Anyone also a Disney fanatic?

We've got a Disneyland trip booked so I've been reading the DIS boards and other Disney forums for updates and info....they're just as obsessed as us Vegas folks! Planning their next trip before they've taken off for the current one, restaurant reviews, plans of attack for all the rides, etc.

Although....my Vegas trips are definitely cheaper than a trip to the Mouse!

 

All day, every day. Was a pass holder for years and now I just ride the SoCal 3 day passes. But, it’s been a year since I’ve been and I really need to get back there!

 

Used to be. Grew up in Florida so had annual passes to WDW from age 7 til I started working there at 19, then back to the passes until about 32. Honestly a lot of the Disney boards and groups were part of the reason I grew less interested in Disney things. This board is so friendly and while I'm sure there are plenty of Disney boards where people are, most of the interactions I had in the later years were often pretty unpleasant. Since quitting Disney though, I can afford to go to Vegas more often, and the ability to plan a Vegas trip similarly to a Disney trip keeps my brain happy with all the pre-trip research

 

I love Disney. Just went this summer with the kids, but it's not the same when they're surly teens/young adults. I agree it's more expensive than Vegas! 3 days in the park, 3 nights in a hotel, for 3 people was 2K right there. Then food, souvenirs, etc. on top of that...

 

The Disney boards out there are problematic. The moderation is low to non-existent, so the conversations often go off the rails. The content is often not well organized so it can sometimes be difficult to find the content you are looking for. And worst of all, there is a lot of negativity. I know I complain about the negativity and doom and gloom on here from time to time, but on the biggest disney boards, that type of content is ubiquitous. In a way, I understand it. The passion online disney fans have for disney makes all of our passions for vegas seem like a passing interest. Those disney fans are rabid. And unfortunately, most of them do not like change (kinda understandable, since nostalgia is what draws most adults back to disney). So any time there is even the slightest change, there is a high degree of freak out on those boards. I still remember sometime last year when one of the Disney resorts changed the noodles used in one of their dishes and the Disney boards reacted as though Disney had tried to murder their pets! Calm down people! Its just some crappy noodles in an overpriced meal, lol. Still, there are fun pockets of conversations and information you can find in those places. You just have to sift through a lot of crap to get to the fun stuff.

And obviously, I am a disney fan. Just look at my last TR lol

 

We are a Disney obsessed household or at least my wife accepts she lives in one. We actually were supposed to head to Disneyland from Vegas during our trip this past February but because Canada still had testing in place to return, we cancelled that part of the trip unfortunately. We didn’t want to run the risk of being away longer and increasing the chances of not being able to fly home. I’m now trying to figure out if we can do a DL trip next year with a few days of Vegas at the end.

Other than following some Disney news/info people on Twitter, listening to the DIS Unplugged and occasionally checking Reddit, I stay away from the forums/sites. Disney Fandom has a lot of good but there’s a lot of unnecessary drama and anger.

 

My wife read the DIS boards daily, as much for entertainment (a lot of ) as for info. Unfortunately Disney and covid/staffing issues has destroyed WDW for us as a vacation choice.

 

Ohana overpriced? How dare you, lol. J/k spent $150 on a breakfast of cold Mickey waffles and eggs with a drive by from Stitch for the sake of my nephew there and vowed never to return. When I read people complain about Vegas prices on here I just think of that meal and laugh.

My wife and I both moved down here for mostly theme park reasons based on good memories as kids. I to attend college away from my immediate family and pursue a career in hospitality (bad decision, do not recommend) and her for a Disney college program that became an immediate return once her degree was obtained after she finished a program. She ended up working about 10 years at Disney in various Merch/F&B Server jobs, I was only there for 2 before getting let go at the end of an Guest Relations internship during the 08-09 downturn, and moved on to the other players in town. She’s always been a full blown “Disney” person, obsessed with the movies/shows as a kid, tons of character related toys/merch, etc. I only cared about the theme parks, because I love all amusement/theme parks and Disney was the start of that.

We left for a few years to try and build a “real life and career” and returned 2 years later, with at least the 2nd part mostly settled. We were passholders until Covid, then decided not to renew due to reservation availability being so slim and fostering dogs (then adopting one) limiting our free time out and about. I miss being able to pop into Epcot for a few hours after work to grab a drink or snack and get some fresh air, but not enough to pony up for single day ticket prices. I was just thinking the other day about how I hadn’t been to Universal in over 2 years, and SeaWorld in 3. 21 year old me that basically spent his entire time outside class either working or playing in a park would never believe it.

WDW has become so crowded, complicated, and expensive though. If the travel time/expense is similar, I’d definitely recommend folks stick to Disneyland. Part of it could be the novelty factor since we don’t live next to it, but we always have so much more fun spending a day there then here at WDW.

