Washington Post article on Disney vacations

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Side question: what do kids do while waiting in line? Look at phones?

They lose their GD minds. I have really great, well behaved kids, but it's a LOT to ask a 2 year old to wait in line 45+ min. 90 min? Shoot me. And then you repeat all day for 12 hours straight. But to answer your question, we play games on our boogie boards, color, eat a million snacks. I really wish we could have strollers so my 2 year old could nap, but no it's fine if I hold her for HOURS every day. Just schedule a chiropractor appt when you return.

All of my friends whose kids have even minor diagnoses like ADHD or Autism get special medical exemption to cut the line. I actually think this might be why lines are longer for everyone else. One friend made it up and it worked although you do have to have a brief interview with Disney to get the medical pass.

You're asking for trouble by bringing 2 year olds. My kids are older and we're going for the first time to WDW in a few months. The youngest is 8. We've done Disneyland several times and have mastered Genie+ such that we almost never wait in a line more than 20 mins. Knowing how much patience is required for the heat, lines, and crowds why do people bring babies and toddlers? It's setting them up for failure.

Because I too have older kids? My 5 and 7 year old are over the moon with Disney World. Sadly Disney doesn't offer daycare where I can drop the littlest off for the day.

Also, the 2 year old LOVED Minne and Mickey. She also really liked the rides that she went on too.

You could just wait until your 2 yr old is older.

OK? But I'm not. My 5 and 7 year olds want to go right now while it's still magical for them. And Dh and I don't want to split up with our vacations. FWIW the 2 year old only waited for rides she could ride, the rest of the time her and I played outside while the others rode Tower of Terror or Space Mountain or whatever.

I'm in a lot of Disney groups and the Disney DAS (the disability pass) scam is alive and well. It's no wonder it seems 10% of the park is on a ride on scooter. It's great that they let some autistic kids skip the line, but they're making it more miserable for everyone. If the lines were shorter for everyone, the autistic kid could easily wait 15-20 min.

np. I was with you right up until you said the autistic kid could easily wait 15-20 mins. There you are wrong. You'd be giving me side eye and on here complaining if my autistic kid had to wait with your 2yo for 15-20 mins in line.

DAS holders routinely wait 15-20 minutes in the DAS return/lightening lane line. It’s not front of the line access.

My kid uses the DAS pass. We have never waited 15-20 minutes in a lightening lane. Sometimes we've waited 10 minutes (Rise, SOARIN, Remy, Pirates) but never more. My kid won't do Tower of Terror, Slinky Dog or Everest so perhaps that is the disconnect.

Do you appreciate the way the current DAS system works? How would your experience or decision to go to Disney be different if DAS weren't available?

DP here. We would probably not go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Side question: what do kids do while waiting in line? Look at phones?

They lose their GD minds. I have really great, well behaved kids, but it's a LOT to ask a 2 year old to wait in line 45+ min. 90 min? Shoot me. And then you repeat all day for 12 hours straight. But to answer your question, we play games on our boogie boards, color, eat a million snacks. I really wish we could have strollers so my 2 year old could nap, but no it's fine if I hold her for HOURS every day. Just schedule a chiropractor appt when you return.

All of my friends whose kids have even minor diagnoses like ADHD or Autism get special medical exemption to cut the line. I actually think this might be why lines are longer for everyone else. One friend made it up and it worked although you do have to have a brief interview with Disney to get the medical pass.

You're asking for trouble by bringing 2 year olds. My kids are older and we're going for the first time to WDW in a few months. The youngest is 8. We've done Disneyland several times and have mastered Genie+ such that we almost never wait in a line more than 20 mins. Knowing how much patience is required for the heat, lines, and crowds why do people bring babies and toddlers? It's setting them up for failure.

Because I too have older kids? My 5 and 7 year old are over the moon with Disney World. Sadly Disney doesn't offer daycare where I can drop the littlest off for the day.

Also, the 2 year old LOVED Minne and Mickey. She also really liked the rides that she went on too.

You could just wait until your 2 yr old is older.

OK? But I'm not. My 5 and 7 year olds want to go right now while it's still magical for them. And Dh and I don't want to split up with our vacations. FWIW the 2 year old only waited for rides she could ride, the rest of the time her and I played outside while the others rode Tower of Terror or Space Mountain or whatever.

