Is this how things really are out there on the east coast?

[NHdisneylover]

Adding my two cents--having just returned (week at WDW was 11/28 to 12/5):

I agree that much of the feeling of "cut backs" is just a reaction to change. We loved the iced castle (prettiest I have ever seen it) and felt Kidani Village looked great.

That said--we felt there are also clearly some cut backs and scaling down. There DID seem to be fewer decorations and small touches over all (but still a very good number). We mostly noticed that the snow on both Main Street (at the party) and in the Studios was the barest of trickles that you had to LOOK for--in the past it was a pretty heavy snow that was terribly fun to walk in and made for great photos (the new tiny trickle does not even show up in photos).

We also 100% agree with Tony about the party being oversold. We attended on Tuesday December 1 and lines for photos at 11:45 pm (party ended at midnight) were still 45 minutes long or longer. Ride lines were the same as day time in low season (ie while we were there), streets were jammed packed all night, etc. The crowd absolutely never thinned. We were very dissapointed in this. Much different than past experiences at the Christmas and Halloween parties.

 

[C&G'sMama]

OT - kind of. If anyone wants snow, come visit us here in Western New York. We came back to lots of white stuff and cold. We head back south next week for Myrtle Beach to spend Christmas with DP's family. It won't be warm but hopefully no snow. (I've had 45 years of mostly White Christmases, I can live without one )

 

[kingLouiethe1]

I like change too. I want to see and experience new things every trip.

I haven't really noticed drastic changes in service or quality over the past couple of years at DL. The AP holders who visit weekly will comment on how it's drastically different and way worse then before, but I haven't seen evidence of it. CM's are happy and helpful, food is good, park is clean. The biggest change I have seen is cost. Things that were free, now there's a charge. Ticket and food prices raise constantly. I chalk this up to the crappy economy. Disney is a business and the bottom line, is that they have to make money. Without lowering quantity or quality hopefully. Like I stated before, I'm not an expert in WDW at all so I have no basis on the things I read and hear.

DL is still a great place to visit (given the amount of time we spend there) but having gone there all my life, I can tell you there are some changes. I blame the bean counters (sorry Rob) and while I do understand that Disney needs to make money I think they're treading on a very thin line right now.

The biggest change at DL is the crowds. Growing up we used to go in the summer, and ya it was crowded, but nothing like the traffic jam you encounter these days where you have to walk into the shops on Main Street just to get a little room, and even then that doesnt always work. The AP program has just exploded.

The other big difference is characters. I love characters, and there was a time when you could find them all over the park, and not just the same characters all the time, there would be more obscure characters just wandering around, and lots of them. You never had to wait in a line of more than 3 or 4 to take a picture with anyone, even Mickey. My favorites used to be the mice from Cinderella. Now all the characters are confined to their meet and greet areas, but I suspect that's also because of the crowds, otherwise you would have little traffic jams everywhere.

As far as cost, that has remained on a constant upward trend as long as I can remember If anything I feel like DL is more affordable now than before when compared to the outside world.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

WE did MVMCP on 12/6 - Sunday night. Main St. was PACKED - seeing parades and/or fireworks was not going to happen. But lines for the attractions were SHORT!

I am FINE with not having soap bubble snow blown all over me. DH carries expensive cameras and he has to be REALLY careful with the lenses so they don't get soap on them.

 

[zeitzeuge]

The topic of the effect of AP holders on DL has been an on going discussion/debate/argument on other forums this entire year. I think DL's AP holders should hit 1 million by the end of the year I read. Ten years ago, it averaged 500K. That makes a huge difference in park attendance. If you go when the AP's have access to the parks, especially around a holiday, you literally can't move through any part of the park and the average wait for attractions is an hour or more. It's crazy. We've experienced a few days like that.

The bad thing about days like that, is the CM's get crabby and short, trash builds up too fastm guests get irritated and the high numbers take a toll on the park. No wonder they're constantly refurbing stuff. We now TRY to make sure we go on AP black out dates if at all possible. The difference is staggering.

 

[Tony-NJ]

WE did MVMCP on 12/6 - Sunday night. Main St. was PACKED - seeing parades and/or fireworks was not going to happen. But lines for the attractions were SHORT!

