Just back and not happy

[Sammie]

I suppose if you like Disney and want to ensure it continues to exist, the goal is to discuss what's not right in the hopes it gets fixed. Obviously, if you care enough, you could just tell Disney.

I know, I know, Disney is doing so well right now they'll never run out of customers.

Polaroid, Eaton's, and McDonnell Douglas felt the same way at various points in history.

If you care about Disney World continuing to exist, it's always worth worrying about--even right now.

Disney is doing great, busy is booming, a few hundred dissatisfied guests that post to forums is just a tiny, tiny part of the millions that come every year.

Why discuss it here, if a guest is not happy they need to write Disney, not complain about it on a forum.

My point as to who cares, is why do people get so upset that someone went and had a bad time and is not going back.

I have been going to Orlando for over 30 years and never set foot over at Universal and they seem to be doing just fine without my business.

So if the OP never goes back, I am sure Disney will survive.

 

[JoeA]

So far what I got from this thread:

- Disney blows
- Universal blows
- Disney rocks
- Universal rocks
- I am stupid for buying DVC
- DVC rocks
- we all like boats
- pool hopping? Love it. Hate it
- I should stay at the Ritz
- on-site rules! Or "rocks" to stay on theme.
- Magic express is better than bacon wrapped in bacon
- I can a rent a limo driven by Lady Gaga with the money I save by staying off site


My phone battery is about dead so that's the end of my list!

 

[JimmyV]

I did google the two words.
[example: Stella realized she was the victim of wallet rape after spending $2869.00 at Neiman Marcus only to find virtually the same ensemble for $250.00 at Bebe Clothing.]"

What is your point? The example you cite is precisely how the OP was using the phrase. You have fully vindicated the OP's use of the phrase and have established that those who took offense neglected to consider this "other" common usage. Case closed.

 

[charabby]

Keep arguing a stupid detail. Makes sense.

I'm no where near the end of this thread, but seriously, sir, this kind of response makes you come off like such a jerk.

Using rape to refer to voluntarily buying theme park food is disgusting. Arguing that you were right to do so after it was brought to your attention is ..... so a**y.

Casual use of the word "rape" for such a trivial matter (expensive sandwiches in an environment where any adult would expect it to BE expensive is the epitome of trivial) is offensive. Why can you not accept that?

In all seriousness, you have been to Disney too many times. Stop going, there's lots of fun places to go that don't "suck". Disney will probably never meet your standards again. It's ok, but move on.

 

[charabby]

Lots of people use the word "rape" in context.

Then they should stop. It's offensive.

 

[Ellwood970]

If you remember around 2004 or so when Comcast made an offer and Roy was dissatisfied with the upkeep of the parks, Disneyland was a mess. Everything was being done on the cheap. There was a huge dissatisfaction among fans and shareholders with park upkeep from replacing burned out light bulbs to routine maintenance. The complaints turned things around. So folks we got to complain when things are not right like seeing those bottles in the water on Splash for weeks on end. Otherwise they get complacent. WE the customers must keep them up to their standards.

 

[vcgirl925]

Kool-Aid Drinker

That's the one thing I really hate about Downtown Disney...how they force you to run through it! I think its really cool how you're allowed to stroll at City Walk.

Actually. I rarely have the energy for DTD after going to the Disney Parks. Where you need to get there before RD until closing in order to do a good amount of attractions. Not to mention having to back track through the park going from one "land" to the next fitting in your FP+'s, waiting in long SB lines, running to your ADR that you made 180 days prior. Then walking to the other side of the park because now it's late and the lines are shorter and my son who lives for thrill rides just wants to go on space mountain one more time. Then waiting in long lines for transportation back to your resort. Then sometimes walking far from your bus stop to your room. At the end of the day.....I'm not bothering with strolling in DTD.

