Agree! It’s not really Magic when you have to spend months planning, spending $7 for a bottle of water, running across the park to meet your schedules ride time. That’s work! My mother worked for Disney when I was small and it was $8 to enter and you bought tickets to for the rides. It was a on impulse, carefree time. Sometimes you might happen to be where Mickey or Goofy were hanging out and some times you might get to see the jazz singers with Trigger but it was fun. Now it’s just plain work for the ticket purchaser.
So how many years since you were “small”?
Are you still buying bread, milk and eggs for the same price your mother paid when you were small? Get real people. Inflation hits everything. You all do realize that there are also many wonderful Disney travel agents that will do the planning for you, at no charge?
Also, stop l- a bottle of water is not $7, and you can get water for free.
Disneyland doesn’t even charge $7, so I doubt WDW is. And I agree you can definitely get water for free at the quick service counters. Inflation is just a given, I agree there. Nothing is as cheap as it was 20 years ago.
Bottle water is not 7 dollars and you can get it for free. Better yet I bring in my refillable water bottle and can go to any quick service and refill my bottle with ice and water
I remember the time you could buy tickets for the individual rides. My daughter was six years old at the time she is now 40. Things change drastically in 34 years time. We have traveled to Disney at least 15 times and would go again in a minute. They used to publish a book for first time visitors and I also remember reading it front to back before we went. I research and book things ahead for most of our trips. If you want a stress free vacation planning is a must.
I understand your frustration and historically what used to work in the past. But as the world changed due to Covid, supply issues, political and business environment, businesses have to modify their corporate environment to address the needs of these changing times. We all want to return to a period of normalcy but because of the changing environments, these business changes will become the new normal. Think of the movie Back to the future II, when doc is explaining to Marty about the time line and the new timeliness. While we can’t go back in the past and fix what happened since covid, we are forced into this new timeliness of new events.
I understand the frustration. Go anywhere new with 11 people and it’s going to be a petty awful experience – I compare it to herding cats or pushing string. Disney World has gotten really complicated with the line reservations. And I’d never go to Disney World for the rides, because they’re all really mild and geared toward toddlers. Even more expensive if you’re staying in park hotels. With 11 people, I’d keep it simple and build in plenty of relaxation time.
I tend to agree with her. Everything is planning ahead and entirely phone-centric. If you miss one thing it can snowball your day straight into no fun land. The food has gone way downhill. And because of the stress involved people tend to be on the uber-rude scale. Which includes cast members. Also, I can do a dozen trips to Las Vegas for the price of one Disney trip and I don’t have someone’s kid bumping into me constantly because he’s tied to his phone and not looking where he’s going.
The only thing I agree with is being frustrated. But, as soon as you start making hotel reservations it states to not forget about dining reservations. It also reminds you to be sure park days are available because of needing park reservations. No, planning a trip is not as fun or as easy, but if it’s your first trip, you HAVE to do the work! I’ve gone several times and STILL spend HOURS making sure I understand what will be needed for getting around the parks. I thought my friend was going to cancel on me because I kept asking her thoughts on what we should do. You can’t go to Disney not knowing what’s there or where it’s located. If the food was bad, that’s on the restaurant, if rides continuously shut down or had long lines, park error or bad time of year to go, but don’t say you were not informed. They have a number to call for help. Yes, that is just as bad waiting to speak with someone, but at least they will guide you in the right direction. I hope you do your homework before going out of the country. Better yet, use a travel agent because your time at Disney will seem like the best time on earth compared to getting lost away from home.
Like anything in today’s world, it takes planning. And I would think if this woman (Kelsey Rhae (@thekelseyrhae) ) has 800,000 followers on TikTok, then at least a few of them have probably been to Disney and either should have given her guidance. I doubt she failed to mention the upcoming trip. That said – YES – if she has that many followers on Tik Tok which means she is internet saavy, then she should have been able to figure out what it takes to plan a Disney trip. This sounds more like she expected they would just walk onto every ride they wanted and she’s unhappy that her 800,000 Tik Tok follower status didn’t get her special treatment. Welcome to reality.
