I'm home. Severely depressed. Spring Break was a nightmare

CarterFamily712

Earning My Ears
Joined
Apr 3, 2016
Let me preface this by saying, in total we spent slightly over $13,000 for our Disney vacation. I have 10 children, and we stayed at Pop Century for 6 nights. (3 rooms- 2 of my children are under 3 babies)
I am looking back in horror as day after day we had terrible experiences and realizing I could have just spent all that cash on a car. My savings account is completely depleted and I have nothing to show for it but bad memories, 15 loads of laundry and grumpy kids.

I consider myself to be the eternal optimist, always looking for silver linings and whatnot. After the 5th day I believe it was, I found myself spending a half a day sleeping alone in my hotel room crying over how terribly bad this trip had gone.

Let me start off by saying, this was a total surprise to my kids. They came home from school and thought they were going to be spending a night or two bear watching at a nearby local cave system. (Spring Break)

The trip down, we traveled in a 15 passenger van. We encountered 11 different delays for accidents from Ohio to Florida via I-75. Aside the delays and antsy kids, it was an okay trip down. It rained the entire time and there were tears of joy as we pulled past the welcome to Disney World sign. -- Our air conditioner went out in the van right after we arrived. Thank God we stayed on property and rarely had to get in the van for anything until we left.

First night there, we check in and I have to say were literally packed like sardines in Pop Century's rooms. I would not suggest them for more than 2 -3 people. We went into the Magic Kingdom. HUGE mistake. Ive been to Disney over a dozen times in my life, and never ever have I seen crowds as horrible as they were. We were herded like cattle through main street and into Tomorrowland. We had literally no other choice to go anywhere else. The very first ride we go on, my sister had her Samsung Galaxy phone in her pocket- a phone she spent over $500 on complete with a beautiful swarvoski crystal case. 20 seconds after she steps off the ride she turns and says, Oh no! my phone must be on the seat, its slipped out of my pocket!-- the cast members check each car as they come in... and surprise, surprise.. someone has picked that bad boy up and kept it. These first few events cast a dark shadowy mood over the first few days of our trip. We go to get on the next ride because we have a fast pass and its down. The wait times are all way too high to actually wait in line anywhere if we want to make it on the NEXT ride for fast pass. So we meander around a bit and wait for our fp time for mine train. At that point, the rest of the party gets in line and I walk our double stroller around with the two little ones in our party. I stayed to the far right at all times and attempted to stay out of everyone's way. At one point, a woman stomps past me, turns and yells, "I'm sick a G-d d*n tired of all these strollers and cars being in my way!" right in my face. I'm feeling like, this is certainly NOT the happiest place on earth. My party exits the ride and we all agree to just go back to the hotel. Everyone is feeling disappointed and let down by our experience. 6 hours in the park and only 2 rides the first day in. We stop at City Hall and pray someone has turned the phone in. Of course not.

Second day we went to Animal Kingdom. It rained and was unseasonably hot- 87 degrees in March. The crowds are again, absolutely obscene. Once again one of our FP rides is down during our fp time, so we end up riding the safari and dinosaur. That. is. literally. it. We went to our restaurant and waited for well over an hour even though we had reservations before we finally said forget it and bought some ice cream from a cart. The kids were covered in melting sticky ice cream so we decide to just scrap the day and head back to the hotel to wash up and swim. No one wants to go back. They actually get very upset when we even talk about going back.

Third day we were at Hollywood studios. The lowest crowd levels we encounter anywhere. We ride Tower of Terror, Star Tours, Toys story- eat at the commissary and catch a Muppet show and then call it a day. It rains for several hours.

Fourth day was Epcot. The crowds, again, off the hook bad. It rains- badly. We ride The living seas, and half our party gets separated after we get off- there are so just SO many people everywhere, lining the walls of the observation area- and we lose our 7 year old who we got separated from for a good 10 minutes. I was nearly hysterical before we finally were reunited. We did space ship earth and the land. We go to eat at our restaurant and its once again overbooked. Everyone is hungry, its raining. We dip into Marrakesh Moroccan place to eat. $180 later and we still have several hungry people who couldn't stomach the food. We take the ferry across the lake and high tail it back to our hotel. By this point, some of the kids are on the bus crying about how this is NOT what they were expecting. I am heartbroken and disappointed. Every single opportunity we can, we are trying to lighten the mood- play fun games, buy little treats and souvenirs. Its lightning and raining so badly, we cannot swim. The kids stay in the room watching tv the rest of the day.

