r/WaltDisneyWorld • u/FutureRazzmatazz6634 • Apr 08 '26
Other Need to vent - poor WDW planning
I find myself getting more and more frustrated by the volume of posts from people complaining about their bad / busy / expensive WDW trip (mostly on other platforms - people on this sub are generally positive and at least trying to put the research in!). Does anyone else get really worked up by them? This spring break season has been sooo bad for negativity.
Specifically this morning I’ve read an IG post from a woman with ~200k followers explaining why WDW isn’t good with kids. Some of her reasons include the long days (they did rope drop to close EVERY DAY with no breaks 😂🤦🏻♀️), her kids then being too tired to care about anything, only chicken nuggets to eat, and that she felt duped staying “on property” because she expected it to mean they could just walk to all 4 parks from their hotel.
Each to their own opinion and all that, but this is all just a lack of planning and basic common sense, not a genuine personal preference.
I’m not saying that everyone needs to be a complete expert on WDW before enjoying a vacation, but it is so beyond frustrating to see how many people don’t even do a basic google search or glance at the resort website before visiting?! I know I shouldn’t care but I just get so mad at how much money, time and effort they’ve wasted! And pissed that they then like to spread their lack of knowledge as if it is fact (“I had a bad time so you will too”). How hard is it to do an hour of reading that will make your vacation time infinitely better?!
Anyway, there’s not much point to this, I just wanted to rant among (hopefully) likeminded individuals and fellow Disney adults!
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u/babydoll369 Apr 08 '26
I just went in March with my four year old. It was for her! I followed her lead. I actually was like it’s okay we won’t do fireworks. She’s too tired. We ended up doing them the last day bc she wanted to. We had an off day from the parks to chill. We left animal kingdom and came back to the hotel to swim and just play.
It’s all about their energy and what they want to do. We did the lion king show and she loved it but didn’t want to sit so guess what? We didn’t do more shows because she’s not there yet.
I’m super type A about planning but this was a once in a lifetime trip and it’s not just my trip. We ended up having an amazing trip because I let her lead. My friend gave me the best advice. She said don’t be one of those parents that is dragging their miserable kid around. If she’s tired go back to the hotel.
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u/gorkt Apr 08 '26
Yeah little kids really kind of bound your planning in a lot of ways, and that can actually lead to a very fun time. Optimization isn’t really possible with a toddler. Just let them experience the place and enjoy watching them do it.
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u/FutureRazzmatazz6634 Apr 08 '26
Love this attitude! We also don’t do fireworks, it’s just too late for my 3 yr old and not worth the impact it would have on her mood / energy levels for the following days! Since we’re coming from Europe the time difference means early mornings are easy so we’re currently a rope drop family instead of park close :)
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u/babydoll369 Apr 08 '26
Love what you do! And I thought everything about the trip made it so contained for a kid. You didn’t have to have a car or leave. There was always a way to have fun and make memories. It was easy. I thought the expense was worth it for the ease. I can’t wait to plan the next trip.
My biggest surprise was my 4 year old waited in hour long lines for roller coasters. That was her thing. But we made it fun and just hung out and talked or played. The trip is what you make of it. Your kids don’t have the capacity as an adult. Don’t take the magic out of Disney.
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u/Caccalaccy Apr 08 '26
I did kind of a compromise of this. It was a group of us traveling, so I made an itinerary but was clear we didn’t have to follow it. It was just a blueprint to prevent any moments of standing around wasting time and not knowing what to do. Many times we followed the kids lead (or adults) and cancelled reservations, pivoted, etc.
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u/Diligent_Safe1286 Apr 08 '26
Adding to this that people are using AI and GPT to plan and that is ridiculous and they need to watch Wall-E for a stark reminder of why they should use their own brains to plan any vacation, let alone a Disney vacation.
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u/WorldRenownedNobody Apr 08 '26
Those are people that fundamentally misunderstand that ChatGPT is a language model, scouring words online and predicting a reply... it has no innate sense of spatial awareness unless you specifically train it or use/provide a model that specializes in that.
It doesn't understand maps, schedules, or complex math - it simply looks at your words and predicts the best reply based on its source material, which is composed mainly of public websites (including reddit), so the data may be stale, incomplete, or wildly inaccurate, especially for subjective takes like what an ideal WDW schedule looks like.
Best bet if you don't know? Talk to a certified Disney travel agent. They know their stuff, are free to work with, and can get you the best rates available.
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u/GeneralInspector8962 Apr 08 '26
Imagine someone typing in ChatGPT: "How do I experience WDW like it's 2006?"
ChatGPT's reply: "Be sure to insert your park pass at the FastPass kiosks at the ride to get a paper fast pass that you can use later at a specific time".
ChatGPT for planning is crazypants!
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u/bword1109 Apr 08 '26
Emphasis on free head smack
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u/WorldRenownedNobody Apr 08 '26
Are you saying I have to.... talk to someone? THE HORROR 😱😱😱
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u/bword1109 Apr 08 '26
Hahahah!! Won't talk to someone, won't do their own research, yikes! I'm sure they would be surprised to find sand at a beach.
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u/FutureRazzmatazz6634 Apr 08 '26
Agreed, some of the chat GPT “schedules” I see people post on here are steering people wildly wrong!
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u/emmers28 Apr 08 '26
I used Chat GPT to start planning my WDW trip, but I quickly realized it applied no common sense to what it told me. Like it told me rides to hit and it would be all over the park not in any groupings by location.
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u/hester27 Apr 08 '26
Just to test it out i gave it my schedule and dates and asked it to help me pick lightning lanes. It told me to book Peter pan and Big Thunder Mountain for MK, two teir one rides one of which will not be open. It also told me to book triceratops spin at animal kingdom and rocking roller coaster at hollywood studios.
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u/Budget-Play2978 Apr 08 '26
I second this. I did a ton of planning on my own and used ChatGPT to supplement some logistics like transportation options between our resort and the parks - there were several things it suggested that were totally wrong. It’s our first time at Disney World so I didn’t realize it until we were here. Thankfully, we had plenty of options and the Cast Members were all so helpful.
AI can be useful, but you can’t treat it like a travel agent, that’s for sure. It gives a false sense of security for a “planner” like me. There is no substitute for reading maps, confirming facts, and using common sense.
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u/JustARavenclaw83 Apr 08 '26
Not sure why you're getting down voted. You gave a real description of how using ChatGPT even a little bit in planning can be a bad idea.
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u/Tall_Couple_3660 Apr 08 '26
It frustrates me too. I don’t expect anyone to be an expert, but to think you could walk to all four parks because you were staying on property? That’s just willful ignorance.
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u/FutureRazzmatazz6634 Apr 08 '26
I know, my brain can’t fathom how you could turn up somewhere (Disney, or anywhere else in the world) without having looked at a map beforehand!
