Disney World Planning is far too complicated (CNBC article)

[Sirwalterraleigh]

One of the major points of stress/complication during a WDW trip is FOMO.

While you may not care if you miss out on one of the mountains at MK, because there are so many other options, you will feel that stress at DAK or DHS if you miss out on Flight of Passage or ROTR.

With the limited options at DHS for example, if you have kids, they have to experience Slinky Dog and Toy Story Mania... and that's about it? Unless they care for Star Wars, not many other options to fill up your day outside of shows.

Don't want to wait 90 minutes for Peter Pan's Flight? No worries, go to PhilarMagic, Winnie the Pooh, Buzz Lightyear, etc.
Not tall enough for Fight of Passage? Navi, Safaris... maybe Kali River if you want to get wet.

…no matter what your means…it’s simply too much money to spend to be told to “miss out” on everything

It both feeds their beast and is driving general angst to unheard of levels. Both are unsustainable.

 

[epcotWSC]

IMO, the easy answer is to make everything strike on the same day. ADRs, Park reservations, FP+ (G+ can get lost). 60 days out, you do everything at once and you're good to go. Pre-COVID the problem was that you had to do all sorts of different things at different times. You had to mark down all of these different dates to do all sorts of different things. Just allow everyone to do everything at once and it won't be so confusing. If you're keeping LL for the big new attractions for day of, then do your thing. However, let people just book everything else at the same time and they dont' have to worry about it anymore.

 

[Eric Graham]

The worst was when my wife canceled a Good Neighbor reservation and switched it to a different credit card to earn more points on the different credit card And I had to step back in time and manually make my dining reservations which took all week because the new reservation wasn't showing up by Disney in the system and it took 3 days to be in the system. I'm going to have to talk to her about that. Ha! =)

 

[doctornick]

The issue here is that people just love to complain about something. 25 years ago it was " the lines are too long". Then they introduced the paper FP then it was "If I don't get to the park early, all of the FP are gone". Then they went to being able to pre pick 3 ahead of time, then we heard "I don't want to plan so far out". It seems like there are just some people that will never be happy and will always find something to complain about. How horrible for all of those people that have to spend a bit of time planning a vacation. I am sure the people who will never be able to afford to go are crying for all of you.

To be fair, those aren’t all the same people. I think the greater point is that nothing Disney does could satisfy everyone because different people want different things to be fixed/changed. Ultimately it comes down to the reality that the demand for WDW far exceeds the supply at this point in time.

Really the best way to “solve” WDW’s problems is to add a crapload of capacity, but if you build a ton of great new rides or shows, then you end up with inducing more demand. So maybe just build a bunch of B tickets? But then the company doesn’t get good ROI.

 

[MagicRat]

Can I offer you a drink? Tab or New Coke?

I don’t drink soda, are you old enough to enjoy a real drink?

 

[MagicRat]

“I’ll take BS excuses for $200,Alex?”

Have you been or are you living on the West Coast? I have been multiple times and am a central time zone person who gets up at 5 am to start my day.

The BS on this thread is everyone complaining about Europe or Hawaii being easier to plan for when they have never been to neither.

What excuses do I need? It’s based in fact because I actually have experienced. But just keep meandering!

 

[Touchdown]

Have you been or are you living on the West Coast? I have been multiple times and am a central time zone person who gets up at 5 am to start my day.

The BS on this thread is everyone complaining about Europe or Hawaii being easier to plan for when they have never been to neither.

What excuses do I need? It’s based in fact because I actually have experienced. But just keep meandering!

I’ve been to those places too, don’t think you have a monopoly just because we hold different opinions.

 

[flynnibus]

Every other hotel I stay in... I can go downstairs and eat at the restaurant in my hotel.

At Disney, I needed to decide weeks ahead I might be hungry.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Have you been or are you living on the West Coast? I have been multiple times and am a central time zone person who gets up at 5 am to start my day.

The BS on this thread is everyone complaining about Europe or Hawaii being easier to plan for when they have never been to neither.

What excuses do I need? It’s based in fact because I actually have experienced. But just keep meandering!

I got you…

But that’s really a “comparison fallacy”. Because some places require that does NOT…in anyway…invalidate the shade we throw at Disney.

Bob Iger…no one else…believed his own bunk and purposely allowed their crowds to overrun the capacity. Because he’s his own biggest fan and got bad advice.

So that’s why we’re scheduling down to the minute…not because it “makes sense” or is “customer preference”…because they failed.

 

[Chi84]

Every other hotel I stay in... I can go downstairs and eat at the restaurant in my hotel.

At Disney, I needed to decide weeks ahead I might be hungry.

That's your fault. I'm able to plan out my hunger in advance.

 

[flynnibus]

That's your fault. I'm able to plan out my hunger in advance.

Hunger.. LOCKED IN!

 

[jaklgreen]

You go to Hawaii, you might look up cool places to go visit, things to eat, other things to do. You go to Disney, you may look into restaurants, different rides you want to try, different parks. That was what it used to be, and I agree, that isn't anything over the top. But I don't need to research historical trends to tell me the best day to hit a museum or the beach on an island. I don't need to plan out the exact time I'm going to eat months before we leave if I plan on just sitting down and relaxing for a bit with a meal. I don't have to sit on my phone constantly trying to get reservations to do a 2 minute activity throughout the entire day. And I don't have to know the ins and outs of the phone app just to ensure I am able to not stand in long lines with kids all day. Yes, planning is involved in every vacation to an extent. The problem is Disney takes a TON more than others now, and it's not all planning so that you are prepared and can just relax. You plan, then you need to constantly refresh and adapt to what is available, what is open, etc. Genie and ILL have added a lot of complexity to it.