Fifth day we are back at Magic Kingdom. It rains again. I send the rest of my party into the park without me for the first 3-4 hours. I am in bed, literally depressed out of my mind at how bad this entire trip had gone. After housekeeping stops by a 2nd time and notices my flushed, obvious I-had-been-crying face, she gave me a big hug. I decide to suck it up and make the best of whats left. I meet up with my family. We have a fast pass for Haunted Mansion and can I say, this is by leaps and bounds one of the worst experiences we have there. We are herded like cattle through the entire line queue- and there is literally no space whatsoever between people. Had we been in literally any other situation, people would questionably been accused of assault. My 9 year old son is literally smashed between a womans breasts and my sister speaks up and says something to her about having some decency. The woman says, "No one has room- It's Disneyworld!" and shoves him away from her. I am furious at this point and my non-confrontational side fades away and mamabear's claws come out. I shout back at her, "how would you like it if I shoved YOUR child!?" I was SO upset at this point. I am 100% certain that any state inspector would have shut the ride down. Had there been a fire, people would have died or been trampled. It was THAT packed. The 13 of us in my party were easily smooshed into a tight 5x5 ft square. A couple of the kids were crying, "no nevermind we dont want to go on this"- not because of the theme, they were fine with that, but because of the scary way we were all packed so tightly together. (For the record, later that night near 11pm, I take the older 5 kids on that ride again to assess the situation once more and the crowds were absolutely no where even halfway as bad. We all had acceptable space between us.) After that very first ride, a couple of the kids beg to go back to the room. One even says, "I just dont like this place. Its not like how it was in the videos"- a few of the kids stay behind with an adult and watch youtube videos the rest of the day.
We ride another 2 or 3 rides then head back, as the rain is too heavy to continue in the park- even with ponchos. We return that night with the oldest kids to ride space mountain (where 3 college aged boys in front of us made fat jokes obnoxiously about every overweight person they saw for 90 minutes and shined a laser pointer in everyones eyes) then splash mountain, which they genuinely loved- despite the rain.

The last day we are there, again it rains for a few hours in the afternoon. The crowds arent as bad as they had been the prior few days but still thick. We ride a handful of rides, grab a bite to eat and head back to the room to return later since the park was open until 2 am. That night we come back briefly, but apparently so does the rest of the park and lines are once again very long. By 1 am, we leave- completely defeated.

The ride home, we encounter many more accidents. Forcing us to stay in Georgia just south of Macon. We are woken up at 7am-ish as a tornado passes through. I felt a little like Alanis Morissette... isn't it ironic? at this point, nothing could surprise me anymore. Until I get home and realize our card had been charged several times for various purchases at the art of disney, and the pizza place in Disney. The hotel in Georgia, overcharges each of our rooms by $55 each room as well and being Sunday I cant do anything about it. I total up the amount spent (assuming we get duplicate charges removed from our debit card-) $13,155 for a week of absolute hell and disappointment.

I love Disneyworld, but its very very likely we will never ever return.

In the meantime, we are out a ton of money. We paid up front for everything and had been saving for this trip for over 2 years. I feel absolutely robbed.
 
You've been to Disney World several times before but you thought taking 10 kids over spring break was a good idea? OK. I wouldn't go to WDW over spring break if you paid ME $13,000. Not enough money in the world to deal with those crowds.

Sorry about the "bad luck" occurrences (lost phone, rain, travel issues, etc) as those things really can ruin a good time.
 
We had never been before in Spring break. - always November, December, February. I had friends assure me its crowded but doable. I also had never taken more than 3 kids before. My kids, and the number of our party wasn't the problems so much as the crowds. I was shocked to see so adults behaving badly. We saw over and over, more adults behaving like complete jackholes and plenty of kids looking downright miserable. I have another Dis name, but I cant log in for whatever reason and I had asked over and over and was assured it would be totally fine right here on the boards to go at Spring break as well. If I ever see anyone ask about spring break, I will tell them to run for the hills as its a flat out horrible idea.
 
