Most Controversial Changes by Disney World
Walt Disney World fans are a passionate, protective, and nostalgic bunch. When the company makes dubious decisions, we let them know. Unsurprisingly, there have been a plenty of controversial changes over the last 50+ years. This list rounds up some of the most polarizing recent ones from the last decade-plus.
It should be pointed out that just because a decision is divisive doesn’t mean that it’s wrong. Sentimentality can cloud judgment, and goes hand-in-hand with a resistance to change. Some fans skew towards skepticism and cynicism when it comes to current management, operating with a baseline assumption that everything done in the past was better.
The converse is also true. Other fans are pro-change and reflexively defensive of every decision Disney makes. They’ll use quotes like “keep moving forward” or sentiment about the parks not being museums to justify even the biggest blunders. Of course, neither perspective is correct–but that isn’t really the point of this post. Rather, it’s that it takes two to tango, and decisions often become controversial by virtue of the ensuing fan fallout and debate.
We’ve actually taken a different approach to creating this list, which came to life by happy accident. Not to get too into the weeds, but I made an accidental click on the website backend, and sorted every post ever by the number of comments. I started browsing the DTB Archives from the last nearly 15 years and during that stroll down memory lane, found that a lot of the most popular posts were actually the most unpopular decisions.
So much so, in fact, that this is actually part 1 of 2. It turns out that this is like Wicked or Avengers Infinity War (or perhaps a weird mashup of the two), and simply too much for one post. Sure, I could’ve made tough choices, but I’ve already consolidated several entries and there were some real gems–including controversies I had long forgotten. (This approach also means this list isn’t Walt Disney World’s most controversial changes from the past 50 years, but more like the last 12-13, which is when this blog started covering news.)
Anyway, let’s get on with the list of Walt Disney World’s most controversial changes…
Ride Reimaginings – When I first started reviewing the DTB Archives to make this list, it was mostly filled with ride reimaginings. I quickly realized that: 1) that was its own separate post, and; 2) it’s a post that’s almost entirely different from my personal list of Worst Attraction Replacements at Walt Disney World.
We actually just experienced the latest instance of this last month, with the announcement that the Monstropolis mini-land and Monsters, Inc. Door Coaster was confirmed as replacing Muppet Courtyard and MuppetVision 3D and the Muppets taking over Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and replacing Aerosmith. Both of these reimaginings or replacements would make sure a list.
The last decade are full of such controversies. Along with that, pretty much any changes at EPCOT make the cut, not to mention the bombshell that Splash Mountain was being replaced by a Princess and the Frog attraction. Years later, there are still fans who haven’t come to terms with all/any of those changes. But that’s another topic for another post!
Oversized Stroller, Smoking & Loose Ice Ban – To this day, the loose ice ban at Walt Disney World and Disneyland remains my favorite policy change. Not because I’m anti-loose (or dry–can’t leave it out) ice…but because I didn’t know this was a widespread issue. This did occur not too long after Frozen Ever After opened, so perhaps the new ride attracted Kristoff’s fellow ice harvesters and they were soliciting in-park?
Seriously though, I can only envision the Facebook groups of loose ice enthusiasts doing who knows what to necessitate this ban, and then the fallout in those fan circles. I wish I could’ve seen it. Everyone else wanted to talk about the oversized stroller and smoking bans, but I was all about that loose ice. Disney doesn’t just ban things on a whim or for no reason, so what happened to cause this?! I still wonder what the whole story there was.
Anyway, ice obviously wasn’t what made this controversial (at least not in mainstream fan circles). It was the smoking and strollers. People were upset that they could no longer use wagons or novelty strollers (there was a cottage industry of Cinderella Coaches and Star Wars X-Wings that had popped up), and others were angry that they could no longer light up in the parks.
This controversy died down pretty quickly. Guests with oversized strollers downsized, smokers adapted to the new locations outside the parks, and loose ice enthusiasts…well, I’m not really sure what they did. Perhaps there are ice-ficionados on some corner of the Disney internet still yelling: “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore!”
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Virtual Queue – Ah, the halcyon days of late 2019 and early 2020. It’s easy to forget because of well, you know, but the period from December 2019 through March 2020 was wild at Walt Disney World. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance opened and, quite frankly, Disney had no clue how to handle its mixture of popularity and unreliability.
