Complaints

[siren0119]

Thanks for the optimism but the 2 CM's I spoke to at Disney both told me that only if buying park passes coupled with a room reservation, as a "package", will the tickets be valid for length of stay. That was one of my points in my letter to Disney. As DVC owners, we'll never buy a vacation package. I will always buy my tickets separately. Initially, I thought it only applied to tickets bought through 3rd person vendors like AAA or undercover tourist. But again, CM"s told me that even tickets bought direct from Disney, unless bought with a package, will all have the same limitations. I would LOVE to find out they're wrong because it's insane.

I gotcha - and in that case yes I agree that is totally insane. DVC owners shouldn't be penalized for not buying annual passes - that is just not going to make sense for the way everyone vacations.

 

[DanenRox]

Sent an email to Disney yesterday, got a return call this morning (that was impressive). The gentleman was very attentive and offered the rationale behind the changes. Chatted with me for about 15 minutes. Allowed me to express my concerns, feelings and objections. He told me this information moves on to another level of management and thanked me for my information.
I'm not naive. I know I'm not going to cause any changes but I do appreciate the response. I think I made some excellent points and even provided some alternatives! Anyway, just an update.

 

[Corwin]

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, I get your frustration. We've also been unhappy with many of the changes.

If I understand your situation, you had figured out how to maximize the value of a 6-day MYW Park Hopper Plus ticket under the old system.* With these changes, you have to figure out how to work the new system to your best advantage. If you want tickets that last for your whole vacation (assuming you didn't cancel), it looks like you need to buy 8-day tickets.

These are good for "any 8 days within 12 days beginning on the start date (13 days for Park Hopper Plus)."

For what it's worth, these new changes impact us to an even greater extent. We usually stay at WDW before and after a DCL cruise. In order for our tickets to last for the full vacation under the new system, we are going to have to buy 10-day tickets, and then be unable to use 3 of the days. That's very annoying.


*Actually, I'll go further. It looks like you had figured out how to squeeze every bit of value out of the old tickets by using every single water park admission. Kudos to you. We usually only go to the two water parks once each over the course of a visit, even if we have many more entries.

 

[jmako]

I share you frustrations. We went as a family of 4 for years. 6-8yrs ago it was easy for us to manipulate our schedules to fit in with when free dining was offered (which used to be huge blocks of time) to maximize the value of the trip. 2016 was our last “annual pilgrimage”, we can no longer afford to go every year.

Last year I took the family to Utah/Arizona for 2 weeks instead and saw several National Parks. It was freak’n awesome, I really wish I had done it sooner! And guess what? Those 2 weeks travelling around the southwest (hotels, food, gas, etc) cost me LESS than 1 week at a Deluxe at WDW. That’s nauseating.


I’m planning one last trip to WDW for next year. As stated by many above, I can no longer justify the cost. The prices keep soarin’ along with the crowd level. This past January I actually opened/created a separate savings account & direct deposit plan for my trip. After that trip, sadly, I imagine we’ll be traveling elsewhere…at least for the foreseeable future.

 

[Sandiz08]

We could only justify going every other year, in the future, it might be longer. Who knows, but I get what you mean.

 

[GregoryG]

Thank you - Thank you - Thank you - to the OP. We feel the exact same way. We have gone for the last 20 years or so (maybe 15 trips over that span) and after returning this past weekend - we are soooo disappointed. We are done as well - for a long while. We will rent our DVC points and go on vacations to National Parks and Beaches for the foreseeable future.

It is a strange feeling because we loved WDW. We always knew WDW was expensive and planned for it. We always expected crowds but we planned and had enjoyable productive days with our small strategies. But this trip something was just "off". From the moment we stepped into the BCV. Had so much changed in the 2 years since we had visited? The pay for every-little-thing and not seeing the value is certainly part of it. I also think the general interactions with cast members/ guest experience was a large part of it as well. Something has gone awry there.

It really is a shame. We feel a bit sad - as we have had some great times. Usually I don't want to leave - this trip I wanted to get home a few days in. At least I got to see Illuminations one last time.