Bring back more guest experiences please!!

[ford91exploder]

And unfortunately, with the pent-up demand I think they will get the idea that they had been unnecessarily spoiling their customers before. Because the crowds will increase regardless of how little they bring back. There are a LOT of people that told their children they are going to Disney. If and when they can go, they WILL go. But, will they be interested in coming back? No, they will decide that Disney wasn't worth it. Even the kids that go probably won't take their kids in 20 years because their memories will be of waiting in lines.

Even pre-lockdown, Disney had the idea that lines were a good place to park people. Even on low crowd days they'd pull ride vehicles to keep people from going on too quickly.

Unfortunately, the bean-counters in charge aren't good at long-term thinking.

You have summarized without emotion what I feel is happening at Disney which will lead to the parks eventual demise. Without the over the top execution and amenities the lifelong fans will not be created.

One of the best memories was my DW’s father never had time to go to Disney with rest of family after he retired we took a trip and he took wife on first trip on Dumbo and the experience for both was priceless yeah she was in her late 20’s so a couple of decades late. But priceless

but because the experience as a child was great she wanted to show her dad what he missed.

waiting in lines in the hot sun is not an experience that will bring someone back in 20 years

 

[yorkieteacher]

Along thee same lines, I watched a vlog yesterday that basically said Chapek was thrilled with the pent up demand and was considering cutting out many extras totally, since people were pouring in without them, and charging for previously free ones, like FP. So my thoughts were soon we may have to pay for Mousekeeping rather than getting a gift card to skip it, pay extra to get popular restaurant reservations, and pay for something called Lightning pass or it's equivalent like Express Pass at Universal. Cut theme park hours and make it up with after hours events. The vlogger suggested something I have heard many times before, that Disney wanted fewer guests that would spend more and more money, making it an elite experience. How sad! And as a PP said, this doesn't bode well for building a loyal following in the future. The pent up demand was brought about by those of us experience the pixie dust and magic many times before, and want a little more of that magic after a very hard year. I have our first post Covid trip in 18 days, with some family who have never been before. Interested to see how magical it will be for them and me.

 

[tigger2002]

that Disney wanted fewer guests that would spend more and more money, making it an elite experience.

.
Well they are just about there. They have completely priced me out of a Disney Cruise (I have been on ten).
.

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

My new DIS pastime is to avoid looking at the names/avatars and trying to guess who the poster is based on the level of anti-Disney sentiment (and believe me, I'm no pixie-dust spewing Disney apologist by any means).

I'm right 99% of the time. But only because some contributors make it SO easy.

 

[Catlover77]

So you are into stereotyping? This is just as negative as you claim others are being.

 

[ForWhomTheMouseTolls]

I still think this concept of people remembering lines today, but not in the 90s is absurd. My dad has 1.5 HOUR video of us waiting in the line outside Horizons in 1995. I still have fantastic memories of those trips. The video was also priceless.

 

[New Mouse]

I still think this concept of people remembering lines today, but not in the 90s is absurd. My dad has 1.5 HOUR video of us waiting in the line outside Horizons in 1995. I still have fantastic memories of those trips. The video was also priceless.

It also cost a lot less money for you to wait in that line.

 

[ForWhomTheMouseTolls]

You can’t have it both ways. It’s about money or it’s about experiences. The kids that supposedly don’t want to come with their kids as adults don’t care about the money it cost when they went there as a kid.

You’re straw manning and it’s a bad straw man.

 

[mshanson3121]

You can’t have it both ways. It’s about money or it’s about experiences. The kids that supposedly don’t want to come with their kids as adults don’t care about the money it cost when they went there as a kid.

You’re straw manning and it’s a bad straw man.

It's just as much of a fallacy, or a logical error, to say it has to be one of the other.

 

[mshanson3121]

The pent up demand was brought about by those of us experience the pixie dust and magic many times before, and want a little more of that magic after a very hard year. I have our first post Covid trip in 18 days, with some family who have never been before. Interested to see how magical it will be for them and me.

