Disney Addiction

Walt Disney World
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Hi! I am Kim and I am addicted to Disney. I sleep, eat, and spend most of my time day dreaming or planning my next trip to Disney.

However, after these past few months of seeing all of the money hungry changes and in general how the direction of the parks are going it is making my departure from my addiction easier.

I have no desire to be waking up before 7:00 am in the hopes of getting a LL or a G+ - and to spend extra money on top of that on my vacation. That is definitely not my idea of a vacation ! And then to be on my phone all day.

Planning a vacation is fun - actually for most of us planners it our fun- our perfect trip.

But with all of these changes on top of the prices it doesnā€™t seem like a good deal or worth my money anymore.

We always do our yearly Mardi Gras trip to WDW but this year I am not feeling it.

When pricing out vacations - flights, hotels, meals, etc we will come out ahead doing an extra international trip instead of Disney- and we only live 10 hrs away from Disney in Louisiana.

I am not canceling our trip yet - but I am just venting and this will probably be our last trip we will do in the foreseeable future.

Thanks for reading and letting me vent!

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I agree with you looking at the upcoming prices since the 50th Anniversary began. I was lucky to get in so many stays during the pandemic but the prices are insane now with no discounts and packed hotels and parks. I too think Iā€™ll be taking a break. I might still go to Disneyland though :wink: I do already have a Dec trip planned there.

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Iā€™m on the fence. Waiting to to see how my upcoming trip goes. Iā€™m ok paying for Genie+ as I really liked MaxPass at Disneyland. It made more sense to me than booking FP so far in advance. But Iā€™ll be damned if I give them additional $$ to ride. Thatā€™s ridiculous! I have time to stand in line. If I donā€™t get a BG for Rat, well, I guess I wonā€™t get to experience it. I donā€™t care if the price is seventy five cents. No!

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You are not alone! For me, itā€™s all the ā€œlittle cutsā€ to entertainment, decor and dining. Itā€™s stuff that the once in a lifetime guest wonā€™t notice, but for annual / semi-annual visitors it really makes an impact.

Then you add in the upcharges they are asking and lack of on-site benefits for a place that is supposed to be a ā€œresortā€.

I love Disney and have a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Disneyland reserved, but every day I start thinking about scaling it back to an off-site visit and splitting the time at other California attractions.

Iā€™m not going back to WDW until they finish all the current construction - especially EPCOT.

Iā€™m already a Universal fan and have been planning on getting an AP (all the way from TN). Universal is a fraction of the price and they really do a great job! To put it in Disney terms, I always have a ā€œmagicalā€ time there and the Team Members, IME, are as good too!

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I donā€™t think Disney realizes the value of what they are throwing away with both hands. Nolagal and the people like her donā€™t show up in the spreadsheets. When they do, it is in the column for ā€œWill pay anything for whatever crumbs we give.ā€ But, theyā€™ve pushed even a Disney addict into rehab.

I think they are also missing those that might be pondering starting to plan a Disney trip. Iā€™ll bet a lot of those have already decided to not when they noticed that Disney is the poster child for Skrimpflation.

For us, we are still going because Iā€™ve paid for the trip already and Iā€™ve told our 11-year-old that we are going. Otherwise Iā€™d cancel. Keep in mind, I am someone that has wanted to go to Disney World for 40+ years and Iā€™ve never been. I planned this trip pre-lockdown. I watched the Sunday Disney show as a kid and wanted to go to Disney. I had books that were advertisements about the rides. When DH said he was willing to go, I was overjoyed.

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I have complained quite a bit over the last few months, but itā€™s just getting worse. I usually take 5-6 Disney trips a year and always have 2-3 on MDE. Right now, I have 3 trips to Orlando. I am doing 2 days only at Disney, and weā€™re staying at Universal for those trips because the cost of staying at Disney has gotten too high. I almost booked Disney for 2 nights in February and was trying to justify the higher cost being offset by Magical Express, then I realized Magical Express was gone. So, nope, staying at Universal. Iā€™m only going to Disney for one day because the friend Iā€™m going with wants to go there (and I have an annual pass!).

