Disney announces or teases a ton of attractions at D23

Jeff:

But that's the thing... you don't have to do all of things to have a memorable, awesome time.

I agree with this. But that's because I live around the corner. If I was coming once every 'x' number of years, or coming once ever, the overall process to 'do Disney' is a lot when compared to any other theme or amusement park. It works if you know how to do it, and yes, you can still show up and wing it. But a lot of vacationers feel the only way to get value for their money is to "do it all", and that's not as easy as it used to be.

Everyone should vacation in ways that work for them. Its why there are different options available. So if a given vacation doesn't work for you but does work for others, so be it. Do what works for you.

We took a 4 day trip to WDW last month. First time for us in 6+ years. So there was a lot of new. And I had heard horror stories about all the Genie/Lightning brought. We used Genie/Lightning but were not obsessive about it. Had things we wanted to do on a given day in a given park and signed up for them. But understood that couldn't be everything. Didn't look to maximize anything/everything. Were somewhat inefficient in terms of traveling back and forth across parks. We were able to do what we wanted to do (some of them multiple times) and several things on our "would like to do" list.

We didn't do everything though. Its not possible. At least not in anything remotely approaching a literal sense. And hasn't been possible for at least 2 decades (first time I went with my kids was about 20 years ago and we couldn't do everything back then -- prior to that, last time I was there was when Epcot was new). At least in looking at a trip of a week or less at the parks. Don't expect to be back at Disney until grandkids and none of my kids is married at this point so a return trip to Disney is at least 5 years away (and likely longer).

Also spent a week in Ireland this summer. Had never been there and at this point, no reason to expect we will ever return. We did not "do it all" or come anything close. Cost per person per day was slightly higher for the Ireland trip than the Disney trip.

I have taken other trips where it wasn't possible to "do it all." Some cost more than a Disney trip and others cost less. Never viewed that as a negative or a reason not to go. Seems odd to me so many people appear to view that as a negative with Disney when I don't hear it about other vacation options. Like saying I don't want to go there because there are too many great things I want to do so I would rather do none of them. But again, do what works for you.

For me, it's always been the cost coupled with FOMO. If I'm going to be spending $8k (what our last trip with 7 people for 6 days (which became 8 days and +$1.5k because of a hurricane)), I want to squeeze every ounce out of the trip, though we do still take afternoon naps and spend some time at the pool (thanks hurricane). The cost to go is so high that if I can spend a few hours researching on line and a little extra effort in the parks and get an extra 20% out of my vacation, that seems like a good way to maximize value to me.

Can you go without doing all that and have fun? Absolutely. Could I? Probably not. Which maybe explains why we don't have any Disney trips in the works for now.

I understand FOMO, but I'm also not beholden to it. I was that kid in high school, but as an adult, I can more or less make my situation. In regular life, I value a few deep relationships over many superficial relationships. So in the context of travel, I focus on depth, not breadth. Looking at Disney this way it's likely way more satisfying. I can achieve depth with time, and if I don't have enough time, I won't know anyway because I'll be dead.

We love doing WDW on the fly, and have done several trips where we just wing it. We’ve never done the whole “plan to spend the day at this park” people, and park hopper is always necessary because we go with the flow, and usually always end up at EPCOT. It still takes some planning to do that, because you have to get from A to B. That’s why we prefer the Crescent Lake resorts. We can walk to 2 parks easily.

DLR is definitely easier to just go, because it’s all right there, even Downtown Disney is self-contained within the tiny bubble.

So I once visited Rome...for a day. It was a quick side trip from our wedding trip in Florence. We did all the "must do" sites of Rome in that day. The Colosseum, Vatican City, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, the Pantheon. It was a whirlwind and we were exhausted. Separately, we spent one day in a small town of Sirmione in northern Italy (set out on a peninsula). We walked the town, had lunch, and did nothing else.

If you ask us which day was more enjoyable, it is no contest. I barely remember the details of the day in Rome but I remember many specific moments, smells, and sounds from that day in Sirmione.

Fastpass/Genie+ have been a blessing and a curse. If you are a planner, and a good planner, they add a lot of value. But, they have kind of forced the non planners to be planners or else be left out of things (big attractions and many dining experiences), and that is the unfortunate consequence.

wahoo skipper:

We did all the "must do" sites of Rome in that day. The Colosseum, Vatican City, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, the Pantheon.

/boggle

My recollection of my first WDW trip with kids (back with paper fast passes and paper maps) was without a certain amount of planning, you would miss out on stuff. Even with planning, we missed out on stuff. Just the way it is. Don't think that Genie changed that.

I think to a certain extent, FOMO when it comes to Disney is an enthusiast concept. I saw a lot of people there last month who were not using Genie. Some of them were also (from what I could see) were pretty much winging it on the fly. Seemed to be having a good time. Maybe when they get home and tell their friends what they did, they will realize how much they missed and their trip will be spoiled. Seems more likely if they have Disney fanboy friends. LOL But also seems to me they will tell their friends they had a good time, show them some onride photos, souvenirs, etc and their friends will say "cool."

