johnnysmom
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,682
Jun 25, 2014 21:16:33 GMT
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Post by johnnysmom on Mar 21, 2022 20:25:47 GMT
I’ll go back and read the rest of the comments in a minute.
We are very much Disney World fans. Not to the point of Disney apologists, there’s plenty they do wrong. I follow a couple of Disney FB groups/vloggers. Dh & I are an “opposites attract” couple yet we both enjoy WDW in different ways. We were on an every 4ish year plan but went last April (just dh & I) and then this past January with ds11.
Yes, it’s expensive, more expensive than before (but isn’t everything?) I think it’s ridiculous that they cut back on housekeeping (though it’s starting to return to daily, at least at some resorts). I hate their stupid “security checks”. The park reservations are a bit of an annoyance and being unable to park hop until after two can be irritating as well.
I’m torn on Genie+. I have no issue with people being able to pay for shorter lines, other theme parks have been doing it for awhile. I think it would be nice if they included it as a perk for some of their guests (deluxe resort, club level, something). When we were there in Jan we used it for one day. Ds and I did all 4 parks in 1 day and used it for that, it worked pretty well. Yes, it cost money but I justified it to myself that the cost for each of us was less than dh had spent on a drink at dinner the night before 🤣. I don’t think it’s worth buying for every person for everyday you’re there, but we don’t vacation like that either. I did resent that I had to get up at 7am on vacation though, that part I actually hate.
Do I miss fast pass? I miss being able to schedule them in advance. I’m a planner. And I love planning vacations, so being forced to do that doesn’t phase me at all.
I’m not sure how much these things matter to people, the parks are crowded all the time. Is this a short term surge fueled by the pandemic or are the crowds here to stay? Hard to say. Dh and ds say it’ll be 3ish years before we return (the weather really spoiled our fun more than anything). I’d go back in the fall if we could 🤷🏻♀️
My random Disney thoughts for the day 😉
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johnnysmom
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,682
Jun 25, 2014 21:16:33 GMT
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Post by johnnysmom on Mar 21, 2022 20:33:45 GMT
. And I think, at least for WDW, a stay *on property* should be required for park attendance. I realize Disney exists to make money. But there are ways they could protect revenue stream and also make the parks the more magical experience they used to be 20 years ago. Omg wouldn’t that be heavenly? 😍 We had such a great time the two nights where it was deluxe resort guest after hours. Super short lines, lots of room to walk.
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caangel
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,478
Location: So Cal
Jun 26, 2014 16:42:12 GMT
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Post by caangel on Mar 21, 2022 20:44:30 GMT
we are Disney annual passholders (or Magic Key holders as they call it now). Disney has made a lot of changes as a result of covid including requiring park reservations and, as you indicated, eliminating the old fast passes and charging for new "lightning" passes. believe me, i've seen many people grumble the changes on the Disney FB groups i follow. and yet they still go. for me, i don't care that the fast passes were eliminated. we go enough that most of the time, we just lunch and stroll around. i just feel bad for the families that feel forced to pay because they have limited time to get in as many rides as possible. the bottom line is, Disney will keep charging as much as they can for as many things as they can for ONE REASON and one reason only----because they know people will pay. that's just economics 101. price as high as the market will bear and clearly there is no shortage of new visitors who will happily take the place of people who boycott the changes. as greedy as many people accuse Disney of being, there is no shortage of people who will pay. the constant rise in ticket prices is proof of this. they do it because they can. We went last as a family in 2019. One evening while we were waiting for the bus back to our hotel we had a conversation with an off duty bus driver who was waiting to go back on a bus to the main terminal. DH commented about the crowds, which didn’t happen to be too bad the day we went, and the guy said about the only tool they really have for crowd control is the price of the ticket. Logic would have it that when the ticket price goes up the crowd numbers should go down, except that isn’t what has been happening. They raise the prices and the people still keep coming in droves. So as long as people continue to overwhelmingly flock to the parks, they’re going to try to contain the crowds by pricing some people out. From what others have said, it would make more sense to control the number of season pass holders that are allowed, or limit how often the season passes can be used. Logic would also have it that those people going on a once in a lifetime vacation are going to spend way more in their one visit than Disney will ever squeeze out of a season pass holder in an entire season. The top two tiers of passes at DLR are no longer available. I'm not sure if the other two are available or if those are sold out too.
