Loosing some of the Disney Magic (my ramblings)

[Goofy4TheWorld]

So I am in a bad mood today, and I have decided to gripe about Disney just a little bit (which is still better than griping about reality right now). If you don’t like rambling threads about what ill people are thinking then this isn’t the thread for you.

I am a by-the-book kind of person. I don’t feel morally superior by following the rules, I am just too chicken to break them, I would just be so embarrassed to get caught. It doesn’t enrage me to see other people cut line, use a 7-11 mug at the Food Court, leave their car at the Poly after they drive to eat there then spend 2 hours at the MK (something John himself has confessed to doing), etc, etc, etc..

I will admit that, when driving, I do drive 49 in a 45, 62 in a 55, and 76-78 in a 70, but I will hunker down to 2 over the posted limit if it is a construction or school zone (or a known Radar Town). While I hope it doesn’t result in my suspension of membership here on the boards, I must confess I did go to Disney 3 times in 2010 and my wife (all her fault) convinced me to re-use a refillable mug those last 2 trips (we even used it during the same trip at two different resorts when we did a split-stay in October). I still have a guilty conscious about that and I may buy an extra mug next time I am there and throw it away so I will be even with Disney.

Something I have loved about Disney was that there were very clear rules about what was ok, and that the rule book was intentionally written to benefit the Guest. Since I am normally a very uptight person, I enjoy going somewhere that has an employee manual that instructs them to be flexible with me during my stay. So it has really irritated me how the recent shift in policies have greatly reduced the flexibility on some things at Disney. I wanted to list some things that have saddened me recently and wanted to see what else might irritate others.

I am hoping to avoid a “you should be ashamed of [insert pet peeve here] because the rules are the rules” hijacking of the thread, but who knows.

I never considered using a FP after its return time until I had a two year old child. He has opened my eyes so much to the struggles of parenting and it saddens me that the rules no longer allow late entry into the FP line. The only ones left to benefit from the rule change will be the full-time rule breakers who will outright lie their way into a special exception to the rule (“I swear I was stuck on SM for an hour!”).

I hate that you can’t upgrade a ticket once it is exhausted. Imagine the disappointment of a family when Dad wakes up and announces they are going to stay an extra day at Disney and just drive all the way home without stopping to make it up (Jennifer_and_Chris did this last October), only to be crushed when the Guest Relations CM tells them that their tickets were exhausted yesterday and they are SOL. Or if you use a 7 day pass and the morning you leave decide to bounce back in 6 months only to discover you can’t upgrade to an AP using your old, but exhausted, MYW tickets.

I hate that now you can only upgrade your tickets once, which means I couldn’t do like I did in 2010 and buy a few days just in case the trip was a disaster and we decided to leave (and BTW, the trip was a disaster those first few days but we stuck it out) and then add a few more days later on, then as we leave we upgrade to an AP. Something I did in 2010 and a piece of magic (and peace of mind for me) that the rule makers have now quashed.

While it is currently gone (and I do recognized my Sins make me sound ridiculous for saying this) but the whole RFID on fountain drinks was just ridiculous to me. Not because it would have stopped me from cheating (seriously, I am sorry) but because it would have stopped me from filling, gulping, then immediately refilling my ridiculously small $15 cup in the hot heat of June. I would have had to wait 5 minutes just to stop a tiny portion of profit from being gulped away.

While I am sure it did fix many problems, having to pay to cancel a dining reservation on short notice reduces the magic for me. Twice in my disastrous June trip I canceled a reservation the day of the ADR. I did call and cancel both times, but life just wasn’t going to allow the meal and the fact that it would have cost me $30 each time to cancel is just one more step away from the magic for me. I would never double book on purpose and recognize what they were trying to stop, but it still stinks for the honest ones like myself (ok, ok, I cheated once, ok, twice, with the mug, I’m sorry!)

While I am sure I will think of more later, I will stop here and see if this thread has a chance to survive. I know this is nothing more than a big soapbox for me, and if it is not your cup up tea just hit the back button. I hope it doesn’t turn into a debate but just a mourning of magic lost.

