Disney World is BROKEN!

[mikedoyleblogger]

This is a huge issue, IMO. It's pretty sad that DCA has more attractions in its 1 park than epcot/DHS combined...

It's pretty clear that TDA's focus is on attractions and that TDO's is definitely not.

I'm the last person to make apologies for TDO given how "meh" my experience at WDW was last May, but DCA's monies were committed prior to the Great Recession and that park's overhaul were already under way. It's possible WDW might be a little more ride-centric if the economy hadn't tanked. At the very least, money might have been there to update and refurbish a lot more in the east coast parks. I don't think TDO made a decision one day to stop investing in rides. I think they got caught up short (like the rest of us!) And I think Fastpass+ is the strategy they've come up with to help manage demand and buy them some time across all four east coast parks until new lands in DAK and DHS finally coalesce.

 

[Just_Trish]

I've been to DW over 10 times in my 40+ years and the experience just gets worse each year. I really wanted to believe that each bad visit was just an anomaly...maybe bad luck, or the wrong time of year, but I've learned that it doesn't really matter when you go, the Disney Magic is long gone.

Hmmm. I'm coming up on my 20th trip and we've never, ever had a "bad visit".

Oh well. Guess it's all how you look at things...

 

[BigAlsGal]

I remember disney world with no fastpass. We stood in line. Somehow we still loved it. We still wanted to go back. Everybody has gotten soft. I will continue going to disney. No other theme park makes me feel the way disney does. Nothing will keep me away. Even if we went back to the old days of waiting and NO fastpass I would still go. Love it so much!!

 

[Angel Ariel]

I just wish WDW would put more effort into building. Carsland and NFL were begun at around the same time - early 2010 (actual construction). Carsland has been fully complete and open since June 2012, and in January 2014 we're still waiting for the Mine Train...these are the kinds of things that make it feel like TDA is putting more effort into accomplishing their plans.

I am looking forward to potential Lucasland expansions, hopefully at DHS. I certainly understand the criticism about timetables for expansion and how slow constructions seems to go at WDW; however, I still love being at WDW as much now as ever before and am looking forward to many more magical vacations in the future

I am looking forward to these as well! I really hope that MM+ has not put these plans on the backburner as it has rumored to have!

 

[Angel Ariel]

I'm the last person to make apologies for TDO given how "meh" my experience at WDW was last May, but DCA's monies were committed prior to the Great Recession and that park's overhaul were already under way.

The monies may have been committed, but construction did not start until after the recession began. Disney announced the revitalization in December 2007 (which according to wikipedia is when the recession began, with a steep downward turn in Sept 2008). The only 2 things that happened between 2008 and 2010 were that TSMM was built and the Fun Wheel rethemed.

Carsland construction wasn't begun until early 2010 - at the about the same time that NFL construction began.

It's possible WDW might be a little more ride-centric if the economy hadn't tanked. At the very least, money might have been there to update and refurbish a lot more in the east coast parks. I don't think TDO made a decision one day to stop investing in rides. I think they got caught up short (like the rest of us!) And I think Fastpass+ is the strategy they've come up with to help manage demand and buy them some time across all four east coast parks until new lands in DAK and DHS finally coalesce.

I could buy this, except for the fact that - like I said in the post above - Carsland and NFL construction were begun at the same time. Carsland has been fully open since June 2012. We're still waiting for all of NFL to open.

I'm not saying they made the decision one day to stop investing in rides...I just don't think they see adding attractions as important to them. WDW/TDO is very clearly more focused on the first time, once in a lifetime visitor. That visitor doesn't care what new attractions will be there in a few years. DLR/TDA's audience is MUCH more local. They come to the parks more often, and need new attractions to continue to entice them back.

I'm not saying that's wrong...I just don't think WDW/TDO is nearly as focused on us, the repeat guests - who are the ones who would be most interested in new rides - as DLR/TDA is.

 

[Yellowstonetim]

Hmmm. I'm coming up on my 20th trip and we've never, ever had a "bad visit".

