Was Excited to Plan WDW Spring Trip…Until I Came Here and Remembered all the New Rules.

[Figvention]

It's arrogant of you to tell me Disney is not a charity. I've spent a small fortune at WDW over the past twenty years so I'm quite aware of that fact. No where in my post did I indicate I expected anything for free. I only said it was more convenient to be able to book things prior to the actual day they were happening. Making your customers rise before 7am every day they want to attend your parks in order to pay to maximize their fun is not a great idea. Sometimes, people on vacation want to sleep in and go to the park later instead of having to join the rat race for ride slots first thing in the morning.

Btw… Ron Swanson is my personal hero, but I really wouldn’t want him running my local Parks department.

Many of us are well aware they are a publicly held company. We only bemoan the loss of “value”. This is the free market principle of a goods or services provider adding indulgence to the previously mentioned goods or service to distinguish themselves and entice you to choose them over another provider of likewise goods or service. Nothing communistic about wanting value for what is a rather large spend for most American families.

Yes, I’m voting with my wallet as 2022 marks the end of yearly trips to WDW. The loss of magic express, fast pass, extra magic hours in the evenings (sorry, deluxe cost are absurd), and deterioration of food quality matched with sky rocketing cost… finally kills the experience for us. Not calling for anyone’s mansion to be burned by saying that.

 

[Seeker615]

It's sad that there is so much planning now for a Disney trip. Way back when the kids were young we planned out the park days and just went. We went in early September and had no issues. Kids got to experience everything and we have so many great pics with the characters.

I have not been back since all this Genie stuff and reservation for the parks started. I just can't even imagine doing all this. For me it takes the vacation out of the vacation! I don't mind planning ahead but this seems excessive.

 

[Davey Jones II]

It's arrogant of you to tell me Disney is not a charity. I've spent a small fortune at WDW over the past twenty years so I'm quite aware of that fact. No where in my post did I indicate I expected anything for free. I only said it was more convenient to be able to book things prior to the actual day they were happening. Making your customers rise before 7am every day they want to attend your parks in order to pay to maximize their fun is not a great idea. Sometimes, people on vacation want to sleep in and go to the park later instead of having to join the rat race for ride slots first thing in the morning.

Yeah, and they could still charge money for FP+. They could use the old system, but with a price attached. And I honestly think that guest satisfaction would be higher with that system.

That being said, I haven't had the joy of experiencing Genie + yet. I have two trips planned and I HOPE it works for us...

 

[Eastern]

I've lost money helping so my rule is now I will not put out any cash, any deposit, any credit card hold etc because it never fails folks, for whatever reason, change their mind. Too often they don't get the restrictions that come with it, and the money Iost. Let everyone handle their own money transactions.

Lots of good tips, but this was the best one. So many people 'change their minds', no matter how motivated they seem to go on a trip. Having to put out actual money makes their intentions clear from the start.

 

[Figvention]

Yeah, and they could still charge money for FP+. They could use the old system, but with a price attached. And I honestly think that guest satisfaction would be higher with that system.

That being said, I haven't had the joy of experiencing Genie + yet. I have two trips planned and I HOPE it works for us...

This! Even if it was limited to three FP for the whole day, many people wouldn’t complain. Enough with making me wake up on vacation with anxiety about the day.

 

[LuvMyEAR]

Here at WDW this week and I can tell you that it is NOT magical. While not staying on site, we bought the Memory Maker (used loved it in the past!) and Genie+ for every day. Waste of money!!!

First beef and the reason I won’t be visiting WDW again - surge pricing means you are forced to use up all of your days at once, so you cannot enjoy alternating intensive park days with more restful days in between. Back-to-back park days can be hard on people of all ages!

CROWDS! Wow… not even fun being in the parks for most of the day. We had long looked forward to spending time in HS, seeing Star Wars and Toy Story lands. With shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, trust me, you do not see much, particularly from wheelchair or ECV level. We shuffled through, and as we headed toward Backlot Express to grab some lunch, we made a fast and very mutual decision to just get out of the park. For our time, trouble and $, we did Rock’n’Rollercoaster and Toy Story Mania, and could not even stand to stick around longer.

Weather - no one’s fault for sure, but Tropical Storm Nicole is closing in so our long-anticipated Epcot day was a soggy failure. We soldiered through, trying gamely to smile while attempting to find a bit of shelter to enjoy some F&W offerings before they adsorbed too much rainwater. We ended up cold and wet enough to not mind leaving early, but regret missing the chance to see the nighttime show, etc, due to early closure. If not for the Park Reservation system, we would have waited until tomorrow afternoon to head into Epcot, in hopes the rain would have at least slowed up. Of course, no Photopass photographers were used today, no magic shots, etc.

We had done a hellish hot and rainiest ever September trip some years ago, and had a ball, because we had a whole lot more flexibility!

 

[auroralark]

OP, I hear you. I booked a trip for May and I kind of regret it, but I'm doing it for my 10 year old. We have not been back to WDW since 2019 (despite being DVC members) and I want to squeeze in another trip before she gets any older. We were at Disneyland back in August and had a good time despite the parks being crowded, but it seems way less people use Genie+ there (and I hated having to buy it in the first place...at least there it includes Photopass and we stopped for every photographer) so I'm on the fence about whether I'm going to buy it for WDW. We also had the issue in Disneyland with tons of rides breaking down. It screwed up our plans several times even with Genie+. I'd never experienced anything like it on any of my many previous Disney trips. After this next trip, no idea when we'll be back. And we used to be once a year, if not twice, visitors.

 

[shh]

Here at WDW this week and I can tell you that it is NOT magical. While not staying on site, we bought the Memory Maker (used loved it in the past!) and Genie+ for every day. Waste of money!!!

First beef and the reason I won’t be visiting WDW again - surge pricing means you are forced to use up all of your days at once, so you cannot enjoy alternating intensive park days with more restful days in between. Back-to-back park days can be hard on people of all ages!

CROWDS! Wow… not even fun being in the parks for most of the day. We had long looked forward to spending time in HS, seeing Star Wars and Toy Story lands. With shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, trust me, you do not see much, particularly from wheelchair or ECV level. We shuffled through, and as we headed toward Backlot Express to grab some lunch, we made a fast and very mutual decision to just get out of the park. For our time, trouble and $, we did Rock’n’Rollercoaster and Toy Story Mania, and could not even stand to stick around longer.

Weather - no one’s fault for sure, but Tropical Storm Nicole is closing in so our long-anticipated Epcot day was a soggy failure. We soldiered through, trying gamely to smile while attempting to find a bit of shelter to enjoy some F&W offerings before they adsorbed too much rainwater. We ended up cold and wet enough to not mind leaving early, but regret missing the chance to see the nighttime show, etc, due to early closure. If not for the Park Reservation system, we would have waited until tomorrow afternoon to head into Epcot, in hopes the rain would have at least slowed up. Of course, no Photopass photographers were used today, no magic shots, etc.

We had done a hellish hot and rainiest ever September trip some years ago, and had a ball, because we had a whole lot more flexibility!

The inability to just pop into whatever park one wants is critical as Florida weather changes every 5 minutes. Coupled with the loss of FP+ and ever growing crowds and I doubt I'll ever visit again sadly. Sorry about your disappointing trip - I don't blame you at all for never wanting to go back. I haven't been since 2019 and will likely never be again unless policies change one day. Not paying big bucks to wake up early on vacation to fight for a ride pass or have to choose which park months in advance.