What is going on with Disney parks?

[disneyseniors]

Everyone must be focused on the tower and rightfully so. I was sort of amazed with that offer I could even get Christmas week for $200 a night at Coronado.

Right! I just had our TA quote 8 days for around $1200.00 cheaper than our trip to our favorite resort, POFQ, for the same time. I didn't take this offer, as we always stay at POFQ, but she did make a point of offering it. HOnestly, I don't remember the exact quoted price, because I wasn't really interested.
If someone wants to go to Coronado, then I think now is the time to check the prices out vs other resorts. We have stayed at Coronado once and we did like it. It is a beautiful, though spread out, resort. POFQ just fits better for us.

 

[Alynw]

Anyone can be a Disney fan or enjoy offerings from Disney owned things and yet not be a Disney theme park person. Or for that matter theme/amusement parks in general.

When I said whole extent it's because of how you phrased things. Your viewpoint on what you have to do is far more than what the basics are. TBH sometimes less is more especially to some types of tourists. It's no wonder you see things in a different light and I mean that in a not mean way at all. There is such a thing as overcomplicating and overwhelming yourself unnecessarily.

Disney can't spoonfeed people. However, there is information there.

If you want to know about park hours you go here:
View attachment 447404

If you click on more hours the entire calendar opens up with a ton more information such as right now Eat to the Beat concert series, fireworks and entertainment schedule and more.

If you're looking at what park hours would be for your trip you can find out when EMH occurs and with EMM occurs and when MNSSHP occurs and when MVMCP occurs and when DAH occurs. You do have to be looking at park hours in the first place. If you're not well . And don't get me wrong I'm not knocking those types of tourist--my in-laws are those types of tourists lol.

As for crowds being higher--that's subjective and what crowd calendars tend to tell people. Experience can come into play but be realistic too. You really expect Disney to ascertain that every day there is an EMH that the park that has it will be more crowded AND you want them to put that in print? What company does that? I'm presently not aware of a company that does that.

You're right it's different strokes for different folks. That's exactly why I don't take to heart some of the stories told or get hurt or upset or whatever if someone didn't have the best of times at Disney. I can see what type of tourist they may be, some of the complaints are literally nothing to do with Disney itself as a company, some things cannot be helped either. I think the discussion might be different if you took people who were not on the DIS and didn't get excel sheet happy (and I'm one of those people by the way lol) and discussed their trips. Our frame of mind can already be impacted simply because we are on the DIS.

Trust me, I'm not saying we should have pity or spoon feed folks. What I'm saying is people dont truly understand the importance of planning and Disney dosent emphasize on how important it is to properly plan. I look at that snapshot you posted and all I see is times and parks, nowhere on there does it mention or note that on those specific days the the crowds tend to be extremely high, j also dont see where it says you have to leave the park early on special ticketed event days. Nowhere on there is there any real useful information that I can use unless the only info I'm looking for is when EMH are.
Disney should have notes that explain things in detail like..Note: EMH is where the park opens up earlier and is only available to our onsite guests and during this time from 7am to 10am, the park experiences lower than normal crowds but also note that on these days after the EMH is over, the park then experiences a higher than normal crowd level. Im not saying they post exactly this, just using that as an example. Bottom line is, what Disney currently has is extremely generic, the way Disney depicts it is not how it goes in reality, they need to be more transparent on the must dos and don'ts and the consequences thereof. Now, with that being said, there really isn't any excuse for not knowing in today's society and even for the folks that dont use the internet or know how to do the research, that is what we have travel agents for. So for those who dont like all the planning, they can use a travel agency. My whole point was that because Disney is so generic with their planning process, that people dont truly know the importance of planning and it's not until their at the park they realize it. Most that do plan, go through the whole Disney process, pick out a room, setup an ADR, choose fp and then think they just planned out their trip and now everything is going to be perfect when they get there and they come to find out its nothing like they thought and they either 1. Still love it, learn their lesson and really plan for next trip or 2. Hate it and never go back. Disney just needs to be more transparent.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Trust me, I'm not saying we should have pity or spoon feed folks. What I'm saying is people dont truly understand the importance of planning and Disney dosent emphasize on how important it is to properly plan. I look at that snapshot you posted and all I see is times and parks, nowhere on there does it mention or note that on those specific days the the crowds tend to be extremely high, j also dont see where it says you have to leave the park early on special ticketed event days. Nowhere on there is there any real useful information that I can use unless the only info I'm looking for is when EMH are.
Disney should have notes that explain things in detail like..Note: EMH is where the park opens up earlier and is only available to our onsite guests and during this time from 7am to 10am, the park experiences lower than normal crowds but also note that on these days after the EMH is over, the park then experiences a higher than normal crowd level. Im not saying they post exactly this, just using that as an example. Bottom line is, what Disney currently has is extremely generic, the way Disney depicts it is not how it goes in reality, they need to be more transparent on the must dos and don'ts and the consequences thereof. Now, with that being said, there really isn't any excuse for not knowing in today's society and even for the folks that dont use the internet or know how to do the research, that is what we have travel agents for. So for those who dont like all the planning, they can use a travel agency. My whole point was that because Disney is so generic with their planning process, that people dont truly know the importance of planning and it's not until their at the park they realize it. Most that do plan, go through the whole Disney process, pick out a room, setup an ADR, choose fp and then think they just planned out their trip and now everything is going to be perfect when they get there and they come to find out its nothing like they thought and they either 1. Still love it, learn their lesson and really plan for next trip or 2. Hate it and never go back. Disney just needs to be more transparent.

