Disney should be ashamed!

[juliebug1997]

I've been following the thread since the first post. And I did indeed read all of your posts.. and that doesn't justify that ridiculous post of yours that I quoted.
Nothing you do in your job or on your vacation could justify it.
I don't need you looking for an example that "works for me"...

Read my post.. again. Yours was extreme, silly, unreasonable... let's use kind words. My post simply points that out.

There is no need for the child to be disappointed when it is certainly within Disney's capabilities to alleviate the current problem. THIS is what the OP was trying to point out (as were others). No one was saying a child should NEVER be disappointed or should always get what they want. Your comments made it sound like not only was this a wonderful idea to take this opportunity to teach a child how to properly be disappointed, but also if this didn't happen the child is now destined to be a failure in life.

Again.....

Please quote where I used any cuss words or insulted people's intelligence or claimed that they were something that they were not. Read through the other Frozen line related threads and my words have not changed. You accusing me of using mean words and then calling my opinion silly and unreasonable actually makes you the judgy person here. So, keep using your smilies.....

 

[MaryKatesMom]

But even A&E are accessible and are available if you take the choices:

1) get a Fastpass.
2) Be there early.
3) Resign yourself to waiting in line.

If you're not willing or able to do any of these things, then no, you probably won't see them. If you know the M&G is there, and you know it is the one thing your child wants to do, and you know that her trip will be ruined if she doesn't get to do it, then you're going to be booking a resort stay to get early Fastpass or you're going to be at rope drop with all the other crazy parents trying to get in line when they open, or you're going to bring snacks and games and wait in line with everyone else.

Yes, to get to see A & E you WILL have to make an extra effort.

1) You will book a more expensive resort stay to get 60 days
2) You will have to get your family up and out the door early
3) You will have to wait hours if the first two aren't feasible
4) If you have other children that have no interest in waiting, you then have to split your family up, something that is the exact opposite of a "family" vacation.

My point is that you shouldn't have to stress your family out to do the one thing your child wants to do.

If the OP feels Disney should be ashamed for making parents jump through those hoops they have the right to that opinion.

A WDW vacation shouldn't be about "sucking it up" as PP put it.

 

[SugarQuill]

It would be nice if DW added in more 'friends' so that the M & G hours could be extended or even moved to more than one park, but I don't think that they should be obligated to do so.

I think having the place in MK and then having them for breakfast at EP would be a nice addition. I feel like having them meet during the beginning there would make more sense than Belle in her yellow dress.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

But there is no tiering at MK. This is kind of an apples and oranges comparison, IMO.

Um, if kids don't learn disappointment and failure and struggle, then they'll never be prepared for anything except a desired outcome as they got everything that they wanted. They will get yelled at by a boss for not doing their work correctly. They will fail a test because they didn't study. Not making them do chores makes for a lazy, slob. Since when did telling a child "no" or making them suffer the consequences for poor choices start making someone a bad parent?

What?! I take my kids to WDW to learn about disappoint, failure and struggle?!
I can do that at home for free.

 

[juliebug1997]

Disagree. Those options are not always available to everyone. From what I've heard, its hard to even get a fp for this especially if your not booking 60 days out. So what is everyone supposed to do? Stay onsite and be online exactly at midnight 60 days out just for this and hope you get it?
Being there early- I just read someone else post earlier in this thread that even if you get there at rope drop, the wait is still long. You have to pay for a breakfast before park opening just to have a chance at being one of the first people in line.
Waiting in line for hours for a 3 min meet and greet with young kids after paying over $100 for each ticket is unacceptable. Disney can do better.

There were at least five threads about Disney opening up additional FP+ slots the other day, so this is actually not correct. There were even some available yesterday when I had to change my days around.

And Disney did do better as others have pointed out. There were so many people who would not even attempt the 5-6 hour line (or longer during the holidays) that there's no telling how many people actually wanted to get in that line but just couldn't fathom truly spending the whole day in line. Now, as others have pointed, they have pretty much doubled capacity since there are now two sets of friends. I'm sure that as soon as they have more friends, this M&G will be going well into the night.

Remember, these friends are guaranteed a certain amount of down time, they need to be able to stuff chocolate in their mouths, place with Sven and Olaf and sing songs. They cannot be expected to be there from 9 AM to 10 PM straight without breaks, etc, just to please the masses.