BTW, I love Disney. When I make it back to my resort exhausted and spent I've still had a good time. HOWEVER, it's not "vacation". I can relax at universal because I have express pass and can go on any ride I want, as many times as I want, whenever I want (with the HP exception). My son wants to ride spiderman twelve times in a row we can. Easy peasy. When my 2 year old wanted to ride ET over and over, we could. It was just hassle free. We could afford to mosey. We could just enjoy ourselves without making any plans at all. We had an extra day or two to sit by the pool with a drink and just RELAX. That's the point. You can't do that at Disney and you can at Universal. Disney is everything needs to be planned down to the detail and you must stick to a strict schedule in order to see what you want and have a good time. Universal is more relaxing and free, you just choose what you want to do and do it. When i get home from a Disney vacation I need a vacation from my vacation. At universal we found we could do the fun and exciting thing yet also have down time and relax, it was a nice combination. The parks are just different.

Do I love both parks? Yes. You can do that you know? You don't have to just pick one. There is nothing wrong with the OP having a bad experience at Disney and wanting to try something else. You all should try it! You might be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Nezumi Fan]

We just went to DLR in April and I have to agree! We could not believe how crowded it was! We have been to WDW during peak seasons and I still have never seen it as crowded as DLR was! Our first day we went on about 3 attractions because the waits were insane! I remember standing in line at POTC and looking and seeing nothing but a sea of people around the park.

Wendy, yes! I took my little 'un to WDW last August for the first time since he was a wee spanker (eight weeks old!) and the thing that surprised us most was

FAST
PASS
EVERYTHING

Not counting rope drop or immediately after the fireworks (and you have to know where to line up for this), I've never seen a wait for Peter Pan under 40 minutes. Ever. The legacy feeling of Fantasyland is wonderful at DLR, but it is a SMALL area.

 

[Mad Hattered]

Actually. I rarely have the energy for DTD after going to the Disney Parks. Where you need to get there before RD until closing in order to do a good amount of attractions. Not to mention having to back track through the park going from one "land" to the next fitting in your FP+'s, waiting in long SB lines, running to your ADR that you made 180 days prior. Then walking to the other side of the park because now it's late and the lines are shorter and my son who lives for thrill rides just wants to go on space mountain one more time. Then waiting in long lines for transportation back to your resort. Then sometimes walking far from your bus stop to your room. At the end of the day.....I'm not bothering with strolling in DTD.

BTW, I love Disney. When I make it back to my resort exhausted and spent I've still had a good time. HOWEVER, it's not "vacation". I can relax at universal because I have express pass and can go on any ride I want, as many times as I want, whenever I want (with the HP exception). My son wants to ride spiderman twelve times in a row we can. Easy peasy. When my 2 year old wanted to ride ET over and over, we could. It was just hassle free. We could afford to mosey. We could just enjoy ourselves without making any plans at all. We had an extra day or two to sit by the pool with a drink and just RELAX. That's the point. You can't do that at Disney and you can at Universal. Disney is everything needs to be planned down to the detail and you must stick to a strict schedule in order to see what you want and have a good time. Universal is more relaxing and free, you just choose what you want to do and do it. When i get home from a Disney vacation I need a vacation from my vacation. At universal we found we could do the fun and exciting thing yet also have down time and relax, it was a nice combination. The parks are just different.

Do I love both parks? Yes. You can do that you know? You don't have to just pick one. There is nothing wrong with the OP having a bad experience at Disney and wanting to try something else. You all should try it! You might be pleasantly surprised.

Well said, V! The only thing you left out is "how terrible and unreliable the bus service is to Citywalk" from your Universal Resort.

 

[Nezumi Fan]

I don't make it to DL nearly as often as I'd like. I may drive down from Everett & hide in your trunk the next time you go!!!

Is that your kiddo? How cute are they!

Everett! You're like 20 minutes north of here, right? We can stop in Eugene (Voodoo Donuts!) and stay the night; we can push down to Anaheim the next day if we can switch-out drivers, but I usually crash with family in the Central Valley and then do the 5.5 hours from there. It's not undoable, but as it's usually me as the driver and my kiddo in the back -- who is always well entertained watching movies on the iPad and napping, while I'm pounding sugar-free Red Bulls and stopping at every other Starbucks (no really, I know where all of them are on I-5) -- anyway, yeah. Let's carpool!

