Just back. My thoughts, observations etc.

[Eeyore98]

I agree that the buffet prices are insane - and to add peak seaon pricing on top of that? Ridiculous! All WDW buffets have been off our list since our first trip.

 

[prfctlyximprfct]

Sorry but no one can truly believe that. I can't imagine that those with complaints go into thier vacation looking for problems. I also can't believe that those who are "true believers" in the magic think that Disney can do no wrong.

A vast majority of thiose who go to WDW are believe in the magic and are hoping for nothing less. Just because they haven't snorted enough pixie dust to ignore some imperfections doesn't mean that they didn't go into their vacation looking for the magic or that they don't believe in the magic. Nothing is perfect - not even WDW or Disney (in general)!

I'm not saying Disney is perfect but if you go seeking the negative you will find it.

 

[rgf207]

I feel if you go to Disney looking for the loss of value you will find it. If you go and appreciate the magic of Disney, that's what you'll find. Disney is the most magical place on earth and I will never let anyone change my perspective of that.

You know, even if you like Disney, it's still considered normal to not be 100% happy with everything they do. I believe there are also people on this board that will overlook anything bad Disney does because they have their pixie dust blinders on.

 

[rgf207]

I'm not saying Disney is perfect but if you go seeking the negative you will find it.

To me, what you're saying is that Disney isn't perfect but you refuse to acknowledge that they do anything wrong. That's what I got from your post

I feel if you go to Disney looking for the loss of value you will find it. If you go and appreciate the magic of Disney, that's what you'll find. Disney is the most magical place on earth and I will never let anyone change my perspective of that.

 

[prfctlyximprfct]

You know, even if you like Disney, it's still considered normal to not be 100% happy with everything they do. I believe there are also people on this board that will overlook anything bad Disney does because they have their pixie dust blinders on.

You may be right but I like my rose colored glasses, haha. Everyone can have an opinion, so don't take offense to my post!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

TIP
1. EPCOT - I know this is temporary but with TT down, the Land (soarin, Living with the Land) and The seas (Crush, Nemo) are PACKED and they are packed all day. If you don't get there for rope drop, be prepared to wait a long time for everything. There were 30 minute waits for Living with the Land and Nemo. .

We were at Epcot Wednesday the 20th, and walked onto Living With the Land several times with NO wait. I also saw one long line right when Circle of Life and Soarin' both dumped out simutaneously, but that was pretty much it. Also walked right onto Nemo, and right into Crush. Soarin' was packed however. Waited 40 minutes once in the morning & the line was much worse later. Even with Fast Passes, we waited 15 minutes.

 

[A&MsMommy]

We went for a quick trip June 3-6 and it's funny because now thinking about it I see what you are saying but I guess for me..and I speak only for me in my family..I'd still go twice a year if we could! My husband thinks we'd get a much better vaca somewhere else. Lucky for me I still have my kids on my side. We spent probably $3000 total, renting points, air fare, two day tickets and food for just DH and I. It was my 40th birthday so totally worth it but when you think about it that is kind of insane!!

I noticed something that really shocked me for Disney. First time ever to Casey's and a woman next to us got a hot dog that was cold and tried to send it back. They gave her another one to which she immeidately stuck her finger in it and that too by her standards was cold. The CM's were not very friendly to her and I was kind of taken aback. She wasn't too obnoxious in her request...she did try to pull us in but showing us and honestly I just wanted my hot dog so I kind of ignored it but for us we've never experienced CM's that were anything less that perfect so I was a little surprized by his attitude.

I don't know I guess what it boils down to is what you're comfortable with. I haven't even been back a month and am already planning our next trip (November '13)...it's a total break from reality for me anyway

 

[rgf207]

We were at Epcot Wednesday the 20th, and walked onto Living With the Land several times with NO wait. I also saw one long line right when Circle of Life and Soarin' both dumped out simutaneously, but that was pretty much it. Also walked right onto Nemo, and right into Crush. Soarin' was packed however. Waited 40 minutes once in the morning & the line was much worse later. Even with Fast Passes, we waited 15 minutes.

We were there on the 18th. I wish I snapped a photo of how insane it was but I didn't. We were also there the morning the escalator on the Soarin' side wasn't working. That was a sight to see

 

[rluey29]

I agree with the fact that people are different today than in the past. That goes not only for visitors but employees as well. People don't take pride in their jobs and don't respect anything anymore. In the last 5 years I have seen more terrible acting guest than ever before in Disney owned parks. I have also seen CM's that act like they hate their job as well. Never used to see that.

 

[Villains_Rock]

I actually LIKE the buffets...well, most of them. For our family it is a nice value. I have very hungry husband whom orders the most expensive meal on the menu no matter where we go. Porterhouse? Surf and turf? Whatever. He is a go big or go home guy. I also have a hungry 2 year old to feed and a buffet can feed him at no charge to us!

