The boards arent reflecting the happiest place on earth

[Gumbo4x4]

You're right, many things are subjective. That's the point, those of us who see the downhill slide are just as correct in our views.

Sorry, Yes I think the food is lousy and I call insconsistency lousy. it should not take the luck of the draw to get a good meal. At best it is applebees quality. Is it inedible? No but when I go out to eat I totally admit my expectations are a bit higher than applebees. so yes once again a lot of it is subjective. We use to look forward to the meals at the world, It's funny when we go out to eat usually I ask people "so how's you food". I never get "man it's really good" at the world. I'm happy if my kids say "it's ok". EVERY SINGLE MEAL last May, lol was "meh"

So this is why you need to micro plan. So you plan 6 months out at midnight and pick a park, well what happens if when you actually get there 6 months later you can no longer go to the park? That is one of the reasons why we hate adr's. No I don't know what I want to do 6 months ahead. No I don't know what I want to eat 6 months ahead. We don't use spreadsheets or parks of the day. We wake up and decide what park we want to visit (or we use to like touring like that)

the food we've worked around, it's easy for us because we always have a car. After the 3rd mediocre meal we usually head off site. Heck, I've had better meals at the cheesecake factory in Orlando than I've had at the world. I would totally be ok, if it were "once in a while" but now, it's the norm.

we went in May. our trip went like this.
go to Epcot, have our fp+ for soarin. opps one kid is sick, we want to change. find a kiosk. kiosk line is ridiculously long, stand in line 25 minutes to make a change. Rinse, repeat.

go to dinner, now go to Hollywood studios after dinner. get in line for fp+ darn it, of course I get behind the guest that speaks no English and can't understand how it works.

No, I don't have a smartphone and not buying one just to make a vacation easier. so I can't make changes on my phone on the fly and from my sons attempts this May it wasn't all that easy.

If I want this type of ridged touring I go to work.

Like I said Minnie I'm ok with the changes because we have never been the type of family that felt Disney was the only magical place on earth. Disney uses those words, I do not.
I do admit to being disappointed as I thought when I brought my dvc that it would be for my life time. so it's a bit bittersweet to be selling it. I had visions of taking the grand babies every year but it's no longer worth it to me to keep it.

We've got one last trip planned for august, I won't even go into the hassle it's becoming to try and plan a trip for 18 with fp+

Not being able to switch gears would be a giant pain. We had planned a water park day for Thursday & DHS for Friday. When the forecast for Friday became "rain all day", we bumped DHS up to Thursday. We'd never be able to get FP's at all were we to do that now

As for food, we're fine with CS or even carrying our own food in & stashing it in a locker. The inflexibility of ADR's really turns us off those anyway.

 

[Mkrop]

Not being able to switch gears would be a giant pain. We had planned a water park day for Thursday & DHS for Friday. When the forecast for Friday became "rain all day", we bumped DHS up to Thursday. We'd never be able to get FP's at all were we to do that now

As for food, we're fine with CS or even carrying our own food in & stashing it in a locker. The inflexibility of ADR's really turns us off those anyway.

This what concerns me...the weather. We have gone in Dec mostly when the weather can be great or cold, and anywhere in between. One year we had things scheduled for AK at the beg of the week, there was no way we would have lasted that long at AK, it was that cold, we picked Epcot and MK for those days bc we were in and out of buildings. My concern is it going to be easy to switch FPs if a scenario like mine or yours comes up. And you just gave me evidence that it is not easy to switch. This was never a problem before because you could decide that morning to switch things up, or the night before. Even the dining fee makes it difficult to switch plans, once again I dont want to traipse all the way to AK for a Tusker House ADR if the weather is not to our liking. I want to be able to cancel it without a $40 fee and then book somewhere else or decide CS is the way to go that day...my choice!

