Express Service Upcharge

[Mad Dog]

Disney would stick toll booths on those walking paths.

Best grab the opcorn: for this one guys..........

I really used to love Disney, I put up some of my Christmas decorations yesterday and a lot of them are Disney, a whole tree is decorated Disney, Most family photos up around the house are from Disney, I am a proud owner of a Framed share on the wall, I've made many, many trips to Orlando and Paris, I Own DVC, I've had annual passes several times I've eaten at nearly every on-site restaurant and stayed in all of the deluxe hotels, I really did used to love Disney.

But......

In recent years I see them more as a price gouging, money grubbing, uncaring ruthless money machine which has lost it's morals, the very morals which made it what it was.

All of these increases and uncharges arent magical additional services for their guests but more a means of covering their ineptitude and neglect from over the years, Disney lost their way and now they are trying to find ways of patching up their lack of investment whilst plussing the balance sheet

Over spends, lack lustre new shows, cheaping out on new attractions and under spending in the larger ones opening soon~ish, all whilst not investing and living of the coat tails of past glorious and nostalgia have got us here.

I come to these latest new bus routes... This doesn't have me thinking oh great, way to go Disney what a fab idea, it says more like fix your transport system for everyone so everyone can get somewhere in a timely manner, it's says to hell with onstage and what our guests can see, and it says we lack ambition, It Says we have over spent on magic bands and Avatar and we need to find quick mediocre ways ways to make bank these days. Tents, dessert parties, paid boats are all examples of this.

It all comes across as very desperate and doesn't shout class and quality, you know, the same class and quality Disney used to be renowned for and the very reason I brought into DVC.

The saddest thing of all is that the fans lap it all up, which makes Disney think they are doing good so they churn out more and more of the same.

Avatar will open soon (maybe ) followed by TSL and Stsr Wars and the crowds will go crazy yet it won't change a thing, the same old clueless money grubbing hierarchy will still be st the helm rubbing their hands together thinking what s great job they are doing for the Walt Disney company, well it ain't all about the bottom line Disney.

As you can probably tell by now my long love affair with Disney is wavering and probably teetering on the edge of extinction, so much so that I've seriously considered selling my ownership, pulling down the Christmas tree, changing out all of the family photos and burning that framed stock on the wall I was once so proud of.

:ears::thumbsdown:

*Will edit this one I get to a pc*

That's such a perfect posting that I wanted to preserve it before it gets any edits. You sure hit the nail(s) on the head. :thumbsup: But I'm sure that analysis would bring out the naysayers & pitchforks if posted on a Disney oriented site.

 

[Scott W.]

And this is one of the main reasons I love staying on site at Universal. Everything's close enough for a beautiful landscaped walking path stroll, or a quick trip on a water taxi. Or leave the parks and have a leisurely few drinks & enjoy the entertainment at the Citi Walk clubs. Vacation like vacations are meant to be. No stress, just leisure & relaxation...At WDW, the traveling, especially at closing, is a pain.

I think this is one of the major reasons why I preferred Disneyland to WDW. Sure it's nice to have all the land and make the parks feel like their own little world but the convenience of being able to walk between parks so easily is so more much convenient and relaxing.

Disney would stick toll booths on those walking paths.

Best grab the opcorn: for this one guys..........

I really used to love Disney, I put up some of my Christmas decorations yesterday and a lot of them are Disney, a whole tree is decorated Disney, Most family photos up around the house are from Disney, I am a proud owner of a Framed share on the wall, I've made many, many trips to Orlando and Paris, I Own DVC, I've had annual passes several times I've eaten at nearly every on-site restaurant and stayed in all of the deluxe hotels, I really did used to love Disney.

But......

In recent years I see them more as a price gouging, money grubbing, uncaring ruthless money machine which has lost it's morals, the very morals which made it what it was.

All of these increases and uncharges arent magical additional services for their guests but more a means of covering their ineptitude and neglect from over the years, Disney lost their way and now they are trying to find ways of patching up their lack of investment whilst plussing the balance sheet

Over spends, lack lustre new shows, cheaping out on new attractions and under spending in the larger ones opening soon~ish, all whilst not investing and living of the coat tails of past glorious and nostalgia have got us here.