 

[juliebug1997]

What?! I take my kids to WDW to learn about disappoint, failure and struggle?!
I can do that at home for free.

I struggle at WDW with not being run over by people in strollers and ECVs and I am very aware of where I'm going. I'm also usually trying to keep my head in the clouds DH from trying to get run over because he's not paying attention to his surroundings.

 

[nighttowll]

They should put these meet and greets throughout the 4 parks all day to try to help with waits. This way it won't diminish the magic yet it can help with the long waits....and although technically, it is voluntary, how many parents are willing to tell their kids that they won't get to see the characters they had their heart set on?

Agreed. I think it would be neat to see them at more locations.

For instance, set up meet and greet at Blizzard Beach. They would fit the theme there. You could even do a cool little tie in about how Elsa created the whole place. Revamp the park.

They could also put them back at DTD and Epcot at least. I'm not sure if there is anywhere they really fit in AK or HS. But even adding a few more places would help.

I don't get the "it will ruin the magic argument". They are magical cartoon characters, pretty sure they can travel magically from one location to another within seconds. Most kids are old enough to know they are characters. Really little kids are too young to question them being in two parks at once. After all, you don't go instantaneously from one park to the next, so why couldn't they have come for a visit like you did. If the kids do question it, you could just say, "hey Tinker-belle loaned them some pixie dust to fly over and visit their friends here" or some other type of magical transportation story. Problem solved. Since when are characters not ever allowed to go anywhere else? Mickey gets to travel all over. Do multiple Mickeys ruin the magic? I've never heard anyone complain about that. So I think they could easily add more meet and greets if they wanted to and still preserve the magic.

But, I honestly don't think Disney cares. They are in it to make money. Supply and demand. Why spend more to pay CMs when you can keep demand high with what you've got? Why didn't they expand where you could eat with Cinderella for years despite the demand? Because they were making a fortune on guaranteed sold out meals 180 days out. If anything, I think we will see them get added to a meal or some other form of a paid way to guarantee you get to see them. People only put the money down for stuff like that to avoid a ridiculously long wait, so adding meet and greets and shortening the waits would actually be counterproductive to Disney and the bean counters.

Should Disney be ashamed? From an ethical standpoint, I'd hope they would care on some level that kids really want to see them. From a business standpoint, I don't think so. There are a number of things that Disney does that have always led me to feel they are a business first and care second. The individual CMs that is a different story, many genuinely care about the guests and try to go out of their way to help them. This is why Disney has such a good reputation, but in the end Disney is a business built on making money. They are going to make their big policies and decisions based on that, not warm fuzzy feelings.

 

[mmbl]

They should be ashamed of themselves for having guests wait 4-5 hours to meet Anna and Elsa at the MK (or Epcot previously). One day ticket prices are now over $100 per person and guests are expected to spend a good portion of their day waiting to meet some characters? Give me a break! Why in the world couldn't they have multiple Frozen meet and greets around the park? Every additional meet and greet in the park would significantly reduce the wait times. And don't give me any bull about how everyone is waiting in that 4 hour line "voluntarily"! The fact is, they shouldn't have to!

My daughter did the college program and was 'good friends' with several characters. She said that the characters are only in one place at a time (except restaurants) to keep the 'magic' so kids won't be seeing - even accidentally- more than one Mickey, Minnie, Whoever at the same time. They should have them at the restaurants so at least those who really want to see the characters can with less waiting.

 

[Anc96]

But there is no tiering at MK. This is kind of an apples and oranges comparison, IMO.

Um, if kids don't learn disappointment and failure and struggle, then they'll never be prepared for anything except a desired outcome as they got everything that they wanted. They will get yelled at by a boss for not doing their work correctly. They will fail a test because they didn't study. Not making them do chores makes for a lazy, slob. Since when did telling a child "no" or making them suffer the consequences for poor choices start making someone a bad parent?

I've been following the thread since the first post. And I did indeed read all of your posts.. and that doesn't justify that ridiculous post of yours that I quoted.
Nothing you do in your job or on your vacation could justify it.
I don't need you looking for an example that "works for me"...

Read my post.. again. Yours was extreme, silly, unreasonable... let's use kind words. My post simply points that out.

There is no need for the child to be disappointed when it is certainly within Disney's capabilities to alleviate the current problem. THIS is what the OP was trying to point out (as were others). No one was saying a child should NEVER be disappointed or should always get what they want. Your comments made it sound like not only was this a wonderful idea to take this opportunity to teach a child how to properly be disappointed, but also if this didn't happen the child is now destined to be a failure in life.

