Is Disney World Still Worth the $?

[Anonymous]

Disney was really good at selling itself as a cultural must, to the point that people go into debt for this. But it's important to keep it all on context, it's just a theme park. My kids haven't seen the majority of the movies the park references. You can have plenty of "magical" moments doing other stuff.

As someone who used to work there if you watch Jenny Nicholson's video about the Star Wars hotel she talks about it being symptomatic of a lot of things that have gone on with Disney. They've taken a lot of stuff that was included and shoved it behind a pay wall, all while raising prices more and more. They aren't incentivized to keep lines short, the opposite because frustrated guests may by lightning lane instead. Things like free bread in the restaurants, activities for the kids, all gone.

From my friends who stayed on, some who worked their way up, Disney is culling the experienced staff because they're more expensive (meaning people who knew how to help guests are gone) and making the employee experience worse and bringing in more College Program and International College Program kids who they can pay less.

The quality of the hotel rooms, the meals, all way down, but they are still charging premium prices.

[Anonymous]

Nope.

I also went a while back. Good prices for tix, and fast pass was included. They also had a free bus from the airport and free hotel parking. If you stayed in one of their hotels, you got access to the park early. All of that is gone now.

Now they stuff the parks with people so you spend a lot of day waiting in line for rides and food.

It’s terrible. Our second trip was crowded and overpriced. The magic was gone. I won’t be back.

Universal has not been ruined last I checked so you might go there instead. They will probably copy Disney soon enough, if they haven’t already, by increasing prices and giving you less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The entry tickets are cheaper if you get them as part of a package with a Disney resort hotel. Also don't do park hopper, just pick one park a day (there's plenty to do). A resort hotel = easier to get to the park too.

From what I understand, this is not true.

It’s generally not true but there are exceptions. They sometimes run specials where if you buy a package you get a better room rate or you get a free dining package or something. We generally don’t get it as part of a package because it makes it much more complicated to cancel your hotel reservations, because tickets are not cancellable but hotel reservations are. Same thing at universal — don’t buy the package because if you have to cancel your trip you’ll end up with either penalties or credit instead of a refund.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope.

I also went a while back. Good prices for tix, and fast pass was included. They also had a free bus from the airport and free hotel parking. If you stayed in one of their hotels, you got access to the park early. All of that is gone now.

Now they stuff the parks with people so you spend a lot of day waiting in line for rides and food.

It’s terrible. Our second trip was crowded and overpriced. The magic was gone. I won’t be back.

Universal has not been ruined last I checked so you might go there instead. They will probably copy Disney soon enough, if they haven’t already, by increasing prices and giving you less.

Not all those things are gone—they still give you early access to parks if you stay onsite and free parking at the hotel. You can also book lightening lanes earlier. I just booked lightening lanes for Christmas week — their busiest week and I didn’t have any trouble getting them. It is irritating to have to pay more for the lightening lanes, yes.

If you have kids that can stay up late, the limited entry parties are definitely the way to go — much lower crowded and you don’t have to book anything like LL. It’s more old school disney where you are just running around doing stuff. Those do sell out quickly so you need to book that in advance though.

[Anonymous]

At Disney, I ended up with heat exhaustion, which led me to buy a horrendous taffy yellow WDW shirt. I do believe the heat made me lose my ability to make good decisions. 😂

Husband and I split park time so only one parent went to the park each day. That gave us a rest day while saving money.

We went to AK, MK, and both Universals. Universal is far better than Disney these days as far as what you get.

Disney tries to force you to buy water because their water fountain water tastes horrible. After a young girl fainted in front of me in line in the heat, I felt annoyed that fresh water is not freely available.

I am fairly certain I won’t return. Disney wants to extract every dollar they can from us, and I’d rather put my planning energy into visiting another country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At Disney, I ended up with heat exhaustion, which led me to buy a horrendous taffy yellow WDW shirt. I do believe the heat made me lose my ability to make good decisions. 😂

Husband and I split park time so only one parent went to the park each day. That gave us a rest day while saving money.

We went to AK, MK, and both Universals. Universal is far better than Disney these days as far as what you get.

