Just returned... Updated Obervations, FP+

[ps17]

Originally, posted this from a flight - updated to fix typos and offer some clarifications. The purpose of this is not to start a flame war especially with those that are so fast to jump on anyone who decides to post issues with the new system or changes. This is a Disney chat board meant for participants to share experiences - our issues and frustrations are real. We have spent 10s if not 100s of thousands of dollars on the Mouse over the last 15 years. To recap more concisely, we are parked out. Our kids are all older and don't care as much. We are done with our annual trip. We love WDW and will continue to visit once every few years and probably ride the cruise lines some but our annual 10K+ contribution will come to an end. Now onto the original post - hopefully cleaned up a bit...

Just got back from 8 day FL vacation at Disney/Unversal starting Dec 26. Our obervations:

1) After over a decade long (actually) run of holidays at WDW, our annual Xmas holiday trip to WDW/UO will be coming to an end. We will probably return once in a while but I think that our kids have gone older and we are parked out. FP+ has made it harder and a contributor and a slight push over this threshold but not the main reason.

2) We were happy to play by the rules and be flexible while visiting WDW during busy times of the year - Howvever - Disney did not make it any easier - Not easy to change dining reservations - Not easy to change FP+ reservations - system is still very clunky and error prone.

3) We spend months in the planning including getting the hard to secure BOG reservation - then Disney goes ahead and changes it's Wishes/Celebration schedule on very short notice. We are happy to work around this but then Disney hits us with bad software/applications that makes it hard to change dining, FP+ etc. I know many of you have not had issues but we are using IPhone running MDE AND computer in the hotel room using WIFI - nothing non-standard about that

4) Terrible service at the Wave caused us to miss replanned Wishes viewing - again, happy to work around this but then the MDE application craps out again. Very annoying.

5) Candlelight Processional as good as ever.

6) Miss Walter Conkrite.

7) Service at the restaurants are hit and miss. For the priices, and hassle of making reservations it should be top notch.

8) After Dec 26, fireworks and Parade options seem to diminish - still a very crowded time of year - why not offer multiple viewings through the new year?

8) Part of our attempt to see Wishes including needinng to extend Park Hoppers for our kids by a day. Guest services unable to do this due to unexplainable glitch - had to go to a Park Window late at night to get this done. Again, aggravating technology. To rant on this a little more, I am familiar with the concept of software engineering. Seriouslly? A billion spent and this?

9) Mine train: Great new rided, but all that trouble and investment for a ride that is barely a blink? At the end of the day, it is a train on a little track - how much would it have cost to make that track as long a big thunder?

10) At the end of the day, Disney is making out with apparent record park attendance - interesting to see if this persists over the years. They will probably do so but maybe the jury is out.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

My son is going to college for software engineering. I told him he should get a job in the IT dept of Disney and fix their my disney experience app.

He said maybe when he finishes college in 3 years.......

 

[ArwenMarie]

I agree about Mine Train. I love the ride, but it so badly needed one more lift hill/show scene and another drop.

 

[ciera321]

My son is going to college for software engineering. I told him he should get a job in the IT dept of Disney and fix their my disney experience app.

He said maybe when he finishes college in 3 years.......

Too funny, exactly what we told our son who is 1.5 years from the same degree. We want to move to Florida, and keep putting the suggestion of a Disney IT job into his head.

 

[World Showcaser]

Sorry to have read your list of complaints. Hope your next vacation is better.

 

[BigAlsGal]

Sorry to have read your list of complaints. Hope your next vacation is better.

Ditto

 

[lborne]

10) At the end of the day, Disney is making out with apparent record park attendance - interesting to see if this persists...

Sadly, that won't happen and is why things don't change for the good faster. If attendance dropped and people complained about FP+ and MDW, it would be fixed quickly. But there are more people that want to go to Disney than ever (more people than ever period), and that trend is likely to continue. Plus, Disney now has so many marathons and special events, that they've attracted new crowds of people.

Anyway, sorry for your troubles. We were there last year quite a bit and the magic bands and apps all worked great for us. However, I spent a lot of time on my phone at the parks changing things and worrying about my battery life. Normally I'd leave my phone in the room, but can't anymore unless I want to wait in long kiosk lines.

 

[meljean]

I couldn't agree with you more about the dinining service. I was so excited to try Garden Grill and the service was terrible. She was not at all excited about her job and it showed. We thought it was bad here and it was worse at LTT. It was so bad that we never saw our server after we ordered. I had to find him to get our bill as my children were melting and we needed to get going. Sadly since we had 6 people, one was a 1 year old who shared off my plate, I had to tip at the 18%. He did not deserve that at all. I used to be a server and I tip mostly off service. We continued with Tusker House, not good. My husband and I probably won't go to these places again. And we are not picky people. I often read reports and think, how could it be so bad? It just left a sour taste in our mouth. Yes, for the amount of money we spent and the time I took to plan the trip I wish the dining went a little better. I'm sorry you had a disappointing trip.

 

[Shaden]

It also drives drives down the overall price. iPhones are expensive, imagine if they were made in America by not children?

