Is a WDW vacation worth it now?

[Dreaming of Disney World]

I'm a huge WDW fan. When we last took the kids in 2019 we booked a bounce back offer for 2020. But we never went due to covid. We pushed it back to 2021 and then again to 2022. Well now the time has come to decide if we will go. We are all vaccinated now, so I would be okay with us going. But the rest of my family is concerned that the trip won't be fun due to genie and having to wait in long lines. Previously I was an expert at using fastpass, and we never waited in long lines. I just kept getting fast passes all day long. It was great. But I keep hearing that people are only going on a handful of rides due to genie availability, and lines are long. Is this still the case? We would be going the week of August 6th. My kids do not want to spend their whole days waiting in long lines. They say they don't want to go if that's the case. They would prefer having an outdoors vacation in the White Mountains in NH which is what we did last year. My husband agrees with them but also knows I really want to go to Disney and feels bad that we had go keep putting off the trip. The NH vacation would cost half the price, but Disney World is my favorite place, and I really want to go. My husband says he keeps hearing it's horrible now.

So would Disney World be fun or horrible? Is the money and experience worth it?

 

[DarthVader]

Not sure what you said that I could even take the wrong way.

I didn't want my criticism to be misconstrued to thinking that I'm trying to beat the drum that Disney is bad and no one should go. Rather this was my personal decision based on factors that I find important.

Maybe once we get beyond the 50th anniversary things will settle down and I can go back to planning for a WDW vacation

 

[GimpYancIent]

I'm a huge WDW fan. When we last took the kids in 2019 we booked a bounce back offer for 2020. But we never went due to covid. We pushed it back to 2021 and then again to 2022. Well now the time has come to decide if we will go. We are all vaccinated now, so I would be okay with us going. But the rest of my family is concerned that the trip won't be fun due to genie and having to wait in long lines. Previously I was an expert at using fastpass, and we never waited in long lines. I just kept getting fast passes all day long. It was great. But I keep hearing that people are only going on a handful of rides due to genie availability, and lines are long. Is this still the case? We would be going the week of August 6th. My kids do not want to spend their whole days waiting in long lines. They say they don't want to go if that's the case. They would prefer having an outdoors vacation in the White Mountains in NH which is what we did last year. My husband agrees with them but also knows I really want to go to Disney and feels bad that we had go keep putting off the trip. The NH vacation would cost half the price, but Disney World is my favorite place, and I really want to go. My husband says he keeps hearing it's horrible now.

So would Disney World be fun or horrible? Is the money and experience worth it?

Some people have grown to dislike the Disney parks while some people are excited at the mere prospect of going to a Disney park. As I have said many times it's your time, your wants, your expectations and your money. If you and your family will derive satisfaction, happiness and fun from a Disney vacation then it is worth it to you and your family. If on the other hand you feel it will not be satisfying, fun and worthwhile then don't go. Ultimately it's all on you not on anyone else.

 

[yensid1967]

Trust me when I say that we are going with lowered expectations.

This really sums up the current Disney World Vacation experience! It's the way most guests are feeling! Disney needs to see things like this!
I AM going back to ORLANDO in December 2026...what Disney-look it will have is yet to be determined!

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

It depends. What are your expectations on a "Disney Vacation"? Are you the type that wants to spend 7 non-stop days in the parks and deal with crowds, long lines, frustration, and stress navigating Genie+ and ILL, ? If so, probably not worth it.

Or are you the type that enjoys the "Disney bubble" with a few days at the parks, an evening at Springs, relaxing at your resort, maybe a trip over to Boardwalk and/or FW, a couple of ADR's elsewhere on property - all at your own pace and on your own schedule? - Well then, maybe worth it.

 

[yensid1967]

It depends. What are your expectations on a "Disney Vacation"? Are you the type that wants to spend 7 non-stop days in the parks and deal with crowds, long lines, frustration, and stress navigating Genie+ and ILL, ? If so, probably not worth it.

Or are you the type that enjoys the "Disney bubble" with a few days at the parks, an evening at Springs, relaxing at your resort, maybe a trip over to Boardwalk and/or FW, a couple of ADR's elsewhere on property - all at your own pace and on your own schedule? - Well then, maybe worth it.

Neither...
I am the type that USE to enjoy planning a Disney trip, when everything DID NOT have to be planned day by day, or you did not have to reserve your day in the parks.
Given the current state, I could live with making park reservations, but other than that nothing else! I would like to see GENIE+ replaced with more of a FP+ 'paid' system for the more popular attractions and the other rides just being regular FP! What was so wrong with FP/FP+ that they had to replace it with GENIE+? NOTHING! With FP you got to ride more rides (the reason you paid admission), but if I want to make sure I ride a certain must do ride, I would pay for a FP+ time slot to make sure I do get to ride it! Al A Carte type of thing!

