Is Disney World becoming a shell of its former self?

[midaroco]

Articles can be wrong. For example a couple weeks ago the Orlando business journal wrote and article that Disney field permits to build a new dining building at ft. Wilderness. Those permits were filed in 2011 and never used. The article was wrong and days later taken down because it was.

If you two continue to be argumentative towards each other I take action. Let's play nice please.

As a moderator, I get the comment regarding not being argumentative toward one another. I don't get the previous comment as that comment seems just as jabbing as some of the other comments and doesn't seem to set a good example with the statement that precedes it.

 

[kbelle8995]

I'm a Brit that as a child visited wdw every other year from 1988- 2004! The last time I was there was 2007 just before I had kids. The fact that I know where most things are and understand the ride descriptions/ locations to me say that not much has changed in the past 9 years which really saddens me. Universal however is unrecognized. As a family we loved both parks. The ET is as much of an institution as the jungle cruise Imo- however universal never held the magic- the lump in the throat moment seeing the castle from main street. Lots of fun but not much feeling at uni

I respectable disagree. Universal has Doctor Suess, Harry Potter and some of Marvel. And somewhere down the line Nentendo and dreamworks.

 

[davish562]

Dmarro save us from the wrath of Chapek!

 

[Karin1984]

Dmarro save us from the wrath of Chapek!

That's all you have to say when you revive your own thread after 5 years?

If you do so, then we should get a review of the last 5 years and your thoughts on your original post.

 

[davish562]

That's all you have to say when you revive your own thread after 5 years?

If you do so, then we should get a review of the last 5 years and your thoughts on your original post.

I was only 14 at the time I wrote it believe it or not, but I think Disney unfortunately has continued to go down in quality while prices have increased a lot. Parks less clean, less entertainment and much shorter hours. I believe 2016 was the last year Disney world had late hours consistently at least for Magic Kingdom.

 

[luv2cheer92]

About 2015-2016 ish is when things started to go back uphill for me, and that hasn't stopped. My love for Disney has only gotten significantly stronger over the last 5-6ish years.

 

[jade1]

About 2015-2016 ish is when things started to go back uphill for me, and that hasn't stopped. My love for Disney has only gotten significantly stronger over the last 5-6ish years.

Same. Its way better now with Pandora Avatar Land, Star Wars GE, Toy Story Land, D Springs, HEA (and hopefully the new fireworks) New EPCOT Fireworks, Tron, Rat, Guardians Coaster, POLY DVC and Riviera DVC.

Tear out all of that to have some longer hours (which may come back eventually anyway) and more trash collectors (which will also return) would be insane IMO. And yes, it should cost more.

 

[old lady]

Actually, I miss some of the old Disney and believe some of this new stuff isn’t as good . Maybe because of all political correctness or is it only because I am old?

 

[catnik]

I re-read some of the posts from 5 years ago and one comment hit home for me. My husband and I went to Disney 2 times before we had kids and 15+ times once we started our family. So many of our memories are a reflection of our children’s joy in all things Disney: bursting with pride after riding Space for the first time, CRT breakfasts to meet the princesses, curb sitting with Mickey bars while matching SpectroMagic, pool time at night way past bedtimes, etc. Magical times that can not be replicated now that they are grown and on their own. Times change, Disney changes, we change. The profit driven laser focus of corporate Disney has definitely impacted the Disney experience we enjoyed in the past. Despite that, we can still feel the magic when we visit and look forward to creating new memories in October

 

[fatmanatee]

I’m sorta confused about why this was bumped because since the original post, WDW has added three new lands and several rides.

 

[circus4u]

Lands and rides aren't everything to many people. We have witnessed so many changes in the 50 years, it's not like the same park to us. We went for seven days in May for our 50th anniversary. I had stopped going about two years before that, although my wife took about four trips with our daughters. We went to the parks a grand total of two days out of those seven and one day we were only in the park 45 minutes before going back to our resort. We have four days left on our tickets which will not be used (military tickets). My wife agreed with me and said she didn't want to go back anymore either. We miss the spontaneity and hate all the preplanning and we don't ride. We used to like the ambience and being able to do things on the spur of the moment. Tried hopping to different hotels like we used too, always looking for something unique in the gift shops. None of that anymore, everything is the same in all the shops. Can't even order food in person anymore, have to order with the app. Nope, our Disney days are over now.

 

[New Mouse]

Same. Its way better now with Pandora Avatar Land, Star Wars GE, Toy Story Land, D Springs, HEA (and hopefully the new fireworks) New EPCOT Fireworks, Tron, Rat, Guardians Coaster, POLY DVC and Riviera DVC.

Tear out all of that to have some longer hours (which may come back eventually anyway) and more trash collectors (which will also return) would be insane IMO. And yes, it should cost more.

Star wars was a big miss other than the 1 ride.

Disney Springs was a huge miss.

HEA was a downgrade

Poly DVC destroyed the remaining ambiance of the Poly.

Riviera while nicely done is way too expensive dvc points wise and Im not sure how you love the resale restrictions.

New epcot, tron, rat, guardians havent event happened yet, so how can you say its way better now with them?

 

[jade1]

Star wars was a big miss other than the 1 ride.

Disney Springs was a huge miss.

HEA was a downgrade

Poly DVC destroyed the remaining ambiance of the Poly.

Riviera while nicely done is way too expensive dvc points wise and Im not sure how you love the resale restrictions.

New epcot, tron, rat, guardians havent event happened yet, so how can you say its way better now with them?

