Twirl week and Brazilians...

So the family and I just returned from five days and six nights at Pop Century Resort. And while I wasn't planning on really doing a trip report, a friend convinced me that maybe I should share my thoughts. So here goes...

Before I left, I had discovered that we would be there during Twirl Week. So I call a CM and ask about switching to another hotel in the moderate category since the Twirlers would be staying at Pop Century. Told that everything was booked solid but they'd see about putting me somewhere quiet at Pop (I'm currently working on my MBA so after leaving the parks at the end of the day I would need to work on schoolwork). So Wednesday morning rolls around and off we go.

After a five hour drive, we arrive at our hotel. Since we did online check-in, I figured it wouldn't take us long to get our keys and head to the parks. Wrong. Apparently something screwed up in the computer and it took a good 30 minutes before everything was straightened out. Not a good start. So we finally get our keys and then listen to an explanation on how the RFID keys work. Not being exactly technology illiterate, I politely listened and the headed for the room afterwards.

After a quick unload of our car we were off to see the Magic Kingdom and New Fantasyland. The line for the bus was pretty long so we didn't make the first one but managed to get on the second. When we arrive and get to the front gate, I notice the new RFID card readers on the right. So we head over there and touch our cards to the readers. The process was pretty simple and didn't take much time at all. After a quick stop to get a GAC for our son, we were off. Since we were a bit hungry we decided to head to Casey's Corner for a hot dog. First thing we notice is the place is PACKED. It took a good 15 minutes just to place our order. Then after getting our food there was nowhere to sit. So I basically carried around our trays for another five minutes until a spot opened up inside. I'd heard great things about the hot dogs there but thought they were average at best. Of course, I do live in the heart of Georgia and have access to one of the best hot dog chains in the world...Nu-Way. So maybe I am just spoiled but I wasn't impressed. With our bellies full we head to new Fantasyland.

One the way to New Fantasyland, my son spots his favorite ride...Winnie the Pooh. So In we go for our first ride of the day. As we're on the ride my son is smiling and laughing, which always brings me joy. Being autistic, he often has a tough time and I've learned to really cherish these moments. So a quick ride on Pooh and we're off to explore New Fantasyland.

To be continued...

 

[Todd H]

We get back to the room to relax and unwind. Then we notice my son is sick with either a stomach virus or the after effects of the Casey's Corner hot dogs. So it looks like it's time to run to the food court and grab some Gatorade to keep him hydrated. Grab a bottle, go to use my nifty new RFID card to pay, and the scanner isn't working. I look around and notice that several of the touch to pay terminals are down. At each one there's someone apparently from IT with some sort of tablet trying to figure out what's wrong. I ask the cashier if this has been going on for a while and she said yes. So she swipes my room key the old fashioned way and off to my room I go.

When we go down for the night, that's when the noise started. Bus after bus full of Brazilians pull up, each group chanting and screaming louder than the last. And instead of walking to their rooms quietly they run, causing even more noise. The group in the room next to ours is blasting music as loud as they can. So I call the front desk and, of course, they say they'll get security out there to get them to quiet down. Time goes by and still the noise continues. I call again and they assure me they have sent someone. Finally, one of my neighbors opens his door and starts to let loose on them with some of the saltiest language this side of a naval dock. That gets a good bit of them to quiet down. So we try to go back to sleep when the phone rings. We pick it up and whoever it is hangs up. They call again...and again...and I finally just pull the plug on the phone.

The next morning before lunch I stop by the front desk and complain and the faux outrage from the CM is as obvious as can be. She actually says, rather unconvincingly, "I'm so angry to hear this!" They offer to move us to another room at the hotel and we agree. After moving our stuff we have breakfast in the food court. The touch to pay terminals are pretty much on the fritz again of course. And I think this may be the day a young lady shoved me out of the way when I was trying to get a muffin and grabbed something for her two girls that were with her. It's starting to feel like I'm at Wal-Mart and not WDW.

So today is the day we head to Hollywood Studios. I look and notice that the bus lines are outrageous and decide to just drive there instead (my autistic son+long lines=catastrophe). We arrive and head to the gate to use our spiffy RFID cards. My son's card works, my wife's card works, mine turns the thing red instead of green. A look of befuddlement comes across the face of the CM and she just waves me on through. We do a quick ride on both Star Wars (still one of my favorites) and Toy Story Mania (perhaps the most overrated ride in HS). She then takes him to see the Disney Junior show and I head to the 3D Muppet movie. I'm one of the few people in there so it's nice being away from the crowds. Afterwards, we head to our lunch reservation at the Sci-Fi Diner.

To be continued...

