Changes in the last 2 years that burn your britches

[Bullseye1967]

Yet they aren’t...you’re still getting tons of Disney benefits without the characters plastered everywhere. They have resorts with more Disney theming if that’s your thing.

Isn't the whole point here the lack of benefits? They are definitely dwindling. Can you help me out with this huge list?

 

[Chef Mickey]

Isn't the whole point here the lack of benefits? They are definitely dwindling. Can you help me out with this huge list?

All I care about is location and ease of access to the parks. Disney hotels still offer this with their location and bus, monorail, and skyliner services.

I also like Disney service. I like the cast members more than Marriott staff, in general....as an example.

 

[Bullseye1967]

All I care about is location and ease of access to the parks. Disney hotels still offer this with their location and bus, monorail, and skyliner services.

I also like Disney service. I like the cast members more than Marriott staff, in general....as an example.

That is true but the trade off is cost. I used to stay on property for almost every stay when I didn't live here. I am here right now as a tourist staying 2 miles from Disney, and yes I do have to drive and park my own car. The benefit of not paying to park at the the parks is also gone. I pay to park at the Magic Kingdom or I pay to park at the resort. I also pay to park at the resort the days I am not in one of the parks. I now pay more for parking than I previously did. I used to justify staying on property for all the "perks" I would get. Those "perks" have slowly faded away. I am now staying in a condo just off property for 1/4 of the cost I would pay to stay on property.

 

[OG Runner]

The change that burnt my britches was the cancellation of the Disney road races. I ran in the Marathon in January of 2020.
(had a good vacation in the parks also). Every race after that has been cancelled, right up through the Star Wars Half Marathon
I was signed up for in April. (and do not even mention doing it virtually) I signed up to run in Disney, not around my neighborhood.

 

[UNCgolf]

The change that burnt my britches was the cancellation of the Disney road races. I ran in the Marathon in January of 2020.
(had a good vacation in the parks also). Every race after that has been cancelled, right up through the Star Wars Half Marathon
I was signed up for in April. (and do not even mention doing it virtually) I signed up to run in Disney, not around my neighborhood.

That's because of Covid, though. Of course they weren't going to have a marathon in the middle of a pandemic.

The races are one thing that Disney almost certainly will bring back.

 

[plawren2]

Loss of magical express sounds pretty terrible. Incredible service to me, made me never have to get a car to Disney. I guess this is a way for people to use LYFT, when in reality I would rather just use Uber instead. Part of the Disney magic to me was taking a bus and being able to relax on the way to your resort. Even if they make some sort of train to Disney Springs, I still have to go through a ton of trouble, and will there be buses specifically for travelers? Like taking luggage on a normal bus seems like it will take up a lot of space if you're a large family... Disney seems to really be losing their touch these days.

Bus service will still be run by Mears but it will cost you extra

 

[Parker in NYC]

That's because of Covid, though. Of course they weren't going to have a marathon in the middle of a pandemic.

The races are one thing that Disney almost certainly will bring back.

Too much of goldmine. Some folks will pay anything for a medal.

 

[UNCgolf]

Too much of goldmine. Some folks will pay anything for a medal.

Exactly. They're not dumping stuff that actually creates significant revenue; they're only cutting stuff that costs them money.

 

[Parker in NYC]

My partner and I were discussing what perks Disney could put in place to offset the loss of MDE and proper EMH. Maybe FP will only be offered - at a price - to resort guests only. Maybe transportation will begin to be charged for non-resort guests. Dining reservation windows may shrink even further for off-site guests. Who knows.
And maybe cans of oxygen (a la Spaceballs) to resort guests only. For a fee of course.

 

[UNCgolf]

My partner and I were discussing what perks Disney could put in place to offset the loss of MDE and proper EMH. Maybe FP will only be offered - at a price - to resort guests only. Maybe transportation will begin to be charged for non-resort guests. Dining reservation windows may shrink even further for off-site guests. Who knows.

And maybe cans of oxygen (a la Spaceballs) to resort guests only. For a fee of course.

I've said it here before, but I don't think there's any feasible way to charge for internal Disney bus service.