Now I am going to hide under the computer desk and see how it goes. ;)

[buzznwoodysmom]

The one that really stumps me is the upgrading your ticket only once deal. Really Disney??? You are going to turn away people who want to give you more money???? I just don't see what the big deal is if I decide a day into my trip that I really should have added the hopper, then on the last day of my trip we decide to stay an extra night and I need another day on my ticket. It makes no sense.

Of course, unless this is Disney's way to get those who are unsure if they'll need the extra days/hoppers to go ahead and purchase them ahead of time "just incase" they need them and don't want to get "shut out" of adding them later. Then the guests never use them. This way Disney gets the money even if those options/days go unused.

[SBETigg]

I feel sad every time someone loses a little of the magic. But, yes, it happens. Not going to argue with that.

I was just reading a review of a new mac & cheese with truffle oil hot dog at Fairfax Fare in DHS on another site, and someone commented about the "cheap quality" of the hot dogs. And I remember the big deal with the switch from beef to a beef-chicken blend (or whatever they are now) for health reasons and that made me want to rant a little, too. It's a hot dog. Obviously, people who opt for a hot dog as a park meal or snack are not looking to make a healthy choice, but to make a tasty "I'm on vacation" choice. So why not beef dogs? I don't know. I think sometimes Disney goes out of the way to make choices that are not really improvements for most people. So, as you were saying... I do understand your feelings.

[Janmac]

I hear what you're saying, too. Our best trips were perhaps in the 90's. Although our December 2001 trip stands out as well. That was the time, at check-in, that I gave the Front Desk CM a personal check for close to $4000 to put on my room account, which she did immediately, no problems. Our extended family group - 4 families - used that for our own "dining plan" for the 8 days we were at the Yacht Club. We had $100 still in the room account when we checked out, which was handed over in cash. We went to Boma for breakfast. Cost $98.

I tried to do the same thing at check-in on our September 2008 trip and that's not allowed any more. From the CM's reaction, I almost felt as though I was asking to put small pox impregnated blankets on the beds in the rooms instead of personal funds on my room account. Cash didn't seem too popular either.

The CM suggested in future that I use a Disney Gift card but I think she mis-spoke. She probably meant gift cardS, as one wouldn't cover it.

I know the only constant is change . . .

Jan

[TinkerbellT421]

I enjoyed reading your post, I am glad to see I am not the only lengthy writer around here. Sometimes I swear no matter how short I make a rambling sentence it still ends up the size of a short story :blush:

I understand your frustrations that most of the "lee-way" is gone that they once allowed. I am not going to say the whole "rules are the rules, blah blah blah" spiel, because at no point am I holier than thou to discredit your use of you're refillable mug, twice, how dare you! ;) sorry had to do it.

My opinion is unfortunately one bad apple spoils the bunch (I know, cliche'). Unfortunately Disney has had to become strict on these rules for the simple fact that it is not the people that once every five years "abuse" a fast pass return time it is for the many many people that play fast pass poker on purpose. They are not trying to punish those of us that out of courtesy and respect to the fact of knowing the difficulty of ADR's made that phone call to say we could not make it that day of our reservation, it is to control the many many people that make a billion reservations everyday for every park for every restaurant to see where they end up and then not show up to the ten other reservations.

Unfortunately, in Disney's eyes, when dealing with millions of people on a daily basis, we can not even imagine the amount of money they see going out the window with these situations. If one out of ten of us on this board did one or all of these situations, it's pennies compared to their other profit. But picture that amount times 100, now they see the loss. So their only solution? All or nothing. After something gets abused so often by so many, they cannot help but pay attention to figures, monetary value of the losses. There is no tell tale way of saying "okay you Mr. Doe abuse this privilege way too often so we will not allow you to do this" and then say to "Mr. Joe, you have only abused this privilege once in ten years so we will let you slide". It's a all or nothing basis.

