Is Disney at fault for disappointment?

[danny1649]

Simple I love going to WDW so I continue to go. If you think WDW is being unfair,to crowded, to costly for what you get in return. Simple don't go to WDW, use the dollars you save and go see Smoky Mountains, etc.

 

[ArwenMarie]

The thing I notice is the complaints aren't at the "mechanic didn't fix my car" level. The complaints are things like: Disney is packing too many people into the parks, ADRs and FP+ are stressful and unfair, the food isn't as good as it used to be, the hotels aren't as nice as other off-property ones, there aren't enough new attractions, etc. But for every one of these complaints is someone else who thinks ADRs and FP+ are great, expects crowds and can have fun despite them, thinks the food is delicious, loves staying on property, and thinks there are plenty of great attractions.

I agree with you about the ADR/FP system. Some find it stressful and annoying, but some find it reduces stress. The food...this is one of my big complaints but again that is a personal preference. Same for the quality of the hotels. I think the crowds are a fact though and I am going to venture to say that no one enjoys crowds. This whole website and a whole industry has developed around strategizing to deal with crowds and reduce time in lines at WDW. That is something where I squarely place the blame on Disney. Maybe they do need to start thinking about lowering attendance caps especially at MK.

 

[disneyseniors]

Simple I love going to WDW so I continue to go. If you think WDW is being unfair,to crowded, to costly for what you get in return. Simple don't go to WDW, use the dollars you save and go see Smoky Mountains, etc.

Yes, I agree. Don't go to the place that you love but are disappointed in the way it has gone down hill over the years! Don't discuss this with others on the discussion boards. You don't have a right to say what you think. You must be evil! Wrong.... Those of us who speak up love Disney, that's why we speak up when we see things that are gong south (as have been discussed on here many times) I think the condescending attitudes of those who say, "if you don't like it, etc, etc, don't go" need to be a little more tolerant of other people's opinions, even if they aren't like yours.

If you don't want to see discussions about these things, don't read them! Same difference! There must be something lately that bothers many, many Disney lovers, just from the amount of threads and discussions on many Disney sites!

Please don't dismiss someone else's posts with that flippant attitude! There are some serious problems that are affecting a lot of people regarding their Disney vacations, and they should have the right to Discuss them on discussion threads. That must be why there are so many threads, posts about these things which Disney lovers are finding a problem. They won't "magically" go away by ignoring them. Hopefully someone at TDC will take notice of the level of dissatisfaction among new and seasoned guests and finally take action, because there are real problems. okay, flame away

 

[Mkrop]

Simple I love going to WDW so I continue to go. If you think WDW is being unfair,to crowded, to costly for what you get in return. Simple don't go to WDW, use the dollars you save and go see Smoky Mountains, etc.

Or I can tell WDW, a place we love, have made countless memories, and made a HUGE investment in (DVC) that some of their recent changes have made the place less enjoyable in the hopes that they listen to feedback, as they have before, and makes some changes that can benefit everyone. And people think should be able to come to a DISCUSSION BOARD to discuss those changes, especially to see if there are people who share a similar opinion and it is not just their own personal dissatisfaction. Maybe they can learn something from others in order to keep those magical memories of the past still be memories of the present and the future. A discussion board that will give honest feedback, good and bad, is the best place to learn how to have the best trip so you are not at fault for a bad trip, the point of this discussion.

 

[alopez926]

Slow busses, dirty bathrrooms, mediocre food, people doing rude or gross things, people not giving up seats on buses, CM's who aren't as helpful as we like them to be...these to me are small blips that would not ruin my vacation experience at all. If I am so inclined, I would tell a cast member about some of them, but I would generally have, a "wow, I wasn't expecting that, but no biggie....I'm at Disney". What could be better?" attitude.

i don't mean to be dismissive of other's concerns. We all have our thresholds for what puts us over the edge.

