Magical ? Not so much.

[epcotty]

It's actually very easy at Epcot, AK, and HS. MK is a little tougher, but if you take advantage of late EMH and spend more than one day at MK, that's actually pretty easy too.

Also see my other post 2 up from yours. We do minimize wait times as much as possible and do quite well with that on the whole, it just seemed like to the extent that the other poster was saying would be tough

 

[jmkjr72]

I also wanted to add that I have been able to upgrade 1 park per day tickets to Park Hopper passes.
I remember paying a per day up charge of like $30 bucks.
We were told on this most recent visit that doing that is no longer allowed.

Even on your last trip the limit to upgrade was 14 days after the first use of the ticket

What I find hard to belive is you didn't even look to see about any changes in the 4 years sense you have last been with so many trips you should have expected changes

 

[3DisneyFanz]

It's actually very easy at Epcot, AK, and HS. MK is a little tougher, but if you take advantage of late EMH and spend more than one day at MK, that's actually pretty easy too.

So at the parks with so little to do you can basically schedule FP for half the attractions before going you can find great success.

 

[Planogirl]

We just returned from WDW and we all agree that there isn't much point in going to DHS or Epcot now. I expect that to change but until it does we have no intention of returning. MK and AK were much nicer but I also think that MK is too crowded for our tastes. We might limit ourselves to AK now. I never would have imagined that just a few years ago!

But to each their own. Everyone likes different things.

 

[kathy884]

OP -- I can relate to what you are saying. The MK is just so popular now. It does sound totally insane to reserve rides weeks in advance. And you would think (I think it's reasonable) that you could just show up and not be at such a huge disadvantage. And it is a big cost commitment. I am glad there are so many other things that you enjoy in Orlando. And I agree that other experiences there can be done and done enjoyably with little to no planning.

We haven't given up totally on Disney, but I am, for example, changing my behavior and when I go. And I know I'm doing a ton of planning, for example, for my two Disney days on my next trip. Yes -- I'm doing other things in Orlando too and won't have to plan as much for those. Due to wanting to do Disney, though (1) instead of my normal spring break visit, I am going at a possibly colder and less popular time (mid January -- just before MLK day). It looks like with this less popular time even without much planning lines are way more tolerable. I usually just buy my ticket at the gate, but am buying tickets in advance and will book fast passes (if any good ones that work with a touring plan I'm doing with www.touringplans.com are available). And I'll even take a look in advance for those a little after that 30 day mark -- insane, but I'm going to do it. And my decision of when to go is very much based on doing a detailed touring plan on www.touringplans.com to see what their predications look like for me if I don't get any fastpasses. We're for example at the MK going to do the Keys to the Kingdom tour first, so we'll be at the disadvantage of just starting our touring plan at 1 p.m. Spring Break just looked awful for that (crowd level 8). Mid January (crowd level 2), though, looked just fine.

Anyway, I'm sorry your trip was less than magical. Crowds and popularity do just take the joy out of a lot of things for me too. For me -- Yellowstone in August was too popular -- what was I thinking. The same was true of Niagra Falls for Labor Day. And Christmas week in Orlando and even before Christmas sold out parties just have been a bit much (not planning any near term repeat visits then or to the parties). Even doing the early bird thing and beating the crowds (while helpful) wasn't enough. And the older I get the less tolerance I seem to have for crowds. For me, I am changing when I vacation and where I vacation to make things more to my liking. (The upswing in the economy is for the most part a good thing. But there definitely seem to be more people out there with money to spend making things I like more crowded and meaning I have to change my behavior a bit to have as good a time as I had before.)

 

[paisleys]

OP -- I can relate to what you are saying. The MK is just so popular now. It does sound totally insane to reserve rides weeks in advance. And you would think (I think it's reasonable) that you could just show up and not be at such a huge disadvantage. And it is a big cost commitment. I am glad there are so many other things that you enjoy in Orlando. And I agree that other experiences there can be done and done enjoyably with little to no planning.

