If you’ve been to Disney World in the last few years, you’ve probably noticed that it has been changing significantly.
This often brings us exciting new experiences, like TRON Lightcycle / Run and the upcoming Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana. However, not all of Disney’s choices are well received. Often, Disney makes changes that really rub guests the wrong way. Sometimes they lead to things that guests can still enjoy (like how The Great Movie Ride turned into Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway), but other times the changes are just plain unpopular. We asked our readers what the most unforgivable Disney changes have been, and these are the top answers.
Genie
Genie+ is a paid service that allows guests to choose return times for most attractions and bypass much of the standby line. Another option guests have is to purchase Individual Lightning Lanes, which are pay-per-ride selections for you to skip the line.
The reason many people are dissatisfied with this change is that before, Disney World had a FastPass system that was free. Guests could snag a FastPass selection and come back at a later time to skip the standby line — and now that free option doesn’t exist!
Now, people are buying Genie+ (we’ve seen it sell out occasionally), so guests haven’t sworn it off completely. However, it’s safe to say that a lot of folks are disgruntled that they have to buy something that they once got for free, which brings us to the next unpopular change… .
Canceling Disney’s Magical Express
Once upon a time, if you stayed at a Disney hotel, you could take a shuttle from the airport for free. Disney’s Magical Express took guests from the Orlando International Airport to their hotel, offered complimentary luggage delivery, and handled airline check-in for participating airlines.
Because Disney hotels can be so expensive, this perk was a huge selling point for many to choose to stay in the Disney bubble. So what happened? Well, in January 2022, Disney stopped providing this service.
There are still airport shuttles that partner with Disney to provide a similar service, but it is not free. So, as you can imagine, a lot of guests are disappointed with this change.
After Magical Express went away, Mears Connect and Sunshine Flyer were the two lines that replaced it — but the two companies have since decided to merge these services.
Park Hopping Rules
Lastly, after the COVID-19 closures of 2020, Disney had to make a lot of changes to handle the unprecedented situation. In an effort to manage demand and keep crowds low, they implemented systems like Park Pass Reservations. Another rule they put in place to help out with this was to limit park hopping to after 2PM.
Guests who were once able to visit Disney more spontaneously had to adjust their expectations. Now, you can’t just head to Disney on a whim and park-hop whenever you feel like it. You have to plan in advance, make a reservation, and wait until 2PM to do another park.
Guests who would like to add a park hopper option to their tickets have less time to make use of the upgrade. And Passholders who became accustomed to using their Pass spontaneously have a lot more limits to how they can use it.
While we do know that Park Pass Reservations will be going away for the most part in 2024 (with a few exceptions), we still don’t know how much longer Disney plans on keeping this 2PM rule.
So, there are a few changes Disney has made that guests have not been happy about. What are your thoughts on these updates? Let us know in the comments below, and make sure you’re following us on Facebook and Twitter so you can participate in our next poll!
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What change would you like to see made at Disney World? Let us know in the comments below!
I have come to expect that stuff that use to be free is charged for now. What I greatly dislike is having to pay AND being much more inconvenienced at the same time. I don’t want to go to Disney to have to work from 7AM on every day and have to constantly look at my phone. They could have kept fastpass and just added a surcharge or increased park tickets a bit. But they chose to make things harder and try to get everyone to think this is better. It isn’t. I think back to vacations with my family. Luggage service from your home airport straight through to your resort room. The magic of DME. 3 rides with no lines each day of your visit. Chosen weeks in advance.And the reverse to get back home when you are exhausted and want the trip home to be easy. All gone at the same time. That’s a lot to swallow. And prices still went up.
As to park hopping. I don’t do it anymore. As a daily walker at home, one thing I did that was a blast was go to all four parks in succession and walk the entire park. No rides. No lines. Just a great walk with the sights and sounds you can’t get anywhere else. Another thing gone.
I completely agree. During COVID, I think we all understood the need for some temporary changes, but Disney just used that time to permanently remove services that were important to us. I was told Fast Passes were eliminated because those who did not stay on property felt they were unfair. Understandably, when the resorts sell out and you have no alternative but to stay elsewhere, for the most part, I see nothing wrong with having perks for those who stay at Disney, eat at Disney, pay to park at Disney, pay to get to the resort from the airport deserve some perks–such as preferred access to Fast Passes. Now, all we get for free are busses to the parks.
Losing Magical express is my biggest disappointment. Planning is much more difficult without fast pass. Genie plus is a disaster for people that like to have things all planned for before they arrive. There is very little reason to stay on property anymore. It’s much cheaper to stay off property and take a hotel shuttle to the parks, if you still want to go