Even the concept of "must do" is subjective. m Ask 10 different people and the list will vary. We see that on this site regularly.

I spent a week in Rome several years ago and didn't see everything. Spent almost a whole day in Vatican City (but we heard the Pope speak which was a couple hours in terms of arrival time, waiting, listening, etc). And our visit to the museum though not National Lampoon/Louvre speed, was faster than it otherwise could have been. And we had a guide who took us through it selectively.

Jeff:

So in the context of travel, I focus on depth, not breadth. Looking at Disney this way it's likely way more satisfying.

While you enjoy your depth I'll be breadth-ing the Genie+ system to get all my rides.

I'm not unsympathetic to the feeling of needing to get it all done because of infrequent trips. We've been lucky enough to get in 6 WDW trips starting in 2015: 2 weeklong mega trips, 1 adult, and 3 on the end of extracirricular trips for daughter. I've been on both ends of the planning spectrum and a little in between. The mega trips had about the most planning we could possibly do, the adult trip was booked 2 weeks out and had minimal planning with a pretty loose itenirary, and the 3 most recent trips involved groups and had little planning outside of some dining reservations. We booked several dining reservations on the fly on the adult trip and that was great. 2 people can easily capitalize on cancellations. That trip was on the last weekend of Great Movie Ride and Universe of Energy by complete coincidence and we managed rides on both with Energy being a walk on. We had fun on all of the trips and missed out on a few things on most of them. On at least 2 trips, we missed Space Mountain and Carousel of Progress. On the last few, we've missed out on the nighttime shows almost completely.

Bonus attraction: a live bear exhibit in Frontierland

Universe of Energy had been a walk on for quite some time...hence Guardians. I was a little more disappointed losing the Great Movie Ride. I like Runaway Railway quite a bit...but I think the opportunities to reimagine the Great Movie Ride were missed. They could have used similar upgraded ride technology and perhaps done some interesting things from their more modern movies.

That bear wanted to catch Country Bear Jamboree before it closes for refurb.

Jeff:

I see the same thing on the cruise line, and I'm like, you're on a Disney cruise in the tropics. When is that not ideal?

I'm late to the party, but that sounds like the opposite of my ideal vacation. :)

Disney can be done without much of a plan. Although like Andy I can't imagine just showing up and hoping for the best. Most of our vacations are heavily planned though.

The last time I went, I did 4 parks in a day and had a rough plan of attack, but now with all the Hopper restrictions this would be hard to pull off.

I think if Anaheim gives them the go-ahead this will not only be the middle finger to DeSantis in terms of investment and growth but also again put the density and capacity heavily in favor of DL over the rest of the parks.

Galaxies Edge takes up nearly 15 acres and has two rides, DL Fantasyland is like 8 acres and has 12.

Like why have they not made a Mandolorian tweaked Flat? or even like a Catania-themed Disco? so many possibilities, except crushing scope and realism.

Sharpel007:

Galaxies Edge takes up nearly 15 acres and has two rides

This is my frustration in general with the Orlando parks. Maybe I'm still an annoying enthusiast at heart. Or maybe growing up with Geauga Lake/Worlds of Adventure as my backyard and yearly trips to Cedar Point and Hershey spoiled me.

I absolutely love Islands of Adventure. Absolutely love it. From the lighthouse to the visuals of Hulk and the cartoony look of Toon Lagoon and Seuss Landing. But after a few hours I'm bored. The attractions that are there are awesome. But there's just not enough to keep me occupied for more than 2-3 hours. Same with Hollywood Studios. Big, grand parks with relatively few actual rides when compared to some of my favorite parks.

I'm in agreement with IOA and USO. For me, the screen based rides don't have any staying power. I can happily re-ride Beast, DB, timbers, etc.. looping around and changing seats/rows for different ride experiences. Jimmy Fallon... once a year is enough, thank you.

The attractions that are there are awesome

Or are just shuddered, I still love walking through the Lost Continent (cause it really was Beastly Kingdom reborn), but with both Sinbad and Poseidons closed, its just like at Disney a slave to IP, just an expensive walkway from Suess to Hogsmeade.

Do you think that an expansion of the two parks in California will put those parks in any kind of race with WDW for capacity? I think you are extremely overestimating those crowds or you are extremely underestimating the capacity at WDW.

Disney has 30,000 hotel rooms in Orlando and just shy of 3,000 in California...with limited room for more in California and all kinds of room for more in Orlando.

I've read that WDW has annual attendance close to 60 million while Disneyland resorts, if I am estimating even close, would be at least 10 million less, likely 15 million or more less.

I am curious about your 4 parks in one day experience. Most I did was 3, with a couple of kids in tow, and then we really only got into MK for a few quick rides (none of the E tickets) and fireworks. It was an exhausting day and we haven't tried for 3 since.