What's Up with Disney these days???

[teambraunlovesdisney]

Just returned from a Jan 27 to Feb 1st trip and was extremely disappointed. Crowds were big for the time of year, BTG's ruder than ever, rides breaking down left and right. Whats going on???? Rides that broke down during our trip...Everest, Tower of Terror, Thunder mountain, Haunted Mansion, Winnie the Pooh. Thunder Mountain broke down after my husband and son waited for almost an hour Thursday afternoon and then Friday morning it didn't start up till after 10. It was disappointing because having Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion, and Winnie the Pooh down all at the SAME time cause crowds and long lines. The new scanners were not recognizing children's tickets and therefor you could not get a fastpass with their key to the kingdom tickets. So cast members had to take your ticket write down info and give you a fastpass pass for the day. To say the least it was frustrating. Cast members seem to be tired of the BTG's and warned us many times to expect nothing but rudeness from them. Trying to get food at a buffet or in the POP food court was a nightmare. I love Disney and we god every year at this time but I was extremely disappointed. I feel disenchanted after this trip. I will be going back but I think since I do take my son out of school we will be finding a different time of year to go. I LOVE everything Disney and will not let one bad trip out of so many magical ones keep me away. Has this ever happened to anyone else????

 

[teambraunlovesdisney]

FYI: LOVED the new Dumbo! Walked on twice something I have never ever done before. Loved Little Mermaid

 

[Sammie]

Please write a letter or email Disney and let them know.

 

[jenben8426]

I'm sorry you had such bad luck! We were there from the 25th to the 2nd and never had any problems like that except for the higher than expected crowds. We only had one ride break down when we wanted to ride it and that was Test Track. Even though it seemed to be extremely crowded we never waited in line for more than 10 minutes; however I used ridemax and followed a touring plan for recommended parks. We never had any issues with tour groups being mean--in fact the one we did come in contact with were nice to us. Never had an issue with our tickets either.

I'm sorry you had such bad luck!

 

[sammons70]

Please write a letter or email Disney and let them know.

Agreed! The powers that be need to be made of your experience and the impression it left with you.

 

[teambraunlovesdisney]

The only place we really encountered longer lines was MK on the days they had multiple rides break down. It was an crush on all the other rides as you can imagine what it is like only have one mountain running. I do believe I will be writing a letter it just seemed to many rides down at once on Feb 1st plus the issue with fast passes. It was disappointing mostly for my 6 year old because it was our last morning before flying out and all his favorite were down. Crazy. I think all the BTG's were staying at POP. That was the odd thing crowds were LARGE for this this time of year but lines were not bad at all. It was just a completely different experience from our usual wonderful magical escape. I usually cry when I say good-bye to my castle. Anyone know who I would write to???

 

[tenority]

We were there roughly the same time, Jan. 25 to Feb. 1. I agree that there were times in certain spots that the parks "felt" very crowded, but for the most part lines weren't bad at all. We never waited more than about 45 minutes for anything, and that was only a few times. There was no line at all for several attractions during our visit.

I do think I'm going to learn Portuguese for my next visit, so I can translate for other guests who don't understand what the CMs are telling them.

Sorry you had such bad luck. Our 2012 trip was like that. I hope your next trip is better for you!

 

[ttintagel]

Unruly guests are the worst. And in these days of skeleton staffing, there just aren't enough CM's to cope with them.

 

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

Sorry you had such a bad experience. I know the next time you go back your love of Disney will come back to you.

I have been hearing a lot about the BTGs lately. Does anyone know the months they tend to visit? I think we may have run into them on one of our earlier trips, maybe even our first one, so I didn't know if it was a usual thing or not. Actually, now that I think about it, most of the groups we ran into were British and French. Anyway, I just want to know what to expect when I go in April. Thanks!

 

[EpcotIsMyFave]

We were there the 22nd - 30th and boy are you right about the BTGs all staying at Pop! Luckily for us we never had any problem with them. It did feel more crowded than usual, especially at MK, but we never waited more than 20 minutes for everything. We were at Pooh when it stopped, but a CM told us it was because a guest had dropped something on the ride and they had to shut it down to retrieve it. We went back later and were able to walk on. We didn't have any trouble with the new turnstiles, but I did see several people have to walk up to the CM's with the handhelds to get let in, that was kind of annoying for them. Hopefully they will work the kinks out and it will flow better soon.

OP I'm sorry your vacation wasn't as magical as it should have been! Sounds like a great reason to go back at a different time of year for a do over!

 

[cyros]

We were there the same time period and also noticed lots of rides down, especially Friday Feb 1 at Magic Kingdom (also our last day). We got there at rope drop, but there was a problem at the front of our line once we got halfway through which delayed us in getting to ETWB until 9:12 at which time their was a 75 minute wait. We skipped it and went to Big Thunder Mountain, which was down, as was Magic Carpets, Pooh and Haunted Mansion. Lots of cheerleaders around the park as well, many of whom seemed to not be able to read signs like "enter" and "exit". Our last day was not very magical.