 

[George]

Nice TR so far. Great detail. I wonder if the ratio of happy:unhappy CMs has shifted some because this NextGen stuff is really stressful. I'm sure that I'd hate getting up for work in the mornings if I was a front line CM during this transition.

We've had a Brazilian visitor in the lab where I work and I've been fighting the urge to ask him if he's ever taken his family to WDW.

 

[puppawuppa]

Jumping up and down with my hand in the air...I know, I know! We were there during the same time frame the Brazilians were EVERYWHERE!!! Literally... we were lucky enough to get to the parks early and out before it became overwhelming. My only complaint was their lack of respect for older people when on the buses. Breathe in breathe out....this really gripes me. Wait wait and when they sprawl out in the lobbys leaving very little room for a path from one door to the next!

OMG I know. We just returned from 12 nights at POP and when leaving to get on ME, couldn't get past them in lobby. I'm afraid I might have run over a couple. oops. Did our best to avoid them in parks.

 

[ParentsOf4]

In the past, one of the reoccurring complaints had been the roving bands of teenagers at other theme parks, as in "WDW is so much better because it is family focused without all those roving bands of teenagers at Six Flags and Universal."

Now that WDW has its own roving bands of teenagers, is this is yet another example of WDW's decline?

Let's see:

• Universal is building exciting new attractions while WDW is stagnating,
• Universal's maintenance is improving while WDW's is declining,
• WDW is increasing AP, DDP, and TiW prices by double digits,
• WDW's food is declining,
• Universal's onsite Deluxe Resorts are less expensive than WDW's Deluxe Resorts,
• Universal's CMs now seem to be as friendly as or friendlier than WDW's CMs.

Is the recent addition of roving bands of teenagers at WDW enough to push Universal over the top? After trailing for decades, is Universal finally achieving parity with WDW?

 

[RandomPrincess]

Disney doesn't have any rules of conduct for tour groups?

 

[Sans Souci]

Disney doesn't have any rules of conduct for tour groups?

I wonder, too. I am uncomfortable with attributing poor behavior to a nationality when I think the real problem is unsupervised teens. Don't these groups have chaperones to keep the kids' behavior in check? I read these stories and it just sounds like unchecked mayhem.

 

[RandomPrincess]

I wonder, too. I am uncomfortable with attributing poor behavior to a nationality when I think the real problem is unsupervised teens. Don't these groups have chaperones to keep the kids' behavior in check? I read these stories and it just sounds like unchecked mayhem.

Someone posted a video on another thread that was talking about this. In the video it showed the adult chaperons participating in all the chanting and encouraging it. The tour groups advertise this as part of the fun on their website.

 

[Alley7728]

Not that I am aware of but I am sure they have some guidelines somewhere. Wish they had an itinarary we could follow so we know which parks to avoid and what time of year to avoid the rush of them.

 

[Alley7728]

Someone posted a video on another thread that was talking about this. In the video it showed the adult chaperons participating in all the chanting and encouraging it. The tour groups advertise this as part of the fun on their website.

ahhggg!

 

[Alley7728]

OMG I know. We just returned from 12 nights at POP and when leaving to get on ME, couldn't get past them in lobby. I'm afraid I might have run over a couple. oops. Did our best to avoid them in parks.

We returned on the 19th. We stayed at ASMovies. We were told by a very nice CM there at the hotel that Pop was overrun! Ours wasnt near as bad looking at some of the other posts. Did you happen to notice that they were drinking the creamer at the drink station?....literelly filling their mugs. It was odd I thought.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Not that I am aware of but I am sure they have some guidelines somewhere. Wish they had an itinarary we could follow so we know which parks to avoid and what time of year to avoid the rush of them.

For my own children, I called WDW to ask at what age were children allowed to roam WDW unchaperoned. The answer: 14

From what I've seen, WDW's newly found group of roving bands of teenagers behave much like similar groups at other theme parks. The distinction seems to be that this is the first time this has happened to this extent at WDW. (I am familiar with WDW’s grad nights but these seem to have been considerably more limited than the current situation where large groups of teenagers appear to be at WDW much more frequently.)

At other parks, these large groups initially helped attendance but, as word got out, families started staying away simply because they didn't want to deal with the annoyance. ("Let's get a bite to eat. Oh wait, look, a group of 200 high school students just got in line to order food.") Eventually, those other theme parks took steps because it hurt their business.

As Iger readily admitted during the 2012 financial results conference call, overall WDW attendance was down while attendance from Brazil and Argentina was up significantly.

WDW advertises itself as a family-friendly theme park. However, if families at WDW find they are encountering the same issues they disliked at other theme parks, it will be interesting to see which way WDW attendance heads and what (if any) steps Disney takes to address the issue.

