I admit, I do not like change. I am a creature of habit and am set in my
ways. Unfortunately, in today’s world
changes will continue to happen in our daily life. (If you are not moving forward you are moving
backward. If you stop growing you start
dieing.) The same for Disney.
There were a lot of changes announced concerning
Disney. While some are still only
rumors, most can be c confirmed through Disney…although please remember, some
of the things being posted are not official and while they may contain some
truth…well, until Disney officially announces it I tend to wait to get too
excited about it.
I think I will start with the most exciting one
first..Disney Visa Card holders get
advanced booking for the new Play, Stay, Dine , and save offer for January 5th
through March 5. I will say I am a
little bummed about this. Originally the
rumors were it would go through May.
Since we were thinking of an April trip I was very excited. Now, not so much! LOL! Of
course, we will be eligible for room only rates for the trip we want to
take. I guess we will have to wait and
see which rates are better.
Because the room only rates vary by resort location, I will
suggest you contact your friendly Travel Agent for details.
The Play, Stay, Dine
and Save promotion is …complicated, to say the least. You can save up to $600…in certain
circumstances. There is a discount on
part of the room, a discount on the tickets, and a discount on the dining plan…but
Disney is not exactly jumping on the spelling out the discount. From what I have been able to see the rates
don’t appear to be consistent. It will
again, take that friendly Travel Agent a few minutes to decipher which promotion
is best for you.
Now for a change that has to potential of being either good
or bad, depending on how you plan and tour. Disney will now require a credit
card hold on all dining reservations made after October 23. So what does this me for you? Well, if you are one of those people who like
to make multiple dining reservations and cancel the ones you don’t need at the
last minute, it has to potential to be very bad. If you forget to cancel, you get charged $10
per person. If you are like me and only make the necessary dining reservations,
it will not mean a lot. The biggest
inconvenience is to remember to have your credit card handy when you make your
reservations, which is very minor.
I know this is one of those changes that will make a lot of
people angry. It will make a lot of
people happy. If you are on the receiving
end of those extra charges, you will be angry.
If you get to benefit from someone cancelling a reservation that you
would love to have, well, then you will be happy. I find it interesting that
this change is causing as much discussion as it is. After all, it is only an expansion of a
policy that was put into place a year ago.
We really should have known it was coming…
Now for a change that I can’t see anyone upset about…The
Tomorrowland Terrace Wishes Dessert Party can now be booked at 180 days
out! This is TRULY a great one! Previously it would be released somewhere
between the 45 and 90 day mark…it varied so much you had trouble getting it! There were actually boards on the internet
where people would check for dates each day and alert you as to when it was
available! So much easier now. It is still not on the dining plan, and you
have to prepay, but you now know when you can actually book it.
This is one of the changes I am not happy about. I will not hide this fact. It has the potential of making our family
Disney trips a living nightmare. It is
the changes for the GAC/DAS system.
Disney has been very tight lipped about exactly how these changes will
be implemented as well as what exactly will be changed. I understand the reason
for needing a change. It is not because
the current system is not doing what it was designed to do, it is because some
jerks found a way to take advantage of the system. These abuses of the system have given the
majority of the people the idea that a GAC is a ‘head of the line pass’ which
is not and never has been true! The only
Head of the Line Pass is for children on their Make a Wish trips.
The current GAC system allows those of us with special needs
children a chance to enjoy a Disney trip where their disability is not holding
us back. A chance to enjoy a trip just
like families without a special needs child. The new system sounds like it
might work on paper. But as a parent of
a special needs child it is not as simple as come back when it is your
turn. If it were, we would use the
current Fast Pass system.
I will not go into detail about the rumors of the new
system. The only thing we know for sure
is that the name will be changed to DAS. We know that it may or may not take
effect on October 9 in either Disneyland, Disney World, or both. Disney is being deliberately tight lipped
about this. This is seeming more and
more like a knee jerk reaction to bad publicity and not a well thought out
plan. They have already admitted to
parent’s groups privately that it is flawed and they are working on it. If you
call Disney directly, they are still denying it. What will happen on Oct 9? Good question. I am anxiously awaiting the answer.
But to prepare for it, I am making my Fast Pass+ plans, my
touring plans, and hoping for a great outcome.
I refuse to panic until I see clear evidence that it is going to be as
bad as the rumors have it!
To sum up, there are several changes coming to Disney. Some are good, some are not so good, and some
have tons of people up in arms about them.
Unfortunately, with the exception of the new Disney Visa Promotion,
Disney has not made an official announcement on anything! We are getting back
door type announcements. Information is ‘leaked’
to several sources and it is reported. While I do believe 90% of them are true, I
also think that all of the details have not been filled in for us, we only have
broad strokes.
Here is hoping for some good news in the finer strokes !
See Ya Real Soon!
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