Possibly my last WDW "park" trip

[SL6827]

Early next year will most likely be our final trip as well. 20 years, we are done. $$$$$

 

[Disneychick75]

We haven't been to WDW in 6 yrs! Sold my DVC membership at that time due to health issues. I got off the DIS as well. Then, about 1 month ago, we found out our loved ones were being stationed in S Korea for 4 yrs. My husband and I wanted to do something extra special with our grandchildren before they leave the 2nd week in Dec. so we booked this trip.
When I got on the DIS and saw Genie+, Lightening Lanes, etc., it scared me. I had been a FP pro before the that changed. Then, I turned to youtube as I do when I want to learn how to do anything and found earscouts. Rob is fantastic! I now feel ready for the new system. Also hoping to get a DAS. If I get one, great! If I don't, we'll take it as it comes. The grandchildren are 6 and 7 yrs old. If I have to go back to our room, my husband can handle them in the parks. Hoping that won't have to happen as I want us all to have a trip filled with wonderful memories! Leaving it in God's hands.

 

[katyjeka]

Have a great trip!! Thanks to your family for their unselfish service

 

[Disneychick75]

Thank you!

 

[SL6827]

We haven't been to WDW in 6 yrs! Sold my DVC membership at that time due to health issues. I got off the DIS as well. Then, about 1 month ago, we found out our loved ones were being stationed in S Korea for 4 yrs. My husband and I wanted to do something extra special with our grandchildren before they leave the 2nd week in Dec. so we booked this trip.
When I got on the DIS and saw Genie+, Lightening Lanes, etc., it scared me. I had been a FP pro before the that changed. Then, I turned to youtube as I do when I want to learn how to do anything and found earscouts. Rob is fantastic! I now feel ready for the new system. Also hoping to get a DAS. If I get one, great! If I don't, we'll take it as it comes. The grandchildren are 6 and 7 yrs old. If I have to go back to our room, my husband can handle them in the parks. Hoping that won't have to happen as I want us all to have a trip filled with wonderful memories! Leaving it in God's hands.

Amen.

 

[dvczerfs]

100% Agree … every time I see one of these threads (and they seem to pop time and again) - I never understand what is so complicated - book the travel - book the accommodation - buy the park tickets (or not) - and make reservations (dining or otherwise). For 3 of 4 of these things - you would need to do for any vacation to secure your best adventure.

For the parks, If you want to to do standby - walk up to the attraction and stand in line - if you want to do Genie+ or ILL to short circuit a few lines - pick your ride, get the time, show up at the appointed time. The cost/value equation is a separate issue as it would be for any other personal vacation destination/activity/dining choice.

Exactly. A trip to WDW was never easy. I started coming here in the early 70’s. Sitting on the side of the road on World Drive waiting for the parking lot to open because the park was at capacity. Wait in line to pay to park, wait in line for the tram. Drop you off at TTC and waited in even a longer line to buy ticket books. To wait in line for a monorail or boat to wait again to get into the park just to wait in line again for an attraction. The 80’s, 99’s 00’ and the 10‘s were the same way just different technology. Technology is in every part of our lives from the grocery store, gas station and restaurants. It’s really not that complicated. I’m old, if I can do it……lol
I’ve been a DVC member for 24 years and a pass holder even longer. I live 15 miles away, I only make dining reservations anymore for the most part and it’s a lot easier than what it was in 80’s Epcot standing in line at the world key center. Remember fast pass, people running and pushing through the park to get to a Fp machine? Knocking people over, strollers used at battering rams? And than not returning on the time and still expecting to get into the Fp line.
Solved that problem.
They went to the “one price covers all” model, well that’s fair to some, not to all, everyone does it differently. Now it’s more alacarte.
It’s never been cheap, it’s never been empty except for a few weeks waaaaay back when and you will always wait in line. If you want a relaxing, strolling, sit on a bench day, you still can do it. It’s an amusement business sitting in the middle of one of the biggest tourist areas in the world.
I use to live near Hershey and Dorney parks and an hour from the Jersey shore. Non of these places in my opinion even compare and non of them are in anyway cheap to experience.
You can’t have empty parks and $30 tickets and $1 hotdogs and a soda. You wouldn’t get anywhere near central Florida. People complained about the crowds……. Always be careful what we wish for.
People look at it as a few parks, it’s a multi billion dollar operation employing 75,000 plus people, it’s not a lemonade stand. It’s a huge city to run and maintain. Most people have no idea what it takes to open the gates everyday.
Of course I’m not directing all this at you, I just like your post.lol.