Again.....

Please quote where I used any cuss words or insulted people's intelligence or claimed that they were something that they were not. Read through the other Frozen line related threads and my words have not changed. You accusing me of using mean words and then calling my opinion silly and unreasonable actually makes you the judgy person here. So, keep using your smilies.....

Now please read your original comment that I quoted. Can you REALLY say that wasn't very extreme? If so, then there's nothing more to say on that.

And when I said "let's use kind words", I meant that for myself, I was not referring to you. I never said you used mean words or any profanity, or any of the other things you have listed there. I just said it was extreme and ridiculous.. which I stand by.
But I do think you were being "judgy" (is that a word?) by insinuating people are hurting their children by not disappointing them in this instance, which is clearly what that quoted post was saying.

Smilies are my way of both softening some statements, and showing disbelief. I used them for both those reasons in my posts. I appologize if they seemed too harsh to you.

... no smilies this time. Didn't even know how to end this! lol. (<---- not a smiley)

 

[auntiea]

Actually, many little kids are more afraid of people in costumes than the face characters. My friend who just took her little girl said that while she was excited about the idea of meeting the characters at breakfast, the reality of it terrified her, to the point where she would bawl and scream if they so much as LOOKED at her. Face characters don't seem to cause this problem in those situations.

On our recent trip to WDW my family and I were at Pooh characters meet and greet meal and there was one young kid (at least I think it was a him, I heard the kid more than saw) who kept crying and having small freak outs. As my sister pointed out the poor kid was use to a Pooh Bear he could hug not a Pooh Bear who could hug him. The size difference alone could scare a young kid...never mind not being about to look the person in eye.

 

[alicat8]

I think people who are willing to wait that long should be more ashamed. I'm all about giving your kids a magical vacation, but sometimes you just gotta say "tough luck"!

 

[sunshine1]

They really can't have the characters meet in more then one place in a park. It takes away the magic of the character. And the only way I see of making it shorter is to make the visit shorter, which is not a good idea. I agree that we would not wait that long, and am amazed at people even entering a line to meet characters when the wait is more then 20 minutes.

I cant wait for anything either. Buzz ride was 25 minute wait and i couldnt bring myself to wait that long.

 

[JeremyGNJ]

this thread is too much!!!!

 

[vicki_c]

I only read page 1 and the last page of the thread, so no idea what all has been said, but we heard a guest complaining at Guest Services last week about the wait for A&E (this was at Epcot before they moved to MK) and the cast member was basically telling him "sometimes you have to make choices" or something similar. And I agree. In a year or so, they won't be as popular and if you have to see them now, that's your choice to give up riding other things while you wait in line. I think having a FP for them is a vast improvement but other than that, not sure what else Disney should do. I don't know that they will have the staying power long term to add them to a character meal.

 

[Disney Queenie]

Don't they use multiple rooms with a different Mickey in each room to speed up the wait? Why couldn't they do with these characters? Even if it means moving a less popular princess elsewhere in the park? Or even Mickey for that matter?

Seems like a simple enough fix to me? or am I missing something

 

[morethananyonex]

I only read page 1 and the last page of the thread, so no idea what all has been said, but we heard a guest complaining at Guest Services last week about the wait for A&E (this was at Epcot before they moved to MK) and the cast member was basically telling him "sometimes you have to make choices" or something similar. And I agree. In a year or so, they won't be as popular and if you have to see them now, that's your choice to give up riding other things while you wait in line. I think having a FP for them is a vast improvement but other than that, not sure what else Disney should do. I don't know that they will have the staying power long term to add them to a character meal.

I'm just impressed a CM said that instead of "we're so sorry sir, please take these 15 FP as an apology".

 

[morethananyonex]

Don't they use multiple rooms with a different Mickey in each room to speed up the wait? Why couldn't they do with these characters? Even if it means moving a less popular princess elsewhere in the park? Or even Mickey for that matter? Seems like a simple enough fix to me? or am I missing something

As has been said many, many times throughout these discussions (and this thread) that's exactly what they're doing. They have multiple Anna and Elsa and FP, and they STILL have crazy waits.

 

[Cyrano]

Timeout

After a 16 1/2 hour day I will deal with this tomorrow.