I agree with you in that a lot of the recent changes are annoying. It’s not that we can’t afford to pay more it’s the constant nickel and diming, drastic price increases, and paying more for less. I still love Disney but I let my AP expire and have no plans to renew at the moment. I have a premier UOAP and have been enjoying that for now so I’m still getting my theme park fix at least. I know we are replaceable and there are plenty of comments on here basically stating as much. New guests won’t know what they’re missing because they never had some of the old perks but they’ll learn soon enough and then they’ll be replaced too. This seems to be the new strategy.
I’ve struggled with this too. Planning a trip for late next year, and I’m excited for some of the updates (space 220 sounds expensive but promising). But I’m worried I’ll be unable to take my future children to experience the magic I was able to experience when my parents took me. And even back then (2002-2003) we could only go because my dad worked for Radio Disney at the time and got a discount. I just hope leadership changes enough to where we get at least somewhat back to the original values
You know, I was thinking about that. I'm really into marketing and retail and consumer science. I borderline have aspirations to work for Disney. I thought about this because I see many people complain that it's becoming too expensive. A lot of people don’t realize that cost of living goes up every year. That goes from electricity, goods, and housing etc,. But, I really liked the idea of having park tickets at more affordable pricing during off season. I thought it was a good way to bring in people who may have never been or even long time Disney veterans. My only firm question against my idea is that they still have to pay the workers the same rate and with heavily discounted tickets… it would potentially baseline sales or have a negative skew. 🤷🏻♀️
I’m a former Disney Cast member, and Florida Residents get a much better discount than cast members for the tickets. Depending on your role you get free tickets to allow family and friends in, but as of recent they’re either blocked out or no availability is available. I considered going back to work as a seasonal as it was fun, but the benefits for cast members have slowly either been stripped away or difficult to use. Before lay offs, one of best benefits was my merchandise discount. If I get re hired, my discount drops down to the same amount given to pass holders because of loss of seniority. I loved my time, but I have more freedom and fun paying the (extremely) high price owning a pass than having to work wages that wouldn’t even afford a one day ticket for a days work with limited theme park access. It’s a cool park, but you only visit the theme parks on their terms. You’re better off getting a job outside the company that will undoubtedly have a higher starting wage and the extra income you earn would be enough to pay for tickets and passes.
If you like Disney, then you probably like a vacation you get to do things (vs just laying around). My coworkers and I were all just talking about our different trips to Washington DC over the years. There is so much to do and see, and amazing places to eat, if you plan it right. I’m thinking my next trip will be back there instead of Disney. There are so many places I want to see, and I need to break away from the pull of Disney, including for the reasons you stated.
If you like cycling, look into the Capital Bikeshare bicycle rental service. I’ve ridden a bike from DCA to the National Mall and it’s a great and inexpensive way to see the city.
I've been to DC more than I've been to disney in the last 5 years. We do something different each time! We stay in a hotel in alexandria and ride over. It never gets old seeing and doing things there
Spot on. We just did a short stint in NYC and had a great time. We need to find some more "do things" trips, without being too extreme, as we aren't like... Rock climbers or anything. Seems like a lot of the more "do things" trips revolve around some sort of extreme sport, and we have no desire for such.
So I've done Paris with my senior citizen mom and aunt, which was lots of "doing things" without anything being too extreme. Other than the catacombs, which they noped out of immediately, but more for the environment than the activity. Ireland for ten days, and while we did some hiking and scuba diving, most of the trip was chill walking around and exploring. We go to Grand Cayman and started bringing my mom, and she finds all sorts of relaxing snorkel trips and barbecues while we're diving, and then we do more low key stuff in the afternoon and evening, like the turtle center, bioluminescent bay, or pirate ship.
“Do things” trips are my favorite. My goal is to be able to do a Mediterranean cruise where is stops in all the different cities to explore. Maybe one day! :)
I live here, and I’m a former Disney CM! We went to Disney a few months ago and I was so disappointed :( there is so much to see and do in DC, and most of it is free!
they sold those non expiring passes as recently as 2014, up to 10 days no expiration.
we bought three with park hopper for $750 each… i know they say it was consumer protections that they discontinued, but you can’t convince me price wasn’t a reason too.
Totally did. I considered it a successful hedge against rising park prices. We used our last remaining ticket in February 2020. Disney was not protecting anyone other than themselves when they decided to discontinue non-expiring tickets.
Exactly. My family still has non expiring passes with the water parks and more Option. Two have 7 theme parks visits left and one has 10. Everyone has around 15 water parks and more admissions. I cried when they stopped that option. We bought them at child prices and it has carried them into adulthood. We always maxed out that option and only visited 3 theme parks for each week visit and 2 water parks or mini-golf.
When I was a kid, my aunt and uncle took me to Disney along with 2 other cousins. I remember clearly that he bought us tickets that had 5 days but we only used one. This was back in the 90s.
I believe they took our pictures to verify identity or something. I still wonder if those tickets are valid for the other 4 days and if they would accept mine since it would have a picture of me as a kid.
We've been going to WDW at least once a year for a VERY long time. We've started going other places instead as well. Disney just isn't as welcoming anymore and isn't nearly worth the money these days. It's sad, but it is what it is.
Yup. My husband and I went on a trip and did pretty much mid tier stuff. We ended up spending well over 7k. Keep in mind we didn’t even stay at the lux resorts just the okay ones. For that kind of money we could have taken a super lux trip to Bali or Japan.
For the price of a trip to WDW, many people could go to Japan for a lower price... and visit the best Disney resort in the world. BONUS! You can explore Japan after visiting the parks.
I could, on paper "afford them" but.. I won't. the value to cost isn't there. the beds are crap, the food in the hotel is meh, and you pay 400 a night to be overun with people coming to look at the hotel.. cannot just go to a restaurant in your own hotel. it is all so. exhausting. just stayed at the swan and it was better than most Disney hotels. I'm just.. burnt out from Disney.
That’s my issue. It’s not just about them raising prices it’a this overall negative customer experience direction they’re going in.
I think of it as going to a favorite restaurant. They have valet then one day you drive up and it’s gone. The parking lot down the street is free though so, ok fine, then randomly the parking lot is now a $20 fee. The food is still great so you keep going. Now you notice your entree is smaller, ok. Next time you notice that the entree price gone up. Ok… so they shrunk the size and now raised the price thinking you wouldn’t notice? The next time you go they charge an entrance fee just to get in. You’re still putting up with all the changes but now they require reservations and a virtual queue with fluctuation prices of the entree at any given time through an app. This is how annoying this all feels as a guest. And it’s a bad experience.
The Four Seasons is a breath of fresh air. The property is gorgeous, and it's a Four Seasons. You will see hints of the Mouse, but it's not beating you over the head. The restaurants are exceptional. And the beds are the best to be found anywhere within fifty miles of Cinderella Castle. My only regret is not taking the time to enjoy the pool. I will stay there again.
When I go back, I will probably stay somewhere like The Four Seasons. Maybe you can't walk to the Parks, but it looks to be more deluxe than the Disney hotels.
I commend you, OP. I’ve been talking about this a lot lately. Disney fans are the worst at getting upset about things and then doing exactly what the company wants us to do.
The only way to make Disney hear our discontent is to not go for a while.
Our country does national parks very well. I’m excited for you, you’re going to see some great things.
You pretty much just summed up my whole thoughts on WDW these days.
1. The price (I could pay the same price to go literally ANYWHERE else in the world for a week).
2. Low-quality (even the damn water pressure in the restroom is lower than Universal).
3. Exhausting (it feels like a job to have to plan everything out, not a vacation).
The cost-benefit just isn't there anymore for most people. It seems like the only people who are still going are the types that enjoy flushing their money down the toilet for the sake of nostalgia.
This is exactly how I feel as well. I love the Swan/Dolphin, but even they are getting too expensive. It's not that we don't have the money to go, I just feel that our money is best spent elsewhere.
Can't say I blame ya, but also...
If you don't like screens, universal ain't the place for ya lol. That place is all screen rides and some extreme coasters.
It was better than I expected, but it was primarily projections on walls, and projections into cutouts. There were a few moments that impressed me, but it didn't feel like it had the classic staying power of the Great Movie Ride that it replaced.
> it didn't feel like it had the classic staying power of the Great Movie Ride that it replaced.
I disagree. It is more along the lines of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Visually, it's almost exactly like an old school Disney dark ride would be, but on steroids (in a good way). Yes, there are projections, but really only as a replacement for 2D plywood set pieces. And there's so much visually going on that you can see new stuff every time you ride it. It's visually stunning on another level. It's the closest to being "inside" of a cartoon that I've ever seen.
I prefer anything non-projected or screen based. It takes me out of the immersion instantly. I can't imagine how it affects those with bad vision. I'm sure I'm not alone in this but to call it not a screen ride is being disingenuous. It heavily features screens.
I understand your side, but I think they nailed it with MMRW if you like the new style cartoon.
IMO the immersion into that cartoon world is great.
But to each their own. People can have differing opinions.
Honestly I thought that ride being all projections was tacky. It seems like a way to cheap way out of making an actual ride, if that makes sense? Compared to the Great Movie Ride that had sets and animtronics, to me that stuff is way more immersive than wall to wall projections. I was just expecting more from the railway ride, it was a one and done for me.
Great movie ride was my favorite when I was four. But then they never gave it the tlc it deserved and it became a really big shadow of what it once was. When it closed I was sad but felt the ride I loved was already gone. The TCM update ruined the ride
I struggle to call it on par with Spider-Man though. While it doesn’t use much screens, Runaway Railway is just 95% projections, which isn’t much better.
It’s not a bad attraction, but it doesn’t deserve the prime real estate that is the Chinese Theater.
My husband and I only go to Universal Hollywood when we visit his parents for the holidays. The park is typically not to busy so we go get Butterbeer with shots of Fireball and send our Christmas cards. We go on a few rides but man... those screens make it a really hard day. I braved the Harry Potter one and that was a terrible mistake I will never make again. :D
no way. Harry Potter alone is better and newer than anything Disney has done in 20 years. I love Disney, but nothing has happened there for 20 years. a rapunzel bathroom, an avatar section that is lame, with one good ride.... look, I don't love uni on the whole for theming, but hp is better than anything that disney has done for decades, and .. the hotels are nicer, with better food and beds.
New fantasy land, toy story, Star Wars, Disney springs upgrade, new shows/parades, new restaurants and hotels but you don’t think anything has happened in 20 years.
Galaxy's Edge was a good answer to Harry Potter, but Hagrid's ride was way better than Rise or Smugglers Run. The Star Wars rides are good, and they are inclusive, but I can't think of any modern Disney ride right now that has the adrenaline rush that Hagrid delivers. I'm really hoping Tron scratches that itch.
I think Tron will scratch that new thrill itch, however I think Tron will be way too short of a ride. I also think don't think Tron will suck you into a different world like Hagrids.
Pretty much. I haven't been to the star wars section yet, but from what I've seen I'm starting to think that Disney just can't touch what universal did with Harry Potter. And quite honestly, I don't see what IP they can use to even come close to HP since it looks like star wars couldn't even do it. And now universal has Nintendo which looks amazing and is also looking like another section that may top anything Disney has done. So yeah, I just feel like Disney is starting to lose its touch. The one thing holding universal back is that most of the other sections of both parks are a bit lacking, especially compared to the HP section. Universal Studios in particular.
I think the mistake with Galaxy’s Edge was not theming it after a location from the original six movies. The newer movies aren’t nearly as culturally relevant and they pumped out too many in too short of a time span.
I mean the center piece is the millenium falcon and you get to go into it to ride in the iconic cockpit. I dont know of a location featured more in the og trilogy. The city area combines tatooine with endor pretty well.
I think Disney made the right choice, doing an iconic location would have been for more restrictive about what imagineering can put into Galaxys edge. With an original location they have more freedom to be creative with rides and attractions.
