That is it, it is confirmed for me... too few attractions and or too many people!

[BarbieSmith]

The last time we came was two years ago and in January. Crowd levels were slightly less than this past week. I am an average mom with a pretty rosy outlook on Disney! For this past week I had expected higher crowd levels than my previous trip) and I even expected them to be higher than touring plans or Josh had predicted (I don't know why, it was just a gut instinct that I had). I had also expected some frustrations with the magic bands and with the my Disney experience app. So, you can see that I had severely adjusted my expectations!

That said, I am so incredibly disappointed. Even though we had some incredibly major pixie dust spread upon us upon check-in (really major!), it does not make up for the fact that our touring experiences at every one of the parks was a huge letdown. The bottom line is Disney has too few attractions for too many people. End of story. From having read autobiographies of Walt Disney, I believe he would be sorely disappointed at what is going on in the parks, at least for this past week (while I am here) but I surmise for the past months, possibly, as well.

I had made sure that my family was positioned well: I had worked for hours with Disney IT to properly link everyone (we have 13 ppl and 4 rooms), I made fast passes just before the tiering set in, I made incredible ADr's at the proper time, and I had some fantastic touring plans set up. So we are having a pretty decent time. However I look around and there is so much dismay and disappointment around me. And honestly I am disappointed too, though I try not to get that sinking feeling in my stomach to bother me too much.

It makes me sad when my kids tell me that this is not the Disney they remember. My kids have a very warm heart for Disney as well, and they notice the difference themselves. (They are still having a wonderful time however, don't feel sad for them!). I triedam trying to shield them a little bit from how I am feeling about our trip, but they are picking up on the sadness and frustration around them by themselves. They are seven and eight years old.

My heart goes out to all the people around us who have not done the utmost in preparation for their trips. Honestly, they are not in a good position at all. Yes, the Fast Pass Plus gives them the opportunity to book 3 great rides. But three rides for Park does not take away the bigger picture. Which is incredible frustration, and far too many lines... it is really bad, I cannot describe it better other than to say you have to be here to see it.

I am truly scared for what the holiday season will bring. This past week the parks that I chose were all forecasted to be in the level 2 and 3 (and I think one 4) range. It blows my mind to think that people will be here trying to provide a great time for their family when Park levels are at levels 8, 9, or 10. My heart hurts for them.

Lastly, I want to say that the CM's are incredibly frustrated. I have seen some that are downright nasty to parkgoers. It seems to me that they are stuck between a genuine concern for the customer and a knowledge that customers are getting a really raw deal in some areas at the moment, and keeping their jobs. Honestly, I think there is a lot of cognitive dissonance going on with them. They have to tow the Disney line and yet their hearts are as heavy as mine is... they see that families are getting a really raw deal at the moment.

Anyway, we have a few days left yet and we will have a great time. I just wanted to share a few thoughts from an average mom.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

The last time we came was two years ago and in January. Crowd levels were slightly less than this past week. I am an average mom with a pretty rosy outlook on Disney! For this past week I had expected higher crowd levels than my previous trip) and I even expected them to be higher than touring plans or Josh had predicted (I don't know why, it was just a gut instinct that I had). I had also expected some frustrations with the magic bands and with the my Disney experience app. So, you can see that I had severely adjusted my expectations!

That said, I am so incredibly disappointed. Even though we had some incredibly major pixie dust spread upon us upon check-in (really major!), it does not make up for the fact that our touring experiences at every one of the parks was a huge letdown. The bottom line is Disney has too few attractions for too many people. End of story. From having read autobiographies of Walt Disney, I believe he would be sorely disappointed at what is going on in the parks, at least for this past week (while I am here) but I surmise for the past months, possibly, as well.

I had made sure that my family was positioned well: I had worked for hours with Disney IT to properly link everyone (we have 13 ppl and 4 rooms), I made fast passes just before the tiering set in, I made incredible ADr's at the proper time, and I had some fantastic touring plans set up. So we are having a pretty decent time. However I look around and there is so much dismay and disappointment around me. And honestly I am disappointed too, though I try not to get that sinking feeling in my stomach to bother me too much.

