What has become of Disney?

[ShareBDwithMickey]

I feel compelled to comment about the number of people using scooters. This is a facility that has been a godsend to me & many other guests & yes I appear to be obese.

I suffer from arthritis & a number of related autoimmune conditions, one form of treatment is very high doses of steriods & this has significantly affected my weight to the detriment & according to my specialist this may be something that I will be suffering the effects of for the rest of my life.

I take many different types of medication to support my condition including opiates & morphine based pain relief (just to put my condition in context) but as a RAF veteran weight & fitness was never an issue this was a condition which was a complication that was a direct result of the military failing to deal with another medical condition which then became critical (I had a cadiac failure on the table) this then caused shock induced arthritis.

Now to the casual observer I look for all intents & puposes to be a typical obese abuser of the scooter & Disneys accommodating nature with the extra support they offer, however you no more know my story than I know yours. When you see us next time I suggest you say a quick prayer thanking who or whatever you believe in that you aren't in that position. There but for the grace of god go any of us!

On a side note as this is your 1st visit back after over 20 years, I suggest that perhaps your expectations were coloured by the rose tinted view you had of your previous trip. Of course things have changed, somethings for the better some not, how you deal with those changes will impact on your enjoyment, either positively or negatively.

WRT to your glasses, were they identified, prescription or not without some sort of Id I'm quite sure that the chances of them being easily identified from the other 200 pairs or so glasses lost on the same day is close to negligible. I know for you it was quite traumatic but for that poor individual in lost property it was probably the hundreth time he'd heard the same story that day?

Perhaps a little more expectation management on your part would have greatly improved your enjoyment.

We all know Disney isn't quite what we would wish it to be & that crowd levels are now far higher at all times of the year than they used to be, but all of this information is freely available & you shouldn't have been caught by surprise.

I'm sorry your trip didn't live up to your expectations, however they were your expectations & it appears that they weren't as well informed as they might have been as the reality of your trip has amply identified.

 

[wm49rs]

One thing that was obvious on our recent trip to SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, there were very few people on scooters (as a matter of fact, I can't recall seeing one). I wonder if it is because the food offerings at SW and BG are lacking and the morbidly obese, who are the main exploiters of the scooter, won't go near these parks?

Probably not, but why let that get in the way of good trolling. Right, Preston?

 

[SandraAnn]

There is a reason there are so many scooters there even when compared to other parks. It's an accessible destination and the rides at Disney are less thrill rides, so there is more for people to do versus Universal etc. I don't mind the scooters honestly, I've never had an incident with one and you never know, one day you may need one yourself. I also don't think that anyone who didn't need one would voluntarily use one. It's far easier to maneuver in the park on your own two feet. And I'm glad that people of all abilities feel like they can enjoy a WDW vacation. Now the size of the strollers is out of control and people are far more rude with them in my experience!

 

[rucifee]

Edit: Removed the insensitive remark.

Hello. I don't have any other trip to compare crowd levels to. I was there in 92 but it's more popular today. Back then there were crowds but nowhere near the levels of today, based on my visit. I was told September is the best month to visit so that's why I set the date. Magic Kingdom was shoulder to shoulder at times. Couldn't move down the main street at one point. I was talking to some folks at epcot and they told me it was an anomaly for this time of year. But we stayed clear of magic kingdom after that point.

Animal kingdom was much much less crowded. Holyrood studio park was pretty packes. Epcot was only crowded near a section in the world showcase. Magic kingdom was just an out of control zoo.

September 2015 skewed all of the stats, it was an unusually busy month. October doesn't seem to be much better, the FP+ meme I shared the other day was taken at HS last weekend. It was incredibly busy.

October should not have waits like this...

 

[Disneyhead'71]

One thing that was obvious on our recent trip to SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, there were very few people on scooters (as a matter of fact, I can't recall seeing one). I wonder if it is because the food offerings at SW and BG are lacking and the morbidly obese, who are the main exploiters of the scooter, won't go near these parks?

With offerings like...

(Pretzel wrapped thick cut bacon with beer cheese)

Or this...

(Bacon wrapped Turkey Leg)

I don't think that is the issue.

 

[NearTheEars]

Epcot seemed to have the most space. It was also my favorite park and if I was a local I would enjoy visiting it on occasion. The other parks not so much. Epcot very laid back. You could buy a wine and snack and find somewhere to sit by the lake they had. Magic Kingdom seemed like everyone was always trying to get somewhere and was in a frenzied rush. Seemed like nobody ever stood still long enough to enjoy anything. Strollers were everywhere as it is obviously the park kids would like best. One thing that was different this time than in 92 was there were no characters walking about. In 92 some of the costumed and face characters were always walking about somewhere, it appears you now can only see them by waiting in a long line at designated spits. Very different. We did catch one parade but we learned you had better get a spot in advance somewhere as it got crazy. Same for the fireworks, which were nice but it got insanely congested near the big castle.

