Best Strategy for a trip in 2022? Lower Your Expectations

[heresabe]

I've found that I receive a direct response whenever I send a post-trip email to the GM of the Resort in which I stayed. Not that anything changes, but the response from a named person does verify that my comments were read.

 

[Lisa P.]

What Disney needs is longer hours... bringing back the early premium breakfast experiences at MK and DHS, with Remy and Guardians maybe at Epcot as well.

ITA! Increase hours... run rides at full capacity (need more CMs)... add restaurant capacity (need more CMs)... add people-eater shows (need more CMs )... even add a few more, lower cost, kiddie rides at the other parks besides MK. These would all spread out the crowds a bit and improve guest satisfaction, IMO.

 

[DisneyFive]

HS just needs more in general. Too few rides, yet most of the ones they have are all headline attractions which makes Genie+ practically worthless in that park. You’re lucky if you get
1-2 selections from Genie+ at HS. I also am amazed at how much money and effort they do to create lands like Batu and Pandora…yet only put in two rides in these big lands…the rest is just shopping and food. Seems like a huge waste.

HS has a 4 more rides now, more shops, experiences, and more restaurants than they did before Galaxy edge and Toy Story land opened. What I don't understand is how they made it work with FP+ before but now with even more rides and such, G+ is really a struggle there. More guests are going to HS now, with those two new lands, but why can't they get G+ to keep up?

Disney has record attendance and a huge percentage of people are buying G+, so they are making a ton of money. Modern Disney could give a hoot about guest satisfaction when they are making money hand over fist.

Do we know that WDW is having record attendance? Parks have been busy, but with the new reservation system they are still limiting capacity. Do you have information from Disney stating that attendance recently has been record attendance?

...this all leads me to wonder why G+ seems to be broken when other line skipping systems seemed to work so much better for a larger percentage of guests.

Dan

 

[Dean Kennedy]

I wrote this in response to another post by tsme that was entitled "Last time...for a while" and pasting what I wrote here for it's relevancy:

"Was just there in January btw and I feel the same as you and experienced the same.

Had to scavenge for coffee stirrers at QS after a few days. The whole housekeeping thing is so petty on Disney’s part at this point. Seeing the CEOs salary this week and juxtaposing it with the barely there housekeeping when this is a major offering of any hotel room is just insane. I understand it while we were all locked down but the fact it’s gone beyond that is just a straight up scam I think. Especially the rates don’t account for the lack of service.

We are taking a break too. We rolled with the punches on ILL and Genie+ and loss of Magic Express and housekeeping. The real reason is the time it takes to plan these now very complicated Disney trips just feels too exhausting. It’s a job! I’m the planner and I saw no difference between what I did at work and what it takes to plan these trips. It’s too much.

I'll also throw on the pile that waking up at 7 AM each morning to add Genie+ and then engaging in a "rat race" of booking ILL and G+ rides that early in the morning was not fun and not vacation-like. A lot falls on the planner of these trips. It's crappy.

And, yes, I was that person throughout the day scrolling through G+ for our next "find."

I've gambled a few times in my life when I happened to be at a casino, but I'm by no means a gambler. My perception of all these changes between the ADR hustle and G+ rat race is it arouses a feeling similar to gambling. Perhaps they are purposely triggering that part of our minds to get some people to spend more. IDK... It just felt at a very physiological level like I was at a casino between the low level anxiety of clicking clicking clicking and racing against other people and against the clock to "win."

It doesn't equate with relaxation. One of the best parts of the trip for me was the pool day and trying all the restaurants on property (we stayed at Coronado Springs)."

You can see in my signature that I have been to Disney many times.

I even made my second trip on my current Annual Pass and was at Bay Lake Tower and then Animal Kingdom Lodge, Jambo House just a few days ago.

If you are going in 2022 you need to lower your expectations a lot.

I have used Touring Plans and been a rope dropper for many, many years.

I was often able to get 90 percent of my rides/shows done by lunchtime .....and wrapped up each day with a feeling of joy and happiness.

I was able to ride some rides more than once each day and sometimes would hop to a second or third park if I wanted to........I felt free as a bird.

This is not the case anymore.

For the moment, let's put aside the huge cost of resorts, food/beverage, Genie+, and ILL.

Even if G+ were free, it is an inferior product to FP+.