 

[john7994]

Exactly. A trip to WDW was never easy. I started coming here in the early 70’s. Sitting on the side of the road on World Drive waiting for the parking lot to open because the park was at capacity. Wait in line to pay to park, wait in line for the tram. Drop you off at TTC and waited in even a longer line to buy ticket books. To wait in line for a monorail or boat to wait again to get into the park just to wait in line again for an attraction. The 80’s, 99’s 00’ and the 10‘s were the same way just different technology. Technology is in every part of our lives from the grocery store, gas station and restaurants. It’s really not that complicated. I’m old, if I can do it……lol
I’ve been a DVC member for 24 years and a pass holder even longer. I live 15 miles away, I only make dining reservations anymore for the most part and it’s a lot easier than what it was in 80’s Epcot standing in line at the world key center. Remember fast pass, people running and pushing through the park to get to a Fp machine? Knocking people over, strollers used at battering rams? And than not returning on the time and still expecting to get into the Fp line.
Solved that problem.
They went to the “one price covers all” model, well that’s fair to some, not to all, everyone does it differently. Now it’s more alacarte.
It’s never been cheap, it’s never been empty except for a few weeks waaaaay back when and you will always wait in line. If you want a relaxing, strolling, sit on a bench day, you still can do it. It’s an amusement business sitting in the middle of one of the biggest tourist areas in the world.
I use to live near Hershey and Dorney parks and an hour from the Jersey shore. Non of these places in my opinion even compare and non of them are in anyway cheap to experience.
You can’t have empty parks and $30 tickets and $1 hotdogs and a soda. You wouldn’t get anywhere near central Florida. People complained about the crowds……. Always be careful what we wish for.
People look at it as a few parks, it’s a multi billion dollar operation employing 75,000 plus people, it’s not a lemonade stand. It’s a huge city to run and maintain. Most people have no idea what it takes to open the gates everyday.
Of course I’m not directing all this at you, I just like your post.lol.

No worries and completely get it. I love these romantic ideas/posts of when snickers were $0.05, buying a home used to cost $100, and Disney paid you to enter a park … even better, those saying “Disney is nothing more than just a cash grab” - it’s a tourist attraction - when exactly was Disney not a “cash grab” - it’s literally their purpose for being - where else would grown people voluntarily take their families for a week in central Florida year after year - the gator parks?

Anyway, good to see memories are in synch with what I recall in the so-called good ole days.

 

[DL1WDW2]

Actually GatorLand is very busy everyday and is fun and reasonable price. Hope you enjoy . Soon . Someday

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

I'm the exact opposite. If they take Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lanes away, I will visit less often. The cost is so minimal compared to the enhanced enjoyment.

Yes, IF USED, it is beneficial. Who really benefits the most? The Corporation.
I'm not an idiot and I will share my thought: the cost point is such so that not everyone will pay ( thus the whole rhythm works like old fastpass). Those who do pay are pumping money into the black column and are willing to do so.

I just am home 9/28 from the first LL/ILL experience. We ONLY bought ILL for Pandora in AK. We were able to walk on at 12:00 noon which was so nice! I will admit, IT WAS SO NICE to do that. Did I want to pay $27 for 2 persons to do it? Not really and will I do it again? Maybe, not a definite YES.

 

[fumanchu2488]

I am on the other side of the mountain with two kids (6 and 3). We love our trips and are DVC members as well. I think the thing for us is balancing the right amount of Disney with all the other stuff in life. We did two weeklong trips in 9 months a few years ago (prior to Genie+) and even that just was too much for us from a planning and stress perspective. I have always been one to support a paid system that would provide more convenience and ease of planning and Genie+ is better than the alternative for me.

Also, DVC really lets us relax on our trip since we don't stress about doing too much since we go every year. Our kids enjoy the pool and resorts as much as the parks so we bought our DVC annual pass and we spend about 6 hours or so in the parks maximum a day with a long break in between. It is expensive for what it is but makes it way more of a vacation than stress. On our last trip I finally was able to switch my mindset from getting the most out of the Disney vacation to getting the most out of spending time with the family. The kids are happy, it is easy to plan activities with so much to do and I focus on our time together rather than time in parks checking things off a list. Disney is just a place for us where our memories are made.

Which is the point of the entire thing I guess.

 

[Travel60]

OP here with report. We did one park day (MK) out of 4 days here. That was about right. After paying ~$1,000 for tickets, DD convinced us that we had to have Genie+ if we were going to do anything.....another ~$200. Sigh ..

We got up early, had one phone set to an international clock and the other ready to get into a virtual queue for Tron. Didn't get it.

Did rope drop, part of us headed for Space Mountain, DGpa and 5yo to Astro thing. DD starts trying for first LL. Not working. She is frantically refreshing, closing out, signing back in. Then everyone around us in line starts saying "Its not working!" The line at customer service is 30-40 deep and growing. We ride Space Mountain then head to Speedway. DD still pounding on phone. As we are in very long Speedway line, Gpa's phone buzzes and he is in! Only HIS phone. We leave long line and walk on to Speedway. We do 4-5 more LL using Gpa's phone then DD's starts working.