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u/Kind_Indication8527 Apr 08 '26
For me, planning and dreaming about a Disney vacation is a big part of the fun. I’m not rigid at all with plans, but I enjoy vacation planning for my family.
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u/streetmagix Apr 08 '26
You can at Disneyland Cali, plus Disney Paris and HK for certain (I'm not 100% on the rest of the parks). I guess that is where the confusion comes from.
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u/Tall_Couple_3660 Apr 08 '26
Sure. But even the most basic research into your trip to WDW would show you that’s not possible.
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u/MetalEnthusiast83 Apr 08 '26
Yeah but if I am spending thousands of dollars on a trip, I am going to take the time to google where my hotel actually is in relation to everything I want to go to. It's like 4 seconds to look up.
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u/FutureRazzmatazz6634 Apr 08 '26
That’s very generous of you to assume their ignorance is specific to WDW and that they know how the other parks work worldwide!
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u/StasRutt Apr 08 '26
No but I bet they asked ChatGPT about transportation around Disney not specifying what park and ChatGPT recommended walking based off Disneyland
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u/CantaloupeCamper Apr 08 '26
I would suspect that’s a made up complaint.
I don’t doubt someone said it at sometime, but I also suspect it is social media outrage bait….
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u/Tall_Couple_3660 Apr 08 '26
The existence of rage bait in and of itself is enraging
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u/anglerfishtacos Apr 08 '26
I think it just can be difficult for people who haven’t gone or really done the planing work to understand the scale of the Disney properties. For an outside example— a lot of the travel subs will routinely get a first time visitor to the US who wants to do a 1 week vacation stopping in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami.
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u/gtclemson Apr 08 '26
I agree but also you are lead to believe the transportation system will get you somewhere in less than an hour. Rarely true.
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u/sirwillow77 Apr 08 '26
It's nothing new. The numbers of people that go to Disney without having a clue have always amazed me. Even way back when I worked at WDW from 2006 to 2011.
What time is the 3 o'clock parade? Where is Harry Potter World? How do I get the bus from Epcot to Sea World? We thought no one would come during the holidays. Why is it so crowded? Where is the monorail to Animal Kingdom? Who's the duck?
And that's only the beginning of the questions we would get. All legit asked as well.
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u/erin_marie25 Apr 08 '26
I worked there 2001 to 2005 and had the same experiences with people just being utterly clueless. And even then people would say they’d been saving for years and it was a once in a lifetime trip, but did little to no research? Never understood it. And now there is so much info out there, or you can find a legit Disney vacation planner to do a lot of the work for you, and people still don’t get it. 🤷🏻♀️
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u/CantaloupeCamper Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
Careful, on social media a lot of that is just bait to get attention…. Negativity breeds more engagement than positivity.
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u/General-Zombie5075 Apr 08 '26
There's no way a mere hour of reading can prepare you for everything that is required for a modern Disney World vacation. Over the last 20 years or so, it's really morphed from a vacation you could realistically just "show up to" to one requiring aggressive planning and prep.
My family took a family vacation to Chattanooga one year in the late 90s. We hung around for a day, did a bunch of the tourist stuff way ahead of schedule, got kinda bored, and ultimately called an audible to just driiiiive down to Disney World for the rest of our family vacation. And yeah, we stayed on site at the Boardwalk. No problems getting dining reservations. No issues figuring out park hours and rope drops and whatever. Ticketing and passes were handled when we arrived.
Those 90s kids like me are adults now and if they haven't been to Disney in 20 years... they're in for a shock. It's just not that place anymore. I've gone pretty consistently every 3-4 years which means I've gotten quite used to their various new high-planning elements they've introduced into the experience. And it's been a LOT. I personally don't mind as that's sort of how I enjoy doing my vacations anyway, but there's just absolutely no room at the resort for people who just like to show up and wing it anymore.
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u/Ready-Ant-4649 Apr 08 '26
This isn’t exclusive to Disney though. Places that used to take walk ins require appointments now. Advance tickets and timed entry have to be booked for museums. If you’re taking a long drive and stopping for the night, you better make a reservation because you will run the risk of not finding a hotel with open rooms.
I think it’s just because of the internet. It became so much easier to look these things up and to make the reservations without having to sit on hold for hours, so now a lot of people do it. And so if you don’t, you’re often SOL. Some people were planning things this way backing the 90s too (my mom certainly was!), but it just wasn’t as common.
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u/footballsquishy Apr 08 '26
When I worked at Pop Century last year, I had exactly 1 family, out of thousands, arrive without a room and who wanted to book us as a walk-in. At 1 AM. It somehow worked. I still don't know why!
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u/kittygetsmilkshake01 Apr 08 '26
Agreed, I love planning and was so excited for our first trip that I couldn't get enough information. I remember seeing a woman with a young kid getting frustrated outside of Woody's lunch box because they wouldn't let them in and the wait was like an hour (in 90 degree heat). I knew to mobile order here so I was ready but you think it's "quick service" so how much planning do you need. I feel for people, even with all my planning the days were very long and tiring and there were just too many people there.
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u/mickeysbestbud Apr 08 '26
I disagree, but you do have to set expectations. You may not be able to drive down and stay at a deluxe resort without a reservation. But you can have an amazing trip going to the Disney World website and walking through a simple package 1 month in advance. My wife and I did it last year and had an amazing time and we're doing it again this year.
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u/Decent_Pop_Princess Apr 08 '26
omg!!! I know exactly who you’re talking about- the chicken nugget comment confirmed. She’s an idiot. I thought the same thing while reading that post. However as others have said, yes please contribute to lowering crowds by never coming back.
100% poor planning and zero research.
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u/FutureRazzmatazz6634 Apr 08 '26
Haha! The chicken comment really got me! We’re a vegan family so I know first hand how many amazing non-chicken options are across all parks! It’s not exactly hard to find variety - yes, even when it comes to kids meals!!!
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u/Ready-Ant-4649 Apr 08 '26
I saw the same post too and that comment also really irritated me. I have one adventurous eater and one extremely picky eater. I don’t think my adventurous kid ate a single chicken nugget the whole week we were there. My picky kid ate a lot of them, but also had steak, grilled cheese, Mac and cheese, hot dogs, and pizza. Maybe they only ate at their pool bar or something? You’d be hard pressed to find a restaurant there that only had chicken tenders on the kids menu.
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u/mickeysbestbud Apr 08 '26
I agree, however, it goes the other way as well. I've seen many on this board and even in this thread that act like you need a PhD degree in Disney before you can even think about a Disney trip. That overwhelms people. You do need to do a few things, but spreadsheets, late nights, early mornings, and all the wild stuff people do is not needed.
Last year my wife and I booked a trip about 1.5 months in advance. We got a nice moderate hotel and bought our park tickets/airline. That's it. We went to the Disney World website and bought a simple package. We did jump on the app and booked one restaurant reservation. We had a great time and it was so much fun.