I agree that some do not deliver on the food quality...I ate at Chef Mickey's in January and it was sub-par to say the least. We won't be back. We try to go to the buffets that have a different feel to them...Biergarten, Tusker House, Boma...and although it doesn't get good ratings, we even enjoy H & V

As far as the OP point about cleanliness and maintenance...we have also noticed that things aren't as they were. We will still go and enjoy the parks, however I wish the uppers in the parks management system would remember the Walt himself said, "Give the public everything you can give them, keep the place as clean as you can keep it, and keep it friendly."

 

[ConvenientTruth]

I went to Disney the same time...

Stayed at the All Star Movies....it has been well over a year since I stayed in the All Star Resorts and was pleasantly surprised to see some upgrades to the room. Finally a refrigerator and a flat screen TV in the room. I saw some referb going on (repainting, heavy cleaning....).

As for other observations...

Annual Passes don't seem to give the discounts they use to...

Food was....ehhh...Maybe I go to Disney too much (several trips a year) to notice any significant drops in quality, but the breakfast buffet at the 1900 Park Fare didn't seem as grand as before...Ohana was still great though.

Weather was great and couldn't have asked for a better time at the parks...not sure if I just guessed right all week on which days to attend which park, but I almost never had an issue with a park being too crowded (a little shocking considering the dates I was there)...

Bus service is always bad from the AS resorts, but this trip it seemed particularly bad...so much so that I decided to drive to the Magic Kingdom instead to taking the bus.

As for value....it's hard for me to judge...I tend to keep my my Mickey shaped glasses on when looking at cost.

 

[3_disprincesses]

First let me preface this mini review by saying that I'm an avid Disney fan. As you can see by my signature, we go to Disney almost every year and we are DVC members.

That being said, I think this was our last Disney trip for a long time. We had a very good time but there are things that I am seeing/experiencing that I don't necessarily like. Let me start out with the good

1. Weather - for most of our trip the weather was great. We always go to WDW in June and this is the first time it was NOT hot. it was so comfortable and the humidity was non-existent. We had little rain until the end of our trip when TS Debby decided to roll through.

2. Food - for the most part, the food was really good. We tried a few new restaurants like Kouzzina and La Hacienda de San Angel. We loved them both. If you recall the recent thread on the restaurants board about La Hacienda and not allowing sharing, we did not experience that at all. We shared an appetizer and there was no problem. Kouzzina was delicious.

3. ADRs - I absolutely love the new credit card requirement for restaurants. We were able to get ADR's on the same day with no problem picking from a handful of available times. It was great. We even got a great window table at Cali Grill at 6pm by walking up to the restaurant. BTW, the food was great at Cali Grill


4. Transportation - We stayed at BLT and I can honestly say I have never had such great bus service. I can't say that it was like that for every other resort, but it seemed like there was always a bus at the parks waiting for us whereas other resorts were waiting for 20+ minutes for buses. The one time we walked over to MK to get an AKL bus we waited 20 minutes and 15 minutes for a Beach Club bus but we never waited more than 5 for a contemporary bus. I have no idea if they bring more buses for monorail resorts but that's how it seemed. We never had such luck at any other resort

Now on to the parts that make us not want to return for a while

1. Value - This is the single biggest reason we are not returning for a while. I really didn't have a problem with the ticket price increases until I got there and really had no idea what the price increase was for except to put more money in Disney's pocket. We noticed so many things that, although might seem small, aren't "Disney Like" and were a real bummer. I can't tell you the amount of overflowing trashcans I saw in the Magic Kingdom. I mean overflowing to the point that there was trash on top. Now this might not seem like a big deal to some, but this is something that NEVER used to happen at Disney. Also, it really seems like the parks are not maintained. There were a lot of dead plants, burned out light bulbs (the big ones in DHS that shine up from the ground onto the trees) etc. The bad part was they were out for the entire trip, not just one day. That just goes to show that they aren't being maintained.

Another huge one for us was the buffets. We LOVE, and I mean Love, Cape May Cafe. We usually eat there twice during our trip. I"m sad to say we won't be eating there again, or at any other buffet. The cost is outrageous. $100 for 2 people (including tip) is insane. I can afford it without a problem but it's not worth it. Cape May Cafe was our most expensive meal of the trip with the exception of Cali Grill. But Cali Grill was only $25 more. I couldn't believe that.

2. Monorail - We stayed at BLT and I was super excited about being at a monorail resort but the monorail seemed to be down all the time. There was at least 5 different times when the monorail was down (1 additional time due to Obama but I don't blame Disney for that).


