Never thought I'd do it- Cancelled.

[Ensusieasm]

Are we going to see one of these posts every time someone cancels…?

Ummm, what? Always check the title of a thread before you choose to read it.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Disney should have left old FastPass+ in place and just charged for it. But still give us the opportunity to book 3 rides 90 days out for on site guests. It would have been MUCH better than this mess. No early wake up calls. No staring at the phone all day.

All 3 FP/LL systems had pros and cons, with people liking and disliking parts of them. Ah, the complaints from folks not wanting to try and pre-plan FP+ attractions 60 days out. And people who couldn't get any top-tier attractions via FP+ 2 weeks before their trip. We tried G+ for the first time earlier this month, and we need to try it again to decide. But we certainly didn't stare at our phone all day because of G+!

 

[MainMom]

Disney should have left old FastPass+ in place and just charged for it. But still give us the opportunity to book 3 rides 90 days out for on site guests. It would have been MUCH better than this mess. No early wake up calls. No staring at the phone all day.

Yes! Give me back prebooking.

 

[MainMom]

All 3 FP/LL systems had pros and cons, with people liking and disliking parts of them. Ah, the complaints from folks not wanting to try and pre-plan FP+ attractions 60 days out. And people who couldn't get any top-tier attractions via FP+ 2 weeks before their trip. We tried G+ for the first time earlier this month, and we need to try it again to decide. But we certainly didn't stare at our phone all day because of G+!

I can understand not liking to prebook when you could just wake up and decide what park to go that day more easily. Now you have to book a park in advance. I would think most people do this so choosing some rides based on your prebooked park seems like they go hand in hand.
But at least let me choose my 7am ride time with genie+ Or stop changing it by the time you get to the booking screen. They could fix this and make people happier.

 

[cjnix29]

I agree with a lot of this. We are every year, sometimes twice a year people. This year, we splurged on annual passes. We went the first week of December, have a trip planned in January, one in April for the spring disney run, and one in May. We stayed off site for our first trip ever in December. There was no way I was paying resort rates. They have gotten completely ridiculous, and we are ones who usually drink the kool aid. Loved our off site stay. But with genie plus, the insane entry at Hollywood Studios, lack of magic, we cancelled our April trip. Also, the cost of those races has gotten out of hand. Still going in January, and will be on site, only due to a DVC exchange. (don't get me started on DVC pulling out of RCI). Then for our trip in May, staying off site again. A two bedroom beautiful condo with way more amenities for the cost of a value room is a no brainer. We do regret buying annual passes. The luster is gone for us. Which is really sad. I mean, we were married at the wedding pavilion. But the food costs, hotel increases, parking charges, all the extra costs, it is no longer the value it once was. We will also be exploring the rest of the world.

 

[jknc]

But the food costs, hotel increases, parking charges, all the extra costs, it is no longer the value it once was.

Hotel, food, travel in general has increased no matter the destination.

 

[Jrb1979]

Hotel, food, travel in general has increased no matter the destination.

While true, I don't look so much at the cost of it but the value of it. Right now with the way the parks are set up there is little value in a Disney vacation.

 

[jknc]

While true, I don't look so much at the cost of it but the value of it. Right now with the way the parks are set up there is little value in a Disney vacation.

if food, lodging etc has increased everywhere isn’t the value less no matter where you go, or what you do?

 

[BayouQueen]

I've kind of enjoyed planning my WDW and DL trips before -- getting up early to make ADRs, all of it. But somewhere they crossed the line. It's so weird...when I start to think about going, I clutch up like I do when confronted with math problems. I had a real mental block with math -- it created anxiety. And I experience the same feeling now when I think about making the reservations, all the different tiers, all the rules that apply to the Genie. I just get overwhelmed. And then thinking of spending so much to feel this way. Not a chance.
OP, I feel your pain. I probably will not return until things are more calm and inviting.

 

[Haley R]

We’ve had Florida resident APs for 2 years but we are seriously considering not renewing next year. I love Disney and ds is 19 months so we’re just starting to share it with him but it’s gotten so expensive with less value. There are so many other local options that are cheaper and lots of fun. We haven’t decided for sure but I didn’t think this would happen.

 

[katied]

Ok. Today was first full day in the parks… and all went ok. Plan was to use early hours for Magic Kingdom. Left hotel at 6 am, but has some transit snags, so not in MK until 7:10… yet, we still road all 4 mountains, plus Pirate, HM and Small World before 11:30 lunch (All standby). Park by then was getting crowded. Then, hop to AK. I had bought FOP and stacked rides starting at 7 am, so we had EE, Na’vi, and Kali (all LL) Snack break. Then hop to Epcot where I had snagged LL for Test Track. Crepe dinner, boat back to resort… 16 hour park day, 15 miles of walking, but we hit everything we wanted, had lots of shopping and break times, and longest line was 20 min.

I was stressed about Genie+, but really, 7 am rush to book, then just every 2 hours took a minute to book next. Longest was getting Test Track at 2 pm… I hit refresh every 5 seconds for about 20 min and by 2:20 got 7pm return, which worked with hopping to the third park. So, we got 4 Genie+ rides.

just thought I’d post something positive. I’m glad we are here.

 

[NotTheBatesMotel]

As you can see in this thread alone, you are one of many making the leap somewhere new. I've been on the Disboards for over a decade and have never seen so many reports of people leaving Disney and trying new places. The rate Disney is charging for on property accomodations is ludicrous and I feel like they might FINALLY be hitting the limit of what many will pay.

