A very disappointing visit - results of my email to DLR 7/9

[Disneydebbie1]

I echo the recommendation to write Disneyland and tell them about your day. I would even include copies of your RSR fast passes and anything else that can help your argument. It is very frustrating when there are so many closures. Not that it is any consolation to you, Indiana Jones and RSR are both new ride technology plus IJ just had major upgrades so there are always kinks to work out. These problems don't show up until the rides are being pushed to their limits with summer crowds. I agree that your day failed to meet your expectations and I would let Disney know. You might even get a response. I agree that you did a lot of park hopping in one day! I am a local and don't go back and forth that much!.

 

[DHSbutcher]

The ride technology that RSR and Indy are, as well as Test Track and Dinosaur at WDW have a lot of shut downs because the tracks are extremely sensitive. If someone loses a hat on the ride, the ride has to close and be reset.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

It sounds to me like you're blaming DLR for your own decisions that negatively impacted your visit. You say your trip was well researched, so reading your trip report, I had to wonder about several things.

Why did you visit TSMM first instead of using wide right to head directly to RSR, which you would have been able to ride immediately, and then heading to TSMM, which still would have had a short line? I also wondered why you complained about TSMM since you actually did get to ride it.

Why did you complain about SOC operating only one side? It's completely normal for SOC to operate only one side at DCA depending on crowd levels, especially first thing in the morning. It's not as insanely popular as at Epcot.

Why did you park hop multiple times in a single day? Once or twice I could understand, but not several times. It sounds like you fixated on a very few rides and arrived with a very short temper, bouncing back and forth instead of having patience and experiencing the uniqueness of DLR.

With that in mind, why did you jump off line for Indy and then complain about it? You had the chance to ride, you could have waited out the down time. You chose not to do so. It isn't as if rides don't go down for brief periods on both coasts all the time. You say that hasn't been your experience but since Splash is a family favorite of yours I find that very hard to believe, because Splash goes down at Magic Kingdom *all the time*.

You also don't seem to have visited DLR like you were actually at DLR. TSMM and BTMRR, and to a great extent Splash, are very similar to their WDW counterparts. Beyond Pirates, why didn't rides that are actually substantially different in Anaheim or simply absent in Orlando figure in your touring plan? The markedly different Tower of Terror and Space Mountain? Matterhorn Bobsleds? Mr. Lincoln? Autopia? Fantasyland *at all*?

As far as not wanting to pay for two days to visit DLR, ignoring all of the above, you do realize that DL and DCA together contain as many rides as all four WDW parks put together, right? So expecting to see everything you want to see at DLR in one day is not an easily achievable goal in the first place. And for a visit that sounded very important to you, it sounds like you spent a lot more time at your hotel in the middle of the day than in the parks. Actions speak louder than words, so I'm not really getting your visit to the parks was as important as your annoyance is making it out to be.

I've experienced DLR at its peak-season holiday crowded worst, had my Annual Pass barcode completely fail over a multi-day visit, stood in hot sun in many long lines, been walked off of several rides, experienced ride breakdowns while waiting in line, dodged surly guests, arrived a day after the unexpectedly early beginning of an 18-month refurb of my favorite ride, and managed to be pooped on by the only living bird on the Jungle Cruise. And it still sounds like I've never been as annoyed at DLR as you seem to be.

All I can say is had you been better prepared, a lot more easy going, and open to the fact that you were actually at DLR instead of chasing down your favorites from WDW and getting angry when that strategy didn't work the way you intended, you might actually have enjoyed being at DLR. You deserved to let yourself have a good time.

 

[losfp]

Well it sounds like the OP had a super-unlucky day. We were at DLR in Oct 2012 for 6 days and I can say honestly that excluding scheduled maintenance (IASW and IJ were down for the entirety of our trip), we didn't encounter a single broken-down ride or excessive wait. Maybe we were lucky. Maybe we spaced our touring out enough that a single hiccup wouldn't derail the entire day. We only hopped at most once, maybe twice a day. We were there 30 minutes before rope drop each day, and got most of our rides done before lunchtime, then just cruised.

Unfortunately the OP had a very tight schedule to work with, so each issue just made it worse and worse. Sorry to hear you had such a bad time, I can't say we had the same experience ourselves.

 

[Viva Las Disney]

Sorry you had such a bad day... smaller crowds, shorter lines, better versions of the duplicate rides, easier to get around and better weather are usually a winning combination that puts DL ahead of WDW in my book but when multiple majors are down it pretty much eliminates most of those advantages.