Sorry you had a bad time, sounds like you had the perfect storm of issues. I think the start of your trip made you miserable and it's possible that misery just trickled down. No one has control over the weather, so that was just bad luck. It happens, it rains in Florida, everywhere had an unseasonably warm early spring. The crowds during spring break have been documented at getting worse, so that's not surprising. We were there the first full week in March, which was college spring break here and evidently spring break for some Florida schools so it was a tad crowded but we just made the best of it and went on with our trip. We actually enjoyed the fact that the crowds made us slow down but we had no rain so pool breaks were fun for us. Again, sorry you had such a bad time and felt it was a waste of money. I'm guessing that taking that many kids anywhere can be a challenge, I'm one of 6 so big families can be hard.
 


I'm sorry that your dream vacation didn't go well. However, spring break is one of the busiest times of the year in the parks. Any time for the Disney parks is "doable" as long as you are prepared for what lies ahead and don't expect to accomplish much. I'm sorry, but you are complaining about rain and accidents on the highway (that didn't involve you)? It sounds more like you were a bit overwhelmed with your trip timing, but I would NOT call this a disaster of a trip.

A DISASTER is more like: beginning of trip van must go into the shop, then an entire day on the road with children (yes hours in traffic jams), 1st morning at destination van windows get smashed in and EVERYTHING taken, NO help from police officer who writes your name down and says 'good luck with insurance', 10 day vacation ruined because credit cards, check book, money, computer, kids' electronics, park tickets, hotel room key... (you get the picture) are ALL taken. Shop can't get van in to fix for several days but MUST get back home to handle banking issues now so pack up what's left in hotel, bandage open window and hit the highway at night for a 23 hour drive home. OH yeah, it shockingly begins raining, and must stop at every other exit to repair covering on windows (where lights turn on in van, all the kids wake up...). Arrive home to begin the overwhelming task of canceling cards & accounts, changing key locks, protecting identity, fighting with insurance companies to cover loss (who then ups your coverage for several months and cancels you), getting van repaired...... (you get how the next months would go). Hypothetically

OOORRRR the year before, spring break, where hubby gets injured on trip and has to have ankle surgery, weeks off work, recovery & rehab.......... again hypothetically

yeah........ be grateful you just encountered some cranky people
 
I guess I should be grateful but we aren't rich people and 13 grand is a ton of money for us- a TON. So for our trip to suck, yes to me is a huge deal. I cannot even imagine how the above scenario would ever convince me to go back.
Just trying to say, just because you had a worse scenario occur, doesn't invalidate how awful ours was.
I've had cancer, twice. I dont ever say to people/.... well be thankful you didnt have cancer like I did! Invalidating someone elses experience doesn't make it any less awful.
 
First, so sorry you had a bad vacation. '

Second, it's really not fair for some poster to come on here and say you were wrong to go to WDW during Easter break. There are only certain times of the year a family can go, especially yours with all those kids in school. I really hate the Disney shaming that goes on here when people can't travel during so called "low crowd" times or don't have the money to blow on exclusive events. It's really Disney's obligation to make sure guests can show up and have a reasonable chance of getting on attractions without having to feel endangered. They shouldn't just open the gates and allow the parks to become a wild zoo and FP+ has only worsened it.

Third, my wife has two colleagues who traveled to WDW over Easter and they both said they will never go back, EVER. So you are not alone. The fact that they had a terrible time is Disney's fault, not the guest's fault. You shouldn't need a PHD to take a trip to WDW.

Fourth, even for a veteran like me the trips to Disney are coming to an end. It has just gotten out of control in regards to the planning and the packing of the parks. It's all about the profit for Disney, not about guest satisfaction (and there are posters on here that are OK with that, which drives me crazy).
 


I'm SO SO SO SO sorry OP. Oh, you broke my heart.
We have six kids. In a few weeks we will pile into our 12 pax van for our trek to WDW. I have had nightmares about the upcoming trip and all that might go wrong. It is costing us a small fortune to pull this off and that is with staying off property.

I realize some folks have no choice but to travel during break. I can't believe you are getting grief for going when you could go.

I've had cancer, twice. I dont ever say to people/.... well be thankful you didnt have cancer like I did! Invalidating someone elses experience doesn't make it any less awful.

