Never thought I'd do it- Cancelled.

[Skili9111]

Disneyland is not any better. In fact, it's got many of the same problems as WDW....plus it is simply not a vacation destination. It's more of a day park (like a Six Flags).

I live in Florida and quite near WDW and I would take Disneyland over WDW any day of the week. We go a couple of times a year and the experience is VASTLY different to us.

 

[akadada]

My next trip will be 2023, maybe by then things will have smoothed out and settled down. Sorry you felt you had to cancel your trip.

I thought this in 2018 that by 2022 it would be better...

 

[denman007]

I cancelled everything as well but I only got email notices about my dining cancellations and not any emails about my package cancellation. I thought that was odd. There is also no credit voucher auth on my card yet.

The package is gone from MDE.

 

[hsmamato2]

This is us 100%. But we are lucky and have DVC and DVC AP, and a crazy number of visits in the books.

Last weekend we snagged a B O Guest ressie and only went in for that as an example.

But were not happy with a lot of what's taking place, and can easily see why others are cancelling.

and this is the big difference between visitors (as noted in the podcast) someone local with an AP can go,take it slow,and go again at a convenient time. Th person who saves $10k for a long awaited trip feels very differently. If I lived local,and had that AP,I'd think more casually too. But if I have to fly/drive a long way,pay for $$$$$ ticket,and add more $$$ to try to avoid lines,add getting up at 6:30 am daily,planning etc .... for the experience as it is now?
Can you go and have some fun on property? yes you can! is it a huge,difficult mess? yes! both things are currently true.

 

[jimmymc]

From northwest PA - consider Silver Dollar City in Branson - I know Branson sounds hokie but Silver Dollar City is a park my family loves. Kids even picked there over Disney one year. Haven't been for a few years but the customer service was right up there with what we experienced at Disney. All the youth working were so nice and even the other visitors too- good midwest values on display. The park food was delicious. Table Rock lake is awesome too for your boat.

Silver Dollar City is a hidden gem of theme parks. I have no desire to see the rest of Branson again but I would gladly go back to the park. I went in later 2020 and there was nothing cut.

It's run by the same company who owns Dollywood and they do a good job balancing thrill rides, smaller rides, and theming.

 

[jade1]

and this is the big difference between visitors (as noted in the podcast) someone local with an AP can go,take it slow,and go again at a convenient time. Th person who saves $10k for a long awaited trip feels very differently. If I lived local,and had that AP,I'd think more casually too. But if I have to fly/drive a long way,pay for $$$$$ ticket,and add more $$$ to try to avoid lines,add getting up at 6:30 am daily,planning etc .... for the experience as it is now?
Can you go and have some fun on property? yes you can! is it a huge,difficult mess? yes! both things are currently true.

100%.

Which is why I said "But were not happy with a lot of what's taking place, and can easily see why others are cancelling."

And being in the first category (still having very good visits at very reasonable rates) my hope is the 2nd category can pressure WDW into a much better experience going forward-because that increases the quality offered to category 1 (us) as well.

 

[ScarletFire]

I canceled my birthday trip. We were set to leave on Monday. Too much Covid. It's irresponsible to travel Florida and then have family Christmas with my 80-year old mother.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

I'd be more inclined to take a year off and buy the AKV 50 point contract today for $7,950.

That would get me pretty much a week every year until 2057.

$400 in dues for 7 nights no tax. About $57 a night no tax.

Animal Kingdom ID: AKB2377	50	0 | 50 | 50	Feb	$159	$7,950	SMALL

Lol, what? 50 points buys you a week in AKV never. Even during the “value” season of September 1 - 19 in an impossible to get “value studio” it’s still 55 points for a week.

 

[jade1]

Lol, what? 50 points buys you a week in AKV never. Even during the “value” season of September 1 - 19 in an impossible to get “value studio” it’s still 55 points for a week.

Ha impossible unless you own there.

Keep in mind I never said 7 nights every year.

As mentioned 50 points was available for $7950. I would recommend 55 it just needs to come up.

50 gets you 6 nights one year (7 days) and 7 nights the next year (8 days) so like I said pretty much a week every year.

But it was more what I would do than spend $8,000 on a wdw trip I'm not looking forward to.

I would instead hedge future stays. I would buy more than 50, but for sake of using the $8,000, I would take the AKV resale.

I would maybe use the 50 for 5 nights in Jan at BWV or 3 for 4 nights at another studio, then cash somewhere else a couple nights, maybe even a couple nights at US hotels.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

I so agree with you. It's a pet peeve of mine to to see people saying to go to the national parks instead of Disney and implying that that kind of vacation will be easy with no planning and crowds.

