Lorana
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2001
My husband and I are long Disney fans; we were hooked as children when our parents, respectively, took us - though of course then it was the "once in a lifetime" trip. When we started dating, it was our first big vacation together, and we bought APs back then because we were going for 2 weeks, the longest tickets sold then were for 7 days, and APs were significantly less expensive than 2 7-day tickets. Which meant that we went back again, to really use those APs, and thus began our life-long love of Disney. He proposed to me there. We got married there.
What drew us was their ability to really create magic, to transport you to somewhere else, to immerse you in the story. Customer service was top-notch.
But over time, prices rose and rose and rose, far outpacing inflation. Things that were perks of staying onsite went away or became pay-to-play, such as evening hours. We still loved Disney, but the magic wasn't the same. We DID start to question if part of our love was nostalgia for how it was and all the good memories we had there.
Though we had always wanted to be DVC owners, we weren't for a long time, as financially it didn't make sense to us - for one, for a long time, we just couldn't afford it. But we did a few years ago hit our breaking point, where we realized the cost of tickets, food, and rising hotel prices was pricing us out of Disney.
That is in fact WHY we bought into DVC. The Gold APs and the savings over time of owning DVC -- plus we were in a much better financial place to buy into DVC -- would allow us to keep going, and we recognized that we WANTED to be able to keep going. We've done at least 30+ trips, so it's not just about the parks for us -- we enjoy resort stays. Walking the woods of Wilderness Lodge, playing rounds of mini golf with the kids, lounging in the pool, taking part in the arts & crafts activities at the resort, roasting marshmallows, etc. Part of this is because we don't want to spend time waiting in long lines, so we do visit the parks less frequently (though we always try to do at least one character meal per trip for character interactions) - we'd probably do it more frequently if the lines weren't so long.
But they even started to get rid of some of the extras in the parks that had us in the parks longer (and thus spending money in the parks). We were huge fans of the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game, and the pirate treasure in Adventureland. Our kids loved going on missions with Kim Possible and then Phineas and Ferb in Epcot. Honestly, we want MORE of these things - games we can plan, INTERACTION we can have with the park environment, on our own time with minimal wait, that we can pick up and put down as we desire, and play again and again. I was really hoping Disney would do more of that, rather than take it away.
With APs unavailable, long lines in the parks, no fireworks or shows or character interactions, and most resort activities not happening, we have elected to skip Disney again in 2021 (as we didn't go in 2020), and are planning instead to visiting "the original Wilderness Lodge" this summer (i.e., we're going to Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Craters of the Moon national parks, and staying a few nights at the Old Faithful Inn). We admittedly DO have Thanksgiving trip planned, and a big family & friends trip planned in February 2022, as we are hopeful that the 50th Anniversary will see the return of many of the things we love about Disney. For us, it's about the entire EXPERIENCE, and not just one ride over this.
I would love to see a fastpass option for DVC and Deluxe, similar to what Universal Studios offers, but I can't imagine how that would actually work in practice, given the sheer number of rooms in the Deluxe/DVC category. While Universal is a smaller park, that option is only available at 3 resorts and to paying customers (and that pay price is not one I'd pay!). We went to Universal instead of Disney a couple of years back - this was before we bought DVC and after we decided Disney was starting to price us out - and I admit we had a wonderful experience. The crowds were significantly LESS (and while that's not something Disney can necessarily control, it was such a nice thing), so we didn't feel like we were always in the midst of people, and the express pass option for staying at their onsite hotel made the whole park experience so nice, as we walked on to many rides, and even at Harry Potter we had only 20-25 minute waits. We were pleasantly surprised, as our last visit to Universal had been in 2009, and it had been a miserable experience of insane crowds, poorly designed waiting queues in the sun, lack of good service, no real immersion. They've definitely improved their game since then, and gotten so much better at theming and immersion.
That said, Disney is our love and our preference, though I do think Disney could learn a thing or two from Universal these days. While I can see how Disney might be using pay-to-play as a way of managing crowds, I feel like there has to be a better way to bring back the magic without making Disney a destination only for the wealthy. For one, that's a betrayal of the vision that led Walt to create Disneyland and Disney World in the first place. For another, we are not a wealthy family. We love our Disney, and we will keep going back as we are able, but if the EXPERIENCE cannot be had without paying a fortune, well, then it's not really Disney anymore and we will eventually hit our point where we go elsewhere. What Disney has done, or attempted to do, with point charts for 2020, 2021, and 2022 is not giving us confidence, however, that they have the DVC owners best interest in mind, and it does worry us that Disney is become less and less a company focused on creating "the happiest place on earth" and more focused on creating "the most profitable place on earth." ;-) (Now, if they brought back Reflections, a wilderness themed dvc with cabins, treehouses, and a LAZY RIVER, we'd be hooked again. ;-) Seriously, that is EXACTLY the kind of DVC hotel we want, and we are super sad it seems to have gone by the wayside).