 

[wagner1225]

I'm a huge WDW fan. When we last took the kids in 2019 we booked a bounce back offer for 2020. But we never went due to covid. We pushed it back to 2021 and then again to 2022. Well now the time has come to decide if we will go. We are all vaccinated now, so I would be okay with us going. But the rest of my family is concerned that the trip won't be fun due to genie and having to wait in long lines. Previously I was an expert at using fastpass, and we never waited in long lines. I just kept getting fast passes all day long. It was great. But I keep hearing that people are only going on a handful of rides due to genie availability, and lines are long. Is this still the case? We would be going the week of August 6th. My kids do not want to spend their whole days waiting in long lines. They say they don't want to go if that's the case. They would prefer having an outdoors vacation in the White Mountains in NH which is what we did last year. My husband agrees with them but also knows I really want to go to Disney and feels bad that we had go keep putting off the trip. The NH vacation would cost half the price, but Disney World is my favorite place, and I really want to go. My husband says he keeps hearing it's horrible now.

So would Disney World be fun or horrible? Is the money and experience worth it?

Just had some Co-workers come back and said never again, parks too full and long waits and making reservations to get in parks, we are long time visitors but I think the fun is being taken away

 

[Club34]

Look, this is an important question. Is it worth it to go. This is an answer that each individual has to make. But Disney is making the choice easier not simply by price (although that is certainly a big factor- more so for some than others) but simply by taking away your choices. They have fastpassed the buying public to forget the little choices of worth (which ride, which FP, which restaurant, etc) because they are largely taken away (or if you haven't payed/planned to a "T" you can forget about it) to now a general question of is this worth it to even show up. This is an evolution that is new in the past couple of years.

Spontaneity and choice have largely been replaced by Disney vacation Prix Fixe menu. And no, that is not worth it to me (and it's not that I do not want to go). The park reservation system alone tells you it is not worth it. You mean to tell me if I pay the mouse $3K for a vacation I cannot wake up on a Tuesday and decide to go to Magic Kingdom because I damn well feel like it? That's a no from the mouse? You are you crazy?

 

[DarthVader]

Just had some Co-workers come back and said never again, parks too full and long waits and making reservations to get in parks, we are long time visitors but I think the fun is being taken away

I read about mid-tier rides, like the jungle cruise having wait times over 2 hours.

Spontaneity and choice

Vacations are supposed to be fun, time to enjoy and decompress from a stressful, and hectic life. Sadly the way things are currently configured, that's not the case. I read a story about a 70+ year old couple turned away at disneyland because they didn't have a park reservation. They had purchased the tickets but would denied entry because no reservation. Is that something that Walt Disney would be proud of, if he were alive?

 

[yensid1967]

I read about mid-tier rides, like the jungle cruise having wait times over 2 hours.


Vacations are supposed to be fun, time to enjoy and decompress from a stressful, and hectic life. Sadly the way things are currently configured, that's not the case. I read a story about a 70+ year old couple turned away at disneyland because they didn't have a park reservation. They had purchased the tickets but would denied entry because no reservation. Is that something that Walt Disney would be proud of, if he were alive?

NO! And Disney should be ashamed of themselves in cases like this! Disney is picking up speed going down that hill!

 

[Jedi Osborn]

I'm right there with you. We used to travel from upstate NY as often as possible. We loved WDW and everything about it. From the purple road signs to the E rides.
But something is different. Maybe it's me, maybe I'm too old now. Or I've been on Space Mountain too many times. But the magic is waning.
I look at pictures and think about the trips, and I want to go back.
But then I remember the reality of our last trip in October 21 (it was the 25th wedding anniversary, we HAD to go) and it was full of so many lines. If I wanted a cup of coffee, it was a 10 minute wait!

I don't know what to think or feel anymore. WDW used to be our happy place, our goal and our default vacation destination. Now, I'm doubting it and I hate that feeling.

Too much emotion there?

 

[Weather_Lady]

I'm right there with you. We used to travel from upstate NY as often as possible. We loved WDW and everything about it. From the purple road signs to the E rides.
But something is different. Maybe it's me, maybe I'm too old now. Or I've been on Space Mountain too many times. But the magic is waning.
I look at pictures and think about the trips, and I want to go back.
But then I remember the reality of our last trip in October 21 (it was the 25th wedding anniversary, we HAD to go) and it was full of so many lines. If I wanted a cup of coffee, it was a 10 minute wait!

