[disneycouple30]

Just got back last night from 8 days at WDW. It was fun but I was very disappointed in what has happen at WDW.

This year Epcot Flower Festival is a dud and a big one as that. I know money is tight but if you are going to advertise that it a wonderful event then make it that. They did have a nice flower display at the entrance and at the entrance of the World Showplace but that was it. It reminded me of a six year old plan for his sand box.

There were very few vendors and they were in the west building behind the Coke display. There was a very small maze for the kids over where the vendors use to be. And one place for the kids over by Germany and one small exhibit by Morrocco and that it. They had a small space for a demostration also in West side of with the vendors. The only thing that was nice was the mother day brunch. Home Depot was the sponsor but it look like they spent $1.98 on the whole thing. Really disappointing from other years.

Plus it seem that in MK WDW is trying to make up some loss money by gouging the public on food prices. I understand food cost and so does wages. But the only place for breakfast in the Magic Kingdom was the Crystal Palace anf the Castle. The bakery was also open but that it. With Tony not serving breakfast eat at the hotel for breakfast.

The parks were busy but they didn't have half the places to eat open. Plus they are no longer making Caramel Corn in Liberty Square. They have also cut the time for lunch down at all the hotels sit-sown restrauants at MK. 12:00 to 1:30 if you arrive 5 mins later you will not be served. The Disney management is starting to be like every thing else. Cheap!!!!!!!!!

Winnie the Pooh ride according to alot of the Cast Members could have been up and running in two weeks but due to the loss in personnel everything is taking longer and the refurbish is longer due to the way they layoffed personnel to due the regular maintenance.

I will say that Disney is now hiring another 2000 cast members this month so thing might get back to being right. You can tell that they are hurting. The fireworks are lot shorter and so are the parades but still nice.

All in all other than those things, it was a good trip but not a great trip. We were going back down in Sept and Dec, but now have decided to put it off until next year and give them a chance to regroup. Instead it will be a trip to the Western Carb in Oct.

Don't let me change your mind, it still a great place to go to have fun, but, we expected alot more than what we got this time. They should had cancel the Flower festival this year. Last it year it was 10 times better than this year. They should fire or reassigned the person in charge with this year festival. I know times are tough but don't allow the festival to be remember this way.

More on my trip tomorrow.

[jmouse]

I agree somewhat with your opinions on the Flower & Garden Festival at Epcot. This was supposed to be a celebration of all the best from the last 10 years. I did notice more color at the Festival two years ago and last year. Even though I enjoyed this year's, it didn't strike me as being the best of the 10 years. There are topiaries throughout the World Showcase and Future World though.

Winnie the Pooh ride according to alot of the Cast Members could have been up and running in two weeks but due to the loss in personnel everything is taking longer and the refurbish is longer due to the way they layoffed personnel to due the regular maintenance.

I don't know who you talked to about this attraction's refurbishment, but knowing specifically what they are doing to the attraction (my daughter works at the Pooh Ride), I don't think they could have this done in 2 weeks, 3 weeks, or even 4 weeks. It is not a simple matter of painting or simple maintenance. I'm not sure what you mean by loss of personnel. Disney outsources a lot of their rehab work and such, so any timing of rehabs must not only meet Disney's timetable but also the contractor's.

I will say that Disney is now hiring another 2000 cast members this month so thing might get back to being right.

The Cast Members coming in this month and next are College Program kids, to replace the ones who were there for the spring semester. There were many kids who asked for an extension under the program who did not get it as Disney scaled back the numbers that were needed for this summer. In reality, there are going to be less College program kids there this summer and fall than there have been in the past.

The fireworks are lot shorter and so are the parades but still nice.

The current fireworks show is a lot shorter than the one it replaced. But they have been using this show for some time now. The parades may have been shorter while you were there due to the heat. The high temps they have been experiencing in the past week or so is high enough that they will cut back the number of parade floats.

As far as food prices, I have not noticed any increase in prices recently. The food prices are in line with the way they have been the last 6 months.

[mickaholic4077]

Sorry you didn't like the Flower and Garden Festival. I think it's great!!!

[alextina]

I also was really bummed to hear that someone seemed to have such a bad time, especially since I will be there in 2 days. The last thing I wanted to hear in a trip report was that someone didn't enjoy there trip!! But I to have been uplifted by jmouse and other trip reports that I have read today, it doesn't seem that anyone else had such a bad trip and I know I will have a great time!:D As for the price of meals, we go knowing that they are not going to be cheap, besides that your on vacation your supposed to splurge!:laugh

[Park Hopper]

I certainly agree with Mickaholic. My wife and I went out to Epcot Tuesday afternoon with the sole purpose of seeing this year's Flower and Garden Festival and we weren't disappointed. We've seen most of the nine previous ones and thought this year's event was pretty spectacular.

