Why don't people like WDW?

[Globalfootprint]

I think it's a common misconception that you can just pick up and go to WDW without any planning. Ive planned/taught many friends about WDW who were utterly shocked at all there was to know/do. They see commercials with people just happily walking around the park hand in hand with Mickey and don't realize that there will be lines and reservations and real-life things to consider. You can't just "go" to WDW with the expectation that it will be like a commercial and not do any homework...

Well thats awesome



NOT.

As much as I understand that what you have said is the case and you do need to do planning.


I realised this after booking my teip and wanted a nice relaxed but fun and magical trip with my hubby and kids. And the current system just takes the fun out of the holiday.

Most trips you can book and forget it. Thank goodness this will be our last trip over.

The point of this post is people SHOULD be able to just pick up and go to any disney park or anything else. Because life is too structured to have to have this sort of structure over a trip.

I feel like ill be yelling at my kids the whole time because we are constantly running late with so many ADR and FP+

 

[glassslippergirl]

I don't think it's hard to understand at all. WDW is the high maintenance girlfriend of vacations. If you want to date the supermodel and don't mind her expensive tastes, fickle moods and high demand for personal attention then go ahead, but don't be surprised when your friends don't think she's worth all the trouble.

LOL! Great analogy!

To me, it boils down to the 3 C's-- cost, crowds, and climate.

The cost of a Disney vacation isn't just the money you pay. It's also the cost of the time you spend planning. As much as a lot of people here love the planning, other people would rather spend that time on other things.

The bad reaction to crowds and climate is really just an extension of a reaction to the cost. Before FP, my dad used to get so mad paying for admission to stand in 1.5 hour lines even for non- main attractions. Add to that Orlando's extreme heat, unpredictable cold snaps, and violent afternoon storms, and I can see why some people just don't think it's worth their time and money.

 

[JimmyV]

The very fact that this Board exists explains why many people do not enjoy WDW. People come here to explain what strategies are needed to maximize fun and minimize misery. Most people here are "experts" at visiting WDW and other people come here to learn from the experts. But any vacation that requires expertise is by definition not going to appeal to the "outsider" who doesn't employ the misery avoidance strategies. Some people will come upon their love for WDW organically. But not all will. How many people here grew into their Disney knowledge over several decades? First learning about one park. And then another. And so on. Now imagine starting from scratch under the current state of the World trying to take it all in at once. Does the word "overwhelming" ring a bell? Now, throw in Summer heat, school vacation crowds ( when most first-timers go), and $$$ and you have a recipe for disappointment.

 

[ericstac]

I know a lot of people who could care less about WDW.. It's not that they hated it, it's just they had done it once or twice already and would prefer to go experience something else for the next vacation trip.. cool beans, go do that..

for us, we LOVE Disney.. my wife loves all the classic disney movies, etc.. i just like the dang place, not really sure why

we have a really close nitch extended family that loves doing things together and on a whime we went to WDW a few years ago (see my sig) it was fun.. then the next trip it got smaller and smaller, and eventually it is now just my immediate family of five

Everyone else has excuses, some are justifiable and some are just crazy talk lol

"we are waiting until the 2yr old is a couple years older" - good idea
"we did Disney, we would rather spend vacation somewhere else" -
"we want to take a cruise" - sure... lets WDW and DisCruise
"too expensive" - doing it wrong, do it based on your budget
"we love it, but our kids could care less" - who cares what the kids want? lol

 

[daisyx3]

I had a friend go a few years ago and I told him a lot of stuff, including to be walking a lot to be ready. They really enjoyed it. They went back last fall for free dining and they didn't have as good a time. His wife developed a blister on day #3 that got infected and she had to spend two days in the room. She is kind of a big woman (sorry, "pooh-sized") and I don't think she had been getting ready this time. Anyhow if momma ain't happy ain't nobody happy, and the end result was they will not be going back.
He found out how many times my family has been and he was astounded at what a "waste of money". Yet they go up to Michigan every summer without a second thought. We tried that before our WDW time and while I enjoyed it (my own family did that every summer when I was growing up) my husband was bored out of his mind.
Daisyx3

 

[WDIFanBoy]

A lot of people I've spoken to say that Disney is childish, and that if they don't have children with them, they won't enjoy it.

At that point I give them a blank look and walk away. Disney is for families. Not just kids.

 

[luvthemouse71]

I have friends that don't understand why I like WDW so much. Most of them have never been though.