We haven't given up totally on Disney, but I am, for example, changing my behavior and when I go. And I know I'm doing a ton of planning, for example, for my two Disney days on my next trip. Yes -- I'm doing other things in Orlando too and won't have to plan as much for those. Due to wanting to do Disney, though (1) instead of my normal spring break visit, I am going at a possibly colder and less popular time (mid January -- just before MLK day). It looks like with this less popular time even without much planning lines are way more tolerable. I usually just buy my ticket at the gate, but am buying tickets in advance and will book fast passes (if any good ones that work with a touring plan I'm doing with www.touringplans.com are available). And I'll even take a look in advance for those a little after that 30 day mark -- insane, but I'm going to do it. And my decision of when to go is very much based on doing a detailed touring plan on www.touringplans.com to see what their predications look like for me if I don't get any fastpasses. We're for example at the MK going to do the Keys to the Kingdom tour first, so we'll be at the disadvantage of just starting our touring plan at 1 p.m. Spring Break just looked awful for that (crowd level 8). Mid January (crowd level 2), though, looked just fine.

Anyway, I'm sorry your trip was less than magical. Crowds and popularity do just take the joy out of a lot of things for me too. For me -- Yellowstone in August was too popular -- what was I thinking. The same was true of Niagra Falls for Labor Day. And Christmas week in Orlando and even before Christmas sold out parties just have been a bit much (not planning any near term repeat visits then or to the parties). Even doing the early bird thing and beating the crowds (while helpful) wasn't enough. And the older I get the less tolerance I seem to have for crowds. For me, I am changing when I vacation and where I vacation to make things more to my liking. (The upswing in the economy is for the most part a good thing. But there definitely seem to be more people out there with money to spend making things I like more crowded and meaning I have to change my behavior a bit to have as good a time as I had before.)

I could have written this! I grew up going to WDW in the 1970's and 1980's. My family liked it so much they relocated to Orlando and my brother still works on property. I have a family of my own now and we used to go often (live in FL). We just can't enjoy it with the massive crowds anymore. We do not fault Disney though--it's a private company with a great product and people want to visit. They have to manage the crowds and they are doing the best they can with FP+ (which I happen to love--odd to have to get up at midnight 60 days prior to schedule a ride, but better that than getting there and finding our favorite rides impossible to get near). We went at a less crowded time and it was still crazy just to get fries and a soda at a QS restaurant. People seem to be very aggressive. Main Street scares me with the crowding and people pushing and shoving. People walk around with lit cigarettes. Again, NONE of this is Disney's fault. They're doing the best they can to manage the crowds.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

I think Disney is doing all they can to drain the wallets of the crowds filling the parks. Controlling them not so much.

 

[disneyseniors]

Sure, when you say it like that, it sounds so simple. Just book your ADRs, book your FP+, and go have fun. And it can be that simple for the experienced WDW visitors on these boards. But I suspect that for the vast majority of first-timers, there is nothing simple about deciding out what parks they will be at months in advance and then figuring out what rides they will want to do, and when, and what rides they should get FP for, using MDE and the app, etc.

When I talk to friends/family who are first-timers or infrequent WDW visitors, and they learn that you can book FPs two months in advance, the first words out of their mouths are not "that sounds so easy" or "that's going to allow me to be so spontaneous". The most common words I hear are "what?", "ridiculous", "insane", "crazy", and "how am I supposed to know what park I want to go to/where I want to eat/what rides I want to go on". And after they start using the MDE app, the typical response is "what a pain in the butt". (I do not find it necessary or helpful to remind them that FP+ is an optional system, or that they should just be happy they are going to WDW.)

"Spontaneous" can mean a lot of different things to different people, and there are different levels of spontaneity. Deciding to have lunch at Pinocchio Village Haus instead of Columbia Harbour House, or strolling through a gift shop instead of heading straight to the next ride is not what I would call being truly spontaneous. For me, being really spontaneous was leaving several days at the tail end of my WDW vacation completely "open", then deciding what we wanted to do the night before or morning of. You can still do that, but it's more difficult that it used to be, especially if you have small children and you aren't sure what parks/rides are going to be their favorites.

I agree with this post. I, too, have had the same responses from "first timers" who cannot believe all the preplanning, prebooking, etc that goes with a WDW vacation now. They just have to decide if they want to jump through all the hoops to do it. It can sound so overwhelming all at once, though.
My husband and I did exactly what you are talking about, as far as leaving some of the last days of our vacation "open" with nothing scheduled. We went for 10 days. We had one Universal day scheduled(it was awesome). We had 4 park days scheduled with must do fp's. We had 3 adr's of our favorite restaurants scheduled for the whole 10 days. We paid out of pocket this time; a new experience for us, and another thread
On those last few days, it was great to go where we wanted to go, with a general idea, of course. I had made fps for our favorites at the parks just in case we wanted to ride them one more time with fp. I found that we didn't use those, just TSM and 7dmt(once). But I think it all boils down to your individual touring style. We are seniors, take things more slowly, have experienced each attraction several times over the years, love to wander and soak in the atmosphere and check out the amazing architecture, don't do character meals/M&G's, so this type of thing fit us just fine. We experienced things that we had skipped over before and enjoyed them. It was really nice not to have to be somewhere at a certain time and not to have to clock watch all day.
I guess I just wanted to give our experiences on the "wing it" days at the end of our visit. I really loved paying OOP and not be scheduled every day. Worked for us

