Recommending the Dis boards for park planning

[Laketravis]

Would you recomend this sight to your 10 year old? 6-8 years ago there use to be a fare number of kids on here learning about there upcoming trip.

I think conditions have changed so much over the last 6-8 years as to make planning a WDW vacation by a 10 year old virtually impossible.

 

[Jimbeaux28]

I only recommend Disney sites where the content is maintained by a site moderator and not by contributors who are free to spew vitriol behind a wall of anonymity, accountable to none.

MouseSavers.com is the site I send the uninitiated Disney visitors to.

 

[Ed J]

The whole message board culture has changed in the last 10 years. When people can interact hiding behind a keyboard they are more apt to say things they never would in real life.

The sad part about this place is when the mods pile on when attitudey judys are going off.

 

[bakerworld]

Just don't recommend anyone post that they're considering buying DVC direct or financed - wonder how many DVC sales have been lost from this forum alone? After all, who wants to vacation with people who don't like the parks, think the resorts are poor compared to ... anywhere else but still hold onto their ownership. Fortunately, for me, I think it's amusing and a conspiracy to keep the people with young ones out of the park

 

[larryz]

If someone's adult enough to be planning a trip to WDW, they should be adult enough to realize that people will have differences of opinion even about the one thing of which they share an extreme love.

So I think it's OK to tell sensible, balanced adults about the DISBoards, with caveats.

I wouldn't, however, refer this site to people who have trouble integrating their personalities, or who have unrealistic expectations of either Disney or themselves. There's far too much opportunity here for people with personality issues to find material harmful to their particular conditions.

 

[TheBacklot]

I think that soon there should be a change as to the layout. Converting to a Kinja style - Like Gawker's discussion platform, while not perfect, would help with this issue. If you go across the recent FP+ threads, etc - there's really only a handful of posters that rock the boat and make it a point to visit literally every FP+ related thread to get their voice heard, and quite possibly to see their post count grow (which, that should really be hidden and I think you'd see half of the people that comment minimize their posts to be way more constructive). Then posts could be voted up or down based on their content, and half the nonsense you see in these threads would be hidden.

Then again, lots of these same people hate change so could you imagine if their message board was altered? Ha!

 

[bcrook]

The DISboards provides thousands of answers and suggestions to people everyday. Just browse through the threads. Lots of a wonderful advice.

The most up to date information is available here about Disney. If anything is going to change, it will be on here in seconds.

Disney provides very little information on their own, so disboard participants search out the info through looking at patents, work permits, and finding obscure sources.

Even the speculation is helpful, because we have to plan so far in advance.

A wide range of opinions help to inform us whether we should spend another $10,000. If all we heard was the great stories, then we would all spend more.

I have found that customer service at Disney has decreased and more CMs seem unhappy to me. This causes me concern, when I read about others who are seeing this too, then I realize it might be a real problem. I like negative reports to help temper my enthusiasm for overspending at wdw.

Read the thread about wdw insider stories in my signature. That is worth coming to the Dis boards.

FP+ is a huge change! the threads discussing it are volatile but important.

Mesaboy2 has important information about planning for rides and attractions on his FP priority thread.

Ticket questions are answered immediately.

Rope drop and EMH and best park days questions are answered daily and patiently.

What to expect at different times of the year, how to avoid the longer lines, where to go when it rains. These questions appear nearly everyday, and people answer them everyday.

What about the tours, the fishing, the miniature golf, bowling? Can I skip DTD? All valid questions asked everyday,

Why wouldn't you come to the disboards for information?

A trip to wdw is not cheap, it can be exhausting, it takes a lot of planning, and I don't think it would be good to only the oversell.

As for facts versus opinion? There are lots of places that provide facts. Try allears.net, but these forums provide a nice mix of fact and opinion. Customer reviews.

 

[bcrook]

The whole message board culture has changed in the last 10 years. When people can interact hiding behind a keyboard they are more apt to say things they never would in real life.

The sad part about this place is when the mods pile on when attitudey judys are going off.

This is an odd post. It could be considered an attitude Judy post. If I were a mod, how would I feel? Would I pile on the poster or with the poster?

If a mod agreed with this post would the mod be doing exactly what the poster complains about?
if the mod reprimanded the poster, would the poster be happy because the mod acted in the way that the poster is suggesting?

