Disney has lost another family - do they care?

[Angel Ariel]

What makes AoA poor value to me is that I can get two rooms at Pop for cheaper than a family suite. I love the resort itself and had a good rate for a LM room for one night in October. I just wouldn't pay the crazy rate for a suite at a value resort. For me, it has nothing to do with ME and free transportation. I'm staying at Pop in a week for around $100 a night, and I will still get all those perks.

especially when the family suites at All Star Music are around $60/night cheaper than AoA.

 

[rteetz]

I pay about that/night for Shades of green, and have free transportation to Disney parks (their shuttle, plus walking to the Polynesian for the monorail), don't care about free parking as we don't rent a car, we have EMH access, and there are plenty of things to do at the resorts (not that it matters, because we spend our time in the parks, not at the hotel).

well shades of green, swan and dolphin and I believe there are one or two more have disney transportation and EMH abilities but other hotels don't have that luxury.

 

[dzndft]

Disney has lost another family - do they care?

As to the original question - Yes, I believe they do care.

That is why they try new things/systems/designs/fill in the blank. How can they improve without trying. Like any change - there are those that like it and those that don't. What may help some, may hinder others.

I also believe Disney listens to feedback - and time will tell whether this new system will pass or fail.

 

[ParkHoppers]

I would say with the new system, and the crowds from South America, park hopper purchases will most likely go down. It just doesn't make sense to pay the extra hopper money and not be able to ride the good rides...unless you care to stand in a one hour line or more.

We won't be buying annual passes, or hoppers for that matter, any longer.

Like others have already said book your 3 fastpass+ for MK in the afternoon or evening and just go to another park for rope drop and ride some headliners while the lines are low early. Good enough reason for me to keep getting parkhopper.

 

[Angel Ariel]

well shades of green, swan and dolphin and I believe there are one or two more have disney transportation and EMH abilities but other hotels don't have that luxury.

Shades of Green does not use Disney buses. They have their own. EMH I will grant you, but is less of an issue for us now that we have DD. It's more difficult to make morning EMH because of when she wakes, and if we're on our own (no grandparents), we can't do evening EMH because she needs to get to bed.

 

[rteetz]

Like others have already said book your 3 fastpass+ for MK in the afternoon or evening and just go to another park for rope drop and ride some headliners while the lines are low early. Good enough reason for me to keep getting parkhopper.

I agree

 

[rteetz]

Shades of Green does not use Disney buses. They have their own. EMH I will grant you, but is less of an issue for us now that we have DD. It's more difficult to make morning EMH because of when she wakes, and if we're on our own (no grandparents), we can't do evening EMH because she needs to get to bed.

I know shades of green doesn't use disney buses but there are also other hotels that have free disney buses and they aren't disney buses as well.

 

[littleorangebird]

DOES ANYONE REALIZE THAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO USE FASTPASS+? IF YOU REALLY DON'T LIKE THE SYSTEM DON'T USE IT!

 

[Angel Ariel]

I know shades of green doesn't use disney buses but there are also other hotels that have free disney buses and they aren't disney buses as well.

I see what you are saying now..it was not as clear when you were saying Shades of green and the other hotels had "Disney transportation"

I realize that not all offsite hotels have those luxuries, but I was responding to someone who was asking if you'd pay $130/night to not have a set list of "luxuries". I was just trying to point out that not all "offsite" hotels are lacking in those luxuries. Swan and Dolphin further prove that point with Disney transport and EMH access...the other hotels that have free transportation to Disney also prove that point.

 

[rteetz]

DOES ANYONE REALIZE THAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO USE FASTPASS+? IF YOU REALLY DON'T LIKE THE SYSTEM DON'T USE IT!

thats to easy

Now another argument will start on oh I don't want to wait an hour for a ride or what not.

 

[Angel Ariel]

DOES ANYONE REALIZE THAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO USE FASTPASS+? IF YOU REALLY DON'T LIKE THE SYSTEM DON'T USE IT!

No need to yell

It's true you don't "have" to use FP+ if you don't want to - as long as you're OK with waiting in whatever SB lines await you. If you are going to Disney during a peak period and don't want to wait an hour+ for the headliners, your only two options are rope drop (not an option for everyone, as many pro-FP+ people have pointed out) and using FP+.

 

[rteetz]

I see what you are saying now..it was not as clear when you were saying Shades of green and the other hotels had "Disney transportation" I realize that not all offsite hotels have those luxuries, but I was responding to someone who was asking if you'd pay $130/night to not have a set list of "luxuries". I was just trying to point out that not all "offsite" hotels are lacking in those luxuries. Swan and Dolphin further prove that point with Disney transport and EMH access...the other hotels that have free transportation to Disney also prove that point.

only problem is a lot of those hotels aren't as close as disney hotels of course and they don't have as many buses so it could take longer to get to the place you are going. I think the only reason the swan and dolphin have all the disney stuff they do is because of they used to be owned by disney.

 

[rteetz]

No need to yell It's true you don't "have" to use FP+ if you don't want to - as long as you're OK with waiting in whatever SB lines await you. If you are going to Disney during a peak period and don't want to wait an hour+ for the headliners, your only two options are rope drop (not an option for everyone, as many pro-FP+ people have pointed out) and using FP+.