I already said you want Disney to tell you something that is subjective? That crowds may be higher on this day vs this day? Be realistic. That's not even the case all the time.

Disney tells you that there is EMH, etc on those days which you said Disney doesn't tell you. I actually find that very usesful. In fact it's the most salient aspect one would think..well park hours in general really. I actually told you you can click more hours and the full calendar will show up and what information is contained on that. Actually all you need to do is click on the particular park you're interested in in that screenshot. All sorts of information to be had. Hyperlinks enabled and everything that will take you to the specific page you're wanting more information on. You want to find out about Extra Magic Hours well sure Disney has that for ya. When is the last time you went onto the website? I'm not speaking highly of web interface of Disney's website but nonetheless me putting a screenshot was to show you where it's listed. Try it out yourself and see what information you find out

You want to know about leaving the park? Well let's see the park closes at 6pm--probably a good guess that when the park closes you should be leaving which is the same for normal park days with nothing at night. Disney does leave parts of Main Street open and available for day guests to shop up until when the party time starts but most guests will probably use the fact that the park hours listed are until 6pm. FWIW at Universal Studios the park closes at 5pm. HHN starts at 6:30pm. The additional lead time helps with getting day guests out of the parks. Same that it now does for Disney.

I feel like you're changing the goal posts here on your comments. I show you where the park hours and EMH are because you said Disney doesn't tell you these things and then you say you need more. You say you're not saying Disney needs to spoon feed people but your comments seem to suggest otherwise.

You're right that having some computer literacy can help out. My in-laws don't and they do that for every trip. They love to call so does my mom. You think people who don't have a computer or don't do well on a computer go on other vacations and plan everything to the nitty gritty detail? More than likely they don't just like they wouldn't for Disney. Type of tourist there Travel agents do exist and some people feel far more comfortable using them. Some people don't want to use them and that's totally ok too and they just call and do it from there or they do quite basic looking into. Chances are they do that for all if not most of their vacations.

Perfect doesn't exist. Never had a perfect vacation and I don't anticipate ever having one in the future.

Transparency is in the eye of the beholder it would appear because I think they are quite transparent on things within their control in the vast majority of cases.

Again people tend to think about their vacations in relation to others, myself included. I have spoken to non-DISers and it's quite refreshing even with all the positives and negatives to hear about their vacation and how it went. I do not and don't plan to interject what I think they should be doing or could be doing though. Any vacation destination has hundreds of things you can do and learn about. No one does it all. No one knows it all. No reason to act like Disney is alone in that.

