Rumor Bye Bye (Tiki) Birdies?

[Kman101]

A few years ago, someone on this forum told the story about his neighbors who took a WDW trip and came home disappointed. In spite of all of the pre-vacation info he had given his neighbor, they only visited the MK and not the three other parks (or anything else on property). They walked right past most of the attractions and since they were mostly indoors, they thought that they were all gift shops and didn't bother to go in. They thought that the only attractions in the park consisted of the carousel, the tea cups and the speedway which they considered to be "Kiddie Rides" and not worth their time. The rest of the week, they hung out at the hotel pool wondering why they took their neighbor's advice to take a Disney vacation. I hope he was pulling our legs.

Wow! LOL.

 

[Goob]

A buddy of mine and his wife and daughter keep talking about taking a trip to WDW. I've been telling him everything they need to see, do and eat when they finally do go. Now, I can guarantee he's not gonna take a single shred of my advice. They will go, not have any fast passes, no food reservations and will be totally lost. Then, upon arriving back home, they will go on and on about how terrible of a time they had. The lines were awful because we didn't have fast passes, the food was terrible because we couldn't eat anywhere good. Blah blah blah.

I just don't understand people like this. These are the types that hate WDW. They have no clue how to do it.

 

[HMF]

A buddy of mine and his wife and daughter keep talking about taking a trip to WDW. I've been telling him everything they need to see, do and eat when they finally do go. Now, I can guarantee he's not gonna take a single shred of my advice. They will go, not have any fast passes, no food reservations and will be totally lost. Then, upon arriving back home, they will go on and on about how terrible of a time they had. The lines were awful because we didn't have fast passes, the food was terrible because we couldn't eat anywhere good. Blah blah blah.

I just don't understand people like this. These are the types that hate WDW. They have no clue how to do it.

To be fair, Disney has made it A LOT harder for people to understand how to have a WDW Vacation properly.

 

[Kman101]

I don't think they have. I can get the idea it's overwhelming but it doesn't have to be.

 

[Goob]

They haven't made it harder. Some people just don't take the time to do it properly and then they slam Disney for it.

 

[MuteSuperstar]

I don't think they have. I can get the idea it's overwhelming but it doesn't have to be.

I understand that things change and the place is more packed to the gills than ever, but I probably went 20 or so times between 1975 and 2014 and all of the planning one pretty much has to do now can be pretty darned tedious and feel like work. Can it still be worth it? Sure, but for me personally it's been diminishing returns for a while now. Whenever I eventually cave and go back, renting DVC points is the only thing that will make it worth it for me.

And I do think most people on these forums still greatly underestimate how daunting all this can be for the average person. Reminds me a bit of a lot of the comments I saw on other boards during the ransomware attack last week...oh people just need to protect their PCs better. As someone who does tech support with an allegedly highly educated user base of health care professionals, the sheer inundation and necessity and daily grind of staying abreast of all of this technology is wearing people out, even as most of them are utterly obsessed with their phones.

Sorry way off topic.
I remain pro-Tiki.

 

[HMF]

I don't think they have. I can get the idea it's overwhelming but it doesn't have to be.

When they make you pre-plan everything out 30 days in advance, I would call that overwhelming.

 

[Scuttle]

When they make you pre-plan everything out 30 days in advance, I would call that overwhelming.

It's definitely overwhelming but I do think it's much much easier than say 6-7 years ago. As much as we all destroyed Disney for implementing My Disney Experience it works and works well. I was a big time doubter but it's clearly the future of theme parks everywhere and I'm on board 100%.

Put me down for Pro Birds.

 

[HMF]

It's definitely overwhelming but I do think it's much much easier than say 6-7 years ago. As much as we all destroyed Disney for implementing My Disney Experience it works and works well. I was a big time doubter but it's clearly the future of theme parks everywhere and I'm on board 100%.

Put me down for Pro Birds.

If it works so well, Why don't Jay Rasulo and Tom Staggs still work for the company?

 

[Scuttle]

If it works so well, Why don't Jay Rasulo and Tom Staggs still work for the company?

Budget went too far. It's clearly the future. I'm just glad Disney led the way. Over at Universal you still get cards for everything. Probably the number one guest complaint we get at work. Dining plan- cards, express pass- cards, party pass for city walk- cards, room keys- cards.

It's almost archaic when compared.

 

[HMF]

Budget went too far. It's clearly the future. I'm just glad Disney led the way. Over at Universal you still get cards for everything. Probably the number one guest complaint we get at work. Dining plan- cards, express pass- cards, party pass for city walk- cards, room keys- cards.

It's almost archaic when compared.

Yes, throwing all that money into a virtual black hole based on technology that had not been previously tested and borderline invasive sure was a wise investment. I am sure Iger had quite a few "talks" with Jay and Tom.