I take other vacations as well so I don't have narrow horizons. The beach is not one of them, but I live about 30-40 minutes away from the ocean so it doesn't impress me for a vacation anyway.

 

[luvthemouse71]

Well thats awesome NOT. As much as I understand that what you have said is the case and you do need to do planning. I realised this after booking my teip and wanted a nice relaxed but fun and magical trip with my hubby and kids. And the current system just takes the fun out of the holiday. Most trips you can book and forget it. Thank goodness this will be our last trip over. The point of this post is people SHOULD be able to just pick up and go to any disney park or anything else. Because life is too structured to have to have this sort of structure over a trip. I feel like ill be yelling at my kids the whole time because we are constantly running late with so many ADR and FP+

I disagree that most trips don't need planning. If you visit a big city, you need to research fun things to do, get maps, buy tickets( if going to a show). If going to Europe, same thing. Even if you have a TA, if you want to have a great time, you have to do some work.

 

[surferdave]

I believe that a lot of frustration is caused by a belief that some people have.
They're certain that the entire Universe revolves around their lower sphincter and can't understand why all of those other "little" people are getting their way and spoiling their fun.
We used to visit WDW over the Fourth of July week because that's when we could get the vacation time to go.
The crowds were typical "Holiday" size and we learned to deal with it.
Last visit we went over the last week of July.
The crowds were 8 and 9 every day.
We thought that we had the parks to ourselves since the crowd was nothing compared to the 4th.
It's a matter of perspective.
And how important you think you are.....

There is nothing at all selfish or self important about believing the WDW attractions are not worth the long and usually unpleasant waits. In fact if someone has decided to go golfing or skiing instead and to leave the lines and attractions for those who enjoy them more, then that may be the opposite of selfish.

 

[tink20]

We took my DD's boyfriend (now fiancé) when he was 18. We paid for everything except his tickets. We did it right too, RD, FP as much as possible. Had free dining plan. He had "fun" hanging out with DD, but now he has told us that he has no desire to go back.

The next year we went to Universal, he went with us, and he enjoyed it a lot more than WDW and said he would go back there. (he liked the front of the line pass, and it didn't seem as crowded, also had more attractions that he liked)

His reasons are, there isn't much to do at WDW, that he likes. He is a little tight with money (lol) and he can't justify spending that kind of money on a trip. Also, he said he doesn't like how hot and crowded it is. (and waiting in line)

He is more of a beach, camping, outdoors, going fishing and relaxing kind of person.

We are going back next June and my DD wants to go (her and her husband), but he said he didn't want to. I joke with my daughter, how can you marry someone that doesn't like Disney? Also, joked with him, that marriage is about compromise.

 

[pktbMouse]

See, the thing is, to a lot of people (maybe most people?) vacation shouldn't require that much WORK. And I suspect a lot of (most?) people don't know if/when/exact park for each date they'll be visiting WDW 190+ days in advance.

THIS exactly for us.

 

[JillyBean1899]

Why don't people like WDW?

That's like asking why people don't like fish. Or baseball. Or romance novels. Or scary movies.

Everyone has different likes and dislikes. Be thankful for it. Imagine if everyone in the country loved Disney and went every year. The line for Dole Whips would be an hour and a half long, instead of 40 minutes like it was a few weeks ago.

 

[Nayan]

I'm a Disney veteran with over 40 trips across 25 years and I'm not the fan I used to be. It seems that to get the best value and bang for your bucks you have to plan every minute of your day. I'm tired of it. Then after all the planning you do you still get the honor of waiting in line too long. Even with FP+ you can have a long wait for the headliners. I do all the right strategies with meal reservations and fastpass+ and I take advantage of extra magic hours. I do get all my requested meal reservations including the Fantasmic package and other prime reservations, too. It just seems to me to be doing the same thing over and over again and it's boring to me, now.

The weather and crowds add to the misery. I have found other destinations more enjoyable and more reasonable and more relaxing. I have a new love, Dollywood. How can you beat the Smokies in the background? I'm satisfied with one park.

I have to say we were lucky enough to go more often to Disney World when the economy was a little rough and I enjoyed those times the best. Free dining had more dates and resorts available and the crowds were down. I'm more of a fan of legacy fastpass, too.

The live, street entertainment seems to be disappearing especially in Epcot World Showcase.