 

[Acklander]

Personally, we've pulled back on the Disney, and are now booking more cruises. Call me lazy, but I work hard at home, and want vacation to be about relaxing and reconnecting with family. Hyper planning works great for A type personalities - that is soooooooo not us. We're more "wing it" type people. Cruises have become much easier as all we need to do is book it. Once on board I've never had any problems booking excursions, spa appointments, maybe a night or two at the steakhouse, or whatever. Disney is great and we have a LOT of phenomenal memories from there, fast pass plus can never take that away from us. But they've moved in a direction that doesn't really work for us. Doesn't mean we will never go there again - I'm sure we will, but I don't see it being the focus of our vacations in the future. No biggie - they will survive just fine without the acklander family.

 

[DaisyD]

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.

You said what I feel. Since all the changes have come to Disney we've decided our money is better spent elsewhere. We will go to Universal and continue to cruise more. Disney loses us spending 3-4 weeks at the Polynesian each year but I just don't want to be stressed choosing 3 FPs and jumping through hoops to do anything there. Just not worth it anymore. I doubt disney even cares that my family won't be going there anymore but at least we will be happier.

 

[Planogirl]

For me it's an accumulation of changes that don't work for us and FP+ is just one. What pushed me personally over the edge is what is happening at Norway in Epcot however a lot of other things were already bugging me.

If none of the changes bother you then enjoy. Some of us can't say the same though.

 

[TLSnell1981]

We've done Universal 3 times and will make our 4th trip this summer. After that, I told DH I am done with amusement parks until grandchildren come along. We can take them to DLR. After this next trip, there are too many other places to go and for the money, I might as well go to Europe. I can actually relax and enjoy a vacation there.

I can spend 3 weeks in Europe for less, than a week at WDW. This is a no brainer for us.

This is the first time in years, that we haven't gone to WDW for F&W and/or Christmas. We miss Disney, but sadly...just too many negatives. What's even worse, the brand isn't important to those in charge. So, the spiral will continue.

 

[ThurlFan]

This what concerns me...the weather. We have gone in Dec mostly when the weather can be great or cold, and anywhere in between. One year we had things scheduled for AK at the beg of the week, there was no way we would have lasted that long at AK, it was that cold, we picked Epcot and MK for those days bc we were in and out of buildings. My concern is it going to be easy to switch FPs if a scenario like mine or yours comes up. And you just gave me evidence that it is not easy to switch. This was never a problem before because you could decide that morning to switch things up, or the night before. Even the dining fee makes it difficult to switch plans, once again I dont want to traipse all the way to AK for a Tusker House ADR if the weather is not to our liking. I want to be able to cancel it without a $40 fee and then book somewhere else or decide CS is the way to go that day...my choice!

We don't mind planning in advance - we actually have enjoyed it in the past. We'd make an outline of our week, and decide which park to go to on what day based on EMH or parades/shows that didn't run every day. But most trips we've made modifications on the fly once we got down there based on the weather, someone not feeling well, or just feeling like doing something different than we had planned. But now we feel "locked in" on our touring days, because if we decide to swap our half day at DHS to a different day after we get down there the odds are great that we will be locked out of Fastpass for that TSMM (our favorite ride there). And Disney has begun experimenting with certain rides being FP ONLY.

Toy Story Mania for one example

Be Our Guest lunch for another example

So yeah, if we're going to plunk down stacks of hard earned cash for a trip we would like to think we could update our itinerary on the fly without getting locked out of certain attractions/experiences.

 

[TAX GUY]

I'm lost as to the comments of changing plans and not being able to go a different day. So you would lose your FP for 3 rides. So what? Are the FP Police going to lock you up if you don't use it? In the case or sickness or bad weather, you adjust your plans and go have fun, do you not? Or, do you do something else and sulk all day thinking about the 3 FP's you missed out on?

I guess I still have a hard time seeing how this is such a big deal. You can plan in advance, or not.

When we recently went, we were ASKED if we wanted to book in advance a lunch at Be Our Guest (with selecting our meal then). We decided to give it a try. Did we know exactly what we wanted to eat, that far out? No, not really BUT we have a pretty good idea on what we like and don't like. Looking at the options available it wasn't too difficult to figure it out. Some of the choices I would NEVER eat so it didn't mater if it was 60 days out or 6 years.

