SCAMS in Disney World

not all surprises are good surprises not even in Disney World and if you want to avoid the worst kind of surprises the ones that drain your money prevent you from getting the best savings or might even end with identity theft then keep watching we're gonna keep you safe from all the biggest scams today here on dfb guide [Music] hey everybody it's AJ for Disney food blog now unfortunately just because you've booked a family-friendly vacation in the Disney bubble doesn't necessarily mean you're not going to come across some weird stuff sometimes it feels like you're being scammed by Disney because you're so thrown off by the wording of certain promotions or the promise of a better Park experience and on other occasions you might actually be getting scanned by a crummy person who's working their way into the Disney bubble to ruin your day but don't worry Disney is a very safe place being a safe place for your money and trip on the other hand is a different story and that's why we're making today's video to protect you your hard-earned cash and your Disney vacation at all costs spoiler alert later on we'll be talking about Disney Genie but not in the way you're expecting we won't be getting into the specifics of the Disney Genie planning tool today but if you want to study up on all the details of it during your own time go ahead and scan the QR code you see on the screen right here or head on over to disneyfoodblog.com Disney Genie Plus for a free Ultimate Guide to Disney Genie no scams here Scout's owner just drop us your name and email we'll not only get a free Disney Genie guide sent straight to your inbox but we'll also get you all signed up for our equally as free dfb newsletter you can unsubscribe from it at any time no strings attached and you'll still get to keep the free guide okay now on to something that's way less risk-free this is something we talk about quite a bit on this channel because to me it's it's very confusing and it can be an easy trap that'll trip you up but I'm going to talk about it here at the beginning because I do think it's something that everybody experiences when they're planning a Disney World trip and that's the fine-tuned marketing Disney's got a way with words they hire people who do it the best and when planning your vacation you may notice that Disney World bundles tickets and rooms together with other amenities to make you think you're getting the best deal but these carefully crafted vacation package marketing language things aren't always the cheapest way to purchase your trip before you apply whatever discount you come across to your trip whether it be for individual purchases or bundled packages don't forget to read the fine print at first these deals the Disney pitches may be clearly marketed as a four night five day deal but when you read the fine print you might actually find that you can book that same discount on a shorter trip by using that longer vacation language guests are often convinced that they should book a longer vacation and spend more than they originally intended it's very tricky it's classic marketing stuff but here at dfb when they announce those things we always kind of go in and book mock trips we don't finalize them but we want to go see how many days we actually do have to book to get that discount applied and it is in the fine print we have to kind of Click through several links to get to that fine print on the Disney website so you don't want to fall into that trap if you don't want to take that long a vacation if you just want to stay for the weekend but you still want to use that discount you're seeing click on the special offer and read more about it or just try to book the vacation with that offer and see if you're able to often in teeny tiny print you're going to find that your weekend getaway is also eligible for these same kinds of savings usually Disney will allow you to book these discounts on a two-night vacation package or more or a two-night room only or more and sometimes it's even one night so it's definitely worth worth checking now another thing that can happen with that marketing language sometimes Disney will have special offers going on that discount separate hotel rooms or ticket purchases that you're not going to be able to combine into a vacation package so you may have a room only discount or just a ticket discount and then there are other times that only vacation packages are going to be discounted making a bundle deal a better deal it all depends on what you're seeing on the special offers deals and discounts page on the Disney World site do the math see which route will be the cheaper one for you during the time you're visiting and then go with the path that'll save you the most next thing that can trip you up cheap tickets at the cost of your time so Disney park tickets do not come cheap so when there's a third party company out there offering to Fork them over for half the price or even less you don't need to take the deal what you need to do is run sometimes you'll see these big time ticket promotions on billboards or buildings throughout the Orlando area but what you'll come to find out later is that these companies are promoting big Disney Savings in our actually trying to sell you a time share and no this isn't the Disney Vacation Club we're talking about this is a whole different timeshare that's not owned by Disney but is ready to sell you cheapened tickets as long as you take a big chunk of time out of your Disney vacation to listen to someone try to sell you property in Orlando that you're not intending to buy now if you really are looking to buy property in Orlando then hey a reliable timeshare service might be able to scratch your back while you scratch theirs but when it comes to suspiciously low Park ticket offers use your best judgment Disney usually does not discount tickets and doesn't let anybody discount tickets more than a few bucks at a time some non-disney Affiliated sales people could try to use pressuring techniques which can make a lot of people uncomfortable even if you know you don't want to buy the East Coast property anytime soon but an even