Animal Park was relatively quiet. It got very hot and didn't seem like any breeze was getting in. Once is enough for this park for us. Hollywood park was OK but kind of small for the amount of people. Spent most of the last three days at epcot and swimming in hotel pool. Also want to seaworld and Kennedy space center. Didn't go back to magic kingdom as it was too crowded and just not that magical for us. Much better in 92.Went to the downtown disney spring area once in the evening. Nothing but shops really.very dissapointed with that. Insane food prices.

Epcot I would give 4 stars out of 5. Hollywood park 2 stars, Magic Kingdom 1.5. Downtown Disney zero stars-glorified shopping strip.

As far as food, the Bavarian oktoberfest dining at epcot was great. The only negative was seating. It was cruise ship style shared table seating, which is fine. But the people we sat with didn't mind their kids well and they were acting up. One kid spilled a drink on the table And I think a toddler was in desperate need of a diaper change. Counter food was decent for theme park. The lobster roll at a diner in magic kingdom was excellant. Other dining was buffet style at various spots. Not bad but they all seemed to offer the same fare.

Disney Springs seemed like nothing but a shopping center because ........ It is a shopping center, not a theme park.

All of your other complaints are completely understandable. Wish you had a better time.

 

[JoeV]

(puts on flame proof vest)

You lost me at you use a scooter because you have arthritis. Many of us have severe arthritis, and we seem to walk just fine. You're making it sound like you have some incredibly rare condition that grounds you to a wheelchair, but you don't. Weight gain from steroid use is often a side effect of severe lack of exercise.



September 2015 skewed all of the stats, it was an unusually busy month. October doesn't seem to be much better, the FP+ meme I shared the other day was taken at HS last weekend. It was incredibly busy.

October should not have waits like this...

What I was thinking while seeing the crowds during the week was how all these kids got out of school so close to the school year starting. Seems like an odd time to take the family on vacation. That's part of why we chose september. What we were thinking is, if it's this crowded right when the school year begins, we would hate to see a crowd in June or july. I am not exaggerating when I say it was shoulder to shoulder in much of magic kingdom on Monday and tuesday. Could hardly walk in spots. We left after a couple hours figuring we would return as the crowds would die down. When we came back later it was no better. We vowed never to return to magic kingdom after the second day of such crowds. Epcot was much less crowded. Animal park was not that packed either.

Never had a long wait with fast pass when we used it though.

 

[Susan Savia]

You know, you don't have to use the FP+ system. We don't and get along just fine. There are only a couple must rides and for them we make sure to hit them first thing in the morning when the wait is usually 30 minutes or less...(January/February). Single rider lanes are nice too. When we're on vacation we don't want to be racing across the park to make a FP time, or show, or meal and standing in line to change one time to another, cancel this or that, not to mention sitting up all hours of the night just to have dinner at a certain restaurant.

The scooters don't bother me so much as the huge strollers with large kids riding in them does, blocking crowded pathways and pushing them thru already crowded shops and restaurants.

 

[POLY LOVER]

I have made email complaints and observations in the past and have always been called by someone in their customer service area. I have been impressed by their response, if that has changed I would be greatly dissapointed in Disney. Sorry for your experience but Disney needs to tell you that not me.

 

[alissafalco]

You know, you don't have to use the FP+ system. We don't and get along just fine. There are only a couple must rides and for them we make sure to hit them first thing in the morning when the wait is usually 30 minutes or less...(January/February). Single rider lanes are nice too. When we're on vacation we don't want to be racing across the park to make a FP time, or show, or meal and standing in line to change one time to another, cancel this or that, not to mention sitting up all hours of the night just to have dinner at a certain restaurant.

The scooters don't bother me so much as the huge strollers with large kids riding in them does, blocking crowded pathways and pushing them thru already crowded shops and restaurants.

The OP did mention how they used the single rider and gave up on FP after a few days in a later post.

I agree with you about the strollers. I've always felt that WDW should ban the double wide strollers and only allow a double/triple if its one seat behind the other. I really feel that would help a lot and it still allows people with more than 1 child to have a stroller.

 

[rucifee]

The OP did mention how they used the single rider and gave up on FP after a few days in a later post.

I agree with you about the strollers. I've always felt that WDW should ban the double wide strollers and only allow a double/triple if its one seat behind the other. I really feel that would help a lot and it still allows people with more than 1 child to have a stroller.

How will people run over your toes to get you out of their way as they jog through the crowd to their next FP+ or ADR if WDW bans them! haha!

 

[POLY LOVER]

to be honest your complaints really don't seem like that big of a deal to ruin your stay. I don't think other than SORRY Disney can't help you out.

A mischarged dinner - corrected
Problem with your armband - corrected
and you lost your glasses
it felt sterile
People on skooters, judgemental on your part.

customer service response however that is a problem

 

[JoeV]

One thing that was obvious on our recent trip to SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, there were very few people on scooters (as a matter of fact, I can't recall seeing one). I wonder if it is because the food offerings at SW and BG are lacking and the morbidly obese, who are the main exploiters of the scooter, won't go near these parks?

I think the difference is there appeared to be a large number of scooter rental spots at the front of the disney parks and at the resort lodging. They seem to implicitly encourage the use of scooters. I won't debate the reason people use scooters other than to say it appears to me that a large percentage of the users just don't want to walk. I will leave it at that.