I couldn't agree more. This is one of the most heartless things I see on these pages.

Your trip sounds awful. Thirteen grand is a TON of money in my book, too. I pray you can take a giant step away from all the miserable memories and that as time passes you are all able to laugh about some bits and fondly remember some of the positives of your time together.
 
Until I get home and realize our card had been charged several times for various purchases at the art of disney, and the pizza place in Disney. The hotel in Georgia, overcharges each of our rooms by $55 each room as well and being Sunday I cant do anything about it.

Have you been been able to get this taken care of with your bank/credit card company, at least?

Sorry it was a rough trip. Rain is unfortunately part of the deal in Florida (would that we could control the weather, eh? I'd like to order up some spring for the NE, please and thank you), and so are spring break mobs...but I feel your pain. Even when I prepare myself beforehand dealing with high crowds can be frustrating.
 
I am so sorry about your vacation. I agree with previous posters that you shouldn't need to do major research in order to enjoy your vacation. We once went during Spring Break because our DD was in the college program and we didn't want her to be alone on Easter. We will never do it again. The driving from NY was awful - so many cars both ways - and the crowds in DW were the worst we have ever seen. As DW expands so does the volumes of people that come. There are times that you can go to DW and enjoy it but with kids in school - there is no time.

I would write your letter to Disney - they need to know what their guests are going through. Maybe your letter will help someone down the road. I pray your next vacation will be a wonderful one. :daisy:
 
I'm sorry you had such a horrible time, OP :( I agree with a PP - share your story with Disney. You're entirely right that being packed in as much as you were on that haunted mansion experience is a safety issue. Yes, it's going to be crowded, but if Disney's not handling those crowds in a safe manner then they need to be made aware of that. They should be well enough acquainted with spring break crowds by now to be able to manage them safely.
 
I totally sympathize with you - we saved up and took our twins last August for their first trip and our first trip as a family of five. It was awful! We had great weather but the twins were awful, refused to meet characters, whined and fought non-stop (which they seriously don't do at home) and I'm surprised my 12yo made it out of FL alive as I almost killed him myself numerous times for egging the twins on and causing more drama! Then to top it off, on the last night I broke my foot due to a fall at Ariel's Grotto, it was so embarrassing! I've been so many times, and that was the first trip ever that I couldn't wait to get on the MDE bus and leave. I had such high hopes for that trip and it while we did make some good memories, it was more of a nightmare then a dream trip! I'm looking forward to a do-over, but not until the twins are at least 8 years old!!! And I also agree with your statement that invalidating someone else's experience doesn't make it any less awful for you. That happens way to much on the DIS. Once, years ago, I complained about the lack of taxi's at the Poly at 10pm when I was having a medical issue and needed to go to Urgent Care. I had a couple posters saying that they never had issues getting taxi's so I must be lying. Um no, you weren't there, you have no idea what I lived through! I'm sorry your trip was not a success but I hope that at some point, you get the chance at a do-over....
 
We only have four kids, but we've also had the disaster trip from heck so I can completely sympathize (lost cell phone with all our ADR numbers, code to the gate and rental villa, ticket confirmation, emailed gift cards etc, lost hotel reservation, cold weather we weren't prepared for, our oldest in a car accident on the way to the airport, the bank shut off our debit cards, stopped on the interstate for hours on the way home AND 4 of the 6 of us ended up with Noro) We saved for 2 years to be able to go and it was a horrible disappointment.

We eventually realized we had to start talking about the good stuff that happened on that trip. Anytime anyone said anything negative that happened we made them follow up with something good. "I threw up for 12 hours straight but I got to have ice cream for dinner two days later". 8 years later we now laugh at that entire trip, calling it "worst vacation ever". We were able to redo it a couple of years later, did a little more research, loosened our expectations and did a few things differently (things we could control - obviously certain things we couldn't change)

I hope eventually you'll be able to remember some of the good magical things and it will help overshadow a little of the bad.
 
I'm sorry you had a bad vacation. That is a lot of money to feel like you have wasted it. Sometimes attitude can make or break a situation, and it sounds like your trip started off poorly, and maybe that sort of clouded your trip, which really stinks.

