We just returned and I have been thinking about this post during the last few days of our trip.
Our trip was off and on because my mother had a mild heart attack and my illness which has dragged on for the last few months. 5 days before we were to depart.....we finally decided we could go and we were off! It was our annual post-Thanksgiving pilgrimage....we have been dedicated Christmas season disney folks for many years. This year, we setup a plans to try as many new things as possible.
We began with a few days at Coronado Springs. We enjoyed it very much. I had already written my first cast-member letter to thank Patsy who had been wonderful helping us pull the trip together at the last minute. We met her and her manager at checkin. The resort was clean and we enjoyed our time there very much.
WDW wide....bathrooms were in better condition than I had expected....but still not really clean (but not the sewers we have seen in the past) and I never saw an overflowing trashcan thankfully. The parks were....clean.....but not Disney clean. They were like your car after a heavy rain. The car looks clean until you wash it. I took light colored gloves - new before the disney trip. They are filthy and only worn the last few days at WDW......handrails and normal use.
The changes, however, were sadly obvious from the beginning. $$$$ cutbacks. The first night......Wishes.....and later soooooo sadly obvious at Illuminations. Disney has cutback the fireworks and it's obvious. Wishes has lost so many of the big high fireworks launched behind the castle. Illuminations is a shadow of what it once was.
I recorded both shows (and holiday wishes too) ..... my Iphone takes such great video for a little biddy thing. Anyway, it was a sad comparison to the same shows 3 years ago on You Tube. The cutbacks are undeniable. I have all the fireworks shows from a few years ago stored on You Tube on my phone....and watch them when I need a little disney fix.
We moved to the Beach Club after a few days. We love the Beach Club and settled into our waterview room on the top floor....hung the lights on the balcony and checked out the room. A few minor problems which happen with older buildings...plumbing is one of the first things to have chronic problems. None of the handles for the water at the sink were fastened,.....so they spun in the counter when you turned the water on and off, toilet flushing problems (wouldn't STOP flushing) requiring 2 calls and 3 days before fixed. Tub hardly drained and was never fixed until WE bought draino.
We had a FABULOUS maid - who managed to get the other minor problems (burned out lightbulbs, etc.) taken care of.
Our precious little Beach Club is showing signs of wear and tear. The second elevator near the quiet pool just looks awful. It should be shut down...wood sanded and re-varnished. It looks shabby. Would take 24 hours to live up to the standard of a delux resort hotel elevator.
I am in a scooter due to a medical problem and not one valet offered to help my DH load or unload the scooter from our car. Grand Floridian valets were tremendously helpful and Boardwalk - well, I thought we would be knocked over when 3 young men offered to help. At Beach Club, they just stood around talking with each other....and missing out on a generous trip from my DH. We spoke with the valet manager....just transfered from Boardwalk. He said he was embarassed and was trying to work on it.
Oh yes, we came back to the resort one night at 11 pm and there was a sign on the valet station to "check inside for valet services". How much again does the Beach Club charge for a room? We shouldn't have to go in and HUNT for a valet to take our car at any time of the day or night.
Food was a little better than we had expected....but horribly expensive now. We actually began to eat offsite for better food at about 40% less......and overall less SALT than everything we tried inside WDW. I actually sent food back for the first time ever because it was so salty I could not eat it.
The reductions in the Holiday decorations were truly heart-breaking. The Grand Flo and YC are still beautiful and so festive. Beach Club for example......until you get inside, you would not even know it's not......May! EPCOT.....well what can you say without LOW and so much else missing. Nothing on International gateway as they had in the past and so much now missing from all the parks. Now after the skinny Illuminations they don't even have holiday music playing along World Showcase. The first night following Illuminations we just looked at each other....where is the holiday spirit?
They are still doing the holiday post scipt to Illuminations which we love each year.....thankfully.
John O'Hurley did a far better job than he has sometimes done in the past at Candelight. Now I have to admit, my favorite conductor is Dr. Sinclair and he was in command both nights we saw CP (probably our favorite holiday event of the entire season). He drives the show with more enthusiasm and very complimentary to the participants. He always makes me smile! He was WONDERFUL as always.
Now I have a question for the frequent fliers like we are.........why are there so many empty tables in disney restaurants when they are turning away diners? We have narrowed it down to cutbacks in payroll or tables being left empty for people who have reservations and don't show.
Every time we dined in a sitdown Disney restaurant....there were at least 3 or 4 tables which were NEVER filled during our meal. The first was the Plaza at MK....there were 5 tables which never had diners but were turning away people and we actually waited for almost 20 minutes after arriving for our ADR.
Tutu Italia had 4 tables in our section which were never filled. Lets say 4 guests per table at $50 p/psn? That's a pretty big chunk of change that restaurant manager is tossing away every night.
I am a H2O aholic and we had planned to buy a bunch with the extra castmember discounts this time of year. We looked at the tube....they seemed smaller. Sure enough.....now only 7 oz. compared to 8.5 oz a few months ago....but the same price as the larger ones we bought earlier in the year.
Merchandise? Where did the quality go?
So you get a good idea of what we found on this trip. There are many more examples....but these are plenty for examples.
I have said it before......"give 'em less....charge 'em more". It's a shame they try this when thier profit was enormous last quarter (tough NOT from the parks.....attendance was down).
We travel this time of year with other disney friends who have been going for more years than we want to count. It's just not what it once was. I guess this is a reason to NOT scrapbook. We have a few fabulous scrapbooks of holiday trips years ago....when disney cared about things other than how much $$$ they can suck out of each of us. The place is no comparison now.
We say.....let the newbees go who don't know any better because it's disappointing for those of us with good memories.
