TSM standby-less test Oct. 6-9

[mesaboy2]

I don't read their facebook page much, but did last night. There were plenty of negative comments nestled in with the glowing reports from happy guests. If they're deleting them, they're missing quite a few.

Honestly, I couldn't care less what they do with their face book page. I would never know what they do as far as editing goes because I'm not spending the time to track their page and figure out what's there now vs what went away. It's what they do in the parks and what kind of service I receive that matters to me. Me thinks some people are just looking for things to complain about.

Sure, that's it. Some are bored and in a bad mood--that explains it.

 

[cakebaker]

I think that depends on if you are using Disney transportation. Most all of the off-site resorts that we have stayed at in Orlando, we are hitting Disney property in 10 to 15 minutes. There is one we like to stay at called Silver Lake that you drive out of the back of the property and in less that 2 minutes we come out at the red light that goes into the Animal Kingdom resort area.

There have been others we can see and/or hear the fireworks from different parks. We have used Disney buses to hop when we wanted to keep our close parking place and have waited for buses longer than it takes to get to most of the places we have stayed. If you drive your car to the park or are in the park close to the resort you are staying at, then I agree that you can get to your resort pretty easily.

I understand that popping in for a few hours works great for many guest. It just doesn't for our family. We love being in the park! We don't understand the idea of sleeping in and coming to the park later. I am very much not a morning person but when I am at Disney is the only time I am eager to get up and moving. I've been known to even wake up before the alarm and have to get myself to go back to sleep. We can't wait to get to the park and don't want to leave once we get there.

The day we visited MK in 2012, the park stayed open until 1:00 a.m. We spent 16 hours in the park that day counting our pre-opening breakfast and I was skipping on the way out (yes, I act like a kid when I'm at Disney ). We got in the park at 8:00 a.m. and left at midnight. But then we took the next day off. We would much rather do it this way because we truly love to be in the park. If it is open and we are going that day, we want to be there! That is how this family rolls. I know this isn't how everyone tours but it is how our family likes to.

We drive our own car to WDW and it stays parked until we go home. We use Disney transportation exclusively. Depending on where we stay, that can be only busses or a combination of bus, monorail, boat.

Bus transportation used to be a nightmare- but our last 3 trips, we've seen a tremendous increase in efficiency. We waited no more than 10 minutes for a bus at the resort, and usually one was waiting or arrived within a few minutes of leaving any park. The one exception was after MK closing and even then it was half an hour from walk up to on our way to our resort. The off site area was still a sea of people waiting for the ferry and monorail when we left.

We never use the park to park transportation, that's a relatively new thing for Disney so I can't comment on how fast those are, but we have no complaints about the internal transportation. It's fast and easy and is a major reason we stay on site.

We don't understand the idea of sleeping in and coming to the park later.

Just as aside- we don't either. We consider sleeping in to be not catching the first bus in the mornings.

 

[cakebaker]

Sure, that's it. Some are bored and in a bad mood--that explains it.

No, but some people do just like to gripe. There are some valid complaints to be made about the things WDW does and whether it suits your family or not, but what they do with their facebook page???? Really, does it matter?

I'm sure there are many companies that monitor and edit their facebook pages. So what...who cares.

 

[momof2n2]

It depends. We stay onsite so we are paying Disney food prices regardless of whether it's in the park or at the resort or Downtown. We have found that the extra $10 park day is the cheapest thing we can do with our few hours (arrival day, departure day, sleep in day, etc). We can't do anything else for $10 per person. If we go downtown we buy stuff. Mini golf costs more than $10 each. The only thing cheaper than $10 is staying at the resort to swim and do resort activities, and we usually get enough of that throughout the week.

I like value for my money too, but sometimes less really IS more. If we go until we drop we're grouchy and arguing with each other and generally unhappy. That is not a good value for my dollar, IMO. I will not pinch every single penny and squeeze every second out of every day to get my money's worth. If we are happy at the end of the day, then I feel that I got my money's worth, and sometimes what makes us happy is a 3 hour park day for $10 each.

ETA: Maybe onsite vs offsite makes the difference, I don't know. Vacation style is probably part of it too. Even if we were offsite we would spend more than $10 per person plus parking plus the extra cost of a Disney meal. The kids would want to shop, mini golf, ride go karts, something. All those little things add up.

With our every-other-day model we never get grouchy. Having in between days at our vacation rental to just swim and order pizza, and sometimes go to DTD recharges us for the next commando day.

Same here, we want quality vs quantity. We found after a couple of commando trips, that we had a hard time even remembering what we did. It was all such a blur of days that they sort of melded together. So, we slowed down, enjoyed the moments and we like it much, much better.

