Taking things with a grain of salt...

[belledreamer]

But I think a lot of people figure that for what they are paying to visit Disney, the bathrooms should sparkle with pixie dust, and that's simply not the case.

Okay, that totally made me laugh out loud! But it's so true though! The biggest bathroom "issue" I had on our last trip was the unflushed toilets which could have been solved if people made sure the toilet flushed before they left the stall.

 

[BrianL]

The thing about all of this is that people can have varying experiences. Take the restrooms for example. I've had trips where every restroom I went into was spotless. Does that mean they are never dirty? No, it just means I had good timing. If one goes into them and finds them dirty more often than clean, they will tend to take that away as their experience. We know they clean the restrooms, and generally do a better job of it than most places do, but it's not a perfect system. The same goes for rude CMs, crowds, etc. Everyone's experiences are anecdotal, and don't necessarily reflect what someone else will see on their trip.

I think that overall, even when people complain here, they are still enjoying their Disney experience enough to continue to visit, so they must be getting it more right than wrong.

 

[MainMom]

First of all, I love reading your posts, as you are always so helpful and informative. That being said, I do have to disagree about the buses. We have always experienced overcrowded buses, no matter which level of resort we stay at. We've also had to ride while standing more times than not, as the drivers keep loading people on after all the seats have been filled.

To me this is normal. I don’t expect a bus NOT to be crowded. When it’s not, it’s just a bonus.

 

[Linkura]

Anyone who is upset about overcrowded buses obviously doesn't ride public transportation. I can understand being upset about buses not coming in a timely fashion or not having enough buses at peak times, though.

 

[Haley R]

I actually prefer standing on the buses so I don’t mind them letting us help fill the bus so we can do just that. I would say I give my seat up more often than not anyway if I see someone else that really does need to sit.

 

[GovieMom]

Anyone who is upset about overcrowded buses obviously doesn't ride public transportation. I can understand being upset about buses not coming in a timely fashion or not having enough buses at peak times, though.

If you're referring to my post, I never said I was upset. I only disagreed about the buses not being crowded, because they normally (for us) always are.

 

[hllb]

Anyone who is upset about overcrowded buses obviously doesn't ride public transportation. I can understand being upset about buses not coming in a timely fashion or not having enough buses at peak times, though.

Yes, I agree. We haven’t had crowded buses yet but we’ve only taken them pre-rope drop. What’s been amazing though, is there has always been one waiting for us! I know that’s mainly luck, but still, it’s been good.

We were going to take the bus after leaving AK last night but it was so cold we didn’t want to wait. Minnie van to the rescue!

 

[jimim]

good post! all in all disney is always a positive experience for us. ya there are ups and owns and some sideways here and there, but overall it's a complete release from the regular daily grind which is a positive experience.

the thing about bathrooms anywhere in the public domain is this. . . you have to know which to use and which not to use.

you have to know where the hidden gems that aren't used as much are. example. the bathroom out side the yachtsman steakhouse. always clean. little use. is one that comes to mind. you have to seek those out in the areas you travel to frequently and remember which they are.

problem solved.

 

[Dug720]

Anyone who is upset about overcrowded buses obviously doesn't ride public transportation. I can understand being upset about buses not coming in a timely fashion or not having enough buses at peak times, though.

Yep! Every time I see the "OMG WE HAD TO STAND" fussing I want to say "Please don't come to NYC and plan on having a seat on the subway. If you want to guarantee your rear will be sitting, plan on spending a fortune in taxi/Lyft/Uber fares." Also, don't expect a non-crowded subway car. If you *do* find one, just know that there is a reason no one else is in there.

 

[DaisyNY]

I agree with you on everything but the busses. We tried them three different trips at 3 different resorts in different months and had more bad than good on every trip. Much much prefer driving ourselves.

We've experienced some bad bus issues...mostly at closing or after fireworks when everyone is trying to get out of the parks...we often will take time to just sit, have coffee or ice cream and wait for the crowds to dissipate. Staying at BC next trip where we'll walk to Epcot and DHS to avoid buses.

 

[VitaminC]

I think that when you read a bunch of reviews of things, the negative ones tend to stick out. Hundreds could love the Polynesian, have a great experience there, love the décor, etc, but the when you read about the one who was disappointed, it stays with you (especially when you will be staying there.) Of course, everyone's opinions are valid, but one person's experience won't necessarily be the same as the next person's.

Glad you are having a good trip!

 

[BrianL]

I think that when you read a bunch of reviews of things, the negative ones tend to stick out. Hundreds could love the Polynesian, have a great experience there, love the décor, etc, but the when you read about the one who was disappointed, it stays with you (especially when you will be staying there.) Of course, everyone's opinions are valid, but one person's experience won't necessarily be the same as the next person's.

Glad you are having a good trip!

Also, people in general seem more inclined to share negative experiences than positive ones. Positive ones are the expectation, so when everything goes well, we don't feel the need to broadcast that. When something goes wrong, we feel the need to vent or seek redress. It's just human nature.

 

[MikeOhio]

Most of your list are just differences of opinion.

However, the monorails are dirty and they do break down frequently. That is just a fact.

 

[wdw4rfam]

I wanted to encourage people who have spent a lot of time reading negative things on these boards. Everyone’s perspective is different. People on the internet can be super negative. I read a lot of things that worried me about our trip. None of them have been proven true so far.