Don't get me wrong I don't disagree with some of your points but I don't agree with all of them either and I'm sure that's the case for you too. Maybe it's just best that we say we agree to disagree in general

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Trust me, I'm not saying we should have pity or spoon feed folks. What I'm saying is people dont truly understand the importance of planning and Disney dosent emphasize on how important it is to properly plan. I look at that snapshot you posted and all I see is times and parks, nowhere on there does it mention or note that on those specific days the the crowds tend to be extremely high, j also dont see where it says you have to leave the park early on special ticketed event days. Nowhere on there is there any real useful information that I can use unless the only info I'm looking for is when EMH are.
Disney should have notes that explain things in detail like..Note: EMH is where the park opens up earlier and is only available to our onsite guests and during this time from 7am to 10am, the park experiences lower than normal crowds but also note that on these days after the EMH is over, the park then experiences a higher than normal crowd level. Im not saying they post exactly this, just using that as an example. Bottom line is, what Disney currently has is extremely generic, the way Disney depicts it is not how it goes in reality, they need to be more transparent on the must dos and don'ts and the consequences thereof. Now, with that being said, there really isn't any excuse for not knowing in today's society and even for the folks that dont use the internet or know how to do the research, that is what we have travel agents for. So for those who dont like all the planning, they can use a travel agency. My whole point was that because Disney is so generic with their planning process, that people dont truly know the importance of planning and it's not until their at the park they realize it. Most that do plan, go through the whole Disney process, pick out a room, setup an ADR, choose fp and then think they just planned out their trip and now everything is going to be perfect when they get there and they come to find out its nothing like they thought and they either 1. Still love it, learn their lesson and really plan for next trip or 2. Hate it and never go back. Disney just needs to be more transparent.

I don’t want Disney to ever start trying to warn people of high or low crowds, nor do I think it would be effective as you’ll just drive people to the low crowd times/places.

If one wants to effectively visit Disney or almost any other tourist attraction, the information is at their fingertips should they choose to seek it out. Disney can be very overwhelming and complicated, but I don’t see how it would be beneficial for anybody if they chose to be that transparent.

I sympathize with the guests who attempt to plan but get overwhelmed or don’t do a great job because of inexperience, but I’m not super bothered by those who don’t even attempt to learn and then have a bad time.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don’t want Disney to ever start trying to warn people of high or low crowds, nor do I think it would be effective as you’ll just drive people to the low crowd times/places.

If one wants to effectively visit Disney or almost any other tourist attraction, the information is at their fingertips should they choose to seek it out. Disney can be very overwhelming and complicated, but I don’t see how it would be beneficial for anybody if they chose to be that transparent.

I sympathize with the guests who attempt to plan but get overwhelmed or don’t do a great job because of inexperience, but I’m not super bothered by those who don’t even attempt to learn and then have a bad time.

With the dynamic pricing of the tickets Disney does at least give you a way of saying "this is an anticipated lower crowd day or time" with Value, Regular and Peak days and seasons though as we've seen with Summer the past few years it's not been as crowded in the past with October becoming more crowded but they can't possibly tell you the actual crowds will be like on X day at MK with EMH. That's out of their control.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

With the dynamic pricing of the tickets Disney does at least give you a way of saying "this is an anticipated lower crowd day or time" with Value, Regular and Peak days and seasons though as we've seen with Summer the past few years it's not been as crowded in the past with October becoming more crowded but they can't possibly tell you the actual crowds will be like on X day at MK with EMH. That's out of their control.

And even if they could do it, selfishly I really don’t want Disney giving out strategies like “avoid EMH parks, stay away from MK on non party days, make use of your rolling FP, don’t use your FP on Philharmagic” and things of that nature. The information is out there if you seek it, they don’t need to spoon feed it.

