Never thought I'd do it- Cancelled.

[MoreThanThis]

I have never had an AP and never will. I have learned there is much better parks out there that treat their AP holders much better.

This year, my family planned a long vacation in Florida. We let our APs expire in 2019, and since they weren’t selling them back then, we decided to purchased Universal and Sea World APs.
The discounts, parking, and hotel rates have been so eye opening. Through this, I experienced Universal hotels for the first time and there are some phenomenal values.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

We cancelled all but one night of our WDW upcoming December/ January trip. We are only staying one night at Poly because I had a few points I could not bank. I booked 3 nights at Legoland and 6 at Universal Portofino Bay instead. On our one night at Poly we have dining reserved and nothing else. Our October trip made this decision for us. We stayed at Universal Portofino Bay and had a blast! No stress, Express passes, great food and the Horror Nights give you 8 hours, 10 haunted houses, all very well done, scare zones all over the park, great food and friendly team members. We did Boo Bash for twice the price for 3 hours and it sucked. OP is making a good decision. After our last trip in October we are done with WDW Parks for awhile. We will still visit Orlando and stay at our home resort, Riviera because we love it there but will also try some DVC resorts we haven’t stayed at. We have march booked for 5 nights at Saratoga Springs. As far as the parks go, no way Jose. We plan on visiting the space center, sea world and spending time in the pool in March. Also we did not renew our AP’s this time around. The price is just too much.

 

[goofyernmost]

Sounds like the OP has been reading a lot of negative 3rd party reports. I'd just encourage those in a similar position to go and decide for themselves.

I'm not cancelling anything myself, but if I had made a reservation I would have cancelled it. Second factual part of the story is that I have been to WDW 46 times and for most of that I lived 1500 miles away. I know WDW! I know it inside and out, I loved it the first time I drove on property and, at one point, even got my CDL so I could retire to a close distance and drive a bus at the place.

I don't need to experience the "new" system to know that it doesn't fit into what I consider an enjoyable experience. I know what I like, I know what I find will make me happy and leave feeling like it was all worth it. What I see as requirements to take a couple minute ride or spend outrageous amounts of money to stay in a three star hotel and a eat in a two star restaurant while I continue to drain my wallet does not have to be experienced. I know what it feels like already. I am sure the OP does as well. Maybe I just got tired of it over the last 39 years, but back just a few years ago I could consider it a fun affordable adventure, I now see as filled with unnecessary required burdens and unreasonable cost.

Do they have the right to charge whatever they want and decrease the things that they once offered. Sure! Do I or anyone else have a right to say, nice going, but my unlimited willingness to spend more on a smaller experience, but more intensively required process and less relaxing fun has run out of willingness to participate. They can keep it. There is a whole real world out there that is worthy of my attention.

 

[jknc]

Currently, you push back, cancel, Disney doesn't really care. Have you looked at park attendance? It appears to be nearly where they were pre-pandemic, but now with higher prices. As much as I dislike the price increases and getting less for more $$, the general population doesn't seem to care. As long as this continues, they have no reason to drop prices.

There’s obviously a lot of warranted dissatisfaction with price increases, removal of previously free items, and Genie +.

But again, Disney isn’t forcing you to wake up before 7 for Genie +.

I’ll add to those commenting about making trips to National Parks. Some of those require planning a year in advance as well. And take a look at vehicle rental prices. It’s gonna be costly. Been there, done that. I would recommend taking those trips.

 

[jknc]

I’m just as angry about Genie+ etc.

I posted a few months ago about hoping to find someone to take our upcoming DVC stay. Sadly no buyers.

I’ve just come to harsh realization, I’m a nobody. It’s obvious Disney doesn’t care how dissatisfied some of us are.

 

[Moms]

We’re going in less than a week and withholding judgement until we’re there. We’ve researched and will not bother with genie+ at AK or EP and not even HS on a day we plan to park hop. We are not ones who sleep in so 7:00 AM is fine with us. Better than having to be at the park before sunrise!! I can take care of business with my jammies on and a cup of coffee in my hand!

Not thrilled with the changes but I do remember the angst expressed by many when FP+ was instituted. Change is hard but we live in a world where everything has changed in the last couple of years. I’m sorry that the changes have affected one of my favorite places but it would be very naive to imagine WDW would not be affected.

 

[DisneyOma]

Sounds like the OP has been reading a lot of negative 3rd party reports. I'd just encourage those in a similar position to go and decide for themselves.

Will you foot the bill if I decide I don't like it after I've dropped $$$$$ for a WDW vacation?

