Disappointing Trip

[White Sox]

In mid September, a Wed, Thurs, Fri, I had Genie+ and got 10, 11, and 8 rides out of it, respectively.

 

[Aurora0427]

In mid September, a Wed, Thurs, Fri, I had Genie+ and got 10, 11, and 8 rides out of it, respectively.

Same…. We went 7 times this summer, and three times in September and got a ton done with rope drop and genie plus. But I think the October crowds are making it hard…. You know it’s crazy when the LL return time for Buzz is 4 hours, which it was yesterday evening. Also lots of sold out LL…. Even Star Tours.

 

[tx_rach]

OP, did you send an email to Guest Services at DLR? Sorry if I missed that. They need to hear your disappointment.

Yes, I did last night.

 

[NewbieMouse]

We're going in December and I fear this is how I'll feel afterwards. I suspect that once I total up how much it all costs, we'll decide as a family that it's time to start exploring other destinations for our vacations. It's getting out of control cost-wise; with the crowds and no reasonable Fastpass/Maxpass option (Genie+ is an exorbitant and disappointing option, it's just not worth it.

 

[Gaub]

Never have I been to Disney and left feeling like I got ripped off and wish my family had taken another vacation, until last week. We did half day on Wednesday (arrival day), OBB on Thursday and full park day on Friday. We went in knowing it would probably be crowded, but OMG, we did not expect the level of crowds we experienced. We used to be local, were annual passholders for a dozen years and have been to DL probably over 100 times. We know the parks. It wasn't the same place we remember.

Pros
* Mobile ordering food was great. Only time we had an issue was when trying to order Dole Whip. There was not one person picking up or even at the counter, and they wouldn't let me mobile order for anytime sooner than an hour the time the app showed, and were super rude to us. I encountered this last year at the same stand and the guy working said to just order and he will check me in. Just annoying because they were standing around just talking and were rude, and I know could have helped us if they wanted to.
* Residence Inn stay After my deliberation we ended up at the Residence Inn Convention Center. We have 3 older teenagers and needed the space. The hotel was fantastic. Rooms were clean, breakfast was really good, service was top notch (they even let us check in at 1:00). We also enjoyed being close to CVS and dining options. Hubby and I went one night and sat in the hot tub. The pool deck is wonderful and hot tub is huge. Walk to the park is 15 minutes.

Cons
* Genie+ We only bought it on our full park day. We were regretting not buying it on our half day to do more, but now that I've been through a full day with it, I'm glad we saved our money. The day we used it went got a few rides quickly in the late morning, but once I used my 1:00 reservation all other rides were either out of times for the day or weren't until 7pm. Once 7pm came everything else was taken. So we paid $100 for my family of 5 to skip lines for 4 rides. I was at WDW this time last year, 3 days before Genie+ started. We kept commenting on how nice it was because the lines moved so quickly for all of the rides without it. Since we had to wait in a long line for pretty much every ride, even lines that looked short took FOREVER. Felt much worse than Fast Pass, which we found we really missed.
* SO MANY PEOPLE Yes, I'm fully aware I booked a trip during fall break and during Halloween, there will be crowds. I work at a school and my teenagers can't miss school for a late January Disney trip, it's what we have to deal with. But it was just so much more crowded this time than any other trips. Very few lines under 60 minutes. Even Fantasyland rides were 30-60 minutes. Then with lack of availability for Genie+ rides, it was too much waiting. Every inch of the park was wall to wall people.


Has anyone else come back from the parks lately and felt disappointed? I can't believe I'm even saying this about a Disney trip, but ugh.... I'm so sad it wasn't very good. For the amount of money we spent and time I put into planning this isn't how you want to feel coming out of a vacation. I've been reading this more and more on FB Disney groups I belong to. And now they are about to raise prices even more. My family decided we are out and that was probably our last Disney vacation, at least for a long time.

My 22-yr old son and I were there about a month ago. It was exactly the same way! Right down to the Dole Whip stand with people standing around doing nothing and telling us it would be an hour wait. We left the park @ 6PM on our final night. Too many people, too many main attractions broken down and walls of people everywhere. The value simply isn't there any more for us out-of-towners. We bought Genie+/park hoppers for all 3 days, but OBB was 2/3 nights we were there (they scheduled after we had made our reservations months earlier). The Disney apologists may chastise you (I haven't read the other 6 pages of replies yet), but Disney needs to limit the number of people in the parks. I have no need to ever go back at this point.