For being that popular online, she isn’t very tech savvy. We learned how to use the Genie system on YouTube in a little over an hour. We rode rides consistently. Very little downtime. At Christmas. I don’t think she tried that hard or even asked for advice.
I can actually see both sides of this. You shouldn’t have to plan every tiny thing in advance, and back in the day, you didn’t have to when going to WDW. However, like the opposing side said, you really have to do some research.
This is why you use a Free travel agent, and don’t go to the parks over a holiday!! It’s always crowded! She didn’t stay on property so missed the extra time before and after normal park hours. Before you go anywhere researching food is important! Bring your own food. It’s a great option to save money and feed picky eaters like kids! Such a bummer. I feel bad for her but I also don’t. Spending that kind of money and not reading or researching sounds crazy to me.
For any vacation, Disney or not, planning is still involved. You should know the area you are going to. Disney is a type place where you need to plan and make reservations well in advance. She could done better and look into what is involved and not go there thinking it would be easy.
I think part of the fun of a vacation IS the planning. Disney maybe takes a little more but this past year we went to Nashville for three days with two other couples and I spent hours looking online for restaurants and things to do!! Like I said, part of the fun!!
In my opinion….I love everything about Disney World. I grew up going to Disney World and even spent two years working at the Magic Kingdom. With that said, I agree going there is not a vacation anymore. I don’t want to plan out my day based on ride reservations. I also don’t want to pay an extra $20 on top of my park ticket to ride an attraction like Tron by avoiding the line. I think the add on dollars on top of an already very expensive admission ticket is utterly ridiculous. Does all that mean I don’t go anymore? No, I do still go but I go with a goal in mind. Since I have been to all the parks many times, I go with the intentions of mainly trying to get on attractions I have not been on. The last time I went (Jan. 2020 right before Covid lockdown) I spent 8 hours in Galaxy Edge and loved it all. I still have not ridden Resistance or the AVATAR attractions at Animal Kingdom nor have I ridden Seven Dwarfs mine train. These are all attractions I still would love to go on but I am not paying extra or waiting in a line that is over 2 hours.
She has a Truck driver mouth, she would complain even if her trip was free. Disney better off without her., high maintenance she thinks she is. Maybe she go to North Korea on her next out of country trip. Will have a High Impact on her.
My family enjoys the planning. You have to look at it as starting your adventure 60 days out! Use a travel planner’s help to learn the ropes. Cost you nothing and you learn what you need to do. The bigger the group the more planning it takes.
A few things to note. This mom needs some lessons in grammar. I know people don’t proof what they post, but her posts are crazy bad. That, combined with her vulgarity, really calls what she says into question. I don’t get why hundreds of thousands of people follow her.
This trip was a failure due to poor or no planning! It’s as simple as that. I can imagine the posts after she takes the kids on an international trip, assuming she remembers to get passports! “We will never go to ” Insert country name here”. The food is different! People don’t speak English! They use different money! There aren’t enough fast food places! It’s not the same time there! They have this VAT thing you have to pay! It won’t be pretty. You can be an “Ugly American” and never leave home
I agree that she should have planned ahead somewhat (dining especially), but she is right that you should not have to plan every minute of your vacation. I live near near WDW and we have to plan months in advanced if we want to treat the kids a one of their favorite places to eat at Disney Springs, much less at WDW.
Unfortunately, that is what WDW has become. You have to plan every moment just about. That kills a lot of the vacation for most people. I can tell you that we spend less time planning our international trips than we do going to WDW. We also spend less time planning at another theme park that we live near, but no need to name it since we are talking about Disney.
Perhaps it is time for Disney to step back and allow a bit more spontaneity in the parks. But as long as the majority enjoy, or seem to enjoy planning everything out in advanced, things will never change.