My parents are there right now. I tried to order a cake for my dadā€™s 70th birthday dinner at California Grill tonight. Every time I call, I have to listen to the spiel encouraging me to use the website for dining (which I canā€™t order a cake through). After I wait my way through this, I get a message saying the wait is over 2 hours and I just canā€™t sit and wait for 2 hours. Iā€™ve tried first thing, mid-day and last night, at 8:30pm (their dinner is tonight). Itā€™s becoming way too hard and way too expensive.

When theyā€™ve lost those of us diehards who used to enjoy the planning that goes into a Disney vacation and we willing to splurge because we felt it was worth it in the end, it seems like theyā€™ve gone too far. And it makes me so sad.

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Those hold times are soooo objectionable. I was told that if I go to the checkin at restaurant open I can reserve a cake in person. They told me they keep some on hand. You can ask when you checkin too but I donā€™t know how many cakes they keep on reserve

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I gave my mom that direction today when I checked in with her. Fingers crossed they will have one.

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Advanced FP reservations used to make Disneyworld feel like more than just another amusement park. They helped structure the day and went a long way to help prevent my family from getting stuck in a crowd with long lines everywhere and no dining options other than mickey bars & frozen lemonade. We all sort of expected that they were going to start charging for FP features, but the part that boggles my mind is that it got replaced with pay to play stuff that provides a lower level of service. Noone wants to stress out at 7am trying to find lightning lanes. And if Iā€™m going to pay, Iā€™d like to schedule at least the day before. This new stuff seems to promote early morning chaos and is not so magical to me. Did the Disney planners feel that this is actually a better service some how? I just donā€™t see how it is.

Iā€™m planing an August 2022 trip, my first trip since 2019 and I switched from 7 to 5 days & cut park hopper to keep things in budget. Would I buy LL+ for Tron or GG Rewind on top of that? I donā€™t know. Unless the price gets cheaper or the service is actually better than I expect, Iā€™m going to stick with standby for now. Standby isnā€™t great, but it is predictable. If I can do what I want with rope drop & standby & a good touring plan, why would I pay money to try the LL lottery to get a time slots that screw up the touring plan?

And whatā€™s next? Will Disney require virtual queues to use your hotel pool? Will you end up getting a 7pm swimming group that overlaps with your ADR because it rained after you rushed back to your hotel for your original 2pm window? Will there be extra fees to enter Finding Nemo at AK, but your showtime isnā€™t assigned until you enter the park? And live actors were all replaced with a digital projector? And the show has comercial breaks? Terrible, but doesnā€™t seem out of the realm of possbility any more.

And this is on top of no meal plans and no magical express ? Itā€™s a pretty big hit to the Disney bubble and the bubble was a big part of the Disney magic for me. Donā€™t get me wrong. I like adventureous trips too, but those are ā€œletā€™s see what we can do with a tank of gas, a tent and a canoeā€ trips, not an aye-aye-aye-expensive trip that might just stick you in a not so magical crowd to rot.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed my rant. Iā€™m still doing the trip because DW wants to do her 50th with WDWā€™s 50th, and Iā€™m sure weā€™ll have a good time, but as I plan this trip, Iā€™m grumpy, I feel like the quality of the trip is reduced in a way that I canā€™t fix by spending more money.

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Thanks everyone for your input and letting me vent! I appreciate all of your comments and thoughts.

I want to give yā€™all a little more back ground on my addiction. My 1st trip was in Feb 1972 and I was 4 years old. That was the start of our family annual Mardi Gras trip. We stayed at the Poly and obviously I donā€™t have many memories of that other than the pics my parents have. However that was the beginning of my Disney addiction.

I am and was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to go almost yearly and multiple time s in a year since then. Through out years we have purchased APs when it made sense for us.

We have stayed at most of the Disney resorts and at lots of off nearby sites during our stays.

I have experienced all of the past ā€œDisneyā€ experiences and changes from running to the desired restaurants in the morning for a reservation to the old paper FP ride selection. I have willingly and happily enjoyed all of the changes Disney has made over the years- making ADRs 180 days in advance, MDE, FP etcā€¦

And Ofcourse throughout these years the prices have continued to go up but I have always justified these costs and have been fortunate enough to been able to afford them.

However, the new direction and the new cost just donā€™t justify the means for me anymore. And coming from a lifetime long fan that means a lot.