It makes me sad when my kids tell me that this is not the Disney they remember. My kids have a very warm heart for Disney as well, and they notice the difference themselves. (They are still having a wonderful time however, don't feel sad for them!). I triedam trying to shield them a little bit from how I am feeling about our trip, but they are picking up on the sadness and frustration around them by themselves. They are seven and eight years old.

My heart goes out to all the people around us who have not done the utmost in preparation for their trips. Honestly, they are not in a good position at all. Yes, the Fast Pass Plus gives them the opportunity to book 3 great rides. But three rides for Park does not take away the bigger picture. Which is incredible frustration, and far too many lines... it is really bad, I cannot describe it better other than to say you have to be here to see it.

I am truly scared for what the holiday season will bring. This past week the parks that I chose were all forecasted to be in the level 2 and 3 (and I think one 4) range. It blows my mind to think that people will be here trying to provide a great time for their family when Park levels are at levels 8, 9, or 10. My heart hurts for them.

Lastly, I want to say that the CM's are incredibly frustrated. I have seen some that are downright nasty to parkgoers. It seems to me that they are stuck between a genuine concern for the customer and a knowledge that customers are getting a really raw deal in some areas at the moment, and keeping their jobs. Honestly, I think there is a lot of cognitive dissonance going on with them. They have to tow the Disney line and yet their hearts are as heavy as mine is... they see that families are getting a really raw deal at the moment.

Anyway, we have a few days left yet and we will have a great time. I just wanted to share a few thoughts from an average mom.

Do you have any specific examples of what has been frustrating to you? Like specific wait times, bad experiences from the crowds at a certain park, etc?

 

[Masonmj84]

This is starting to scare me.

We went exactly a year ago and by arriving at RD and strategically using legacy FP, rode all of the headliners multiple times and never waited more than 10 minutes for anything (average wait was under 5 minutes).

 

[lugnut33]

To the OP, I had the exact same feelings while touring over Thanksgiving. I started a thread about it that for some reason was closed by the mods:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3204280

It really comes down to knowing what to expect in the future at Disney and I like you am very disappointed in the direction they have decided to take.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

To the OP, I had the exact same feelings while touring over Thanksgiving. I started a thread about it that for some reason was closed by the mods:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3204280

It really comes down to knowing what to expect in the future at Disney and I like you am very disappointed in the direction they have decided to take.

This post is about visiting during the Thanksgiving week, right? It appears the OP is visiting now, the week after Thanksgiving, which is supposed to have traditionally low crowds.

I was just listening to the Mice Chat podcast yesterday and they were all raving about the week after Thanksgiving being the absolute best week to visit the parks.

 

[hsmamato2]

well....for those of you who might be scared by OP...... I visited the week before T.Giving.... have gone yearly for...forever! Is it different each visit? yes......some things better,some things are worse. Overall? Last month we all had a BLAST. We made NO fp reservations,NO dining adr's... and just rolled where we wanted,when we wanted. Park crowded? let's go somewhere else for a while! no available spots for dinner? no problem,b/c there are about a thousand other places to eat on property..... Not saying OP didn't have a terrible visit, but it's not every experience..... The only attraction we didn't get on was Toy Story...and we expected that insanity. We hit the parks at about 11 a.m. daily...stayed late every night,and had a great time! And we seemed to be surrounded by others,likewise having a great time....so....don't get too scared.....everyone is entitled to their opinions!

 

[DizneyNutz]

WE just returned from a week stay at the VWL with our 3 grandsons and our daughters. While we did have to deal with the issue of UCT tickets that wouldn't link beforehand, the parks overall went very smoothly and we were able to ride headliners at least once often twice.
I agree that Disney has successfully found a way to finally start packing the parks at this used to be slow time of the year. Along with the FREE DINING promotion they let people like us BRAG about how low the crowds were for years. Guess what? People heard it and started coming now also.
We had 2 grandsons that couldn't ride anything over 40" so we had to let some ride while others sat with smaller ones, then they would go on. Having the FP+ helped with this by being able to book the three passes ahead.
We have been going at this time of the year for 14 years and we agree it is busier than it has ever been which is why Disney is patting itself on the back all the way to the bank THANKS TO US.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I agree on the CMs. I saw that myself, mostly at the front-desk. I saw people who looked like they were heading towards burnout. No one was ever rude, but you could tell they were at the end of their ropes with this.

