Frustration with Lack of Spontaneity

1DisneyNut;2475507 wrote: Every single person I know that has taken their first ever trip in the past year and a half or so have said they would never ever go back. It makes me wonder how it is going to play out over say the next 5 years.

Saw this after I replied the first time ... I've heard the same thing from several folks. Be very interesting to see if this current attendance bubble is sustainable.

If I had to guess I would say it is (there's a sucker born every minute remember ;) ), but only time will tell.

I was thinking today how frustrated I was with the whole FastPass+. I thought it would be a fun get-away for my wife and me to head to WDW in early Feb for a short 3 day visit, but I can't consider this since I needed to plan the whole thing 60 days ahead of time.

It is a shame this confounded system is ruining the entire experience for the people that most enjoy WDW.

1DisneyNut;2475507 wrote: We noticed the same thing. People seemed stressed out and didn't seem to be enjoying themselves as much. Another thing we noticed is there seemed to be a far higher percentage of first time visitors vs. experienced visitors. You can always spot the ones that are new. If people are returning less frequently for return visits but currently more first time visitors are coming how is that sustainable? Every single person I know that has taken their first ever trip in the past year and a half or so have said they would never ever go back. It makes me wonder how it is going to play out over say the next 5 years.

Exactly! We've been going to WDW for 30 years and this year's visit was so strange. We went in October and the entire "flow" of the park was somehow off. There were crowds in places that normally don't have crowds and backups for no apparent reason. Everyone just seemed so stressed and slightly miserable. No smiling people and laughing children, just brisk walkers shoving and pushing and parents pulling their kids. It was like they were checking the box and running from place to place. The lines reminded me of the days in the 80's before FP when we stood in line for 90 minutes during the summer months. One day we spent the entire day at Epcot and were only able to ride 3 rides (we only got 2 FP+ rides and one didn't even need a FP). We couldn't get dinner reservations ahead of time but were able to walk into an empty restaurant at 7:00. It was just a strange visit for us. We also visited Disneyland this summer and found the lines to be crazy and we spent 8 hours there and were only able to ride 3 rides and couldn't not eat in the park. We ended up hungry at 8:00 pm and left to go somewhere off-site to eat. Just a little disappointed this year and I am Disney crazy. Hope it gets better someday. I want to see happy people and happy families enjoying the "Happiest Place on Earth" that I remember.

Our last visit was the first week of October 2014. Our experience really matches what has been posted; unhappy people, running (and I mean running) from one end of a park to the other to make sure a FP was used in the allotted time.

Our 4 young adults all noted the same thing - the Disney App was the real game changer. Great herds of people moved about based on the wait times noted on the App. Since FPs are doled out months in advance, people are conditioned to look at their phones to see what to do next.

I don't know how big of fans the kids would have been had 2014 been their experience 15 years ago.

Maybe you should read the Dilbert comic strip. I will inform you as to management decision making policies.

LVT;2476085 wrote: Maybe you should read the Dilbert comic strip. I will inform you as to management decision making policies.

So very true .....