My Slow Divorce from Walt Disney World

[focusondisney]

This whole thread is so interesting. I would say that I'm also in the process of a long, slow divorce. It really bums me out because I actually thought I would spend the rest of my life visiting Disney every few years. My kids are adults now so the "need" is not as much, but personally I still love being there.

I could have written this, it says exactly what I’m thinking too. Our first trip was in Jan 1992 & offsite. We liked it & my DH & I returned in September to use up some tickets he had received. We stayed at Dixie Landings (POR) & were totally hooked. We’ve been back almost every year since. We have been APs on & off & have had them for at least 10 years running now. We’re mid 60s, adult kids gone for about 15 years, mortgage paid off long ago. We’ve taken multiple trips a year & stayed deluxe club level. We took 5 trips last year, some quick weekend trips & some a week long. We just got back from an 8 day trip last night. So pretty much WDW addicts.

A PP talked about there used to be seasons & some slower times. That’s when we always went. Since we went so often, we never did park commando style. We’d go to the parks early, then leave around lunch & spend the afternoon / evening at the pool or at nice sit down meals. But we’ve seen crowds grow & grow. Even the after hours events that promised lower wait times/ crowds for an inflated price had gotten more crowded by 2019. The traditionally slower weeks are long gone.

My DH retired from his high pressure job last year & now works 2 days a week for his previous company doing special projects. I just retired last month. I knew I would have to alter our Disney vacations after we retired but never imagined I’d be happy skipping them all together.

But I don’t enjoy having to fight crowds to get anywhere on property. We used genie+ & ILL for the first time this week. My son & DIL got good value from genie+ because they were in the parks most of the day. One day they got 10 rides in 3 parks using genie+. We only got 2 - 3 rides with it each day. We just don’t stay in the parks long enough to use it more than that. To say nothing of the need to be up before 7, wether it’s to set up genie+ or to get to early entry. I much prefer being able to book rides ahead with the FP system.

We have a week long trip planned for early September & I had started looking at January/ February dates. Our APs expired Tuesday. I haven’t renewed yet. I “amthisclose“ to cancelling the September trip. Considering maybe getting 5 day parkhoppers for January if we go. At this point, I have a few thousand in Disney gift certificates I bought at discounts intending to pay for our APs. And hundreds more I was given as retirement/ birthday gifts. And I have A P vouchers bought at the previous price from Sam’s a few years ago. My debate is, use the GC, renew the APs & hope September is a bit less crowded. Or hold everything & see how things are in a year or 2.

I wish I could forget how things used to be…..

 

[Praying Colonel]

I'd say WDW and I are still married but legally separated.

I remember a Homecoming weekend at my college when I was a student. We happened to meet some alums from about 25 years earlier who were visiting. They used the campus as a meeting point to get together once/year, but didn't participate in any of the activities. They said the campus and its organization was completely different from when they attended. They said I wouldn't get it because I never knew what it was like in their time.

I think of WDW a lot like that now. Our first visit was 2004. We never knew the pre-FP era. But we were there in the paper FP, FP+ and now Genie+ eras. We knew what it was like to stay at a resort back then, what Disney dining was like, what park touring was like and how it changed over the years. IMHO what we have now is a significantly inferior representation of what we fell in love with.

It makes me think of the old saying, "You can shear a sheep many times, but skin him only once." Disney seems less interested in building repeat business through goodwill and brand loyalty, and more interested in getting families in once and squeezing/upselling them for all they're worth. It's one way to go, but it's not my Disney.

We came very close to buying into DVC about 10 years ago--so close that we actually signed papers but rescinded within the cooling-off period. I'm so happy we did that.

Just to show I'm not 100% pure, we did just buy Florida APs. DS lives in the Orlando area and we plan on meeting him there once in a while for lunch/dinner/whatnot. So while we're still in a relationship with Disney, it's more a thing where we'll meet occasionally and be nice in front of the family, maintain appearances. It's a far cry from the love affair we once had, and it didn't have to be that way. And a family taking their first WDW trip won't know the difference. Time marches on.

