Disney Enchantment is a hard fail and 1 OCT was a disaster

[samsteele]

We were at the 40th by accident and it was the busiest/scariest day... not enjoyable to say the least. This sounds worse.

Similar experience here with Epcot's 35th in 2017. I hadn't planned my vacation around it but it fell on the last day of my trip. It was a mess. The entire day was one huge line of ebayers snaking around every shop grabbing all branded merch. Forget about regular guests getting into any shops, I could barely navigate around the lines to try to do anything else that day. Cast members seemed stunned that this was an issue and likely were terribly short-staffed. Get the impression that management just throws hands up in the air and accepts it will be a cluster months in advance so no planning or appropriate staffing. My lesson was to never attend any anniversary 'celebration' in person. Better to park myself on the couch at home and let vloggers do the heavy lifting. I don't need to be knee deep in that crazy and don't need that fan experience.

 

[gatormom2tots]

Ehh.....if you choose to go on THE day (which I would think would be fun to look back and say "I was there THAT day)then you choose to deal with the craziness. I am not sure what you were expecting.

I haven't seen the new show in person (only videos) and I will agree it appears lackluster and a far cry from HEA and Wishes. But I will not make final judgement until I see it in person. Though I saw Craig's video of Harmonious and it looked amazing!

But the one thing I wasn't expecting was the low wait times all day. Sounds like a fabulous day (at ALL the parks) if you were there for the attractions.

I will say that I am glad we are not going until next week.

 

[luv2cheer92]

To each their own. I adored Enchantment and had an absolutely perfect day.

 

[vincep]

What is this thing suddenly with popcorn?
You do know you can make delicious fresh popcorn at home anyway you like it and it costs very little. Suddenly everyone has to have popcorn at Disney where the markup is about a 1,000%.
A turn of the century confectionary should have many delicious surprising fresh treats not all prepackaged seemingly in a factory with windows spectacularly designed with candy boxes the way I remember from my youth. And not nonsense made with skittles and rice krispies. Dear lord. Cheapek is brilliant at playing Disney fans for suckers.

 

[b00kbug]

I was watching resorttv1's stream yesterday and I think they nailed it when they said that alot of people really hated Happily Ever After at first and wanted Wishes back.

We're not going until August - but I for one am looking forward to all the 50th fanfare and wokeness.

 

[Dakota731]

It seems everyone wants to go to WDW, but they don’t want others to go. They want low crowds and capacity caps for others as long as they get to attend.

 

[CharlotteStreet]

I wasn’t there, but I watched the Enchantment livestream Thursday and the ABC special yesterday and was struck that they rededicated the park and had special performances in an empty park instead of for the guests who same on October 1 and were expecting a special stage show. I get that logistically it’s easier to put on a big show in an empty park, but it’s disrespectful to those who came on the anniversary day. The fact that the park guests rushed the stage shows they were expecting something really special—and Disney did some special things to celebrate the 50th there, just not for the park guests. Disappointing.

 

[luv2cheer92]

What is this thing suddenly with popcorn?
You do know you can make delicious fresh popcorn at home anyway you like it and it costs very little. Suddenly everyone has to have popcorn at Disney where the markup is about a 1,000%.
A turn of the century confectionary should have many delicious surprising fresh treats not all prepackaged seemingly in a factory with windows spectacularly designed with candy boxes the way I remember from my youth. And not nonsense made with skittles and rice krispies. Dear lord. Cheapek is brilliant at playing Disney fans for suckers.

Its the special, limited edition buckets they are after, not the popcorn lol.

 

[mistysue]

Completely agree with the sentiment, but what's an eye tooth? I'm not trying to be a jerk; is this a typo or some really weird expression I'm not familiar with?

OP you are so lucky to have been there. Many would have given their eye teeth.

The strang obsession with everyone wanting the popcorn now has gotten a little weird. It's not just for the buckets- our last few trips it has become hard to get popcorn because the lines are always too long, honestly we get it because we have so many allergies and it's the only snack in the parks everyone in my family can eat, so we keep it on hand especially since QS frequently can't feed us.

What is this thing suddenly with popcorn?

 

[b00kbug]

Completely agree with the sentiment, but what's an eye tooth? I'm not trying to be a jerk; is this a typo or some really weird expression I'm not familiar with?

Its the name for the set of teeth where your fangs would be if you were a vampire.....if that makes sense.

 

[vincep]

So all these people are collecting popcorn buckets. What do they do with them? Sell them on ebay for hundreds of dollars or just fill their closets with them?