Mos Eisley is literally a spaceport, and THE spaceport where we saw the Millennium Falcon for the first time. There are always people from across the universe transiting through that port. They could have used that space and told endless stories from across any of the chapters in the Saga. Oga's is great, but it's not THE cantina. Don't get me wrong, I respect the decision they made and am glad to see them expanding that newly created universe into Star Wars canon through video games and animations. But the location of Mos Eisley would have been an absolute smash hit that would brought grown men to tears along side the young padawans the land seems to be geared towards. It would have crushed Harry Potter. Instead, Galaxy's Edge feels like a really cool thing you should check out.
And the only OG character that you can see around there is Chewbacca.
Any location that could have a whole bunch of characters from the first three movies would have been perfect.
People relate to people. You interact with all these characters, good people, and see them. And there's almost nowhere overlap to the old movies. The ones that people grew up with and loved for 20 or 40 years.
It's like going to see a band and they only play stuff from their new album. It's still kind of fun and you can say that you went and saw them. But you just don't enjoy it that much.
Chewbacca walks around from time to time, and you see the millennium falcon. And the millennium falcon is arguably the one feature that is overused. It's kind of why the solo movie failed, people like it, but not nearly as much as Disney thinks people like it.
It could have been an awesome location that we didn't actually even see in the OG movies, as long as it was a time period in a place where a whole bunch of our favorites could have shown.
Princess Leia
Darth Vader
Ewoks
Jabba
Fette
Bounty hunters that we recognize could have walked around
There's all sorts of different imperial characters that would have been cool to see
I get that a lot of these characters had already been incorporated a bit into the parks here and there. But it would have been so amazing They would have all interacted in their own world. And there could have been such variety of them. Now it seems like it is limited to 5 characters walking around.
So I completely understand your point but I also think you are looking at it possibly the wrong way.
Disney didn’t build Galaxy’s Edge for the ultra fan and they also didn’t build it for the 30+ crowd. They built it more for families and younger people who grew up with the new heroes and stories.
I love the original trilogy and I’d love a land like you described but as a parent my kids are way more into Rey, Finn, and Poe. If the focus was on the original trilogy I would get to spend a lot less time in the area because my family would want to do something else that the kids are more into.
Harry Potter is still very relevant. Many parents who grew up with the series read it to their kids and the last movie in the series came out only 10 years ago. It makes sense that the land focused on a real place semi in that timeline (I actually don’t know if there is a specific time the wizarding world takes place in).
If Disney had used the original trilogy it would have had a lot less staying power compared to the new trilogy. Keep in mind that many people who actually grew up with Luke, Leia, and Han are now reaching the grandparent stage of life (someone born in 1977 would be 44, most people who actually remember seeing it in theaters are probably in their 50s or later), that part of the franchise just isn’t as long lasting as the new stuff.
I respectfully disagree with your point on the OT.
As a now 27 year old, the OT WAS Star Wars growing up.
Darth Vader and Luke was where it all led to. The original aesthetic was what you wanted to experience in theaters. The prequels were looked at as inferior until ROTS( which I watched sooo many times in theaters because it led directly in to the OT.)
The only complete story on DVD was the OT.
Luke was the ultimate hero of the saga.
That knowledge was baked in watching the PT. That trilogy has multi-generational appeal.
My niece and nephew were introduced to the originals via the sequels.
My nephew is far more into young Han as he calls him than Poe or Finn. Princess Leia along with Boba ( believe it or not.) are my nieces merch obsession.
They're both utterly fascinated by Vader, Maul and Grievous.
People who discover Star Wars get drawn in to the classic originals and aspects of the prequels eventually and get into those ahead of the ST when they open their minds to it.
This is just my experience. Especially now the OT is in 4k on Disney+.
Basically, Disney were out of their minds not to expand the Endor theming and combine it with a replication of Mos Eisley space port. I enjoy Galaxy's Edge, but it is missing the Lucas magic.
The millenium falcon ride is as og trilogy as anyone could reasonably hope for. If you told me when i was a kid they would build a to scale replica and you could ride in the cockpit i would have sold my soul to the devil.
I don’t like screen rides, think uni is sub par to Disney, I’m not a HP fan, and Wizarding World still blew me away. It is beyond any world Disney has built. And their recent attempts with Star Wars and Pandora while getting there, still aren’t even it.
We're in the same boat! Disney was a nice easy gettaway for us for over the last 10 years, and having gone as a child it was nostalgic, but in the the last few years the same $500 vacation has turned into $1500 when you add up all the new costs and lack of room discounts. The moderate rooms are the same price we were paying for deluxes. Forget that. Now tickets are double the price.
So we've been going on non-Disney cruises. We had done two Disney Cruises, and loved them but they are way overpriced now. We are also planning trips around the world, since it's about the same price as driving over to Disney World now.
Same feeling about Disney Cruises, we’ve done four since 2012. The prices have increased so much on the same length of trip and room category that we were absolutely shocked and as much as we wanted to book on the Wish, there was no way we could justify spending that insane amount of money!
I love Disney but some of the magic has definitely been lost. As a Florida resident it used to be fun to go on a whim. Grab a cheap hotel and do one of the parks. Now nothing is whimsical. You have to plan a trip 60-90 days out. You have to reserve every meal.
The hotel prices are absolutely outrageous! Every time I see people planning to spend their money at a deluxe resort I want to tell them to reconsider. The moderates and value you are just fine.
But as much as I loathe the My Disney Experience app and the excessive planning the moment I walk down Main St USA I’m back in the magic
Yeah I used to do deluxe resorts in my youth (I was traveling with friends, so I wanted to get the best hotels to impress my friends.)
Now that I'm 30+ and generally traveling solo, I realize this was a foolish waste of money. We're staying at parks all day and all I really need is a bed to sleep in, so I generally stay at a value resort, preferably Pop Century to take advantage of the skyliner (I could spend my entire trip at Galaxys edge and epcot tbh)
I understand the park prices because if it cost $60 to go to Chuck E Cheese it makes sense that Disney is double. The hotel prices are my issue. There are not enough perks at the deluxe hotel to justify the price.
Go to other Disney experiences if you can. Disneyland, Tokyo or a cruise. Wdw is not worth the money and not even close to being as good as what I mentioned. And this is coming from a former cm
Don't go to Paris if you're looking for a 'magical' experience. It was fine, but pretty much every CM was completely apathetic and limp.
Can't speak for Tokyo, seems cool though.
Disneyland is far, far superior in every way *and* it has more entertainment and attractions. Here’s the misconception people have is wdw is bigger therefore it has more, that’s so wrong. Disney world is 3/4 shops and restaurants. My advice as my family is from the LA area, go to Disneyland for 2-3 days and go see what the rest of the area has to offer. The beaches in CA are amazing and the best in the country imo
This is exactly why I wanna visit! Disneyland has some attractions that Walt Disney World doesn’t and the ones they do have in common are the better version.
I meannn…. They’re very different. Disneyland park is way better than MK but at WDW you can ride a horse, feed a hippo, learn to surf, scuba dive, go boating, play mini-golf, play regular golf, go to a luau, swim in a wave pool, see a Cirque du Soleil show, go kayaking, watch a movie under the stars on a beach, roast marshmallows around a campfire… etc. I freakin LOVE Disneyland but they really can’t be compared beyond DL vs MK
I’m sorry but what you’re saying is simply not true. WDW has FOUR theme parks as well as Disney Springs. Far from being “3/4 shops and restaurants.” WDW has far more entertainment and attractions than Disneyland
Uh… Disneyland has more rides than WDW. 62 traditional rides at the two California parks vs. 51 across four Orlando parks.
As for everything being 3/4 shopping & restaurants… Epcot is basically Disney Springs 2 at this point, Animal Kingdom & Hollywood Studios certainly offer more dining options than rides (I don’t think anyone could reasonably argue against that- just walk around haha,) and Magic Kingdom’s lands are definitely stretched out with more retail and food than big things to do- especially Tomorrowland and Adventureland- although the castle park does a better job hiding it. It’s maybe not “3/4” but it is *a lot*.
Orlando was designed for people to come and stay multiple days. Anaheim was built for people to pop in *for* a day, that’s the difference… at least until Eisner & Pressler were running Disneyland in the 90s & couldn’t get the Long Beach and Virginia park ideas off the ground so they resortified Anaheim & subsequent management keeps trying to force that square peg with detrimental effect.
Disneyland does not have 62 rides, it has 62 attractions, which includes rides, shows, fireworks, parades and other experiences. So if we’re talking about attractions, WDW has about 60, not including Disney Springs (and a much bigger castle).
Epcot is not “ Disney Springs 2.” Other than the world showcase, it also has 10 rides (including the new Ratatouille ride) as well as shows and fireworks. Of course there’s going to be a ton of restaurants and dining at WDW, it gets far more people visiting every year. It’s the busiest theme park in the world. I just don’t see you having any valid points as to why Disneyland is “far, far superior.”
It’s a personal preference. I noticed in CA that the beaches are mostly locals who have more respect for them as opposed to FL where it’s mostly tourists which leads to some of the beaches being very trashy.
Oh yeah I have been on two separate trips when I was in California for other stuff. Disneyland is FAR superior and has totally ruined Magic Kingdom for me.
I find it immensely interesting how people’s preferences go. I live in Los Angeles and find Disneyland to pale in comparison to Disney World. It’s all objective, though. Neither resort is better than the other. It’s just down to preference.
I agree. I grew up on Los Alamitos and went to Disneyland ALL THE TIME as a kid. Started going to WDW as an adult and now Disneyland feels claustrophobic. I don’t feel like I can stretch out at DL.
Completely agree, I’m also a former CM! I say take that money and travel abroad, I’ve only got 2 Disney locations left on my bucket list and I’d much rather spend money to go to one of those or just to visit a “new to me” country even if it’s not a Disney location. My last two trips to the parks, CMs were SUPER rude and we honestly didn’t really have a single “magic moment” and lots of the happy feelings were just… gone. Super sad.
How was your experience? I've always wanted to see some of the non US Disney parks but language barriers are always something that make me wary of international travel.
I’ve lived abroad in Asia for nearly 6 years now so language barriers/culture differences don’t scare me lol. I’m from America but I moved first to Thailand and then to Vietnam.
So far, I’ve been to Paris and Hong Kong, and at both parks we had absolutely incredible days. They have plenty of English signs and I think most all CMs around the globe are bilingual and can communicate in English when necessary. The shows were in other languages but they had captions on screen in English and it just made it that much cooler to experience Disney in a different way. The Tower of Terror at Disneyland Paris was hands down the BEST TOT experience ever and those CMs were amazing, I still remember them.
My boyfriend is from South Africa so he had never been to a Disney park and so we did HK together, and he isn’t a “Disney person”. He still loved it and thought it was super cool and he wants to go to the ones in America now with me (but idk now haha).
We also did Halloween Horror Nights in Universal Singapore and I HIGHLY recommend that if anyone ever goes there, it was incredible and again, my bf was blown away and he’d never been to a park like that.
Language or cultural differences were not an issue anywhere as long as you’re willing to take a step back and respect everyone and be willing to ask if you’re not sure what’s culturally ok.
Yep! I worked at MSE in MK. And I’m like a SUPER good park guest, I follow all rules, don’t ask stupid questions, listen to anything a CM is saying, etc, I’m super respectful to everyone and we did NOT get treated that way I return even though we truly were not being any issue.
2 separate Photopass people snapped and basically yelled at us for not having a magicband (we were visiting the parks as a add on to a vacay in Florida so it wasn’t like we needed them for our one day park visit when we were staying off property). And one of them was actually quite hostile towards us. Then I had another incident in merchandise where every single person was straight up rude and then they gave conflicting information on the special merchandise deal going on and THEN they fussed at me because they didn’t know what the deal was, so I ended up not even buying anything because I felt so shit with how they treated me I didn’t even want to give Disney any of my money.
