too many mnsshp scheduled in one week

[mickeyfanachey1999]

I know you just wanted to vent but when we went in October we treated party days as an opportunity. We went to the parks early (well, early for us around 10:30). The crowds were low (relatively) until the party crowd started trickling in at 4. Then we left and went to have dinner and check out the monorail resorts. Then if I could have convinced the family we would have watch the fireworks from the TTC (I lost that vote). We had really fun MK days on both party days we were there.

 

[DrunkJam]

That is so true... I happen to ENJOY the planning, but when I start to explain all that I do to most people, to plan a trip to Disney, and even just the key points they should consider (like something as basic as learning the FP+ system, and knowing the dates that ADRs and so on open up) they look shocked. We here on the DIS are a teeny tiny fraction of a percentage of most people who go to Disney.

Yep, I mean, I like to plan. But, to be honest, a disney holiday is HARD WORK. Yes, *IF* you know to book ADRS 6 MONTHS before you need them, (and then, you have to worry about actually getting the ones you want, even that far out) and IF you know to book FP+ by choosing the rides you want to ride 2 months in advance, (and can get what you want, and KNOW what you want) and, of course do all the normal things you have to do to organise a holiday (And I am planning for 1 child with serious food allergies, one child with ASD and one adult with incurable cancer - basically, I feel grateful I don't have to factor myself in to the plans much - I just hope I can grab a fun cocktail in / outside trader sams,) IF you do all of that in advance, your disney vacation will be magical, probably. But, at least over here, no travel agent tells you any of this.

And then, there is the additional stuff. Who magically knows you can book something like the pirates and pals, or pirates league, or, that there is club villain, or any of that. OK, you don't NEED it. But, really there is SO much extra involved in organising a disney holiday, and if you are on the DIS, this is second nature, if not, then, it can be really challenging.

 

[mousehockey37]

Yep, I mean, I like to plan. But, to be honest, a disney holiday is HARD WORK. Yes, *IF* you know to book ADRS 6 MONTHS before you need them, (and then, you have to worry about actually getting the ones you want, even that far out) and IF you know to book FP+ by choosing the rides you want to ride 2 months in advance, (and can get what you want, and KNOW what you want) and, of course do all the normal things you have to do to organise a holiday (And I am planning for 1 child with serious food allergies, one child with ASD and one adult with incurable cancer - basically, I feel grateful I don't have to factor myself in to the plans much - I just hope I can grab a fun cocktail in / outside trader sams,) IF you do all of that in advance, your disney vacation will be magical, probably. But, at least over here, no travel agent tells you any of this.

And then, there is the additional stuff. Who magically knows you can book something like the pirates and pals, or pirates league, or, that there is club villain, or any of that. OK, you don't NEED it. But, really there is SO much extra involved in organising a disney holiday, and if you are on the DIS, this is second nature, if not, then, it can be really challenging.

Then why not be an International Disney Travel Agent? You've already got inside knowledge of these "extras". From the sounds of it, if the TA's over there don't know all the little things that they could do to get more business, you have a free run of the market...

 

[Corbinator]

"i just book my vacations when i tend to get a good deal or can get off from work or i always book a time of year that i know my children wont miss too much work at school"
Right, me too. I am fairly certain the *feeling* you experience when you find out the schedule is the same whether your discovery is before or after you book. What you do with that info is up to you. But the initial shock is still ventable. I get it. I was already shut out of one full resort 9 months in advance so I booked the next choice available. You think at that point I was going to waffle on whether or not MK was open late enough for my taste? I've already adjusted my expectations. It's ok to have feelings. Plus this is not a case of Christmas week. MNSSHP goes on for almost 2 months. That's a long time to have to cherry pick non-party nights with the rest of the world.