 

[EMom]

I'm lost as to the comments of changing plans and not being able to go a different day. So you would lose your FP for 3 rides. So what? Are the FP Police going to lock you up if you don't use it? In the case or sickness or bad weather, you adjust your plans and go have fun, do you not? Or, do you do something else and sulk all day thinking about the 3 FP's you missed out on?


Say you booked 3 FP+ at Epcot and for whatever reason, decide that morning to go to MK instead. In theory, you can get on the phone and change your FP+ to MK, but the reality is, mostly crap will be available and not the attractions you want. So yes, your 3 daily FP+ are "wasted." Goody, goody, you get to wait in standby lines for rides that barely had any wait times prior to FP+.

With legacy FP, you could go to any park on any day (or multiple parks in one day) and pull as many FP as you could manage. Changing your park destination would not have lessened your chances at pulling FPs under legacy FP.

That is the difference. You indicated you rarely used legacy FP in the past, so I can see why this is hard for you to grasp.

I guess I still have a hard time seeing how this is such a big deal. You can plan in advance, or not.

When we recently went, we were ASKED if we wanted to book in advance a lunch at Be Our Guest (with selecting our meal then). We decided to give it a try. Did we know exactly what we wanted to eat, that far out? No, not really BUT we have a pretty good idea on what we like and don't like. Looking at the options available it wasn't too difficult to figure it out. Some of the choices I would NEVER eat so it didn't mater if it was 60 days out or 6 years.

Because changing parks on the day of your visit with FP+ essentially means your advance planning was useless. Your FP+ are wasted and you likely cannot get any decent new ones. With legacy FP, things were much more flexible.

 

[TAX GUY]

Because changing parks on the day of your visit with FP+ essentially means your advance planning was useless. Your FP+ are wasted and you likely cannot get any decent new ones. With legacy FP, things were much more flexible.

Not all your post will show since you put it into my quote....


but that's EXACTLY the point I was making before. People in the past would abuse the system and grab as many FP's as possible, leaving NONE for those coming later (later could be mid morning and not rope drop patrons). This way spreads that out so others have a chance to experience FP.

I say again, advance planning is just planning and not etched in stone. You are free to change what you want. Doing so means you get standby, like everyone else that has either used their allotted FP for the day or that also made changes.

Too bad you (general you) can't get there at rope drop and grab a few FP's and jump in line to be able to ride a particular ride 2, 3 or 4 times in one day. Now I have a chance to skip a line on a ride (or 3) and if I want to ride it again, I can stand in line like everyone else. Just like in the old days BEFORE and FP.

If only being able to ride a favorite once or twice MAX in one day vs 3 times or MAYBE a 4th time is something that's a deal breaker for you, that's terrible. For me, its the atmosphere of being there and the look of enjoyment on my son and wife's faces. We don't get all in a tizzy if we can only ride once. There are plenty of other rides and attractions to keep us entertained. Enjoy your vacations at other destinations and we'll enjoy ours. I'd be more than happy to send you (general you) a post card.... "Wish you were here".

 

[eliza61]

I'm lost as to the comments of changing plans and not being able to go a different day. So you would lose your FP for 3 rides. So what? Are the FP Police going to lock you up if you don't use it? In the case or sickness or bad weather, you adjust your plans and go have fun, do you not? Or, do you do something else and sulk all day thinking about the 3 FP's you missed out on?

I guess I still have a hard time seeing how this is such a big deal. You can plan in advance, or not.

When we recently went, we were ASKED if we wanted to book in advance a lunch at Be Our Guest (with selecting our meal then). We decided to give it a try. Did we know exactly what we wanted to eat, that far out? No, not really BUT we have a pretty good idea on what we like and don't like. Looking at the options available it wasn't too difficult to figure it out. Some of the choices I would NEVER eat so it didn't mater if it was 60 days out or 6 years.

because now the reality is that if you don't use the fp's when you are assigned them you don't do the ride at all.