Rise of the Resistance also changed one of the core competencies of this blog, as we lived a stone’s throw from Disney’s Hollywood Studios then, and were in that park at least 3-4 days per week doing field testing. (I also joke that the reason I’ve never had COVID is because I got stuck in that queue so many times and developed super immunity to all of the world’s viruses.)
The decision to have a virtual queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance was, itself, controversial. But beyond that, the policies and protocol being a moving target just exacerbated everything. Walt Disney World fans crave consistency and predictability–even in scenarios where they would otherwise be the “winners” over other guests. The first few months of the Star Wars E-Ticket were anything but consistent. Changes were constant and confusing.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios was a mess. But if I’m being honest, it was a beautiful mess from a researcher’s perspective. The park kept moving forward its opening time, and the rest of the park was delightfully uncrowded at 7 am. I lost count of how many times I rode Slinky Dog Dash during that stretch. To this day, I’ve probably still ridden at sunrise more than any time of day. There were countless mornings when I was done with Disney’s Hollywood Studios and hopped to EPCOT for that park’s rope drop. What a time to be alive.
Hotel Parking Fees – Most fans point to the post-closure and phased reopening changes as a paradigm shift at Walt Disney World. For me, this was the announcement that did it. That wasn’t some unique insight, but rather because, for many guests at the time, this irrevocably changed their relationship with Walt Disney World.
The news came in mid-March 2018, and immediately garnered hundreds upon hundreds of comments on this site–and far beyond. The fan reaction to the resort parking fee felt different. It was more emotional than normal. Walt Disney World fans bemoan prices increases, but are generally comfortable paying more for a premium experience–even then, they were clearly fed up with being nickel and dimed.
The hotel parking fee struck me as a tipping point for many long-time fans. The grassroots ‘campaigns’ on social media and crowd-sourced review sites reflected this. Walt Disney World was inundated with a barrage of 1-star reviews on Facebook, TripAdvisor, and elsewhere, with most pointing to this fee.
It was a bridge too far for a lot of fans, and I wondered whether the revenue was truly worth all of the outrage and damage to the brand’s reputation. Within a few days, I penned Is Walt Disney World Eroding Fan Goodwill? It’s an article from 2018, but feels like it could’ve been written anytime between July 2020 and today.
Fans often talk a big game about being “done with Disney,” but I know a few who actually followed through and either quit visiting or quit staying on-site as a result of the parking fee. It did a lot of brand and goodwill damage. Walt Disney World finally undid this decision at the beginning of last year, reintroducing free resort parking. That news was simultaneously surprising (because of the revenue Disney was giving up) and unsurprising (because of the backlash).
Skyliner – This was a fun one. The Skyliner gondolas were an ongoing controversy from the time they were first rumored until they opened and even the months after. To be sure, there were a lot of fans who were incredibly excited for this new transportation network at Walt Disney World.
There were seemingly as many, or at least a vocal minority that presented as such, who hated the idea and boldly predicted the many ways the gondolas would fail. Having been on gondolas in other parts of the world, we offered assurances that they were, in fact, a known quantity and not so new-fangled contraption that would catapult guests to their deaths or fail so spectacularly that they’d close within the year.
No matter how persuasive I was (or so I thought), it made no difference whatsoever. Over and over, the same critiques and criticism cropped up. And honestly, I should’ve just kept my mouth shut. (A lesson I did not learn, and have not learned.) Because not only did it seem to change zero minds, but then the stupid sky buckets collided a few days after opening, and the critics took their victory lap. Oof.
For the record, I love the Skyliner now more than ever. If a gondola cabin is to come crashing down and act as my “tin coffin” someday, then so be it, I guess. Worse ways to go out…like eating too much “food” from the Italy booth.
Icon Obstructions – Sarah and I made our first trip to Walt Disney World together as adults in 2006. By the following year, I was already in deep. One of the first rumors that got me hooked was the removal of the EPCOT Wand. Like many curmudgeonly Disney Adults of the era, I hated the EPCOT Wand. When news broke of its demise, I spent days buried in forum threads–some of which exploded to hundreds of pages in length.
This blog did not exist then, so obviously the EPCOT Wand removal was not one of the most controversial topics here. But only a few short years later, Walt Disney World announced the removal of the Big Sorcerers Hat (known not so lovingly as the BAH–I’ll let you mull over that acronym and figure out what the A stands for…) at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Still a curmudgeonly purist, I was overjoyed. Many readers of this blog agreed, but just about as many did not. As it turned out, the BAH had been around long enough for fans to form sentimentality around it, and as we often say, nostalgia is a helluva drug! It probably wasn’t just the news people took to heart, but also my acerbic commentary dancing on the grave of Mickey Mouse’s oversized headwear.
