DF's Observations, Thoughts, and Opinions From Current Trip

[DizneyFreak2002]

Will be home Friday from a week long visit to Orlando... I'm finishing my packing, but wanted to start this thread tonight... When I get back, I'm going to provide what I saw the last week in Disney and Universal (I will post Universal's in the Uni thread), theme park observations, Magic Band usage, Fastpass Plus, crowds, wait times, New Fantasyland... This will not be a trip report... I don't do those... This will simply be what I saw and experienced this last week, and my opinions about everything... Stay tuned!!!

[VWL Mom]

Looking forward to it

[Goofy4TheWorld]

I will set my DVR!

[Ms. Mode]

I hope you have a nice time!

[DizneyFreak2002]

I'm back, but dead tired from a lack of sleep 24 hour train ride... I'll post this weekend, promise!

[Aurora]

Can't wait to read it.

When I get back, I'm going to provide what I saw the last week in Disney and Universal (I will post Universal's in the Uni thread), theme park observations, Magic Band usage, Fastpass Plus, crowds, wait times, New Fantasyland... This will not be a trip report... I don't do those... This will simply be what I saw and experienced this last week, and my opinions about everything... Stay tuned!!!

Isn't that technically a trip report?

[marlyn]

Isn't that technically a trip report?

[DizneyFreak2002]

Can't wait to read it.



Isn't that technically a trip report?

Technically, no.. I'm not detailing every day of my trip... When I read the trip reports, I read people including every minute of their day: what they did, where they ate, and what time they stopped for a potty break LOL... I'm just going to give my opinion on what I saw, not tell you all what I did minute to minute... That is a trip report to me...

Ok, ready?

[DizneyFreak2002]

First (Aurora, this will be the only trip reportish style of, um, reporting LOL) let me detail how this trip came about....

I was planning a week in Orlando with a friend of mine, the same friend I usually head to Orlando with... We had planned for a week visit, and only doing Universal for 2 days while kicking back and relaxing (getting away from what has been a rough two years for both of us)... The plan was Islands of Adventure one day and Universal Studios/HHN another, with the rest of the time put aside for kickign back by the pool, sleeping in late, and just hanging out with friends visiting other sites...

Well, during the last year, my friend became a father... So, because of the change of his status from single guy to single dad, he cancelled out... Understandable.... I decided I was going to go alone instead, but still keep IOA/Uni on the agenda.. I wouldn't have done the two parks alone, one of my friends in Orlando had scheduled time off from work to come to the parks with me....

To my shock, my brother, out of nowhere, mentioned he wanted to go to Disney World... I was shocked because, the last time we were there as a family (2001) was the last time he was there... He used to make fun of me for going every year, and the last time (2001) he was bored and said he didn't care to visit again... so yes, I was shocked when he said he wanted to go...

Not knowing if I should take him serious or not, I did not make any move to buy WDW tickets or anything... But, he was serious... With that I purchased a 4 day base ticket (with a free 5th day thanks to Official Ticket Center!!!), as well as our train tickets (no, I do not fly), and the Universal tickets...

There is a little back ground on how this trip came about... Because my brother wanted to go to WDW, even though I didn't, I still purchased the tickets cause I was not going to take that away from him...

Next post will detail my observations and opinions...

[DizneyFreak2002]

From the 5 days I spent inside Disney World theme parks and the week or so at their resorts, here is what I observed and a few opinions about everything...

CROWDS
Where were they? I was expecting to be over run by hoards of people... From reading trip reports and other posts, I was expecting wall to wall sweaty, smelly humans... But, I never encountered that... Except for DTD, which always has crowds anyway... The crowds were no more or less than I remember from previous Octobers... which leads me to:

WAIT TIMES
Most attractions were walk on... Some had a little wait, while the most popular attractions had long wait times... One thing I did notice though, Pirates and HM had abnormally long wait times for the minimal amount of people in queue... and I do mean minimal... How can Pirates have a posted 25 minute wait (was really 45) and HM have a posted 30 minute wait (was also 45) with hardly anyone ahead of us? One answer... FAST PASS... I do believe Rides like HM and Pirates do not need and should not have FP... This is proof FP+ is going to inflate wait times...

MAINTENANCE
I am the first person to jump on Disney/TDO for poor maintenance... And the last 15-20 years, maintenance was as poor as poor can get... I'm also the first person to give props when due... I must say, the maintenance of attractions seems to have picked up... Many of the attractions looked in great shape... Yes, there was the occasional break down ( couldn't do PhilharMagic at all since it was down all day)...The burning Rome smell was powerful on Spaceship Earth... Main Street looked fantastic, the Castle was beautiful... However, there were a few mishaps.. No mermaids on Pirates, Blackbeard's voice could be heard but no mist scene... DHS still stands... Disco yeit still doing is best John Travolta... and again, PhilharMagic was down the day we were in MK... Otherwise, everything looked to be in pretty good working order, and for the most part, show ready... Even Dinosaur had effects working which I haven't seen in ages...

RESORTS
I had a split stay: a few days at Bay Lake Tower, a few days at Saratoga Springs... I've been hearing and reading about the poor condition of the rooms in Bay Lake... These reports troubled me... I love Bay Lake (heck, I did buy into it)... So reading and hearing about the room conditions saddened me.. But then I entered my room and thought "where are these horrible rooms???" My room was in top condition... No paint chips, no broken furniture... AC worked better than I remember

Saratoga Springs is another story... While the rooms are nice, they are horribly out dated... My room had chipped walls, dirty fridge... The AC was horrible, and the sliding glass door to the balcony would barely open... A call to maintenance didn't even do the trick (if they even showed up)... We still had a hard time opening and closing the sliding glass door... Where are my maintenance fees going exactly?