DLR can be done in one day if you are only hitting the majors but it's a tight schedule. I'd highly recommend you try it again if you're ever in the area but allow a couple days to really see it all, trying to do DLR in one day is the same as trying to do all 4 WDW parks in 2 days, technically it can be done but you're leaving no room for unexpected problems or lines and it makes it tough to relax and enjoy it.

 

[nunzia]

I doubt we'll be back. I prefer not to be a fool twice.

Wow..that's a bit harsh. I understand you only had 1 day and it's unfortunate you had ride issues, but Disneyland is MUCH more than the big rides. If all you did all day was bounce from park to park collecting fastpasses and trying to hit big rides, you really did not give the parks a fair shot, and are judging the whole resort unfairly. I'd suggest you plan a normal DLR trip..say 3-4 days, in a not busy time of year, and give it a real try out. What you did would be like me going to WDW for 1 day and then hating it because I couldn't do the only 6 things I had my mind set on.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Our trip wasn't centered around DL, we visited several areas of CA from San Diego up to San Fran. We had planned to add a day if we felt like there was more to see but frankly, I shouldn't have to pay for 2 days instead of 1 because they can't keep the attractions in decent working order. We would have had more than enough time in the 1 full day to see all we planned and had the rides not been in such a sorry state we could have easily hit all of our "must dos". I can understand a few hiccups but it seems from reading here and from speaking to other park goers during our visit that it's quite common for Splash, IJ, RSR and several other attractions to be down throughout the day. In all our visits to WDW and US Orlando, I've never run into anything like this. The only ride i ever recall being down at WDW is Fast Track.

I was going to stop at guest services to complain on our way put but I really didn't want to aggravate myself further. I'll be sending them my thoughts via email which I'm sure will fall on deaf ears. There's really nothing they can do to make it right.

Sorry you had such a bad experience at DL. I think it is a little unrealistic to try to experience both parks in one day though as they both have full day experiences. I do question your well researched plan, as you seemed to do a lot of things that you as a WDW vet could do at WDW. When visiting a new Disney park it would make more sense to visit the unique attractions first. That was our plan the first time we visited DL.

Also what ride at Walt Disney World is Fast Track? Been there lots of times and I've never seen that attraction. Perhaps you mean Test Track. And that ride does break down a lot, and its ride vehicle design is similar to Radiator Springs Racers (which is why that ride frequently goes down too).

 

[2boysmom1998]

Sorry you had a bad experience. I've taken 4th trips to DL, I'm going on my 5th soon. Not every day is perfect but I still love it. I've taken 3 trips to WDW and have not had good experiences there, I'm not a fan of WDW and do not plan on going back again.

 

[momof2n2]

OP - I don't even know if you are bothering to come back with so much negativity being thrown at you. I, for one, deeply sympatize with you. This. Day. Sucked. I'm so sorry.

I don't get these responses. I guess you are only supposed to come to these boards to say how great DLR is, or something. Until this thread I had been super-thrilled with the lack of OP-bashing on this board compared to what goes on over on the WDW pages.

Why say she should spend have spent more days there? Or that she had unrealistic expectations?

OP NEVER said she expected to do everything at both parks. And they only wanted to use one day of the vacation for park touring. (There are a lot of other things to do in CA!) They had a list of 10-12 attractions as the goal, and they were willing to hoof it back-and-forth to see them. The only "problem" with the plan was that stuff kept breaking down.

If I only had one day to spend at DLR (whether by choice or necessity) I, too, would have a specific list of what I wanted to see. For folks to suggest that she could still have had a nice day by doing other attractions is like me saying you should go watch a basketball game when you wanted to go to a football game.

We canned our WDW trip for this past May because I wasn't willing to risk not getting on our favorite rides as FP+ was not looking too inviting to us off-site folks. For me Disney IS rides and attractions. I'm not going to say, "Well, at least I watched that street performer," or "Well, at least that muffin was good." No. If I don't get into or onto the attractions that I care for, it's not a good day at Disney.

OP - I get your regret. That was a boatload of money to shell out to not get to do your rides. I do wonder why you left mid-day. (Was your mother or daughter tired?) I'm sorry it stunk and I don't blame you for not wanting to risk it again.

I've been to WDW at dozen (?) times as an adult, and I've only ever had to content with TT being closed. If it happened more frequently on my visits, I certainly would have had less visits over all. Broken rides annoy me. I don't drink the Kool-Aid and IMO if a ride is prone to closure, shut it down for as long as it takes to fix it properly.

