Overheard- made me cringe

[Belle'sFan]

A few years ago at Disneyland we were riding the train when a couple with two young children sat in front of us. The wife asked her husband, "How do people get fast passes anyway?". His reply, "Forget it. I think you have to pay for them." The park map with all the info about FREE FP right on the front was in my hands.... Guess they didn't grab a map either.

 

[Auntie_Maim]

Commercials aren't accurate representations of reality? Well I never! *clutches pearls, falls to floor in a swoon*

 

[useakiss]

It's baffling to me, but then I enjoy learning about things and prefer to be proactive and prepared for contingencies. But I personally know people who would do just that. They not only don't do much planning ahead of time, but refuse to educate themselves on what they're about to walk into. And of course they'll complain afterward. When I questioned one about this because his last adventure ended unpleasantly, his response was "Not everybody's an intellectual like you." Well, you got me there!

 

[evilqueenmindy]

A person that works in receivables for a big client of ours emailed me a month ago because she was going to bring her two kids to Orlando for a vacation around 4th of July, and wanted some hotel ideas and tips for travel.
I put something reasonable together for her, but I so wanted to make my first tip "build a time machine, make it 6 months ago and re-start your planning" (I didn't, I mean, I need my invoices paid and all)

 

[bdiddy]

My SIL's sister-in-law and family went years ago over spring break and planned nothing. They couldn't stop talking about what a terrible time they had. It was so crowded, they had to wait in too many lines and couldn't get into any of the restaurants. All I could do is shake my head. They haven't been back either.

 

[goofyernmost]

I really, really do not think it's a Disney nerd thing, or expecting a theme park to be easy. Some people just would not pick up a guide book for any reason. Knowing about FP is not any different than knowing about museum passes or national park hiking lotteries. All they have to do it read WDW's own page.

Chances are, that family's trip wasn't great for a variety of reasons. If I had to bet on just one, I think they probably underestimated the size of the resort and just found that everything took longer than they expected. And they took young. Kids in July which would not be my choice. It's totally possible to do a trip without fp. I don't mind standby. But my tolerance for lines goes way way down in the heat.

I guess you missed my point which is... unless you had been there before you would not automatically think that going to a theme park would require any planning at all. Whether we feel that is the wrong attitude to have or not, is totally irrelevant. All of the "possibilities" you mentioned would require a reason to look for the advance knowledge.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a Durham Bulls baseball game with family. It was slightly overcast, but, this is summer in NC so I thought ahead based on experience and brought an umbrella and a towel. Guess which one of us stayed dry and was able to wipe down the seats to dry them off. The rest didn't even think that there was a need to question it. When we left home, the sun was shining.

 

[wdw&sonny]

Sitting at a McD's on our way home from an awesome two week trip. There is a family with young kids sitting across from us and the mom just said "if we ever decide to go back to Disney we will try to get fast passes next time!"

They apparently didn't have a great trip from the snippets I am hearing.

So right now the planner in me is cringing at the thought of not even using fastpass on a trip....

I too cringed when I read this. Who eats at McD's? And to subject young kids to the poor nutrition. Do the research. Fast food is bad for you.

 

[Coral Reef Diver]

I heard multiple groups of people say things along the lines of "Oh... the wait time is only a few minutes longer than Fastpass. Let's just get in line". I was stunned! And this was not just one random occurrence. I heard things like this repeatedly.

I must be obtuse. If my fastpasses were all committed and I walked past a desired attraction, why wouldn't I spend the +15 minutes (over FP wait) to ride an attraction that I want? Should I just walk past it?

 

[xiphoid76]

I too cringed when I read this. Who eats at McD's? And to subject young kids to the poor nutrition. Do the research. Fast food is bad for you.

I always have to defend McD's - they have gotten much better - lots of healthy options...but you have to choose them (which very few of us do). But it can be a very healthy and affordable place Sorry for the 15 second McD's commercial...

 

[KrazeeK120]

I must be obtuse. If my fastpasses were all committed and I walked past a desired attraction, why wouldn't I spend the +15 minutes (over FP wait) to ride an attraction that I want? Should I just walk past it?

Isn't Disneyland still on paper FPs? I didn't think there was a way to commit FPs there. I may be wrong, though. I researched DL a little bit several months ago, thinking we may go there next year, but those plans have fallen through.

 

[momimouse27]

I lived in London and there were many a tourist I ran into who were clueless. Like I ran into folks who didn't know what the Tube was...main thing you need to know. So I would not be surprised by a family going to WDW and not knowing about FP. However, once you get there, I'm not sure why you wouldn't ask.

We went to London about 11 years ago. I remember spending hours and hours researching the areas, looking at Trip Advisor to find a great hotel bargain, and deciding what shows and museums we wanted to do on which day. I can't imagine someone not planning for a trip to a foreign country, let alone WDW! Heck, I did research for when we went to the beach this year.

 

[Love Tink]

There are a lot of people on this thread who seem to think "basic planning" means starting a year ahead of time, arranging all your meals six months in advance, securing ride times months ahead, and scheduling where you will be every moment of every day of the trip.

I submit that this attitude - treating a theme park vacation like a trip to Europe (or a military deployment) - is as far from the norm as is not planning at all. I think some of the Disers conversations, if overheard in a restaurant, would also cause people to cringe.

Hey - I like to plan, too! But everyone is different. And there is a lot of middle ground.

