interesting opinion about the not so magical mouse

[Disney0010]

I agree with this article. Having lived in Florida for the first 35 years of my life I have been to Disney over 100 times and stayed on property numerous times. While things change Disney is not the same. It has lost the magic that it once had but that usually happens when Wall Street is involved.

The same is happening with the cruise industry. Some ships on Royal Caribbean started requiring you to schedule your entertainment. Even their so called "My Time Dining" asks for you to plan ahead on your dining time. Their brand new ship Quantum Of The Seas has the newly introduced "wow" bands. They are having major issues among other technological issues. After over 25 cruises on RCI we moved on.

I think resort companies need to take a step back and look at where they're moving. I don't want to plan what I'm going to be doing every minute of every day on my vacation. That's not my idea of relaxation or fun. To the ones that see no issues then go for it and enjoy it.

 

[wisblue]

If I had to plan every minute of every day I wouldn't like it.

Planning 20-30 minutes of a day doesn't bother me at all.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Her main gig is writing for Cabin Life and she wrote a book about her cabin. Kind of makes sense that WDW isn't her type of vacation.

It also seems she lived in FL for eight years...maybe her "three dozen" trips were shorter and this was a big, expensive trip and she was disappointed. I could see that.

(Not saying someone can't like both types of vacations, but they are very different. We used to own a cabin and I almost died of boredom up there. Just not my thing. I'll take WDW even with the crowds.)

Different strokes and all that.

 

[shh]

It's a HuffPo writer. Those folks are always angry/insulted/outraged by default.

 

[yeheyprincex2]

sounds likes she forgot to back her snacks (any Disney pro with kids knows this), and her common sense and packed her party pooper.

 

[jennygirlmt]

At first I felt similarly. Planning everything ahead of time seemed daunting.

This trip is before my 2 year old's bone marrow transplant, so a hard year for all of us is coming up and I wanted this to me magical!

I was stressing over the fastpasses, the meals (we are only doing two character meals, not huge on sit down dining at Disney), getting a BOG fastpass, hitting parades, missing out on night events because of babies and pregnancy exhaustion. How do you plan all of this and hope for happy kids the whole time?

But I just decided that I need to let it go (ooh, that was unintentional). I've planned enough to know what to do to make the most of it but I won't stress if things don't go perfectly. My 2 and 4 year old won't know the difference.

I had a friend go before all these changes and she showed up at noon with an 18 month old, over spring break and left after an hour because it was crowded and crazy. Their girls are Disney freaks but they are still traumatized. I think that not planning at all makes for an unmagical trip too.

 

[johde]

It's a HuffPo writer. Those folks are always angry/insulted/outraged by default.

What's funny is if you think the DIS is a tough crowd just read the HuffPo comments to the article. 1/2 of them are people who just got back and loved MB and FP+ the other 1/2 are calling her a spoiled american elitist for complaining about a trip to Disney World. I didn't see hardly any comment agreeing with her.

 

[jennygirlmt]

sounds likes she forgot to back her snacks (any Disney pro with kids knows this), and her common sense and packed her party pooper.

I didn't understand how the choice was eat or use fastpass. Then they skipped eating all together. Wouldn't logic have meant eating right after the fastpass instead of going hungry? Common sense was definitely forgotten.

 

[canoe86]

She is spot on the with the crowd remark, IMO. There has always been some amount of this at Disney, I get it, but this trip it seems over the top. WAAAYYYYY over the top.

 

[disneyquilter]

It's a HuffPo writer. Those folks are always angry/insulted/outraged by default.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris...r-i-did-not-enjoy-disney-world_b_6261760.html

some aspects of fp+ I like, many I don't, but we haven't even left for this trip and I am tired of all the planning, planning, seconding guessing, and re-planning. I too miss the ability to be spontaneous, and don't get me started on being packed in like mice (!) in a lab cage!

I wonder when the writer traveled. Because our experience has been great.


The please slide down line for shows is not new. Has been around a LONG time-- even before the concept of fast pass existed. At least since the 80s. Their theaters are designed to hold a certain number of guests and anyone taking more real estate than what was intended by the design will cause longer waits for other guests or shut guests out of the opportunity to see the show at all.

We have slid our FP+ times many times this week. Also back in February, we slid one due to lunch and crowd timing.

