Ever feel like you can not afford WDW vacations anymore?

[LSUmiss]

To your first paragraph, yep, absolutely. Atlantis does have similarities to WDW, without a doubt. There's just so much to do. DW and I tried a different resort in the Bahamas, many years ago...before we had kids...we were bored to tears by the 5th day and were excited to leave. Don't get me wrong, we're not park commandos. We only do 4-6 hours per day in the park. At the same time, I couldn't do an all inclusive resort where the only thing to do was sit at the beach and drink (I don't drink anyway).

For the rest of it, just depends on your WDW views. Most of this thread has lots of Disney dislike. As noted, I don't feel that way at all. We don't plan our trips much, don't feel the need to. So for us, that's not an issue at all. We stay off site, because that's precisely what we want. We don't do premium stuff, we don't have the money (or better said that we could have the money if we wanted to do one 7 day trip, but we choose to do several long trips instead and forgo the "premium" stuff). We don't feel a lot of the negativity that others do. Is WDW perfect? Nope, not at all. Things definitely need updating, there's work that can be done. But on the whole, we still see it as very . Don't misunderstand me, I'm not criticizing you (or anyone) for their views. It's a very subjective thing, and there's no right or wrong answer. But I guess that's the whole point of this discussion, right? So you can ignore my pointless rambling...

We feel the same way & still enjoy WDW. Sure their prices have gone up since we started going, but so has everything else. While I agree it kind of sucks that wdw has done things like take away things that used to be free & charged for them as premium experiences, on the hand, I like that now I have more access to these things if I’m willing to pay for them. I also enjoy the planning. I am a planner so it works for me. I’m lucky that we can go often so I don’t feel pressure to make things perfect. Going often also is what makes it a good destination for us. I know a lot of tricks that work for us that make our experience more enjoyable.

 

[pooh2001]

If we can get a good rate in a DS hotel - maybe fly on weekdays, no weekends, and only do the 4 days in WDW which cost less, and maybe a trip to Seaworld or Universal for a day or 2.

 

[L&Lfan]

I haven't been in a Disney gift shop in years. The ones where the attraction exits I just walk through. At my age I don't need any of that stuff and to make it easier, none of it interests me. I used to like resort specific tee and sweat shirts but my understanding is that's been gone for years.

 

[fhtpdw20]

It is not so much of dislike of Disney as it is a lament of how far Disney has strayed from what I perceive as Walt's original intent of what a visit to Disneyland/World was about and being in the bubble. I think the original intent was to be a place where family could connect and interact with one another away from the pressures of daily life. Technology is becoming the end all be all. Look around people of all ages are constantly on their phones checking apps or playing solitary games or reading instead of being in the moment. There is a real pressure to plan everything to the nth degree in order to get the most value out of your vacation. Why? Because Disney is trying to play a number game to control crowds in park.

They have changed the décor not so much for the making of a bubble experience but to make it easier/faster for the housekeeping staff. The maintenance does not seem to be there if the rides are breaking down daily. Transportation between parks was much better not to many years ago. There use to be a day when the number of people that were civil outweighed the rude all about me attitudes prevalent today. You could go and have fun without having worry about seeing questionable dress, possible exposure to drunken behavior, or stepping in dog doo.

The creativity is drying up and being replaced by special effect technology. Like I said in another post, first it was Frozen now it is Star Wars/Marvel all over the place. They can't seem to have more than one idea at a time. Risk is expensive but that is what makes you an industry leader not a crowd follower. Once the wow factor of the technology wears off and unless there some substance behind it to find different perspective you are left with a one and done experience.

Here is an idea for a fifth gate. How about if Disney did a layout of a park like MK, but instead did each "land" as one of their events? You would have a permanent year round Food/Wine with the demos, Flower/Garden with demos, Arts Fest with demos, Halloween decorated spoke, and Christmas decorated spoke. Each land would have a list of demonstrations/classes like around $5-10 pp and the food would all be from kioask under $10. By doing inexpensive alacarte you could spend as little or as much as you wanted or the ticket could be priced to include x number of classes per day. Best of all it would not be scheduled. It would be first come, first serve with multiple classes per day. This park would be all about experiences with no rides to maintain. There would be a festival shop for purchase of items related to the classes and demos. They could do an evening hard ticket special photo pass photographers, parade and fireworks so long as it would not cost just about the price of a full day admission.

 

[Forum Jumper]

We are getting there. We have one more 7 day pass and then we are done. It has been a nice run but when we can go to Europe for what a WDW trip costs us, it is time to give up.

 

[bobbiwoz]

DH and I had a great 5 night WDW stay the first week in October. We are retired and do own our own very much downsized home. We have Premium APs, thanks to DVC discount and enjoyed a very nice afternoon at BB. We went to two cooking demos, the short ribs were fabulous, and I expect to make them one day soon.

I, more than DH, enjoy Disney things, but we will continue to go as long as we are both having fun and can afford it.
Also, heath issues do come into play. I rented an ECV offsite, much more reasonable.

 

[I loveStitchnippyjon]

With the closing of Illuminations, Disney will have done away with the last of my favorites. I have persuaded DH to go for one last time in March, then we're done. It's so sad, because I have visited dozens of times over the years, starting when MK was only a few months old, but it's just not the WDW I used to love.