A Disney World Story That's Realistic About The Costs!?

I don't know the answer to your question. It's not a rational one nor does it make any sense. The suggestion I'm making is not unreasonable. I never said I wanted it for free I just said I would like to see more accommodations why are you so against that. is it just the fact that you want to be argumentative

This can't be your first time posting your opinion on the Internets, right? No one wants to be argumentative but you. Everyone else understands free-market capitalism, and you don't. Have your opinion, just don't expect anyone to agree with it in the face of reality.

TomG said:

Lostkause I don't believe you going to find work on coasterbuzz. This is the wrong forum if your out of work.

That didn't even sting a little. You've been here for a few days. I've been here for a few decades. And you do not have enough personal information about me to know what you are talking about.

But this topic is about your inadequacies, not mine... I don't understand your line of thinking at all. Why not only take your family to Disney once a year instead of twice, and stay at one of the more expensive monorail resorts?

Aren't the Dolphin and Swan resorts less expensive? They actually have access to more parks because of the boat dock nearby. You can catch a boat to the Studios park and EPCOT. From EPCOT, you can take the monorail to Magic Kingdom. That sounds a little bit better than one on the monorail line, now that I think about it.

I will repeat what everyone else has been telling you, even though it will probably not register with you. The monorail resorts are more popular. More people want to stay at those. Because of this, Disney can charge more money to stay in them. Doing so limits the amount of people booking those rooms, which attracts them to the less expensive resorts. If you are not willing or able to pay for the more exclusive rooms, than you need to look at the less exclusive rooms. I don't know if wording it differently will make you understand it.

I told my personal story to help you to understand this. It went right over your head, and instead, you try to shock me with an insult. Didn't work. Try harder. :D

I'm not a stupid guy, I was laid off last year for 7 months and thankfully I am now back to work. You don't need to make comparisons of how bad off you are eating dirt to make me realize how thankful for what I have and the ability to earn a living.

It's a given that people everywhere do not have what others do in terms of material goods and being able to vacation. I really don't need to be schooled on how "fortunate" I am. I worked for what I have, use credit like many others and take care of business. I appreciate the comparisons but it's not needed. There are many many people less fortunate than me and many many that are was better off.
Like I said. I didn't ask for anything for free or out of the question. I find from MY experiences at WDW that they could offer more choices for larger families. Why is it that everyone feels that they have to defend WDW. The people with larger families know what I talking about. What's so hard to understand about that.

I would like to thank you for the information on the hotels that you mentioned and will definitely look into that.

At this point there really isn't any reason for anyone here to try and continue to discuss it with you. Several different arguements were presented, you continued to reject the arguements and issued personal attacks, name calling and making accusations, and didn't lik said facts you were presented with, or ignored them all together. In the end, noones mind was changed and you've given most people here a poor first impression of yourself.

What did I miss? Sorry, I was on a Lamborghini owners forum demanding that as someone who's been in love with Lamborghini since I was 6, that they lower the price of the Aventador so that I can afford it. And add rear seats. You see, I have 1 child, and I just can't fit my family of 3 in any of the cars in their current model line.

But seriously,

Like so many arguments on the internet, I feel I'm going to take the middle.

TomG, you do have a right to complain. You have a right to make your wants known to a company whose product you purchase. You can write a letter to Heinz if you don't like their ketchup, and you can write to Disney. I suggest you write a letter and state respectfully your situation and your wish. Perhaps, if they receive enough feedback from people/families like you, they will listen and build more facilities for large families.

BUT... it's all in how you word your complaint and who you tell it to. Demanding that they knock down walls in their premium resort to make larger rooms just for you and then lower the price just for you is the wrong way. Going on internet forums and complaining is the wrong way. You've taken a beating here, so maybe you know this now? Or maybe you're trolling us? Either way, it's been an entertaining read.

We're not defending WDW.

We're questioning your understanding of basic economics.

Grocery store trips must be a real hoot with you, what with how they make larger families pay the same amount for bread and milk and cans of pasta sauce even though larger families have to buy more food.

That was funny, you made me laugh about the Lamborghini. But in all honesty your right. I should voice my concerns to Disney. They don't owe me anything but it would be nice that they could maybe build more larger rooms to accommodate larger families.

I was back in the parks this weekend and, to be honest, I was glad the admission prices weren't lower. The Magic Kingdom was a freaking zoo on Saturday. A time of year, by the way, typically considered the "off season". I mean, it was ridiculous and our day was only salvaged because of Fast Pass and dinner reservations...two concepts I used to attack and now defend as completely necessary.

Although it would hurt me some it might be necessary for Disney to take a look at extending its blackout dates for annual passes. We may be a big part of the problem.

Judging by the parking lot the off property I stayed at was packed as well.

Animal Kingdom was far more enjoyable on Sunday than the MK on Saturday. The Lion King show we saw at noon was not full and the safari only had a 20 minute wait. Even our favorite restaurant didn't have a line and I've never been in it when it wasn't packed. I wonder if the half park that is currently the Studios and the lack of a new attraction at the AK (and folks waiting for Avatar) are driving people into the MK and Epcot?

They actually dropped the spring break blackout for the gold passes.

Yeah, this is the least likely place to find Disney defenders. However you will most certainly find defense of basic economics and how they relate to business practices. This forum isn't riddled with morons like so many others.

I for one could write a book with things I dislike about Disney, however I will say they have an experience that is not replicated by anyone else. After visiting Disneyland for the first time in October, the shortcomings of WDW are even more apparent.

Not sure what you are looking for Tommy Boy, but it has been a comical read. Especially the grocery store comment.