So Pandora? Toy Story Land? And like you say RotR is well amazing.

Those alone make it (WDW) way better than 6 years ago.

D springs is now at least twice per trip and we stopped going before. Some great diniing choices finally.

POLY wasn't really an option for DVC so well worth any ambiance change. Riviera has been wonderful esp Tower Suites for cheap points. Don't care about resale restrictions since we don't own there- just get to stay on dues like the POLY.

We have Rat reserved for this month and EPCOT fireworks for Oct 2 so yea I'm counting them. Also have the new MK fireworks reserved for Oct 3rd.

Just Tron and Guardians but coming soon enough

 

[jade1]

I’m sorta confused about why this was bumped because since the original post, WDW has added three new lands and several rides.

Yea quite a futile attempt IMO.

 

[DodgerGirl]

What I think Disney World is trying to do is that they are trying to maintain the same tried and true formula that they always used to attract visitors to their parks and that is these game show type answers,
A. More rides,
B. Impressive shows,
C. Lots of ways to get people to stay at their resorts such as dining vouchers magic hours etc.,
D. Making the parks more exciting,
E. All of the above,
For most people they likely say E and some people will say D. But ever since they have had competition with Universal Studios and Legoland Florida people most likely go to Disney World most of the time because they like it because it brings out the child in them. But I think what really caused Disney World's downfall was when they decided to build Animal Kingdom and open it in 1998 and I never understood why Animal Kingdom was even built in the first place. Because it reminds me of Marine World Africa USA without the dolphins and whales and they even built Animal Kingdom Lodge too and I think had Animal Kingdom had not existed Disney World would've designed something better in my eyes. I also think that Disney World has plans in the future to build a Marvel oriented theme park because ever since Disney bought Marvel I think they want to add a Marvel theme park to Disney World and perhaps build a Marvel oriented resort too. But I can tell you once the Star Wars resort is built and opened the prices for Disney World will skyrocket faster than you think. But once Disney World returns to normal after the pandemic I can bet they will focus on adding more stuff and opening them faster

 

[luv2cheer92]

Star wars was a big miss other than the 1 ride.

Disney Springs was a huge miss.

HEA was a downgrade

Poly DVC destroyed the remaining ambiance of the Poly.

Riviera while nicely done is way too expensive dvc points wise and Im not sure how you love the resale restrictions.

New epcot, tron, rat, guardians havent event happened yet, so how can you say its way better now with them?

Couldn't possibly disagree more with the first three. Like completely opposite of my opinions. Not DVC (yet, though strongly considering it more and more every day), so I can't accurately comment on the other two.

 

[New Mouse]

Couldn't possibly disagree more with the first three. Like completely opposite of my opinions. Not DVC (yet, though strongly considering it more and more every day), so I can't accurately comment on the other two.

Not sure how people can like Disney Springs...it went from a place with decent entertainement optipns and food to an outlet mall with more upscale food. The food is a plus but the elimination of pleasure island quality entertainment for a shopping mall... yeah no.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Not sure how people can like Disney Springs...it went from a place with decent entertainement optipns and food to an outlet mall with more upscale food. The food is a plus but the elimination of pleasure island quality entertainment for a shopping mall... yeah no.

My family and I love Disney Springs. There is still some of our old favorites and lots of new ones. Also, Pleasure Island from what I understand ( never saw it as I was too young and by the time I was old enough it was gone), AND Universal City Walk started changing from clubs to more of a hybrid mix of family friendly and different entertainment, which imho was needed.

 

[luv2cheer92]

Not sure how people can like Disney Springs...it went from a place with decent entertainement optipns and food to an outlet mall with more upscale food. The food is a plus but the elimination of pleasure island quality entertainment for a shopping mall... yeah no.

My family and I love Disney Springs. There is still some of our old favorites and lots of new ones. Also, Pleasure Island from what I understand ( never saw it as I was too young and by the time I was old enough it was gone), AND Universal City Walk started changing from clubs to more of a hybrid mix of family friendly and different entertainment, which imho was needed.

This is exactly how I feel. Except I did experience Pleasure Island and was not a fan. So getting rid of it was only a positive for me.

 

[tony67]

Ive been to Disney many many times - I used to go to Food And Wine every year - Ive been to almost all of them up till about 2015 - there were years I went to Disney three times back when annual passes were reasonable and had decent room discounts
An AP was not much more than a 10 day ticket.

Then they started to cut quality raise prices and really treated guests poorly in my experience.
They dont run their hotels as hotels but as places to herd people when the parks are not open.
I have been totally unimpressed by concierge - the only two that were good IMO were AKL and POLY.

About the only thing Ive done at Disney in recent years that impressed me was Trader Sam's

As for Universal - seems to be a lot of bias here in the few pages I flipped through - but they did an amazing job Harry Potter - and I am not a Harry Potter fan.

I feel Universal treats their guests better - and the hotels are run by a hotel company - not Universal - they treat guests as guests.
Ive had poor customer service at Quick service kiosks in both places - but it does seem to be far more common at Disney.

Even the way Disney handled COVID - IMO Universal did it better from day one.

Anyway - Disney has lost me - and I am not the only one - their opinion is that someone else will come and replace me - they do not care -but at some point that attitude will catch up to them.
I know more micky ice cream bars for you if I dont go - whatever

Will I go to Disney again - yeah maybe for a day or two in a year or two - but Ill stay at universal and get transport to Disney - same as I did the last few times I went in 2015 and before- round trip mears shuttle was $15 and very efficient (surprisingly)