No Magic, No Fun, Never Again

[bongocomm]

Shame on you Disney!

That's all I can say after 3 miserable days of being treated like cattle. "Cast Members" did everything but use cattle prods to keep people moving. My advice, NEVER EVER go to Disney during Christmas week. Disney doesn't care if it sells out of fastpasses by noon or you have to wait 110 minutes for the Peter Pan ride (yes the ancient Peter Pan ride!!). If you have 2 hours, go ahead and wait with your three little kids for the Stitch show. Want to go to the bathroom? Plan 20 minutes before you actually need to...yes, big line there too!
On our third day, we just didn't see the point. We calculated we could maybe get in two more rides in 5 hours and none of us would have taken $500 to even stay. (We overheard other people say they might take a $1000 to stay but they would have to think about it). As we left at noon still hundreds and hundreds of people were pouring through the entry. I wanted to yell to everyone DON'T BOTHER!
Disney's greed knows no bounds. There's no magical gathering, it is money grubbing mob scene.
I just asked my 3 year old if she had fun and she could only say "I didn't see Mickey Mouse or the princesses." Yes, because there was a 60-90 minute wait to just get a picture with them. Please, how hard would it be to throw a few more characters in costume around the park.

On the good side, our day at Universal saved the entire trip. We all wished we had had more days for their parks. The Caribe Royale was a wonderful hotel and Tiffany Towne Cars was on time both ways (though they had charged me $30 more than they had quoted; beware: the email confimation doesn't have the price on it. Get it in writing.)

All in all, an incredibly frustrating and expensive lesson learned. At least we were so happy to be home we didn't mind trading 70 degrees for 18 inches of snow.

After this experience, Disney to me will really never be more than an overcrowded, overpriced shopping mall with a few rides. You can go ahead an flame me but to be forewarned is to be forearmed. I am sure many of there are many other WDW "newbies" who are planning trips during school breaks....you might want to rethink that. If I had known before what I know now, "Santa" wouldn't have sent us to WDW, but maybe somewhere warm and fun. Mexico sounds pretty good right now!

 

[rasnlms]

Sorry you had such a horrible time. We were there last Christmas - had a wonderful time - yes it was crowded - but we figured it would be.

Have a Happy New Year!

 

[treehugger]

Hmmm, funny we were there the same time and did not experience anything like you describe. Was this your first trip to WDW? With careful planning we were able to do EVERYTHING with minimal waits. It is a given that Disney will be packed around Christmas, sorry you didn't realize this. As for Universal-ewww, exactly what kind of magic did you find there? As for the fastpasses, there is a limited number that are distributed, hence the reason it works. I see by your post count that you couldn't have asked too many questions prior to your trip, too bad maybe that would have saved it! Knowledge is power!

 

[WolfpackFan]

So, did you not know about the crowds at Christmas at WDW before you went?? I see you've only posted 6 times, if you had spent anytime at all reading these boards, you'd know Christmas is the busiest time of the year at WDW. We have been going last year and this year at Easter, we know it's going to be busy, but want to go anyway. We just change our park plans to suit the crowds and don't plan on doing all the rides. We go at least once a year, so if we miss a few rides, it's no big deal.

 

[minkydog]

Go easy, gang. Until you've experienced a WDW Christmas it's hard to really imagine how bad the crowds are. We went a few years ago and I would agree--we will never do it again. It was beautiful, but I hated that packed-in feeling--got claustrophobic. Didn't know that I would have that reaction.

Sorry you had a bad time, bongocomm. WDW is a lot of fun at other times, but Christmas is not a good week, IMO. I hope you can go another time, perhaps early December or May, when the crowds are much lighter.

Cathy

 

[Disfreek]

I am sorry you had such a bad time. Nothing is worse than anticipating a wonderful time & getting somewhere & it not being what you expected.

