why were YOU disappointed?

[goofy4tink]

You know..these boards are awsome and full of wonderful info. But, sometimes they lead some people to very high expectations as to what they will experience in WDW on their trip. You have to read the different posts and then take each one with a very small grain of salt. Every person is going to view the same experience differently. What I might have thought was a magical experience would be 'ho hum' to someone else. If I read a post about a particular restaurant being not so good, I use my own judgement. Of course, I'm extremely fortunate in that I have been to WDW more times, at this point, than I would have ever thought possible. So, I have some "WDW Life Experience" under my belt.
You need to remember....a mediocre day in WDW is better than a terrific day at work/home. We have overblown expectations at times and there is nothing that could possibly make some expectations come to fruition. So...go, have an open mind, try some new things, realize that some things will turn out good..others maybe not so good. It's an adventure.

 

[JRawkSteady]

The only thing I'm ever disappointed at is a rude CM, rude guests, or bad food/service at restaurants, and of course the biggest disappointment, stitch. I've never been disappointed in anything else at WDW. It's honestly my favorite place to be.

 

[Luv4Disney]

I was disappointed when we went to pick up our tickets for the HDDR at the concierge and she couldn't print them! She saw it was paid, but then couldn't print. When she got back in, it said they were unpaid! No one who is in charge of the dinner shows could help us, or rather, wouldn't. They wouldn't even help the CM trying to help us! All she kept saying was, "That is not the "Disney" answer" and she was right! Finally the CM helping us got her manager. She said they would comp the tickets (because she had seen that they'd already been paid for and we were then waiting for about 2 hours trying to get this resolved) and refund the money we paid. Well, we got the tickets (although we didn't get our original table) and we still haven't been refunded the money, and this was May. So who knows?

 

[amwhitaker]

That's one of my biggest WDW pet peeves. When this happens, we just push across the front of the "squatters" and I don't take great caution at watching out for their toes or keeping my backpack out of their faces as I pass... if you know what I mean.

Right On!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Eeyore2003]

I'm a HUGE overplanner. I had a BINDER, no, correction. I had TWO binders...with SHEET PROTECTORS. One was the MASTER binder with all the schedules for parades and such, ME vouchers, reservations numbers. The other was the DAILY binder which had our SCHEDULES for the day in it. You know how much I looked at all of this stuff? NONE! But, I had a BLAST in the months preceeding the trip planning it all and I learned a lot.

I have already printed my "daily schedule", done in Print Shop of course, one page for each day, and mailed them off to my niece AND a revised version, also mailed to my niece!!!

AND YES, I agree, I think you have the most fun with a "loose/necessary stuff" plan. Mine NEVER works out anyway, BUT, the point that you make is the "learned a lot" part. THAT"S what makes a loose plan work, you know the secrets to doing the best "fly by the seat of your pants" job from all the information here. Informative "rolling with the punches" with a bit of structure.

 

[jackmac]

I've never been disappointed, but some of the people that we brought with us have been. The biggest trouble is overplanning. With the help of these boards, Tour Guide Mike, and all of the other sites out there people have their daily plans done to the minute. I've always found that it's better to have some goals, focus on those and then fit things in around them. If you want to see Illuminations then have that for a goal for the night and don't try to fit in a table service meal to time out perfectly.
People also seem to be more frenzied with the free dining option. This option seems to have created as many problems as it solved. From all of the talk on the boards the TS restaurants are more crowded and service has suffered. It brought crowds, but it also brought disappointment.
I've found that you can't do Disney in a week. It's a long term project. I've been going for a number of years now about 3 to 4 times per year. I've still never road Test Track because each time I get close it breaks. Oh well, there's always next time (if anyone is down at Epcot the last week of October expect Test Track to break, I know I am). I always try to do something new when I go and I have not been disappointed yet.
Owning DVC, going down a couple of times a year (thank goodness for cheap airfares) and always looking forward to something new and different makes all of the differance in the world.
We bought into Disney because it offers you a quality experience for your money. It's not perfect and it's not cheap, but it strives to do it's best and it's a good value for the money. It has also provided us with some very nice memories of trips as a family. Intersped in those memories have been moments of frustration and anger at people. But I keep on going back.

 

[goofy4tink]

The only thing I'm ever disappointed at is a rude CM, rude guests, or bad food/service at restaurants, and of course the biggest disappointment, stitch. I've never been disappointed in anything else at WDW. It's honestly my favorite place to be.

Ooopps...how could I have forgotten Stitch. Talk about disappointments. That was such a disappointment that I've completely blocked it from my memory!!!