Last fall we went to WDW for the first time since before Covid for an extended family celebration. It was our 25th trip in 35 years. We have ALWAYS stayed on property. We will never again. I LOVE the planning for a Disney trip so planning was no issue. There were major issues with the Wilderness Cabins (yes, plural) we stayed in and I spent countless HOURS trying to resolve issues. My daughter has a DAS because of medical issues but the crunched up Genie + wait lines were no better than the standard wait lines because Disney has convinced people that, by paying MORE money, they can skip long lines! Look around people! They don’t limit how many Genie + tickets they sell! Those lines are just as long if not longer than stand by lines as a result and STILL more Genie+ tickets are sold! Out of our 10 days planned, we spent a total of 3 uninterrupted days in the parks due to problems. One needed to be looking at one’s smartphone the entire time to keep up with all the electronicly posted times, etc and the WiFi in the Parks sucked! I have been a lover of all things Disney since childhood (in the 50’s). We MAY occasionally go to the parks again in the future but will never stay on property again. Just returned home from 12 days in Orlando (4 of them for business) and never went near Disney.
I agree with the comment about booking your reservation starts the magic of your Disney trip.BUT that was in the past. I WAS an annual passholder. We went twice a year for two weeks for over twenty years. We usually stay at the monorail hotels. But we have gone to Wilderness, Yacht and Caribbean.I have seen so many things change. The changes now are terrible. I don’t want to be on my phone 24/7. I want to be able to park hop WHEN I want to not when I am dictated to. We have gone with 13 people in the past and it was not stressful. We , five women, went in 2018 no stress.Disney has changed and not for the better.
In the past, I would make plans as to which park on a certain day but was flexible and planned a few fast passes. Being to WDW at least 30 times, I have not interest in going now because of the crowds, Genie+, lack of flexibility and the cost. Plus some of my favorite rides are now gone. It is less expensive to go on a Disney cruise than go to WDW. I know, we have taken our family to both and the cruise was 100% better and more relaxing. We are DVC members since 1995 and we now use our points to go to the Vero Beach resort. Disney has lost its magic IMO.
I was very stressed on this vacation to WDW the 1st week in March. Anxiety, which I rarely experience was prevalent each day . I was unable to sleep in due to purchasing Genie+ and an ILl daily for my family. I eventually turned the search for a dining reservation over to a paid service. I always enjoyed my past Disney vacations, but this definitely ruined it for me.
Even pre-Covid, I was a major Disney planner. We’d decide where we wanted to eat, and on the day reservations opened up, I got on the phone to make the reservations, and we then planned our park days around dining reservations. When we had to get paper fast passes we’d get there at rope drop and my kids would go ahead to get them for us since they were way faster then me. When fast passes moved to the app, I’d carefully plan them out so we weren’t running back and forth across the parks all day. It really wasn’t that hard, and having a game plan actually made it easier than wandering mindlessly through the parks. And that was just for three people. If I had a group of 11 going together, I damn well would have gotten a travel agent to help me out. That’s what they’re there for, and you don’t have to pay for their services, so why not let them do all the work?
Comments for Mom Shredded Online For Poor Planning After Complaining About “Over F***ing Rated” Disney World Trip
Molina
Agree! It’s not really Magic when you have to spend months planning, spending $7 for a bottle of water, running across the park to meet your schedules ride time. That’s work! My mother worked for Disney when I was small and it was $8 to enter and you bought tickets to for the rides. It was a on impulse, carefree time. Sometimes you might happen to be where Mickey or Goofy were hanging out and some times you might get to see the jazz singers with Trigger but it was fun. Now it’s just plain work for the ticket purchaser.
Kathle
So how many years since you were “small”?
Are you still buying bread, milk and eggs for the same price your mother paid when you were small? Get real people. Inflation hits everything. You all do realize that there are also many wonderful Disney travel agents that will do the planning for you, at no charge?
Also, stop l- a bottle of water is not $7, and you can get water for free.
Mindy
Disneyland doesn’t even charge $7, so I doubt WDW is. And I agree you can definitely get water for free at the quick service counters. Inflation is just a given, I agree there. Nothing is as cheap as it was 20 years ago.