TIP
1. EPCOT - I know this is temporary but with TT down, the Land (soarin, Living with the Land) and The seas (Crush, Nemo) are PACKED and they are packed all day. If you don't get there for rope drop, be prepared to wait a long time for everything. There were 30 minute waits for Living with the Land and Nemo. .


Overall we had a very nice time but they value is gone from Disney IMHO. Will we still go, absolutely but we won't go every year. We decided that our next trip will be in 2015 or 2016. We are going to go to other places instead where we feel we can get a better value.

Please be aware that these are just my opinions and not everyone will feel the same way. Until you are there, you won't realize that value is gone. I didn't. Just reading this forum wasn't enough but once I experienced it for myself then I realized it

I haven't read the other comments but just wanted to add mine. After all I've read on here the last few years, I really wasn't expecting a whole lot out of our visit. I was very much surprised that everything was perfect except for the big ugly blue tarp thing on Main Street made to look like a building. It was horrible!

We were there the week before you. We were not staying at a monorail resort but used the monorail many times throughout the week for various reasons. We didn't have any problems at any time.

Never noticed or had any trouble with overflowing trash cans. In fact, a friend of mine that traveled with us for her first visit commented how there was no trash to be seen anywhere. I didn't check all the cans but traveling with 3 kids, you always have stuff to throw away. I'm one that doesn't even like to touch a trash can because it's, well, trashy...no problems two weeks ago.

I was kind of blown away by the table service prices. I've never traveled with more than one of my kids at a time so having to pay for two adults and one child at each meal was pretty overwhelming. But our food was very good most of the time. Except for Lotus Blossom Cafe - the eggrolls were delicious but that was about it.

We did encounter more breakdowns than I've experienced previously. HM, SM and BTMRR all in one day. But that was all the whole week. A CM friend explained that it's mainly due to the longer hours during the busier months - doesn't allow for much maintenance time between closing and opening.

Can't really speak for light bulbs being burned out at night. We were only in a park late enough to see lights come on once.

Everything else was great!

 

[tinkerpea]

We have been going to Disney since i was 2!! My 1st real memories however are of around 6 years old,When it comes to rides etc Disney have come along way they used to have rides that was more like a BIG fair ground and we used to get tickets for them "cheaply i must add" and so instead of buying tickets for each ride you now pay a set price! BUT the rides are far far bigger and better the theming that comes with each ride draws you in from the very start unlike theme parks in the Uk the ride starts at the que and goes right on through to the exit! The excitment I feel when walking up to a disney ride is so much more then anything I feel when walking up to a ride at any of my local theme parks, and yet we do have some very good theme parks in the Uk. My boys when we take them out over here always end the day with the same thing "We had a great time but its NOT disney"
Im only giving the above info to show that Disney to me is growing better every yr Im at the stage where I take my own children and its still all they talk about pretty much everyday They love to watch the home movies over and over,They dont ask to do this with other day out movies so that has to say something

When it comes to how clean the park is standards have slipped a little from say 5/10 even 15 yrs ago but I find this more to do with the WATER parks not the other parks its them restrooms that dont always come quite up to the Disney standard for me,Once upon a time you could walk into the park and not see a thing out of place NO rubbish etc anywhere on a table but i think that has alot to do with people!! I was in my local Mcdonalds the other day and a group of teens had just finished their food they got up and left it exactly as
it was ALL OVER THE TABLE AND FLOOR my oldest who is 9 turned and said Mummy why did they just get up and leave when the bin was right next to them I told my boys that i didnt have an answer for that as NO matter what we always put our trash in the bin,This is not an isolated case it happens again and again people think that because they cant be made to put the trash in the bin and they have paid to eat then they dont have to! I NEVER remember it being like that but i see this more and more and so Disney must be finding it harder to keep up with the demand of all the slobs!

I dont think I have ever though seen any trash on the floor of a disney park!I always used to say If we was to drop something people would spot it a mile off or that nobody would dare drop litter as it would be so noticable to anyone around.

PRICES.
Prices have definatly gone insane when it comes to the price of even 1 day tickets etc let alone 10/14/21 day tickets,then theres accomadation and food prices..................
I agree that the Buffets have gone crazy in price If it wasnt for the DDP we would only be able to eat in 1 or 2 on a 14 night trip with a family of 6 its just too much money we have a son with ASD and so Character meals are a must for us each trip If we had to pay $250 OOP for 1 meal im not sure how we would do it!! We actually have paid for DDP once and gotten it free once plus the trip we are going on in October is free, other times we have paid OOP with no plan the time we had no plan was back in 2006 and we spent all our spending on food and it wasnt even all character meals we tried to be really careful...we only had 1 child that really ate anything as he was 3 the other 2 was only 16 months!! many was quick serve I think we only did Crystal palace " a tradition from when Disney 1st opened for my family" twice and that was it other then a few TS meals, It was that trip that made us decided we would never go with out a dining plan again even if we had to pay for it.Such a shame that Disney food prices have gone up by so much but they know that many have no way of eating at any other place and so we will put up with it!

