can Disney bring it all back.. or have they gone TOO FAR...

[monothingie]

A lesson in following a thread for those who may benefit:











The original point in the first post cannot be lost halfway through the discussion. My comment was only in response to that comment and should not be taken out of context.

Marni's post clarified my comment.

Your post, a wholly separate thing, exaggerated my comment into something which was not what I said or implied. I corrected you.

And that's the last time. When every interaction with a person is unpleasant (as it has been for too long with you) there is no point in that person existing in your world. Therefore, @monothingie, you are now on my ignore list. Have a wonderful holiday season and I hope you eventually get over your Disney bitterness.

First you need to relax and stop taking everything so personally. No one can have a discussion with you when you’re ready to bite their head off.

If that’s the way you want to clarify it fine. At best your original point was not clearly presented.

For the last 15 years TWDC has forgotten its core strength in lieu of satisfying investors in unsustainable quarterly growth. But there are still exceptions within P&R. Compare DCL and the Star Wars hotel. Two polar opposites of what the company is capable of. Unfortunately through the dumbing down of expectations through crap leadership, the later rather than the former is considered the desired outcome.

The saddest part is that all the people who remembered what it used to be moved on when it turned to crap so most people don’t have a frame of comparison. The few that remain and remember are often maligned and referred to as you so eloquently described.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Only OLC to me would be a worthy contender for buying the other parks but that will never happen. Even then I don't think I would want it to because I think there would be a drop in quality with OLC if that ever did happen.

I want magical express and the luggage service back, and whatever else but I think it's all just dead now. I'd be completely shocked if Iger ordered a bus lot for a system similar to Magical Express but I just don't see it happening.

People are willing to pay tremendous amounts as we know to go to Disney so although Iger may lower it, I don't think it'll matter much.

I'm sure other people have had different experiences, but whenever we took Magical Express (a handful of times) we were either the only party on the bus, or there were one or two smaller parties. That can't be cost-effective unless it's an odd exception.

 

[Chi84]

I'm sure other people have had different experiences, but whenever we took Magical Express (a handful of times) we were either the only party on the bus, or there were one or two smaller parties. That can't be cost-effective unless it's an odd exception.

It was a great benefit to families with small children who found it difficult to wrangle all their luggage through the airport or travel with multiple carseats. I'm sure there were times when the buses were full and others when they were nearly empty - just as with any transportation system. We've seen times when there were very few people on a bus to DS or returning from the parks in the middle of the day. To many, ME helped justify the high cost of the resorts. You pay a lot, but get a lot in return.

It was a huge part of the all-encompassing feel WDW had that is now disappearing. DH and I rent a car and don't use ME, but we sure appreciated the airline resort check-in service so we didn't have to deal with our luggage at the airport. People are different - what means little to some can matter a great deal to others.

 

[tanc]

Magical express I would imagine was an exceptional service for people who were coming internationally. You had all your luggage taken care of and did not need to worry about transporation to and from the resort. You were in good hands and it was smooth sailing.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

It was a great benefit to families with small children who found it difficult to wrangle all their luggage through the airport or travel with multiple carseats. I'm sure there were times when the buses were full and others when they were nearly empty - just as with any transportation system. We've seen times when there were very few people on a bus to DS or returning from the parks in the middle of the day. To many, ME helped justify the high cost of the resorts. You pay a lot, but get a lot in return.

It was a huge part of the all-encompassing feel WDW had that is now disappearing. DH and I rent a car and don't use ME, but we sure appreciated the airline resort check-in service so we didn't have to deal with our luggage at the airport. People are different - what means little to some can matter a great deal to others.

Agreed. Maybe a mix of buses and smaller vehicles would have made more sense cost-wise since they typically knew who was arriving when (barring travel issues.) Of course, it would complicate things as well.

 

[Chi84]

Agreed. Maybe a mix of buses and smaller vehicles would have made more sense cost-wise since they typically knew who was arriving when (barring travel issues.) Of course, it would complicate things as well.

After our last two trips with Genie+, ILLs, park reservations and limited park hopping, I’m not too concerned about complicating things for Disney

 

[marni1971]

Like a lot of things no longer with us, why provide something when a third party is happy to charge for it.

 

[mf1972]

The biggest loss in my option was Fastpass+, this really made Disney stand out among all other competitors who charge for the privilege. The price (although already expensive) to stay in Disney owned resorts was considered more 'worth it' for the pleasure of securing those 'gold dust' ride reservations in advance, bolstered by the excitement of logging on as soon as the times were released and snagging that all important Slinky Dog/Mine Train/etc reservation.

The loss of this and the complexity of Genie/LL, not to mention its accompanying charges, paying for resort parking, the loss of the Magical Express from the airport, less reliable and frequent maid visits, etc, dropped the ball BIG TIME.

Part of the 'magic' of the parks is having everything in place beforehand, dinner reservations booked, fast passes planned, being able to enter those gates and just enjoy. Genie/LL removes that joy and places pressure on the guests continuously during the day.

THAT right there, along with the incredibly exceptional service and friendliness of the staff at the parks and resorts, the quality of the shows and parades, the frequent and exciting updates to the parks and rides, down to the minutest details, has been waning but CAN be recovered, however the invisible 'knife' in the backs of Disneys consumers may leave a permanent scar.

