Disney magic being replaced with greed

[Guest]

Walmart & Target do a 36 bottle slab of bottled water for a few $, think it was $6 last time

as ive said in the past, we used neoprene cooler bottle jackets ( about £2 ) from ebay, they stop condensation

[vampiress88]

Originally Posted by Nimbus

Ok. But now it comes down to the taste of the water rather than price. I don't mind the taste of the free water when cool - it's certainly drinkable - but I know some people don't like it. I was merely giving you ideas on ways to save money and not having to buy pop or bottle water. As others have said, you could get cheap bottled water from Walmart and get a bigger bag if the cost of Disney's bottled water or pop was an issue for you (or if you didn't want to drink pop all the time).

I mean, bottled water is relatively expensive in lots of places. If you go into a coffee shop in the UK the bottled water often costs almost as much as a cup of coffee or a bottle of pop. As has been pointed out online before, you're mainly buying the convenience of the bottle, not the water inside it. Disney isn't the first to charge ludicrous amounts for some water and at least they provide the option of free water.

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Not disagreeing with you. Bottle water is most likely similar price to pop in most places. Hence why if I do go to a shop/kiosk anywhere I would buy the pop for a tad more than buy the water.

Looked at the pop prices for Walmart for something like coke and it’s about on par with Disney prices.

Will have to look at alternatives

[Mr Tom Morrow]

I have 3 of the year 2000 Celebration bottle straps.

They have done me for 100's of Park visits. Loop it over your shoulder and away to go. On a hot day I probably refill the bottle I have taken in 10+ times for the two of us.

No way am I paying for liquids in Disney.

We also never buy snacks, we share a lunch or just have a pretzel and never have a sit down evening meal there. Disney must pull their hair out at me.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by duchy

I disagree.
We attended the early F&W events with locals and it was lovely ... attending last year’s we just got the kids out as fast as possible as there were loads of drunks and loud behaviour. We drink but EPCOT isn’t the place to get off your face.

No internet reports just personal observation.
The whole atmosphere has changed.

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Yes, but personal observation is anecdotal evidence and therefore means very little. I mean, I can say that I've attended F&WF and not seen any problems. It's only personal experience.

Earlier I posted a link to a thread from 12 years ago where the same thing was being discussed back then - lots of drunks at the F&WF and major crowds in the World Showcase. Some people in that thread commented that it had been happening for a few years. So, it's certainly been happening for at least 12 years and probably longer. One thing is definitely true - it is being reported more now. Which is true of everything happening at WDW - there's more online coverage of Disney now than ever.

Anyway, isn't your point just an observation on the type of people who attend F&WF rather than on Disney? Disney has been selling alcohol at Epcot's F&WF for almost 25 years - that hasn't changed. Access to alcohol isn't the issue. What is the issue, according to your observation, is that more people are choosing to get drunk there now compared to 20+ years ago. The problem is therefore with the people.

Finally, if this was happening a lot and most people found it unacceptable then I would expect people would be avoiding the F&WF and attendance at this event would be down. That's not the case - quite the opposite.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by vampiress88

If I take a bigger bag it won’t fit on the rides with me.

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We often take a medium-sized backpack with us (DW's decision, not mine). That backpack could fit several bottles of water in it, although it would get a bit heavy. We have taken that on every ride at Disney I've been on. Disney allows you to take backpacks on rides, unlike Universal.

So, this shouldn't be an issue.

I think it really comes down to the fact that you prefer the taste of pop rather than water (me too!). And therefore you choose to buy the pop rather than water. Which is fine, there's nothing wrong with that. As I said before, I buy some pop sometimes because I prefer the taste. But I'm not sure what that's got to do with this thread?

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by ShamuLvr

Talking to an American guy at work today who lives in Florida and he refuses to go to Disney any more, hates that it's become a money making machine and is far away from what it used to be

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It was always a money making machine. WDW was built to make money. It was conceived as a profit-making business. Walt was the first to charge people just to enter the park and then charge them again to go on each ride (previously, most places just charged to go on the rides).

That American guy has just become more aware of Disney's money making endeavours, that's all. Previously, there was enough 'pixie dust' in his eyes to blind him to all the money-making stuff. For him, the pixie-dust to money-making ratio has changed to the point that he no longer enjoys WDW (fair enough).

[neatfrk]

That American guy has just become more aware of Disney's money making endeavours, that's all. Previously, there was enough 'pixie dust' in his eyes to blind him to all the money-making stuff. For him, the pixie-dust to money-making ratio has reduced to the point that he no longer enjoys WDW (fair enough).

