What is your line in the sand?

[delilah]

We have DVC; our son is in 11th grade. If they quit offering a discount on the AP for DVC members, I think I will sell my DVC points and go somewhere else on vacation. The past couple years our son has been giving push back on going to Disney. Last visit, he spent several days at a cousin's house instead of going to WDW with us.

 

[Kenny1113]

For us it was FP+, along with price increases. Went last Jan, got caught in the POP test using FP+ only; found ourselves bored waiting for FP+ windows to open up while SB lines were too long to get through. Along with everything else mentioned, this was our line in the sand. May be back eventually, but many things would have to change. Just my 2 cents.

Ditto. We went in Nov and experienced the same. We usually go every year. Have not been since Nov and no trips planned. I usually book my wdw vacations pretty last minute 1-2 months out. (which is why we never bought DVC). I would hate to spend $400 (even on 1 day passes approx $100 xfamily of 4) only to get on to MDE and find out the rides we want to ride are not available for FP+ or show up and find out that there is no standby altogether for a ride we really want to ride. While they haven't crossed the line yet (I'm sure we will be back) just don't know when.

 

[ols386]

We are going to Disney over Christmas this year, unfortunately the most expensive time of the year, but only time we can go.

We are staying at POP, rather than a mod or deluxe resort, to try and save some cash, on hotel expense. Not renting a car this time either. Will use Disney bus transportation.

Even if regular prices keep going up though, I think there will come a time when we will not go to Disney any longer. Sad to think about that, but I think it's true.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

$$$$$


When we went on our "big" Disney trip in 2012, we decided we didn't have time for both Disney & Universal, so we did Disney only. Next year, we would like to do a Universal/Sea World trip. Because we believe we'll require fewer days to do this, we'd love to squeeze in 2-3 Disney days while we're there. Nope, can't do it. The per day price is just too far out of my comfort zone. We'll repeat some stuff or just take a shorter trip.

 

[pmaurer74]

for me it would be crowd levels. If I have to wait in line more and cannot move down Main Street. I will have to see what our next trip is like but I am feeling stressed by the having to be everywhere at a certain time with the ADRs and FP and having to get up at midnight for ADRs, Fps and still not getting what I want. Just seems harder this time. Cost is another issue. 5 years ago we could stay club level, now we stay about 5 days at standard room view at the same resort and the cost is more. I think we may go every 18 months now and maybe stay at moderates vs. deluxes. Another thing might be when there is nothing new to see.

 

[ldymcbth]

For me, it's a combination of pressured upsells (Frozen Premiere Package, etc), a lowering of standards, and having to plan our every move in order to have a good vacation. We will probably do WDW again in a few years when my sister moves back stateside, but we will not be visiting with the frequency we have been - which has been about once a year for 8 years.

 

[CarolynU]

The necessity for so much advance planning was irritating on my last trip. I have been so many times recently that there was nothing new, and to be honest I was bored. If only the money spent on the new systems had been spent on upgrading all the parks wow that would have been amazing. Epcot losing all the entertainment I enjoyed is another factor that means that my line in the sand has been drawn.
It's not that I won't return, because I will but not for a few years until I feel that everything will be fresh again.
In the meantime I'm taking DCL cruises, which gives me a Disney fix, without pre deciding every minute of my day months in advance.

 

[bookgirl]

Won't know what my line in the sand is until it happens. I mean it will probably be some combination of money or amenities I'm sure but I can't just arbitrarily say what that will be.


Haven't seen it yet, so I'll be planning happy for now.

 

[Indio]

For us it's the cost. We used to go at least 3 times a year for 4-5 days at a time (we're in GA so close enough to drive). For the last few years, we've cut that down to 1 week a year. This year, we only went for one 4-day weekend in October due to job changes. We love Disney - love FP+ and Magic Bands, never had any issues with any cast members, just love the overall atmosphere. But for our family of 5, 7 day tickets are now over $400 each. That's 2 Grand, just for tickets! It's getting ridiculous. At least now, my oldest 2 work so if they want to go, they pay for their tickets - that helps a lot, but it's still just ridiculous.

 

[fishhunter]

I have been wondering, what, if anything, would turn you off from Disney for future vacations?