For me it's crowds. And that's on any vacation...not just a Disney vacation. I do anything and everything in my power to avoid crowds at all costs when I'm trying to relax. Before you start shooting arrows at me as in "why the hell do you choose to go to Disney if crowds are an issue for you?"---let me tell you why. First, I love Disney. Second, for the past 7 trips to Disney, I have successfully picked times with crowd levels that were optimum for me--no more than 5 or 6 on any given day--which is what was projected when I started planning this trip. I have had delightful trips prior to this one or i wouldn't have kept going back.

Now, crowds seem to be an issue all the time and I didn't realize this until after I had paid my trip in full and my 45 day window had passed. I was there in April and had no crowd issues. Apparently, April and November are two different animals (but I would not have known that from the research I did beforehand). And yes, RD will be our friend on a few days of our trip out of necessity. Touring plans will help too. I get it...there are things you can do to mitigate the crowds. We will do them.

But i digress.

Many (including me) have said that you can't fault Disney for being more successful at getting people into the parks year-round--can't blame Disney for being responsible to it's shareholders, right?

But the research that Touring Plans has done and continues to do doesn't support that necessarily. Yes, attencdance has increased over prior years in the low single digits from what they can tell. But that increase does not explain the crowds or increased wait times we're seeing now. Most of the issues seem to be stemming from the widespread use of FP+. In essence, Disney (the mechanic, to use the analogy in a prior post) fixed something that wasn't broken by implementing FP+. That system was never about customer satisfaction. It was all about Disney. And although I don't have any real issue with the 3 FP+ system (I think 3 is fair), the secondary impact of that system on wait times is something I'm not willing to tolerate after this upcoming trip.

People have been reporting huge crowds at MNSSHP which would indicate that Disney is selling many more tickets to the parties than they had in the past. Disney has chosen profit-over guest experience. They can get away with it so why not? I have chosen not to spend my money on MVMCP this year, although I had been looking forward to taking my daughter and nieces....Like people have said, if you don't like something, act with your wallet.

I agree with the prior posters who have stated that you can deal with any situation in one of two ways....one will make you miserable and the other happy--even though the circumstances are exactly the same. We are coming to WDW because my mother is in declining health and will not be able to make any more trips to Disney after this--ever. You can bet I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure she has a good time, whatever circumstances we encounter in the parks. It's been a rough year and I know how much she needs this...to spend time having fun with her grandkids in a place she loves.

After that, I think there are other vacation choices I can make that are better suited to how I like to spend my limited leisure time and vacation budget. I think the distance will be good. Hopefully, I'll be able to see the magic again after a few years off. For those of you who still feel the magic, more power to you! Enjoy!

 

[danny1649]

Have I deleted 1 post from this thread , you can continue to make your thoughts any way you want do so. I made my statement , heaven forbid I make a post on Board I moderate. Did I say one word about any posts by quoting it. Did I say one word against anybody. It's ok for you to quote my post in your replies and attack me as a simpleton because of my post. If you really want to do something write to Guest Relations. Do you think that Disney reads every post good or bad on the Dis. I don't like getting hit with stones so I go out of my way not to throw them. If I am not allowed to make a simple statement that I feel this way. I will not say anything to anyone on this board unless they break Dis posting guide lines, my statement did not cross any Dis posting guide lines. Unless you folks don't want to give me the freedom I give you. Then we are going to have a problem. Danny a moderator for 16 years I have seen 100 or more threads just like this one. I try to avoid arguments and shut down threads that I've seen a 100 times.If anyone thinks that they can do a better job please give me your name and I will pass it on to Webmasters for consideration.It is a great job all except for the pay which is $0.00 PS I have owned DVC at OKW since 1992.