I'm sure they'd love to, but the logistics involved would cause a huge drag on the system. They'd have to scan every single person's card/MagicBand/whatever when boarding which would slow the whole process down tremendously, especially since there would inevitably be people who didn't know they had to pay and were trying to board without access.

 

[Parker in NYC]

I've said it here before, but I don't think there's any feasible way to charge for internal Disney bus service.

I'm sure they'd love to, but the logistics involved would cause a huge drag on the system. They'd have to scan every single person's card/MagicBand/whatever when boarding which would slow the whole process down tremendously, especially since there would inevitably be people who didn't know they had to pay and were trying to board without access.

I wouldn’t put it past Disney to add more time to someone’s day if it meant the bottom line.

Also, who thinks deluxe guests will be the only ones to get some of these exclusive perks. As some here will say is justified.

 

[UNCgolf]

I wouldn’t put it past Disney to add more time to someone’s day if it meant the bottom line.

Also, who thinks deluxe guests will be the only ones to get some of these exclusive perks. As some here will say is justified.

Yeah, but it's not just adding time to someone's day -- it would screw up the entire bus system. It's certainly not impossible to do, but I think the risks outweigh the benefits to Disney in this particular case. Guess we will find out though!

 

[Parker in NYC]

Yeah, but it's not just adding time to someone's day -- it would screw up the entire bus system. It's certainly not impossible to do, but I think the risks outweigh the benefits to Disney in this particular case. Guess we will find out though!

Oh, completely.

 

[PopCentury]

I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this yet but what about the live entertainment at World Showcase. The drummers in Japan couldn’t have been more socially distant as you can be. I’m gonna miss hearing those drummers walking around there

 

[aliceismad]

I've said it here before, but I don't think there's any feasible way to charge for internal Disney bus service.

I'm sure they'd love to, but the logistics involved would cause a huge drag on the system. They'd have to scan every single person's card/MagicBand/whatever when boarding which would slow the whole process down tremendously, especially since there would inevitably be people who didn't know they had to pay and were trying to board without access.

I agree, BUT might it be possible to scan everyone's whatever at a security point prior to getting on the bus/monorail etc.? And really would the possible benefit be worth the effort to Disney. Surely any such system would cost money that may not be offset by a potential reduction in busses. Beancounters want to see the cost-benefit analysis for everything.

 

[UNCgolf]

I agree, BUT might it be possible to scan everyone's whatever at a security point prior to getting on the bus/monorail etc.? And really would the possible benefit be worth the effort to Disney. Surely any such system would cost money that may not be offset by a potential reduction in busses. Beancounters want to see the cost-benefit analysis for everything.

Yeah, they could do scanning at each bus stop before boarding -- the problem with that is it would require them to have staff at every single one at the parks, Disney Springs, and at every resort to make sure people actually scanned before getting into the waiting area. I'm sure the cost of that staffing would be too much to make it worth doing.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Is Disney different from the days of yore? Absolutely. We could all list hundreds of changes since our earliest visits. Thankfully, dear Martin gives us brilliant looks into the wonders of the past.

But focusing on just the last two years, I’ve seen changes that have repeatedly thrown my heart against the wall. Just the last 2 years. Yes there are changes all the time. WDW isn’t a museum. But I wanted to put all of my concerns in one place (asked and answered). I’m including presumably COVID-related things that I assume were on their last legs anyway:

