A Not So "Magical" Trip this week

[MommyWithDreams]

Let me start by saying I Love Disneyland, I mean really love the park and this trip didn't change my feeling of that but I felt like my visit this week....didn't have that "magical" vibe I was expecting, especially since it was my first trip during the Holidays. Now, I was with someone that doesn't have the same love that I do for Disney so I will say a lot of it may have been that. I was also without my son which in it self makes it more fun, and having to rush through since I only had the one day may have contributed to things as well.

I will definitely add to my trip report with more details of my trip but here's just a few things that stood out for me.

1.) Trash laying around, and lots of it. After awhile I thought wow I need to start taking pictures because no one would believe me. There was trash in the bushes along the que of that Haunted Mansion. Empty soda bottles and cups. I rode with an empty coke bottle in my bobsled on the Matterhorn. The worst....in Space Mountain. Right towards the end of the line before boarding the coaster there can be two lines, our day only one side was open. The other side had what looked like at least half of someones popcorn bucket was spilled and swept to the other side of the line, TWO empty bottles with the popcorn and the cone from cotton candy. There's NO WAY the Cast Member that was moving up and down that empty isle asking guests how many were in each party could have missed it. But there it sat, and it was still there when we rode it at the end of the night.

2.) Happy Cast members??? WHERE were they on Tuesday? Our Shuttle Driver on the Disneyland Express was friendlier than most Cast Members I came in contact that day. Nothing was said as we came through the front gates at either CA or DL. Ok so no chit chat...not a big deal but we're talking no expressions, smiles or anything from almost 85% of the attractions we visited that day. Service at Cafe Orleans was superb, the waiter made up for the lack of cheerfulness from other CM that day. The happiest ones were in Fantasyland. The CM operating Mr. Toads and Peter Pan gave us the best experience. One CM at the Haunted Mansion was so unbelievably rude and slammed shoulders with me as she walked past me. I know it was just an accident, at least that's what I'm telling myself but she didn't even acknowledge that it happened. I turned around quick saying oh I'm so sorry....but she just kept walking. CM in one of the stores, I asked her a question and she said I'm not sure but I'm going on break, someone else can help you. I completely support her going on a break but her tone was just rude.

3.) Where were the characters??? I went to Disneyland for an entire day and not ONE time did I see Mickey or Minnie. I saw Pluto by the reindeer and believe it or not, Belle and Cinderella near the castle which shocked me since they are Fantasy Faire prisoners. Other than that, I didn't see one character. I attended a Disney Conference and we went back into the park the day of the conference and I did see Mickey and Minnie then but I wasn't able to get pictures or anything that day....I was with the Conference group and not there for park fun, unfortunately.

Again, don't get me wrong I'm not putting down the park....I was just really surprised by my experience. The trash thing shocked me at first but then the fact that I kept seeing it all over just made it worse. The crowds were great, the food wonderful, the castle beautiful, the lines very short, the weather was cool but not awful.....I just wish I was able to experience Disneyland the way I'm used to experiencing it. Anyone else been there recently that experienced anything similiar?

 

[HydroGuy]

We all have really high expectations for Disney parks and rightly so. Disney encourages these expectations and...ahem...charges premium prices for them. So anything less than a premium experience means Disney did not hold up its end.

Yes, they are human and CMs are human. But still Disney needs to strive for perfection. And the thing is they usually do it - which is amazing in itself. But it sounds like they did not in your case.

You might want to forward your concerns to Disney. IMO your comments are especially credible because you had so many other postive things to say.

 

[MonkeyDishwasher]

3.) Where were the characters??? I went to Disneyland for an entire day and not ONE time did I see Mickey or Minnie.

Did you try their houses in Toon Town? They're always advertised to be there, so it seems like a good place to check.

 

[Sherry E]

Janelle -

First of all, I'm sorry we didn't get to meet up! Laurie explained to me the trouble you were having with your phone's battery and trying to connect with her in the park. And I was in the middle of getting sick and having 'friend trouble.' I guess a meet-up was not in the cards.

As you know, your trip fell in the middle of my longer trip, and I must say I definitely saw characters - lots and lots of characters! I saw all sorts of characters (including Mickey and Minnie, among others) in the Winter Sweater gear around Town Square. Pluto was at the Round-Up. I saw the Pooh characters in Critter Country. I saw Buzz Lughtyear and Woody. I saw someone back in Toontown (think it was Goofy). I saw characters such as Sulley, Handy Manny and Phineas and Ferb in California Adventure, as well as another version of Mickey and Minnie (not the Aviator Mickey and Minnie or Vacation Mickey and Minnie, I don't think, but some other version). They were all over the place! I guess you had bad timing and didn't run into many of them?

