Complaints

[FCDub]

Agree with a PP. Two weeks is a long time. Most people wouldn’t be able to stay that long because of cost. Stay for less time.

Agree with another PP: It’s a big world out there. Might be time to go somewhere else.

 

[Hisgirl]

Yep, and I hope more and more folks wake up to what is happening. This is becoming a not practical vacation AT ALL for the typical family. The parking fee irked me, and now we're hearing pay to get FPs. I want to go check out Dolly wood and other places. It's just getting old and disney isn't adding enough new things to balance out the expense.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Yep, and I hope more and more folks wake up to what is happening. This is becoming a not practical vacation AT ALL for the typical family. The parking fee irked me, and now we're hearing pay to get FPs. I want to go check out Dolly wood and other places. It's just getting old and disney isn't adding enough new things to balance out the expense.

Honestly, I disagree with this. 2017-2021 there are/will be 3 new lands, 10 new rides, Skyliner, new resorts, new restaurants and all are exciting to me and make the trip worth it.

Maybe that isn't enough for some people. Maybe I'll feel differently IF they start the paying for FP program that is only a rumor right now.

I don't know, but today it's a whole lot that has me excited for the future.

 

[maxiesmom]

I totally get that hundreds of dollars make a difference. It does to most of us. However a trip to WDW is totally a splurge.

 

[mom2rtk]

I totally get that hundreds of dollars make a difference. It does to most of us. However a trip to WDW is totally a splurge.

Of course it is. But that doesn't change the frustration when new expense after new expense is added without offsetting additional value. Sometimes people just like to vent over stuff like this that they have no control over. No, she's not complaining about the cost of electricity or food. Of course it's a splurge. But this is a Disney discussion board. Pretty much everything discussed here is a first world problem. That doesn't mean people can't be annoyed sometimes.

 

[grossmansr]

I am not going to disagree with you that Disney is expensive but I think you should be thankful that you have been able to go to Disney as frequently as you have. If Disney has gotten too expensive for you then maybe you need to go less frequently.

You are absolutely right and I am very thankful for the many happy years that we've enjoyed there. I guess I'm just disappointed because I don't see us continuing our annual disney trip. So yes, I will adjust my expectations accordingly, and maybe we will go less often.

 

[grossmansr]

Are you talking about the Flexible Option? The one that lifts any date restrictions for your start date and lets you use them within 14 days once you start using them?

I priced that out the other day for our July tickets and it was an additional $150 per ticket. Per ticket!

Yes, that's what I was wondering about. Thank you! $150 is ridiculous. We'll take a hard pass on that.

 

[grossmansr]

Why do you need to go for 2 weeks? That is a long vacation and obviously will cost a lot of money for a family of your size.

You could do a one week trip for half the cost, so why not just do that?

Well, we certainly don't have to go for two weeks, and now we won't, but it's not going to be half the cost. We were trying to maximize ticket value because 2 years ago, when I planned our last trip, a four day ticket wasn't much less expensive than an 8 day one. Transportation costs are still the same, whether we go for 3 days or 14 days. So I figured we might as well go for a longer trip and try to save on food costs by cooking meals in the room. We've always stayed offsite but when Disney announced Free Summer Dining I was sold! I reasoned that it would be worth it to stay onsite for one week and enjoy free dining, before moving offsite to finish our vacation. Which is exactly what the plan was until I found out that our 8 day hopper tickets would not be valid for the total length of our stay. And THAT was the final straw that led to my rant on here.

Anyway, yes, of course there are ways we can cut corners. I'm just disappointed and wanted to vent.

 

[grossmansr]

Using the tickets within 14 days is something the OP used to be able to do up until this past October. That function has been taken away and can be added back for the price of up to $150 per ticket during a crowd season such as in Free Dining. For her family that could be an extra $750 dollars for something she always used to do. I’m not sure this falls into the category of splurge, but perhaps being annoyed at a cutback in a ticket’s value

EXACTLY!!!! Thank you.

 

[grossmansr]

But you didn't mention how many days your were looking to get for the tickets. That may help out in understanding if you needed to add on the Flex option (which agreed sucks because it used to be 14 days without additional money), or adjust the start date of when you select for your tickets that you buy, or help clear up if there is any confusion.

Sorry, I had gone back and forth and finally settled on 6 day tickets being the perfect amount for our family. I thought that would give us 6 park days and 6 water park days. Our trip is from Sunday July 7 to Friday July 19. We are staying onsite from Sunday July 7 to Friday July 12 (unless I cancel). Maybe I'm just confused about how things work now. I was basing all my planning off of 2 year old information. I suppose that was my bad.

