Much is changing and not all for the better

[LostBoys]

Hello All,
Maybe I'm just an old man but
Seems WDW has changed a lot and not for the better.

Due to my work (professional magician) my beautiful little family (DW and DS 14 yrs old) doesn't see me much of October and December. To make up for lost time I used to take us for a week to WDW in January. Lower crowds and getting out of the cold
Went in January every year from 2010 to 2014 plus other trips through the years

Started to try to plan a trip for this year as we didn't go last year but much has changed.

Extra magic hours have been reduced and moved around (Sunday late hours at MK fit our schedule perfect, I'd drive through Saturday night while they slept, check in, I'd sleep a few hours and go to MK late for extra hours our first night)

Animation station has closed (we very much enjoyed drawing with Disney Artist and sometimes would do four sessions in a row), that doesn't leave a whole lot in Disney Studios to do (we don't ride TOT)

Downtown Disney is changing and hope the specialty stores don't go away.

Maelstrom has closed

The Disney company has made business decisions regarding long time staff I personally don't agree with. My thousands of dollars on one vacation mean nothing to the company in the larger picture but I don't know if I want to support Disney by spending my $ there.

There are other changes I'm not recalling right now but it feels like the magic is fading, don't know if we can recapture or create the wonderful, magical vacations we had. We have amazing collages of trips we took as a family decorating our walls, pictures we drew and pictures the Disney Artist drew (we have been given a few by the artist at the end of the session)

Universal isn't really attractive to us with the exception of the Harry Potter portion of the parks.

Anyone else have similar misgivings?

If so how are you dealing with them if you could please share.

[Goofy-n-Alabama]

There are many changes coming to WDW. What makes Disney great is our fond memories of the all the times we have spent there with family and friends. I too do not like ALL the changes that are taking place, but Disney will continue to evolve as technology, people, and preferences change over time. I will still continue visit Disney and give all the new things a fair shake. If I do not like something new then I will skip it or ride it every other trip. If the the Carousel of Progress has taught us anything, it is that "THERE'S A GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL TOMORROW", change is inevitable, but quality family time in a SAFE environment themed around a MOUSE is a place I will still continue to make NEW memories and give NEW things a try.

[Sylvia]

There are many changes coming to WDW. What makes Disney great is our fond memories of the all the times we have spent there with family and friends. I too do not like ALL the changes that are taking place, but Disney will continue to evolve as technology, people, and preferences change over time. I will still continue visit Disney and give all the new things a fair shake. If I do not like something new then I will skip it or ride it every other trip. If the the Carousel of Progress has taught us anything, it is that "THERE'S A GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL TOMORROW", change is inevitable, but quality family time in a SAFE environment themed around a MOUSE is a place I will still continue to make NEW memories and give NEW things a try.

Thank you for stating what so many of us believe. WDW is so much more than rides. The memories of so many trips with family members and friends who are no longer here are priceless. Attractions, shows, etc., may no longer be in existence, but memories will never fade.

Although several of my favorites are gone, I still have the memories of many special times over the years. The magic still lives on and I look forward to making more memories. Favorites are walking along Main Street toward the Castle, walking along Hollywood Blvd, seeing Spaceship Earth, exploring the Tree of Life, listening to the music, watching the live performances, etc., etc.; these activities always trigger old memories and help to make more memories. Although old favorites may be gone in the name of progress, spending time in WDW still gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling courtesy of the magic and pixie dust that is everywhere.

[Park Hopper]

I have to say that I am in general agreement. While my family and I still love Disney World, it does seem that there has been some decline. Here are some of my negative thoughts:

1. I used to be so excited about planning a new trip, but it now seems like a chore.

2. There is hardly any spontaneity left - many of the great things (attractions/meals/shows) have to be planned way in advance, making you worry about a schedule rather than fully enjoying the vacation.

3. Like many businesses, it seems that they have spent all their resources on figuring out how to get every last dollar from those that do visit, rather than building new and exciting attractions.