Disney tries to force you to buy water because their water fountain water tastes horrible. After a young girl fainted in front of me in line in the heat, I felt annoyed that fresh water is not freely available.

I am fairly certain I won’t return. Disney wants to extract every dollar they can from us, and I’d rather put my planning energy into visiting another country.

What? No. When was the last time you went to Disney? All of the quick service restaurants have iced water available that is free that tastes just fine, and they make this fact pretty apparent.

[Anonymous]

I went to Disney when I was five, and all I remember is being exhausted, hot, grumpy, and feeling guilty about all of it.

Just for people who think that their kids need "the Disney experience."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course all vacations require some planning but Disney requires an order of magnitude more planning then it did when we were kids. Our parents didn't have to reserve any rides, if the line was too long we could just find something else. They could feel free to head back to the hotel to swim without missing a crucial reservation, and they of course didn't have to spend time glued to an app. So it's a treasured childhood memory for a lot of people that's a stressful mess now. Yeah I know you Disney superfans think it's NBD but for many families it's completely not worth it.

Actually, I think we could be called Disney super fans (we own DVC, etc.) and we don’t think it’s worth it either. We probably have more basis for comparison and less tolerance for the hassle than someone going on a “once in a lifetime” trip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to Disney when I was five, and all I remember is being exhausted, hot, grumpy, and feeling guilty about all of it.

Just for people who think that their kids need "the Disney experience."

This depends on how your parents did the trip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t do it once when your kids are the right age you’ll regret it. If you do it a second time you are a fool.

I didn’t do it with my kids, who are now about to graduate.

I have regretted many things in my life, but not spending a fortune on an ersatz saccharine mouse-based vacation is not one of them. We had great trips to Thailand, Morocco, Italy etc instead.

As for adults who go without children, well, they are beyond redemption.

you sound like my delusional, narcissistic relative. When I suggested to his kids that we take all the cousins to Disneyworld their faces absolutely lit up with joy. Then he started to spout this claptrap about how Disneyworld is a filthy American lower class capitalist blah blah blah. His kids looked crushed.

Actually we gave our kids the choice, eg Italy or Disney. I just asked my son about it now (10 years later) and he said he had no regrets about his decision.

I have no problem with people going to Disney. In fact, I prefer it since it keeps all the culturally-impoverished vulgarians penned up in Central Florida where they can’t get in my way. What annoys me is the idea that you are denying your kids by not taking them. Whereas in fact you can have much more interesting non-corporate experiences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t do it once when your kids are the right age you’ll regret it. If you do it a second time you are a fool.

I didn’t do it with my kids, who are now about to graduate.

I have regretted many things in my life, but not spending a fortune on an ersatz saccharine mouse-based vacation is not one of them. We had great trips to Thailand, Morocco, Italy etc instead.

As for adults who go without children, well, they are beyond redemption.

you sound like my delusional, narcissistic relative. When I suggested to his kids that we take all the cousins to Disneyworld their faces absolutely lit up with joy. Then he started to spout this claptrap about how Disneyworld is a filthy American lower class capitalist blah blah blah. His kids looked crushed.

Actually we gave our kids the choice, eg Italy or Disney. I just asked my son about it now (10 years later) and he said he had no regrets about his decision.

I have no problem with people going to Disney. In fact, I prefer it since it keeps all the culturally-impoverished vulgarians penned up in Central Florida where they can’t get in my way. What annoys me is the idea that you are denying your kids by not taking them. Whereas in fact you can have much more interesting non-corporate experiences.

STFU. You would have taken your kids if they wanted to go. Going to Italy with the heaving sweating masses looking at the same fountains, statues and ruins, taking the same basic photos everyone else does not make you special or interesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t do it once when your kids are the right age you’ll regret it. If you do it a second time you are a fool.

I didn’t do it with my kids, who are now about to graduate.

I have regretted many things in my life, but not spending a fortune on an ersatz saccharine mouse-based vacation is not one of them. We had great trips to Thailand, Morocco, Italy etc instead.