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The Great Carpezio
Pearl Clutcher
Something profound goes here.
Posts: 2,936
Jun 25, 2014 21:50:33 GMT
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Post by The Great Carpezio on Mar 21, 2022 20:45:47 GMT
I don't know what the answer is, but there has to be a better way to do this. Obviously, a lot of people are willing to pay the price, and some people find all the planning/manipulation of the system fun, but I think this might change things for some. More people have to be willing to forgo Disney though.
I am not anti-Disney. I completely understand why people want to go, but even if you have the money, I am not sure why people would want to go every year (unless you live nearby and don't have to fly or due to special needs) since there are so many other amazing places to go in this world.
I don't know a lot of people in my circles who go to Disney often anymore (living in MN)---there used to be people I knew that went every year or a few times with their kids, but just, like I said before, it seems like so much work and although my kids enjoyed it and would like to go again, it wasn't their favorite trip we have taken. If I asked them if they want to go to Disney or Hawaii, they would pick Hawaii in a heartbeat (and a couple other places). If I asked them if they wanted to go to Disney or a cruise (non-Disney), it would probably be close to a tie. Without the Star Wars thing, I am pretty sure a cruise would win, and if it was a European cruise, the cruise would win.
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Post by Skellinton on Mar 21, 2022 21:01:41 GMT
I don't know what the answer is, but there has to be a better way to do this. Obviously, a lot of people are willing to pay the price, and some people find all the planning/manipulation of the system fun, but I think this might change things for some. More people have to be willing to forgo Disney though. I am not anti-Disney. I completely understand why people want to go, but even if you have the money, I am not sure why people would want to go every year (unless you live nearby and don't have to fly or due to special needs) since there are so many other amazing places to go in this world. I don't know a lot of people in my circles who go to Disney often anymore (living in MN)---there used to be people I knew that went every year or a few times with their kids, but just, like I said before, it seems like so much work and although my kids enjoyed it and would like to go again, it wasn't their favorite trip we have taken. If I asked them if they want to go to Disney or Hawaii, they would pick Hawaii in a heartbeat (and a couple other places). If I asked them if they wanted to go to Disney or a cruise (non-Disney), it would probably be close to a tie. Without the Star Wars thing, I am pretty sure a cruise would win, and if it was a European cruise, the cruise would win. _______________________________on an off topic note______________________ So much irony from last week's BK thread to this thread. We ALL have our topics we post multiple times on and pet peeves, don't we? We all have lines we draw. (and even greater irony that I was pinpointed and I have posted 20 times in the last month and about 70% were in the reading thread I post each week.) I literally average less than a post a day. Anyway, I know I should be the bigger person after being on this and the old board for 20 years, but it still is annoying me. Actually, it kinda hurt me too. I am super confused.
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The Great Carpezio
Pearl Clutcher
Something profound goes here.