worse cheap ticket scam that you're not going to want to fall into are the sketchy third-party sites that are selling them online take eBay for example that's the website where pretty much anyone can sell anything it might be tempting to buy tickets that have been and partially used on eBay but there's no guarantee that those tickets are valid you could be in for a nightmare situation when you arrive at Disney World you scan your ticket only to find out it's not usable then you're out the money you had to spend for a fake ticket and you still have to pay for the cost of a valid ticket here's a little bit of history on that Disney tickets used to have no expiration dates you could use them anytime for the rest of your life and there are still some tickets floating around out there that have no expiration date that's usually what they're trying to sell you now it may or may not work because now Disney has to associate a person with a ticket so stay far far away from these the same goes for pre-owned Magic bands because they might not work if the magic band was already registered to somebody else you won't be able to use it yourself once a Magic Band has been linked to a Disney account it cannot be shared with someone else unless they are unlinking it and you're going through a whole process likewise you do not want to buy Disney park event tickets on eBay if someone's selling a Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party ticket for a sold out day for way more than they paid for it just skip this one if you buy event tickets directly from Disney it specifically states that tickets are non-transferable and non-refundable and may not be resold so if someone is selling tickets on eBay they've already gone against the policy and those tickets are immediately null and void the best place for you to find legitimate discounted tickets is through Disney directly on their special offers deals and discounts page that we mentioned on the previous point but travel agents can also help you find the cheapest ticket offerings that are legitimate we always work with Small World Vacations as you know they are completely legit they are very reliable and you can use their very very handy planning Services completely free so if you're interested in working with a travel agent I'm going to link their info Down Below in the comments and they can kind of help keep you scam free when it comes to getting tickets and figuring all that stuff out all right we got to talk about the pizza Flyers right this is a new scam we've been hearing about from a few folks out there and we've seen it in our rooms in Disney World as well if you want to order pizza in Disney World you may be tempted by a pizza flyer that's been shoved under your hotel room door but don't use it many of Disney's Resorts used to offer their own pizza delivery service but in-room dining for all resorts besides Grand Floridian has been suspended until further notice however if it was still offered you'd see the menus for those delivery options in your room on a cardboard placard with the Disney logo so in many cases these pizza Flyers are scams that are trying to steal your credit card number it's been a huge issue in the Orlando area and there are now laws against it and Disney will actually put a note in your room not to use these pizza Flyers so if you see one just throw it away done and done to get pizza delivered to your hotel even while in-room dining is still M.I.A you can always use a delivery service app like ubereats or doordash to have pizza delivered to you from outside the Disney bubble just keep in mind that these delivery services won't be able to bring your food right up to your hotel room door so you'll have to pick it up at Bell Services instead then bring it up to your room from there most Resort quick Services also have whole pizza pies for sale even if they're not currently delivering them so if you don't want to wait for your pizza to be made and delivered you can find it faster by just picking it up hot and ready at your hotel's fast food location instead so let's talk about single Rider lines which are usually awesome except when they're not so there's a third Q option for a few Disney rides that you don't have to pay for but can often still cut down all your line waiting and that's those single Rider cues typically the single Rider line moves much more quickly than the regular standby line since there aren't nearly as many solo Park guests or guests who are willing to split up their group several times before I've been able to get in the single Rider line for Expedition Everest over an animal kingdom and pretty much walk onto the ride but then there are the single Rider lines that can be major bummers because they turn out being just as long of Weights if not longer than the regular Q the single Rider Q I'm talking about here is rock and roller coaster over Hollywood Studios and that's because their single Rider Q is literally so long all the time of course there might occasionally be an exception to this so make sure to check wait times before you get in line or talk to the cast member up front because they're going to give it to you straight it's also worth noting that the single Rider line for Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run also in Hollywood Studios can feel a little bit scammy not because you're not going to get a short order weight most of the time the single Rider line for Smugglers Run really will get you on the ride much much faster but if you choose to wait in this line rather than in the main line you're never or rarely ever going to get to beat the pilot which is of course the best seat on Falcon and that's because cast members use the single Rider line to fill in the remaining available spaces of an attraction more often than not those pilot seats are going to be claimed immediately by the guests who waited in the main queue meanwhile guests waiting in the single Rider won't be able to ask for certain seat selections they'll just have to go where they're needed there are definitely pros and cons to the single Rider line but if you're really wanting to bypass those major lines