Help! I've lost my Disney Magic!

[101Pongo]

Hi everyone!

I need some help, I've lost that special feeling in my heart when I think about Disney. I'm wondering if this has happened to any of you and how you got it back.

I've waited a few months to write this to let feelings settle and see if I'd feel better about Disney over time, I don't.

So we went to WDW in April. The whole family, me, my wife and young daughter and both sets of grandparents. We had been at WDW twice before (and DLP once) and had fantastic experiences, even negative interactions were very well recovered by WDW. I expected the same this time, not everything was Disney's fault but they didn't recover any of their negative interactions well.

A lot of my favourite parts of Disney were tainted by one thing or another.

I didn't get to ride Haunted Mansion because a cast member forgot me (I skipped the stretching room with my daughter, they brought us through to a spot near the exit where they said another CM would take us to the loading area). The CM in the loading area told the rest of my family to get on the ride or leave and wouldn't send someone to get me. When a CM finally realized what happened, the rest of the family was coming off the ride and we had an ADR to get to outside the park so we didn't have time to ride again. They offered FPs that ended up in the garbage because we were leaving the park (we had told them that when they gave them to us).

My wife and I didn't get to ride Soarin'. We split the party up because my daughter can't ride. We had Fastpasses and the first group scanned their MagicBands and entered the FP queue (and yes they went in the FP queue, I walk them there). Somewhere (I never got this part straight) in the queue, a CM pulled them out of line and placed them in another line (I'm guessing the Standby queue). Two hours later they come out. The rest of our FP are expired, when I explained what happened the CM got defensive, denied they pulled the grandparents from the FP queue and accused us of trying to scam FP.

A CM on Pirates mocked me. The first part of the queue wasn't set up correctly and a section of rope was missing. Some despicable guests were jumping the queue at that spot. I mentioned it to the CM where the line splits before the bridge, after I moved on, he looked at my parents (I don't think he realized we were together) and said "What does that idiot expect me to do?" and rolled his eyes. Obviously, I was quite upset and didn't exactly enjoy the ride.

Some personal things happened on the trip as well. We missed our Expedition Everest FP and didn't get to ride because a family member forgot to pack diapers and we had to turn around and go back to the condo. Another family member had a meltdown at Epcot and we missed the Flower and Garden food kiosks (which was the part of the trip I was looking forward to the most). We missed the Star Wars fireworks because of other circumstances at HS. We got separated after Wishes on our last night and took over an hour to find everyone again, and then tempers flared.

Sorry to make this sound so whiny, I just wanted to get into what spoiled Disney for me.

I'm sure some of you have had bad experiences at WDW before, how did you make it feel better?

I seriously need some pixie dust because months later I still don't want to hear about WDW nor would I consider another vacation. This is from someone that is such a Disney fanatic that people tease me about going so often and talking about Disney constantly.

Help!

 

[Wood Nymph]

We got tired of Disney and took a three year break. Disney is stressful, especially with lots of family members. One way to get it back is to take a couples only trip. It is a lot less stressful.

 

[mnamna]

DF and I had some similar issues last trip. Little things that just piled up into frustration and eventually a loss of the magic. That was September 2015, and we are just now going back. It took us both awhile to get over things, even after guest services offered us two free two day tickets as compensation. We are hoping this trip is a better experience, but we are also wary.

 

[101Pongo]

Thanks for your responses.

We will definitely be taking a break from Disney for a while.

A couples only trip would be nice but vacationing is very difficult due to my wife & I's work schedules, we have trouble coordinating for 1 trip a year and we can't leave out the little one if we haven't gone anywhere together that year.

@mnamna We were very disappointed with the CMs this year and the lack of recovery. I'd say you're lucky they offered you some free tickets.

 

[disneydreamer781]

Hi everyone!

I need some help, I've lost that special feeling in my heart when I think about Disney. I'm wondering if this has happened to any of you and how you got it back.

I've waited a few months to write this to let feelings settle and see if I'd feel better about Disney over time, I don't.