The IT salaries of 200 Indians as opposed to 200 Americans in that field is a large difference

It only drives down the price if the savings are passed on to the consumer, which they are not.

Iphones have a MASSIVE mark-up. They could be made in the US, at a profit, but not as GREAT of a profit.

IT support CAN be done in North America, and companies still make massive profits, but they want just that sliver more, so the outsource.

WDW has done nothing but increase profits while at the same time increasing prices.

 

[rwdavis2]

As to Disney IT jobs. They are alway advertising on their career site. IMHO, they do not pay very well.

 

[3dog2kidmom]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. We have spent Christmas at Disney many times, and were there Dec. 20-26. Last year we cruised, so this was our first time with FP+/MDE/Magic Band stuff and were apprehensive about it all. But I needn't have worried. Everything worked flawlessly, and my family very much enjoyed the later start to the days, non-rushed pace, and knowing what attractions we would do when. Crowds were manageable, and service at restaurants was perfect --- we ate at least one sit down each day.

Only one issue --- not even an issue really... One one of our non-park mornings we were having a relaxed breakfast at Olivia's, and the server thought our food took too long to come out so she arranged for us to have 8 bonus FPs added to our MBs. When we went to use one that afternoon at DHS, it wasn't there yet so I visited guest services and explained what we were told and they just gave us 8 paper fastpasses good for any attraction at that park during our entire visit.

On the last attraction we used them on (Toy Story), the CM returned the 4 FPs to my son with a smile and a "Happy Holidays." Later that evening, the extra FPs did appear on our MDE account so we were up to 20 bonus FPs for something we weren't even bothered by. Lots of magic there!

Another thing -- on two occasions, we had FPs for Spaceship Earth which we actually intended to skip, and got emails that the ride was down so we could ride an alternate attraction anytime that day. And finally, I wasn't feeling well one morning and gave my MB to my son to see if he could use it. He asked a CM and was given the go-ahead to use one of my FPs.

All in all, we had a wonderful vacation.

 

[Toadi]

One of my concerns about FP+ etc is the time spent on your phone while in the parks. Not very relaxing. I see the purpose of FP+, but, for me, it's taking some of the fun away and putting the pressure on to make the "right" decisions so far ahead of time. Vacations are supposed to be relaxing and fun. We are going again soon, but may not be going as often in the future. Sad to say

 

[nessz79]

I think that when the time comes to slow or stop Disney vacations for one's family, things become much more of a bother than they would be if the family is still in full-on Disney mode. My kids are still at that fun Disney age, so these things don't bother me as much, but I can imagine that in another 4-5+ years, it will be another story.

I agree about a lot of the issues with Disney, but they just don't bother me that much.

I think Disney is doing so much business they are having a hard time keeping up and that's why they have FP+ and the difficult to change dining reservations. I doubt that their record attendance is going to change any time soon- people just keep coming!

 

[Suvadoo]

Originally, posted this from a flight - updated to fix typos and offer some clarifications. The purpose of this is not to start a flame war especially with those that are so fast to jump on anyone who decides to post issues with the new system or changes. This is a Disney chat board meant for participants to share experiences - our issues and frustrations are real. We have spent 10s if not 100s of thousands of dollars on the Mouse over the last 15 years. To recap more concisely, we are parked out. Our kids are all older and don't care as much. We are done with our annual trip. We love WDW and will continue to visit once every few years and probably ride the cruise lines some but our annual 10K+ contribution will come to an end. Now onto the original post - hopefully cleaned up a bit...

Just got back from 8 day FL vacation at Disney/Unversal starting Dec 26. Our obervations:

1) After over a decade long (actually) run of holidays at WDW, our annual Xmas holiday trip to WDW/UO will be coming to an end. We will probably return once in a while but I think that our kids have gone older and we are parked out. FP+ has made it harder and a contributor and a slight push over this threshold but not the main reason.

2) We were happy to play by the rules and be flexible while visiting WDW during busy times of the year - Howvever - Disney did not make it any easier - Not easy to change dining reservations - Not easy to change FP+ reservations - system is still very clunky and error prone.

3) We spend months in the planning including getting the hard to secure BOG reservation - then Disney goes ahead and changes it's Wishes/Celebration schedule on very short notice. We are happy to work around this but then Disney hits us with bad software/applications that makes it hard to change dining, FP+ etc. I know many of you have not had issues but we are using IPhone running MDE AND computer in the hotel room using WIFI - nothing non-standard about that

4) Terrible service at the Wave caused us to miss replanned Wishes viewing - again, happy to work around this but then the MDE application craps out again. Very annoying.

5) Candlelight Processional as good as ever.

6) Miss Walter Conkrite.

7) Service at the restaurants are hit and miss. For the priices, and hassle of making reservations it should be top notch.

8) After Dec 26, fireworks and Parade options seem to diminish - still a very crowded time of year - why not offer multiple viewings through the new year?

