I find this sentiment odd. Why wouldn't anyone do their due diligence when traveling somewhere? It is a big chunk of money that you are spending and to do little to no research is setting yourself up for failure. It is not a question of if you can go somewhere and wing it, it is more that it is foolish to do so.
My point is Disney is way too complicated for them, not that they are completely advserse to planning a vacation. The input isn't worth the output (cost is also a factor).
I feel like you may not have your fingers on the pulse of the typical American vacationer. I believe it is a minority of folks that want to plan out every minute of their vacation, though there are certainly some out there. Most people want to have fun, relax some, and not be on a high-pressure schedule or worked over for more $$ at every step.
due diligence is one thing. Having to plan out so many details during the day is excessive. My family was shocked by how much planning I did when we visited in the late 90s and up to 2019. But, once they understood the value and how much more they were able to experience because of that planning, they were very appreciative.
So you are missing out on several of the new requirements.
another evil yes.. but not really so much part of planning IMO. Unless you're talking about the stupid scenarios like "if you don't order by 9:30am, lunch will be sold out by the time you want lunch"... which was another fail of Mobile ordering
Woodys Lunch Box anyone?
You left out the part of my quote where I said even in FP+ days people complained. This is nothing new.
So there is nothing to be said... because there was work before too? As if things couldn't possibly get worse, or impact people in more ways?
Then quit arguing.
And that's why it makes the most sense for Disney to continue to make the process detailed and cumbersome. Both the uber-planners and the non-planners will have more time for in-park purchases, either through their efficient use of time or lack of. "If we rope drop the 3 biggest rides, we can hit Starbucks afterwards instead of spending time in line." "This line is 90 minutes. Do you want to stand in it or should we just go get Starbucks?"
It’s much worse now.
Not to nitpick but a trip to Orlando does not last a week or two for everyone. The longest I have ever been is 5 nights, and I’ve been a lot.
I remember when the Beauty and the Beast restaurant just opened and we were lucky enough to score lunch reservations. However, at the time (don’t know if it’s still the same now) they made you pick what you wanted to eat and pay for it to complete the reservation. My partner had a royal meltdown about having to decide what he wanted for lunch months before the lunch.
In the old days at WDW, you could only make ADR a max of ONE day in advance. I remember making same day ADR while standing in a queue, talking to a human over the phone.
