Ready to be done with Disney

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just spent 4 days at Disney. Overpriced and very poor experience. It must be an absolute mess for families that don't want to shell out for all the extras. Extras, which are slowly become necessities if you want to actually get on rides at the park.
I told my kids for this kind of money we could have spent a week on my home country and lived like kings!
Rant over

My in laws live in Florida so there was an appeal to stop by. We just did a week there and the horrifically bad food and expenses and so I will not be back.

Where did you eat? Disney has at least one Michelin star restaurant.

It has exactly one, in the Grand Floridian hotel, and it is genuinely excellent. But apart from that, I have never had a good meal anywhere in Disney. I have had some overpriced mediocre meals, but nothing actually good. It’s ok because you don’t go for the food… but it’s just another thing that makes Disney less appealing to me personally.

Some great meals I’ve had:

Topolino’s
Yak and Yeti
Morimoto Asia
Steakhouse 71
California Grill
Jiko
Takumi-Tei
Narcoosee’s

Most of them are at resorts and Epcot. MK generally has subpar food, and a lot of people who fail to do research eat at some quick serve place there and think it’s representative of the food overall.

Disney Food Blog has a ton of guidance about where to get excellent food: https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2022/05/21/10-best-disney-world-restaurants-for-dinner/

Not only do you have to research but you have to wake up early 60 days before your trip to fight everyone else for a reservation. And good luck if you’re not staying at a Disney resort. Or you can pay a third party scraper bot app to ping you when a reservation opens up and hope that you’re near your phone to grab it.

I wonder if the competitive nature of doing Disney appeals to some people in a way?

What do you mean “fight”? For our last trip, I logged in exactly 60 days before and made 3 lunch reservations. Took me about 5 minutes total. No fighting necessary.

When we went to Disney last fall, reservations for sought-after restaurants were snapped up immediately, it was like trying to get Beyoncé tickets. We ended up with a 2:30 reservation for a character lunch one day because that was all that was available. Of course we weren’t seated until closer to 3.

I understand that outside of Disney got reservations get snatched up quickly but it’s frustrating to have to do it for mediocre food.

Last fall was in the middle of revenge travel post COVID. It’s much easier now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just spent 4 days at Disney. Overpriced and very poor experience. It must be an absolute mess for families that don't want to shell out for all the extras. Extras, which are slowly become necessities if you want to actually get on rides at the park.
I told my kids for this kind of money we could have spent a week on my home country and lived like kings!
Rant over

My in laws live in Florida so there was an appeal to stop by. We just did a week there and the horrifically bad food and expenses and so I will not be back.

Where did you eat? Disney has at least one Michelin star restaurant.

It has exactly one, in the Grand Floridian hotel, and it is genuinely excellent. But apart from that, I have never had a good meal anywhere in Disney. I have had some overpriced mediocre meals, but nothing actually good. It’s ok because you don’t go for the food… but it’s just another thing that makes Disney less appealing to me personally.

Some great meals I’ve had:

Topolino’s
Yak and Yeti
Morimoto Asia
Steakhouse 71
California Grill
Jiko
Takumi-Tei
Narcoosee’s

Most of them are at resorts and Epcot. MK generally has subpar food, and a lot of people who fail to do research eat at some quick serve place there and think it’s representative of the food overall.

Disney Food Blog has a ton of guidance about where to get excellent food: https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2022/05/21/10-best-disney-world-restaurants-for-dinner/

Not only do you have to research but you have to wake up early 60 days before your trip to fight everyone else for a reservation. And good luck if you’re not staying at a Disney resort. Or you can pay a third party scraper bot app to ping you when a reservation opens up and hope that you’re near your phone to grab it.

I wonder if the competitive nature of doing Disney appeals to some people in a way?

What do you mean “fight”? For our last trip, I logged in exactly 60 days before and made 3 lunch reservations. Took me about 5 minutes total. No fighting necessary.

When we went to Disney last fall, reservations for sought-after restaurants were snapped up immediately, it was like trying to get Beyoncé tickets. We ended up with a 2:30 reservation for a character lunch one day because that was all that was available. Of course we weren’t seated until closer to 3.

I understand that outside of Disney got reservations get snatched up quickly but it’s frustrating to have to do it for mediocre food.

You don’t HAVE to though. We usually only do 1-2 onsite sit downs and none of the insane ones. The parks have excellent quick service and we also eat (and stay) offsite. We go every 12-18 months.