 

[GPC0321]

Why are some saying WDW cant control the crowds...sure they can, but they dont want to, of course, but they can, they do for parties depending on the number tickets they sell, If the complaint is the party is too crowded, sell less tickets or they might start to lose customers. They have to figure out where that threshold is but they can control. And they control daily park attendance during Christmas week etc, shutting things down when it gets too crowded etc. So WDW can control the crowds, now whether they want to is another story

But how can they control park crowds with so many people using park hoppers? They have no way of being able to predict how many people will be in which parks because people have the ability to move between the parks at will. And people buy packages with a certain number of days of tickets, there is no telling which parks they'll visit on which days, so controlling the crowds isn't that easy. They have no reliable way to know how many guests are going to show up at the MK on a given day based on ticket sales alone because except for tickets purchased at the gate for a specific park, the "base" tickets purchased ahead of time are good in any park. Add hoppers to that and they really cannot control who goes to what parks. They certainly cannot deny entry to people who've paid for their tickets well in advance. Imagine being told MK is "closed" because it's crowded and you and your family have to pick a different park that day. Talk about disappointment!
I think FP+ is designed as a sort of crowd control, committing people to certain parks on certain days so Disney can sort of track and manipulate at least part of the traffic flowing through the parks.

I just don't see how they can fairly and effectively limit the number of people allowed into a park at a particular time with people always coming and going.

 

[Mkrop]

But how can they control park crowds with so many people using park hoppers? They have no way of being able to predict how many people will be in which parks because people have the ability to move between the parks at will. And people buy packages with a certain number of days of tickets, there is no telling which parks they'll visit on which days, so controlling the crowds isn't that easy. They have no reliable way to know how many guests are going to show up at the MK on a given day based on ticket sales alone because except for tickets purchased at the gate for a specific park, the "base" tickets purchased ahead of time are good in any park. Add hoppers to that and they really cannot control who goes to what parks. They certainly cannot deny entry to people who've paid for their tickets well in advance. Imagine being told MK is "closed" because it's crowded and you and your family have to pick a different park that day. Talk about disappointment!
I think FP+ is designed as a sort of crowd control, committing people to certain parks on certain days so Disney can sort of track and manipulate at least part of the traffic flowing through the parks.

I just don't see how they can fairly and effectively limit the number of people allowed into a park at a particular time with people always coming and going.

Have you ever been Christmas/NYE week or July 4th...that is exactly what they do!!!!

And I thought this fancy dancy new FP+ system was suppose to help with crowd control.

They also know how many park hoppers they sold, they know what they are doing, how else would they staff the place if they did not have/want crowd control?

And if they had built more attractions at other parks they would be able to wean the crowds out of MK.

 

[Laz]

My family and I voted with our dollars. We switched from WDW to DLR and could not be happier. We love Disney, but not FP +. Best way to express your likes and dislikes to a company is with your cash.

 

[maxiesmom]

My family and I voted with our dollars. We switched from WDW to DLR and could not be happier. We love Disney, but not FP +. Best way to express your likes and dislikes to a company is with your cash.

Apparently they are doing a FP+ test at DL today.

 

[Happy_2_B]

Apparently they are doing a FP+ test at DL today.

FP+ at DL is just a matter of time IMHO- and probably sooner rather than later.

 

[Lorilais_mommie]

^^^^^ above posts are correct they are doing FP+ at DL now.. It's in test phase , but will be park wide soon.

This my be the best thing to happen for WDW ..
I know many DL locals ap holders are not happy with the new FP+ and I would assume are voicing their displeasure. since DL is really focus on keeping said locals happy. I would think DL will have modify FP+ To keep them happy or risk losing many costumers and their money.And with any luck WDW will dp the same.

Now the big question is..
Is DL like WDW pulling away from repeat business and focusing on the "once in a life timers"
Only time will tell

 

[Angel Ariel]

Honestly I think most of the disappointment people encounter is of their own making. Sure we know that at times people who work in customer service industry are not the most helpful (having worked in that field for in the past for 9 years I will tell you a little niceness from the customer goes a long way..I.e. screaming, cursing and being an overall jerk immediately does not make it easier to help you however some people just don't care about helping others).