In Hawaii you should research what days are the jellyfish days so you don't go into the ocean and get stung. You should research the best ways to get to your excursions and when is the best time of day to go. You should research what hours restaurants are open because most a local mom and pop places and have limited hours. You should research their different laws that way you know that it is illegal to cross the street while looking at your phone. You should research what sunblock to bring because you should only use reef safe ones. Just because you didn't due enough research on your trip, doesn't mean that you shouldn't have.

 

[MagicRat]

I got you…

But that’s really a “comparison fallacy”. Because some places require that does NOT…in anyway…invalidate the shade we throw at Disney.

Bob Iger…no one else…believed his own bunk and purposely allowed their crowds to overrun the capacity. Because he’s his own biggest fan and got bad advice.

So that’s why we’re scheduling down to the minute…not because it “makes sense” or is “customer preference”…because they failed.

And Mr Touchdown guy;

I didn’t create the comparison others did on this thread, that was my point from the get go, please keep up! Quit complaining about one’s made up version of going to Hawaii, Mexico or Europe and your Disney trip.

All trips require planning. Going back for DVC trip to Disney for 12 days in two weeks. No tickets yet because I will not pay until I have to for park hoppers when I was a annual pass holder for 20 years, will get them last minute and will pay for lightening and be able to use it because I can think, pay for quick service that is good (don’t go to burger places) and will have a great time. Beers at the park, cooler at the pool.

It’s just as much (actually more) work to take 12 hours of flying from where I come from including connections to Hawaii or Europe. Then you have all of the logistics of being in an outside country, basically Hawaii is that place too. It’s easy to make as one poster say, “BS”, when you haven’t don’t them all. Disney still is easy, the problem was it was a McDonalds order type catered trip in the past and now you don’t have magical express to find your way to the happiest place on Earth.

I never wanted that inconvenience anyway so found other methods. What aggregates me, is the lazy just wants more lazy and then complain about it when they get just what they asked for,

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

And Mr Touchdown guy;

I didn’t create the comparison others did on this thread, that was my point from the get go, please keep up! Quit complaining about one’s made up version of going to Hawaii, Mexico or Europe and your Disney trip.

All trips require planning. Going back for DVC trip to Disney for 12 days in two weeks. No tickets yet because I will not pay until I have to for park hoppers when I was a annual pass holder for 20 years, will get them last minute and will pay for lightening and be able to use it because I can think, pay for quick service that is good (don’t go to burger places) and will have a great time. Beers at the park, cooler at the pool.

It’s just as much (actually more) work to take 12 hours of flying from where I come from including connections to Hawaii or Europe. Then you have all of the logistics of being in an outside country, basically Hawaii is that place too. It’s easy to make as one poster say, “BS”, when you haven’t don’t them all. Disney still is easy, the problem was it was a McDonalds order type catered trip in the past and now you don’t have magical express to find your way to the happiest place on Earth.

I never wanted that inconvenience anyway so found other methods. What aggregates me, is the lazy just wants more lazy and then complain about it when they get just what they asked for,

Ok…you got a lot of stuff going on here…

Blessed travels

 

[MagicRat]

Ok…you got a lot of stuff going on here…

Blessed travels

You seem quite banty on this board, I just enjoy pointing out how it’s not really that hard or grave. For the most of the people though, I consider you outspoken but funny!

 

[MagicRat]

It’s just like the puritan midwest state I live in, if we could just allow BUD light carts in the magic kingdom would that offset everyone’s anger for it but allow old school fast pass and AP’s again?

Not a MAGA guy but can we have a an acronym for bring beer carts to Mk?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

You seem quite banty on this board, I just enjoy pointing out how it’s not really that hard or grave. For the most of the people though, I consider you outspoken but funny!

Not “grave”. I give you that. But “too much?” That’s a more valid, varied argument.

 

[RobbinsDad]

We've now been on two major WDW trips since the introduction of Genie+. We've never used the service. I couldn't imagine being a first-time guest today.

If you're there for an extended amount of time and staying on property, rope drops mitigate the need for Genie+. You just have to be disciplined enough to get there. I did purchase a few ILL's our last trip and that was especially handy in Epcot.

 

[zombiebbq]

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.

I've gotten about one sentence into talking about planning a Disney vacation and all my friends' eyes glaze over. None of them are interested enough to do that much work as you have outlined here.

 

[Villains0501]

If you're there for an extended amount of time and staying on property, rope drops mitigate the need for Genie+. You just have to be disciplined enough to get there. I did purchase a few ILL's our last trip and that was especially handy in Epcot.

Totally agree. We did that in Dec. 2021. First time consistently rope dropping almost everyday in a long time, plus taking advantage of the early half hour entry.

This most recent trip, Jan/Feb. 2023, we rope dropped once in two weeks, then did some of the deluxe extra evening hours. But overall we took a much more relaxed approach to attractions. Only managed one ride each on Pirates and HM, which normally get multiple re-rides from us.

We just didn't want to deal with it this time. Our expectations for re-rides and spontaneous walk-ons have been lowered dramatically for the last decade or so. I just don't want to stress myself out with a bucket list every time I go, so I usually walk into each park expecting to ride literally nothing, then hope to be pleasantly surprised.