Best Strategy for a trip in 2022? Lower Your Expectations

[mommycrawford]

You can see in my signature that I have been to Disney many times.

I even made my second trip on my current Annual Pass and was at Bay Lake Tower and then Animal Kingdom Lodge, Jambo House just a few days ago.

If you are going in 2022 you need to lower your expectations a lot.

I have used Touring Plans and been a rope dropper for many, many years.

I was often able to get 90 percent of my rides/shows done by lunchtime .....and wrapped up each day with a feeling of joy and happiness.

I was able to ride some rides more than once each day and sometimes would hop to a second or third park if I wanted to........I felt free as a bird.

This is not the case anymore.

For the moment, let's put aside the huge cost of resorts, food/beverage, Genie+, and ILL.

Even if G+ were free, it is an inferior product to FP+.

I can even accept the Park Pass requirement for the first park of the day, but park hopping at 2pm it like hitting my kneecaps with a baseball bat.

In the old days, I would often rope drop park number 1 and then hop to park number 2 sometime in the morning.

The present system makes each day feel like we have a national speed limit of 55 again and I am driving around with my parking brake engaged.

If we had little ones in our group, the focus of a typical day would be very different.....even only doing 3 or 4 rides with a child/grandchild, the day's enjoyment is derived from seeing the little ones have a wonderful day.

For years, I tried to maximize the number of days I could be at WDW with my AP.

I would stay off site and on site.

These days, it is not so much that the on site folks have a huge advantage compared to the past.......it is that the off site people barely get adequate leftovers by the time they can enter the park and/or buy ILL rides.

I have trips planned for April/May/Sept/Oct on this AP. (I do not like the super hot months)

I am not going to focus on max days at Disney this year.

I went in Dec 2021, Jan 2022 and have a trip with our daughter (a teacher) over the President's Day weekend.

I will have been 3 times on this AP.......I feel I have broken even on the cost.

I will be cancelling the rest of the trips I had on the books for later this year.

That money and time will be spent elsewhere.

Although some of the environment has been impacted by Covid...... a large part of the reduced experience is due to decisions made by management.

Now......I have not said much about the nickel and diming that really adds up now.

At a value resort, a couple on a trip has to pay an extra $47 each day just to park and use Genie+.

When you add the impact of a diminished experience with the very high cost, the value of the experience has been greatly reduced.

Look......I am a Disney fan.

Disney, Coke, a Big Mac, are all part of a truly American experience. I can not imagine life as we know it if they were to all disappear.

Disney has very good customer service.....if the IT situation was not so mediocre, I would say Disney has some of the best customer service of any company.

However, at this time, the overall experience requires a lot of money, a lot a planning, and each day has a lot of chaos caused by the unpredictability of getting a LL or ILL,........and to be under the gun to compete at 7am for a seat on a ride is not relaxing or enjoyable.
And having my face buried in the phone a good part of the day does not add to my enjoyment either.

I composed this because I saw some small headlines about Disney guests not being really thrilled right now.....I thought I may have been the only one that felt this way.......but there is now a bit of rumbling going on........and social media has the ability to provide us to look at the good and the bad comments.

The experience has changed for the worse.

They better improve it substantially and quickly.

I think many of the 2022 visitors may be so unhappy, they may not return or postpone future trips.

In a way, Disney has messed up my Happy Place................and I am a bit sad about that.

Thank you for your words and insight!... I had a gorgeous 11 day reservation for August of 2020, that I made in January 2020, and, having weathered early covid19 in NYC, we postponed our trip for a year, and then cancelled that new reservation: more expensive, less available, and risk to our health made that a no brainer....Living far away, we previously went every summer for about 10 nights, for the preceding 16 years. My daughter thought it was our summer home when she was little!

It was our happy place too! We have so many memories of our girls trips with my mom, (who died in 2017!) We even have a driver out there who is originally from the Bronx. We miss it terribly, and spend mornings watching vlogs, but find it over complicated and the wrong kinds of busy...lines for lines. It seems the technology required now to allegedly simplify your trip, makes for no rest, no spontaneity, and has little to do with Walt's dream of family's enjoying time together....I remember the first hints that Walt's vision was not important to the company anymore, as they started to remove the lemon desserts from menus, (as they were his favorite.)