I hope someone in the higher up at Disney will read this and see how they are losing their lifetime fans.

Also, I have definitely been free advertising for them because I have encouraged and then enabled lots of friends and family to my addiction. I am the go to ā€œ Disneyā€ guru around here.

Just reading and seeing the current outrageous comments and future plans from the higher ups at Disney such as- ā€œ we are going to cut back on portion food size because of waist linesā€, ā€œ to maybe getting into betting/ gambling aspect of sports, to adding adult content to Disney Ā± has my love of what I fell for diminish.

Sorry for my rant and I appreciate you spending your time reading it.

At this point I am not canceling our annual Mardi Gras trip but it probably will be our last for many years.
Thanks

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I am in total agreement!!! I am trying so hard not get a bad taste in my mouth, but then I read another story about another wretched decision and it just gets more sour! I actually wrote an email to Josh Dā€™amaro today. I am sure it probably wonā€™t even get read, and not sure I even sent it to the right person. But Ive been getting so disappointed in them lately.

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Thanks @Pixiepill - where did you send that email to? I would like to send an email myself to them. There is a power in voices I do and hope believe in.,

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the state of FL just legalized online betting/gambling. Seminole Tribe launches campaign to fend off challenges to Florida gambling pact - Orlando Sentinel

Yes, there is. CA residents had a much better handle on timelines there than in FL. Californians as a whole were much more engage in DL . WDW fan base extends beyond FL so itā€™s harder to organize.

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Regarding FP vs G+ - I agree with you. I do think a lot of the decision to make it a day of scramble came from the fact that a lot of people complained about having to plan their days 60 days out. If you look at other Disney forums, youā€™d see complaints like ā€œFP+ destroys spontaneity!ā€. ā€œI donā€™t want to think about what rides I want to go on 60 days out!ā€. Etc. The other factor that probably went into this was the fact that this is very similar to MaxPass at DL, which was very popular.

Now, I think the MaxPass model works for DL but not for WDW with itā€™s attractions more spread out and the way people visit and tour being very different. Money issues aside, Iā€™d find a lot more value if they just made a similar system to FP+ again. Maybe allow resort guests to schedule 14 days outā€¦ Allow picking of times rather than the next available return time lottery. But I agree that it seems like they are charging for an inferior service, at least from my POV.

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Here you go! Spam them all!!! I just ran across an article that Chapek was pulled from appearing at the D23 expo for fear of getting booed off stage. GOOD!

Jeff.Vahle@disney.com
President WDW Resorts
Phone (Direct) (407) 939-7546

josh.damaro@disney.com
Chairman Disney Parks & Resorts

tim.sypko@disney.com
Senior Vice President, Operations Disney Parks & Resorts

robert.chapek@disney.com
CEO

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Sent!

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You would think that this would be a clue that maybe the company is going in the wrong direction.

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Ok, so I got a call from someone who said they were from the Disney executive communications team who reads the correspondences that are sent in. She assured me that everyone on the list read the email I sent (I actually doubt this, but Iā€™m still happy to have a call that acknowledged the email). She apologized for the issues I had in trying to get a hold of someone in customer service and acknowledged the reduction in services (DME, paid Genie+, reduced magic hours, etc) and stated that they are hearing from folks and while she couldnā€™t guarantee anything, that she expects that there will be changes on the horizon and to keep an eye out. She also gave me her name and extension should I have any issues in the future, I can reach her directly (she said sheā€™s worked for Disney for 17 years).

So I was happy to hear from someone and glad to know that someone actually took the time to read and respond. No real solution beyond an apology and a ā€˜youā€™ve been heardā€™, but Iā€™ll still take it for now. It wonā€™t change my upcoming plans to stay in Universal for my next trips, but I will keep an eye out for changes.

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I thought it was funny this morning when I was making my first ever ADR, I used a computer/browser that Iā€™d never used before. So, I did a search for ā€œDisney Worldā€ and a Universal Orlando link was first. Disney World was second.

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Hi! I finally got around to emailing everyone and thanks to @ pixie for email addresses. I will let you know when and if I hear from them.

I wrote about my disgust over their new system and about all the bad publicity I am seeing and reading about over Disney plus and IlL this past week over the holiday week.

Hopefully our voices will be heard.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving break!

Thanks

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