Washington Post article on Disney vacations

[Anonymous]

We went to Disney world in 2022.

I didn’t attend class or spend hours pouring over dedicated Disney blogs. I also didn’t have every minute or every meal planned. My kids were older (9 and 11 years old) when we went. I did use the genie+ but beyond the initial AM found its usefulness limited as after the first few reservations, the others were later and we didn’t spend the whole day at Disney (left the park at about 4-5 pm).

We had fun. I think the key is having lower expectations and not trying to get every penny’s worth which is hard given how expensive it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to let fewer people in. Cap the admittance/attendance numbers but keep prices the same. It’s ridiculous to pay almost $200 per ticket (once you include genie+) and still have to wait in such long lines and be on your phone all day strategizing.

This!!

They could totally cut down on line length through this mechanism , but why when they can convince people to buy fast passes on top of the already exorbitant price of the Disney experience.

What about a family that can barely afford it, so they have to bypass the fast passes? They just get left in the dust all day by rich kids who can step in front of their kids for all of the good rides??

The business model really turns me off. Why feed the greedy monster?

I know, right? And what about the kid who really wants to ski at Deer Valley, but can't afford to, an so has to content himself at Liberty and Whitetail? DV, and Delta, should lower the prices!

And I always wnted to spend a week on a yacht off the coast of France, but we can't just swing it. That shoudl be a lot cheaper.

Its cheaper for us to go to Copenhagen for a week than go to Disney. So....Disney is overpriced. And we get to go to Tivoli which actually inspired Walt Disney with Disneyland!

Also, we arent discussing the cost of entry. The PP is talking about tiers of access within the park. Everyone who enters the park should be treated the same while using park amenities. It would be like having to pay for a clean restroom and if you cant, then you get a porty potty. Or in this case, someone paying to be able to skip you in line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did the private tour guide for a day with a group of ten. Two families split the cost and man was it worth it.

Is that the one they mention can run $900/hour (not per day!)?

The official guides are $700/hour starting (goes up on busy days) and requires a 7 hour minimum plus tip. Does not include food or tickets for your party.

What in the world services do these tour guides offer to justify that price? Is it just the convenience of someone else taking care of the headache-inducing logistics?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did the private tour guide for a day with a group of ten. Two families split the cost and man was it worth it.

Is that the one they mention can run $900/hour (not per day!)?

The official guides are $700/hour starting (goes up on busy days) and requires a 7 hour minimum plus tip. Does not include food or tickets for your party.

What in the world services do these tour guides offer to justify that price? Is it just the convenience of someone else taking care of the headache-inducing logistics?

The official guide is considered a VIP tour. It’s pricing for up to ten people, not per person, and includes car service to/from the hotel and lightning lane entrances. So you’re being whisked around to all the fast lanes without having to plan anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to let fewer people in. Cap the admittance/attendance numbers but keep prices the same. It’s ridiculous to pay almost $200 per ticket (once you include genie+) and still have to wait in such long lines and be on your phone all day strategizing.

This!!

They could totally cut down on line length through this mechanism , but why when they can convince people to buy fast passes on top of the already exorbitant price of the Disney experience.

What about a family that can barely afford it, so they have to bypass the fast passes? They just get left in the dust all day by rich kids who can step in front of their kids for all of the good rides??

The business model really turns me off. Why feed the greedy monster?

I know, right? And what about the kid who really wants to ski at Deer Valley, but can't afford to, an so has to content himself at Liberty and Whitetail? DV, and Delta, should lower the prices!

And I always wnted to spend a week on a yacht off the coast of France, but we can't just swing it. That shoudl be a lot cheaper.

Its cheaper for us to go to Copenhagen for a week than go to Disney. So....Disney is overpriced. And we get to go to Tivoli which actually inspired Walt Disney with Disneyland!

Also, we arent discussing the cost of entry. The PP is talking about tiers of access within the park. Everyone who enters the park should be treated the same while using park amenities. It would be like having to pay for a clean restroom and if you cant, then you get a porty potty. Or in this case, someone paying to be able to skip you in line.

First of all, your argument would just mean the price of the ticket goes up for everyone regardless of their preferences.

Second of all, a trip to Copenhagen is a totally different vacation than a trip to Disney so the comparison is nonsensical. Also flying to Copenhagen cheaply takes up 2 whole days of the vacation vs a 2 hr direct flight to MCO …

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m super organized. I had our recent Disney trip planned to a T. I was up getting our genie reservations at 7am, I’d booked all the best character dining. I was on my phone booking new passes every 2 hours.

Even still, dh was so over it. The crowds were out of control (we went M-Th during the lowest week of the year) and we often waited in line 45-90 per ride. My 2 year old lost her mind at having to wait in lines like this. My biggest beef is with child swap. Dh would go with one kid while I waited with the other two and then I would go with the other kid while he waited with the toddler. Doing this took foreeeeeever. You used to be able to walk on (rightly so, we already waited once!) but now the wait was 20 min each time.

I don’t think I can ever convince my easy going husband to go back to Disney. We’ve been 2x a year for years. It’s just straight up miserable now. Dh thinks they’ve allowed too many people in for the rides that they have.

Oh yeah and not one character was walking around. You either pay $$$ for character dining, wait in long lines to meet them or wave while a parade goes by.

