What is going on with Disney parks?

[Searc]

Im not sure this is the case. Give smokers a nearby option where they can smoke, and they’ll be more likely to obey the rules, since it’s easier to get to the smoking areas. Tell smokers that they have to leave the park to get their fix and they might just give up and smoke wherever and dare CMs to call them out on it.

That’s what seems to be happening here. I can’t recall ever seeing someone smoke in a non smoking area at Disney but I’m curious if Ill see this next time I go.

If you smoke in a non-smoking area, you should be kicked out of the park. Period. End of story. But we all know Disney won't do that, so they let smokers get away with smoking wherever they want, just like they always have. People have always smoked in non-smoking areas. I see them multiple times on every trip.

 

[snappy]

If you smoke in a non-smoking area, you should be kicked out of the park. Period. End of story. But we all know Disney won't do that, so they let smokers get away with smoking wherever they want, just like they always have. People have always smoked in non-smoking areas. I see them multiple times on every trip.

Same

 

[lovemickeyshouse]

Really enjoyed the podcast today. It's quite relevant to this thread and I recommend that everyone give it a listen/watch.

Pete really did great today!Love what he said and the way he showed his love for Disney was awesome !

 

[ZTator]

Not sure if this was mentioned, I have not kept up with all the post but I just read where now you can get a tour of the castle bedroom and front of the line access for a day for 12, 000. Yike how many can afford that little gem, haha

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

If you smoke in a non-smoking area, you should be kicked out of the park. Period. End of story. But we all know Disney won't do that, so they let smokers get away with smoking wherever they want, just like they always have. People have always smoked in non-smoking areas. I see them multiple times on every trip.

There is a whole list of banned items that are not allowed in the park so why couldn't they just ban cigarettes' and lighters from the park? That would solve the problem.

 

[ClapYourHands]

UO is a blast. I really do enjoy it. But don't expect to spend much less at UO. If you factor in Express Pass (which I highly recommend if you want to get everything done) it can actually be a good bit more expensive than Disney per day (in some cases the EP can cost almost as much as the ticket itself!). The good thing about EP is you don't have to do all the scheduling, etc. that you do with FP+. You just pay for it and go.

I would encourage anyone who has never been to UO before to give it a shot. They Harry Potter stuff especially is VERY well done and the parks in general are a blast. They are thrill-ride heavy, so it may not be ideal for younger kids, but it is fun. To me tho, UO will always been something to add on to a Disney trip, rather than replace it. Even with all they've added, to me it just doesn't feel like more than a 2 day trip (one for each park, not including ). Just my opinion though!

Per day at UO is more expensive if you do a 1 or 2 day trip. The multi day tickets come down in price much faster than at Disney.

Express pass is great. It can be really expensive to buy, but one night in a premium hotel gets it for everyone in the room for two days.

We had EP when we went, and after two days with it, we felt like we’d pretty much done everything. The 3rd and 4th days were repeats of our favorites and taking time to do non-ride things like the magical windows in the HP areas. We really enjoyed the latter days of our trip for the relaxed pace. The UO hotels are all so close that it’s easy to pop back for a swim - and pool hopping is officially allowed!

I think we could have easily done everything without EP over 3 or 4 days just by taking a relaxed pace. Many rides have incredible theming to the queues. We sometimes went through the whole queue just to experience it, even though we had EP.

 

[NickC]

I think WDW should have left the designated smoking areas alone. Maybe do away with a few of them that were out in the open--like the one in the Italy pavilion. There were a few areas that were really isolated from other guests and worked well as DSA.

 

[Mikey15]

Per day at UO is more expensive if you do a 1 or 2 day trip. The multi day tickets come down in price much faster than at Disney.

Right, but Disney prices come down after 4 days because that's the point you've "seen everything." It's exactly the same at Universal, prices come down after 2 days. Granted I've never tried but I don't know how one fills more than 2 days at Universal.

We used to do 2 days at Universal, one at each park. We did a one day park-to-park last time instead to do the train, and we still finished what we wanted on both sides by 5pm. In hindsight we could have lingered more at Diagon Alley and waited in line to try Gringotts, but we didn't otherwise feel like we didn't get to do something we wanted.

 

[ClapYourHands]

Granted I've never tried but I don't know how one fills more than 2 days at Universal

By doing things more than once. By going at a slower pace. By taking breaks to swim in the afternoon. By watching the shows.