Here’s the list of things that I’ve found NOT to be true:

The monorails are terrible, dirty, and breakdown a lot. (No issues so far. We did see one stopped for about 10 minutes)

California Grill food is terrible and salty (braised pork was absolutely amazing!)

Bus waits are awful and buses are crowded (nope and nope)

The Polynesian is dirty, noisy, bad housekeeping, in need of repair (our room is super quiet, in good repair, and housekeeping has been good)

Rivers of Light is a snooze-fest and you should skip it (everyone in my family loved it)

The bathrooms are disgusting (they’re typical public bathrooms but I’ve seen constant cast members cleaning and stocking them)

Cast members are rude/crabby/bad (nope)

I’m sure there is more, and I’ll add as I remember. But really, we're having a great trip and all the things I worried about were dumb lol.

Unfortunately at some point across 20+ trips, I’ve seen all of those things be good and bad. I don’t think it’s people perspective, I think it’s a matter of the day/how much staff is there, etc. I will say, the good far outweighs the bad experiences on all of these things. The major thing I want to know......did housekeeping bust in on your shower daily and watch you???( sorry couldn’t resist)

 

[Mitzicat]

I was having panic attacks about the buses at Caribbean Beach before our December trip. I had never stayed there. Well we went, were put in Jamaica (I was freaking a little because of all the bad things I heard about buses to Jamaica). Well wouldn't you know...the buses were great! I guess folks want one family per bus before they are happy. But anyway, I agree with original poster. Take everything with a grain of salt.

 

[wdw&sonny]

I appreciate your report, and I agree... people do let negative reviews worry them needlessly. But I find it kind of ironic that those same people will be reassured by this one positive review, as if it really makes a difference. Of course, every negative experience will be balanced out by someone else's positive experience. It's partly about expectations, partly your ability to roll with the punches, and partly sheer luck of the draw. On my last family trip, we had horrible luck with ride closures, especially with our FP+. Is that going to happen to someone else? Sure. Everyone else? Of course not. But if no one posts things like that, lots of first time visitors will never consider that it COULD happen, and might be caught without a backup plan when their scheduled-to-the-minute itinerary starts to fall apart.

As for things like restroom cleanliness, that's subjective of course. And I don't think anyone is going to cancel their trip due to the possibility of a dirty toilet. But I think a lot of people figure that for what they are paying to visit Disney, the bathrooms should sparkle with pixie dust, and that's simply not the case. I do not have exceedingly high standards, but I do have two daughters who don't want to have to flush a toilet and wipe off the seat BEFORE they can go. This is one of those areas where I don't think it's Disney's fault - it's typically other guests (which is typical of public restrooms anywhere). Nearly every restroom I have entered at Disney had an attendant cleaning and restocking. But many toilets were un-flushed (I think a lot of people, especially children, don't realize that the self-flush feature only works properly about half the time, and you can - and should - manually flush if it fails). I have still seen water, toilet paper (and worse) on the floors of the stalls. And if the bathroom is dirty when you walk in, a lot of people will be less careful than they would if it was spotless. But if we all did our part, none of this would be an issue. My only real complaint about the women's restrooms at Disney is the clear glass-front display cases they use for their hygiene product vending machines... "Mommy, what are those?" This is not the place I want to explain THAT to my little girls.

Bottom line is OP is 100% correct - everything you read about someone else's Disney trip should be taken with a grain of salt. By all means, do your research and know that things could go either way at any given moment. At the end of the day, your trip will be what you make of it. So make it magical.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

98% of the stuff mentioned on this board I've never even noticed in all of my trips. And the 2% that I have noticed, it doesn't even bother me. I guess I'm so happy to be at WDW I'm not paying attention to much and I'm usually a very observant person. But I'm also a VERY laid back person so not much offends or bugs me. I just go with the flow and make the best of everyday.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

There’s a spectrum of experiences so I try to take everything here with a grain of salt. There are people who will say that their vacation was perfect - they floated along above the crowds on a cloud of pixie dust collecting 15 FPs for FOP a day, with smiling CMs tossing them freebies, private buses waiting at the curb for them, and spotless bathrooms the week after Christmas. And there are people who say everything was terrible and dirty and it was a CL 53 with FOP, FEA, and 7DMT closed all 10 days of their trip and Disney should close up the parks and walk away.

Maybe they had that kind of luck. Someone somewhere has everything go right or wrong on a trip. Most people get something in the middle and if you expect that hopefully you’ll have a good time.

May everyone have trips where they don’t have too many punches to roll with.

 

[Viking7641]

Anyone who is upset about overcrowded buses obviously doesn't ride public transportation. I can understand being upset about buses not coming in a timely fashion or not having enough buses at peak times, though.

Perspective. Some people spend their *entire* lives in a bubble of bliss.

They grow up upper middle class/wealthy in the suburbs. They never share a restroom, they always have the best of everything. They go from house ---------->garage------->car------>office---->car

 

[hllb]

Unfortunately at some point across 20+ trips, I’ve seen all of those things be good and bad. I don’t think it’s people perspective, I think it’s a matter of the day/how much staff is there, etc. I will say, the good far outweighs the bad experiences on all of these things. The major thing I want to know......did housekeeping bust in on your shower daily and watch you???( sorry couldn’t resist)

We are gone from before 8 until after 8, so nope!