8) Part of our attempt to see Wishes including needinng to extend Park Hoppers for our kids by a day. Guest services unable to do this due to unexplainable glitch - had to go to a Park Window late at night to get this done. Again, aggravating technology. To rant on this a little more, I am familiar with the concept of software engineering. Seriouslly? A billion spent and this?

9) Mine train: Great new rided, but all that trouble and investment for a ride that is barely a blink? At the end of the day, it is a train on a little track - how much would it have cost to make that track as long a big thunder?

10) At the end of the day, Disney is making out with apparent record park attendance - interesting to see if this persists over the years. They will probably do so but maybe the jury is out.

Sorry to hear your trip was less than stellar. You mentioned that it was a Disney/Universal trip. How was Universal?

 

[kaytieeldr]

Originally, posted this from a flight - updated to fix typos and offer some clarifications. The purpose of this is not to start a flame war especially with those that are so fast to jump on anyone who decides to post issues with the new system or changes. This is a Disney chat board meant for participants to share experiences - our issues and frustrations are real. We have spent 10s if not 100s of thousands of dollars on the Mouse over the last 15 years. To recap more concisely, we are parked out. Our kids are all older and don't care as much. We are done with our annual trip. We love WDW and will continue to visit once every few years and probably ride the cruise lines some but our annual 10K+ contribution will come to an end. Now onto the original post - hopefully cleaned up a bit...

Just got back from 8 day FL vacation at Disney/Unversal starting Dec 26. Our obervations:


3) We spend months in the planning including getting the hard to secure BOG reservation - then Disney goes ahead and changes it's Wishes/Celebration schedule on very short notice. We are happy to work around this but then Disney hits us with bad software/applications that makes it hard to change dining, FP+ etc. I know many of you have not had issues but we are using IPhone running MDE AND computer in the hotel room using WIFI - nothing non-standard about that

8) After Dec 26, fireworks and Parade options seem to diminish - still a very crowded time of year - why not offer multiple viewings through the new year?

8) Part of our attempt to see Wishes including needinng to extend Park Hoppers for our kids by a day. Guest services unable to do this due to unexplainable glitch - had to go to a Park Window late at night to get this done. Again, aggravating technology. To rant on this a little more, I am familiar with the concept of software engineering. Seriouslly? A billion spent and this?

2/3) Has the technology changed for making/changing dining reservations? Was the option to call not available?


8) According to wdwinfo.com's parade hours page, http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/hours/decfw14.cfm there were additional events at least through 12/31 - three Fantasmic!, two MSEP... so it doesn't appear that there was a reduction after the 26th?

8) I apologize but this is confusing. Isn't the park hopper option for the length of the ticket?

 

[kylmac]

We were there also around that time Dec 24-Jan 2 both parks and we too are saying probably not another Christmas at Disney. As much as we love it, it was just too much. We did love watching the fireworks form the Top of The World at Bay Lake Tower for New Years Eve. That was spectacular. We do extra magic hours so that helps to get some rides done. The FP system worked well for us and I did like using the Magic Bands. Universal was just as crowded but being able to use their Express Pass was a huge help as we got rides done and park hopped so nothing was missed. Love all the Harry Potter stuff! Very detailed and felt just like the movies. Maybe we will try a Disney cruise for Christmas-that way we still get our Disney.
Elizabeth

 

[World Showcaser]

One of my concerns about FP+ etc is the time spent on your phone while in the parks. Not very relaxing. I see the purpose of FP+, but, for me, it's taking some of the fun away and putting the pressure on to make the "right" decisions so far ahead of time. Vacations are supposed to be relaxing and fun. We are going again soon, but may not be going as often in the future. Sad to say

FP+ does not require that you be on the phone while in the parks. If you want to be continually worrying about making the right decision and changing things, that's up to you. If not, you can just book your FPs weeks in advance and forget about it.

The whole system seems infinitely less stressful to me than having to run from FP machine to FP machine. And it controls crowds better to make for a more pleasant experience.

A trip is what you make of it. If you choose to be stressed, you will be. If you want to go with the flow, you can. This has always been true.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

I am very sorry you did not get the enjoyment from your visit as you have in the past. It is very sad when you realize something that has previously given you so much enjoyment is no longer working for you. I am all about building memories with my family, and I want them to look back and say, "When I was little, my family used to ____ every year, and you want them to remember this with fondness.

 

[Suvadoo]

FP+ does not require that you be on the phone while in the parks. If you want to be continually worrying about making the right decision and changing things, that's up to you. If not, you can just book your FPs weeks in advance and forget about it.

The whole system seems infinitely less stressful to me than having to run from FP machine to FP machine. And it controls crowds better to make for a more pleasant experience.

A trip is what you make of it. If you choose to be stressed, you will be. If you want to go with the flow, you can. This has always been true.

I found with my vacation in April, I paid more and experienced fewer attractions. We never "ran" for FP's. I just think it depends upon your touring style and an individual's perception of "vacation value."
Our family is returning this April, but if the experience is the same as last year , we won't be going back.

 

[World Showcaser]

I didn't literally mean we ran from FP machine to FP machine. It is an expression.