I didn't notice all the trash. I suppose it was there and I just didn't hit the spots where it was the worst, or maybe I just didn't catch sight of it.

We did encounter a few CM's here and there who were less than chipper - in fact, when the PPH people screwed up my hotel billing and charged me for a night that was supposed to be FREE, I alerted them to this and the CM at the front desk was not particularly friendly or apologetic - but for the most part they seemed to be the usual chipper ones.

My friend was even telling me about a great chat she had with a maintenance CM in a golf cart as he gave her a ride from the PPH to the DLH when she had all her bags in tow.

Otherwise, I had good meals (they suited my taste, anyway) too, and had a wonderful time with some of my old friends for the first couple of days and with my new friends for the last day (I'll try to forget the days in between if I can).

My only real regret is that I didn't have more time by myself because I missed getting to a lot of areas in both parks (to take photos) that I got to last year, due to various circumstances.

 

[Eeee-va]

I'm sorry you had such bad experiences!

I do think a lot of one's experience is clouded by expectations and who you're with. Last year in October I went to the separate-ticketed Halloween party expecting extremely light crowds and hoping to spend lots of time with my brother and sister-in-law, who I don't see that much of. But they went off and did their own thing most of the time, not wanting to be slowed down by my mom (and my friend and I, who like to meet characters). And I found crowds for the party were higher than the crowds during the opening weekend for World of Color in June 2010. (Meanwhile, the crowds in June 2010 surprised me because I was expecting them to be awful and they were fairly light!) So I had fun in October--certainly a better trip than you had--but I didn't enjoy the trip half as much as my previous two (despite being able to roam Disneyland in costume!).

Also, the trip was a one-day trip plus the party, so I'm sure a shorter trip than you're used to makes it less fun.

But my brother and sister-in-law and even my mom, who all had VASTLY different ideas of what the crowds should/would be and what we'd be doing during the trip, all thought the party and trip were both excellent. My mom even wants to go back in October, even though it's the most crowded I'd seen the park since the days before blockouts in June 2009.

I expected CMs to be less than friendly from things I've read on the DISboards lately. And quite a few were cold (though the only one that actually bothered me was the check-in clerk at the Paradise Pier...when you're paying as much for 2 nights at the hotel as you are for your party's 5-day tickets, I expected better than icy service!). But probably half or more of the CMs were smiley and friendly. (Though it may have helped that for about half the time I was holding a tiny Duffy bear and a tiny Shellie May bear and they were really cute.) I was shocked at how young most the CMs looked, and became acutely aware how much younger than myself most of them were, even the attractions CMs who would be in charge of keeping me safe during an emergency. But I'm not entirely sure that can be a complaint! It was just weird.

There have been lots of posts lately on the DISboards how you can meet princesses by the castle, though in a trip where I was in the parks for 4 days (and 4 nights, including arrival night) I only saw one princess there once, so characters can be tricky. At least Mickey and Minnie are at their houses in Toontown. I didn't meet Mickey this trip because the wait was listed at 15 minutes, but I did easily meet Minnie.

I did see a little trash in Disneyland; I would have attributed it to crowds but that doesn't sound like it's the case for you.

 

[Dizzy4DL]

I'm so sorry about your experience. Seeing trash at DL would be a big letdown for me too.
On our last few trips I was surprised several times by rude or uncaring CM's. I don't expect every one of them to break out spontaneously in song (Zip-i-di-do DAHHHHH, Zip-i-di AYYYY!) but many of them could try harder. On Space, Matterhorn and Buzz Lightyear I feel like if I don't move fast(er) while loading and unloading they are going to taser me.

 

[hootey]

I posted about a similiar experience in april of this year a few months ago. I was amazed with the amount of negative comments I recieved. People were upset that I would post such comments. A couple even suggested I stay off the site if I could not say anything positive. Hey what's the deal?
I wish every time we went we were treated to such a great time, that the state would test the drinking water to make sure it was not spiked. Used to be that way til two years ago. What changed? Do not have a clue. We go for a week at a time, staying with disney of course. We get all the extras that go with it, yada, yada, yada.
For one thing the CMs are not as nice & freindly as they were four or five years ago. Yes, the park has more trash than before. Was my trip completely bad? No, it was not. We did have fun and morning madness was just about the hilight of the week. There were enough rude CMs to ruin most of it. The other park guests were a lot nicer and friendlier than the CMs. Will we be going back? Yes, the wife has us booked for another week coming up rather quickly. She has all the extras booked, such as character breakfasts, morning madness, dinners, etc. I do hope it is as fun as it used to be, better would be nice. We will see
As a closing note on the negative side of events, I had an aunt and uncle went to DL last year for the very first time. They were there for about four hours when they said enough and left the park. Uncle said he did not see how we enjoyed going there at all. That was from somebody that is very happy about everything, always looks at the brighter side of things. Will it get better?