It sounds like a lot of it your isues are not disney's fault, but due to bad luck/ poor planning choices. The crowds can be tough but sometimes just pushing through and making the best of it can have good results. And I know how disappointing it can be to have rides break down. Unfortunate risk of theme park touring I suppose.
I can't imagine how it must feel to drain your bank account for a vacation, I think I would be heartbroken over that, especially if this is your family's once in a lifetime trup. The good news is in a few years you'll joke about that horrible trip to the happiest place on earth. You'll take other trips and make good memories and all this will just be a blip.

Hugs to you and I hope you guys have lots of fun at home to make up for the trip!
 
I'm sorry you had a bad vacation. That is a lot of money to feel like you have wasted it. Sometimes attitude can make or break a situation, and it sounds like your trip started off poorly, and maybe that sort of clouded your trip, which really stinks.

It sounds like a lot of it your isues are not disney's fault, but due to bad luck/ poor planning choices. The crowds can be tough but sometimes just pushing through and making the best of it can have good results. And I know how disappointing it can be to have rides break down. Unfortunate risk of theme park touring I suppose.
I can't imagine how it must feel to drain your bank account for a vacation, I think I would be heartbroken over that, especially if this is your family's once in a lifetime trup. The good news is in a few years you'll joke about that horrible trip to the happiest place on earth. You'll take other trips and make good memories and all this will just be a blip.

Hugs to you and I hope you guys have lots of fun at home to make up for the trip!
See, it's this type of post i just don't understand. You absolve Disney of any blame, but then talk about planning choices (we all know Disney is ridiculous to plan for nowadays and I can't even imagine trying to plan for a large family), crowds (simply they allow too many guests for the almighty profit), and ride breakdowns (good chance maintenance issues since they have reduced those budgets for years now). All of those issues are Disney's problem, not the person paying money.
 
See, it's this type of post i just don't understand. You absolve Disney of any blame, but then talk about planning choices (we all know Disney is ridiculous to plan for nowadays and I can't even imagine trying to plan for a large family), crowds (simply they allow too many guests for the almighty profit), and ride breakdowns (good chance maintenance issues since they have reduced those budgets for years now). All of those issues are Disney's problem, not the person paying money.

Planning choices that are not disney's fault:
1) cramming what I presume is 12+ people (10 kids, op, and her sister) into 3 of the smallest rooms on property with 2 double beds per room
2) going during one of the busiest times of year. Any planning guide will tell you that easter week is the on of the worst weeks. I won't even try a holiday week for that reason.
3) putting a $500 phone in your back pocket. That's an easy way to lose it, as OP'S sister found out.
4) completely depleting your savings to the tune of $13,000, for a vacation. That fact alone would cause me to be depressed.
5) leaving each park after 2-4 rides. I know the crowds can be tough, but throwing your hands up and calling it quits on that expensive of a trip is a poor choice on OP's part, not disney's fault.
6) choosing to feed everyone at an exotic eatery (marrakesh), and then complaining that some of the nonadventurous eaters were still hungry. Not disney's fault.
7) giving kids ice cream because you didn't want to wait on your reservation, then getting upset because kids plus ice cream equals a big sticky mess. Once again, not disney's fault.

What, exactly, was disney's fault? Everything has crowded/non crowded times. Popular, convenient travel times will be crowded. Why would disney refuse entry? They are a business, of course they want profit. A business that isn't looking for profit is one that will quickly go under.

A couple rides broke down. It happens. I'd rather they close them and repair them than continue operating under suboptimal conditions. Those rides get run probably thousands of times per day. Things wear down, even if the maintenance has been kept up. OP found that out on her trip, when the air in her van went out. Yet, nobody is blaming OP for the maintenance of the van, because we understand that sometimes things just happened.

I have my issues with some of the things disney has been doing lately, but none of what the OP described sounds like fault on the part of disney, with the exception of maybe the restaurant wait, but I live in a city where 1 hour plus waits for a table are the norm, so it doesn't phase me.

I truly do feel bad for OP. I've had vacations that feel less than what I had hoped for. My trip last summer in particular was stressful, mostly due to my friend's daughter being a totally obnoxious brat. But I let it go and an enjoyed the good times because sometimes that's what you have to do in life.

OP, I hope you and your family do get your magical vacation someday, wherever that destination may be.
 

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