There's so much to see and do, in fact, that we'll be going back out several more times in the coming weeks to check out the things we didn't have time for.

There are beautiful flowers and plants all over the park -- Future World and World Showcase -- and all the topiaries are amazing works of art. If you didn't see it last year, don't miss the Lady and the Tramp topiary in the DogGone Maze along the Rose Garden.

Canada has a really gorgeous Victory Garden, and if you're into orchids you'll be amazed at all the beautiful varieties growing in Mexico.

There are lots of daily demonstrations, some in the Festival headquarters near Innoventions and others in World Showcase. And each weekend of the Festival (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) there are special events at various locations.

And, of course, there's the Flower Power concert series with musical stars of the '60s and '70s performing three shows a night.

What's not to like?

[DisneyTeacher]

disneycouple30, I'm sorry your trip was not what you had hoped it would be. I hope your future trips will be more like what you expect from Disney.

[rthaler]

Welcome back disneycouple30! Sorry to hear that your trip wasn't all it should have been. I'm happy that you managed to enjoy yourself depite all the apparent cutbacks at WDW.

I don't know how many people read my post FOP (Fund Our Parks) but this was and is exactly the kind of irresponsible behavior by Disney Corp that I was talking about. (I'm sorry that I may have offended tinkerbell and micaholic with a response to their posts about the subject. That is why I surrendered my Mickey avatar and replaced it with Scar. I'm a bad man. What I said was totally uncalled for and Mickey rightly shut the post down. Again, tinkerbell and micaholic I am sorry. I tend to get a little too passionate about things that I really believe in. I still firmly believe everything I said in my original post.)

We don't exist to serve Disney Corp. Disney Corp exists because of us. WDW was Walt's dream and first love. His dream has come to fruition. It is not there to be at cash cow for Disney Corp. ABC, Disney Pictures and Miramax be ****ed, if WDW needs money to be run as Walt would have had it run, then the money should go to the parks. I don't know about anyone else but I get limited vacation time and have limited funds to spend on that vacation. I want the parks to be 100% and I think Walt would have nothing less.

We need to let Disney know how feel. Disney Corp needs to "Dance with the one who brung them". If we choose to sit around and make excuses like "times are tuff" for them they won't change a thing. We wag the dog, so to speak. (No offense aimed at Pluto.) Times are tuff, that is when responsible corporations circle the wagons and take care of the important stuff. Miramax should not be the important stuff. If people like disneycouple30 put off going back to WDW, for good reason, WDW will keep cutting back their services. Disneycouple30, you need to let WDW know exactly what you shared with us.

Well, hopefully I didn't offend anybody with this response. That is not my intent. When you love something you should be willing to defend and fight for it. I love WDW. I think we all do. Now it's time to fight for it.

What Would Walt Do?

"Don't Waste Money On A Rat, Invest It In The Mouse"

Randy :)

[trishb]

Thanks for sharing, DisneyCouple! It takes guts to speak from your heart.

Don't you think that we Disneyholics tend to 'build up' Disney World? I always image the 'best' moments of all my trips..and dwell on those. Of course, reality is never even close. The buttery popcorn always smells better in my mind (and doesn't have any fat or calories) ...I never get splashed on Splash Mountain...and I never have to wait in line.

Just a thought...(And I'm not giving up on my quest for the *perfect* Disney World vacation:heart :) )

[rthaler]

I agree with trishb. We all should shoot for the "perfect WDW trip". WDW is cool and magical but some of us take a vaction from reality when we check back in. Thanks for sharing your experience with us and thanks for speaking from your heart about your disappointments with your trip. Thank you also for adding that your trip was still enjoyable and that you would not want any of us to change our plans to visit WDW. That in and of itself shows that you have concerns about WDW yet are willing to put a positive spin on the trip as a whole. I'm a little leary about some of the "pie in the sky" folks that post here. It makes me wonder about just where some of their income really comes from. At least one "pie in the sky" contributor has a www that has links to sites that may or may not get special perks for him/her. It would probably be to this persons advantage to keep the WDW attendance up. But, far be it for me to cast dispersions upon anyone. I think that any true WDW tourist has encountered some adversity in the parks. I think true WDW fans are brave enough and honest enough to tell about them. Thank you both.

When Scar hits the ball he touches all the bases.


Randy

"Don't Waste Money On A Rat, Invest It In The Mouse"

[rthaler]

Originally posted by tinkerbell
something tells me that I am the person in question which is such a very funny idea and I could only wish it were so :)

Did I mention any names? I don't think I did. I was very careful not to. I don't do that stuff anymore. I didn't refer to "pie in the sky" posters to this thread specifically. Just in general. From what I've read, there may even be a moderator that is affiliated with a travel agency specializing in WDW trips. Who's to say?