(I want to say what moron gets in a line of any size or uses their one hour window fast pass with a starving child? This is not rocket science that a quick snack could not have been purchased. A little melodramatic IMHO. Irresponsible decision of the writer that has NOTHING to do with FP and everything to do with lack of a contingency plan.)

Germs were not invented with FP+. Perhaps a no-touch vacation is more appropriate for the author. Museums with artifacts might be better, though they keep adding things to touch. (I am sure she is aware that the critters near her cabin don't use soap and water and pee and poop in the woods nearby. Where her kids may touch twigs and dirt and stuff.)

We have has a great trip this week. And spontenaity has happened. I would expect a different experience around holidays or outer high crowd level times of year. I notice that the dates were specifically absent from this report.

Don't let this article sway you.

We try not to obsess over Disney. We let it go and go with the flow. My 4yo didn't want to go on Buzz Light year today--not using her FP+ at all. We all lived. She enjoyed an ice cream come and 2 rides on the Carousel and enjoyed herself immensely. We made memories in that hour--spontaneously without any care to what I had orchestrated on MDE.

FP+ and MDE only "control" you with your consent. Taking time to stop and smell the roses doesn't require months of planning. If you want to be spontaneous, then be spontaneous.

 

[bumbershoot]

But it seems like not something the regular front desk people can do.

The random, young, college-program CM at SSR last month offered to make me a card, no problems at all. I hadn't even asked for one. Not sure they require someone special to do it.

She was upset about germs on interactive queues?!

Is she unaware that germs will be on any and every surface regardless if it's a child's game or not?

The interactive queues *beg* to be touched. It's one thing to have a kid listen to you when you say "don't touch the railings please" etc, but "don't touch the big honey wall" at Pooh? That's a tough sell.

When I got to that part in the article I wondered if I had written it, as I almost seriously believe that WDW is working to start the next massive pandemic of...well...everything.

Some ships on Royal Caribbean started requiring you to schedule your entertainment. Even their so called "My Time Dining" asks for you to plan ahead on your dining time.

You schedule it on "your time". If you don't want to schedule it, you go when you want to eat and you stand in line until there's a table available. I personally chose to do different things with "my time", figured out when we would be back from excursions or whatever, and scheduled us on our first day onboard. The only line we stood in for dinner was behind the others we had walked up behind, while they were being seated.

And it was a good thing to schedule last January for the ice show, because otherwise it would have been another line.

Her main gig is writing for Cabin Life and she wrote a book about her cabin. Kind of makes sense that WDW isn't her type of vacation.

She stated pretty clearly that she has loved Disney for a long time. And THIS vacation she didn't enjoy.



Now...the eating vs FP thing was odd, since they didn't move on to food after the line and ride. And I had a shockingly easy time (apart from the stand or walk (directly behind my friend!) with the iphone) rescheduling things on the fly. If they didn't even try to change things then they weren't taking full advantage.

 

[soniam]

I think this woman is fishing for problems. The laundry room issue sounds like a card reader issue with the door, not an MB issue. The CMs couldn't even open it with their keys (not sure if they were cards or actual keys). Plus, who waits 3 hours to do laundry at WDW? Just send a days worth of clothes to be cleaned, and try again later. Worst case, your family re-wears dirty clothes for a day. It's not the end of the world.

The germ thing is insane. Everything is covered with germs there. Learn to use hand sanitizer or a sink and soap. Better yet, just stay at home. How does she handle the grocery store? People have touched your food, and then you touch it to cook. Does she wear gloves or wash everything with bleach? I could go on and on, because if I want, I can be a germaphobe.

The crowd thing is as bad as the germ thing. It's an amusement park. There are going to be crowds. Plus, Americans have real space issues. The person next to you won't bite. Just don't touch their bodily fluids, and you will be fine. Disney isn't asking you to sit in your neighbors lap.

I see spontaneity (aka not planning for food at Epcot) really worked well. If you have kids and don't want to lose your mind, you have to plan for food. Set aside some time to do QS, or bring a snack at a minimum. She created her own problem there. Her lack of responsibility and common sense is not the fault of FP+ or Disney.

I am a big planner and always do a personalized plan with Touring Plans. However, I also know that doing such a plan actually allows me to relax and follow the steps. If you get off a bit, just correct. How does she manage to deal with schedule issues in the real world? You can make it as stressful as you want or not.