I can even accept the Park Pass requirement for the first park of the day, but park hopping at 2pm is like hitting my kneecaps with a baseball bat.

In the old days, I would often rope drop park number 1 and then hop to park number 2 sometime in the morning.

The present system makes each day feel like we have a national speed limit of 55 again and I am driving around with my parking brake engaged.

If we had little ones in our group, the focus of a typical day would be very different.....even only doing 3 or 4 rides with a child/grandchild, the day's enjoyment is derived from seeing the little ones have a wonderful day.

For years, I tried to maximize the number of days I could be at WDW with my AP.

I would stay off site and on site.

These days, it is not so much that the on site folks have a huge advantage compared to the past.......it is that the off site people barely get adequate leftovers by the time they can enter the park and/or buy ILL rides.

I have trips planned for April/May/Sept/Oct on this AP. (I do not like the super hot months)

I am not going to focus on max days at Disney this year.

I went in Dec 2021, Jan 2022 and have a trip with our daughter (a teacher) over the President's Day weekend.

I will have been 3 times on this AP.......I feel I have broken even on the cost.

I will be cancelling the rest of the trips I had on the books for later this year.

That money and time will be spent elsewhere.

Although some of the environment has been impacted by Covid...... a large part of the reduced experience is due to decisions made by management.

Now......I have not said much about the nickel and diming that really adds up now.

At a value resort, a couple on a trip has to pay an extra $47 each day just to park and use Genie+.

When you add the impact of a diminished experience with the very high cost, the value of the experience has been greatly reduced.

Look......I am a Disney fan.

Disney, Coke, a Big Mac, are all part of a truly American experience. I can not imagine life as we know it if they were to all disappear.

Disney has very good customer service.....if the IT situation was not so mediocre, I would say Disney has some of the best customer service of any company.

However, at this time, the overall experience requires a lot of money, a lot a planning, and each day has a lot of chaos caused by the unpredictability of getting a LL or ILL,........and to be under the gun to compete at 7am for a seat on a ride is not relaxing or enjoyable.
And having my face buried in the phone a good part of the day does not add to my enjoyment either.

I composed this because I saw some small headlines about Disney guests not being really thrilled right now.....I thought I may have been the only one that felt this way.......but there is now a bit of rumbling going on........and social media has the ability to provide us to look at the good and the bad comments.

The experience has changed for the worse.

They better improve it substantially and quickly.

I think many of the 2022 visitors may be so unhappy, they may not return or postpone future trips.

In a way, Disney has messed up my Happy Place................and I am a bit sad about that.

We just returned from our tenth Disney trip last week. I am a confessed Mousejunkie and have always sunk myself in the Disney bubble and it’s magic. I agree with BB here. There is nothing relaxing here there anymore if you go to the parks. You are rushed from the 7 a.m. hour until bedtime. People running over one another all the while with their faces stuck to the screen of their telephones. Between Genie+ and I LL I figure we spent an extra $500 just for this on a four day trip. Add to this the increased costs of food and rooms plus tickets and air fare, it’s forcing Walt’s dream of a place where a family can go have fun, diminished like a setting sun. I will say the cast members were fantastic as they are the heart and soul of the place now. Im done with the parks regrettably.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Do you have information from Disney stating that attendance recently has been record attendance?


Dan

I'm basing it on Chapek's "UNPRECEDENTED DEMAND!!!" Statement. He could be lying I suppose. I don't think Disney on any particular day is breaking records, but the fact that they're at crowd level 9's in January and February seems to be pretty robust attendance.

 

[T'Lynn]

Respectfully, keep reading. The OP later tried to frame her post as practical advice (although I still disagree that any practical advice was contained in the original post). But if I am wrong, and lowering expetctaions is actual strategic advice, then why keep reading this thread (or any thread here for that matter). If you reduce your expectations to zero in every situation, then you won't ever be disappointed. That "strategy" is not for me. I do think it is good to have realistic expectations, but I also think strategy is finding ways to make the most out of a situation (e.g., crowds or reservations, etc.). The OP was a complaint about the current state of affairs at WDW. That's not advice or strategy. Its just a complaint

I think it can be taken either way. Is it a list of complaints? Sure .... but reading other's complaints have definitely helped me strategize my days at the parks. I am going into my trip knowing that my $LL time might end up 5 hours after the time I think I'm booking. I also know that at most parks I have a small window to book headliner rides and then I have the choice of refreshing and hoping or trying a strategy of more shows/other entertainment. I guess I see the "lower your expectations" as a heavy bit of disappointment from a longtime fan. Maybe even some "I wish I had known ..." in the post.