 

[ChiefM]

I agree that you have to do the research. I grew up in central Florida and spent many a day on International Drive while growing up. The wife and talked about going to Disney several times but military life was in charge. I retired almost a year ago and decided to make plans for Disney World! We have an almost 18 year old daughter and almost 2 year old son. I wanted to take my family to Wet and Wild and was sad to hear that it had closed. I was talking to my mother the other day and she asked me if I was ready to go to Disney World. I proceed to tell her about all the changes that had taken place since we both had moved away years ago. I told her about dining reservations, fastpass selections, staying on property and all the places to stay. She was amazed at all the advanced planning you have to do now. I told her you have to plan it like a combat mission, no one just "goes " to Disney World anymore. OK maybe some do but not a good idea.

 

[WantToGoNow]

Every time I've been since the start of FP I hear people making rude comments as we walk past them in the FP line about how it must be nice to skip the lines. People honestly show up with no plan or researching in advance. Last trip MB were fairly new and I don't know how many people I explained to what they were.

 

[Disney_and_Wine]

No, it's not anything like that. We are obsessed with Disney Parks. Most of us know all the in's and outs, but, the majority of the population thinks they are just going to a fancy amusement park.

I agree. You don't know what you don't know until you learn what you don't know. After that, you know what you don't know and then take steps to know it. But this rarely happens on your first outing. The first outing is when you first learn what you don't know. Know what I mean? (Read that again. It will make sense.)

99% of the people here are well past the stage of not knowing what they don't know. At worst, we are at the stage of knowing that there are things that we don't know and take steps to learn. Take Pandora as an example. If you haven't been yet, you don't know the ins and outs. But the very act of participating here has informed you that there are things you don't know and need to learn. And so you do. People who don't participate here or on similar sites don't know what it is they need to learn. If they are Disney veterans but Pandora novices, they may be clued in to the fact that they better learn. But if they are Disney novices, why would they instinctively deduce or guess that they need to plan like the Allies in Normandy? That may be intuitive to people here but it isn't inherently intuitive. It is illogical to conclude: "If you plan intensively for a trip to France, you should know to do the same for a trip to WDW." While it turns out that this statement will ultimately prove true, it is not instinctive nor should it be.

 

[jump00]

We got back from a great week long trip at WDW. I have to admit since we hadn't been in many years I was very nervous about the new FP+ system- but using the advice on these boards ( and Kenny the Pirate- step by step how to)- it was easy peezy. The Dis Boards are such a wealth of info and our trip had very few glitches. I did see a few confused people but for the most part everyone around us seemed organized!! I'm hoping to do a trip report. We had an amazing time

 

[TheHulamuffins]

Hi Coral Reef Diver, post #48, I think what ucfknight meant was that the FastPass return time was in about 30 minutes, and the stand-by line was 30-45 minutes. So people ignored the Fast Passes, which meant that they stood in line for time that they could have been doing other things in the park. Probably they did not understand the FastPass return time "thing."

This is not a completely irrational decision, though. In a number of attractions, the FastPass line bypasses a lot of the sections that are "themed" in the regular line. For example, on Flight of Passage, with the FastPass, you go quite quickly to the section where you are matched with one of the Nav'i, and you miss the labs, which are quite interesting. I don't know if it is worth waiting 4 hours to see the labs, but I would definitely wait an hour to go through the labs--maybe 90 minutes, depending on how I felt. On Star Tours, the Fast Pass line gets to see everything that the regular line sees, but there is some subtle pressure to move quickly ahead (at least I think so), so you don't get to see all of the aspects of the themed sections. I am trying to develop the ability to actually read the signs in the foreign script they use, going beyond a letter by letter translation (ultimate Disney nerd!). It can be done. I have done it with the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. But there they handed out a card with the letter-to-letter correspondences, which facilitated learning to read.

A quick vote for McDonald's being okay: Southwest Salad with grilled chicken.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

When we first went to Disney in the early 2000s I had no idea about planning or dining reservations or FP. We just went. But that was before a few hours of research on the interwebs would give you a decent idea of what to do and expect.

 

[Roxyfire]

I guess you missed my point which is... unless you had been there before you would not automatically think that going to a theme park would require any planning at all. Whether we feel that is the wrong attitude to have or not, is totally irrelevant. All of the "possibilities" you mentioned would require a reason to look for the advance knowledge.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a Durham Bulls baseball game with family. It was slightly overcast, but, this is summer in NC so I thought ahead based on experience and brought an umbrella and a towel. Guess which one of us stayed dry and was able to wipe down the seats to dry them off. The rest didn't even think that there was a need to question it. When we left home, the sun was shining.

Maybe 25 years ago, that could easily be the case. But now, with all the information available online, I don't see how someone wouldn't do the bare basics of research for any vacation. I'm not saying someone should go to the depths of what Disboarders do. But just in the course of searching for the hotel/resort, tickets, and attractions they will likely stumble upon more information. I do think it's not great for the spontaneous folks but a lot of places can be that way as well.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I was just out at Disneyland, we got fast passes with practically instant return times when standby was 30 minutes or more. Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder, Toy Story. Why? People have no clue.

There's a legitimate reason in that they might already have been holding a FP for a later time. And then you get into the fine print of 2 hours from the time you get the last one or the time you use it. And some people just don't think about it logistically and look at all the FP times so they might have been walking to HM or some other place and picked up a different one along the way.

Then there are those who don't know.

Isn't Disneyland still on paper FPs? I didn't think there was a way to commit FPs there. I may be wrong, though. I researched DL a little bit several months ago, thinking we may go there next year, but those plans have fallen through.

Yes, still paper.

Love it. Got so much more done easily.