 

My wife and daughters are obsessed with Disney merch! It’s been 6-7 years since we’ve made a visit, but their stock’s generally been a good one for us. Yeah we’re Disney fans… also LOVE the NFL, NBA and loud music at Circa too!

 

FWIW, there are no more covid restrictions or modifications at Disney World. But there are noticeable staffing issues. Even when they are able to hire more, changes to the way Disney operates its going to result in less visible staff than you would see in the past. But the staff they do have are still mostly fantastic.

 

lol, I get some hate on the various Disney boards for repeatedly posting how the food everywhere at Disney is mediocre at best and overpriced. Sorry, but its true. We did take the little family members to Be Our Guest for lunch back in May. I appreciated the chef whipped me up a good vegetarian dish when I didn't care for the option on the pre fix menu. And eating in the Beast's castle was fun. but still, it wasn't worht $75 a person. And that was one of the better meals I have ahd at Disney. When we go, I jsut swallow hard, know I am going to overpay for food, and seek out the stuff I like.

As for Disney trips becoming too pricey and complicated, there is some truth in that. But I try to look at it from a relative perspective. The hotels are more expensive than Vegas, but the theming is unique and fun. The park tickets are insanely expensive, but I spend just as much or more to geta spa treatment or a beach cabana on other trips. And the new ride reservation system is annoying and seemingly complicated (until you have used it once or twice), but its optional. You don't have to use it. You can jsut chill, get in a line when you feel like it, and wander the parks doing what you want. Unfortunately, about 99% of the online disney community does not take that perspective. They would rather bitch and moan about every little thing and proclaim how "Walt" never would have let these things happen. Ummm, I guess they never read about people's shoes sinking into the unfinished pavement and rampant amounts of counterfeit tickets when Disneyland opened, lol. Yeah, "Walt" never did anything for a buck, lol

 

I've only been to WDW once, back in 1993 when visiting relatives in Florida. Growing up in CA, we went to DL every other year or so until I was in high school.

Had a loooong stretch of not going, then started up again when we had kids. We were supposed to go last year, fall of 2021, but I bailed on it due to Covid concerns. Now that my 9 year old is vaxed, I'm willing to go for it! Plus it's his last year as a Disney child.

I knew they introduced new systems, reservations, etc, so I had to dive into the forums. Like here at VMB, it's helpful to read trip reports, restaurant reviews etc. I try to avoid negativity, unless it'll help me make a trip planning decision.

DL trips are for family fun times; Vegas is for me to relax!

 

I can't speak to WDW, but I've actually been favorably impressed with the food options at DL and DCA, especially the quick service offerings unique to each park. I've been browsing menus, and making a list of things to try. The table service options, imho, aren't nearly as good a deal for what you get, but there's nothing like dining at the Blue Bayou, or a drink at Oga's Cantina!

People will vent about anything, but once you're in the park, imho, it's all good! We got 5 day tickets this trip, to take the pressure off to "do it all", so we'll be able to enjoy the experience. Plus, staying at the Grand Californian, I'm looking forward to lots of pool time. There's a pool slide!

 

I think the biggest issues are that they, mainly Bob Chapek, have made things more complicated with the park reservation system and now the introduction of Genie+. There is also the feeling of things being devalued. Prices have gone up, which is normal, but it seems like a lot of the perks and benefits have been taken away at the same time. While Genie+ is optional, it did replace something that was free and available to everyone. Now, it seems like the parks have become a tiered offering. We haven't been to a park since 2016 so I don't have any first-hand experience with it but I do remember being a little stressed trying to book and plan our FP+ and this new system does sound like there a few more hoops to jump through not to mention the pay to play with Lightning Lane+.

I do wonder if a lot of the negatively on the boards is mainly from locals or people who frequent more often. While I hate the fact that there's a new system in place and to get onto a ride like Rise of the Resistance might now be an extra charge if we choose to, as someone who only gets to go every few years at the least, it's just one more thing to budget for. We need to make our limited time in the parks worth it and Chapek knows this and is taking advantage of it at the same time increasing everyone's individual spending per visit. This in the end looks good to the board and shareholders and that's all that matters in the end.

 

If it makes you feel better, the new systems seem complicated at first, but are actually pretty easy to use. I felt the same way until I actually used them.

As for the costs going up, I believe Disney is actually trying to have fewer guests in the parks, but have guests willing to spend more money across the board. Overcrowding at the parks is a real issue and has been that way since before the pandemic. So you can understand why they keep raising prices. The demand is still there. And while Disney won't admit it publicly, I think they want to reduce park demand a little bit. The best way to do that is to keep making it more expensive. Nobody likes the prices going up. But I am willing to bet that if you asked a Disney fan whether they would pay an extra $70 a day, but the parks would have half as many guests and all the wait times for attractions and food would be halved, there are a lot of fans who would take that offer.

