25 years ago I brought my wife and two sons to WDW. It was very magical.
This week I brought my youngest son and his family which included his wife and two grand children. I was really let down. Here's the things that went wrong and the things that went right;
Wrong
1. We arrive at the parking lot at 8am. By the time I scan my pass to get in, it's 9:30. It took an hour and a half to get into the place. For starters; the monorail broke down. Instead of unloading, they just directed everyone who wasn't already on the ramp and loading docks to the ferry boats, leaving the rest of us to cool our jets wondering what the heck is going on. Finally they had us move to the boats as well. When time came to dock the boat at the Magic Kingdom, our boat caption played Sir Galent and let the next three ferrys behind us dock first. No announcement why we were just dead in the water about 100 feet from the dock while the other boats pulled in and unloaded.
2. Bag check. While not quite as bad as an East German inspection through the Berlin Wall, it was not a very pleasant experience. Our 'guard', because that was his demeanor to us 'prisoner's', was one of indifference to the point they would open things up, then not close those zippers so that everything dumped out when they shooed us along. As I tried to gather my things off the ground, they started in my face about blocking the exit of the bag inspection.
3. Card/finger print readers; there are two at each station. I grabbed the front, my wife the rear. Her's failed to read either the card or fingerprint correctly. After the guard (I continue to call these people guards because of the way they handled the mass of people) had my wife try many many tries, I told her to move up and try mine. He didn't like that, but fortunately my wife listens to me and not some brain dead goose stepper. At this second reader, she turned up 'green' first try. So I hung back. The next 2 through; same exact thing. What is that guard thinking??!! Obviously the reader was malfunctioning but he didn't care.
4. Which brings me to the next item; not caring. Over and over I saw Disney employees not caring. There was an attitude that they had my money, so there was no need to rush. For example; I stood in line for a Dole Whip for 30 minutes with maybe 15 people in front of me and only 3 of those people were served. The vendors at that location were absolutely of the attitude that there was no pressure on them to move the customer through any quicker. I saw one family finish off half their whips while waiting for the rest of their order and change returned to their cash purchase. I finally bailed on the line and went over to the Pecos Bill eating place. Only 3 in front of me there, but still took way too long to get my order. I looked back to the fellow who took my money and he could see that I was no comprehending what the problem might be since there were so few in queue. He must have signaled to the server to offer me a free strawberry lemon aid because she slid one to me, telling me she made an extra one and to enjoy on the house. As I stood there watching the servers behind the counter, it was plain to see that a sense of urgency was no where in their vocabulary or obviously in their training. They were the epitome of the classic Southern stereotype; slow and lazy appearing.
5. Not only did the monorail break down with out any consideration for those who had been their the earliest to get to the park in a decent amount of time, but so did Space Mountain and the day before at AK, the Mt. Everest ride. Hmmm... I had the distinct impression that things around Disney are getting tired, old and worn down. Not only that, but the general vib of the employees were one of no hurry or rush to get things moving smoothly. From a simple ice cream bar where lines would extend 20 or more deep, to reservation sit down meals, no one seemed to lift a finger to get things rolling smoothly.
6. Dinner at Epcot Beer Garden (No, not the correct name, but you all know what I am referring to). After being seated, finally 20 minutes after our reservation time to a 3/4 filled dining area, we were then presented with a line at the buffet at least 100 people long. Finally some server pointed out there were TWO lines for the buffet. Well, that got things moving finally.
7. Que times for FP+ and Standby weren't even close. My son and I went to Space Mountain. Sign said 15 minutes. We finally got on a rocket after 40 minutes. This was AFTER the ride broke down first thing that morning, and re opened. Times for every other ride we went on that stated more than 15 minutes were also off by at least twice that amount of time. I really don't like being lied to and that's exactly the impression I had when a sign would give me a time and it wasn't even close to my experience.
8. Going back to AK and the Mt. Everest ride; It broke down and we were turned away from our fast pass, so we went to the bird show. Side note; they sure got preachy about how humans have screwed up the life of all birds, especially the hawks who have had their numbers reduced by been shot. There is zero fact to that and I resent their implication about guns in general with that irresponsible 'lesson' to the audience. We are there to see birds perform and learn more about them in general. Not be told how rotten we are as a species towards birds the world over in deliberate acts to kill them, not just as a collateral loss due to human progress but just for wonton waste. After this 'show', we checked and the queue was back and running for Mt. Everest. Or not... We got back and there was a train, loaded with people almost to the top. We watched as these people, one by one, were unloaded and made to walk to the top of the ride and disappear into the mountain. Geez!! Not only did the ride break down, but the first train load after they got it fixed stranded the guests at the steepest part of the ride with the harrowing trial to get off without breaking a neck in the process.
