Disney: Too crowded and too much money

[LadyLion4life]

@kandb I agree that they need to add more rides, enough shops & eateries already. We still love WDW, but the crowd issue is what bothers us the most. I've stated this before in other threads & have gotten pummeled for it, but I'll say it again. The crowded conditions in WDW are flat out dangerous. Yes, I realize that they will cut off entry when they reach "maximum capacity" so please, nobody use that as an argument here. When a person literally cannot walk due to people being sardined in shoulder to shoulder - oh! and that's WITHOUT being at "maximum capacity," it's a dangerous situation.

Totally agree. Less shops and restaurants, more rides. I don't go on vacation to shop or eat. Crowds aren't an issue for me.

 

[LadyLion4life]

Totally agree. Disney wants high crowds AND high prices.

Yep and the various "extra" events like dessert parties, etc. increase their profits. Heck, if my husband and I go in May 2018, we're doing the FEA Dessert Party. Same with EMM, etc. I'll pay more to do what I want. Disney knows this. Higher crowds and higher prices more =more profits . We're not annual visitors or anything like that. 2003 and 2007 as a family off site. We just went in 2016 as a family then again in 2017 as a couple on site. It's an expensive vacation.

We've never been there at the crazy crowded holiday times. I would love to go at Christmas time but not enough to deal with the crowds.

 

[LadyLion4life]

I think we get good value for the price we pay to visit Disney World for our vacations. Of course we don't feel a need to stay in a Deluxe Resort, we don't feel a need to eat at character meals and signature restaurants, and we don't feel a need to ride every ride, and we do NOT stand in long lines to ride rides. We don't stress out about it. We have a blast and the crowds don't bother us.

To be honest, I have a friend who alternates their annual family vacations between taking a Cruise out of NY to the Bahamas and renting a house in Myrtle Beach. Based on what she tells me, they actually spend a lot more on those vacations that we do on our Disney vacations.

I spend a whole lot less on our annual vacations to OC, NJ for a family of 6 than I do for 2 people (my husband and I) in WDW. So there's that.

 

[KayKayJS]

I’m a local and I agree with you.

We’ve had to change our expectations before we enter the park in order to not be disappointed.

Disney is no longer relaxing to us, even Disneyland is too busy for me to enjoy as much as I used to. Is it magical still? Absolutely. But not the way it used to be. I firmly believe Disney’s best vacation products right now are the Cruise Line and Aulani. We spend more of our money there. I realize we are lucky to be able to do that and lucky to be locals and spend a lot less to visit the parks.

If we did not live here, WDW would be a once every 3-4 years trip.

ETA: We do a lot of the upcharge parties and products , in order to avoid the crowds and try to improve our experience.

 

[kathy884]

My daughters and I try to do a weekend in NYC every December but this year we can't because none of us can afford it. So we'll skip it this year and plan for next year.

This might not be what you would be interested in or something that would work for you if you are tied to a school schedule, want to go pre Christmas, but I feel like I stumbled on a great way to see NYC decked out for the holidays at a very affordable price and thought I'd pass that on, just in case this would be of interest. DS has always wanted to see NYC decked out for Christmas, and DH, DS, and I all love NYC Broadway shows. Anyway, a hotel we often stay in is the Hilton Garden Inn Times Square, the one on 8th street right in the theatre district (It has double queen beds, is a short walk to many different theatres, is clean comfortable, etc.). It seems, though, like everyone and his brother wants to go to NYC for Christmas shopping and for weekends in December and the hotel is running over $500 a night and sold out for those (December before Christmas is one of the most expensive times of the year for NYC hotels). And then for the New Year's Eve weekend Dec. 29th through Jan. 1st, rates are over $750 a night (NYC is extremely popular for New Year's Eve). We though this year are visiting relatives in New Jersey Dec. 29th - Jan. 1st, and booked a Jan. 1 - Jan. 3 stay at this same hotel, and the refundable rate for canceling up to 48 hours in advance was just $119 a night, so we even for a base price per night of $127 splurged for what they call a deluxe room (higher floor with a city view). It's a Monday to Wednesday. Some Christmas things start coming down pretty soon -- Bryant Park holiday markets are only open till Jan. 2nd, but the Rockefeller Tree and store fronts with the holiday windows should be up for our stay, etc. It's wild how much NYC hotel prices can fluctuate.