If you actually waited 2 hours before booking your next lightning lane on genie plus you’re not doing it right. The trick with genie plus is to book the ride with the fastest return time you can get, then as soon as you scan into that ride, book your next one while in line. If you dont get a return time you like, you can keep refreshing and modifying your original reservation until a more optimal time and/or ride comes up. It changes constantly as people cancel and rebook rides. This works great at off season times like the week you went at. And “off season” at disney is still very crowded. We’ve taken our kid at 2 and 3 and never waited longer than 20 min for any ride by staying on site, using this genie plus strategy and early park entry.

[Anonymous]

My teen daughter went with her high school band last year. She knew in advance she wouldn't have much control over arrival times at the parks, no ability to do the Genie+ or lightning lanes, have to stay with a small group, etc. She knew how to work the app to look at wait times, maps, etc. Going in with those expectations, she was still able to have a good time. Stood in some long lines, but went with the flow and her small group would just discuss what they were interested in and figure it out. They rode a lot fewer rides than when we went as a family with lots of planning, but it was still a fun trip (including the 14-hour bus ride each way).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m super organized. I had our recent Disney trip planned to a T. I was up getting our genie reservations at 7am, I’d booked all the best character dining. I was on my phone booking new passes every 2 hours.

Even still, dh was so over it. The crowds were out of control (we went M-Th during the lowest week of the year) and we often waited in line 45-90 per ride. My 2 year old lost her mind at having to wait in lines like this. My biggest beef is with child swap. Dh would go with one kid while I waited with the other two and then I would go with the other kid while he waited with the toddler. Doing this took foreeeeeever. You used to be able to walk on (rightly so, we already waited once!) but now the wait was 20 min each time.

I don’t think I can ever convince my easy going husband to go back to Disney. We’ve been 2x a year for years. It’s just straight up miserable now. Dh thinks they’ve allowed too many people in for the rides that they have.

Oh yeah and not one character was walking around. You either pay $$$ for character dining, wait in long lines to meet them or wave while a parade goes by.

This. My very organized spouse did the fast pass whatever but did it later than most people do so we were crisscrossing and rushing around the whole park with a 4 year old. I found it stressful and the lines were still crazy for the ones we hadn’t booked. They need to build more parks and let people wander around if it’s that popular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to let fewer people in. Cap the admittance/attendance numbers but keep prices the same. It’s ridiculous to pay almost $200 per ticket (once you include genie+) and still have to wait in such long lines and be on your phone all day strategizing.

So literally just make less money?

Good luck with that, PP.

Yes. They can afford it.

I mean, so can the Ritz and the Four Seasons and Tesla. But they aren’t lowering their prices just so I can afford their product. Why should Disney? It’s a business, not a social welfare entitlement.

[Anonymous]

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.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m super organized. I had our recent Disney trip planned to a T. I was up getting our genie reservations at 7am, I’d booked all the best character dining. I was on my phone booking new passes every 2 hours.

Even still, dh was so over it. The crowds were out of control (we went M-Th during the lowest week of the year) and we often waited in line 45-90 per ride. My 2 year old lost her mind at having to wait in lines like this. My biggest beef is with child swap. Dh would go with one kid while I waited with the other two and then I would go with the other kid while he waited with the toddler. Doing this took foreeeeeever. You used to be able to walk on (rightly so, we already waited once!) but now the wait was 20 min each time.

I don’t think I can ever convince my easy going husband to go back to Disney. We’ve been 2x a year for years. It’s just straight up miserable now. Dh thinks they’ve allowed too many people in for the rides that they have.

Oh yeah and not one character was walking around. You either pay $$$ for character dining, wait in long lines to meet them or wave while a parade goes by.

If you actually waited 2 hours before booking your next lightning lane on genie plus you’re not doing it right. The trick with genie plus is to book the ride with the fastest return time you can get, then as soon as you scan into that ride, book your next one while in line. If you dont get a return time you like, you can keep refreshing and modifying your original reservation until a more optimal time and/or ride comes up. It changes constantly as people cancel and rebook rides. This works great at off season times like the week you went at. And “off season” at disney is still very crowded. We’ve taken our kid at 2 and 3 and never waited longer than 20 min for any ride by staying on site, using this genie plus strategy and early park entry.

except this doesn’t work if you do have a LL for something popular later in the day. then you have to wait the 2 hrs.

[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.”

Not a republican but I understand that a) Genie+ is a small marginal cost on top of already very expensive tickets and b) Disney is not a welfare organization.

[Anonymous]

We're going to Disney World this summer because of a family wedding. The wedding couple are getting married in one of the hotels. We would never ever go back to Disney if it wasn't for that. Our kids are teens boys. But, the wedding couple absolutely love Disney and Universal. So, off we go.

We've been to Disney Hong Kong a couple of times and that park is doable. But, Disney World? Ugh.

[Anonymous]

I like WDW but I haven’t brought my whole family of 5 back since 2019. For spring break 2023 we all went to universal for the first time and I found their express pass system much easier to navigate and required less advance planning than WDW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're going to Disney World this summer because of a family wedding. The wedding couple are getting married in one of the hotels. We would never ever go back to Disney if it wasn't for that. Our kids are teens boys. But, the wedding couple absolutely love Disney and Universal. So, off we go.

We've been to Disney Hong Kong a couple of times and that park is doable. But, Disney World? Ugh.

Fwiw try to ride Guardians of the Galaxy - I really liked that ride.