My issue with WDW isn't the planning. We plan just as much for a camping trip as we do a WDW trip, or a Busch Gardens trip, or .... Do I want to get up at 6am to try to get a ride? Not really; but then again, I really don't want to get up at 6am to start a fire so I can cook breakfast and make coffee. So the planning part is just a wash for me.
---------------------------------------------------

My issue is we are getting less, for increased costs; and that darn nickel-and-diming situation that I hate.

For those flying, WDW used Magical Express as a bonus point..."Get to us without extra cost!" Now, you will need to rent a car, use an Uber, or take a non-existant as of now train, at your cost. (Note: I have never used ME, as we live in FL, and drive to WDW.)

For years, we had free FP; it only cost the time to go to the FP kiosks. You could get FP and give them to someone else if you wanted. Now, pay OOP for a small selection of possible FP using G+ and pay more OOP for an even smaller selection of FP choices.

Free parking at the hotels? Not anymore!

Mousekeeping...now, I get that the pandemic screwed some things up; but if I'm staying at a hotel, then I want someone to come in and clean the bathroom and make the beds and vacuum for me, at least every other day. Now, if they actually replace your towels after you request new ones, four days into your stay, without you having to make a trip down to the front desk, you are lucky.

Fewer extended hours for the extra price of staying onsite; and shorter hours. Ticket prices are up, food prices are up. Crowds are back.

You want more fun? Well, not a problem, if you want to pay out the nose for special parties; and dont' forget the shorter hours on those party days for those not willing to pay that extra cost, so less bang for their buck.

I am truly surprised they haven't started charging for using the internal bus system or the monorails or boats; maybe they haven't quite figured out how to yet. Would it be a daily charge or per use?
-------------------------------------------------

WDW used to be something special. Their customer service was on point; the extra randoms touches were amazing to see, or be part of (like a random free Mickey bar, or being escorted to the front of a ride from all the way in the back). I love our Disney trips, but I hate feeling like a number and not a person, and that is the way Disney makes me feel right now.

 

[dreynolds1982]

or, charge like universal for front of the line so all have reasonable expectations. I hate to say, but, the price Disney is charging leads to too many people buying the product, and there are not enough rides to meet that demand - so, the answer is to raise prices. Less people buy and therefore are not disappointed in what they got, and you can plan (I.e., know you need rope drop or evening strategies to manage popular rides).

This is an interesting point and something that has crossed my mind. A lot of people have complained about "yet another additional cost" for Genie+, but TBH I was pretty surprised when the pricing structure came out. I expected it to be more expensive, in line with UO's Express Pass. I think with the low price point, a lot of people are just buying it without putting any thought into it (my sister is a TA and has seen this happening with nearly all of her clients). I think that causes two problems: 1) it decreases availability (as you mentioned) and 2) it skews expectations. If someone buys it, without thinking about whether they will actually need it or not, then gets to the park and realizes they don't need it, then that's perceived as a "waste of money."

I agree I do think the UO EP model works well, however I understand Disney not wanting to go with that, at least initially. You see the reaction from folks just going from something being "free" to $15. If you went from free to $85+, people would lose their minds haha. I think the $15+ala carte pricing model was probably seen as a way to dip their toes in the water of charging. I, personally, would not be upset to see them go the UO EP route though.

 

[juxtapose]

This is an interesting point and something that has crossed my mind. A lot of people have complained about "yet another additional cost" for Genie+, but TBH I was pretty surprised when the pricing structure came out. I expected it to be more expensive, in line with UO's Express Pass. I think with the low price point, a lot of people are just buying it without putting any thought into it (my sister is a TA and has seen this happening with nearly all of her clients). I think that causes two problems: 1) it decreases availability (as you mentioned) and 2) it skews expectations. If someone buys it, without thinking about whether they will actually need it or not, then gets to the park and realizes they don't need it, then that's perceived as a "waste of money."

I agree I do think the UO EP model works well, however I understand Disney not wanting to go with that, at least initially. You see the reaction from folks just going from something being "free" to $15. If you went from free to $85+, people would lose their minds haha. I think the $15+ala carte pricing model was probably seen as a way to dip their toes in the water of charging. I, personally, would not be upset to see them go the UO EP route though.