Posts: 2,936
Jun 25, 2014 21:50:33 GMT
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Post by The Great Carpezio on Mar 21, 2022 21:09:01 GMT
I am sorry. There is a person (Yvonne) on here posting that told me I shouldn't post multiple times on the thread about Burger King taking too much time (a thread from last week.) It is ironic because the person had to wait 30 minutes for their food at BK after driving a very long time, but an overpriced steak at Disney is worth tears after a long day at Disney and this thread it worth multiple posts (and BTW, I would have been upset about the steak too.) I was being vague and probably shouldn't have done that. I did warn it was off-topic though. ;p I do know better. I am feeling petty and hormonal today I guess. It was still bugging me. Also, I did delete my previous post about it. I know it is still quoted, but I shouldn't have derailed this.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Mar 21, 2022 22:11:09 GMT
I don't know a lot of people in my circles who go to Disney often anymore (living in MN)---there used to be people I knew that went every year or a few times with their kids, but just, like I said before, it seems like so much work and although my kids enjoyed it and would like to go again, it wasn't their favorite trip we have taken. If I asked them if they want to go to Disney or Hawaii, they would pick Hawaii in a heartbeat (and a couple other places). If I asked them if they wanted to go to Disney or a cruise (non-Disney), it would probably be close to a tie. Without the Star Wars thing, I am pretty sure a cruise would win, and if it was a European cruise, the cruise would win. __________________________DELETED________________ We went on a Disney cruise to the Caribbean that had a Star Wars Day at Sea. The whole theme, the whole day, was Star Wars including the big nighttime dress up party on the main deck with the fireworks. (We’re not Star Wars fans.) Your kids probably would have loved it if they are fans. So you could in theory have a Disney experience, a Star Wars experience and a cruise experience all rolled into one.
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mamapeaah
Full Member
Posts: 325
Sept 30, 2021 4:39:02 GMT
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Post by mamapeaah on Mar 21, 2022 22:22:40 GMT
I go to disney every couple of years, but I usually do one party and one day at the park. I recently went though and used the new genie plus system, I ended up paying even more for Ratatoullie. For me, it was ok because it is already expensive to go to Disney and my kids have outgrown characture meals, so I saved in that way.
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Post by ameslou on Mar 21, 2022 23:03:23 GMT
I'm late to the thread here but have another sucky new change that Disney has made. In addition to purchasing a ticket for a specific park on a specific day, now you have to have a "Park Reservation" for that park on that day.
Last week had plans to go to FL and spend a day at Disney. Freak snowstorm happened and our flight was cancelled .. which meant that we had to rework our itinerary and leave a couple of days later than planned. Well ... Disney allowed us to move our tickets to another day that week, but somehow we didn't get a park reservation for that day. I figured this out the night before we were supposed to go .. and guess what? There were no park reservations available for that day. So no, we didn't get to go .. at all.
And no, we couldn't get a refund.
I doubt that we'll go back again.
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Post by zima on Mar 21, 2022 23:17:06 GMT
There were no park reservations available for that day. So no, we didn't get to go .. at all. And no, we couldn't get a refund. I doubt that we'll go back again. Oh, man. I can't believe that! How horrible. I can't believe a ticket doesn't get you in - what a terrible system.
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kibblesandbits
Pearl Clutcher
At the corner of Awesome and Bombdiggity
Posts: 3,305
Aug 13, 2016 13:47:39 GMT
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Post by kibblesandbits on Mar 21, 2022 23:32:14 GMT
I'm late to the thread here but have another sucky new change that Disney has made. In addition to purchasing a ticket for a specific park on a specific day, now you have to have a "Park Reservation" for that park on that day. Last week had plans to go to FL and spend a day at Disney. Freak snowstorm happened and our flight was cancelled .. which meant that we had to rework our itinerary and leave a couple of days later than planned. Well ... Disney allowed us to move our tickets to another day that week, but somehow we didn't get a park reservation for that day. I figured this out the night before we were supposed to go .. and guess what? There were no park reservations available for that day. So no, we didn't get to go .. at all. And no, we couldn't get a refund. I doubt that we'll go back again. OMG ridiculous. Did you plan yourself or have a Disney Vacationeer plan for you? If so, they should have advocated for you.