I'm in a lot of Disney groups and the Disney DAS (the disability pass) scam is alive and well. It's no wonder it seems 10% of the park is on a ride on scooter. It's great that they let some autistic kids skip the line, but they're making it more miserable for everyone. If the lines were shorter for everyone, the autistic kid could easily wait 15-20 min.

np. I was with you right up until you said the autistic kid could easily wait 15-20 mins. There you are wrong. You'd be giving me side eye and on here complaining if my autistic kid had to wait with your 2yo for 15-20 mins in line.

DAS holders routinely wait 15-20 minutes in the DAS return/lightening lane line. It’s not front of the line access.

My kid uses the DAS pass. We have never waited 15-20 minutes in a lightening lane. Sometimes we've waited 10 minutes (Rise, SOARIN, Remy, Pirates) but never more. My kid won't do Tower of Terror, Slinky Dog or Everest so perhaps that is the disconnect.

Do you appreciate the way the current DAS system works? How would your experience or decision to go to Disney be different if DAS weren't available?

I can't speak to any prior DAS systems as we have only used the current system but I can say we would not have been able to go to Disney without the ability to utilize DAS. I know a lot of people use Genie + and then stay in the same areas and hit less wait time rides (0-30 mins) while waiting for their next Genie + but for us our calculous is 5-10 min waits with 10 minutes pushing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Side question: what do kids do while waiting in line? Look at phones?

They lose their GD minds. I have really great, well behaved kids, but it's a LOT to ask a 2 year old to wait in line 45+ min. 90 min? Shoot me. And then you repeat all day for 12 hours straight. But to answer your question, we play games on our boogie boards, color, eat a million snacks. I really wish we could have strollers so my 2 year old could nap, but no it's fine if I hold her for HOURS every day. Just schedule a chiropractor appt when you return.

All of my friends whose kids have even minor diagnoses like ADHD or Autism get special medical exemption to cut the line. I actually think this might be why lines are longer for everyone else. One friend made it up and it worked although you do have to have a brief interview with Disney to get the medical pass.

You're asking for trouble by bringing 2 year olds. My kids are older and we're going for the first time to WDW in a few months. The youngest is 8. We've done Disneyland several times and have mastered Genie+ such that we almost never wait in a line more than 20 mins. Knowing how much patience is required for the heat, lines, and crowds why do people bring babies and toddlers? It's setting them up for failure.

Because I too have older kids? My 5 and 7 year old are over the moon with Disney World. Sadly Disney doesn't offer daycare where I can drop the littlest off for the day.

Also, the 2 year old LOVED Minne and Mickey. She also really liked the rides that she went on too.

You could just wait until your 2 yr old is older.

OK? But I'm not. My 5 and 7 year olds want to go right now while it's still magical for them. And Dh and I don't want to split up with our vacations. FWIW the 2 year old only waited for rides she could ride, the rest of the time her and I played outside while the others rode Tower of Terror or Space Mountain or whatever.

I'm in a lot of Disney groups and the Disney DAS (the disability pass) scam is alive and well. It's no wonder it seems 10% of the park is on a ride on scooter. It's great that they let some autistic kids skip the line, but they're making it more miserable for everyone. If the lines were shorter for everyone, the autistic kid could easily wait 15-20 min.

np. I was with you right up until you said the autistic kid could easily wait 15-20 mins. There you are wrong. You'd be giving me side eye and on here complaining if my autistic kid had to wait with your 2yo for 15-20 mins in line.

DAS holders routinely wait 15-20 minutes in the DAS return/lightening lane line. It’s not front of the line access.

My kid uses the DAS pass. We have never waited 15-20 minutes in a lightening lane. Sometimes we've waited 10 minutes (Rise, SOARIN, Remy, Pirates) but never more. My kid won't do Tower of Terror, Slinky Dog or Everest so perhaps that is the disconnect.

Wow NEVER? I find that very hard to believe since it happens pretty regularly. Its the same line as Genie+ and people complain about this a lot. I'd say we wait 10 minutes for almost every ride and 15-20 minutes for the more in-demand rides. For 7DMT you have to do the entire inside switchback line after the merge. For Big Thunder you have to do the entire down ramp and then wait several trains to get one. I think you are just underestimating the time you are waiting.

We've only been three times but because of my son's situation, I am positive we have not waited more than 10 minutes including the one time we did Guardian of the Galaxy (but that one was definitely luck!!). During our first experience 3ish yrs ago during spring break I was going to skip Big Thunder, Splash Mountain and 7DMT and leave post fireworks but he begged to stay so on a whim I checked and got Big Thunder with DAS for less than 10 mins. It was our first time trying to ride Big Thunder so I didn't even realize how crazy it was that we used the DAS on it once and then after that they let us stay on for multiple iterations because there weren't enough riders. I had no clue how lucky that was. We have been twice since and save those rides for post fireworks and that seems to work out well wrt wait times.

