|
Quote:
NEVER, EVER go to Disney on Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve/Day. If you do you are just torturing yourself. |
We were there for eight days ending the 12th. The genie + fast pass system is terrible and contributes to it feeling even more busy than normal. We didn’t use it our first two days but realized we had no choice if our 20 month old was going to be able to do anything besides get cranky in lines. And yes, the merchandise selection was awful, both in quality and quantity for all ages, but there was essentially nothing for young kids or toddlers, whether clothes or toys.
We had been wanting to go at Christmas but that was the most disappointing for us. It didn’t really add to the fun as it was hard to actually just admire decorations or scenery with giant crowds. It didn’t help that my wife couldn’t find any Christmas ears and in general the Christmas souvenir supply wasn’t good at all. I think we would actually just prefer the Disney music in the background like normal. The Epcot Christmas concert was good though. I liked the new Epcot night show but the new Magic Kingdom show is just okay and the old one was much better. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
I was a sophomore in High School the first and only time our family went to Disney World in Orlando.
Loved it. |
I went to WDW on Christmas Day once. Never again.
It was torture. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
But we walked onto every ride we wanted to at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom save for Rise, Everest, Pandora and Slinky rides. Actually rode Soarin 3 times and didn't have but a 10 minute wait at the most. The night show that was projected onto the Chinese Theater in Hollywood Studios was great. As was the light show and music that played on the EPCOT ball. The light show at the end of the night was enjoyable, but the Candlelight Procession was the best for me. There was one gal in the Cast Member choir whose voice you could hear above all was dynamite. Man...she could shatter glass. |
Quote:
The downside of the stay....I felt I needed a Golf Cart to get to my room every night...man they stuck us at the furthest point from the Main building. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Walt Disney World
Quote:
We stayed at the Dolphin. Over multiple trips prior we had never stayed anywhere but the Boardwalk using DVC rental points. Usually it is about half price of Disney prices but with the pandemic availability was a bit limited. We purchased through Costco and still saved quite a bit though. However the Dolphin is definitely not as Disney and in general not what we are looking for in a Disney vacation. The lobby was packed with Baseball winter meetings people all week so it was noisy and busy. Also just not as convenient with bus transportation or using magic bands for room entry. We actually walked to Boardwalk buses for Magic Kingdom and Disney Springs because the Dolphin drop point recently changed at those places. Honestly can’t see ever staying anywhere outside of the Epcot resorts area unless we decide we want to do the Grand Floridian. There’s it’s of good places but the convenience and amenities there is hard to beat. |
I’m going New Years Day. Hollywood studios or whatever it’s called. Pray for me
|
Someone could pay for a trip for my family to Disney World and I'd decline.
|
Quote:
Waits for things like Nemo, Little Mermaid, and Buzz Lightyear were routinely 30 minutes or more. Those waits aren’t worth it in general but especially not with a toddler. Once we decided to get genie + it was better but you can only use it on the same ride once which is awful. |
With all the technology we have now why is that no amusement park can make it so you don't have to wait in lines... have some sort of paging system and you only can queue for one or two rides... if you don't show up within 5 minutes your spot is gone and goes to the next lucky bunch. I see that as a win win for everyone... nobody has to wait in lines and it would allow parents more time to buy other shit that makes the park money.
Could you imagine a big name park stating that you never have to wait in lines anymore? |
Quote:
|
Quote:
They are just starting to experiment with virtual queues and also with genie + lighting lanes having short waits for the exact reason you mention, sell other stuff, however by my estimation the way genie + is working thousands of people have no choice but to wait in regular lines so it’s not going to work as they hope. People who use their genie + reservation on a ride that has them return at 4 pm will and are waiting in regular lines. I believe that’s why almost everything has very long waits. We waited 20 minutes for People Mover even. Clearly frequent visitors know how to get the most out of it and when to ride things, but the average Disney visitors aren’t doing that. |
I’ve been hearing nothing but bad about Genie+.
