Disney and Logic

[sm4987]

Ok being logical sucks! Last night my husband and I were talking about our upcoming trip to Orlando. We were going to Universal, Sea World, Busch Gardens and do other things like Blue Man Group, Cirque, Disney. Quest. Until I added up the cost. That's. One expensive group of tickets for a family of 4 (2 teens, husband and I) I looked at 5/6 day tickets to Disney. Much cheaper with so much to do.

Then I told my husband well were weren't supposed to go back to all this band stuff going on. I'm angry at them for taking away my fast passes, and tracking me, and making me schedule things. Then my brain kicks in and made me think about my last trip to Disneyland in December during Christmas to boot. Well we did have to stand in line for Toy Story and other things while we were there. Hmm and we did wait in line while we were Knotts Berry Farm and Magic Mountain without one complaint.

Guess we are going back to Disney in July and are going to make the best of the situation and have fun being a family

 

[Robo]

Logic (being logical) does not suck.

 

[Robo]

Then my brain kicks in and made me think about my last trip to Disneyland in December during Christmas to boot. Well we did have to stand in line for Toy Story and other things while we were there. Hmm and we did wait in line while we were Knotts Berry Farm and Magic Mountain without one complaint.

I'm not upset about standing in line for some attractions.

But, FP was originally DESIGNED to allow guests to experience
the MOST POPULAR attractions without the need to stand in incredibly long lines (sometimes 2 to 3 HOURS in length.)

Then, with this "new improved" (and arbitrary) FP+ system, guests can end up with FP's to rides that
simply would not NEED a FP without the artificial "leading"
of unknowing guests to choosing less popular rides to FP.

It borders on fraud and deception when Disney blatantly touts that guests
can "pre-arrange" a ride on the Teacups, as if this will suddenly transform
their vacation into a newly-magical experience.

I love Disney parks, but this new so-called FP+ is disappointing to the extreme.

Walt Disney, himself, always told his CM's to "UNDER-promise, then OVER-deliver."

This arbitrary counter-productive "FP+" system, in many cases, does the opposite.

Pathetic and sad.

 

[JM27]

An Orlando Flex ticket with access to Universal Studios, Universal Islands of Adventure, Universal CityWalk, SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica, Wet ‘n Wild and Busch Gardens is in the $350 range for 14 days of admission. That hits the top three things on your list. A 5/6 day Disney ticket is of comparable price.

 

[sm4987]

An Orlando Flex ticket with access to Universal Studios, Universal Islands of Adventure, Universal CityWalk, SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica, Wet ‘n Wild and Busch Gardens is in the $350 range for 14 days of admission. That hits the top three things on your list. A 5/6 day Disney ticket is of comparable price.

I looked into that ticket. My kids aren't into the water parks and I'm trying so hard not to feel like I would be being wasteful. Honestly the only reason we were planning Orlando was to hit the other parks as they've added new things since we were there last, but when I start counting the cost it makes me wonder if Disney is the better value (even among all the fast pass + issues)

 

[ArwenMarie]

Yeah, both Disney and Universal have front-loaded the cost of their tickets so much that it is painful to buy both. I guess it's just what it is worth to you.

 

[catra121]

It definitely DOES get expensive when you start adding up all those different tickets. As expensive as Disney is...they do offer a great value. How many times do people say, "You can't see it all in one trip." I never run out of new things to experience at Disney. Thing have definitely changed with the implementation of FP+ (and the constant changes and the testing)...but you will still have an amazing time. Enjoy!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

An Orlando Flex ticket with access to Universal Studios, Universal Islands of Adventure, Universal CityWalk, SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica, Wet ‘n Wild and Busch Gardens is in the $350 range for 14 days of admission. That hits the top three things on your list. A 5/6 day Disney ticket is of comparable price.