 

[HakunaMatata89]

All the years never saw it, happened to check it out in april on my last trip so at least I finally checked it off but I'd only want it to stay since it's one of the old time attractions.

just hoping the replacement is a large scale themed restroom

 

[Kman101]

Budget went too far. It's clearly the future. I'm just glad Disney led the way. Over at Universal you still get cards for everything. Probably the number one guest complaint we get at work. Dining plan- cards, express pass- cards, party pass for city walk- cards, room keys- cards.

It's almost archaic when compared.

No matter what we say people are going to insist you have to preplan. I just don't think that's the case. It doesn't need to be. To a certain degree, maybe.

 

[ToTBellHop]

No matter what we say people are going to insist you have to preplan. I just don't think that's the case. It doesn't need to be. To a certain degree, maybe.

Do you need to pre-plan everything? No. But pre-planning will give you a better experience, I would argue. That has long been the case for WDW vacations, though. I'm sure you can be a bit more flexible on a day trip where you don't have 32 MUST-DOs.

 

[Kman101]

Do you need to pre-plan everything? No. But pre-planning will give you a better experience, I would argue. That has long been the case for WDW vacations, though. I'm sure you can be a bit more flexible on a day trip where you don't have 32 MUST-DOs.

Well I worded that wrong, lol. You do have to preplan to a certain degree.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Well I worded that wrong, lol. You do have to preplan to a certain degree.

It depends on your personality. Some can wing it and don't care if they see everything. They just want a family vacation. If, on the other hand, you want to "do Disney," and you need to get on Frozen, Soarin', and Test Track on your one Epcot day, that takes planning and knowledge of the entirety of the system. When do I wake up? How long should I plan for transport? What order of rides? Which FP do I choose? You can't wing that.

And then you want to eat at Le Cellier because your friend Cindy said the $60 steak is better than Ruth's Chris?

And the next day you are doing Jedi Training for your kids Liam and Gavin who you've been promising this to for the entire 342 days of your "countdown to Disney?" And Friday you've promised your daughter Skylar three hours of pampering in the Bibbiti Bobbity Boutique IN THE CASTLE followed by lunch in the Castle while Dad Tim takes Liam and Gavin to the Fort Wilderness Lodge for horseback riding, archery, and lunch at Whispering Canyon (let's hope Tim realizes Mom got a little confused while highlighting Birnbaum's). Then we will all meet for dinner at Be Our Guest.


It takes a lot of planning and despite what some would suggest, the fact that many folks have some MUST-DOs that ARE hard to book last-minute requires that they plan EVERYTHING. If you need to know when you'll be eating in the Castle, going to BBB, eating at Be Our Guest, and eating at Le Cellier many months out, and when you'll be taking the family on Frozen, Flight of Passage, and Mine Train 60+10 days out, you also need to know when you'll be everywhere else.

It's easy to forget this when we go frequently and don't feel like we have to see, eat, buy, and do everything.

 

[TheGhostWithTheMost]

It depends on your personality. Some can wing it and don't care if they see everything. They just want a family vacation. If, on the other hand, you want to "do Disney," and you need to get on Frozen, Soarin', and Test Track on your one Epcot day, that takes planning and knowledge of the entirety of the system. When do I wake up? How long should I plan for transport? What order of rides? Which FP do I choose? You can't wing that.

And then you want to eat at Le Cellier because your friend Cindy said the $60 steak is better than Ruth's Chris?

And the next day you are doing Jedi Training for your kids Liam and Gavin who you've been promising this to for the entire 342 days of your "countdown to Disney?" And Friday you've promised your daughter Skylar three hours of pampering in the Bibbiti Bobbity Boutique IN THE CASTLE followed by lunch in the Castle while Dad Tim takes Liam and Gavin to the Fort Wilderness Lodge for horseback riding, archery, and lunch at Whispering Canyon (let's hope Tim realizes Mom got a little confused while highlighting Birnbaum's). Then we will all meet for dinner at Be Our Guest.


It takes a lot of planning and despite what some would suggest, the fact that many folks have some MUST-DOs that ARE hard to book last-minute requires that they plan EVERYTHING. If you need to know when you'll be eating in the Castle, going to BBB, eating at Be Our Guest, and eating at Le Cellier many months out, and when you'll be taking the family on Frozen, Flight of Passage, and Mine Train 60+10 days out, you also need to know when you'll be everywhere else.

It's easy to forget this when we go frequently and don't feel like we have to see, eat, buy, and do everything.

Expertly worded! and I 100% agree.
I'd also like to add that a lot of reason that there seem to be such "high stakes" for families now is because the price point is no longer something that is affordable to the middle class or even upper middle class family. When you've got $10,000 riding on a vacation being successful, it creates this frenzied environment in the parks that sucks all the fun out of being there. It's hard to have fun when the wallpaper is peeling at the Haunted Mansion due to lack of maintenance and you paid almost the price of a new car to be there. It's hard to have fun when you paid $100 per person to go to EPCOT and find out that you can't ride the flagship attractions due to not having planned when you're riding what three months ago.