Why did they move to that? To make more money? People loved the old free fastpass system. |
Walt Disney World
Quote:
Big thing clearly is just to charge for what was previously free. But there’s been lots of that such as no more free magic bands, no more free airport transport, or free resort parking. All those changes are fairly recent and huge added costs. They sell it though as spend less time waiting in lines but that’s simply not reality as it’s worst for many people and at best the same for some people but now they have to pay. They also are pushing the genie + that will plan your day for you but it’s garbage, but in reality the people who would rely on that probably don’t know any better. They also say it’s more in line with other places that do charge for fast ride access, such as Universal, but at Universal it’s still free for those at their resorts. There also is a trend towards targeting guests who don’t go as often who will spend whatever is needed to have a good time. That’s why many of the perks I mentioned earlier are gone and why things like annual pass holders have been removed or greatly reduced. They believe the once every 5-10 year people, who do spend more money than frequent guests, will spend whatever they have to in order to get the most out of it. That’s the balance they have to work through because if those people stop coming and get priced out then Disney will really have to reconsider things. |
Quote:
Quote:
Universal actually opened up a new water park called Volcano Bay a few years back and they have a virtual queue sort of deal. Everyone who enters the park gets a watch. The watch is really just used to "check in" to virtual queues. So you'll walk up to a ride, say Krakatoa, and see how long the wait is. If it's 1 hour and you don't mind waiting, you swipe your watch over the sensor and it starts the countdown. You can head back to the wave pool or go grab some food. In an hour your watch will buzz and you can head up to the ride. You usually don't have to wait in line for any more than 5-10 minutes. It's awesome. |
Quote:
Yep that’s basically me. Go about every 4-5 years and spend a ton. This past summer took my son to Universal. Stayed at Sapphire Falls and bought unlimited express passes. Made the trip 100x more enjoyable. |
Quote:
Yeah, your biggest mistake was timing. Any time of year that the kids are out of school is just a horrible time to be in the parks. The week before Thanksgiving? Awesome. Week after? No worries. Week of? Not a ****ing chance. You also chose the wrong park. Only thing good about Magic Kingdom is the castle and fireworks show. Unless you have kids, of course. If you have kids, Magic Kingdom is a must. But childless? Your best bet is Hollywood Studios, IMO. Epcot is great for Food and Wine Festival or just drinking and eating in general. Animal Kingdom isn't bad if you like safaris. Everest is pretty good and they've recently added Pandora from Avatar and Star Wars stuff as well. Quote:
Universal is having a similar issue. Their merch is actually ****ing awesome right now, but they're having issues with supply. Apparently people are buying up so much of it they're finding it hard to keep up with the demand. |
Quote:
We go enough with the Florida Residents Pass that we don't have to cramp everything into one visit. The change in Season passes will change some of when we go but will still make sure.to go enough to get my money out of it. We were lucky this time and didn't get charged for Parking at the resort like last year. |
Quote:
We have gone the first week of December for the past 8 years....and been happy. It's not so crowded and you don't get rammed by the damned Double-Wide Stroller crowd or the person who never learned how to use the ECV correctly. |
Quote:
The last summer I was stationed up at Great Lakes, I finally could afford to move off base and rented an apartment about 10 minutes from Six Flags Great America in Waukegan. My buddy and I got season passes, and we'd go a couple of nights a week. That was great. Go for two or three hours, and if you miss something, hit it the next time. The temperature was reasonable and it wasn't crowded at all. The season pass basically paid for itself after the third visit. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
Last time I was at Disneyland was around 2015 and they still used the paper fast passes. Those were great too. Not sure what system Disneyland is using these days? |
Quote:
Quote:
|
Walt Disney World
It’s readily apparent how much worst the new genie + lightning lane system is than the previous fast pass system. It’s one thing to take a free product like fast pass that works well and charge for it, but they not only started charging for it, they also made it substantially worst.
I know they would get complaints from people that they didn’t like having to book rides 30-60 days in advance, and perhaps that’s part of the reasoning on the change, but the people who wouldn’t prepare before aren’t going to prepare now either. I heard dozens of people in the parks each day being clueless as to what lightning lane is and using genie +. It’s surprising to me, but thousands of people go to Disney World each day without much of any planning and preparation. And on the new system if you want a popular ride, you still have to reserve it at a very specific time, (7 am day of if staying on property) and if you don’t, you don’t get a reservation for the ride because they are booked within minutes. So that aspect still hasn’t even changed. Poor planners are still not getting ride time reservations. |
It's long so, under the spoiler.