 

[Jonfw2]

I agree. Consumers are shifting from goods back to services again and travel is a big one.

Until I see attendance numbers down in the parks, I'm not worried about it. However, what I haven't seen locally is a return back to the theatre. Now, this might be regional, but the movies I have seen in the theatre have been in mostly empty theatres save for the last Spider-man movie. The box office is where I see Disney feeling pain, not the parks.

Yes. And subscriptions to D+ have slowed dramatically as people have gone back out. Why this is shocking to people, I have no idea.

 

[RamblingMad]

Yes. And subscriptions to D+ have slowed dramatically as people have gone back out. Why this is shocking to people, I have no idea.

All the doom and gloom around Disney seems to be driven by specific media sources. I think, it's from the I can't afford Disney anyway so I'm going to boycott Disney.

 

[DCLMP]

Nailed it, Spot on, Drop the mic. I agree with you. Right now Disney is at the bottom of the list of priorities and concerns in my life.

I'm heading to WDW in 2 weeks. I rented DVC points months ago. I got a great deal, but it didn't register with me at the time that I would be spending a minimum of 400.00( probably closer to 600) when you include ILL on fast passes. All this for a system that doesn't work. If I could cancel I probably would. I got a great deal on a DCL European cruise this Summer. There are some deals on cruises. Demand is low. I'm going to enjoy my Summer. After this Summer Disney and vacations, in general, may be the least of my priorities.

More great economic news this morning. US production is at a 75-year low, the trade deficit increased by 22%, and labor cost is at an all-time high. The awesome news just never ends. I honestly feel like next year my biggest concern in life will be finding food and supplies.

On a positive note, we're also going to Universal. I've always loved Univeral and I have a feeling I'm going to love it a lot more after experiencing this new Disney.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I never had the rose-colored glasses on when it came to WDW. Never. I took my first trip in 1992 as an adult, and maybe that had something to do with it. There was no nostalgia factor for us.

I feel like this thread has two sides-one side is people who have decided for many good reasons to take their vacation dollars elsewhere. The other side is people who still see value and magic in a trip, and a few who are maybe just a touch defensive. I fall somewhere in the middle. I'm on SSI-I've been saving for a year and a half for this trip, and this time it seems like every time I think I've saved enough something comes up where I need more money. Whether it's the airlines having high prices, or Genie+ or having to pay for certain attractions if we don't want to wait in a long line, whatever. I *choose* to budget and save as much as I can. I make sacrifices. Do I like the Deluxe resort people getting more perks? Honestly, I don't care. I go Value and expect that this means what it implies.

The planning aspect and having to know what and where for every single minute doesn't bother us. In fact, we enjoy it. Will I enjoy having to "fiddle-faddle" (as Molly from AllEars calls it) on my phone all day? Probably not. But for us, there's still enough magic to think *at this point* that it will still be a good time. I might feel differently when I get back, and for sure I'll let you all know. We've been enough times to be hardened veterans when it comes to WDW and expectations. It's not a normal vacation; if we wanted to relax and do lazy days with no planning we'd go to the beach.

I still love my husband WDW. I am giving him one more shot to be what he was when I first fell in love with him.

 

[DCLMP]

Here’s the main issue: people have more cash than they've ever had in history and they've been cooped up in their houses for two years. They're willing to pay far more for an experience like Disney than they would normally. That will even out over time.

Consumer debt is at an all-time high and increasing at a rapid pace.

 

[shh]

I could go on and on. I'm a 50 something and looking at retirement in the next decade. I have never in my lifetime seen the mess we are in right now and the slope we are quickly going down.

I dunno...to me, it feels a lot like the '70s - only without long gas lines (yet). It was very grim back then.

 

[DCLMP]

I also think WDW is benefiting from international travel being down. Countries are slowly starting to drop restrictions, but you still need a Covid test to return to the US. Cruises require vaccines and testing which some people won't do. If you got some money and you don't want to jump through hoops to take a vacation Florida is still one of the best options.