Right;
1. The best attractions are the ones you would least expect; those with no wait times. Since I was sick of spending all my time waiting in lines for 40 minutes or more in the hot sun, (91 today) we spent the afternoon on attractions that had no or very small queues.
Micky's Philharmajic; just a spectacular display of 3D. My grand daughter sat on my lap and I could feel her jump as the effects sent characters and things into the audience.
Carousel; No one rushing us on and off the ride. We could stay on if we wished and keep riding.
Winne the Pooh; while the wait was over 30 minutes at only 10am (remember we didn't get into the place before 9:30am even though we got to the parking lot by 8am) the line took the kids through interactive activities that kept them quiet distracted so as to never even notice that they were in line at all.
Mad Tea Cups; another ride we were able to get right on and enjoy. The only problem with this ride is that anyone over 5 foot nothin' is gonna have trouble fitting into a tea cup. I'm 6' and my son is 6'4". Funny as we tried to get an angle where our knees could get under the spinner and butts on the bench in the cup. Ha!!
Casy's Splash Station; the kids enjoyed that greatly, especially since the ride right next to it had an hour (not a typo, a full 60 minute wait) in zero shade. I don't recall that ride's name other than it was some sort of junior roller coaster I think.
The 3pm parade was fantastic! Again, free; no FP+ needed to enjoy and the costumes were awesome. However, Anna and Elsa could only be seen if you stood on the right side of the street. I felt sorry for the kids on the other side. My grand daughter loved seeing these two.
The electric light parade.
The light show on the castle
The fire works.
The monorail
The train other than there is zero provision for strollers with a sleeping child. All strollers MUST be folded up. No exceptions.
I left there today with the impression that way too many critical infrastructures were breaking down with poor back up procedures and without any attempts to reconcile. I spent a butload of money to take us all to the Magic Kingdom at WDW; airfare, hotel, meals and of course their ticket prices. If this is the best they can do, and I have to say it sure looks that way, I won't be back. The nail in the coffin was the overall way the employees treated their customers. Transportation break downs, ride break downs, apathy on the part of vendors from everything from ice cream to sit down dinners, cattle car treatment for the parades and fireworks show.. too many eyes rolling, commands, demands, and non appreciation for the money we have spent in their theme park. I'm sure I can do better finding an entertainment business that would appreciate my money in this current economy.
This week I brought my youngest son and his family which included his wife and two grand children. I was really let down. Here's the things that went wrong and the things that went right;
Wrong
1. We arrive at the parking lot at 8am. By the time I scan my pass to get in, it's 9:30. It took an hour and a half to get into the place. For starters; the monorail broke down. Instead of unloading, they just directed everyone who wasn't already on the ramp and loading docks to the ferry boats, leaving the rest of us to cool our jets wondering what the heck is going on. Finally they had us move to the boats as well. When time came to dock the boat at the Magic Kingdom, our boat caption played Sir Galent and let the next three ferrys behind us dock first. No announcement why we were just dead in the water about 100 feet from the dock while the other boats pulled in and unloaded.
2. Bag check. While not quite as bad as an East German inspection through the Berlin Wall, it was not a very pleasant experience. Our 'guard', because that was his demeanor to us 'prisoner's', was one of indifference to the point they would open things up, then not close those zippers so that everything dumped out when they shooed us along. As I tried to gather my things off the ground, they started in my face about blocking the exit of the bag inspection.
3. Card/finger print readers; there are two at each station. I grabbed the front, my wife the rear. Her's failed to read either the card or fingerprint correctly. After the guard (I continue to call these people guards because of the way they handled the mass of people) had my wife try many many tries, I told her to move up and try mine. He didn't like that, but fortunately my wife listens to me and not some brain dead goose stepper. At this second reader, she turned up 'green' first try. So I hung back. The next 2 through; same exact thing. What is that guard thinking??!! Obviously the reader was malfunctioning but he didn't care.
4. Which brings me to the next item; not caring. Over and over I saw Disney employees not caring. There was an attitude that they had my money, so there was no need to rush. For example; I stood in line for a Dole Whip for 30 minutes with maybe 15 people in front of me and only 3 of those people were served. The vendors at that location were absolutely of the attitude that there was no pressure on them to move the customer through any quicker. I saw one family finish off half their whips while waiting for the rest of their order and change returned to their cash purchase. I finally bailed on the line and went over to the Pecos Bill eating place. Only 3 in front of me there, but still took way too long to get my order. I looked back to the fellow who took my money and he could see that I was no comprehending what the problem might be since there were so few in queue. He must have signaled to the server to offer me a free strawberry lemon aid because she slid one to me, telling me she made an extra one and to enjoy on the house. As I stood there watching the servers behind the counter, it was plain to see that a sense of urgency was no where in their vocabulary or obviously in their training. They were the epitome of the classic Southern stereotype; slow and lazy appearing.
