Just got back - some thoughts about our trip

[ToyStory3]

It's my husband and kids (8,12). We've been to WDW many times and go every couple of years. We stayed at Sugarloaf in the Grand Floridian for the first time. We had a very nice time and enjoyed ourselves. But, there were major cutbacks and eliminations in the the club level experience. The CMs confirmed it and were very open about it. It was extremely disappointing.

I can honestly say that the amount of scheduling and planning is taking away from the experience for me. We only made a few ADRs so it could be a little more spontaneous and flexible this time. It helped but we still felt that we were always supposed to be somewhere. We used to change the park that we wanted to go to the night before if we felt like it. But, with fast passes for coveted rides we are hesitant to do that now.

When we were at AK the system went down and no one could pull up any fast passes or ADRs. And, magic bands wouldn't work in any stores. When we were at DHS Tower of Terror and Rockn Roller Coaster were both down at the same time. The Great Movie Ride closed early for the fireworks. There's really not a lot left after you've done a couple other rides.

And, I noticed that the CMs were talking to each other much more than talking to guests. I've never seen that in the past. They were joking around with each other a lot, talking about what they were going to do after work, and I even saw a JC skipper flip another skipper off (jokingly) when she thought no one was looking. My kids were right beside me.

I still love WDW but I don't like being so scheduled for every minute of the day. And by not scheduling you miss out on the best attractions and restaurants - so I disagree with them that the system offers flexibility. We will return I'm sure and it still holds a special place in my heart. But, I don't feel the excitement about it that I used to. Just sharing some of my post-trip thoughts.

 

[ajwolfe]

We just went as well and I have to agree the one day where the bands was not working for charging was a serious pain - although ours still worked for our FP+.

We had the same issue in DHS where we were waiting around for the fireworks (which were awesome) but there was nothing to ride or do. Not sure why the Great Movie Ride needs to close over almost 2 hours in advance of fireworks especially when it's an indoor ride anyway.

But otherwise we had a magical trip - we don't mind scheduling everything out and for us it actually allows us to relax more instead of running from thing to thing as crazy.

 

[loves to dive]

Sounds like it might be time for ya'll to take a little break, for some people if they go often it can get a little less magic. As far as magic bands, it might be because I work for a tech company and my honey owns his own tech company but I don't ever trust it. I always take a little cash and a CC to the parks with me, the MB readers have been known to be wonky so a backup just makes sense. I'm sure they close GMR early and during the FW because they can't have a line out in front of it with the FWs going off. I agree with both ToT and RnRc down at the same time the FWs are going off it would make pickins slim there. I'm one of the few people who love HS for for itself, I can wander around for hours just looking at the fake store fronts. No excuse for CMs to be chatting with each other unless it's work related. I'm one of the lucky ones that have been going for a number of years and even go twice a year now so the new FP system doesn't bother me at all. Since I can remember the days without one at all, I don't mind standing in line if I want to ride a ride and never made ADRs in advance. Even when my son was young he liked to eat different things so we would just go to GS and ask what was available and let them find us something. Of course, as he grew older the times didn't matter at all, we can eat early late or whenever and there was never a restaurant that if we didn't get to eat there would ruin our trip. I don't usually make FPs until about a week before we go, if that early and tend to change them on the fly more often than not. Again, since we are lucky we go so often, if we miss a ride, it's not the end of the world or if we want to ride it bad enough, we stand in line. Hopefully your next trip will be a little easier.

 

[redsbe]

Also just got back, had no issues with MDE, MBs, or FPs, parks were clean and well staffed, crowds were little higher then expected (8+), no complaints about CMs or rides/attractions (encountered no unexpected long delays or closures). Heat (95+) and humidity were the major challenges, we hit RD or soon after opening, but only lasted until dinner hour a few days as were worn down by the heat humidity. Also seems like more visitors are planning, using RDs and FPs for mornings (we saw some FP ride right at park opening), looking like RD advantage is shorter now, perhaps 1 hr as saw major attractions 1 hr or longer with first hour of regular park hours. EMH mornings still appear to be big advantage as many, including us find it hard to make 8am RD, evening EMHs were busy saw 60+ minute waits on major rides at 11p or later. AoA was great, as was bus services including Disney Express,and yes more planning required but that has been the case for several years with increased attendance and introduction of FPs.

 

[JimmyV]

Sounds like it might be time for ya'll to take a little break, for some people if they go often it can get a little less magic.

To be fair, the issues that the OP described were largely, if not entirely the result of changes made on Disney's end and not issues that arise naturally due to over-familiarity. I'm not sure how taking a break and coming back in, say, 5 years is going to make the Concierge experience miraculously transform back into what it used to be, especially if Disney keeps cutting back what it offers in that regard. Heck. If one takes too long a break, by the time they come back, the Concierge experience might not even be recognizable!