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jayfab
Drama Llama
procastinating
Posts: 5,531
Jun 26, 2014 21:55:15 GMT
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Post by jayfab on Mar 21, 2022 23:35:45 GMT
I'm late to the thread here but have another sucky new change that Disney has made. In addition to purchasing a ticket for a specific park on a specific day, now you have to have a "Park Reservation" for that park on that day. Last week had plans to go to FL and spend a day at Disney. Freak snowstorm happened and our flight was cancelled .. which meant that we had to rework our itinerary and leave a couple of days later than planned. Well ... Disney allowed us to move our tickets to another day that week, but somehow we didn't get a park reservation for that day. I figured this out the night before we were supposed to go .. and guess what? There were no park reservations available for that day. So no, we didn't get to go .. at all.
And no, we couldn't get a refund.
I doubt that we'll go back again. No flipping way! That would piss me off to no end!
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Post by Laurie on Mar 21, 2022 23:37:28 GMT
There were no park reservations available for that day. So no, we didn't get to go .. at all. And no, we couldn't get a refund. I doubt that we'll go back again. Oh, man. I can't believe that! How horrible. I can't believe a ticket doesn't get you in - what a terrible system. They started doing this during Covid as a way to cap the crowd attendance in the park each day. I assume as Covid guidelines loosen up they will go back to how it was. We go every year. Our 19 yo and 10 yo dd’s both want to go. The last few years we have stayed off resort and spent most of our vacation seeing other things in Florida too. This year we are going there for Thanksgiving and will be staying on the resort this time. I wasn’t much of a fan of the fast pass system so I am kinda okay with this.
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Post by snoopy on Mar 21, 2022 23:39:00 GMT
I'm late to the thread here but have another sucky new change that Disney has made. In addition to purchasing a ticket for a specific park on a specific day, now you have to have a "Park Reservation" for that park on that day. Last week had plans to go to FL and spend a day at Disney. Freak snowstorm happened and our flight was cancelled .. which meant that we had to rework our itinerary and leave a couple of days later than planned. Well ... Disney allowed us to move our tickets to another day that week, but somehow we didn't get a park reservation for that day. I figured this out the night before we were supposed to go .. and guess what? There were no park reservations available for that day. So no, we didn't get to go .. at all. And no, we couldn't get a refund. I doubt that we'll go back again. I’m so sorry this happened to you. I would be furious! Disney used to be known for their great customer service, but it’s truly terrible now. On my last trip, I encountered a few rude cast members, but your experience is completely unacceptable.
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Post by myshelly on Mar 21, 2022 23:40:43 GMT
Oh, man. I can't believe that! How horrible. I can't believe a ticket doesn't get you in - what a terrible system. They started doing this during Covid as a way to cap the crowd attendance in the park each day. I assume as Covid guidelines loosen up they will go back to how it was. We go every year. Our 19 yo and 10 yo dd’s both want to go. The last few years we have stayed off resort and spent most of our vacation seeing other things in Florida too. This year we are going there for Thanksgiving and will be staying on the resort this time. I wasn’t much of a fan of the fast pass system so I am kinda okay with this. There haven’t been any Covid guidelines in Florida in a very long time. Other Florida theme parks do not have any similar system. Disney has said the parks reservation system is here to stay. It’s already up and running for all of 2023.
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Post by Laurie on Mar 21, 2022 23:56:07 GMT
They started doing this during Covid as a way to cap the crowd attendance in the park each day. I assume as Covid guidelines loosen up they will go back to how it was. We go every year. Our 19 yo and 10 yo dd’s both want to go. The last few years we have stayed off resort and spent most of our vacation seeing other things in Florida too. This year we are going there for Thanksgiving and will be staying on the resort this time. I wasn’t much of a fan of the fast pass system so I am kinda okay with this. There haven’t been any Covid guidelines in Florida in a very long time. Other Florida theme parks do not have any similar system. Disney has said the parks reservation system is here to stay. It’s already up and running for all of 2023. I wonder what their reasoning is to keep this system?
