Just Back - 1/27-2/2

[DisneyDogFan]

Just back from our week and thought I would share my initial thoughts as I soak my blisters and return to the real world.

We are two adults, lots of Disney experience although it had been two years since our last trip, 7 day park hoppers, 6 nights at Pop.

Pandora: OMG. Flight of Passage just blew me away and I thought the whole area was beautifully done, particularly at night. Between our EMH rope drop plan, two FPS booked in advance, and a particularly magical day of FP, we were able to ride it four times on four separate days. We unfortunately only managed Navi once. I loved how pretty and peaceful it is but just couldn’t see waiting in line for 60-90 minutes for a second ride.

Toy Story Land Early Morning Magic: I’m technically opposed to upcharge events but booked this one anyway to try to manage ride stress a bit. It was worth it! Lots of fun. Slinky is the roller coaster of this scaredy-cat’s dreams. And breakfast was pretty good!

Refresh/Modify Strategy: This worked incredibly well for us and we didn’t spend all day staring at our phones. Just worked at it when we were in line. We managed to pull quite a few tier ones day of, including FOP, Test Track, Soarin’, FEA, and Navi. We were also able to move up existing FPS to better times without too much work.

Epcot Festival of Arts. This is a neat little festival! We had fun with the photo opportunities and enjoyed looking at the art, although I wish they had more that was not Disney-centric. Just about all the food items we tried were delicious, particularly the scallops in Mexico and the blood orange tart near the entrance to the world showcase.

Epcot Short Films. Throwing this in here because I don’t think it gets enough love. The offerings are always so good and Piper is just amazing.

Characters. So many characters were out and it felt easier than usual to meet them, although I did pass quite a few up because of long lines. Interactions were pretty good and I was so excited to add Foul Fellow, Gideon, and Gepetto to my collection. Plus wave at Thumper, Pinocchio, Rabbit, Mr. Penguin, Prince John, and Friar Tuck.

Pop Century remodel. Just LOVED the layouts of these rooms. And the beds are beyond comfortable. We won’t stay deluxe because of our touring style (and Pop isn’t luxurious) but these rooms are stylish, thoughtful, and actually felt like a deal (not something I generally say about anything involving Disney pricing).

Storybook Dining at Artist Point. They’ve got a lot of rough edges to work out with this one. The service and Snow White were pretty awful but the food was delicious, the dwarfs were lots of fun, and the Queen was one of the highlights of the trip.

Crowds and Weather. It was unpleasantly crowded. I was concerned about high crowds because of the reports from last year and the place was in fact a zoo. Lots of groups (cheerleaders, dancers, international teenagers) but they were all pretty well behaved. The stroller rammers were out in full force and I was actually knocked over by a double stroller (while standing still so I know I didn’t cut in front accidentally). I also got stepped on or shoved by crowds a number of times. People on their phones trying to get FPs while walking didn’t help. What did help was monsoon Sunday, which let us get most of the rides in Epcot and MK checked off before 5:00 when we gave in to the wet and cold and returned to the hotel to literally ring out our socks. We also worked rope drop to the maximum extent possible so things were tolerable except for MK on Tuesday morning when, after being on the first Mine Train to leave the station, we managed only the Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain in the next two hours.

Lack of Magic. This trip was fun and we did just about everything we wanted to do, often more than once. But it is probably going to be the last World trip for a good long while. There were a lot of things wrong and cast members just didn’t seem to care. Lots of cast members just didn’t seem happy while others were their usual wonderful selfs. We also witnessed some truly awful behavior on the part of cast members on multiple occasions - one shoving through guests to get where she was going, two complaining about their jobs WHILE ON STAGE, several staring at clearly personal phones instead of monitoring attraction entrances, and one pushing in front of servers trying to fill orders to pile fries on a plate and then starting to eat them while waking away. The bathrooms were also a wreck in most of the parks but were just disgusting at Animal Kingdom. Unfortunately not a fluke because the filth was there every day of the four separate days we visited. I went to guest relations on our last day and tried to talk about these issues and the cast member really didn’t seem interested. Offered a half-hearted apology and then wished me a nice day. I’m not sure she even wrote down that someone needed to look into the bathrooms at the AK. Honestly, the level of service throughout much of the trip felt like Six Flags at super premium prices. Hopefully all of the new CMs they are onboardong will help. Or maybe they just need to devote some resources to the basics in addition to all of the expanding.

So all in all, a good but frustrating trip.

 

[mom2shayleeandlogan]

We were there the 29th-2nd and found the crowds better then last year. A lot less tour groups this time.