 

[grossmansr]

The OP is not asking whether she should go for a 2 week trip. Good heavens! Lots of people take longer trips and we don't chastise them. She has no obligation to happily cut her trip in half while still giving Disney the same money. It's not always about what someone can afford, but what's reasonable. We have no idea why they chose to do 2 weeks, and honestly, it's nobody's business but her own!

It's incredibly rude to call her entitled and whiny because Disney took a lot of value from what she had planned.

Oh my goodness, thank you! We've always gone for 1 week and literally every single time we've regretted that we didn't stay for 2 weeks. By the time we get there, stock up the kitchen, and settle in, it's time to leave. Adding extra days to the park hoppers was always a relatively small expense and we happen to be lucky enough to stay offsite in my parents' timeshare, so we were hoping to be able to stay longer this year.

Alas, it probably won't work out that way.

Thank you all for your responses. Clearly, this is a first world problem and I'm grateful to have it. But I think my overall frustration stems from the fact that every year it seems that a Disney vacation is more of a financial stretch and offers less of a "return on our investment". Heck, I still remember the old tickets that included park hopping AND never expired. You could buy a 10 day ticket and stretch that thing over, like, 3 years of vacations if you wanted. Obviously things change and prices increase and that's to be expected, but it saddens me that we might be reaching our breaking point.

And yes, there are many places to go and things to see and we will no doubt vacation elsewhere from time to time. But I've had so many wonderful memories at Disney and it just holds such a special place in my heart that I will be sad if we stop going. My husband, eh, not so much. I have to really sell him on the value. The last trip was a hard sell, but our youngest was still free. I may have mentioned that we didn't go last year because he was so soured on the cost of the previous trip. It was $1000 just for 2 days at the parks for all of us, and one day it rained the entire time. We didn't even get the parade or the fireworks. I was hoping a longer trip would give us the opportunity to slow down and ease the pressure of trying to get our money's worth.

 

[hammie59]

Oh my goodness, thank you! We've always gone for 1 week and literally every single time we've regretted that we didn't stay for 2 weeks. By the time we get there, stock up the kitchen, and settle in, it's time to leave. Adding extra days to the park hoppers was always a relatively small expense and we happen to be lucky enough to stay offsite in my parents' timeshare, so we were hoping to be able to stay longer this year.

Alas, it probably won't work out that way.

Thank you all for your responses. Clearly, this is a first world problem and I'm grateful to have it. But I think my overall frustration stems from the fact that every year it seems that a Disney vacation is more of a financial stretch and offers less of a "return on our investment". Heck, I still remember the old tickets that included park hopping AND never expired. You could buy a 10 day ticket and stretch that thing over, like, 3 years of vacations if you wanted. Obviously things change and prices increase and that's to be expected, but it saddens me that we might be reaching our breaking point.

And yes, there are many places to go and things to see and we will no doubt vacation elsewhere from time to time. But I've had so many wonderful memories at Disney and it just holds such a special place in my heart that I will be sad if we stop going. My husband, eh, not so much. I have to really sell him on the value. The last trip was a hard sell, but our youngest was still free. I may have mentioned that we didn't go last year because he was so soured on the cost of the previous trip. It was $1000 just for 2 days at the parks for all of us, and one day it rained the entire time. We didn't even get the parade or the fireworks. I was hoping a longer trip would give us the opportunity to slow down and ease the pressure of trying to get our money's worth.

Our love of WDW keeps us going back and at this point we’re still choosing to spend our money there. That’s our choice and I’m grateful that we have that option. However, all this nickel and diming is starting to take it’s toll. I really think any future Disney trips will definitely be shortened or push us off site.

Like you, we started extending our vacations to 2 weeks a few years ago for many of the same reasons. After the time and expense of traveling from MI (sometimes flying, but usually driving) and everything else that you mentioned, I want to maximize my time and actually feel like I went on a vacation. Why some people feel the need to criticize you for that is beyond me.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Sorry, I had gone back and forth and finally settled on 6 day tickets being the perfect amount for our family. I thought that would give us 6 park days and 6 water park days. Our trip is from Sunday July 7 to Friday July 19. We are staying onsite from Sunday July 7 to Friday July 12 (unless I cancel). Maybe I'm just confused about how things work now. I was basing all my planning off of 2 year old information. I suppose that was my bad.

Don't worry on the confusion front it's a big big adjustment I think for many people just even attempting to look at what they should buy.