 

[HydroGuy]

I posted about a similiar experience in april of this year a few months ago. I was amazed with the amount of negative comments I recieved. People were upset that I would post such comments. A couple even suggested I stay off the site if I could not say anything positive. Hey what's the deal?
I wish every time we went we were treated to such a great time, that the state would test the drinking water to make sure it was not spiked. Used to be that way til two years ago. What changed? Do not have a clue. We go for a week at a time, staying with disney of course. We get all the extras that go with it, yada, yada, yada.
For one thing the CMs are not as nice & freindly as they were four or five years ago. Yes, the park has more trash than before. Was my trip completely bad? No, it was not. We did have fun and morning madness was just about the hilight of the week. There were enough rude CMs to ruin most of it. The other park guests were a lot nicer and friendlier than the CMs. Will we be going back? Yes, the wife has us booked for another week coming up rather quickly. She has all the extras booked, such as character breakfasts, morning madness, dinners, etc. I do hope it is as fun as it used to be, better would be nice. We will see
As a closing note on the negative side of events, I had an aunt and uncle went to DL last year for the very first time. They were there for about four hours when they said enough and left the park. Uncle said he did not see how we enjoyed going there at all. That was from somebody that is very happy about everything, always looks at the brighter side of things. Will it get better?

I don't remember your post but in general how well negative posts are received depends a lot on how they are presented.

There was a poster here a few months ago who started trashing DLR before he left on the trip and then trashed it more once he arrived. Everything was bad. He caught lots of flack here. Partly because so many of us go regularly enough to DLR to know that everything is not bad and it is mostly good and often really good.

The OP in this thread here was pretty even handed and folks have handled it fine. Usually negative posts are accepted just fine when even handed and fair minded.

If this forum ever gets to the point where no one is ever allowed to say negative things about Disney or DLR then I will leave it.

Sorry you had a negative experience on the forum. Hope you try again.

 

[Kidlette]

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. As many people said, with the costs involved in attending a Disney park it is always disappointing to have a bad experience. Personally, my husband and I live in the area and are Disney FANATICS (WDW, DLR, DCL, and DVC) and we typically go to DL every couple of weeks. We have not personally noticed any bad trash situations lately. Maybe on busier days we'll notice a little, but nothing that doesn't get cleaned up - unlike what you saw. We also NEVER encounter negative cast members. As someone else mentioned, the majority of the time Disney and its employees not only meet, but far exceed what's expected of them. An astounding feat in mind. That you had a bad experience is unfortunate, but as someone else mentioned, they are human.

What I find a little ironic in your post was actually your comment that Cafe Orleans was fabulous for you. The 3 or 4 times my husband and I have had a bad Disney experience it was ALWAYS at or because of Cafe Orleans! No joke. For us they are always slow, or rude, or they simply ignore you (not refilling drinks, etc). Last weekend it took them so long to bring our food that my sugar dropped so much (gestational diabetes) that my husband had to go to the little candy cart right outside and get me some pretzels! Yup - I was munching on pretzels when they finally brought our food! One night we were there more than 2 hours because they were "backed up." We would have walked out but couldn't ever get a server to get us our drink bill (even after we said we were unhappy and asked for it)!

Again, I am so sorry to hear that you had a bad experience. We are going to DL again on Sunday and I will keep an eye out for the trash situation. I'll report back if I notice any trash or negative CMs, but hopefully they will have "straightened up" by then! I truly hope you don't give up on Disney, and that your next trip is better!

 

[Eeee-va]

I don't expect every one of them to break out spontaneously in song (Zip-i-di-do DAHHHHH, Zip-i-di AYYYY!) but many of them could try harder. On Space, Matterhorn and Buzz Lightyear I feel like if I don't move fast(er) while loading and unloading they are going to taser me.

We were in Critter Country and a CM was walking along the path whistling "Zip-i-dee-doo-dah." Mom complimented him.

As for Space Mountain, I have heard that if they don't unload the cars quickly enough, the cars will back up and the entire ride will come to an abrupt stop, necessitating an evacuation and restart of the entire ride. That includes clearing out the queue (I don't know how long it takes to get the ride restarted, but I've only heard of people having to exit, not people waiting in line for it to come back up).