100% agree with u on the loss of fastpass, magical express, housekeeping, etc. the 1 thing i miss now is the resort delivery after buying souvenirs. we had to be mindful so we didn’t carry much around all day.

 

[TQQQ]

I posted this in a different thread but maybe it’s more appropriate here

I would like to see Disney let resorts guests book their first genie+ and Ill selection a week or so before they arrive and let them choose their return time . This will eliminate the need to have to get up before 7am every day on vacation. This will also allow them some flexibility on when they go to the parks (for the non early people) By only letting them pick one, it will still leave inventory for non resort guests. After their first selection they fall under the regular rules (120 mins after park opening for their next selection)

I think this will be a MAJOR upgrade at no cost to them

 

[marni1971]

I posted this in a different thread but maybe it’s more appropriate here

I would like to see Disney let resorts guests book their first genie+ and Ill selection a week or so before they arrive and let them choose their return time . This will eliminate the need to have to get up before 7am every day on vacation. This will also allow them some flexibility on when they go to the parks (for the non early people) By only letting them pick one, it will still leave inventory for non resort guests. After their first selection they fall under the regular rules (120 mins after park opening for their next selection)

I think this will be a MAJOR upgrade at no cost to them

I’d like to see all queue reservation systems scrapped but that won’t happen either sadly.

 

[TQQQ]

I’d like to see all queue reservation systems scrapped but that won’t happen either sadly.

Martin. What would be the pushback to those suggestions?

 

[SteveAZee]

Remember: WDW owes you nothing but the turnstile turning when you’ve paid for your ticket. You make of the day what you make of the day.

Ironically, one of the issues people seem to have with the park reservation system is this, the assumption that just paying for a ticket will get you into the park(s).

Regarding profit in general... it's not a binary thing. I think what's in question is how much profit a company is targeting and what gets lost in the process. There's always a danger in any business when you measure success on a single thing since that tends to be what everyone in the business measures their performance against. One gets the sense that Disney shifted to only measuring one thing, profit, vs the more complicated balancing act that includes customer satisfaction, long term investment, and maintaining the 'why' of what people come to work for (among other things).

Tony... the second paragraph isn't targeted at you, just a statement in general as a part of this thread.

 

[marni1971]

Martin. What would be the pushback to those suggestions?

Pass. I’m at a loss for some of the decisions.

 

[Jrb1979]

I’d like to see all queue reservation systems scrapped but that won’t happen either sadly.

I personally would rather they went the Universal route. Charge a lot but limit how many are sold.

 

[monothingie]

I personally would rather they went the Universal route. Charge a lot but limit how many are sold.

I’m with @marni1971 on this, the more they’ve perverted how the queues work, the worse it’s gotten. They’re so far down the rabbit hole that nothing gets better anytime soon.

They’re never going to add capacity en masse to compensate because they have no motivation because they’ve monetized waiting in line.

Standby only was a true wonder to experience in 2020 and 2021.

 

[eliza61nyc]

Martin. What would be the pushback to those suggestions?

I'm not Martin but I think there would be a big pushback. Mind you, I'm only one person but the people I know especially with small children simply don't want to wait. The real issue of course is that the fp/genie systems don't fix the problem. The problem is Disney desperately needs more rides and they don't have to be roller coaster just some attractions that eat up large groups of people

 

[marni1971]

they don't have to be roller coaster just some attractions that eat up large groups of people

I actually agree with you!

 

[dreday3]

I know most wouldn't like this because you don't like the replication of rides, but I think bringing Alice from Disneyland to MK would be a smart move. And I've always wanted to ride it!
And I love Pinocchio and while I understand MK was getting rid of the old school dark rides, perhaps it could go in the Italy Pavilion?
The Pavilion of my people desperately needs some attention. It's just food and a shop!

Just thinking of rides that will attract a lot of people, therefore "eat" them.

 

[Chi84]

Standby only was a true wonder to experience in 2020 and 2021.

That wasn’t our experience in May 2021. MMRR was posted at 35 minutes and we waited well over an hour. We wish we had bailed out.

At AK we skipped FOP and Navi because of long waits and waited in a fairly long line for Dino. Of course the lines were especially brutal because inside waiting areas weren’t being used.

At HS we couldn’t get a boarding group for Rise and SDD was over an hour long wait.

I don’t doubt what other people experienced but we personally did not see short lines for what we wanted to ride during the week we were there. We did have a great DVC room on points and had some outstanding dinners so we enjoyed the trip.

 

[TQQQ]

I'm not Martin but I think there would be a big pushback. Mind you, I'm only one person but the people I know especially with small children simply don't want to wait. The real issue of course is that the fp/genie systems don't fix the problem. The problem is Disney desperately needs more rides and they don't have to be roller coaster just some attractions that eat up large groups of people

I’m not sure I follow. What’s the negative of the suggestions I made?

My suggestions were to let resort guests book their first ride every day of their trip a week in advance so they do t have to wake up every day before 7am. That solves 2 big problems people have with Genie+ (Waking up early and not being able to pick return times) and it costs them nothing.