Is anyone else worrying about the "new" experience that awaits at DLR?

[CherylGonz]

We are also longtime AP holders from Northern CA. I am also feeling some uncertainty about what our future at DL will look like. We were there in early June for AC opening and had a great time. Our next trip is over Labor Day weekend, and I admit feeling some dread. I thought it was busy in June but all the reports I'm reading are that it is much busier. We may upgrade our tickets to Magic Key, but it will depend on the lead time for park reservations. If regular tickets get us 120 days and MK is only 90, we'll be sticking with regular tickets. We tend to go over big weekends so not being able to book for Thanksgiving or Christmas would be an issue (we were Signature + AP holders).

I don't like the park reservation system and the hopping restrictions, but I could maybe put up with those IF they helped to control crowds. From the crowd levels lately, it doesn't seem as if that has been happening. But the biggest thing missing in the MK program for me is MaxPass. I don't think we'll be visiting DL nearly as much without it. My fear is that Maxpass will become a very expensive add on for all the MK passes. The monetizing of FP at Disneyland Paris does not bode well IMO.

I’ll be watching crowds this week as the kids are back in school this week but we will also be going before Magic so is available for purchase. I watched a video yesterday and the crowds were manageable

 

[BayouQueen]

I'm not going again until I start seeing better trip reports and when I can plan out a day better. It's important to me, as I am older, to have dining reservations so I can rest, max pass or fast pass so that I'm not standing wilting in lines for a long time.
The list goes on. I just don't have the stamina for it. Also, every time I get up in the middle of the night to make dining reservations, the goal posts seem to have moved. They don't open reservations in any logical way. I've just lost too much sleep trying to put together a trip. Numerous trips. My last "cancel" was for this month. I was spending a small fortune and reserved to eat at places I have no interest in. I felt foolish so cancelled.
I sound like Debbie Downer and I don't want to be that. I'll be back in the parks someday, but probably when it's under a new management team and/or the pandemic constraints are lifted. Right now -- too much money for too little enjoyment.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

We gave DS22 and his GF a trip to DL for their college graduations this year. It was up to them if they wanted to go this summer, wait a few months or go next year. They opted to go now. They spent the past three days in the parks and are flying home today. Both are seasoned park-goers. They are quite familiar with getting boarding groups and using online ordering for food. They were a little hesitant due to the lack of Fast Passes, but set their expectations accordingly.

They texted us often and called with FaceTime so we could see the parks. They were busy, but not packed. They went on the app each morning at 7:00 a.m. and got good boarding groups - Group 10 for ROTR the first day, Group 25 for Web Slingers the next day, Group 110 for ROTR yesterday (which was called around noon). They had a dinner reservation for Wine Country Trattoria on Saturday, which they said was great. The highest posted wait they encountered was 50 minutes for Toy Story. It ended up being closer to 40. They got multiple rides on all of the their favorites. They even had time to relax and have a giant pretzel and drinks at Pym's Test Kitchen and drinks at Oga's. They're very happy that they chose to go to the parks now. Yesterday at noon, they said Pirates was a walk-on.

I'll get more details when they get home later today. We're planning a family trip over Thanksgiving week for DH's 60th bday. It will be interesting to see how things look in a few months.

 

[gelatoni fan]

I don't like most of the changes to the park and can imagine most of it just leading to me spend less money in the parks.

No Maxpass on the annual pass means I don't have to spend on that.

From what we've seen in WDW, the day that any type of reservation opens is the day you have to book. Since I rarely plan trips that far in advance, I haven't gone to WDW in years for the sole reason that every time I check, there are no fastpasses available. The lack of dining reservations at Disneyland now is frustrating for some of my family but I am not fussy about food. I often leave the park to eat at Earl of Sandwich anyway but if they really want table service, maybe I can convince them to go to Denny's.

I also now plan around cancelling my trip last minute. I have a three day trip planned where the flights are booked with Southwest and the hotel is 100% refundable until the day before. I only have one reservation left on my after accounting for a different trip so I can't make the reservation for the second day until after I enter the park on the first day and so on for the third day. If the day before the trip, I don't see reservation availability for the last two days, I'm cancelling the whole trip.

I was originally ready to stop going entirely. I even got a membership to my local park and zoo which I figured was good enough for me. The reason I changed my mind about getting a Magic Key is because I have friends and family who want to go.

 

[LizzyS]

No, I'm definitely feeling a bit apprehensive about returning. Our last trip was late February 2020 and we usually go annually; I had everything down pat for our purposes and now I feel uneasy about my planning or I'm anxious that I'm going to mess something up and we'll miss out on something important to us in some way. I try to remind myself that a day at Disneyland is spectacular, even if it doesn't go perfectly, but with me being such a planner anyway, the unknowns are anxiety-inducing when thinking of our next trip.

 

[LizzyS]

I will say that since we're out of towners, I plan trips WAY in advance and love the planning far ahead aspect, so those changes haven't bothered me much. If I lived close by, that would be a pain if I wanted to drop in on short notice and I certainly get the frustration from those folks.