So we went to WDW in April. The whole family, me, my wife and young daughter and both sets of grandparents. We had been at WDW twice before (and DLP once) and had fantastic experiences, even negative interactions were very well recovered by WDW. I expected the same this time, not everything was Disney's fault but they didn't recover any of their negative interactions well.

A lot of my favourite parts of Disney were tainted by one thing or another.

I didn't get to ride Haunted Mansion because a cast member forgot me (I skipped the stretching room with my daughter, they brought us through to a spot near the exit where they said another CM would take us to the loading area). The CM in the loading area told the rest of my family to get on the ride or leave and wouldn't send someone to get me. When a CM finally realized what happened, the rest of the family was coming off the ride and we had an ADR to get to outside the park so we didn't have time to ride again. They offered FPs that ended up in the garbage because we were leaving the park (we had told them that when they gave them to us).

My wife and I didn't get to ride Soarin'. We split the party up because my daughter can't ride. We had Fastpasses and the first group scanned their MagicBands and entered the FP queue (and yes they went in the FP queue, I walk them there). Somewhere (I never got this part straight) in the queue, a CM pulled them out of line and placed them in another line (I'm guessing the Standby queue). Two hours later they come out. The rest of our FP are expired, when I explained what happened the CM got defensive, denied they pulled the grandparents from the FP queue and accused us of trying to scam FP.

A CM on Pirates mocked me. The first part of the queue wasn't set up correctly and a section of rope was missing. Some despicable guests were jumping the queue at that spot. I mentioned it to the CM where the line splits before the bridge, after I moved on, he looked at my parents (I don't think he realized we were together) and said "What does that idiot expect me to do?" and rolled his eyes. Obviously, I was quite upset and didn't exactly enjoy the ride.

Some personal things happened on the trip as well. We missed our Expedition Everest FP and didn't get to ride because a family member forgot to pack diapers and we had to turn around and go back to the condo. Another family member had a meltdown at Epcot and we missed the Flower and Garden food kiosks (which was the part of the trip I was looking forward to the most). We missed the Star Wars fireworks because of other circumstances at HS. We got separated after Wishes on our last night and took over an hour to find everyone again, and then tempers flared.

Sorry to make this sound so whiny, I just wanted to get into what spoiled Disney for me.

I'm sure some of you have had bad experiences at WDW before, how did you make it feel better?

I seriously need some pixie dust because months later I still don't want to hear about WDW nor would I consider another vacation. This is from someone that is such a Disney fanatic that people tease me about going so often and talking about Disney constantly.

Help!

When CM act like this, always get names or ask for a manager. DH did this at the Haunted Mansion ride years ago. It's also a very stressful vacation. For me, I've found MK to be most stressful of the parks. It just doesn't handle crowds very well and with that it's the height of sensory overload. With all the noise, tired children, at times the heat, I found it quite painful. I actually found EPCOT and DHS to be a relaxing experiences this past December. A real pleasure! People were a lot more relaxed and just having a good time but when it came to going to MK, by our second day there, I actually brought along some ear plugs. Very useful at MK! Maybe it's just time to take a break for a while or just go in knowing that the experience is just not the same as it used to be and just try to chill a bit.

 

[Skywise]

I've only been going for 5 years but I can tell you the experience from just 5 years til now is drastically worse.

It's not horrible and it favors comparably to other theme parks but customer service has seemed to take a back seat to squeezing every dollar out of the customer.

It's no longer a running show or experience - it's just another theme park. Dare I say Universal's CMs seem to be enjoying their jobs more too...

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We've gone 30+ times and I could write an endless list of negative things that have happened (tropical storms, drilling into the back wall of our resort room at 3 am, CM's yelling at us, rude guests, etc.), but we have learned to roll with the punches and know not everything is going to go according to plan (TT went down every time we stood in line last trip - it became an inside family joke!). We have also discovered how best to tour for our family to keep energy high and stress low. Some of the best parts of our trips are the little things - great interactions with CM's, finding baby ducks in the water in EP, etc. If you aren't excited about going back, it's ok! Plenty of other places to visit and plenty of other ways to enjoy Disney!