 

[vfb2girls]

Both myself and husband were really dissappointed in Spectro and also Wishes. Sure Wishes was a great amount of fireworks but I just didn't get it and Spectro was probably one of the lamest parades we saw. Will we watch Wishes again, probably not, nor would we waste the time to stick around for Spectro. But on the positive side we loved Illuminations, will probably watch it at least three times while we are at the World. Also I agree with some of the posters who were disappointed in certain meals, I too got so worked up by all the great reviews on several resteraunts and when we finally had meals there it was disappointing, so this year for our trip we are just going to go with an open mind and enjoy ourselves..no matter if our meals aren't up to par, if the resort isn't something that we expected..we are just going to go and have fun.

 

[VSL]

I wasn't disappointed the first time as I really had no expectations - I had no clue as to what to expect. The second time I was just a year later and I hadn't done any research in between.

I was also ages 14 and 15.

This time, though, I haven't been for a good 6.5yrs and I'm the one doing all the planning. I'm not too worried about getting myself disappointed but my BF, who hasn't stayed on property before and hasn't been to TL before, might be a little let down if I hype it up too much for him (which I'm trying not to!).

 

[foodrocksluver]

Well um...I had the pleasurable experience of riding Star Tours when the sound didn't want to work. And what's worse was all the people I rode with didn't know anything was wrong and when the sound DID come on for the last 30 seconds, the lady next to me leaned over and said, "Oh, there were supposed to be sounds?"

 

[Skroops]

I am disappointed in the unfreindly crowds. People are quick to push, and break any sort of rule. I got so irritated with a kid (no younger than 8 years old) infront of us who refused to get up off the street while waiting for a parade (many CM's asked him nicely, and his parents were sitting right near him on the curb ignoring the CM's as well) that I took his picture of him sitting on the street as the parade approached. Now I realize that this is my issue and that I need to ignore this because it had nothing to do with me or my family. It still bugs me!!! Why do people behave this way? This vacation would have been so much better if people would have followed the rules. I can't tell you how many people were smoking in the crowds, pushing their way to the front of the waiting areas, and even walking right infront of my Mothers wheel chair when there was no one behind us and they could have paused for one second...
Rude people were everywhere, and it was crowded but not THAT crowded!
I also didn't like the free dining. We couldn't sit down and eat anywhere (without an ADR )like we have previous Octobers. IMO, each dining experience varies, so I'm never guaranteed to love a meal, even if I've had a great experience there before...I expect mediocre, and we usually get at least that. But this free dining (which we didn't get because we used AP's with AP room discount) really took away our spontaneity if we wanted to sit down and dine anywhere, we couldn't.

 

[Spaceship Earthfan]

I was disappointed in Soarin, probably because my expectations were so high.

On the flip side, I was somewhat impressed with Stitch, probably because my expectations were so low!

 

[WHIT1]

i was very disappointed in how hard it is to go from one resort to another. its so time consuming and of course the weather was hot and humid. this i knew could be a problem so i did what i could. but years ago it was alot easier to go see other resorts but not now since they cut back buses. also i won't be going in oct again to hot!. nov and dec is better. we ate at coronado pepper market and had great service and food 2 of the 3 days we ate there. that sat oct 8th the service was so-so and the food was terrible. but i would still eat there just not at the wok. the mexican was great. pop century was very good,i got the 4th floor and was facing the pool and the noise wasn't bad. really where we were was quiet. loved the place. the cm's were very nice and helpful everywhere we went and wished me happy bd. got to ride up front in the monorail and donna was so nice. i had my son's poohbear which is 32 yrs old and she let us take a pic of him looking like he was driving the monorail. everywhere we took poohbear the cm's and the characters were really nice and posed in a picture with him. pooh at cp tried to take off with him and didn't want to give him back. the crowds were great not busy and got to walk on the rides it was just the heat that ruined some of the vacation. if you are wondering why i took poohbear on the trip its because i am making an album for my son in hoping someday he will go to disney with me and see why i like it so much. its still a great place no matter what.

 

[sue1013]

I have a question a bit OT but from reading this thread seems like time is a disappointment for quite a few. I mean time for a sit down meal, to get from one resort to another. My question is how long do those of you that seem to have a time crunch vacation for? If someone is only there for a couple days maybe I could see the time making a difference. We go for at least a week don't feel the need to rush so I'm curious.