Maybe we should encourage the negative opinions and press. Maybe it will cut down on people coming. More rides for me

 

[BroganMc]

I agree with the author's complaint that a trip to WDW involves a lot more planning since MagicBands/FP+ took over.

I had an interesting discussion with a CM from IT the other day. He just got access to use FP+ and was in that blissful honeymoon stage of "look I can get a FP+ on my phone without having to race to a park at opening". He kept telling me all the wonderful advantages of planning out your day this way and being able to get more FP+ later at the kiosks or change your schedule later (and get FP+ for things that never needed a FP in the first place).

I had that same wonderful experience when I first tested the system last NYE. It's a time of year I expect heavy crowds and expect not to do much of any rides during the day. (I wait for late night EMH.) Then I traveled in a less busy time when I expected to wing it through my vacation and go wherever my whims took me. Once you do that, FP+ fails horribly.

You do feel pressured to arrange a daily touring schedule two months in advance. Lack of availability does make you feel you HAVE to stick to the FP+ schedule you set. You will give up doing sometime spontaneous like shopping, eating or just enjoying the scenery to make that FP+ schedule. And before you know it, you're back to being a park commando avidly consulting your itinerary and calculating exactly how long a bathroom can take to allow you enough time to get from Jungle Cruise to Space Mountain in a crowd.

The CM I spoke with was praising how putting everyone on a ride schedule helped Disney plan out their staffing and supply better. It seems like the system was created with the mindset of "How can we best help the company" vs Walt's "How do we best help the customer".

I told them the way to fix it is to take the thing people love best (being able to book a FP+ at a time the guest wants via their phone or mobile device) and do away what causes the most problems (that 60+ day early booking that sucks up availability). No FP+ times should be made available until the week and day of vacation. Everyone should have the ability to book a FP when it is reasonable to do so. The old system, they never gave out FPs until the day the attraction was open.

Cut this early planning nonsense. It is unreasonable to expect any customer to know what they want to do for 10 minutes 2 months in advance.

 

[momto3gr8boys]

I have been going to Disney regularly since before FPs existed in any form and I have to say, I love the new system. Having to run all over the park to get a FP and then hoping it fit our plans was never any fun for me, and we usually ended up giving away half of them.

This past trip in November was so relaxed and east. Our MBs were awesome- from every aspect. We slept in on our DHS day (we ran the W&D the night before) and rode ToT, TSMM and RnR with no waits. That never would have been possible in the past. We had no issues and I really do feel the whole magic plus (or whatever its called) really enhanced our stay.

Yes, you have to plan, but I love planning! I can't wait to make FPs for our February trip in a few days. And nothing's set in stone. If you wake up and change your mind one day, just go into your MDE and switch it up. Yes, your availability will be less, but you'll still get FPs and have a good time! 90% of your trip is what *you* make it!

 

[summerw]

I've read several of the hate FP+ threads and I think many people put their complaints into words so much better than this article.

I think FP+ is taking the heat for a problem that is annoying at Disney parks that don't have FP+… the economy is picking up and the parks are more crowded. DS5 and I go to Disneyland probably 20 times a year at least since he was 2 (and for me hundreds of times over my lifetime). The upswing since then is dramatic. Whether MM technology needs some work or not, it includes crowd control, allowing guests to have experiences with shorter lines. If not, there's still standby.

Obviously Disney has a bigger motivation to help drive down their own costs, track the spending habits of their customers better, but is Disney's move to RFID so shocking? I imagine they might need to tweak both hardware and software for a while, but instead the argument seems to be just to go back to the old way?

I agree with previous posters…
Why didn't anyone get a key card for the people whose door didn't work?
Why didn't the laundry woman ask that the manager to have Disney launder some items for free for the inconvenience?
The "squish down the row" has been going on since I saw Country Bears in Disneyland as a child at least.
And the germ thing is just so dramatic. Yes there are ridiculous amounts of contact surfaces at Disney. There always have been. Kids learn with their hands and will touch anything in a Disney queue, any decoration, any poster, anything they can reach. Perhaps the screens do encourage it, but that's what hand washing is for. And I won't even go into explaining about how the immune system works. So we are criticizing Disney for adding things that will appeal to kids? Maybe they should insist all children wear helmets and surgical gloves in the park. Ugh.
I almost forgot about the part where they didn't feed the hungry kid. Did no one in their party have any common sense? Fortunately in Disney's extreme drive to conquer our wallets, there's some kind of food stand thing every 50 feet or so.

