Complaint? Disney is to stressful and complicated

[robinb]

If you haven't been before, Maui is the island with the most to do/visit:
- Sunrise over Haleakala
- Road to Hana
- Iao Valley
- Northwest shore
- Lahaina
- Shopping in Kihei and in Kahului

I highly recommend the guidebook Maui Revealed. I'd been to Maui 4 times and thought I knew the island inside and out. This book showed me sights (our own private waterfall and whirlpool off the highway!) I was unaware of.

I second Maui Revealed! Great book . We liked DT Fleming Beach north of Kaanapali. The waves were pretty big there so it was a nice spot for boogie boarding. We rented boards and snorkel equipment from Snorkel Bobs. You can pick up on one island and drop off at another (although I don't think I would bring boards on the airplane so I would just rent them in Maui). The North Shore on Oahu will be very calm in July and perfect for snorkeling. Costco & Wal*Mart will be your Hawaii friends in Maui.

 

[jm106]

The only part I feel stressed over- I spend WAY too much time planning the trip because I LOVE that part and stress over the other things I should be doing

I love planning and research for travel of all kinds and hoped to find a way to make a career out of it. No such luck yet for me.

 

[mcd2745]

I love our Disney vacations, but I always joke that I need another vacation afterwards. I don't find them stressful, but I can't say they are relaxing. We go hard when we are there (because we want to!) so early mornings and late nights walking miles around amusement parks don't equate to a relaxing vacation to me. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change a thing about our trips, but that's why we intermingle in other trips in between. So we do get that chance to unwind, sleep in and take it easier.

Agree 1000%.

It's only stressful if YOU make it stressful.

 

[cedricandsophie]

Wow I didn't realize I was such a fly by the seat of my pants. For Disney since we have been so often it never occurs to me to plan excerpt for making reservations for resort and some dinners. Out of 10 days in March we went to parks one day. Hit all 4 starting with animal kingdom since it opened early, got in all the rides we wanted without FP, went to Hollywood for lunch and a couple rides, back to hotel for a few hpurs, then on to Epcot for dinner and ending at magic kingdom for fireworks and a few rides. We never know what day we will go to parks because it depends on hours of operation and the weather. We have actually been at resorts several times wo even going to parks. We just love the resorts, playing tennis, hanging out at pool, using fitness room, etc and going out for great dinners. We are going back to aulani for third time on Monday. Absolutely no plans except to see a friend who will join us there.

 

[PrncessA]

What is more stressful to my family is walking into any theme park and one of us saying "What do you want to do?" "I don't know, what do you want to do?" "Well what is there to do?" and a child chiming in with "I want to do so and so!!!" and then there is a long wait for that ride and we end up doing something else. By that time we are stress and the kids are upset. LOL

Our plan for WDW is structured and researched, but since I have a good grasp of the options available, if we get there and want to change something, we can without stress.

I actually find the planning and the race to schedule and move things around, fun.

 

[mom2rtk]

What is more stressful to my family is walking into any theme park and one of us saying "What do you want to do?" "I don't know, what do you want to do?" "Well what is there to do?" and a child chiming in with "I want to do so and so!!!" and then there is a long wait for that ride and we end up doing something else. By that time we are stress and the kids are upset. LOL

Our plan for WDW is structured and researched, but since I have a good grasp of the options available, if we get there and want to change something, we can without stress.

I actually find the planning and the race to schedule and move things around, fun.

What's stressful to me is walking into a park with a family member saying "I want to do this" and I have to tell them, sorry, but we didn't choose that for our FP 2 months ago, and the standby line is too long." Or having someone say "I had fun at Epcot the other day. Let's go back there today" and I have to say "Sorry, we didn't choose our FPs for that park today and the good ones are gone."

 

[ellie05]

I went with it is not stressful . Maybe because we know so much about disney that I know what to do, when to do it and how to do it. It doesn't matter where we are vacationing I do a lot of planning and information gathering, do to me disney is less stressful.

 

[MichiganDVC]

What's stressful to me is walking into a park with a family member saying "I want to do this" and I have to tell them, sorry, but we didn't choose that for our FP 2 months ago, and the standby line is too long." Or having someone say "I had fun at Epcot the other day. Let's go back there today" and I have to say "Sorry, we didn't choose our FPs for that park today and the good ones are gone."

Not to belabor the point, but this can happen when its 10am and you have a FP for TSMM for 8:00pm. Only with FP+, you actually can make changes if its available.

But just in the same way that you couldn't start your day at MK and then expect to head to HS on a whim and ride TSMM using legacy FP.

 

[MrsDuck]

I really don't find Disney stressful... at all.

I think stressed out people typically expectations that cannot be met by any company/destination, too little time, or simply just not have a laid-back/go-with-the-flow attitude.