Anyhow, I still have a few sets of non expiring tickets, so I am sure I will get there, but I am not pumped for planning my trips, as I used to be; (making spreadsheets with character clip art and stuff.)

SAD ...We honestly think we would rather go to Disney in France or Japan.

 

[mommycrawford]

How so?

I don't know if this helps, but when we have travelled with lots of luggage and walkers, etc., we called mears for a cab and said we needed a van: same price as a car, but just had to wait a tad longer occasionally.

 

[kathy884]

Thank you OP. Lowering expectations keeps me bright-eyed, bushy tailed, and sane in so many aspects of my life and helps me to still experience joy despite changes. Knowledge about how things were working at other destinations (crowds, crowd patterns, timed entry, lack of housekeeping, things that aren't open) has helped me from being disappointed in travel I've done the last few years. I think your post and other posts like this will help me enjoy my upcoming trip in March more, knowing/anticipating issues that I may run into.

A vacation is something of a much lessor scale, but I think of lowering expectations as being similar to experiencing loss. We've lost the WDW of before, and it's a loss whether we move on and not go back or go back regularly or on occasion to something that is different. And there is a grieving period too (WDW is/was that special to some of us) before we move on or change expectations.

I remember when my son had a knee injury and had to have two knee surgeries. He was a nice tennis player with some gorgeous tennis strokes. His game was just looking so great. My major disappointment at first was that he wouldn't be able to play varsity tennis in high school and enjoy tennis as a life long sport. Impact sports were not recommended for him in the future due to the injury/infection he had sustained. After his two surgeries, being on crutches for almost a year, and physical therapy, my young handsome athletic 17 year old walked with a limp. He did three years of personal training with a trainer who specialized in sports injuries after that. After a year and a half of the personal training, his limp went away and he could do a little running without pain. I cried with joy. I was so thrilled. I'm just so happy that he can walk normally.

 

[UrsulaTime]

At Epcot we had to be evacuated from Spaceship Earth after waiting 28 minutes for them to try to get it to work, got a limited use LL.

I'm still learning about the new system...would you mind explaining what the limited use LL is?

This seems to be that figure of speech again like "know what I mean?". Can you read that as flippant? Condescending? Invalidating? Maybe, but that was not my interpretation. Taking the entire message in context, I took it as saying they thought the bus was minor considering some of the other changes. But even it it was dismissive, I feel the response was worse. Tink unleashes with a 1,2,3,4 punch of passive-aggressive sarcasm:

Do you know what's funny, I had the opposite interpretation: I interpreted Tig's responses as passive-aggressive, and Tink's response as appropriate! In any case...I think it's productive to be specific in these situations, as you were, and I appreciate that you took the time to do so.

Another issue not mentioned is that you also only get part of the experience with G+ and ILL, skipping the line means skipping the queue. Some attractions have amazing queues.

I think you're kidding (?) but for real, I won't go on Peter Pan without going through the queue to see Nana, and Tink on the wall!! It's so...extra. So...Disney, at its best.

I keep seeing this sentiment about “negative” people. If people don’t have a good experience are they just supposed to keep it to themselves?

I don’t doubt that if we went to Disney tomorrow we wouldn’t find magic, and happiness and make cherished family memories. But we don’t live in a fantasy world where a Disney vacation is free. It costs money, and a lot of it. That magic, happiness and memories come with a price tag. Guests deserve to know what the current situation is. I’ve said it before there are facts, then there are subjective opinions. It’s a fact that there is no Magical Express, no complimentary magic bands, no daily mousekeeping, no dining plan, modified character greets and other attractions and experiences that still haven’t returned. The genie + system has a way of operating for some people it works, for others it doesn’t. Fact- it costs money, you need to be up before 7 to secure headliners, you can’t modify, you can onlyuse once per ride. This isn’t any “negative Nelly’s” opinion it is fact. For some people this all be irrelevant others it’s a deal breaker.

While I agree it’s important to read both positive and negative reviews and make a decision. But I don’t think it’s fair to mislabel people who had post about a poor experience or disappointing trip whether it’s their 1st trip or 33rd as negative or dramatic.

THANK YOU! *whistles!* *claps!*

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

There should be a special section on the Dis labeled "Lamentations" where everyone can go and whine and bash.

