Losing my patience... should I just move on?

[starlite_]

It's not hypocrisy. Perhaps a level of nuance that you dont understand? Day 1 minute 1, Universal was built around IP. Disney was not. The Parks were built around themes and had original custom storylines and work done for them. See how Disney pillaged the parks IP in the aughts for movies, and not the other way around. Epcot has thematic stuff that has been diluted, rumor is that Animal Kingdom is next to get changed. In short its not usually the same people making those complaints, and even if it were you are omitting nuance.

Universal was always built around "ride the movies!" / "ride the IP!".

....

Disneyland was literally built as a movie marketing scheme. But sure friend, sure.

 

[BrianL]

Disneyland was literally built as a movie marketing scheme. But sure friend, sure.

Absolutely!

Opening day attractions:
Autopia - no IP
Jungle Cruise - No IP
King Arthur's Carousel - No IP but would eventually tie in to The Sword in the Stone
Mad Tea Party - Alice in Wonderland
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride - The Adventures of Icabod & Mister Toad
Peter Pan's Flight - Peter Pan
Snow White's Scary Adventures - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Storybooklland Land Canal Boats - Various Disney Movies

Shortly after Opening:
Casey Jr. Circus Train - Dumbo
Dumbo the Flying Elephand - Dumbo
Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes - Davy Crocket TV series
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Alice in Wonderland

Most of that was based on existing IP, and for good reason, not to mention Sleeping Beauty Castle.

 

[namelessoracle]

Absolutely!

Opening day attractions:
Autopia - no IP
Jungle Cruise - No IP
King Arthur's Carousel - No IP but would eventually tie in to The Sword in the Stone
Mad Tea Party - Alice in Wonderland
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride - The Adventures of Icabod & Mister Toad
Peter Pan's Flight - Peter Pan
Snow White's Scary Adventures - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Storybooklland Land Canal Boats - Various Disney Movies

Shortly after Opening:
Casey Jr. Circus Train - Dumbo
Dumbo the Flying Elephand - Dumbo
Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes - Davy Crocket TV series
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Alice in Wonderland

Most of that was based on existing IP, and for good reason, not to mention Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Now do it for Epcot. (which is the park most people who complain about thematic dilution bring up)

 

[BrianL]

Now do it for Epcot. (which is the park most people who complain about thematic dilution bring up)

Sure.

Horizons - General Electric
Journey into Imagination - Kodak
Listen to the Land - Kraft Foods
Living Seas - United Technologies
Spaceship Earth - Bell System
Universe of Energy - Exxon
World of Motion - General Motors



So, you know, it was just shilling for giant corproations as opposed to IP owned by one giant corporation.

 

[gratefulfred]

We are skipping them till things change if ever. Going to Dollywood next month instead and staying at the Dreammore resort which honestly looks better then anything Disney offers. Dreammore has free parking, Disney lied to us when they said charging for parking was industry standard. Looking forward to lightning Rod and exploring the smoky mountains national park.

 

[rojo]

Been waiting it out for quite a while now and starting to really lose my patience on being able to purchase Florida resident annual passes that are more than just the weekday ones. As a family we talked and are thinking of doing Universal passes instead. Anybody have any insight or opinions on the rare possibility Disney will actually give a crap about the customer and not their bottom line for once in the last few years and open up passes soon?

Well they just renewed Chapek, so I don’t think anything that benefits the customer is coming any time soon.

 

[Lewisc]

Disney offers. Dreammore has free parking, Disney lied to us when they said charging for parking was industry standard.

That's a dishonest statement. Industry standard doesn't require 100% of the hotels charge for parkng.

The Universal Hotels charge for parking. Swan and Dolphin charge..Gaylord Palms charges. The hotels in DS charge. The big Marriott hotel charges. Disney was one of the last resorts in the Orlando area to charge.

I'm surprised Disney waited so long. Disney aims to lead the industry in coming up with ways to charge more and give less

 

[Mrs.AMC]

We are skipping them till things change if ever. Going to Dollywood next month instead and staying at the Dreammore resort which honestly looks better then anything Disney offers. Dreammore has free parking, Disney lied to us when they said charging for parking was industry standard. Looking forward to lightning Rod and exploring the smoky mountains national park.

Dollywood is a local park to us. We've held AP there
It's very redneck
We are very redneck here
Like it or not we must face that fact
Dreammore is a lovely resort
It is not better than anything Disney offers.
It's really impossible to compare Disney and Dollywood. I hope you enjoy your trip to my neck of the woods

 

[mdoc]

I was there in 2008 and 2013, and there were wall-to-wall crowds in many places. It's always been that way.

I agree that at certain times WDW has always had wall to wall crowds. The week between Christmas and New Years, the long Thanksgiving weekend, the weeks before and after Easter were all times we went because that was when we could get away with our school and work schedules. The crowds were brutal, but park hours were long (I remember one Easter week when MK was closing at 3am and reopening at 7am with extra magic hours), there was lots of staff and if you knew the FP system you could zig and zag your way through and still get lots accomplished.

I was at MK this year on a Wednesday in early March (between Mardi Gras and spring break) when I never would have expected big crowds. I don't know if there were actually peak time crowds or if it just seemed that way because of lack of staff, attractions that hadn't reopened and a seemingly large number of attractions going down, but it was packed and lines were crazy. So I don't see where park reservations are doing much good.

 

[greeneyedchick]

We haven't been since they made the Harry Potter lands. I'd like to see it as it sounds cool, but neither of my kids are into Harry Potter. I was waiting for the past 5 years to see if either one would get into it, but they still haven't.