Not one to learn from my mistakes and more curmudgeonly that ever, I expressed similar sentiment when the EPCOT Leave a Legacy slab-things were removed. It turns out some people don’t take kindly to jokes about the “Battle of Future World” or the moniker “EPCOT Tombstones.” The Leave a Legacy tiles have since been relocated outside the park, but we’ll never forget.
End of Disney’s Magical Express – I still remember where I was when the press release came through that Walt Disney World was sunsetting Disney’s Magical Express. Honestly, I wasn’t totally convinced at first. Part of me believe–or wanted to believe–that it was a negotiating tactic with Mears, or that it was a decision that would be undone or something, anything.
We still hear from readers holding out hope that Disney’s Magical Express will return. Maybe in 2025 or beyond ocne Epic Universe opens and poses a serious threat to Walt Disney World’s hotel occupancy. Although its spiritual successor is still operated by Mears, it’s just not the same. DME made Walt Disney World feel all-inclusive, like they “took care of you” from the moment you stepped off the plane until you left to return home.
Even a couple of years later, this is still an ongoing controversy because it’s difficult to make sense of this decision. It’s gotta be one of those things that somehow makes sense on a spreadsheet, but is doing incalculable damage in the real ‘World. I firmly believe the beancounters got this one wrong, and its long-term consequences to the company will far exceed whatever money they saved in the short term.
One of Walt Disney World’s greatest strengths was its bubble, and the company voluntarily punctured that. The captive audience that was viewed as advantageous for years is gone–and at a time when Walt Disney World’s #1 competitor keeps growing and getting stronger. Retiring DME is the equivalent of Sabermetrics in baseball. Analytics gone awry, justifying decisions that diminish the overall quality of the experience. It’s the fun being sucked away by people who don’t actually love the game, armed with computers that have deemed those decisions to be “correct” and “good.”
Free FastPass -> Paid Lightning Lanes – Walt Disney World retiring free FastPass and replacing it with a paid alternative continues to be one of the biggest fan complaints we hear. This is destined to be a controversy for decades to come, unless the decision is someday undone, because fans are reminded of this every time they shell out money for Lightning Lane Multi-Pass, which is strikingly similar to FastPass+, but paid and arguably worse.
This was controversial at the time not just because it was a paradigm shift, but for what it represented. It was an encapsulation of so many other frustrations and typified decisions of the Chapek era. It didn’t help that the initial replacement, Genie+, was unnecessarily convoluted and half-baked at launch.
With every Disney theme park in the world now using some sort of paid line-skipping option and the upcharge essentially offering free money with minimal costs to the company, it’s going to be hard to put the genie back in the bottle. Fans nevertheless hold out hope. If ever there was a time to take the win, it’s when the competitor down the road is opening a shiny new theme park and Walt Disney World has nothing major to market for a few years. But more likely, they’ll view that as even more of a reason not to give up a revenue stream.
DAS Overhaul – The biggest controversy of 2024 is that Disney has once again overhauled Disability Access Service (DAS) at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland due to abuse, misuse, and proliferation of the program’s use. The changes to the program have had cascading effects on standby lines and Lightning Lanes that we’re still monitoring some 6 months later.
According to Walt Disney World, “DAS is intended to accommodate a small percentage of guests who, due to a developmental disability like autism or similar, are unable to wait in a conventional queue for an extended period of time.” This line (or a variation thereof) can be found repeatedly throughout Walt Disney World’s new DAS resources.
Walt Disney World has publicly stated that DAS usage has tripled since 2019. Independent of that, we received credible reports that the majority of Lightning Lane usage is actually not paid, but rather, Disability Access Services. This comes as the prevalence of diagnosed disabilities, especially among children, has increased dramatically in the last several years.
The other thing that happened during that time, as discussed above, is the elimination of free FastPass. This new system and each subsequent price increase thereof created a perverse incentive for cheating the system. At the same time, it also expanded the audience for social media “hacks” about how to skip the lines for free, which absolutely exploded on TikTok and Facebook. This, in turn, created its own vicious cycle. As this DAS abuse content proliferated, it became normalized by virtue of its ubiquity.