If you're just simply looking to only vent you can for sure ignore the rest of my post In the end no matter what way you slice it it's more complicated and IMO requires a lot more work to try and figure out what works best for flexibility and costs so I completely understand the frustration.

If you're trying to understand the new system a bit more or look at what you might be able to do if you decide to still go here's at least some information (and hopefully I'm not making it even more confusing lol). I apologize in advance for the length of my post
______________________________________________


Effective 10/16/18 (so pretty darn recent) tickets switched to date-based for all tickets where you select a specific start date for your tickets and they have a defined window in which those tickets can be used for. Disney did a few things before this that led to them tightening down their tickets (pricing seasons added, adding expiration dates to tickets (meaning they weren't valid for years and years prior to first usage), etc.




This is taken from this thread (https://www.disboards.com/threads/walt-disney-world-date-based-ticket-system-faq-•-read-first-page.3711842/)

1-Day Ticket Only the start date selected
2-Day Ticket Any 2 days within 4 days beginning on the start date
3-Day Ticket Any 3 days within 5 days beginning on the start date
4-Day Ticket Any 4 days within 7 days beginning on thestart date
5-Day Ticket Any 5 days within 8 days beginning on the start date
6-Day Ticket Any 6 days within 9 days beginning on the start date
7-Day Ticket Any 7 days within 10 days beginning on the start date
8-Day Ticket Any 8 days within 12 days beginning on the start date
9-Day Ticket Any 9 days within 13 days beginning on the start date
10-Day Ticket Any 10 days within 14 days beginning on the start date

{{I will note that I don't think they have the days correct. A 6-day ticket is actually valid 10 days IF including the first date. The thread I linked gave an example of "a 6-day base ticket with a start date of November 1 is valid any 6 days from November 1 to November 9." HOWEVER Disney's website if using November 1st gives the following information "Your tickets are valid for admission to multiple theme parks on any 6 days from Nov 1, 2019 through Nov 10, 2019." So yeah just to add on more confusion lol.}}

Still from that same thread linked:
"Date-based tickets purchased as part of a Walt Disney Travel Company room and ticket package will have one of the following valid use periods (whichever is longer):

• (i) the same valid use period described above, OR
• (ii) a valid use period beginning on the package resort arrival date and ending on the package resort check-out date."

If you were at 1 on-site resort for your whole trip with that package because of the above item underlined listed under (ii) and would be valid from July 7th through July 19th. Since your package end date is presently July 12th your timeframe for your tickets follows the the above item in italic and would be valid from July 7th through July 16th.




I think your main issue is there's pros and cons to Packages with the new date-based tickets especially when you're moving to different resorts (either on-site or off-site). It's not the offsite part of your trip that actually becomes the issue. It's simply moving around and doing a split stay regardless of that being another Disney resort or being an off-site resort.

Also taken from the thread I've linked:

• Split stays put a longer ticket in the first stay that will carry over to the second stay. Valid dates will be for the TICKET itself since it's longer than the first resort stay. Ticket will NOT be valid for the length of both stays.
• For example first stay is at Pop Century for 2 nights - purchase a 7 day ticket with that first package stay - check into another resort on or off site after checking out from Pop. In this case a 7 day ticket in this 2 night package OR purchased separately is valid for up to 10 days.

Using a check-out date of July 12th with a package purchased I believe your only option is to purchase a longer ticket because of the above information. An 8-day ticket would be valid from Sun, Jul 7, 2019 through Fri, Jul 19, 2019 which would cover your whole trip.

• The Flexible Date option is not available when you have a package. It is available only if you purchase tickets in a separate transaction.
• Moving your start date of when your ticket is first valid is not an option when you have a package. It is available only if you purchase tickets in a separate transaction.
• Disney doesn't allow shifting of start dates OR the flexible date option when you book a Room only and add tickets in the same transaction. I'm assuming it's because that mimics an actual Package doing it that way. Your only choice when doing a Room only and adding tickets in the same transaction is to add additional days to your park ticket.

I'm sure for you Free Dining was an attractive option but unfortunately with Disney's new ticketing system packages lead to much more restrictions. Not your fault of course.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rest of this post is only directed at tickets purchased separately but figured I'd put it out there anyways.

You do get flexibility when you purchase tickets in a separate transaction.

• Doing that allows you to either add on the Flexible Date Option which is presently "The first day of use of your ticket can be any day on or before December 31, 2020. You get 14 days (from first use) to use your ticket." OR
• Shift the start date of when your ticket is first valid OR
• Add on more park days
• ALL options would require a person to 'play around' with it to see what works out best for them both in terms of costs and actual trip planned.