For those of us that did not abuse the privileges but just the psychology of it in our head to have that comfort zone that if the 'what-if" happened it would be "okay", that is now gone. So I can certainly understand your frustrations and can appreciate your opinion. Will these rules make DBF and I stop going? No but that is us. If we get sick and have to miss a reservation and only have enough time to cancel within a few hours and we get a fee for that, fine, so be it, it is out of our control, it is what it is I like to say. But again, I can certainly understand everyone's frustrations, opinions and beliefs on all of these changes because everyone is different.

So after my rant, my point is I am sorry you feel this way :( :hug:

The one thing I cannot for the life of me understand, is what sort of impact could have happened that caused them to change the policy of only allowing one ticket add, change, whatever you want to call it, per "package" :confused: What difference does it make if we add a day to our tickets five days in a row? I guess they hope to gain extra money by people allowing their tickets to expire, or to force people to buy a "full" ticket, instead of paying the $8.00 difference between today and tomorrow and gain the full ticket price? Who knows. But that one certainly does irk me a little bit.

I also was under the impression that you were always required to have atleast one day left on a ticket in order to upgrade, add or change? I didn't know that you could add, change or upgrade a ticket if all days were used up but still within the 14-day window?

[darthmacho]

Here's my take. No problem with you venting on various things that are bothering you, (that's what we're here for) but I think Disney being a business has to protect its interests, and if enforcing its own rules, or coming up with new ones is what it takes, I'm okay with that too.

Some of the recent changes and my opinion:

I've never overbooked ADR's and then no-showed, and I think the new credit card policy for reservations makes sense if it helps clear up the dining issues.
I really abused the FP times on our last trip. Once I found out that there was an open window, I was coming back hours later for some rides. Apologies if I was one of the abusers that contributed to that change.
I once accidentally used our resort mug at a different resort, but I generally buy the mugs just to have them anyway, so I don't really care myself, but I wonder how much money they'd really lose giving out a few sodas here and there to resort hoppers.


As for you feeling like you're losing the magic a bit, I bet that if you spend a little time considering the good WDW has to offer, you'll get it back. I hope your reality gets better too. :mickey:

[TheVBs]

First, I want to say I'm really sorry about how you're feeling. I hope something comes along soon to cheer you up. Second, I want to apologize because your post actually made me laugh - not AT you though! Just loved the repeated references to the mug refill thing.

You know, while I've never been in any of those exact situations, I can completely understand how you feel about the new restrictions. Knowing that there will be flexibility on a trip and that you'll be dealing with friendly faces makes you feel valued. Anytime we take a trip, or purchase a product and don't feel valued, it's depressing. I'm sure you thought of all the practical business reasons for these changes, but no matter what anyone else says, only you can determine what makes you feel valued. I hope you're able to regain some of the magic and enjoy future trips.

And, really, really sorry that reality stinks as well right now. I can relate. It gets to you and sometimes colors everything else.

[vicster]

I'm not sure if using FP beyond the posted time is abusing it because the cast members told us they could be used until the park closes. Never heard that until last September when cast members mentioned it.

[faline]

I'm not sure if using FP beyond the posted time is abusing it because the cast members told us they could be used until the park closes. Never heard that until last September when cast members mentioned it.

That used to be the case. Recently they began enforcing the end times on the fast pass so that you are no longer able to use it beyond the time noted on the fast pass itself.

[DizneyRox]

Rules are rules I find no problems playing by them... Sometimes though, there are creative ways of playing within the rules. So be it...

I say often enough in work, "Live by the sword, die by the sword". If the don't want people upgrading tickets, then don't. Walk... I know I will...

Don't give me more reasons to go elsewhere, they are providing enough already.

[brownie]

That used to be the case. Recently they began enforcing the end times on the fast pass so that you are no longer able to use it beyond the time noted on the fast pass itself.

When I was at Epcot last weekend, cast members at Soarin' told another guest waiting in the Fastpass line who was really worried about getting in on time for the Fastpass that people had a 15 minute grace period beyond the end time on the Fastpass.