Having said that (and being an optimist), I believe there is reason for hope. I believe they are being forced to change because of the competition getting better. They seem to be building again. Pandora at AK will be done relatively soon. Toy Story and Star Wars areas are being added and it seems that they may be moving faster than they have for other areas. Rumors are that other building is being planned. I am also hopefully that they get some push back on all the advanced planning that is needed and change some of their policies.


Oh well, just my $0.02.

[MNDisney Dad]

I agree. The spontaneity is gone. It seems you have to plan every single detail of you trip weeks in advance. We are heading down in a week and I have told my family members that things will be very different from our last visit. A last minute change in our work schedules has allowed us to go, but with less than a week to plan, I fear we may regret even going. Hopefully I am wrong.

[LostBoys]

Thank you for the optimism and your thoughts

Had forgotten about the new fast pass system and having to plan that in advance and only being able to get 3 fast passes a day and the tier system.
I like some of what the magic bands (look how fast the were monetized) can do with room key, credit card, park ticket and fast pass in one easy to access place but having to chose an hour to be here for that ride and then there for another ride.

Kind of why I've given up the dining plan, especially with sit down. having to be in a certain park at a certain time to wait to be seated. Felt like we were losing out if we had to do it every day.

Yes some of the best times at WDW are spent just watching the world go by. The sites, smells, the occasional pixie dust and most important happy time with family.

Can't help but feel the new changes may outweigh the benefits and we're losing some of the magic (remains to be seen and hope I'm wrong). Losing what made it so special and the happiest pace on earth.

It's always been obvious the parks are designed to maximize revenue (theme shop at the end of almost every ride, pin trading and so on), what's the balance between guest experience and maximum profit? Thought Disney did it really well for a long time, maybe now that's tipping a little.

Our family always finds and nominates a character as a mascot every trip, usually something special will happen meeting and interacting with a character and we keep running into that character or something else unique will happen with that character.
Our last trip it rained most of the days, of course we donned ponchos and went on.
Our character mascot the last trip in 2014 ~ cast members. They were great everywhere

[Crow]

The animation station leaving is bad.
i have gone to WDW more than Universa by a lotl..now im thinking Universal is moving ahead more.

[Ms. Mode]

My family is among the "Disney Poor" as far as vacations go; and we have found that it is the ONLY place that you can truly get away from everything and find something different to do with every trip. That's why we love it so, there is magic there.

Spontaneous Disney is still doable, you just have to go with the flow. If you are going in January the crowds may or may not be smaller, but you can still have a great time. There are CS places that have excellent food and Disney is working to bring new areas to each of the parks. Enjoy!

[LostBoys]

Please don't tell me crowds still aren't smaller in January ;-( . Part of why we go then.

[Stu29573]

We are going the third week in December, and I am amazed at how stressful I'm finding all the planning to be. I used to love to plan and dream about Disney, but now its just work. As of this moment, we don't plan to return to WDW for a long while. We ARE considering doing Disneyland instead at some point, since many of the things that bug me about the "new" WDW don't apply there (FP+, I'm lookin' at YOU!). Still, with all the years of construction about to happen, it won't be soon... It's sad, really...

[kakn7294]

While I agree that I dislike some of the changes and that some of my favorite attractions are now gone, there is a lot to still be excited about at WDW. DTD is beautiful, even under a ton of construction. Hollywood Studios needed a huge makeover - I just wish it hadn't been at the expense of the Animation Courtyard attractions. Planning has become a bit more complicated but we have found that it's still possible to be flexible and spontaneous. I have changed dining reservations and FastPasses while actually at WDW, even during busy New Year's week. Of course, with some of the more popular attractions and restaurants, you do still have to plan months in advance, but it doesn't have to be stressful.

[i'm grumpy]

We are not SW fans and aren't one bit excited about that. Haven't seen Avatar and couldn't care less. We hated the new FP system. We were only there for 5 days, so we missed a lot. We still had a good time.

