How far will Disney go?

[NowInc]

...I promised myself Id stay out of this thread..but I have a small comment to make....

You think Disney is going down the tubes? Try looking at their competition sometime. Compaired to everyone else...they are still highest in quality, and quantity. This is yet anoter case of expecting too much from Disney when they are in fact already doing a lot to make things better. I can not recall a time when there were so many "works in progress" at a single time in the entire history of disney (with the exception of when a new park is being built).

Ok..I iknow I said "small" comment..so I'll stop now

 

[Dwarful]

Hey jcmayid, we always stay onsite...and we always pay for the resort upfront...since 5 of the 8 in our group are young children we foot the bill! But we have never stayed at a HoJo..what I am saying is this...we can pay $80 for a SUITE at the Embassy Suites or DoubleTree Suites in Orlando...yet we are paying the same price for the All Stars which in my opinion are good enough for us because we aren't in the rooms that much...but I think $50-$70 is top dollar they are worth even being onsite and getting to use the busses and monorails etc.... I dont know what they mean by saying "Not many" people took advantage of EE days because we always had to get to the busses early to get there the all star people seem to flock to the parks for EE days..maybe the upscale resorts dont see the people rushing but then maybe they can affoard to pay more for more days...longer stays...We are flying in this time..no car unless we rent one for a few days...which we will be doing because the older kids want to go to Universal..which by the way may have raised thier single day tickets but you can get a 5 day hopper pass for the two different parks for $99 adults $89 kids! The theme of the hotels are great ...the theme in the rooms are not! I for one would love to see more parades...one spectro during our ten day stay? another person responded saying they will be there for two weeks first part of may and only one parade then as well! So they are compromising things guests want...the parades, the Eride nights, etc. Thats all I was trying to say..for what they are charging they should cut other things and try and give the resort guests some perks still not available to everyone! we havent seen great satisfaction with the character caravan...i think they should scrap it and use the money for other things if they are in that tight of a bind.

 

[Dwarful]

Oh I dont think Disney is going down the tubes at all ...if I did I wouldnt be taking my family and my money there for 10 days! I think though the original question was how far will disney go???as far as we let them.. If they have so many things in the works right now but have to compromise daily things people expect then maybe they should cut some of those back for the time being...for example on the video they sent when we first picked our dates..(.way back in Oct) it advertised teh SpectroMagic Parade...well we are there 10 days and there is one parade. what about people that cant affoard ten days???stay 5 only??do those kids miss that wonderful Disney parade???also in april they posted the may hours and listed the eride nights then last week they cancelled them. not so good get people excited and then take it away! thats all i was saying...if we didnt love it we wouldn't go...

 

[jcmayid]

Originally posted by MKCustodial


Lemme ask you, JC, you guys just stay in property, I mean park-wise? You don't go off to Universal or something?
I was wondering because many people here seem to do just that, and even though I love Disney with all my heart, I'd never take trip to Orlando and miss stuff like Universal and IoA, Sea World, Busch Gardens, etc.

Last time we went to IOA and Universal we booked a hotel for the night before we went to Universal for just that one night, then in the am we check out go to IOA then when we left we checked into the Disney resort. Then we stayed there till we left. We try to schedule all Universal, IOA, and Busch Gardens visits before Disney visits so we stay on property for the length of our stay at Disney.

 

[jcmayid]

Originally posted by Dwarful
Thats all I was trying to say..for what they are charging they should cut other things and try and give the resort guests some perks still not available to everyone! we havent seen great satisfaction with the character caravan...i think they should scrap it and use the money for other things if they are in that tight of a bind.

I agree, personally I think they should ditch the caravan, I always walk right by it. Early entry is also no big deal. What they should really do is E-ride nights only for resort guests, and that's it, I think more people would take advantage of this more than anything else.

 

[Dwarful]

EXACTLY!!!! Hey how much hassel was it to switch hotels?? We thought about doing that because US and IOA are offering some serious hotel discounts...but my husband thinks it will be alot of hassle...we are traveling with 5 children.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

This is yet anoter case of expecting too much from Disney when they are in fact already doing a lot to make things better.

Disney set themselves high standards and thats why it has the following it does. What appears to be the criticism now is that the nice touches are slowly being eroded. as ive said else where my problem is they are still advertising things that are no longer available, that to me is deceitful. It does raise a doubt in so much that you become wary of the next item to be sacraficed. Pay for the buses/monorail? Car parking charges for resort guests?
If you actually write down the changes since 2K it is quite an eye opener. Investing in the parks with new atractions that is to be applauded but in the knowledge that even the cheepo parks build new things. Perhaps if maintenance hadnt been so neglected the costs wouldnt be so high now.
I hope they consolidate their position and by summer reinstate all the futile penny pinching things that have been cut. Cause lets face it WDW is the home of the Mouse not Scroodge Mc Duck.

 

[jcmayid]

Originally posted by Dwarful
EXACTLY!!!! Hey how much hassel was it to switch hotels?? We thought about doing that because US and IOA are offering some serious hotel discounts...but my husband thinks it will be alot of hassle...we are traveling with 5 children.

It was no hassle at all, we stayed at the HoJo accross the street from Universal property for very cheap, like $42 a night, just slept the night, woke up packed our bags and went to IOA. Then when we were done at IOA we continued on to Ft Wilderness where we stayd for the next several days. Totally worth the little extra effort.

 

[bvolguards]

i wouldn't worry.....i have been to epcot several times in 2002 and each time i see fairly good progress on mission space from the last time......i think they might have taken the countdown clock down because they dont want to be pressured on saying when mission space will be open to the exact minute......just a thought

 

[Dwarful]

I do agree with Happy Snapper and I wrote Disney and told them exactly that. I mean, why advertise SpectroMagic if they are only going to do it a few times in the month, also the Eride nights and early entree. I am assuming they will still send your parcels to the resort where you now pick them up at the gift shop instead of going straight to your room...or have they cut that as well??? I for one would rather have eride nights then have character caravan...I felt like we were promised one thing and are getting something else..would be different if it was upgrades but its downgrades! Still I know it will be a magical trip....but this sort of behavior isn't something Disney can continue and still maintain high customer satisfaction.

 

[MKCustodial]

You're right, they're sending packages to resorts instead to rooms (downgrade, I think), and I'd also like to see the caravan scraped in hopes of getting Early Entries back.
I agree with NowInc that, sometimes, we tend to "complain with our stomachs full" (little Brazilian saying), but I also agree with the Snapper, it's their fault they set their standards so high and then forget all about it. I don't think Walt would be happy.

 

[cymbaldiva]

Once again I state (pointed this out on another thread)- the cutbacks have been going on for awhile, and were occuring long before 9/11. I guess that's my punishment for going too often - the cutbacks are terribly obvious!

 

[foxfire]

I certainly don't feel Disney is going down the tubes. Granted, times are rough for everyone, not just WDW, Universal, etc. My concern was that WDW would wind up scrapping more attractions, such as CoP, in the midst of the budget crunch.

As far as the on/off property debate, I think I'll stay out of that one... =)