Seriously?
So the fact that one is willing to invest a large sum of money into a product necessitates their complete support of said product regardless of how the cards fall after the initial investment?
My family has spent $17,000 on our upcoming Jan trip.
4 adults, 5 ticketed kids, 10 nights.
I have loved Disney since I was a little girl and my mom scraped together enough money to drive us up from San Diego to see
Disneyland two times. DH and I decided to elope and run off to Disney for a honeymoon instead of spending that money on a "proper" wedding.
We had the best trip ever 2 years ago with our growing brood and without a doubt that was due to research, planning and utilizing RD and FP to the max of our capability. I was that FP runner, 8 months pregnant and sprinting for TSMM to get FPs before we all hopped on standby. And I loved every minute of it!
I started pining for a return trip the instant we stepped into MCO on the way home. I sold a ton of old baby clothes and photography stuff I wasn't using anymore to help pay for a trip in May to take my little sister to her first Disney park ever. I was thrilled to trade in my 10 day ticket for our Jan trip for an AP and when they accidentally sent me 2 AP-holder magnets I stuck both of those puppies on my Suburban proudly! I have never never understood the women who ooh and ahh over purses, but I squealed with delight when my DH got me a D&B mickey balloon purse.
Why does it have to be an either/or mentality for so many people? Why is it not possible to love all the magic that a place represents and at the same time feel like bits of that magic are being stolen away from you in the name of cold cash and hard numbers?
In a span of 2 years we have given $30,000 to Disney - they don't also get a right to my unending patience and forgiveness. I still retain my ability to think for myself, have opinions - even conflicting ones! - and put a stop to the cash flow when I feel the stress and disappointment of planning the trip is starting to outweigh the magic I feel when there.
My 6 year old with Down syndrome doesn't want to go to Disney to wander around and absorb the atmosphere - he wants to experience the rides that, in his nearly non-verbal world, immerse him in the characters and films that he loves, like Toy Story - ones he can't get at Six Flags.
We all experience the magic differently and for me the magic is mostly in watching my kids experience what's important to them. We didn't use GAC last trip because our hard work and planning meant we didn't need to even think about it; I encourage my kids to learn to meet the world half-way rather than sit back and expect accommodations. I'm happy to get 8 kids up, dressed and on that bus an hour before RD and hoof it with a newborn slung against my chest to get those precious FPs so my kids can ride TSMM two or three times. We may need to think about using
DAS next time, not because we want special accommodations but because we want what we had 2 years ago. And yes, that bothers me greatly. I want to be able to give my kids the same experience we had last time with hard work and determination alone. Right now I feel forced to work hard - keeping up with these changes, spending 2 hours in the middle of the night dealing with the glitches to get our FP+s booked, trying to keep 8 kids and 2 seniors on a tight schedule that is now bound into one-hour increments I had to choose 60 days in advance of REALITY happening - and if my little guy can't ride TSMM 3x because I worked hard to get him on that ride (not because the world ACCOMMODATED us), then I'm not going to bleat like a sheep to the tune of Steamboat Willie. I'm going to be disappointed, and I'm going to take our money elsewhere.
Why some people on this board can't understand the conflicting emotions that are involved for many of us with these changes is beyond me. If you're happy with the changes, then what does it matter to you if I'm not? Perhaps it goes back to the idea that opinions that vary from our own act as a spotlight on unconscious self-doubts we ourselves harbor; I encourage you to explore that psychological aspect before making such thoughtless comments to fellow Disney-lovers.
I'll do everything I can to make this trip awesome for my kids, because we're all in now. And I will still love Disney characters and stories and all of those hard-earned magical memories we made together as a family. But I am an intelligent thinking being who is capable of experiencing multiple cognitive notions and emotions at once and I can simultaneously dislike the micromanagement being employed at the parks.
Actually, it was fabulous!!
