Disney in the time of Plague

Last weekend, we toddled down to Florida to visit some friends who are stationed there and then spend some time with our old pal Mickey Mouse.

Generally speaking, we are fans of Disney. We consider it a fun family vacay that everyone enjoys. So it's something we're willing to do time and again (though we're not so craycray as to have bought into the DVC -- we've looked at it and run the numbers, I'll give you that, but ultimately we aren't willing to say that's the ONLY vacation we'll ever take.)

There have been some changes since the vid hit the scene and...they are not really for the better. In fact, they feel a lot like a super large money grab. (And let's be real, they are. Because this is Disney. They make a money grab and you say ask for more. It's the way it works.)

First off, they've done away with dining plans. 

I'm not 100% sure that the dining plan actually saved us money in the long run, but what it DID do was save us the sticker shock every time we ate. Because we're going to eat in the parks and, not being my parents, I am not trudging around with a cooler and smashed peanut butter sandwiches in my pocket. Nor am I making my kids share a Mickey ice cream bar.

So we basically did the dining plan on our own (1 snack, 1 quick service meal, and 1 table service meal per person per day) -- although I think we probably ate fewer snacks. And maybe even fewer table service. But it ultimately averaged out to about the same outlay with the addition of grumpy dad grumbling under his breath about $15 for a cheeseburger at a quick service place. 

They really need to bring the dining plans back. (And I don't really understand why they're gone. It's not as if the FOOD is gone. It's still there in all it's overpriced glory. Everything is open. There are lines all around. There is no real reason I can come up with why people can't pre-pay and save themselves the realtime cost trauma.)

The other thing they've done away with is Fast Passes. And this one chaps my booty.

It used to be you could make 3 Fast Pass reservations for each ticket each day. And at the cost of the dang tickets, it was not an unreasonable "perk" in my opinion. Now, you get to pay more for general admission, but you get nothing. But OH! You can purchase Genie+ for the low low price (ha!) of $15 additional bucks per ticket per day. And the you have access to Lightning Lanes -- which are basically renamed/repurposed Fast Passes.

Since I have kids and a hubby who are not going to wait in long lines and enough privilege cash to afford the Genie+, I said sure, why not, and may I have another? And I added it to our tix.

The Lightning Lanes kind of work like the Fast Passes did. But also not. You can book one at a time. And they give you a time for each ride and if you're okay with it, then you book it. But you're in a lottery, effectively, with everyone else, so you can get one reasonably close to park arrival time if you remember to get into the app first thing in the morning and snag your first LL. But after that? Prepare to not be able to get another LL until after supper.

It was a rare day we were able to use more than two LLs. So basically it was $7.50 to skip the line on each ride. 

That...is not so amazing.

And? Bonus of all bonuses? Not all rides have LLs. Oh, no. The popular rides that always have the horrible lines that you WANT to skip with your $15/ticket/day extra payout? No no no no, my friend. You have to PURCHASE those LLs. For between $11-20 each. (And by each, I mean each person.) (So for a family of 4 to ride the Pandora ride at Animal Kingdom? I think it would have been an extra $60 just for that ride one time.)

At least you can buy your fancy LLs and still use 1 "free" LL at the same time. I guess that was nice of them.

Kind of.

Are we still a family who enjoys vacationing at Disney? Yes. Ish. 

But I'll tell you now, instead of looking to go again in 18 months or so, we'll be looking at other options that don't want to nickel and dime us to death.