Just home, my thoughts

[maxiesmom]

You might try to accommodate your customers if guest satisfaction remained a prority. IMO Disney is relying on their former reputation of great customer service, but it's no longer a reality. If guests were still number one: Why would they open the FP+ booking window at midnight? Why do they open the ADR booking window at 6 months and the FP+ window at 30-60 days out? Why have they removed park benches in the parks? Why is there only 1 Anna and Elsa meet greet for all 4 parks? Why are guests being charged more and experiencing less?

I don't think we are experiencing less. Disney has been spending a lot of money on park updates and new rides, including the not too far in the future new Anna and Else Norway take-over.

I'm also not sure what time window would be perfect for opening FPs. 8 am, when most people are heading out to work? 6 am when they are trying to get ready for the day? Midnight is at least a clean line. No time window for anything will be met with 100% agreement as being perfect.

The park bench derth has been debated before. From what I understand they are taking them out for a few reasons--to keep kids from climbing on them and then suing if they fall. To keep guests moving, i.e shopping. And to keep people from parking on them and then claiming the space around them for fireworks viewing. Which causes fights with other guests.

 

[mom2rtk]

If you're hungry, that's a new benefit included at no additional cost. Go ahead, finish that burger you just walked past. You know you wanna.


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Is that a snack credit or a table service credit?

 

[maxiesmom]

I'm guessing the 5 minutes was just a rough estimate.

I know. But whenever we have waited in line to meet a character, there reward has never been 5 or 4 minutes of uninterrupted quality time. It has always been talk a little, have them sign the book, snap a pic, and go. Disney is probably trying to get as many people to meet the characters as possible. That is the pickle--do you give a few guests a great experience, or many guests an average experience? How much of an uproar would there be if they suddenly cut back on the number of FPs? I don't think telling guests But You Get To Spend More Time With The Characters would gain them anything.

 

[perditax]

I'm among the disillusioned (see my prior posts) but I'll play Devil's advocate on the midnight ADR thing: that's a pretty common time for "launches" of anything that is intangible and based on a specific date. See: video game launches, midnight movie openings, Netflix releases of new original series, pre-order windows for new Apple products. (I've paid my dues being up at 3am (midnight Apple time) to pre-order something for my boss.) If you can't book until 180 days ahead of X date, well, it's going to become 180 days ahead of X date at midnight. Blame the way time works.

 

[chrissyb2411]

I don't know what the solution is, if a guest is upset that less than 5 minutes was spent at a meet and great with the character. I've never been in a character line where you were with the character for 5 minutes. As another poster pointed out, that would be less than 12 interactions an hour. What is better, to drastically cut back on the FPs for those meet and greets, or to shove people through line at a fast pace?

And if they did allow for 5 minutes a person, adding additional As & Es to the other parks wouldn't help at all. The meet and greets would just be spread out. I guess I don't know what the answer is for someone who wants a bit of quality time with a character, instead of a few moments of their time.

I clarified in another post, the 5 minutes included more than just character time. Character time was 1-2 minutes combined.

And, what you are suggesting is exactly what we did by booking akerhaus (and paying $225 for a mediocre dinner for 2 adults and 2 kids). We thought we were paying for the time with the princesses. No waiting in the hour long line. They come to you. Sadly we had the same rushed, move along, experience. The faster they could get us out, the faster they could get another group seated and paying. Again very short times with the characters.

Again, we still had a good vacation, as many have said you make your own magic. I read a lot of the threads here before going. Both positive and negative. I really thought the negative naysayers were just Debbie downers with unreal expectations. I was sad to experience much of the same " loss of magic" that many talk about and just wanted to share.

 

[Laketravis]

The park bench derth has been debated before. From what I understand they are taking them out for a few reasons--to keep kids from climbing on them and then suing if they fall. To keep guests moving, i.e shopping. And to keep people from parking on them and then claiming the space around them for fireworks viewing. Which causes fights with other guests.

I bolded the only legitimate reason.


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[maxiesmom]

I bolded the only legitimate reason.


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I don't agree. I've seen people fight when someone stood in front of their bench in "their" space before. It wasn't pretty. And I'm sure that it wasn't a rare thing.

 

[Laketravis]

I don't agree. I've seen people fight when someone stood in front of their bench in "their" space before. It wasn't pretty. And I'm sure that it wasn't a rare thing.

I've personally seen them do that over curb space as well, and Disney hasn't removed the curbs.

But let's assume it's true. Why remove the benches completely? Why not simply move them to a non-parade viewing spot and establish seating areas similar to smoking areas? For instance, why not line the area to the side of BTMR with benches so people aren't parking their butts on rocks or lateral fence posts?

Because that's not why there is a strategic shortage of benches and places to sit in the parks.


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[maxiesmom]

I've personally seen them do that over curb space as well, and Disney hasn't removed the curbs.

That's not why there is a strategic shortage of benches in the parks.


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I don't know how you can claim that for sure. Disney has their reasons, and we can only guess at them. They are probably gone for more than one reason. And whatever they are they make sense to them.

 

[DisneyFive]

New Disney ad campaign:

"Walt Disney World Resort--It won't suck nearly as much as you've been led to believe on the Dis!"

Walt Disney World - Where dreams come true. We suck less than you think we do!



Dan

(full disclosure, we DO still love WDW, but have gone enough to know that pixie dust is not an automatic)

 

[Laketravis]

I don't know how you can claim that for sure...