That doesn't excuse their treatment of you, but it's a fine line to walk, to try to be friendly but also ensure that they don't have to shut down the ride and kick everyone who's been waiting out of the queue. So I give those CMs a lot of slack.

I don't know what's up with those other two rides, especially Buzz, which is able to stop (or slow down, right?) with no apparent ill effects.

 

[MommyWithDreams]

We all have really high expectations for Disney parks and rightly so. Disney encourages these expectations and...ahem...charges premium prices for them. So anything less than a premium experience means Disney did not hold up its end.

Yes, they are human and CMs are human. But still Disney needs to strive for perfection. And the thing is they usually do it - which is amazing in itself. But it sounds like they did not in your case.

You might want to forward your concerns to Disney. IMO your comments are especially credible because you had so many other postive things to say.

I think it's possible that I did have very high expectations this trip knowing that I was attending a Disney Leadership Conference the next day, I had my eyes and ears open just taking things in from not just a "guest" perspective. As we all know, Disney prides itself on it's service and they often exceed our expecations. All the time, no...but more often than not they go above and beyond. I learned a lot during my conference and I think Disney would appreciate the feedback I could give on this one day. It certainly wasn't an awful trip, just had some things really stand out to me that were definitely out of the norm for Disney.

 

[MommyWithDreams]

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. As many people said, with the costs involved in attending a Disney park it is always disappointing to have a bad experience. Personally, my husband and I live in the area and are Disney FANATICS (WDW, DLR, DCL, and DVC) and we typically go to DL every couple of weeks. We have not personally noticed any bad trash situations lately. Maybe on busier days we'll notice a little, but nothing that doesn't get cleaned up - unlike what you saw. We also NEVER encounter negative cast members. As someone else mentioned, the majority of the time Disney and its employees not only meet, but far exceed what's expected of them. An astounding feat in mind. That you had a bad experience is unfortunate, but as someone else mentioned, they are human.

What I find a little ironic in your post was actually your comment that Cafe Orleans was fabulous for you. The 3 or 4 times my husband and I have had a bad Disney experience it was ALWAYS at or because of Cafe Orleans! No joke. For us they are always slow, or rude, or they simply ignore you (not refilling drinks, etc). Last weekend it took them so long to bring our food that my sugar dropped so much (gestational diabetes) that my husband had to go to the little candy cart right outside and get me some pretzels! Yup - I was munching on pretzels when they finally brought our food! One night we were there more than 2 hours because they were "backed up." We would have walked out but couldn't ever get a server to get us our drink bill (even after we said we were unhappy and asked for it)!

Again, I am so sorry to hear that you had a bad experience. We are going to DL again on Sunday and I will keep an eye out for the trash situation. I'll report back if I notice any trash or negative CMs, but hopefully they will have "straightened up" by then! I truly hope you don't give up on Disney, and that your next trip is better!

Oh it would take much more than one not so magical day trip to get me to give up on Disney. I have much respect for a park that has that many people come through the gates and keep the park in the condition that they do. I wouldn't have thought twice about some trash here and there.....but every time I turned around I was seeing it and CM's were in their own little world. Then the ones that WERE friendly...just made me think of those that weren't, obviously the happy ones really stood out.

Cafe Orleans has always been one of my favorites, not a bad experience yet. Have a great time there this weekend

 

[goofiNess]

Im sorry to hear that your trip to disneyland wasnt as magical as you expected..It gets like that during the holidays and the summer, its just too many people. Hope you have a better experience next time

 

[LisaCat]

Let me start by saying I Love Disneyland, I mean really love the park and this trip didn't change my feeling of that but I felt like my visit this week....didn't have that "magical" vibe I was expecting, especially since it was my first trip during the Holidays. Now, I was with someone that doesn't have the same love that I do for Disney so I will say a lot of it may have been that. I was also without my son which in it self makes it more fun, and having to rush through since I only had the one day may have contributed to things as well.

I will definitely add to my trip report with more details of my trip but here's just a few things that stood out for me.

1.) Trash laying around, and lots of it. After awhile I thought wow I need to start taking pictures because no one would believe me. There was trash in the bushes along the que of that Haunted Mansion. Empty soda bottles and cups. I rode with an empty coke bottle in my bobsled on the Matterhorn. The worst....in Space Mountain. Right towards the end of the line before boarding the coaster there can be two lines, our day only one side was open. The other side had what looked like at least half of someones popcorn bucket was spilled and swept to the other side of the line, TWO empty bottles with the popcorn and the cone from cotton candy. There's NO WAY the Cast Member that was moving up and down that empty isle asking guests how many were in each party could have missed it. But there it sat, and it was still there when we rode it at the end of the night.