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Post by myshelly on Mar 22, 2022 0:04:23 GMT
There haven’t been any Covid guidelines in Florida in a very long time. Other Florida theme parks do not have any similar system. Disney has said the parks reservation system is here to stay. It’s already up and running for all of 2023. I wonder what their reasoning is to keep this system? It helps to forecast staffing needs. It’s not a bad system at all. I have sympathy for the pea who didn’t get in, but she was coming during Spring Break, literally one of the busiest weeks of the year. It’s no different than trying to change the date of any other sold out event. Sometimes you just can’t get in 🤷🏻♀️ It’s better than the old system of turning people away at the gate if the park is at max capacity. Now, a reservation guarantees entry. A ticket has never, in the history of Disney, guaranteed entry. A ticket is valid for all 4 parks. In the past, if you showed up and the park was at capacity, you were simply turned away and you could go to another park. Now you make reservations in advance so you know you can get in. I don’t understand how or why anyone could object to that.
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Post by Laurie on Mar 22, 2022 0:07:24 GMT
I wonder what their reasoning is to keep this system? It helps to forecast staffing needs. It’s not a bad system at all. I have sympathy for the pea who didn’t get in, but she was coming during Spring Break, literally one of the busiest weeks of the year. It’s no different than trying to change the date of any other sold out event. Sometimes you just can’t get in 🤷🏻♀️ It’s better than the old system of turning people away at the gate if the park is at max capacity. Now, a reservation guarantees entry. A ticket has never, in the history of Disney, guaranteed entry. A ticket is valid for all 4 parks. In the past, if you showed up and the park was at capacity, you were simply turned away and you could go to another park. Now you make reservations in advance so you know you can get in. I don’t understand how or why anyone could object to that. That makes sense.
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Post by mcjunkin on Mar 22, 2022 0:11:52 GMT
There haven’t been any Covid guidelines in Florida in a very long time. Other Florida theme parks do not have any similar system. Disney has said the parks reservation system is here to stay. It’s already up and running for all of 2023. I wonder what their reasoning is to keep this system? Free money for them?? Tickets paid for and not used because it is confusing to both buy tickets and reserve parks. They can sell more tickets than whatever park capacity is. I looked a few weeks ago at tix and accommodations for a quick weekend trip. $$$$$$. I went to Kenya for 8 days last summer cheaper than that. Plane tix, safari and all. No thanks. Big takeaway from trying to maneuver their ticket/booking website: it SUCKS. A company that large should have an extremely user friendly site. I booked all my international stuff, so not unfamiliar with the process. Disney’s site is a low budget-feeling train wreck. It’s easier to get accommodation pricing and information from Expedia than them.
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Sarah*H
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,983
Jun 25, 2014 20:07:06 GMT
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Post by Sarah*H on Mar 22, 2022 0:21:40 GMT
Oh, man. I can't believe that! How horrible. I can't believe a ticket doesn't get you in - what a terrible system. They started doing this during Covid as a way to cap the crowd attendance in the park each day. I assume as Covid guidelines loosen up they will go back to how it was. We go every year. Our 19 yo and 10 yo dd’s both want to go. The last few years we have stayed off resort and spent most of our vacation seeing other things in Florida too. This year we are going there for Thanksgiving and will be staying on the resort this time. I wasn’t much of a fan of the fast pass system so I am kinda okay with this. They will not. Park reservations are here to stay. I'm in a bazillion Disney groups and my son is going to do the Disney College Program starting this June. He'll work at Disney for 7 months. I can't think of anyone who is really happy with all of the changes that have been made in the last few years - except for the shareholders. And that's the thing, Disney parks are still making money, the parks are full and the execs don't really care if they price middle class people out of the parks because there are enough people willing to take their place. They provide frequent updates of their metrics to their shareholders and Genie+ is selling better than they anticipated and park and resort attendance is right where they want it. We went to Disney in early December and had no trouble navigating the new system and we paid for Genie+ plus the individual lightning lanes for the rides we wanted. It's like everything else related to Disney - if you do the research, make a plan and are willing to pay, it works well. The issues come in when people aren't willing or able to do those things and then it's have vs. have nots and the experience suffers. It sucks. But Disney isn't going to change it. It's also the existence of Genie+ and lightning lane that is leading to the perception that the parks are more crowded. If you know how to stack Genie+ and pay for lightning lane, you don't really have to wait in line anymore. So those people are now milling about the public spaces, waiting in lines for the rides that aren't worth reserving with everyone else, going to the shows, getting Dole Whip, etc.