 

[DisneyFive]

There should be a special section on the Dis labeled "Lamentations" where everyone can go and whine and bash.

Yes, seeing more of it than I ever have on these boards. Problem is, I think it’s justified. That’s the sad part.

It used to be people complaining about the food quality degrading, or ECVs, etc…. now it is the entire experience of the parks.

Dan

 

[Donna M]

I'm still learning about the new system...would you mind explaining what the limited use LL is?

We wanted to use the LL we got from the Spaceship Earth going down, but she said it was on a lower tier and wouldn´t be able to be redeemed there. If you´re getting Genie+ you don´t have to worry about that; youŕe only concerned about Genie+ attractions and the paid LL rides.

 

[hopeful4fl]

Thank you for your words and insight!... I had a gorgeous 11 day reservation for August of 2020, that I made in January 2020, and, having weathered early covid19 in NYC, we postponed our trip for a year, and then cancelled that new reservation: more expensive, less available, and risk to our health made that a no brainer....Living far away, we previously went every summer for about 10 nights, for the preceding 16 years. My daughter thought it was our summer home when she was little!

It was our happy place too! We have so many memories of our girls trips with my mom, (who died in 2017!) We even have a driver out there who is originally from the Bronx. We miss it terribly, and spend mornings watching vlogs, but find it over complicated and the wrong kinds of busy...lines for lines. It seems the technology required now to allegedly simplify your trip, makes for no rest, no spontaneity, and has little to do with Walt's dream of family's enjoying time together....I remember the first hints that Walt's vision was not important to the company anymore, as they started to remove the lemon desserts from menus, (as they were his favorite.)

Anyhow, I still have a few sets of non expiring tickets, so I am sure I will get there, but I am not pumped for planning my trips, as I used to be; (making spreadsheets with character clip art and stuff.)

SAD ...We honestly think we would rather go to Disney in France or Japan.

I have not been to Disneyland Japan, but would VERY HIGHLY recommend Disney Paris. Easy connection by train, beautiful and less crowded parks, extensive entertainment district right outside, CM who truly seem to enjoy what they do, rides that are uniquely themed (their Star wars themed "Space mountain" is something else), castle with a 60 foot dragon, etc make it worth it. The only con would be that they have a similar process as G+ to book a FP for a single ride at a time.

 

[ettinkerbell]

I wish.

The current problems are now baked into the system of WDW. It would take a lot more than a couple of rides to fix the issues…

1). Having to get up at 7am every day to book rides now
2). Much higher cost for hotels and tickets (far outstripping inflation)
3). Having to pay for a system, G+, that was better before for free. G+ is $640 for our family of 5 for 8 nights)
4) Lack of Mousekeeping
5) Elimination of Magical Express (now an additional $160 for our family for the comparable Mears Express)
6). ….

We’re giving WDW another chance this July. My hope is that at least G+ and ETPE will help significantly reduce standing in lines versus this past summer 2021 when everything was standby

Dan

Couldn't agree more this!! DH & I have been going 1 to 2 times a year since WDW opened - conferences twice a year +personal travel. This year we are going down April 18 (day after Easter) for 5 nites with Grandsons 9 & 11 for our final WDW journey. Just too much hassle for older folks. Besides boys prefer Universal which they will be doing in the future with their parents! We've basically had it with Disney and don't ever plan to visit again.

 

[Miffy]

I actually do think this thread is about how to deal with an upcoming trip to WDW, although perhaps that's not what the OP meant.

Anyone who's expecting a trip like one even a few months ago, pre-G/G+/ILL$, is going to be disappointed or flummoxed or overwhelmed, and anyone who hasn't been since prepandemic days is going to be shocked.

Little-to-no housekeeping, even at deluxe resorts, woefully short-staffed TS restaurants, upcharges for just about everything, overwhelmed brand-new CMs, resort prices like nothing we've ever seen before, no APs on sale (as of this moment) so no upgrading your pass, no bounceback offers, few resort discounts and the ones there are, are weak, a steep learning curve for a system (G/G+/ILL$) that is purported to "level the playing field" (uh, no), and standby lines from hades.

Is the magic still there? Yes, but you have to look for it. Are prices going to continue to rise? I hope not, but right now it looks like they are. Are things that used to be free going to continue to have fees attached to them? Hey, stay tuned to have to pay every time you return to a park you've already been in that day, or they could charge for park-hopping even if you have an AP or PH. Tram in the parking lot? Scan your credit card before you get on--it's only $10!