without purchasing Genie plus you'll be better off hitting up these attractions at the very start or very end of your Park day if you're staying at a Disney owned Resort you'll have access to early theme park entry which is going to let you get into each of the parks 30 minutes before they open giving you the upper hand when it comes to getting ahead of the lines and if you're staying at a Disney Deluxe Resort you could have access to extra extended evening hours allowing you to stay in select parks on certain nights up to two hours after they close for all other guests which is another Surefire way to skip all the extra waiting around now let's talk pins Disney sells pins everywhere around property in the Parks and the resorts in Disney Springs and the water parks even and that's because pin trading is such a popular activity among several Disney Resort guests for those of you who are unfamiliar with how pin trading Works here's a brief rundown you can buy authentic Disney pins from any of the Disney World shops then while you're roaming around the different areas around the Disney bubble if you come across a cast member pin board that has a pin you've just gotta have you can swap one of your pins for the pin on their board it's a ton of fun and a great activity for collectors both younger and older but this activity becomes not so fun when other people ruin it for everyone else here's the thing Disney pin trading is only supposed to work with authentic Disney pins but thanks to third-party websites like eBay again and sometimes even Amazon where anybody can sell anything Disney pins are often sold in bulk from these sites claiming to be authentic and eligible for Disney World pin trading unfortunately when you purchase pins in mass quantities like that for way cheaper prices you're more than likely paying for what Disney fans often refer to as Scrapper pins which are knockoffs of the real ones Scrapper pins might not be easy to identify right off the bat but upon closer inspection you'll notice the quality is way cheaper and the pins will have Jagged edges the paint Scheme will be off the characters on the pins will be discolored they're just not going to look as good even gift shops around the Orlando area that are not Disney owned are liable to sell these Scrapper pins too but here's a really crummy thing about all this those Scrappers aren't supposed to be traded in the park they often are either on purpose or by accident so Disney's pin boards end up with more fake pins than real ones nowadays this is why we can't have nice things before you trade your nice authentic Disney pin for one that you see on one of Disney's pin boards look at the quality of the pin you're wanting first and make sure it's the real deal again the signs you'll need to look for in order to spot a fake pin are a botched paint job roughened edges even the way the Mickey heads on the back of the pin may not come all the way off the edge wrapper pin will have Mickey heads with a pattern that stops right before it reaches the Border if you're afraid of trading your beautimous and expensive Disney park pin at the risk of accidentally picking up a phony but you still want to be part of the pin trading game try picking up a starter kit lanyard from one of the Disney owned gift shops that way you'll be able to start off with four to eight different pins that are cheaper rather than trading off that one nice pin you got sometimes you might even be able to find these starter pin sets on sale on the shop Disney website so before your trip search for disneypins at shopdisney.com just to see what may be available for you at a discounted price now I said it before and I'll say it again Disney's away with words for Better or For Worse Disney knows exactly how to trigger your must buy now sense with their key call to action phrases claiming certain items to be limited edition or exclusive during specific times of the year which is true they are even if you thought a certain Disney item was kind of cute before there's now this sense of panic that's likely to take over when you learn that said item could sell out and not be available the next time you visit suddenly that kind of cute item turns into a I will trade my left kidney for this item sort of ordeal and when you finally come too after the Panic subsides you might look down at your prize and wonder why did I need this popcorn bucket the thing is Disney launches a lot of limited time snacks and souvenirs pretty much every month if not every week and that's because they want you to feel like you're missing out if you're not buying the latest designer Margarita or holiday spirit jersey or seasonal soap dispenser with the Mickey head foam though those are pretty cool I have a lot of them to keep the power of fomo at Bay and to make sure you're only purchasing items you really want to purchase while you're in the park here are some ways you can keep your wits about you first do your research research is super useful not only when you're trying to figure out which Resort Hotel to choose or dining reservations to book and lightning Lanes but it also helps you to come up with a realistic souvenir budget ahead of time too Second Use shop Disney yep it's not just pins you can purchase over there it's a lot of theme park merch even the limited edition stuff on occasion so even if you don't get that exclusive item inside the park you might still be able to get it online after you leave or even before you get there and you're already doing your research here you're checking the dfb reviews first before you purchase that Disney snack solely because it's only going to be around for the holiday season head over to dfb read up on our reviews because we eat everything that comes to the park and our reporters are really good at trying all this stuff and being very honest about how it is now we try not to say something is really good or really bad because how's that helpful to you right we try to tell you what it's like so that you know if this is going to be something you're going to enjoy or not and we all also have that full snack guide and dining guides featured on dfbstore.com two you