Just back - some yay! - some 'not-so-much'

[PlutoFan10]

Yes, they've started refurbishing BCV. It appears they started on a 5th floor wing. Our room was on another floor and, though a little beat up, was okay. Won't it be interesting to see what the new rooms look like? I'm hoping for a little bit of 'beachy' decor, but am not optimistic.

Yes! Can't wait to see the re-done rooms! Long, long overdue!

 

[cijay]

I don't have a trip planned right now. I said no more until things are done. Too much money for all the construction. I feel really bad, but I am hoping in a few years things will be exciting again.

That's what I said about California Adventure then disnyland as they were preparing for the 60th. Said I'd go back after it was all done...but people keep dying and I have to keep taking ash back to the UK! LOL

 

[larryz]

Just back from 9 days. You made some good constructive points.

I think biggest issue for us ... it was much more crowded than we usually see this time of year. Whether that was the reason or not, I've never in all my years seen so much hostility and awful behavior by guests. Some was directed at CMs and some at other guests. And I mean awful.

Looking forward to your forthcoming thread...

 

[tlmadden73]

Seems like the same story the past month. Busier than any other typical January/February.

I think MK just sees so much guest traffic because it is finally "done" compared to the other parks. DHS has so many closings now, Epcot is a shell of its former self and one of its major attrations is closed, and AK is still under construction (and let's face it .. if you aren't a "zoo" fan .. there isn't much to do there in a day. ).

Until Rivers of Light, Pandora and the DHS lands open up, I think MK will just continue to just be more and more crowded even during the traditionally "slow" times.

 

[HopperFan]

Looking forward to your forthcoming thread...

You know, I'm there ALOT, all different times of year. I've been going since before it opened - Dad took us to the visitor center for a preview. This was by far the worse trip I've seen for behavior. I wish I had a notepad to write it all down. Each trip we have that great story or two but I've never stood with my mouth open or gasp as many times as I did.

I keep wanting to share, cause it was kinda crazy especially if you think it was probably only a slight amount compared to what was going on. Then is you add the minor interactions that most days that just seem obnoxious - but just added to it all. Just not sure where it even fits in.

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

We always look forward to going to WDW every year or so, but I am tending to agree with others who say that maybe taking a couple of years off might be good. We enjoyed our day at Epcot very much, as the weather was perfect and it is so beautiful, but for the price the park just has way too many very tired attractions. MK was great but felt very, very crowded for a level 3 crowd day (we did rope drop). We also love the Boardwalk and Disney Springs, both of which we enjoyed very much. Disney Springs is such fun at night with the entertainment.

 

[GlennN]

It is interesting - so many folks here are getting disappointed (myself included) with the state of the parks, and are taking more time between visits. Yet, the parks are more crowded than ever. It seems like an odd parallel - if we, the public (and the Disney-oriented) are losing the love for Disney, who is filling the parks?

 

[amylevan]

For the record, we saw DeVine on Sunday, Jan 31 at rope drop in the Oasis.

 

[MIGrandma]

After this fall's trip we won't be back for several years. Never thought I'd say that. We've been going to Disney parks regularly since 1968, but we're finally burned out and no longer find the parks in their current states worth the expense.

I feel the same way. DH and I had taken several trips there in the past 40 years, and our most recent trip was a year ago in January with our DD, her DH and their two kids and her DH's parents. I had been telling DD how January is SO MUCH less crowded than other times I'd been (March and September), lines being either non-existent or a 5-10 minute wait, etc. Whoa! Did I get a HUGE surprise! January is NOT the "slow season" anymore, at least not the week we were there. HUGE lines for everything, and we definitely needed our fast passes. Just people, people, people everywhere. Just not "like it used to be" and probably never will be again. We have no plans of going back anytime soon. I'm not saying we'll NEVER go back, but probably not for at least 5 years, maybe more.

 

[MIGrandma]

It is interesting - so many folks here are getting disappointed (myself included) with the state of the parks, and are taking more time between visits. Yet, the parks are more crowded than ever. It seems like an odd parallel - if we, the public (and the Disney-oriented) are losing the love for Disney, who is filling the parks?

I think new people are filling the parks. People who have never been to WDW before. And the diehard fans that don't care how crowded it is, they're still going no matter what.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

I think new people are filling the parks. People who have never been to WDW before. And the diehard fans that don't care how crowded it is, they're still going no matter what.

I agree with this. I think a lot of people that put off WDW trips due to the economic downturn are going and many people are doing their once in a lifetime trip. A lot of those folks see MK as "Disney World" and now that it is complete they are flocking there even if for just one day at Disney. Us Disney diehards will go and get our Mickey fix no matter what .