Has the cost of Disney World become unaffordable for the average American family? Recent guests of Walt Disney World complain that price hikes have gone too far
Spoiler!
|
Quote:
|
I've long thought the parks were way overpriced. I'm local so I can avoid all of the frill and yet a day at the park is still pretty expensive.
I can't imagine the bill for a family of four+ who comes from out of state. It has to be close to $5k all things considered, even when thrifting where you can. Those traveling internationally have to be approaching $10k. |
Quote:
|
We dropped about $7k on a 4 day 5 night stay (upcoming).
|
Someone could buy my family the full package for Disney World and I wouldn’t go.
|
Quote:
Quote:
|
We went to Disney World a couple of years ago and including airfare it as probably close to $7K to go for four full days. I did learn that I would never pay for the park hopper pass again, as we ended up staying in a single area the entire day.
|
I suppose the positive is that you only drop that kind of coin one time. I bet the kids enjoy the magic, but I can't imagine even they'd want to go back to stand in hour-long lines in 95 degree heat.
For those of you who dropped $5k+, did you ever do it again or was once enough? |
We went in January. It is ridiculously expensive. We stayed at a moderate Disney resort (Port Orleans). Once you factor in airfare, five nights and four days at the parks, Genie plus, food including character meals (way overpriced) we probably spent about $10k. Also, if you want to ride some of the big attractions such as Rise of the Resistance, the Avatar Ride, the Ratatouille ride, etc. you need to pay in addition to what you're already paying for Genie plus or wait in long lines (some as long as 3 hours). The kids loved it but we won't be going again.
|
I use a Marriott Bonvoy credit card and we typically go once we've got enough points for a free stay at the Swan (or Swan Reserve).
|
Quote:
Rise of the Resistance is the only one I would wait 3 hours for but only once. I love Star Wars so that ride was pretty cool. |
I was a little disappointed with Rise of the Resistance, but only because I was expecting an actual roller coaster.
As far as a Star Wars simulation is concerned, I don't think they could have done much better. When they take you into that room where it's like you're in the Death Star looking out at the stars was ****ing incredible. It just wasn't as thrilling as I'd have liked. The Flight of Passage ride was right up my alley though. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Disneyland in California might be a cheaper alternative.
My wife and I went a few years ago with her cousins. They've had season passes for about 10 years. He knew that park in and out. We barely waited in line at all with his fast pass setup. Seems we would go on one ride then go on another then come back to the first ride and the same people were waiting in line. Seems he would be worth big $ as a personal tour guide through that park. |
That article is spot on. The talking heads at Disney have monetized any and everything you do to the point where I would be surprised if they install pay toilets in the park
We have gone to WDW for the past 20 years almost every year. We have been Season Pass holders since we moved here to Florida 6 years ago. We always go the 1st or 2nd week in December and have enjoyed it.....until last year. Normally having season passes made it somewhat monetarily feasible. And we always budgeted for an expensive meal every other day. We ate breakfast in our room...came back for lunch and an afternoon break. We still spent too much money...and didn't really buy anything much. I think I spent 67 bucks on a Marvel Spirit Jersey.... This is our last year for Season Passes. It's evident that Disney really doesn't value Season Pass holders and is focused on providing as little as possible for as much as they can get from you. And this coming from a die hard Disney fan. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
The company has gone down. Walt wouldn't recognize his creation.
|
Last time i went to Disney Land security busted me for trying to sneak in my MJ vape pen.
****ing Nazis. |
Quote:
THOSE guys are nazis. Sorry, Disney. |
Disney World descends into chaos as 2 families brawl in huge Magic Kingdom fight
A dispute between two families in line at Disney World turned ugly on Wednesday when the altercation escalated into an all-out brawl. Somewhere in Fantasyland between Cinderella's Castle and Peter Pan's Flight, the warring families traded punches and profanity, as onlookers screamed in the background, Fox 35 reported. The fracas continued at the Orlando, Florida theme park for several minutes before park personnel and deputies broke it up. "We came upon it, and it appeared as though it took about two minutes for two security personnel to arrive. Deputies arrived probably about five minutes after that," an eyewitness told the local Fox station. According to the Daily Mail's reporting, the incident began when a female Disney guest waiting to get into Mickey's PhilharMagic realized she had left her phone on her electric conveyance vehicle and left the line to get it, while her family remained. When she returned, another family tried to block her from rejoining the line. Her family then reportedly waited outside the theater and confronted the other group. "We don't appreciate you guys pushing my younger sister," one of them reportedly said to the other family. From there, the confrontation devolved into a shouting match and then a physical fight before security and law enforcement got involved. One of the men involved ended up hospitalized with a facial laceration with others suffering smaller bruises, the Daily Mail reported. The Orange County Sheriff's Office confirmed the hospitalization and told Fox News that they arrested three people for misdemeanor battery. Videos of the incident began popping up on social media but were later taken down. Footage of the brawl can still be found on the Walt Disney World News Today blog. This is hardly the first fight at the Disney park this year. In May, deputies told Fox 35 a woman reportedly suffered bleeding on her brain after hitting her head on the ground during a fight she and her husband had with other park visitors as they tried to situate themselves before a fireworks show. https://www.foxnews.com/us/disney-wo...-kingdom-fight |
Quote:
|
Sometimes I'm surprised there aren't more altercations, honestly.