I understand your complaint. But at least I can do it on my phone from my room. I prefer that to having to be at the front gate 90 minutes before opening so I can run in to get in line for some attractions. There are pros and cons to the latest system. There were pros and cons before it, too.

How many attractions can you ride at rope drop for free compared to saving one spot on Genie+ ? Sounds like rope drop is still necessary at this point.

We’re going in less than a week and withholding judgement until we’re there. We’ve researched and will not bother with genie+ at AK or EP and not even HS on a day we plan to park hop. We are not ones who sleep in so 7:00 AM is fine with us. Better than having to be at the park before sunrise!! I can take care of business with my jammies on and a cup of coffee in my hand!

Not thrilled with the changes but I do remember the angst expressed by many when FP+ was instituted. Change is hard but we live in a world where everything has changed in the last couple of years. I’m sorry that the changes have affected one of my favorite places but it would be very naive to imagine WDW would not be affected.

Taking care of business for $$$, and then still waiting in long lines if you don't get there early makes no sense to me whatsoever. You only get how many genie+ passes a day before they run out?

 

[ScarletFire]

I would recommend giving Universal a chance. As a non-Harry Potter fan I was blown away by the details of the Wizarding World. It is equal to Galaxy’s Edge in terms of detail and immersion in a world. Plenty of the other areas and attractions are impressively detailed as well. It surprised me that I didn’t find it underwhelming compared to Disney. Stay in a deluxe room so you get unlimited express pass and it is so simple. This year was our first time there and it was shockingly fun and simple. There’s only 2 rides without express lanes and they are a simple rope drop or stay late to ride with short lines. Significantly cheaper than Disney too and both parks are walkable so you eliminate the bussing/transportation completely. Also an on site water park if you’re into that.

It felt like our first time at Disney and so much fun. We will be going back for a longer stay next fall and doing 1 day at Epcot for Food and Wine as our only Disney visit.

We also ski and go other places but anyone missing the Disney magic that hasn’t tried Universal I highly recommend a 2-4 day trip to try for yourself. Unlike a Disney trip it’s not an astronomical cost to spend a couple of days and see everything and it’s approximately 7,784x simpler to plan and get around.

I am a Harry Potter fan. DH recently told me Molly says the hamburgers and pizza are better at Universal. There are reasons to visit Universal, including the 7,784x simpler plan haha. Maybe one day....

 

[PepperjackDragon]

Will you foot the bill if I decide I don't like it after I've dropped $$$$$ for a WDW vacation?



How many attractions can you ride at rope drop for free compared to saving one spot on Genie+ ? Sounds like rope drop is still necessary at this point.



Taking care of business for $$$, and then still waiting in long lines if you don't get there early makes no sense to me whatsoever. You only get how many genie+ passes a day before they run out?

I partly agree with your response. However if one were to pay for rotr and railway + grab a Sdd, then they could probably still secure a mf and Aerosmith at the 2hr and 4hr marks (if willing to wait and ride those to around 2-4pm) meaning the only real waits would be toy story mania and tot. Time those right and your looking at an hour or so in line. If one considers the value of waking up early but having an extra hour or so to lounge around once awake to be worth about 40$ pp then it makes sense.

 

[pixiedust2u]

Currently, you push back, cancel, Disney doesn't really care. Have you looked at park attendance? It appears to be nearly where they were pre-pandemic, but now with higher prices. As much as I dislike the price increases and getting less for more $$, the general population doesn't seem to care. As long as this continues, they have no reason to drop prices.

i think it’s too early to tell whether the general population “doesn’t care”. Part of the marketing strategy of Disney is to play on emotion to get people to book a trip, and then return. To get lost in the magic and not even realize how much your spending. If a larger part of the population is beginning to have a less than stellar experience, or even just a “meh” experience they may be less likely to return, less likely to recommend the trip to others. People who are planners, planing their first trip may be put off by negative reviews and may choose to wait. Of course this is all speculation. But I think the way travel is right now is not reflective of the future.

 

[JelloCake]

We just returned yesterday and we have decided to take a break. The genie plus, individual ride selections, having to pre-plan meals in order to get them at the right time proved to be too much for us. We spent 10 days at the resort, 8 in park. Waking up at 645 every morning and Having to plan our day around what we could get was limiting. without the ability to hop until 2 or make same day park reservation changes, planning became frustrating. Our best time was the after hours party with little crowds. Epcot was so crowded you couldn’t really get anything from the booths unless you were prepared to wait in long lines any day of the week. Genie plus proved to be pretty limiting since you could get one lightning lane at 7 but not another till you tapped I’m for your first one or 2 hours after park opening. I went in with an open mind and just think it’s not for our family right now. We have a short Disneyland trip planned for next year, but I believe we will spend our time else for a while. I hope those who go have a wonderful time and make great memories.