 

[capegirl]

I agree with this. I think a lot of people that put off WDW trips due to the economic downturn are going and many people are doing their once in a lifetime trip. A lot of those folks see MK as "Disney World" and now that it is complete they are flocking there even if for just one day at Disney. Us Disney diehards will go and get our Mickey fix no matter what .

Yes to the bolded! This year we are working around Disney's 'growing pains' by focusing on our favourites in each park, along with venturing off Disney property to explore other Florida attractions, and we'll enjoy some beach time as well.
We need our annual Disney fix, so this is the way we will roll until the dust settles.

 

[blestmom]

Yes to the bolded! This year we are working around Disney's 'growing pains' by focusing on our favourites in each park, along with venturing off Disney property to explore other Florida attractions, and we'll enjoy some beach time as well.
We need our annual Disney fix, so this is the way we will roll until the dust settles.

I love the way you worded this. We, too, just got back from a 2-week trip to Disney (January 20-February 6). It was just my teenage son and myself. We've gone before a couple of times in January. Like many others, I too was surprised by the crowds at times. We felt in our case it was due to many tour groups...South American, dance team and cheerleaders. At different times during the 2 weeks there were several tour groups around. Combine this with many the many closures stated...much at DHS, Soarin' at Epcot, and the construction at AK...at times the crowds were definitely quite noticable.

However...I am one of those "Disney diehards"....and we are already planning a return trip to get 2 trips out of our annual passes. Most likely next January...tour groups and all. Some of the 'growing pains' we experienced was my own lack of savvy with FP+. I made the mistake of making way too many early ones when they weren't needed, especially as the trip went on and my teenage son started sleeping in later and later. We found for us a better strategy was to get a later start to our day, use FP in the afternoon, then stay at late as possible and even park hop to evening EMH. That's just how my teenage son wanted to do stuff and it made for us a much better trip.

Overall, we had a great time. Even with the additional crowds. The only incidents we had were one trip on a bus from Pop to Animal Kingdom...when we got in the queue at Pop the line was full of a tour group of girls. We got in the back of the line. Shortly after, another group came (same tour group, just 2 large groups full). We were smack dab in the middle. We should have waited for another bus but it was just a short trip to Animal Kingdom...or so we thought. Ended up they were all going to Blizzard Beach. The only other people on the bus was a young couple with a little girl about 3 years old. The girls got on the bus and one proceeded to take out her iphone, and plug in an external speaker. And not of of those little portable ones...this one was huge, about the size of a dinner plate. She cranked up some music really, really loud. And they all sang (i.e., shouted) then entire way. I felt really bad for the family with the little girl. She had her face hidden in her parents lap and they were covering her ears with their hands. Once they all got off at Blizzard Beach, the bus driver turned around with a sheepish look on his face, "It's a lot quieter now, isn't it?" I was quite surprised that the bus driver didn't say anything. I don't like the "What can we do?" attitude. I think when an external speaker is plugged in and music is blasted that loud...it is the bus driver's place to say something.

The only other really negative incident was on our last day. For our very last ride, my son wanted to ride Space Mountain. This was on a Friday night EMH. The app stated a 30 minute wait time. When we got to the attraction, it also stated a 30 minute wait time. This was at 11 pm. So we got into line. About 5 minutes or so in line, all of a sudden up the FP side comes a huge group of cheerleaders (and their families). Then another. And another. And another. And another. They just kept coming. I stopped counting at 200. At this point we'd been in line now about 20 minutes. The stand-by line was now at a standstill. Our only option would have been to get out of the line and skip the ride, but it was our last ride, and now the park was only open for another 30 minutes. So we decided to wait it out. It ended up being a 75 minute wait. I felt so bad for people with little kids in the line, who decided 30 minutes was worth it, but never would have gotten in line if it had stated 75. Huge fail there with the FP+. I don't know what the answer is when huge tour groups come through like that.

And on a side note...I thought that the parks were very clean. I even remarked to my son how clean all the parks were and how hard the castmembers work at it. But... on that last day, Friday, the amount of garbage all over was astounding. It is the only time I have ever seen garbage literally strewn on the Haunted Mansion ride. Water bottles, soda bottles, food wrappers, etc. all over the ground on the ride. In line at Space Mountain we saw a huge mound of food containers just piled in a corner in the line and left there. We saw water bottles all over the ground in the queue. On the ride itself in the car we found an empty chapstick container and some hair bands. On Pirates of the Caribbean we found empty popcorn tubs in the boat. It was just so weird because at no other time did we encounter any garbage or trash and on this day it just seemed to be everywhere.

But with all that said...castmembers were great, we had a lot of fun, and we will be back. It's my "happy place" and it's a place where I can vacation relatively easily and safely when it's just me and my kid (DH doesn't like Disney).

 

[FLsunshine]

It is interesting - so many folks here are getting disappointed (myself included) with the state of the parks, and are taking more time between visits. Yet, the parks are more crowded than ever. It seems like an odd parallel - if we, the public (and the Disney-oriented) are losing the love for Disney, who is filling the parks?