TheMillenniumRider-
I'd like to hear more about WDW's shortcomings based on your DLR visit. Not being sarcastic, just curious.

Disneyland to me felt far more polished than WDW.

Example, pirates has a more developed ride experience, and an awesome restaurant inside of the ride. Haunted Mansion holiday overlay is far superior to the haunted mansion at wdw. Space mountain also has seasonal overlay and star wars overlay.

As far as the finer details go, fountain in the tiki room, umbrellas in the dole whip floats, new orleans square far better than east, trees in the central hub. The whole park just felt more Disney and less corporate I guess you could say.

Cars land is probably the single best themed land I have ever seen from Disney, down to the traffic light having a longer blink every third.

Disneyland has almost the same attraction count for 2 parks, versus 4 at the wdw resort. Far superior use of limited space, better thinking takes place.

I was talking to a few cm's at Disneyland and they also mentioned that their resort above all other Disney parks holds as true as possible to Walt's dream, and that park is the only park Walt ever set foot in, it shows.

There are some pieces of Disney history in that resort that probably do not exist anywhere else. Down to checks and company documents from the formation of the company with the Disney brothers and Lillian's signatures on them.

I doubt that anything I can write here will be something not able to be found online, there are tons of sites dedicated to the differences. Given the choice, I would visit DLR over WDW any day of the week, except for food and wine. :)

Oh and park hopping is literally park hopping, no 30 minute bus ride. WDW was built to be a big grand expansive resort, and it is, but that is also its biggest downfall.

As far as hotels go, WDW blows DLR out of the water.

It is hard to top the original in many things. We fondly remember most movies better than their sequels (with some notable exceptions). One thing that Disneyland has to be conscious of is keeping the repeat guest happy...much more so than WDW has to. And, because they are limited with space they have to really maximize it and make every construction project count.

Obviously Disneyland is the closest thing to Walt's touch since his fingerprints were on it through the 60s. Give those folks after Walt some credit though for taking care of that for the past 50 years. (Though, admittedly, there were years when management was completely frozen to make decisions yet they dishonor Walt's memory.)

I kind of cringe when anyone refers to "Walt's dream." I mean, Disneyland opened half-finished and wouldn't have made it at all without corporate sponsors.

WDW is in an early transition to the new standard of detail. We saw it a little with New Fantasyland, for better or worse we'll see it with Pandora, and Star Wars and Toy Story will certainly raise the game.

True...but anything you read or hear from those who worked under him said his fingerprints were on everything. And while they rushed the opening he also spearheaded the expansion that included 20,000 leagues, the Monorail and the Matterhorn. I was thinking about that a little more this weekend. For all of the "new" attractions that have been added over the years, it is remarkable to me that rides like Pirates, Mansion and the Jungle Cruise draw ridiculous lines. Even the Carousel of Progress, built for the 1964 World's Fair, has people riding to this day.

As high tech as ride design has become people still point to the Haunted Mansion rides as some of the best dark rides in the world. Rides that were designed 60 years ago! Walking through Animal Kingdom yesterday I was really thinking that park may have turned a corner for WDI. The Tree of Life (completely unique) and the attention to detail all around the park really is remarkable and probably underappreciated, even by the Disney fanatics. I'd wager to say that Animal Kingdom and the loose purse strings of the Oriental Land Company were the recipe for success for DisneySea.

You don't think Mansion, Pirates, and the others are the same attractions they were when they opened, do you?

Carousel of Progress? Really? I can't think of anything more dated. :)

Detail, yeah, look at the amphitheater area around the water by Everest even. The new eating area in Harambe. Most things that they've touched in the last decade in a non-trivial way have upped the game, I just think we might be a little jaded in Florida because the competition built two entirely new lands in that time.

And I still hate the Walt nonsense. I'm not saying the parks and resorts division hasn't made some huge missteps over the years, but I think he'd be pretty impressed with the current direction.

wahoo skipper said
... it is remarkable to me that rides like Pirates, Mansion and the Jungle Cruise draw ridiculous lines.

Part of it, I think, is they don't have storylines, exactly. They were developed over years by teams of Imagineers; the two lead Imagineers for DLR's Mansion had different visions for the attraction. One wanted scary, the other funny, and the result is the Mansion we know and love today.

They're not the rides as they originally opened (hello, Johnny Depp Audio-Animatronic) but they remain true to the original vision for the attractions.

Fun fact, both were originally intended to be walk through attractions.

DisneySea is exquisite.

I think it's fair to call Disneyland Walt's dream, but like many of his dreams he turned the dream into a profitable business. WDW, on the other hand, is not Walt's dream: he wanted the central feature of the property to be his Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow, an actual community with residents (non-voting residents, mind you).

Researching an article on Disney coasters, I learned that the Imagineers got a postcard of the actual Matterhorn -- he was vacationing with his family in Europe -- with two words written on it: "Build this." And they did, and got Arrow to develop the tubular steel track for it.

Crap, I'm late for my Disneyholics Anonymous meeting.

Yes, Carousel of Progress is dated...but it is just remarkable to me that the attraction still draws people in after more than 50 years. Mansion, Pirates and Jungle Cruise HAVE been updated...but the fact that they didn't need major overhauls and are still that popular is a testament to the original design.

I also continue to maintain that those rides, in particular, continue to be popular because nearly the entire family can not only ride them together...but enjoy doing so. You can't say that about most roller coasters or even many of the high tech attractions over at Universal Studios. Since I have a family combination of kids that aren't ready for the major thrills and adults that are motion sensitive there are a LOT of rides at Universal we can't ride together...if at all. That is one way in which the Avatar land may succeed...as they have a boat ride that will be geared to everyone.