I can only travel during school breaks & I went to Orlando last Easter. I knew it was going to be CRAZY crowded--and it was. However we used tour guide mike's advice & we never had to wait for more than 5 minutes for an attraction. We entered the park early & headed straight to Dumbo and did all of Fantansy Land in less than an hour. I guess it is all about planning.

 

[bongocomm]

Yes, I knew it would be crowded. Yes I did research. I logged about 30+ hours on websites, including reading every trip report (including all those ones with the mother in law from h@##) for the last month and all the tips. There are many other websites with disney info so I looked there too. That is how I got the tip on Tiffany and the Caribe. Most of the questions I had were answered by others posts. It shouldn't be that you have to devote all your free time to figuring out how to enjoy an amusement park. But I felt I had done all the research I could.

Disney and even Animal Kingdom had to close for several hours because they were at capacity. Disney won't release attendance numbers, according to the Orlando newspaper, so who knows what their capacity is. One family at our hotel tried to get into Disney for two days and were turned away. I think they were lucky, as at least they didn't waste their day and could resell it or use it another day. Once you were in you were stuck.

Universal was fun because we could get on the rides, see the shows and not stand in endlessly looping lines for hours on end. Universal doesn't pretend to be "magical" ...it is what Disney is, an endless interactive commercial for its products. And that can be fun also.

Don't get me wrong, I was over the moon to be able to take my three kids to Disney. We got up on Christmas day and they had a note that they had to run and pack their backpacks, Santa was sending us to WDW and our flight left at 11 am. We thought it had the makings of a lifetime memory.

 

[jtdl]

I too cannot stand to be in crowds. I have always thought it would be wonderful to be in WDW during the holidays, but know I would not enjoy myself and wouldn't actually even comtemplate going at Christmas. The only time we ever go is end of September or October. This year we are trying beginning of Feb. I hope you will try it again during a much less busy time - it is "magical".

 

[TammiMcMan]

I'm not exactly sure what Disney could have done. If they limited capacity at the parks, there would have been alot more families like the one you described at your resort, waiting 2 days or more to even get in. A lot of people have found the DIS after a bad trip and usually take their next one with a lot more knowledge and insight. 30 hours of browsing websites is not nearly enough time to plan, especially if you do need to go during peak times. This is a friendly group, eager to help and answer questions, even if they've already been asked before. I hope you give it another chance.

 

[MagicKingdom05]

I agree. Try it again, but maybe a couple weeks before Christmas. This is usually a less busy time to go and all of the decorations and stuff are out. I realize you wanted to spend Christmas at WDW and I am sorry you had a bad experience, but don't give up now. Give it another chance and if you still have a bad experience then by all means find another place to vacation.

 

[jennymouse]

I'd love to go at Christmas time but just don't want to deal with the crowds. Sorry you & your family had a bad time. I hope you try it again sometime when the crowds aren't so bad. It breaks my heart that your child didn't get to meet Mickey or the princesses.

 

[athenna]

I agree with what some of the other members have said. If you want the Christmas experience without the crowds, go a little earlier. I always go right after Thanksgiving for a few reasons-my birthday is 11/30, I love yo see it deorated for Christmas, the weather is good (a lot better than it is here in Boston at that time). You get the feeling of Christmas without the crowds. We didn't wait for anything. We rode Splash Mountain twice, on 2 different days. The posted wait time was 5 minutes! And we didn't even wait that long, we walked right on.
Dont give up, the magic is still there!

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

It is a shame that your children didn't get to enjoy the most magical place on earth.

There are other ways to improve your chances of having a good time during a busy week. Being there before the parks open and using a touring plan from the Unofficial Guide will increase the number of attractions that you can experience.

Having Priority Seatings with character meals during the busiest times of afternoon could have given you a break and allowed visits with Mickey and friends (or other characters).

Hope you give it another try. My personal preference is during late Jan./early Feb. NO waiting No crowds.

 

[phamton]

As for Universal-ewww, exactly what kind of magic did you find there?