I hope the rest of your trip rocked. And I do hope you can write a great, factual account of your day and send it to DLR. I do think it will fall on deaf ears, but at least you will have seen the complaint through to completion.

 

[Jennafoo]

It's funny...I read your post and thought, "Wow. They got to do a LOT in one day! Sounds like fun."

Life is never perfect. But ignoring all the good parts of that day and focusing on the bad, well...

 

[deanimal]

It sounds very disappointing! We went for a two day trip with a friend back in November and were very unhappy when several things were closed or cancelled since it was probably going to be her only chance to see Disneyland with her kids. However, I was aware that I was taking a risk by going for such a short period of time. RSR was closed for much of the day, Soarin kept closing off and on and even the Little Mermaid ride, one of my daughter's favourites, suddenly shut down after we trekked across the park in the pouring rain to visit.

But maybe I could gently suggest that some of the negative responses here are because attitude is just as important as circumstances. I'm not saying that Disneyland doesn't have some responsibility to do more to keep their rides running, but when crappy things happen you can either dwell on it or focus on the what did go right. We started to get really frustrated part way through the day with all the closures and changes in plans, but we sort of stopped and re-grouped and decided that we were going to set an example for the kids and not get down about it. I also decided that our next family trip would be five days long to minimize the risks of these temporary closures. I agree that Disneyland should do more to avoid the glitches and issues, but I hope you get the chance to return.

 

[sharona]

On the bright side, you managed to ride 8 big ticket rides - BTMRR twice! - with a shocking level of park hopping (and with summer crowds to boot), and your mom is very spry to be able to scoot back and forth between the Parks so many times in one day!

Yes, my mom is a dynamo and has more energy than many people half her age. Still, she didn't hop back and forth with us each time. I went once alone to get FPs and since mom doesn't enjoy heights she shops or sits in the shade while Dd and I cross the parks for those type of rides. She enjoys the atmosphere on Main St and is happy to browse while we ride or wait in line. Thanks to texting, we can always find her easily.

 

[whoever]

Expectations and Attitude. I find if you have appropriate versions of both, you'll have a stupendous time no matter what. I've had a better and better and better time every time I've gone despite closed attractions, 101s, not getting to do what I had planned, etc.

 

[mom2rtk]

I knew when I saw the title that this wouldn't go well for you OP. So sorry. You spent $450 and were met with ride issue after ride issue. That's just not right. If it's unreasonable to expect to pluck off some favorites in both parks in a single day, then Disney should cease selling one day park hoppers immediately. Instead what did they do? They raised the price to $150 this year.

You have to understand that many here have APs and cannot appreciate the point of view of a single day visitor, both in terms of the cost wrapped up in that day and the frustration of knowing that you can't just pop back over to the park next weekend or next month for a do-over (at no additional cost).

I'd be disappointed too.

 

[sharona]

OP - I don't even know if you are bothering to come back with so much negativity being thrown at you. I, for one, deeply sympatize with you. This. Day. Sucked. I'm so sorry.

I don't get these responses. I guess you are only supposed to come to these boards to say how great DLR is, or something. Until this thread I had been super-thrilled with the lack of OP-bashing on this board compared to what goes on over on the WDW pages.

Why say she should spend have spent more days there? Or that she had unrealistic expectations?

OP NEVER said she expected to do everything at both parks. And they only wanted to use one day of the vacation for park touring. (There are a lot of other things to do in CA!) They had a list of 10-12 attractions as the goal, and they were willing to hoof it back-and-forth to see them. The only "problem" with the plan was that stuff kept breaking down.

If I only had one day to spend at DLR (whether by choice or necessity) I, too, would have a specific list of what I wanted to see. For folks to suggest that she could still have had a nice day by doing other attractions is like me saying you should go watch a basketball game when you wanted to go to a football game.

We canned our WDW trip for this past May because I wasn't willing to risk not getting on our favorite rides as FP+ was not looking too inviting to us off-site folks. For me Disney IS rides and attractions. I'm not going to say, "Well, at least I watched that street performer," or "Well, at least that muffin was good." No. If I don't get into or onto the attractions that I care for, it's not a good day at Disney.

OP - I get your regret. That was a boatload of money to shell out to not get to do your rides. I do wonder why you left mid-day. (Was your mother or daughter tired?) I'm sorry it stunk and I don't blame you for not wanting to risk it again.

I've been to WDW at dozen (?) times as an adult, and I've only ever had to content with TT being closed. If it happened more frequently on my visits, I certainly would have had less visits over all. Broken rides annoy me. I don't drink the Kool-Aid and IMO if a ride is prone to closure, shut it down for as long as it takes to fix it properly.