[LostBoys]

Long story short, we're going to WDW again. Just booked today

Hoping for more of a to see than to do trip, making memories before DS is too old for childhood memories (he's 14 but we hedge that a little). This might be the first time we let him on his own to take a Disney bus to MK without us (last trip we let him on his own in MK at his request, he texted us about every 5 minutes about something he saw)

I know the convenience of begin able to change FP times while in the park, liked FP much better before being limited to just 3 FP a day and the tier system

Thanks for all your input

[RunDMV]

FP+ was our final straw. After visiting 1-2 times a year for over 2 decades, we haven been back because of FP+.

Walt wanted to create "magic" and he was able to make money because of it. Good on him.

Now, WDW Corp. wants your money. I you can find some "magic" in between spending, they are ok with that.

[merciantinkerbell]

Ok, we've only been to Disney World twice so can't compare "old" Disney with "new" Disney and not sure if my opinion will count for much, but last year we really like Fastpass+. Apprehensive at first about being "locked" into a schedule but it worked really well for us as knowing we got a favourite ride booked meant we could do other things without worrying about how much of a queue there would be when we got to that ride. We also used the Disney app to change a couple of rides and didn't book a table restaurant everyday so had some spontaneity there. We had a great time and looking forward to 2018 ( fingers crossed)

[TheVBs]

So glad you have your trip booked! I hope it's amazing!

I was very worried about dealing with the FP+ stuff too. We've now done two trips using this system and they were wonderful. Planning the first one was far more stressful than the second. But, both times it enabled us to get on rides we probably would have passed on due to long stand by times.

[RunDMV]

So glad you have your trip booked! I hope it's amazing!

I was very worried about dealing with the FP+ stuff too. We've now done two trips using this system and they were wonderful. Planning the first one was far more stressful than the second. But, both times it enabled us to get on rides we probably would have passed on due to long stand by times.

I'm confused. How did FP+ allow you to avoid a standby line that FP didn't? with the possible exception of TSM, I don't see how it is an either/or situation.

[Melanie]

So glad you have your trip booked! I hope it's amazing!

I was very worried about dealing with the FP+ stuff too. We've now done two trips using this system and they were wonderful. Planning the first one was far more stressful than the second. But, both times it enabled us to get on rides we probably would have passed on due to long stand by times.

Funny. It's worked out the opposite for us. We're riding less now, due to standby lines being longer than ever.

[TheVBs]

I'm confused. How did FP+ allow you to avoid a standby line that FP didn't? with the possible exception of TSM, I don't see how it is an either/or situation.

Sorry! Didn't realize that would confuse anyone. Definitely TSM. FP would be gone for the entire day before we even got through the entrance. 7DMT probably would have been the same if they still had the old FP system. Otherwise, if a line was too long, we skipped it. If the return FP time was later than we planned on staying, we skipped it. With FP+ we got on every ride we wanted to, when we wanted to. It just happens to work out well for us.

Funny. It's worked out the opposite for us. We're riding less now, due to standby lines being longer than ever.

I know, and I'm really sorry that's the case. I wish Disney would address this problem for people who are not booking packages several months out.

[RunDMV]

Sorry! Didn't realize that would confuse anyone. Definitely TSM. FP would be gone for the entire day before we even got through the entrance. 7DMT probably would have been the same if they still had the old FP system. Otherwise, if a line was too long, we skipped it. If the return FP time was later than we planned on staying, we skipped it. With FP+ we got on every ride we wanted to, when we wanted to. It just happens to work out well for us.



I know, and I'm really sorry that's the case. I wish Disney would address this problem for people who are not booking packages several months out.

The billion or so dollars spent on FP+ could have been spent on additional attractions or another park to spread out the crowds.

I have a hectic job that involves planning and scheduling. sticking to timelines and arriving to appointments on time. I don't want to do all that on vacation.