The boards arent reflecting the happiest place on earth

[momto2girls]

This sums it up for us. We knew how to pull 7-9 FP a day, ride our favorites (ToT, RnR, EE) 6-8 times per day and never waited in line more than 20 minutes. The ability to do that pretty much ended with FP+. Whether FP+ is a loss or a gain for your family largely depends on how your toured before FP+. For families like ours, it offered us less for even more money. No thanks. I can pay for an onsite room at Universal and get FOTL with no headaches at all. WDW made vacationing work instead of leisure for this family.

I would consider DLR, so long as they do not adopt FP+. I'm not anti-Disney, just anti-FP+. It works great for some, but is a disaster for us.

I was okay with 180 day ADRs. Some years, we decided to mainly do CS and avoid being tied to ADRs. And that was our choice. Making me schedule rides, and not even the GOOD ones, was asking too much. The old FP worked great for our family and IMHO, WDW should have spent that $1+ billion on new attractions and not FP+. That would have made the average visitor much happier.

Well said!!

 

[metz72]

I find the "community Board" to be a bit on edge but ALL forums I visit are like that. The "off topic" area is full of opinions and, well, off topic related discussions. Have you tried to post in the threads specific to what you are looking for?

Yes I have been looking at the posts in specific threads.

 

[dislaney]

This sums it up for us. We knew how to pull 7-9 FP a day, ride our favorites (ToT, RnR, EE) 6-8 times per day and never waited in line more than 20 minutes. The ability to do that pretty much ended with FP+. Whether FP+ is a loss or a gain for your family largely depends on how your toured before FP+. For families like ours, it offered us less for even more money. No thanks. I can pay for an onsite room at Universal and get FOTL with no headaches at all. WDW made vacationing work instead of leisure for this family.

I would consider DLR, so long as they do not adopt FP+. I'm not anti-Disney, just anti-FP+. It works great for some, but is a disaster for us.

I was okay with 180 day ADRs. Some years, we decided to mainly do CS and avoid being tied to ADRs. And that was our choice. Making me schedule rides, and not even the GOOD ones, was asking too much. The old FP worked great for our family and IMHO, WDW should have spent that $1+ billion on new attractions and not FP+. That would have made the average visitor much happier.

We loved legacy fastpass and toured similar to your family. Riding favorites multiple times per day and never waiting very long for any rides. FP+ works for some, but not really for our family. DLR is where we will be headed at spring break. After that not really sure..

 

[Ceila]

I don't want to read advice about Disney, or any other vacation spot, that just blows pixie dust up, well, wherever. I want to know the good and the bad, and how different people react to the offerings. It would be insanely boring around here if everyone always agreed.

 

[metz72]

I don't want to read advice about Disney, or any other vacation spot, that just blows pixie dust up, well, wherever. I want to know the good and the bad, and how different people react to the offerings. It would be insanely boring around here if everyone always agreed.

I totally agree about the pixie dust I read the boards to find out what to avoid as much as what to do. Most of the posts in this thread have been polite and informative without being mean. That is what I remembered from before. Apparently fast-pass+ brings out the worst in some people. I have read about some people's horrible experience's and I too would be upset and probably share on the boards. The negativity I really am talking about is how mean people are to each other because they don't agree with their opinion.

 

[mom2rtk]

Try visiting the DLR board here. Then visit the WDW theme parks board here. I think you'll see a big difference. What has changed is the addition of FP+ and the crazy advance planning now required on the WDW side of things.

We're heading back to DLR in December and have done next to no planning so far. It's quite awesome.

People have very strong feelings because the LOVE WDW and are sad to see it change so much.