[spoiledraf]

Much like this country, Disney is becoming a "Nation of Laws". Their success and growth has made it necessary. They, once again like the courts in this great land, have tried to come up with a rule for every scenario and have taken the flexibility out of the system. People will continue to try and find the loop holes in all the rules instead of following the "spirit of the law/rule".
I don't think they enjoy doing things that way but once again, just like all the people in America, everyone is looking to take advantage of every opportunity. After all, this is the land of opportunity. We're raised that way! :number1:

[MstngDrvnDsnyLvr]

I guess I see a lot of this from the business perspective. Bottom line is bottom line.....the refillable mugs for example. While sodas cost pennies to make, maintaining the machines, the ice makers, etc...it all costs....and by allowing everyone to reuse previous mugs - they were losing money on that particular item. They don't lose as much (can you say loss leader - they expect to lose on sodas) by making you purchase a new mug with every visit.

The Fastpass - well I can see why they've started enforcing times on that - makes 'people moving' sense.....they issue so many FPs per ride allowing for so many people to return during a specific hour....everything flows better that way and less people griping about standby and FP wait times.

I personally never 'abused' either of these particular perks.

The upgrading of tickets - another way to make more money off us Disney Dupes. While this one is the most idiotic of them - another day in the parks means more spent on meals, more spent on souvenirs, etc.....why you shouldn't be able to upgrade more than once is well :shake:

The ADR ruling - that is specifically there to prevent double booking and no shows. I have a feeling that if you call the day of a ressie with a valid reason to cancel - sick kid etc. - that you won't be charged the cancellation or no show fee. But when you have multiple families making 2, 3, even 4 reservations for the same day and time and waiting til they hit 30 minutes before ressie time to decide which one to use and then just doing a no-show at the other ressies - something had to change.

For me, it doesn't lessen the Magic that is Disney as they still have to watch their bottom line - if their bottom line ends up in the red - then the Magic that is Disney may cease to exist.

[joonyer]

Here are some alternatives: :(

1) No fast passes at all, everyone waits in the same lines first come first served. Used to be that way, nobody particularly liked it. More likely that Disney will start charging for some kind of fast passes in the future, there's more money to be made that way.

2) No refillable mugs, everybody pays for each cup of soda or coffee that they buy. My guess is nobody would particularly like to go back to that system either. Unfortunately, guests that abuse the refillable mug system almost forces Disney to penalize those who enjoy the saving a little money on sodas. I guess Disney could just make all soda free for resort guests, (just jack up room rates and advertise free drinks) but I have a feeling that is very unlikely to happen. Too much profit on soft drinks to be made.

3. No more ADR's. Just make it a first-come, first-served system at every restaurant. Who wants that? Nobody want to wait, Yet, those who have abused the ADR system by making multiple reservations makes the ADR system more unfriendly more everyone.

4) Charge flat rates of each and every day of park admission. No discounts for extra days. Again, nobody wants that, including Disney. They make too much by encouraging guests to stay longer and spend more. I guess they figure that the number of guests who decide to make upgrades more than once during their stays are not significant enough to continue this policy. I don't think it can be that they think they are going to make a lot more money from this policy. I have never upgraded passes (bought extra days during our stay) simply because we have never had the travel flexibility to be able to change our plans. But other guests may be much more flexible. Still this policy makes the least sense of all these changes.

[mariak]

Unfortunately, in Disney's eyes, when dealing with millions of people on a daily basis, we can not even imagine the amount of money they see going out the window with these situations. If one out of ten of us on this board did one or all of these situations, it's pennies compared to their other profit. But picture that amount times 100, now they see the loss. So their only solution? All or nothing.