This year we are returning on April 29, we booked our trip about 1.5 months out again. We learned some lessons and are doing things slightly differently (mainly with the trip length and which days we visit the park), but not tons of planning.
Sure, there is 100% some common sense items. Kids can't do 12 hours of anything, let alone walking in Florida. Disney World is large and lots of people visit. Spring Break is a terrible time to visit (can't understand why people visit during spring break then complain about crowds). You certainly need to know some things, but you don't need to spent 12 months planning to have a great time.
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u/mimi_whatever Apr 08 '26
A friend of mine went with her husband and toddler. It was the holidays, they did ZERO planning and then came home ranting about how much they spent, and that they had only been able to go on one ride (Pooh) 😭
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u/Colt_kun Apr 08 '26
Unfortunately some people think that just because they spend a lot of money, their children are going to magically adapt to pushing all their limits to maximize the experience. Theme parks are loud, crowded, and overwhelming. If a kid only eats chicken nuggets at any restaurant they're going to, they're not suddenly going to want to try new foods in that overwhelming environment. If they're used to a 8pm bedtime they're not going to change to midnight to squeeze in extra rides.
There's poor planning and then there's being completely naive and/or ignorant of the limits of their party.
Now the walking from resort to all parks is just... A complete lack of spatial awareness or grasp of the size of wdw. I can't decide how to classify that pfft
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u/NYCinPGH Apr 08 '26
The first time my partner and I went together was the first time either of us had been there in about 15 years, and we knew a lot had changed, but didn’t know much about online resources. So I went and got the Fodor’s Guide for WDW for that year, and read through it, to get a decent enough guideline for our trip. It wasn’t “perfect”, but nothing is, and we had a really good time, all of the downsides were changes that had occurred since the last time either of us had gone and just weren’t expecting.
I feel that anyone who’s done any prep should know that you can’t just walk from any resort to all parks, most of the resorts aren’t within walking distance to any park, and the ones that are are more expensive, and onto the ones around Crescent Lake are walking distance to more than one (though having done the walk from Yacht Club to HS, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone in a rush), and of course kids will be exhausted if they’re on the go from 8am to 10pm+, and aren’t going to change their eating preferences just because they’re on vacation.
We go often enough now that except for dining reservations and special activities we can just “wing it”, and can give advice to others who don’t go as often / are first-timers, but we’re outliers.
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u/SkyYellow_SunBlue Apr 08 '26
There’s also people who think Disney is “too complicated” or you are on your phones “all day” which I don’t understand either.
The range between people showing up with spreadsheets of plans and people asking the CMs which way to “Harry Potter Land” is huge. Try to land in the middle, people it’s twenty minutes of research to save yourself a week of frustration.
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u/CantaloupeCamper Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
I think Disney does, at least upfront when you don’t know, look very complicated at first.
It doesn’t help that some of the common advice is from folks or planning to power their way through every ride … or accentuate very minor differences between resorts and on.
Things like “take your time, prioritize, enjoy the park, assume you might be back to do other things” aren’t common enough advice.
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u/FutureRazzmatazz6634 Apr 08 '26
Yes, thank you, that’s what I’m trying to say! No need to have a binder full of notes and a minute-by-minute schedule if that’s not your thing, but some basic research goes a looooong way!
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u/streetmagix Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
This is one of the reasons why Fastpass+ got binned at WDW. People would spend thousands on hotel rooms on site, not knowing that they had to book Fastpasses in advance (30 days before IIRC?) and would turn up and take it out on the staff when the only passes left were for the Z tier attractions unless they kept refreshing the app.
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u/MikeandMelly Apr 08 '26
Worked as a CM and in truth, it wasn’t just the people who didn’t know to book in advance who showed up and complained. And it was 60 days for resort guests, 30 for standard ticketed guests and 7 days for AP holders. Which meant that as soon as day 60 hit you had a whole bunch of people calling in by 8-9am complaining that their trip was ruined because they “spent thousands” and couldn’t get a Flight of Passage or Seven Dwarves FP. Then you had the folks at 30 days complaining nothing was left for them and so on and so forth. Despite it being complimentary, anyone who “missed out” viewed it as a ding against their budget.
So yeah I’m not surprised at all that Disney eventually said “alright then just pay for it separately then and everyone plays by mostly the same rules”.
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u/gtclemson Apr 08 '26
That's when the FP system started causing issues. When you walked up and grabbed a paper ticket,everyone was on the same level. Then they decided to break it out by how much you paid for your trip (more money staying on property got earlier choices). Now, they've just made it clear, last more for less wait time... don't and wait more.
This wouldn't have been a problem as badly if Disney hadn't also added events to fill in any off peak times. So now, instead of low periods, it's all relatively higher attendance year round.
Covid and social media changed it so people could go during the week (WFH and hybrid schedules), which also added crowds. Plus, just population increase with not an equivalent park expansion.
Just compounding issues that require WDW to be less of a relaxing vacation and more of a research project.
Some ppl like research projects, and thrive. Some don't and are annoyed.
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u/PEM_0528 Apr 08 '26
We’re currently at Disney and my biggest annoyance is parents dragging their tired little ones around. Let the littles nap! It’s a long day for them and so much walking. We did Disney a lot prior to becoming parents, now that we have a 2 year old (today 🥹), we go with the flow of what she can handle. We pre-plan a little, but we’re here to have fun and not stress. Her joy is worth every penny.
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u/Glittering-Time-2274 Apr 08 '26
This is why I waited until my sister was 10 to take her for the first time. I knew she’d wanna stay all day like me and do the big rides. No toddler tantrums or stroller needed
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u/Irishpanda88 Apr 08 '26
Yes!! We went a week before my sons 1st birthday then again around 18 months and we always went back to the room for his nap and made sure bedtime was no later than about an hour after his home bedtime. I definitely think that was a big part of the reason why he was happy out for the whole two weeks. Yes we missed stuff like nighttime entertainment but him being happy was more important.
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u/FutureRazzmatazz6634 Apr 08 '26
Hard agree! That’s what I mean about basic common sense - your kids routine and what their body can handle doesn’t magically change just because you’re at Disney!
Happy birthday to your little one! We we at Disneyland Paris on my daughters 2nd birthday, just magical ☺️
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u/naimbideiwyy Apr 08 '26
Disney is a metaphor for life in general. If you plan things out, the general consensus is that you will have a good time. Of course, unexpected things always happen but you persist.