 

[goofy4tink]

I've been going to WDW since '99. For the past 10 years, it's been multiple trips a year. Things have changed, a lot, since my first trip. It's mind boggling. Some things I like, some things not so much. My trips aren't so very different now vs 10 years ago. I find people are very vocal about the changes, especially recently. I have no issue planning early on, but I can see how some either don't want to, or aren't able to. And that will negatively impact their WDW experience.
I just can't get all worked up over the changes. I do the things I want....if it takes me longer, so be it. But I can see how hard it would be for the family that is planning their first trip, or the family that doesn't go every year. They want the best experience they can get. But people sure do get vocal about things here!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I haven't been on the boards since my last trip almost 3 years ago but I don't remember all the anger at Disney or other posters that I am seeing now.

I'm sorry, but that just means you weren't paying attention. Besides FastPass+, the discussions haven't really changed.

 

[LBIJim]

I don't want to read advice about Disney, or any other vacation spot, that just blows pixie dust up, well, wherever. I want to know the good and the bad, and how different people react to the offerings. It would be insanely boring around here if everyone always agreed.

I like reading about the good, the bad, and the ugly concerning Disney on these boards. If I wanted nothing but people farting rainbows about how wonderful everything at DWD is, I'd go elsewhere.

 

[lauradis]

I have been going to Disney for almost 40 years.

I remember what it was like before fast passes or fast pass plus. Personally think Disney went over board with paper fast passes. Oct 2013 during the testing of fp+ was our last trip,, we had 3 glitches, but we really enjoyed the magic bands and the concept. We also rode everything we want and did tower of terror like 4 times in arrow. I lost count how many times we just walked onto buzz light year.

We are lucky enough to be able to afford to go every other year and enjoy what Disney has to offer at the time.

We are also lucky enough to be able to go during slow seasons, which make a big difference in planning and availability. Honestly can't remember as an adult standing in line more then 20-30 mins max.

Of all the changes Disney has made in last 40 years its the food quality that bugs me the most.

As far as the board being full of grumpy people, well that depends on the subject.

 

[TLSnell1981]

You're upset because the BOARD isn't fun? I was upset because FP+ sucked the last bit of fun out of WDW and made the vacation too much work. Visiting a board is free, but a trip to WDW is not. That might explain the crappy attitude some have now.

Then there are those of us who decided to just let it go. I canceled my WDW trip since the joy had been sucked out of it and it was now more work than actual work. We went to Universal instead, where things are easy as pie, and had a blast.

Good luck with that trip.

We've visted WDW, DL and DLP..too many times to count. We averaged 2-3 visits a year since 2006 and yearly prior to that. We visted in the spring and it was a stressful mess. Room and dining Ressies disappeared, horrible transportation issues for handicapped guest, FP sucked eggs, prices were insane. Oh yea, my magic bands were mostly a miss...translation - they are unreliable.

We canceled our F&W, Halloween, birthday trip DGS in October. It was difficult telling a 5 year old, that we cancelled the Disney vacation. The spring trip wa very stressful ...just couldn't risk another disaster.

 

[minnie56]

I should preface by saying In general I'm a 'glass half full' kind of person but Disney and I go waaaay back, back to opening day actually ..with multiple visits every year since and yes, it's a very different place than it was, most places are. And yes, prices are sure up there but I never feel I didn't get great value for monies spent and am constantly amazed that they are still a class act. I've few complaints ..my last visit was in May and everything went smoothly and we enjoyed a great time as per usual! all the new changes worked perfectly and we had a blast playing with the new toys. Lol.

 

[JanaDee]

When a company lives by the motto "pay more, get less" people tend to get irritated and upset.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I don't really get all the fuss and the moanng either. We bought DVC because we love WDW and it makes me determined to not sweat the small stuff. A trip is what you make it and if you are spending a fortune all the more reason to glass half full it.

We have always booked ADRs 180 days out. We have always decided which park on which day. All FP+ does is give you the opportunity to advance book 3 experiences. I don't get what all the fuss is about. If you want to ore book if not do like we always did and use he kiosks they work great. All the doom and gloom on here has much more potential to ruin a trip than having to use a computer for a few days to pre book a few rides.