 

We have done Disney 100+ times going back to it being a “date night” place for us in the late 70’s. It was about an hour away; it has gotten to be a longer drive as 192 became more and more saturated…now we never go that way.

The latest string of trips involved the Disney runs and five or six day trips with just the two of us a lot of the time. Right now, we are on a hiatus and doing the cruising thing more often.

As always has happened before, we will go back and reinvent our trips based on how things are being done at that point. We have spent a lot of days on more recent just hanging at the hotel and pool lately…for now, we do that same thing in Cocoa Beach!

 

I was born and raised in Orlando in the early 70s. Disney World was always a part of our life. And back then, Disney World meant the Magic Kingdom and the Monorail traveling through the Contemporary hotel like nothing we had ever experienced before. Even the shuttle from the parking lot to the park entrance was highly entertaining. There was nothing like a Disney World vacation.

 

I liked Genie+ and LL better than the newer version of the FP system it replaced, even with the extra expense, but the old paper FP system is still king. So much easier to take advantage of and exploit for a much smoother day at the park, although it’s hard to know if that’s just because Disney boards and social media didn’t exist at the same level so the tips/tricks weren’t as easy to grab.

I remember DL’s system had attractions that weren’t actually on the FP network, so if you knew that you could very easily horde a bunch of FPs and not have to worry about lines at all if you planned things out correctly. Those were really the good times.

Both of those instances obviously outline a system that was probably worse for the general public at large, since they were basically advantage plays for the knowledgeable guest, but I definitely miss them.

The other reason I’ve generally preferred Disneyland is because the folks there are really into the park above all else, and the operations reflect that. The fireworks show is an easy example. When DL was celebrating their anniversary they got a cool new show that brought you through the history of the park using clips of ride audio and other attraction specific references. WDW’s new nighttime shows for their 50th are all just the greatest hits from their movies/franchises and nothing related to the park. It’s most egregious at Epcot, IMO, where they took a classic (although dated) ROE, replaced it for like a year with a new show that traded off the parks’ nostalgia and got OK reviews, before replacing that for the anniversary with an IP riddled mess that includes equipment that ruins the views through the park. That wouldn’t happen at DL.

 

My family just went to DL and CA on a 2 year delayed trip for my son's high school graduation. I had been almost 10 years since we last went and some things have changed so mistakes were made.
Fist off, we went on a 3 day hopper which we normally do, but have never 3 consecutive days. Let me tell you it was exhausting! With an average step count of 23,000 a day, there is no getting around the fatigue factor. I would advise breaking up the 3 or more days with a shopping day or something else. We stayed offsite at the Doubletree Anaheim and walked to the Toy Story lot to catch the free bus both ways. This added some steps but saved on rental car and parking fees.

I know it was the Summer season but was still amazed at how crowded the parks were, even with the reservation system and limiting capacity. The parks are amazing as ever. The attention to detail always astounds me and being an operations guys, pulling everything off on a daily basis is mind boggling.

We purchased Genie + for all 3 days but don't think we used it as efficiently as we could have. Even though we watched several YouTube videos, there is still a learning curve. I say it is well with the price though because the Standby wait times were an hour or more for EVERYTHING! One mistake we make on the second day was to try Radiator Springs first thing as a group and my niece joined us for the day. The Standby wait time was 90 minutes and we figured we could Genie+ something while waiting. In past experience, I found the Standby times less than the posted times so I figured 90 minutes may actually be about 75. WRONG! Genie+ gives a high priority to it's purchasers so if there is a high reservation amount for any given ride, they are given preferential treatment as far as the line goes (as it should be). But add into the equation the ride broke down, it took 3 hours waiting for a 4 minute ride. We instantly got smarter about our wait times. We stated using Genie+ more efficiently and did single rider queues to bypass lines. For instance, we did Genie+ for Splash then immediately got into the single rider line and was able to ride Splash Mountain 3 times in about 30 minutes.

Another mistake on my part was thinking Rise of the Resistance and Web Slingers was included with Genie+. It is an individual Lightning Lane purchase of about $17 per person. Thus we only got to go on Rise once (they close early at 9pm) and never got to do Web Slingers.

Wait times do get lower during the later evening and during the parade, although we did catch most of the Electric Light parade over 2 nights.

Dining has also changed a lot with the addition of mobile ordering. This is a great feature which can save time if you plan ahead as wait time for food is 30-45 minutes after ordering. If you want a sit down dinner, reservations are required months in advance. I have always wanted to try Blue Bayou but started to look for reservations too late. I was able to get one a Carnation Cafe and was pleasantly surprised at the menu, food quality and service.

Overall, we had a great time. I am Disneyed out but will probably be ready to go back in a year. We may do Tokyo next year.....

 

I am a slightly reformed Disney-holic. I may possibly have an AP for WDW and a few days booked in October. But I have 2 trips to Vegas between now & then!