85% is comparable and I’m sure disney would include the hurricane scare as part of that.Actually According to the 2018 annual report occupancy was 88% at domestic resorts. So occupancy was actually down in 2019 at domestic resorts.
And 2018 had Irma.85% is comparable and I’m sure disney would include the hurricane scare as part of that.
Irma was Sep 2017And 2018 had Irma.
My mistake. You are correct.Irma was Sep 2017
85% is comparable and I’m sure disney would include the hurricane scare as part of that.
I think the Yachtsman is good, I don’t know if I would call it outstanding.
Yea, I'm still far, far, far from that. Not even in my thoughts. Especially after my trip last week, loving Disney now more than ever!!I hope people have had enough already. I know I have. I HATE the new ticket pricing and the parking fees and how it feels compared to the "old" days. We cancelled our trip last year and after the trip 2 years ago I'll be surprised if I can ever get my husband to go back. This year I'm taking my two youngest, but we're only going to the parks for 2 days. And it makes me SO SAD because in spite of everything I love Disney and I miss it. I just wish they would stop with the insane money grab.
I hope people have had enough already. I know I have. I HATE the new ticket pricing and the parking fees and how it feels compared to the "old" days. We cancelled our trip last year and after the trip 2 years ago I'll be surprised if I can ever get my husband to go back. This year I'm taking my two youngest, but we're only going to the parks for 2 days. And it makes me SO SAD because in spite of everything I love Disney and I miss it. I just wish they would stop with the insane money grab.
It's more than just the money, I never really noticed but my wife was like, do u realize how much time u spend on planning and staring at the mde app, always looking at wait times, trying to get ADR's, trying to get fp and then going back every day trying to modify looking for the hard to get rides, the frustration of the entire very long drawn out planning process, add in the massive crowds and then top it off with such really high price increases.
You can do both .... to me having little kids (that you are sorta FORCED to keep an eye on) helped keep me OUT of MDE. I would pull it out while at lunch (waiting for the slow eaters) and maybe try and grab a FP next. But really .. when going with small kids like that . .you HAVE to just live in the moment .. the scheduling just makes it stressful when dealing with kids who need an unscheduled potty break, all of sudden DO NOT want to go on that ride that you have had planned for 60 days, etc.This is what really changed the experience for me. I grew up going every few years as a kid. My last "kid" trip was for my 19th birthday in 2009. By the time I came back as an adult for a trip with my husband in 2017, I was so excited to show him the magic . . . only to find that a lot of it was gone. We went in January, and the crowds were more than I remembered seeing during childhood trips in June and December. We had to plan so much more than we wanted to for dining, FP, etc.
My mom and I took my oldest two kids (2 and 4 at the time) this last May, and that's when it really hit home for me. I could either spend time enjoying the parks, watching my kids experience the magic, or I could be on MDE all day searching for FP and mobile ordering our next meal. Some of that comes down to me making a choice to be present and put the phone away, but it's hard when you've spent buckets of money and want to experience what you can with as few lines as possible. It feels like Disney is forcing you to keep your head in technology, both while you're there and when you're planning your trip. I don't mind doing a bit of prep work (actually, I think it's fun), but it's nearly impossible to plan for kids that age 60 days in advance.
I had a hard time staying present with my family on this last trip, and that's where a lot of the magic was lost. I'm all nostalgic for simpler times, I guess. I still love Disney and want to share the magic with my kids as they grow up, but it just doesn't feel like the same vacations I remember.
On my October trip, I experienced a couple things that have made me rethink my opinion on the whole FastPass+ thing. While I absolutely have enjoyed using the system to our advantage before and going for those 4th, 5th, 6th FPs (especially at DHS) to get extra RnR, ToT, and TSM rides in, I'm starting to join the camp that just thinks they should be scrapped altogether.
I had a reasonable ~50 minute wait for MFSR on a Saturday morning, less than two months after opening. The queue was interesting, the line kept moving pretty well, and I think I enjoyed things far more than if there were separate FP+ and standby lines slowing things down.
Then, there was our Magic Kingdom non-party day, on a Wednesday when there's Halloween parties on Thursday, Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, etc.. We'd done it a different year between Halloween and Christmas parties, and new to expect a crowded park, but I was really not prepared for just how bad this was. We didn't want a full day at MK since fireworks were the main goal, so we did a noon ADR at The Wave and leisurely made our way over around 1:30. We had FPs for Space, Splash, and Thunder; pretty good scores for a busy day, right? We couldn't have been more wrong. Space FP+ line was probably a 25-30 minute wait. Standby line was over 90 minutes. We weren't 100% sure we wanted to get wet on Splash, but we made our way over there anyway as every Standby line in the park was crazy long, but when we got there, the FP+ line was backed up well beyond the band-scanning area. We thought about waiting but then just decided against it and hung out at Pecos Bill's until our Thunder FP time. At least the Thunder line went smoothly. After Thunder, we headed over to the Hub over an hour early for fireworks, and it was already full. I'm still glad we did it because I enjoy HEA, but after that even though we could have waited for the rides that were still open, we were just done.