 

[jenga1030]

We felt the time crunch as I posted earlier, but we only stay for 4 nights max. Last year only 3. This year 4 and we thought it would feel so much longer but it flew by. Two nights we spent in the parks (and I don't like to leave until they boot me out! ) and our 2 nights off (one being arrival night)we had reservations at Chef Mickey and Ohana. For a 6:30 reservation, we had to leave whatever we were doing by 4:00ish to get ready and then get to the restaurant and by the time the meal was over we had to get the kids to bed. I would love to go for a week (2 would be even better ) but we are just not able to leave our business that long or afford it. But maybe someday! If we were there for a week, it would probably not have felt like so much of our time was taken eating. But I did love getting to eat at the different restaurants! We might pay for the plan on our next trip. I would just organize the time differently.

 

[psiprez]

I have a question a bit OT but from reading this thread seems like time is a disappointment for quite a few. I mean time for a sit down meal, to get from one resort to another. My question is how long do those of you that seem to have a time crunch vacation for? If someone is only there for a couple days maybe I could see the time making a difference. We go for at least a week don't feel the need to rush so I'm curious.

OMG - we've stayed ten days and I STILL feel crunched (can you EVER spend too much time in WDW?). This time around, I am giving up the "commando touring", and just enjoying "being there"!

As far as dining at other resorts - our next trip is in January. Since parks close early, and we eat late (8-10pm), we plan to hit a few places we normally don't get a chance to. Otherwise, due to time, it would be all counter service for us.

 

[russtwinsmom]

AK in general. I feel sorry for the animals. I think Disney's mantra that AK is "Nottazoo" makes it very clear that it is.

 

[mickeysaver]

December 2003 - While my expectations were highest for being first night guests of POP, I was not disappointed there. My second highest expectations had been placed on the CP dinner package experience. That one was a bust as a whole.

We had dinner at Le Cellier. Our server was not that great in the way of providing timely service. I am a pretty patient person, but it was not good service considering that when we were seated the place only had 6-8 tables seated and when we left only about half the tables were full. The cheddar soup was highly hyped, to me it was not that good....actually, I thought it was aweful. My filet with the mushrooms was OMG wonderful. I was saving the mushrooms for the last bits of the meal, because they were so wicked awesome. The ripper for me with our waitress was when she removed my dinner plate and then asked me, "Are you finished?" I was not, but when the plate is scooped up like that, you just go with it.....sort of.....I wanted those mushrooms dangit! Anyway, the maple creme brulee was not that great, we had enjoyed the Bailey's Irish creme brulee at R&C much more a couple of days before. I had been prepared to tip more than the package assured 18%, but with the lousy service, I didn't feel bad walking out with nothing extra on the table.

CP, I love a good choir. I love Christmas carols. I even was excited about seeing Edward James Olmos as our narrator. The cold that night was bone chilling. The wind was sailing across the water and slicing through all the layers of clothing that I had on. I was miserable. My butt was frozen because the metal bench seating in the Theater was unbearably cold. Ok, I can live with this, I just want to hear my favorite carol, Silent Night, it will be all good then. Wrong, they sang it in German. I was so bummed.

My expectations for that night were pretty high and the crash was not pretty. I almost resorted to buying hot cocoa just to pour on my frozen buns. I think I ran through all the hot water in POP that night, just trying to thaw out. Unfortunately, this experience has ruined me for most likely ever trying CP or any sort of dining package/plan again. Maggie

 

[Cookie Princess]

I had read all the hype about JIKO and thought it was good, but not as great as I was expecting. My filet from CG that same week was much better.

I had read all the great reviews about POP and we didn't care for it...sorry...wearing flame proof skivies today. We do enjoy the All Stars so it wasn't a "value" thing.

Finally, the buffet dinner at CM's is very BLAH. After enjoying breakfast there for years, this was a downer.

 

[letterdavidman]

.I felt the same way about Fantasmic. Everyone here raves about it. We missed it the 1st year and I felt bad. Went the 2nd year and I was underwhelmed.[/QUOTE]


Exactly. Not that Fantasmic was bad, or anything, it's just that it's been built up quite a bit, not only here on the DIS, but also in the UG, and it just didn't quite stand up to expectation. I actually found myself getting a little annoyed during the montage of water scenes from Disney films being projected on the water screens. I mean, I get it: It's water, it's Disney, now lets move on. (Although I will admit that the lake o' fire was pretty danged cool.) Actually, DW and I enjoyed Illuminations the most out of all the nighttime stuff (though we missed Spectromagic , so we have no opinion on that as of yet). And the Wishes cruise, IMO, can't be raved about enough.

So, you know, there you go. One man's opinion.