Oh well. Guess it's all how you look at things...

Not 20 for me yet, more like 12 to14, but I agree 100%!

I remember disney world with no fastpass. We stood in line. Somehow we still loved it. We still wanted to go back. Everybody has gotten soft. I will continue going to disney. No other theme park makes me feel the way disney does. Nothing will keep me away. Even if we went back to the old days of waiting and NO fastpass I would still go. Love it so much!!

Yep, they were pretty long lines and it was pretty crowded but we all had fun. Memory is so unreliable. I think so many remember Disney far better than it was simply because they remember the good and forgot the bad because there was nothing to compare it with at the time, it was all good.

It was all good, lines and crowd and prices, oh my!

 

[Mad Hattered]

Well, if visits count in the big of scheme of things, then I have been nearly 50 times. WDW is NOT what is used to be...on many many levels. That should help with the bell curve.

 

[btk2333]

Well, if visits count in the big of scheme of things, then I have been nearly 50 times. WDW is NOT what is used to be...on many many levels. That should help with the bell curve.

I've been between 30 and 35 times, as I've said before while there are rides I miss, there's no other time I'd rather be at WDW.

 

[Mad Hattered]

I've been between 30 and 35 times, as I've said before while there are rides I miss, there's no other time I'd rather be at WDW.

I LOVE rides more than the average, Joe. My wife and I travel the country to visit parks of all sorts. We'v been married for 10 years now and 30 of my visits to Disney have been with her. We obviously love Disney and have for quite some time. Do you think we went to Disney just for the RIDES? They are way down on the scale when it comes to what we prefer. Hell, look at my ticker. I am going there not just because of FP+ (it has a lot to do with it, though) but because we still get a tiny bit of magic out of it.

There are many many many things that have changed at WDW in just the 10 years we've visited together. I'm not talking about chipped paint on a handrail either...but some of the restrooms? I could make a list but what is the point? The big ones are customer service and getting a quality product for the expense.

I hope they listen to people, I really do. Perhaps they will just keep herding sheeples through the turnstile and live on their laurels for the rest of eternity. And because of that, I am sure they won't miss the money we've spent there. We will not step foot in WDW again until a year after Blue Pocahontas Land has been opened. And that has nothing to do with FP+, but because although they may not be "broken" doesn't mean they aren't seriously "fractured".

So, yeah....as a Disney fan....it pisses me off!!

 

[Bullseye]

We will not step foot in WDW again until a year after Blue Pocahontas Land has been opened.

Well if I spot that big hat and orange hair walking around in the parks over the next few years I'm going to call you out on that!

 

[Mad Hattered]

Well if I spot that big hat and orange hair walking around in the parks over the next few years I'm going to call you out on that!

Please do. But I really do have one of those hats but have never worn it in the parks. I did buy it there, though. It makes an awesome Mad Zombie at Halloween.

 

[poochie]

When I go to Disney I'm just happy to be at Disney. Crowds and lines don't bother me and I like being able to plan my ADRS. I prefer being a rope dropper, but I've arrived at the parks much later than Rope Drop and still had an excellent time. I went over Spring Break last year and it was a blast. I didn't feel it was too crowded at all the and the weather was perfect. Disney is a company and they have to make money. If it's legal to jam-pack people in their parks, than I expect them to and want them to. I'd rather they stay in business and deal with long lines than not have any Disney! Disney has its flaws but at its heart it's still Disney. They're building Avatarland and the Mine Train, and the Imagineers are always working on new things. I'll be going to Disney until the day I die and that's a fact.
But hey, whatever floats your boat.

Amen to that!!!!!

 

[poochie]

I remember disney world with no fastpass. We stood in line. Somehow we still loved it. We still wanted to go back. Everybody has gotten soft. I will continue going to disney. No other theme park makes me feel the way disney does. Nothing will keep me away. Even if we went back to the old days of waiting and NO fastpass I would still go. Love it so much!!

I too remember the days before FP. I feel that the FP made the lines slower. What ever happened to just waiting your turn???