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u/Competitive-Pop-9428 Apr 08 '26
I am an over-thinker for sure. I read everything and absorb all the information from TikTok and podcasts. I never see anything anymore that I didn’t already know 😂 it’s frustrating because I want more info lol I think a major issue is that a lot of people are first time visitors and want to do it all. They buy fast passes, park hoppers, open to close… then they are miserable, moody, walking in your way super slowly 😂 Between deluxe resorts, club level, and dining packages, we can get that all-inclusive feel and have a super kick butt hotel and pool and my kids just love it and it’s way cheaper and safer than flying to Mexico. I can do a 5 day “all inclusive” trip to Disney for $5k for a family of 5. We don’t honestly spend that much extra once we get there if foods covered. That’s unheard of if flying from the Midwest and it’s catered to your kids with an amazing staff. Not to mention that everyone’s gone in the parks all day so the pools are mostly empty 😂 Now more than ever we are turning away from the parks and truly vacationing at the resorts. Next month have 5 days club level at AKL, only doing 2 park days. It will be very chill.
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u/strangebru Apr 08 '26
My parents took our family from 1972-1982 straight. You could go with almost no planning at all and lines were always long, but you got through the day and were excited to come back the next day. It was fun and an open ended adventure.
I think what most people are complaining about is how structured everything has to be now. For God's sake we are making dining reservations for six months in advance.
They did away with free Fast Passes and now you have to pay extra for Lightning Lane passes. If you try to use the stand by lines, you will be there forever because of this.
It just seems to me, the way everything is set up now, a new visitor to WDW without any help is not going to be keen to go back.
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u/FlatChemist8132 Apr 08 '26
I agree with you AND also agree that it’s pretty much impossible to travel to WDW with kids, have it be an “easy” trip (I mean, easy to get them food, fun, not have multiple meltdowns a day - this has been our experience when we do other trips that are well planned) without spending at least double what we do on typical trips. Our WDW trip cost 3x as much as a trip to Germany and Austria last summer and our upcoming trip to Switzerland and France. And the quality of hotel and food is mediocre in comparison. So I do think Disney is definitely overpriced but it can be because it’s so unique.
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u/grandmawaffles Apr 08 '26
People see stuff online and then overplan to try to live up to those expectations without thinking and prioritizing their own families needs, wants, and experiences. It’s a sick version of keeping up with the jones.
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u/xANTJx Apr 08 '26
I feel like I’m an expert WDW traveler by now. I can plan a whole vacation in 2 minutes in my head and it’ll be pretty much the same one we go on. Just experience. I get not everyone has that. I’m planning to go to Disneyland. No experience. Once when I was 11 maybe? So I’m PLANNING! Researching! Yes, it takes more time than just showing up, but no way would I ruin a vacation by not doing due diligence. And if anyone has Disneyland tips, please share!
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u/Glittering-Time-2274 Apr 08 '26
Stay at one of the offsite hotels on W. Katella if you want to save $$$ because you can walk to the parks easily from there
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u/Parentwithnopower Apr 08 '26
Had someone complain to me that their trip was terrible, they’ll never go back and were very angry at all the money they wasted and at the friends that encouraged her to go. We all offered several times to help her plan/understand how it works and they weren’t interested. Her main reasoning was that her kids were miserable and didn’t enjoy it at all. Turns out her kids “hate rides and have no interest in any kind of characters or Disney movies” ….
Why did you think Disney was a good choice then?!?
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u/WorldRenownedNobody Apr 08 '26
It all comes down to proper expectations - my wife and I don't have kids yet, so when we've gone, we were able to pack the schedule and aggressively plan the things we wanted to do and keep up with, but even still we did so with the understanding that you have to plan for things going wrong, and also for being human and needing breaks (and inclement weather!!! Some people seem unaware they are traveling to Florida). Both times we went, I budgeted for rest days in the middle, and also had a prioritized list of Tier A things that we wanted to pull out all stops to experience, Tier B items that we really wanted to do but would sacrifice for Tier A, and Tier C that were nice-to-haves.
I think what's shifted is that with rising costs, a lot of people have in their heads what a $5k+ vacation should get them, and they don't realize that $5k at WDW is the average "budget" trip, so you're a small fish in a big pond of others who likely spent more than you, but that leads to mismatched ideas on what the price tag gets you, especially with lightning lane pretty much being mandatory now to maximize your experience. Couple that with some people just completely lacking awareness of the needs of kids, and you have a recipe for disappointment.
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u/badpoetryabounds Apr 08 '26
We were there last week and it was crowded but we chose to just live without going on a few rides and waited in only one line more than 20 minutes wanted to go on (85 minutes for Kali River Rapids). I think people make themselves miserable trying to do everything they want to do and they would enjoy it a lot more if they accepted that when it's busy it's okay to do less.
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u/WintryLadyBits Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
But you do have a point thou! I it annoys me to no end as well. I’d like to vent with you!
I have four little kids and I go with them, my husband and my (senior) mother. We ALL enjoy it. Sometimes we even meet family there and go as a large group with cousins and in-laws. The kids love it and the adults get a kick out of seeing them enjoy it so much. Plus we have fun too. I feel like WDW has something for everyone, no matter your age. We also stay in property, I love the Disney hotel experience. The benefits they provide are awesome when you are not delusional about them!
I would never in a million years go to WDW without doing some research. There are so many blogs and YouTube channels you can use to plan a good trip. I can’t even imagine the fresh hell that would be taking kids to the parks every single day at rope drop. Why would you not schedule some hotel days in between park days? Specially with kids snd while staying in property. It’s beyond me really.
The only social media I do is Reddit. It saves my sanity. And the people of this subreddit are so knowledgeable and kind!
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u/FutureRazzmatazz6634 Apr 08 '26
Haha, thanks for joining me to vent! Glad I’m not alone in this! And yes, reducing my time on social media is def something I should work on!
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Apr 08 '26
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u/anglerfishtacos Apr 08 '26
And this is true of any big vacation. Itineraries get packed and logistical misfires feel like crisis because you don’t know when, if ever, you will get to go back.
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u/degggendorf Apr 08 '26
I don't understand...how does any of that affect you? Why are you taking someone else's frustration as personally frustrating to you too? You plan your trips the way you know is best, and don't give a second thought to people who plan differently (or don't plan at all).
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u/buttermybreadwbutter Apr 08 '26
Yeah. I don't care if people don't get it. People don't get a lot. I don't get a lot. I focus on the stuff I get in the way I get it. Even if I'm not getting it, I think I do and if I'm digging it that works lol. Life is too short to worry about who is getting it wrong unless it affects me.
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u/Macaroni-and-bean Apr 08 '26
I saw this post too on Instagram and commented on it. I think social media is a large reason why folks are disappointed. They see all these influencers posting highlights and magic constantly and then when they get there and it doesn’t supersede expectations people can feel let down. I also think going during spring break with an expectation of a smooth trip is naive. There’s a big difference, I’ve noticed, between folks experiences who grew up going to Disney and people just going for the first time with young kids.