Park Reservations – Walt Disney World’s announcement that the parks would be reopening in Summer 2020 was a joyous occasion that was almost immediately overshadowed by news about the Disney Park Pass system for accessing the parks. And in fact, our post announcing the latter received more comments than the former. (That’s to say nothing of subsequent posts about logistics, the launch day crash, lack of availability, changes, etc–all of which dwarf the reopening news exponentially.)
While most of the COVID era news is lumped together in the part two (sorry for the spoiler), the Disney Park Pass system is the one piece of news from that we’re pulling out because it was an inflection point–just like the hotel parking fee or end of free FastPass (or DAS overhaul for disabled guests).
As excited as fans were for Walt Disney World to reopen, they were also hit like a ton of bricks by the reality that things were never going to be the same. It was already a difficult time in the real world, and this news undercut one of the rare pieces of good news. There was no going back to 2019 at Walt Disney World, and this was the first announcement that really drove that home.
From my perspective, that more than anything else is why Disney Park Pass struck such a chord with fans and was so controversial. It wasn’t just the reservations system itself, which was annoying. It was what it symbolized–a seismic shift to the Walt Disney World guest experience. And even though Disney Park Pass is finally dead for most guests, we still aren’t entirely out of its shadow.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
What are the most controversial changes Walt Disney World has made from your perspective? Any dubious decisions that have been a bridge too far for you? Predictions as to what’ll be included in part 2–keeping in mind it’s all from the last ~13 years? (There’s one that I’m confident no one is going to guess, but then will say “oh yeah, that was something.”) Agree or disagree with anything that made this list–or our assessments? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Great list! I’m one of those who has not returned to WDW. Not because of some big declaration. It’s just that with all the changes and the significant price increases, it doesn’t seem worth it. Our last trip was a one day pre-cruise trip in 2018 where I splurged on one day park hoppers. We likely would have returned in 2020, but then the pandemic happened and all the changes just made it not seem like something I would enjoy. We have been to Disneyland since the pandemic and had a blast. I would definitely go again. I love that I can go there and not have to plan everything so far in advance. It’s just an easier park. I do still read your blog daily, but I can’t see myself returning to WDW unless it gets dramatically cheaper.
Great article, Tom:)
I guess the paid ride system is my major complaint. It’s true there are new attractions that might need it, but I can’t see paying more money on top of the high entrance fee to ride something that is 20 plus years old, or that we have ridden over and over again before. It seems wrong to charge for those attractions. It also seems wrong to charge anything more for Any attraction. It shouts money grab to me, along with the other money grabs disney has.
All the things mentioned are what I consider real problems with Disney now. There are many others, but the loss of the Magical Express ranks right up there to me.
We were a Disney family. We took trips yearly at least. We took our kids when they were little in the l970’s and took our grandkids later on. We loved Disney and felt like they were happy to have us. We were the family that preached the wonders of Disney to friends and family. We helped many people organize trips. If someone had a question about WDW, we were the ones who answered.
That is all over. I can’t recommend WDW anymore. We quit going to WDW after March 2020, right before Covid hit. Our large family and friends are not going to disney anymore with all the changes. I dont think disney realizes just how much one happy family brings many, many more people to Disney. The opposite is true now. We now go to Universal and we love it. We pay one price to get in and don’t have to pay for old (or newish) rides. Their attractions are amazing and only getting better with Epic Universe opening next year. Will we ever go back to WDW? Only if they brought back the great guest services and experiences, and quit thinking that making money over quality experience is the right way to go. So, no we won’t be back and sadly, Disney won’t miss us.
I’m here to shed some light on the loose ice controversy! I am a former Main Entrance Manager at Blizzard Beach Water Park. Guests would bring in coolers with loose ice and bury alcohol at the bottom hoping to sneak it in. Our Main Entrance Cast had to dig around in that loose ice to make sure everything being brought in to the park was allowed to come in (think bag check, but a giant cooler). And that cooler check was fine – it’s part of the job. At least it used to be fine until we started encountering broken glass mixed in with that loose ice. Was it on purpose or an accident? Who knows…but the injuries were enough to ban loose ice from all entrances.
Interesting! I would have assumed it was because too much loose ice ended up on the ground in the parks and was becoming a slipping hazard.
Thanks for sharing this. While I enjoyed the mystery of it all and making my loose ice “jokes,” it’s actually great to hear the actual explanation.
