Disney Dreams (Or Nightmares)

[BigRedDad]

The place isn't Disney...compare it to something desirable. Better yet, just go to Williamsburg instead if it's so good...fewer people making Disney crowded.

I priced a trip and couldn't get it that cheap...for one thing, I have to fly there. More power to you. The fact you could stay in a place for $400 for a week pretty much sums up its desirability.

No, it just goes to show that I am far more savvy with my money. I prefer to keep as much of my money as I can. If you don't think Disney is for the elite, look at exactly what they are doing. The middle class is being pushed out. The latest salvo is teh $700 cabanas.

 

[KraftServices]

Well anyway, I have Disney dreams sometimes but it always looks crazy different in the park (I assume the park is normally meant to be Magic Kingdom). Basically no existing attractions, the layout is all different. There's never any places selling food, or bathrooms.

Weirdest one was when they had a new attraction which was an opera house featuring dogs - real live dogs - "singing" (barking and howling) The Beatles. That same dream also had an "attraction" which was a giant painted fiberglass sculpture of Alice sitting down. It was large enough to be a show building but it wasn't. It was just a big sculpture.

Also typically every Disney dream features a changed Haunted Mansion. One had part of the ride literally go through a gift shop. One had the Doom Buggies suddenly become rafts partway through and you rode on them through water in a big room that was empty except for other riders and a huge video screen that was playing some kind or propaganda tape.
Another dream Mansion was kind of cool, it was a boat ride past a bunch of allegedly real haunted artifacts and gave the history of spiritualism in the United States.

 

[LeighM]

I always have Disney nightmares about getting to the park and nothing is how it should be. And my favorite ride, Haunted Mansion, is always changed into a combination of the ride, Small World, and a haunted house. It always scares me LOL. Probably because of the addition of It's a Small World But when I dream of Disney, it's never the real life Disney but this strange, unnatural mash up.

Also, my family used to vacation to Williamsburg often when I was younger bc it was close to home and affordable. I now live right outside of Williamsburg. While it is a great vacation destination, it's not comparable to WDW. They are very different types of vacation and offer different types of experiences. Busch Gardens is one of the prettiest theme parks in the world but it's still not the same. In fact, I like BG less with the change in ownership several years ago but that's just my opinion. But the thing both places have in common is that you can make it as cheap or as expensive as you want and according to your personal preferences.

 

[Chef Mickey]

No, it just goes to show that I am far more savvy with my money. I prefer to keep as much of my money as I can. If you don't think Disney is for the elite, look at exactly what they are doing. The middle class is being pushed out. The latest salvo is teh $700 cabanas.

Taking cheap vacations says nothing about how "savvy" you are with your money. Perhaps it means you are less savvy because you can't afford it?

I can take multiple Disney trips per year with dividend payments alone. I never spend any of my principle and I'm worth more every day that passes.

 

[ford91exploder]

Disney is rapidly becoming the place where nightmares come true, Cabana's, Taking over the riverboat for a dessert party which takes it out of service for up to a third of its operating hours. Buses which are mobile 'Fremont Street Experiences' the gutting of the Float Factory in Port Orleans. All because we now have the second coming of Paul Pressler in Chappie.

 

[Raineman]

Disney is rapidly becoming the place where nightmares come true, Cabana's, Taking over the riverboat for a dessert party which takes it out of service for up to a third of its operating hours. Buses which are mobile 'Fremont Street Experiences' the gutting of the Float Factory in Port Orleans. All because we now have the second coming of Paul Pressler in Chappie.

But those big masks hanging from the ceiling at the Float Works were scaring the children! Won't someone please think of the children?!
Also, some breaking news-coming in late 2017 to MK-Chappie's Crazy Cabanas attraction. Similar to the Mad Tea Party attraction, riders will sit in ride vehicles shaped like small cabanas, which spin, and the entire ride will sit beneath a canopy themed like an oversized cabana. Each ride is a hard ticket event-$200 per person for 2 minutes of spinning.

 

[danyoung56]

Disney is rapidly becoming the place where nightmares come true, Cabana's, Taking over the riverboat for a dessert party which takes it out of service for up to a third of its operating hours. Buses which are mobile 'Fremont Street Experiences' the gutting of the Float Factory in Port Orleans. All because we now have the second coming of Paul Pressler in Chappie.

Wow - negative much?

 

[ford91exploder]

Wow - negative much?

No, Realistic is more like it.

The LAST time the parks were run by a 'Retail' guy. Paul Pressler people ended up getting killed because of maintenance cutbacks, Google 'Paul Pressler' to examine for yourself his trail of destruction both during and after his tenure at Disney.

Pressler's most famous line was 'The only moving part in a Disney park should be a cash register drawer'.

Chappie is Paul Pressler 2.0

 

[Matt_Black]

I think my favorite dream is that I was watching a projection show countdown of the top animated features, and one was a film which had music written by David Bowie. I woke up and thought "Why isn't this a thing that exists?!?" Now, sadly, it never will.

 

[BigRedDad]

Taking cheap vacations says nothing about how "savvy" you are with your money. Perhaps it means you are less savvy because you can't afford it?

I can take multiple Disney trips per year with dividend payments alone. I never spend any of my principle and I'm worth more every day that passes.

No, I appreciate my money far more than others appreciate my money.

And your exact text is what an ELITEST would state.