Randy:D

[crystalrp]

What a shame disneycouple's trip wasnt all they hoped for. I have never before attended the Flower and Garden festival at Epcot, but I thought everything looked lovely and colorful there now. Minnie on the swing was gorgeous, as was the palette near the entrance. Loved the roses too. Personally I didnt notice a huge increase in the food prices. I expected them to be fairly pricey and we planned that way in advance. Luckily our family didnt seem to run into the problems Disneycouple did at all. Hopefully they wont be disappointed on their next trip.

[mickey]

Originally posted by rthaler
Did I mention any names? I don't think I did. I was very careful not to. I don't do that stuff anymore. I didn't refer to "pie in the sky" posters to this thread specifically. Just in general. From what I've read, there may even be a moderator that is affiliated with a travel agency specializing in WDW trips. Who's to say?

Randy:D

Randy

I would assume you are speaking of me. I run and own DisneyCentral. In order to run a site like this, a good chunk of money comes out of my pocket every month. While the income from the sponsors does cover a portion of that money, it doesn't even come close to covering all of it. Look at other WDW sites that are going to a subscription based membership.

I also run Mouseketrips, a Disney only travel agency. As you may notice, I don't push the agency here, except for that they are a sponsor, just like the others, which I push as well, since they are good companies and good people. I am completely open with those that ask me about Disney and travel, and if they choose to book directly with Disney or elsewhere, that their choice and fine with me.

I run DisneyCentral and Mouseketrips because I love Disney. I agree that there are problems, but far fewer than at any other family destination. For my family, and many of the people of DisneyCentral, it is the best place for us to take our kids. I also don't think anyone here is posting "pie in the sky" facts in order to gain any sort of income, we are all here because we enjoy Disney and we enjoy speaking to others about Disney. And, by the way, it is all our best interest to keep the attendance up at Disney, since it won't be there for long if attendance continues to drop. If I am doing this for the money, it is the worst paying job in the world.

While I don't mind you expressing your opinion, or anyone else doing the same, when members start to attack other members, my patience wears thin, and the ban button gets larger and larger. We run the best Disney site around and the reason why is that everyone gets along.

DisneyCouple, thanks for the trip report, nice done.
Jmouse, thanks for the insightful response, I am sure that was helpful to DisneyCouple as well as the rest of us.

[tinkerbell]

Originally posted by mickey


While I don't mind you expressing your opinion, or anyone else doing the same, when members start to attack other members, my patience wears thin, and the ban button gets larger and larger. We run the best Disney site around and the reason why is that everyone gets along.

DisneyCouple, thanks for the trip report, nice done.
Jmouse, thanks for the insightful response, I am sure that was helpful to DisneyCouple as well as the rest of us.

:) ok I have tried so very hard to behave and Mickey please delete this if you feel I should have kept my mouth shut but

1. amen everyone here is nice to each other and shows respect for one another. We all dont "love" the same resorts, parks, restuarants, ect.
2. yes this is the very best Disney site around .. for the above reasons :)
3. while its true that sometimes you will be disappointed with something at WDW (hey I am still whining about WOM) its like everything else in life .. is the glass half empty or half full? Is it pixie dust or sand? Its what you want it to be :)

[neen626]

DisneyCouple,

I am so sorry that your trip did not seem that enjoyable. I hope taht the rest of your 8 days went much better.

I have always looked at WDW as one of those places where once you arrive on the property, you leave all your worries and cares at the door. I remember one poster saying that they never get in their van while they are at WDW, until they are ready to go back home. And really that sums up how the trip should be. We all know that the kids are going to cry, are be upset about something, and hey it is Florida so it is going to be so darn HOT during the summer, and yes it is a tourist destination so the prices are going to be high...But hey that's what happens when you are on vacation.
As for "pie in the sky" posters, I really have to disagree. I am a "newbie" here, and there is great info. I have gotten tips on taking my baby to WDW for the 1st time, character breakfasts, the resorts, and I have met some really nice people.
I think this is the vacation that you build up to and really the memories you try to remember are the great ones, such as your kids smiling at you because they are having so much fun, and not the one where your child is crying because you didn't buy them something.
TinkerBelle ~ you are wonderul, and knowledgeable about WDW and I love it....
Mickey ~ your info is always great, and I appreciate all the help you always give

Just my 2 cents worth :) since I feel I have really gotten some good info from this board and it is very enjoyable :) not to mention I am totally addicted to it LOL :p

nina

[preidel24]

I think the term is "escapism" Disney allows us to escape from the daily trails and tribulations of this world we live in even if its just for a few days or a week. Sure disney is not perfect nothing is ... but some of our best vacations and family memories happened there. How can you not feel good about that and want to share it with others?