As far as 3 rides, that was pre-tier (we booked pre-tier also for our November trip). Now they have degraded FP even more with the tiers, and possibly with more tiers to come.

I think you're right, there are just too many people there for the amount of park capacity. It doesn't seem that Disney is adding to park capacity in any meaningful form right now, maybe they are just milking this cash cow for all it's worth, with no thought to passion or the future.

I think the only answer is for people to stop going if it's not working for them anymore, unfortunately

 

[Katelly]

We just returned from our trip and the crowds were much larger than I had expected. All except one of our trips have been during the first week of December and we've never seen crowds like this before.

Thanks to FP+, tips from the Dis and knowledge from previous visits, we were able to see and do pretty much everything we wanted. But, even with a FP+ for Soarin, we still waited in line for thirty minutes. We've never had to wait in line for SE, this trip there was a twenty minute wait at 5pm. I saw eighty minute stand by wait times for TT and Soarin, when on past visits, it was more like thirty minutes. My dd waited in line thirty minutes for a Dole Whip at 9pm. Things like this were unheard of on our past early December trips.

The resort buses to and from the parks were mobbed, and plenty of people had to stand. We've never experienced that before.

We enjoyed our trip, but it was just a different experience compared to our other visits at this time of year. I think the crowd level calendars were way off for this past week.

 

[kapoof]

Wow! I am so sorry that your frustrated. it is getting to be really a mad house. I don't know about this fast pass plus thing. I guess the only way to improve is for disney to build another park to ease some of the congestion at the other parks. We love disney we do but it is getting so pricey and hectic with all the planning weeks ahead to ride attractions is just stupid. Hope you have an awesome rest if your trip. . I have to ask what was the pixie dust upon check in?

 

[BarbieSmith]

(original poster here) Don't be scared! If you are here on DisBoards, you are in a good position. Please note that I said that we are having a pretty decent trip. I am a little disappointed however don't take away from that that we are not having a good time. We certainly are! And you will too! But please do all the planning and preparation that you can do. It really IS necessary right now.

You will have a great time. Stay flexible, educated, and adjust your expectations and those of your family. Seriously, this is Disney. It is a good place to be Don't be scared... be prepared. Once you have done that, relax and let the Disney goodness spread over you....

 

[pigletto]

I'm sorry you are having so many problems. I am trying to adjust my expectations for this upcoming trip next week and I don't think I can get them low enough. And that's sad. I am so excited, but then I read stuff like this and think "What was the point of all this scrimping and sacrificing and saving?
I don't want to be worried about this trip.
I hope your family is still able to have a nice time.

 

[BarbieSmith]

(original poster again) We were not here over Thanksgiving! We arrived Monday December 2nd and are not leaving until next Monday.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I'm sorry you are having so many problems. I am trying to adjust my expectations for this upcoming trip next week and I don't think I can get them low enough. And that's sad. I am so excited, but then I read stuff like this and think "What was the point of all this scrimping and sacrificing and saving?
I don't want to be worried about this trip.
I hope your family is still able to have a nice time.

I think that's the wisest thing everyone can do right now, adjust their expectations and go in with an open mind that you will have fun regardless, even some things are different.

 

[PrincessJo]

well....for those of you who might be scared by OP...... I visited the week before T.Giving.... have gone yearly for...forever! Is it different each visit? yes......some things better,some things are worse. Overall? Last month we all had a BLAST. We made NO fp reservations,NO dining adr's... and just rolled where we wanted,when we wanted. Park crowded? let's go somewhere else for a while! no available spots for dinner? no problem,b/c there are about a thousand other places to eat on property..... Not saying OP didn't have a terrible visit, but it's not every experience..... The only attraction we didn't get on was Toy Story...and we expected that insanity. We hit the parks at about 11 a.m. daily...stayed late every night,and had a great time! And we seemed to be surrounded by others,likewise having a great time....so....don't get too scared.....everyone is entitled to their opinions!

