Oh, that’s too bad! I’m really crowd-averse and not very patient, so I hear you. I hope your trip gets better.
After the discussion here over the past couple of days I went back and reworked my plans and bought some more “extras”. We don’t go to WDW very often and aren’t staying long, a bad day or two could really negatively impact the trip. At this point I almost can’t afford not to do it.
I’m curious too… We were able to have great days last week on CL9 and CL10 days…
Well I can’t say it’s wrong. I just know it’s fairly miserable to me. Like we waited 30 minutes for dole whip. Everything has a long wait and it’s difficult to navigate around. I waited in a line at a little cart for 20 minutes for cotton candy and then they told me cash only. It’s just a LOT of waiting. We wanted to ride something in Adventureland with less than 30 min wait and our only option was tiki room. We walked through Swiss fam teeehouse and it was just one person right behind the other filing through. You couldn’t stop or speed up. Felt like the freeway. Even Aladdin carpets was posted 40. What would I do differently? Try to come on a 2 or 3 crowd day for one. I would also be certain to have those FPs set up well. I would stay on monorail and take midday break. (Getting into and out of TTC or whatever to get to MK is a bear.). Personally I might explore the early morning or late night options to avoid crowds. Or go on a different vacation😬
That’s what we’ve been doing for the last 6 years.
I can go to Hawaii or Europe for what a trip to WDW plus all the upgrades cost me.
I would also add for what it’s worth, we’ve rope dropped every day and followed TPs and I’ve had awesome FPs. Some days have been better. Yesterday was pretty good getting thru fantasyland with our plan and FPs. But for whatever reason today was just awful in Adventureland. I hope everyone has a lovely experience like the CL9 ppl did
Did you try mobile ordering? That’s saved me a ton of time, for example, getting a Dole Whip… Also, you can avoid a lot of wait times during peak hours by doing this.
This is almost what it is coming to. And Disney loves it.
This is why Disney is not our go-to anymore.
I can afford not to. We did one upgrade last trip for the HEA dessert party, but don’t plan on doing it next trip. We have no plans for an upgraded experience next trip, unless there is something like EMM for SWGE, as that is a priority for us and I know it will be insane. Other than that, we seem to do well planning our trips. We don’t mind some crowds and using FP, extra FP, and having the knowledge to know when lines will be long for attractions, we have not waited more than 30 minutes. I expect lines and crowds at Disney, but we do our thing and have a great time without many of the upgrades or DAH.
Crazy is relative. Do what you think works best for your family. Everyone has their own priorities.
Great convo and I appreciate the thoughtful responses to my less then thoughtful post. This is our first trip in 9 years and our first with a small child. When we went last time it was my first time without my parents and where I was planning it. I kinda stressed out my wife early in the trip by (as she says it) “dragging her around the park so fast she doesn’t remember anything.” I want this to be a more relaxed experience for her and also allow my son to keep up and I figure this could be a way to make the rest of the day at these parks a bit more chill.
My son had complicated food allergies so it’s a little hard to do mobile ordering unfortunately.
That’s too bad. Hopefully Disney will do something in the future to make it easier for those with food allergies to use mobile ordering…
Other things to do: make a custom touring plan and set the pace to be very relaxed. Schedule a 15 minute break every 1.5-2 hours. You may not use every break, but it builds in some buffer time for.spontaneous things, if something doesn’t go according to plan, or just to grab a snack or linger in a certain area…