I can’t help thinking that their data must be misleading them, if someone like @Alewis678 could take 3 trips in 5 years and now have no plans to return. I went this year, and even though we had a great time, the cost makes it impossible to consider going frequently. I’m planning on waiting 3 years, but who knows what changes will happen in that time frame. It seems like most people here who take frequent trips are AP holders. From reading all of the trip reports, I can assure you Disney is getting more money from AP holders than they got from me… or that they will get from me for 2 trips in 3 years.
I should note that the only reason we got through Genie+ without going insane is because of @joelbruick. Otherwise, it may very well have been a miserable trip.
We also went on 3 trips in 5 years. With no plans to return now for at least another 3. Cost is the main prohibitive factor. We’re planning smaller, less expensive vacations. I’m going to Dollywood twice in the remainder of this year. If we like it enough, might just hang out there for the next few years. Since I’m comparing everything to WDW, it is diiiiirt cheap at Dollywood. I paid $229 for 4 park days. 2 of those days will be with 2 adults. 2 of those days will be for 2 adults and 2 children (only one of whom I wouldn’t need to pay anything for at WDW). So that’s 9 admissions for $229. Plus a whole bunch of passholder discounts in there. It won’t be the same as WDW. It won’t evoke the same feelings of childlike wonder. But I’m expecting it to be fun and family friendly and for the cost, I think that’s worth it at this time in our lives.
Those same tickets for the same layout for my trips would cost me $1,186 at WDW, purchasing through UT.
ETA: 1120, or 1064 with a 5% target discount (just saw a note on UT that said their price is higher than gate because it covers a 365 guarantee?! Since when? I’ll take cheaper please. This is probably a COVID change)
Assuming you think where you are is miserable. Not everyone does.
I was really happy to see a few families with kids who were actually talking with each other in lines - not everyone buried in phones. The ones talking with each other were NOT the ones where I saw kids whining and acting up - that was the families with phones, etc. out.
We havent been in 4 years, so we went for it and planned a 10 night stay so we could have 2 days in each park and NOT pay for G+. We have done well without it. Im glad bc if I had to cave and get it then I would have been mad about it for the rest of the trip.
We only payed for an ILL for ROTR. We still feel the magic. We invest our spending $ in good food and this time around a golf cart at FW Cabins (life changing!).
We can only go every 2-3 years because its just too damn expensive.
We spoiled ourselves with the first trip being at the Cabins, its our home now. I splurged on Wilderness Lodge for our last trip and we still like the cabins better:woman_shrugging:. I doubt staying at a Value resort could save enough $ to make it worth it to us losing out on FW. Would we really be able to go more often?
One thing about the limited APs that irks me is that they still have not brought them back for DVC members even though our points still expire as usual. That can’t be passed off as a “this is to control capacity… it’s for your benefit as much as ours” thing because we still have to visit or rent the points out or lose them.
Actually, it’s not even that. It’s that they changed from making it free, to making you pay for it.
Every time I go to UOR I get EPs (or even do VIP tours). That’s a huge upcharge. In March, like an idiot, I think I paid $300 for one day’s EP. I hardly even used it. That would cover 20 days of G+.
Ugh. We just don’t like change. (See also: people who endlessly go on about Maelstrom, Soarin’ Over California and Wishes.)
Which for us means bank/borrow and visit one time for a long time vs multiple short visits. And a long visit gets expensive so we will curtail some dining out and utilize more grocery purchase for in-room dining, meaning less revenue for WDW.
Which I do. That was my point. Darling Josh (yes, that’s sarcasm) is not making me change my activities by making suggestions. I’m not going to suddenly go eat because my app suggests it.
I’d like to think most people aren’t that suggestible…but sadly, I know I’m wrong.
I agree, to a point. But truth is, WDW and UOR are completely different beasts. For one, Disney has three to four times the attendence, plus far more property and employees to manage. Way more employees. I do wish Disney had handled it better. I think Disney wishes that as well. The early days of the pandemic was a great unknown. Disney’s handling of employees, in hind sight, should have been better, for sure. But again, comparisons to UOR isn’t really fair.
Are there suggestions other than those in regular Genie? I ask because I don’t think that product is concerned at all about the guest’s experience. It ignores the attractions guests pick and suggests low level attractions no one else is going to do? I don’t think that has changed?
about it for the rest of the trip.