I hope the rest of your trip rocked. And I do hope you can write a great, factual account of your day and send it to DLR. I do think it will fall on deaf ears, but at least you will have seen the complaint through to completion.

Thank you for actually reading my post and getting my point. Yes we could have stayed longer on the chance that RSR would be ok the next day and that IJ would not break again while we were in line, but I wasn't about to throw good money after bad. To those who question my attitude, I'm sorry that I'm not happy with Disney right now. I was very positive while there and did make the best of it but that doesn't change the fact that it was a disappointment. If I thought this was a one time glitch I would chalk it up to bad luck but, as stated earlier, I' heard plenty in the parks about how common it is for these big ticket rides to break down and others who are considering visiting should know the truth, not some rose colored version. And it wasn't the weather that caused the issues, it was a typical gorgeous SoCal June day. Maintenance issues are within the control of the park and they should be addressed.

 

[smiles33]

I sympathize with your frustration and can understand your frustration. I do hope you'll consider giving DLR a chance again, as I think it's a really special place when things go right. We, too, had a disappointing trip this most recent visit but it was mostly related to a very frustrating stay at DLH. Like you, I had researched the tip and went in with what I thought were reasonable expectations of good service and special Disney touches when staying on-site, like seeing characters in the lobby, having CM recognize my DD5's birthday with a greeting or signed photo, and other FREE experiences (not expecting the room upgrades some people have had, balloons, etc. that cost money). They weren't met at all--in fact, we didn't even get basic customer service like after we paid for a cabana rental and not having a waiter check on us voluntarily at least once during those 3 hours--DH had to get up off the chaise lounger and chase someone down each time we ordered!) and I left saying I'm never staying at DLH again.

Have you written to Disney? When I did, I got a cursory response and a reference to how I should have complained in person. We left our cabana rental early because we were hungry and didn't want to wait another hour for our waiter to appear (every CM we stopped said only he could take our order and that "I'll send him to you" but the guy was terrible!). I called the customer service CM who responded to my email and told him this and his reply was basically, "Well, we will make sure to alert the managers of the cabana staff...."

Anyhow, needless to say, it helps to vent and warn others here (and on TripAdvisor), but don't expect much from DLR customer device.

 

[CAFarmerGirl]

As an annual pass holder, when we don't get to ride the rides due to technical difficulties, we just figure we will do it next time.

However, even I was frustrated on our last trip with all the ride closures. We paid premium to stay on site, only to find CS and TSMM both closed on our early morning. Then, the early morning at Disneyland was crazy! PP was a 40 min wait, bobsleds were down, star tours was down and space was closed. We gave up and spent half an hour waiting for the gates to open for the BTRR. When the gates opened, people *ran* and the 10 or so CMs standing in the path said nothing. It was crazy!

So, even without the pressure of trying to squeeze in the favorite rides, it can still be frustrating. So, I'm sorry. I do hope disney is able to get these rides in better shape. The TSMM CM told us they are still running windows xp, so the computer is causing most of their issues. Why won't disney upgrade their technology?

Anyhow, if you decide to come back, stay a week so there is less pressure to see everything in one day.

 

[mom2rtk]

So, even without the pressure of trying to squeeze in the favorite rides, it can still be frustrating. So, I'm sorry. I do hope disney is able to get these rides in better shape. The TSMM CM told us they are still running windows xp, so the computer is causing most of their issues. Why won't disney upgrade their technology?

Anyhow, if you decide to come back, stay a week so there is less pressure to see everything in one day.

Maybe they pulled all the IT staff off to work on MyMagic at WDW?

And seriously, I'd love to stay a full week. But they will only sell me a 5 day ticket.

 

[lk2500]

Sounds you just had a run of bad luck that day.

We were there that same day from about 12:15 - Closing and thought we had a good time. What time was IJ down? We rode it at about 8:30PM.

As others have said, if you step back and look at your trip you really did get a lot done. Reading the boards here a lot I know that rides do go down, so if I miss something I miss something. Like yourself though, I'd be pretty bummed about RSR being down all day. We just love the atmosphere more than anything else so we'll definitely be back. I think one of my favorite memories is just sitting on a bench in front of Starbucks with my Iced Carmel Macchiato, enjoying the street entertainers, and watching all the families walking by.

 

[sharona]

I briefly considered stopping off at guest relations on our way out but at that point, we were done in and we just wanted to get out of there. We had planned to either extend our tickets or spend the next morning at DTD but decided to cut our losses and move on.