"Hitting the numbers" can go both ways. Being told one has to make as much profit as possible and or save as much money as you can and find and make ways to do it.
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News Disney’s Fiscal Full Year and Q4 2021 Earnings Results Webcast
- Thread starter DCBaker
- Start date
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
fngoofy
Well-Known Member
Look, I'm not making light of the problem you had with mobile ordering...We went to AK on the Friday it poured. It's the worst park to be in during rain and we know that. But I didn't feel like screwing with getting a new "reservation" for a different park. Making one in the first place irked me. So we were freezing and wet and left by noon. Ordering food was a pain in the *** at best, and a nightmare at worst. We would spend forever on that stupid Genie app trying to get a damn "window" to just be able to order the food! We were hungry, and being told to wait a half hour just to oder the food was insulting. And we more than once had a window disappear as we tried to grab it. We attempted to get a sit down meal late in the day on Saturday (MK), only because we had had such bad luck with counter service. Probably 10 times a reservation would be displayed on the app, but by the time we we took 60 seconds to discuss if the time or food would work (we were running the next day), the reservation would be gone. Then we had to continually put our (already linked) credit card in the app to get a reservation or pay for counter service food. Which is easy if you are sitting comfortably somewhere. Not so much in the rain or in a crowd or when it's dark or you don't have your glasses to see the app super well. (We are both 50's) Every single thing we did was a hassle. And it was pretty darned crowded. Not the worst we've been for. But definitely crowded. We could have done more in the evenings, but Disney races require you getting on a bus at 3:30 a.m. so it's tough to stay in MK until close. Plus it was really cold. Obviously that isn't Disney's fault. Nor was the rain. But taking away all of our avenues to cope with the weather to still have a good trip was infuriating. And don't even get me started on Epcot. The endless damn walls. The endless drunk folks intermixed with the stroller families. It was weird. We actually waited a half hour for FIGMENT!!! because it was so busy that was the only thing we felt like trying. Thankfully, during the after party the lines were short for 2 of the 4 open rides. But Remy and Frozen were both over an hour wait during an after party open for 3 hours. Sorry for the rant. Was that enough detail?
Edited to add - we stayed at the Swan. We always stay on property for races, usually Beach Club. I couldn't find a room for less than $600 a night, and many were over a thousand a night, and that was if any Disney rooms popped up at all. We ended up doing the Swan for about $400 which is still insane. So the bad news started before we even got there!
However,
It seems like you didn't like the weather, the crowd levels, and the other guests. Using mobile order and it showing you can pickup your food 30 min later isn't really that crazy is it?
We've waited for 15-20 or so to get through a line at a counter service restaurant before, and if you didn't have your minds made up before you started looking at a restaurant it isn't really surprising that you would miss out on a window while you debated an offering.
I guess what I am trying to point out is, there are alway logistical issues when dealing with WDW. It isn't as easy to get food there as it is driving around your home town. You're always going to need a res for sitdown, and the lines at standup can take a good 15-20 to get through.
You do lose me at the "endless drunk folks intermixed with the stroller families". I have been to WDW and EPCOT dozens of times over the last 20 years and only seen "drunk" people on NYE and once I saw 1 person that had had too much at a food and wine fest (they were ill). The fact you lumped in "stroller families" kinda pushes me towards thinking nothing was going to make you happy that day.
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
I like the part where it's Disney's fault that she signed up for an early morning race and then became tired in the evening.
doctornick
Well-Known Member
As an aside, I think mobile ordering is fantastic I know it’s all about cost savings for Disney but it enhanced the experience for us when we last went. Made it easier to get a table too since they were limiting the people going into restaurants
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
I agree with this everywhere except for Docking Bay 7, where it was a complete disaster.
doctornick
Well-Known Member
Really? We are there twice on our August trip and had no problems. Granted the parks weren’t too busy
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
There wasn't nearly enough room up on the area where you wait to get your alert that the food is ready, I never did get the alert that my food was ready, I just got "you failed to show up so we chucked your food and charged you anyways." They were able to fix it, but when we got inside there wasn't a single seat to be found, and no high chairs. My one year old can't sit on a chair that's a barrel.
I'll probably go back when I'm in a group of two adults or something like that but never in a large party and never with small kids.
doctornick
Well-Known Member
Sorry for your experience. Certainly not apologizing for Disney but had no problems and found seating easily (went for lunch both times). One time was a party of 5, the other a party of 6 and we all sat together both times.