Because lack of seating is a long standing technique in crowd management and flow. There are other variations as well, like seating with no seat backs to increase turnover at eateries.

No place to sit, gotta keep moving. No comfortable place to sit, don't sit very long.


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[Cormoran]

I don't think we are experiencing less. Disney has been spending a lot of money on park updates and new rides, including the not too far in the future new Anna and Else Norway take-over. .

What park updates besides FP+ and the eventual opening of Avatarland in 2017. So far Disney is closing more stuff and not announcing any new attractions. Unless you're refering to the Fantasyland update.

I'm also not sure what time window would be perfect for opening FPs. 8 am, when most people are heading out to work? 6 am when they are trying to get ready for the day? Midnight is at least a clean line. No time window for anything will be met with 100% agreement as being perfect..

What about 9 pm EST ? What about not having the FP+ reservation window fluctuating based on when the MK closes? Why not have it open at the same time every night?

The park bench derth has been debated before. From what I understand they are taking them out for a few reasons--to keep kids from climbing on them and then suing if they fall. To keep guests moving, i.e shopping. And to keep people from parking on them and then claiming the space around them for fireworks viewing. Which causes fights with other guests.

If this were true, why haven't the park benches been removed from the the DL resorts?

 

[lauradis]

Does anyone not find it crazy that we are talking about a potentially several thousand dollar vacation and going into with low expectations? Seriously? I mean no one should expect perfection but I think some high expectations should be met at the price tag these vacations have.

OP, I would be upset about the Anna and Elsa thing and I completely understand it being expected to be the highlight of your trip. When dd was little, her main objective was meeting Jasmine and Aladdin. Thank goodness they weren't as popular and there wasn't all this FP+ stuff with characters then. She met them in Adventureland. We lucked out and were first in line. They spent a lot of time with her. Aladdin even sat down on the floor, cross legged and proceeded to carry on a conversation with her. She was 6 then. She is 16 now and those pictures are still her favorite of all the trips we have done.

YES, When this happen to us we decided to go less often, visit other places. I so glad we decided to jump off the going only to mostly Disney train.

 

[Cormoran]

I don't know how you can claim that for sure. Disney has their reasons, and we can only guess at them. They are probably gone for more than one reason. And whatever they are they make sense to them.

Yup, keep guests uncomfortable and moving along: into shops or into restaurants.

 

[Pfau]

Maybe it was because we only did 2 park days this year - or maybe because our expectations had been lowered from the previous year. I don't know what it was exactly, but all this is to say that (while it's not the good old days and likely won't be again) - there is still good things and hope for good trips. Maybe taking a few years away is a good idea. Thanks for sharing your experience!

I think this is exactly it, imo. Those who often complain seem to be those who have been often. They have expectations of 'the olden days' and are not as easily wooed bc they've seen it all before.

I'm sorry, OP, that you were disappointed.

 

[LadyRayado]

I've personally seen them do that over curb space as well, and Disney hasn't removed the curbs.

Not that it has anything to do with anything, but aren't the curbs slated to be removed as well? First the Hub area, then down Main Street?I thought I'd heard that, under the explanation of ADA issues.

Anyway, I'm sorry too OP!

 

[LadyRayado]

double post!

 

[lauradis]

I think this is exactly it, imo. Those who often complain seem to be those who have been often. They have expectations of 'the olden days' and are not as easily wooed bc they've seen it all before.

I'm sorry, OP, that you were disappointed.

yes and no in "the olden days" there was no 4 parks, no fp, only waiting in line, and food was just as expensive, but better quality, service was better, so where the people.

My point is times change, places change, people change. Disney is no different.

 

[MIGrandma]

We spent 8 nights at WDW in January with extended family. The highlight of the trip for me was seeing our young grandchildren's faces as they experienced Disney for the first time. But, I do understand what the OP is talking about. I used to think January was a great time to go, crowds non-existant and pretty much walk-on rides (or very little wait time) but this time it was terribly crowded. The crane certainly took away some of the ambiance of the castle, and all the construction walls as well. I don't like their FP system, letting you only make fast passes for one park per day. They want you to buy park hopper tickets, but then won't let you make a fast pass in more than one park. Most of the food was just okay, and even worse than that at BOG for dinner. I ordered my steak medium rare and it came out more well done. Server never even asked if it was okay, in fact none of the servers at any of the meals ever asked us if the food was okay. It's like they knew there might be potential problems so they didn't want to ask. DH and I have been to Disney several times, but not sure if we will ever go back. Many other places to go in this big beautiful world.

As far as meeting Anna & Elsa, our DD had made a fast pass for our 6-year-old granddaughter to meet them and I thought the time spent with them was about right. Same as with the princesses at Akershush. I loved the buffet part of Akershush, but didn't care for ordering an entree (in retrospect I wonder if I could have just asked the server if I could make another trip to the buffet instead - loved all the different salads, cheeses, etc.).

We capped off our trip with the Wishes Dessert Party and it was in the low 50's that night, and NO heaters on the patio. We about froze to death. There is no reason they couldn't have nice heaters on the patio like they do at Raglan Road.

 

[Jake&IzzyLand]

Your experience is what I fear for our next vacation to WDW. Two things are obvious, everything costs more and it seems you can't escape the crowds. I don't want to lower my expectations, it's vacation and it's disney!