 

[larryz]

Anyone know who I would write to???

One option

Two more options...

Walt Disney World Guest Communications
PO Box 10040
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-0040

Walt Disney World Guest Relations
P.O. Box 10000
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830

 

[dalayney]

So sorry to hear this. I would also recomend writing to disney. I feel bad for the people that were there for their first time. I would hate to have them leave w/the impression that all the breakdowns were the "norm" for disney. We haven't been since 2005 and are leaving in 18 days. We've waited so long, saved so hard. etc. etc..... I just feel for the people, if it was a once in a life time type trip. Yikes.


Oh, and yes, we had alot of friends who's daughters were down there for cheer/drill team. Value resorts are crazy when they have those competitions. Cute adorable girls at 6am, going through their routines right out your window.

 

[prune1977]

Just returned from a Jan 27 to Feb 1st trip and was extremely disappointed. Crowds were big for the time of year, BTG's ruder than ever, rides breaking down left and right. Whats going on???? Rides that broke down during our trip...Everest, Tower of Terror, Thunder mountain, Haunted Mansion, Winnie the Pooh. Thunder Mountain broke down after my husband and son waited for almost an hour Thursday afternoon and then Friday morning it didn't start up till after 10. It was disappointing because having Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion, and Winnie the Pooh down all at the SAME time cause crowds and long lines. The new scanners were not recognizing children's tickets and therefor you could not get a fastpass with their key to the kingdom tickets. So cast members had to take your ticket write down info and give you a fastpass pass for the day. To say the least it was frustrating. Cast members seem to be tired of the BTG's and warned us many times to expect nothing but rudeness from them. Trying to get food at a buffet or in the POP food court was a nightmare. I love Disney and we god every year at this time but I was extremely disappointed. I feel disenchanted after this trip. I will be going back but I think since I do take my son out of school we will be finding a different time of year to go. I LOVE everything Disney and will not let one bad trip out of so many magical ones keep me away. Has this ever happened to anyone else????

WE just returned as well and it was extremely busy compared to the past 2 years. So we have decided we are going to try Sept and see what that's like. We didn't notice the BTG but maybe just managed to miss them for the most part. Ones we ran into were fine. I was disappointed in mainly 2 things this time besides the crowd level. One was lack of photopass photographers and 2 were lack of characters about compared to previous years.

 

[jgh]

I'm so sorry you had a bad experience! Don't let it leave too bad of a taste in your mouth! I'm sure your next visit will be splendid.

And if it helps at all...Haunted Mansion is almost always broken. Even if it's just for a few minutes...I've been on that ride billions of times and more often than not it stops for a while each go-around.

 

[peyjax]

Yes it has happened and we have not been back for almost 3 years. It stinks when your happy place stops becoming just that! I am sure you will get all kinds of responses like... it is you and not Disney. Perhaps there is a tad truth to that as I became a little too aware of the details and did not like the changes I was seeing.

Like you I love all things Disney. They are good at what they do but they are a company and can do wrong in my book. We just decided to switch gears to Disney Cruise Line and Disneyland. They soon became my happy place. We planned on going to DW this year but to be honest I am having trouble getting excited about it and keep finding myself thinking about other destinations. It is sad because I finally have a girl and she will be at that perfect age, so all that princess stuff would be fun to do but I just keep thinking about crowds, crappy food, overpriced hotels and planning rides 60 days out. Perhaps we should wait some more??

 

[stargazertechie]

I'm so sorry you had a bad experience! Don't let it leave too bad of a taste in your mouth! I'm sure your next visit will be splendid.

And if it helps at all...Haunted Mansion is almost always broken. Even if it's just for a few minutes...I've been on that ride billions of times and more often than not it stops for a while each go-around.

That's not a breakdown. That's a guest with a mobility impairment transferring to the ride vehicle. If someone can't transfer with the belt slowed down, they can stop *many* of the omnimover rides for a guest to transfer

 

[Kristallc]

there were way more people then we expected when we were there 1/26 - feb 1st. There were TONS of Brazilian people in general, not just in tour groups. It seemed very few spoke ANY English at all, which would be fine if there were not so many rude people. My 11 year old actually looked up and mastered how to say "not your family" in Portuguese, to get their attention since so many people would walk into line and shove between myself and my children.
I didn't have any rides break down that I noticed. Got to parks at opening times and rode big ticket things first.
only Used 3 fast passes the whole trip, because lines never went over 25 min (had already rode big tickets)
I'm not a prejudiced person but I have been to Disney several times and been in lines with people from all over the world, and never seen such rude people. (B).
If i was visiting another country, i would at least attempt to learn a few words

 

[3frenchfries]

What is a BTG? Thank you!

 

[Tbiafore]

Brazilian Tour Group....

Anyone know what months they are planning on being there next year (2014)?