We (me and my two girls, ages 12 and 14) just got back tonight from a week in Orlando. We did 2 days at Disney (Epcot Monday, MK Tuesday) Disney Springs Weds then spent 3 days at Universal. Honestly we went this time for the HP Universal stuff but we wanted to do Disney too. I will preface my thought by saying that the last time we were at Disney was Thanksgiving week 2013. This was in the middle of the paper FP/FP+ switch. We were offsite (timeshare) and basically locked out of FP that week bc onsite guests could book FP+ and we could not and the paper FP were very limited. Before that point we were yearly WDW visitors since my girls were tiny. I was one who planned everything using crowd calendars, booked dining, knew how the FP system worked and we got pretty used to riding everything we wanted multiple times a day with the combination of rope drop and FPs. I went into a Thanksgiving trip fully prepared--except for the lack of FPs. It was a transition time and we understood but it felt like every day by noon our choice was to wait over an hour for everything (I had never seen Nemo and Small World with hour waits before!) or just give up and find other nonpark things to do. We did voice our concerns and Disney was nice enough to grant us 2 day tickets for a future visit. I watched the FP+ process unfold for a long while and was never convinced but decided when we were going to Universal for my HP obsessed 12 yo that we would give Disney another try.
Long story short we were disappointed.
For us Disney has lost its magic. I am not complaining really, just sad. I can't see paying $100/day to be guaranteed to ride 3 things with less than an hour wait. I found it difficult to predict what we would want to ride when 2 days in advance--can't imagine figuring it out months in advance. I can't stand waiting in lines that just don't move for no reason. In 3 days at Universal we waited longer than 30 min once--and did not have express pass of any sort. We rode all the HP rides repeatedly with less than 30 min waits. The lines there never stop for 10-15 min at a time. We rode Test Track twice back to back at rope drop. First time took 20 min. Second time after FP returns started it took an hour--same length line in a really low crowd situation(seriously Epcot was so empty--yet Frozen had 90 min waits). Similar experience at MK--more crowded but combination of wait times and weather caused us to get to ride exactly 4 rides (major storm, not Disneys fault--but still 4 rides before noon (bc 7DMT took 90 min at park opening) when we used to be able to do all of Fantasyland before noon). I think Disney could do a much better job of line management than they do. It seems like they are intentionally increasing wait times by holding the standby line. I can't imagine why a continuously moving ride like Ariel or Nemo should ever have a line that stops (other than briefly to load those that need more time) even with FP. It's totally me but standing in lines like that make me angry and then it ceases to be fun. I fully admit we were spoiled in the past and we choose not to aceept and go with this new reality. I am truly grateful we had those years when my kids were little. I still love Disney and will plan to get our Disney fix on Disney cruises in the future. Our week on the Fantasy in 2015 ranks up there as one of our best vacations ever. But putting theme parks on hold for now.
Long story short we were disappointed.
For us Disney has lost its magic. I am not complaining really, just sad. I can't see paying $100/day to be guaranteed to ride 3 things with less than an hour wait. I found it difficult to predict what we would want to ride when 2 days in advance--can't imagine figuring it out months in advance. I can't stand waiting in lines that just don't move for no reason. In 3 days at Universal we waited longer than 30 min once--and did not have express pass of any sort. We rode all the HP rides repeatedly with less than 30 min waits. The lines there never stop for 10-15 min at a time. We rode Test Track twice back to back at rope drop. First time took 20 min. Second time after FP returns started it took an hour--same length line in a really low crowd situation(seriously Epcot was so empty--yet Frozen had 90 min waits). Similar experience at MK--more crowded but combination of wait times and weather caused us to get to ride exactly 4 rides (major storm, not Disneys fault--but still 4 rides before noon (bc 7DMT took 90 min at park opening) when we used to be able to do all of Fantasyland before noon). I think Disney could do a much better job of line management than they do. It seems like they are intentionally increasing wait times by holding the standby line. I can't imagine why a continuously moving ride like Ariel or Nemo should ever have a line that stops (other than briefly to load those that need more time) even with FP. It's totally me but standing in lines like that make me angry and then it ceases to be fun. I fully admit we were spoiled in the past and we choose not to aceept and go with this new reality. I am truly grateful we had those years when my kids were little. I still love Disney and will plan to get our Disney fix on Disney cruises in the future. Our week on the Fantasy in 2015 ranks up there as one of our best vacations ever. But putting theme parks on hold for now.