I am glad I am not a mod.

 

[Schmeck]

I wouldn't recommend any forum to a child. It would be like telling a kid to go talk to a stranger, LOL!

I also don't recommend the DISboards to too many people, mainly because it is just a forum. Now, the regular Dis part is OK, but I like allears much better. I use the DISboards for rumors, etc. I don't take the info given as 100% correct. I'm willing to try some suggestions, but I've been to WDW many times. Most of the info I get on here I file away as "hmmm, wonder if it's true?"

 

[Texas Barbie]

I think conditions have changed so much over the last 6-8 years as to make planning a WDW vacation by a 10 year old virtually impossible.

That is hilarious!!!

 

[Missyrose]

Just don't recommend anyone post that they're considering buying DVC direct or financed - wonder how many DVC sales have been lost from this forum alone? After all, who wants to vacation with people who don't like the parks, think the resorts are poor compared to ... anywhere else but still hold onto their ownership. Fortunately, for me, I think it's amusing and a conspiracy to keep the people with young ones out of the park

And anyone who bases a thousands-of-dollars decision on the advice of people on the Internet probably have bigger problems to deal with than just whether they should buy DVC direct or via resale.

 

[Imhere]

I would recommend all the forums on this board except the 'Theme Parks Attractions and Strategies' forum, or, in shorthand, "The FP Forum"

My family has been to WDW probably 20 times, staying onsite.

We are many times 'rope droppers' and we have always gone in either May or June, going in June probably the last 10 visits.

We visit the attractions we want and we never wait over 30 minutes, and that is rare. While we have always liked FP, we didn't use it a whole lot. After so many visits we are familiar with all the parks and know what we want to do, and we know how to accomplish it.

If I had never been to WDW and I read this particular forum I would have second thoughts about even going.

This place is just a 'complaint-fest', with everyones hair on fire.

Many, (not all), of the posts here are neither helpful or particularly informative.

People have asked for a subforum for FP only threads. I have thought that is a ridiculous idea, but now I have changed my tune.

 

[amg35]

I still find this forum to be of value. Even though trip planning questions that aren't about fast pass seem to now get buried very quickly. I try and answer ones I can and people are very helpful with my questions. You just have to search out things more, or bump your own thread back up so people see it.

I just stay off the negative threads. Also, I actually know by certain posters what the thread will be about before clicking, so that helps too. I believe everyone should have their own opinion of course. I just don't want to be brought down when I'm so ridiculously excited to finally be going back!

 

[wendybeth75]

I just stay off the negative threads. Also, I actually know by certain posters what the thread will be about before clicking, so that helps too. I believe everyone should have their own opinion of course. I just don't want to be brought down when I'm so ridiculously excited to finally be going back!

Well said. I feel the same way!

 

[Laketravis]

I made a major purchase on Amazon last week. I noticed there were several (gasp!) negative reviews of the product, a $6,500 piece of network equipment.

I read them as well as the positive reviews prior to making my decision.

 

[TheBacklot]

I read them as well as the positive reviews prior to making my decision.

I think you are confusing useful information with some people that have made this into a hobby to use the forum as a soapbox to hem and haw.

btw I liked the video you made of your son, sometimes things like that make the best souvenirs.

 

[Laketravis]

I think you are confusing useful information with some people that have made this into a hobby to use the forum as a soapbox to hem and haw.

Well, yeah, then there's that

btw I liked the video you made of your son, sometimes things like that make the best souvenirs.

Thanks! He still loves watching it.

 

[xie]

OP,

I think the important thing to remember is that there are good reasons for the so called "negativity" here. Some people really ARE having some bad experiences with everything - for example there are running threads on here right now where people are spending hours on the phone with Disney's tech support because they can't do something as simple as add their tickets to their MyMagic+ profiles. (It took 2 phone calls and about 90 minutes to get ours done correctly a couple months ago.) And that doesn't even get into the issues some people are experiencing after they arrive at the resorts and parks. (We had plenty of those too.)