Haven't been to Universal lately, have you? There is the magic of characters, themed rides and themed queues, friendly employees, clean park and bathrooms, Grinchmas and Macy's parade, fireworks, and great fun. There are thrill rides for teens and the magic of Suess landing and Whoville for the kids, innovative rides like Spiderman and Mummy and the 3-D Shrek which is better done than Philharmagic.

Yep, my kind of "Magic."

 

[Taratink]

What a bummer. I too cannot stand crowds. We refuse to go during peak times. Our kids are only in preschool so we are quite flexible with our dates. I hope that you can go another time and have a magical experience. Good luck!
Tara

 

[treehugger]

Haven't been to Universal lately, have you? There is the magic of characters, themed rides and themed queues, friendly employees, clean park and bathrooms, Grinchmas and Macy's parade, fireworks, and great fun. There are thrill rides for teens and the magic of Suess landing and Whoville for the kids, innovative rides like Spiderman and Mummy and the 3-D Shrek which is better done than Philharmagic.

Yep, my kind of "Magic."

Sorry, different strokes for different folks! Please don't take my opinion personally. PS~Anything remotely related to Dr. Seuss scares the heck out of me! What in the world is a Grinchma? Never mind, I don't want to know!

 

[Lewski709]

Hmmmmmmm......just got back and it was the best trip EVER. The last two days picked up in attendance, but it wasn't THAT bad if you ask me. On Christmas night, we walked on almost every ride. We utilized fast pass several times. The longest wait we ever waited was 60min for TOT and the Muppets 3D vision was 40min. That's it. We were at all parks and did the most we have ever done. In addition, we got to enjoy the Christmas deco. It was terrific. We rode BTMRR 4 times, Space Ranger Spin 4 times and we were there 6 nights. I guess your expectations were too high, mine were really low and we were really happy. Our trip was wonderful. Night time crowds at MK were low. I think Disney did great keeping the crowds moving and incident free.

 

[RJ Cumpata]

We too have learned in the past that Disney can be very challenging during the Holidays.
For 7 years we visited WDW w/o/ children...
- we observed the screaming kids and fights between Mom & Dad (as a result of the stress of a very crowded WDW).

We then vowed to never go to Disney at Holidays.
We now have children and plan our trips during value season.
It is much easier on the kids (and on us).
It is like going to a dfferent place.
Disney is soooo much better when it is empty.

Try going in the middle of January

 

[Lewski709]

Also, wanted to add....we were there Jan 24-31, 2004 and I was there with the gals below in Oct 2004. Again, we got waaaaaaaaay more done this past Christmas trip than we did in the JAN SLOW season. Why is that? I dunno, but I can also tell you whenever we eat at a restaurant that it slow....service sucks. When it's busy, they move quicker and service is waaaay better.

 

[WDWPartyof5]

I am sorry you had a rotten time. I am not sure how much planning you did though for your trip at the busiest time of the year. We went Christmas week 2003 with three children (6, 3 and 1.5). We actually went to MK on Christmas Day rode Dumbo (three times back to back), saw the Mickey 3D movie, rode Snow White, went and rode Its a Small World (twice in a row). Peter Pan we did not ride that trip. We ate breakfast, then watched the Christmas morning show in front of the castle. Lazily walked around mainstreet, then went and listened to Belle's christmas Story where not one, but two of my children got to participate in the show. We left around lunch to head back to our hotel. It was very crowded. In fact by the time we left, the park was closed to more guests. We went back late afternoon and we were able to ride several things, watch the parade and the fireworks.
I just think that when you go you really have to pull out the Unofficial Guide and plan plan plan to make it work. There are out of the way bathrooms everywhere and we never had to wait to use one. We learned lots of short cuts and cubby holes to sit at and enjoy the atmosphere.
At least you had a good time at Universal, but your description of it is far different than what others I know experienced, especially since they waited almost 2 hrs to ride one thrill ride.

PS Peter Pan is an awesome ride and not ancient! It was refurbished a few years ago and its one of my favorite rides.