WE LOVE THE FOOD
Personally the food at Disney is a huge part of the fun for us we love eating at the different restaurants and think Disney meals can be some of the best meals we have ever had! Doing our ADR's choosing where we are going to eat and sorting out new places each time is really exciting for me(I do all the planning the rest just turn up)it takes me many wks to sort and as stressful as it can be it really makes the holiday to have such great food in such interesting places

We only get to do Disney every other yr we are a young family only Dh works fulltime in the Forces as ive been pretty sick on and off since 2006 and so we save really hard to do these trips Many say why do you keep going back when it costs so much and our answer is............Because Its DISNEY we love it we feel the magic and excitement its much more then just a holiday for us! Its given us themost AMAZING memories Im proud that im doing with my children what my parents did with me!

All in all i totally think im still getting the Value out of Disney as once its paid off its done not like other holidays where yes you pay the trip but then have to continue to entertain yourselves and your children for the whole trip!...

 

[disneylooper]

I agree with you that Disney offers a singular, unique experience, and arguably at a reasonable price. But there is, sadly, no question that they have lowered their standards over the years with regard to maintenance, show quality, and service. Thirty years ago, you would have never seen trash, neglected paint/carpentry, burned out light bulbs, or attractions operating in less than perfect condition. Disney banks on the hope that the average guest just won't notice. And, unless they have been visiting since the 70's (or 50's), I guess most do not.

Well said, I totally agree. I still love going and I have been going to a Disney Park since DL opened. Everytime we go which is once or twice a year, I notice a decline in something. My daughter who has been to Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disney said that Tokyo Disney is the way WDW used to be, she just loves it. The quality is there as is the cleanliness and politeness.

 

[matheke]

To OP, I have not read every post in this thread so if some of this has been covered, I apologize.

1. With being DVC members at least you have flexability. There is always DCL and DL as options plus any of the exchanges. At least you have options.

2. Sometimes a burned out light is not a burned out lightbulb. We had a traffic light in town that the turn arrow did not light for 6 months. There were numerous complaints. Problem was undergound wiring and having to wait for the ground to thaw before we could dig. Now I know there is no frozen ground at WDW but sometimes the simple things are more complex to fix than they appear.

3. I agree with your opinion, if the trash cans are overflowing. I have seen it reported in other threads, so I don't think it is just you seeing this. Cleanliness is the main reason we go to Disney instead of other parks we have been to in the past. When there is over flowing trash that I can see, it makes me wonder about cleanliness in areas I can't see.

Thanks for the mini report.

Dan

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

I agree the food prices are insane. I will continue to go to WDW, but will stay offsite, eat CS or groceries. The price of food at WDW is completely outrageous.

 

[connie1042]

We were on a monorail going to CR from Epcot. First ride, great. Get off, 2nd monorail is down, sending buses. In the end, from the time we left Epcot to the time we got back to Epcot, almost 4 hours. I am not joking.

 

[Planogirl]

We were on a monorail going to CR from Epcot. First ride, great. Get off, 2nd monorail is down, sending buses. In the end, from the time we left Epcot to the time we got back to Epcot, almost 4 hours. I am not joking.

Wow!

And here I thought that going to Downtown Disney was bad.

 

[maxiesmom]

Nothing is ever perfect, but I think the imperfections become more noticeable them more times you visit the parks. The first few times you still are wowed by what you see, and just trying to take it all in. After a handful of visits, you start to notice more of the details. And unfortunately some of them are the bad details, such as a burned out bulb or trash thrown into the rides.

If someone stops going to WDW because of those imperfections, and visits another place a few times, they will start to notice the problems that that place has too. No vacation destination is perfect. But the newness of the place can blur those imperfections for a while.

 

[photobob]

I just recently sold my DVC contract because of my wife's health. We just didn't feel we could go often enough to warrant keeping the DVC. When we would go we'd try to keep expenses down as well as we could but i must agree Disney is pricing us out of returning. I was looking at the thread about how much people are spending on their WDW vacations this year and it is crazy.

I truly loved my WDW vacations with the kids who are now grown but I think it is time to do something else. I remember in 1999 we stayed at ASMovies for a week, our room, tickets and meals for the four of us cost around $1500. Miss those days in more than one way!

I have loved going to WDW more than anyone I know, but I have to agree with the OP it no longer is a good value for the money.