If I previously had guess as to the cause, it probably would’ve been that security was getting injured by the ice itself. Either burns, irritated skin, or cuts. But I would not have guessed that people were hiding alcohol and broken glass, and that was causing the injuries! Wow. People never cease to surprise me.
This isn’t really a controversial change, but I think it was a pretty dumb change for WDW to end its retail park purchases delivery services for resort guests. That was a great perk for guests staying on site. This year I made way way less park merchandise purchases than I have in past stays at WDW resort because I didn’t want to bother having to carry purchases around with me during my time spent walking around, going on rides, and standing in lines etc, in the parks. I’m sure a lot of other resort guests felt the same way about this.
Yes! Agree about in park purchase/resort delivery. I bought waayyy less in epcot last time we went. Also annoying were the Park Hopper restrictions which made it impossible to do more flexible ADRs but that might be in the forthcoming “it’s cuz of the rona” post and of course those restrictions are thankfully gone
Add to the list, DVC resale restrictions. Though it only affects the DVC community…
This is a major controversy, greatly reducing the value of being a re-sale owner.
It even created a bias against Riviera by many DVCers, as the first resort to be fully restricted.
And don’t forget “Moana”, She was boy from 1926 to 2016.
What???
The loss of Magical Express was a very short sighted decision. Now that we rent cars, we go off campus to buy groceries and sometimes eat out. This was money that Disney could have had. Multiply this 3 to 4 times a year and they have given up quite a bit of money from us.
I did buy lightening lane a couple of times when it came out, but have given up. First, I don’t want to pay it. Second it just wasn’t as good as the free version.
The teeny, tiny group of people who are able to use DAS is absolutely unreasonable. The cast members who are in charge of this need to be instructed how to separate the wheat from the chaff. “I have anxiety”. So does almost everyone. More specifics and how does standing in line affect you. Not, “it makes me nervous” life makes a lot of people nervous. I’ve come VERY close to collapsing in line for several reasons because of my disability and I still don’t “qualify”. So I suck it up and do my best. It’s like service dogs: it’s so obvious when people are pretending to have a service dog. The dog is obviously not trained to do anything but walk on a leash and be with its person. Jumping, sniffing people, and walking up to them, barking and making themselves a general nuisance. Those are not service dogs. And if one was familiar with the ADA a service dog does not have to wear a jacket or have a tag. Some organizations recommend to have those things to identify the dogs but now everybody’s got one. You can buy them all on Amazon. Nothing official.
Absolutely agree with you. The Das qualifications are unfair and way too limited.
Another thing I miss is that you used to be able to book a Disney Cruise and Resort stay/Parks vacation all in one package on their website including transportation through Disneys Magical Express from the airport to the cruise port, and then after your cruise you were transported from the cruise port to your WDW resort and then again at the end of your resort stay the Magical Express bus returned you to the airport. We did this a couple of times and it was fantastic. Now that’s been gone quite a while now. We have not booked a Disney Cruise since they did away with this.
This past September we used Mears shuttle to get to our WDW Resort and back at the airport. It was our first trip back to WDW since before covid and before they shut down
their Magical Express services. I chose to book ground transportation with Mears shuttle for the sake of familiarity as the boarding area is in the same spot where DME used to pick us up and the hopes that it would be reliable. The website said our maximum wait time for a ride would be 30 minutes. We waited for just over an hour standing in a huge line and many people who lined up in different lines long after we had gotten into our line left on buses way before us. Theyre very unorganized. It was horrible. I have developed some physical health issues and I cant handle standing in long lines anymore. (I also had to spend a fortune on line skipping passes this past trip.) My back was killing me from standing in line so long, I had to keep sitting down on the floor, and I was in agony by the time we reached WDW. Mears is not reliable. I would have preferred Disney start charging for their DME services than ending them. Coming from Canada we’re already spending a fortune just on airfare and exchange rates on the US dollar for our WDW vacation package and every dollar we spend in the US. We prefer to avoid the extra expense of a rental car and we really don’t know our way to drive around so a shuttle was just much easier. We used to take annual family vacations to WDW for many, many years. Not anymore. Too many price hikes and service cuts and overall lower quality creating a less enjoyable vacation experience. This past WDW resort vacation at the end of September was a horrible experience that cost us a fortune. Too hot, too crowded, long lines, cut services, extra expenses, poor food quality, unfriendly and sometimes rude cast members, and overall poor quality vacation experience. Nothing like our past experiences at WDW. Very sad. Very disappointing and not worth the cost. Let me be clear, it cost us a small fortune, but if we had a great time, like in past experiences, I would say ok, expensive, but worth it! This was not worth it, just sad and disappointing.