Things break. They have long before Magic Bands. People got locked out of their rooms plenty. Lines were long and even the old FP system required planning. I think it's easier to do all that planning at home than on the fly.


People want somewhere to focus their angst when something eats away at their nostalgia. My mom is often sad when we go to Disneyland because Walt would never have accepted peeling paint. Times change. Even without FP+ Disney will never be the Disney or your childhood or even of 5 years ago.

I think this article was exceptionally whiny and dramatic. I clicked through to some of her previous articles and I think the reason why is explained there. I think many people here have voiced their concerns in such a better way.

 

[ArwenMarie]

She stated pretty clearly that she has loved Disney for a long time. And THIS vacation she didn't enjoy.

There was a whole second part to my comment.

 

[jerivera]

I just find it hilarious that the comments in the article are all overwhelmingly in FAVOR of Disney and MagicBands/FP+, as in hundreds of upvotes (vs the dozen of very loud protesters about how Disney's going to heck in a handbasket and it's no longer "their" Disney), and call out the writer for her curmudgeon attitude and fairly ridiculous actions/expectations/behavior.

It goes to show you what we've always said here at Dis. We're a very small sub-segment of the Disney attendance. When you broaden to a much larger population, you see that in reality the MBs and FP+ are actually working out pretty dang fine for Disney and the majority of the guests.

And that, my dear Dis-friends, is why MBs and FP+ are here to stay.

 

[clambert1273]

I have nothing real to add... just laughing at the germ thing... I am happy if my kids aren't trying to eat dropped food off the gound... lol

 

[hoosll]

There will be as many opinions as there are people ... especially when you figure in:
1. Time of visit and length of visit
2. Cost of visit in $$, time off from work or school, distance traveled by car or plane
3. Age and interests of any children visiting
4. Previous visit experiences and therefore expectations
5. Access to and facility with a smart phone
6. Do you like TSM (I don't)

We happen to be older retired visitors with a history of alternating "low attendance" visits with holiday visits for 4-5 days usually on park hoppers. Since we are not bringing kids then many of the rides are of no interest to us. We have 1 or 2 rides in each park that we like to ride 4-5 times per trip and then generally enjoy a few meals and the ambiance of the parks ....

As many posters have stated, there just are not as many low attendance times during the year. Most of the times, the crowds are so large and the walkways so clogged that enjoying a stroll through the ambiance is a distant memory.

With the e-ticket mentality of FP+ it is no longer possible to getting a second or third FP for a favorite ride therefore you have to increase the length of your visit to feel like you are getting your money's worth which of course increases the amount of money you are spending on lodging and eating.

It is interesting to me that a technician would actually admit to the HR planning aspect of the new system; this is something that I have speculated and written about in a number of posts.

This is the third trip I have canceled since the new Magic Bands were announced. I am a lover of all things Disney and I have loved creating spreadsheets and my own touring plans. When all I had to do was plan restaurants I was okay (then they started dinging us for not showing up and requiring cancellation the day BEFORE); if a park was too crowded or whimsy moved us we could switch parks; yes, we have been to all 4 parks in 1 day.

I am a stockholder in Disney and I have a Disney Visa card because I believe in Walt's dream and Disney continues to make tons of $$$ (thank you Frozen) but I would have been happier if Disney had acted to add more rides rather than maximize the ones they have with FP+.

Finally, the roll out of this "improvement" has treated paying customers as lab rats as the program has been tweaked continuously and now Disney has the power to not only change their operating schedules but they can also remotely cancel your FPs and dining reservations AND if you have a fully charged smart phone you may even be emailed about it. From posts, it is clear that cast members all the way up to managers are overstretched and stressed by the system and interactions with guests.

I am still "traveling" the road of grief about the old FP system, I too remember visiting an Epcot kiosk to get a meal reservation ... I desperately want to go back (note that I have made unfulfilled reservations 3 times and I will soon have Disney rewards points expiring ...) but I will not spend the time and money on a "vacation" which is not worth my time or money.