I am a big Disney fan. For a few years I was going 2-3 times a year. Then the prices started to increase and the frequency of the trips dropped, then the length of stay dropped. I went 3 times this year and I am done for a while. I went to WDW in April for a week. We could only afford 3 days of park tickets. We have 7 kids so tickets alone were $2800 for 3 days and I bought them on the old system knowing the new system would jack up the prices, which it did.
We did resort hopping and Disney Springs the other days we were there. We still had fun but it was packed. The quality of the food for the prices was not worth it. I paid $420 for cold, crappy food at Chef Mickey's. I know it's not the best place but the kids wanted to go so we went. But, the last time I went to breakfast the food was better. It should at least be warm at 9am.
I just came back from DL this past weekend. That was just me and the wife as the kids were with their other parents (we are divorced and remarried). I still love DL. I have my thoughts though on why I won't be going back any time soon.
It isn't the price. Yes, the price has gotten out of control but Disney was always pricey, I just never cared before because the value was there for me. It is no longer there. The monorail at WDW is a disgrace. Taking away the night parade at MK is not acceptable to me. The overall service level at WDW has dropped since Eisner was running the show. Now the place is infested with college program kids used to save money but they have no ties to the place. It's a job to them. The service between WDW and DL is night and day. DL is old time Disney service. Every CM is came across last weekend was excellent from ticket booth, to entrance gate, to custodial.
Iger has done a lot of good for the company. His purchases has set the company up for tremendous financial stability for years to come if managed properly. But, he has also turned Disney from the "magical" place it once was into a corporate America feel, to me at least. This brings me to Star Wars/GE. I saw it for the first time this weekend in person. What imagineering did with it was amazing. As someone else described, it would be a beautiful movie set. That's an excellent way to put it. It was great to look at but to me it had no feeling. I was sitting in Cars land thinking, this FEELS like Disney. I have never seen Cars and I love Star Wars and I would rather hang at Cars land than GE. I think it has that magical feeling that Disney is famous for. GE felt like it was built with selling stuff in mind and they threw the Falcon in the back to get people to have to walk by all the over-priced merch to see it.
The Falcon looks amazing. They did a great job. I think the ride itself was a glorified Star Tours. I won't ever go on that ride again, it was boring and poorly done to me.
I think the biggest miss was the fact there is no tie to the original trilogy. How R2D2 and C3PO aren't somewhere in that land is beyond me. If they are, I missed it. If it were me I would have been heavy on the original trilogy. Think about everything that has been said here. They are marketing to upper middle and upper class now with their prices. Who has money to afford Disney now, the 40+ age group, who all grew up with the original trilogy. I am one of them. I left that land thinking, I am not spending $200 for a light saber, $100 for a droid, and $85 for a beer flight. Smuggler's run was boring. So I am not buying something, the ride was boring, why do I need to go back to this land, unless RotR is amazing. I don't. I can look at my pictures if I want to see the scenery again.
Personally, I am pissed that the blacked out the AP holders in DL and I am not even one of them. We have heard about this land. At HS 1/2 the park was useless for 2 years and you reward your most loyal fan base with black outs on the land, forcing them to buy another ticket if they want to see it? What a slap in the face.
I am also tired of hearing how they are screwing the front line cast members on wages. Some of these people can't afford to live off their pay. A bus driver at WDW makes less than $9/hr, at least they did the last time I looked as Disney posts the wages in their job postings. Yet, Iger is happy to report the record profits and accept his $45 million in bonus. Disney isn't hurting. Pay the people. In FL these people are in intense heat the majority of the year and dealing with masses of people. If you aren't putting the resources into the monorail and things like that, at least pay the people that deal with your customers.
We have moved away from Walt's vision. He wanted a place for families to go and hang out together. He wanted it to be clean, safe, and believed in "plussing" the experience whenever possible. Well, it's not always clean (WDW anyway, DL is spotless-and I was a WDW lover until my first trip to DL last year). The monorail is a death trap so that's not safe, and they are stripping away the pluses. The "extra" stuff is what made me willing to spend more. If they are being taken away, and the price is going up, what's the draw now? I get to wait in longer lines for rides? Oh gee, let me spend more for that please?
I will be back at some point, I love Disney. I won't be back to WDW until the monorail is replaced and the parade is back at night. If it never happens so be it. When I need to go back I am perfectly happy making it to DL as that is still Walt's park. You can feel the difference out there for sure. The value may not be what it once was, but it is higher at DL than WDW in my opinion. There are so many places out there I haven't seen that are also willing to accept my vacation dollars. Until Disney wants to start adding back the value, I will be spending it with other places.