So this thread as a whole is basically saying that your previous experience with Disney will not be what you experience this time and the thought seems to be backed up by a lot of vacationers.

I am glad to have followed this thread and taken ideas into my own planning that I HOPE will improve my own trip.

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

I wrote this in response to another post by tsme that was entitled "Last time...for a while" and pasting what I wrote here for it's relevancy:

"Was just there in January btw and I feel the same as you and experienced the same.

Had to scavenge for coffee stirrers at QS after a few days. The whole housekeeping thing is so petty on Disney’s part at this point. Seeing the CEOs salary this week and juxtaposing it with the barely there housekeeping when this is a major offering of any hotel room is just insane. I understand it while we were all locked down but the fact it’s gone beyond that is just a straight up scam I think. Especially the rates don’t account for the lack of service.

We are taking a break too. We rolled with the punches on ILL and Genie+ and loss of Magic Express and housekeeping. The real reason is the time it takes to plan these now very complicated Disney trips just feels too exhausting. It’s a job! I’m the planner and I saw no difference between what I did at work and what it takes to plan these trips. It’s too much.

I'll also throw on the pile that waking up at 7 AM each morning to add Genie+ and then engaging in a "rat race" of booking ILL and G+ rides that early in the morning was not fun and not vacation-like. A lot falls on the planner of these trips. It's crappy.

And, yes, I was that person throughout the day scrolling through G+ for our next "find."

I've gambled a few times in my life when I happened to be at a casino, but I'm by no means a gambler. My perception of all these changes between the ADR hustle and G+ rat race is it arouses a feeling similar to gambling. Perhaps they are purposely triggering that part of our minds to get some people to spend more. IDK... It just felt at a very physiological level like I was at a casino between the low level anxiety of clicking clicking clicking and racing against other people and against the clock to "win."

It doesn't equate with relaxation. One of the best parts of the trip for me was the pool day and trying all the restaurants on property (we stayed at Coronado Springs)."

WoW! You nailed it! Thanks.

Chapek's team must have profiled the type of guest they WANT, not the type of guest most us us have always been. His business model is a betrayal of what once was. There are millions who will accept it, I guess. I'll just keep using my DVC as a resort stay-cation for now.

 

[greeneyedchick]

Yes. We've done two of those. Not quite $5000 per day. It depends on the time of year.

Was it worth it?

 

[roctavia]

HS has a 4 more rides now, more shops, experiences, and more restaurants than they did before Galaxy edge and Toy Story land opened. What I don't understand is how they made it work with FP+ before but now with even more rides and such, G+ is really a struggle there. More guests are going to HS now, with those two new lands, but why can't they get G+ to keep up?



Do we know that WDW is having record attendance? Parks have been busy, but with the new reservation system they are still limiting capacity. Do you have information from Disney stating that attendance recently has been record attendance?

...this all leads me to wonder why G+ seems to be broken when other line skipping systems seemed to work so much better for a larger percentage of guests.

Dan

I don't think it's technically "record" attendance, but really good numbers for not having as much international travel options... and more attendance than they can accommodate with limited staffing- rides are not running at capacity, restaurants and shows still aren't all open/full capacity... so it makes everything seem packed/busier because there aren't places for all of the people to go...

 

[holden]

Was it worth it?

In my opinion, yes. The first time we did it we shared the cost with another family, so we essentially paid half the price. The second time it was celebrating our daughter's high school graduation after a horrible year and a half of virtual learning. We wanted to splurge and enjoy riding every attraction on our list in one day.

 

[Lisa P.]

HS has a 4 more rides now, more shops, experiences, and more restaurants than they did before Galaxy edge and Toy Story land opened. What I don't understand is how they made it work with FP+ before but now with even more rides and such, G+ is really a struggle there. More guests are going to HS now, with those two new lands, but why can't they get G+ to keep up?

Before GE and TSL opened, many people considered DHS to be a half-day park. Guests who preferred to sleep in could pre-book their 3 FP+ for later in the day, spreading out partial day crowds throughout the day. The addition of 4 more attractions (especially a longer one like RotR) extended the time it took to try all the rides - no longer a half-day park as crowds built up and stayed all day. Further, these popular new lands attracted tons of guests who may have previously left DHS out of their itinerary. It's not as easy to schedule G+ LLs for an evening park-hop as it was with FP+.