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johnnysmom
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,682
Jun 25, 2014 21:16:33 GMT
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Post by johnnysmom on Mar 22, 2022 0:25:09 GMT
I wonder what their reasoning is to keep this system? It helps to forecast staffing needs. It’s not a bad system at all. I have sympathy for the pea who didn’t get in, but she was coming during Spring Break, literally one of the busiest weeks of the year. It’s no different than trying to change the date of any other sold out event. Sometimes you just can’t get in 🤷🏻♀️ It’s better than the old system of turning people away at the gate if the park is at max capacity. Now, a reservation guarantees entry. A ticket has never, in the history of Disney, guaranteed entry. A ticket is valid for all 4 parks. In the past, if you showed up and the park was at capacity, you were simply turned away and you could go to another park. Now you make reservations in advance so you know you can get in. I don’t understand how or why anyone could object to that. Agreed. But I do think they should hold back a small number of reservations for situations like this that are completely out of the guests’ control. It would be easy to verify if someone had a reservation and if their flight was cancelled.
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Post by myshelly on Mar 22, 2022 0:31:24 GMT
It helps to forecast staffing needs. It’s not a bad system at all. I have sympathy for the pea who didn’t get in, but she was coming during Spring Break, literally one of the busiest weeks of the year. It’s no different than trying to change the date of any other sold out event. Sometimes you just can’t get in 🤷🏻♀️ It’s better than the old system of turning people away at the gate if the park is at max capacity. Now, a reservation guarantees entry. A ticket has never, in the history of Disney, guaranteed entry. A ticket is valid for all 4 parks. In the past, if you showed up and the park was at capacity, you were simply turned away and you could go to another park. Now you make reservations in advance so you know you can get in. I don’t understand how or why anyone could object to that. Agreed. But I do think they should hold back a small number of reservations for situations like this that are completely out of the guests’ control. It would be easy to verify if someone had a reservation and if their flight was cancelled. Maybe they do but they were all used up. She couldn’t have been the only one affected. At some point there has to be a number that is the hard cut off.
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Post by zima on Mar 22, 2022 0:35:09 GMT
It’s no different than trying to change the date of any other sold out event. It seems different to me. If you already have a TICKET for a specific day, why do you need a reservation too?!?! If you need to a buy a ticket for a specific day, what exactly is that getting you if you still have to make a reservation too?
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Post by myshelly on Mar 22, 2022 0:37:15 GMT
It’s no different than trying to change the date of any other sold out event. It seems different to me. If you already have a TICKET for a specific day, why do you need a reservation too?!?! Because the ticket is not for a specific park. It is good at any one of four different parks. The pea did not say, but I am guessing they wouldn’t refund her because she could get in to a park, just not the park she wanted.