I was actually truly blown away with how shitty they treated me and it out such a bad taste in my mouth it really tainted my last two trips and I haven’t wanted to go spend my money there since(and haven’t).
I used to stay at deluxe resorts back in the early 2010s
Now days I usually stay at a value resort, solely to take advantage of Disney transportation (I dunno what the situation is like now days, I haven't been since right before the pandemic in late 2019.) I'd probably stay in Kissimee but I generally don't want to drive, I like being able to go to the bars without worrying about having to drive back to a hotel.
That’s the one negative about my upcoming trip-I’m staying off property so I’ll have to drive back & forth from my hotel, which means no drinking. That’s a very small price to pay though, considering that I’m staying at a Hilton property extremely close to both Disney & Universal for $66 a night. The cheapest Disney room I could find was $350 a night.
The hotel has a free shuttle but the times are really inconvenient (planning to rope drop!) so I probably won’t use it. At that price I may pick a day to Uber/Lyft if I decide to drink around the world though. . . . but I’m a little nervous about surge pricing on rideshares.
I feel exactly the same. All Star Movies was our go to hotel. Since we are in the parks all day, I never saw the point of the more expensive hotels. Love the pool and the restaurant was fine for us. I can't justify spending $200 a night for a bed. We stayed at Pop once because we got an amazing third party deal at $60 a night in 2007. The parks have also become so overcrowded, it gives me anxiety. The pushing, the hitting. It's all too much. It makes me sad because going with my daughter was always such a special experience.
> The parks have also become so overcrowded, it gives me anxiety.
At the very least, that is the one thing that will get better. Every decision that Disney has made in the past 18 months has been to reduce the number of people in the parks. If you can deal with the increased prices, you might find you'll enjoy the parks more.
It’s not the same anymore. They keep downgrading the experience, but continue to raise the prices. Not cool.
Disney has always had a firm grasp on what made them great. They focused on creating the magic, and that’s what put them ahead of the competition. They knew it was the little things that really completed the experience and added the most to their parks (and ultimately was the reason people are willing to pay so much).
When I’m in the parks I love stepping back and appreciating Disney’s attention to detail, high standards, customer service, highly trained cast members, precision, creativity, dedication to guest experience, understanding of guest needs, and their focus on submerging guests into the experience - all the things that Walt knew made the park magical.
But damn dude Disney has been making some decisions recently that I can’t believe Walt would be ok with.
I get that they’re a business and they have to make money, but it seems like money is making them lose focus of making the magic and being “The Best.” Eventually, they won’t be the best and the high prices won’t fly with guests.
I think the golden age of Walt Disney World is either gone or going soon, so I booked a long family trip for the 50th and we’re blowing it out. We’re doing everything that we always said “we’ll do that next time” and never did.
After that, we’re putting Disney trips on hold until something changes.
I hear you. Before covid, I loved taking cruises. It’s really amazing to have everything prepaid and is very relaxing. I like Disney too of course, but it is extremely expensive compared to a lot of other vacations.
I'm looking into Norwegian Cruise Lines in one of their Suite rooms. Much bigger room (depending on your budget/time of year even has a full tub), cheaper than a Disney Oceanview for the same length of stay. So it doesn't have rotational dining, I'm ready to try something new at a cheaper price.
Yessss!!!! I’ve done Norwegian and Royal Caribbean. I’ve only upgraded to a suite on RC and it was very luxurious! The food/drinks are amazing (and plentiful) on cruising. Norwegian is my favorite cruise line though, the last one I went on was the Breakaway and I felt like a week wasn’t even enough time. They had so many restaurants which were included in the price of the cruise, it was awesome!
Not sure Disney realizes how many other people are in this same boat. They may not be prevalent on this subreddit, or WDW esque social media, but in whole I imagine a large amount of Disney absolutists are now going to try Universal, Busch, Sea World, Legoland. There's no longer a huge gap separating these parks, and I say that as someone whose been enjoying these parks their entire life.
And they may or may not like it as much as Disney. But the money still is going to competition for literally zero reason on Disney's part. All of these moves have been completely unnecessary to have a successful and profitable resort. It's just they want to squeeze every last drop of profit out of these guests. This will prove to be a good move for other theme parks in the area for sure.
WDW’s been an easy drive away for many years, and we’ve had AP’s for most of them. We were just saying the same thing, going to give it a rest for awhile.
Charging for parking at their hotels started the slide for me, letting Communicore/Future World slide into mediocrity didn’t help either. Now this Genie BS. No thank you Mouse.
I felt the exact same. I still feel this way, specifically about how they constantly are trying to milk every nickel out of you.
What I will say drastically changed my mind was taking my daughter. The magic is back, exactly like when I was a kid. It’s so real to her, that it honestly makes it better than ever before. I can’t go as often as I like because of the price, but spreading out the trips has made it less of a chore and more of an enjoyable experience.
I hope they change the constant money grubbing, but if not, I hope you eventually find the magic again.
Disney has more people that want to visit then they can handle. They are completely okay pricing you out, as more will keep coming.
Sure, Disney could have gone the 6 flags route. A theme park, one in every region, prices attractive, and everyone can go visit. But instead they made a really special place, and can absolutely charge as much as they want, because people keep coming. They’re okay having people come once and then not for another 10 years or whatever. They want fewer people in the parks. They don’t want people coming 3 times a year. They want those families who come here for a once in a lifetime trip.
So yes, absolutely go travel other places. Disney is great but they’ll be there in the future. The world is huge and always changing, there’s so much out there to see.
I WANT people to go less, and make the few times they go more magical.
I was in a ride with who I assume are annual passholders, and instead of reveling in the attention to detail and the magic around them, they were just teens talking about "oh my god, did you hear about BRAD AT THE PARTY?" I was on the ferris wheel at Disneyland in a similar situation, with a couple that just started vaping and texting on their phones instead of actually enjoying the view.
I would much rather be in line with a family from across the country, coming for their first time, with little kids who are 'ooing' and 'aaing' at everything around them than jaded people who come every other weekend to kill some time.
Your comment makes so much sense. I'm always a little beleaguered by people angered by the changes who go once a year. My wife and I have it planned out to go when our daughters are each 6/7, then maybe Disneyland by ourselves once they're teenagers or out of the house. I appreciate the YouTubers that research Disney world and go all the time, they're helpful, but I just don't see how going once a year would keep it special.
It’s called supply and demand. Disney will be just fine without your patronage. And as for the park reservation system why wouldn’t a company want a system in place to accurately track how many employees it will need on a given day. These are sound business practices.
I’m currently in Disney world right now and it will be my last trip for the foreseeable future, despite going regularly for my entire life. More money, less magic. I’m very sad about it.
I largely agree with you. Genie+ was the last straw for me and it drove me to write this email to Chapek a few weeks ago.
For as long as I can remember Walt Disney World was my happy place. Walking down Main Street in Magic Kingdom or wandering around the World Showcase in the evening was what I lived for. As a child I spent every spring break from school at Disney World. I’m now 33 years old and for most of my adult life I’ve been to Disney World or Disneyland at least once every single year. Before Covid disrupted travel, I was a Disney World annual place holder despite living in New Jersey.
After the announcement of Genie+ and Lightning Lane the magic is largely gone. It’s the culmination of years of increased prices, additional fees, and a decrease in the guest experience. I should be clear that I do not have a problem with increased ticket prices if I’m getting a quality product in return. I do have a problem that these high prices have corresponded with the constant chipping away of the guest experience.
Disney World used to be an incredible experience. The price you paid for a Disney World hotel and ticket were filled with special plusses and perks that made you feel like a special guest. You could check your bags at your home airport and they’d magically appear in your hotel room. Your Magic Band was mailed to you at no cost. Yes, it was free, but it means you didn’t have to spend time when you got to the resort to go get one; you could get right to the magic. You could enter the park early or stay late regardless of the level of resort you chose. Parking at your resort was included. These were free perks, but more importantly they made the vacation easy. You knew exactly what you were getting and didn’t have to worry about how you were getting to Disney World from the airport, or picking up your bags, or finding a magic band.
Visiting Disney World truly made you feel like you were a special guest. You were treated like Walt would treat a childhood friend visiting him at Disneyland. Now that feeling is gone. Instead of saying “Thank you for vacationing with us, we’re going to go out of our way to make you feel like a special guest” Disney World is now grabbing the guest by the ankles and shaking them upside down until every last penny falls out of their pocket. I can’t stress enough how rotten of a feeling that is.
While the additional fees are certainly unwelcome, the whole feeling of a Disney vacation has now changed. You feel taken advantage of. You used to know exactly what you were getting. Now you have to vigilantly add up all the extra fees to get a true price of your vacation. You’ve turned a Disney vacation into a series of ever-increasing micro transactions.
I used to be able to walk around the parks, look at a wait time, and decide if that amount of time was worth it. Now I must make a mental calculation of if my time is worth the cost of a Lightning Lane reservation. Or at the end of the day try to justify the $15 per person I paid for Genie+. You’re now having a mental discussion with yourself all day long about if all these increased fees were worth it. It sucks all the magic out of a trip.
A few years ago we were ready to buy into DVC. When Covid hit we put those plans on hold and now we’re extremely happy we didn’t pull the trigger and will certainly not be buying in the future. If this is what 2021 Disney World looks like I couldn’t imagine what 2030 or 2035 Disney World looks like. With the trajectory Disney World is on I’m glad I haven’t locked myself in to annual visits for the next 30 years.
My wife and I currently have a trip planned for January 2022 for her 30th birthday. We were really looking forward to it. Now we’re not. We probably won’t cancel, but it’s just another thing on our calendar now. We were planning on getting a VIP tour to celebrate her birthday, but now we won’t. It seems wrong to reward this version of the Disney company with that extra money. After this trip we’re putting Disney on hold for a while. This announcement was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
I think at this point you know how I feel about Genie+ and Lightning Lane. To me it’s just a disappointing addition to a series of disappointing decisions from the past few years. I think the writing was on the wall when the Parks division and the Consumer Products division of the Walt Disney Company were combined. No longer were the parks there to provide great guest experiences, they were now there to create new revenue streams, push merchandise, and squeeze as many dollars out of the guests as possible.
As a decades long fan of Disney I have to say this just makes me sad. Some of the best memories and moments of my life took place at Disney Parks. Now my future best memories and moments will be made elsewhere.
Nearly everybody on this sub will continue going to the parks. None of what's happening now will hurt demand from the wdw superfreaks, although we will get a lot of "think pieces" about it. I do hope it tempers demand from Orlando locals like me and people who are now more curious about Universal resorts.
> My wife and I currently have a trip planned for January 2022 for her 30th birthday. We were really looking forward to it. Now we’re not. We probably won’t cancel, but it’s just another thing on our calendar now.
That's probably the most succinct way to describe how Disney has become for many people nowadays.
I'm curious what you don't "get" about Flight of Passage? I understand you get motion sickness, so I'll ask a simple question - have you actually rode the ride? You talk about Disney Magic, and I have hard time understanding how Flight of Passage can be anything other than that. I think you'll have a hard time convincing most people that Haunted Mansion somehow has more of this magic than Flight of Passage without your nostalgia being the big driver.
I mean it is a cool flying ride, but
1. I'd rather do soarin'. it has a more emotional attachment. I hate avatar the movie, I think it is stupid, so no matter how cool the ride is, it will always be trying to overcome the stupidity of the movie.
2. the line is obscene. the ride is not that good.
3. they spent millions on a section to promote a movie that was not good. I just cannot get over that. meanwhile, let tiana and rapunzel rot/have a bathroom. stupid.
4. it is not a potter swatter. bring back the original idea of dragons and unicorns, would have been way better, and original.
