JUST RETURNED FROM 5 DAY TRIP (FEB. 11-16)

vadersprincess12

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 7, 2016
Hello All ~ just returned from our 5 day trip, which may be our last unless we decide to visit for a resort stay only and not visit the parks. DH and I have been visiting Disney World for over 40 years but our recent visits have not been the best.

We booked a rather last minute trip and didn't expect to get fastpasses for the major attractions which was fine as we wanted a more leisurely pace. We had wanted to stay at a moderate resort but they were unavailable so we booked at Pop Century. We had stayed there last in 2013 and we did enjoy our stay.


We had to reschedule our original dates due to weather and then because of weather again, our morning flight was cancelled so we weren't going to arrive until 7:30 p.m. which was fine. We knew our luggage would arrive by around 10:30 which would give us time to take a stroll around the property and get a bite to eat. Here's where it all begins.....................

Our room was ready so we dropped of the carry-on and went to get a snack. The Pop food court was total chaos! There was literally no room to move. There were groups of totally obnoxious teens chanting and running around the area.

After we finally got a snack we went to pay the balance of our room with gift cards and found out they had already charged our credit card. I had called prior to our arrival and did speak with someone at Pop to let them know we would be arriving late and would stop at reception to handle the balance so we had to wait for that to be reversed. During our wait in the line I checked to see if there was a moderate resort available for our stay and found that Port Orleans Riverside was available beginning the next day so we made arrangements to transfer. They said they would take our luggage but we had to find our own way over. At this point we didn't care; we just wanted to move to a quieter resort.

At this point it was about 9:45 p.m. and we went back to our room to wait for our luggage. We waited, and waited, and waited. I made two calls during this time to bell service which went unanswered. Finally we went to bell services only to be told that the truck hadn't arrived yet. We went inside the lobby and spoke with one of the managers ~ the bottom line was it took SIX hours for our luggage to arrive so it was now close to 1:30 a.m. The manager did provide a taxi voucher so we could re-locate the next morning to Riverside and so we just took our own luggage with us to avoid any other delays!!!

We have stayed at Riverside several times in the past and love the resort. This was our first time staying in Alligator Bayou which is a very quiet area, but the internet totally sucked. We couldn't get into MDE to see our plans or to book any fastpasses for the lesser popular attractions. Too many times we had to keep signing back in which is ridiculous.


We are very neat people so we opted out of mousekeeping and had additional towels delivered our first morning and they lasted the rest of the week, however, the cast member who checked us in did not send the gift card email (found this out on the last day when I checked with Concierge about it; it was corrected and received within the hour).

Riverside Mill food court was less crowded most days and only had one issue with someone at the omelette station one morning, who refused a simple request which had been graciously handled by another cast member two days earlier ~ no consistency. All of the other cast members were very friendly.

Not sure how they handle the airline check-in but DH and I were under one reservation number ~ somehow we got totally different seating assignment numbers for Southwest AND they didn't print out his boarding pass so we had to visit Concierge to have that handled.

PROS AND CONS

PROS:

~ For the most part all of the cast members throughout the resort and the parks were very friendly; only one or two who appeared like they didn't want to be there. We had some fun, friendly conversations with many of them.

~ Bus service was good; usually waited no longer than 10 minutes, of course except for leaving at park closing; really wish they would not cram so many people on the buses at that time, but it's not a game changer.

~ Bus drivers calling attention to those celebrating.

~ Even without fastpasses we were able to ride FOP and Slinky Dog (first time for both) waiting just over an hour for each. Not sure how that happened except for timing.

~ The classic attractions.

~ Mickey Bars.

~ Happily Ever After was spectacular.

CONS:

~ Got stuck on Toy Story Mania half way through the ride and had to be escorted off. Understand that the attractions run 365 days a year and it will happen but they need a better way to evacuate the people rather than making everyone line up while all the cars are unloaded and walking everyone out at once; big waste of time.

~ Crowds!!!!! I have never seen it so crowded. Where does it end? The building of more hotels will only make it worse.

~ Groups from foreign countries who have no idea how to behave in public. The chanting, the obnoxious behavior, traveling in packs stretched across the walkways.

~ Wait times are absolutely crazy. Would never wait more than an hour for an attraction. Have seen wait times for FOP over FOUR hours and now many of the classics have long wait times. I just find that totally nuts! For the money you pay, only being able to ride a limited number of attractions due to the waits, well, it's just not worth the price of the ticket.

~ The woman who changed her child's dirty diaper (on her lap) in the Carousel of Progress, and then proceed to whip out her breast and feed the child. We are not prudes and realize that breast feeding is a natural thing, but so is going to the bathroom and we don't do that in public! At least cover up!!!!!

********************************************************************************************************************************

These CONS are things that of course, are not under Disney's control but this is the main reason that we don't want to visit anymore. It's people in general!!!!! Everyone seems to think they are entitled which is really everywhere, not just at Disney.