 

[dez1978]

Regarding all the talk about planning and such. We went for the first time in May, with our kids who were 5 & 8. I booked the trip in Jan, so already under the 180 days. I did use a TA for booking and FP, bc I was a bit overwhelmed. But I spent the next couple of months pouring over blogs and posts here trying to learn fp strategy and what I should try for and when. We got all the ADRs I knew I wanted, and the FP I wanted. I moved around things a bit when I could, and tried to have a good touring plan. We got there and it was over 100 every day, and my kids were miserable. It had only been in the lower 70's here when we left, which is weird bc most summers we are well into the 80's by then. So cooler temps here and warmer than normal temps there (according to the CMs) really screwed up all the plans I worked so hard to perfect. We adjusted, and while the kids did have fun, and don't really remember the whining and grumpiness, I was super disappointed by how it went. We def did not have the magic. I'd been dreaming of this trip since I was their age, but my dad got sick before we could go. Maybe my expectations were too high. IDK. My husband just kept saying never again. Lol. However, less than 24 hours after we got home, we started planning our trip for Jan 2020. We are hoping that the cooler weather, along with having family along with us will help all around. My kids legit fought for 2 days over who was going to hold my right hand.... Like dad wasnt right there, or I didn't also have a left hand lol. Have kids they said.. It'll be fun they said...

 

[Moliphino]

This is us! Just back from Italy (less expensive than our Disney), but the bathrooms & dehydration was my daily concern!

Right? There was plenty of water to drink all over Rome, but I didn't want to have to pee all the time! At Disney I know I can hit the next bathroom like 100 ft away.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Regarding all the talk about planning and such. We went for the first time in May, with our kids who were 5 & 8. I booked the trip in Jan, so already under the 180 days. I did use a TA for booking and FP, bc I was a bit overwhelmed. But I spent the next couple of months pouring over blogs and posts here trying to learn fp strategy and what I should try for and when. We got all the ADRs I knew I wanted, and the FP I wanted. I moved around things a bit when I could, and tried to have a good touring plan. We got there and it was over 100 every day, and my kids were miserable. It had only been in the lower 70's here when we left, which is weird bc most summers we are well into the 80's by then. So cooler temps here and warmer than normal temps there (according to the CMs) really screwed up all the plans I worked so hard to perfect. We adjusted, and while the kids did have fun, and don't really remember the whining and grumpiness, I was super disappointed by how it went. We def did not have the magic. I'd been dreaming of this trip since I was their age, but my dad got sick before we could go. Maybe my expectations were too high. IDK. My husband just kept saying never again. Lol. However, less than 24 hours after we got home, we started planning our trip for Jan 2020. We are hoping that the cooler weather, along with having family along with us will help all around. My kids legit fought for 2 days over who was going to hold my right hand.... Like dad wasnt right there, or I didn't also have a left hand lol. Have kids they said.. It'll be fun they said...

Weather can affect us all. Heat and humidity especially with long periods of sun and then fierce storms can really affect one's tolerance. So can cool temps, rain, storms, ice, snow, etc they all kinda suck in terms of vacations

For me also it doesn't matter the weather but if I'm hangry...well..yeah my husband (and my mom) just know to get me food and I'll be back to normal

 

[Hisgirl]

I agree that they have reached the tipping point. I work with families on personal finance. People just don't have the discretionary funds to keep paying sky high health insurance, fund retirement and spent disney prices for a vacation. it's truly just gotten ridiculous and they are going to be seeing it as the reality trickles down into park numbers. I believe this to be true. They can't just keep increasing prices and expect us all to robotically march through the gates handing over our wallets.

We would have gone back at least once by now but we didn't. We went to the beach instead. And spent waaaaay less money.

 

[Alynw]

And even if they could do it, selfishly I really don’t want Disney giving out strategies like “avoid EMH parks, stay away from MK on non party days, make use of your rolling FP, don’t use your FP on Philharmagic” and things of that nature. The information is out there if you seek it, they don’t need to spoon feed it.