I'm bored with many of the rides and attractions, now. I will probably go back, but it might be every three to five years rather than every year.

This sums up how I feel as well. After going many times over a number of years, it just seems old and I really don't care to ride the same rides again. I also dislike planning 6 months out what I want to eat and exactly what time I want to ride Dumbo. It's quite a bit of work to just go there and really not worth it for me anymore.

 

[OfTheWind]

Yeah that's another thing with the planning. After my last trip this past January I have had a few people say they wanted to do this or that - for example the wishes dessert party at tomorrowland terrace sounded great to my sister-in-law and my aunt. Neither one of them was able to get in, of course, because they tried to book it 2 weeks before their trip (2 separate trips). Sad thing is that with both of them I had mentioned this dessert party in plenty of time for them to have booked it if they just would have listened to me. but they didn't.

Then a month ago I had a friend who is going in June and liked the idea of eating dinner at BOG. I tried. I really did. I explained to her how I got my reservation by booking the hotel so that I could book the restaurant at 190 days out. She just didn't get it. She said she will try booking it when she gets around to it. So I know where she will not be eating.

I'm already planning our next trip which isn't until December of 2015. My friends and family think I'm nuts because I'm planning so far in advance. But Disneyworld is the best possible example of the early bird gets the worm!

I think it's because people's idea of a vacation vary. There are those of us who enjoy a faster paced environment like WDW and all of the planning involved. Then there are those who prefer the serenity of the beach and the laid back atmosphere.

I feel truly sorry for people visiting WDW for the first time. It's an overwhelming experience and if plans aren't made well in advance the vacation is going to leave a bitter taste. I don't think a lot of people comprehend just how massive the World is, how intensive the planning should be for a first time visit, the importance of familiarizing yourself with the parks beforehand, that TS meals need to be booked in advance, etc. A lot of them think it's going to like walking into their local 6 Flags when in reality it's like walking onto a different planet.

I've been to WDW over 20 times and stayed onsite about 10 and I'm overwhelmed about our upcoming trip. I've never participated in FP+ and it's definitely stressing me out. I thought setting my alarm for ADRs was annoying enough. I have to check daily to see when BOG FP+ opens for our window. The increasing costs are becoming too much and I don't think we'll be back for a couple of years or more.

See, the thing is, to a lot of people (maybe most people?) vacation shouldn't require that much WORK. And I suspect a lot of (most?) people don't know if/when/exact park for each date they'll be visiting WDW 190+ days in advance.

We're finishing up a 5-day trip tomorrow and it has been excellent. It's the second time we've taken my son (6; we took him when he turned 4, which was our first trip) and first for our daughter (almost 3). We were able to do everything we wanted at every park, including CRT, BOG, A&E with minimal waits despite the fact I just found out I had these extra days off from work about 6 weeks ago. This is largely thanks to Touring Plans and advice from this site; however, it only worked because I OBSESSIVELY checked for FP+/ADRs several times daily during that time span and spent hours making multiple drafts of itineraries on TP, and not everyone can do that or is willing to do that. I probably spent as much time planning this trip as we spent time in the parks (if not more!).

Even with getting to do everything thanks to extensive planning, in some ways it was still almost not enjoyable due to the massive crowds, even during a "moderate" season and picking the Touring Plans/Easy WDW recommended park each day. Seeing my kids so excited made it worth it--but if it were just for me + wife I really don't think it would be worth it.

I can absolutely see why many people would be bitter toward WDW after dropping $1000-1500 for 5-7 days' tickets, plus resort/hotel, plus flights/rentals/gas, plus food, just to end up up waiting 45 mins to ride Maelstrom or 35 minutes to ride Figment (both real numbers that blew my mind when I saw people willing to wait for those as I moved past them with our 4th/5th FPs today).

You sound like me. I'm not arriving for over 6 months and yet I've been planning for 10 months, and even that wasn't soon enough. My ADR day is next week and tomorrow I'm going to spend most of the day going over my restaurant list again. I know I may have to do some tweaking once FP+ reservations are made. If it wasn't for the kids, schedules and other events taking place I would postpone the trip another month or two.

The thing is though, you can't really vacation anywhere in the world without planning even if you just want to lie on a beach you need to look into say when is the rainy season (or hurricane season). You need to make bookings, deal with crowds, compare service providers, check trip adviser etc whether it's wdw, south of France, Vietnam or Australia...I don't think wdw is any more labour intensive in that respect than a trip to Europe.