Now "go have fun" means many different things to different people. Me, I could probably "meander" around Disney without doing any rides and still enjoy myself but the reality is most folks would like to do a major ride or two.

for many people whether I like a type of dish or not isn't the point. Yes, you're right 6 years out I won't be eating liver but even though I love Italian I have no idea if on April 13th 2015 I'll want to eat it and there is nothing worst than spending money on a dinner that you really don't want.

If some one ask me to try BOG and we say yes today, then the morning of we decide we don't want to eat the offerings at BOG, exactly how am I not screwed.
Now if I make a reservation at Via Napoli and on that day I happen to not want Italian, Yes tax guy the adr police do come and get me, they get me in the form of a 40 get out of jail free fee, that I now pay for changing my mind.

So yes in essence the fp and adr police do come and get us.

 

[ThurlFan]

Not all your post will show since you put it into my quote....

People in the past would abuse the system and grab as many FP's as possible,

Not true at all. We were using the system as designed and built.

 

[grammaHBSR4]

Agree with all of this - getting too difficult and expensive to visit WDW!

 

[TAX GUY]

because now the reality is that if you don't use the fp's when you are assigned them you don't do the ride at all.

Now "go have fun" means many different things to different people. Me, I could probably "meander" around Disney without doing any rides and still enjoy myself but the reality is most folks would like to do a major ride or two.

for many people whether I like a type of dish or not isn't the point. Yes, you're right 6 years out I won't be eating liver but even though I love Italian I have no idea if on April 13th 2015 I'll want to eat it and there is nothing worst than spending money on a dinner that you really don't want.
Now if I make a reservation at Via Napoli and on that day I happen to no want Italian, Yes tax guy the adr police do come and get me, they get me in the form of a 40 get out of jail free fee, that I now pay for changing my mind.

So yes in essence the fp and adr police do come and get us.

Then, how about you don't plan an ADR and make it the morning of? You aren't FORCED to make an ADR..... and if there's any doubt, DON'T do it!


As for the reality of missing a FP.... if you want to ride THAT bad, you'll do stand by. It wouldn't typically be all or nothing. My case, when we were there over the summer, the new Dwarf roller coaster ride was booked solid (no FP's available and the stand by was over an hour and a half. For me, no thanks. The ride will be there in a few years when I go back so I can hit it then. In the mean time, I'll keep the FP I already have and if it was a matter of changing parks that day, I knew ahead of time I would lose them... so, I use stand by. Not the end of the world. If the line is too long, I'll move onto something else. The ONLY ride that had a crazy wait time was that 7 Dwarf roller coaster. All the others were reasonable (at least to me, and obviously many others). If I REALLY wanted to, I could have been there at rope drop, on ANY day. I opted not to. It wasn't that big of a deal to ride it.

I understand some people HAVE to because its the newest and greatest. Kind of like the new iPhone 6 and 6+. Look at all the goof balls that HAD TO HAVE IT ON THE DAY IT WAS RELEASED!!! Why? Would it work better on the first day and not the next day?

 

[ThurlFan]

I'm lost as to the comments of changing plans and not being able to go a different day. So you would lose your FP for 3 rides. So what? Are the FP Police going to lock you up if you don't use it? In the case or sickness or bad weather, you adjust your plans and go have fun, do you not? Or, do you do something else and sulk all day thinking about the 3 FP's you missed out on?

This is what we have always done, but it the past changing park days has not meant being locked out of rides we enjoy. There's your difference.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Not all your post will show since you put it into my quote....


but that's EXACTLY the point I was making before. People in the past would abuse the system and grab as many FP's as possible, leaving NONE for those coming later (later could be mid morning and not rope drop patrons). This way spreads that out so others have a chance to experience FP.

I say again, advance planning is just planning and not etched in stone. You are free to change what you want. Doing so means you get standby, like everyone else that has either used their allotted FP for the day or that also made changes.