That said, I hope it never comes to that. I'm hoping the pandemic has reminded Disney as it has reminded so many of the value of creating memories and experiences with friends and family, and that Disney will once again focus its attention on that AND on the dream of making a place where all families can visit.
What drew us was their ability to really create magic, to transport you to somewhere else, to immerse you in the story. Customer service was top-notch.
But over time, prices rose and rose and rose, far outpacing inflation. Things that were perks of staying onsite went away or became pay-to-play, such as evening hours. We still loved Disney, but the magic wasn't the same. We DID start to question if part of our love was nostalgia for how it was and all the good memories we had there.
Though we had always wanted to be DVC owners, we weren't for a long time, as financially it didn't make sense to us - for one, for a long time, we just couldn't afford it. But we did a few years ago hit our breaking point, where we realized the cost of tickets, food, and rising hotel prices was pricing us out of Disney.
That is in fact WHY we bought into DVC. The Gold APs and the savings over time of owning DVC -- plus we were in a much better financial place to buy into DVC -- would allow us to keep going, and we recognized that we WANTED to be able to keep going. We've done at least 30+ trips, so it's not just about the parks for us -- we enjoy resort stays. Walking the woods of Wilderness Lodge, playing rounds of mini golf with the kids, lounging in the pool, taking part in the arts & crafts activities at the resort, roasting marshmallows, etc. Part of this is because we don't want to spend time waiting in long lines, so we do visit the parks less frequently (though we always try to do at least one character meal per trip for character interactions) - we'd probably do it more frequently if the lines weren't so long.
But they even started to get rid of some of the extras in the parks that had us in the parks longer (and thus spending money in the parks). We were huge fans of the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game, and the pirate treasure in Adventureland. Our kids loved going on missions with Kim Possible and then Phineas and Ferb in Epcot. Honestly, we want MORE of these things - games we can plan, INTERACTION we can have with the park environment, on our own time with minimal wait, that we can pick up and put down as we desire, and play again and again. I was really hoping Disney would do more of that, rather than take it away.
With APs unavailable, long lines in the parks, no fireworks or shows or character interactions, and most resort activities not happening, we have elected to skip Disney again in 2021 (as we didn't go in 2020), and are planning instead to visiting "the original Wilderness Lodge" this summer (i.e., we're going to Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Craters of the Moon national parks, and staying a few nights at the Old Faithful Inn). We admittedly DO have Thanksgiving trip planned, and a big family & friends trip planned in February 2022, as we are hopeful that the 50th Anniversary will see the return of many of the things we love about Disney. For us, it's about the entire EXPERIENCE, and not just one ride over this.
I would love to see a fastpass option for DVC and Deluxe, similar to what Universal Studios offers, but I can't imagine how that would actually work in practice, given the sheer number of rooms in the Deluxe/DVC category. While Universal is a smaller park, that option is only available at 3 resorts and to paying customers (and that pay price is not one I'd pay!). We went to Universal instead of Disney a couple of years back - this was before we bought DVC and after we decided Disney was starting to price us out - and I admit we had a wonderful experience. The crowds were significantly LESS (and while that's not something Disney can necessarily control, it was such a nice thing), so we didn't feel like we were always in the midst of people, and the express pass option for staying at their onsite hotel made the whole park experience so nice, as we walked on to many rides, and even at Harry Potter we had only 20-25 minute waits. We were pleasantly surprised, as our last visit to Universal had been in 2009, and it had been a miserable experience of insane crowds, poorly designed waiting queues in the sun, lack of good service, no real immersion. They've definitely improved their game since then, and gotten so much better at theming and immersion.
That said, Disney is our love and our preference, though I do think Disney could learn a thing or two from Universal these days. While I can see how Disney might be using pay-to-play as a way of managing crowds, I feel like there has to be a better way to bring back the magic without making Disney a destination only for the wealthy. For one, that's a betrayal of the vision that led Walt to create Disneyland and Disney World in the first place. For another, we are not a wealthy family. We love our Disney, and we will keep going back as we are able, but if the EXPERIENCE cannot be had without paying a fortune, well, then it's not really Disney anymore and we will eventually hit our point where we go elsewhere. What Disney has done, or attempted to do, with point charts for 2020, 2021, and 2022 is not giving us confidence, however, that they have the DVC owners best interest in mind, and it does worry us that Disney is become less and less a company focused on creating "the happiest place on earth" and more focused on creating "the most profitable place on earth." ;-) (Now, if they brought back Reflections, a wilderness themed dvc with cabins, treehouses, and a LAZY RIVER, we'd be hooked again. ;-) Seriously, that is EXACTLY the kind of DVC hotel we want, and we are super sad it seems to have gone by the wayside).
That said, I hope it never comes to that. I'm hoping the pandemic has reminded Disney as it has reminded so many of the value of creating memories and experiences with friends and family, and that Disney will once again focus its attention on that AND on the dream of making a place where all families can visit.