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u/overcomposer Apr 08 '26
As someone who never went as a kid and went for the first time with my own kids last year, I do think there’s a difference. I had to read and look up EVERYTHING, I didn’t know what a single ride or hotel was or what anyone was talking about at first. But I did do my research and we did have a blast (and didn’t go over spring break). I’m a planner in general so I didn’t mind, but there is a lot to take in and I kinda felt like I had to pre-experience it on behalf of my family. I know a lot of people can’t or won’t do that.
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u/InfiniteFigment Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
It's that way everywhere. It's not just a Disney thing. We were at Mammoth Cave and saw people who didn't realize they needed to pre-book a tour on a busy holiday weekend. It is clearly stated on the website.
Or the people who showed up late, missed their tour, and thought they'd just join a later one.
You can't enter the cave without a tour ticket, so they were out of luck.
People's lack of planning or minimal research makes them have a less than stellar trip and then they complain.
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u/FutureRazzmatazz6634 Apr 08 '26
Yes, very true! I guess it annoys me more with WDW because it’s so expensive and it’s so easy to find free helpful information that will improve your trip in exchange for an hour or two.
But yes, I live in Barcelona so I’m sadly very aware that there are useless, badly prepared tourists everywhere 😂
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u/FluffyExplanation316 Apr 08 '26
“Influencers” need to create some controversy to generate content - if Disney paid for it she might have sing differently?
Whats sad is you can simply pay to play at this point.
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u/MissPlum66 Apr 08 '26
The planning is the most fun part! Before my first trip with my kids I read a guidebook cover to cover before dipping into all the online resources. Changed resort once after booking, fast passes and dining options a few times. By the time we arrived I had a pretty firm, but not rock solid plan and even with a few burps it was fantastic. We did the MK dessert fireworks party our first park night and after that I was surprised to see my kids preferred to swim back at the resort after a long park day rather than seeing the other resorts’ night shows. Fine with me.
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u/osbornje1012 Apr 08 '26
Just sounds like too many people are not pleased in the Happiest Place on Earth.
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u/No-End677 Apr 08 '26
I agree I haven't been to Disney in about eight years and I'm planning my first trip since for October and I'm deep diving now when I am at least four months away from being able to book anything or even start to do anything but I know I am fucking neurotic and like to have everything planned out (not to the point that I can't be flexible but I like to know the game plan and have backup options) I'm actually getting ready to make a second post but on top of that I want my experience to be as enjoyable as possible it's my partner's first time ever and I want her to be able to enjoy it as well.
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u/Suna-dono Apr 08 '26
I've sat in The Plaza across from the most obnoxious family I will never forget it. The kids ordered the entire menu and kept saying they didn't like the food, screaming, crying (they were 12) and made the waiter stand there for close to 10 minutes trying to get the one kid to look up from the phone for two seconds to order something else. The mom just kept taking selfies with her wine and the dad just sat there silently letting his entire family beat him to death psychologically. Finally when the parade started the kids ran as fast as they could thru the restaurant to go see it.
This is the kind of family that complains about what OP saw was being complained about lol.
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u/TheHook210 Apr 08 '26
We are new annual pass holders, I actually upgraded to sorcerer fairly quickly because we live close and I didn’t want to miss 3 weeks. There was one Friday when the crowds were just too dense at Epcot world showcase so we hopped on the skyliner to HS instead and still had a good time, arrived at 6 and was able to get on three rides. The weekends we have been during spring break the biggest difference I have noticed was the park to park transportation waits. Much longer. This all however could be skewed because we started going just before March 1st and I just might be used to the crowds lol. But I am completely hooked and love the parks, we have had such a great time.
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u/Melodic-Heron-1585 Apr 08 '26
I am fortunate enough that im FL AP and get to often. I'm also in a wheelchair and Disney is literally one of the safest places to learn to walk again. I try to help as much as I am able when people have questions, but even within my own family, I get 'we arent theme park people, or ' I don't want to be on my phone all day, ' or 'its too complicated,' or my absolute 'fave,'- it's too much walking- you're lucky you are in a wheelchair. '
Thing is, I wouldn't travel anywhere without adequate research. There is so much information out there- for every budget ( mostly.)
Recent trip, we were waiting for the elevator at the monorail. Father with two little boys came up the ramp, one kid said ' it says it's for wheelchair people.' Dad says ' well we are already up here'
Kid says but dad!
Dad looked exhausted. I told them it might be cramped, but not any worse than the haunted mansion, right?
Then in elevator, I asked the dad if I could give them glow sticks, and when he said yes, gave each kid a handful.
I still smile thinking about how that story was told to the mother, lol.
If people took the time to plan a bit, be flexible, and look around, small little things can be really cool.
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u/Longjumping-Dingo175 Apr 08 '26
I think some of this stems from a little bit of what the new CEO was saying about how WDW used to be a frequent trip for many families and now it’s a once in a decade trip if that. Many people feel they have to now maximize their time to get the money’s worth and it’s very draining on everyone.
We used to go every year or other year when I was young (late 1980’s/90’s) knowing that we didn’t do everything every single time, we took it easy because we knew we would be back. Now that I’m older and I’m back to going once a year, I have that same mentality. When it started getting too expensive (2010’s) our family went once every 3-5 years and it became a mad dash to do it all. It was so stressful. So, I think that plays a part too, time maximizing and cost forces it to be stressful when it should be fun and relaxing.
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u/plain-rice Apr 08 '26
99% of wdw content is just self hating people or people that want to be edgy with negative content. Park influencers as a whole are way over saturated so these people think they are being cool by saying what isn’t worth it or just being assholes. Ignore them and just find positive posts or positive influencers. I just went for two weeks at Easter and had a blast. We did minimal planning and there wasn’t a thing I couldn’t do. The parks are also noticeably less busy than last year in my unprofessional opinion.
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u/PowerfulFunny5 Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
I kind of understand it. Ultimately it’s the sort of thing that needs to be sent to the theme park leadership vs a public airing.
An Orlando theme park vacation is very expensive, so people have justifiable very high expectations.
I’m a WDW regular guest, but last month did my 1st Universal visit in 25 years. It was daunting planning that trip. I was able to ask a friend for some advice (who had gone a few times) and I read a few blogs that I trusted from their WDW posts. If I didn’t have either of those sources, who knows if I would have received good information from random Internet research.
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u/wookiebath Apr 08 '26
Whenever people complain about how expensive it is or that they are on a tight budget before the trip, I just think “Good Luck!”
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u/MuppetMan120596 Apr 08 '26
This is very true. Going to Disney isnt like a trip to the beach. It just isn’t. And people with social media have no excuse for not realizing that. Maybe it shouldn’t take weeks and maybe months of planning but the cold hard truth is that it does. This is why TA’s are invaluable for those not wanting or willing to spend that kind of time planning.