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Post by Laurie on Mar 22, 2022 0:49:10 GMT
They started doing this during Covid as a way to cap the crowd attendance in the park each day. I assume as Covid guidelines loosen up they will go back to how it was. We go every year. Our 19 yo and 10 yo dd’s both want to go. The last few years we have stayed off resort and spent most of our vacation seeing other things in Florida too. This year we are going there for Thanksgiving and will be staying on the resort this time. I wasn’t much of a fan of the fast pass system so I am kinda okay with this. They will not. Park reservations are here to stay. I'm in a bazillion Disney groups and my son is going to do the Disney College Program starting this June. He'll work at Disney for 7 months. I can't think of anyone who is really happy with all of the changes that have been made in the last few years - except for the shareholders. And that's the thing, Disney parks are still making money, the parks are full and the execs don't really care if they price middle class people out of the parks because there are enough people willing to take their place. They provide frequent updates of their metrics to their shareholders and Genie+ is selling better than they anticipated and park and resort attendance is right where they want it. We went to Disney in early December and had no trouble navigating the new system and we paid for Genie+ plus the individual lightning lanes for the rides we wanted. It's like everything else related to Disney - if you do the research, make a plan and are willing to pay, it works well. The issues come in when people aren't willing or able to do those things and then it's have vs. have nots and the experience suffers. It sucks. But Disney isn't going to change it. It's also the existence of Genie+ and lightning lane that is leading to the perception that the parks are more crowded. If you know how to stack Genie+ and pay for lightning lane, you don't really have to wait in line anymore. So those people are now milling about the public spaces, waiting in lines for the rides that aren't worth reserving with everyone else, going to the shows, getting Dole Whip, etc. Ugh I better get researching this so I can use it effectively. We usually do a full week but we don’t want oldest dd missing any classes so we are only there Wednesday-Sunday. While I wasn’t a fan of fastpass at least I knew the ins and outs of it. I am getting to that age where I don’t want to learn something new. LOL
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Post by sabrinae on Mar 22, 2022 0:51:06 GMT
I'm late to the thread here but have another sucky new change that Disney has made. In addition to purchasing a ticket for a specific park on a specific day, now you have to have a "Park Reservation" for that park on that day. Last week had plans to go to FL and spend a day at Disney. Freak snowstorm happened and our flight was cancelled .. which meant that we had to rework our itinerary and leave a couple of days later than planned. Well ... Disney allowed us to move our tickets to another day that week, but somehow we didn't get a park reservation for that day. I figured this out the night before we were supposed to go .. and guess what? There were no park reservations available for that day. So no, we didn't get to go .. at all. And no, we couldn't get a refund. I doubt that we'll go back again. I’m shocked Disney didn’t work with you on that situation to get you into a park. I haven’t used the Genie system yet and am not thrilled with it. But, Disney has been expected to charge for fast pass/front of the line access for several years— they were the only park system that didn’t charge extra for a front of the line system. We usually go every other year and own their timeshare. We were already planning on skipping Disney in favor of international travel over the next couple of years as our girls are old enough to appreciate traveling internationally now. We’ll probably rent out our timeshare points — there’s a pretty solid market to do so. I’m hoping by the time we’re ready to go back they will have either worked out the kinks or changed the system. We went last summer before they rolled out the genie system but without fast passes and lines weren’t bad at all.
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Post by ameslou on Mar 22, 2022 0:59:54 GMT
It seems different to me. If you already have a TICKET for a specific day, why do you need a reservation too?!?! Because the ticket is not for a specific park. It is good at any one of four different parks. The pea did not say, but I am guessing they wouldn’t refund her because she could get in to a park, just not the park she wanted. Actually, the ticket was for a specific park, not any park. There were no park reservations available for any of the parks when I figured out the issue the night before we were scheduled to go. Why Disney let us complete the re-ticketing process without also completing a park reservation is beyond me. If there were really no reservations at any park, or the park we reserved, when we completed reticketing a few days before we planned to attend I'd have preferred to know that then. I would have had time to come up with better plans for that day. Thank God I have older teens who are old enough to understand the whackadoodle situation instead of little kids who were amped up about going to Disney and would not have understood. Like I said before, I doubt that we'll go back. I don't care enough for Disney to spend days and days studying how