 

[megster1123]

Yep, I mean, I like to plan. But, to be honest, a disney holiday is HARD WORK. Yes, *IF* you know to book ADRS 6 MONTHS before you need them, (and then, you have to worry about actually getting the ones you want, even that far out) and IF you know to book FP+ by choosing the rides you want to ride 2 months in advance, (and can get what you want, and KNOW what you want) and, of course do all the normal things you have to do to organise a holiday (And I am planning for 1 child with serious food allergies, one child with ASD and one adult with incurable cancer - basically, I feel grateful I don't have to factor myself in to the plans much - I just hope I can grab a fun cocktail in / outside trader sams,) IF you do all of that in advance, your disney vacation will be magical, probably. But, at least over here, no travel agent tells you any of this.

And then, there is the additional stuff. Who magically knows you can book something like the pirates and pals, or pirates league, or, that there is club villain, or any of that. OK, you don't NEED it. But, really there is SO much extra involved in organising a disney holiday, and if you are on the DIS, this is second nature, if not, then, it can be really challenging.

Exactly this. I knew next to nothing coming in to plan our October trip. But I read the boards and listened to way too many podcasts and signed up for KTP and TP and with time I learned. And I hot every ADR I wanted. And every FP I planned for. I put a ton of time and effort into educating myself so I could plan the best trip I could. Ive always gone by the mindset of "control what you can control." That means prepare the best you can (by researching and learning) and you'll get the most out of your time and investment. I'm not about to drop $6k and be surprised that there are a lot of parties my week.

 

[mgpan]

What difference does it make historically? I'm with the OP who only was stating they felt the 4 during their week were too many. It would be the same if it was last year, two years ago, this year or next. They bring in so much money WDW would have 4 a night if they could swing it.

And as far as "doing your research" how many PPO Breakfast ADR's have been cancelled because of a newly added 8 a.m. opening or the new EMM which didn't even exist in past years. Didn't everyone know this would happen 180 or more days in advance? What do you mean you had to change a FP+, didn't you know WDW was going to do a 1 day rehab on RNR that day? Oh, you mean you bought a lot of gift cards and Target/Walgreens/Best Buy/eBay won't let you churn gift cards anymore? Did you not do your research? This argument is more tiresome than hearing the same frustrations from the "non-experts" who are just trying to do the difficult task of planning a very expensive and perhaps not once a year vacation. And perhaps their work schedule and family commitments does not allow for untold hours of research into every aspect of WDW. You could spend days learning from the fastpass threads alone.

Perhaps a better response would be to suggest research into other areas to be sure they have the bases covered AND to sympathize with their plight.

 

[megster1123]

What difference does it make historically? I'm with the OP who only was stating they felt the 4 during their week this year were too many. It would be the same if it was last year, two years ago, this year or next. They bring in so much money WDW would have 4 a night if they could swing it.

If someone made plans in January and then parties were sporadically added as it got closer to the event, then absolutely! Be irritated that 4 parties occur during your trip.

But if historically there are between 3-4 every week during October I honestly don't think you have the right to be surprised/irritated that your trip overlaps with so many parties. Sure, it's a lot of party nights, but plan accordingly and it shouldn't affect your trip that substantially. We're there for 6 days in October, and there are parties on 3 nights. Had we arrived one day earlier we would have had 4 party days. It doesn't bother me a bit that there are a lot of parties, I just planned around it.

 

[mousehockey37]

What difference does it make historically? I'm with the OP who only was stating they felt the 4 during their week this year were too many. It would be the same if it was last year, two years ago, this year or next. They bring in so much money WDW would have 4 a night if they could swing it.

Speaking from a historical sense, this gives people who are planning trips in January and such an idea of when the dates will be for the upcoming year without it being formally announced until months later. It may not be exact, but Disney does tend to follow the same date mapping as the year prior.

An answer to the vent of "too many parties" is if you don't like what the schedule looks like then don't go or make alternate plans that work around the schedule given. Like I said earlier, not only do you have the Halloween parties going on, but you have F&W too. That hits the 2 busiest parks in WDW at the same time. So if you don't go to the party, you can go to Epcot and deal with everyone stuffing their faces and drinking in the WS.