 

[vacationer1954]

DVC makes all the difference for us. DVC helps out in many ways. Of course, it brings our deluxe, on-site hotel bill down to about $180/night, and lets us buy TIW, which cuts our fine dining bill down a good amount.

DVC also lets us buy Gold Passes. We won't visit WDW on a regular ticket anymore. We will only visit if we can string together three separate vacations within a 12 month period so we can buy annual passes and get our per-vacation admission down to $200. (Though to be honest, if we had to buy a regular annual pass that would only bump that up to $250 per vacation, so while DVC helps it isn't required to get that three trips in one year advantage.)

However, the most important advantage we get from DVC is that we know we're going to be back in a few months or a couple of years. That's very important because it means that if we only get to visit three or four attractions in a day that's okay. "We'll be back." It really takes the stress off to view WDW as our "vacation home" instead of a "once in a lifetime" destination, or even a once every five years destination.

 

[DVCcurious]

I agree with OP. I’m not saying I expect it to be “not crowded”. Walt Disney World is awesome so it’s obvious a lot of people want to go.

However my family has thrown in the towel. We went 2010, 2011, twice in 2013, twice in 2014, twice in 2015, and 2016. We haven’t been since April 2016 and won’t be back until the next recession. When there’s a recession the crowds will drop quite a bit.

Based on history I expect we’ll be back very soon. Definitely before 2020.

 

[kandb]

My main complaint with WDW is the price of the tickets to get into the parks. I know multi-day tickets are cheaper but if you get a 4 day pass, you are still paying around $80 a day and for that amount of money, you should be able to see numerous rides and not have to wait and hour or two to get onto a ride. I can't believe people pay this amount of money for tickets around the holidays and go into mobbed parks and only get to go on a few rides unless they want to wait hours waiting in line. This week someone posted the IASW had a 60 minute wait, so you could imagine the waits on the other rides. Paying that amount of money to ride a few rides and wait on line all day is just insane IMO.

 

[kandb]

I agree with OP. I’m not saying I expect it to be “not crowded”. Walt Disney World is awesome so it’s obvious a lot of people want to go.

However my family has thrown in the towel. We went 2010, 2011, twice in 2013, twice in 2014, twice in 2015, and 2016. We haven’t been since April 2016 and won’t be back until the next recession. When there’s a recession the crowds will drop quite a bit.

Based on history I expect we’ll be back very soon. Definitely before 2020.

Wow, you think there will be a recession within the next few years? That's interesting, but I don't know with the stock market going up so much and the unemployment the lowest it's been in years, but who knows. If there is a recession and the deals and low crowds come out, we will return too but for now, will pick somewhere else to vacation.

 

[Shanti]

We all know that Disney is magical and is like no other park(s) in the country and that is why it has the popularity that it has. I wonder sometimes how it's popularity stays when a vacation at WDW is both expensive and often very stressful. We go yearly, staying on property usually in a deluxe resort. We do like our vacations but the parks have gotten more crowded and it has gotten more stressful to see the rides you want to see. Who wants to wait for hours to see a ride? A good friend just got back and had fp's for FOP and she said the wait for fp was over 3 hours because the ride was down all day, so they could not experience it. When the parks are packed, people are still paying a lot of money to be there and many times, the wait times are so long, the few minute ride is not worth the wait. Disney needs to add a lot more rides then just a few in each park that they have been adding. I feel like they just do the minimum because people are still spending thousands to be there. Anyone feel that Disney is doing a lot less than they should because they are still so popular and people are still visiting even though they are having really long waits/very high prices etc? My point is really, if the crowds started going down due to the high prices and lesser quality of the parks, would Disney do more to get customers to visit?

Disney is very profit-minded now (yes, even more so than in the past- there is a difference), and part of their profit comes from saving money on what they don't do, such as build a lot more rides, a 5th gate, etc.

So yes, it annoys me, too, that they could do more, but choose not to. That they cut back on hours at the parks & the resort pools. And that even with cutbacks, the prices climb higher.