When it comes to ADR each restaurant that NEEDS a reservation will tell you online that a reservation is STRONGLY recommended in the bottom of the page describing the experience as well as the 180-day mark. I would think it's a safe bet to make reservations for restaurants that mention reservations are taken (this applies to restaurants back home that take reservations..if they take it likely there is a reason).

I know not everyone uses the computer to do all this research but Disney in my opinion has a fantastic website (especially compared to Universal Studios which is hard to navigate and doesn't compile restaurants and attractions at all in an easy way) and should be utilized. Food was never really important on any of my other trips. I never ate at a Table Service restaurant but my next trip, which will have 5 adults-no children, will be different and I really want to experience some of these fantastic places to eat. This means I researched what I needed to do in order to experience this.

I've seen many complaints regarding people's experience for both Disney and Universal Studios. It's shocking to me how many people go to the most visited theme parks in the world and do zero or very little research (yes maybe 15, 20 or30 years ago you could do this but things evolve too quickly now-look at how quick cell phone technology becomes old just months after a release). When I last went September 2011 the Legacy FassPass was around and no Magic Bands existed. However, you better believe I have already extensively researched the ins and outs of FassPass+ and Magic Bands for our September 2017 trip (which I know by then some things will change).

Some people expect no waiting in lines and are beyond furious that they had to wait to go on a ride (umm entitled much??). Others equate waiting time with overall attraction time (i.e. 60 minute wait for a 3 minute ride). That to me is crazy to even think about because it doesn't make sense to do this at all.

The Disney World website really has all you need for this information and the FAQ section is awesome too. Have a question that isn't answered in the FAQ nor website?? Guess what Disney is available for chat!! And I've used it several times already myself. You can also E-mail or call them. This can be done by going to the Contact Us page from the Help area of the main website toolbar.

I do all my research online,and while the disney site may have the info, I personally find that site to be the most slow loading site, with very clunky navigation. It is not, IMHO, a shining example of a fantastic, easy to navigate site...and that's not even going into how often it is down because of technical problems or the out of date info it tends to have. Allears, touring plans, here..they are all much more helpful in research,imo.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

^^^^^ above posts are correct they are doing FP+ at DL now.. It's in test phase , but will be park wide soon.

This my be the best thing to happen for WDW ..
I know many DL locals ap holders are not happy with the new FP+ and I would assume are voicing their displeasure. since DL is really focus on keeping said locals happy. I would think DL will have modify FP+ To keep them happy or risk losing many costumers and their money.And with any luck WDW will dp the same.

Now the big question is..
Is DL like WDW pulling away from repeat business and focusing on the "once in a life timers"
Only time will tell

Based on what they did with the DL annual passes this year I don't think they care about the locals anymore. One of the reasons often cited for not bringing FP+ to DL was that the locals would revolt. By jacking up the prices for the locals they've essentially told them what they think about the pull they've had on park operations.

 

[mom4fun]

But how can they control park crowds with so many people using park hoppers? They have no way of being able to predict how many people will be in which parks because people have the ability to move between the parks at will. And people buy packages with a certain number of days of tickets, there is no telling which parks they'll visit on which days, so controlling the crowds isn't that easy. They have no reliable way to know how many guests are going to show up at the MK on a given day based on ticket sales alone because except for tickets purchased at the gate for a specific park, the "base" tickets purchased ahead of time are good in any park. Add hoppers to that and they really cannot control who goes to what parks. They certainly cannot deny entry to people who've paid for their tickets well in advance. Imagine being told MK is "closed" because it's crowded and you and your family have to pick a different park that day. Talk about disappointment!
I think FP+ is designed as a sort of crowd control, committing people to certain parks on certain days so Disney can sort of track and manipulate at least part of the traffic flowing through the parks.

I just don't see how they can fairly and effectively limit the number of people allowed into a park at a particular time with people always coming and going.

