolved sooner rather than later. If not, I'll have to rethink my relationship with WDW.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I'm not surprised people aren't enjoying themselves under the present circumstances. Besides the pandemic, the introduction of a new and controversial line-skipping system is bound to bring problems. I just hope they prove to be teething problems that are resolved sooner rather than later. If not, I'll have to rethink my relationship with WDW.

Well that’s just the thing…

how do they “improve” the system when there are “more” people? It sounds like the damn thing is booked solid at 7 am and they aren’t close to capacity…

the issue…and it’s been building for years…is that Iger allowed 100% of the capacity surplus he inherited to be squandered.

and it’s not “good economics” to overstuff your parks and reduce your comfort across the board. It’s LEISURE…nobody wants guaranteed bum rushing

 

[Chi84]

No, and I have no intention of going back until the world looks halfway normal again, which may take years. Perhaps I'll no longer find WDW a good value when I return, but only time will tell.

We went in May and October and had a great time. May was a bit difficult because of the unseasonably hot temperatures, especially wearing masks.

We did miss FP+ (a lot) but we were able to make Genie+ and ILLs work fairly well for us. I will say that we are satisfied with just a few rides a day.

CBR was beautiful and the Skyliner is an excellent form of transportation. Thoroughly enjoyed Harmonious from a very good viewing area and watched Enchantment from the Cali Grill balcony (the prix fixe dinner with wine pairings was excellent).

We made a spontaneous decision to wait standby for the Space 220 lounge and had a really nice lunch there. The servers were so personable!

Mobile ordering and the discontinuation of bag check lines are huge improvements. People were enjoying themselves as always! I hope you are able to visit soon.

 

[LittleBuford]

Well that’s just the thing…

how do they “improve” the system when there are “more” people? It sounds like the damn thing is booked solid at 7 am and they aren’t close to capacity…

I have no idea! It seems to work very differently from FP+, which (in my experience, including during busy times) had good availability throughout much of the day. If enough people complain about the new system—and the complaints seem to be many—Disney will, I hope, overhaul it.

 

[LittleBuford]

We went in May and October and had a great time. May was a bit difficult because of the unseasonably hot temperatures, especially wearing masks.

We did miss FP+ (a lot) but we were able to make Genie+ and ILLs work fairly well for us. I will say that we are satisfied with just a few rides a day.

CBR was beautiful and the Skyliner is an excellent form of transportation. Thoroughly enjoyed Harmonious from a very good viewing area and watched Enchantment from the Cali Grill balcony (the prix fixe dinner with wine pairings was excellent).

We made a spontaneous decision to wait standby for the Space 220 lounge and had a really nice lunch there. The servers were so personable!

Mobile ordering and the discontinuation of bag check lines are huge improvements. People were enjoying themselves as always! I hope you are able to visit soon.

Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves. The issue for me is that I like to get a lot of attractions done each day, and that's where Genie+ may prove a big stumbling block for me. I remain hopeful that some of the more egregious issues that people are reporting will be ironed out before too long.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I’ve been twice in the last year…it was fine…for us.

The crowds were light when we were there early November also

We are DL keyholders, going this weekend in fact, but we found WDW much more relaxing than our recent DL trips because it was so much slower.

I have no idea! It seems to work very differently from FP+, which (in my experience, including during busy times) had good availability throughout much of the day. If enough people complain about the new system—and the complaints seem to be many—Disney will, I hope, overhaul it.

We went last month and fortunately it was slow enough we didn’t have to bother with Genie+ or LL.

I find the elimination of magical express and FP+ to be two of the dumbest ideas in the history of the parks though. Both programs were implemented (very successfully) to keep people on property (spending money) and in the parks (spending money).

I think these decisions, along with alienating repeat customers/APs with the ridiculous reservation system will be Chapeks downfall.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The crowds were light when we were there early November also

We are DL keyholders, going this weekend in fact, but we found WDW much more relaxing than our recent DL trips because it was so much slower.


We went last month and fortunately it was slow enough we didn’t have to bother with Genie+ or LL.

I find the elimination of magical express and FP+ to be two of the dumbest ideas in the history of the parks though. Both programs were implemented (very successfully) to keep people on property (spending money) and in the parks (spending money).

I think these decisions, along with alienating repeat customers/APs with the ridiculous reservation system will be Chapeks downfall.

Too be fair…fast pass + was stupid too…

the only things that worked effectively are:
1. Legacy fastpass
2. Maxpass
3. A high cost system like universals express pass.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

We went in May and October and had a great time. May was a bit difficult because of the unseasonably hot temperatures, especially wearing masks.

We did miss FP+ (a lot) but we were able to make Genie+ and ILLs work fairly well for us. I will say that we are satisfied with just a few rides a day.

CBR was beautiful and the Skyliner is an excellent form of transportation. Thoroughly enjoyed Harmonious from a very good viewing area and watched Enchantment from the Cali Grill balcony (the prix fixe dinner with wine pairings was excellent).

We made a spontaneous decision to wait standby for the Space 220 lounge and had a really nice lunch there. The servers were so personable!

Mobile ordering and the discontinuation of bag check lines are huge improvements. People were enjoying themselves as always! I hope you are able to visit soon.

…you forgot about “experiencing” boo bash

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

We went in May and October and had a great time. May was a bit difficult because of the unseasonably hot temperatures, especially wearing masks.

We did miss FP+ (a lot) but we were able to make Genie+ and ILLs work fairly well for us. I will say that we are satisfied with just a few rides a day.