For some it was FP, removing performers from Epcot, the huge rise in prices not in line with inflation; rude CM's etc.

While reading the boards I see many "Fine, dont come back, less people for me to deal with" comments that get under my skin.

Everyones reasons and "lines in the sand" are different for different reasons.

So, what is the one change Disney could make that would send you over the edge?

I really think tiered levels of fast passes and operating hours per hotel category would bother me. (and i think it will happen) . For example, 6 fp plus one hr early for deluxe only. Before you say Universal does it, I already know that and I think implementation at Disney would be much different

I guess EMH for deluxe only would probably put me out. We are leaving in a couple weeks for a 10 day trip staying at a moderate. Our upcoming trip is our most expensive. Honestly, this will probably be our last anyway. For our family it has to do with my kids experiencing other parts of the country and activities. We are looking at a Colorado ski trip next Christmas instead of Disney. We are also discussing a Grand Canyon and Zion National Park trip in the summer. Just want the kids to do more than just ride some rides. This is not to knock Disney, we love it!

 

[Memaw2Wm]

• Rising costs - Disney and airfare
• FP+ - I take my granddaughter for a long weekend each January and we prefer to wing it
• Crowds - esp. the large travel groups
• Graduation - said granddaughter graduates from high school in June and may not want to go to Disney with me after our next trip

I've never taken my 9 y.o. grandson to Disney. I feel bad about that, BUT he's a bit high maintenance and going to Disney is too darn expensive to take the chance that he won't love it. I took my older grandkids for the first time in August 2002 crowds were low due to the time of year, plus tourism was down after 9/11.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

I love Disney and have been going since 1972. I am going this Friday. For me it will be the crowds the service but most of all if I can feel free to do as I like without feeling I'm stuck with a schedule. I was looking at my reservations last night and thinking, "well if we don't make that fp it'll be ok". I think if I feel too restricted that will be the line for me. If it's more work than fun. Vacation is supposed to be stress free. I don't let rude people ruin my time; we share stories at dinner of people behaving badly and laugh at them. We vote on the worst behaved.
Oh, and the tour groups. We were on POTC last time and they kept turning around flashing pictures even with repeated requests to stop. I can't wait until they get home and see the faces I was making while photo bombing them, lol.

 

[Pete S]

Like a couple of others I think crowds. Of course if we stop going because its too crowded Disney is never going to care.

I can understand people who say price too. We are okay with it, we don't go often and save and budget when we do. But I can certainly understand someone who evaluates what they get for what they pay and decides a different vacation is better.

 

[justakrazymom]

I think we've reached the line.. this coming trip will be our last for a long time.. price is a huge factor.. we went 3 times in 25 months and have since cancelled 2 separate trips..this coming Jan is 2/3rds( 9 days) of the amount of time we typically spend but costs more than our 16 day one did. The kids dont yet know we are going..

I have been wondering, what, if anything, would turn you off from Disney for future vacations?

For some it was FP, removing performers from Epcot, the huge rise in prices not in line with inflation; rude CM's etc.

While reading the boards I see many "Fine, dont come back, less people for me to deal with" comments that get under my skin.

Everyones reasons and "lines in the sand" are different for different reasons.

So, what is the one change Disney could make that would send you over the edge?

I really think tiered levels of fast passes and operating hours per hotel category would bother me. (and i think it will happen) . For example, 6 fp plus one hr early for deluxe only. Before you say Universal does it, I already know that and I think implementation at Disney would be much different

 

[glassslippergirl]

Our line would be price-- specifically, the price of admission. We were priced out of staying on property a long time ago. The value is just so much better off property. DH and I had AP's for two years from 2009-2011, and we really made use of them. But I was looking at AP prices recently, and I think they are already out of our comfort zone. We are FL residents and still find value in certain ticket deals that are offered in the spring. As long as these deals continue, we will probably keep going. We prefer to be more spontaneous, but since we only go for weekend trips, I can live with some planning. I'll never stay up until midnight to schedule FPs, and I've never known about a trip six months in advance, so I've never been able to schedule ADRs at the open of the 180 day window. If it comes to a point where we can't do anything we really want without maximum planning, we'd probably stop going no matter what the ticket deal.