We still manage to get to rope drop, we still stay late sometimes, but we don't ever do open to close in any park. I'm a bit of a neat freak, but in that Florida heat I can't stand wearing the same clothes all day. A few hours at the resort to cool down, rest and get a fresh change of clothes on makes all the difference in the world!

I think that's a big advantage to staying on site. It's much easier to pop back and forth between our resort and a park. Depending on where we stay, it can be just minutes away from a park. Makes it quick and easy.

For us, every minute we are not in the park is money we've thrown away.

I agree with your Math. I don't value any of the lesser 3 parks (EPCOT, DHS, or AK) as a $100 park, so when I buy tickets, I'm not saying "it's only $10/day for each of us to get an extra day"...I'm saying "okay, at an average of $60/day, I might be happy enough in those lesser parks." But funny story tonight, my kids actually told me that EPCOT is boring and old, DHS has so little to do and so could we rethink doing Disney next year and just do Universal again. And maybe we could just buy a 1-day MK pass to see NFL or do a party to see it? These kids were Disney fanatics before our Universal trip last year and even then, they'd wistfully looked at Disney's signage every time we'd come back to Bonnet Creek. But now, even they have noticed (over their wee years) how little has changed and improved in the lesser parks and how much Universal has done (yes, they watched the Harry Potter special on tv and were amazed).

And you know what? It would cost me less to have a 1 day MK pass or party (heck even 2 parties) and the Universal passes...

So, we have decided to get our off-site condo booked and then wait and see what Disney offers - it will take a ticket price deal next year to get us in the parks for any type of length of stay ticket - we really just have so little to do that's new and exciting outside of MK...and we haven't been since 2012 (so that's really sad)...

You explain it so much better than I. Thanks!

I think that depends on if you are using Disney transportation. Most all of the off-site resorts that we have stayed at in Orlando, we are hitting Disney property in 10 to 15 minutes. There is one we like to stay at called Silver Lake that you drive out of the back of the property and in less that 2 minutes we come out at the red light that goes into the Animal Kingdom resort area. There have been others we can see and/or hear the fireworks from different parks. We have used Disney buses to hop when we wanted to keep our close parking place and have waited for buses longer than it takes to get to most of the places we have stayed. If you drive your car to the park or are in the park close to the resort you are staying at, then I agree that you can get to your resort pretty easily.

I understand that popping in for a few hours works great for many guest. It just doesn't for our family. We love being in the park! We don't understand the idea of sleeping in and coming to the park later. I am very much not a morning person but when I am at Disney is the only time I am eager to get up and moving. I've been known to even wake up before the alarm and have to get myself to go back to sleep. We can't wait to get to the park and don't want to leave once we get there.

The day we visited MK in 2012, the park stayed open until 1:00 a.m. We spent 16 hours in the park that day counting our pre-opening breakfast and I was skipping on the way out (yes, I act like a kid when I'm at Disney ). We got in the park at 8:00 a.m. and left at midnight. But then we took the next day off. We would much rather do it this way because we truly love to be in the park. If it is open and we are going that day, we want to be there! That is how this family rolls. I know this isn't how everyone tours but it is how our family likes to.

Ours, too. I've never had a kid melt down in WDW. And I have six. They nap if they need to, or sit out a ride in the shade with Mom. Etc. You can do open-to-close without drama, for sure. And then Mom and Dad feel satisfied we got every iota of value out of that $2200 tag.

 

[vacationer1954]

We drive our own car to WDW and it stays parked until we go home. We use Disney transportation exclusively. Depending on where we stay, that can be only busses or a combination of bus, monorail, boat.

Bus transportation used to be a nightmare- but our last 3 trips, we've seen a tremendous increase in efficiency. We waited no more than 10 minutes for a bus at the resort, and usually one was waiting or arrived within a few minutes of leaving any park. The one exception was after MK closing and even then it was half an hour from walk up to on our way to our resort. The off site area was still a sea of people waiting for the ferry and monorail when we left.

We are very much the same. We too have noticed lots and lots of improvement in bus transportation over the last several trips especially but it has been getting better for many years.

We never use the park to park transportation, that's a relatively new thing for Disney so I can't comment on how fast those are, but we have no complaints about the internal transportation. It's fast and easy and is a major reason we stay on site.

I remember making the trip from Disney-MGM Studios to the Magic Kingdom several times and having to "connect" through the ticket center on the other side of the lagoon from the Magic Kingdom. Having to wait twice for buses to get from park to park was bad. It is much better now.

 

[mellyf]

New slogan? "Hubris & Hogwash. Brought to you by Walt Disney World"

Darn! Where's that "like" button again??