I've never spent an entire year planning a trip to the beach. After plane tickets and the hotel, which can be booked at the same time, what else is there to research? Even if I'm researching hotels or nearby restaurants, it's nowhere near as exhausting as waking up at 6 AM 180 days out to make ADRs or 12 AM 60 days out to choose 3 rides per day. This is on top of calling in for free dining, pins and discounts and refreshing pages hourly for hard to get restaurants and ride times.

 

[williamscm3]

You mean to tell me there are people out there who don't like WDW?!? I just don't see how that can be...

 

[EMode]

I have talked to so many people who say they hated Walt Disney World, and never want to go back. I believe that most of these people didn't "do it right", and they would actually like it if they had some preplanning!

In your opinion, what are some of the most common reasons people hate WDW and how could they do it differently to change that?

This may be a great thread for first timers to read before their trip!

I hate the assumption that if someone doesn't like WDW its because they didn't do it right. I love WDW but I'm not so blinded by my love to realize that not everyone else will love it the way I do.

 

[gina2000]

I love WDW but it's time has come and gone for my family. It's not just the planning; it's the perception of inflexibility that has me down. I always planned but I also loved the idea that we could change our minds the morning of and wander into a different park. MK too busy? Hop over to HS or AK. Don't feel like eating at Kona? Cancel the reservation and make one for Boma. I know the place inside out and could bob and weave to circumvent crowds. I can't imagine how a first time visitor copes with all the stringency this vacation seems to now demand.

Seven years ago that was very doable. We went two years ago and could still be flexible. Now? Between the restaurant reservation fee and FP+, wiggle room seems to be vastly diminished. I don't want to constantly have my nose in my phone.

And finally, WDW has gotten old for us. Going after a five year hiatus should have been fresh and exciting; instead it felt old and needed a major facelift. If I could see it despite my love for WDW, what is a first time visitor seeing?

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

My neighbor hated it because she said her feet her all the time and she didn't get to ride some of the tier 1 attractions because the waits were long.
She thought they were just going to be able to walk right on any rides they wanted to do.

Asking her a couple of more questions helped me discover that they weren't getting into the parks until noon each day and they were not taking breaks at all.
They also didn't book ADR's and did only CS meals when they found they couldn't get into the restaurants they wanted.

do some research in advance - pick a book you like and read it so you know what to expect.

With the new FP+ book the 3 important FP+ for YOUR family.

If TS meals are important, book ADR's so you can eat where you want.

Wear comfortable shoes and use a form of Body Glide (gold bond has one I just saw on the shelves at the drug store) on your feet and take some breaks throughout the day even if it's just sitting down somewhere for 30 minutes to an hour on a wall or park bench.

And leave some time for swimming at your pool if you like to swim. She said her kids kept begging to do that but she didn't want to waste the cost of the park tickets by spending time swimming.

 

[niffer5150]

i think the fault lies in 1. unrealistic expectations. 2.failure to plan. or 3. they just aren't wdw or vacation people.

1. there's no helping people who think they are going to be the only people there. there's no shortage of info on the web about crowds, plans, and prices. they either didn't bother to do ANY research or live in la la land.

2. i don't get this part either. how anyone can make reservations for a vacation and not have the foggiest clue as to what the place even has to offer is beyond me. it takes just a look to see that some planning is recommended. if people really aren't into planning they need to lower #1 down to "show up, maybe do some things if we see them, eat a burger or something at some point, and maybe just soak up the atmosphere".

3."not vacation" people is what i run into the most. either they don't "get" vacations or they don't understand the draw of wdw. my mom just can't understand why we'd go back after 2 years. she and others basically all have one thing in common. they have never been, don't know what's offered, and can't be bothered to look at a web site before making up their minds that something is "a worthless waste of money".

my husband is a semi reformed disney hater. he had never been to wdw and was expecting a more Disneyland experience. he was blown away by POR, the dining plan and restaurants, and the sheer amount of options of activities that aren't mouse centric. plus he found it really hard to maintain his "crabby dad" persona when everything he could want or need was taken care of. he still grumps about the cost but when i remind him of how little thinking he had to do last trip, he can't argue.

 

[Laura66]

A lot of people I know don't get why I love Disney so much! Doesn't bother me in the least!
I could never go on a skiing or camping vacation and enjoy myself - just not my thing.