Lots & lots of foreigners. We were shopping at the Florida Mall last weekend and there were tons of them with Mickey hats, princess dresses and the like.
Very, very rude too. Cut the line in front of us three times. One woman tried to plow us down.

 

[love4wdw]

We also just returned, and I will say that we commented about how there is no off season anymore. My fiance and I went with my parents, and we have been much more than my fiance -- we kept reminiscing of the times when the crowds were so low that it looked like the apocalypse came. I was disappointed in the rude nature of the South American tour groups (and actually had no problems with the cheerleaders). I had read of them on DisBoards, but honestly wasn't prepared for them. There must of been 7 different groups in one park. Dad and I got on a ride (at IoA) and in just enough time as about 75 of them crowded in behind us.

We tried to make the best of it, as the crowds were lower than peak season, and if you could stay one step ahead of the groups, it wasn't awful in terms of wait times.

 

[mumumouse]

I hate to say this but the Brazilians are notorious! I love Brazil and I love Brazilians. I am married to one for 37 years now and my children are Brazilian as well as American.

That said, Brazilians throw trash on the ground. They cut in lines.

When we were there last year my daughter and a friend were in line to meet Mickey and I sat out on the porch. My daughter came and said that some Brazilians cut in front of them in the Mickey line and the CMs did not do anything about it.

Sadly many of these Brazilians are well to do and used to having their way.

No offense Brazilians, but you know it is true.

So many Brazilians travel to Disney each year, I was always surprised that Epcot did not have a "Brazil" section.

Again, love the country and the people, but they come in very large groups to Brazil and think they have the run of the place.

I am sorry to hear about the trash situation.

I too will be traveling with my teenager during her spring break and I am wondering about some of the times we have chosen. We start to get up later and later as the days progress. We will be in the parks 7 days and we have a tour one morning in MK. We have to be there at 7:45. My daughter swears she can make it. I am not so sure!!! Then we have what others would consider a later ADR for CP breakfast at MK 9:30. I am afraid we will be later to it all!!!!

This trip will definitely be different. With all the constructions and changes going on and not being ready yet in March, I am prepared for a very crowded MK.

I also think that we will have some earlier evenings this year. Just call it a day and head back to the hotel.

We used to have an absolute blast staying up in MK till the park closed on the later nights.

Still time for me to make some changes to our itinerary!! About 28 days to go.

Again, no offense to Brazilians. Love them all. I think the problem may be that they love their kids to pieces and therefore the kids tend to be a bit spoiled. Plus when you are in another country you tend to run a little wild.

On another note; worried about the Zika outbreak in Brazil. It is pretty scary. Hope none of that turns up in Orlando area. My husband and daughter are going down to Brazil this month and she is wondering if she should just cancel.

The fact that so many Brazilian groups are traveling to Disney at this time is alarming.

 

[mumumouse]

blestmom, meant to say, it has been me and my daughter together on these trips since she was about 6. She is now 14!

Started out with the whole family, then she and I have gone solo.

Lost my husband (on the Disney trips!!) long ago.

We too enjoy the ease of travel and the sense of safety Disney provides.

Hope it continues that way!!!! Great mom/kid times!!!!

We have done a few trips with friends and friend/Mom as well, but don't mind just the two of us!

 

[wdw4rfam]

We had similar feelings after our 2014 trip, but caved and went back this past November and had one of our best trips ever. So I have no idea, maybe our expectation just went down. For our family of 5 (all Disney adults) free dining saves us so much that we will probably keep going as long as they offer it. Without it it's too expensive now and would not be worth it anymore.

 

[katallo]

We've decided to not renew our AP's which expire in April. We are going in March, but are disappointed that so many of our favorite things are under renovation. Honestly, it has been difficult to choose Fast Passes especially in Epcot with the Tiering. Now we read where many of the stores will open later than usual. We'll go to F&G at Epcot, but we can't understand why many of the areas in Epcot remain empty. Example: Canada. It also feels as if Norway has been under construction so long and still won't open when we are there. Yes, they are doing nice things with Disney Springs but we can't justify travelling for that. We were hoping the new garage would be operational in March. We'll see. We will miss it, but we've been faithful annual visitors so now we'll take a break.

 

[Googelibear]

We gave up our annual visit for 2015 because of all the fences and workings everywhere. But have decided to go this coming fall.

As for the offerings in the America pavilion, if you are a regular visitor to EPCOT, you know that it's just a McDonald's kind of place.
We live in a very rural area and exciting restaurants are very far away, so, going to Disney, we never eat at any qs. And with all the other great places in the WS, that particular restaurant has never been on our radar.

Looking forward to seeing much less building and more offerings at Disney Springs this year