As for adults who go without children, well, they are beyond redemption.

you sound like my delusional, narcissistic relative. When I suggested to his kids that we take all the cousins to Disneyworld their faces absolutely lit up with joy. Then he started to spout this claptrap about how Disneyworld is a filthy American lower class capitalist blah blah blah. His kids looked crushed.

Actually we gave our kids the choice, eg Italy or Disney. I just asked my son about it now (10 years later) and he said he had no regrets about his decision.

I have no problem with people going to Disney. In fact, I prefer it since it keeps all the culturally-impoverished vulgarians penned up in Central Florida where they can’t get in my way. What annoys me is the idea that you are denying your kids by not taking them. Whereas in fact you can have much more interesting non-corporate experiences.

STFU. You would have taken your kids if they wanted to go. Going to Italy with the heaving sweating masses looking at the same fountains, statues and ruins, taking the same basic photos everyone else does not make you special or interesting.

You are so right. What kind of losers want to waste their time looking at fountains, statues and ruins when they could be in a theme park?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t do it once when your kids are the right age you’ll regret it. If you do it a second time you are a fool.

I didn’t do it with my kids, who are now about to graduate.

I have regretted many things in my life, but not spending a fortune on an ersatz saccharine mouse-based vacation is not one of them. We had great trips to Thailand, Morocco, Italy etc instead.

As for adults who go without children, well, they are beyond redemption.

you sound like my delusional, narcissistic relative. When I suggested to his kids that we take all the cousins to Disneyworld their faces absolutely lit up with joy. Then he started to spout this claptrap about how Disneyworld is a filthy American lower class capitalist blah blah blah. His kids looked crushed.

Actually we gave our kids the choice, eg Italy or Disney. I just asked my son about it now (10 years later) and he said he had no regrets about his decision.

I have no problem with people going to Disney. In fact, I prefer it since it keeps all the culturally-impoverished vulgarians penned up in Central Florida where they can’t get in my way. What annoys me is the idea that you are denying your kids by not taking them. Whereas in fact you can have much more interesting non-corporate experiences.

STFU. You would have taken your kids if they wanted to go. Going to Italy with the heaving sweating masses looking at the same fountains, statues and ruins, taking the same basic photos everyone else does not make you special or interesting.

Italy is more than Rome. France is more than Paris. The US is more the Time Square.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope.

I also went a while back. Good prices for tix, and fast pass was included. They also had a free bus from the airport and free hotel parking. If you stayed in one of their hotels, you got access to the park early. All of that is gone now.

Now they stuff the parks with people so you spend a lot of day waiting in line for rides and food.

It’s terrible. Our second trip was crowded and overpriced. The magic was gone. I won’t be back.

Universal has not been ruined last I checked so you might go there instead. They will probably copy Disney soon enough, if they haven’t already, by increasing prices and giving you less.

Free hotel parking is back, and onsite guests do get early access to the parks each day. They also get a few days advance to buy lightening lanes. However, despite all that we stay offsite when we go. We can use points to stay for free, which offsets the cost of the trip, and the hotel is way nicer that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t do it once when your kids are the right age you’ll regret it. If you do it a second time you are a fool.

I didn’t do it with my kids, who are now about to graduate.

I have regretted many things in my life, but not spending a fortune on an ersatz saccharine mouse-based vacation is not one of them. We had great trips to Thailand, Morocco, Italy etc instead.

As for adults who go without children, well, they are beyond redemption.

you sound like my delusional, narcissistic relative. When I suggested to his kids that we take all the cousins to Disneyworld their faces absolutely lit up with joy. Then he started to spout this claptrap about how Disneyworld is a filthy American lower class capitalist blah blah blah. His kids looked crushed.

Wow you brought up the idea of Disney with someone else's kids and we're surprised/bothered when those kids' parent was not excited? You are an a$$hole.

As this thread makes clear, Disney is not fit everyone and it's very pricey. Casually telling other people's kids "oh we should all go to Disney together!" is unbelievably stupid. So now if your relative feels it's out of budget or just not the right trip for his family, he's letting his kids down because you got their hopes up.

If anyone is being narcissistic in the scenario, it's you.