I haven't been there in 2 1/2 years but over Easter it was a well know fact that if the park was too crowded, they wouldn't let anyone else in unless you were staying at their resorts. We knew there was a chance of that happening so we made sure we got there early morning.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I do all my research online,and while the disney site may have the info, I personally find that site to be the most slow loading site, with very clunky navigation. It is not, IMHO, a shining example of a fantastic, easy to navigate site...and that's not even going into how often it is down because of technical problems or the out of date info it tends to have. Allears, touring plans, here..they are all much more helpful in research,imo.

I never have any issues with loading on a computer (knock on wood lol) but that's not to say I won't ever experience that. I can see out of date information though. I totally agree with Touring Plans they are one of my favorites however they don't have everything such as all the restaurants available including ones where reservations are available (usually they just go over the hardest ones to get into).

I was really going at it from a beginner stand-point in the research department. My husband knows Disney World has a website and would likely only have the patience to go there. But he doesn't know about Touring Plans, Undercover Tourist,My First Visit.net, CheapstakePrincess, Orlando Informer, DisneyTouristBlog.org and the list goes on.

Good points though

 

[Angel Ariel]

I never have any issues with loading on a computer (knock on wood lol) but that's not to say I won't ever experience that. I can see out of date information though. I totally agree with Touring Plans they are one of my favorites however they don't have everything such as all the restaurants available including ones where reservations are available (usually they just go over the hardest ones to get into).

I was really going at it from a beginner stand-point in the research department. My husband knows Disney World has a website and would likely only have the patience to go there. But he doesn't know about Touring Plans, Undercover Tourist,My First Visit.net, CheapstakePrincess, Orlando Informer, DisneyTouristBlog.org and the list goes on.

Good points though

On the beginner point, when you google "disney world planning", after the official sites, the next sites listed are:

1. Mousesavers
2. Touring Plans
3. WDWinfo.com (the DIS planning pages)
4. Allears
5. disneytouristblog

With such high google visibility, all on page 1 right near the top, I think it's pretty safe to put these sites in beginner research territory.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

On the beginner point, when you google "disney world planning", after the official sites, the next sites listed are:

1. Mousesavers
2. Touring Plans
3. WDWinfo.com (the DIS planning pages)
4. Allears
5. disneytouristblog

With such high google visibility, all on page 1 right near the top, I think it's pretty safe to put these sites in beginner research territory.

I remember when research for a Disney vacation involved a travel agent giving you a copy of the Birnbaum guide.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Apparently they are doing a FP+ test at DL today.

I didn't see any news about this on google when I searched, or the DLR board in discussion today. Do you have a link?

I know they've been testing scanning fastpasses at Space Mountain, but it was scanning paper fastpasses, with the following quote from a Disney official provided in an update to **************:

Update (10/20/15): A Disneyland official reached out to elaborate on the testing following the publication of this article. According to the company representative, the test for now is just for Space Mountain, in which Disney is gauging the efficiency of using a barcode-based FastPass reader at the ride’s entrance. If the test goes well, future paper FastPasses could have bar codes printed on them for quick scanning. The Disney representative could not offer any further comment on whether the test is related to any potential inclusion of MyMagic+, MagicBands, or FastPass+ at the Disneyland Resort, only to say that they are frequently testing new technologies to see what works in the parks.

This is the latest I've seen. I'm not doubting you, just interested in a source as we are headed to DLR soon and trying to stay on top of what's happening there.

 

[DoingDisney]

Disappointment occurs when the experience doesn't meet expectations. So, did the experience fall short, or were the expectations not appropriately set? One might be Disney's fault, but, more likely, it's all on the individual.

I really do wonder why you think it is more on the individual ? Disney spends millions hyping the expectations people have about the parks. They call it "the most magical place on earth" ... and you think its the individual to blame for having high expectations ??? This honestly boggles my mind.