My daughter doesn't like anything at Universal.... yet. She's a huge Nintendo fan, and would love to go when Nintendo land drops. My son likes Spiderman, Minions and Dinosaurs. So that's a 1/2 day, that's it.

I'm sure Universal will become a destination for non-Harry Potter fans once Universal Epic opens, but that will be years from now.

No one in my family is a Harry Potter fan, yet we appreciate the details of the worlds they recreated. We also enjoy all of the Harry Potter rides. They're fun, even if you don't know the story.

 

[greeneyedchick]

So, how many people are renewing that aren't a member of this Disney fan site or a facebook group? I don't think there are as many people as you may think "clamoring" to buy APs outside of this bubble. I don't have evidence on the numbers, but do you?

I live near Disney and most of us are of the opinion that the AP prices are way too expensive now to justify buying. I don't get the sense that many residents are clamoring for passes. It was only worth it when the prices were low enough to justify popping over for an evening and riding a few rides.

We're all at Sea World and Universal where we feel much more appreciated and get lots of perks with our passes.

 

[Stratman50th]

I live near Disney and most of us are of the opinion that the AP prices are way too expensive now to justify buying. I don't get the sense that many residents are clamoring for passes. It was only worth it when the prices were low enough to justify popping over for an evening and riding a few rides.

We're all at Sea World and Universal where we feel much more appreciated and get lots of perks with our passes.

I'm about a 30 minute ride down 4 myself. Ok, depending on traffic I might be a 3 hour ride down 4, LOL!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

They aren't being slammed like Disney post-covid.

If you put in stock to the attendance numbers for 2021 they are and they are beating Disney depending on the parks. If you haven't been in so long it'd be hard to be accurate in the description. That's like people talking about WDW but haven't been since MB's were introduced lol.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

You could do like others recommended and try out Universal for a year or SeaWorld, etc. I know the waiting and uncertainty sucks. Our DISer friends moved in end of 2020 to Orlando and waited and waited and waited to be able to purchase APs, it was unfortunate timing for them that they had finally gotten to move to be close to the parks (with remote jobs) and couldn't an AP. I do believe they did APs to other parks in the interim and they still have their AP for USO.

 

[tjkraz]

I have 3 crickets that are chirping that it will be a stampede when AP sales renew. A fourth cricket isn't saying anything, but I think it might be dead.

Yes, this.

We can't even make an educated guess on how sales of APs would compare to any other point in time. But judging by the frequency with which this topic is raised, Disney will be slammed as soon as sales reopen.

Disney Vacation Club members are certainly a market that is waiting with baited breath. That's about 300k households, most of whom have the resources to visit at least 1 time per year. Staggering 2 years worth of visits within a 365-day period typically makes APs the most economical admission.

 

[DanielleC]

We are skipping them till things change if ever. Going to Dollywood next month instead and staying at the Dreammore resort which honestly looks better then anything Disney offers. Dreammore has free parking, Disney lied to us when they said charging for parking was industry standard. Looking forward to lightning Rod and exploring the smoky mountains national park.

Disney didn't lie about parking. They said it was the industry standard in Orlando. Disney was the last major hotelier to charge for parking. It was already implemented at The Swan and Dolphin and most of the hotels in Disney Springs (Downtown Disney actually, that's how far back the Hilton was charging for parking).

Even the Marriott Village across I-4 from Disney is charging $17 per night per vehicle. Plus the Courtyard charges an "amenity fee" of $5 per night. Every major hotel along I Drive also charges for parking, some as much as $35, and they also charge resort fees.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Disney didn't lie about parking. They said it was the industry standard in Orlando. Disney was the last major hotelier to charge for parking. It was already implemented at The Swan and Dolphin and most of the hotels in Disney Springs (Downtown Disney actually, that's how far back the Hilton was charging for parking).

Even the Marriott Village across I-4 from Disney is charging $17 per night per vehicle. Plus the Courtyard charges an "amenity fee" of $5 per night. Every major hotel along I Drive also charges for parking, some as much as $35, and they also charge resort fees.

I actually don't think they specified Orlando. They just said industry standard. Looking back at old threads it appears some who complained eventually got e-mails that switched from Industry Standard to Aligned with other properties in California and Hawaii.

When it was announced from what I remember it was just a blanket industry standard although I'm sure some CMs tried to back track and add in Orlando to try and smooth things over.

It's true that there are hotels charge for parking although that's most often space constraints which Disney never had. DLR does, Hawaii does, USO does although their land they purchased would allow additional room it would be at odds to allow those hotels that will be there next to Epic Universe free parking when their others don't.

 

[shh]

When a recession hits he will be begging for them, but they will all be at universal or other locations.

Nah. Sadly, my bet is most will come running back as soon as even a lame deal is offered.

 

[Disneylover99]

Nah. Sadly, my bet is most will come running back as soon as even a lame deal is offered.

I don’t even need a lame deal. Just let me buy an outrageously priced AP. Lol.

 

[Sue M]

Time to move on. I did a few years ago when the writing was on the wall with price increases for AP almost doubled, crazy room rates with dwindling discounts, cutting back portions and paid parking.
Now cutting out morning EMH by 30 min and totally cutting evening EMH for all but deluxe. No airport shuttle or airport check in desk and luggage check in. All the while prices skyrocketing and no free FP. I don’t mind if it’s a good system. They should have used DL system it worked! But no.
Universal treats their AP holders well.