 

[Gaub]

It's literally the October effect. I'm dead serious. I'm an Inspire Key holder and a local and I absolutely would NOT have renewed my pass last month if the 54 visits I made between Sept 2021 and Sept 2022 had been miserable. I have STILL not experienced a day with the kinds of crowds I have seen this past week on social media, because I DO NOT GO IN OCTOBER ANYMORE. It cannot be understated. October is HORRIBLE. I go on the 1st every year because it's my birthday and then I don't go back until the last Saturday of the month, when all the "fall breaks" are done.

It is not fun. It gets too crowded. It has been this way every October for several years.

I'm sorry you had the experience you did. I don't know why Disney keeps insisting on such high capacity every October when they can't have the staffing and entertainment to serve it. The mobile order only situation at the Tiki Juice Bar could be the poster child for everything they are getting wrong from their offices in Glendale. They are making decisions about park operations without seeing firsthand how those decisions work in practice. The CMs being rude is not okay, I'm not defending it. However, the CMs are the ones who have to stand there and carry out these ridiculous policies and then have to listen to people complain at them ALL DAY long with absolutely no power to override them. It sucks for everyone involved and I'm guessing at some point, they just snap. I would.

Lesson learned. Disneyland is NOT like WDW in October. Go to WDW in October. Do NOT come to Disneyland again.

Your kids are in school, right? Come back to Disneyland in JULY. Seriously. It's the absolute best experience you will have at the parks.

I went by myself last July and the parks were super crowded then, too! I didn't even leave the park my first day and still didn't get most things in because it was so crowded. I had never stayed from rope drop until close until then. Disney is sacrificing guest experience for the almighty $$. That may work for them in the short term, but not so sure it will in the long term.

 

[Gaub]

A crowded day at Disney is still better than not being at Disney? It's all perspective.

Not necessarily.

 

[DLgal]

I went by myself last July and the parks were super crowded then, too! I didn't even leave the park my first day and still didn't get most things in because it was so crowded. I had never stayed from rope drop until close until then. Disney is sacrificing guest experience for the almighty $$. That may work for them in the short term, but not so sure it will in the long term.

Well, I guess it's all relative. We were there in the beginning and end of the month (not in the middle thanks to Covid). I didnt find it crowded July 2 and 3 or July 31-Aug 2. It was pleasant for us. And far less crowded than it's been the last week. I did hear about some heavier crowd days in mid July, so I suppose I missed that.

I think ever since the reopening, it's been much more difficult to "get everything done" in just a couple days. It used to be easier but G+ has screwed that up.

 

[DontSpamMe]

I can definitely see why the OP feels the way they do. A 10 out of 10 day park crowd day as a day ticket holder is flat out miserable (IMHO).

I would not attend Disneyland as a day ticket holder until things stabilize or you go during the few off dates they still have. The only value right now is for MK holders, assuming they go enough times to pay for their keys.

We got MKs last year which made the bad days tolerable simply because we didn't pay the day ticket prices. As bad as the experience is compared to 2019, we have been fortunate to experience something enjoyable that made the effort of going worth it.

Good luck to everyone trying to find their happy at the happiest place on earth. Lord knows the suits are making it harder and harder to do so.

 

[tx_rach]

My 22-yr old son and I were there about a month ago. It was exactly the same way! Right down to the Dole Whip stand with people standing around doing nothing and telling us it would be an hour wait. We left the park @ 6PM on our final night. Too many people, too many main attractions broken down and walls of people everywhere. The value simply isn't there any more for us out-of-towners. We bought Genie+/park hoppers for all 3 days, but OBB was 2/3 nights we were there (they scheduled after we had made our reservations months earlier). The Disney apologists may chastise you (I haven't read the other 6 pages of replies yet), but Disney needs to limit the number of people in the parks. I have no need to ever go back at this point.

 

[Snap Crackle Pop]

I would not visit as a day ticket holder in October, it's the 2nd busiest month at Disneyland. (2nd behind December)

 

[Angel141925]

I would not visit as a day ticket holder in October, it's the 2nd busiest month at Disneyland. (2nd behind December)

Maybe we go on an off time for Christmas last year and went a peak time for Halloween ( which we did for Halloween. Totally my fault I was thinking weather not crowds and learned my lesson lol). But I’ll take Christmas time any day. We’ll see if that’s still true this year.

 

[Mseplover]

Please delete

 

[DLgal]

I would not visit as a day ticket holder in October, it's the 2nd busiest month at Disneyland. (2nd behind December)

That hasn't been true for a long time.

October is far busier than December.

With the price hike and the complete blackout of all Magic Keys in late December, I'm FULLY expecting Disney to relent and remove those blackouts by Christmas day. They will not get the crowds they think they will from day tickets only.

