I almost tend to think, in a weird way, that the ever-increasing overcrowding issues at DLR (DL, specifically) are intertwined with the AP issue in a Catch 22 sort of way. The park gets unbearably crowded, largely due to the massive number of people who hold APs, and then, in turn, a lot of folks who do not have APs go to the park on one of these crazy crowded days and decide it is too crazy to deal with and decide "Let's get an AP" so they can come back for a couple of hours here, or a couple of hours there, and do more of what they want to do when it not crowded!! It's one big vicious circle!
That is kind of what my friends (a married couple) just did in December. They had been AP holders for the last couple of years prior to 2009, and due to uncertain job situations they were not going to renew the APs when they expired in late 2009. BUT, because they like to go to DLR during the busy/popular Halloweentime season to see the decorations and during the busier/more popular Christmas season (and they really don't stay for more than a few hours each time), they knew that with the way the crowds are building, they would not have a quality experience if they just went for one day during Halloweentime and one day during Christmastime. They don't have the patience to deal with those crowds for longer than a few hours at a time, so they need APs to be able to go back for a couple of hours here and a couple of hours there on other days when it might not be as crowded! It is a vicious circle!
I realize Disney wants and needs to make money, and we all appreciate what we get at DLR for the money we spend, both in entertainment and in overall joy & magic, and we all know that we have to deal with crowds on some level and we know the best ways to avoid long lines, etc., but if they don't find a way to somehow combat this over-crowding issue (which looks as if it is only going to get worse before it gets better), then I am concerned that the quality of all of our experiences at DLR is going to be greatly affected. I mean, yes, we could all pay our money and go and stand inside the parks, but if we can't move around freely and we feel suffocated, can't walk two feet without being run over by someone or can't take photos because there are too many people in the way, can't go into shops because they are too crowded, etc., and the waits for food and rides - even with PSs and Fast Passes - are longer and longer as the prices get higher and higher, it will be very hard to 'connect to the magic' in DL. People may then all clog up DCA to escape DL or just take a break from DLR for a few years. Unfortunately, not too many people who work or live outside of SoCal have the luxury of being able to pop over to DLR on random weekdays to see things when it is less busy, so they are forced to go at times when it is more crowded. And it's getting harder to have that quality experience.
This all makes
perfect sense, Sherry!! Especially the vicious circle!!
I've got some sentiments to share, too. More than a few, actually. Ha ha!
We live quite far away, and have to save at least $1800 for a flight to get there and back for our family (only when we find a good seat sale on a flight), then we need to pay for 7 nights or so for a week in a hotel (you can't spend $1800 on a flight for a shorter trip, it is just not feasible), then factor in the cost of the food, airport shuttles, Disney park hopper passes, hotel for 7 nights (Halleluia, Hojo Anaheim, we love you not only for your excellent rates for DIS'ers, etc., but for the sweet feeling of 'home, sweet home' when we need to head back to recuperate!
)
One
Disneyland trip that we make as a family is a whole lot of money to spend to get to any one place. (Many of you can attest to this!)
I know a LOT of you on the boards face this same scenario.... a lot of you live in states past California, or even in parts of California that don't offer a discount to you!
Many of you live in different countries.
We make it a point to save money during the year by cutting back on many household expenses, so as to be able to afford the trip out to Disneyland. We have been able to make it annually for the past 4 years.
Prior to that we had not gone as a family. Our son was soon to turn 10 when we took our kids for the first time to Disneyland. Only because we so deeply believe in the quality family time that we get to spend with our family in the parks, do we work so hard to get there as often as we have in the past 4 years. The memories that we make are priceless.
Our first 2 years there (2 -3 years go) were awesome, excellent!!
Then we started noticing the crowds.... the VAST crowds.
each time we went even though we went during 'low-seasons.' The crowds (grid-locked at times, and rides so lined up we couldn't even go on them)
so ruined our Disneyland trip in October 2009 that we are actually planning a do-over trip.
I wish Disney would make it so that locals get a good discount - it
is fair, I believe, to provide a reasonable discount to those who live in the area.
But to charge
so little to locals for soooo many days in the park during the year makes the parks
horrendously crowded, (wonders if the execs have ever gone to the parks as a regular guest to see what it's like
) and I feel some locals have gotten to the point where they don't even appreciate it as much.
I DON'T think this applies to ANY local on the DISboard, seriously... you guys are just as big (if not more) Disney fans as everyone else on the boards, and you are VALUABLE to the entire DISboard community because you are truly a wealth of info. Thank you all, for that! I bet though, that you guys would be willing to pay more money for your annual pass though, or receive fewer days in park IF it could simply be far less crowded.
?
I HOPE I'm not stepping on anyone's toes!! I
love this board, and want to convey my point without making anyone feel badly. I honestly believe Californians
should be able to receive a discount, especially because the Disneyland parks are in their state.
I also believe that everyone else should be able to have fun, too.