I don't see how enforcing the fast pass return time saves them any money. In fact, I think this policy change will make them lose money. It will probably make people think twice about making dinner reservations at all, make people stick to one park rather than buying Park Hopper tickets, and possibly drive people to Universal. WDW is not a relaxing vacation. We love it but I don't like the idea of being even more rushed than we already are!!! Again, as many have said, the old policy never seemed to have any impact on the Fast Pass Lines. We'll see how our next trip goes in June...we may not be renewing our annual passes. That'll be sad for our Disney-lovin' family but then,I guess we'll be the ones saving money! :idea:

[c&d]

I understand the losing a little bit of the magic. For me it has nothing to do with the current rule changes but a feeling of something lost. And it 's probably because I'm one of those remember when people.

I remember the fun of going to WDW and getting a resort specific refillable mug. I even remember when we got one of our first ones we were told we could use it at that resort everytime we returned. Like I'd remember to pack the mugs for each trip.

I remember when the merchandise was special, not every store selling exactly the same stuff.

I remember when the parks were always really clean and there was no peeling paint and all the animatronics worked on the rides.

I remember a Disney that was about giving guests that special feeling not about a bottom line.

With all that said I still love going to Disney, I still feel the magic when I'm there.

[DizneyRox]

I don't see how enforcing the fast pass return time saves them any money.
Think about staffing...

If they know they distributed x number of fastpasses for arrival between 1 and 1:55, and they know they need 4 CMs on staff to move that many people through the attraction, they can staff accordingly. If they don't know if those people aren't going to show up at 2pm, 3pm, 6pm or whenever, they can't pull staff well enough.

Sure, maybe only 2% of fastpasses aren't used within the printed window, but 2% of ALL the fastpasses distibuted for a day can be a significant number of people,

Fastpasses can be used for a number of things, not just a virtual place in line.

[VWL Mom]

The one thing I cannot for the life of me understand, is what sort of impact could have happened that caused them to change the policy of only allowing one ticket add, change, whatever you want to call it, per "package" :confused: What difference does it make if we add a day to our tickets five days in a row? I guess they hope to gain extra money by people allowing their tickets to expire, or to force people to buy a "full" ticket, instead of paying the $8.00 difference between today and tomorrow and gain the full ticket price? Who knows. But that one certainly does irk me a little bit.


I was thinking the same thing but here's what I came up with.

Say your a party of four traveling together. You buy 2 2day tickets. Two people go to the park and then extend the tickets 1 day. You now have 2 new unscanned tickets. The next day the other 2 people use the "new" tickets and extend them at the end of the day getting 2 new unscanned tickets and so on an so on.

Another scenario would be if you lived nearby and had frequent visitors. You could buy a no exp option and add a day after each use and have a new ticket for the next visitor.

I see how Disney could lose money by allowing multiple ticket changes.

Does that make sense?

And to the OP, I hope you find the magic again

[TinkerbellT421]

I was thinking the same thing but here's what I came up with.

Say your a party of four traveling together. You buy 2 2day tickets. Two people go to the park and then extend the tickets 1 day. You now have 2 new unscanned tickets. The next day the other 2 people use the "new" tickets and extend them at the end of the day getting 2 new unscanned tickets and so on an so on.

Another scenario would be if you lived nearby and had frequent visitors. You could buy a no exp option and add a day after each use and have a new ticket for the next visitor.

I see how Disney could lose money by allowing multiple ticket changes.

Does that make sense?

And to the OP, I hope you find the magic again

But if tickets are "non-transferable" and the bio-metrics scanny thingy to anyone else but yourself then they wouldn't be able to add a park day or two and then pass it off to someone else?? Did I understand what you meant? I'm sick so my brain is in shambles, rough day lol

[VWL Mom]

But if tickets are "non-transferable" and the bio-metrics scanny thingy to anyone else but yourself then they wouldn't be able to add a park day or two and then pass it off to someone else?? Did I understand what you meant? I'm sick so my brain is in shambles, rough day lol

I think when you change the ticket they reissue it so you would have a brand new ticket that hasn't ben scanned. I guess I'm thinking this is done with paper tickets and not those on your key card.

Feel better :mickey:

[joonyer]

I think when you change the ticket they reissue it so you would have a brand new ticket that hasn't ben scanned. I guess I'm thinking this is done with paper tickets and not those on your key card.