That's what we're looking at for our next trip, but unlike OP we love water parks. So, it's a relatively good value for us

 

[Ametista]

Blue Man Group and Cirque are what is jacking up your logic. That's adding two very expensive shows on to the other parks you want to attend, and then comparing that to Disney tickets.

We have spent many trips just going to SW/BG/IOA/US and been perfectly happy, esp once you throw in a few beach days. Including Disney pretty much means we can only afford Disney, unless we have NE tickets to use a few days on.

 

[kaybird]

I'm not upset about standing in line for some attractions.

But, FP was originally DESIGNED to allow guests to experience
the MOST POPULAR attractions without the need to stand in incredibly long lines (sometimes 2 to 3 HOURS in length.)

Then, with this "new improved" (and arbitrary) FP+ system, guests can end up with FP's to rides that
simply would not NEED a FP without the artificial "leading"
of unknowing guests to choosing less popular rides to FP.

It borders on fraud and deception when Disney blatantly touts that guests
can "pre-arrange" a ride on the Teacups, as if this will suddenly transform
their vacation into a newly-magical experience.

I love Disney parks, but this new so-called FP+ is disappointing to the extreme.

Walt Disney, himself, always told his CM's to "UNDER-promise, then OVER-deliver."

This arbitrary counter-productive "FP+" system, in many cases, does the opposite.

Pathetic and sad.

I rarely disagree with Robo, however, Walt designed the parks for all the attractions to be visited. The new FP+ did what the old FP- did not; get the guests to all areas and levels of rides throughout the park. I was thrilled last month to see Country Bears packed, full of people who all seemed to enjoy it, but probably wouldn't have ridden it without the FP+. Think it will save some of those types of rides, and not let them go the way of Mr. Toad.

 

[JM27]

I looked into that ticket. My kids aren't into the water parks and I'm trying so hard not to feel like I would be being wasteful. Honestly the only reason we were planning Orlando was to hit the other parks as they've added new things since we were there last, but when I start counting the cost it makes me wonder if Disney is the better value (even among all the fast pass + issues)

That's fair but if you want to visit the other parks I don't think it is being wasteful. The waterparks just give you an extra option to visit. If your vacation is 9 days and you go to Universal parks for 4 days, SeaWorld for two days and Busch Gardens for 2 days you are getting the same value as going to each item listed on the ticket once (with maybe one or two repeats).

Good luck with your planning. I know how frustrating and complicated it can be.

 

[sm4987]

Thank you all for responding! I might have to go with my original plans after all. Too bad Disney decided to go up on those 1 day tickets! I can get my Disney fix when we go to Disneyland next year, it's closer and we won't have to worry about fast pass +. Since we were just in Disneyland in December, we all can wait until next time.

 

[sm4987]

Blue Man Group and Cirque are what is jacking up your logic. That's adding two very expensive shows on to the other parks you want to attend, and then comparing that to Disney tickets.

We have spent many trips just going to SW/BG/IOA/US and been perfectly happy, esp once you throw in a few beach days. Including Disney pretty much means we can only afford Disney, unless we have NE tickets to use a few days on.

Yeah Blue Man and Cirque do mess up my planning a bit but my son is graduating from high school and it's our 20th anniversary so I wanted to try to throw in something special.

 

[bumbershoot]

I looked into that ticket. My kids aren't into the water parks and I'm trying so hard not to feel like I would be being wasteful.

But if the other three, when purchased individually, come in at a higher cost than the Flex+ ticket, isn't it still a good deal? You would have to pay for the shows and DQ anyway.

 

[Marionnette]

I rarely disagree with Robo, however, Walt designed the parks for all the attractions to be visited. The new FP+ did what the old FP- did not; get the guests to all areas and levels of rides throughout the park. I was thrilled last month to see Country Bears packed, full of people who all seemed to enjoy it, but probably wouldn't have ridden it without the FP+. Think it will save some of those types of rides, and not let them go the way of Mr. Toad.