[Anonymous]

We went to Disney World last October. It was my first time. Just my DH and I, so no kids to wrangle, which I recognize makes it a different/easier proposition than for most people here. Spent a long weekend at the Polynesian and did MK one day and Epcot the next. We really enjoyed it, which kind of surprised me. I wouldn't do it without Genie +, though. We took every opportunity given to pay for a shorter line. We were shocked at how long people were willing to wait in line. I remember heading right in to Mine Train and passing a line that was at like 2 hours. It amazed me that people would stand in it. After a full day at MK, I definitely half-a$$ed Epcot a bit due to being tired from the day before and Disney saturated.

I did love it though. Oh, and I see some folks recommending Disney cruises instead and that's not the same thing as riding roller coasters at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Side question: what do kids do while waiting in line? Look at phones?

We never waited more than 20-30 minutes. It was actually kind of fun to wait and chat about the ride and there are lots of things to look at. Also people watch, chat with folks in line, talk about what to do next …

I was amazed at all of the cool stuff to look at while waiting in line for Haunted Mansion. The attention to detail is impressive.

[Anonymous]

Holy cow, I'm never taking my kids to Disneyworld. They can't wait 20+ minutes every ride. Neither can I (I can wait 20 minutes for one ride, but not every ride). Anyway, it is basically like any other amusement park, except added Disney logos and statues. Good luck to all Disney lovers.

[Anonymous]

We never took our kids either.

[Anonymous]

Never been to Disneyworld, but one thing I don't understand is why Disney doesn't create a super fast pass that skips a line immediately (zero wait, get to the front of line.) Charge $30 per use. I bet enough people will spend $150-300 a day per user on this benefit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Never been to Disneyworld, but one thing I don't understand is why Disney doesn't create a super fast pass that skips a line immediately (zero wait, get to the front of line.) Charge $30 per use. I bet enough people will spend $150-300 a day per user on this benefit.

$30? They charge much more than that for individual lighting lanes. But you can only do a few a day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Never been to Disneyworld, but one thing I don't understand is why Disney doesn't create a super fast pass that skips a line immediately (zero wait, get to the front of line.) Charge $30 per use. I bet enough people will spend $150-300 a day per user on this benefit.

If they only charged that much, everyone would use it and wouldn't be a "zero wait"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holy cow, I'm never taking my kids to Disneyworld. They can't wait 20+ minutes every ride. Neither can I (I can wait 20 minutes for one ride, but not every ride). Anyway, it is basically like any other amusement park, except added Disney logos and statues. Good luck to all Disney lovers.

20 min lines? I don’t think any line I went on was that short. Most were 45-90 min. Disney seriously packs people in for the amount of attractions they have.

With genie + we still waited 15 min

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holy cow, I'm never taking my kids to Disneyworld. They can't wait 20+ minutes every ride. Neither can I (I can wait 20 minutes for one ride, but not every ride). Anyway, it is basically like any other amusement park, except added Disney logos and statues. Good luck to all Disney lovers.

I think that's even more reason you should take them then. You all should learn some patience. It's not good to always have instant gratification for everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of you posters have told me you are Republican, without telling me you are Republican.

Why not just type , “the poor will always be among us.”

Disney is not a public service. They set prices/incentives based on what people are willing to pay. We are probably taking our kids to Disneyland because planning and experiencing a Disney vacation sounds awful. No thank you.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We're going in February so I read that article with interest. After the article (which honestly didn't help explain much) I spent like 30 minutes reading how it works -- I think we're set. Its not really that complicated. I prefer the old system but what can you do.

Can you share what you read? We are going in March when it will be crowded and are trying to make it the only time.

DP here. It varies by park. For everywhere but MK, you want to pick attractions in the order in which they are going to “sell out” because by the time you can choose next, it won’t be there. For MK, there are so many choices, many people instead choose the shortest return times. It’s still tough to get headliners if you do this though.

I don’t think you can really “get” the system until you are there and using it (and constantly one your phone trying to figure out how to minimize waits)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy cow, I'm never taking my kids to Disneyworld. They can't wait 20+ minutes every ride. Neither can I (I can wait 20 minutes for one ride, but not every ride). Anyway, it is basically like any other amusement park, except added Disney logos and statues. Good luck to all Disney lovers.

I think that's even more reason you should take them then. You all should learn some patience. It's not good to always have instant gratification for everything.

Oh please.