Maybe it's just me...

luvsJack · Mar 24, 2018

maxiesmom said:

[QUOTE="luvsJack, post: 58989464, member: 144764"

Yes rides break down. But there have been reports of all three mountains being down at once or half of fantasy land (when someone HAD paid extra for those rides). I am sorry but that is unacceptable.

Click to expand...

Of course it is. But when a park is open 365 days a year with limited maintenance due to the hue and cry every time a ride is taken out of service, stuff will break down. I would hope when something like that happens if a park goer went to guest services they would get some sort of compensation, be it even a few extra FPs.

Not to mention, sometimes the rides being down has to do with guest behavior. I've lost track of the times I've heard them on the PA over by the TTA telling guests to sit down.[/QUOTE]

Yes guest behavior can cause problems. But all day? Yeah, don’t believe so.

How much have we read and seen videos of park maintenance done at night after closing? Why is ride maintenance not done?

Some stuff breaking down can be expected, I do agree. Too many at one time and it is just unacceptable and needs to be rectified.

They don’t take rides down for maintenance because of outcry but don’t see all 3 mountains being down at the same time as an issue? Is that the logic we are using to defend them?? Their first responsibility is guest safety and then guest enjoyment. Planned maintenance time that guests can know about ahead and plan for should be expected for both of those objectives to be met.

We go to a county fair every year. We pay $10 for an armband to ride the rides. If we paid $10 and 5 of the 15 rides were broken that night, we would be angry. Anybody would feel taken advantage of. But we pay over $100 for one day at MK and that many rides being down should “just be expected”.

I don’t hate Disney. I actually love it. Planning to at least visit Epcot next time I am in Orlando. When DS and DIl take dgd we will probably tag along and hopefully take the other two granddaughters. But that doesn’t mean I am not able to see that complaints are justified and would just blindly defend Disney. If someone had the same problem at Universal, I would say the same thing. Or any other park. Or like I said the county fair.

cel_disney · Mar 24, 2018

when the fair comes to town here it costs ~$3 to ride each ride. They charge about $40 for a day pass with unlimited rides. I think that living in MA/CT/NY for my life means I am only accustomed to high prices so the Disney prices are high - but not nearly as high as they might feel to those of you that can pay $10 for a county fair ride pass!!!

We also pay $15 for a teenager to babysit..so if we had to be at work during school vacation week instead of on vacation, we would have about $800 just in kid care expenses just for the work day....might as well put that towards their 2 tix to Disney!

luvsJack · Mar 24, 2018

cel_disney said:
when the fair comes to town here it costs ~$3 to ride each ride. They charge about $40 for a day pass with unlimited rides. I think that living in MA/CT/NY for my life means I am only accustomed to high prices so the Disney prices are high - but not nearly as high as they might feel to those of you that can pay $10 for a county fair ride pass!!!

We also pay $15 for a teenager to babysit..so if we had to be at work during school vacation week instead of on vacation, we would have about $800 just in kid care expenses just for the work day....might as well put that towards their 2 tix to Disney!

If we paid separately for each ride it would be about $3 for each one so even for the little kids, we get the arm bands! It really is a good deal if you like fairs and fair rides.

michbaron · Mar 24, 2018

I don’t think rides at a fair can ever be compared to anything disney has to offer, you pay $10 opposed to $100 because it’s a tenth of the quality... and I agree you’re not getting anything in NY for $10 so that might have me jaded as to what is expensive or not as well

luvsJack · Mar 24, 2018

michbaron said:
I don’t think rides at a fair can ever be compared to anything disney has to offer, you pay $10 opposed to $100 because it’s a tenth of the quality... and I agree you’re not getting anything in NY for $10 so that might have me jaded as to what is expensive or not as well

Well no of course it can’t be compared as in quality of attractions. My comparison was in if I pay $10 and would feel cheated if 1/3 or even 1/4 of the rides were down, why would I not be upset when paying $100?

michbaron · Mar 24, 2018

When have there been 10 rides down at the same time at magic Kingdom?