1. Illuminations: Reflections of Earth
2. The Fountain of Nations
3. The Harmonious barges destroying both the serenity of World Showcase and my views across the lagoon
4. Impressions de France dwindling almost down to nothing
5. Beauty and the Beast: LeFou’s Catastrophe
6. Loss of the Great Movie Ride
7. Gain of Minnie and Mickey’s Screen Spectacular
8. The coming loss of Magical Express
9. The coming loss of Splash Mountain for a ride that makes absolutely no sense in Frontierland (give me a better option and I MIGHT change my mind but pls don’t turn this into another thread about it)
10. The removal of Extra Magic Hours
11. The Riviera Marriott
12. PRICES exponential for any recent era
13. A lot of Galaxy’s Edge though I don’t miss the echoes of the decaying Backlot Tour
14. Loss of Great Moments in History
15. Rise of the Resistance’s operational nightmare
16. THE PINK CASTLE
17. DVC taking up more and more oxygen in the Disney machine
18. The proliferation of Epcot festivals - more present than ever for longer and longer periods
19. The Gran Destino Hyatt
20. The Halloween Party beginning in August
21. Club Cool
22. The PeopleMover and its tenuous future
23. The hopefully discarded joke of the Reflections Resident Inn (including this because god knows it could return)
24. The loss of the lights on Cinderella Castle
25. After hours holiday parties during after hours holiday parties
26. The Electric Umbrella
27. The ridiculous new “lands” arrangement at EPCOT
28. Special limited-edition treats and the influencers who hock them
29. The disrespect toward the Gran Fiesta Tour animatronics (they’re relics, yes, but deserve better)
30. Muppets in Epcot (love them dearly but not in World Showcase)
31. eBay reseller “entrepreneurs” who have gone more hardcore in the last 2 years than I have ever seen prior
32. More and more YouTube streamers making the resort their soundstage
33. The plight of Morocco
34. If Finding Nemo: The Musical is truly gone forever
35. MouseGear
36. The FountainView
37. The blight of the Skyliner mucking up the... sky
38. Disney Springs and its continued banality
39. GOTG Box
40. Tron Box

But ask me how I really feel?

If we are counting Galaxy’s Edge, we must also list the loss of the Osborne lights since the city streets had to be torn down for GE

 

[OG Runner]

I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this yet but what about the live entertainment at World Showcase. The drummers in Japan couldn’t have been more socially distant as you can be. I’m gonna miss hearing those drummers walking around there

Sadly, for an unknown reason, (at least to me), Disney had already stated that the drummer in Japan were going to be removed long
before Covid even hit.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

The loss of the magical express definitely hit me. Part of the fun at the start of the trip was boarding the bus and having one less thing to worry about. At the end of the trip it was a nice value add. I'm totally withholding judgement because the train that they are supposedly building I would assume would be part of a magical express 2.0.

Halloween party in August... As someone who has taken advantage of the early cheaper rates, lower crowd volume I'm fine with the parties. Is it the idea that Halloween is still going on in summer?

You'll have to explain this one to me. As someone who goes about once a year and for a relatively short trip I appreciate the Tim Trackers giving an update to the treats and gives us something to look forward to. Also let's us kind of pick and choose in advance then try and guess when we are there.

The whole reselling culture has become toxic the last 4-5 years. I'm not sure how to solve it, but definitely don't like it.

Partly, I'm a fan of having 4 seasons, I guess you'd say. I don't want to start celebrating Easter in January. One reason I started going to WDW in the summer was the late night hours. The temps are perfect after dark Here's a sample of park hours in 2014, though PM EMH had already been cut to 2 hours:

MK week of 8/18: 9am-11pm plus:
8/18: EMH 11pm-1am
8/22: 8-9am EMH

HS: 9am-10pm most nights, 9am-8:30pm 8/21 and 8/23
8/24: 8-9am EMH

Epcot 9am-9pm
8/20: EMH 9pm-11pm
8/23: 8-9am EMH

AK: 9am-7pm (was before Pandora opened, but AK EMH had ended)
8/19, 8/21: 8-9am EMH

In 2014, everyone could still tour from 9am - 11pm every night. Folks staying onsite could tour 8am- 11pm or later most days. (2013 August hours were even more generous).

In 2019, that dropped to:
MK: closed at 10pm, except closed at 6pm: 8/20, 8/23, 8/27, only AM EMH: 8/23.
HS: closed by 9pm every night, only 8/25 AM EMH
Epcot: stayed same
AK - Pandora opened- so AK gained 1.5 hours (2hours on nights that MK closed 6pm), but all the animal attractions still closed at 5pm, with all FP gone by midafternoon, so not much to do except wait around for RoL.

In 2014, you could tour 15-16 hours every day, with multiple parks open 9pm or later. People had a choice of where to go at night. In 2019, that dropped to just 13-14 hours maximum every day, and all the regular park hours done by 9pm or earlier. On nights when a park had PM EMH, it was the only park open, and very crowded.

 

[tanc]

-ME being cut in 2022
-EMH gone eventually
- being forced to use the gondola for epcot and HS at a gondola resort