Jean
They just raised water from $3.50 to $3.75. Not to mention plenty of places to get free water
Shirley Evans
You can get water at “quick service counters” but they are not that quick. I buy bottled water at a Wal-Mart, Public or such and take with me
Christine
Bottle water is not 7 dollars and you can get it for free. Better yet I bring in my refillable water bottle and can go to any quick service and refill my bottle with ice and water
Pamela Mitchell
I remember the time you could buy tickets for the individual rides. My daughter was six years old at the time she is now 40. Things change drastically in 34 years time. We have traveled to Disney at least 15 times and would go again in a minute. They used to publish a book for first time visitors and I also remember reading it front to back before we went. I research and book things ahead for most of our trips. If you want a stress free vacation planning is a must.
John
I understand your frustration and historically what used to work in the past. But as the world changed due to Covid, supply issues, political and business environment, businesses have to modify their corporate environment to address the needs of these changing times. We all want to return to a period of normalcy but because of the changing environments, these business changes will become the new normal. Think of the movie Back to the future II, when doc is explaining to Marty about the time line and the new timeliness. While we can’t go back in the past and fix what happened since covid, we are forced into this new timeliness of new events.
CDW
I understand the frustration. Go anywhere new with 11 people and it’s going to be a petty awful experience – I compare it to herding cats or pushing string. Disney World has gotten really complicated with the line reservations. And I’d never go to Disney World for the rides, because they’re all really mild and geared toward toddlers. Even more expensive if you’re staying in park hotels. With 11 people, I’d keep it simple and build in plenty of relaxation time.
Peggy
Definitely not a vacation to go in if you want to relax unless you build in down time.
Not staying on property makes it worst I think.
We are down to one time every other year and if things don’t turn around we have plenty of memories.
No annual pass then no more DVC.
Scott
I tend to agree with her. Everything is planning ahead and entirely phone-centric. If you miss one thing it can snowball your day straight into no fun land. The food has gone way downhill. And because of the stress involved people tend to be on the uber-rude scale. Which includes cast members. Also, I can do a dozen trips to Las Vegas for the price of one Disney trip and I don’t have someone’s kid bumping into me constantly because he’s tied to his phone and not looking where he’s going.
Alicia
The only thing I agree with is being frustrated. But, as soon as you start making hotel reservations it states to not forget about dining reservations. It also reminds you to be sure park days are available because of needing park reservations. No, planning a trip is not as fun or as easy, but if it’s your first trip, you HAVE to do the work! I’ve gone several times and STILL spend HOURS making sure I understand what will be needed for getting around the parks. I thought my friend was going to cancel on me because I kept asking her thoughts on what we should do. You can’t go to Disney not knowing what’s there or where it’s located. If the food was bad, that’s on the restaurant, if rides continuously shut down or had long lines, park error or bad time of year to go, but don’t say you were not informed. They have a number to call for help. Yes, that is just as bad waiting to speak with someone, but at least they will guide you in the right direction. I hope you do your homework before going out of the country. Better yet, use a travel agent because your time at Disney will seem like the best time on earth compared to getting lost away from home.
McSmitty
Like anything in today’s world, it takes planning. And I would think if this woman (Kelsey Rhae (@thekelseyrhae) ) has 800,000 followers on TikTok, then at least a few of them have probably been to Disney and either should have given her guidance. I doubt she failed to mention the upcoming trip. That said – YES – if she has that many followers on Tik Tok which means she is internet saavy, then she should have been able to figure out what it takes to plan a Disney trip. This sounds more like she expected they would just walk onto every ride they wanted and she’s unhappy that her 800,000 Tik Tok follower status didn’t get her special treatment. Welcome to reality.
Traci
For being that popular online, she isn’t very tech savvy. We learned how to use the Genie system on YouTube in a little over an hour. We rode rides consistently. Very little downtime. At Christmas. I don’t think she tried that hard or even asked for advice.