We are in the middle of a 6 month cross country road trip (something we never would've done before since we were SO Disney-focused pre-pandemic) and the cost of the 8 day vacation you canceled is the same price for 3 MONTHS of Airbnb stays that are 5x the size of a Disney room. During our travels we have met many other people that were prior Disney diehards that are now traveling new places. We will always love Disney Parks and have taken breaks before when we lose the magic, but it really does feel like the parks and experience are changing in ways that haven't before.

 

[NotTheBatesMotel]

Hotel, food, travel in general has increased no matter the destination.

Not at the rate it's increasing at Disney. We've traveled all over the US this year. Lodging everywhere else we've been has not skyrocketed like it has at Disney.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Not at the rate it's increasing at Disney. We've traveled all over the US this year. Lodging everywhere else we've been has not skyrocketed like it has at Disney.

Sure, but do those other destinations build nine-figure rides and billion dollar lands?

I'm not trying to belittle people's complaints in this thread: I haven't yet experienced the new system (last trip was in Octber 2019 -- see the pic at the left) so I can't address that. But in terms of hefty price hikes, that was inevitable given the billions of dollars Disney reinvested in their parks, and the massive crowding of same.

Of course, value is subjective. We always felt the value was there, but that was before the pandemic, and I, as the designated travel planner, had to put in more and more hours of planning to keep that value (translation: I moved heaven and earth to avoid most long lines).

Our next planned trip is October 2022, and the only reason we might cancel would be the pandemic/travel restrictions. It's also possible we might go to California/DLR instead. I just hope they'll iron out any bugs in the system, and institute more guest-friendly policies before then. I intend to combine some LL use with upcharge events (which we never did before, unless you count the Halloween parties), so yeah, after three years of no Disney, I'll do some splurging -- again, with an eye to keeping wait times short. At least we have a value resort reserved.

A lot of people mentioned Universal, and we used to tag on 2-3 days there. But, to me, you can't build an entire vacation around UOR because we always go to Orlando for at least ten days. We can't even do all of WDW in ten days, but with Universal, you'd be running over the same ground multiple times.

 

[jknc]

How much over budget was Galaxys Edge and ROTR?

The price increases were inevitable and became even more dramatic due to covid.

 

[Tink-osophy]

100% this. In the past, we could somewhat justify the stupid amount of money we were spending for a WDW vacation because the level of service and quality were beyond compare. Now much of what appealed to me about a WDW has been taken away and it is simply impossible to justify spending that much money on a sub par experience.

I agree. I've said it before (and, disclaimer, may say it again ), Disney was never JUST about the rides for me there was so much more to it.

...Not least that you felt you'd escaped to somewhere you could truly relax; immersed by details big and small; looked after by guest service you could rely on. You didn't have to turn so many of the cogs yourself and you could stop and smell the roses, of which there were many.

I was stressed about Genie+, but really, 7 am rush to book, then just every 2 hours took a minute to book next. Longest was getting Test Track at 2 pm… I hit refresh every 5 seconds for about 20 min and by 2:20 got 7pm return, which worked with hopping to the third park. So, we got 4 Genie+ rides.

just thought I’d post something positive. I’m glad we are here.

I'm genuinely glad to read positive reports -- it's great that you're enjoying Disney.

The thing is, the 7am rush and, then later, spending twenty minutes glued to a phone, refreshing every 5 seconds doesn't sound like the Disney experience I knew and loved. I was usually up early to get to a park, but that was still my choice and I had flexibility. Looking up is becoming underrated and things are being removed as a result!

 

[jimim]

Hotel, food, travel in general has increased no matter the destination.

We go to topsail every year. We stay in a home ocean front every year. This past summer we went twice June and august. No difference in price from years back. Yah maybe a few dollars but not anywhere near deal braking. We booked the exact same 2 houses next summer. Minimal difference as usual and expected.

I did just book for next November At akl our home base. Bit now I found out you can’t buy season passes. I’m not stalking here everyday now to see When they might go up. I don’t have the energy anymore. I’ll check now and then if I miss out I cx and sell my points. If Disney is making more and more money I might as well also.

 

[LSUmiss]

It's always that way...including those that say "but this time it is different".

Things will settle down to a new normal and life goes on...only more expensively. Not saying I disagree with the complaints per se, I need to go and see what it's like.

But do they settle down or are a certain percentage of ppl who say this truly done for good each time?

 

[LSUmiss]

I can understand not liking to prebook when you could just wake up and decide what park to go that day more easily. Now you have to book a park in advance. I would think most people do this so choosing some rides based on your prebooked park seems like they go hand in hand.
But at least let me choose my 7am ride time with genie+ Or stop changing it by the time you get to the booking screen. They could fix this and make people happier.

Right. Ppl complained about flexibility with pre-booking FPs. So they take that away to appear more flexible, but with park reservations it’s less flexible . I really think they don’t get it sometimes. It’s not even about the money as much as what you get for the money! I’ll pay $15/person for FPs if I can get as many as I used to. With genie plus, for thanksgiving week, we paid that for ONE ride the whole day!

 

[Cheburashka]

We are in the middle of a 6 month cross country road trip (something we never would've done before since we were SO Disney-focused pre-pandemic) and the cost of the 8 day vacation you canceled is the same price for 3 MONTHS of Airbnb stays that are 5x the size of a Disney room.

Most Disney travelers (families) don't have 3 months available to vacation, though. They're mostly not retired. So that comparison isn't as meaningful to most of them as it might be to you.

Agree that the prices are getting prohibitive (at least for me, since I've done it so many times & am not desperate to go back), but when comparing vacation options, workability and desirability are at least as big a factor as price.