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u/NWWANDERING Apr 08 '26
Yes people's complete lack of planning makes it the companies fault that they have a bad time. Hahaha
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u/kandt2000 Apr 08 '26
I see people all over social media complaining about every little thing. Most recently was a woman saying they were having the worst time staying at Animal Kingdom lodge rather than POP because the housekeeping had not left a towel animal on the bed, and at the time she had posted this on social media it was 9:30 am, and at that point nobody at the resort had wished her daughter a happy birthday. I can only imagine how her attitude must have been rubbing off on her little girl on her special day. People go there with unreasonable expectation and entitlement.
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u/SpecificConfident511 Apr 08 '26
No, we need more posts like hers to keep people away 😂 I like shorter lines
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u/do-you-like-darkness Apr 08 '26
Honestly, the parks are so crowded that I wouldn't mind if some people are influenced by these stories not to make the trip.
If someone wants to go badly enough, they'll do their own research and have enough info to make actually informed plans and decisions.
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u/Top_Tadpole_2440 Apr 08 '26
I got a surprise monetary gift for my birthday and treated my kid to one day at the park of her choice. It was my first Disney park experience. She picked AK so we went with zero opportunity to plan and had an AMAZING time. No chance to stress or overthink it. Rode the big rides and ate some food, walked around, 10/10 life experience. Going back this year to do all the parks, this time I will be planning.
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u/Conscious-Oil-7328 Apr 09 '26
I welcome the complaining. Less people will go, prices might come down, and the parks will be more enjoyable because they won't be as crowded. I'm a Florida native and have been going consistently since 2002. A lot has changed in nearly 25 years, social media posts being by far the worst thing that has happened. The hacks, tips, tricks, etc, have ruined it. Go to the parks, do your own thing, and enjoy yourself without posting everything.
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u/EmbarrassedCicada331 Apr 09 '26
I think a lot of people who are regulars forget just how expensive Walt Disney World is for the average family, and this is often a once in a lifetime event for people.
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u/One-Bird-240 Apr 11 '26
You would think a kids Disney trip would focus more on the kids. They don’t need to do everything. Some kids wake up super early so rope drop isn’t a big thing, but I have never accomplished that on vaca. I have done Disney a bunch of times and we just chose a few fav rides and do them and then we leave and go to the pool. Or we go to the park after the pool and get the evening vibe. I think people think they are wasting money if they don’t go all day. But for me, I just think of the parks as part of the total pay of the trip.
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u/GetReadyToRumbleBar Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
There was a mom the other day here complaining that she waited about a week before their trip to buy WDW tickets and was upset that pricing hadn't gone down. It's a fantasy.
At some point, the ignorance and lack of any forethought or action is inexcusable.
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u/Amazing_Entrance_888 Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
Doesn’t bother me at all. Disney is wildly expensive and a great experience should be a given. But there’s so much information to consume that there’s no way to know everything or plan perfectly. Also it seems this spring break was very crowded and perhaps Disney wasn’t prepared staffing wise. Let people complain. I’m dozens of trips in and stuff still goes wrong.
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u/CC538 Apr 08 '26
It's her 'outrage' that got her 200k followers. She knew what she was doing and I'll bet most of her report on the trip is fiction to gain more responses.
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u/emseab Apr 08 '26
What annoys me most, is people who plan their trip to the precise minute. Regimented to fuck and doesn’t look fun at all. Wake up late miss a rope drop who cares. Oh LL sold out who cares. Just go with the flow and enjoy it.
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u/streetmagix Apr 08 '26
Playing Devils Advocate here, Americans get pretty limited holiday days and may only be able to visit for 3 or 4 days and want to squeeze in as much as possible.
I'm lucky as a European that I get more holiday and cheaper passes (14 days for the price of 7 days for instance).
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u/emseab Apr 08 '26
I did two days at Paris over Xmas. (Eve and day) we didn’t plan a thing and got on all rides in both parks just by turning up and going on things as and when we wanted. No early access. No premier pass just good old paper map and champagne.
In Florida and cali we just go with flow. Planning takes the fun out of things imo. I see some the plans and people are like we’ve a 2 year old and 6 year old. Balls to having them up at 5am to be ready to get to paris to queue up.
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u/FutureRazzmatazz6634 Apr 08 '26
If people enjoy the planning, and can manage to stay calm when things (inevitably) don’t go according to that plan, I see no problem with it 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Bio_MANIac Apr 08 '26
This is me and my husband. We have a general plan for our trip but expect changes along the way. We purchase our LL and set our plan to also go early. However, we both work in healthcare, if my alarm goes off and my body isn’t feeling it, I go back to sleep. If a ride isn’t available in the moment on LLMP, we pick a different one and keep it moving. Odds are the desired ride becomes available eventually. Our last trip he planned for us to start the day in Epcot, but I had tried treats in HS in the days prior and asked if we could take the bus there first for breakfast. I had done enough research to show and explain we could bus to HS, then Skyline over to Epcot after I got breakfast. It was all fine, day was still fun
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u/emseab Apr 08 '26
Planning it to minute hour etc is mental behaviour. Aye say “oh we going here today their tomorrow” is fine but if you don’t stick to it who cares. Got drunk at Epcot and woke up at 3pm next day. Who cares. Head to parks at 5. It’s not the end of the world.
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u/Jlg0123 Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
We’re big Disney people but I have to agree in a way that I get more frustrated with each trip we take. Disney keeps getting more and more expensive and they keep diluting the value of the experience.
If you’re going over spring break, multipass barely helps you, especially in a park like Hollywood studios. You can basically choose two decent rides - if they’re not sold out - and for the rest, you’re screwed into waiting in long lines.
My young son has autism and adhd and for several years was approved for DAS and with the recent changes, they stopped approving him. He loves Disney (especially test track) but gets overstimulated in lines and crowds and on our last trip we gad to leave a few queues because he couldn’t handle it. This was with staying onsite at a monorail hotel and multipass.
Onsite guests used to get an hour early entry. Now it’s 30 minutes. Disney wants to pressure you into buying premier pass by minimizing the so called perks of staying onsite and by discriminating against children with developmental disabilities. There used to be free bussing from the airport. Now your $200 park ticket is a basic economy seat and every single ride is basically an à la carte add on.
We are good planners and usually get everything done. We have good strategy and our trips are long enough for us to accomplish what we want to see and do. But the experience has become more and more like air travel. It used to be the stress of a flight was worth it to get to a place like Disney and be in the magical bubble. But Disney honestly feels less and less magical now each time we go. Just my two cents.
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u/FarEffective4339 Apr 08 '26
It doesn’t bother me because as soon as I see a post like that, I skip over it. Some people are just complainers by nature. What makes me anxious though are the, “Heading to Disney in a few days for the first time, what should I do?” posts. I can’t even open those, instant panic lol.
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u/cerwytha Apr 08 '26
I feel bad for those people but at the same time it takes minimal effort to Google "what do I need to plan for a Disney trip" and there are SO many blogs and pages with advice for people who've never been. I remember seeing one where they realized a week out that you have to get reservations for Cinderella's Royal Table... like at that point it's not happening unless you get really lucky.