So much this. We promised our daughter a return trip after our 2019 trip didn't turn out to be all it should have been (not Disney's fault, other factors). We planned it for this June. Well... Covid. So then, when Covid happened we said, okay, we'll do it in 2022, and combine it with her 12th birthday trip she was due from her grandfather (he gives the kids a trip for their 12th birthday). Well, how the heck do you go back on THAT?? We literally just booked the trip Friday. And now all these rumors coming out...

Granted, this is a really hard week for me due to other reasons, so I'm probably overly emotional, but... I'm a mixture of mad, sad, frustrated etc...upon hearing these rumors. Disney has an emotional connection for us, it's our happy place, but they've already pretty much priced us out. However, we had been saving, her grandfather is paying for her share, so we were committed to making it work - and I just wanted to give my daughter/kids one more trip, y'know? To make up for the last fiasco of a trip, to celebrate all we've overcome this past year (not Covid, but worse/bigger stuff)... and I honestly feel like just hitting the cancel button, because as a family with health issues, special needs etc... we absolutely rely on FP+ (DAS alone is not enough for our situation) to make Disney doable/enjoyable/worth what they charge. And we just cannot in any way afford what they're proposing.

Now, obviously I won't do that - I'm rational enough to wait and see what actually materializes out of these rumors and to see how they impact the park experience. I still have my doubts these rumors materialize for a few reasons, not the least of which is the bad press, because it will be a really bad look for a company who has prided itself on not following "what the other guys does" and "putting guest experience first" with all these "perks". Yeah, they've been axing those perks for awhile, but this is a biggie. I honestly still have a fair amount of hope that it doesn't happen, at least not right away. But, if Lightning Pass does come true as proposed...

1. Our 3-4 days at Disney will be axed, and we'll be doing only one day - and Disney will lose all our money, because those one-day tickets are comp tickets they gave us last time. Our money will be spent at other Florida attractions.

2. We'll absolutely never go back unless someone drops a winning lottery ticket in our lap.

 

[ForWhomTheMouseTolls]

It's just as much of a fallacy, or a logical error, to say it has to be one of the other.

When you’re talking about kids, it’s experiences. More importantly, experiences cost money. So what’s the problem we are dealing with?

1) Kids won’t want to take their kids because it cost too much when they’re kids?
2) Kids won’t want to take their kids because the lines were too long when they were kids?
3) Kids won’t want to take their kids because the line/dollar value equilibrium was suboptimal when they were kids?

Most kids don’t know about one or three, and all of us 90s kids had way worse lines than the ones in the parks literally today on Memorial Day and we are still taking our kids. It’s bad logic.

 

[yorkieteacher]

When you’re talking about kids, it’s experiences. More importantly, experiences cost money. So what’s the problem we are dealing with?

Yes, experiences cost money. But a five year old, or my kids when they were five, had more fun at the pool their first visit than on the rides! We had really hot weather and really long lines that year -1990 by the way. Had I not continued to take them back, and encourage their love of all things Disney by my enthusiasm ,and through things like taking them to Disney movies and Disney on Ice, and had they not had better experiences later, they would not love Disney so much now. Kids can have great experiences for far less money. (Mine also loved Sesame Street Live as much as Disney on Ice! If younger families have not so magical yet very expensive experiences, I believe they will spend money on experiences for their kids that are not Disney. Had I said, "We can go to Disney for a week, or we can go camping for a week, the zoo, the aquarium, Six Flags and White Water," kids sometimes think quantity over quality. That's why Disney needs to keep up the quality.

 

[kylenne]

Respectfully, some of y’all sincerely need to go outside. It’s not healthy to wallow in this much negativity.

To those who have been reading all this negativity and working themselves into a state and are scared it’s not magical anymore, I am here right now and this has honestly been one of the best trips I’ve ever had. It has absolutely been worth it. Pixie dust everywhere I turn. Kind and hardworking CMs going the extra mile to help. Happy faces everywhere. Rides are still fun. Resort is still beautiful. Character cavalcades are wonderful and I hope they stick around the parks that don’t have parades. Food has been great even with the limited offerings. I will not hesitate to come back in October.

As for the topic of this thread...I miss fireworks, but they are coming. Mousekeeping also, but I assume like everything it’s a staffing issue.