 

[maxiesmom]

Of course it is. But that doesn't change the frustration when new expense after new expense is added without offsetting additional value. Sometimes people just like to vent over stuff like this that they have no control over. No, she's not complaining about the cost of electricity or food. Of course it's a splurge. But this is a Disney discussion board. Pretty much everything discussed here is a first world problem. That doesn't mean people can't be annoyed sometimes.

I never said the OP shouldn't be annoyed. I did say if it was an important part of their life that instead of turning away they could look at ways to make it work. If they thought there was still value in the trip.

 

[grossmansr]

Don't worry on the confusion front it's a big big adjustment I think for many people just even attempting to look at what they should buy.

I just read your whole post and I appreciate the detailed explanation of the new ticket system. I'm just beginning to wrap my head around what this is going to mean for our plans and what the best course of action will be going forward. I wish they didn't have to make everything so complicated. It's not just about the final price. It's about the final price compared to what we consider to be a valuable experience. Now that Disney has effectively limited the use of our tickets the value is no longer there for the package we purchased. So I'm going to have to cancel and start the vacation planning process from the beginning, which could mean anything at this point. DH would rather just go to the beach .

Maybe this sounds dramatic and maybe it is. But I am really, really unhappy with the new tickets.

 

[siren0119]

Are you talking about the Flexible Option? The one that lifts any date restrictions for your start date and lets you use them within 14 days once you start using them?

I priced that out the other day for our July tickets and it was an additional $150 per ticket. Per ticket!

No you do not need to purchase the flexible option in order for your tickets to be good for longer than an onsite stay.

As was previously posted, the date based tickets are good for the # of days allowed based on the park days you are purchasing (so for example, 7 day tickets are good for 10 days) or the length of your stay, whichever is longer. The OP's tickets will be valid beyond the check-out date of their split stay.

That said, Disney is becoming harder and harder to justify financially. Eventually it will hit a ceiling, but I have a feeling that's a long way (and many price increases) away.

 

[grossmansr]

As was previously posted, the date based tickets are good for the # of days allowed based on the park days you are purchasing (so for example, 7 day tickets are good for 10 days) or the length of your stay, whichever is longer. The OP's tickets will be valid beyond the check-out date of their split stay.

I just thought of another question though. If I purchased a 6 day park hopper plus water parks ticket, it should last for a full 12 days to make use of the water parks option. Why is that not the case?

 

[TangledHairDon'tCare]

I just thought of another question though. If I purchased a 6 day park hopper plus water parks ticket, it should last for a full 12 days to make use of the water parks option. Why is that not the case?

Because Disney changed their ticketing system and it now gives you 10 days. I understand the need to vent, but I think you've "vented" and now you need to stop focusing on the things you can't change and start figuring out if this trip is worth if for your family now.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I just read your whole post and I appreciate the detailed explanation of the new ticket system. I'm just beginning to wrap my head around what this is going to mean for our plans and what the best course of action will be going forward. I wish they didn't have to make everything so complicated. It's not just about the final price. It's about the final price compared to what we consider to be a valuable experience. Now that Disney has effectively limited the use of our tickets the value is no longer there for the package we purchased. So I'm going to have to cancel and start the vacation planning process from the beginning, which could mean anything at this point. DH would rather just go to the beach .

Maybe this sounds dramatic and maybe it is. But I am really, really unhappy with the new tickets.

I wish they hadn't either. I'm dreading the next time I need to purchase WDW tickets. I love flexibility and purchasing before a price increase and usually my plans don't change but they have in the past and now dodging the price increases are just that much harder. I enjoy planning trips but with the tickets and trying to make them work out the best way it's like I need some sort of degree to try and figure it out

I'm sorry it's to the point of thinking you'll have to cancel and start over or that at this point your husband is looking at the beach instead. Obviously it's not the trip you had hoped for

 

[robinb]

Because Disney changed their ticketing system and it now gives you 10 days. I understand the need to vent, but I think you've "vented" and now you need to stop focusing on the things you can't change and start figuring out if this trip is worth if for your family now.

I didn't see her as focusing on things she can't change, but trying to understand why a 6-day ticket with 6 entitlements can't be used for 12 days (6 park days plus 6 extra entries).

OP, I would dump the park hoppers and the water parks and look at a 10-day pass. It's cheaper than the 6-day park hopper plus and it gets you into parks for up to 14 days.