What's your reaction when ...

[scubamouse]

Someone blames WDW for that persons lack of planning?

I do a combo of and

I was talking w/someone who was there for the marathon and all she did was complain about how she couldn't walk up to a restaurant and get a table (she made no ADRs), she was stunned at how big the parking lots were and that her DS got sick and this was all Disney's fault.

It was all I could do not to laugh at her since this really was all her fault for not planning. Sorry you didn't have a good trip, don't rush back

 

[eeyoregirl]

If you don't plan for a WDW trip-at least partially plan-then you should not complain when you don't walk right into a restaurant or onto a popular ride/attraction. Do your homework, check the boards, read the websites, or call Disney and ask what the crowd conditions are like. Hello, it's Disney! It's not some remote deserted island!

 

[BAST]

Same reaction from me.

I was talking to some coworkers about planning a trip to WDW and another coworker stepped in and told everyone that WDW was a horrible place to vacaction and that her family would never go back. This person had gone during Christmas, had made hotel and airline reservations very late (and paid rack rates at a deluxe hotel and a premium for airline tickets), did not make transportation arrangements to/from WDW (thought a taxi would work), made no ADR's and did no park planning.

Being diplomatic, I did not . But I could not believe how uninformed this person was.

 

[MinnieGirl33]

I say "I'm so sorry you had such a bad time" while inside I'm thinking "Good! A few less people in line / the parks / hotels / restaurants, etc"

Don't encourage them people! We need to stop telling people all of our secrets & how amazing the world is! They need to be kept in the dark & come home thinking "I don't know what all the hype is about"

 

[Glendamax]

I think people really believe that WDW is like it is on the commercials: you can run up and get on anything, and eat anywhere you want. I think the only way first-timers will have a good time is to talk to someone who's been (like us)

 

[Disney Doll]

I generally tell them that poor planning on their part is not Disney's fault.

I heard a great line once "Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part".

The more people that plan poorly and never go back...the less people we have to deal with when we're there.

 

[Christine]

I have a co-worker/friend who thinks WDW is "hell on Earth." He hasn't been there since 1990. His sister planned a "family" trip there with about 15 people. None of them had ever been and knew nothing about it. They stayed in "some fleabag off I-4" (his words) and spent each day standing in a line so long that they didn't know what attraction they were waiting for. He said it was so hot that people had "vomited" and the all the line-queues smelled like vomit.

Not once did he even attempt to eat in a Disney restaurant or take a nice, cool break somewhere, or pick out a park strategy, or anything.

It did sound like an awful trip. I wonder how often that really happens to people.

 

[Sleepy]

Honestly, I had not been to WDW since 1981 (back when it was just MK) and then, in 1999, we made the decision to go to WDW. Since I was a kid last time I had been and now I am an adult doing the planning, I really had no idea there was actual planning needed until I found these boards. Z(Mom and Dad never had to do much planning other than pick a date. I had no idea you needed to make reservations to eat at a sit down menu place. I was thinking on the level of other amusement parks....find a restaurant and just wait till they can get to you. I was thankful for the internet and for DIS. Without them, I know our first family vacation would have been a nightmare and we would have never returned.

 

[Poohnatic]

It gets worse when someone is a local.

I heard some major griping that the park closed early the night the complainer was going to MK. She said they should ALWAYS be open late and they shouldn't have the park open to *just* resort guests. She went on and on.

Then I said, do you go to the movie theatre without checking the times first? Especially when it's an hour away?

Suzanne

 

[KatelynnsAuntie]

I was in line to check in at CRT last year and a lady in front of me, who had not made PS/ADR's, was mad that she couldn't get in. She was getting all huffy telling the CM that this was her last day (I guess thinking the CM would pull some strings to get her in? ) I just shook my head at the ridiculousness of it all! That sense of entitlement (well it's my last day!) really gets on my nerves!

 

[jbdreamer]

When I was in the WDWCP as a CM a guest was buying her souviniers and then blamed me for missing the fire works while I was checking her out.

 

[NMAmy]

I was in line to check in at CRT last year and a lady in front of me, who had not made PS/ADR's, was mad that she couldn't get in. She was getting all huffy telling the CM that this was her last day (I guess thinking the CM would pull some strings to get her in? ) I just shook my head at the ridiculousness of it all! That sense of entitlement (well it's my last day!) really gets on my nerves!

I think I met that lady's sister in the CRT line at Christmas 2004. We were all waiting in line--well, I had a PS but a lot of the others were checking for availability. She cuts all the way to the front of the line and when others objected, she said, "Oh, I'm just checking to see if I can get a table." Good luck, lady. She was shooed back to the end of the line pretty quickly. I felt like saying, "What the heck do you think the line is for?"

 

[MrsNick]

Actually, I feel sympathy for people who don't know better. How would a first timer know about how to plan a WDW vacation? I'm sure if they knew that they should do the legwork, they would.

Just like when I planned our wedding. Didn't really know how to do that, either. Newbies are called newbies for a reason.

If a first timer lucked out by finding the Dis, or AllEars, then they have a fighting chance.

That being said, I would not visit Europe without doing some homework, and I wouldn't visit WDW without doing a little bit of research.

My husband's co-worker took his son one July, and said never again, the crowds were ridiculous.

Armed with that knowledge, we took DH's daughter the next July - and avoided the crowds by just doing the research. We had a good trip.

If I hadn't known from my husband's co-worker what a difficult time they had, I may not have done as much research as I did, so I learned from his mistake, and fortunately, not from mine.

 

[Sleepy]

Actually, I feel sympathy for people who don't know better. How would a first timer know about how to plan a WDW vacation? I'm sure if they knew that they should do the legwork, they would.

A good example is our best friends. We met them when we moved here.......we met in the elevator of the hotel. Before arriving, they had taken a family vacation to WDW. They only had a couple of days. Oh, if only I had known them beforehand. At the time, their daughter was 8 years old. Can you believe, someone had told them to not bother going to MK because their daughter was too young? And that doing Epcot was really the only park worth touring? They came away from the place not sure if they ever wanted to return. I can't imagine never seeing the Castle or experiencing Haunted Mansion, etc. What a shame. They did not even know there was a hotel on property especially for military where they could have stayed for the price they paid offsite. I told them to let ME plan their next vacation.