YDS decided MIB was the best ride ever, so we went on it over and over while trying to up our scores (much easier with practice and when you know where the aliens will be). The Hogwarts Express is a different ride in each direction. We did the wand ceremony over and over until my kids got picked. We did the various windows with those wands. Some were tricky to get the motion right. We watched the street performances in addition to stage shows like Sinbad. We enjoyed the details of various shops, even if we didn’t buy anything. We chilled out in the lazy river at Cabana Bay on a hot afternoon.

It was a much more relaxed vacation than at Disney. Getting the extra time took off the pressure to “do everything” in a couple of jam packed days.

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

I first got my own annual pass back in 2013 (can't remember exactly when but I think that's right). It cost me something like $540. If I renew my pass next year it'll be more than double that. My then-bf (now DH) & I stayed at Coronado using my AP discount for something like $120/night back then. Now it's not uncommon to see moderates in the 300s/night, with preferred rooms & all that. They advertise resort discounts as a big perk of an AP but we all know they're limited by resort, dates, and availability. Parking used to be free and now if they don't get you at the parks they get you at the resorts, so that perk is gone. By adding tiered ticket pricing the crowds are more evenly spread throughout the year, eliminating the slow season. Fastpass+ has been proven to increase the standby lines by something like 4x. The parks used to have hours like 8am-1am. Now there's morning magic, Disney after hours, and the new "midday" tickets. If you want to be in the parks that whole time and you have a normal pass, you need to buy extra tickets that are the same price as a full day. It makes me really sad, but I've been close to my breaking point for a couple of years. Twice recently I've let my AP go and re-purchased it 6-9 months later. I've been only twice since getting it again in May and honestly I feel super guilty about wasting the money. It used to be if you went twice a year for 3-4 days it was worth the price - not so much now.

Disney as a company is doing well, despite parks attendance being down, and they're first & foremost a business. They'll continue raising prices (like they just did for food, drinks, and headbands) as long as people are willing to pay them. People aren't happy about things like removing Photopass photographers & replacing them with machines, or the inevitable prospect of paid FP+ (again, which is extra crummy given how much longer FP+ has been shown to make the standby lines), so it'll be interesting to see if at a certain point attendance takes a big dive. Unfortunately for me, my salary has not increased enough in the past 6 years or so to make up for the cost of my Disney trips doubling in price. I'll be facing a tough choice again in May as to whether or not I renew. I can't say right now what I'll decide, but right now I'm leaning towards taking another break. Last time I took a break I went to San Francisco & Seattle twice, snowboarding in Whistler, and a few other small weekend trips. The fact that I can do all that when I don't have my AP was pretty telling. On the other hand, I was missing Disney like crazy because it's my solo getaway spot.

 

[middlechild]

Pete really did great today!Love what he said and the way he showed his love for Disney was awesome !

A second vote to ask everyone to listen to the disunplugged show dated 15 October.

 

[dreynolds1982]

I think we could have easily done everything without EP over 3 or 4 days just by taking a relaxed pace. Many rides have incredible theming to the queues. We sometimes went through the whole queue just to experience it, even though we had EP.

Agree with this, especially the HP stuff. Some of the most detailed queues I've seen. Another thing I do like about UO is that most of the rides have single rider lines. I went one time by myself without EP and blasted through everything via the single rider lines. Very efficient.

On the flip side, one thing that I DO NOT like about UO is the stupid locker requirement. Not sure why they're so hardcore about putting all your personal belongings in a locker before many of the rides, but it's a pain. I even got pulled out of line one time because I had a tube of chapstick in my pocket that a staff member saw. I mean...come on guys.

 

[NickC]

The lockers wouldn't be as bad if they gave us more room to maneuver. The rooms are so tight.
In WDW, you can go upside down on RnRC with your back pack, but at UO, you can't bring a bag on Escape from Gringotts!

 

[DLgal]

The lockers wouldn't be as bad if they gave us more room to maneuver. The rooms are so tight.
In WDW, you can go upside down on RnRC with your back pack, but at UO, you can't bring a bag on Escape from Gringotts!

UO doesn't really understand physics, I guess. I agree the no possessions on your person at ALL on many rides at UO is a real pain and completely unnecessary.

 

[tlmadden73]

A second vote to ask everyone to listen to the disunplugged show dated 15 October.