One Magic Kingdom day and we:
-spent time inside BoG
-rode Space Mountain
-shopped a little in Tomorrowland
-bailed on Splash
-hung out inside Pecos Bills
-rode Big Thunder
-stood in people-soup to watch fireworks
I'm really glad we did the party day and actually got to ride everything but Mine Train, because there's no way we could have on an HEA day. Back to what got me on this though is that while ~60% of the problem on this Wednesday was falling between Halloween party days, the other ~40% is FPs don't help wait times overall; they hurt. When an FP line is backed up to the points we saw, the system just doesn't make any sense. Because FPs have (slightly flexible but) rigid windows of time, people wait out long FP lines because "I need to use my FP darnit," rather than organically moving to a ride with a shorter wait time. In economic terms, the FP distorts the ride "market" that's served perfectly well by a first-come first-served system instead.
It was a fun experiment and there's a lot of joy in tapping that MagicBand and hearing the happy chime, but it's not the answer to the "I pay all this money to Disney just to wait in line" problem. Efficient loading systems that keep lines moving, combined with good queues to keep you interested while you wait, are where it's at. Good list: MFSR, FoP though it still takes a long time, 7DMT would be okay if not for standby getting slowed down for FPers. Bad list: Na'vi River Journey (zero queue effort plus long waits).
On my October trip, I experienced a couple things that have made me rethink my opinion on the whole FastPass+ thing. While I absolutely have enjoyed using the system to our advantage before and going for those 4th, 5th, 6th FPs (especially at DHS) to get extra RnR, ToT, and TSM rides in, I'm starting to join the camp that just thinks they should be scrapped altogether.
I had a reasonable ~50 minute wait for MFSR on a Saturday morning, less than two months after opening. The queue was interesting, the line kept moving pretty well, and I think I enjoyed things far more than if there were separate FP+ and standby lines slowing things down.
Then, there was our Magic Kingdom non-party day, on a Wednesday when there's Halloween parties on Thursday, Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, etc.. We'd done it a different year between Halloween and Christmas parties, and new to expect a crowded park, but I was really not prepared for just how bad this was. We didn't want a full day at MK since fireworks were the main goal, so we did a noon ADR at The Wave and leisurely made our way over around 1:30. We had FPs for Space, Splash, and Thunder; pretty good scores for a busy day, right? We couldn't have been more wrong. Space FP+ line was probably a 25-30 minute wait. Standby line was over 90 minutes. We weren't 100% sure we wanted to get wet on Splash, but we made our way over there anyway as every Standby line in the park was crazy long, but when we got there, the FP+ line was backed up well beyond the band-scanning area. We thought about waiting but then just decided against it and hung out at Pecos Bill's until our Thunder FP time. At least the Thunder line went smoothly. After Thunder, we headed over to the Hub over an hour early for fireworks, and it was already full. I'm still glad we did it because I enjoy HEA, but after that even though we could have waited for the rides that were still open, we were just done.
One Magic Kingdom day and we:
-spent time inside BoG
-rode Space Mountain
-shopped a little in Tomorrowland
-bailed on Splash
-hung out inside Pecos Bills
-rode Big Thunder
-stood in people-soup to watch fireworks
I'm really glad we did the party day and actually got to ride everything but Mine Train, because there's no way we could have on an HEA day. Back to what got me on this though is that while ~60% of the problem on this Wednesday was falling between Halloween party days, the other ~40% is FPs don't help wait times overall; they hurt. When an FP line is backed up to the points we saw, the system just doesn't make any sense. Because FPs have (slightly flexible but) rigid windows of time, people wait out long FP lines because "I need to use my FP darnit," rather than organically moving to a ride with a shorter wait time. In economic terms, the FP distorts the ride "market" that's served perfectly well by a first-come first-served system instead.
It was a fun experiment and there's a lot of joy in tapping that MagicBand and hearing the happy chime, but it's not the answer to the "I pay all this money to Disney just to wait in line" problem. Efficient loading systems that keep lines moving, combined with good queues to keep you interested while you wait, are where it's at. Good list: MFSR, FoP though it still takes a long time, 7DMT would be okay if not for standby getting slowed down for FPers. Bad list: Na'vi River Journey (zero queue effort plus long waits).
Disney can change this* by adding a few park hours. Just that 1 hour daily EEMH at MK and AK made a huge difference to park flow. Obviously the 3hr EEMH at HS really spread guests out, but the experience shows what a tremendous effect cutting or adding an hour to a park day can have on crowds/waits.
HS is open 9a-9p right after RoR opens? Need more hours than that!
*ETA: I should clarify that changing this means giving more regular park hours during party season. They did have 1 hour EMH but only having 2 days a week to see fireworks without a party ticket also puts an immense strain on MK crowds. For Wed Oct 16th, closing was 10pm. That easily should've been 11pm. It was CL10 that day because of little opportunity for a full day at MK during the week. Disney needs to fix the party season hours.