I come to these latest new bus routes... This doesn't have me thinking oh great, way to go Disney what a fab idea, it says more like fix your transport system for everyone so everyone can get somewhere in a timely manner, it's says to hell with onstage and what our guests can see, and it says we lack ambition, It Says we have over spent on magic bands and Avatar and we need to find quick mediocre ways ways to make bank these days. Tents, dessert parties, paid boats are all examples of this.

It all comes across as very desperate and doesn't shout class and quality, you know, the same class and quality Disney used to be renowned for and the very reason I brought into DVC.

The saddest thing of all is that the fans lap it all up, which makes Disney think they are doing good so they churn out more and more of the same.

Avatar will open soon (maybe ) followed by TSL and Stsr Wars and the crowds will go crazy yet it won't change a thing, the same old clueless money grubbing hierarchy will still be st the helm rubbing their hands together thinking what s great job they are doing for the Walt Disney company, well it ain't all about the bottom line Disney.

As you can probably tell by now my long love affair with Disney is wavering and probably teetering on the edge of extinction, so much so that I've seriously considered selling my ownership, pulling down the Christmas tree, changing out all of the family photos and burning that framed stock on the wall I was once so proud of.

:ears::thumbsdown:

*Will edit this one I get to a pc*

I think this perfectly sums up a lot of people's feeling towards the current state of Disney. Sure they're finally adding some new rides but the experience is starting to drop. The only comparison I could make is to the current state of computer games. You pay for a game/ticket expecting the full experience but then find out you need to buy countless add ons and it's cheaping the whole thing.

I know people overuse the phrase 'Walt would be rolling in his grave' but if he was still alive, he would be so disappointed in the current state of the parks.

 

[s8film40]

I think this is one of the major reasons why I preferred Disneyland to WDW. Sure it's nice to have all the land and make the parks feel like their own little world but the convenience of being able to walk between parks so easily is so more much convenient and relaxing.

I've always wondered how things would have been had they gone with that plan to put the Epcot park across the lagoon from MK. They could have then subsequently added additional parks around the lake and sold off or developed the bulk of the land for other uses. Using 47 square miles of land for a theme park resort is an insanely stupid idea, and I think they are probably realizing that now.

I know people overuse the phrase 'Walt would be rolling in his grave' but if he was still alive, he would be so disappointed in the current state of the parks.

I think it's safe to say Walt would be rolling in his grave at just the thought of WDW being a theme park resort, let alone what it's devolved down into today.

 

[frank_1991_]

I've always wondered how things would have been had they gone with that plan to put the Epcot park across the lagoon from MK. They could have then subsequently added additional parks around the lake and sold off or developed the bulk of the land for other uses. Using 47 square miles of land for a theme park resort is an insanely stupid idea, and I think they are probably realizing that now.
I think it's safe to say Walt would be rolling in his grave at just the thought of WDW being a theme park resort, let alone what it's devolved down into today.

Land is a blessing in disguise, just look at Universal now struggling to find new properties to spread their resort out. The problem with Disney isn't that they are spread out but that they refused to invest Sufficiently into transportation over the last decades because it wasn't a revenue generating source. The parks and resorts could have been connected with a source of transportation other than buses , but buses proved cheaper to build out. Likewise, Disney has fought public transportation in the Orlando area for years because it would mean that visitors to the resort would be able to move around to the competition easily. The problem is that theme parks require a lot of capital and for a long period of time TWD refused to invest into the property besides building DVC properties that provided short influxes of cash.

 

[UK-Trigg]

That's such a perfect posting that I wanted to preserve it before it gets any edits. You sure hit the nail(s) on the head. :thumbsup: But I'm sure that analysis would bring out the naysayers & pitchforks if posted on a Disney oriented site.

Thanks @Mad Dog, this latest cash grab really irritated me and I just had to post something and boy did it flow LOL, it came from the heart and is a genuine reflection of how I and, I guess, many others feel no matter what the naysayers may think.

For the record I was only going to edit for grammar as those pesky spell checks on mobile paired with tiny keyboards are a mare LOL, as it is it isn't too bad so Ill leave it as is, thanks for the kind words and I'm glad you could relate to the post.

 

[Scott W.]

I've always wondered how things would have been had they gone with that plan to put the Epcot park across the lagoon from MK. They could have then subsequently added additional parks around the lake and sold off or developed the bulk of the land for other uses. Using 47 square miles of land for a theme park resort is an insanely stupid idea, and I think they are probably realizing that now.
I think it's safe to say Walt would be rolling in his grave at just the thought of WDW being a theme park resort, let alone what it's devolved down into today.