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I respectfully disagree with this interpretation... and I am an American guy (just not that American guy).

Awareness of Disney's money-making activities is only a small part. I think most folks have been aware that Disney operates to make money for a long time now. That aside, the increase in volume and the scale of money making activities is what the other American guy is probably frustrated with. In my view, the dramatic increase in monetization is largely separate from the awareness of Disney's interest in making money.

The concerning thing (i.e. what diminishes the pixie dust) is the erosion in service levels, experiences and perks that used to be included in the WDW package. No need to regurgitate the whole list; everyone on here knows about the new parking costs, the extra cost for best seats or views, reduced park hours, the nickel and diming, etc.

Previously there were not as many ways for Disney to charge the average guest for many of these things. It isn't simply an awareness that Disney wants everything in your wallet; I'd venture a guess that what frustrates Disney 'veterans' most is the sheer volume of hard ticketed events, up-sells and added premiums that WDW pushes these days. Go back less than 10 years and we were all similarly aware that WDW was costly; but the number of added cost opportunities were far fewer and easier to avoid.

[Buzz n' Piglet]

Originally Posted by Nimbus

We often take a medium-sized backpack with us (DW's decision, not mine). That backpack could fit several bottles of water in it, although it would get a bit heavy. We have taken that on every ride at Disney I've been on. Disney allows you to take backpacks on rides, unlike Universal.

So, this shouldn't be an issue.

I think it really comes down to the fact that you prefer the taste of pop rather than water (me too!). And therefore you choose to buy the pop rather than water. Which is fine, there's nothing wrong with that. As I said before, I buy some pop sometimes because I prefer the taste. But I'm not sure what that's got to do with this thread?

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You can also buy crates of "pop" in wal mart for a fraction of what one bottle costs in the parks.

[vampiress88]

Originally Posted by Nimbus

We often take a medium-sized backpack with us (DW's decision, not mine). That backpack could fit several bottles of water in it, although it would get a bit heavy. We have taken that on every ride at Disney I've been on. Disney allows you to take backpacks on rides, unlike Universal.

So, this shouldn't be an issue.

I think it really comes down to the fact that you prefer the taste of pop rather than water (me too!). And therefore you choose to buy the pop rather than water. Which is fine, there's nothing wrong with that. As I said before, I buy some pop sometimes because I prefer the taste. But I'm not sure what that's got to do with this thread?

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Sorry it hasn’t nothing to go with it someone meantioned water bottle and I was interested.

[riversider2014]

Originally Posted by neatfrk

I respectfully disagree with this interpretation... and I am an American guy (just not that American guy).

Awareness of Disney's money-making activities is only a small part. I think most folks have been aware that Disney operates to make money for a long time now. That aside, the increase in volume and the scale of money making activities is what the other American guy is probably frustrated with. In my view, the dramatic increase in monetization is largely separate from the awareness of Disney's interest in making money.

The concerning thing (i.e. what diminishes the pixie dust) is the erosion in service levels, experiences and perks that used to be included in the WDW package. No need to regurgitate the whole list; everyone on here knows about the new parking costs, the extra cost for best seats or views, reduced park hours, the nickel and diming, etc.

Previously there were not as many ways for Disney to charge the average guest for many of these things. It isn't simply an awareness that Disney wants everything in your wallet; I'd venture a guess that what frustrates Disney 'veterans' most is the sheer volume of hard ticketed events, up-sells and added premiums that WDW pushes these days. Go back less than 10 years and we were all similarly aware that WDW was costly; but the number of added cost opportunities were far fewer and easier to avoid.

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But you also have to factor in the increased competition over the years. First time I went back in 1990 there was only universal studios (which we didn’t even go to) and sea world from recollection.

Over the years universal has expanded considerably and is now a much bigger threat to them so maybe they have to do this to stay ahead of the game.

Who knows, if they’d just stood still to keep the Disney magic and stuck with MK, EPCOT and MGM and not provided these extra events there may not be parks to visit anymore as they might have had fewer and fewer visitors as people went elsewhere to ‘better’ alternatives.

For me, if you complain about Disney just being a money making machine then you should be the same with universal who also have scare nights in the middle of September, charge for parking and, god forbid, charge you for express passes...

And don’t get me started on airlines now charging ever increasing amounts for seat allocation and legroom 😊

Times change and people’s tastes change and ‘unfortunately’ whatever they are doing is working as visitor numbers are increasing year in year out so they’ll argue they are providing a service that the majority want.