TRANSPORTATION
This trip, I found it to be very reliable... I never waited more than 5 minutes for a bus to anywhere... The monorails need a complete replacement and upgrade, but even so, I did not encounter one break down... The night we stayed in MK during EMH, we had to take the ferry back to TTC, and even then, I found the ferry to be just fine...

[DizneyFreak2002]

FASTPASS PLUS
I want to hate the NextGen program, and I still do... I feel this is a waste of $2.5 billion dollars... In 5 years, Comcast will be spending $2.5 billion on new attractions, hotels and theme park expansions... WDW on something that wasn't broke but now broken... Waste of money... Complete waste of money...

When I read how awesome people find this, I read it notice the feels are of personal and selfishness (not bad selfish, but more like not seeing the over all picture, just worrying about yourself)... if I were to look at this without the objective view, yes I'd love it too... Who wouldn't want to book a ride on Soarin 60 days in advance? And if you are fortunate enough to be able to do that, then great... the system works just fine... But now, look at it objectively... it is a disaster... Soarin and Test Track had over 60 minute wait times all day, and FP were sold out very early in the morning... Hardly any paper FP were available to people not participating in the magic band/FP+ testing, or to guests with RFID KTTW cards... TSMM is another ride where FP were gone very early... I don't believe many, if any, same day FPs were available for these attractions... This is a major failure... Lines at Guest Relations were abnormally long this trip... Came to find out, almost all of the complaints were FP not being available, with plenty of DAS complaints tossed in... This is a nightmare for GR cast members... Wonder why they are hiring so many? Not enough bodies to handle the complaints... Some of us called this a disaster waiting to happen... Seems we were right... This is a program which will collapse under its own weight... Disney has a problem... I have NO faith in them to find a solution... Disney is no longer in the guest satisfaction game... Now, it is all about treating guests in WDW as if they are items on a conveyer belt, squeezing the life out of them (in this case, every last cent you have on you)... And no, it isn't working...

Now, selfish me: FP+ worked fine for me... I booked, in advance, for three attractions in Epcot for the day I arrived... I booked Soarin, Test Track, and Spaceship Earth... Well, I missed my Soarin time (no biggie, we weren't going to rush to the park), but I managed to get on Test Track and Spaceship Earth (which does not need FP either)... So, again, in those cases, yes the system is just fine... In the over all picture, no... it isn't...

And they must remove it for Fantasmic... Fantasmic may become a show I never go see again... Having FP on shows is just stupid... But, this is the new Disney Company where stupid is as stupid does... And in Orlando, they are full of stupid... We went to the 9:00 show of Fantasmic, and because of FP+ getting priority seating (let in first), stand by was not seated until 8:50, and with that it was a stampede of humans pushing, shoving, and trampling over each other just to get into the arena... If this is how it will be, count me out... As for the show, the torches on the canoes failed to work as usual, the projections on the water were crummy, but everything else seemed to have been updated and working just fine... And yes, they are slowly upgrading the show.. In fact, they just upgraded the lighting.. Now update the projections!!!

MAGIC BANDS
For the first few hours of wearing them, I had no issues or complaints... other than the awkward turning of the wrist at the FP or gate entrance turn styles... By late afternoon/early evening, they became annoying... Easy fix: remove from your wrist... They worked just fine, for the most part, for entering the room or theme parks or fast pass lines... We did run into one issue but it was easily corrected... I was told at Bay Lake I did not have to check out, just leave... So, I did and went to SSR... The CM at SSR informed me I was supposed to check out at Bay Lake so they could deactivate my BLT bands and SSR could activate my SSR bands... Hassle if you ask me.. Easily solved: ONE SET OF BANDS!!! But no, we needed two... So, I had to get my SSR bands from the car and have the CM check me out of BLT (from SSR which was pretty nifty!!) and then activate my new bands... Once they did that, everything worked just fine... Like I said, one issue which was easily fixed...

I'll add this here since this does fit with magic bands... As I and a few others stated previously, and again, shouted down, Disney WILL BE tracking you... They have long range and short range readers... Short range examples are your door, FP+ turn styles, park entrance turn styles, or the pay at the register readers... They have long range too... And yes, Disney will know when Dizneyfreak enters Emporium or World of Disney or Gaston's Tavern even before I purchase anything... Before, the only way they knew where you were is by you using your KTTW card as a credit card... they the information registered back that Dizneyfreak was at Emporium... Now, you no longer have to make a purchase... Just entering they will know... I know some people think the tracking is no big deal... But others do have a problem with it... And Disney is not being honest about it... At least Google tells you they are tracking you... Disney doesn't...

What Disney does with the info they gain is the problem, I feel... Disney will be creating (yes I know they already have one) a database on their guests... They will compile information regarding your spending habits (where you spend your time and money and on what)... If you are a big spender, Disney will look to squeeze even more out of you... if you are a not a big spender, don't look for Disney to try to get one more cent from you... You are more of a liability then someone they see dollar signs in, and someone they prefer not to visit the parks.. yes, I know it sounds like a stupid idea, but this is what it is...