 

[wisblue]

Hogwash. Facebook is designed to leave comments and feedback under posts. Comparing that to defacing a billboard with spray paint is ridiculous. Facebook also allows the page manager to delete unwanted posts and there is a way to report abusive posts. If Disney can't handle the heat, they should get out of the social media kitchen (or better yet pay heed to the complaints and concerns).

Just because a company is deleting posts it doesn't like doesn't mean it isn't paying attention to them. But, those posts are just one part of the overall evaluation of customer satisfaction. If that overall evaluation tells them that those posts represent a very vocal minority, it would make no sense for them to do what that minority wants.

 

[cakebaker]

With our every-other-day model we never get grouchy. Having in between days at our vacation rental to just swim and order pizza, and sometimes go to DTD recharges us for the next commando day.

For us, every minute we are not in the park is money we've thrown away.
You explain it so much better than I. Thanks!


Ours, too. I've never had a kid melt down in WDW. And I have six. They nap if they need to, or sit out a ride in the shade with Mom. Etc. You can do open-to-close without drama, for sure. And then Mom and Dad feel satisfied we got every iota of value out of that $2200 tag.

We have AP's now, so if we looked at it as though every minute not in the parks is money thrown away- we'd exhaust ourselves. We don't like full days of no parks. I couldn't stand it if we only got to go to the MK once- even if it was a full day. I love being able to leave and say, we'll be back in a couple of days.

Our "down" days are usually one of the water parks or shopping at Downtown Disney (speaking of which, I will be SO glad when the renovations are done- really hated what they had done with it before). On a 7 day or longer trip, we usually get back to the Magic Kingdom at least 3 times, sometimes more.

Cafeteria style touring vs commando.

But that's the beauty of all the options at WDW- you can stay on site or off site. Buy base tickets, hoppers or AP's. You can drive, you can use internal transportation. Everyone is different and everyone can adjust their trip according to their own style and what works best for them.

 

[KatieCharlotte]

Same thing-we do those things but still go in that night esp for $10, why sit in a hotel room?

For a family of five, it's $50. Not much compared to the cost of the trip, but not nothing. That said, we have gone in the evening when we had little ones that couldn't otherwise make it to the fireworks, and the reason we wouldn't now is that DH will only tolerate a maximum of four park days per trip and would much prefer two or three. He has family all over Florida to see and also enjoys a day at the pool, since we come from a cold climate. We also like to take advantage of cheap non-Disney cruises. We will never be the ideal WDW guests.

 

[faneuil]

But that's the beauty of all the options at WDW- you can stay on site or off site. Buy base tickets, hoppers or AP's. You can drive, you can use internal transportation. Everyone is different and everyone can adjust their trip according to their own style and what works best for them.

Which is why I think WDW would be very foolish to go to a reservation only system for attractions. I also think they know that.

When I wasn't a local - we were always rope droppers. (Actually, even now I'm a rope dropper). But we usually got back to the cabin at dinner time and took advantage of the grill. Then it just depended on the day. Illuminations, Wishes, Fantasmic, Water parade. We did something at night.

I marvel at commandos. I can't do it. I just physically can't handle that many hours in a theme park without a nap and some quiet.

 

[Jennasis]

Facebook gives the owner of the page the power to remove comments they don't like. Most companies with a Facebook presence are using it for marketing. It is absolutely analogous to a billboard. If posters to Disney's page cannot handle the heat of Disney deleting comments that aren't fair in Disney's judgment, then they should get out of the social media kitchen. What I'm saying is that if you only look at it from how you want it to be you can't understand it from the other side. There is always an other side and in this case the other side has more merit which is why Disney has been successful running that way for decades.

We disagree on this subject and that's fine.

 

[momof2n2]

But that's the beauty of all the options at WDW- you can stay on site or off site. Buy base tickets, hoppers or AP's. You can drive, you can use internal transportation. Everyone is different and everyone can adjust their trip according to their own style and what works best for them.

So - now that we can all agree on how this always was --- can we all go one step further? (Not just you, cakebaker; just that your comment is recent and I agree with this chunk.)....

Let's say through 2012 (or even much of 2013) you could tour your way and I could tour my way and we both had marvelous vacations.

Now jump to 2014. You can still tour your way, but I can not. See why some of us are no longer happy?

It's not just the long hours of park time that we want -- it's what we're doing in those hours. I don't want to need twice as many days (or more) to do what I used to be able to do.

 

[faneuil]

It's been my experience that two main types of ppl leave feedback comments.

1. People who are really UNHAPPY with the experience.
2. People who are really HAPPY with the experience.

The rest - the majority of people - don't bother commenting at all. Or, if they do, the comments are very general. The extremes always leave us with such strong feelings, that we need to "air them out".