I don't know what to think or feel anymore. WDW used to be our happy place, our goal and our default vacation destination. Now, I'm doubting it and I hate that feeling.

Too much emotion there?

Same (and we're from upstate NY as well). I used to enjoy every minute of planning our nearly-annual Disney vacations, even as it gradually took more and more time to do (e.g., once legacy FP became FP+). At least, once the planning was done, I could relax and trust that we had the framework for a great vacation in place, and we'd still be able to enjoy spontaneous extras like additional Fastpasses and parkhopping.

Nowadays, you have to plan exponentially more (e.g., park reservations, purchase Genie+ or not), while having exponentially less certainty (e.g., still may not get the Genie+/ILL things you want, and may spend all day on your phone trying to get your money's worth), along with less chance to change plans to work around bad weather, bad crowds, or ride downtime (e.g., can't simply parkhop where you want, when you want, even with a parkhopper ticket). It sucks.

I've said this on other threads, but just to reiterate: for my family, Disney not only isn't worth the cost right now, it's not even worth our time. We had a chance to spend a couple days at WDW this past February FOR FREE. We had comped 2-day parkhopper tickets and over $3K in Disney gift cards from a canceled room reservation last August -- but faced with the parkhopping restrictions, need for park reservations, long lines with rides still not even operating at full capacity, every queue in every park already filled with onsite guests if you're arriving from offsite at park opening, and stress around Genie+, my husband and two kids, formerly Disney superfans, didn't even want to go there when all we'd have to pay was the cost of a rideshare over from our Universal hotel! Honestly, the fact that they said no still blows my mind, but that's how dramatically our enthusiasm for Disney World has been relentlessly squelched by Disney's changes over the last couple of years.

 

[Jedi Osborn]

Oh, a fellow lover of crazy weather and high taxes Nice to meet you.

It's good (and bad, I suppose) to find someone with the same sentiments. I don't mean to complain, I don't want to be negative. WDW was our happy place. Planning, dreaming, travelling, it was a hobby, a lifestyle and a way to escape the daily drudge even if only mentally.

But, and I don't want to be dramatic, everything seems a little tainted now. Crowds and money are the biggest issue for us. But it's hard to be excited when you know what a slog everything will be and how much it'll cost. I mean it's never been cheap, but we're at a new level now. And like you said, even for free, it's so FULL. The lines are terrible, and the genie thing isn't helping. Ugh. I'm sorry, at this point I'm just venting the same stuff everyone else has said, but it's nice to have like minded people to listen. (I hope)

 

[yensid1967]

Weather Lady and Jedi Osborn....
I feel the same way! The joy of JUST planning a Disney vacation has been SUCKED from the Disney Universe for the mighty dollar! GENIE+ suck out the ying yang (never have used it, just don't like a change that doesn't make sense and costs!) I remember sitting down and looing up prices, planning each day for each park what rides we would do...but now it's more of planning everyday with the hope of GENIE+ helping achieve your rides!
My trip in 2026 to FLORIDA will be my last to consider going to Disney! As it stands right now, I have a 3 Day ticket planned, but it may be 1 day or none for Disney...depending on the situations of the costs per day, offerings. My hope with planning so far out is that everything will be back to normal, pre-pandemic...no park reservations, REVERT back to free FP's and a paid FP system for a guaranteed return to most popular rides...I would pay for that if the ride was a must do! Was FP really a broken service? That they had to replace it with a paid service that does not guarantee a ride and a service that is sold out for the day minutes after coming online each day! I say bring FREE FP's back with a paid price for EACH popular attraction! Go back to buying ride tickets for those popular rides! PROBLEM SOLVED and Disney still makes extra money. If not something like that, then if they are going to keep the GENIE+ pay system...then lower admission since we have to pay for something that should come with your admission!

 

[Disstevefan1]

I'm a huge WDW fan. When we last took the kids in 2019 we booked a bounce back offer for 2020. But we never went due to covid. We pushed it back to 2021 and then again to 2022. Well now the time has come to decide if we will go. We are all vaccinated now, so I would be okay with us going. But the rest of my family is concerned that the trip won't be fun due to genie and having to wait in long lines. Previously I was an expert at using fastpass, and we never waited in long lines. I just kept getting fast passes all day long. It was great. But I keep hearing that people are only going on a handful of rides due to genie availability, and lines are long. Is this still the case? We would be going the week of August 6th. My kids do not want to spend their whole days waiting in long lines. They say they don't want to go if that's the case. They would prefer having an outdoors vacation in the White Mountains in NH which is what we did last year. My husband agrees with them but also knows I really want to go to Disney and feels bad that we had go keep putting off the trip. The NH vacation would cost half the price, but Disney World is my favorite place, and I really want to go. My husband says he keeps hearing it's horrible now.

