MrPromey
Well-Known Member
It's funny because Disney used to not provide a ton of resort-specific benefits to on-site guests. You had things like a variation on extra magic hours, e-ride nights (which were a cheap but paid add-on) "complementary" park transportation and things like the boat parade, depending on where you were staying. Back in those days when their room rates weren't as out of control as they are now and when they were more known for service than they are now, that was all they needed to compete with the local market.
Convenience and being close to the parks was always a part of it but people genuinely wanted to be on property because the "Disney difference" meant your stay would be special. The "bubble" was an all inclusive experience and not just a package of perks. The resorts felt different. You were treated different.
Then they created the lock-in with FP+ and Magical Express and thought they could let quality/service decline at existing resorts while putting less effort into the new ones all while raising prices because they'd created a situation where a lot of people felt like they "had" to have have it due to manufactured scarcity* when it came to attraction capacity in the parks.
So now they're ditching those tie-ins left and right to cut costs and raise margins and people are understandably angry.
There are now far nicer places to stay off-property for less money, some with their own unique experiences where they'll still treat you as a valued guest. Meanwhile, Disney puts on their rose colored glasses and apparently continues to see blue ocean in every direction.
They deliberately changed the guest patterns and expectations for what staying on property was, then, over the course of the last 12 months, pulled the rug out from under all that. People who bought into what Disney sold them was the reason to stay on property have every right to be angry about what they're doing these days.
I genuinely feel like all of this was intentional (the overcrowding, the cutting of benefits, the raising of prices, peeling back of "included" perks and selling them as add-ons) with the idea being that you may never get back to the way things were but if you're willing to pay enough extra, they're willing to up-sell you back some of what they've taken away.
It feels like this was all approved by someone who doesn't think guest satisfaction continues to play any major role in their profits.
It's clear the people in charge would never consider a Disney vacation for themselves and are entirely out of touch with the mindset of those who actually do pay to stay at their resorts and/or pay to go to their parks.
We complained around here (many) years ago when they moved to generic napkins and dropped resort-specific toiletries which to most today, would seem petty and we've continued to complain about plenty else since but I've seen more mainstream bad press in the last year than I've ever seen before.
I really feel like it's all starting to finally catch up with them.
*or in this case, scarcity that formed out of not manufacturing enough capacity to stay ahead of increased attendance.
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