In the end, we got to do a lot but missed out on several because the next LL was too late. Late lunch took an hour and that cost us time. By 5:00, grands were ready to go back to resort and swim.

Did kids have fun .....yes. Was it worth $1,200 plus food/drinks for 10 hours? Not so sure. As I said, probably our last park trip. But HHI next summer, resort only visits, etc.

 

[bluezy]

Have you been to Dollywood or Hershey Park? My kids grew up going to both and now grands love them. At a fraction of Disney's parks cost and NO hassle.

We will continue to enjoy DVC - have this 5 days booked at WDW, three weeks in January/February at WDW and a 3 BR at HHI for a week+ next summer. But I think I'm done with the hassle and money grab of the parks.

We live a few hours from Hershey Park. We actually gave up going there because we find it too expensive and not really a good value. For us, we find the full price 1-day ticket to be crazy expensive (we always get discounted tickets but they're still expensive for what you're getting), we have to pay for parking ($25), the food is equally or more expensive than Disney and lower in quality, the Fast Lane service is way more expensive than Genie+ (though doesn't require doing any prep work like G+ does), and the atmosphere is not even close to Disney. We decided to stop spending money on what we felt was always a disappointing experience and just put our money towards Disney instead. Ditto for Dorney Park (though we're close enough to that park that a lot of people in this area get season passes at a discount and just go for a few hours and plan it so they don't have to eat there). I know a lot of people love those parks, so obviously they do appeal to some people.

As far as Genie+, I really didn't find it difficult to learn or use. I watched a few short videos and read a few blogs (about 2 hours worth of my time for all of that) and found that I was *way* overprepared and could have easily gotten away with about 30-45 minutes of prep time. G+ allowed us to do way more than we were used to doing in a day (and we used FP+ very effectively in the past) and we had a lot more relaxation time at the resort on our last trip than we've ever had in the last 20 years. It is still very possible to do the parks without using Genie+ -- especially if you're willing to do rope drop and/or late nights. Plenty of people have posted about having successful days at Disney without using G+. It all boils down to what you want to do and what is worth your time and money. If we went to Disney once or twice a year, I probably wouldn't use G+, but since we only go once every 2 years, I want to get as many rides/shows in as possible without spending hours standing in line and without having to do Early Entry and staying until park closing multiple days of our stay. We will always use G+ on our trips now. It took a few minutes of our time every day and provided a huge convenience for our family.

 

[KrzyKtty101]

After our 2 week trip last year we said we were done with large 1-2 week Disney vacations for a while, but that honestly has less to do with Disney and more with the fact that now that our children are older, we want them to see the world. So this summer we took them to Japan, including Tokyo Disney . Next summer we will take a weekend trip to MNSSHP and Epcot only. This Spring we are going on our first Disney Cruise, so I'm still fitting in a ridiculous amount of Disney, just in smaller more manageable bouts. The larger trips I would rather go to Niagara, Yellowstone, Ireland, Germany, that sort. But I'm sure I will still fit in weekend trips here and there. I can't help it.

And honestly all of the extra management doesn't bother me, but I realize it is part of my personality. I am a firm type A personality who finds enjoyment in doing stuff like that. My husband not so much, so he is more than happy to leave it all to me.

 

[SL6827]

Destin is my new Disney. Was there just last week.

 

[katyjeka]

After our 2 week trip last year we said we were done with large 1-2 week Disney vacations for a while, but that honestly has less to do with Disney and more with the fact that now that our children are older, we want them to see the world. So this summer we took them to Japan, including Tokyo Disney . Next summer we will take a weekend trip to MNSSHP and Epcot only. This Spring we are going on our first Disney Cruise, so I'm still fitting in a ridiculous amount of Disney, just in smaller more manageable bouts. The larger trips I would rather go to Niagara, Yellowstone, Ireland, Germany, that sort. But I'm sure I will still fit in weekend trips here and there. I can't help it.

And honestly all of the extra management doesn't bother me, but I realize it is part of my personality. I am a firm type A personality who finds enjoyment in doing stuff like that. My husband not so much, so he is more than happy to leave it all to me.

We've been to Yellowstone twice in the last year. We fell in love with it. We are trying to hit as many National Parks as possible before our girls have lives of their own!!! Our youngest daughter still talks about her favorite vacation ever, a trip to Carlsbad Cavern and White Sands N.P. It remains one of our cheapest vacations! I've cut our Disney trip down to one trip next year as we've finally realized the world is a big beautiful place and we want to see it. Ireland is a great place for families and breathtaking.