You're already pissed off because you dropped $5k to bring your family, then you get there and it's hot as shit, hour-long lines everywhere, foreigners with no concept of personal space, etc. |
At least they all have matching shirts to celebrate the occasion. Happy 6th birthday Prince Amir.
|
Quote:
I have been dozens of times and worked there in the DCP. It is a pressure cooker situation and with the gradual downgrade in the parks under the current leadership, I am surprised that most folks aren't losing it. It is hot, pricey, many foreigners push through like they own the place (you don't know hell until a foreign tour group of 100+ barrels by), and upset kids. Combine that with the recent reduction in humanity decency. Gonna be more incidents soon. |
I remember when Guru just "happened" to always schedule his Disney World visits during Gay Days at Disney.
|
Quote:
Because this exact storyline played out over a period of years on the Howard Stern show. It was High Pitched Eric and he loved Disney and had frequent stories of his trips to their parks, but he always went by himself. Then someone, might have been Ralph, went through the timing of his Disney visits and realized they all were on Gay Days. At first High Pitch Eric denied it, or said it was coincidental, but it was very soon after that HPE came out of the closet as a homosexual live on air in a dramatic episode of the show. Not sure what happened from there cause my Sirius radio subscription ran out. |
Quote:
|
My wife wants to go to Disney next year or something like that. Of course my son wants to go because his cousins all went this year. I'm gonna convince her there's better ways to spend 10 grand. **** that place.
|
Quote:
Hit Disney/Universal for two or three days, go to the beach a day or two, hit a springs somewhere, go to the Space Center if you're into that, etc. I couldn't imagine dropping $5-10k to stand in lines for an hour in sweltering heat for five days straight. |
Quote:
|
Have a Magical Day!
|
Quote:
I do remember being holdover in Orlando one night and it was really hot/humid during a nightly walk. F that stuff as I'm spoiled by CA Bay Area (no humidity) weather. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
There was a reddit gif a while back showing several items in comparison to inflation and WDW was pretty insane. They do good work (at least they did 20 years ago) and if you have the disposable money, then yay.... I'd be surprised if altercations are uncommon though, when you're spending that kind of cash in the sweltering heat where the only thing worse than the temp is the humidity, standing in long lines, and if you forget water, you're paying $20 for a bottle on top of souvenirs and food and staying on potentially staying on WDW property, etc; that all probably makes buying a family pack of NFL season tickets look affordable and non-rapey. |
I went to Disney World on Thanksgiving weekend and it was quite possibly the worst day of my life.
|
Quote:
|
We just got back. It was fun, but it was also a helluva lot of work. The lines were long, it was hot, and all it takes is one ride breaking down to **** your whole day's plans up with the way the lightning lanes work.
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
You come March-August, when most people do, you're getting hit with the worst of the crowds and weather. You come during Thanksgiving and Christmas, you're getting great weather but terrible crowds. January-February is, like, perfect park time, IMO. Weather is generally going to be around 75 degrees, no rain or storms, and no crowds. September-October crowds are light as well and a bit cooler but still like 85-90 degrees. Idk. Just my opinion. And yes, the coasts are generally a bit cooler than Orlando. They've got an ocean breeze that central Florida doesn't. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Two places I have absolutely zero desire to experience: Disney World and the top of Mt. Everest.
I can torture myself just fine on my own. |
| All times are GMT -6. The time now is 01:48 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