I don't know if everyone who has a chance to go any day they want realizes how
special the Parks are that Walter Disney created.... [Again, I believe every DISer knows and believes... but at the same time, I feel some people who live in California and who have annual passes just go for the sake of finding something to do, and I wonder if they go even if they don't feel like going.
]
When we go, we go because of the entire experience. The magic. The family time. The awesomeness and splendor of it all. What we
don't go for is the crowds. The rudeness. (Not all!!
) The
horrific waits in lines that are far too long at times.
I've heard before that Disney feels that are not making enough profit in the parks. (For example, think of Captain Jack character
cut-backs as in, elimination of the character who was largely popular.) Think of all of the staff cut-backs that they have had to make that make it a lesser experience in the parks for the guests.
That's sad.
I think it's great they are spending time, effort and money all the time in the parks (up-coming renovations and improvements) to keep things moving along; Walt would have loved that!!
What I
do think is wrong is when they charge so little $$ to let
so many people in all of the time (I am thinking of the SO-Cal annual passes) and it overcrowds the parks and quite literally breaks people's dreams. Including those who hold SO-Cal annual passes!
IMO Disneyland could make just as much money, if not more, if they didn't send [people who would buy 5 or 6 day parkhopper ($$$) passes] away by making the crowds too large to handle, (by over-crowding the parks by allowing such a low-prices offering so many days annual pass to locals.) I feel
many 5-6 day parkhopper pass holders have been choosing to stay home or holiday elsewhere - due solely to the over-crowding of the parks.
There is also an issue for those needing more than a 5 day pass... it appears that if you want more days, you need to either upgrade to an annual pass or purchase a new ticket to add time, which is not feasible as it is not an incremental price then. Canadians can buy a 7 day pass from flightcentre.ca or others can purchase a 6 day pass at other places online, but not directly through Disney. We actually did an upgrade to our 5-day pass to an annual pass, prior to the end of our October trip as it worked out to be more cost effective when going back within a year, than even buying a 5 day park hopper again the next time. Our total time in the parks will be 12-13 days total, for our family, within a 2 year period, (of those days, only 6 or 7 will be due to the annual pass.) It would be nice to see Disney offer people the amount of days for a park hopper pass they need at a fair incremental increase.
I think it's great that someone from Hojo's has taken it upon herself (cheers to Lorealle from Hojo's
) to represent the hotel she is employed at. Obviously, she is tremendously dedicated to her work, and it shows.
My point being - it would be cool if Disneyland execs would respond on these boards. I've never seen Disneyland respond on this forum before.
I would love to hear Disneyland execs respond to this post. The way to win peoples hearts is through dreams - dreams can become reality with effective communication with one another. It would serve Disney well to listen to the comments DISers make, I believe. Maybe they already do monitor the boards, I imagine they do, but a response would be cool.
I love Disneyland so much I will always love it. What I would like to see is Disneyland take paths to address
super crowd issues. Instead of 'cheapening' the park by offering far too many days for far too little money to mobs of people living in CA (only certain parts of CA mind you, which, I digress - is that fair to NO-CA residents?) it would be really cool to see Disney execs figure out a way to involve more people in a more 'even-based' situation for all.
Initially I believe it was tourists that helped to make Disneyland happen. As California residents who have to put up with the tourists all year long, I certainly agree, give them a cool, decent annual pass rate. I think that's wise. But don't make it so much so that people go to the parks just because they can, just for the heck of it. I would like to see people go to the parks because they cherish the parks.
I would like to see people go to the parks because they love the parks.
I would like to see a system in place where you have to pre-purchase tickets for any day(s) you want to go - like a hotel reservation system perhaps - and then we would be guaranteed only a certain amount of people would be in the parks. Wouldn't that be awesome? If Disney actually put a
reasonable limit to the amount of people who enter?
I don't think Walt knew that 'To all who come to this happy place - welcome' would come to mean everyone and their dogs!
He would have been happy with the success for sure; but at the same time I believe he would have done more for crowd control as he wouldn't want the experience to be lesser due to the massive overcrowding.
It was over-crowded in October and the cast members were waving us out of the park one night during gridlock, a cast member hit me on my arm with their glo-stick flashlight as they were waving the crowds on through the roped off lines of trafffic.
It was an accident obviously, but seriously, I had some major panic type issues when feeling very trapped in the crowds. KWIM?
My wish for 2010 is that Disneyland gets a system in place where they allow only a certain amount of people into the parks where they can guarantee all rides would , say, 30 min. or less wait. That would be ideal! I love the fast passes, they are on the right track for that but as far as crowd control goes, it has all gone downhill. In such a short time.
My hope is that the new DL president is able to see the problems with crowd control
and work hard with his team to do something about it.
Phew. I'm done with my sentiments now.
) so it's a bit tough to stomach closing at 6 & 8 pm. And if this was our one trip a year or every couple of year, I would wait and go during peak season so I could take advantage of the late hours, fireworks, electric parade, fantasmic, etc.
I don't think I saw many people in Disney shirts at all - let alone the entire family like we were. We did get some positive comments about our shirts from CM's.
I wonder what those numbers will look like in August.
