Please help me to not hate Disney!

[disneysteve]

I guess I could say that I have a love/hate relationship with Disney. The long lines, crying babies, expensive everything.

If what you see when you go there is long lines and crying babies, you're missing the point.

What we see, or more importantly what we feel, when we step into a Disney park is a sense of wonder and delight and appreciation. We love the whole atmosphere, the attention to detail, the workmanship. Especially when my wife and I are there just the 2 of us, it almost doesn't matter if we go on any rides. It's just being there that is special to us.

I'd suggest picking up a book or two that focuses on the details in the parks, the little things, the stories behind everything, the Imagineering that went into the attractions, and stuff like that. It may give you a greater appreciation of the place.

[Singuy]

If what you see when you go there is long lines and crying babies, you're missing the point.

What we see, or more importantly what we feel, when we step into a Disney park is a sense of wonder and delight and appreciation. We love the whole atmosphere, the attention to detail, the workmanship. Especially when my wife and I are there just the 2 of us, it almost doesn't matter if we go on any rides. It's just being there that is special to us.

I'd suggest picking up a book or two that focuses on the details in the parks, the little things, the stories behind everything, the Imagineering that went into the attractions, and stuff like that. It may give you a greater appreciation of the place.

I thought the same visiting the new Disney Springs. Just absolutely amazing atmosphere night and day. There are live music and performance every corner you turn and the architecture is absolutely amazing. Just a great outdoor mall to browse through even though we usually make zero purchases because we don't believe in spending $$$ on brand names.

This is how retail can survive. Massive money needs to be invested to up the experience to increase foot traffic. I said to my wife last night "there's no where on earth where can you see that many people in a store that sells 100% hats...." at Disney Springs.

[AJ444]

I love going to Disney World when it is not a peak time, wild horses couldn't drag me back between xmas and New Years or any other time kids are off school, we pretty much gave up on the main parks and tried to hit the obscure stuff.

[alexander grey]

Haha some pretty funny answers! I don't love Disney but will go for sure at least once when my little girl is a bit older and can actually remember it. It's another life experience, right?

[QuarterMillionMan]

Receipt rom 2014 California Disneyland.

[NicolasR]

The biggest mistake ever was to show Disney to your son
Seriously, just yeah, you can't not to go, bcz he loves it, you love him, just try to avoid active sun hours, stay in shade and of course explain to your son your "rules", try make him co-operate. We all were kids having fun is important for them!

[Mandy63]

I love DL ( the husband not so much). We took the kids a couple years ago and they had a blast but it was a less enjoyable experience. The kids were 4, 2, and 6 months. The plan is to go again when our youngest is 4 so hopefully everyone will be more able to enjoy the experience. Hopefully we can plan it out better this time as well.

[bennkar]

Hey DS, can I get your feedback here on WDW for a minute? I plan on going down in Nov. for 2 weeks. Me and the GF. I am considering getting a year long pass instead of a - lets say - 6 day pass (I figure we'll go 3 days each week). To make it worthwhile I plan on moving our trip next year (1 week only - 3 or 4 visits to WDW during the week) up into October so it will still be within the year.

With two people what would you recommend given the above? Both people buy year passes? One year pass and a six visit & 4 visit pass? No year long passes? We buy passes that are not park hoppers. We've done park hopping, and it has sort of lost its appeal to be honest.

My understanding is the year long pass will give free parking, free photos, and a slight discount at many places in the parks. Anything else? Or am I over valuing the year pass?

Thanks for your input.

[disneysteve]

Hey DS, can I get your feedback here on WDW for a minute?

The break-even point for an annual pass is right around the 10-day mark. So if you know you will visit the parks for at least 10 days in a year, the annual pass is the way to go. As you noted, it includes parking, photos, and many discounts on food and merchandise.

It makes no sense to buy a 6-day and a 4-day pass. It will be cheaper to get the annual, even when you don't count in the value of the discounts. And those discounts aren't so "slight". It is 10-20% on merchandise and food at most places. That can add up really quickly.

[bennkar]

The break-even point for an annual pass is right around the 10-day mark. So if you know you will visit the parks for at least 10 days in a year, the annual pass is the way to go. As you noted, it includes parking, photos, and many discounts on food and merchandise.

It makes no sense to buy a 6-day and a 4-day pass. It will be cheaper to get the annual, even when you don't count in the value of the discounts. And those discounts aren't so "slight". It is 10-20% on merchandise and food at most places. That can add up really quickly.

Thanks. Still seeing if it is economical to move the time share week, but if it is we'll get year long passes. Its nice that we can afford this.

[disneysteve]

We buy passes that are not park hoppers. We've done park hopping, and it has sort of lost its appeal to be honest.

I overlooked this comment initially. If you are buying single-park passes, not hoppers, the annual isn't going to be a savings most likely. I'd have to run the numbers. We always buy hoppers because we do often do a different park at night than we did earlier in the day.

What we also love about annual passes is that we don't feel like we're wasting a day's admission if we only go into a park for a couple of hours. That's especially helpful when we go for 2 weeks. We don't go commando style doing the parks from open to close. We might just go in in the morning or just after dinner.

[bennkar]

I overlooked this comment initially. If you are buying single-park passes, not hoppers, the annual isn't going to be a savings most likely. I'd have to run the numbers. We always buy hoppers because we do often do a different park at night than we did earlier in the day.

What we also love about annual passes is that we don't feel like we're wasting a day's admission if we only go into a park for a couple of hours. That's especially helpful when we go for 2 weeks. We don't go commando style doing the parks from open to close. We might just go in in the morning or just after dinner.

Thanks Steve. Our schedule isn't set yet, so who knows. But I was promoting to the GF going just in the evenings some days (if we get the year long passes). I know we often see people arriving late at some parks, and I think its just to watch fireworks. Or perhaps to get on rides that are empty at the day's end.

BTW, have you been down since Avatar opened?? We've been avoiding Animal Kingdom (went once 5 years ago), but now we'll have to go there at least once to check it out.

[Singuy]

Pro tip, if you want to get on the rides with no wait, do it right when the park opens. Wait time is still ridiculous wee hours into the night, especially the summer. I have seen the occupancy rate and there are almost 2x more people in the park during summer break vs school days.

[disneysteve]

BTW, have you been down since Avatar opened?? We've been avoiding Animal Kingdom (went once 5 years ago), but now we'll have to go there at least once to check it out.

Pandora opened on May 27. We didn't make it there until May 31 .

The area is beautiful, especially at night. The Na'vi River Journey was underwhelming. It's a nighttime boat ride but really doesn't have any discernible story or point. It does, however, have the most advanced audio-animatronic figure ever made and it is well worth doing the ride simply to see that.

Flight of Passage, the banshee ride, is awesome. That's the one you want to book the FastPass for. It is a simulator ride but unlike anything Disney (or anyone else) has ever done. Definitely a don't-miss attraction.

The new nighttime show, Rivers of Light, is also wonderful.

Not sure why you've been avoiding Animal Kingdom. It's definitely one of our favorite parks.

[Singuy]

I can see people avoid Animal kingdom because it's the worst bang for the buck when they used to close at 5pm. It's so much better now that they open late.