 

[mgpan]

Kind of hard to "work around" parties almost every night, maybe she should just follow the advice to not go and tell her kids the trips off, nice. I guess we'll just get the school board to change the week of fall break, and I'll tell my boss to work around Disney's schedule, easy.

 

[megster1123]

Kind of hard to "work around" parties almost every night, maybe she should just follow the advice to not go and tell her kids the trips off, nice. I guess we'll just get the school board to change the week of fall break, and I'll tell my boss to work around Disney's schedule, easy.

Really, it isn't hard though. Just go to other parks on party nights. If the OP is going the 9th-15th, just hit MK on the 9th, 12th and then on their party night, say it's the 13th maybe. That leaves the 10th for AK, 11th for EP and the 14th for HS. And the party dates were released WELL in advance of the 60/30 FP window so they should not have been a surprise, plans could have been adjusted and FP booked accordingly. With a little effort and flexibility it's really not that hard.

 

[mousehockey37]

Kind of hard to "work around" parties almost every night, maybe she should just follow the advice to not go and tell her kids the trips off, nice. I guess we'll just get the school board to change the week of fall break, and I'll tell my boss to work around Disney's schedule, easy.

No, it's not hard to "work around" parties every other night. It's a matter of planning.

I get school's can't change their schedule, but most work schedules, you put in for time off (there's not many that shut down for a time... if at all in the US). So you do have some control over that. Kids are out all summer... just sayin'.

 

[maxiesmom]

Kind of hard to "work around" parties almost every night, maybe she should just follow the advice to not go and tell her kids the trips off, nice. I guess we'll just get the school board to change the week of fall break, and I'll tell my boss to work around Disney's schedule, easy.

It is easy to work around the party nights. I'm going next month for 8 nights and we are not going to a single party. Yet we will be at the Magic Kingdom at night twice, and will watch Hallowishes from outside of the park. The only time it is hard to work around is if you want to go to MK every night. And if that is the plan then going during the fall/winter is not going to work.

 

[kelleybean]

I totally understand your frustration! Back when we had AP's, the parties drove me crazy because there were several months of the year where we either couldn't go at night or night time was extra crowded on non-party days. Sure we knew the deal when we purchased the AP's, but it was still annoying. It's really brilliant of Disney as they have figured out how to sell the park twice. So just want to let you know that I know where you are coming from.

 

[Spoiledraf]

It's not a problem of not knowing how many parties there are or when they are. It's that there are just too many parties!!!
It's a money grab. A family buys their tickets and then ooops now you have to buy another ticket to stay past 7pm.
It's getting out of hand.
We are there the 23/28 of September. Party Friday and Sunday and for what ever reason closes at 8 on Tuesday??? That leaves two night out of five available unless I want to drop another 800 bucks for 11 people. Come on Disney. Your cutting back on everything. Cut back on these parties.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I totally understand your frustration! Back when we had AP's, the parties drove me crazy because there were several months of the year where we either couldn't go at night or night time was extra crowded on non-party days. Sure we knew the deal when we purchased the AP's, but it was still annoying. It's really brilliant of Disney as they have figured out how to sell the park twice. So just want to let you know that I know where you are coming from.

It's not a problem of not knowing how many parties there are or when they are. It's that there are just too many parties!!!
It's a money grab. A family buys their tickets and then ooops now you have to buy another ticket to stay past 7pm.
It's getting out of hand.
We are there the 23/28 of September. Party Friday and Sunday and for what ever reason closes at 8 on Tuesday??? That leaves two night out of five available unless I want to drop another 800 bucks for 11 people. Come on Disney. Your cutting back on everything. Cut back on these parties.

This exactly.

 

[serenitynow]

That is one of the downsides of traveling to Disney during the "Value Season", cheaper prices, fewer park hours.