 

[Uncle Coaster]

I would say I was never married to Disney. Partially because it has always been more expensive of a trip than my family could afford or cared to spend and partially because there were so many other places I enjoy or want to visit.

However, I haven’t had a bad experience their yet and it remains in my rotation. It has certainly changed from my first visit in the early 80s but I’ve been able to adapt to all of the changes so far.

 

[longboard55]

On the other hand, international travel to Disney should explode the next few years. Japan has been locked down for two years. We have been going to with APs since 1990. Disney is always fighting overcrowding. If Disneyland went back to the $79 so cal pass they would sell a gazillion. We will continue, nice get away. We are Disneyland regulars but do WDW and a Disney cruise about once a year.

 

[FunnyLady1966]

I understand, and have argued for disney profits, but Chapek, has squeezed the piggy bank to tightly! There is A fine line between charging to make a profit, and charging so much you price yourself out of the market. Disney stock has plummeted 90 dollars per share under Chapek’s watch. Wall st. Does not want that. Losing 50 percent of your stocks value is right up there with hospital killing patient that just came in for a well visit.

Disney’s board need to put someone in place that understands that Disney fans, if taken care of will come back again and again and again…..don’t try and take all their money at once….and you’ll get a lot more. Don’t nickel and dime the guess and they will drop 100s.

Wall st doesn‘t care what the CEO does when the bottom line is a black number.
Right now Wall st is saying change something.

And As awesome of a person Elon must be. He may actually be Tony Stark! Even Tony Stark was smart enough to stick to what he knew best, and let someone else run the company! Elon will most like put humanity on mars in my life time. But I don’t know that he would be the best person to run Disney… Plus he is kinda busy protecting free speech, and will putting humanity on mars.

who do I want to run Disney
Someone that knows they need to balance customer satisfaction, with profitability.
Someone that knows that there product is guess experience and satifaction.
Someone that knows how To focus on his or her core business and stay i. The proper lanes.

i don’t know who that person is, my guess is that person is in Disney‘s upper management now and is about to quit because of how things are going.

SPOT ON! Well said!!

 

[john7994]

I never had the rose-colored glasses on when it came to WDW. Never. I took my first trip in 1992 as an adult, and maybe that had something to do with it. There was no nostalgia factor for us.

I feel like this thread has two sides-one side is people who have decided for many good reasons to take their vacation dollars elsewhere. The other side is people who still see value and magic in a trip, and a few who are maybe just a touch defensive. I fall somewhere in the middle. I'm on SSI-I've been saving for a year and a half for this trip, and this time it seems like every time I think I've saved enough something comes up where I need more money. Whether it's the airlines having high prices, or Genie+ or having to pay for certain attractions if we don't want to wait in a long line, whatever. I *choose* to budget and save as much as I can. I make sacrifices. Do I like the Deluxe resort people getting more perks? Honestly, I don't care. I go Value and expect that this means what it implies.

I have learned to take what I read on here with a grain of salt to be honest ... Start peeling back the onion on some of the discussion and the agendas - well intentioned or otherwise - become obvious.

For myself, seeing is believing and only I know what my personal thresholds are in determining "value" and "magic". Like the weather, opinions change often. As others have mentioned as well, there are far bigger problems to worry about.

 

[fly girl]

My current stance with Disney is, "we are on a break."

I love Disney, I do. But I also know I was in a toxic relationship. I kept trying to so hard to not get annoyed and upset by all the little things they kept doing to irritate me, but they piled up. So much so on my last visit I had to break it off.

I hoping with time, Disney will get their act together. Realize it was hurting the ones who loved it the most. Hoping it will try to make amends and love us back. Time will tell.

I am hopeful, but not certain.

 

[tasha99]

Our last DL trip was end of January/early February 2020, right before the pandemic. I actually think my husband caught covid on that trip, but on the news they were saying if you hadn't been to China, that wasn't what it was. We know differently now. On that trip, we enjoyed the new Star Wars ride but were shocked at how appallingly bad the SW bar was. I mean sitting us down at a dirty table level of bad. It was just appalling. We had a decent time until DH got sick, but we realized we were also kind of over it all--the expense, the stress, etc, and DL is much easier than WDW. We sold our VGC points last year, and I think I may only go a few more times in my life. Annual family trips are over, though and we plan on doing beach house vacations or cruises in the future.