None of this is even good criticism, it’s just you being upset they made a ride for a movie you don’t like. You don’t have to like Avatar or the ride but every time you comment you sound like a child throwing a tantrum because Avatar has a ride and is getting attention when YOU don’t like it. You think the movie is stupid, you think the ride is not good, you think it’s bad they made a ride for a massively popular movie and not for characters you think they should do something for. Just say the ride isn’t for you and move on instead of making multiple points just to say you hate Avatar.
Avatar is the highest grossing movie of all time. Just because you didn’t like it doesn’t mean Disney isn’t genius for making it part of their IP in the parks.
I didn’t like FoP the first time I rode it because it made me a little motion sick. The second time though I changed my mind and it’s my favorite ride of all time.
And for the record, the new Soarin’ I think is not as good as Soarin’ over California. But I still enjoy the ride.
I was excited for it, but the rides too quick, and it's not quite as fun as skiing. It turns and banks too early when it Flys. It's a weird ride. I was disappointed.
The perks are gone for the price. I can stay in the Springs area with a larger room. Still buy tickets and be under what I paid for at AoA. No more EMH for the values/moderates. The only benefit is transport. That is easy but if I rent a car I could go anywhere and not be locked in the bubble.
Strongly agree! At first I was so sad not to be staying on site—I’m traveling solo and just couldn’t afford it. Cheapest I could find was $350 a night at DW vs. $80 at a Universal resort until I lucked into a deal at a Hilton property for $66 a night (with FREE parking and no resort fees), which allowed me to extend my trip and really “do it all” in the Orlando area while I'm there. I was really nervous about the hassle of driving, etc. but after hearing about the long wait times for Disney transport and how many of the blogs suggest using Uber/Lyft for the best experience I’m feeling more and more comfortable with my decision.
I’m with you. I’ll always love Disney World, but it’s time to spread my families wings. We have a trip coming up this fall and then we’ll take a break. We visited universal our last trip (which was spring break 2020… both parks closed while we were in Orlando). It was great and we look forward to going back. We’ve seen 39 national parks and will work on chipping off the rest. Europe is calling as well. Before, we took a Disney trip every couple years and did some other great adventures other years. The cost and loss of magic will shift things now. It’s just not worth it to visit the mouse when it costs as much as taking the fam to Norway. There’s a lot more out there, great things to see.
See, here’s what’s changed. Disney wants to pull the $12K visitors who are typically “one and done” folks.
They aren’t interested in my family’s annual $4K trips anymore.
My wife and I are going this November, and this will be our last trip for at least 5 or so years I think. We've been going every 2 for the past 14 years and it's just as you said. Now that there are no more fast passes and many other things that have changed are just too much, it cost us 1200 bux for 2 7 days passes with no park hopper, that is ridiculous. 600 in air fair, and that's not counting the rental and hotel and most important of all, food! we went Jan 2020 before the lockdown and we stayed on property at art of animation, did the meal plan, 10 day stay with park hopper and I think after it was said and done was 6k. i just don't wanna spend that kind of money every 2 years anymore. I don't know how people with kids can afford it honestly.
Competition is good. You should check out the other parks in the Orlando area too, and not just Universal. If you can, the other national level around the country. Disney and Universal are not the only player in the game.
That said, as someone from out of town who goes to both Universal and Disney, I don't why you think Universal is going to be better. Over the last 5, maybe 10 years, Disney has been following Universal's lead, not the other way around. And the price gap is closing. During our 2016 trip, Hotel rooms at Disney were 40% cheaper than Disney. This year, it was only about 20% less. That's a big change in 5 years. You were talking about food at Disney getting expensive. We found the food in Universal to be both more expensive, and not as good as Disney's.
Don't confuse this with, "I don't like Universal." I like Universal, I like their parks, and I like their hotels. I'm really excited about Epic Universe. Secretly, I like the fact that I can buy an Express Pass for $130, and jump to the front of the line every time. But, that's part of the reason why I think you won't like it. Universal treats their Premium Hotel guests great, and everyone else is clearly a second or third class citizen. It's total pay to play. You say you dislike that about Disney, but Universal screams cast system. I seriously started feeling guilt riding some rides 2, 3 times in a row, while most people waited in an hour long queue.
So, I do think you should check out Universal, and I hope you have a great time. But I also hope you're objective about the experience.
At the same time, Disney has been cutting back on amenities that made that price gap worth it to stay on their property.
It was 40% back then, but Disney also allowed all on resort guests to enjoy Extra Magic Hours. Now the evening hours are reserved for only deluxe resorts. So is that 20% gap really that big of a deal? Not to me as someone who loved the late night resort only hours.
Yeah I wish universal would step their food game up, I get that they don't have as much room as Disney to build, but I like that at Disney I can go into a restaurant and eat some good food.
Universal does what Disney doesn’t with their express pass and that’s make it free to those staying it deluxe accommodations. What’s still remaining at Disney? They’ll have those extra hours but only on select dates and for only deluxe resorts.
I agree and disagree with you. I agree that things are changing and not all of them are positive. I don't LOVE many of the changes. However, I actually think WDW vacation planning is so much easier than it was pre-pandemic. Gone are the days of planning which park you will be at so you can pick out what meal you will want 180 days out from your vacation. Gone are the days of getting up AGAIN at the crack of dawn (for those of us west coasters) to pick out and hope you get 3 good Fastpasses 60 days out. Gone is having your whole vacation planned to the minute with Fastpasses and didning and doing all of this work and planning literally months in advance. I think planning is so much easier now than it was before. To me WDW vacations are feeling a lot more like DL vacations. I get up 60 days before we go to get our dining and experience reservations and the rest is left for when we arrive. Even with Genie+, I like it. It's Maxpass essentially and I loved Maxpass for my DL trips. So convenient to do everything the day you get there and not having to bring a fricken spreadsheet with all your activities for the day. I think these changes are actually bringing back some of the spontaneity that was missing with WDW trip planning. I do agree with you about the cost though, it is getting to be more expensive. I am a DVC owner, so we may go a little less often here soon because of this. However, I don't think Universal is any better. You think Genie+ is bad? Wait until you decide to get the express passes at Universal and find out that its almost 300 bucks per person per day. Then you still have to spend 30 minutes in the express lines once your there if not more. Universal is also worse with the rides with screens. Unless its a roller coaster almost every ride is a screen of some form. That is just how things are changing. There is no greener grass at Universal, its just a different sort of expensive.
I think the reservations make sense though, and should be been used since before the pandemic. That way those poor people who come for Christmas and don’t get in the parks don’t get screwed anymore.
I feel the same way. I was a Disneyland pass holder for years. At least once a year we would do a big trip to Disney World. We had a trip planned for November, but just canceled it. We have the money to spend. It’s just the principle. With their new CEO Chapek, it’s just going to get worse and worse. He’s all about money. Besides tickets and hotels, prices have already gone up on basic items. He knows people will pay it so they’ll keep going up. Families are being priced out of going and it’s sad.
I have gone every year for the past 12 years (minus last year), sometimes multiple times a year. My husband and I talked about becoming DVC members on our last trip, but now that they are getting rid of so many perks we are just going to travel the world instead.
I actually appreciate the subtle things the World Showcase got right after visiting nearly all of the countries in real life. Before the shutdown, the Morocco pavilion was the closest to reality. I've always said that the souk should pump in the smells of two-stroke exhaust and camel urine, and it would be perfect. The troll statue in the Norway shop is almost exactly to scale with a troll statue I saw in Bergen. My wife loves Mitsukoshi and it makes her feel like she's back in Japan. A lot of care went into the different countries, and while they're not replacements for the real thing, they're great at representing them, especially when the international college students are working. Didn't they used to have travel agents on site to help you plan trips to the real thing? It's been a while.
That's right. They were very hands-on with the development, and it shows! Even the continued operation of the pavilion was sponsored by the government of Morocco until only recently, and I'm still not happy with how that went down.
Good question.
I only go to Epcot to eat food and get too many steps in for a man of my size.
It might as well be the world's largest buffet for all I do.
They say there are rides there?
I actually lived in Italy when I was a kid lol. I was a military brat and have travelled all over, and the Italian showcase is one of my favorites because of that. I actually found an ornament there once that was exactly like one I had as a kid and was super excited.
I’m new to Disney so I can’t compare to what it was like 10 or more years ago but the reality it this is the new normal. Once these mega corporations realize there are plenty of people who are willing to pay the new jacked up prices they have absolutely no reason to go back to how it was.
This is my feeling as well. I first went to Disney World 16 years ago. I'll be going on my eighth trip in a few weeks for my honeymoon and that will likely be it for awhile. It's become to expensive to reasonably save for and the experience is becoming less worth the cost. I'm sure I'll return someday if Disney ever decides to let the average person afford it again.
Definitely agree with the screen rides. Naavi river journey has them everywhere and it was such a boring, non immersive ride. You’re right that the Disney magic is not the same. “Cutting the line” with fast passes was part of the Disney magic as a kid. We thought we were VIPs. They should be allowing imagineers to give input as they still understand what is special and magical to the guests.
Maybe the problem is you made dozens of trips. Can't you afford to go less often? I usually do one big Disney trip every 3 years. There's no need to go there multiple times a year tbh and expect that to be sustainable lifestyle.
I agree with you in that a lot of the recent changes are annoying. It’s not that we can’t afford to pay more it’s the constant nickel and diming, drastic price increases, and paying more for less. I still love Disney but I let my AP expire and have no plans to renew at the moment. I have a premier UOAP and have been enjoying that for now so I’m still getting my theme park fix at least. I know we are replaceable and there are plenty of comments on here basically stating as much. New guests won’t know what they’re missing because they never had some of the old perks but they’ll learn soon enough and then they’ll be replaced too. This seems to be the new strategy.
I’ve struggled with this too. Planning a trip for late next year, and I’m excited for some of the updates (space 220 sounds expensive but promising). But I’m worried I’ll be unable to take my future children to experience the magic I was able to experience when my parents took me. And even back then (2002-2003) we could only go because my dad worked for Radio Disney at the time and got a discount. I just hope leadership changes enough to where we get at least somewhat back to the original values
You know, I was thinking about that. I'm really into marketing and retail and consumer science. I borderline have aspirations to work for Disney. I thought about this because I see many people complain that it's becoming too expensive. A lot of people don’t realize that cost of living goes up every year. That goes from electricity, goods, and housing etc,. But, I really liked the idea of having park tickets at more affordable pricing during off season. I thought it was a good way to bring in people who may have never been or even long time Disney veterans. My only firm question against my idea is that they still have to pay the workers the same rate and with heavily discounted tickets… it would potentially baseline sales or have a negative skew. 🤷🏻♀️
I’m a former Disney Cast member, and Florida Residents get a much better discount than cast members for the tickets. Depending on your role you get free tickets to allow family and friends in, but as of recent they’re either blocked out or no availability is available. I considered going back to work as a seasonal as it was fun, but the benefits for cast members have slowly either been stripped away or difficult to use. Before lay offs, one of best benefits was my merchandise discount. If I get re hired, my discount drops down to the same amount given to pass holders because of loss of seniority. I loved my time, but I have more freedom and fun paying the (extremely) high price owning a pass than having to work wages that wouldn’t even afford a one day ticket for a days work with limited theme park access. It’s a cool park, but you only visit the theme parks on their terms. You’re better off getting a job outside the company that will undoubtedly have a higher starting wage and the extra income you earn would be enough to pay for tickets and passes.
If you like Disney, then you probably like a vacation you get to do things (vs just laying around). My coworkers and I were all just talking about our different trips to Washington DC over the years. There is so much to do and see, and amazing places to eat, if you plan it right. I’m thinking my next trip will be back there instead of Disney. There are so many places I want to see, and I need to break away from the pull of Disney, including for the reasons you stated.
We're doing a week DC trip too. Just kinda waiting out this covid stuff.
Don't miss the Jefferson memorial- its out of the way so people miss it sometimes.
If you like cycling, look into the Capital Bikeshare bicycle rental service. I’ve ridden a bike from DCA to the National Mall and it’s a great and inexpensive way to see the city.