I went in July of 2012 peak time. It was my family of five for a week we stayed at the dolphin and we used one FP for our entire trip and it was splash mountain. Longest we waited was 55 minutes for soarin because we had never been on it before. Everything else besides TSMM was under 40 minutes. So it is possible even in peak times to get good standby lines.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I went in July of 2012 peak time. It was my family of five for a week we stayed at the dolphin and we used one FP for our entire trip and it was splash mountain. Longest we waited was 55 minutes for soarin because we had never been on it before. Everything else besides TSMM was under 40 minutes. So it is possible even in peak times to get good standby lines.

There's all kinds of anecdotal evidence in both directions. On our spring break trip last year, ToT and RnRC were well over an hour wait. Heck, we saw Jungle Cruise at a 75 min wait on a Monday on our October trip (no, not Columbus day weekend).probably around noon or so?

I'm not saying it's not possible at peak times, but it is more of a roll of the dice. IMO, it's a lot more difficult to make the right call on what your crowd level/FP+ needs are going to be 60 days before you arrive than it is when you are right there in the park. (And yes, I know, there's been a lot of availability for changing on the fly so far...it will be interesting to see if that remains if/when offsite guests get access to prebooking).

 

[Angel Ariel]

only problem is a lot of those hotels aren't as close as disney hotels of course and they don't have as many buses so it could take longer to get to the place you are going. I think the only reason the swan and dolphin have all the disney stuff they do is because of they used to be owned by disney.

I'm not saying there aren't potential downsides. I'm pretty sure anyone who stays offsite knows what they are. I'm simply trying to say that staying offsite isn't this horrible, no-luxury-available option that the person I was originally responding to was making it seem.

While the Shades buses do very well in terms of speed, of course staying at a monorail resort or an Epcot resort would provide faster travel options...the time we'd potentially save isn't worth 4-5x the cost of Shades to our family, though. It's all subjective.

 

[jdonat]

I can tell you that over Christmas/New Years that I was shocked at (1) how few people had MBs on and (2) how many people were standing in line at AK to get their FP+ reservation. It was insane. I had always thought that the onsite guest was more represented, but I would say that maybe 20% of the people had MBs ... tops.



I'm with you there. Over the past 6-months it has become clear that Disney is just not into us anymore where "us" is a combination of offsite guests, AP holders, frequent visitors & Florida residents. Their focus is on the "once in a lifetime" onsite visitor with deep pockets.

We saw a lot more MB's last week when we were there. I think that they're being more accepted by the resort guests. There are certainly some basic advantages to them over RFID KTTW and passes.

Every marketing class/book/lecture talks about the cost of acquiring new customers vs the cost of keeping a loyal customer. Keeping a customer costs much less than acquiring a new one. I am hoping that WDW managment figures out that the AP/DVC member ( or some combination of the above) is worth much more long term than trying to snag, again and again, the 'once in a lifetime visit'. I wonder what MBA persuaded Disney that going after the 'once in a lifetime' visitor was worth going after more than retaining the long term, very loyal customers that they have because of the AP program, and the DVC member program. I know from reading many many posts on FP+ on disboards, that many folks are not happy with the 'extras' that resort guests, and soon AP holders will get under MDX. Well, we're spending 1700/yr in DVC assessments, and whatever a bunch of AP's cost. I expect some perks for my long term relationship with the Walt Disney Company. We'll see how it goes. I can use my DVC points other places than WDW.

 

[rteetz]

There's all kinds of anecdotal evidence in both directions. On our spring break trip last year, ToT and RnRC were well over an hour wait. Heck, we saw Jungle Cruise at a 75 min wait on a Monday on our October trip (no, not Columbus day weekend).probably around noon or so? I'm not saying it's not possible at peak times, but it is more of a roll of the dice. IMO, it's a lot more difficult to make the right call on what your crowd level/FP+ needs are going to be 60 days before you arrive than it is when you are right there in the park. (And yes, I know, there's been a lot of availability for changing on the fly so far...it will be interesting to see if that remains if/when offsite guests get access to prebooking).

I agree I think we just got lucky. We are planning to go again this July and I don't think I want to book our FP+ at 60 days put more like 1-2 weeks out. I do like the flexibility of this new system as if I want to change my FP to a different time I can before you couldn't do that you were stuck with the one you got. I'm excited to try this out we haven't yet and I think thats one problem with some people they won't try it and see how it works before they just call it quits.

 

[rteetz]

I'm not saying there aren't potential downsides. I'm pretty sure anyone who stays offsite knows what they are. I'm simply trying to say that staying offsite isn't this horrible, no-luxury-available option that the person I was originally responding to was making it seem. While the Shades buses do very well in terms of speed, of course staying at a monorail resort or an Epcot resort would provide faster travel options...the time we'd potentially save isn't worth 4-5x the cost of Shades to our family, though. It's all subjective.

I agree with you we stayed at the dolphin for the first time and it was our first off site and it wasn't terrible but I don't think I'd stay there again based on the experience we had but it wasn't terrible the room was about the same as a moderate.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I agree I think we just got lucky. We are planning to go again this July and I don't think I want to book our FP+ at 60 days put more like 1-2 weeks out. I do like the flexibility of this new system as if I want to change my FP to a different time I can before you couldn't do that you were stuck with the one you got. I'm excited to try this out we haven't yet and I think thats one problem with some people they won't try it and see how it works before they just call it quits.

Most people who are voicing concerns here aren't calling it quits without trying it. Even this thread was started by someone who is in Disney now, experiencing FP+, and that is what influenced his decision.

 

[rteetz]

Most people who are voicing concerns here aren't calling it quits without trying it. Even this thread was started by someone who is in Disney now, experiencing FP+, and that is what influenced his decision.

I know but I've seen people who aren't trying it call it quits as well because the pre planning is too much.