So, because u are a returning guest that have been to Disney so many times that u have figured out all the little tricks and strategies to give u a better experience, u feel it's ok for Disney to not share this information so that first time guests can't take advantage of this knowledge specifically for ur benefit, and u think that's ok...wow...believe it or not, there are people who save their money for years just to be able to take their kids to Disney for 1 time and 1 time only, they will never be able to spend that kind of money again, and u would rather Disney not to help them navigate and strategize and give valuable information to help ensure they have a great trip just for the single fact u can keep enjoying ur multiple trips....its very obvious I have a completely different outlook on this topic than u and the one that liked ur post.

 

[snappy]

I agree that they have reached the tipping point. I'm a finance person and work with families on personal finance. People just don't have the discretionary funds to keep paying sky high health insurance, fund retirement and spent disney prices for a vacation. it's truly just gotten ridiculous and they are going to be seeing it as the reality trickles down into park numbers. I believe this to be true. They can't just keep increasing prices and expect us all to robotically march through the gates handing over our wallets.

We would have gone back at least once by now but we didn't. We went to the beach instead. And spent waaaaay less money.

And a beach vacation is a heck of a lot more relaxing, for me personally.

 

[Alynw]

I don’t want Disney to ever start trying to warn people of high or low crowds, nor do I think it would be effective as you’ll just drive people to the low crowd times/places.

If one wants to effectively visit Disney or almost any other tourist attraction, the information is at their fingertips should they choose to seek it out. Disney can be very overwhelming and complicated, but I don’t see how it would be beneficial for anybody if they chose to be that transparent.

I sympathize with the guests who attempt to plan but get overwhelmed or don’t do a great job because of inexperience, but I’m not super bothered by those who don’t even attempt to learn and then have a bad time.

If you read my post correctly, I stated I was only using the crowd levels and times as an example of the type of information Disney should be sharing. They dont have to mention anything about crowds, But they need to be more in depth, up front and more detailed about how things really work and not give a false sense of accomplishment after someone picks their fp. The way it is now, u d/l mde, link ur tickets, choose an ADR, pick ur fastpass and ur done. Makes you feel like you just spent tons of time learning and planning and once u get to the park it's going to pay off just to find out after ur last fp u got a whole hour to be at ur ADR but u need 2 because of the bus system that u had no idea about and u miss ur adr and still get charged. I'm not saying Disney spill the beans on how things really work and scare off any new potential guests, just be more detailed and more transparent on how the parks truly operate.

 

[fatmanatee]

I would say that it's probably in Disney's best interest to provide a seamless experience that allows guests to see as much as possible while reducing the effort it takes to do so. If a family goes on a vacation to Disney and leaves unhappy because they didn't get the memo about planning well in advance, that's at least partially a failure on Disney's part, and that post describing a family that bailed after one day because they couldn't handle it is one of those situations. I think Disney knows this and they're trying to figure out ways to improve things, their touring plan site seems to be a move in the right direction if they can get it right but that remains to be seen.

 

[EmJ]

I would say that it's probably in Disney's best interest to provide a seamless experience that allows guests to see as much as possible while reducing the effort it takes to do so. If a family goes on a vacation to Disney and leaves unhappy because they didn't get the memo about planning well in advance, that's at least partially a failure on Disney's part, and that post describing a family that bailed after one day because they couldn't handle it is one of those situations. I think Disney knows this and they're trying to figure out ways to improve things, their touring plan site seems to be a move in the right direction if they can get it right but that remains to be seen.

I'm actually really excited to see what the Disney Genie has in store. Even just reading a book like Unofficial Guide to Disney will give the information about EMH, FP, FP+, rope drop, hotels, ADRs, party nights, etc., etc., but it is still a lot to distill into A Plan. You really do have to have an aptitude for gathering a great deal of disparate information together in one place, and then organizing and reorganizing until it comes together into something that works. It's like a logic puzzle, which some people really enjoy and other people do not. If Disney Genie can take the puzzle out of it, I think that would make the planning much more accessible to most people.

