Came across this article from an average guest

[MrInfinity]

It's nice that you don't have a problem with any of this, but it is quite obvious that many, many others do have a problem with fp's, adr's, crowds, all of the above. I'm glad you don't understand it, but just because you do not understand it does not mean that others do not have valid observations about their experiences. It does no good to put others viewpoints down as you are doing. It is this condescending attitude that puts others off.

Everyone on the dis should be able to post their valid viewpoints of their experiences as they see them. Your belittling remarks serve no purpose except to try to make other posters look ridiculous and small. I, for one, enjoy hearing all the viewpoints about fp, adrs, etc that are posted without exception. I like to learn from others experiences and make my own mind up.

Thanks for the reply! I did not say I did not understand it or that others do not have valid observations. What I said is that the occasional observations of individuals [or articles written to be controversial and generate clicks] are clearly not the standard experience, as evidenced by the ever-increasing crowds despite higher costs!

I don't put anyone down. I help most newbies out here who have planning-type questions cuz I enjoy that type of thing.

Think about it. If you were unable to plan anything would you have a good time in WDW? Would your kids, if you told them "we cant plan anything but we can go if you want to" want to go or not go? Why? Keep the must-plan-everything obligation in perspective is all.

 

[MischaOz]

Can't please everyone... I personally love FP+.

 

[Xennia]

Disney is what you make of it.

There is no science. Just enjoy the moments.

And visit more than once.

 

[disneyseniors]

Thanks for the reply! I did not say I did not understand it or that others do not have valid observations. What I said is that the occasional observations of individuals [or articles written to be controversial and generate clicks] are clearly not the standard experience, as evidenced by the ever-increasing crowds despite higher costs!

I don't put anyone down. I help most newbies out here who have planning-type questions cuz I enjoy that type of thing.

Think about it. If you were unable to plan anything would you have a good time in WDW? Would your kids, if you told them "we cant plan anything but we can go if you want to" want to go or not go? Why? Keep the must-plan-everything obligation in perspective is all.

Um, okay! I still stand by my comments, which are MY comments. I'm glad you are helping out the newbies and all. But the fact still remains that all the required preplanning and booking is NOT liked by everyone, even if others think it is no big deal. It is a big deal because of the many posts about these problems. They should be discussed, not dismissed.

 

[Flight]

That article does a tidy job in explaining a program in placed that is loathed by some, tolerated by many, and enjoyed by a few that through a lucky click on their keyboard manage to get what they think they want.

 

[MrInfinity]

But the fact still remains that all the required preplanning and booking is NOT liked by everyone, even if others think it is no big deal. It is a big deal because of the many posts about these problems.

The planning is still not required. If you don't enjoy it, you shouldn't do it. It is your vacation. If you want something, ask out here how to get it, and ppl will help you left and right to make it happen! This is by far the most comprehensive base of knowledge anywhere on WDW. But just don't feel so obligated to plan everything if you simply don't enjoy that, or wouldn't enjoy feeling bound to your own schedule that you didn't enjoy scheduling. Isn't that self-defeating? A recipe for failure? Pick one or two things and book those. Keep it simple if that's what you like! Disney World is definitely suited to planning as much or as little as you like, and everything in between.

 

[DOOM1001]

Message boards like the DIS are pretty much necessary reading before a trip to Disney,if you're just a regular park visitor who hasn't done much research on the way Disney does things it would not be surprising that they would upset with all the technology and reservations needed to do attractions and dining,and the thing about that is that a very large percentage of visitors are not doing much in the way of research before their trips.There's positives to all these additions but a lot of negatives as well.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I am a planner and enjoy the planning but years and years ago I took an online survey asking about what is now fp+ and even back then I said no way do I want to preschedule my rides.
There are some things I like about fp+, mainly sleeping in, but to me the negatives outweigh the positive.
We stopped planning a bunch of adrs b/c we have decided we prefer to eat spontaneously. Now we only plan about 3 for a 8-10 day trip. Works for me. We have discovered some hidden gems of restaurants this way that we otherwise may not have tried. The thing that irritates me about adrs was when they added beaches n cream to the list. Now as a yc/BC guest we can't just pop in for a burger and ice cream in our down time. That was really annoying our last trip.
I just like to read articles like this to see what the non Disney obsessed crowd thinks.

 

[MischaOz]

and enjoyed by a few that through a lucky click on their keyboard manage to get what they think they want.

I don't usually take offense to much that is said on these boards, but I found this to be incredibly condescending.

 

[Aurora0427]

Why are y'all making this out to be so complicated? Seriously.

You don't need a room request. The only time you ever need a room request is if there is something specific you want. You don't have specific wants until you've been a couple times. Like, we loved the first room we got, so we requested it on future trips. Simple. If you stay in any hotel anywhere, do you feel obligated to study it and make a room request? That is just an uber-planner being an uber-planner (not good or bad, but definitely not necessary!)

ADRs? Is it hard to pick out a restaurant and make a reservation? You just call WDW-DINE and the ultra-friendly rep will make them all for you in one call. Done!

