Guests have said the park is a shadow of its former self following the pandemic. Photo / Twitter; r/disney_lacking
Visitors to Disney Parks are miffed at rising ticket prices and slipping standards.
Long time visitors are in revolt as a one day ticket is $159 per guest, up from $125 in 2021.
At the same time a litany of ride malfunctions and wear and tear on ageing attractions has riled up Disney fans.
Some have gone as far as to dub the Anaheim an Orlando theme parks the “crappiest place on earth”.
An online forum “Disney lacking” has popped up on the Reddit messaging boards to keep tabs on the various observations of times the magical kingdom has failed to live up to expectations.
“Some rides are just a straight mess,” wrote one Reddit user, who said they noticed a fall in standards since the two-year pandemic closure.
“It’s been lacking since they reopened and I don’t expect it to change anytime soon. They know people will keep coming regardless.”
Others complained of dirty rides, rusting signs and animatronics characters which were in need of repair.
Multiple problems on the “Under the Sea: The Little Mermaid” detract from the experience, with animated eyes, and effects making the experience creepier than it needed to be. The 11 year old ride is showing its age.
“You could do this for every ride, something is broken, unkempt, or not functional,” wrote another user.
Others described their “shock at how many rides were all down at the exact same time”.
Theme park waitlist tracking website thrill-data showed that at Magic Kingdom in Orlando 15 out 31 rides were out of operation.
Average wait time was 37 minutes in line topping a max wait time of 51 this week.
Last month passengers on the It’s a Small World ride were trapped for over an hour after a malfunction.
One described the experience as “torture”.
Tiktok user @hazeysmom22 was not impressed.
Disney Staff “didn’t realise for like 45 mins, everyone was stuck on a boat so we sat there for about an hour stuck with the song on repeat!”
One commentator fresh off a family trip to Walt Disney World said there was a downturn in care for the parks:
“We had an amazing trip, just incredible. However, there is no doubt that the parks, restaurants, and hotels that we enjoyed were in definite need of repair, there was a clear lack of general maintenance. It was genuinely shocking. At the prices they are charging, there is zero excuse for it, including COVID.”
While many had a rose-tinted view of past visits to the parks, but cited management decisions such as focusing on shiny new franchises and allowing alcohol in the park for changing the feel of Disney Theme Parks.
“I had an annual pass to Disneyland throughout the late 2000s and 2010s. I know what you mean by romanticised but it was actually great. Clean, friendly cast members, alcohol wasn’t as available. It felt like good clean family fun,” wrote one nostalgic pundit.
Others went as far as to blame the new CEO who took over in April 2020.
“Two…
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