 

[lugnut33]

I agree, take a break or somehow get amnesia so you don't remember your past trips.

 

[loves to dive]

To be fair, the issues that the OP described were largely, if not entirely the result of changes made on Disney's end and not issues that arise naturally due to over-familiarity. I'm not sure how taking a break and coming back in, say, 5 years is going to make the Concierge experience miraculously transform back into what it used to be, especially if Disney keeps cutting back what it offers in that regard. Heck. If one takes too long a break, by the time they come back, the Concierge experience might not even be recognizable!

To some part that is true but sometimes we just get to familiar and what we perceive as a bad experience or cut back might just be we've grown a little bored. Some find change hard, the new fast pass system comes to mind, a lot of people were in an uproar about the whole thing before it actually even began. I think customer service in just about every industry has gone down hill in the past 5 to 10 years, I'm not sure why. I'll be the first to admit I have fond memories of the good old days at WDW when the streets were always clean and the CMs were always smiling. I've stayed at a few of the deluxe concierges and have found them all to be sort of hit and miss.

 

[ariane37]

I can honestly say that the amount of scheduling and planning is taking away from the experience for me. We only made a few ADRs so it could be a little more spontaneous and flexible this time. It helped but we still felt that we were always supposed to be somewhere. We used to change the park that we wanted to go to the night before if we felt like it. But, with fast passes for coveted rides we are hesitant to do that now.


And, I noticed that the CMs were talking to each other much more than talking to guests. I've never seen that in the past. They were joking around with each other a lot, talking about what they were going to do after work, and I even saw a JC skipper flip another skipper off (jokingly) when she thought no one was looking. My kids were right beside me.

QUOTE]

I want to comment on these two things. We also have been many, many times and have gone at least twice a year the past few years. We also have a trip planned for Nov. and plan to get AP's again. There are new things/changes that we like, and we understand Disney has to change and that some things they do are done to try to improve. On the other hand there are things we aren't fans of, which I don't think means we should take a break. Just because someone has a less than perfect experience doesn't mean they're necessarily sour on Disney, or can't find the magic or anything like that. It just means, especially if they've been often, that they've noticed changes and don't feel all of them are positive.

I'm not a lover of FP+. I don't despise it like some do; I can understand why some love it, like it, and why many hate it. I find in general we had better luck riding more headliners more often with legacy FP. Not because we cheated any system or hate Disney now or need to vaction elsewhere or refuse to modify our touring. Just the way things were and are I preferred having one less thing to schedule ahead of time and feel old FP got us all we wanted.

Both DH and I AND oldest DS have noticed on at least our last 4 trips, Jan. 2016, Nov. 2015, Aug. 2015 and March 2015 that CM's have been talking amongst themselves about things other than work, often inappropriate things, in many instances. We've also noticed many instances where CM's have responded to guest questions in a rude manor or just been plain rude in general. At the same time we've encountered the usual great CM's. I have my ideas as to why this is the case. And while there are tons of guests who still encounter great CM"s and can visit for 10, 14 days with no negative CM experiences, I for one believe all reports that not so hot CM's do exist. And its perfectly OK to report all that here! And it stinks when you've been going somewhere for years and you notice a decline in any part of service, whether it's Disney or somewhere else.

OP we had a HORRIBLE experience at our resort last November due to CM's and it not only put a huge damper on that trip, but took away my excitement about our trip 2 months later in January. For a few weeks after we returned home I felt negative about Disney and didn't want to do any planning but slowly I got back into it. Our January trip was great I assume going forward we'll have more great trips and more not so great ones; hope you're next one, whenever you return, brings back the excitement!

 

[ariane37]

Ugh, don't know why my response came out that way. I've been having so many issues lately replying and quoting on my stupid old computer

 

[redsbe]

We were at WDW just last week and the parks, including streets and washrooms were cleaned with plenty of staff working, and had good interactions with many CMs. Yes overall customer service in all areas, not just WDW, is perhaps not what it was in the past, but at least in case WDW they are dealing with much larger crowds and more depending visitors. I am sure experiences with CMs and cleaning vary from person to person, day by day, park by park, and throughout the year I have no doubt issues and concerns occur, but we certainly did not notice an issue at any time last week.

 

[mickeymom629]

Sounds like it might be time for ya'll to take a little break, for some people if they go often it can get a little less magic.

I disagree with this ^^and agree with JimmyV's comment since it seems like you go so often that you don't mind not seeing everything in one trip (which I totally get). I think if the OP went more often, that would be the same for her as well (as far as less disappointment if a ride is down or closed, and not having to have so many ADRs in one trip). I was even going to suggest to the OP that she schedule her trips a little closer together, rather than taking a break I also only carry my cash/cc since I don't like to link my cc on my MB anyway. The cm issues were unfortunate, but we had great cm experiences when we were there in January.