 

[jjb1974]

1 OCT
1 OCT
1 OCT.

Stop trying to make fetch happen.

woke virtue signaling

mystery solved.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Is it just me or was a lot of the animation pulled directly from HEA?

 

[igrsod]

Is it just me or was a lot of the animation pulled directly from HEA?

I don't know. The thing I didn't like was how badly it seemed placed on the castle. It made it hard to see. Honestly it felt like many of the projections were just pasted on to a flat screen with the hopes that they would look good on the castle, instead of working with the shape of the castle. Not all, but quite a few.
I just wish they had done a better job, or at the very least, just updated HEA with projections down main street. That would have made people ooh and ahh. HEA was only a few years old, and a great show, no need to change it. I hope that this show only lasts for the 18 months.

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

Completely agree with the sentiment, but what's an eye tooth? I'm not trying to be a jerk; is this a typo or some really weird expression I'm not familiar with?

It means that you would give anything. Eye teeth are your canine teeth. I don’t know where it comes from, and my usual fall back position, is if in doubt blame Shakespeare.

 

[Chrisizzle]

It means that you would give anything. Eye teeth are your canine teeth. I don’t know where it comes from, and my usual fall back position, is if in doubt blame Shakespeare.

I thought it was a typo too… but what do you know…

https://grammarist.com/idiom/give-ones-eye-teeth/

 

[Kms943]

I wasn’t there, but I watched the Enchantment livestream Thursday and the ABC special yesterday and was struck that they rededicated the park and had special performances in an empty park instead of for the guests who same on October 1 and were expecting a special stage show. I get that logistically it’s easier to put on a big show in an empty park, but it’s disrespectful to those who came on the anniversary day. The fact that the park guests rushed the stage shows they were expecting something really special—and Disney did some special things to celebrate the 50th there, just not for the park guests. Disappointing.

Because apparently Disney’s new leadership is placing more importance on the social media image that they want to portray instead of actually providing great guest experiences. I’m not saying that I still don’t love WDW, but it’s clearly a shell of it‘s former self. Think about it, Chapek is on stage talking about how technology innovative Disney is, then the very next day the have to shut down WiFi in MK because their infrastructure can’t handle a full parks worth of guests using their phones. How’s that gonna work when they roll out Genie+? Over at EPCOT, Harmonious debuts with no projections on it‘s main feature and at AK, Kite Tails gets shut down because of overturned jetski‘s and malfunctioning kites. My point is, Disney’s Marketing/Social Media portrayal of the current Disney experience is not living up to actual guest experience. I know people keep saying “ But we’re still in a pandemic, cut them some slack”. Honestly, I’m over that sentiment because they are charging full service prices and it’s not wrong for people to expect all services/shows to work.

 

[igrsod]

Because apparently Disney’s new leadership is placing more importance on the social media image that they want to portray instead of actually providing great guest experiences. I’m not saying that I still don’t love WDW, but it’s clearly a shell of it‘s former self. Think about it, Chapek is on stage talking about how technology innovative Disney is, then the very next day the have to shut down WiFi in MK because their infrastructure can’t handle a full parks worth of guests using their phones. How’s that gonna work when they roll out Genie+? Over at EPCOT, Harmonious debuts with no projections on it‘s main feature and at AK, Kite Tails gets shut down because of overturned jetski‘s and malfunctioning kites. My point is, Disney’s Marketing/Social Media portrayal of the current Disney experience is not living up to actual guest experience. I know people keep saying “ But we’re still in a pandemic, cut them some slack”. Honestly, I’m over that sentiment because they are charging full service prices and it’s not wrong for people to expect all services/shows to work.

You are so on the money here. You only get a pass for the pandemic for so long, AND you are charging the same full price, no pandemic discount, and you are taking away or charging for things that used to be included.
I too thought some of Chapek's comments were ironic, not just the tech comment. I can't wait for this era of Disney to be over.

 

[KittyKitty]

You’ve been here on Christmas?
Is that the holiday that happens every year like clockwork and that Disney has spent 49 years perfecting?

Well, yesterday was a once in 50 year event.
AND… it happened during a pandemic (with those countless considerations).

I was thinking the same thing. Christmas, Spring Break, happen once a year. 50 year anniversary happens, well, only once.

 

[teachmedis]

Well on October 1 I was waiting in the ER to have my gallbladder out, checking wait times for rides while here in NY where you can already feel winter is coming. I can tell you, I would have done anything to walk into that park on the 50th. I feel like we need to put things into perspective a bit.
I'm not going to sit here and tell you I love all the changes that have been made, but I will tell you there's no place I'd rather be.