I don't think the idea of a resort would have bothered him too much. $2000 a night for the bungalows at the Polynesian is something else all together.

 

[s8film40]

I don't think the idea of a resort would have bothered him too much. $2000 a night for the bungalows at the Polynesian is something else all together.

By the time he bought the land for WDW, he had pretty much moved on from his interest in theme parks. His dream of EPCOT was as he said the most important project he had ever tackled. Turning someone's dying dream of a model community that would be the center of progress in the world into a mere tourist destination is a pretty drastic disappointment. The upcharges and way things are being handled today are definitely salt in the wounds though.

 

[Scott W.]

By the time he bought the land for WDW, he had pretty much moved on from his interest in theme parks. His dream of EPCOT was as he said the most important project he had ever tackled. Turning someone's dying dream of a model community that would be the center of progress in the world into a mere tourist destination is a pretty drastic disappointment. The upcharges and way things are being handled today are definitely salt in the wounds though.

Can't argue with that.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I remember someone bidding $50B+ for Disney last decade. I don't think the offer is available anymore.

Yeah, small company named Comcast, wonder what they're up to now.

 

[IAmFloridaBorn]

Do people really have a problem with the disney transport? I have in the past been rather impressed with their ability to move people quite efficiently given the crowds. The bus has been much faster than driving park to park.

I have not been to Disney often but the 1 or 2 times I have been , I've done all 4 parks in one day bus hopping. I actually appreciate the fact I get a chance to relax on the bus before I go to the next park. It may take 30 to 45 minutes sometimes but I don't think that is unreasonable considering the amount of people and distance between the parks.

 

[IAmFloridaBorn]

Bob Iger and the BOD had conversations of selling off the parks in 2013 or 2014. I certainly wouldn't be surprised.

Hell, I'd welcome it if they could get OLC on-board to run WDW.

What is OLC?

 

[JoeCamel]

What is OLC?

Oriental Land Company. They run Tokyo Disney Sea and Tokyo Disney Land

very well I might add

 

[OLSinFLA]

I've always wondered how things would have been had they gone with that plan to put the Epcot park across the lagoon from MK. They could have then subsequently added additional parks around the lake and sold off or developed the bulk of the land for other uses. Using 47 square miles of land for a theme park resort is an insanely stupid idea, and I think they are probably realizing that now.
I think it's safe to say Walt would be rolling in his grave at just the thought of WDW being a theme park resort, let alone what it's devolved down into today.

Actually just the World Showcase was planned across the lagoon (Where the TTC is). The Future World Theme Center would have been located further down, by where Epcot is now (and would have had free admission). When that failed to provide sponsors for World Showcase, Disney combined the two and created Epcot Center.

 

[epcyclopedia]

In terms of actual operation, doesn't this just point out that these parks should have secondary entrances or better guest traffic access?

Aside from security I can't see the MK/Epcot route beating the monorails for time.

And for AK is seems like they intend to use Bear Island road which by itself has a lot of taboos about having guests on it. They used it recently for the marathon, but from a "backstage" standpoint more guests see backstage at all of the parks than ever see the facilities on Bear Island.

 

[GadgetGuru]

I'm shocked that this transit option isn't built into the Cabanas. It seems like the cabanas could be a full VIP experience.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Why can't Disney just fix their traffic/road situations...

 

[GAcoaster]

I'm shocked that this transit option isn't built into the Cabanas. It seems like the cabanas could be a full VIP experience.

People who can afford to waste that much money on a cabana wouldn't blink at spending a few more dollars on the express bus.

 

[bob albert]

If this bus were every 30 minutes, it would actually be less useful for me anyway. Don't the regular ones run more often than that? I don't think I have hardly ever waited much more than 10-15 minutes for a park to park bus.

 

[GadgetGuru]

They have dedicated busses for this and everything. That's quite a bit of starting capital compared to a dessert party.

I'm calling it right now: VIP park tickets. For, say 3-4x normal park ticket prices, you get cabana access, special transit, unlimited dessert parties for the day and probably special Fastpass access.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

My understanding is Mears is running this bus service. Not 100% confirmed though.