I get it. We got home last night from a 6 day stay, and while we had a great time (our first Disney trip since Nov 2019), we were not fans of the Genie at all. My husband woke up early to try to snag rides we wanted, then struggled to fall back to sleep. Only being able to have one LL at a time is dumb. We really wanted to do Jungle Cruise on Saturday, but the only LL we could get was 4:15, so we'd have to spend the bulk of the day trying to work our plans around that, without being able to get LL for anything else. I'm also not a fan of the paid ILL. While we did use it out of "necessity", paying an additional $60 for our family of 4 to ride ROTR takes a big chunk out of that "magical" Disney feeling. I really hope Disney listens to customer feedback and tweaks it, but I won't hold my breath. We typically go every 2 years, so we'll see how things stand in 2023.

 

[Eastern]

So many, “we’re considering” / “I’m considering” / “we plan to” / “we might” cancel our APs.

Not many “we/I did cancel APs”

Funny, right?

We let our two remaning AP's lapse as of October. I figure we will not get the use out of new ones. People do not really 'cancel' APs they just don't renew.

 

[ScarletFire]

Send me the $9,000 And I will show you how to still have a good time at Disney world.

It's a lot of work to be the Disney tour guide. I do it for my friends and family and they never know the work involved. It's worth it for me to watch the fun they have.

I like your tag line from Scarlet Begonias. It makes me smile when I see it on the DISboards. My 24 year old daughter is named Scarlet.

 

[Eastern]

If I have to consider price vs logistics, I think the logistics part is the real deal breaker for me. In Disney's current state, even if you spend thousands and thousands on your vacation, you are still subject to glitchy technology, ride unavailability, long lines, daily 7am scrambles and various other frustrations. And don't try to call to solve your problems, you will wait on the phone for 2 hours, on average.

 

[ScarletFire]

And the guest services lines are crazy too!!!

 

[CBMom01]

Yea the fake comment is unwarranted. As to genie plus it’s not particularly useful but should be a no brainer for a regular ticket add on for MK and HS. The real hit is for AP customers. Major devaluation for us.

How so?

 

[jknc]

What is fake outrage?

IMHO, it’s anger or despair with price increases, changes etc. but still paying the increase, taking the trips etc.

Circle of life, really.

 

[CBMom01]

I wonder how many of the outraged Disney folks are *exclusively* Disney travelers. All travel has gotten dodgy and expensive. Perhaps it’s a matter of perspective.

 

[Jrb1979]

I wonder how many of the outraged Disney folks are *exclusively* Disney travelers. All travel has gotten dodgy and expensive. Perhaps it’s a matter of perspective.

Maybe for some they are just Disney travelers. In my case it's not the money that's the problem, it's how complicated Disney has made it. I can go to a lot of other parks, have as much fun and not have a bunch of hoops to jump through.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

What is fake outrage?

IMHO, it’s anger or despair with price increases, changes etc. but still paying the increase, taking the trips etc.

Circle of life, really.

I'm not sure I get this.

Are you suggesting that these people aren't really upset or outraged, but are just pretending to be? (As is sometimes suggested of political commentators who seem to feign outrage at the most mild of transgressions?) If so, I strongly disagree. People aren't posting for their health. They are posting to vent genuine feelings of anger or frustration at a place for which they have long felt affection.

Or are you suggesting that, unless people are actually willing to vote with their wallets, they can't really be all that upset? That strikes me as unfair as well. For many people, sunk costs make it very difficult to cancel. And for others, the fact that they aren't willing to pull the plug altogether does not mean that they aren't deeply concerned. My favorite baseball team sucks now, and I am pretty upset with some of the decisions that the general manager has made. Will I stop going to games or watching them on television? No. I'm a fan, and I still derive pleasure from watching, even if it's less pleasure than I used to get when the team was good. But that shouldn't prevent me from griping about bad decisions on message boards and commiserating with other fans who feel the same way. And it doesn't make my feelings less valid.

Or are you suggesting that the only way to actually bring about change, rather than just griping about it, is to put our money where our mouths are? If that's it, then I think you have a valid point. But, given that attendance is skyrocketing even as the quality of the product deteriorates, it seems unlikely that cancelling will make any difference --- at least not in the current environment. Refusal to make a futile gesture is not proof of fake outrage.