Arielfan98 · Mar 24, 2018

No, it isn't just you. What I gather is Disney is changing their business philosophy. Sure, they've always been out for the profit. What company isn't? However, now it seems they care about making money more efficiently, faster, and showing their "Scrooge" personality. In the past they seemed to care about customer service, the quality of service, and making customers feel special. I don't know the full story because I'm one person with one perspective, but the cutting down on employees, robbing them of their pay, the quality of service going down, the increased prices, and now the added parking fees make me see a completely different Disney. It's just left a bad taste in my mouth and I am beginning to look into Universal vacations or other cruiselines.

slpeters · Mar 24, 2018

I'm curious for the people who feel like Disney has changed, when do you feel like it happened? I was there for the first times the week before Thanksgiving last year and was amazed at the experience and the level of customer care, despite apparently the crowd levels being 10 for half of our trip. Are people saying something has radically changed since then or should I have seen it last November?

Arielfan98 · Mar 24, 2018

slpeters said:
I'm curious for the people who feel like Disney has changed, when do you feel like it happened? I was there for the first times the week before Thanksgiving last year and was amazed at the experience and the level of customer care, despite apparently the crowd levels being 10 for half of our trip. Are people saying something has radically changed since then or should I have seen it last November?

I began to feel a decline two years ago. Just nowhere near as magical as it used to be. On my last trip almost every single one of my waiters at the restaurant were terrible and we ate at 5 different places on property. I wore my birthday pin and received 2 birthday wishes when in the past almost every CM said it. Just little things like that. But the point is, the combination of this lower quality service along with the rising costs/added fees makes Disney no longer worth paying for in my opinion. Everyone has different experiences and expectations, but I know I'm not the only one.

revdon64 · Mar 24, 2018

slpeters said:
I'm curious for the people who feel like Disney has changed, when do you feel like it happened? I was there for the first times the week before Thanksgiving last year and was amazed at the experience and the level of customer care, despite apparently the crowd levels being 10 for half of our trip. Are people saying something has radically changed since then or should I have seen it last November?

It's been in decline for several years in my opinion. We've seen less positive CM interaction, declining service and quality in the restaurants and resorts, etc. We also had the birthday pin experience with our DS who turned 8 on our most recent trip in January. He had seen his sister get noticed for her birthday pin two years previous and expected the same kind of attention. He got ignored so often that he started pointing his pin out to servers and CMs. If my single digit aged kid notices it, there's no doubt it's happening because that kid can be oblivious.

Lilsia · Mar 24, 2018

momof2n2 said:
I don’t measure by the wows, though. I measure by the numbers. I expect as many rides and as many character encounters as the previous visit.

That is only possible if the exact amount of people are in the parks every visit. And that they do the exact same thing. The parks are so much busier now then they were 20 years ago. So of course you will not be able to do as much. But what company is going to turn away business? I work in a counter service restaurant, can you imagine if someone stood at the door saying to you "sorry, you can't come in wait to order a sandwich because we don't want you to have to wait too long".

Lilsia · Mar 24, 2018

slpeters said:
I'm curious for the people who feel like Disney has changed, when do you feel like it happened? I was there for the first times the week before Thanksgiving last year and was amazed at the experience and the level of customer care, despite apparently the crowd levels being 10 for half of our trip. Are people saying something has radically changed since then or should I have seen it last November?