Feel better :mickey:

I don't think Disney issues any "new" or unused passes when adding onto an already used ticket. Those additional days can only be used by the original user of the pass. Paper or plastic, doesn't matter.

[Goofy4TheWorld]

I was thinking the same thing but here's what I came up with.

Say your a party of four traveling together. You buy 2 2day tickets. Two people go to the park and then extend the tickets 1 day. You now have 2 new unscanned tickets. The next day the other 2 people use the "new" tickets and extend them at the end of the day getting 2 new unscanned tickets and so on an so on.

Another scenario would be if you lived nearby and had frequent visitors. You could buy a no exp option and add a day after each use and have a new ticket for the next visitor.

I see how Disney could lose money by allowing multiple ticket changes.

Does that make sense?

And to the OP, I hope you find the magic again

Ahhhhh….I still don’t like the lack of flexibility, but completely forgot about this very plausible explanation for how Disney stood to make money off the rule change.


But if tickets are "non-transferable" and the bio-metrics scanny thingy to anyone else but yourself then they wouldn't be able to add a park day or two and then pass it off to someone else?? Did I understand what you meant? I'm sick so my brain is in shambles, rough day lol

It is my understanding that the biometric data for each ticket is actually encoded on the physical ticket and NOT some master computer that Disney (and the NSA:lurk:) are using to collect our fingerprints. Since you will get a REPLACEMENT ticket every time you do an upgrade, you get a biometric-free ticket that could be handed to someone new to start the process all over again. Heck, you could even use this trick to get multiple people inside a park on the same day now that I think about it.


I don't think Disney issues any "new" or unused passes when adding onto an already used ticket. Those additional days can only be used by the original user of the pass. Paper or plastic, doesn't matter.

As said above, Disney does replace your actual ticket, paper or plastic, every time you upgrade, and that replacement ticket does not contain the biometric data from the old ticket.

[Goofy4TheWorld]

One more thing to add to my soapbox...

I am not sure if it was a rule change or just general lowering of standards, but I always enjoyed the antics and interaction of talkative bus drivers (despite the fact that I am NOT a talkative person in the real world) and the near-total silence from most bus drivers leaves me feeling a little less Magic as well. I spent 17 days in Disney in 2010 and had ONE bus driver interact with Guests, and he was such a great blast from the past I took his name and sent praises to WDW Guest Relations. I also had one boat captain & co-captain on the Epcot/HS route tell jokes as well. Grand total of two interactions with transportation CMs. Not the Disney I remember from even as recent as 2007.

I will be back later to follow up on some posts made, but for now I might need to work a little while. :blush:

[buzznwoodysmom]

As said above, Disney does replace your actual ticket, paper or plastic, every time you upgrade, and that replacement ticket does not contain the biometric data from the old ticket.

Ok, for the life of me I do not remember our tickets being replaced when we added a few days to a trip back in 2007. Maybe things have changed, but do they really print out new KTTK cards if you add days/hoppers???? Maybe they printed out new cards for us and I just didn't notice.

[TinkerbellT421]

Ok, for the life of me I do not remember our tickets being replaced when we added a few days to a trip back in 2007. Maybe things have changed, but do they really print out new KTTK cards if you add days/hoppers???? Maybe they printed out new cards for us and I just didn't notice.

I agree Buzz, unless it's just paper tickets they change. But every trip (except this past January we bought AP's) but we have always added atleast two days, and never got printed new keys. So I am so confused.

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

If your ticket is also your room key, they just add the days/option to that. It's only if it's an unlinked ticket that they'd have to print a new one for. For example, if you aren't staying on property, you wouldn't have a room key they could add on to. Or even if you are staying on property but don't want to link your ticket to your room, they'd have to print a new one. Unless things have changed.....

[Goofy4TheWorld]

I don't really have any knowledge except for my experience in June 2010. They replaced my room key when I added tickets to a room key that had none originally. The replaced my room key again when I moved my tickets from my old room key to my new room key (split stay) and they replaced my room key again when I added 4 days to a 4 day ticket. I have no idea if that is the norm or the exception, just my limited experience with it.