 

[twilight mitsuk]

ending up in the park in my pajamas

 

[Winter]

I rememeber a few years ago, I had a dream where I went to Disney World (It was all differant though, white background everywhere almost like it was inside, smaller, rides were differant, etc). And then I woke up, and was sad when I realized it was a dream. Fell asleep again and the same thing happened 2 more times. By the 3rd dream, I was thinking in my head in the dream "I hope it isn't a dream again"

 

[security host Bill]

There really are many horror stories. How many families come to make dreams come true but leave with nightmares? The company will attempt to dismiss me as a former disgruntled cast member but i did myself a favor by saving all of the emails between myself and a magic kingdom V.P. to prove it all. The ultimate nightmare; The gator who killed that little boy at the grand floridian in 2016?, it was living in the bay lake dry dock for several months before the attack. That's verified by two former cast members and a reluctant "yea" from a current cast member on the ferry from the TTC to the MK.
My sickest one; A security host (me) ordered to refuse emergency restroom access at the front gate of the Magic Kingdom to a teenage girl crying she needed a restroom. A bagcheck security foreman advised to NOT allow her access and to show her the way into the front gate. This was not proper protocol I knew and when i turned to escort her to the ladies room she was already crying and had crapped in her own pants. It was running out of her jean shorts into her high top chuck taylors. I was that security host and recall it vividly and after my shift advised Dan Cockerell(MK-VP) of it and that he needed to get things in order at his house. Dan the man told me he would address it and security would now follow the written rules on how to conduct operations at the MK and it would never happen again.
Well...ONE WEEK to the day another (different) teenage girl (13ish) ran by my bagcheck table crying. Her mom was close behind telling me how "great" security at WDW is; in all 4- letter words. Lucky for me i was not the security host who refused her daughter restroom access and the poor girl wet herself trying to run in through the "guests without bags" entry. I asked for a break to go try and help their fsmily but was told i was to not offer any "assistance" , it was "too bad". I last saw the girl leaning over the green fencing surrounding the front of the MK puking into the bushes crying.
I reported that incident to the illustrious VP and the answer was new bathrooms were being built at the bus depot. Not much of a comfort for two young girls with lifetime memories of how they were treated by security at WDW but it's been denied such as my complaints to mgmt had been. I know no one here can come up with worse incidents because these are beyond bad nd i hope non will ever top this.
FYI; i am not disgruntled and give the mouse a hundred bucks every chance i get to just walk n Main St. USA and smell the popcorn. I have the detailed emails if anyone is interested.

 

[danyoung56]

The gator who killed that little boy at the grand floridian in 2016?, it was living in the bay lake dry dock for several months before the attack. That's verified by two former cast members and a reluctant "yea" from a current cast member on the ferry from the TTC to the MK.

Sorry, but I call bogus on this one. Yes, I believe there was a gator in the Bay Lake dry dock. But there's no way anyone can say that it was the same one that attacked the boy.

 

[FettFan]

Last night's dream was that Disney closed. Just closed. The Walt Disney Company decided they were exiting the amusement park industry in North America. So my family and I rushed to Orlando for one last hurrah...and it was packed. They were already closing rides.... the outer queue/portico of Pirates was boarded up, both Space Mountain and Imagination were being demolished, and DHS was closed completely.
The only park still running anywhere near capacity was Animal Kingdom.
So...that was a crazy dream.

 

[danyoung56]

Wow - what a nightmare!!!

 

[SyracuseDisneyFan]

I'm always having nightmares that I've lost my phone or phone charger at Disney.

 

[Disney.Mike]

Guess you can't afford to go anywhere then because it's the same or better than other many other popular vacation destinations.

Most "middle class families" that claim this are either

A: at the bottom end of middle class, making a combined income of maybe 50k (both spouses are unskilled)
B: made the choice for one spouse to not work while one makes a respectable income (50k+) - which is an honorable sacrifice
C: Both make a respectable income but buy a house they cant afford and have to have a new 40k truck/SUV every other year.

only ones I feel for are the people under the B category.

 

[KBLovedDisney]

I've said this one in another thread before, but I have a recurring nightmare that Disney World will turn into museum pieces and be on display forevermore. No more rides exist, no restaurants, shops, nothing. Just a big museum warehouse with what was left of Disney World would be on display (catching dust). One of the displays I remember was the Spaceship Earth model from the 1990s ride and a plaque reading something about Jeremy Irons...

Yeah, I woke up crying.

 

[Disney.Mike]

Not true. We spent a week in Williamsburg for a grand total of $1,100. It was in a 1BR condo, lots of onsite amenities, theme parks galore.

What you fail to see and realize is that vacations are now becoming status symbols. I know there are groups of people that must 1-up others to maintain their ladder rung level in their social group. It is funny to watch them go in debt to keep it. $5,000 - $10,000 for a 1-week vacation is not a middle class vacation. If you think it is, your definition of middle class is far more reaching than mine.

I just priced out a Disney vacation for 5... 2 adults, 3 kids -ages 11, 8, 5 (so no freebies). In Febuary (just picked a random month with no discounts)

for 7,000 you would stay at a deluxe studio at the Boardwalk (a deluxe), have 7 nights in hotel and 6 days in the park, with the park hopper option. You would also have the standard dining plan and memory maker.

You could easily shave 2500$ off of this total by staying at the AoA or All star family suite, or a Ft wilderness cabin and skipping the dining plan and cooking many of your own meals.

So for 6 park days you could possibly do it for 5 people for a little over 4k (assuming you are driving)

While not exactly cheap, its not out of reach for an annual or every other year vacation for a family.