I will say that I found DB7 to be among the best quick serve meals we’ve ever had at WDW which is why we went back a second time. I hope your experience was an aberration because we’ll certainly want to return in the future.
pdude81
Well-Known Member
"Endless drunk folks mixed with stroller families" is exactly how I'd describe a festival weekend at Epcot. The rest of your post I agree with.
yensid1967
Well-Known Member
Walt would be sooo disappointed if he were alive today!
I understand that because of COVID they had to cut alot of things, but they are slowly bringing them back, but right now for me its not worth even planning a trip within the next few years. I am shooting for December 2026...hoping there is more normalcy and more offerings
Christi22222
Active Member
I fell off the forums for awhile and didn't see this or I would have replied sooner. I'm not sure why it's important to nullify my disappointments. I made it clear that I realized not all of the issues were Disney's fault. But you misunderstood my food ordering issue. No, 30 minutes to wait for food isn't ideal, but also isn't the worst. I've waited in lines that long before. What I was trying to explain is that we were having to wait that long just to get to our 30 minute "window" of time we were allotted to simply order food. Then you still have to wait for your food to be made and your number to be called. All while there are no tables to sit at to wait because they are all full. I have said before and will say again, no one issue on a Disney trip is a huge deal. It's more of a "death by a thousand paper cuts" scenario.
As for "endless drunk folks intermixed with stroller families" being an issue and therefore "nothing was going to make you happy that day," you missed my point. I am not foolish enough to expect there not to be stroller families at Disney. And they are fine, really. And I haven't often seen drunk folks at Disney at all. They were there because it was an after hours party, on a Sunday, at Epcot during Wine and Dine festival. So not unexpected, or really a problem, either. The issue was the mix. Tired families at the end of the day dragging crying and tired children, trying to navigate around large groups of 20-30 somethings having a party experience and talking/behaving somewhat inappropriately for public (PDA's, F bombs, etc.), was simply bizarre. It was like, you couldn't figure out what the experience was. So no, not the biggest problem of the trip. And not even noteworthy if the rest of the trip had been better. But I was condensing a lot of real issues and some simple basic observations into one brief synopsis answering a question about what went wrong on my trip. I didn't really want to get into dissecting the nitty gritty of every bad moment and explaining it to folks who didn't really want to hear it. I have been to Disney a heck of a lot, and I know when I didn't have a good experience. Or at least one that compares to trip quality of the past. I'm not sure why that bothers you so much that you need explain away whatever I say. Most folks just commented, "bummer," in effect, and hoped it was a one off.
Christi22222
Active Member
Right. Except for the part where I acknowledged that, and the context was simply that we didn't want to stay until closing because we had to be up super early yet that was the only way to get on rides without an hour plus wait. Bad weather is not Disney's fault. Crowds are debatable. However, not having the capacity for dining or attractions, while eliminating options for coping with that bad weather and those crowds (not being able to change parks due to reservations or hop until afternoon), is totally Disney's fault.
Christi22222
Active Member
I love mobile ordering as a concept. But they were not prepared for the crowds they had, and that limited the success of mobile ordering in our case. We have a friend who's daughter is a food service CP worker. She said that race weekend was the first really big crowds they'd had since she started this summer. Apparently lots of folks had troubles acquiring food that weekend. Were you there race weekend and it was a good experience? If so, I'm jealous!
MagicHappens1971
Well-Known Member
I was there race weekend, the crowds were INSANE. Nothing compared to holidays of years past but I’ve been to the parks a lot this year and haven’t seen crowds like race weekend since pre-Covid
ImperfectPixie
Well-Known Member
Epcot at night during food and wine on a weekend is AWFUL. The one trip we made the mistake of being there on a weekend night, we couldn't even walk through World Showcase because it was so crowded with stumbling people (yes - there were more than a few who were obviously smashed), and the entire area smelled of booze, too much cologne, and sweat. NEVER AGAIN. I've also been told by others that "I've never seen anyone stumbling drunk at Epcot"...so know it isn't just you who experienced this.
