Should I give Disneyworld another chance

[tapley]

We visited all four Disney parks during our visit May 2023 and were very disappointed although it is difficult to put my finger on the total reason. I suppose partly we enjoy being spontaneous on holiday but having had to book each days visit to a park dampened that somewhat. Additionally I was determined not to pay for LL etc as I believe the current prices are very high compared to precovid years. Once I had queued for well over an hour for the safari ride at Animal Kingdom I realised things were not going to gel for me. And certainly 90 minutes for my favourite ride, Tower of Terror, I was well on the way to saying ‘ Never Again’ . Additionally my wife doesn’t do the rides like roller coasters and T of T but she has always watched Beauty and the Beast whilst I have done this. Last year she tried to do that a few minutes after it started, which has never been a problem previously, but was barred from entering until the next show leaving her out in the sun awaiting my long trip through T of T. Additionally the crowds seemed to be very high May 2023.
We are going again next year, immediately after Easter, and
the trip has always been titled ‘ no more Disney’ however I am now torn for two reasons.
1 I have recently been watching the Knightstrider you tube videos of their trips to Orlando and of course it brings back some good memories of many earlier visits. ( bring back fast passes)
2 I see a very good deal with Attraction tickets both with price matching and the Black Friday deal.
So DIbbers some honest opinions please do I stick to my earlier views of the poor visit last year , although I realise booked park visits have ended and park hopping returned., or do I bite the bullet and give Disney another chance.
I welcome any honest opinions.
Perhaps I should add at 77 this may well be my final visit, although I have said that on my last two visits 😂😂.

[moblies]

I have to say we went in 2023 and stayed onsite which was easier that the previous offsite visit. we purchased LL when we needed to but there is a lot of planning to get the most out of those days. We are going again next year, I think it has lost a bit of the old magic. you do feel they are just trying to relieve you of as much cash as possible. universal was much more relaxed.
There is plenty of other things to do so perhaps break up the Disney with a few other excursions if you can.

[Nimbus]

I like Disney World. I would usually suggest people do visit Disney World because it's a great place to visit. However, in your case, I don't think there will be much difference between your experience in 2023 and any future experience. The only thing that has changed, really, is that you no longer have to book reservations for the parks. So this does make things a little more spontaneous. Although it was fairly easy to change park reservations on the day last May, so it was almost as spontaneous back then anyway.

Lightning Lane booking is now different, in that you book them in the days beforehand rather than on the day. Which may or may not suit you more? note that the prices will be a little higher than they were in 2023 though. Same goes for most things really.

It's a lot of money to spend - on tickets and Lightning Lanes - just to end up being disappointed again.

[deano2099]

Fastpasses seem to matter a lot to you, I'd try budgeting assuming you will get Lightening Lanes on most days and see if it's worth it to you at that price.

[Gill H]

Maybe try Disneyland? Just back from there now. We had 5 days tickets with park hopper and Lightning Lane included. Got on almost everything, no long queues. Everything is so near and manageable and everyone is so chilled and friendly.

LL works differently in Disneyland, you book when you are in the park. Plenty of spontaneity.

[tapley]

Originally Posted by deano2099

Fastpasses seem to matter a lot to you, I'd try budgeting assuming you will get Lightening Lanes on most days and see if it's worth it to you at that price.

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I just loved the fast passes as you could play it by ear once in the parks .

[tapley]

Originally Posted by Gill H

Maybe try Disneyland? Just back from there now. We had 5 days tickets with park hopper and Lightning Lane included. Got on almost everything, no long queues. Everything is so near and manageable and everyone is so chilled and friendly.

LL works differently in Disneyland, you book when you are in the park. Plenty of spontaneity.

See more...

Gill thanks one problem my wife hates flying but will suffer it to get to the east coast bur feels LA is a trip too far.

[Shooby doo]

TBH LL isn't going to let you play it by ear either, these are booking up quickly just like the old FP+ & I'm firmly in the camp of not paying an additional £20-£30/day when I've already spent £500-£600 to get in in the first place. Disney is definitely a FOMO though, we only have 4 days + MVMCP booked this time & apart from the party we are only doing 4 days because we have a comp pass from a previous Hurricane & it was a serious consideration to not do Disney or do 2 days. For people that have never been then you can't miss what you didn't have or maybe my nostalgia is askew TBH it's probably watching too much social media & all the negative Disney stuff or my pink tinged Disney glasses have been removed! My advice is don't buy the UK pass & possibly just dip your toe back in
SD

[Eeyore14]

We’ve done Disney ‘differently’ for a few years now, we hate queuing, dh doesn’t do big rides, so we tend to just do either one park, plus a character breakfast at one of the hotels for our fix, or two parks over 2 days on single day tickets, or buy from undercover tourist who often have a deal 4 days for the price of 3.
The saving in not buying the park hopper 14 day tickets we use towards paying for LL. This means minimum queuing and also if the rest of us want to do bigger rides we can do and he’s not waiting around for ages.
We did stay onsite for 1 night the other year for a change and would probably do that again, we liked the sky liner so might stay at CBB and do HS and Ep. Then later on at the end of the holiday do one day at MK.
We enjoy Disney but love getting out and about doing other stuff.
But just need a mini Disney fix, we couldn’t do full blown Disney, like you found this year it would be too much for us and not be enjoyable.

[Andi]

We went in 2022 and didn’t enjoy it as much as we usually do. Having to reserve the parks in advance, Genie+ and having to spend a lot of time looking on the phone was dreadful.

We went back again this summer and enjoyed our holiday much better. Gone was having to reserve the park in advance and although they had introduced the paid LL and ILL’s booking a few days in advance, which we only purchased once for MK and 1 ILL for 7 dwarfs.

We had thought of purchasing the LL pass for our first HS visit but they decided to see how we got on and if we felt it was needed we could purchase for later in the holiday. We didn’t actually purchase anymore as we found the listed wait times were exaggerated and we mananaged to get the rides that suited us anyway.

Yes, I would love the free fast passes to come back but feel after our 2024 visit that we can manage the parks without paying extra every visit.

I also feel it helps not booking a meal at one of their restaurants every day, as this takes up a lot of time, and find limiting these to a few each holiday helps save time, as well as money lol