But if we ever do go back, I’m not sure we will, I would take my chances trying to find a ride with Uber or Lyft before using Mears shuttle again. So sad how the WDW experience has gone so downhill.
Extended evening hours should be for all
Disney hotels not just deluxe
Years ago it used to be for all!
I totally agree with you!! Really a big turn off that Disney keeps catering more and more to the rich.
I totally agree with you. It’s very disheartening that Disney keeps catering more and more to the rich.
I have yet to understand why Annual Passholders who are staying in a Disney resort still have to make park reservations. Other than that, now that the parking cost is eliminated, the thing I miss the most is the Magical Express. Even though we have not flown to Disney in years (yay AutoTrain), I am sad for those who didn’t get to experience Stacey and the fun of starting the trip as soon as they arrive at the airport.
“…who didn’t get to experience Stacey…”
The Top 7 Must-Dos going away SHOULD have made these lists, but sadly (spoiler alert), it did not.
Totally agree about APs staying on-site. That feels like an oversight that Disney just didn’t care to fix with a bit more programming of the system.
I agree 100% with the first 2 commenters!
The ‘unforced error’ of ditching Magical Express and the erosion of park hours are my 2 biggest losses over the past 27 years of visiting WDW with my family.
We are nowhere close to calling it quits with WDW, but continuing to make decisions that seem to favor one-time visitors vs long-term customers could make it tough to keep coming for another 27 years.
BAH = Big Apprentices Hat?
Yeah, sure, let’s go with that. 😉
What annoys me the most is that you two have not aged.
BAH! It’s Big Assistants Hat right? Do I win a no prize?
Sarah has not aged. How is beyond me, especially given the lack of sleep and stress.
However, you will note that I always wear a hat in photos now…there’s a reason for that. There are also more and more of these weird lines around my eyes, not really sure what that’s all about.
“BAH! It’s Big Assistants Hat right? Do I win a no prize?”
You got a few of the first letters correct, but as my dad loves to say, “close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.”
Related to Magical Express is the Airline Check-in. While there was something great about the yellow tags and getting your luggage sent directly to your resort upon arrival, I think the departure “equivalent” was greatly underrated. Whether we had plans for our last day or were just going to hang out at the resort, it was nice to be able to just check bags in and not worry about managing them or having to pick them back up from bell services and carrying them to the bus and through the airport. Plus it saved the hassle of having to go to the counter at the airport. Maybe we’re just bad packers, but we always have way too many bags to manage, and it was a godsend to just deposit them and forget them until we got home.
100%.
We didn’t appreciate it at the time since we traveled with only carry-ons as childless adults. But holy cow do I ever realize why families LOVED that perk now that we have a kid!
Sadly, there was no departure service for international guests, so there’s no big loss for us on that front. While I did love the arrival bubble that DME provided, there were some annoying and occasional snags that I don’t miss, like spending WAY too much time on the bus to get to your resort due to multiple stops, waiting a very long time for luggage to arrive at our room, and also getting told at the resort that a piece of luggage is lost or delayed (I’d rather find that out at the airport right away). I’ve since accepted and adjusted to the loss of DME but I guess it was easier for us because we have no kids.
I thought that was going to be a great perk…until the one time I used it and Disney never brought our bags to the airport. So I never trusted them again. I did, however, once check our bags with Bell Services at the Contemporary and took Uber to MCO after our day at MK.
YES!!!! This!!!
Getting my yellow tag and my free Magic Band in the mail started my pre-trip excitement. It was something to offset the anxiety of packing, planning for time away, etc. Now, no more pre-trip excitement. Then MDE went away, pre-arrival excitement as soon as you step off the plane is much lower. Folks like me have to carry on luggage or go get luggage at the opposite concourse (often with a long wait for them to unload) and then drag it to the other concourse and down to Mears. Then airline check-in went away, no postponing the departure depression by dropping your bags and know you wouldn’t see them until you got to the other side (making you feel separated from the real world as long as possible). All these are small annoyances that add up and make Disney feel no different than any other vacation destination. It used to be easy to explain why I would travel from one corner of the country to the other mulitple times a year for a “kids” place. It was due to MDE, Airline Check, free Magic Bands, automatic luggage delivery to your room, fun runs, pins in the room to apologize for construction disruptions, Citizens of Hollywood, highly themed rooms and the variety of food options at different resort quick service restaurants. All those little touches which have been eroded. Now I really struggle now to justify, even to myself, why I continue returning. Thanks for mentioning the yellow tags. Just thinking about them made my heart leap.