Just for future reference, it actually sounds like your group that went to Soarin' was pulled out of the FP line and assigned a theater line (theater A, B or C). That is where the FP line and standby lines merge. There is a physical wall separating the FP line and Standby line so there is no way a CM would pull them out of FP, walk them around that wall and put the in standby. It sounds like there was a delay loading from the theater line. The next time you go, if your child is still too young to ride, I highly suggest utilizing Rider Switch so you can all ride in a more timely manner. https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/rider-switch/

Also, if you ever forget diapers again, there are baby centers in every park and they can help you out.

 

[Pkltm]

Our trip last September was not really that fun and when people asked how my vacation was my answer was "meh"

The trip in Sep/Oct of 2015 was amazing! It was just my DH and I, we stayed at POR and honestly was so relaxing and fun, the weather was great, we had great meals, a blast at MNSSHP, we had one issue at the hotel, which was promptly fixed, with the deepest of apologies from the management.

Our Sep/Oct trip in 2016 was so the opposite, we went with friends, stayed at POR, first day stepping off the bus from the airport one of our friends broke her ankle, she refused crutches and a wheelchair, we missed park/pool and fastpasses due to the trip to the hospital, our room was very far from everything making it even harder on her, we had bad food experiences, weather was up and down, we left the day before the big storm hit, Imajorly cut my foot at the hotel pool, spent veryy little time at the F&W festival, which I love, nothing seemed to go right. When we got home we talked about 1. not traveling with people anymore and 2. not going back for a while.

We decided to this year for our 20th, try a cruise and then we are renting points, our kids are coming down for one of two weeks, we decided to just plan what we want and not worry about the other people, try and relax like we did the previous time. We are hoping it will bring back some magic. Planning some of the new experiences is getting us excited - we have the cruise booked, staying at AKL, the Bon Voyage breakfast for just the two of us and the Frozen Dessert party.

 

[101Pongo]

Just for future reference, it actually sounds like your group that went to Soarin' was pulled out of the FP line and assigned a theater line (theater A, B or C). That is where the FP line and standby lines merge. There is a physical wall separating the FP line and Standby line so there is no way a CM would pull them out of FP, walk them around that wall and put the in standby. It sounds like there was a delay loading from the theater line. The next time you go, if your child is still too young to ride, I highly suggest utilizing Rider Switch so you can all ride in a more timely manner. https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/rider-switch/

This is possible, but the CM who refused to let us on would of known about a delay right? I mean, 2 hours to ride Soarin' with a FP, something went wrong.

We didn't do the Rider switch because we were at the beginning of the FP window and we all had FP, certainly didn't expect the first group to take so long as to expire our FP.

When CM act like this, always get names or ask for a manager. DH did this at the Haunted Mansion ride years ago.

Problem is we didn't have time to complain. With a large family and a baby, it's difficult to spend an hour at Guest Services to maybe get a couple FP that we're not going to use anyways.

 

[fortheloveofchocolate]

Extended family vacations are very hard. Trying to get a group of people anywhere on time is almost impossible.

My suggestion would be to take a short 3 day vacation just you, your husband and your daughter to Disneyland in California. Both parks can be done in 3 days. There's no buses between parks or hotels because everything is right next to each other. And it might be easier to take just a few days off with your work schedules. Just my 2 cents

 

[opal]

I know what you mean. We have been annual visitors to WDW since 1990 and when we moved to Florida in 2010 we became annual pass holders and visited monthly. The last few years of continuous price increases and up charges for things like priority parking, seating etc. has been a turn off. I keep reading that attendance is off but still it is difficult if not impossible to get certain FP's and dining reservations. I can't put my finger on when it stopped seeming magical for us since it was a gradual change. It has been a year since we let our passes expire. We have been to Disney Springs a couple of times in the past year but not the Parks. I thought I would miss it terribly but I really don't. My husband has suggested getting passes again in the Fall for Food and Wine. Either way, we will probably re-up some time in the coming year when our 3 yr. old granddaughter visits....maybe we need to see it through her eyes for the magic to return.

 

[101Pongo]

Extended family vacations are very hard. Trying to get a group of people anywhere on time is almost impossible.