can type in the code YouTube to save money on your guidebook purchases there but that's where we've got everything we've eaten on pictures of them and all the details about them but whatever way you want to research up on your limited time Disney foods and snacks whether it be through our guidebooks or website YouTube channels social media sites we'll make sure you're not just throwing away your money on a limited time item just because the power of fomo is compelling we'll make sure you legitimately want to try a certain food or snack and won't walk away with Buyers regret in the end okay wait what Disney's asking me to leave the park and the Sun is still out what is up with that well okay there are times when Disney has to close their Parks early whether it be for cast member training or private events or more commonly an after hours event party in the case of Magic Kingdom holiday after hours events like Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party start up around 7 PM so all other guests who don't have an after hours ticket will be asked to leave at six meaning you just paid full price for a Magic Kingdom ticket only to be kicked out of the park early no dinner no fireworks no nighttime rides that's a major bummer or is this really a bummer after all while you can double check the hours and events calendar on the Disney World website to plan around these shortened days ahead of your trip there are some folks out there who actually specifically choose the shorter days over the longer ones why is that well because the crowd levels on party mornings can be really light we're talking shorter wait times clearer reviews of the Festival of fantasy parade and best of all more room to breathe so if you don't mind sacrificing the nighttime spectacular in exchange for more Elbow Room then you might still be getting your money's worth by reserving your spot in the park for a short and park day instead of a full one but remember this tip isn't always guaranteed so you may have spent a bunch of money for a short and park day and not gotten the lower crowds so we're just trying to give you all your options now I know you're expecting me to talk about Disney Genie plus being a a scam because it's now charging you for a line bypassing service that used to be free and while I admit Disney Genie plus can be very frustrating at times those lightning Lanes can also be wildly useful on busy Park days okay so what's the scam here then if it's not about the money then what is it it's about control according to the Wall Street Journal each of the Disney parks has an operation center with a heat map which tells operators where Genie users are in the Parks via GPS technology then the park operators use this information to direct traffic by notifying guests about the shortest lines in food and merchandise promotions to spread the crowds out around the park where they need them to be Josh demaro the chairman of Disney Parks experiences and products stated this about Disney Genie quote if I'm seeing too much activity on the west side of the park I'm able to direct people to the east side our attractions will be load balanced better and lines will be shorter and what that means is the experience will be better unquote now the idea of Disney Genie tracking you throughout the day might make you feel uneasy but Disney doesn't do it to be creepy they do it to try to alleviate places in the park that are getting too bottlenecked with guests that being said the suggestions Disney Genie is giving you aren't necessarily based on your personal preferences they're based around crowd levels and the park may be trying to herd you elsewhere to break up the traffic for certain rides and attractions it's okay to listen to Disney Genie's recommendations especially if you're on the search for lower crowds too but make sure you've also got your own personal itinerary that you can refer back to as well because not every suggestion that Genie is going to give you will be the correct suggestion for you especially if they start recommending that you need to hit up attractions like the Seas with Nemo and friends in Epcot or it's tough to be a bug in Animal Kingdom which never have long Waits you'll ever need to worry about my advice make sure you got your own must Do's already listed out and keep an eye on ride wait times ahead of your trip on the My Disney Experience app so you can get an idea of how popular and how busy each ride gets at certain times a day that way you'll know exactly what you want to prioritize in the Parks and what you should be prioritizing and instead of having Disney tell you what they want you to prioritize now we're going to talk about Park Hoppers next Park hopping is not a scam but it's sure it shows like it sometimes Park Hoppers are ones to your Disney World Park ticket that allows you to visit more than one park per day fantastic on every level if you and your family are the type of folk who like to squeeze in every possible Disney activity you can fit into a single Park day but since you can't start Park hopping until after 2PM each day at least for now and a good chunk of time can be taken out of your day thanks to Transportation time between Parks you might be pretty hesitant on locking in those Park Hoppers ahead of your trip and that's fine you can keep mulling it over and studying up on what you actually will be signing up for with the park hopper add-on even up until you get to the parks and after because if you want to hold off until you get to Disney World to decide whether or not you want to add this feature you can still add it to your standard One Park per day tickets at the same price it would have been had you bought the park hopper add-ons to start with but here's where things start to feel weird whenever you add on Park hopping capabilities whether online or in person Disney will charge you for all of the days you have tickets for even if you were just wanting to use Park Hoppers on one day and that means if you decide to pay in person in for your park hopper on day three of your five day ticket you're still gonna get charged for Park Hoppers on days one and two even though