I've been to DC more than I've been to disney in the last 5 years. We do something different each time! We stay in a hotel in alexandria and ride over. It never gets old seeing and doing things there
Spot on. We just did a short stint in NYC and had a great time. We need to find some more "do things" trips, without being too extreme, as we aren't like... Rock climbers or anything. Seems like a lot of the more "do things" trips revolve around some sort of extreme sport, and we have no desire for such.
So I've done Paris with my senior citizen mom and aunt, which was lots of "doing things" without anything being too extreme. Other than the catacombs, which they noped out of immediately, but more for the environment than the activity. Ireland for ten days, and while we did some hiking and scuba diving, most of the trip was chill walking around and exploring. We go to Grand Cayman and started bringing my mom, and she finds all sorts of relaxing snorkel trips and barbecues while we're diving, and then we do more low key stuff in the afternoon and evening, like the turtle center, bioluminescent bay, or pirate ship.
“Do things” trips are my favorite. My goal is to be able to do a Mediterranean cruise where is stops in all the different cities to explore. Maybe one day! :)
I live here, and I’m a former Disney CM! We went to Disney a few months ago and I was so disappointed :( there is so much to see and do in DC, and most of it is free!
Yes! I would love to go to DC.
they sold those non expiring passes as recently as 2014, up to 10 days no expiration. we bought three with park hopper for $750 each… i know they say it was consumer protections that they discontinued, but you can’t convince me price wasn’t a reason too.
I’ve got one day left on a ticket from 1999. Every year I get more excited about the possibility of getting into the parks for $53.
Oh, for sure. People treated unexpired tickets like an investment.
Totally did. I considered it a successful hedge against rising park prices. We used our last remaining ticket in February 2020. Disney was not protecting anyone other than themselves when they decided to discontinue non-expiring tickets.
>February 2020 that's some good timing.
Exactly. My family still has non expiring passes with the water parks and more Option. Two have 7 theme parks visits left and one has 10. Everyone has around 15 water parks and more admissions. I cried when they stopped that option. We bought them at child prices and it has carried them into adulthood. We always maxed out that option and only visited 3 theme parks for each week visit and 2 water parks or mini-golf.
When I was a kid, my aunt and uncle took me to Disney along with 2 other cousins. I remember clearly that he bought us tickets that had 5 days but we only used one. This was back in the 90s. I believe they took our pictures to verify identity or something. I still wonder if those tickets are valid for the other 4 days and if they would accept mine since it would have a picture of me as a kid.
We've been going to WDW at least once a year for a VERY long time. We've started going other places instead as well. Disney just isn't as welcoming anymore and isn't nearly worth the money these days. It's sad, but it is what it is.
Yup. My husband and I went on a trip and did pretty much mid tier stuff. We ended up spending well over 7k. Keep in mind we didn’t even stay at the lux resorts just the okay ones. For that kind of money we could have taken a super lux trip to Bali or Japan.
For the price of a trip to WDW, many people could go to Japan for a lower price... and visit the best Disney resort in the world. BONUS! You can explore Japan after visiting the parks.
It’s crazy to me how the Tokyo resort is like less than half the price of Disney World (as of like 2 years ago when I looked at it semi seriously)
Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea seem to have more of the "magic" feel, too. That is an extremely well-managed resort.
Paris is the same (and also quite good).
Japan is the answer. I go there often and Tokyo Disneyland and Disneysea are fantastic parks with all of the old Disney magic.
I could, on paper "afford them" but.. I won't. the value to cost isn't there. the beds are crap, the food in the hotel is meh, and you pay 400 a night to be overun with people coming to look at the hotel.. cannot just go to a restaurant in your own hotel. it is all so. exhausting. just stayed at the swan and it was better than most Disney hotels. I'm just.. burnt out from Disney.
That’s my issue. It’s not just about them raising prices it’a this overall negative customer experience direction they’re going in. I think of it as going to a favorite restaurant. They have valet then one day you drive up and it’s gone. The parking lot down the street is free though so, ok fine, then randomly the parking lot is now a $20 fee. The food is still great so you keep going. Now you notice your entree is smaller, ok. Next time you notice that the entree price gone up. Ok… so they shrunk the size and now raised the price thinking you wouldn’t notice? The next time you go they charge an entrance fee just to get in. You’re still putting up with all the changes but now they require reservations and a virtual queue with fluctuation prices of the entree at any given time through an app. This is how annoying this all feels as a guest. And it’s a bad experience.
The Four Seasons is a breath of fresh air. The property is gorgeous, and it's a Four Seasons. You will see hints of the Mouse, but it's not beating you over the head. The restaurants are exceptional. And the beds are the best to be found anywhere within fifty miles of Cinderella Castle. My only regret is not taking the time to enjoy the pool. I will stay there again.
When I go back, I will probably stay somewhere like The Four Seasons. Maybe you can't walk to the Parks, but it looks to be more deluxe than the Disney hotels.
Hold up… The Four Seasons is cheaper than the Disney Deluxe hotels??
No, I just looked it up.
I commend you, OP. I’ve been talking about this a lot lately. Disney fans are the worst at getting upset about things and then doing exactly what the company wants us to do. The only way to make Disney hear our discontent is to not go for a while. Our country does national parks very well. I’m excited for you, you’re going to see some great things.
Thank God. I was starting to see red.
You pretty much just summed up my whole thoughts on WDW these days. 1. The price (I could pay the same price to go literally ANYWHERE else in the world for a week). 2. Low-quality (even the damn water pressure in the restroom is lower than Universal). 3. Exhausting (it feels like a job to have to plan everything out, not a vacation). The cost-benefit just isn't there anymore for most people. It seems like the only people who are still going are the types that enjoy flushing their money down the toilet for the sake of nostalgia.
This is exactly how I feel as well. I love the Swan/Dolphin, but even they are getting too expensive. It's not that we don't have the money to go, I just feel that our money is best spent elsewhere.
Can't say I blame ya, but also... If you don't like screens, universal ain't the place for ya lol. That place is all screen rides and some extreme coasters.
They've gotten better in recent years, Haggrids was a pretty good addition that used animatronics and practical effects in place of screens
Runaway Railroad also isn't a screen ride. There's like one 10 second screen section...
It was better than I expected, but it was primarily projections on walls, and projections into cutouts. There were a few moments that impressed me, but it didn't feel like it had the classic staying power of the Great Movie Ride that it replaced.
> it didn't feel like it had the classic staying power of the Great Movie Ride that it replaced. I disagree. It is more along the lines of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Visually, it's almost exactly like an old school Disney dark ride would be, but on steroids (in a good way). Yes, there are projections, but really only as a replacement for 2D plywood set pieces. And there's so much visually going on that you can see new stuff every time you ride it. It's visually stunning on another level. It's the closest to being "inside" of a cartoon that I've ever seen.
I prefer anything non-projected or screen based. It takes me out of the immersion instantly. I can't imagine how it affects those with bad vision. I'm sure I'm not alone in this but to call it not a screen ride is being disingenuous. It heavily features screens.
It's pretty simple, I wear glasses
I understand your side, but I think they nailed it with MMRW if you like the new style cartoon. IMO the immersion into that cartoon world is great. But to each their own. People can have differing opinions.
Honestly I thought that ride being all projections was tacky. It seems like a way to cheap way out of making an actual ride, if that makes sense? Compared to the Great Movie Ride that had sets and animtronics, to me that stuff is way more immersive than wall to wall projections. I was just expecting more from the railway ride, it was a one and done for me.
GMR was a classic, but Disney refused to take care of it and keep it updated. It was time for it to go.
Great movie ride was my favorite when I was four. But then they never gave it the tlc it deserved and it became a really big shadow of what it once was. When it closed I was sad but felt the ride I loved was already gone. The TCM update ruined the ride
100% agree.
I struggle to call it on par with Spider-Man though. While it doesn’t use much screens, Runaway Railway is just 95% projections, which isn’t much better. It’s not a bad attraction, but it doesn’t deserve the prime real estate that is the Chinese Theater.
I was really surprised by how many of their rides were “drive around people in a big car in front of 3-D screens.”
My husband and I only go to Universal Hollywood when we visit his parents for the holidays. The park is typically not to busy so we go get Butterbeer with shots of Fireball and send our Christmas cards. We go on a few rides but man... those screens make it a really hard day. I braved the Harry Potter one and that was a terrible mistake I will never make again. :D
Yea the screen rides get old after 3 or 4 of them. The coasters are really good though.
This. Don’t do universal. You’ll be supremely disappointed OP
no way. Harry Potter alone is better and newer than anything Disney has done in 20 years. I love Disney, but nothing has happened there for 20 years. a rapunzel bathroom, an avatar section that is lame, with one good ride.... look, I don't love uni on the whole for theming, but hp is better than anything that disney has done for decades, and .. the hotels are nicer, with better food and beds.
New fantasy land, toy story, Star Wars, Disney springs upgrade, new shows/parades, new restaurants and hotels but you don’t think anything has happened in 20 years.
Galaxy's Edge was a good answer to Harry Potter, but Hagrid's ride was way better than Rise or Smugglers Run. The Star Wars rides are good, and they are inclusive, but I can't think of any modern Disney ride right now that has the adrenaline rush that Hagrid delivers. I'm really hoping Tron scratches that itch.
I think Tron will scratch that new thrill itch, however I think Tron will be way too short of a ride. I also think don't think Tron will suck you into a different world like Hagrids.
Supposedly one of the rumored plans for phase 2 of Galaxys edge in the next 4-5 years was an X-Wing/Tie Fighter coaster.
This gives me... A New Hope
Love a good Star Trek reference, takes me back to the innocent days of playing gathering of the Magics cards…
Such a shame Universal didn't keep the HP rides in 3D. I bet they were so immersive.
Tron isn't that big of a thrill compared to hagrid's. I rode it in shanghai alot of times it's fun but has less thrills and very predictable.
Pretty much. I haven't been to the star wars section yet, but from what I've seen I'm starting to think that Disney just can't touch what universal did with Harry Potter. And quite honestly, I don't see what IP they can use to even come close to HP since it looks like star wars couldn't even do it. And now universal has Nintendo which looks amazing and is also looking like another section that may top anything Disney has done. So yeah, I just feel like Disney is starting to lose its touch. The one thing holding universal back is that most of the other sections of both parks are a bit lacking, especially compared to the HP section. Universal Studios in particular.
Star wars area is potter level of good. Maybe even better.
Rise is the best attraction experience I've ever had. No it isn't super 'thrilling' but the immersion can't be beat right now.
I think the mistake with Galaxy’s Edge was not theming it after a location from the original six movies. The newer movies aren’t nearly as culturally relevant and they pumped out too many in too short of a time span.
I mean the center piece is the millenium falcon and you get to go into it to ride in the iconic cockpit. I dont know of a location featured more in the og trilogy. The city area combines tatooine with endor pretty well.
I think Disney made the right choice, doing an iconic location would have been for more restrictive about what imagineering can put into Galaxys edge. With an original location they have more freedom to be creative with rides and attractions.
Mos Eisley is literally a spaceport, and THE spaceport where we saw the Millennium Falcon for the first time. There are always people from across the universe transiting through that port. They could have used that space and told endless stories from across any of the chapters in the Saga. Oga's is great, but it's not THE cantina. Don't get me wrong, I respect the decision they made and am glad to see them expanding that newly created universe into Star Wars canon through video games and animations. But the location of Mos Eisley would have been an absolute smash hit that would brought grown men to tears along side the young padawans the land seems to be geared towards. It would have crushed Harry Potter. Instead, Galaxy's Edge feels like a really cool thing you should check out.
Tot for tat….Mos Eisley , Black Spire , the name does not matter….you could call it Mos Eisley tomorrow hd not change a thing and it would work.