And FP+'s you do *not* have to stay up late for. Especially if you're a resort guest, you can do this any time in the first few weeks of your eligibility and do just fine.

To me it sounds like all this difficulty is self-imposed by deciding up front that you must score everything that everyone else as group cannot. Yeah if you set out to get pre-open adr's to BOG, FP's to A&E, and a particular room, that might be stressful because those are all hard to get. But most guests have no idea they would even want that.

In our earlier trips we just went. No room request. No ADRs. It's Disney World! And yes all the stress comes from the parents... the kids would have a blast eating QS and playing the games while they wait STANDBY for Space Mountain. It is only the parents that get bored. Sheesh. Ppl make this out to be so difficult and then try to say that is the standard takeaway when it's just not.

The standard takeaway of the 16M visitors or whatever is not "too technical, too hard to eat, too hard to ride, not as good as it used to be". It's "Disney World is amazing, we love it because it's so different from a normal theme park.. the cast is so friendly and everything is so clean". Really. That's kind of the general consensus. Think about it. If it was as bad as ppl are saying here, folks would not STILL BE GOING.

Disney World! Vacation! Remember? Fun? Kids? Family?
(shrug).

Why did you direct this at me? I'm not sitting here posting about how much I hate Disney, how hard it is to plan, blah blah blah. I said, MY ONLY GRIPE with FP+ is that I had to stay up until midnight Tuesday night to make them. I happen to actually like FP+, and think it's easier than the previous system. My daughter's favorite ride is 7DMT, and she's 4, so yeah, I guess I didn't have to stay up late, but we'd like to get a FP for that attraction.

In regards to ADRs, no it's not hard to make ADRs. I never said that it was. My TA made all my dining reservations for me. It WAS easy. But it IS more difficult to make dining the further removed you are from 180 days, if you care about where you eat, and most people do. So don't make me out to be some crazy person with unrealistic expectations because I have certain restaurants I'd like to eat at.

In regards to the room requests, I find them pretty simple to make. I'm on my tenth trip. My comment was more to the effect of- I'm 17 weeks pregnant, suffering from extreme morning sickness, and I've been taking care of my sick preschooler for 4 days, so when my TA sent me yet another email about room requests, I told her to use her best judgment and pick something because I'm frigging exhausted and didn't want to have anything else to think about.

I'm not a stressed out parent at Disney World, and I don't get bored waiting in line for Space Mountain. But thanks for making assumptions. I think Disney is wonderful, otherwise we wouldn't go all the time. I had two minor gripes- I hardly think I deserved to be on the receiving end of your post.

 

[Robo]

There has been nothing at WDW since the dawn of the web that has generated as much persistent and consistent negative discussion as FP+.

 

[MrInfinity]

Why did you direct this at me? I'm not sitting here posting about how much I hate Disney, how hard it is to plan, blah blah blah. I said, MY ONLY GRIPE with FP+ is that I had to stay up until midnight Tuesday night to make them. I happen to actually like FP+, and think it's easier than the previous system.

It wasn't meant to be directed at you. Moreso toward the idea behind that article. But still you did say you have to stay up until midnight which I simply don't think you have to do. Any time in your 60-day first week or two will be find for almost everything.

In regards to ADRs, no it's not hard to make ADRs. I never said that it was. My TA made all my dining reservations for me. It WAS easy. But it IS more difficult to make dining the further removed you are from 180 days, if you care about where you eat, and most people do. So don't make me out to be some crazy person with unrealistic expectations because I have certain restaurants I'd like to eat at.

While you didn't say it was hard to make ADR's, you did say you have to make them 180 days in advance if you wan to get CRT, CM, BOG, etc. But most guests do not have such requirements. We did not when we first went. We got there and checked out CRT. No availability. Bummer. But we ate at LTT and noted next time we should reserve CRT. And we did. It was not difficult, and it not being walk-in did not take away from our trip.

In regards to the room requests, I find them pretty simple to make. I'm on my tenth trip. My comment was more to the effect of- I'm 17 weeks pregnant, suffering from extreme morning sickness, and I've been taking care of my sick preschooler for 4 days, so when my TA sent me yet another email about room requests, I told her to use her best judgment and pick something because I'm frigging exhausted and didn't want to have anything else to think about.

I get it... Our own room requests are more nostalgic than anything.

I'm not a stressed out parent at Disney World, and I don't get bored waiting in line for Space Mountain. But thanks for making assumptions. I think Disney is wonderful, otherwise we wouldn't go all the time. I had two minor gripes- I hardly think I deserved to be on the receiving end of your post.

I'll remove the quoted part. It was more about that article and the general article than you. Fair?

 

[Angel Ariel]

I read the article, and I fully understand the author's POV. I felt very similarly about this time last year planning our November trip (well, minus the lack of getting CRT for an ADR, since we haven't even attempted that since our honeymoon). I know the friends of mine who went the week after me last year are the average Disney guest (not DisBoarders, their first visit with their 5 y/o daughter...much like the author) - and they also felt very similarly to the author in their planning process, which is why they ended up coming to me to help them plan it all out. They didn't decide on their trip until 3 months before they went, so ADRs especially weren't easy to get. Free Dining was happening during their trip, and by 3 months out ADRs were incredibly difficult to get.