I was there Wednesday and Thursday this week. Thursday seemed better, but Wednesday, I agree, the trash was out of control. After the fireworks, the hub area was DIS. GUS. TING. I had met up with a DIS friend (hi, Laurie!) Wednesday and she and I were discussing the amount of trash. I saw empty bottles or cups floating in three different water features, one right in front of the castle - usually they are pretty quick to get those scooped out. Maybe it seemed worse to me because I'm never in the park when it's as crowded as it was Wednesday? I also had more "inching their way forward in the lines" teens on this trip than I've ever encountered before.

 

[DizNee Luver]

I think a bit of the non-magic you were feeling, was doing the park without your right-hand man (my little buddy). I tell you, I felt really weird last spring for the Diva trip. We had always taken the kids on our DL trips & felt it wasn't ok for me to have fun & be kid like. It took 4 days for me to finally let loose of those feelings, relax & let the magic just happen.

The park was filled with pigs!!! I couldn't believe people just dropping their stuff down when they were done with it. After the fireworks Weds. night, I noticed people just leaving all their trash on the ground & sidewalks & loudly said "do you do that in your own house? Maybe I should come to your house & empty out my garbage can". Unbelievable.......but I will say, the janitorial crew was right on top of it as soon as they could get thru the crowd of people.

I didn't really run into the rude CM's. A few stuck out on being super nice & friendly......but for the most part nothing really struck me as being off. (of course I wasn't doing rides that day....so maybe they put the grumpy ones on the attractions)

I think your timing was off when it came to spotting the characters. Up by City Hall was always busy with characters, I saw characters roaming in ToonTown & Critter Country. I actually didn't see any around the castle, but I'm sure my timing was off for that.

Hopefully next time, your experience will be better. I think your anxiety about leaving your son at home & not sure how your travel partner would want to spend the day just added to a busy day at the parks.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm bummed I didn't get to see you!

But from what you posted, I think I was 5 minutes behind you that day, as I kept walking by CMs sweeping and mopping and cleaning up.

And Laurie can attest that the CM when we picked uo keys was actually singing!

I thin that so often it literally can change within minutes...

What I find a little ironic in your post was actually your comment that Cafe Orleans was fabulous for you. The 3 or 4 times my husband and I have had a bad Disney experience it was ALWAYS at or because of Cafe Orleans!

yes, same here. Diva trip the server was terrible, on my birthday our server was even worse...first time I ate there my server made negative comments on how much coffee I drank (they served breakfast while river belle was being refurbed a few years ago)...

 

[LisaCat]

first time I ate there my server made negative comments on how much coffee I drank (they served breakfast while river belle was being refurbed a few years ago)...

You have GOT to be kidding! Not only would that server not get much of a tip from me (if ANY), but I might have responded with a comment that would have been less than "Disneylike" about minding their own beeswax!

 

[rentayenta]

OP, I'm sorry the trip wasn't so magical. I did Disneyland once without my kids- never again. I found it sad and not nearly as magical or as enjoyable without them. I know lots of people love it but part of the magic for me lies within sharing it with those I love most. Sounds like you need a re-do!

 

[rosiep]

Thanks for posting Op! I have to say my last DL trip was not stellar either. I, too, noticed more trash than usual and some pretty unresponsive CM's. (This was in May). It got to be a joke between my daughter and myself as we would go through security I would say "Hi (insert CM name)" and I swear The best I got was a nod! Same thing going through the gates...I would put on my smiliest face and the majority of responses were unenthusiastic. It made me so very sad. I did write to Guest Relations when I got home, being sure to point out with names the CM's that made the trip pleasurable while relating my unhappy encounters.
Please write to Disney of your experiences; I think it's very important for them to know how the parks are being perceived. My last trip sadly made me feel like it was "just" a (gasp) amusement park!!!

I love Disney vacations more than anything, and I save all my pennies to take them.
My next visit is in October and I am going with renewed hope that perhaps it was just a bad dream...a Twilight Zone episode....a Candid Camera joke....

 

[DollBabyKG]

I'm surprised to hear this, because we were there this week, too (Tuesday night was our first day) and we had the opposite experience! We had great cast members (except one bus driver, but hey not everyone can be happy), and saw characters EVERYWHERE. Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Pooh, and Cruella, Pinocchio, Gepetto, and I know there were more. My kids are terrified of them, so we didn't stop, but we saw them all over the place. I'm so sorry you had a tough time. This was our first holiday visit, too, and I was enthralled. I wish you had the same experience, because I know how much I built it up in my mind!