 

[blueboxdoctor]

For the Magic Band not working, that just sort of happens. Mine wasn't activated when I got it so I went back to the main check-in at Wilderness Lodge and got it all set up. A little out of the way, but not so bad. The Lost and Found issue was sort of your fault and there was another thread on here a while back explaining how Cast Members can't call people to retrieve their lost item(s), which is sort of lame considering it is the Lost and Found section, but I guess they keep the same policy throughout the place.

Fast Pass can seem a little overwhelming if it is your first time with the new system, but I think it's easy to get worked up over it (as we did on our first trip with it), but then you sort of get used to it. Not the best but also not the worst, and that along with the Magic Bands are still in the early years, so there will be bumps in the road for it.

Chef Mickeys, well, that is rather annoying. Clearly the person just wasn't sure what they were doing, which doesn't make it better, but unfortunately that was the case. Did you get the issue resolved?

Please, don't judge people on the scooters just by how the look. You never know what sort of issue someone may have. Now, you may complain about them having a sense of entitlement when it comes to bus services and they go in the scooter line with a huge party, so they go on, bring 10 people with them who skip the entire line. It should go that the people with them wait in the standing line, then they all go on together once the proper wait was had. Unfortunately, that's not the case at times, such as when a big group went on with their scooter person while a family with a child with an intellectual and developmental disability (who was in a wheelchair) waited in the standing line, whereupon everyone told them to go ahead since the other group just basically skipped ahead (kind words were not said about that group from the people in line).

Also, the number of shops? I've been going since the late 90s (98 or 99, I forget), and for basically 15 years there have been the same amount of gift shops. I really can't think of any major one that has been added. That's really not a complaint that can be fixed.
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Now, for your original question of why they didn't get back to you, that I do not know. Maybe it just takes a while based on the large amount of people who go there, even a small portion sending complaints may be a lot.

I also didn't mean to try and "correct" your opinions or anything, but it sounds like the major issue was the dining and losing your sunglasses, which, while an expensive loss, sounds like an error on your part. Though, I do agree that since it's Lost and Found, they should be able to call you if the glasses show up. Don't have a college internship Cast Member call if they can't, instead have a manager or someone in a higher position than intern be able to do it.

It also seems like their infrastructure isn't large/sophisticated enough at times to handle the dining stuff (and Magic Bands, but since they're still relatively new, I'm going to give them some time as I do with any new tech), as we had an issue last year (not sure what it was, but it took them a while to realize we did, in fact, have reservations for Liberty Tree and for some reason they were having trouble finding that on their computer system).

 

[JoeV]

One thing disney parks does do well is manage the shuttle system. Given the unbelievable crowd levels at magic kingdom, they moved people very efficiently using the shuttle bus system. That really was impressive and is a model of efficiency.

My overall impression was that they are doing the best they can to deal with crowds. But given that a business must increase sales and revenue to grow, how can they do it without expansion? You really can't fit any more people in there, unless you want to stuff them in restrooms or on rooftops. No doubt management is grappling with this question. They need to expand the magic kingdom park and/or find incentives to funnel people to less crowded venues. Otherwise, it will eventually reach the point where it implodes under demand pressures. You just can't put more people into the space it now occupies. It's already packed sardines.

 

[ShareBDwithMickey]

In order to address the snarky comment from the other arthritis sufferer, I did say I had a number of other related issues & you are correct that lack of exercise whilst on steriods can contribute to weight gain, however I was serving at the time & I can assure you lack of exercise was not something I suffered from!

I managed for many years without resorting to a scooter & when I'm feeling good I get by with just my stick, I do aquafit & still compete in my sport of choice much to the horror of my specialist who would rather I did less, however to enjoy the parks with my husband to the best extent I now need more help.

I'm thrilled you don't need a scooter & trurly wish that this is how things remain for you, but you of all people should have at least a modicome of sympathy for my position. Also, I am sure at clinic you must have seen arthritis suffers at both ends of the spectrum from mild support needed to completely crippled.

 

[POLY LOVER]

some day we will all be humbled until then be thankful you are strong and independent. I guarantee you it will not always be this way and when that day comes you will look for some understanding and kindness.

 

[wm49rs]

It's "snarky" only because you don't want to hear the truth. We all have issues, you're trying to use your service to distract from your weight gain that most likely occurred after your service was complete. I know I'm correct about the steroids, millions of us suffering from your condition have specialists.

This is all I'm going to say about this particular subject.

Amazing how you know this "truth" from an internet forum, Carnac....

Lovely....

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Some folks need scooters, others want them and can afford them.

This is America. If someone needs/wants a scooter, has the means, and it's permitted in the park rules. So be it.

 

[rucifee]

You guys are right, I shouldn't have said anything because I don't know. I realized that I've been overly insensitive in my comment, which I removed. As long as you don't run me or anyone who's with me over because your vacation is more important than mine, I don't care if you use a scooter or not.

Sorry ShareBDwithMickey..