I am FINE with not having soap bubble snow blown all over me. DH carries expensive cameras and he has to be REALLY careful with the lenses so they don't get soap on them.

We were at MVMCP the same night - and we encountered lines for rides too. It really was packed.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We were at MVMCP the same night - and we encountered lines for rides too. It really was packed.

Really? I think we walked on everything! We started in Tomorrowland right at 7 PM, moved to Toon Town, then Fantasyland where the only thing we skipped was Dumbo, rode HM during the parade, watched part of the fireworks from Liberty Square, rode Pirates, then went back to Tomorrowland for another spin on Buzz and finally Space Mtn. Wait was posted 30 minutes but DS and I were in and out in under 20.

The only queue that surprised us was Pirates. We stopped in the shop first to use the restrooms and there was NOBODY in there - I mean NOBODY. It was creepy. But then there was a wait to get on the ride. It was weird. People getting off the ride end up in the shop, so how can the shop be empty yet there is a line to get on the ride? Maybe it had stopped for some reason and the people backed up in the queue? Anyway, that was one of our only lines all night and it was less than 10 minutes.

 

[zeitzeuge]

Really? I think we walked on everything! We started in Tomorrowland right at 7 PM, moved to Toon Town, then Fantasyland where the only thing we skipped was Dumbo, rode HM during the parade, watched part of the fireworks from Liberty Square, rode Pirates, then went back to Tomorrowland for another spin on Buzz and finally Space Mtn. Wait was posted 30 minutes but DS and I were in and out in under 20.

The only queue that surprised us was Pirates. We stopped in the shop first to use the restrooms and there was NOBODY in there - I mean NOBODY. It was creepy. But then there was a wait to get on the ride. It was weird. People getting off the ride end up in the shop, so how can the shop be empty yet there is a line to get on the ride? Maybe it had stopped for some reason and the people backed up in the queue? Anyway, that was one of our only lines all night and it was less than 10 minutes.

I love nights where you can basically walk on every attraction. At DL, Sundays seem to be the best. There was one trip last year where the park just wasn't all that busy all day on Sunday. That night, we wandered aimlessly around the park and rode things over and over..........and over and over again. I swear we rode HM, POTC, IASW, etc about 10 times in one day. We couldn't get enough. Best trip ever.

 

[kingLouiethe1]

I love nights where you can basically walk on every attraction. At DL, Sundays seem to be the best. There was one trip last year where the park just wasn't all that busy all day on Sunday. That night, we wandered aimlessly around the park and rode things over and over..........and over and over again. I swear we rode HM, POTC, IASW, etc about 10 times in one day. We couldn't get enough. Best trip ever.

Those are really nice times, too bad they're getting rarer. One of the nice things about being able to go often is really just being able to enjoy the ambiance. Yesterday we sat on a bench in the plaza for about an hour eating a sundae.

 

[zeitzeuge]

Those are really nice times, too bad they're getting rarer. One of the nice things about being able to go often is really just being able to enjoy the ambiance. Yesterday we sat on a bench in the plaza for about an hour eating a sundae.

I can't tell you how jealous we are of people who can do that.

If we weren't so tied to our families and jobs, we'd try to move to southern California.

 

[SandrA9810]

Part of the problem, was the parade taping on sunday (12/6). It really made the park over crowded. I was there during the day time, and even at 6pm, the line for thunder was out to the street, but of course they didn't have all the inside queu opened up. (you didn't zig zag back and forth a million times).

They've had long hours on the weekend with fairly early closings during the week. Like last weekend I think they were open till 1am, and cut back to 10pm closings the other days. So I expect the weekends to be really busy with floridians.

It was very sad not to see the arches at Epcot, I would've figured some one would've pointed that out. But aparantly they need a good overhaul, and replaced with LEDs now. Which I think would take away from the colors of the lights, but i'm not paying the electric bill on it. I really do hope it comes back next year.

I have noticed the fewer details, but that seems to all the time, not just now. So it doesn't surprise me.
You also have to remember, WDW caters to first time guests and guests that come every 5 years or so, so when they do away with little things, it's a small number of people that actually notice it. When you read some one's blog about their most recent trip to disney, it generally doesn't include all the small things going on.