Breaking up with Disney?

[AnnaS]

We have been good with our points for many years. I am very happy that the few times I had the urge to add-on more points, I did not.

Two of my sons also have points. I am using the points from one of my son's for part of our March trip. No need to add-on if I need points or want to stay longer.

We don't feel the same way - can always change in the future. There have been many changes and lot's of let's charge for this or that and let's take this or that away. We have also started to visit the Disney Vero Beach Resort ourselves more - March will be our second year in a row (split stay with WDW). Planning on splitting our stays with Hilton Head too.

As much as we still love going to Disney - there is another whole world out there and don't want to be tied down to just my DVC/Disney stays.

 

[lilkitty819]

My husband and I have been thinking about selling our DVC too. We have watched for the past 10 years how Disney has started putting sub par entertainment in there parks. It all started when they removed Off Kilter from Epcot and replaced them with lumberjacks, from there on they have removed more and more and given us terrible replacements for shows. And the ticket prices have gotten out of hand. Disney better be careful Universal may not have as many parks to go to but there season passes are about 1/3 the cost of Disney and hotels are cheaper.

 

[perchy]

I can’t believe I’m even saying this but I think we are breaking up with Disney. I’ve seen this same thing on the disboards over the years and now it’s us. Disney has meant so much to my family over the last ten years. It has been our go to vacation destination with us spending a minimum of two weeks each year. Due to the pandemic, we haven’t been to the parks since July 2019. We have enjoyed some resort only stays as well as VBR. At the parks, so much has changed that I just can’t get excited about our July 2022 trip. I am really dreading the whole thing and that never happens!!! I even suggested to DH that we should sell one of our contracts and he actually agreed! Anyone else out there feeling this way?? It just feels like the magic is gone for us and it makes me sad.

Disney's always changing. Even during the pandemic, there is magic to be had! See how you feel AFTER your July trip before you do anything.

My August 2021 pandemic trip made we want IN to DVC. We had so much fun and I don't visit enough. And I need to up my resort game because I absolutely love the resorts and fully support resort-only trips....

 

[esulerzy]

We are breaking up with Disney also - in the process of selling our last contract now. We have enjoyed the Parks, Cruise Line, and Adventures By Disney for decades. But, now is the time. We have other places we want to visit in the US (road trips) and Disney no longer figures into those trips. We have friends that just moved to FL and if we want to take a trip, we can stay with them and just head to a Park (past several trips we've only gone into AK - no kids and we enjoy the animals more than rides at this stage in life). We have a few days left on non-expiring tickets we can use along with Chase Disney Reward Points to use if we "stop by" Disney on future road trips.

 

[heresabe]

I wonder how long it will take Disney to realize that shunning frequent visitors with the removal of long-standing perks is not in its best financial interest. I hope the realization doesn't take very long.

 

[bakerworld]

IMO you are being influenced by negative posts. Certainly there are changes and change is hard. Certainly costs are rising - which is exactly why we joined DVC to hold the costs on lodging. Back in 2003 a co-worker, who introduced me to the walking trails at WDW, said she stopped going to O'Hanna's when the lays (lias ?sp) were no longer real orchids. It took us another 12 years to finally go to O'Hanna's and by that time they weren't even using the fake flowers. I actually use to like the shell necklaces but they don't hand them out either.

We've been to Europe, the islands, around the US and the two places we enjoy visiting repeatedly are Williamsburg VA and WDW. We don't go to WDW for the parks or because it's Disney. We're going to a sanitized version of Florida where the lawns and gardens are maintained, the servers are generally pleasant, and the fellow visitors are generally pleasant. We've had some strange experiences over the years in the US at various vacation locals. So I'm over seeing the US, US subsidiaries, large cities and Europe. I'm using my DVC homes to relax, occasionally cook a meal, kibitz with the bartenders, park wander to hop on rides with short standby times, play miniature golf, and generally enjoy walking or relaxing to vistas of flowers, palm trees and different themed resorts.

 

[Jwaire]

It's been a rough almost two years for all of us. I used to be able to go and do things that are now harder and more complicated. I used to go on vacation without worrying about people not wearing masks or being right up in my family's faces. I understand you're worried about the changes, but we have to adapt.

You should never go on a vacation you're dreading. Rent the points out for a year, and see how things are then.

Disney has announced a lot of negative news lately. They've cut costs and corners in almost every single division, but they're slowly coming back around. The boats are running between SSR, OKW, POR and DS now. They've stepped it up in the last few weeks with more live entertainment, the refreshed cavalcades, bringing back character meet and greets, calling back Festival of Fantasy cast members, etc. It's slowly returning back to a modified version of normal.