It shouldn't be about how Walt wanted people to tour the parks. It's supposed to be Magic Your Way, and if that means riding the headliners at one park and then hopping to another park to do the same, why mess with it? I'm with Robo. I'd much rather be able to get FP-'s to both TT and Soarin' than have to choose between the two and accept a FP+ to Spaceship Earth as a "substitute" for the other. IMO, the tiered system actually limits me to 1 desired FP+ per day, because the 2nd tier attractions never needed a FP before this mess.

 

[mmbl]

It shouldn't be about how Walt wanted people to tour the parks. It's supposed to be Magic Your Way, and if that means riding the headliners at one park and then hopping to another park to do the same, why mess with it? I'm with Robo. I'd much rather be able to get FP-'s to both TT and Soarin' than have to choose between the two and accept a FP+ to Spaceship Earth as a "substitute" for the other. IMO, the tiered system actually limits me to 1 desired FP+ per day, because the 2nd tier attractions never needed a FP before this mess.

I agree with you. This will be my last premium annual pass for a while unless they do something about it. This weeks article in Business Week is a joke. They said they got 3,000 more people into MK with the new system. RIDICULOUS! It's inly when the parks are at capacity would they need to worry about getting more people in. People aren't going to plan their vacation around whether or not Disney can get extra people in the parks. Yeh, and I'm really going to need or get a FP for Country Bear Jamboree or the Hall of Presidents! What a waste. We have stock in Disney and I still hope this billion dollar gamble fails!!

 

[JanaDee]

I rarely disagree with Robo, however, Walt designed the parks for all the attractions to be visited. The new FP+ did what the old FP- did not; get the guests to all areas and levels of rides throughout the park. I was thrilled last month to see Country Bears packed, full of people who all seemed to enjoy it, but probably wouldn't have ridden it without the FP+. Think it will save some of those types of rides, and not let them go the way of Mr. Toad.

Even though they are trying their hardest to do so, Disney doesn't get to decide what I do or ride on *my* vacation. In all my trips, I have never seen Country Bears because it does not interest me in the slightest.

 

[mickeygirl14]

I'm not upset about standing in line for some attractions.

But, FP was originally DESIGNED to allow guests to experience
the MOST POPULAR attractions without the need to stand in incredibly long lines (sometimes 2 to 3 HOURS in length.)

Then, with this "new improved" (and arbitrary) FP+ system, guests can end up with FP's to rides that
simply would not NEED a FP without the artificial "leading"
of unknowing guests to choosing less popular rides to FP.

It borders on fraud and deception when Disney blatantly touts that guests
can "pre-arrange" a ride on the Teacups, as if this will suddenly transform
their vacation into a newly-magical experience.

I love Disney parks, but this new so-called FP+ is disappointing to the extreme.

Walt Disney, himself, always told his CM's to "UNDER-promise, then OVER-deliver."

This arbitrary counter-productive "FP+" system, in many cases, does the opposite.

Pathetic and sad.

Exactly...I'm trying to be open-minded for our June trip, but I'm getting more and more anxiety about this upcoming trip that I like. It could be great, but I'm reading a lot of bad trip experiences on here due to FP+ and it's squashed my thoughts of APs for this year. The wait times are ugly - and for rides that shouldn't have wait times like that. I LOVE PotC, but can you honestly tell me that ride wouldn't disappoint someone riding it for the first time that had waited over 30 minutes? Might be looking into US and IOA for our trip in October. I feel like FP+ has taken a lot of the magic out our Disney days because of overplanning and scheduling.

 

[2Tiggies]

Yeh, and I'm really going to need or get a FP for Country Bear Jamboree or the Hall of Presidents! What a waste.

I haven't noticed reports of waits for shows being impacted but if they go the same way as the standby lines, the scary thing is, you just might need that CBJ FP+

Mickeygirl, we are there late June and into July and I have the same concerns as you. I have too much invested in this trip for it not to be great so we are going to make it an awesome one, one way or another but I can't deny that it's put a serious dent into the anticipation of this vacation