...more attendance than they can accommodate with limited staffing- rides are not running at capacity, restaurants and shows still aren't all open/full capacity... so it makes everything seem packed/busier because there aren't places for all of the people to go...

...and ^this! With domestic and international travel dramatically increased, it's sort of a "perfect storm". Some of it is beyond Disney's control. But some could be managed better. Increased costs (G+ & ILL$) has added insult to injury.

 

[aboveH20]

Posted earlier about the non-magical time I had 3/2-3/9.

I'm so curious about DVC sales. It's hard for me to believe that under current conditions anyone is interested in returning to WDW year after year. I know we're all different with different budgets, family makeups, park strategies, etc., but I keep thinking (hoping?) if DVC sales decrease, that might get the executives' attention.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

So this thread as a whole is basically saying that your previous experience with Disney will not be what you experience this time and the thought seems to be backed up by a lot of vacationers.

I posted previously about your trip last week, which was fantastic. But it was different than a previous experience just like our trips with FP+ were different than previous trips before that when we could grab multiple paper FPs and stack them all day long and use them after they expired and basically walk onto many rides. Heck, we couldn't even give those paper FPs away! Some days we'd leave the park and still be holding some and we would try to give them away and people would just stare at us like we had three heads. I'm still not sure how many people realized you could use those after the time expired. Things are definitely different these days, but still magical for us.

 

[Figvention]

I also am amazed at how much money and effort they do to create lands like Batu and Pandora…yet only put in two rides in these big lands…the rest is just shopping and food. Seems like a huge waste.

Don’t be amazed, it’s marketing and intentional. When humans are bored and frustrated, you eat.

 

[BradleyB]

Some days we'd leave the park and still be holding some and we would try to give them away and people would just stare at us like we had three heads.

We went for the first time in 2009 and then again in 2013. We would always get paper fast passes up until we couldn't any more. If we decided to leave early, or the machine spit them out during a dining time, it was such a delight to give them to someone else! My kids loved it and I truly believe it made them better people to know the joy of giving.

 

[Blondie58]

You can see in my signature that I have been to Disney many times.

I even made my second trip on my current Annual Pass and was at Bay Lake Tower and then Animal Kingdom Lodge, Jambo House just a few days ago.

If you are going in 2022 you need to lower your expectations a lot.

I have used Touring Plans and been a rope dropper for many, many years.

I was often able to get 90 percent of my rides/shows done by lunchtime .....and wrapped up each day with a feeling of joy and happiness.

I was able to ride some rides more than once each day and sometimes would hop to a second or third park if I wanted to........I felt free as a bird.

This is not the case anymore.

For the moment, let's put aside the huge cost of resorts, food/beverage, Genie+, and ILL.

Even if G+ were free, it is an inferior product to FP+.

I can even accept the Park Pass requirement for the first park of the day, but park hopping at 2pm is like hitting my kneecaps with a baseball bat.

In the old days, I would often rope drop park number 1 and then hop to park number 2 sometime in the morning.

The present system makes each day feel like we have a national speed limit of 55 again and I am driving around with my parking brake engaged.

If we had little ones in our group, the focus of a typical day would be very different.....even only doing 3 or 4 rides with a child/grandchild, the day's enjoyment is derived from seeing the little ones have a wonderful day.

For years, I tried to maximize the number of days I could be at WDW with my AP.

I would stay off site and on site.

These days, it is not so much that the on site folks have a huge advantage compared to the past.......it is that the off site people barely get adequate leftovers by the time they can enter the park and/or buy ILL rides.

I have trips planned for April/May/Sept/Oct on this AP. (I do not like the super hot months)

I am not going to focus on max days at Disney this year.

I went in Dec 2021, Jan 2022 and have a trip with our daughter (a teacher) over the President's Day weekend.

I will have been 3 times on this AP.......I feel I have broken even on the cost.

I will be cancelling the rest of the trips I had on the books for later this year.

That money and time will be spent elsewhere.

Although some of the environment has been impacted by Covid...... a large part of the reduced experience is due to decisions made by management.

Now......I have not said much about the nickel and diming that really adds up now.

At a value resort, a couple on a trip has to pay an extra $47 each day just to park and use Genie+.