they've already come and gone so it doesn't matter whether you buy those Park Hoppers on day one or day three or day five of your trip it's still going to be the same price no matter what even if you don't end up using the park hopper benefit until the very end of your trip so if you want to buy those Park Hoppers once you're in Disney just be sure to buy them sooner rather than later so you get the most for your money and along the same lines as Park Hoppers we're going to talk about Disney Dining Plan and the only reason this can be a scam is if you don't know how to use it and you don't use it well so there are people who love the Disney Dining Plan there are people who hate the Disney Dining Plan and then there are those who have no idea what I'm talking about right now the Disney Dining Plan is returning to the vacation package scene for all trips taking place from January 9th 2024 and Beyond at least you're able to add the Disney Dining Plan to all trips taking place January 9th 2024 and Beyond and the Disney Dining Plan came in about 2005 and it was super popular right up until 2020 when the parks closed and the Disney Dining Plan was removed until now now the Disney Dining Plan isn't a flat out scam not at all many people are thrilled that they no longer have to pay out of pocket for each of their meals on property they can pre-pay for all of those meals however the Disney Dining Plan isn't exactly a way to save money on food which is a lot of times what people think it is Disney prices the DDP for both its standard and Quick Service options at the highest possible costs that they can based around their in-park data of what people eat in Disney World and how much they pay for meals so the way they price that Disney Dining Plan is for the highest average amount of food that people eat in Disney World so if you purchase the Disney Dining Plan there's a good chance you're going to be paying for more food than you would want to eat in one day so Disney still comes out on top and makes a profit but all hope is not lost there are still plenty of ways for you to get your money's worth out of your Disney Dining Plan credits and we've done all that math for you we've actually got a brand new Disney Dining Plan guide on the dfb store website we've also got tons of resources about how to gauge if it makes sense to get the Disney Dining Plan in our blog posts as well so just to give you a taste of what you're going to find here are a few of our best DDP table service and Quick Service suggestions that will get you a good reliable Roi for your Disney Dining Plan money first Garden Grill Garden Grill is a character dining location in Epcot where you can meet farmer Mickey and Chippendale and Pluto it's one of my favorite restaurants not only do you get more one-on-one character time here than you might get at a place like Cinderella's Royal table or Chef Mickey's where there are just way more people but the portion sizes are very very nice this is all you can eat and there's a great variety of very fresh food it comes right to your table you don't have to deal with a buffet and this location doesn't ever get too busy it's also a slowly rotating restaurant which is awesome so basically everything comes together at Garden Grill to be one of the best character meals if not the best character meal now at Ohana in Disney's Polynesian Village Resort you're gonna find delicious all you can eat family style Polynesian food now depending on where you're seated you might also see the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the windows if you time dinner just right and the restaurant will dim the lights and play the music to happily ever after as you stuff your face with loads of noodles which sounds like the perfect evening but Ohana is also pretty expensive so the fact that you can still get this for one Disney Dining Plan Credit is a huge deal now Columbia Harbor House over at Magic Kingdom it's one of our favorite spots there's tons of indoor seating particularly upstairs and the menu options are more unique than some of the other Quick Service spots in Magic Kingdom lots of surf and turf to choose from here to make the most of your credit opt for some of the pricier options like the lobster roll for 16.99 New England shrimp boil for 15.99 or grilled shrimp skewer for 14.29 an ABC commissary in Hollywood Studios has improved tenfold over the years and now has much more elevated eats than it used to some of the pricier options on the menu include the shrimp tacos for 12.99 chicken club sandwich for 12.79 and the pretty fantastic Mediterranean salad with chicken for 12.29 now flame tree barbecue is an incredibly popular quick service location in Animal Kingdom that serves Hardy portions of barbecue Classics some of the higher priced items here include the ribs chicken and pulled pork sampler for 18.99 the St Louis rib dinner for 16.49 and the ribs and chicken combo for 15.69 like I said earlier Disney World Is Not An unsafe place where you're going to be needing to check behind your shoulder every few seconds to make sure the coast is clear but you also want to keep your head about you before jumping into any major Disney park decisions mull it over and don't automatically assume that the person with the offer on the other end always has your best intentions at heart but you know who does want to make sure you're saving more money where you can and having the best park Day Ever we do so keep checking back here with the dfb team and we'll continue to keep you updated on all the latest Disney news and info and cautionary tales cause believe me we've made all these mistakes and we can help you not make them thanks for listening everyone and thanks for watching as always this is AJ for Disney food blog and we'll see you real soon [Music]

Channel: DFBGuide

Views: 324,865

Keywords: disneyfood, disney, disney world, disneyland, disneyvideo, disneyvacation, food, disney parks, disney travel, disney tips, disney guides, disney planning, disney trip, disney how to, disney vlog, disney vlogger

Id: G0ESeVGKMXA

Length: 26min 13sec (1573 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 14 2023