 

[Nancyg56]

That is one of the downsides of traveling to Disney during the "Value Season", cheaper prices, fewer park hours.

It is a tradeoff, that's for sure.

 

[JerseyJanice]

Exactly. I'd rather see more parties, thus hoping to spread out the crowds a bit. I can't imagine the crowd with only 1-2 parties per week.

Really? You want to see more parties so that it isn't too crowded on the one night that you choose to go to the party?

 

[Srbright]

It's not a problem of not knowing how many parties there are or when they are. It's that there are just too many parties!!!
It's a money grab. A family buys their tickets and then ooops now you have to buy another ticket to stay past 7pm.
It's getting out of hand.

Not really. These parties aren't anything new and so the general population knows (or should have known) about them when you bought your ticket/annual pass. Even if the party date wasn't set you can look at last years date. As someone else said: it is the trade off for going in the low season.

As for research i don't think it's unreasonable for anyone spending $81/day/person on a 4 day ticket to be expected to do some general research. If I wanted to go to a convention and I went to my boss and said "hey, the convention fee is $350 and the room is $200/night but I don't know what seminars I'm going to attend and I'm just going to wing it" he wouldn't let me go. We just saw someone this week jump from the standby lane to the FP+ lane at splash mountain because they thought FP+ "was just for the people with the bands".

I know there are people that say "it's vacation, I don't want to plan" and that's fine and great. However you have to manage your own expectations doing that.

It's also frustrating to hear people griping about reservations. Every major city/attraction has tables that it is difficult to get into. Most of them are *worse* because you can only book 1 month to 6 weeks out. Disney has invested the money in the reservation system that lets you book over a longer period of time. You go for the view/food/atmosphere more than the food. People trying to get into The Polo Bar a month out don't know what they will want to eat that day; they just know they want to eat there.

Stacy


https://www.zagat.com/b/new-york-city/new-yorks-10-toughest-tables-right-now#2

 

[DrunkJam]

Not really. These parties aren't anything new and so the general population knows (or should have known) about them when you bought your ticket/annual pass. Even if the party date wasn't set you can look at last years date. As someone else said: it is the trade off for going in the low season.

As for research i don't think it's unreasonable for anyone spending $81/day/person on a 4 day ticket to be expected to do some general research. If I wanted to go to a convention and I went to my boss and said "hey, the convention fee is $350 and the room is $200/night but I don't know what seminars I'm going to attend and I'm just going to wing it" he wouldn't let me go. We just saw someone this week jump from the standby lane to the FP+ lane at splash mountain because they thought FP+ "was just for the people with the bands".

I know there are people that say "it's vacation, I don't want to plan" and that's fine and great. However you have to manage your own expectations doing that.

It's also frustrating to hear people griping about reservations. Every major city/attraction has tables that it is difficult to get into. Most of them are *worse* because you can only book 1 month to 6 weeks out. Disney has invested the money in the reservation system that lets you book over a longer period of time. You go for the view/food/atmosphere more than the food. People trying to get into The Polo Bar a month out don't know what they will want to eat that day; they just know they want to eat there.

Stacy


https://www.zagat.com/b/new-york-city/new-yorks-10-toughest-tables-right-now#2

Disney world is not a major city though, is it? it's a theme park / collection of theme parks. If I book with my TA in UK, they are not going to tell me, book your restaurant reservations 6 months out, and I am not necessarily going to think of doing so, because, I have booked an entire on site holiday, I would expect to get in to eat a sit down meal. I would not magically know otherwise. Now, common sense would tell me if I want to eat at a specific restaurant at a specific time, especially if it has a reputation, in London, or New York, or Paris etc, I will make a reservation. Honestly, there is no general, not in the world of disney fans, buzz, in the Uk, about disney restaurants.

If I hadn't googled because I was getting married in WDW and wanted to book a restaurant for a large number of people, even my wedding coordinator over here didn't tell me that it was necessary to book so far in advance, so I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that people generally might not know this level of planning is necessary.