Disney World Planning is far too complicated (CNBC article)

JoeCamel

JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
AndyS2992

AndyS2992

Well-Known Member
Is it though? I thought it was pretty easy on my recent trip. Yeah these extra steps are annoying and remove spontaneity which sucks but I wouldn't say the process was complicated in any way. I find the My Disney Experience app to be extremely user friendly.
 
BasiltheBatLord

BasiltheBatLord

Well-Known Member
JoeCamel said:
Can you take them seriously when the first line is false? I mean how much knowledge can they bring?
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Mainstream media reporting on theme parks has always been horrendously bad. There is often not even the most basic attempt made at fact checking. Thinking how many times I've read "Harry Potter World" or "Nintendo theme park" in major mainstream outlets.
 
T

Touchdown

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
AndyS2992 said:
Is it though? I thought it was pretty easy on my recent trip. Yeah these extra steps are annoying and remove spontaneity which sucks but I wouldn't say the process was complicated in any way. I find the My Disney Experience app to be extremely user friendly.
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As someone who visits other theme parks regularly, yes, yes it is. You shouldn’t need to do hours of research in order to plan a trip to a theme park.
 
AndyS2992

AndyS2992

Well-Known Member
Touchdown said:
As someone who visits other theme parks regularly, yes, yes it is. You shouldn’t need to do hours of research in order to plan a trip to a theme park.
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I guess, for first timers anyway. I don't need to plan as I've been many times but I actually enjoy the planning part lol I always put together a spreadsheet of what park for which day, where we'll be eating etc
 
rct247

rct247

Well-Known Member
While I can go and have a simple day, the fact of the matter is that yes, it is complex. Once you start explaining the rules or processes, it gets complicated fast.

Explain park tickets. Did you cover the pricing ranges, the park pass, the park hopping, the time you can park hop, let alone how to add it to your my Disney experience, etc.

What about LL? Between Genie+ and Individual LL, then are you a resort Guest or not for what time you can book, then when you can book next after you use it or 2 hrs. Of course, you also have to make sure you pick a good one and don't arrive too early or too late.

Want to eat at a table service? Did you make reservations, what type of dining do you want, what's the wait list? I can't just walk up?

Explain VQ and he a regular line isn't available to just stand in. How do you sign up, what times, what to click on, why is it so hard to get?


I could go on.
 
fradz

fradz

Well-Known Member
I think it's too complex. There are literally companies that specialize in trip planning for you. I understand it's"the trip your family has been saving for" but it's so stressful for what should be a fun trip.
I'll take my personal example: I'm known in my circles as "the theme park guy". People have often asked me for help when planning their theme park trip, wherever that may be. The one for which I spend more time explaining how the system works than what to actually do is WDW. Hell, I even went there last summer and I had to make a post asking about park hop and genie+ strategy.

Compare that to Uni... when my friends have "just one free day in Orlando", they generally end up going to IOA
 
JD80

JD80

Well-Known Member
Explaining to someone they have to book a hotel and park ticket package and then select which day they want to go to which park is easy (if not a pain in the butt). Booking is easier than ever because you don't have a 30 or 60 day FP+ selection on top of your ADR window.

Explaining to someone that you have to wake up at 6:59AM to buy G+ and then select a LL, ILL, VQ and then every two hours OR after it's use you can use another LL. Then if you have park hoppers you can't go until 2pm, but then you can't book a LL until after.

Also you can modify if you like but that doesn't change the 2 hour rule.

Then once you explain that, they'll ask what the difference between a Lightning Lane and a Individual Lightning Lane is.

Once you use it, it's not too bad, but explaining that to someone who hasn't been to WDW since 2019 as they are preparing to spend 1000s of dollars? Yeah that'll turn people off.
 
Riviera Rita

Riviera Rita

Well-Known Member
What planet is Jonathan Alder on? Beach Club or Boardwalk and neither are luxurious? Victoria and Alberts or California Grill for dinner? Recommending the tours at a basic $5000 up to a minimum of $6300. He is everything that is wrong with Disney 'experts' who make a very nice living on all platforms of social media like YouTube and thinks that we can all afford to do as they do.
Talk to a friend or find someone with a friend who has done a 'normal' trip to WDW, someone who has stayed at a value or moderate resort, eats QS the majority of the time or takes their own food and drink it. Come on messageboards like this with ordinary Disney travellers on it who can answer the basic questions or give advice about the important stuff.
Don't listen to the self styled 'experts' they haven't done an ordinary Disney trip in their lives.
 
Riviera Rita

Riviera Rita

Well-Known Member
JD80 said:
Explaining to someone they have to book a hotel and park ticket package and then select which day they want to go to which park is easy (if not a pain in the butt). Booking is easier than ever because you don't have a 30 or 60 day FP+ selection on top of your ADR window.

Explaining to someone that you have to wake up at 6:59AM to buy G+ and then select a LL, ILL, VQ and then every two hours OR after it's use you can use another LL. Then if you have park hoppers you can't go until 2pm, but then you can't book a LL until after.

Also you can modify if you like but that doesn't change the 2 hour rule.

Then once you explain that, they'll ask what the difference between a Lightning Lane and a Individual Lightning Lane is.

Once you use it, it's not too bad, but explaining that to someone who hasn't been to WDW since 2019 as they are preparing to spend 1000s of dollars? Yeah that'll turn people off.
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I had my first trip since 2019 last year and I'm neither a younger person nor tech savvy, I couldn't even work out why my new phone had all my selfies from the trip back to front until I googled it, but, I managed perfectly well with the free LL, VQ, Genie+ and all the new stuff. What I couldn't cope with was the quality of the new CMs.
 
esskay

esskay

Well-Known Member
It's not wrong, they took it way too far.

Personally I still think a good balance would be no park reservations, 1 pre-booked attraction per day and make the rest go back to paper fast passes. It forces you to actually be there, and to go to a physical location to obtain that fastpass. Set it up so its in block sections where fastpasses for opening to noon are offered between opening and 11am, then noon to 4 or 5pm then 5pm to close.

I say this as someone who spends a great deal of my time online, I don't want to have to spend my vacation being online even more, having to screw around on my phone getting up at specific times or refreshing pages in the hope that my day wont be wasted.

Trying to explain Genie+, lightning lanes and park passes to first timers is an awful experience and you can see the look of panic and confusion in their face. It's just a complete mess.

I'm all for making use of technology to improve the experience - but no part of any of what they've implemented does that.
 
LSLS

LSLS

Well-Known Member
AndyS2992 said:
I guess, for first timers anyway. I don't need to plan as I've been many times but I actually enjoy the planning part lol I always put together a spreadsheet of what park for which day, where we'll be eating etc
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LOL, come on. You say it's not complex because you put together SPREADSHEETS that tell you exactly where you should visit when? I'm assuming you also research on when the add ons would be worth it and factor those into the calculations? Even visiting other theme parks, I don't need to have the insane planning. Planning is just "Will it be busy" and "Should I buy the fast lanes" which is a one time charge with no other planning needed (like, looking for reservations for each attraction, booking, coming back at specific times, working that around dining, making dining reservations, etc.).
 
JD80

JD80

Well-Known Member
Riviera Rita said:
I had my first trip since 2019 last year and I'm neither a younger person nor tech savvy, I couldn't even work out why my new phone had all my selfies from the trip back to front until I googled it, but, I managed perfectly well with the free LL, VQ, Genie+ and all the new stuff. What I couldn't cope with was the quality of the new CMs.
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Yeah but you're on a Disney Message Board - you were always going to figure it out.
 

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