I was surprised by the number of cast members that seem disengaged. We had a ton of problems with our magic bands and meal plan. I had to make multiple trips to guest services and two phone calls while onsite. They didn’t seem concern about my guest experience and frustration. Most offered a half apology but didn’t offer fast passes or anything for my time wasted. My husband commented on how he would be carrying plates of food and or trays and cast members would cut him off and he would almost spill things. I watched it happen multiple times. It seems like a lack of training and or care. The happy I love working her cast members are fewer and far between. We had a fabulous CM at country bear that clearly loved his job. We had a great time but the quality of training the cm has dipped in the 10 years we have been going as adults

 

[rn448698]

Email guest services with dates/times/locations/descriptions (when possible) of your observations. They can’t do better if they don’t know.

 

[UVACHRIS11]

If we as guests would all start tweeting sour conditions at the parks to @WDWToday,we would see a big time change. A phone call or face to face complaint will not do it in this date and time. You would be surprised how Disney responds to social media.

 

[StarSeven7]

It's funny how people can see things so differently! We were just there from 1/23-2/2. We've gone this week or the week after most years since 2013 (but not last year) and I was nervous about crowds since I read the reports from last year and I honestly didn't think it felt any different than any other year and everyone I was traveling with who have also been that same time felt the same way. I'm a big planner and we go early so we didn't wait in many lines - I think two 40 minute lines in our 8 days in the parks and everything else we waited probably 10-15 minutes or less (usually much less). I also didn't find any issues with the bathrooms at all but we camp a lot and are used to outhouses so I will admit my standards are pretty low! We had a lot of great CM experiences, especially on that rainy Sunday in MK - it seemed like everyone was going out of their way to make the day special despite the rain! The only downer for us last week was the cooler weather just because we were hoping to use the pool more.

 

[Ratatosk]

We just got back as well and noticed similar issues. Everyone was talking about the crowds. Yes, this time of year there are usually a lot of tour groups and I didn't notice any more than usual, most were organized and very well behaved. But the crowds were insane and some of the wait times for new rides --- 2-3 hours and over an hour for rides that have been around forever. People with strollers and electric carts were the worst.

Our son has Cystic Fibrosis, so we used the disability assistance pass to get a return time a couple hours later for Pandora, Slinky Dog and Seven Dwarves. Had one CM at Pirates who questioned him needing it and the "jokingly" refusing to give him a return time. Another at Space Mountain didn't acknowledge him and then seemed pained at his request. I realize there are some who abuse the system and there were several people in electric carts who didn't know they needed to apply for the pass at the park office and were demanding to be let on the ride, but it's not a front of the line pass. Basically it's a fastpass, you're given a return time equivalent to the wait time.

We arrived Sunday afternoon and hit epcot with rain jackets, so we were able to get on Soarin multiple times with little or no wait. Next day at MK crowds were insane and of course thunder mountain and the people mover had broken down, so really big crowds in those areas. Didn't have issues getting busses or boats to the parks. Transportation was great.

We stayed at port Orleans and opted not to have housekeeping so got a $50 gift card. Was a bit disconcerting that they still have people check your rooms. Thankfully I knew about this ahead of time from this board. One afternoon my son was working on homework in our room and someone knocked on the door and I jokingly said "oh are you seeing if we're alive?". He stepped in the room, flipped on the overhead light and said "safety check". Weird

Wore jackets and we were fine despite the cooler weather. We did spend the coolest day at Universal and didn't pay extra for express pass and really didn't have a very long wait for any of the rides. We went on the Mummy, Forbidden Journey and Gringotts multiple times with minimal waits. Mostly just trying to get thru the crowds of people taking selfies was the issue.

 

[disneyAndi14]

We also had a trip during this time 1/23-1/30. This was our first time in January, we have been all other months except May, June, September, and December. I thought it was crowded but not crazy like Easter time. We have been Presidents Day week and honestly it felt pretty similar. This surprised me because I thought it would be less crowded.
People with strollers are scary, we were almost plowed down several times.

I thought the bathrooms were more dirty and garbage was overflowing everywhere. I do believe WDW cut staff with the wage increase and it really shows. This irritates me. Security lines are getting worse every visit we make and we visit 2-3x a year. It is obvious the staff has been cut. I think CM’s are frustrated with the staff cuts and the increase in work they all have. They are not near as happy and accommodating as years past. I was shocked that garbage cans were not being emptied in some QS places and people were just tossing garbage on the floor, gross!

 

[DisneyPope14]

I wanted to chime in on this post. My family stayed at POFQ 1/26 to 1/31. We spent 2 full days at MK and one day at HS.
We were at MK on the 27th which is the day it rained all day. We got on a lot of rides and saw basically every show. Other than the rain is was a great day! We even got to see the Rainy Day Cavalcade two times!

