Have I Become Jaded?

[FettFan]

 

[WondersOfLife]

A fair question and since I've been pretty negative lately I'll take a shot at a reply. First off, we have dramatically cut our Disney trips from 2-3 times a year to once every other year (and we may cut further). I keep going because I hope to find some of the magic that I used to get at WDW. I post on these forums to encourage others to (perhaps futilely) demand the same level of quality and service that Disney used to provide.

What saddens me most of all is the new generation of guests who don't know how good Disney was prior to 2010 or so, so they have no idea what they are missing or how much they are being ripped off.

I think you mean prior to like... 1999. Because I'm 20, and I remember Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios pretty much lacking a lot back in 2007-2010 too. Maybe not as much as Epcot and HS are now, but at least they're improving. And AK has already vastly improved.

 

[GoofGoof]

I think you mean prior to like... 1999. Because I'm 20, and I remember Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios pretty much lacking a lot back in 2007-2010 too. Maybe not as much as Epcot and HS are now, but at least they're improving. And AK has already vastly improved.

This is true. The dark times were really post 9/11 until FLE or Pandora opened (depending on your opinion of FLE) During that decade not much new opened and things started to noticeably slide at the parks. If you look at the history of WDW post below you can see that multiple new resorts and major attractions opened each year up until just after the turn of the century and then it slowed to a stop. When Tron Coaster opens at MK it will be nearly 30 years between E-tickets opening at that park.

http://www.wdwmagic.com/walt-disney-world-history.htm

 

[pax_65]

It's definitely a fair point... the 90s were a very cool time as new attractions and resorts were constant. I remember watching Splash Mountain rise up over Magic Kingdom and being so excited to ride it - and then having my expectations exceeded (and in fact, blown away) the first time I rode it. I remember hearing the cars running for the first time on Test Track and saying "Whoa... what was that?" and being so excited about it.

After AK opened, there were many dark years with very little in the way of attractions to look forward to. Now we have many new attractions that have recently opened or will soon be opening, so that is indeed a very good sign. I'm a big Star Wars fan so I'm very excited about SWL... I'm kinda pumped about the Star Wars "Starship" Hotel. Even though I see it as an obvious cash grab I'm still reaching for my wallet.

New attractions are just a piece of the whole experience though. I look at cost, park hours, live entertainment, and how much time I waste standing in lines too. I miss the evening parade at MK. I feel strongly that FP+ has changed how the standby lines work so that today you wait for attractions that were once walk-ons even on moderately busy days. I do not enjoy all the preplanning of MM+ and I miss the spontaneity and freedom the ParkHopper Pass once offered (and doesn't any longer because FPs are really required for many "E-ticket" attractions). The experience has changed, maybe for good. I have Disney fanatic friends who tell me to just lighten up and enjoy the queues - "They have cool themes and fun games to play!" Sigh... paying a lot of money to stand around in lines doesn't sound particularly enjoyable to me...

 

[juniorthomas]

Disney will always have crowds. Disney will always have lines. All you can do is make the best of it. It's a vacation and there's plenty of happy to be had while there. My main takeaway from your post is that you spent 8 days at Disney World.

A bad day at Disney is still better than a good day at most other places.

 

[winstongator]

they are not using as many buses either ...

I sure hope not! My thought on buses is that they need to double the number they use. This is based on my experience in college. Infrequent buses don't get used. More frequent buses, less cars parking, find some magical use for that space!

 

[winstongator]

one thing also Op, some times I suffer from "remember when-itis" if you went to Disney world during the late 90's and early 2000's (outside of 9/11) you remember Disney at literally it's golden age. It really was the standard for family vacations. The service was just really, really superb and it's hard some times to remember that and not feel like it's gone down.

I love WDW far more now than I ever did as a kid. Lots of complicating factors though, and I've learned to live with the crowds and costs.

 

[winstongator]

It's time for a fifth gate. And some serious expansions to the parks. Star Wars and Toy Story will help DHS. EPCOT, as we all know, needs some serious love and attention. I think we will see some massive upgrades and it'll help with crowds, but I really think a fifth, dare I say even a sixth, gate will drastically improve crowds while simultaneously bringing in more people. I think Disney's major plan was to increase international love and tourism for WDW, and they did this very well. But, now they really really really need to catch up with respect to new developments in order to satisfy all their new fans and tourists. I guess for now we sit and wait, hoping for the best. Until all this new development is complete, just hang in there.

I think they'll increase ticket prices to slightly reduce crowds long before they open another park.

 

[21stamps]

Didn’t the thread, apologies if this has been asked before...

Did you see Roaches?
Or
Palmetto Bugs?

ETA- Sorry, before anyone says “Palmetto Bugs are cockroaches!”
I meant- did you see the little brown roaches that infest homes.. or the large bugs that are extremely common and basically unavoidable to come in contact with if spending a good amount of time in Florida.

 

[eliza61nyc]

I love WDW far more now than I ever did as a kid. Lots of complicating factors though, and I've learned to live with the crowds and costs.

I do love the world but like you said it involves me "accepting" a lot of things where before I did not have to.
For example food, I don't think there is much argument that the food quality has suffered over the years. I no longer expect exceptional dining at Disney. It's just been watered down, now whether or not that's due to the dining plan or crowds is moot. I know that the restaurants in the parks are ok at best and overpriced (just my opinion) so I can either complain about it or accept it.
But that being said, if I'm writing a trip report, I will tell the truth or maybe it's better to say I will tell my experience.
If I spend the week at the Grand Floridian and the monorail is broken 4 out of the 7 days, yes I'm going to report that the transportation sucks.