It was my understanding that it was this "loss of biometrics" design flaw that allowed all of those bootleg Orlando ticket sellers to sell deeply discounted tickets, because an upgraded ticket lacked its original owner's biometrics.

Of course I could easily be dead wrong on both counts.

[Mickey'sGirl]

When we upgraded my son's park hopper to an AP a couple of years ago, the paper ticket was exchanged for a new paper ticket.

[dnickels]

One more thing to add to my soapbox...

I am not sure if it was a rule change or just general lowering of standards, but I always enjoyed the antics and interaction of talkative bus drivers (despite the fact that I am NOT a talkative person in the real world) and the near-total silence from most bus drivers leaves me feeling a little less Magic as well. I spent 17 days in Disney in 2010 and had ONE bus driver interact with Guests, and he was such a great blast from the past I took his name and sent praises to WDW Guest Relations. I also had one boat captain & co-captain on the Epcot/HS route tell jokes as well. Grand total of two interactions with transportation CMs. Not the Disney I remember from even as recent as 2007.

I've wondered if this was some sort of rule-change too or just a 'luck of the draw' regarding which bus drivers we happen to get considering that even on a weeklong trip you might only be on 20 or 30 of the hundreds/thousands? of buses operating on WDW property in a given day.

Another possibility is that a sarcastic bus driver could easily be mistaken for being rude. Even here on Intercot I've seen people post about a 'rude comment from a CM' but when I read what the CM supposedly said it just sounds like some sarcastic humor to me. Maybe Disney has decided that it's a better policy to humor no one and offend no one rather than humor 99 and offend the 1.

[Goofy4TheWorld]

I enjoyed reading your post, I am glad to see I am not the only lengthy writer around here. Sometimes I swear no matter how short I make a rambling sentence it still ends up the size of a short story :blush:


Huh? Do I ramble? :D

[Goofy4TheWorld]

For those of us that did not abuse the privileges but just the psychology of it in our head to have that comfort zone that if the 'what-if" happened it would be "okay", that is now gone. So I can certainly understand your frustrations and can appreciate your opinion. Will these rules make DBF and I stop going? No but that is us. If we get sick and have to miss a reservation and only have enough time to cancel within a few hours and we get a fee for that, fine, so be it, it is out of our control, it is what it is I like to say. But again, I can certainly understand everyone's frustrations, opinions and beliefs on all of these changes because everyone is different.

So after my rant, my point is I am sorry you feel this way :( :hug:


Thanks for the hug! I think you said it best, just the psychology of having the flexibility meant a lot to always-stressed me and I hate that it is gone. It won't keep me away from Disney but it does lower the bang for my buck just a tiny bit.

[Goofy4TheWorld]

.....Second, I want to apologize because your post actually made me laugh - not AT you though! Just loved the repeated references to the mug refill thing.

No need to apologize, anytime I can use my guilt to make someone smile its all good. :D

[Goofy4TheWorld]

As for my reality, 30 minutes after I originally started this thread I went home to find a message on the answering machine from my wife’s Cardiologist office saying that her Echocardiogram gave her doctor some areas he wanted to explore further via a Transesophageal Echocardiogram (ultrasound machine run down her throat for a close-up of her heart) and that scheduling would be calling to set that up. She didn’t tell us what was going on so we had to wait a very long 12 hours to call back. A few minutes after the message sank in I remember thinking “Wow, all that whining I did on Intercot sure seems insignificant now.” We were later told my wife has some abnormal tissue on/in/near (can’t remember) her Aortic Valve that could be a blood clot, scar tissue, a tumor, or just how she is made.