Nevertheless, we still have a great time on our trips. If we didn’t, I wouldn't go. Once you've learned how to use rope drop & FP to your advantage (& EMH, if you stay onsite), you can get a lot done without long waits. Any new, mega-popular ride like FOP is going to have some extreme waits, but that isn't the norm.

Crowds are only terrible at certain times of year. A lot of people are complaining about fall crowds right now, so if that's something you really want to avoid, I recommend visiting at a different time of year, like midwinter, late spring, or summer.

You might also want to try Disneyland in California for a change of pace. You can get a ton of rides in there using MaxPass. And they have tons of great rides & two parks close together. It's easier to tour there than at WDW.

 

[Disneylover99]

My main complaint with WDW is the price of the tickets to get into the parks. I know multi-day tickets are cheaper but if you get a 4 day pass, you are still paying around $80 a day and for that amount of money, you should be able to see numerous rides and not have to wait and hour or two to get onto a ride. I can't believe people pay this amount of money for tickets around the holidays and go into mobbed parks and only get to go on a few rides unless they want to wait hours waiting in line. This week someone posted the IASW had a 60 minute wait, so you could imagine the waits on the other rides. Paying that amount of money to ride a few rides and wait on line all day is just insane IMO.

There are always going to be people who wait in long lines no matter what. It's just the way it is. There will always be people streaming in late morning/early afternoon over a holiday just to ride rides and are shocked to find crowds. This is what I don't understand. It's crowded everywhere.

There are plenty of threads about making the most of your DW vacation over Christmas. I would imagine the same would apply over Thanksgiving week. Make your 3 fp's for later in the morning and get to the parks super early. Do as many rides as you can in the first few hours. Eat counter service lunch early. Try to make 4th, 5th, 6th fp's. It is possible. Just keep hitting refresh. Do some shows or tour the resorts or head back to your resort for a few hours if you need a break. Go back to the parks for fireworks later.

 

[Alesia]

My main complaint with WDW is the price of the tickets to get into the parks. I know multi-day tickets are cheaper but if you get a 4 day pass, you are still paying around $80 a day and for that amount of money, you should be able to see numerous rides and not have to wait and hour or two to get onto a ride. I can't believe people pay this amount of money for tickets around the holidays and go into mobbed parks and only get to go on a few rides unless they want to wait hours waiting in line. This week someone posted the IASW had a 60 minute wait, so you could imagine the waits on the other rides. Paying that amount of money to ride a few rides and wait on line all day is just insane IMO.

You don't have to wait in long lines. The last time I waited an hour for a ride was in 1998. Since fastpass was introduced, I rarely wait more than 20 minutes for anything, and only once did I have to wait for 40 minutes. It just takes a little bit of planning.

 

[KenHutch]

Can it be a lot more stressful than the early 2000's (2006 for us) yes but that is my job. I consult with the girls a year in advance for every hotel. Then restaurants, they know they can make changes with me up to 181 days. I know what rides they like (the goddaughter age 7 had informed me that a 3 hour wait for FoP is acceptable), so I schedule the fastpasses. Being an overly anal IT professional I compiled a list for actual crowd days for the last 15 years so I know the average crowd for any park on any given day. I then schedule park days around this. My job is to make them happy and give them a stress free vacation. And to be honest I treat a vacation plan like one of my IT projects. I sort of like the planning.

 

[klmall]

WDW has never been a relaxing vacation for me; maybe for DH who doesn't ride anything but even in 1979 on my first trip it was go-go-go. But that's also true for almost anywhere else we go nowadays. I don't mind that at all; I enjoy the multitude of choices at Disney and I like the whole experience of attractions of varying types, the background music, the theming etc. but I find it harder to enjoy it all now for other reasons.

We go only every 2 to 3 years usually for less than a week but find the park hours often shortened due to "special $$$ events" like the parties and $ ticket only extra AM and PM hours. These events even cut our access to restaurants in those parks. In 2014 I absolutely could not get an evening BOG ADR because the parties limited us to three nights out of the 7 we were at Disney. No wonder ADRs were impossible. The parties meant that restaurants closed earlier and everyone was competing for a shrinking pool of reservations!

I still love Disney; find ways to save on tickets and rooms and try to get the most out of a trip but it is so much work to do all that. I'm a planner but I hate to work hard planning and still feel like the experience is never going to be quite as good as it was on our first 2 or 3 trips in the 90s.