CBR was beautiful and the Skyliner is an excellent form of transportation. Thoroughly enjoyed Harmonious from a very good viewing area and watched Enchantment from the Cali Grill balcony (the prix fixe dinner with wine pairings was excellent).

We made a spontaneous decision to wait standby for the Space 220 lounge and had a really nice lunch there. The servers were so personable!

Mobile ordering and the discontinuation of bag check lines are huge improvements. People were enjoying themselves as always! I hope you are able to visit soon.

So anything not perfect? (It’s good to hear that things are wondrous…regardless of like 75% of the reports )

they did have low crowds…so that is the thing that is hard to quantity moving forward

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Too be fair…fast pass + was stupid too…

the only things that worked effectively are:
1. Legacy fastpass
2. Maxpass
3. A high cost system like universals express pass.

Maxpass was the perfect FP upgrade. Pay a small price for the convenience if you want it, still free to use the traditional FP machines if you don’t, $89 AP add on was great value for the guest and made Disney money. Win/win for everyone… completely idiotic to replace it.

I agree that traditional FP was better than FP+ but at least they both worked. We consider ourselves Disney pros and part of the reason we didn’t bother with Genie was it launched right before our trip and we found it confusing. Had it been busier we may have bothered with it but vacation shouldn’t really be a bother.

 

[Chi84]

So anything not perfect? (It’s good to hear that things are wondrous…regardless of like 75% of the reports )

they did have low crowds…so that is the thing that is hard to quantity moving forward

I really missed FP+. Absolutely hated getting up before 7 to pay for rides. Genie+ worked okay, but not nearly as well as FP+ and we had to pay for it. I’m not a fan of the new system at all and definitely let Disney know what I thought about it.

I assume you’re talking about 75% of the people posting here. We’re a rather unique (and pretty small) bunch. I can say that WDW is a much more enjoyable experience if you don’t go in expecting to be disappointed by everything. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. We had a great time. YMMV.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I really missed FP+. Absolutely hated getting up before 7 to pay for rides. Genie+ worked okay, but not nearly as well as FP+ and we had to pay for it. I’m not a fan of the new system at all and definitely let Disney know what I thought about it.

I assume you’re talking about 75% of the people posting here. We’re a rather unique (and pretty small) bunch. I can say that WDW is a much more enjoyable experience if you don’t go in expecting to be disappointed by everything. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. We had a great time. YMMV.

The expectations are much higher for those who are NOT longtime customers who are knowledgeable about the nuts and bolts…

so that makes these issues actually more of a problem

 

[Chi84]

The expectations are much higher for those who are NOT longtime customers who are knowledgeable about the nuts and bolts…

so that makes these issues actually more of a problem

In my opinion, Disney has made a lot of serious mistakes recently - Genie+ isn’t even the worst of them - and I think it’s eventually going to regret them. It’s possible they’ll turn the ship around in time, but I’m not terribly hopeful.

WDW is still the best vacation venue for us and we truly do have a wonderful time there. The biggest downside for us was losing FP+ and having to pay for an inferior system, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker. I’m pretty particular about our vacations. If it gets to the point that we are no longer enjoying WDW, we’ll stop going.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Ticket books make it a bit complicated but for the same experience…

Cedar Point in 1973 was $6.18, today it’s $74.99. 12 times more expensive.

WDW in 1973 was $17, today it’s $117-170 depending on date. 7-10 times more expensive. (admission was $4.50, $5.75 for a 8 ticket book and $6.75 for a 12 ticket book, that’s based on the number of rides we did our last trip).

If you were content only doing 12 rides total and only 1 e-ticket in your day the price would drop down to $11.25, which would make todays $117-170 price 10-15 times more expensive.

Either way it’s in line with the price increases at Cedar Point.

Now do The Poly vs CP Breakers resort.

 

[Lilofan]

Ticket books make it a bit complicated but for the same experience…

Cedar Point in 1973 was $6.18, today it’s $74.99. 12 times more expensive.

WDW in 1973 was $17, today it’s $117-170 depending on date. 7-10 times more expensive. (admission was $4.50, $5.75 for a 8 ticket book and $6.75 for a 12 ticket book, that’s based on the number of rides we did our last trip).

If you were content only doing 12 rides total and only 1 e-ticket in your day the price would drop down to $11.25, which would make todays $117-170 price 10-15 times more expensive.

Either way it’s in line with the price increases at Cedar Point.

The difference in regards to WDW and Cedar Point is very obvious. Theme parks as opposed to an amusement park .

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The difference in regards to WDW and Cedar Point is very obvious. Theme parks as opposed to an amusement park .

Also the price and the expectations of the customers

 

[Jrb1979]

The hate on Cedar Point in this thread is amazing. Hate it say it but most Disney fans are entitled.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The hate on Cedar Point in this thread is amazing. Hate it say it but most Disney fans are entitled.

That was never really in doubt on the Internet…

to be fair to all…it’s a different market and those two places were not designed to be 1:1…but they’re in the same ballpark.

 

[Jrb1979]

That was never really in doubt on the Internet…

to be fair to all…it’s a different market and those two places were not designed to be 1:1…but they’re in the same ballpark.

I know they a different markets. As a person who is a big amusement/theme park fan, it bugs me to see how quick Disney fans dismiss parks like Cedar Point.

 

[Communicora]

The hate on Cedar Point in this thread is amazing. Hate it say it but most Disney fans are entitled.

What do you mean by entitled in this context? I imagine a lot of people here are Disney theme park fans and not necessarily fans of amusement parks in general. Cedar Point isn't going to appeal to people like me who fall into this bucket.