I'll never forget going to Disney with my Aunt, Uncle, and 3 cousins. They were visiting us from WV and we drove to Disney. Aunt and Uncle made the trip quite miserable by pushing everyone to ride as many rides, to not take breaks when we needed them, etc. beacuse they "paid so dang much to be there that they were gonna do everything!"... they had a terrible trip and hate Disney now.

 

[Peepster]

We've been going since the 1970's and always looked forward to the element of surprise. Now it seems that everyone's face is buried in their technology, whether for FP+ purposes or communicating with other family members in other places. Everything seems so much more regimented and less spontaneous to me.
We find ourselves going less and less. Guess it's just the changing of the guard. And, I truly do dislike the fact that Disney management announces their intentions of "keeping" us in the parks to "spend more money".
Does not make me feel like a "guest" anymore.

 

[CuteAsMinnie]

Sorry to break the news, but...

Every aspect of life is only as stressful as you make it.

 

[mom2rtk]

We've been going since the 1970's and always looked forward to the element of surprise. Now it seems that everyone's face is buried in their technology, whether for FP+ purposes or communicating with other family members in other places. Everything seems so much more regimented and less spontaneous to me.
We find ourselves going less and less. Guess it's just the changing of the guard. And, I truly do dislike the fact that Disney management announces their intentions of "keeping" us in the parks to "spend more money".
Does not make me feel like a "guest" anymore.

That's correct. You are no longer a guest. You are a walking wallet.

 

[morethananyonex]

I don't find it stressful to the point that it isn't enjoyable anymore, but we did notice that we felt more stressed with FP+ vs FP-. We felt that the combination of having a set schedule in advance and having limited FP+ to use made us feel like sticking to our premade schedule was more important than ever. It was difficult to make any in park changes, as the app was having major issues when we were down there, so that didn't help matters either.

I'm hoping that by the time we go next (likely 2-3 years) FP+ will be much less stressful for my family. I think (hope ) that should be enough time for Disney to sort it out.

 

[heartse]

Sorry, I just don't like having to schedule out my vacation 6-2 months out. The one time that we had the dining plan, it just about drove me nuts trying to plan things out that far in advance, and even worse, making sure that we got to everywhere on time. We have always been more of a CS person, getting whatever fancied us at the time. But, the problem with FP+ is that if you don't schedule things 2 months out, you will be standing in much longer lines than you had to prior to this being rolled out.

 

[MrsDuck]

Sorry to break the news, but...

Every aspect of life is only as stressful as you make it.

 

[tng1920]

I am also type A, our last trip was planned to the minute. My two oldest hated my plans and wanted to go with the window. My youngest 5 at the time stuck with me and definitely got the most out of our trip. Most importantly she met every character in all 4 parks which was the most important thing to her. Things got a little tense with ADR. My 18 and 9 year old hated having to stop and go. There was definitely days when we wasn't hungry but had reservations. I'm not a fan of the new Fastpass+. I spent all day trying to get one for the Mine ride with no success. Not a problem, however having advanced Fastpass and ADR limits your flexibility. Our upcoming trip (May 23) will be laid back and easy.

 

[khaleesi]

The only time I'm not stressed lately is when I'm planning a Disney trip or I'm actually in Disney. The only stressful thing about going on my trip in February was worrying about whether I would get sick while I was there and miss out on the fun.

Disney is my ESCAPE from the stress. Not the cause of it.

 

[luisov]

Well, going to Disney is not exactly laying on the beach and drinking a few cocktails by the pool. See, I think Disney fans (myself included) try to do as much as possible while we are there. We simply want to ride every attraction, repeat some of our favorites, enjoy good food, stay in a good resort and watch a couple of good shows in the best seats available. That sounds wonderful, but at the end of the day, maybe the more you want, the more stressful is your vacation.

My best WDW and DL experiences have been spontaneous. No worries about fastpass, no worries about getting in every single ride available, barely any previous planning. Simply relax and have fun. And you know what? I've been able to see and ride all the stuff I love every time we've gone with that mentality.

It is important to say that you're getting into an over-crowded space under Florida's unpredictable weather and you want to make the best out of your money, so a little bit of stress is always natural.

 

[nat8199]

I voted too much to do in too little time, but I see that as a good thing!

I love planning for Disney. I love how many options of things to do there are at Disney. I really don't see how planning could be bad. When DH and I went to Paris for a long weekend I researched and planned just as much. When there is a lot to do in a short amount of time research and planning is simply necessary.

 

[luvthemouse71]

It's not stressful. But, my definition of stressful is a sick relative, a coding patient or patient bleeding to death, a chronic health condition and bills.

At the end of the day, you're still on vacation at WDW.