(^_^)

 

[vcgirl925]

Well said, V! The only thing you left out is "how terrible and unreliable the bus service is to Citywalk" from your Universal Resort.

oh yes...then there's that!


I also wanted to add about universal and not being rushed. If something shiny caught my kids eyes, I had no problem letting them go and do it. For instance we were all playing in the Curious George water area and my two year old loved the back room where they have all the balls that you can vacuum up and they dump all over the floor. All she wanted to do was sit on the floor and stick balls into that vacuum and watch them be sent up. I had no ADR to run to, I had no FP to get to....so I sat on a bench and watched my two year old suck up balls for an hour. Yup, an hour. I watched her have the time of her life. She laughed and had a blast and I had a great time watching her. I've learned to stop and smell the roses on my Disney trips and let the kids have their moments in between things. But, it's only for a few minutes because we have something else scheduled. It was just nice to NOT have something scheduled.

 

[naarg]

My two cents:

To me it felt as though OP was unhappy with changes at DW, over the past 10 yrs he's seen more & more changes & he finally he had it & decided he was going to "hate" everything about his last trip. If you look at it from his point of view, I think you can see where his frustration comes from. DW wants profits as well they should & the changes are geared towards that. As an annual pass holder he feels less & less that this is "his" local DW & more like it's being invaded by "tourists" who will pay the "ridiculous" prices & don't mind planning out their vacation itinerary way in advance. He doesn't want or like change & disneyworld is a changing! Now the fact that he refuses to go with the changes & go ahead & plan for his DW trip, to me... that's his problem. You can sit there & yell & complain & be miserable & waste your money because you refuse to acknowledge that things have changed & there is nothing you can do about it but you'll end up like OP... Angry & miserable & feeling cheated. Or you can acknowledge that you must change along with it & do what you have to do to ensure you have a nice vacation. If that means educating yourself on a new FP process then do it. I know OP has valid points. Of course vacationing shouldn't require that much investigating or planning but it what it is. Do you wanna be happy or do you want to be right? I wanna be happy!
& btw maybe I'm just lucky this week but my vacation is in 9 days cuz I just booked & I was able to get FP for everything just last night, except for mine train. Crossing my fingers on that one! & I even got Elsa & Anna & FP to Be Our Guest! So it's not impossible to get the rides you want

 

[Mad Hattered]

oh yes...then there's that!


I also wanted to add about universal and not being rushed. If something shiny caught my kids eyes, I had no problem letting them go and do it. For instance we were all playing in the Curious George water area and my two year old loved the back room where they have all the balls that you can vacuum up and they dump all over the floor. All she wanted to do was sit on the floor and stick balls into that vacuum and watch them be sent up. I had no ADR to run to, I had no FP to get to....so I sat on a bench and watched my two year old suck up balls for an hour. Yup, an hour. I watched her have the time of her life. She laughed and had a blast and I had a great time watching her. I've learned to stop and smell the roses on my Disney trips and let the kids have their moments in between things. But, it's only for a few minutes because we have something else scheduled. It was just nice to NOT have something scheduled.

The Kid Zone at Universal is about to get a big overhaul to make it even better. I bet your then-five year old will find something as equally entertaining as the Curious George vacuum, and then some.

 

[vcgirl925]

The Kid Zone at Universal is about to get a big overhaul to make it even better. I bet your then-five year old will find something as equally entertaining as the Curious George vacuum, and then some.

Yeah? Curiouser and curiouser.