So would Disney World be fun or horrible? Is the money and experience worth it?

It sounds like you were an expert with Fastpass +. I am guessing you quickly become an expert at Genie + and Individual Lightning Lane.
I suggest you go, this way you will know either way, if this new system works for you and your family.

If you don't go and try the system for yourself, you will never know.

 

[yensid1967]

It sounds like you were an expert with Fastpass +. I am guessing you quickly become an expert at Genie + and Individual Lightning Lane.
I suggest you go, this way you will know either way, if this new system works for you and your family.

If you don't go and try the system for yourself, you will never know.

not an expert, just know what works and what doesn't! It's not rocket science! Disney wants GENIE+ to do some magic but all its dong is causing headaches and dislikes among guests!
It doesn't take an expert to see that FP was working for everyone! You got to ride the rides you wanted during the day! GENIE+ it seems if you aren't online at 7am EACH MORNING to get your GENIE+ selections, then you don't have a chance! BUT THEY STILL HAVE YOUR MONEY!
FREE FP's system would be better, like it was! Riding a theme park ride is a privilege AFTER you pay your admission price! There should be no extra costs to ride the rides you have already paid for!
BUT...if I want to ride a certain ride (7DMT, SPACE MTN, HAUNTED MANSION, JUNGLE CRUISE, PotC, BTMRR, SPLASH MTN) I would pay extra as a FP+ service to ride during my park day! That's my simple answer to GENIE+...everyone should be happy then!? But probably not!

 

[yensid1967]

"Disney parks eliminated the FastPass system to maximize social distancing which was challenging with the FastPass system’s entrances and lines. They did this prior to reopening their parks following the lockdown and restrictions associated with the worldwide pandemic in 2020. So basically, it’s COVID’s fault."

Now that we are finally bouncing back to a normal GENIE+ IS NOT NEEDED!! FP HERE WE COME AGAIN!

 

[Disstevefan1]

not an expert, just know what works and what doesn't! It's not rocket science! Disney wants GENIE+ to do some magic but all its dong is causing headaches and dislikes among guests!
It doesn't take an expert to see that FP was working for everyone! You got to ride the rides you wanted during the day! GENIE+ it seems if you aren't online at 7am EACH MORNING to get your GENIE+ selections, then you don't have a chance! BUT THEY STILL HAVE YOUR MONEY!
FREE FP's system would be better, like it was! Riding a theme park ride is a privilege AFTER you pay your admission price! There should be no extra costs to ride the rides you have already paid for!
BUT...if I want to ride a certain ride (7DMT, SPACE MTN, HAUNTED MANSION, JUNGLE CRUISE, PotC, BTMRR, SPLASH MTN) I would pay extra as a FP+ service to ride during my park day! That's my simple answer to GENIE+...everyone should be happy then!? But probably not!

I get it. I am not a fan of paying for a (worse) system that was previously free.
To answer the OP, should they go and give Genie + and ILL a try or not?
My point was, if they don't try it for themselves they will never know for themselves.

 

[SteveAZee]

For those who have done a lot of analysis of the various 'skip the lines' systems (FP, Maxpass, FP+, G+, etc) I'm curious about what would have happened if they had kept the FP+ system as it was, but charged for it? It seems like it solves a few of the issues/problems with both of them.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

Neither...
I am the type that USE to enjoy planning a Disney trip, when everything DID NOT have to be planned day by day, or you did not have to reserve your day in the parks.
Given the current state, I could live with making park reservations, but other than that nothing else! I would like to see GENIE+ replaced with more of a FP+ 'paid' system for the more popular attractions and the other rides just being regular FP! What was so wrong with FP/FP+ that they had to replace it with GENIE+? NOTHING! With FP you got to ride more rides (the reason you paid admission), but if I want to make sure I ride a certain must do ride, I would pay for a FP+ time slot to make sure I do get to ride it! Al A Carte type of thing!

Those days were looooong gone. I blame online ADRs as the start and then once you could book fast passes AHEAD of your trip it was all over. At least when you had to hit the kiosks there was a bit of a gamble.

 

[DarthVader]

"Disney parks eliminated the FastPass system to maximize social distancing

I don’t buy that. So instead of having two lines one fast moving you have one line where more people are in close proximity for long periods of time. The exact opposite of what the CDC recommended