Too bad you (general you) can't get there at rope drop and grab a few FP's and jump in line to be able to ride a particular ride 2, 3 or 4 times in one day. Now I have a chance to skip a line on a ride (or 3) and if I want to ride it again, I can stand in line like everyone else. Just like in the old days BEFORE and FP.

If only being able to ride a favorite once or twice MAX in one day vs 3 times or MAYBE a 4th time is something that's a deal breaker for you, that's terrible. For me, its the atmosphere of being there and the look of enjoyment on my son and wife's faces. We don't get all in a tizzy if we can only ride once. There are plenty of other rides and attractions to keep us entertained. Enjoy your vacations at other destinations and we'll enjoy ours. I'd be more than happy to send you (general you) a post card.... "Wish you were here".

Under the old system, you had to show up REALLY late to not get any decent FP's. Last there in June of 2012 (which I think I we can all agree is a fairly busy time of year) and had no issues getting Soarin or Toy Story FP's well after lunch.

Under the current system, I could very well be locked out at the 30-day mark.

 

[ThurlFan]

Then, how about you don't plan an ADR and make it the morning of? You aren't FORCED to make an ADR..... and if there's any doubt, DON'T do it!


As for the reality of missing a FP.... if you want to ride THAT bad, you'll do stand by.

Not if they are converted to FP ONLY as TSMM recently was for a several days. Did you not read my links?

 

[TAX GUY]

This is what we have always done, but it the past changing park days has not meant being locked out of rides we enjoy. There's your difference.

Then if riding that ride means that much to you, don't change your plans.

 

[cabanafrau]

Not all your post will show since you put it into my quote....


but that's EXACTLY the point I was making before. People in the past would abuse the system and grab as many FP's as possible, leaving NONE for those coming later (later could be mid morning and not rope drop patrons). This way spreads that out so others have a chance to experience FP.

I say again, advance planning is just planning and not etched in stone. You are free to change what you want. Doing so means you get standby, like everyone else that has either used their allotted FP for the day or that also made changes.

Too bad you (general you) can't get there at rope drop and grab a few FP's and jump in line to be able to ride a particular ride 2, 3 or 4 times in one day. Now I have a chance to skip a line on a ride (or 3) and if I want to ride it again, I can stand in line like everyone else. Just like in the old days BEFORE and FP.

If only being able to ride a favorite once or twice MAX in one day vs 3 times or MAYBE a 4th time is something that's a deal breaker for you, that's terrible. For me, its the atmosphere of being there and the look of enjoyment on my son and wife's faces. We don't get all in a tizzy if we can only ride once. There are plenty of other rides and attractions to keep us entertained. Enjoy your vacations at other destinations and we'll enjoy ours. I'd be more than happy to send you (general you) a post card.... "Wish you were here".

Wanting flexibility doesn't necessarily equate to simply wanting to ride one or two thiings endlessly, and I'd hazard a guess that more often than not it has nothing to do with that at all. The current system's allowance for flexibility more often than not equates to a downgraded experience for a great deal of guests for a variety of reasons. We had high expectations of our WDW trips, expectations Disney had no issue exceeding in the past. Sadly it's a different place now, for an awful lot of reasons far beyond FP+.

No need for a postcard here. We have our photos and memories and souvenirs of a WDW as we want to fondly remember it. If I want a lot of frustrations, hassles, technical difficulties and people telling me there's nothing that can be done to fix this or that, we have no idea how that occurred, sorry for my inconvenience, I can call my cable or health insurance companies for a good time, if not a magical day.

 

[TAX GUY]

I can honestly say, in all the trips we've taken to Disney, we have a plan in place (even pre FP- or FP+) and never have we changed a park day. Maybe its because we don't book everyday solid? We leave some wiggle room to either lounge by the pool ALL day, or stroll downtown.... or go back to a park for a ride or two. Maybe that's why I can't see the big deal with this. Not to say its not your (general your) right to get upset or even hate this change, but, is it REALLY that big of a deal? You might not be able to ride something more than once or maybe not at all. OK, so what? Its not the end of the world. Try again another day or trip. Why let something so small get you so worked up?