When you add the impact of a diminished experience with the very high cost, the value of the experience has been greatly reduced.

Look......I am a Disney fan.

Disney, Coke, a Big Mac, are all part of a truly American experience. I can not imagine life as we know it if they were to all disappear.

Disney has very good customer service.....if the IT situation was not so mediocre, I would say Disney has some of the best customer service of any company.

However, at this time, the overall experience requires a lot of money, a lot a planning, and each day has a lot of chaos caused by the unpredictability of getting a LL or ILL,........and to be under the gun to compete at 7am for a seat on a ride is not relaxing or enjoyable.
And having my face buried in the phone a good part of the day does not add to my enjoyment either.

I composed this because I saw some small headlines about Disney guests not being really thrilled right now.....I thought I may have been the only one that felt this way.......but there is now a bit of rumbling going on........and social media has the ability to provide us to look at the good and the bad comments.

The experience has changed for the worse.

They better improve it substantially and quickly.

I think many of the 2022 visitors may be so unhappy, they may not return or postpone future trips.

In a way, Disney has messed up my Happy Place................and I am a bit sad about that.

If you are going in 2022 you need to lower your expectations a lot. TOTALLY AGREE. Traveled in July, October, and Dec/January. Summer trip and next January cancelled. Very much dislike Genie and LL and the 2 pm park hopper. Hate rope dropping but it becomes essential unless you Genie and then who knows what time you will get on rides. So dislike being tied to a phone!!! Only sharing because I hope the powers that be are reading all our feelings and will adapt.

 

[Jrb1979]

HS has a 4 more rides now, more shops, experiences, and more restaurants than they did before Galaxy edge and Toy Story land opened. What I don't understand is how they made it work with FP+ before but now with even more rides and such, G+ is really a struggle there. More guests are going to HS now, with those two new lands, but why can't they get G+ to keep up?



Do we know that WDW is having record attendance? Parks have been busy, but with the new reservation system they are still limiting capacity. Do you have information from Disney stating that attendance recently has been record attendance?

...this all leads me to wonder why G+ seems to be broken when other line skipping systems seemed to work so much better for a larger percentage of guests.

Dan

G+ isn't so much broken, it's more that they have limited the availability. From everything I have heard the G+ wait times are short most of the time.

Your last paragraph is why G+ and FP+ doesn't work,. Skip the line systems are not made for a large percentage of guests to use. Go to any other park outside of Disney and Skip the line has limited availability. It's really the only way they work. IMO most Disney fans don't visit other parks much, don't buy skip the line at other parks or both.

While it's sad to see Disney heading in the direction they are headed with all the cuts and nickel and diming, I will say maybe people will give some of the other amazing parks in the US a chance now.

 

[lovethesun12]

G+ isn't so much broken, it's more that they have limited the availability. From everything I have heard the G+ wait times are short most of the time.

Your last paragraph is why G+ and FP+ doesn't work,. Skip the line systems are not made for a large percentage of guests to use. Go to any other park outside of Disney and Skip the line has limited availability. It's really the only way they work. IMO most Disney fans don't visit other parks much, don't buy skip the line at other parks or both.

While it's sad to see Disney heading in the direction they are headed with all the cuts and nickel and diming, I will say maybe people will give some of the other amazing parks in the US a chance now.

I have to agree. If you pay for the fast line in other parks, does it require having your head in your phone all day to ride? This is the one major thing I'm just not sure I can get past. I'm really open to switching to a park where a cell phone isn't a necessity.

 

[Jrb1979]

I have to agree. If you pay for the fast line in other parks, does it require having your head in your phone all day to ride? This is the one major thing I'm just not sure I can get past. I'm really open to switching to a park where a cell phone isn't a necessity.

For the most part other parks don't make you schedule your return times. You just show up at the entrance and get in line whenever you want. The only thing that many don't like is the cost that comes with it at other parks. At Cedar Point on busy days it can cost as much as $140 a person.

 

[scrappinginontario]

While it’s great that other parks do not require reservations for attractions, the cost cuts out the majority of guests in order to offer this feature.

E.g. the cost to add express pass today for one day at US Orlando is $329.99/ticket plus $159/ticket for one park. After taxes, to visit one park and skip lines the cost is $520.78/person!!!!

I will happily spend time on my phone as I cannot justify that for one person let alone a family.