There are literally hundreds of thousands of people who will never even gEt within a sniff of a Disney trip. Whenever I do I count myself lucky and enjoy.

My daughter was reading the DIS yesterday and expressed her disappointment about not being able to get both TT and Soarin' since they are both the same tier. She was ready to choose the Grumpy road until I told her it was really no different than before. She was puzzled. I said before, someone would choose one ride to get a FP for and run and fetch then and then we would ride the other standby.

I understand that not everyone likes that, but I don't see how it is worse than before.

 

[Sabeking]

When a company lives by the motto "pay more, get less" people tend to get irritated and upset.

I find this has become common though with many companies! Everything has gone up and customer service just gets worse. Shoot you can't even buy two chicken breasts at the grocery store under 7bucks.

 

[ronandannette]

Not a fan of FP+ even when it worked as well as possible last March. As the cm who called me in response to my post trip email admitted, if you are experienced visitors, the new system will result in fewer fast passes, standing in more lines and fewer rides. Plus you are now limited to one top tier ride in some parks, so you can't get fast passes for both TT and Soarin. No gain there, only loss. And that is most certainly our experience. So yea, I'm not happy to spend more money for less fun. But I was a loyal Disney fanatic and truly believed they would improve the system.

But it's gotten far worse, for us, anyway if the latest debacle is any indication. It shouldn't take hours, multiple phone calls and suffering thru snotty impatient emoyees to simply buy tickets and make the stinking FP+ reservations that will force us to get less value for our money. yes, the magic is gone for me. I anticipate this is our last trip for a while.

Let's go back to the beginning. Does anyone know exactly what "problem" Disney was trying to "solve" when they conceived of this scheme (or should I say "imagined" )?? What spin is put on it to emphasize the positives? I've not planned a trip to WDW in years, and thought it was pretty labor-intensive even back in those days but now I'm completely intimidated. I wouldn't even consider taking my family back there right now but maybe that's just the fear talking.

 

[NewRVLady]

To me not getting TT and soarin IS a Biggie-but I solved it!
We will do TT at rope drop and then I have a FP for soarin next-when the line will have built up

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

To me not getting TT and soarin IS a Biggie-but I solved it!
We will do TT at rope drop and then I have a FP for soarin next-when the line will have built up

But folks are saying FP + made it worst.
What did Fp+ do to make this worse? It was the same lot ken on FP- except now I don't have to "run" at park opening to get the FP anymore.

 

[goofyintoronto]

I should preface by saying In general I'm a 'glass half full' kind of person but Disney and I go waaaay back, back to opening day actually ..with multiple visits every year since and yes, it's a very different place than it was, most places are. And yes, prices are sure up there but I never feel I didn't get great value for monies spent and am constantly amazed that they are still a class act. I've few complaints ..my last visit was in May and everything went smoothly and we enjoyed a great time as per usual! all the new changes worked perfectly and we had a blast playing with the new toys. Lol.

Totally agree here. I personally loved the FP+! It made my vacation/park touring much more enjoyable. The constant complaints about FP+ amazes me. Thing is, if you dont like the FP+, dont use it! Very simple. If you dont like to plan ahead, then dont. Dont make ADRs, dont book your FP+, just dont. Disney isnt forcing anyone to use the FP+.

 

[TAX GUY]

Totally agree here. I personally loved the FP+! It made my vacation/park touring much more enjoyable. The constant complaints about FP+ amazes me. Thing is, if you dont like the FP+, dont use it! Very simple. If you dont like to plan ahead, then dont. Dont make ADRs, dont book your FP+, just dont. Disney isnt forcing anyone to use the FP+.

I'm actually GLAD so many hate it and aren't going back. That means LESS people in those lines so I can ride more!

I'll have to agree about food quality dropping. HOWEVER, I don't thinks it's any worse than most fast food places. With the few sit down meals we did on our last trip, they were still top notch (and we paid for it). We still ate, we didn't go hungry and we didn't get sick. That's OK with me.