bubbles1812
Well-Known Member
So interesting to read your experience. We were there the same weekend. The day it poured and poured and poured… in my 26 years of going, I had never experienced a day like that ever. I know you said you two were freezing but I actually thought we lucked out as it felt like a pretty warm rain. The high was 70 that day, I think?We went to AK on the Friday it poured. It's the worst park to be in during rain and we know that. But I didn't feel like screwing with getting a new "reservation" for a different park. Making one in the first place irked me. So we were freezing and wet and left by noon. Ordering food was a pain in the *** at best, and a nightmare at worst. We would spend forever on that stupid Genie app trying to get a damn "window" to just be able to order the food! We were hungry, and being told to wait a half hour just to oder the food was insulting. And we more than once had a window disappear as we tried to grab it. We attempted to get a sit down meal late in the day on Saturday (MK), only because we had had such bad luck with counter service. Probably 10 times a reservation would be displayed on the app, but by the time we we took 60 seconds to discuss if the time or food would work (we were running the next day), the reservation would be gone. Then we had to continually put our (already linked) credit card in the app to get a reservation or pay for counter service food. Which is easy if you are sitting comfortably somewhere. Not so much in the rain or in a crowd or when it's dark or you don't have your glasses to see the app super well. (We are both 50's) Every single thing we did was a hassle. And it was pretty darned crowded. Not the worst we've been for. But definitely crowded. We could have done more in the evenings, but Disney races require you getting on a bus at 3:30 a.m. so it's tough to stay in MK until close. Plus it was really cold. Obviously that isn't Disney's fault. Nor was the rain. But taking away all of our avenues to cope with the weather to still have a good trip was infuriating. And don't even get me started on Epcot. The endless damn walls. The endless drunk folks intermixed with the stroller families. It was weird. We actually waited a half hour for FIGMENT!!! because it was so busy that was the only thing we felt like trying. Thankfully, during the after party the lines were short for 2 of the 4 open rides. But Remy and Frozen were both over an hour wait during an after party open for 3 hours. Sorry for the rant. Was that enough detail?
Edited to add - we stayed at the Swan. We always stay on property for races, usually Beach Club. I couldn't find a room for less than $600 a night, and many were over a thousand a night, and that was if any Disney rooms popped up at all. We ended up doing the Swan for about $400 which is still insane. So the bad news started before we even got there!
We were at DHS and had a pretty good time, even if we walked around in soaking shoes all day. My favorite part was when the rain let up, we decided to go use our free LL for SDD, only for it to start pouring extremely hard as the coaster was about to launch. The pic was hilarious. We’ll talk about that ride for years. We did keep a reservation at the Brown Derby I originally wasn’t planning to keep but we wanted to dry off… I do know walk up was 90 minutes+, so your difficulty with a DR rings some truth.
We briefly went to Epcot after to ride Remy and called it a night early for the first time in I don’t know how long, cause Harmonius couldn’t beat the call of dry socks.
We were also at MK on Saturday. It was crowded, but it only felt somewhat busier than usual MK Saturday crowded to me. Perhaps it had just been too long since I last experienced an MK Saturday? I knew it was a Race Weekend so I think I came prepared with the attitude that we’d do what we could. Maybe G+ and early magic hours assisted, but we rode every major attraction, quite a few at least twice. Think the only thing I didn’t get to ride was PeopleMover, in terms of stuff we wanted to do. I fully know it helped I only had one other person to get through the lines rather than working in a larger group.
And I didn’t have issue with getting counter service. Cosmic Ray’s isn’t the most in demand but on a busy day, I wasn’t bothered by the 25 minute wait for it. I’m not sure a walk up queue would have been much better. We got into Pinocchio’s queue right quick for some warm drinks later. I think you may really have had some bad luck here.
Perhaps it’s my midwestern heritage but we actually loved the weather that day. Kept the park crowds suppressed a bit in the morning and beat roasting in the afternoon. It was still 30 degrees warmer than home (which was in the 20s), so it just felt comfy cold to me. But of course, that’s all relative.
I’m sorry you had a bad experience.
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bubbles1812
Well-Known Member
A miracle! I think we might have found something you and I actually agree on!
While I don’t think I’ve really observed the drunkenness you describe, the crowds at Food and Wine are stupid packed. And all for small plates of food and overpriced alcohol.
(Alcohol gives me hives so I just watch my mom drink the overpriced alcohol instead. We usually find a place to plunk early for ROE/Harmonius and chill to avoid the crowds.)
ImperfectPixie
Well-Known Member
I don't have a problem with people imbibing and getting a little silly (I've been told I'm super fun when I'm drinking)...but some people really need to learn their limits.A miracle! I think we might have found something you and I actually agree on!
While I don’t think I’ve really observed the drunkenness you describe, the crowds at Food and Wine are stupid packed. And all for small plates of food and overpriced alcohol.
(Alcohol gives me hives so I just watch my mom drink the overpriced alcohol instead. We usually find a place to plunk early for ROE/Harmonius and chill to avoid the crowds.)