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[RockNRoller]

A little help if you all wouldn't mind.
My wife and I have been to DLRP 15 times now. We missed 2016 due to financial reasons but were back for the Christmas season during the 25th anniversary in 2017. We have always loved DLRP but came away this time feeling really "meh" about the whole trip. This is with all the Christmas events, refurbished rides and everything else that was new to us. We stayed in the GF at SL as somewhere new but still feel let down. We have accepted that the weather was wetter and colder than normal and that the people we go with have really lost all enthusiasm but the two of us were so up for this trip and now nothing. We've already decided not to go this year and next year is up for grabs.
Has anyone else felt like this? Are we suffering from Disney overload? Have we just out grown it all? Anyone?

[Slimy yet satisfying]

Am in the same situation. Did not feel the usual buzz at New Year but as you say it could have been the awful weather. Even hubby didnt bother with a lot of our usual rides. Going back on Friday for a long weekend and unfortunately if we feel the same we will not be renewing our APs. Have booked 3 cruises this year...a bit of a knee jerk reaction I think! Will let you know our final thoughts next Tuesday.

[Zee79]

Only you can decide if you really want to go back. I feel exactly the same as you did. I was totally looking forward to my trip at New Year and felt it was a total let down, I know I had some health issues but some cast members and guests just added to my feeling. It didn't have that Christmassy magical feeling like previous trips. We also stayed at the Sequoia Lodge. Having said that, we are returning in 8 weeks and I'm looking forward to going so keeping my fingers crossed it won't be like my previous trip. We are staying at the Cheyenne this time. You could give it a go and if a no then leave a few years before going back or change when you go, where you stay or who you travel with or do all three 😊 I think you should discuss pros and cons.

[Slimy yet satisfying]

Nope, I'm done for now. Crazy queues for most rides. Spoke to a ride manager on Pirates who apologised for the 70 minute wait (board outside said 40mins!) saying they did not have enough staff to open the other line and that ongoing technical problems meant they could only send 1 boat in 3 through. Managed to get on the next day and had to be recued by a girl in chest high water waders! Also Indy and space mountain broke whilst on. Everything was dirty with bins overflowing and dirty toilets. Shops understocked or shut. Pretty rubbish for a big holiday in Europe. Most UK schools are off and it was Carnival holiday in Germany, Belgium and Holland.

[dlpowl]

Nope, I'm done for now. Crazy queues for most rides. Spoke to a ride manager on Pirates who apologised for the 70 minute wait (board outside said 40mins!) saying they did not have enough staff to open the other line and that ongoing technical problems meant they could only send 1 boat in 3 through. Managed to get on the next day and had to be recued by a girl in chest high water waders! Also Indy and space mountain broke whilst on. Everything was dirty with bins overflowing and dirty toilets. Shops understocked or shut. Pretty rubbish for a big holiday in Europe. Most UK schools are off and it was Carnival holiday in Germany, Belgium and Holland.

OMG that sounds like a really disappointing trip! :-( I'm not surprised you want to give it a miss for a while after that!  Was this over new year?  We're going very soon (not school holidays) and I'm a bit concerned that we will encounter similar issues although as it's a quiet time I'm optimistic.  Our last trip was Sept 2016 and apart from the major closures (which we knew about before booking -Star Tours, Big Thunder, Pinocchio), it was the best trip we've ever had.  Best character meets (and more of them), decent food, nice CM's, no rides were down (not that we saw in our 7 days there), we had a great time.  Has it gone downhill noticeably in the last 18 months then?  I'm a stickler for cleanliness so the dirty toilets and overfilled bins would really have annoyed me.

[Slimy yet satisfying]

We went for New Years Eve and start of Jan and was left feeling let down. Just returned again on Monday Eve 19th Feb from a 4 day long weekend and things certainly have not improved. My pass runs out in April and we won't be renewing. It was truly disgusting.

[NCC1701Q]

What was so disgusting? Would you care to elaborate? All experiences, positive or negative, are important, I think.
Sorry, didn't read properly, as you had already described your trip in more detail in a post before this one. Sorry about that

[DLPFanatic]

this has got me concerned. My AP ran out April 2017 we caught the start of the 25th Anniversary and John Legend. I didn't renew as we had WDW In Oct 2017. I'm was thinking of getting APs this April. When I've been I've never seen bins over flowing the parks themselves are usually spotless.. the toilets yeah they can stink to high heavens! but im really concerned if it's went downhill so rapidly

[polar vixen]

We were there june and park was spotless. Staff were outstanding and weve had some rude ones in the past. Always in the winter season......maybe it partially comes down to time of year?

[DLPWonders (Banned)]

Nope, I'm done for now. Crazy queues for most rides. Spoke to a ride manager on Pirates who apologised for the 70 minute wait (board outside said 40mins!) saying they did not have enough staff to open the other line and that ongoing technical problems meant they could only send 1 boat in 3 through. Managed to get on the next day and had to be recued by a girl in chest high water waders! Also Indy and space mountain broke whilst on. Everything was dirty with bins overflowing and dirty toilets. Shops understocked or shut. Pretty rubbish for a big holiday in Europe. Most UK schools are off and it was Carnival holiday in Germany, Belgium and Holland.

You might also want to take into consideration that when you went, they were just trying to recover from serious problems due to a snow storm that lasted for over a week
Attractions couldn't open and were damaged, they were crazy understaffed for a long time because cast members were literally snowed into their houses etc.
They've worked SO hard and did absolutely everything in their power to make sure that the guests who were there at the time still had a magical time and more importantly: were kept safe since it was actually a very dangerous situation.

So you can complain that "Pirates of the Caribbean was understaffed" but the few cast members who actually made it to work, literally walked for 2 hours in a heavy snowstorm to even get to work. Trust me, I'm friends with some of them Instead of complaining about it, you can also appreciate the fact that they were even there at all. Hundreds of cast members had to sleep in the hotels and backstage on the floor for 2 nights because they couldn't get home.

So when toilets were dirty or shops were understocked, that's because people couldn't get to work. A couple my friends were snowed in their house for 5 days, unable to go outside. They tried their best. It was a tough circumstance to work under, and they did the best they could.

[DLPWonders (Banned)]

We were there june and park was spotless. Staff were outstanding and weve had some rude ones in the past. Always in the winter season......maybe it partially comes down to time of year?

It's because everyone was snowed in and they couldn't get to and from work.
But that's being left out of his story

[Slimy yet satisfying]

Actually when we arrived on the Friday there was no snow in the parks and all public transport was fully functioning. Roads were completely clear too. I can understand that earlier in the week there may have been problems but there are no excuses for the lack of staffing and cleanliness by the weekend. BTW as a customer I have every right to complain if things are not up to standard...which they were not.

[dlpowl]

We went for New Years Eve and start of Jan and was left feeling let down. Just returned again on Monday Eve 19th Feb from a 4 day long weekend and things certainly have not improved. My pass runs out in April and we won't be renewing. It was truly disgusting.

:-( I'm so sorry it wasn't better.  We're going very soon on a trip we've saved for a year for and I'm worried now. 

[Lavi]

We have been at the beginning of December and I don't have any complains, everything was great. Toilets were generally clean but when one was not in order I have just chosen another.

[polar vixen]

When i thinknof disney stabdard i compare with the english themepark standard. Have to say dlp out weighs them all hugely even when had rude staff it hugely outdoes the english parks which are only open during summer and nearly all outdoor rides get closed down when its raining, nothing compared to snow