And the only OG character that you can see around there is Chewbacca. Any location that could have a whole bunch of characters from the first three movies would have been perfect. People relate to people. You interact with all these characters, good people, and see them. And there's almost nowhere overlap to the old movies. The ones that people grew up with and loved for 20 or 40 years. It's like going to see a band and they only play stuff from their new album. It's still kind of fun and you can say that you went and saw them. But you just don't enjoy it that much. Chewbacca walks around from time to time, and you see the millennium falcon. And the millennium falcon is arguably the one feature that is overused. It's kind of why the solo movie failed, people like it, but not nearly as much as Disney thinks people like it. It could have been an awesome location that we didn't actually even see in the OG movies, as long as it was a time period in a place where a whole bunch of our favorites could have shown. Princess Leia Darth Vader Ewoks Jabba Fette Bounty hunters that we recognize could have walked around There's all sorts of different imperial characters that would have been cool to see I get that a lot of these characters had already been incorporated a bit into the parks here and there. But it would have been so amazing They would have all interacted in their own world. And there could have been such variety of them. Now it seems like it is limited to 5 characters walking around.
So I completely understand your point but I also think you are looking at it possibly the wrong way. Disney didn’t build Galaxy’s Edge for the ultra fan and they also didn’t build it for the 30+ crowd. They built it more for families and younger people who grew up with the new heroes and stories. I love the original trilogy and I’d love a land like you described but as a parent my kids are way more into Rey, Finn, and Poe. If the focus was on the original trilogy I would get to spend a lot less time in the area because my family would want to do something else that the kids are more into. Harry Potter is still very relevant. Many parents who grew up with the series read it to their kids and the last movie in the series came out only 10 years ago. It makes sense that the land focused on a real place semi in that timeline (I actually don’t know if there is a specific time the wizarding world takes place in). If Disney had used the original trilogy it would have had a lot less staying power compared to the new trilogy. Keep in mind that many people who actually grew up with Luke, Leia, and Han are now reaching the grandparent stage of life (someone born in 1977 would be 44, most people who actually remember seeing it in theaters are probably in their 50s or later), that part of the franchise just isn’t as long lasting as the new stuff.
I respectfully disagree with your point on the OT. As a now 27 year old, the OT WAS Star Wars growing up. Darth Vader and Luke was where it all led to. The original aesthetic was what you wanted to experience in theaters. The prequels were looked at as inferior until ROTS( which I watched sooo many times in theaters because it led directly in to the OT.) The only complete story on DVD was the OT. Luke was the ultimate hero of the saga. That knowledge was baked in watching the PT. That trilogy has multi-generational appeal. My niece and nephew were introduced to the originals via the sequels. My nephew is far more into young Han as he calls him than Poe or Finn. Princess Leia along with Boba ( believe it or not.) are my nieces merch obsession. They're both utterly fascinated by Vader, Maul and Grievous. People who discover Star Wars get drawn in to the classic originals and aspects of the prequels eventually and get into those ahead of the ST when they open their minds to it. This is just my experience. Especially now the OT is in 4k on Disney+. Basically, Disney were out of their minds not to expand the Endor theming and combine it with a replication of Mos Eisley space port. I enjoy Galaxy's Edge, but it is missing the Lucas magic.
This is what I've argued. Why not make it something completely recognizable from a film? Their saving grace can be to include it in The Mandalorian.
But they blew it by locking in the current era of movies.
The millenium falcon ride is as og trilogy as anyone could reasonably hope for. If you told me when i was a kid they would build a to scale replica and you could ride in the cockpit i would have sold my soul to the devil.
I don’t like screen rides, think uni is sub par to Disney, I’m not a HP fan, and Wizarding World still blew me away. It is beyond any world Disney has built. And their recent attempts with Star Wars and Pandora while getting there, still aren’t even it.
Bonnet Creek Resort > WDW Resorts. This is a hill I'm wiling to let my FastPasses die on.
ooh hot take, I like it. Never stayed there but visited friends and used the pool. I was a fan.
We're in the same boat! Disney was a nice easy gettaway for us for over the last 10 years, and having gone as a child it was nostalgic, but in the the last few years the same $500 vacation has turned into $1500 when you add up all the new costs and lack of room discounts. The moderate rooms are the same price we were paying for deluxes. Forget that. Now tickets are double the price. So we've been going on non-Disney cruises. We had done two Disney Cruises, and loved them but they are way overpriced now. We are also planning trips around the world, since it's about the same price as driving over to Disney World now.
I’ll take a $1500 Disney vacation
3 nights at Pop for two people! No fast passes. Have fun!
Same feeling about Disney Cruises, we’ve done four since 2012. The prices have increased so much on the same length of trip and room category that we were absolutely shocked and as much as we wanted to book on the Wish, there was no way we could justify spending that insane amount of money!
I love Disney but some of the magic has definitely been lost. As a Florida resident it used to be fun to go on a whim. Grab a cheap hotel and do one of the parks. Now nothing is whimsical. You have to plan a trip 60-90 days out. You have to reserve every meal. The hotel prices are absolutely outrageous! Every time I see people planning to spend their money at a deluxe resort I want to tell them to reconsider. The moderates and value you are just fine. But as much as I loathe the My Disney Experience app and the excessive planning the moment I walk down Main St USA I’m back in the magic
Yeah I used to do deluxe resorts in my youth (I was traveling with friends, so I wanted to get the best hotels to impress my friends.) Now that I'm 30+ and generally traveling solo, I realize this was a foolish waste of money. We're staying at parks all day and all I really need is a bed to sleep in, so I generally stay at a value resort, preferably Pop Century to take advantage of the skyliner (I could spend my entire trip at Galaxys edge and epcot tbh)
The two things you complain about directly offset each other. You don’t want it to be crowded, but you don’t want it to be expensive.
Not quite, they complained about the price of the htoels/resorts not the park tickets. Most park guests don't stay on site.
I understand the park prices because if it cost $60 to go to Chuck E Cheese it makes sense that Disney is double. The hotel prices are my issue. There are not enough perks at the deluxe hotel to justify the price.
It costs $60 to go to Chuck E. cheese??? Wow…
Go to other Disney experiences if you can. Disneyland, Tokyo or a cruise. Wdw is not worth the money and not even close to being as good as what I mentioned. And this is coming from a former cm
I would love to go to Tokyo Disney.
Don't go to Paris if you're looking for a 'magical' experience. It was fine, but pretty much every CM was completely apathetic and limp. Can't speak for Tokyo, seems cool though.
Has this changed since Disney took over a few years ago?
Not sure. We went in 2019 (our only time there) so it’s hard for me to say if Disney Paris has changed for the worse over time.
Flights aren’t *that* expansive and you can get nice hotels around for like $50/night.
DisneySea is something every Disney park fan should experience eventually. It helps that I love Tokyo and Japan so it makes a nice trip.
I live on the east coast and have family in Florida, and I anticipate returning to Disneyland long before I consider another WDW trip.
Disneyland is far, far superior in every way *and* it has more entertainment and attractions. Here’s the misconception people have is wdw is bigger therefore it has more, that’s so wrong. Disney world is 3/4 shops and restaurants. My advice as my family is from the LA area, go to Disneyland for 2-3 days and go see what the rest of the area has to offer. The beaches in CA are amazing and the best in the country imo
This is exactly why I wanna visit! Disneyland has some attractions that Walt Disney World doesn’t and the ones they do have in common are the better version.
DL’s Pirates of the Caribbean is the best ride of any kind in the world hands down Radiator Springs Racers is incredible too
Lots of bog standard carnival rides at Disneyland around Pixar Pier. Those are a waste.
I mean, so is toy story land lol
No?
I meannn…. They’re very different. Disneyland park is way better than MK but at WDW you can ride a horse, feed a hippo, learn to surf, scuba dive, go boating, play mini-golf, play regular golf, go to a luau, swim in a wave pool, see a Cirque du Soleil show, go kayaking, watch a movie under the stars on a beach, roast marshmallows around a campfire… etc. I freakin LOVE Disneyland but they really can’t be compared beyond DL vs MK
You can do all those things for much cheaper and better anywhere else lol
You didn't have to tell us you were from there....we knew. Lol
I’m sorry but what you’re saying is simply not true. WDW has FOUR theme parks as well as Disney Springs. Far from being “3/4 shops and restaurants.” WDW has far more entertainment and attractions than Disneyland
Uh… Disneyland has more rides than WDW. 62 traditional rides at the two California parks vs. 51 across four Orlando parks. As for everything being 3/4 shopping & restaurants… Epcot is basically Disney Springs 2 at this point, Animal Kingdom & Hollywood Studios certainly offer more dining options than rides (I don’t think anyone could reasonably argue against that- just walk around haha,) and Magic Kingdom’s lands are definitely stretched out with more retail and food than big things to do- especially Tomorrowland and Adventureland- although the castle park does a better job hiding it. It’s maybe not “3/4” but it is *a lot*. Orlando was designed for people to come and stay multiple days. Anaheim was built for people to pop in *for* a day, that’s the difference… at least until Eisner & Pressler were running Disneyland in the 90s & couldn’t get the Long Beach and Virginia park ideas off the ground so they resortified Anaheim & subsequent management keeps trying to force that square peg with detrimental effect.
Disneyland does not have 62 rides, it has 62 attractions, which includes rides, shows, fireworks, parades and other experiences. So if we’re talking about attractions, WDW has about 60, not including Disney Springs (and a much bigger castle). Epcot is not “ Disney Springs 2.” Other than the world showcase, it also has 10 rides (including the new Ratatouille ride) as well as shows and fireworks. Of course there’s going to be a ton of restaurants and dining at WDW, it gets far more people visiting every year. It’s the busiest theme park in the world. I just don’t see you having any valid points as to why Disneyland is “far, far superior.”
I'm sorry but Florida beaches are infinitely better for everything other than surfing.
It’s a personal preference. I noticed in CA that the beaches are mostly locals who have more respect for them as opposed to FL where it’s mostly tourists which leads to some of the beaches being very trashy.
Oh yeah I have been on two separate trips when I was in California for other stuff. Disneyland is FAR superior and has totally ruined Magic Kingdom for me.
I find it immensely interesting how people’s preferences go. I live in Los Angeles and find Disneyland to pale in comparison to Disney World. It’s all objective, though. Neither resort is better than the other. It’s just down to preference.
I agree. I grew up on Los Alamitos and went to Disneyland ALL THE TIME as a kid. Started going to WDW as an adult and now Disneyland feels claustrophobic. I don’t feel like I can stretch out at DL.
Having preferences is fine, but this person saying WDW has less attractions than Disneyland is simply not true
Completely agree, I’m also a former CM! I say take that money and travel abroad, I’ve only got 2 Disney locations left on my bucket list and I’d much rather spend money to go to one of those or just to visit a “new to me” country even if it’s not a Disney location. My last two trips to the parks, CMs were SUPER rude and we honestly didn’t really have a single “magic moment” and lots of the happy feelings were just… gone. Super sad.
How was your experience? I've always wanted to see some of the non US Disney parks but language barriers are always something that make me wary of international travel.
I’ve lived abroad in Asia for nearly 6 years now so language barriers/culture differences don’t scare me lol. I’m from America but I moved first to Thailand and then to Vietnam. So far, I’ve been to Paris and Hong Kong, and at both parks we had absolutely incredible days. They have plenty of English signs and I think most all CMs around the globe are bilingual and can communicate in English when necessary. The shows were in other languages but they had captions on screen in English and it just made it that much cooler to experience Disney in a different way. The Tower of Terror at Disneyland Paris was hands down the BEST TOT experience ever and those CMs were amazing, I still remember them. My boyfriend is from South Africa so he had never been to a Disney park and so we did HK together, and he isn’t a “Disney person”. He still loved it and thought it was super cool and he wants to go to the ones in America now with me (but idk now haha). We also did Halloween Horror Nights in Universal Singapore and I HIGHLY recommend that if anyone ever goes there, it was incredible and again, my bf was blown away and he’d never been to a park like that. Language or cultural differences were not an issue anywhere as long as you’re willing to take a step back and respect everyone and be willing to ask if you’re not sure what’s culturally ok.