 

[Dis703]

Even in the "slow" months ( I just got back yesterday), the parks are so crowded you are forced into full Disney combat mode to make sure you have a " fun" time at the park. You all know what that is... Get there at rope drop, get your fast passes, plan your route, make ur adrs months in advance, eat early, ride while others are watching parades. It's INSANITY! But not doing all that is even more insane because you'll be stuck in lines all day and maybe even miss riding certain attractions all together if you don't follow THE plan.

We are about to take our third trip this past year and we have yet to go "full combat mode" and we have enjoyed our trips immensely. Yes we skipped a few things when lines were too long but it really wasn't a big deal. We did all the really important rides for us and The magic is still there.

 

[mom2rtk]

We are about to take our third trip this past year and we have yet to go "full combat mode" and we have enjoyed our trips immensely. Yes we skipped a few things when lines were too long but it really wasn't a big deal. We did all the really important rides for us and The magic is still there.

Even I would forego "full combat mode" if I was able to go 3 times a year.

I don't say that to be snarky. But if you can come back in a few months to do what you missed, it makes a difference in your approach.

 

[cabanafrau]

Even I would forego "full combat mode" if I was able to go 3 times a year.

I don't say that to be snarky. But if you can come back in a few months to do what you missed, it makes a difference in your approach.

Absolutely spot on.

 

[shalom]

Carsland and NFL were begun at around the same time - early 2010 (actual construction). Carsland has been fully complete and open since June 2012, and in January 2014 we're still waiting for the Mine Train...these are the kinds of things that make it feel like TDA is putting more effort into accomplishing their plans.

I confess I do not follow DCA very closely. Did Carsland go through the big redesign after it had been announced that NFL did? The Mine Train was not part of the original plan, and is a much more complicated sort of thing than what they had in mind, both of which help explain that delay.

Although I've long suspected that one of the reasons Disney delays on a lot of WDW stuff is that they are trying to keep a fairly consistent number of people who work on that sort of thing, so the size of that department doesn't sky rocket during big projects and then drop down again when nothing big is going on. They likely have a larger pool of local contractors in LA than they do in Orlando as well, since the LA metro area is at least five times larger.

 

[Dis703]

Even I would forego "full combat mode" if I was able to go 3 times a year.

I don't say that to be snarky. But if you can come back in a few months to do what you missed, it makes a difference in your approach.

Okay well there weren't three trips planned when we did our first, and only I did all three while others in our party only did the first, and some are doing two and we still all enjoyed it without combat mode and without knowing if when we were returning. We also fully enjoyed the prior trips years apart and never once in my life have I had to go combat mode. We aren't rope drop people either but we always have a blast.

OP indicated going 10+ times in 40+ years while I've been less than 10 in just under 40 years and still never had to do what was said was necessary for a fun trip.

 

[lifesgr8]

I have not enjoyed the extra work and planning it has taken to get both ADRs and FP+ that's for sure. And MDE is a giant pain with it constantly screwing up, showing ghost FP+ and the like so that is extremely annoying.

We just got home.... I have to say the MDE app was wonderful. We used it more than any other app. When the FastPass lines were longer then the standby lines we would save our fast pass and change it for later. We actually didn't need to use our fast pass a lot because those lines were longer than the standby lines. But using the app made it easy to move things around and to get information about the park and all kinds of things I was really impressed with the app. Yes I had to reset it from time to time but the magic bands, app, fast pass +, all worked great!!!

 

[Angel Ariel]

I confess I do not follow DCA very closely. Did Carsland go through the big redesign after it had been announced that NFL did? The Mine Train was not part of the original plan, and is a much more complicated sort of thing than what they had in mind, both of which help explain that delay.

I don't believe Carsland was redesigned at all after construction began in 2010.

Even with NFL's redesign, annoucements from that time that do include the Mine Train stated that much of NFL would open in 2012, the rest in 2013. At this point it's going to be appx halfway through 2014 before the Mine Train is completed...so the redesign hasn't been the only delay wrt the Mine Train.