Trip Advisor reviews!?

[quandrea]

For fun, I took a look at WDW’s trip advisor reviews last night. The majority are one star as of late. Are these most likely inexperienced visitors who went in without a plan, or are the reviews indicative of the current experience? I’m planning a big trip next Oct with friends who are all first timers. Getting worried that the experience will be horrific and that I’m wasting my friends’ time and money.

 

[Marthasor]

What resorts are you considering? You might get a more varied, detailed response on these boards. I feel sometimes people only post reviews on those sites when they've had a negative experience.

 

[Carol_]

Safe to say none of us knows how it’ll be next October. There are always people who just don’t like WDW. There are also people who love WDW but hate change. There’s been a lot of change. Lastly, with travel restrictions and people needing to go on vacation, the masses have descended upon Florida to increase wait times and anxiety from airport arrival through vacation and on to departure.
Expect things to cost more. Pack your patience and snacks.
( I just read the trip advisor review that compares Universal to WDW on the same trip… might be time for me to check out Universal again soon!)

 

[quandrea]

What resorts are you considering? You might get a more varied, detailed response on these boards. I feel sometimes people only post reviews on those sites when they've had a negative experience.

These were not resort reviews, but rather reviews of WDW as a whole.

 

[momtoBrandon&Jacob]

Yikes I just went over to read some of them. So glad our kids are older decided to do the National Parks next year instead of spending our hard earned $$$ at Disney.

 

[g-dad66]

From what I'm reading, I think experiences this week have been pretty bad for many.

But things could be very different a year from now. You might want to check again in January after peak season to see what it is looking like.

 

[mouschievous]

I went over to TripAdvisor and read the reviews. Honestly, those reviews read like people who A) didn't do their research beforehand and B) had unrealistic expectations of what traveling during a pandemic is like. We're going to WDW for the first time in January and we've already started trying to temper everyone's expectations. We've talked about how if we don't like the wait time, we can go find something else to do instead. I think being able to go with the flow will be an asset, for sure.

 

[soniam]

From what I'm reading, I think experiences this week have been pretty bad for many.

But things could be very different a year from now. You might want to check again in January after peak season to see what it is looking like.

Anyone that thinks the theme parks won’t be cluster during Thanksgiving week is either delusional or didn’t read anything beforehand. We are here right now and having a good time. However, we know what it is ahead of time and have done this week twice before.

 

[FCDub]

Lol, people write negative reviews of national parks. Who cares? Tens of millions of people visit a year and ... a dozen leave bad reviews on TripAdvisor?

 

[TheDailyMoo]

Honestly TripAdvisor has always been a fun read like the National Enquirer of trip reviews but no one should ever put a ton of stock in it. However what I WOULD look at as the canary in the coalmine are sites like this. Real Disney fans who visit WDW on a regular basis or at least are knowledgeable about visiting and have some sort of understanding of historical and perceived value that WDW has afforded them on trips. The reviews from this community can't be ignored. Even if you want to attribute a decent percentage of it to "reactionary" reasons there are still too large a number, and growing every day, that says WDW and the corporation in general is headed in the wrong direction and that they are not getting the same value or fun from the parks.

 

[StageTek]

For fun, I took a look at WDW’s trip advisor reviews last night. The majority are one star as of late. Are these most likely inexperienced visitors who went in without a plan, or are the reviews indicative of the current experience? I’m planning a big trip next Oct with friends who are all first timers. Getting worried that the experience will be horrific and that I’m wasting my friends’ time and money.

People who have a great time rarely go to Trip Advisor to leave a review. So the reviews skew to the negative.

I can't imagine a first timer having a horrific time at Disney World. Your friends won't know that Magical Express stopped. They won't know that Lightening Lane replaced Fast Pass. And, seriously, people write bad reviews because it's crowded and there are long lines? Food prices too high?

 

[SteveH]

IMHO Trip Advisor is just not a very reliable resource anymore. It' just a non-stop *&%#@ fest of complaints unless you find somebody that is an experienced traveler and reviewer. I generally lean to using Yelp, but only for those that actually checked-in at the location and even then I try to read some of their other reviews.

Between now and October 2022 there is so much potentila for change I wouldn't base anything on the current reviews. Genie+ just rolled out, pent up demand for travel is a big factor as well as staffing challenges and supply shortages. Same goes for reading reviews from October 2020.