 

[Alynw]

As far as having all this information at ur fingertips, well if u dont know it's even needed or exist, then why would u try and find it. For a first time guest, u go on Disney website doing ur research as everyone says but no where on there does it tell u that u also need to research Disney planning guides outside of Disney website. No where on Disney website does it even mention that extra planning outside their website is highly recommended. You call them up and they help u and guide u through the whole process and u feel like u done everything correct so why would someone keep going back online to research when they feel like they already done the planning. First time I went, I never even dreamed it was going require so much planning and when I started researching before my trip I sure as hell didnt type in " planning guide for wdw" I didn't even know such a thing existed, I type in wdw vacation and it brought up my disney experience site and that's what I used for my planning. After we got home from our first trip I got back online and started researching "how to get the best fp" and things like that and then I started to notice some dedicated Disney sites and some planning guides. But until I actually experienced it, I didn't even know planning guides existed and was needed for Disney and no where on Disney site did they mention it. So to say it's at people disposal and it's all their fault because they dont research is just absurd, u can't research something u have no idea what it is ur supposed to be looking for especially since when u do search Disney vacation it brings up mde and most are going to trust that the planning u go through with Disney is all that's needed.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I agree that they have reached the tipping point. I work with families on personal finance. People just don't have the discretionary funds to keep paying sky high health insurance, fund retirement and spent disney prices for a vacation. it's truly just gotten ridiculous and they are going to be seeing it as the reality trickles down into park numbers. I believe this to be true. They can't just keep increasing prices and expect us all to robotically march through the gates handing over our wallets.

We would have gone back at least once by now but we didn't. We went to the beach instead. And spent waaaaay less money.

Well someone has the money to blow on designer ears and insanely priced mugs and light sabers. There are people on these boards who make me wonder if I got into the wrong business.

People can and will continue to pay. For me there’s a difference in what I can afford and what I’m willing to spend. Others may feel the things I listed are worth their money. I definitely don’t, because buying those things or paying for club level means one less trip for me later.

 

[Brianstl]

Universal’s third gate has a chance to be a real game changer. It has me considering delaying a DVC purchase.

Universal is so much cheaper. In August we did 5 nights at Yacht club with park hopper and dining plan for just over $4,000 for the 3 of us. We can do the same trip at Portfino Bay this coming year for 7 nights, five days of Universal equivalent of park hopper with express pass and their dining plan for a little less than $16 more.

Right now Universal isn’t Disney, but that third gate with Nintendo really could change the dynamic. The little stuff that separated Disney from everyone is disappearing. My son already is a huge Nintendo fan and he is approaching the age where he will become a Potter fan.

I’m starting to wonder if the DVC purchase and a lifetime of Disney vacations is just me and my wife chasing a nostalgia that really isn’t available anymore. Starting to think it might be better to not lock ourselves into WDW. Do I really want to risk passing on possibly years of MF’s to my son when Universal has a chance to hold the spot in his heart that Disney holds in mine?

 

[hertamaniac]

I’m starting to wonder if the DVC purchase and a lifetime of Disney vacations is just me and my wife chasing a nostalgia that really isn’t available anymore.

After reading for years about the reasons to not purchase DVC, I think this is a spot on statement. Rising prices plus a diluted experience is not what any guest expects.

 

[EmJ]

Universal’s third gate has a chance to be a real game changer. It has me considering delaying a DVC purchase.

Universal is so much cheaper. In August we did 5 nights at Yacht club with park hopper and dining plan for just over $4,000 for the 3 of us. We can do the same trip at Portfino Bay this coming year for 7 nights, five days of Universal equivalent of park hopper with express pass and their dining plan for a little less than $16 more.

Right now Universal isn’t Disney, but that third gate with Nintendo really could change the dynamic. The little stuff that separated Disney from everyone is disappearing. My son already is a huge Nintendo fan and he is approaching the age where he will become a Potter fan.

I’m starting to wonder if the DVC purchase and a lifetime of Disney vacations is just me and my wife chasing a nostalgia that really isn’t available anymore. Starting to think it might be better to not lock ourselves into WDW. Do I really want to risk passing on possibly years of MF’s to my son when Universal has a chance to hold the spot in his heart that Disney holds in mine?

I really liked your post, but... what is an MF?