I wonder how much UO is able to get away with the pricing for the EP because most people only go 2 days to UO, where it's much more common to go 4-5 days to WDW parks? I could justify that cost for a couple days but not the 4-6 we spend when we go to WDW, or they need to make Epcot and AK cheaper than the other parks. It'd be nice if they do raise the pricing to UO levels that they offer a discount if you buy in advance for over 3+ days and include all rides in the pass price.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

The UO express pass model would have to be priced at something like $500 per person per day at Disney to make it work. And no freebies for Deluxe guests.

If Disney doesn't want to go that far, I think they could make Genie+ substantially more effective by substantially raising the price. If you had the same basic rules as now --- one LL and a time (or stacked every two hours) and limit of one LL per ride --- but raised the price to, say, $99 per person per day, then far fewer people would purchase it. (In fact, you would need to cap the number sold to make sure that the value is there.) If far fewer were sold, then those who bought it really would be able to skip the line at every ride, and really would get great value from it, even on crowded days. And, since far fewer people would be using it, the standby lines would not be nearly as bad as they are right now. That's a win / win for everyone. Including Disney, since the revenue generated would be about the same as what they are getting now.

I would use scaled pricing: something like $49 on regular days, $74 on busy days, $99 on crowded days. And I would cap the number sold at about 1/4 of the number they are selling right now. I'm not sure whether or not I personally would buy them for my family. But it would be nice to know that, if I did buy them, I would get real value from them. Unlike the current situation.

 

[bfost87]

Are we going to see one of these posts every time someone cancels…?

 

[dreynolds1982]

I wonder how much UO is able to get away with the pricing for the EP because most people only go 2 days to UO, where it's much more common to go 4-5 days to WDW parks? I could justify that cost for a couple days but not the 4-6 we spend when we go to WDW, or they need to make Epcot and AK cheaper than the other parks. It'd be nice if they do raise the pricing to UO levels that they offer a discount if you buy in advance for over 3+ days and include all rides in the pass price.

I agree about Epcot and AK being cheaper. I think that's the kicker, is at UO, you do get a lot more bang for your buck with the EP simply because of the sheer number of attractions at the parks, AND that's mostly what you're spending your time doing, riding rides. So, to maximize that time, the EP makes sense. At Disney, IMO, it's less about the attractions (though MK is a different animal for sure). The times I've been to UO and used EP, I was done with both parks (in one day) by like 4 p.m., and rode most things more than once.

Speaking of which, for all that I see people implying that UO is cheaper than Disney, last time I was there (which was just last year), one day, both parks, one nt at the Royal Pacific, for me and my wife I think was close to $1k when all was said and done. That's wild. It's like I said earlier. errrrthing expensive out there right now.

 

[kathy884]

The UO express pass model would have to be priced at something like $500 per person per day at Disney to make it work.

I think of DIsney's version of the EP as being the VIP tours they offer. The high price means not that many people get it, and that means it doesn't affect the waits for most other guests.

From the DIsney website I see that pricing ranges from $425 to $850 per hour depending on the season (valid park admission is required for each park visited on tour and is not included in the price of the tour). -- And it's for up to 10 people and can be booked for a minimum of 7 hours, so for the group someone is going to be shelling out somewhere between $2975 and $5950 for the seven hours. (too rich for my blood).

What you said about $500 pp per day sounds right on when I look at these numbers.

 

[Bete]

This is my second post here. This is a reply to a previous poster.

More than entertainment is gone from Disney. First, park hours are shorter. Second, to get the most value out of your park ticket you need to be glued to your smartphone. Next, Magic Express will be gone shortly. The dining plan hasn't returned yet and I have this feeling it will either cost more or give you less when it comes back. Park hopping is different and more restrictive. Now, post covid you have to pay more $$ for Disney World to get less value.

There are plenty of other amusement parks that offer rides. Disney was special for having all their entertainment. Take that away and I can go anywhere for rides.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

Every time Disney changes something there are many "I've had it" threads and so forth. Every time.

Not saying I don't agree it is just saying that's the the way it always goes. You would have thought FP+ introduction was going to end the world lol. Now a lot of people miss it.

We are going for a quick trip in February. I wonder how I will feel.

 

[cgattis]

Are we going to see one of these posts every time someone cancels…?

I mean, you don’t HAVE to see any of them….but you ARE in the “I just cancelled my trip thread…”

 

[abnihon]

I recently wrote a blog post about some of these exact feelings.
We just canceled a trip too because of I’m having a high risk pregnancy but with all the Genie + mess and things still missing I’m not even that upset about canceling.
I obviously want to take my next child to Disney but I’m not sure she’ll ever go as much as my son has already gone unless some magic comes back. It makes me sad…