We went a few times over Christmas break last year with our Dream keys and it was comically slow. We were there on the 20th, 28th, 30th and Jan 1. Would have no problem doing the same this year if they lift the blackouts.

 

[gelatoni fan]

I think OBB days are worse than your typical day in December but non-OBB days will be better than Christmas and New Years week with the caveat that I haven't done Christmas week in the parks for many years.

I'm most curious about New Years Day because there's actually something unique that would be worth getting a ticket to see for blocked out keyholders. My more recent experience with July 4th is that days like that make the fireworks areas super crowded at night but wait times for rides may be lower than on adjacent days.

 

[wowsmom]

October has gotten incrementally worse since 2017. It's like all these neighboring states with fall breaks are now requiring families to visit DLR. I don't get it, but it's to the point where, like I said, I don't go anymore in October. We have been passholders since 2001 and it used to be a nice time of year to visit. Not anymore. I blame social media.

And your July 2021 experience was not an anomaly. It's like that every year. It's one of the least crowded times to visit. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. So much so that for the first time EVER, Disneyland put out discounted summer tickets for CA residents this year to try and drum up attendance. It kind of worked, a little bit. But July was still great.

October 2017 is what got me to finally join Twitter, so I could easily check if Mickey & Friends was closed. We used to drive over once a week for dinner (lived about 35 miles away, at the time) and if M&F was closed, I would hop on the app & make a Storytellers reservation so we could park at GCH instead. I miss those days of easy reservations.

I do hope that everybody who is having these miserable experiences emails Disney about it. It may not make any difference but maybe they aren't fully aware of people's experiences and how people's opinions are changing? Or do they really not care at all any more?

 

[VandVsmama]

We went to DL during 2 days of October fall break last year and had a similar experience…long lines, grumpy park guests, everything felt rushed and frantic. Not the same vibe as before COVID. It was our 2nd time going during fall break and I’m never going to DL again that week.

It’s not worth it.

Too many people. Too busy. Long lines for everything.

We went to WDW last week instead with friends and had an amazing time. I’m going to avoid DL in October from here on out.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

October 2017 is what got me to finally join Twitter, so I could easily check if Mickey & Friends was closed. We used to drive over once a week for dinner (lived about 35 miles away, at the time) and if M&F was closed, I would hop on the app & make a Storytellers reservation so we could park at GCH instead. I miss those days of easy reservations.

I do hope that everybody who is having these miserable experiences emails Disney about it. It may not make any difference but maybe they aren't fully aware of people's experiences and how people's opinions are changing? Or do they really not care at all any more?

I don’t think they really care anymore as long as the money keeps rolling in. Taking away the free fast passes in particular shows me that they just don’t care about much more than money right now.

 

[Angel141925]

October 2017 is what got me to finally join Twitter, so I could easily check if Mickey & Friends was closed. We used to drive over once a week for dinner (lived about 35 miles away, at the time) and if M&F was closed, I would hop on the app & make a Storytellers reservation so we could park at GCH instead. I miss those days of easy reservations.

I do hope that everybody who is having these miserable experiences emails Disney about it. It may not make any difference but maybe they aren't fully aware of people's experiences and how people's opinions are changing? Or do they really not care at all any more?

We shall see. I sent my email this morning. I did mention we had a trip coming up next month for my sons birthday and that if there was anyway for some pixie dust for that trip to help make up for this one I would appreciate it. We’ll see what happens. I don’t expect anything though.

 

[gelatoni fan]

October 2017 is what got me to finally join Twitter, so I could easily check if Mickey & Friends was closed. We used to drive over once a week for dinner (lived about 35 miles away, at the time) and if M&F was closed, I would hop on the app & make a Storytellers reservation so we could park at GCH instead. I miss those days of easy reservations.

I do hope that everybody who is having these miserable experiences emails Disney about it. It may not make any difference but maybe they aren't fully aware of people's experiences and how people's opinions are changing? Or do they really not care at all any more?

I think they are well aware of what's going on. I've seen frustrated youtubers and bloggers post that about the parks and then they'll get a free stay at a Disney hotel after which they take down their negative video/post about Disney. I can't say with certainty that Disney uses hotel stays and VIP access to bribe influencers out of expressing their honest opinions but I strongly suspect that's what's happening.

From how Disney does their press releases, it seems like the one metric that they care about right now is the average per guest spending. So as long as the people in the park are spending more and more, they're meeting their goal. If for some reason, the executives truly can't identify that there is a problem with guest satisfaction, then I don't see how they could have the competence to actually fix anything.