 

[Kman101]

It depends on your personality. Some can wing it and don't care if they see everything. They just want a family vacation. If, on the other hand, you want to "do Disney," and you need to get on Frozen, Soarin', and Test Track on your one Epcot day, that takes planning and knowledge of the entirety of the system. When do I wake up? How long should I plan for transport? What order of rides? Which FP do I choose? You can't wing that.

And then you want to eat at Le Cellier because your friend Cindy said the $60 steak is better than Ruth's Chris?

And the next day you are doing Jedi Training for your kids Liam and Gavin who you've been promising this to for the entire 342 days of your "countdown to Disney?" And Friday you've promised your daughter Skylar three hours of pampering in the Bibbiti Bobbity Boutique IN THE CASTLE followed by lunch in the Castle while Dad Tim takes Liam and Gavin to the Fort Wilderness Lodge for horseback riding, archery, and lunch at Whispering Canyon (let's hope Tim realizes Mom got a little confused while highlighting Birnbaum's). Then we will all meet for dinner at Be Our Guest.


It takes a lot of planning and despite what some would suggest, the fact that many folks have some MUST-DOs that ARE hard to book last-minute requires that they plan EVERYTHING. If you need to know when you'll be eating in the Castle, going to BBB, eating at Be Our Guest, and eating at Le Cellier many months out, and when you'll be taking the family on Frozen, Flight of Passage, and Mine Train 60+10 days out, you also need to know when you'll be everywhere else.

It's easy to forget this when we go frequently and don't feel like we have to see, eat, buy, and do everything.

All true. Very well said.

 

[RoysCabin]

It depends on your personality. Some can wing it and don't care if they see everything. They just want a family vacation. If, on the other hand, you want to "do Disney," and you need to get on Frozen, Soarin', and Test Track on your one Epcot day, that takes planning and knowledge of the entirety of the system. When do I wake up? How long should I plan for transport? What order of rides? Which FP do I choose? You can't wing that.

And then you want to eat at Le Cellier because your friend Cindy said the $60 steak is better than Ruth's Chris?

And the next day you are doing Jedi Training for your kids Liam and Gavin who you've been promising this to for the entire 342 days of your "countdown to Disney?" And Friday you've promised your daughter Skylar three hours of pampering in the Bibbiti Bobbity Boutique IN THE CASTLE followed by lunch in the Castle while Dad Tim takes Liam and Gavin to the Fort Wilderness Lodge for horseback riding, archery, and lunch at Whispering Canyon (let's hope Tim realizes Mom got a little confused while highlighting Birnbaum's). Then we will all meet for dinner at Be Our Guest.


It takes a lot of planning and despite what some would suggest, the fact that many folks have some MUST-DOs that ARE hard to book last-minute requires that they plan EVERYTHING. If you need to know when you'll be eating in the Castle, going to BBB, eating at Be Our Guest, and eating at Le Cellier many months out, and when you'll be taking the family on Frozen, Flight of Passage, and Mine Train 60+10 days out, you also need to know when you'll be everywhere else.

It's easy to forget this when we go frequently and don't feel like we have to see, eat, buy, and do everything.

Well put, especially for those of us who have a tough time imagining schedules like this.

I was very fortunate while growing up: my parents brought my brother and I to WDW on a near-annual basis. When they realized they might not be able to the regular way, they began planning 4 day trips there for my dad's high school concert band; they'd do the school-related activities, but it doubled as a sort of mini-vacation for our family, as well. Point is, we got very used to the parks and the resort itself, so we rarely dealt with feeling harried or like we had to run around like mad to do everything we wanted to do.

Now, as an adult with a long term girlfriend but no children, I go in there knowing what I like and what I don't care about missing, alternating between a fast and a leisurely pace, etc. We planned our last trip, back in August 2015, one week in advance, and had no trouble doing the things we wanted to do outside of a couple weather-related snafus; we ate at Le Cellier and at Coral Reef without having to do much of any waiting, we got a preferred spot for Illuminations, only regret was not getting to Splash Mountain because the weather turned sour and they weren't running when we would've been able to get on.

Again, for me, that sounds much better than what I see when you hear about people making enormous schedules and what have you...but for me, it's a trip to a place I've been many times, a place I'm familiar with, and it's happily done on the cheap (well, relatively speaking), whereas for a lot of other folks they're going to save up to do the trip once or twice, but want to do as much as possible. It's just a different mindset, and one that can be hard to understand from the outside.

 

[HauntedPirate]

And then you want to eat at Le Cellier because your friend Cindy said the $60 steak is better than Ruth's Chris?

That Cindy right there is just blasphemous. I'm unfriending her.