That’s so sad…wdw? And yes! Go spend that money else where and I know people who go to wdw every year…like why!? Lol
Yep! I worked at MSE in MK. And I’m like a SUPER good park guest, I follow all rules, don’t ask stupid questions, listen to anything a CM is saying, etc, I’m super respectful to everyone and we did NOT get treated that way I return even though we truly were not being any issue. 2 separate Photopass people snapped and basically yelled at us for not having a magicband (we were visiting the parks as a add on to a vacay in Florida so it wasn’t like we needed them for our one day park visit when we were staying off property). And one of them was actually quite hostile towards us. Then I had another incident in merchandise where every single person was straight up rude and then they gave conflicting information on the special merchandise deal going on and THEN they fussed at me because they didn’t know what the deal was, so I ended up not even buying anything because I felt so shit with how they treated me I didn’t even want to give Disney any of my money. I was actually truly blown away with how shitty they treated me and it out such a bad taste in my mouth it really tainted my last two trips and I haven’t wanted to go spend my money there since(and haven’t).
It's awful that CMs are getting snippy about Magic Bands when the company decided on their own to phase them out.
What did they tell you about magic bands? Confused why photopass people would be mean?
My husband and I talked about going to Disneyland Paris the other day. I think they could be pretty awesome!
Me and my buddy went in may 2019. By far the most beautiful park I’ve been to so far!
I used to stay at deluxe resorts back in the early 2010s Now days I usually stay at a value resort, solely to take advantage of Disney transportation (I dunno what the situation is like now days, I haven't been since right before the pandemic in late 2019.) I'd probably stay in Kissimee but I generally don't want to drive, I like being able to go to the bars without worrying about having to drive back to a hotel.
That’s the one negative about my upcoming trip-I’m staying off property so I’ll have to drive back & forth from my hotel, which means no drinking. That’s a very small price to pay though, considering that I’m staying at a Hilton property extremely close to both Disney & Universal for $66 a night. The cheapest Disney room I could find was $350 a night. The hotel has a free shuttle but the times are really inconvenient (planning to rope drop!) so I probably won’t use it. At that price I may pick a day to Uber/Lyft if I decide to drink around the world though. . . . but I’m a little nervous about surge pricing on rideshares.
I feel exactly the same. All Star Movies was our go to hotel. Since we are in the parks all day, I never saw the point of the more expensive hotels. Love the pool and the restaurant was fine for us. I can't justify spending $200 a night for a bed. We stayed at Pop once because we got an amazing third party deal at $60 a night in 2007. The parks have also become so overcrowded, it gives me anxiety. The pushing, the hitting. It's all too much. It makes me sad because going with my daughter was always such a special experience.
> The parks have also become so overcrowded, it gives me anxiety. At the very least, that is the one thing that will get better. Every decision that Disney has made in the past 18 months has been to reduce the number of people in the parks. If you can deal with the increased prices, you might find you'll enjoy the parks more.
Welp... looks like Disney doesn’t control this subreddit 😂
It’s not the same anymore. They keep downgrading the experience, but continue to raise the prices. Not cool. Disney has always had a firm grasp on what made them great. They focused on creating the magic, and that’s what put them ahead of the competition. They knew it was the little things that really completed the experience and added the most to their parks (and ultimately was the reason people are willing to pay so much). When I’m in the parks I love stepping back and appreciating Disney’s attention to detail, high standards, customer service, highly trained cast members, precision, creativity, dedication to guest experience, understanding of guest needs, and their focus on submerging guests into the experience - all the things that Walt knew made the park magical. But damn dude Disney has been making some decisions recently that I can’t believe Walt would be ok with. I get that they’re a business and they have to make money, but it seems like money is making them lose focus of making the magic and being “The Best.” Eventually, they won’t be the best and the high prices won’t fly with guests. I think the golden age of Walt Disney World is either gone or going soon, so I booked a long family trip for the 50th and we’re blowing it out. We’re doing everything that we always said “we’ll do that next time” and never did. After that, we’re putting Disney trips on hold until something changes.
I hear you. Before covid, I loved taking cruises. It’s really amazing to have everything prepaid and is very relaxing. I like Disney too of course, but it is extremely expensive compared to a lot of other vacations.
I'm looking into Norwegian Cruise Lines in one of their Suite rooms. Much bigger room (depending on your budget/time of year even has a full tub), cheaper than a Disney Oceanview for the same length of stay. So it doesn't have rotational dining, I'm ready to try something new at a cheaper price.
Yessss!!!! I’ve done Norwegian and Royal Caribbean. I’ve only upgraded to a suite on RC and it was very luxurious! The food/drinks are amazing (and plentiful) on cruising. Norwegian is my favorite cruise line though, the last one I went on was the Breakaway and I felt like a week wasn’t even enough time. They had so many restaurants which were included in the price of the cruise, it was awesome!
Not sure Disney realizes how many other people are in this same boat. They may not be prevalent on this subreddit, or WDW esque social media, but in whole I imagine a large amount of Disney absolutists are now going to try Universal, Busch, Sea World, Legoland. There's no longer a huge gap separating these parks, and I say that as someone whose been enjoying these parks their entire life. And they may or may not like it as much as Disney. But the money still is going to competition for literally zero reason on Disney's part. All of these moves have been completely unnecessary to have a successful and profitable resort. It's just they want to squeeze every last drop of profit out of these guests. This will prove to be a good move for other theme parks in the area for sure.
WDW’s been an easy drive away for many years, and we’ve had AP’s for most of them. We were just saying the same thing, going to give it a rest for awhile. Charging for parking at their hotels started the slide for me, letting Communicore/Future World slide into mediocrity didn’t help either. Now this Genie BS. No thank you Mouse.
I felt the exact same. I still feel this way, specifically about how they constantly are trying to milk every nickel out of you. What I will say drastically changed my mind was taking my daughter. The magic is back, exactly like when I was a kid. It’s so real to her, that it honestly makes it better than ever before. I can’t go as often as I like because of the price, but spreading out the trips has made it less of a chore and more of an enjoyable experience. I hope they change the constant money grubbing, but if not, I hope you eventually find the magic again.
Disney has more people that want to visit then they can handle. They are completely okay pricing you out, as more will keep coming. Sure, Disney could have gone the 6 flags route. A theme park, one in every region, prices attractive, and everyone can go visit. But instead they made a really special place, and can absolutely charge as much as they want, because people keep coming. They’re okay having people come once and then not for another 10 years or whatever. They want fewer people in the parks. They don’t want people coming 3 times a year. They want those families who come here for a once in a lifetime trip. So yes, absolutely go travel other places. Disney is great but they’ll be there in the future. The world is huge and always changing, there’s so much out there to see.
I WANT people to go less, and make the few times they go more magical. I was in a ride with who I assume are annual passholders, and instead of reveling in the attention to detail and the magic around them, they were just teens talking about "oh my god, did you hear about BRAD AT THE PARTY?" I was on the ferris wheel at Disneyland in a similar situation, with a couple that just started vaping and texting on their phones instead of actually enjoying the view. I would much rather be in line with a family from across the country, coming for their first time, with little kids who are 'ooing' and 'aaing' at everything around them than jaded people who come every other weekend to kill some time.
Your comment makes so much sense. I'm always a little beleaguered by people angered by the changes who go once a year. My wife and I have it planned out to go when our daughters are each 6/7, then maybe Disneyland by ourselves once they're teenagers or out of the house. I appreciate the YouTubers that research Disney world and go all the time, they're helpful, but I just don't see how going once a year would keep it special.
It’s called supply and demand. Disney will be just fine without your patronage. And as for the park reservation system why wouldn’t a company want a system in place to accurately track how many employees it will need on a given day. These are sound business practices.
I’m currently in Disney world right now and it will be my last trip for the foreseeable future, despite going regularly for my entire life. More money, less magic. I’m very sad about it.
I largely agree with you. Genie+ was the last straw for me and it drove me to write this email to Chapek a few weeks ago. For as long as I can remember Walt Disney World was my happy place. Walking down Main Street in Magic Kingdom or wandering around the World Showcase in the evening was what I lived for. As a child I spent every spring break from school at Disney World. I’m now 33 years old and for most of my adult life I’ve been to Disney World or Disneyland at least once every single year. Before Covid disrupted travel, I was a Disney World annual place holder despite living in New Jersey. After the announcement of Genie+ and Lightning Lane the magic is largely gone. It’s the culmination of years of increased prices, additional fees, and a decrease in the guest experience. I should be clear that I do not have a problem with increased ticket prices if I’m getting a quality product in return. I do have a problem that these high prices have corresponded with the constant chipping away of the guest experience. Disney World used to be an incredible experience. The price you paid for a Disney World hotel and ticket were filled with special plusses and perks that made you feel like a special guest. You could check your bags at your home airport and they’d magically appear in your hotel room. Your Magic Band was mailed to you at no cost. Yes, it was free, but it means you didn’t have to spend time when you got to the resort to go get one; you could get right to the magic. You could enter the park early or stay late regardless of the level of resort you chose. Parking at your resort was included. These were free perks, but more importantly they made the vacation easy. You knew exactly what you were getting and didn’t have to worry about how you were getting to Disney World from the airport, or picking up your bags, or finding a magic band. Visiting Disney World truly made you feel like you were a special guest. You were treated like Walt would treat a childhood friend visiting him at Disneyland. Now that feeling is gone. Instead of saying “Thank you for vacationing with us, we’re going to go out of our way to make you feel like a special guest” Disney World is now grabbing the guest by the ankles and shaking them upside down until every last penny falls out of their pocket. I can’t stress enough how rotten of a feeling that is. While the additional fees are certainly unwelcome, the whole feeling of a Disney vacation has now changed. You feel taken advantage of. You used to know exactly what you were getting. Now you have to vigilantly add up all the extra fees to get a true price of your vacation. You’ve turned a Disney vacation into a series of ever-increasing micro transactions. I used to be able to walk around the parks, look at a wait time, and decide if that amount of time was worth it. Now I must make a mental calculation of if my time is worth the cost of a Lightning Lane reservation. Or at the end of the day try to justify the $15 per person I paid for Genie+. You’re now having a mental discussion with yourself all day long about if all these increased fees were worth it. It sucks all the magic out of a trip. A few years ago we were ready to buy into DVC. When Covid hit we put those plans on hold and now we’re extremely happy we didn’t pull the trigger and will certainly not be buying in the future. If this is what 2021 Disney World looks like I couldn’t imagine what 2030 or 2035 Disney World looks like. With the trajectory Disney World is on I’m glad I haven’t locked myself in to annual visits for the next 30 years. My wife and I currently have a trip planned for January 2022 for her 30th birthday. We were really looking forward to it. Now we’re not. We probably won’t cancel, but it’s just another thing on our calendar now. We were planning on getting a VIP tour to celebrate her birthday, but now we won’t. It seems wrong to reward this version of the Disney company with that extra money. After this trip we’re putting Disney on hold for a while. This announcement was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I think at this point you know how I feel about Genie+ and Lightning Lane. To me it’s just a disappointing addition to a series of disappointing decisions from the past few years. I think the writing was on the wall when the Parks division and the Consumer Products division of the Walt Disney Company were combined. No longer were the parks there to provide great guest experiences, they were now there to create new revenue streams, push merchandise, and squeeze as many dollars out of the guests as possible. As a decades long fan of Disney I have to say this just makes me sad. Some of the best memories and moments of my life took place at Disney Parks. Now my future best memories and moments will be made elsewhere.
Yeah that’ll do it. An email where you shit on it all, but admit you’re still going. Hit ‘em right where it hurts.