I have found enjoyment going solo; seems so much less stressful to just slip into a line and to ride things on a whim. But it's still expensive and still difficult to choose the best time of year to go. The good economy has made almost every single day at Disney so busy and unpredictable.

We are tentatively planning a late 2018 trip (either the whole family off-site or just me, solo). And we'd like to take friends who have never been sometime in 2018 or 19 but somehow I know going in that it's all changing and won't be what I would love it to be.

 

[mco65]

The first time we went was ~2003 when my oldest son was around 3 years old. We have gone back every year since and many times more than once a year.
I do think the crowds have steadily gotten worse every year but with the advent of FP and simply knowing what you want to ride and when the best time is.. the crowds haven't effected our vacation enjoyment much if at all.

Now that the kids are older and can ride all by themselves.. i get to sit out of some rides/lines and relax... i don't have to ride Space Mountain for the upteenth time... especially if we already rode it at rope drop.. Because we have been so many times and have ridden the majority of the rides 100s of times, we don't feel pressured into HAVING to ride or see anything... I (maybe not the kids and wife) am at a point now where WDW is simply much more than the rides.. much much more. just going to dinner at Park Fare or relaxing on the train around MK with my kids and wife is worth it to me... i don't need much else... the rides are kind of a bonus!

With that said, i don't think we are going in 2018. My wife and kids are going on a cruise in Europe to visit Greece (I think).... so the budget will not allow us a WDW trip in 2018 but you can be certain we will be back in early 2019!

 

[kandb]

The first time we went was ~2003 when my oldest son was around 3 years old. We have gone back every year since and many times more than once a year.
I do think the crowds have steadily gotten worse every year but with the advent of FP and simply knowing what you want to ride and when the best time is.. the crowds haven't effected our vacation enjoyment much if at all.

Now that the kids are older and can ride all by themselves.. i get to sit out of some rides/lines and relax... i don't have to ride Space Mountain for the upteenth time... especially if we already rode it at rope drop.. Because we have been so many times and have ridden the majority of the rides 100s of times, we don't feel pressured into HAVING to ride or see anything... I (maybe not the kids and wife) am at a point now where WDW is simply much more than the rides.. much much more. just going to dinner at Park Fare or relaxing on the train around MK with my kids and wife is worth it to me... i don't need much else... the rides are kind of a bonus!

With that said, i don't think we are going in 2018. My wife and kids are going on a cruise in Europe to visit Greece (I think).... so the budget will not allow us a WDW trip in 2018 but you can be certain we will be back in early 2019!

I know what you mean but the price of the tickets are so high. One day during our vacation, we went to a park, it was really hot, we only went on a few rides and left and then I thought that with the high price of tickets, we spent around $30 to ride a few rides, which is insane. I know people say they enjoy walking around some of the parks but after I spend almost $80 to be in a park for a day, I can't see the value in just walking around and eating something.

 

[vacationer1954]

I think if everyone felt the same way Disney would be in trouble, but there are so many people for whom three or four rides and four or five other attractions, spread over 9am-9pm, is enough to justify the cost.

 

[ArwenMarie]

My friend just took her kid for the first time last summer, so she had no memory of anything in the past.....

Anyway, she did a split stay with Universal and WDW and she hands down enjoyed Universal more. She said she felt so rushed all the time trying to make her FPs and ADRs. She had read up and did all the tricks...PPO breakfasts, etc. She did Universal in the middle of the trip and said she just wanted to stay there and not even go back to WDW.

For me, we are basically down to the summer as when we can visit with the school calendar and the crowd calendar. I won't go during Xmas or Easter...BTDT, not doing it again. We used to go during Presidents Week and even that became unbearably crowded over the few years we did it. For us. Everyone has different crowd tolerance levels.

 

[mco65]

Summer is the only time we have never been. The heat has always been a concern but eventually i think we will bite the bullet and see what its like in early Aug... We been in Late May/early June and we have been in mid Sept.. both fairly hot times and the heat was never a concern... but early Aug is probably a different kind of heat...

 

[vacationer1954]

Yes, but if anyone who gets advice from DIS boards then goes to Orlando between May and September not fully and completely prepared for oppressive heat, then we haven't done a good job of providing people advice.