I agree with the previous posters who think that this low feels different. I've been going to
Disneyland off and on for 45+ years, but those every-other-year trips turned into multiple trips per year when I had a special needs son about 25 years ago. He *loves* Disney, and all things Disney have been a huge part of our lives since he was around 2.
We bought VGC when it came out, added on more points there later, and added on to WDW at BLT when RunDisney stopped doing the west coast races. We're platinum cruisers (13?) and have done 7 or 8
Adventures by Disney. We've been to every Disney park around the world and have probably averaged 4-5 DLR/WDW trips per year--a number of those around races--pre-pandemic. I don't want to add up how much money we've spent at Disney over the last 20+ years--I'm sure it's obscene.
You can definitely say that we are huge Disney fans. But we, too, are at the point where we will be severely limiting our Disney time. As other people have expressed, there have just been too many changes that have negatively impacted our Disney experience, and I really wonder what the guy at the helm is thinking. I know they historically haven't cared much about losing customers like us (there are always replacements), but I have to think that this is going to eventually catch up to them.
My first big disappointment was at the beginning of the pandemic with how Adventures by Disney handled canceling trips and offering refunds. I won't rehash here, but it was horrible. I loved
ABD--and was one of the product's biggest cheerleaders in the early years--but recent missteps have made me unlikely to ever tour with them again.
But it's the recent changes at the parks that have made us decide to cut back severely on our visits. If it were just me and my husband, we would probably be done completely. But with our SN son, we will probably continue to do one or two trips to Disneyland per year and stop going to WDW 2 or 3 times a year for races. I'm planing to put our BLT points up for sale in the spring after the last race I'm signed up for (Princess). I'm sad, because I do like the races, but everything else has just become so complicated and frankly, unfun to think about--not to mention the added $$$ without a real benefit like you would get with an all access type pass. I won't be a happy camper if I pay for a specific ride and end up waiting 30 minutes in a "lightning" lane, as I've read in other threads about ROTR.
Others have posted great lists of why the park experience has changed in a negative way for them, and I agree with almost all of them. We are late risers so the 7 am part of the equation is horrible for us. It was bad (and stressful) enough with just virtual queues, but at least I could limit those early wake ups to specific days. Waking up every day of my vacation pre-7 am to try to get the rides we want? No thanks. The other biggie for me is being forced to have my phone out all day. At Disney, I want to get away from my phone not be attached to it.
I was in the camp of Disney planning as a sport, not necessarily because I loved it, but because I was good at it, and it led to really fun trips. I get that they think they needed to change things so as to not disadvantage the non-planner or guest who had no idea they needed to do x, but they seem to have gone to the other extreme with the rules surrounding
Genie+ allowing no-planning and potentially messing up existing plans (i.e. choosing a LL and then having the time change to interfere with an ADR).
Anyway, thanks to the OP for giving me a place to mourn. I feel like in some ways I'm saying goodbye to what has been a really fun time of our lives. I know nothing stays the same, and change is going to happen, but it feels as if this time it was too much too fast.