 

[DisneyDoctor]

I think they'll increase ticket prices to slightly reduce crowds long before they open another park.

Why decrease flow? They could invest in a new park and increase flow while decreasing crowds. I don't work for Disney, but that makes more sense to me.

 

[winstongator]

This seems like a number of valid complaints wrapped together for an unlucky combination. I'd love to have 8 days straight at Disney though.

Crowds: Yogi Berra said it best, 'Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded.' I definitely lower my expectations of what will get down on the crowded times we visit, which seems like every time!

I've had no problems with the buses, but they are often slow. I've developed some patience with them. I also always have my car as a backup. My preferred transportation is by foot, which often drives our hotel choice. We also like the boats from POR to Disney Springs.

I've had some slow food experiences: Yak & Yeti counter, Pinocchio's, Sanaa. Somewhat frustrating, yes, but not too bad and more part of my expectations that things take time. I've never had a bad experience at POR's cafeteria.

If someone came into my house and there was a roach there, I'd apologize. I live in FL, but expect my home to be roach free. Seems like a little common sense & cool, calm, collected response would have gone a long way. I wonder if the rest of the trip was up to your expectations if this point would have been as big?

The cost of WDW is tough, especially when coupled with a trip that does not live up to expectations. That's always been a problem though. I remember my parents arguing over insanely long lines, merch cost, food cost, and on top of that, kids (me & my brother) that weren't grateful enough for this expensive vacation.

 

[winstongator]

I do love the world but like you said it involves me "accepting" a lot of things where before I did not have to.
For example food, I don't think there is much argument that the food quality has suffered over the years. I no longer expect exceptional dining at Disney. It's just been watered down, now whether or not that's due to the dining plan or crowds is moot. I know that the restaurants in the parks are ok at best and overpriced (just my opinion) so I can either complain about it or accept it.
But that being said, if I'm writing a trip report, I will tell the truth or maybe it's better to say I will tell my experience.
If I spend the week at the Grand Floridian and the monorail is broken 4 out of the 7 days, yes I'm going to report that the transportation sucks.

My first trip to WDW was around the mid-80's, somewhere between 82-88 - I was young. My memory of then was the food being mediocre at best and overpriced - at least that was my parents view as they were paying. My memory of lines is that they were more painful. Maybe that's just being an impatient kid, maybe fast-passes. My recent experience with wdw starts at 2013, and my personal circumstances are very different than when I went as a kid.

A friend complained to the Poly front desk about the monorail when it was down once. Got some paper all attraction/all time fast passes. He couldn't use them all, so gave some to us. I also think the bus waits are too long and would love to see more buses yielding shorter waits. I've got my van as backup.

 

[jloucks]

So first, let me start by saying this post could easily fall under this category or Trip Reports category but I settled on here since I'm not going to recall all of my trip. Second, I swear I'm not just looking for a place to complain. I am a Disney parks fanatic through and through and I feel like I'm usually about a step away from selling Disney vacations door to door. I just wanted to start a discussion and see if I'm alone in feeling a certain way after our last trip.
Two weeks ago, we spent 8 days at WDW staying at Port Orleans - Riverside. This was our first trip staying at that resort but not our first WDW trip. In fact, we've been visiting WDW every year for the past several years. I'll start by saying I've seen a lot of chatter lately (on this forum and others) about how the parks, specifically MK, have become TOO crowded to be enjoyable. I really thought this was just people being a little over dramatic but after a couple of days of the same experience, I was starting to second guess that. I will say that not every day was this crowded but there were several days where you just could not move through the sea of people. Several times we just sat and people watched as it was just too crowded to actually do anything.
Then, there was the bus transportation. Now, I've had some crazy bus lines but every single night on this trip; no matter the time, no matter the park, the bus lines were crazy. I wouldn't have been too upset by this but we were always next to the Coronado stop and every night, they would have about 4 buses picking up 15-20 people in the time it took us to get two buses and man, were the bus drivers some of the most hateful cast members.
Then the final straw for me was the resort. The food court was a nightmare every night. Usually Disney seems to be pretty organized when it comes to food service but not here. On at least two different nights, we waited for 20+ minutes for food only to find out the kitchen had somehow lost our order. We had housekeeping leave a dirty tray of food in the room (that was sitting in plain sight on the table) and found roaches on two different occasions.
I say all this to come around to my discussion topic I guess. I went to the front desk and wrote an email to guest services. I've always heard about Disney's excellent commitment to customer service but as we've never complained or gone to guest services, I've never had a personal experience. The hotel manager acted like I was an idiot for complaining about roaches. He proceeded to tell me we were in Florida and there are roaches in Florida. He apologized and moved us to another room. My email to guest services got us a whopping $150 back. Now look, I certainly wasn't trying to get a full refund of our trip but after spending over $2000 just in room fees and park tickets, $150 almost seemed laughable and I'm not sure I've ever stayed in ANY hotel that would take having roaches as lightly as the manager at Port Orleans did.
Usually, by this time, I'm already rearing to go back but we actually just cancelled our trip for next year and are trying to decide if we really want to go back before 2021. Has anyone else run into this feeling? I don't want to become jaded but I just feel a complete sense of disappointment after this trip.

Were the roaches the giant suckers or the little German roaches. The latter being an issue and the prior being normal.

Anywho, apart from the roaches. I completely agree. The buses and crowd levels are not appropriate for the price of the vacation. At least, not for me. But ultimately people vote with their pocketbooks and they are voting in droves for the cattle-car experience. I must be getting hoity toity in my older age, but I have come to detest anything cattle-car like.

Try the Disney Cruise next time. I just got back from one and it was excellent compared to WDW crowds, food, and buses.