I hope shortened hours + upcharge late nights makes it into part two. The way hours are announced means there’s not really a flashy headline to point to, but it’s made a big difference in the park experience
In a roundabout way, they will.
Just keep in my mind that these lists are compiled via the highly scientific means of reader comments (sometimes across multiple posts). Reduced hours + upcharges haven’t been fully been picked up by that, I suspect.
If I were making this list based on what I think is the ‘most consequential’ controversial changes, they’d absolutely make the cut. And probably be in the top 5.
Great list!
If you had to pick just one to bring back, which would it be?
I would choose bringing back the Disney Magical Express. I can deal with paying/waiting longer in line for a ride (even though I totally hate it since I already paid a small fortune to get in to the parks) but trying to get a taxi at the airport, or renting a car and then having to pay to park it and get gas, no sir, can’t say I like it.
“If you had to pick just one to bring back, which would it be?”
Loose ice, no doubt about it. Let the ice harvesters have their fun.
Joking aside, free FastPass. I know the system was far from perfect, and I’d want to see some of the reforms that have been introduced with G+/LLMP, but I think that’s the one change that impacted the largest number of guests. It also separated Disney from the competition in a great way, and would offer an indirect, partial fix for the DAS reforms. It’ll never happen, but I think FastPass is the most consequential of these at the end of the day.
I agree with both Gary and Tom for different reasons. Free Fastpass is what I would want back most, but I also know it will never happen; it’s just too profitable for Disney. So, they’re willing to ignore the complaints. On the other hand, (as Tom mentions in the article) Magical Express is hard on guests, but also bad for Disney! Sure Disney saves a few bucks but they also lose their captive audience, fan goodwill, etc. Removing ME creates many losers with no clear winner.
Magic (bus)-my family always loved it very much and I got back one week ago. My son picked me up with a car and it was actually dangerous at the airport getting picked up with so many vehicles and because we had the car we ate many meals offsite that we normally would’ve eaten at Disney.
Regarding DAS, no question that there was abuse, but September 2023 my husband was in his his last stages of his cancer battle and asked for a trip. Were it not for the pass we would’ve never been able to go to Disney and have anything resembling normal trip. My family will never regret that time we were able to spend with him. He died one month later. There are many people that benefit from DAS that at a glance they wouldn’t appear to need it.
Cynthia, I am so sorry to hear about your husband. I vaguely remember you mentioning his cancer diagnosis (several years ago?). I think I assumed, wrongly, that everything was okay because you continued commenting like normal (unless I missed something?). Really sad to hear–I hope you got to enjoy wonderful moments and memories together beyond just that trip.
Your story underscores just why DAS was/is so important, too. I really hope Disney does the right thing and finds a middle ground. The previous status quo was unsustainable, but the current approach is unconscionable.
Thank you very much Tom and you have an astounding memory!
He lived 9 1/2 years from the time of diagnosis, with a large number of trips during that time period. And we were blessed (though it’s so easy to forget and still resent it all), with most of that time him being able to do a lot of the things he loved.
He would fuss about going then when we would hit Main Street he would turn around and walk backwards and say, “c’mon everybody, let’s go”!
Good list. Crazy to me that we have been doing this long enough with the kids that we lived through almost all of these. For our family the combination of: Hotel Parking Fees + End of Disney’s Magical Express + Free FastPass -> Paid Lightning Lanes x Increased Prices (I recognize this is a different type of change) = We haven’t returned to WDW since 2020. We always get very nostalgic this time of year (this will be our first early December without a family vacation in years), but when I analyze the cost of returning to have the type experience we’d like to have, we just can’t justify it. Still love reading the blog, and it has been enjoyable planning different trips for the family. I must say, everywhere we go I lament the lack of a resource like DTB when doing the research!
When the annoyances outweigh the fun, the penultimate tipping point will have been reached. In my opinion that juncture is fast approaching. The annoyance benefit so far has been that reduced park attendance has generally meant less hassle but even that is becoming less of a saving grace as time goes on.