~ There is no common courtesy left in the world.
Used to be a time when someone would give a seat to an elderly person on a bus (yes, I know everyone is on their feet in the parks all day but it's still tougher on the elderly; maybe think of your parents or grandparents)

~ Stroller and scooter ninjas (this has been a topic of contention on the boards for a very long time). People pushing strollers don't care who they run into, they just keep on going; I wonder if they have no distance perception with a stroller, what kind of driver they are. Scooters are a very sore topic for me. I know there those who absolutely need them and I hold no ill will toward them, but I hate seeing someone on a scooter with a group of people with them and seeing them throughout a park at different times during the day and seeing that they are taking turns using the scooter. You are the people causing this to be such a topic of contention.

~ Cell phones are dangerous. People walking with their faces in their phones and not watching where they are going. How can you enjoy vacation with your face in your phone.

~ Parents who have no control over their children or just don't care. In line for Slinky Dog a child was climbing on one of the attraction scenes which was fenced in and he slid down and off and hit a metal pole which was in the tall grass ~ why did the parent let this happen in the first place? It's fenced in for a reason!!!!!

We were in line for the Frozen ride and a child was standing with his parents screaming and crying at the top of his lungs. The mother stood there with her face in her phone; the father just stood there. No words to the child, no comfort, nothing. We got to enjoy this for the entire 45 minute wait!!!!!


Couples arguing in front of their children and other park visitors ~ just wrong!!!!!

Being kicked, pushed, shoved by children and obnoxious teens in line while the parents have their faces in their phones!!!!!

A trip to Disney World is not cheap and it's only going to get worse. It's gotten to the point that dealing with rudeness, unruly crowds, and absent parents is not worth it anymore. I think we'd rather get our Disney fix on a cruise, at least we can retreat to our cabin when people act like asses.








 
Wow - what a discouraging experience. The whole trip must have been frustrating. It seems like customer service is declining at the same time crowds are increasing. So sorry to hear about your disappointing trip. Didn’t February used to be a good time to go?
 
February used to be a slower time, but I think those times are over. No one thinks twice about taking their children out of school for a vacation anymore and there are always so many activities and festivals throughout the year it seems like it's always busy. We can handle the busy and avoid the long waits if we want to ~ things ebb and flow and if you keep an eye on the wait times, you can manage, but really for us it's just the attitudes and entitlements of people that are so discouraging. I guess we are just old school, when people had manners, and paid attention to the rules and regulations, and didn't act like they were exempt from those things. We absolutely love Disney but sometimes you have to make choices, and for now, we are choosing to not be a part of it at the parks.
 
I have to totally agree with you on the amount of people there any more and how the continuous building of more resorts will just make that even so much worse in the near future. Prime example is the construction of yet another DVC resort the Riviera. It's just so ridiculous that the way to get on ANY attraction it seems is to have a fast pass. Was there last October with my youngest daughter and her family, they go every year the same week, and the Magic Kingdom was so packed we didn't get on ONE SINGLE attraction because the waits were just so terribly long, lack of availability for fast passes, and they have a 1 year old. Luckily we had visited the Animal Kingdom in the morning and did some attractions there. They said they have never seen it so crowded that week in the 7 years they have been married and going on that same week - it's their anniversary. Those of us who have been going for may years like yourself can see how this is such a decline in being able to enjoy your vacation. My other daughter is heading there with her family this week, also traveling with a 1 year old. They were reluctant to make fast pass reservations because of the flexibility they feel they need with the infant. I know some people just push ahead anyway, but that's not them. I hope my older grandson won't be coming home disappointed if he fails to do many of the attractions. And again, the price of tickets is just too high to not be able to do that much. At least we are DVC members so the cost of the room isn't really a factor (unless you count the annual dues LOL) And I also know that there are some here who will say it's their own fault - they could've done fast pass. Just saddens me that the days of taking your good old time wandering through the parks and enjoying the attractions as you get to them seem to be over. And my daughter, who's now 36, has gone every year while growing up and that's how she remembers always doing it with us. I'll be anxiously awaiting to hear how their time there works out. As for rude people, couldn't agree with you more there either! Now that I've shared my feelings let me end by saying there's not much we can do about it. My youngest and I have decided we are not going back this year.
 


And part of the crowd problem also seems to be the Disney feels the need to keep the money coming in by filling their slow times with everything under the sun from marathons to cheer and other group events they can come up with.
 
Mrsswat ~ The ticket price has risen so much that it's just not worth the price/time since you can't do that many attractions in a day. Disney is like any other company and it's all about the money. Don't get me wrong, I still love all that's Disney but just have to find other ways to enjoy it. Walking 8-10 miles a day and doing nothing much but "seeing" the sites is not worth it anymore.
 
A very well written article and I do agree the crowds are too much almost always. Mr Disney would not be happy to find the whole idea of making a ton of money is more important than the real reason Disney was build and that was for families to spend time together
 


Thanks Disney1962 ~ my husband said basically the same thing one day while we were in the parks (he'd turn over in his grave). Frankly, most of what you see if families with a lot of anxiety and arguing because now it truly is difficult to do very much in an average day due to the wait times so someone inevitably doesn't get their way. I believe that the spirit of what Walt Disney created has definitely been taken over by greed.

At least on a Disney Cruise (still more expensive than most lines) you have a limited number of people and can always retreat to your cabin if things get ugly, although I will say that I have not experienced that on our cruises.
 

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