For many years, Six Flags was a “teenager’s amusement park.” More recently, they’ve been trying to bring families back into the parks. It will be interesting to see if WDW follows a similar pattern. However, in the end, it’s sad that, in some ways, the once mighty WDW is becoming more like a Six Flags. Obviously there is a world of difference between the two but, not so many years ago, the mere idea of mentioning WDW and Six Flags in the same sense would have been unimaginable.

How the mighty have failen.

 

[puppawuppa]

We returned on the 19th. We stayed at ASMovies. We were told by a very nice CM there at the hotel that Pop was overrun! Ours wasnt near as bad looking at some of the other posts. Did you happen to notice that they were drinking the creamer at the drink station?....literelly filling their mugs. It was odd I thought.

No, they all seemed to have dining plan. Lots of resort mugs holding tables for themselves. Then stayed after they ate for a long time, made for crowded mealtimes. I felt bad for all the families with small kids walking around with their trays looking for place to sit. . We tried to avoid the food court at peak times. ( weren't always succesful)

 

[ExtinctJenn]

I wrote and subsequently deleted 4 different versions of a response to that video posted above. They probably wouldn't understand what I was saying anyway (just as I have no clue they were chanting). Acting that way while you're waiting for Fantasmic to start... ok fine I'll take it. It's boring and you're a huge group... sure whatever. But failing to realize that continuing to act that way, as if the whole world needs to have it's eyes on you, once you're outside of that situation (either back at the resort or just waiting in line for an attraction) is just plain disrespectful. Having your adult chaperons encourage it just takes it a whole other level. If you cannot teach respect then you don't deserve to lead.

 

[Todd H]

Sorry I haven't continued my report. In the middle of midterms. I'll get back on it as soon as I can. Hopefully I'll still remember everything by then.

 

[Figgy1]

Sorry I haven't continued my report. In the middle of midterms. I'll get back on it as soon as I can. Hopefully I'll still remember everything by then.

We understand education first!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good luck on those midterms!

 

[coachwnh]

Sorry I haven't continued my report. In the middle of midterms. I'll get back on it as soon as I can. Hopefully I'll still remember everything by then.

Good luck

 

[George]

Sorry I haven't continued my report. In the middle of midterms. I'll get back on it as soon as I can. Hopefully I'll still remember everything by then.

Good luck. Good timing anyway. I don't have much time to read tonight. LOL

 

[Todd H]

OK...midterms are done (made A's ) so I can get back to finishing up my trip report.

 

[lego606]

One day, one of these tour groups will find WDWMagic and chant all over the boards.

 

[Todd H]

You know, I've about forgotten what we did each day. So I'll do a summary of what I remember...

RFID in the food court worked about 50% of the time. By the end of our trip the cashiers at the Pop food court stopped using them and just swiped our card. Talking with one of them she seemed aggravated at how unreliable they were.

Even though we changed rooms the Brazilians were still a major nuisance. One morning while leaving our building and walking to eat breakfast, we walked through piles of trash thrown all over the ground. Apparently one of the groups decided to go buy squirt guns for everyone and have a battle in the middle of the night. Instead of throwing the empty boxes away they just threw them on the ground. I felt bad for the grounds people cleaning up the mess.

The rides were in decent shape. Had no problems using the GAC with our son. Unfortunately, rides he had no problems on last time freaked him out this time. Even the character breakfasts were a terrible experience. He was petrified of the characters. That's the thing about an autistic child I suppose. Sorry to anyone that was bothered by his outbursts. So we didn't ride as many rides this trip. Did hit most of our favorites. I hate to admit it but after visiting Universal last year they rides at WDW seemed dated. You can only ride your favorites so many times before you get bored. And I was bored a number of times. Disney desperately needs new attractions. Another Dumbo and the plastic Mermaid ride ain't gonna cut it.

Food was meh. Everything seemed to taste the same. Via Napoli was still decent but everything else was about like eating at a chain restaurant. And the prices...outrageous.

Workers seemed less enthusiastic than our last trip. Some bordered on rude. One said, after seeing our GAC, "Another GAC...greeeeaaaat..." and gave us a nice eye roll.

By the third day of our five day visit our son was ready to go home. Part of this was probably due to the nasty stomach virus he had. He cried for five straight hours on the drive back.

Between the crowds, the Brazilians, my son and I being sick, and me having to spend a large part of the day in the hotel working on school work, this trip was a letdown. Something just seemed different. Was it having visited Universal last year or just being burned out on Disney? Not sure but I don't think we'll be going back for a long time.