 

[Nezumi Fan]

My two cents:

To me it felt as though OP was unhappy with changes at DW, over the past 10 yrs he's seen more & more changes & he finally he had it & decided he was going to "hate" everything about his last trip. If you look at it from his point of view, I think you can see where his frustration comes from. DW wants profits as well they should & the changes are geared towards that. As an annual pass holder he feels less & less that this is "his" local DW & more like it's being invaded by "tourists" who will pay the "ridiculous" prices & don't mind planning out their vacation itinerary way in advance. He doesn't want or like change & disneyworld is a changing! Now the fact that he refuses to go with the changes & go ahead & plan for his DW trip, to me... that's his problem. You can sit there & yell & complain & be miserable & waste your money because you refuse to acknowledge that things have changed & there is nothing you can do about it but you'll end up like OP... Angry & miserable & feeling cheated. Or you can acknowledge that you must change along with it & do what you have to do to ensure you have a nice vacation. If that means educating yourself on a new FP process then do it. I know OP has valid points. Of course vacationing shouldn't require that much investigating or planning but it what it is. Do you wanna be happy or do you want to be right? I wanna be happy!
& btw maybe I'm just lucky this week but my vacation is in 9 days cuz I just booked & I was able to get FP for everything just last night, except for mine train. Crossing my fingers on that one! & I even got Elsa & Anna & FP to Be Our Guest! So it's not impossible to get the rides you want

I'm remembering a podcast on the Dis Unplugged about "managing expectations." It is worth tracking down and watching/listening to. I was lucky enough to be able to attend Star Wars Weekend last week and, even though I was prepared by the podcast, other things read online had really hyped me up to the point where I'm not sure anything could have lived up to that imaginary experience I'd had all planned out.

(o) Darth's Mall had no girly fits for the souvenir T-shirt
(o) the food at the Sci-Fi diner didn't impress the husband
(o) I enjoyed Jedi Mickey's, but, wow -- expensive

I really thought there'd be more people in costume; we dragged our child's Anakin costume all the way from Seattle but, aside from a lot of SW T-shirts and one, lone dude, parkgoers were not showing up in costume to the degree I had expected from posts elsewhere. That's not something to mad about, but it was a disappointment. I get that.

Will we go again? You bet we will go again! But I hope we will have a more realistic sense of what to expect, and what not to expect, and will be better about enjoying what things are there. Again, managing expectations.

 

[Mad Hattered]

Yeah? Curiouser and curiouser.

Yeah! Guess who is picking up on the "younger target audience"? Even Gringotts has a 40" height requirement. And then there are all those Family Suites at the new Cabana Bay.

It's going to be pretty cool to see a themepark expand itself without alienating any demographics. It's pretty "magical".

And don't forget "he" is being built right now...

 

[vcgirl925]

Yeah! Guess who is picking up on the "younger target audience"? Even Gringotts has a 40" height requirement. And then there are all those Family Suites at the new Cabana Bay.

It's going to be pretty cool to see a themepark expand itself without alienating any demographics. It's pretty "magical".

I find that universal does go a bit "tall" on their height restrictions. There's no reason that Seuss Trolley Train Ride at Islands of Adventure should be as high as it is. Very exciting that they will be "targeting a younger audience" in it's future upgrades. Maybe....someone out there is listening.

 

[Mad Hattered]

I find that universal does go a bit "tall" on their height restrictions. There's no reason that Seuss Trolley Train Ride at Islands of Adventure should be as high as it is. Very exciting that they will be "targeting a younger audience" in it's future upgrades. Maybe....someone out there is listening.

The new Kong attraction will have no height limit. Whether or not all "kids" will like it is yet to be seen. But they are making a conscious decision to improve their park to include a younger demographic. There are plans for a family-friendly coaster in Jurassic Park right now as well. And all of this done in the same time frame as Avatar.

Wheels are turning...

 

[vcgirl925]

The new Kong attraction will have no height limit. Whether or not all "kids" will like it is yet to be seen. But they are making a conscious decision to improve their park to include a younger demographic. There are plans for a family-friendly coaster in Jurassic Park right now as well. And all of this done in the same time frame as Avatar.

Wheels are turning...

Love all of that. Especially since none of my kids scare easily.

 

[Mad Hattered]

Love all of that. Especially since none of my kids scare easily.

I love it, too. Memories are what you make of them. Whether it's by means of a Mouse, a Minion or a Wizard.