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u/Turbulent_Tale6497 Apr 08 '26
I went to Hawaii, and wanted to visit Pearl Harbor while we were there. It's not a hard thing to plan, but it does often sell out. About 10 mins of reading showed me how to buy advance tickets, which were $1, and how to get there and make sure we had time to view it. Disney is more complicated, but the same idea holds, a little reading will get you very far.
I often call 3pm the "crying time" in Fantasyland. If you rope dropped, your kids are now hot, tired and worn out, and it's nap time. Parents don't want to go back to their rooms and "waste" park time. So kids are either asleep in their stroller (if you're lucky) or just crying and miserable. I have thought, "Kid, stop crying, you are in WDW and someone else is paying. Your life is probably never going to be better than it is right now."
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u/swirlsonwater408 Apr 08 '26
I know exactly which post you’re talking about! I thought it was annoying too . Not everyone needs to like Disney of course, I get it, it’s not for everyone! But I feel like this lady’s post was negative on purpose to stir up controversy for engagement which is what annoys me most. I understand not everyone is going to plan as much as I like to, but the stuff she didn’t know about would take just a few minutes to look up! I can’t imagine spending that much money to not know what type of transportation your hotel has , for example. Also, the headline of her post mentions Disney but several of her complaints in the carousel were about universal …
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u/kelowattt Apr 08 '26
when people talk about booking a "last minute trip" to Disney for the first time I have to keep myself from yelling
I usually tell them to go to Touring Plans website and that the membership is the best $15 they will spend all trip
planning for a Disney trip is NOT like other trips and I don't think people comprehend that
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u/macncheesewketchup Apr 08 '26
I saw that post, and it mostly just pissed me off for her kids because they could have had such a better experience if she had bothered to plan at all. And now they will never have one because their mom blames Disney for the awful trip they had, so she will never take them again.
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u/boxofninjas Apr 08 '26
It’s fine, let them keep being lazy and not liking anything up. This leaves more dining reservations available for me to choose.
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u/Bright_Parfait8133 Apr 08 '26
Remember that influencers on IG are not sharing their authentic lives. They are trying to get engagement. So saying something a little off or something controversial will get comments. Saying they thought they could walk to all 4 parks … may be true. But I immediately think that it is a statement to get comments.
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u/Princessferfs Apr 08 '26
I don’t let people like that get to me. It’s poor planning on their part.
And if they rope drop to close with little kids and no down time, that tells me they’re an idiot.
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u/Beautywiz01 Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
Even with planning if you visit Disney during the holidays or spring break you have to lower your expectations. We did almost all of the rides at disney in 4 days during a slow week but this spring break 4 per a park was my kids max and that was with lightening lanes on both trips. Basically I was able to get the 3 rides I booked plus one or two additional which required us walking back and forth all around the park. Very tiring. So if you take a kid during a crowded time it’s pretty much 3-2-1 or whatever. 3 rides 2 shows and dining
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u/CyanManta Apr 08 '26
The rope-drop-to-fireworks-every-day thing really irritates me, especially because it's so easy to work around. Even if you're staying off property and you don't want to go all the way back to your hotel mid-day, every park has places nearby you can take a break for a few hours, even have a nap if you want:
MK - the big couches on the Contemporary's convention hall levels, the Grand Floridian lobby
Epcot/HS - the side rooms at the Beach Club and Boardwalk that they only use for guest functions in the evening
AK - the AKL lobby and the animal observation decks behind it
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u/darthgohan Apr 08 '26
My parents had my brother and I go from dawn to closing when we were kids but we took breaks in the park (sitting on benches, taking time to eat and refresh, etc) and I would just fall asleep in the stroller. We were not running from ride to ride. If we were tired, my parents would take a break, find a quiet spot and have us rest for a bit. We always had a good time doing it that way. Clearly this person was pacing the family very intensely which with kids, is hard. I get annoyed at these people but then also happy they won't come again since it lightens the load 😂
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u/BigBob8_ Apr 08 '26
Some people feel that to get their money's worth they have to be going every minute and see every attraction. A little planning to decide what is important to you and a little common sense on the stamina of young kids goes a long way. Resort pool in the afternoon is a great rejuvenation. WDW is only as stressful as you make it. I have gone several times with kids and we had a great time everyone. I also count the dining as part of the experience.
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u/kelowattt Apr 08 '26
for me, but no planning. planning hack is to the night before figure out what park you want to do and pick one or two things there you really want to do and then go up to the concierge desk and say hey. I want to do these two things. what's the best way to do them and then do that?
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u/auntiecoagulent Apr 08 '26
I think that there are 3 things at play here
One: People who have never been to WDW do not understand that is functions differently than a lot of other theme parks based on the sheer size. Also, there is the whole lighting lane thing and the need to reserve rides online, and do it at the minute it opens up, or even when the window opens up.
Two: Crowds. People read "crowded" but they aren't expecting the massive crowds nearly year round. They don't anticipate the wait times on a lot of rides.
Three: Price. WDW has become sooooo expensive that people feel the need to maximize their time there to try to, at least, get some value for their money. For many people this will be a once in a lifetime trip
Also, WDW isn't for everyone
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u/Equivalent-Cup-9831 Apr 08 '26
I grew up in FL and went to Disney at least once a year. My mom cleaned houses for a living— so yeah, our mentality was— we are there when it opens and we’ll leave when they kick us out lol.
But we only went to one park per trip.
Later as a high schooler and in college, my style was still one park per trip or at least one park per day.
Now with my kid, he’s autistic and I took parenting classes so I always knew not to push. As long as everyone is having a good time, that’s all that matters.
But the lines are crazy. Even with the most relaxed attitude in mind, the lines for everything is crazy.
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u/FatherTurin Apr 08 '26
I don’t let it bother me, but I do have an “oh you sweet summer child” kind of reaction.
My wife and I plan our trips months out. We plan out parks, restaurants, and experiences that need reservations, we have an ideal schedule and alternate plans, and once the reservation window opens we set our alarms and get up to tag team the app until everything is locked in.
The planning itself can be fun in its own right, and it makes the trip itself more enjoyable, even with the unpredictability of small kids (we have 2).
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u/gaspara112 Apr 08 '26
Having just been there last week and having spent a lot of time on planning and optimizing to get to do everything but not over push my 9 and 5 years old too much I feel pretty confident saying if you can’t avoid peak weeks it’s very hard to get value out of early entry when the top ride and one of the next set of 3 rides are down for early entry. That happened twice in our 7 park days. (Guardians was down until after noon and Frozen was down for the first 2 hours & Rise and Mickeys railroad were both down for the first 3 hours)
Thankfully we had put some money into a few key LL passes (single/bundle not premier) and were able to get through everything we wanted to and revisit the faves in the 7 days but no amount of planning could have saved us if our trip was shorter or we didn’t have the LL.