I've been going to WDW for a really long time, and my advice to any of my friends who ask right now is "don't go this year". This is not the year to go unless you have the temperament to deal with a lot of potential issues, and you are willing to spend some hours of your trip potentially doing just that. If you go to WDW this year, you are statistically unlikely to have a perfect trip. Somebody's band will break, the MyMagic app won't work, the room won't unlock, the room charge won't work, whatever. Disney's got all kinds of wonkiness going on with ride queues right now due to the transition. In general, stuff's a bit too messed up. I would feel guilty if I recommended to anyone I know that they should go to WDW, and then have them come home and tell me how many hours they stood in line to get their broken room access fixed on their bands, how they couldn't get the front gate scanner to let them into the parks properly, how they stood in horribly long standby lines once their 3 fast passes were allocated. And how ripped off they felt because they paid so much for the experience.

So rather than worry about the fact that there is what you perceive as "negativity" on these boards, I see the information people post here rather as "heads up, I'm having this problem and here's how it's being worked on" or "here's what I did to fix it". For example, when I posted that none of our KTTW or MagicBands worked on the Comfort Stations at Fort Wilderness, I hope that others who saw my post took that as a big hint that they should test their cards/bands before the Front Desk closed at night, so they didn't have to stand outside the bathroom at 2am without a working key like I did.

I think anyone who goes to WDW this year DESERVES to get a heads up from experienced park goers on this board as to what they might run into, and how they can best get it addressed, and so that they go into it with eyes wide open and an understanding that they will be going to WDW in a time of change and substantial technical difficulty. If they judge it still worth their time and money go to, then fine, but at least they know going in what could happen.

 

[disnut8]

The whole message board culture has changed in the last 10 years. When people can interact hiding behind a keyboard they are more apt to say things they never would in real life.

The sad part about this place is when the mods pile on when attitudey judys are going off.

I'm confused on the last sentence. If a Moderator posts something as their opinion, it's just that. An opinion. Yes, they have a Moderator in their signature or avatar but they are still a person who has opinions outside their position within the board. It wouldn't be fair to tell a Moderator not to post anything on these boards except what relates to how they moderate. In that case, no one would want to be a Moderator.

If a thread is closed, more than likely, there is a reason for it. I know I've reported several threads just because the direction (in my opinion) was going downhill. Some were closed, some were not. In almost all instances of thread closures, the Moderator gives a reason for the closure.

I silently applaud the Moderators every day I sign into the boards. It's a thankless job.

 

[Laketravis]

OP,

I think the important thing to remember is that there are good reasons for the so called "negativity" here. Some people really ARE having some bad experiences with everything - for example there are running threads on here right now where people are spending hours on the phone with Disney's tech support because they can't do something as simple as add their tickets to their MyMagic+ profiles. (It took 2 phone calls and about 90 minutes to get ours done correctly a couple months ago.) And that doesn't even get into the issues some people are experiencing after they arrive at the resorts and parks. (We had plenty of those too.)

I've been going to WDW for a really long time, and my advice to any of my friends who ask right now is "don't go this year". This is not the year to go unless you have the temperament to deal with a lot of potential issues, and you are willing to spend some hours of your trip potentially doing just that. If you go to WDW this year, you are statistically unlikely to have a perfect trip. Somebody's band will break, the MyMagic app won't work, the room won't unlock, the room charge won't work, whatever. Disney's got all kinds of wonkiness going on with ride queues right now due to the transition. In general, stuff's a bit too messed up. I would feel guilty if I recommended to anyone I know that they should go to WDW, and then have them come home and tell me how many hours they stood in line to get their broken room access fixed on their bands, how they couldn't get the front gate scanner to let them into the parks properly, how they stood in horribly long standby lines once their 3 fast passes were allocated. And how ripped off they felt because they paid so much for the experience.

So rather than worry about the fact that there is what you perceive as "negativity" on these boards, I see the information people post here rather as "heads up, I'm having this problem and here's how it's being worked on" or "here's what I did to fix it". For example, when I posted that none of our KTTW or MagicBands worked on the Comfort Stations at Fort Wilderness, I hope that others who saw my post took that as a big hint that they should test their cards/bands before the Front Desk closed at night, so they didn't have to stand outside the bathroom at 2am without a working key like I did.

I think anyone who goes to WDW this year DESERVES to get a heads up from experienced park goers on this board as to what they might run into, and how they can best get it addressed, and so that they go into it with eyes wide open and an understanding that they will be going to WDW in a time of change and substantial technical difficulty. If they judge it still worth their time and money go to, then fine, but at least they know going in what could happen.

Excellent advice.