As with all things in life, I don't really buy in to many absolutes. I know there are people who like FP+, and I know they like it for more reasons than just they like to sleep in . I also know that many people find the pre-planning stressful, and I don't believe all of those people are simply over planners by nature and just overcomplicating it all. I know I'm not, I know my friends aren't. I'm pretty sure we're not the only ones There's always shades of grey in life.

 

[Flight]

There has been nothing at WDW since the dawn of the web that has generated as much persistent and consistent negative discussion as FP+.

You are right! Best that I get away from this discussion and join the arguments over which voice was best for Spaceship Earth: Walter Cronkite, Jeremy Irons, or the present narrator. Obviously Walter Cronkite should have never been replaced.
.

 

[FTM22]

I can understand the author of the article. That said, I am a planner anyway no matter where I go. We went to Gatlinburg this spring and I planned our options ahead of time so we were always ready with an idea. The only thing I missed was our accommodations had no internet connectivity and I took that recommendation of lodging from someone who LIVED in the area.

My thought process is that I make plans ahead of time and then feel free to adjust as needed. If you have children, choose what you think are the MUST DO things and use FP+ or ADRs for those. Then just do what comes to mind after that. It doesn't have to be crazy. It depends on how you like to do things. My family lets me make the decisions because I am the best at doing so. I'm cool with that and our last trip was a great one.

 

[WEDWDW]

I saw that but assumed they were using the phrase as an analogy to the opening up of FP at 60 days. "Creative writing".

Yes,just a "figure of speech" by the author.

 

[Crispity]

Even before we started going to Disney, I absolutely loved planning vacations. To me, the planning is almost as enjoyable as the actual trip. When we first went to Disney a few years ago (before FP+), I was thrilled to have discovered planning nirvana! There was so much to plan and anticipate, and so much information available about every possible aspect of our trip - it was amazing! However, even though I am most definitely a planner, I have to say after a few trips that I now think that the level of planning required is a bit much.

I like FP+ overall, but I think having to book 60 days out is ridiculous, particularly because Disney has you book them so far out and then often changes things around! For our last trip, we booked MSEP, which was a must do for us as a FP. A week or so before the trip, Disney changed the time for MSEP, and instead of just changing the time for our FP, they canceled our MSEP FP and changed it to an anytime FP that was only good for attractions that we didn't care about and that didn't need FP in the first place (Small World, Magic Carpets, and Dumbo, among a few others). The worst part was that, when I found out about this, MSEP FP were showing as available online (likely because they had canceled everyone's FP!), but the system wouldn't let me change the anytime FP back to MSEP (or anything else - I guess they couldn't possibly imagine why you would want to change such a "valuable" anytime FP). When I called Disney IT to ask about this, they basically refused to help me (said they couldn't do anything and I would have to go to the concierge at my resort when we arrived). For Disney to expect guests to do that level of planning, so far in advance, and then mess things up at the last minute and refuse to fix them is extremely frustrating.

 

[larryz]

End of the day, the article said planning is necessary to avoid disappointment.

Kind of like saying breathing is necessary to avoid asphyxiation.

 

[Bluegrrl]

I totally understand the guys frustration. I so miss the days of the fp paper. Why? Because I have a toddler, who would rather go on Small World three times or Dumbo three/four times than ride them once, and Fp+ does not accommodate for that. It insists that I go on a ride once, and will sometimes put us on things that we don't want fp+ for or are interested in or puts us at times that are nap times. Sounds weird, let me explain: say we are going to AK, and all we want to see is the Safari maybe 2x, bird show, trails and Triceratops spin. You can't really do that in Fp+ land. I get annoyed when they foist FOTLK, Everest and other e-tickets on you, and feel like I am taking away fp from people who want them. Does that make sense? I also really miss being able to give people paper fp that you didn't use that day. It was a great way to make others happy.
Btw: my husband also was very unhappy, to say the least when we found out beaches and cream was now ADR. Threw a fit. Just so frustrating when there is NOTHING available for months and months and the cm is saying, "well, if you had called a year ago, you could have gotten in."

 

[summerw]

While I agree they could cut down the windows on ADRs and FPs, is there much these days that doesn't require more planning? At least anything popular? Like most things in life, you can still have a great time without planning, but planning will make your trip easier. I don't think that's unique to Disney. There are just too many people competing for a similar experience. Blame the growing population, not Disney.

Also having to wait 45 minutes is very different now. Kids don't have waiting in their lives with DVRs, instant downloads, text, chat etc. And parents could tolerate it better in our childhoods because everyone tolerated the things kids do more. If someone's kid was being annoying, someone told the kid to stop. Everyone didn't have to get bent out of shape that someone told their kid to stop and no one posted online how these awful parents just ignored their kids while they did XYZ…. because ignoring them usually got the behavior to stop better than any lecture.

Honestly, while reading that article, I felt like the writer just needed a nap after having to stay up late to make the reservations. Probably would have solved a lot of the "nightmare." He should be grateful he's not on West Coast time trying to make ADRs. 3am just sucks.