 

[ttintagel]

The black MK is absolutely, qithourt a doubt, ridiculouly understated for the number of guess it gets. There's no way they can provide proper service with such skeleton staffing levels. Even if they're trained well, the stress of trying to do the job of several workers at a time is going to affect your performance. And payroll is the first place big compani4s like Disney look to slash and burn when they want more cash in the pockets at the top instead of reinvested in the business,

 

[larryz]

The black MK is absolutely, qithourt a doubt, ridiculouly understated for the number of guess it gets.

 

[Shanti]

I could have written this! I grew up going to WDW in the 1970's and 1980's. My family liked it so much they relocated to Orlando and my brother still works on property. I have a family of my own now and we used to go often (live in FL). We just can't enjoy it with the massive crowds anymore. We do not fault Disney though--it's a private company with a great product and people want to visit. They have to manage the crowds and they are doing the best they can with FP+ (which I happen to love--odd to have to get up at midnight 60 days prior to schedule a ride, but better that than getting there and finding our favorite rides impossible to get near). We went at a less crowded time and it was still crazy just to get fries and a soda at a QS restaurant. People seem to be very aggressive. Main Street scares me with the crowding and people pushing and shoving. People walk around with lit cigarettes. Again, NONE of this is Disney's fault. They're doing the best they can to manage the crowds.

What time of year was the less crowded time that you went and had those problems? We went during last 4th of July & didn't encounter any pushing or shoving on Main Street, and have never seen anyone walking around with lit cigarettes. They have designated smoking areas that are out of the way- anything else is prohibited.

 

[Disneyholic]

My son & his wife went to WDW for their Honeymoon in September into October. I told him he should book some fast passes and meals and he said they just wanted to wing it. I said that would be fine if he really didn't want to get much done. He decided to listen to Mom and booked fast passes and a few meals that they really wanted. He was glad they did because it was crazy down there due to Food and Wine and MNSSHP.

 

[SparklePixie]

What time of year was the less crowded time that you went and had those problems? We went during last 4th of July & didn't encounter any pushing or shoving on Main Street, and have never seen anyone walking around with lit cigarettes. They have designated smoking areas that are out of the way- anything else is prohibited.

I have seen people walking around with lit cigarettes on every trip since 2009. Just because it is supposedly prohibited doesn't mean it is enforced.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

What time of year was the less crowded time that you went and had those problems? We went during last 4th of July & didn't encounter any pushing or shoving on Main Street, and have never seen anyone walking around with lit cigarettes. They have designated smoking areas that are out of the way- anything else is prohibited.

We were down in early September and my wife almost got knocked off the sidewalk following the MSEP because she was trying to put our son in his stroller so we could leave and people were trying to rush the middle of the street to wait for Wishes. We also watched a family light up coming out of A&E and smoke while waiting for the Carosel.

 

[ScottOKW2K]

The black MK is absolutely, qithourt a doubt, ridiculouly understated for the number of guess it gets. There's no way they can provide proper service with such skeleton staffing levels. Even if they're trained well, the stress of trying to do the job of several workers at a time is going to affect your performance. And payroll is the first place big compani4s like Disney look to slash and burn when they want more cash in the pockets at the top instead of reinvested in the business,

????

 

[crazymomof4]

Sorry you had a bad experience. Maybe give it one more shot?

For what you get, I honestly don't think WDW prices are outrageous. Recently attended an NFL football game. Tickets were courtesy of my husband's boss but the price on them was over $300 per seat. wow! Parking was $40 and the food prices were higher than most comparable WDW menu items. (and of course, no outside food or even water brought in) I told DH that those prices make WDW seem like a BARGAIN!
We used the FP system for the first time in 2014 and it worked really well for us.... and we had been great fans of the old system!
We've been going to WDW since 1988 and the only "change" that's been annoying to me is the attitude of other guests... more rude behavior than in the past. Not the fault of wdw and try to rise above it and not let it affect my vaca negatively.