the system works, making reservations, etc. It's too complicated and way too much $$$$$. Whether I "should have" expected this experience or not - well - it's left a bad taste in my mouth and that'll linger for a long time. One fewer family to compete for space in the parks. ETA: Refunding was not an option but using the tickets in the next 9 months is an option. If we happen to go back before the EOY I'll consider using them, but would not make a trip back to FL just to use them. Dollywood is an hour's drive away from us and if I have the urge to go a theme park that's what I'll do ... she's an incredible philanthropist. Tuition for all Dollywood employees (https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/09/dolly-parton-dollywood-tuition-education/) The Imagination Library gives a free monthly book to children all over the world from birth to age five .. because her father couldn't read (https://imaginationlibrary.com) Funded COVID 19 vaccine research (https://www.webmd.com/vaccines/covid-19-vaccine/news/20210303/dolly-parton-gets-shot-of-vaccine-she-helped-fund)
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Post by myshelly on Mar 22, 2022 1:08:08 GMT
Because the ticket is not for a specific park. It is good at any one of four different parks. The pea did not say, but I am guessing they wouldn’t refund her because she could get in to a park, just not the park she wanted. Actually, the ticket was for a specific park, not any park. There were no park reservations available for any of the parks when I figured out the issue the night before we were scheduled to go. Why Disney let us complete the re-ticketing process without also completing a park reservation is beyond me. If there were really no reservations at any park, or the park we reserved, when we completed reticketing a few days before we planned to attend I'd have preferred to know that then. I would have had time to come up with better plans for that day. Thank God I have older teens who are old enough to understand the whackadoodle situation instead of little kids who were amped up about going to Disney and would not have understood. Like I said before, I doubt that we'll go back. I don't care enough for Disney to spend days and days studying how the system works, making reservations, etc. It's too complicated and way too much $$$$$. Whether I "should have" expected this experience or not - well - it's left a bad taste in my mouth and that'll linger for a long time. One fewer family to compete for space in the parks. That’s not how Disney sells tickets. You buy a theme park admission ticket, which is good for all 4 parks, then you reserve a park. They don’t sell park specific tickets.
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Post by ameslou on Mar 22, 2022 1:16:35 GMT
Actually, the ticket was for a specific park, not any park. There were no park reservations available for any of the parks when I figured out the issue the night before we were scheduled to go. Why Disney let us complete the re-ticketing process without also completing a park reservation is beyond me. If there were really no reservations at any park, or the park we reserved, when we completed reticketing a few days before we planned to attend I'd have preferred to know that then. I would have had time to come up with better plans for that day. Thank God I have older teens who are old enough to understand the whackadoodle situation instead of little kids who were amped up about going to Disney and would not have understood. Like I said before, I doubt that we'll go back. I don't care enough for Disney to spend days and days studying how the system works, making reservations, etc. It's too complicated and way too much $$$$$. Whether I "should have" expected this experience or not - well - it's left a bad taste in my mouth and that'll linger for a long time. One fewer family to compete for space in the parks. That’s not how Disney sells tickets. You buy a theme park admission ticket, which is good for all 4 parks, then you reserve a park. They don’t sell park specific tickets. I don't know what to tell you other than the app in my phone clearly stated one of the park names for X day. It did not say "Any Park". It said "Park Name". Maybe this another "gotcha" where you have to know the system and what it really means. Again, not how I want to spend my time.
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Post by Skellinton on Mar 22, 2022 1:16:57 GMT
I wonder what their reasoning is to keep this system? It helps to forecast staffing needs. It’s not a bad system at all. I have sympathy for the pea who didn’t get in, but she was coming during Spring Break, literally one of the busiest weeks of the year. It’s no different than trying to change the date of any other sold out event. Sometimes you just can’t get in 🤷🏻♀️ It’s better than the old system of turning people away at the gate if the park is at max capacity. Now, a reservation guarantees entry. A ticket has never, in the history of Disney, guaranteed entry. A ticket is valid for all 4 parks. In the past, if you showed up and the park was at capacity, you were simply turned away and you could go to another park. Now you make reservations in advance so you know you can get in. I don’t understand how or why anyone could object to that. The thing I don't like about it is that park hopping has to be done after a certain time. When I go to WDW I like to go to the AK early and leave by lunch, now I think you can't hop until 2 or so? That part sucks.
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