 

[Marthasor]

These were not resort reviews, but rather reviews of WDW as a whole.

Oh, LOL! Ok, I'm intrigued - going to go look!

Edited to add: Ok, I read through about ten reviews and, yeah, I kind of get it. Most reviews mention crowds, the price, lack of guest services - yes, it's very crowded right now, more crowded than what you will, most likely, experience in October. We went the first week of October this year and while there were sections that were crowded (mostly around the new Remy ride), the parks were not packed. The cost - yes, relatively speaking, in comparison to pre-covid days, it's really expensive right now with virtually no discounts unless you are an AP holder or a FL resident. We are APs, so we've lucked out on some discounts - when I can't get them Swan/Dolphin is our go-to. Lack of guest services - yes, it's very true that hold times when calling Disney are extraordinarily long. This is not a new issue, but they just can't seem to solve it - it's very frustrating. At the resorts, we've found the staff to be incredibly friendly, but housekeeping is still spotty (for instance, we had no housekeeping at YC and full housekeeping at VGF). Many of the reviewers seem to have not purchased Genie+ and ILLs - I think I would recommend factoring those into your vacation budget. By then, the system should be working a little more smoothly. I would also recommend finding some non-park, off-the-beaten path activities to take some breaks from the parks if the lines and waiting get too much - we like exploring the resorts, going to the water parks, kayaking at Ft. W, renting pontoon boats, etc. I think mixing a WDW vacation up with a variety of activities and not just commando park touring, can make the trip more relaxing and enjoyable.

 

[quandrea]

Oh, LOL! Ok, I'm intrigued - going to go look!

Edited to add: Ok, I read through about ten reviews and, yeah, I kind of get it. Most reviews mention crowds, the price, lack of guest services - yes, it's very crowded right now, more crowded than what you will, most likely, experience in October. We went the first week of October this year and while there were sections that were crowded (mostly around the new Remy ride), the parks were not packed. The cost - yes, relatively speaking, in comparison to pre-covid days, it's really expensive right now with virtually no discounts unless you are an AP holder or a FL resident. We are APs, so we've lucked out on some discounts - when I can't get them Swan/Dolphin is our go-to. Lack of guest services - yes, it's very true that hold times when calling Disney are extraordinarily long. This is not a new issue, but they just can't seem to solve it - it's very frustrating. At the resorts, we've found the staff to be incredibly friendly, but housekeeping is still spotty (for instance, we had no housekeeping at YC and full housekeeping at VGF). Many of the reviewers seem to have not purchased Genie+ and ILLs - I think I would recommend factoring those into your vacation budget. By then, the system should be working a little more smoothly. I would also recommend finding some non-park, off-the-beaten path activities to take some breaks from the parks if the lines and waiting get too much - we like exploring the resorts, going to the water parks, kayaking at Ft. W, renting pontoon boats, etc. I think mixing a WDW vacation up with a variety of activities and not just commando park touring, can make the trip more relaxing and enjoyable.

We have lots of plans to do other things. I’m going to take those reviews with a grain of salt. We will go in with a plan, make use of early entry and late nights, break in the afternoons and have lots of fun!

 

[loves to dive]

You have to take all reviews with a grain of salt and sort of read between the lines. A lot of first time visitors to WDW are overwhelmed and probably went thinking it was going to be like their local theme park. You have to sort of pick and choose through the reviews and kind of figure out where they were coming from.

Example: I was thinking of staying in a historical building on the river in Savannah. I am a frequent visitor to Savannah and know the town well. The complaints were: the building smelt musky and seemed run down. It was a historical building on the river, at least 100 years old at the time. Who wouldn't think a building close to the water wouldn't be musky, ever stayed in a hotel on the ocean? Again, it was over 100 years old and was a warehouse before it had been converted to an Inn, run down? More complaints about ship horns at night keeping them awake. Again, on a very big, very active shipping river with a very large bridge going over it. Do people think ships don't run during the night and if they do they don't blow their horns? So, I had to shift through those and get down to real reviews about the cleanliness, the service, the price compared to other hotels/inns in the area. I stayed there and it became my favorite place to stay in Savannah and I've stayed at the little B&Bs and the high end hotels.