Thanks for that!!! We leave in just over 3 weeks and we're totally excited. This time we're trying Hoop Dee Doo, the Dessert Party and Fantasmic as we've never done any of them before. We were warned about the crowds during Thanksgiving week and twice we just didn't see them. I take the dire warnings with a grain of salt Glad you had a great time!

 

[sassie_kat]

OP - I love that you have maintained a positive outlook on a frustrating situation. I'm glad that you're having a good time and enjoying your trip despite the bumps in the road that you're experience/witnessing around you. I hope your trip continues to go along nicely!

 

[Mr.MouseFan]

That said, I am so incredibly disappointed. Even though we had some incredibly major pixie dust spread upon us upon check-in (really major!), it does not make up for the fact that our touring experiences at every one of the parks was a huge letdown. The bottom line is Disney has too few attractions for too many people. End of story.

I'm not sure I understand the source of the frustration and sadness. You said you last visited just two years ago. Surely the number of attractions at Walt Disney World have not decreased in the last two years. If the number of attractions are the same (actually it can be argued there are more if you consider New Fantasyland), and the crowds are actually a little less than what you say you were prepared for, what's the issue? Is it because wait times for attractions aren't what you expected? Food service not what you expected? The only things that are different between then and now are pretty bathrooms in Fantasyland, the addition of New Fantasyland and the much maligned FP+.

On a side note (and not directed towards OP), I never understand the outrage over having to stand in line for attractions. Sure, nobody likes to wait 60+ minutes for attractions like TSMM but we are all on vacation at the most visited tourist destination in the world. To visit (at any time of year these days) and expect wait times to be a breeze is unrealistic. Have you seen the wait times at Six Flags parks?

 

[BarbieSmith]

Just because there are long wait times at other parks, or in many parks in general, does not mean that we should be "happy" with it. Walt Disney had higher goals than just packing in people and the bottom line. I have the feeling that this is all not what Walt Disney originally had in mind... not exactly. Attractions ARE great, but keep in mind that Disney was all about the entire experience for the family (and it isn't all that fabulous at the moment)!

 

[Katelly]

I don't think anyone has expressed outrage at the wait times for the rides. For those of us who have visited Disney the first week of December in the past, it is just a different experience now than it used to be as as far as crowd levels go.

I spoke to a woman at our hotel who has visited Disney every year, always the first week of December and told me she has never, ever seen it as crowded as it was this past week.

Sure, if you're used to visiting at busy times of the year, an eighty minute wait for a ride may be normal for you. For those of us who choose to visit during what was once a "slow time" at Disney, an eighty minute wait was unheard of. I have never and would never wait eighty minutes in a line for anything, anywhere.

Not outrage, just a fact. People need to plan and plan some more to get the most out of their trip. Being aware of the crowd levels and ride wait times is essential in that planning, especially for those of us who are used to the "slow times" at Disney. So, those of us who are just back are reporting on what we experienced. And, what we experienced were crowds that were much larger than we've ever seen this time of year.

 

[twinboyz98]

OP--sorry for your frustration, but glad you posted here. I'm sure there are others who feel the same. We were there in October and had nothing but problems with the Magic Bands and FP+. I sincerely hope they work some of the kinks out and your next trip will be more enjoyable and memorable. Try to make the best of it as you are, watch for those happy moments.. they will happen--you are in Disney World right?

With that being said our next trip in May will be offsite for most of the trip. It's sad for me to say that since every trip for the past 9 years has been solely on the WDW grounds. We will stay at the Beach Club Villas and utilize our treasured DVC membership, but have much planned off grounds. I want to give Disney some time to heal the open wounds everyone has with the new system.

Here's to happy times!!