You have to ask yourself is the value still there for you? Despite, the increase in the prices, the nickel and diming over everything from food to events, is this where your family still wants to go?

My family's answer? Yes. We've been to New York, California, Chicago, St. Louis, Texas, etc. But our best trips—the trips where we had the most fun, the trips where everyone got to do something they enjoy—has been Disney World.

If the answer is different for you or your family, you need to make an adjustment.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I can’t believe I’m even saying this but I think we are breaking up with Disney. I’ve seen this same thing on the disboards over the years and now it’s us. Disney has meant so much to my family over the last ten years. It has been our go to vacation destination with us spending a minimum of two weeks each year. Due to the pandemic, we haven’t been to the parks since July 2019. We have enjoyed some resort only stays as well as VBR. At the parks, so much has changed that I just can’t get excited about our July 2022 trip. I am really dreading the whole thing and that never happens!!! I even suggested to DH that we should sell one of our contracts and he actually agreed! Anyone else out there feeling this way?? It just feels like the magic is gone for us and it makes me sad.

Yes, I'm in that boat. We use our points at HHI, which we both love, so we wouldn't sell all our points. However, selling some of our points is hard-which ones? I have an upcoming trip with very little time in the parks planned, we'll see how "No parks" trips go. A PP mentioned renting points, but I have no idea how that works. Just can't decide what to do as I see WDW become more and more of a money-grab.

 

[Yinn]

I wonder how long it will take Disney to realize that shunning frequent visitors with the removal of long-standing perks is not in its best financial interest. I hope the realization doesn't take very long.

It might be a while. Sure this post is about breaking up with Disney, and several others have done so. But the thing is, everyone has been able to sell their contracts. Which means some other sucker is giving Disney their money and Disney won't feel any pain from us breaking up with them...they have a rebound ready.

 

[DisneyGrammyT]

I am sorry that you are feeling this way. It is a lot, many changes, but we're going to go next year and give it a try and see what it's like. I can't imagine us giving up on Disney, it would have to be pretty bad for us to do that. Prices go up, things change as they do with any business. Looking forward to November 2022

 

[Sparky984]

It might be a while. Sure this post is about breaking up with Disney, and several others have done so. But the thing is, everyone has been able to sell their contracts. Which means some other sucker is giving Disney their money and Disney won't feel any pain from us breaking up with them...they have a rebound ready.

The only real way to make Disney feel it is to stay at a dvc resort and cook in the room or eat off property. Visit UO, or other nearby FL attractions. Give Disney a $0 income trip.

 

[DougEMG]

We've had to cancel our 2020 and 2021 trip so haven't been since Aug 2019. Even though lots of the changes don't sound good and will potentially negatively impact how we do the parks, I'm not ready to give up yet and want to do at least 1-2 trips to see how things actually work out. I managed to survive the FP+ change, I'm sure I'll manage to survive Genie+.

 

[aoconnor]

I agree with another poster who suggested renting your points out for a year or two. You can make a nice little profit and then re-evaluate. I'm not happy with many of the changes either and can see going less, but I'll never cut it off completely! Too ingrained in my past

 

[bianca]

The only real way to make Disney feel it is to stay at a dvc resort and cook in the room or eat off property. Visit UO, or other nearby FL attractions. Give Disney a $0 income trip.

This is exactly what our future plans entail! We will stay at the resort, visit either Universal or Legoland and cook in the room exclusively. We have the money needed to visit parks, but have no intention of reserving one 6 months in advance or staying leashed to our telephone on vacation. There are just better uses of our vacation time.

 

[Yinn]

This is exactly what our future plans entail! We will stay at the resort, visit either Universal or Legoland and cook in the room exclusively. We have the money needed to visit parks, but have no intention of reserving one 6 months in advance or staying leashed to our telephone on vacation. There are just better uses of our vacation time.

We don't plan on cooking in the room exclusively, but that's because we enjoy eating out while on vacation. That being said, there's a lot of other great places to eat in Orlando. I haven't been to UO, Legoland, or Seaworld since...well since I started staying on resort because we took MDE. We obviously know where that's going.

Even then, I don't see staying at DVC to go to UO. That can be more than 30 minutest travel time. I'd probably just rent my DVC points and use the proceeds to book a hotel at UO and get the perks and discounts for staying there.