It's not even nickel-and-diming. It's ten-and-twenty-dollarsing.

That doesn't mean you can't still have fun. You can, especially if money isn't a concern for you. But even if money is a concern, you can still have fun. Just go in with your eyes wide open. Be grateful you can afford any trip to WDW. And bring your own trash bags, since you're going to have to be taking out your trash from your room.

 

[DisneyFive]

I actually do think this thread is about how to deal with an upcoming trip to WDW, although perhaps that's not what the OP meant.

That doesn't mean you can't still have fun. You can, especially if money isn't a concern for you. But even if money is a concern, you can still have fun. Just go in with your eyes wide open. Be grateful you can afford any trip to WDW. And bring your own trash bags, since you're going to have to be taking out your trash from your room.

I agree. I think a lot of first time visitors will have wonderful trips and not know any different.

For those of us who've been blessed enough to go multiple times, these changes are really hard to take. They are real, and they are really negative. For those of us who knew the parks pre-Covid, "Lower your expectations" and "pay up sucker" are the new mottos.

I fully expect to have a great vacation this summer, but we'll see if WDW is worth the increased cost and lesser experience.

Dan

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Us DISsers aren't the only ones who feel this way, just take a look at the recent reviews on Trip Advisor.

Wow, I just looked, and you’re right. It’s amazing the quantity of negative reviews. And you can’t excuse it away as “People only leave reviews on tripadvisor if they’re negative” because the average Disney review is still 4.5 stars, meaning there **were** obviously a ton of positive reviews in years past and it is just the recent reviews that are universally negative.

 

[Miffy]

Wow, I just looked, and you’re right. It’s amazing the quantity of negative reviews. And you can’t excuse it away as “People only leave reviews on tripadvisor if they’re negative” because the average Disney review is still 4.5 stars, meaning there **were** obviously a ton of positive reviews in years past and it is just the recent reviews that are universally negative.

Yes, I looked and saw this too. BTW, I sometimes leave reviews on Trip Advisor and I leave only positive reviews. There are plenty of negative reviews around and I review only places I really loved, because I want to spread that love.

 

[UrsulaTime]

DRUMROLL please, because the words below are now my officially adopted 2022 strategy:
Bring your own trash bags

Just go in with your eyes wide open. Be grateful you can afford any trip to WDW. And bring your own trash bags, since you're going to have to be taking out your trash from your room.

Short, sweet, and impartially worded. Not a warning of doom, but a head's up: You may find yourself putting in more effort than usual.

 

[Sargeant Tibbs]

Anyone who's expecting a trip like one even a few months ago, pre-G/G+/ILL$, is going to be disappointed or flummoxed or overwhelmed, and anyone who hasn't been since prepandemic days is going to be shocked.

Not anyone. Not me at least.

I went last August and it was one of the best trips we've ever had, loved standby only - just like the old days. We never saw or had the issues others were having back then - the overflowing trash cans etc.

I just came back from a short stay, bought Genie+ for one day at MK, and actually really liked it. I was among the many here actively bemoaning the announcement when Genie+ was first introduced. Now having used it for myself I think it's a far superior system to any version of FP. I've been going to wdw for decades, yearly or more. I expected the worst and was surprised how well it worked for us. We managed 9 attractions, plus our lunch at CRT, an hour break on Tom Sawyer Island, and the fireworks (secured a good spot in the hub a couple hours before). If we hadn't gone over to the island and stayed after the fireworks we could have done even more. I wasn't glued to my phone all day trying to stack, or even setting an alarm every two hours. Our LL waits were never more than 7 minutes. And we could book LLs for the immediate time if we cared to, giving more room for some spontaneity as well as some planned attractions for later in the day.

This was not a splurging trip. We stayed at ASM, only had two ADRs at CRT and CM, and the only thing that was slightly disappointing with our stay was CM. We had dinner last August and it was so surprising that it was one of our best meals of that trip, with some excellent character interaction. We were hoping for a repeat with breakfast on 2/2, but were let down with both the food and the characters. It wasn't even as good as the pre-pandemic buffet, and that was never great.