 

[TwoMisfits]

We hit our line in 2013 - price, offsite as 2nd class citizens, the terribleness of FP+, and the rise of pinching every last dime with "extra" events and degraded dining...

We were an annual 2 week trip family...now we are an every 3 year family (we will be going in 2015, although we may break the trip up into multiple parts and parks with just enough Disney to see MK...and no more - I couldn't imagine this 5 years ago, but here we are - things change and not always for the better)...

 

[Suvadoo]

Crowds are my tipping point. We have always been able to visit the parks at slower times, but now it seems that D has eliminated this through their great advertising. I read posts about guests fighting in the parks and CM's yelling at guests as a way to herd the crowds, and this is not my idea of going on a vacation. Just because there is a maximum capacity doesn't mean that the parks should come close to reaching this goal on a daily basis. I don't mind going when certain rides a down for maintenance and the crowds are lower, but I'm not seeing this as an option, at least not for MK.
Currently, I have 7 day base tickets for my trip in April (purchased a long time ago) , but we were only planning 3 days at WDW (2 at Epcot and 1 at MK) I'm going to convert them no expiration. This way if the parks are awful and even 3 days is too much, we can go elsewhere. Eventually, I'm hoping that FP+ disappears and the WDW popularity fades.

 

[mom2rtk]

Crowds are my tipping point. We have always been able to visit the parks at slower times, but now it seems that D has eliminated this through their great advertising. I read posts about guests fighting in the parks and CM's yelling at guests as a way to herd the crowds, and this is not my idea of going on a vacation. Just because there is a maximum capacity doesn't mean that the parks should come close to reaching this goal on a daily basis. I don't mind going when certain rides a down for maintenance and the crowds are lower, but I'm not seeing this as an option, at least not for MK.
Currently, I have 7 day base tickets for my trip in April (purchased a long time ago) , but we were only planning 3 days at WDW (2 at Epcot and 1 at MK) I'm going to convert them no expiration. This way if the parks are awful and even 3 days is too much, we can go elsewhere. Eventually, I'm hoping that FP+ disappears and the WDW popularity fades.

I think crowds will be the tipping point for us as well. If you think about it, many of the issues people have with Disney these days dissipate with lower crowds. Wait times, FP availability, grumpy CMs....... it's all affected by the crowd level. And perhaps the ones who argue that nothing has changed lately are the ones who previously traveled at high crowd times so have not seen a change the way the ones used to traveling at low crowd times have.

 

[wisblue]

I think crowds will be the tipping point for us as well. If you think about it, many of the issues people have with Disney these days dissipate with lower crowds. Wait times, FP availability, grumpy CMs....... it's all affected by the crowd level. And perhaps the ones who argue that nothing has changed lately are the ones who previously traveled at high crowd times so have not seen a change the way the ones used to traveling at low crowd times have.

There is definitely something to that.

Those of us who usually have visited over the Easter and Christmas holidays have developed our approaches to Disney vacations with the expectation that crowds will be high and waits at major attractions (even those like POC and HM) will be long in the middle of the day. So, we planned our days to do those attractions in the morning.

We have had a few opportunities to visit at less busy times, and then we laugh among ourselves at how empty things are and about how some people will still be posting on the Dis that the parks are insanely crowded. But, because we never were ones who would ride the same thing multiple times in a day, the number of attractions we would do in a day wouldn't change that much.

Whether longer standby lines at some rides are a result of FP+ or larger crowds is kind of beside the point to me because the end result is that a big crowd touring strategy becomes important. Josh from easywdw made a comment the other day that the increase in overall crowds the last few years means that a level 2 park day in 2014 is considerably more crowded than a level 5 day in 2009. He cites the improving economy and the increase in foreign tour groups as significant factors in that increase.

 

[luvthemouse71]

I don't think I have a line in the sand, to be honest. Unless, you count the fact that I don't stay at the Poly all that much anymore, because of the high price tag. I can afford it sure, but I will not pay $500 a night for a standard room.

Just gave me an excuse to try some new resorts. AKL is my new favorite.