I think it is more those who have been going for a long time. I truly think that it is the crowds that make it seem like WDW is not what is used to be. 20 years ago if you went in the slower season then pretty much everything was walk on. And the "busy" ride was maybe a 20 minute wait. Not to mention that you could stay at the Contemporary for about $120 a night. You felt like you actually got a ton more then you do now.

slpeters · Mar 24, 2018

On the one hand I guess it's too bad that people feel like it has been on the decline for some time, but on the other hand I feel sort of glad that people feel like it had already declined before we discovered it. Because I was actually really impressed in November, so much so that we've already planned two more trips. If they are anything like our last trip I'm stoked. We actually thought the customer experience was amazing, and frankly the price point didn't really bother me given the quality. Even the button thing impressed me. We wore anniversary pins and people fawned over us all trip--not just free stuff but what seemed like genuine excitement. Even other guests--we had someone send over a bottle of champagne and another couple we didn't even meet picked up our tab at Nomad (happiest place on earth indeed). I hope people either have better experiences in the future or find somewhere else to make magical moments.

disneydreamer1980 · Mar 24, 2018

The first time I’d ever been upset with Disney was when they closed Adventurers Club (still bitter about that one,lol). Since then, I’ve been becoming slowly disillusioned with it. This past November, We actually had a server at Artist Point roll her eyes at us when DH asked for another drink. CMs are overwhelmed, overworked and underpaid leading to poor CM experiences. The vast majority are great, but years ago you never would’ve had someone roll their eyes at you. Rides are breaking down more frequently than usual, upsales are encroaching on average guests vacations and the Disney experience is just not what it once was. But in the midst of all of this, prices are astronomical. Disney’s earnings were down in every category except parks and resorts last quarter, so obviously they’ve been pumping us dry to make up for their lackluster performance in all other areas. And now they’ve restructured, WDW is lumped in with merch/sales dept which will most likely lead to a further decreased experience and more money spent. It all just makes me sad, I wish there was nothing to complain about, I wish the magical experience I’ve had for decades would not be further eroded.

momof2n2 · Mar 24, 2018

Lilsia said:
That is only possible if the exact amount of people are in the parks every visit. And that they do the exact same thing. The parks are so much busier now then they were 20 years ago. So of course you will not be able to do as much. But what company is going to turn away business? I work in a counter service restaurant, can you imagine if someone stood at the door saying to you "sorry, you can't come in wait to order a sandwich because we don't want you to have to wait too long".

Would you be serving me a smaller sandwich?

Lilsia · Mar 24, 2018

momof2n2 said:
Would you be serving me a smaller sandwich?

Maybe, if you were rude. LOL

momof2n2 · Mar 24, 2018

Lilsia said:
Maybe, if you were rude. LOL

Let’s assume I’m the nicest guest ever.
Do I get the same sized sandwich I got last year at the newer higher price?

Lilsia · Mar 24, 2018

momof2n2 said:
Let’s assume I’m the nicest guest ever.
Do I get the same sized sandwich I got last year at the newer higher price?

Some times the product stays the same but some years they cut things down or change the quality of the meats or cheese, etc. Unfortunately that is how businesses are now. I blame all of those greedy corporate men that need millions and millions of dollars at the expense of everyone else. The only way any of that will change is if the government puts a salary cap on it, which it never will because they are the greedy men.

slpeters · Mar 24, 2018

momof2n2 said:
Let’s assume I’m the nicest guest ever.
Do I get the same sized sandwich I got last year at the newer higher price?

Someone's obviously never bought ice cream in the grocery store before.

Farro · Mar 24, 2018

slpeters said:
I'm curious for the people who feel like Disney has changed, when do you feel like it happened? I was there for the first times the week before Thanksgiving last year and was amazed at the experience and the level of customer care, despite apparently the crowd levels being 10 for half of our trip. Are people saying something has radically changed since then or should I have seen it last November?

Since 2000 (can't remember trips in the 70s/80s all that well

)- for us, no we have not noticed a decline in customer service, cleanliness, food (to us there are more, better choices than ever). Every trip had one or so annoyances, but that was sometimes other guests, crowds, weather, etc. Sure there are parades that have left, rides that closed that we miss. But there is new entertainment, new rides and now new lands. It's ever changing and we like that.

Still a pleasure for us.

Maybe it's just me...

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Argh.

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