[Anonymous]

For example, if you were at Cinderella’s Royal Table right now, it would be a 10 minute wait for a table with no reservation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For example, if you were at Cinderella’s Royal Table right now, it would be a 10 minute wait for a table with no reservation.

Ok but it’s 4.30pm. I don’t even know what meal that is!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For example, if you were at Cinderella’s Royal Table right now, it would be a 10 minute wait for a table with no reservation.

Ok but it’s 4.30pm. I don’t even know what meal that is!

It’s one of the most popular restaurants at the most popular theme park in the world.

Being able to get in for an early dinner at the last minute isn’t bad. With a 4:30pm reservation, you won’t be eating until 5:15 or so. It’s not unreasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For example, if you were at Cinderella’s Royal Table right now, it would be a 10 minute wait for a table with no reservation.

Ok but it’s 4.30pm. I don’t even know what meal that is!

It’s one of the most popular restaurants at the most popular theme park in the world.

Being able to get in for an early dinner at the last minute isn’t bad. With a 4:30pm reservation, you won’t be eating until 5:15 or so. It’s not unreasonable.

Agreed. It’s also a party night so park closes to day guests at 6.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For example, if you were at Cinderella’s Royal Table right now, it would be a 10 minute wait for a table with no reservation.

Ok but it’s 4.30pm. I don’t even know what meal that is!

It’s one of the most popular restaurants at the most popular theme park in the world.

Being able to get in for an early dinner at the last minute isn’t bad. With a 4:30pm reservation, you won’t be eating until 5:15 or so. It’s not unreasonable.

Agreed. It’s also a party night so park closes to day guests at 6.

Good point. So it’s a good time to get dinner at CRT if you don’t have party tickets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just spent 4 days at Disney. Overpriced and very poor experience. It must be an absolute mess for families that don't want to shell out for all the extras. Extras, which are slowly become necessities if you want to actually get on rides at the park.
I told my kids for this kind of money we could have spent a week on my home country and lived like kings!
Rant over

Poor you. How will you survive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s for folks that are ok spending 10k on an amusement park. Clearly there is a demand or they would cut prices. Personally I would go to Europe instead for the money.

100%

Your kids would actually be experiencing the real world/another culture vs plastic entertainmentville.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s for folks that are ok spending 10k on an amusement park. Clearly there is a demand or they would cut prices. Personally I would go to Europe instead for the money.

100%

Your kids would actually be experiencing the real world/another culture vs plastic entertainmentville.

Oh sweet summer child. Some of us can afford to do both.

[Anonymous]

Also, guess where is one of the most popular destinations for Europeans?

WDW and Disneyland Paris 🤣

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s for folks that are ok spending 10k on an amusement park. Clearly there is a demand or they would cut prices. Personally I would go to Europe instead for the money.

100%

Your kids would actually be experiencing the real world/another culture vs plastic entertainmentville.

Oh sweet summer child. Some of us can afford to do both.

Are you dense? Its not about being able to afford both, most of us can.
Its about paying big money for crap cheesy entertainment, lousy food, and standing in the hot sun in long lines for hours listening to other screaming impatient kids and their annoying parents/ grand parents.
Did once years ago. Fool me once....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s for folks that are ok spending 10k on an amusement park. Clearly there is a demand or they would cut prices. Personally I would go to Europe instead for the money.

100%

Your kids would actually be experiencing the real world/another culture vs plastic entertainmentville.

Oh sweet summer child. Some of us can afford to do both.

Are you dense? Its not about being able to afford both, most of us can.
Its about paying big money for crap cheesy entertainment, lousy food, and standing in the hot sun in long lines for hours listening to other screaming impatient kids and their annoying parents/ grand parents.
Did once years ago. Fool me once....

You don’t have to like WDW, but they are the best in family entertainment. Calling it expensive is fair. Calling it lousy crap is not.

[Anonymous]

And if you wait in long lines and eat lousy food, that’s on you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s for folks that are ok spending 10k on an amusement park. Clearly there is a demand or they would cut prices. Personally I would go to Europe instead for the money.

100%

Your kids would actually be experiencing the real world/another culture vs plastic entertainmentville.

Oh sweet summer child. Some of us can afford to do both.

Are you dense? Its not about being able to afford both, most of us can.
Its about paying big money for crap cheesy entertainment, lousy food, and standing in the hot sun in long lines for hours listening to other screaming impatient kids and their annoying parents/ grand parents.
Did once years ago. Fool me once....

The one time I went to the parks with my kids it was a real eye-opener. It was like “Honey Boo Boo goes to Walmart” with more tattoos. Bizarre.