My suggestion would be to take a short 3 day vacation just you, your husband and your daughter to Disneyland in California. Both parks can be done in 3 days. There's no buses between parks or hotels because everything is right next to each other. And it might be easier to take just a few days off with your work schedules. Just my 2 cents

I wish! Pain for us to get to California, a full day air travel each way.

 

[Allison]

nor would I consider another vacation

And there is no need to. Expand your horizons and go do something else. Sometimes people are just over Disney. That's not wrong.

 

[PollyannaMom]

It sounds to me like you went with too big of a group. I often hear people say "the more the merrier" - but I almost always find that a smaller group actually lead to a better experience.

We also limit our "must do" list pretty carefully. Each of us has one thing that's really important each day, and we try to remember that the rest is gravy. (So if HM or Soarin' or whatever is your "must do" that day, you should get to be in the first group.)

But even with that advice, I agree with others who said taking a break from Disney really is OK. We love it, but we only do it quite as often as we do because it's near family we also want to visit. If it wasn't, we'd try other places some years too.

 

[krsb09]

We took a trip in November 2015 for my 40th birthday, and I invited my parents along. It was pretty similar to yours: lots of minor issues that really put a sour taste in my mouth. Rude CMs, drunk guests at Epcot, my mom got really sick and didn't really want to be there, etc. Not only that, but after we returned, I got a bill from Disney Billing. They didn't charge my credit card on file for some reason, so I mailed them a check. Check was cashed, and 2 months later I got a collections letter from a collections agency Disney hired. It was a mess to fix. I had upgraded to an annual pass early in that trip, and I very reluctantly went back the following year so my AP wasn't wasted. Surprisingly, that trip last year was the best one we've ever had. It was just myself, my husband, and my daughter, we stayed at VWL, and we relaxed a whole lot more than we had in the past. It was fantastic! Try it again without the grandparents. It really does make a difference when it's a much smaller group.

 

[patty57]

There is a great big world out there with all kinds of things to do. Move on from Disney for awhile.

 

[101Pongo]

We also limit our "must do" list pretty carefully. Each of us has one thing that's really important each day, and we try to remember that the rest is gravy. (So if HM or Soarin' or whatever is your "must do" that day, you should get to be in the first group.)

I think that's why I'm still upset over this, HM, PotC, EE, F&G and Soarin' were all on my must do list and I missed them all (except PotC, which I didn't enjoy).

The screw ups by CMs are what blew me away and the complete lack of recovery. It's the polar opposite experience of what we've had in the past.

 

[earfulofmagic]

A CM on Pirates mocked me. The first part of the queue wasn't set up correctly and a section of rope was missing. Some despicable guests were jumping the queue at that spot. I mentioned it to the CM where the line splits before the bridge, after I moved on, he looked at my parents (I don't think he realized we were together) and said "What does that idiot expect me to do?" and rolled his eyes. Obviously, I was quite upset and didn't exactly enjoy the ride.

Uh, ***? That's so rude and uncalled for. It's too bad you couldn't get their names; you may not have time to complain in person but I would've written an email to guest services after the trip. This is just particularly egregious to me. I've worked in customer-facing jobs before, and you just do not make those thoughts audible...

 

[AngiTN]

Nothing wrong with being over Disney. You didn't have fun. Some your fault, some not. Some just pure bad luck that no one can control. What is they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Take a break, let you little one move on to a new stage. Nothing wrong with that. Lots of other things out there.

I will say, I won't travel with extended family anywhere. DH is usually lucky I travel with him. (I joke, sort of) Even bringing DD (adult) often ruins my trips to Disney. So we only bring her along every couple of years. She's just not fun to travel with. We have great fun with DGD though, we bring her once a year, the rest of our trips are just DH and I. They are really my favorite trips

 

[101Pongo]

Uh, ***? That's so rude and uncalled for. It's too bad you couldn't get their names; you may not have time to complain in person but I would've written an email to guest services after the trip. This is just particularly egregious to me. I've worked in customer-facing jobs before, and you just do not make those thoughts audible...

I got his name but not for any of the other incidents. Who would I email?