My wife was seeing a Cardiologist because of faint spells she would have while exercising over the last 2-3 years. Previous EKG Holter Monitors came up empty but her most recent EKG in the office was abnormal and she had an irregular heartbeat as well, resulting in the original Echocardiogram being done. The weeks prior to this were spent trying to regain control of my wife’s Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria, fancy wording for incredibly vicious welting on her skin and swelling of her face and throat which ultimately resulted in a trip to the Emergency Room. This new round of hives, something we had been able to cure for 3 years (after an 18 month battle in 2007) has been so bad it did not respond to steroids too quickly, so this is a really mean case of hives.

Right before my wife’s health fell apart, I passed out hours after having a vasectomy (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=190227)and gashed my eyebrow and chipped a tooth. I stood up to use the restroom after the phone woke me up…another doctor calling to tell my wife she has Gallstones. The heart doctor won’t touch her throat until the hives are under control, the gallbladder doctor wants the hives and the heart figured out, and we sit paralyzed trying to find the right antihistamine to get these hives back under control. We have been dealing with all of this while continuously tweaking a basket-full of ADHD and ODD medications for my 4 year old (that’s right, diagnosed as a “12” on a scale of 1 to 10 at the tender age of 3:(). The year we both turned 30 has nearly killed both me and my wife!

Anyway, thanks to all for the well wishes, and sorry for all my ramblings. I wake up every day knowing that I have so much to be thankful for that I have (or thankful that I don’t have) but the week of April 3 has been one heck of a roller coaster.

[TinkerbellT421]

I am so sorry to hear about the health problems with you and your wife. I will send pixie dust and positive thoughts your way that everything works out :( :hug::pixie:

[mickeys_princess_mom]

Well, good grief! Sending some :pixie: your way! Thanks for putting my day in perspective, too, as I just indulged in a little venting while ago myself. Hoping that things fall into place soon so you can have some peace and get back soon to the Magic. I know you're 'good people' cause you 'get' the whole Disney magic thing, and I don't handle change there very well either.
:pixie: :pixie: :pixie:

[Ms. Mode]

Here's my take. No problem with you venting on various things that are bothering you, (that's what we're here for) but I think Disney being a business has to protect its interests, and if enforcing its own rules, or coming up with new ones is what it takes, I'm okay with that too.

Some of the recent changes and my opinion:

I've never overbooked ADR's and then no-showed, and I think the new credit card policy for reservations makes sense if it helps clear up the dining issues.
I really abused the FP times on our last trip. Once I found out that there was an open window, I was coming back hours later for some rides. Apologies if I was one of the abusers that contributed to that change.
I once accidentally used our resort mug at a different resort, but I generally buy the mugs just to have them anyway, so I don't really care myself, but I wonder how much money they'd really lose giving out a few sodas here and there to resort hoppers.


As for you feeling like you're losing the magic a bit, I bet that if you spend a little time considering the good WDW has to offer, you'll get it back. I hope your reality gets better too. :mickey:

Ditto...except for the mugabuse; we have only ever bought one of those for my DH to have a morning coffee...but he hates lugging anything around so we never bought another one. :)

[TheVBs]

Oh boy. :( So sorry for all you and your family are going through! :pixie: It's wonderful that amid all that you're able to find things to be thankful for, but that doesn't completely erase the stress you must be suffering. Hang in there! Lots of hugs and good thoughts for all of you!

[mom2morgan]

I still have a guilty conscious about that and I may buy an extra mug next time I am there and throw it away so I will be even with Disney.

that line just cracked me up! :mickey: Once, many years ago, I put my money into one of those newspaper machines and accidentally grabbed 2 papers (they were thin). I felt so bad that I put in another fifty cents to put one BACK!

Seriously, I agree with everything you've said. Considering that it is such an expensive vacation anyway, nitpicking rules (and the people who get super uptight and let it ruin their day when they see someone else breaking one) take the magic away.

Oh, and I wanted to make a comment on the bottom line - someone posted something similar a while ago, and it really struck me: the bean counters lose sight of the "big picture". Will charging for extra refills make more money? Yep, then do it. What they don't see is that things that slowly chip away at the overall "magic" of the vacation make it less likely that people will return or stay as long. So it actually might be GOOD business to lose some money here and there for the sake of positive PR.