Our trip was off and on because my mother had a mild heart attack and my illness which has dragged on for the last few months. 5 days before we were to depart.....we finally decided we could go and we were off! It was our annual post-Thanksgiving pilgrimage....we have been dedicated Christmas season disney folks for many years. This year, we setup a plans to try as many new things as possible.
We began with a few days at Coronado Springs. We enjoyed it very much. I had already written my first cast-member letter to thank Patsy who had been wonderful helping us pull the trip together at the last minute. We met her and her manager at checkin. The resort was clean and we enjoyed our time there very much.
WDW wide....bathrooms were in better condition than I had expected....but still not really clean (but not the sewers we have seen in the past) and I never saw an overflowing trashcan thankfully. The parks were....clean.....but not Disney clean. They were like your car after a heavy rain. The car looks clean until you wash it. I took light colored gloves - new before the disney trip. They are filthy and only worn the last few days at WDW......handrails and normal use.
The changes, however, were sadly obvious from the beginning. $$$$ cutbacks. The first night......Wishes.....and later soooooo sadly obvious at Illuminations. Disney has cutback the fireworks and it's obvious. Wishes has lost so many of the big high fireworks launched behind the castle. Illuminations is a shadow of what it once was.
I recorded both shows (and holiday wishes too) ..... my Iphone takes such great video for a little biddy thing. Anyway, it was a sad comparison to the same shows 3 years ago on You Tube. The cutbacks are undeniable. I have all the fireworks shows from a few years ago stored on You Tube on my phone....and watch them when I need a little disney fix.
We moved to the Beach Club after a few days. We love the Beach Club and settled into our waterview room on the top floor....hung the lights on the balcony and checked out the room. A few minor problems which happen with older buildings...plumbing is one of the first things to have chronic problems. None of the handles for the water at the sink were fastened,.....so they spun in the counter when you turned the water on and off, toilet flushing problems (wouldn't STOP flushing) requiring 2 calls and 3 days before fixed. Tub hardly drained and was never fixed until WE bought draino.
We had a FABULOUS maid - who managed to get the other minor problems (burned out lightbulbs, etc.) taken care of.
Our precious little Beach Club is showing signs of wear and tear. The second elevator near the quiet pool just looks awful. It should be shut down...wood sanded and re-varnished. It looks shabby. Would take 24 hours to live up to the standard of a delux resort hotel elevator.
I am in a scooter due to a medical problem and not one valet offered to help my DH load or unload the scooter from our car. Grand Floridian valets were tremendously helpful and Boardwalk - well, I thought we would be knocked over when 3 young men offered to help. At Beach Club, they just stood around talking with each other....and missing out on a generous trip from my DH. We spoke with the valet manager....just transfered from Boardwalk. He said he was embarassed and was trying to work on it.
Oh yes, we came back to the resort one night at 11 pm and there was a sign on the valet station to "check inside for valet services". How much again does the Beach Club charge for a room? We shouldn't have to go in and HUNT for a valet to take our car at any time of the day or night.
Food was a little better than we had expected....but horribly expensive now. We actually began to eat offsite for better food at about 40% less......and overall less SALT than everything we tried inside WDW. I actually sent food back for the first time ever because it was so salty I could not eat it.
The reductions in the Holiday decorations were truly heart-breaking. The Grand Flo and YC are still beautiful and so festive. Beach Club for example......until you get inside, you would not even know it's not......May! EPCOT.....well what can you say without LOW and so much else missing. Nothing on International gateway as they had in the past and so much now missing from all the parks. Now after the skinny Illuminations they don't even have holiday music playing along World Showcase. The first night following Illuminations we just looked at each other....where is the holiday spirit?
They are still doing the holiday post scipt to Illuminations which we love each year.....thankfully.
John O'Hurley did a far better job than he has sometimes done in the past at Candelight. Now I have to admit, my favorite conductor is Dr. Sinclair and he was in command both nights we saw CP (probably our favorite holiday event of the entire season). He drives the show with more enthusiasm and very complimentary to the participants. He always makes me smile! He was WONDERFUL as always.
Now I have a question for the frequent fliers like we are.........why are there so many empty tables in disney restaurants when they are turning away diners? We have narrowed it down to cutbacks in payroll or tables being left empty for people who have reservations and don't show.
Every time we dined in a sitdown Disney restaurant....there were at least 3 or 4 tables which were NEVER filled during our meal. The first was the Plaza at MK....there were 5 tables which never had diners but were turning away people and we actually waited for almost 20 minutes after arriving for our ADR.
Tutu Italia had 4 tables in our section which were never filled. Lets say 4 guests per table at $50 p/psn? That's a pretty big chunk of change that restaurant manager is tossing away every night.
I am a H2O aholic and we had planned to buy a bunch with the extra castmember discounts this time of year. We looked at the tube....they seemed smaller. Sure enough.....now only 7 oz. compared to 8.5 oz a few months ago....but the same price as the larger ones we bought earlier in the year.
Merchandise? Where did the quality go?
So you get a good idea of what we found on this trip. There are many more examples....but these are plenty for examples.
I have said it before......"give 'em less....charge 'em more". It's a shame they try this when thier profit was enormous last quarter (tough NOT from the parks.....attendance was down).
We travel this time of year with other disney friends who have been going for more years than we want to count. It's just not what it once was. I guess this is a reason to NOT scrapbook. We have a few fabulous scrapbooks of holiday trips years ago....when disney cared about things other than how much $$$ they can suck out of each of us. The place is no comparison now.
We say.....let the newbees go who don't know any better because it's disappointing for those of us with good memories.