This comes from 15 years of talking faculty off the ledge after a negative comment on ratemyprofessor or on their semester student feedback surveys. One student, out of 100, leaving a negative comment, always impacted the faculty much stronger than the other 99 saying, "Good".

 

[JoshuaShaw]

I hereby name the current park management Judith.

I just like the new fp system and I don't want to see Disney become another amusement park with wall to wall thrill rides and lots of pavement.

What does one have to do with the other? Or am I inferring a connection that doesn't exist?

Reading through this entire thread has made me reevaluate what Disney World means to me and probably what I mean to Disney. I'm very much a rides person and not a package resort person, which means my upcoming WDW trip may be my last for the foreseeable future. If Disney wants to pursue guests that spend less time in the parks in favor of the resorts, my money will be better spent in California. I don't begrudge anyone who wants to ride every single attraction only once, but I would much prefer to skip many attractions I don't enjoy to re-ride the ones I love, with low to moderate waits and without a 60-day reservation window.

 

[cakebaker]

Let's say through 2012 (or even much of 2013) you could tour your way and I could tour my way and we both had marvelous vacations.

But I couldn't tour my way. We park hop and with fp, it was very difficult, if not impossible, to get fp's for the evening park we hopped to. We had to adjust how we toured the parks or give up riding the popular rides in the evening or get in long standby lines.

Even in our morning park, we had to make a mad rush to the fp machine to get fp's for the popular rides before the return times were too late for us to use them.

We adjusted as best we could and managed to enjoy ourselves in spite of the problems we had.

 

[flicx]

Facebook gives the owner of the page the power to remove comments they don't like. Most companies with a Facebook presence are using it for marketing. It is absolutely analogous to a billboard. If posters to Disney's page cannot handle the heat of Disney deleting comments that aren't fair in Disney's judgment, then they should get out of the social media kitchen. What I'm saying is that if you only look at it from how you want it to be you can't understand it from the other side. There is always an other side and in this case the other side has more merit which is why Disney has been successful running that way for decades.

Sorry taking down negative feedback and fixing the results of polls is not good business. It is deceptive and sounds like something a politician would do. If you are fine with so be it.

 

[robpa]

The one argument or alternative I always see on here coming from those who like the new FP system is you don't have to use it and you can always use the standby line. Well wouldn't that also apply to the old FP system also. Meaning if you hopped to another park and the fastpasses were gone you could just get in the standby line.

 

[grimley1968]

But I couldn't tour my way. We park hop and with fp, it was very difficult, if not impossible, to get fp's for the evening park we hopped to. We had to adjust how we toured the parks or give up riding the popular rides in the evening or get in long standby lines.

Even in our morning park, we had to make a mad rush to the fp machine to get fp's for the popular rides before the return times were too late for us to use them.

We adjusted as best we could and managed to enjoy ourselves in spite of the problems we had.

The bolded part is what is infuriating about this test. That wasn't even an option for the people there during this test, and they were not made aware of it until it was nearly impossible for them to get FP's.

Those people couldn't tour their way, even though they had planned to with months of research. This thread may have gotten off this point, but to me it is still the salient point in all of this. People may love or hate FP+, FP-, standby, but at least there's normally a choice to do it the old-fashioned way, which Disney took away from those people, without notice, for those 4 days. If adequate notice had been given, I'd have a lot fewer problems with this test.

The fact that Disney can do this is, to me, beside the point. What a company can do versus what it should do for its guests isn't always the same thing. This test, IMHO, proves that point.

 

[AmyB2006]

So you feel a poll taken that has no negative comment section about a product gives you fair results. This topic was discussed at lengths not long ago. When you do polls or studies like this you have to get positive results. Wish I could remember what post had the actual questionaire on it but alas I don't perhaps someone else can help me out.

Disney always sends me surveys after my trips. There is ALWAYS a negative option. The options are usually 1 through 10 1 being the least. Or there is a Definitely will or Definitely will not option.

So I don't know what polls you're referring to but the surveys that I get with questions on my MB and FP+ experience always have "negative" options.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Disney always sends me surveys after my trips. There is ALWAYS a negative option. The options are usually 1 through 10 1 being the least. Or there is a Definitely will or Definitely will not option.

So I don't know what polls you're referring to but the surveys that I get with questions on my MB and FP+ experience always have "negative" options.

I am only referring to one specific one that was posted about here, where screenshots were posted, and was a hot topic specifically because of its lack of negative options. I think it was around march 2014 or so? Before the 4th fp+ option

I'm not and never have been claiming that it is something Disney routinely does.