 

[FunnyLady1966]

Our last DL trip was end of January/early February 2020, right before the pandemic. I actually think my husband caught covid on that trip, but on the news they were saying if you hadn't been to China, that wasn't what it was. We know differently now. On that trip, we enjoyed the new Star Wars ride but were shocked at how appallingly bad the SW bar was. I mean sitting us down at a dirty table level of bad. It was just appalling. We had a decent time until DH got sick, but we realized we were also kind of over it all--the expense, the stress, etc, and DL is much easier than WDW. We sold our VGC points last year, and I think I may only go a few more times in my life. Annual family trips are over, though and we plan on doing beach house vacations or cruises in the future.

Soooooo sad to me. We have enjoyed many family trips to both DW and DL over the years. My kids who are all now married and parents themselves; have always looked to the day they can share their love of DW with their children. Now...it's just not a priority. I cried the day I lost my DVC because of my divorce...now I wonder if it wasn't such a bad thing

 

[GreatLakes]

Disney has made no effort to hide, and I believe have even publicly stated, that they value the once in a lifetime visitor more than the repeat visitor based on a cost per trip calculation. I have no doubt the one and done people spend more on average than the repeat visitor and as long as there is a never ending pool of those guests to come down there really is no incentive to swing back to catering to the repeat visitor.

I think in reality that pool isn't never ending and you may see people exit the pool, or never put themselves into it, based on the experience other guests are having. I also think it is short sighted. Many of the one and done people did go as kids and fell in love making saving for and going to Disney with their own children a goal. If more and more guests are priced out now they won't have that nostalgia to bring their own children back in 20 years.

As I mentioned up thread we still go but find it less and less fun. We go because we can still afford it and I want to experience it with my son. We were looking into DVC and planning to go annually for the foreseeable future but over the last few years have moved away from that. We stopped considering DVC and we think our window of frequent travel will coincide with our son aging out. If we didn't have our son I think our trips would already have paused.

 

[tasha99]

Soooooo sad to me. We have enjoyed many family trips to both DW and DL over the years. My kids who are all now married and parents themselves; have always looked to the day they can share their love of DW with their children. Now...it's just not a priority. I cried the day I lost my DVC because of my divorce...now I wonder if it wasn't such a bad thing

I'm sorry you lost the DVC that way. My kids are in their 20's/30's, none married yet, but it's looking like DD29 will be getting married soon and wants to start a family. I kind of wish we still had the points for that reason alone, but for years she'd said she wanted to be childfree. If I'd known she would change her mind, I might have held on to the points.

 

[FunnyLady1966]

I'm sorry you lost the DVC that way. My kids are in their 20's/30's, none married yet, but it's looking like DD29 will be getting married soon and wants to start a family. I kind of wish we still had the points for that reason alone, but for years she'd said she wanted to be childfree. If I'd known she would change her mind, I might have held on to the points.

Thank you. There are times I miss them and the benefits of them...but hearing of the major decline in the parks and the resorts...I'm shocked. Truly shocked. If you would have told me 10 years ago THIS is where DW would be? I'd have said you were a liar...and yet here we are

 

[DCLMP]

I have learned to take what I read on here with a grain of salt to be honest ... Start peeling back the onion on some of the discussion and the agendas - well intentioned or otherwise - become obvious.

For myself, seeing is believing and only I know what my personal thresholds are in determining "value" and "magic". Like the weather, opinions change often. As others have mentioned as well, there are far bigger problems to worry about.

I’m not sure I understand your statement. Exactly what agenda are you referring to?

I agree with you there are far bigger problems to worry about decreased disposable income being one of them. As people’s discretionary income decreases cutting ties to something you dont find the value in seems like a normal response to me.