Caution Lengthy - Adult (Couples or Singles) vs. Family Treatment?

The PI closing has brought this issue up but the closing is only part of a bigger issue for us.
Question -
If you are an adult (a couple or single) currently without children in your life - Do you feel families are being singled out as being more important than you as an adult guest?

I pose this question due to the past couple of trips we have experienced at WDW. My husband and I still love everything about Disney itself but we have noticed some recent changes during these trips. I am feeling that Disney is losing its magic lately and it makes me very sad. Some observations: I know that a Year of a Million Dreams is completely random, but we have rarely seen on our trips singles or couples winning anything themselves. (Please note I said rarely - not never). Characters don’t greet my husband or myself as an adult who likes to have fun at Disney with open arms as much as they do with ‘families’, unless I have paid for a character meal. Example: I wanted to see Mulan in DHS and the CM said they were not taking any more guests but as soon as I left they accepted a family with 2 girls. I asked (very nicely) for a supervisor and was told to go to guest relations. When looking for a certain item in a retail spot I asked for help and was told everything was out already, but while in the same area another ‘family’ asked for the same item and the CM went in back to look and found one for them. Transportation - when we asked to ride the front of the monorail we were told it was full, but when a family walked up later they were taken up front.

We go to Disney to escape reality for a while and have some fun. We could go anywhere we want, and we have, but it is WDW that we have chosen to go to. I have brought an incident or two to the CM’s attention in guest services and was told that Disney caters to families and no matter how I feel they will always come first. My husband and I are a family, why doesn’t this count? We are more than helpful to anyone in the parks and talk to a lot of other guests while we are there. So please know I am not against anyone with a family. I am just curious as to why there has been such a difference in treatment. When we have my nieces with us our expectations are the same as they are when they are not with us. In fact, this past trip I really tried to let go of expectations and was more disappointed in the trip than ever. If this would have been my first trip with my husband I would actually never have bought into DVC given the disappointments of the trip. And I would not have gone back 2-3 times a year like we have, in fact, I don’t know that I would go back at all. I have been talking seriously with my husband about canceling our next trip in October.

Those are just the tip of the iceberg on some of the incidents we have encountered. Is anyone else noticing things like this? I am honestly hoping not and am trying to stay positive, and hoping that the trips have just been not so great, which is why I would love to hear what others have been experiencing.
Thanks so much!

My advice: visit Universal more often ;)

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Originally Posted by Winnie

T
Question -
If you are an adult (a couple or single) currently without children in your life - Do you feel families are being singled out as being more important than you as an adult guest?

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Makes me sad to think so but I have felt the same thing myself. My last trip was with my adult son (my one and only) and his then girlfriend. We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge where we observed the gingerbread house class for kids and they looked like they were having so much fun that I wished a)they had a similar class for adults, b)I had grandchildren, or c)that my son was still a little boy. Later that week, we ate at Whispering Canyon for my son's birthday and it felt almost like we were intruders at a private party because we did not have any children in our group. My son has suggested that I might have to look into whether or not it is possible to adopt grandchildren so I can take them to DW.

Because we don't have any children to travel with anymore, I also never felt comfortable trying any of the hard ticket events like Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. I think it would make me too sad.

After I glanced at your thread I read it to my husband and we both totally agreed with ALL that you said. Typically we visit about 2-3 times a year from Boston. We have been married for 2 years, but we do not have children. We both feel the same as you, though we love everything Disney, we do feel that it is most geared to families. My brother is a DVC holder w/o children also, so typically we vacation with him. I do see it becoming as Disney said..."getting back to the bread and butter." Families are where they feel they are making money so they are going to do everything and anything to keep families happy and on the premicise.

WE definitly feel the push of singles and couples not "technically" fitting in, but what can we do? At 27, and 32, we are not ready to have kids yet, but when we do I can't wait to see if I really feel a change. I can say that my hubby was not too happy after reading this when we have our 2 year Anniversary trip planned in only 2 weeks. I think it had something to do with the verbalization of what he thought but never said...lol. However, we will still have fun because we are together and we love Disney!!! Thanks for the great Thread...maybe it opened up peoples eyes who have only experienced Disney from a family perspective. :):)

I may not be an older adult, but when I go on a day trip to DW, it is with my Mom.
So with me being 18 (going on 19 as college begins) and not your typical family because of divorce, I have noticed some slight differences. When we ate at the Liberty Tree Tavern as we always try to do when we visit MK, the waitress treated us very differently opposed to her other table that had young kids. She simply took orders and gave us the bill. This upset me even more than it normally would, only because my Mom is wanting to have some truly magical memories before I leave. Now I can understand that young kids in a family would get special notice. Though, just some times when we go, treatment is a bit different. But, thats not always the case. We make at least a trip to DW each month, and our last trip was great! We met the most wonderful photopass photographer who had actually graduated from the same school as me and knew allot about the college I am going to. All this through him just asking us how we are doing, and being how a cast member should. We also got to meet the head chef when we ate at Boma. He was one of the most busy men I had ever seen, but went out of his way to talk to us and even make us some very good special dessert. Not to mention our waiter was just as great. I also observed a adult couple getting some golden fastpasses and another couple having a happy birthday song sung to them in frontierland by the castmember band that is there.
It just depends on who the castmember is I believe. And I'm at that age where allot of people don't like college age teens, thinking all they are is trouble or grumpy.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. As a mid-20s single, I have noticed some things. However, I have had equally magical experiences that a family never could. As an example, when I went to the World with my ex last year, we got the "Happy Anniversary" buttons and wore them everywhere. The CMs really went out of their way for us, especially at those places that aren't all that family-friendly (PI, California Grill, etc).

One experience in particular seemed very odd to us, however, and that was at the Garden View Lounge in the GF for tea. I had been there previously, and it was very adult. Collared shirts, proper posture, table manners, the whole nine. Last year, however, the tea was open to families, and it was the atmosphere of a character breakfast. The servers were catering to the kids, who were rambunctious and had their faces painted. I had to ask the hostess if we had mistakenly made an ADR for the Princess Tea. She assured me that we hadn't.

I understand the need to cater to families, because that is the "bread and butter" of the Disney dollar. As I said though, I have noticed some things: the menus in the fancier restaurants have been slowly migrated away from the gourmet fare, Stitch replaced AE, Winnie the Pooh replaced Mr. Toad, Nemo replaced LS, etc. All of these could be construed as Disney shifting its attention toward families. Conversely, all of the recent E-ticket attractions (with the exception of TSM) have been unfriendly to children: EE, RnR, M:S, Soarin', LCA, etc. Indeed, I would say that nearly all of Epcot (with the exception of Nemo and JIYI) is oriented towards an older crowd. The same could be said for DHS. If I had young kids, I might skip those two parks entirely, or spend just half a day at each to hit the appropriate attractions.

When it comes down to it, I think a lot of us are kids at heart, and we expect to be treated equally when approaching characters, going on some of the attractions geared toward younger audiences, etc. However, I think it's also a bit naïve to expect that. Those things really aren't designed for us, and I don't blame the CMs for giving precedence to families for those things. I also think we should be thankful that Disney does think of us for the major attractions, and that we do still have some spots for ourselves, like the California Grill, Victoria and Albert's, most of the West Side, most of Epcot, most of DHS, and others. Even though I am pretty annoyed that they're closing PI, I take heart that there ill still be plenty to do.

Plus, Raglan Road will still be there, and that's my favorite bar in the World anyway! :drink:

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Originally Posted by Flanagan

When it comes down to it, I think a lot of us are kids at heart...

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Very well said and thanks for the reminders of all those things Disney that are for just us older kids. :mickeykid