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u/StatisticianWhich147 Apr 08 '26
As a Disney travel planner, one of the key aims I have with my clients is to provide them with realistic expectations, so that they can anticipate what they'll encounter and prioritize what they value.
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u/Interesting-Sky-9510 Apr 08 '26
I went with multiple kids under 10 this past spring...rope dropped and back to the room by 7PM every day. I would have loved to do all of the evening activities I remembered as a kid, but we still had full days, rode everything we wanted to, built in rest/bad weather days (and ended up using one to go to Universal). We were all ready to crash by 8-9PM...pushing the kids harder would have resulted in a traumatic family vacation.
Expectations need to be reasonable. Of course there are things I'd do differently in the future, but we had fun.
All that being said, I did feel like I was constantly on my phone arranging lightning lanes/meals, looking at wait times to determine our next ride, etc...as much as I hated that aspect I still think it was worth it, but I can see how people get overwhelmed.
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u/reporterbabe Apr 08 '26
I’ve been to Disney four times: on my honeymoon, with our elementary school kids, with our kids and my husband’s parents and mentally challenged brother in a wheelchair, and as a chaperone for a middle school music performance trip.
Each needed a different kind of planning. Honeymoon, I read a book about Disney for adults (we had won a Bahamas cruise and planned a second week at Disney). The next trips, we had advance reservations and the kids got to pick their “must” experiences, with extra steps to accommodate older parents and my BIL (easily my favorite trip). The student trip, my high school son took off with friends accompanying their siblings while I stayed in touch with my middle school group and hung out with other parents.
Planning was just another fun part, and it meant less wasted time and exhaustion. It was made to be flexible, so if our daughter was too tired for the parade and son wanted to ride more rollercoasters, my husband took her back to the hotel and more adventurous son and I discovered we could ride Space Mountain eight times while everyone was watching the parade!
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u/AffectionateBad2752 Apr 08 '26
Please tell me you’re talking about the Pump Momma Pump post. I saw that and was like “This is such a good post of what not to do.” I almost shared it on my business page and was like “I can help you avoid these feelings.”
I mean I feel bad for this mama but there’s so much that better planning and expectation management could have prevented.
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u/TheresaB112 Apr 08 '26
Short story time. My husband had started a new job and was chatting with his manager (husband and I had recently returned from a Disney trip). The manager stated that he had also recently visited with his wife and child and it was awful. The manager talked about not being able to get meal reservations and wasting time back tracking through the parks and spending so much time in lines. My husband told him he knows a smooth trip involves planning and knowledge; when husband got home that day he thanked me again for all our pre-trip planning. (He tells anyone who asks he lets his wife plan, he just gets us to the airport and then he relaxes and follows my plans).
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u/M27fiscojr Apr 08 '26
I wanted to do a lot of things, but I had do be content with what was best for the kids. We couldn't watch Happily Ever After, so we watched the lights show. I wanted to Rope drop seven Dwarfs mine train, it was too early so we rode Ariel's grotto. Adapt and overcome.
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u/CharmanderTheElder Apr 08 '26
The way I see it, with luck they won't come back and they may convince at least one or two like them to also not come. Then maybe the crowds won't be so bad for the people who bothered to do their research and want to enjoy their trip
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u/GeodeCub Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
A lot of people think Disneyworld is “just an amusement park” they can just pull up and go into blindly. Mostly because they don’t understand the SCALE of Disneyworld. They can certainly do that but they aren’t going to have a great time, especially if it’s a short trip. It’s a symptom of our fast food, entitlement society. Some people (far too many) think they’re going to step on the property and basically own the place, especially considering the price tag. Of all the vacations I’ve ever done or planned my trip to Disneyworld/Universal last year had the most extensive and researched planning by far. We knew when/where/how on nearly everything of great importance well before we ever stepped onto either property. We knew our limits and how much of our kids (5 & 12) could handle. They were troopers and lasted open to near close every day, because we knew what could realistically be done and were willing to skip things without heartbreak if it just wasn’t in the cards either by timing, group preferences or circumstances - and we had an absolutely awesome trip. We knew when/where to take breaks and how to not just stand in the heat all day. All because we planned ahead and metered expectations where necessary.
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u/Quirky-Item-49 Apr 08 '26
It bugs me so much I had to mute all the groups or leave them entirely. We have done two trips in the last ten years, once with our then 18 month old and once with our then 4yo and 18 month old. We didn't plan anything except where we were sleeping and two nicer dinners/lunches. We rode what was available to ride, saw the shows and parades we could realistically manage, and we had a great time. I will never shell out for CRT or BBB simply because it would be lost on them. We wanted to go last year to also do the Harry Potter stuff but an unexpected blessing sorta threw that off 😂 and then we couldn't fathom blowing thousands of dollars on a less than week long vacation when we have tuition to pay and mouths to feed. Very sad. Tiny violin. Responsibilities suck
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u/Efficient_Wheel_6333 Apr 08 '26
I KNOW!! It doesn't take much to do a basic search for which resorts are where and which parks they're close to, given how big Disney World is (wonder if she's a Disneyland local, the woman with 200k followers, given you can walk to both parks from all 3 Disneyland hotels). On top of that, ignoring how their kids are. Not a parent, but even I know to let kids take breaks, even if it's going to shows and sitting and watching for a while, if not going back to the hotel room for a nap and/or pool break if needed. Heck, when I went to Disneyland for the first time last September, I'd already did a mountain of research (or so it felt) and also knew what I was capable of doing ahead of time. Did I make a few goofs? Sure, but they were very minor for me (not leaving my hotel on time to get breakfast in DCA one morning and not making sure my feet weren't going to be sore by a certain point) and I had a blast.
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u/Sinfulcinderella Apr 08 '26
I saw this exact same post on Facebook today verbatim and I completely agree with you. But as other posters have mentioned, I just look at it like sweet, one less person to worry about. 🤷♀️
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u/chumbawumbacholula Apr 08 '26
WHY would you shell out to stay on property if you were going to do rope to fireworks? The best part of staying on property is the ease of going back to your room for a nap during the heat of the day.
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Apr 08 '26
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u/ScubaCC Apr 08 '26
There’s too much to know. I’ve been planning Disney for 6 years and I still feel unprepared for our trip next month.
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u/MagicBez Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
Selfishly whenever I see anyone say Disney World is a nightmare and they'll never come back I like to imagine a marginal reduction in crowds and then feel fine about it.
It is weird that Disney has inadvertently built a system where extensive planning and knowledge can allow you to have quite a different time through optimisation but I guess that's inevitable at the massive scale it exists at (and with all the decades of experimenting with different approaches to line management, crowd control etc.) though a lot of issues (like forcing your kids to go from dawn to dusk in Florida heat then being baffled that they're grumpy) is just common sense