 

[ford91exploder]

I still think this concept of people remembering lines today, but not in the 90s is absurd. My dad has 1.5 HOUR video of us waiting in the line outside Horizons in 1995. I still have fantastic memories of those trips. The video was also priceless.

Of course there were lines in the 90’s, its the reason older rides have such exquisitely detailed queues because the wait was part of the experience. But there was no FP so everyone moved together so the line was not the excruciating experience a standby line at WDW was since FP+ And as another poster notes it was a lot less expensive to stand in that line.

plus there was entertainment and places to sit, it was not a crowded mall with a cover charge as it is today.

 

[luv2cheer92]

Of course there were lines in the 90’s, its the reason older rides have such exquisitely detailed queues because the wait was part of the experience. But there was no FP so everyone moved together so the line was not the excruciating experience a standby line at WDW was since FP+ And as another poster notes it was a lot less expensive to stand in that line.

plus there was entertainment and places to sit, it was not a crowded mall with a cover charge as it is today.

Newer rides have just as much, if not far more detailed queues than most of the older rides. So not sure why that makes a difference.

Don't get the last sentence at all, so won't comment on that.

 

[ford91exploder]

Newer rides have just as much, if not far more detailed queues than most of the older rides. So not sure why that makes a difference.

Don't get the last sentence at all, so won't comment on that.

When grandma and grandpa got tired they could sit and recharge for a bit. Or if small fry needed a nap they could get on parents lap and get a power nap.

Now the only choice for these people is return to hotel.

or you could simply people watch

 

[luv2cheer92]

When grandma and grandpa got tired they could sit and recharge for a bit. Or if small fry needed a nap they could get on parents lap and get a power nap.

Now the only choice for these people is return to hotel.

or one you could simply people watch

Why can't they still do that? Plenty of places to do those things that aren't back at the hotel.

 

[mshanson3121]

Why can't they still do that? Plenty of places to do those things that aren't back at the hotel.

To be fair, they have removed some (much of?) the seating that used to be available. When we went as a kid, there really were benches everywhere along walk ways, right by the rides etc... And my grandmother did just that - sat and rested while I went on the rides lol. But, there really aren't as many now. 3 out of 4 of us have a joint disorder and more often than not we had to sit on the curb (which was painful), or go into a restaurant (which leaves you unable to watch a child on a ride).

But, they had to remove them due to crowds. And also I suspect chose to for $$$ - people sitting on a bench make you no money. People resting in a restaurant do, because they're more apt to buy a snack, drink etc....

 

[luv2cheer92]

To be fair, they have removed some (much of?) the seating that used to be available. When we went as a kid, there really were benches everywhere along walk ways, right by the rides etc... And my grandmother did just that - sat and rested while I went on the rides lol. But, there really aren't as many now. 3 out of 4 of us have a joint disorder and more often than not we had to sit on the curb (which was painful), or go into a restaurant (which leaves you unable to watch a child on a ride).

But, they had to remove them due to crowds. And also I suspect chose to for $$$ - people sitting on a bench make you no money. People resting in a restaurant do, because they're more apt to buy a snack, drink etc....

Weird, I've never had a problem at all finding a spot for me or one of my parents to sit. I've found there to be plenty of walls (or whatever they're called) to sit on in places where there aren't benches.

 

[ford91exploder]

To be fair, they have removed some (much of?) the seating that used to be available. When we went as a kid, there really were benches everywhere along walk ways, right by the rides etc... And my grandmother did just that - sat and rested while I went on the rides lol. But, there really aren't as many now. 3 out of 4 of us have a joint disorder and more often than not we had to sit on the curb (which was painful), or go into a restaurant (which leaves you unable to watch a child on a ride).

But, they had to remove them due to crowds. And also I suspect chose to for $$$ - people sitting on a bench make you no money. People resting in a restaurant do, because they're more apt to buy a snack, drink etc....

But even pre covid restaurant capacity was far less than in years past.

What Disney is looking for is the magical revenue spot which provides as much free cash flow as the old model did with approximately 1/3 the labor cost. So by whacking 2/3 of your CM’s and strictly controlling park entry it’s conceivable that the parks could deliver the same financial performance as the parks do under current modeklk