Also, there is an open question on DisUnplugged Facebook page that relates to this thread (and the podcast rant):

"What changes do you think need to be made to Walt Disney World other than lower crowds or lower prices? "

Personally, for me, it is removing the "necessity" of planning things so far in advance. "required" reservations and missing out on a potential experience because you couldn't, or didn't know to plan THAT far in advance is frustrating. While I enjoy planning a disney vacation in advance (just to look forward to it) . .I don't like essentially planning what days I will be in what parks many months in advance only to feel you can't change things around as hours change or weather changes.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Right, but Disney prices come down after 4 days because that's the point you've "seen everything." It's exactly the same at Universal, prices come down after 2 days. Granted I've never tried but I don't know how one fills more than 2 days at Universal.

We used to do 2 days at Universal, one at each park. We did a one day park-to-park last time instead to do the train, and we still finished what we wanted on both sides by 5pm. In hindsight we could have lingered more at Diagon Alley and waited in line to try Gringotts, but we didn't otherwise feel like we didn't get to do something we wanted.

We do 3 days with Park-to-Park no EP. 3 days allows us to not feel so rushed even with the slower relaxed pace. Plus hello re-rides.

We left the water rides for 1 day and did them back to back to back (3 in IOA) and then had lunch people watching the Jurassic River Adventure ride. It was relaxing

Personally speaking 3 days is my sweet spot at USO with 5 days being my sweet spot at WDW both with park to park and park hopper respectively. However, once the new theme park is open for Universal...that's going to change because I'll need more than 3 for Universal lol.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Agree with this, especially the HP stuff. Some of the most detailed queues I've seen. Another thing I do like about UO is that most of the rides have single rider lines. I went one time by myself without EP and blasted through everything via the single rider lines. Very efficient.

On the flip side, one thing that I DO NOT like about UO is the stupid locker requirement. Not sure why they're so hardcore about putting all your personal belongings in a locker before many of the rides, but it's a pain. I even got pulled out of line one time because I had a tube of chapstick in my pocket that a staff member saw. I mean...come on guys.

I believe there are like 2 rides now (used to be 3 I believe when Dragon Challenge was around I *think*)--Hulk and Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit where you cannot have anything in your pockets and you go through security to verify this. Other ones it's usually just that your actual bag needs to go in a locker but you can have things in your pockets.

For instance for MIB it's not that you can't have anything in your pockets just that you put your actual bag in the locker. If you had a cell phone or chapstick in your pocket you'd be fine.

I do understand the frustration, it's not exactly my favorite thing to have to go do the lockers first then go get in line. On the other hand it does seem to speed up getting in and out of the ride.

 

[jkh36619]

I have had UOAPs and WDW AP's before. The biggest problem is after about day 4 of a UO trip, you're ready for something different. Its takes me about 10 days at DW to feel that way.

 

[LSUmiss]

True. It's a good thing The Walt Disney Company, Inc. has all of that good will they've built up over the past several years with their most loyal base to fall back on during the hard times.

Right, because when **** hits the fan and the economy start hemorrhaging jobs, retirements get halved, and home values plummet, going to pay to see a fake castle is pretty high up on people's list of things to do.

Be careful what you wish for, even if it's upon a star.

Unfortunately or fortunately recession doesn’t affect us all the same way.

 

[LSUmiss]

I think the point is, though . . . "someone else" is not filling in for those who have reached their breaking point. Hence, the plummeting attendance.

Apparently those on these boards who claims "it's always busy at Disney, there are not 'light crowd' times anymore" have been proven wrong.

I know our breaking point was breached the last trip. Too expensive for the diminished experience, large amount of closures, long wait times despite low crowds (obviously staff cut-backs), etc. Instead of every two years, we'll moving to about once every five.

Perhaps, also, one of the problems with Disney announcing all of it's new attractions years in advance means that folks are simply delaying their trips until more things are open. Maybe for 2019 it's not so much economics, but people delaying their trips until after Rise of the Resistance opens. Maybe Jan-Mar will be swamped...

I think it’s that it always feels like it’s busy at wdw now b/c of cut hours & staff. It must not be if attendance is down which is probably part of why attendance is down. I know on our last few trips the crowds made everything feel so cumbersome that I found myself thinking why am I doing this? I still keep giving it another try b/c I’m not ready to quit yet, but we do spend less & go on shorter trips & stay in cheaper hotels.