Mindy
I can actually see both sides of this. You shouldn’t have to plan every tiny thing in advance, and back in the day, you didn’t have to when going to WDW. However, like the opposing side said, you really have to do some research.
Em
This is why you use a Free travel agent, and don’t go to the parks over a holiday!! It’s always crowded! She didn’t stay on property so missed the extra time before and after normal park hours. Before you go anywhere researching food is important! Bring your own food. It’s a great option to save money and feed picky eaters like kids! Such a bummer. I feel bad for her but I also don’t. Spending that kind of money and not reading or researching sounds crazy to me.
Mary
For any vacation, Disney or not, planning is still involved. You should know the area you are going to. Disney is a type place where you need to plan and make reservations well in advance. She could done better and look into what is involved and not go there thinking it would be easy.
chris
Totally agree with you Mary.
John
I think part of the fun of a vacation IS the planning. Disney maybe takes a little more but this past year we went to Nashville for three days with two other couples and I spent hours looking online for restaurants and things to do!! Like I said, part of the fun!!
zap26
In my opinion….I love everything about Disney World. I grew up going to Disney World and even spent two years working at the Magic Kingdom. With that said, I agree going there is not a vacation anymore. I don’t want to plan out my day based on ride reservations. I also don’t want to pay an extra $20 on top of my park ticket to ride an attraction like Tron by avoiding the line. I think the add on dollars on top of an already very expensive admission ticket is utterly ridiculous. Does all that mean I don’t go anymore? No, I do still go but I go with a goal in mind. Since I have been to all the parks many times, I go with the intentions of mainly trying to get on attractions I have not been on. The last time I went (Jan. 2020 right before Covid lockdown) I spent 8 hours in Galaxy Edge and loved it all. I still have not ridden Resistance or the AVATAR attractions at Animal Kingdom nor have I ridden Seven Dwarfs mine train. These are all attractions I still would love to go on but I am not paying extra or waiting in a line that is over 2 hours.
Chris
She has a Truck driver mouth, she would complain even if her trip was free. Disney better off without her., high maintenance she thinks she is. Maybe she go to North Korea on her next out of country trip. Will have a High Impact on her.
Christine
Wow Chris no need to judge her because she’s frustrated by the comments people are leaving her. Kinda like the one you just left. SMH
Terri
My family enjoys the planning. You have to look at it as starting your adventure 60 days out! Use a travel planner’s help to learn the ropes. Cost you nothing and you learn what you need to do. The bigger the group the more planning it takes.
chris
Planning a Disney trip is part of the magic. Gets you excited for what’s coming up on your trip.
Elmer Fudd
A few things to note. This mom needs some lessons in grammar. I know people don’t proof what they post, but her posts are crazy bad. That, combined with her vulgarity, really calls what she says into question. I don’t get why hundreds of thousands of people follow her.
This trip was a failure due to poor or no planning! It’s as simple as that. I can imagine the posts after she takes the kids on an international trip, assuming she remembers to get passports! “We will never go to ” Insert country name here”. The food is different! People don’t speak English! They use different money! There aren’t enough fast food places! It’s not the same time there! They have this VAT thing you have to pay! It won’t be pretty. You can be an “Ugly American” and never leave home
Patrick
A little off topic but how does she have 800k followers?! It seems like now a days you don’t need a talent or anything to be noticed or followed.
Jean
Let’s go with a large group during one of the busiest times of the year, do no research even though we spent thousands of dollars and then complain🙄
Robert
I agree that she should have planned ahead somewhat (dining especially), but she is right that you should not have to plan every minute of your vacation. I live near near WDW and we have to plan months in advanced if we want to treat the kids a one of their favorite places to eat at Disney Springs, much less at WDW.
Unfortunately, that is what WDW has become. You have to plan every moment just about. That kills a lot of the vacation for most people. I can tell you that we spend less time planning our international trips than we do going to WDW. We also spend less time planning at another theme park that we live near, but no need to name it since we are talking about Disney.