5. Not only did the monorail break down with out any consideration for those who had been their the earliest to get to the park in a decent amount of time, but so did Space Mountain and the day before at AK, the Mt. Everest ride. Hmmm... I had the distinct impression that things around Disney are getting tired, old and worn down. Not only that, but the general vib of the employees were one of no hurry or rush to get things moving smoothly. From a simple ice cream bar where lines would extend 20 or more deep, to reservation sit down meals, no one seemed to lift a finger to get things rolling smoothly.
6. Dinner at Epcot Beer Garden (No, not the correct name, but you all know what I am referring to). After being seated, finally 20 minutes after our reservation time to a 3/4 filled dining area, we were then presented with a line at the buffet at least 100 people long. Finally some server pointed out there were TWO lines for the buffet. Well, that got things moving finally.
7. Que times for FP+ and Standby weren't even close. My son and I went to Space Mountain. Sign said 15 minutes. We finally got on a rocket after 40 minutes. This was AFTER the ride broke down first thing that morning, and re opened. Times for every other ride we went on that stated more than 15 minutes were also off by at least twice that amount of time. I really don't like being lied to and that's exactly the impression I had when a sign would give me a time and it wasn't even close to my experience.
8. Going back to AK and the Mt. Everest ride; It broke down and we were turned away from our fast pass, so we went to the bird show. Side note; they sure got preachy about how humans have screwed up the life of all birds, especially the hawks who have had their numbers reduced by been shot. There is zero fact to that and I resent their implication about guns in general with that irresponsible 'lesson' to the audience. We are there to see birds perform and learn more about them in general. Not be told how rotten we are as a species towards birds the world over in deliberate acts to kill them, not just as a collateral loss due to human progress but just for wonton waste. After this 'show', we checked and the queue was back and running for Mt. Everest. Or not... We got back and there was a train, loaded with people almost to the top. We watched as these people, one by one, were unloaded and made to walk to the top of the ride and disappear into the mountain. Geez!! Not only did the ride break down, but the first train load after they got it fixed stranded the guests at the steepest part of the ride with the harrowing trial to get off without breaking a neck in the process.
Right;
1. The best attractions are the ones you would least expect; those with no wait times. Since I was sick of spending all my time waiting in lines for 40 minutes or more in the hot sun, (91 today) we spent the afternoon on attractions that had no or very small queues.
Micky's Philharmajic; just a spectacular display of 3D. My grand daughter sat on my lap and I could feel her jump as the effects sent characters and things into the audience.
Carousel; No one rushing us on and off the ride. We could stay on if we wished and keep riding.
Winne the Pooh; while the wait was over 30 minutes at only 10am (remember we didn't get into the place before 9:30am even though we got to the parking lot by 8am) the line took the kids through interactive activities that kept them quiet distracted so as to never even notice that they were in line at all.
Mad Tea Cups; another ride we were able to get right on and enjoy. The only problem with this ride is that anyone over 5 foot nothin' is gonna have trouble fitting into a tea cup. I'm 6' and my son is 6'4". Funny as we tried to get an angle where our knees could get under the spinner and butts on the bench in the cup. Ha!!
Casy's Splash Station; the kids enjoyed that greatly, especially since the ride right next to it had an hour (not a typo, a full 60 minute wait) in zero shade. I don't recall that ride's name other than it was some sort of junior roller coaster I think.
The 3pm parade was fantastic! Again, free; no FP+ needed to enjoy and the costumes were awesome. However, Anna and Elsa could only be seen if you stood on the right side of the street. I felt sorry for the kids on the other side. My grand daughter loved seeing these two.
The electric light parade.
The light show on the castle
The fire works.
The monorail
The train other than there is zero provision for strollers with a sleeping child. All strollers MUST be folded up. No exceptions.
I left there today with the impression that way too many critical infrastructures were breaking down with poor back up procedures and without any attempts to reconcile. I spent a butload of money to take us all to the Magic Kingdom at WDW; airfare, hotel, meals and of course their ticket prices. If this is the best they can do, and I have to say it sure looks that way, I won't be back. The nail in the coffin was the overall way the employees treated their customers. Transportation break downs, ride break downs, apathy on the part of vendors from everything from ice cream to sit down dinners, cattle car treatment for the parades and fireworks show.. too many eyes rolling, commands, demands, and non appreciation for the money we have spent in their theme park. I'm sure I can do better finding an entertainment business that would appreciate my money in this current economy.
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