ASM was clean, lots of attentive CMs, fresh towels a couple days later, trash taken. If I were paying rack rate at a deluxe I'd be annoyed at the lack of housekeeping, but right now the values still have some "value."

 

[mickeymom629]

I've already commented and agreed with OP and shared our recent trip experience. I want to mention that we did feel the magic when watching shows and seeing attractions when we finally experienced them. All (except one) CMs were wonderful of the ones we encountered and I wanted to remember the names of two custodial guys who were so friendly (unfortunately, I forgot names). Bathrooms and trash were not issues that we noticed. Food that we got was about as expected. The lowering of expectations really is for those of you who are going and hoping for doing as much as you expect for the cost of tickets, even when doing the things you used to do in past trips (getting to the park early or staying late). We didn't use G+, but I can only imagine that you will be checking your phone whether you get Genie+ or not because you will be checking wait times either way. We went last April and our recent January trip was not as 'productive' as any past trips. Mobile ordering is nice but you might find that you are thinking about needing to order when you are trying to enjoy an attraction, if you are traveling with a group. Using your phone more than you'd like, spending more money and, possibly, doing much less while waiting in lines more than in the past are what I found 'less magical' and the reason to lower expectations. If you are someone who enjoys just being there (and not going on multiple rides) and are lucky to have weather you enjoy while you are there, you will most likely have the same great time as always.

 

[wdhinn89]

I can't imagine paying over $700 a night for the Contemporary and having no one clean our room and leave fresh towels daily. I'm sorry but that is BS.

 

[DCLMP]

I can't imagine paying over $700 a night for the Contemporary and having no one clean our room and leave fresh towels daily. I'm sorry but that is BS.

I thought it was BS 18 months when they called it "covid protocols". I don't know what they call it now, but I call it "Super BS". I was on a DCL cruise in August and we had housekeeping twice a day so it is obviously not about Covid.

 

[Miffy]

Not anyone. Not me at least.

I went last August and it was one of the best trips we've ever had, loved standby only - just like the old days. We never saw or had the issues others were having back then - the overflowing trash cans etc.

I just came back from a short stay, bought Genie+ for one day at MK, and actually really liked it. I was among the many here actively bemoaning the announcement when Genie+ was first introduced. Now having used it for myself I think it's a far superior system to any version of FP. I've been going to wdw for decades, yearly or more. I expected the worst and was surprised how well it worked for us. We managed 9 attractions, plus our lunch at CRT, an hour break on Tom Sawyer Island, and the fireworks (secured a good spot in the hub a couple hours before). If we hadn't gone over to the island and stayed after the fireworks we could have done even more. I wasn't glued to my phone all day trying to stack, or even setting an alarm every two hours. Our LL waits were never more than 7 minutes. And we could book LLs for the immediate time if we cared to, giving more room for some spontaneity as well as some planned attractions for later in the day.

This was not a splurging trip. We stayed at ASM, only had two ADRs at CRT and CM, and the only thing that was slightly disappointing with our stay was CM. We had dinner last August and it was so surprising that it was one of our best meals of that trip, with some excellent character interaction. We were hoping for a repeat with breakfast on 2/2, but were let down with both the food and the characters. It wasn't even as good as the pre-pandemic buffet, and that was never great.

ASM was clean, lots of attentive CMs, fresh towels a couple days later, trash taken. If I were paying rack rate at a deluxe I'd be annoyed at the lack of housekeeping, but right now the values still have some "value."

That's great to hear! G+ works well at MK, especially if you stay later. And it sounds like you had terrific luck with it. When we were there in December, in the morning, the next-available times on G+, even at MK, were hours in the future, so it didn't work out for us. Things were actually much easier last May, with no G+ and only standby lines. We managed to do a lot more that trip.

 

[Miffy]

I can't imagine paying over $700 a night for the Contemporary and having no one clean our room and leave fresh towels daily. I'm sorry but that is BS.

It is BS, but they also have no staff. At least they were unbelievably short-staffed at AKL when we were there in December.

We stayed at GF in May and the housekeeping there was much better, although it was only every other day and they did the entire room only once during the week. And we had a lot of trash, so we ended up disposing of it ourselves, since waiting even a day to have it removed was too much. There were some trays out in the hallways there as well, but nothing like at AKL in December. It was like an obstacle course in the corridors there some mornings.