Perhaps it is time for Disney to step back and allow a bit more spontaneity in the parks. But as long as the majority enjoy, or seem to enjoy planning everything out in advanced, things will never change.
Barbara Favoino
Last fall we went to WDW for the first time since before Covid for an extended family celebration. It was our 25th trip in 35 years. We have ALWAYS stayed on property. We will never again. I LOVE the planning for a Disney trip so planning was no issue. There were major issues with the Wilderness Cabins (yes, plural) we stayed in and I spent countless HOURS trying to resolve issues. My daughter has a DAS because of medical issues but the crunched up Genie + wait lines were no better than the standard wait lines because Disney has convinced people that, by paying MORE money, they can skip long lines! Look around people! They don’t limit how many Genie + tickets they sell! Those lines are just as long if not longer than stand by lines as a result and STILL more Genie+ tickets are sold! Out of our 10 days planned, we spent a total of 3 uninterrupted days in the parks due to problems. One needed to be looking at one’s smartphone the entire time to keep up with all the electronicly posted times, etc and the WiFi in the Parks sucked! I have been a lover of all things Disney since childhood (in the 50’s). We MAY occasionally go to the parks again in the future but will never stay on property again. Just returned home from 12 days in Orlando (4 of them for business) and never went near Disney.
Beverly Sutterfield
Well your language shows off your intelligence level, very low! Don’t blame others for your shortcomings!!
Sandi G
Should be interesting to see how you do going out of the country without planning!
countesspetofi
I’ve had a few so-so meals at WDW, but nothing that could be described as “disgusting: by any wild stretch of the imagination.
Joem
Personally, I think planning is a part of the fun. I want to maximize what I can do, not flounder around and miss half the things I could have done!
I’ve worked with people who were headed to Disney and were wondering if Harry Potter was in the Magic Kingdom!
Why would you spend so much money and not know what you could do on your expensive vacation!?
Andrea
I agree with the comment about booking your reservation starts the magic of your Disney trip.BUT that was in the past. I WAS an annual passholder. We went twice a year for two weeks for over twenty years. We usually stay at the monorail hotels. But we have gone to Wilderness, Yacht and Caribbean.I have seen so many things change. The changes now are terrible. I don’t want to be on my phone 24/7. I want to be able to park hop WHEN I want to not when I am dictated to. We have gone with 13 people in the past and it was not stressful. We , five women, went in 2018 no stress.Disney has changed and not for the better.
Carol J
In the past, I would make plans as to which park on a certain day but was flexible and planned a few fast passes. Being to WDW at least 30 times, I have not interest in going now because of the crowds, Genie+, lack of flexibility and the cost. Plus some of my favorite rides are now gone. It is less expensive to go on a Disney cruise than go to WDW. I know, we have taken our family to both and the cruise was 100% better and more relaxing. We are DVC members since 1995 and we now use our points to go to the Vero Beach resort. Disney has lost its magic IMO.
Deborah
I was very stressed on this vacation to WDW the 1st week in March. Anxiety, which I rarely experience was prevalent each day . I was unable to sleep in due to purchasing Genie+ and an ILl daily for my family. I eventually turned the search for a dining reservation over to a paid service. I always enjoyed my past Disney vacations, but this definitely ruined it for me.
Maria
Even pre-Covid, I was a major Disney planner. We’d decide where we wanted to eat, and on the day reservations opened up, I got on the phone to make the reservations, and we then planned our park days around dining reservations. When we had to get paper fast passes we’d get there at rope drop and my kids would go ahead to get them for us since they were way faster then me. When fast passes moved to the app, I’d carefully plan them out so we weren’t running back and forth across the parks all day. It really wasn’t that hard, and having a game plan actually made it easier than wandering mindlessly through the parks. And that was just for three people. If I had a group of 11 going together, I damn well would have gotten a travel agent to help me out. That’s what they’re there for, and you don’t have to pay for their services, so why not let them do all the work?
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