 

[Donna M]

I understand where you´re coming from. I have been toying with the idea of selling a contract. We have a vacation coming up in three weeks and that will help us decide. Our vacations tend to only have one park day, so many of the changes won´t affect us, and we always rent a car. All the negative posts haven´t helped with getting excited for sure, but we need to personally give Disney a chance before we actually start the selling process. One nice thing about covid messing with our vacation points is that we had so many we were able to get a great place.

 

[DonMacGregor]

It might be a while. Sure this post is about breaking up with Disney, and several others have done so. But the thing is, everyone has been able to sell their contracts. Which means some other sucker is giving Disney their money and Disney won't feel any pain from us breaking up with them...they have a rebound ready.

This right here. New buyers (either direct or resale) are buying into a DVC where the only perks they know are the current ones being offered.

You don’t know what you’re “missing” if you never had it. It’s the same across all of society. How many of us remember when a gas station attendant (in all 50 states) would come out, pump your gas, check your oil, and clean your windows? Or when checking and bagging your own groceries (and even putting them in the trunk yourself) was unheard of? Ask a kid today if they miss either of those services.

I’m sure there were a TON of owners who were pretty disgruntled when Disney stopped the free passes at OKW too, so it’s not a new phenomenon, but new buyers after the benefit ended (and that’s a biggie) never had it to lose.

 

[starstruck93]

Sorry you’re not feeling it right now. Our last trip was January 2020. We had June 2020 plans that were canceled lots until we gave up and banked everything. We’re planning for Summer 2022 as well. While I’m not dreading it, there isn’t much that I can say I’m really looking forward to seeing or doing other than spending time with my family. The new shows released this week aren’t even a draw. I really didn’t like either. Plus this kite flying at AK looks ridiculous. I think we’ll give it one more shot before deciding to walk away & choose other vacation options. I hope top brass shifts for the better and maybe get some people who love Disney and not just dollar signs. I get Disney is a corporation but, it’s about balance. You can give customers a chance to have a wonderful experience and still make a profit.

Every.single.bit of this. We joined DVC in 2009 and I feel as if that may have been the golden time. There were no "after hour parties," we still had EMH until 1-2am, the dining plan was still a reasonable price, there were still actual perks to staying on property, Halloween and Christmas parties were still under $200 a person. Just like you said... Disney can still make a profit while not nickel and diming everyone to death. I completely understand inflation and the need to charge more in order to make up for food costs, labor- wage increases, fuel costs etc, but this isn't what we're talking about here. This has gotten out of control IMO and has really taken the fun out of it for us too. I'm taking my parents and my oldest to Disney in Dec to celebrate the 50th but we changed out April trip from BLT to Aulani so we could explore Oahu again. I just can't justify the cost of tickets. I really hope with the amount of complaints Disney changes and I sure wish Chapek would leave!

 

[RAD]

Add the wife and I that will probably breaking up in 2023. We've been DVC owners since 1999, at one point had four contracts, we're down to our last one. We used to go at least once a year, maybe more. We had annual passes and/or Table in Wonderland some years. But we have't been since 2016 and that was only for a quick two day stop after a cruise.

Since we bought we have gotten older, will be 70 next year. Our grand kids are in high school and one starting college in 2023, so no need to hang on for the grand kids, they'll be too busy to go to WDW with the grandparents.

We are going this year the week after Thanksgiving with another couple. This trip is showing us that while we've changed a bit Disney has changed a whole lot. Many little things we used to get are gone (remember when we got free valet parking) and norm and more things have been added as a extra charge. Ticket prices have gone out of this world. We are having one person join us for two days, I had to pay $286 for a basic two day ticket before I could make a reservation for a park, that's ridicules. The new 60 booking window for making dining reservations made it almost impossible to get into restaurants that we wanted anytime during that week. If we don't want to wait in a standby line we're going to have to pay extra for the Lightning Lane if not even more for their extra extra charge to get into a popular ride if you don't want to wait 90+ minutes.

So we are planning for one more trip Thanksgiving week in 2022 for one last trip with the grandkids and then we'll be putting out 200 BWV points up for sale and taking the proceeds and take a nice cruise somewhere, probably not on DCL (where we're Platinum CC members) due to their prices going out of this world.

 

[Yinn]

How many of us remember when a gas station attendant (in all 50 states) would come out, pump your gas, check your oil, and clean your windows? Or when checking and bagging your own groceries (and even putting them in the trunk yourself) was unheard of? Ask a kid today if they miss either of those services.

Soon we'll be asking how many kids today will know what a gas station even is.

After 5 years of driving an electric car, I bought a gas car. First time at the pump my daughter asked "What are we doing here?" I spent the next 30 minutes trying to explain to her what gas is...