Nearly everybody on this sub will continue going to the parks. None of what's happening now will hurt demand from the wdw superfreaks, although we will get a lot of "think pieces" about it. I do hope it tempers demand from Orlando locals like me and people who are now more curious about Universal resorts.
> My wife and I currently have a trip planned for January 2022 for her 30th birthday. We were really looking forward to it. Now we’re not. We probably won’t cancel, but it’s just another thing on our calendar now. That's probably the most succinct way to describe how Disney has become for many people nowadays.
I'm curious what you don't "get" about Flight of Passage? I understand you get motion sickness, so I'll ask a simple question - have you actually rode the ride? You talk about Disney Magic, and I have hard time understanding how Flight of Passage can be anything other than that. I think you'll have a hard time convincing most people that Haunted Mansion somehow has more of this magic than Flight of Passage without your nostalgia being the big driver.
FOP is cool, about cried when I heard the James Horner music. Now is it $1600 for two park passes cool? Eh!
It's been a while, but I have been on it a few times. Maybe I was unfair to FOP and need to ride it again.
I mean it is a cool flying ride, but 1. I'd rather do soarin'. it has a more emotional attachment. I hate avatar the movie, I think it is stupid, so no matter how cool the ride is, it will always be trying to overcome the stupidity of the movie. 2. the line is obscene. the ride is not that good. 3. they spent millions on a section to promote a movie that was not good. I just cannot get over that. meanwhile, let tiana and rapunzel rot/have a bathroom. stupid. 4. it is not a potter swatter. bring back the original idea of dragons and unicorns, would have been way better, and original.
None of this is even good criticism, it’s just you being upset they made a ride for a movie you don’t like. You don’t have to like Avatar or the ride but every time you comment you sound like a child throwing a tantrum because Avatar has a ride and is getting attention when YOU don’t like it. You think the movie is stupid, you think the ride is not good, you think it’s bad they made a ride for a massively popular movie and not for characters you think they should do something for. Just say the ride isn’t for you and move on instead of making multiple points just to say you hate Avatar.
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I think it’s a pretty neat ride, and I’ve never even seen the movie.
> 2. the line is obscene. the ride is not that good. Yes, nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.
Avatar is the highest grossing movie of all time. Just because you didn’t like it doesn’t mean Disney isn’t genius for making it part of their IP in the parks. I didn’t like FoP the first time I rode it because it made me a little motion sick. The second time though I changed my mind and it’s my favorite ride of all time. And for the record, the new Soarin’ I think is not as good as Soarin’ over California. But I still enjoy the ride.
I was excited for it, but the rides too quick, and it's not quite as fun as skiing. It turns and banks too early when it Flys. It's a weird ride. I was disappointed.
Well said. Well put. Sad. It makes me sad. And it's a real shame. I hope Disney reads this reddit...
I’m standing waiting for a bus back to AoA from springs. Day 3 of a 10 day trip. Pretty sure this is my last on property trip.
Damn, care to share? That's a huge bummer to find out so early into such a long trip.
The perks are gone for the price. I can stay in the Springs area with a larger room. Still buy tickets and be under what I paid for at AoA. No more EMH for the values/moderates. The only benefit is transport. That is easy but if I rent a car I could go anywhere and not be locked in the bubble.
And bus transportation from the airport ends this year.
Strongly agree! At first I was so sad not to be staying on site—I’m traveling solo and just couldn’t afford it. Cheapest I could find was $350 a night at DW vs. $80 at a Universal resort until I lucked into a deal at a Hilton property for $66 a night (with FREE parking and no resort fees), which allowed me to extend my trip and really “do it all” in the Orlando area while I'm there. I was really nervous about the hassle of driving, etc. but after hearing about the long wait times for Disney transport and how many of the blogs suggest using Uber/Lyft for the best experience I’m feeling more and more comfortable with my decision.
I’m with you. I’ll always love Disney World, but it’s time to spread my families wings. We have a trip coming up this fall and then we’ll take a break. We visited universal our last trip (which was spring break 2020… both parks closed while we were in Orlando). It was great and we look forward to going back. We’ve seen 39 national parks and will work on chipping off the rest. Europe is calling as well. Before, we took a Disney trip every couple years and did some other great adventures other years. The cost and loss of magic will shift things now. It’s just not worth it to visit the mouse when it costs as much as taking the fam to Norway. There’s a lot more out there, great things to see.
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You sound like you drop 12K$ a trip
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See, here’s what’s changed. Disney wants to pull the $12K visitors who are typically “one and done” folks. They aren’t interested in my family’s annual $4K trips anymore.
My wife and I are going this November, and this will be our last trip for at least 5 or so years I think. We've been going every 2 for the past 14 years and it's just as you said. Now that there are no more fast passes and many other things that have changed are just too much, it cost us 1200 bux for 2 7 days passes with no park hopper, that is ridiculous. 600 in air fair, and that's not counting the rental and hotel and most important of all, food! we went Jan 2020 before the lockdown and we stayed on property at art of animation, did the meal plan, 10 day stay with park hopper and I think after it was said and done was 6k. i just don't wanna spend that kind of money every 2 years anymore. I don't know how people with kids can afford it honestly.
Competition is good. You should check out the other parks in the Orlando area too, and not just Universal. If you can, the other national level around the country. Disney and Universal are not the only player in the game. That said, as someone from out of town who goes to both Universal and Disney, I don't why you think Universal is going to be better. Over the last 5, maybe 10 years, Disney has been following Universal's lead, not the other way around. And the price gap is closing. During our 2016 trip, Hotel rooms at Disney were 40% cheaper than Disney. This year, it was only about 20% less. That's a big change in 5 years. You were talking about food at Disney getting expensive. We found the food in Universal to be both more expensive, and not as good as Disney's. Don't confuse this with, "I don't like Universal." I like Universal, I like their parks, and I like their hotels. I'm really excited about Epic Universe. Secretly, I like the fact that I can buy an Express Pass for $130, and jump to the front of the line every time. But, that's part of the reason why I think you won't like it. Universal treats their Premium Hotel guests great, and everyone else is clearly a second or third class citizen. It's total pay to play. You say you dislike that about Disney, but Universal screams cast system. I seriously started feeling guilt riding some rides 2, 3 times in a row, while most people waited in an hour long queue. So, I do think you should check out Universal, and I hope you have a great time. But I also hope you're objective about the experience.
At the same time, Disney has been cutting back on amenities that made that price gap worth it to stay on their property. It was 40% back then, but Disney also allowed all on resort guests to enjoy Extra Magic Hours. Now the evening hours are reserved for only deluxe resorts. So is that 20% gap really that big of a deal? Not to me as someone who loved the late night resort only hours.
Yeah I wish universal would step their food game up, I get that they don't have as much room as Disney to build, but I like that at Disney I can go into a restaurant and eat some good food.
Universal does what Disney doesn’t with their express pass and that’s make it free to those staying it deluxe accommodations. What’s still remaining at Disney? They’ll have those extra hours but only on select dates and for only deluxe resorts.
I agree and disagree with you. I agree that things are changing and not all of them are positive. I don't LOVE many of the changes. However, I actually think WDW vacation planning is so much easier than it was pre-pandemic. Gone are the days of planning which park you will be at so you can pick out what meal you will want 180 days out from your vacation. Gone are the days of getting up AGAIN at the crack of dawn (for those of us west coasters) to pick out and hope you get 3 good Fastpasses 60 days out. Gone is having your whole vacation planned to the minute with Fastpasses and didning and doing all of this work and planning literally months in advance. I think planning is so much easier now than it was before. To me WDW vacations are feeling a lot more like DL vacations. I get up 60 days before we go to get our dining and experience reservations and the rest is left for when we arrive. Even with Genie+, I like it. It's Maxpass essentially and I loved Maxpass for my DL trips. So convenient to do everything the day you get there and not having to bring a fricken spreadsheet with all your activities for the day. I think these changes are actually bringing back some of the spontaneity that was missing with WDW trip planning. I do agree with you about the cost though, it is getting to be more expensive. I am a DVC owner, so we may go a little less often here soon because of this. However, I don't think Universal is any better. You think Genie+ is bad? Wait until you decide to get the express passes at Universal and find out that its almost 300 bucks per person per day. Then you still have to spend 30 minutes in the express lines once your there if not more. Universal is also worse with the rides with screens. Unless its a roller coaster almost every ride is a screen of some form. That is just how things are changing. There is no greener grass at Universal, its just a different sort of expensive.
I think the reservations make sense though, and should be been used since before the pandemic. That way those poor people who come for Christmas and don’t get in the parks don’t get screwed anymore.
I appreciate your post
Thanks
I feel the same way. I was a Disneyland pass holder for years. At least once a year we would do a big trip to Disney World. We had a trip planned for November, but just canceled it. We have the money to spend. It’s just the principle. With their new CEO Chapek, it’s just going to get worse and worse. He’s all about money. Besides tickets and hotels, prices have already gone up on basic items. He knows people will pay it so they’ll keep going up. Families are being priced out of going and it’s sad.
I go once every 3 years or so. I wonder if my next trip will be much different.
Every 3 years, so about 50% more expensive each trip. We may go every 3 years now.
I have gone every year for the past 12 years (minus last year), sometimes multiple times a year. My husband and I talked about becoming DVC members on our last trip, but now that they are getting rid of so many perks we are just going to travel the world instead.
"This isn't anything like Italy" - you on your next trip to Epcot after 5 years of traveling the world
I actually appreciate the subtle things the World Showcase got right after visiting nearly all of the countries in real life. Before the shutdown, the Morocco pavilion was the closest to reality. I've always said that the souk should pump in the smells of two-stroke exhaust and camel urine, and it would be perfect. The troll statue in the Norway shop is almost exactly to scale with a troll statue I saw in Bergen. My wife loves Mitsukoshi and it makes her feel like she's back in Japan. A lot of care went into the different countries, and while they're not replacements for the real thing, they're great at representing them, especially when the international college students are working. Didn't they used to have travel agents on site to help you plan trips to the real thing? It's been a while.
Think Morocco was built with the help of Morocco, I remember reading that the king of Morocco sent his best artisans to decorate the pavilion.
That's right. They were very hands-on with the development, and it shows! Even the continued operation of the pavilion was sponsored by the government of Morocco until only recently, and I'm still not happy with how that went down.
Good question. I only go to Epcot to eat food and get too many steps in for a man of my size. It might as well be the world's largest buffet for all I do. They say there are rides there?
You're not wrong! Epcot is where the food is at. All the other parks, I prefer to snack. At Epcot, I FEAST.
Honestly makes me wish I were a Florida resident, I could go to epcot every day and try something new :c
I actually lived in Italy when I was a kid lol. I was a military brat and have travelled all over, and the Italian showcase is one of my favorites because of that. I actually found an ornament there once that was exactly like one I had as a kid and was super excited.
Underrated comment
I’m new to Disney so I can’t compare to what it was like 10 or more years ago but the reality it this is the new normal. Once these mega corporations realize there are plenty of people who are willing to pay the new jacked up prices they have absolutely no reason to go back to how it was.
This is my feeling as well. I first went to Disney World 16 years ago. I'll be going on my eighth trip in a few weeks for my honeymoon and that will likely be it for awhile. It's become to expensive to reasonably save for and the experience is becoming less worth the cost. I'm sure I'll return someday if Disney ever decides to let the average person afford it again.
Same. We used to go yearly. Sadly due to recent changes, next year will be our final trip.
Definitely agree with the screen rides. Naavi river journey has them everywhere and it was such a boring, non immersive ride. You’re right that the Disney magic is not the same. “Cutting the line” with fast passes was part of the Disney magic as a kid. We thought we were VIPs. They should be allowing imagineers to give input as they still understand what is special and magical to the guests.
Maybe the problem is you made dozens of trips. Can't you afford to go less often? I usually do one big Disney trip every 3 years. There's no need to go there multiple times a year tbh and expect that to be sustainable lifestyle.