The 28th which was a Monday, we went to HS. SDD stayed in extended queue all day. Strange to me because we went a few months ago during a "busier time" and only saw extended queue first thing in the morning. We also waited 45 minutes to get food at Woody's Lunchbox. Again, a few months ago we waited under 20 minutes to get food there. I am guessing that the Sunday rain pushed everyone's plans to Monday and caused Monday to feel crowded and pushed wait times up a little. With that being said, we rode all the Toy Story Land rides at least once and SDD 2 times.

The 29th was spent at Disney Springs and hanging out at the resort. Disney Springs was great! Very low crowds and the stores could be navigated with ease. We ate lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express and had the whole restaurant to ourselves.

On the 30th we went back to MK. We found the crowds manageable and tried to look past them. I tend to get very wrapped up in crowd calendars and have a habit of letting it hinder my vacation. I am not going to let the crowd get to me anymore! We enjoyed the day, we rode everything we wanted to ride plus some. We saw Happily Ever After from the hub without feeling cramped.

Some additional notes. I did not notice any trash issues and all the bathrooms we visited were clean. We have a 15 month old and a 6 year old. Both needed frequent visits to the closest bathroom. I feel like we saw them all! HaHa!

All CM's were polite and in quick service restaurants we had 2 times where the CM took our dirty trays to the garbage for us. We had one CM give us a free Mickey Ice Cream Bar and said "its on mickey". Another CM walked up to me holding my 15 month old and gave me a paper FP for Alien Swirling Saucers.

We took buses to and from the parks and had some of the best bus experiences we have ever had. We waited in line very little for buses. We did take a sassagoula boat to Disney Springs from POFQ. We had to wait longer on the boats because one wasn't working on that day according to a CM.

I do have one question that maybe someone can answer. I was hearing a lot of Portuguese and/or possibly Spanish. This was not tour groups but families. Obvious Mom, Dad, and Kids and in some cases grandparents. I tried speaking to one family and got blank stares, assuming they did not speak English at all. I even saw cast members translating a lot more than I remember in the past. Anyone else experience this? I wondering if WDW had a special offer that was attractive or maybe the end of January is a popular travel time for other countries. Just curious.

 

[cajunfan]

If we as guests would all start tweeting sour conditions at the parks to @WDWToday,we would see a big time change. A phone call or face to face complaint will not do it in this date and time. You would be surprised how Disney responds to social media.

I am not very much of a twitter user, but I have heard this to be the case too...they watch that twitter feed very closely!

 

[TreeFalls]

We were there 1/27 to 2/3, and we noticed a LOT of people training in the food service places, rides, etc. Are they getting new interns now? We went to Pecos Bill one afternoon and the entire staff seemed really confused and disorganized.

Monday the 28th was a complete zoo in MK, it had me worried about the whole trip but it seemed to clear out later in the week.

EMM at Hollywood Studios was the highlight of our trip. Slinky Dog Dash is just my kind of coaster- plenty long and not jerky at all. Swirling saucers is a strange ride though, I'm not a big fan. It doesn't seem quite fast or smooth enough.

I missed Happily Ever After on our last trip, this time I saw it twice. It was amazing!

We got tripped up on a couple things that didn't open/close with the park- Dinosaur opened 30 min after the rest of AK, the boneyard didn't open until an hour after park opening, Columbia Harbor House closed at 5 when the park was open until 8. These tripped us up a little and made us backtrack some.

We had two ride closures (BTMRR and SDMT) that changed to multiple experience passes. Those were mostly seamless, a few of our ME passes accidentally got eaten when we did rider switch. That was the one from the SDMT closure and they were very thorough about checking our bands and figuring out what happened before they let us on the ride.

We did use rider switch quite a bit because we had our 2yo. We found it to work well, allowed the 2 older ones to ride lots of things twice, but it did slow down our progress and I felt like the 2yo spent a lot of time waiting because he had to be dragged along to get the rider switch pass, whereas if we weren't doing rider switch an adult would have just skipped the ride and taken him to see something he'd like.

 

[JessiMommy]

I thought the bathrooms were more dirty and garbage was overflowing everywhere. I do believe WDW cut staff with the wage increase and it really shows. This irritates me. Security lines are getting worse every visit we make and we visit 2-3x a year. It is obvious the staff has been cut. I think CM’s are frustrated with the staff cuts and the increase in work they all have. They are not near as happy and accommodating as years past. I was shocked that garbage cans were not being emptied in some QS places and people were just tossing garbage on the floor, gross!

We experienced the same thing last week. It was sad to see disengaged cast members and the lack of cleanliness. These are things that used to set Disney apart from its competition. We still love Disney but find we’re not as eager to rush back like we used to.