Are you averse to the 'new' 5-day pass only? Please read and comment...

[jory29]

To try to find a silver lining, you might end up liking it too. We are admittedly "equal opportunity" amusement park visitors---we enjoy traditional amusement parks just as much as one of Disney's---but a lot of these other attractions have been really stepping up their game lately. The MiceAge guys have been really positive about what's going on at Knotts recently (an example, another one, and another one). Universal opened Transformers, which is supposed to be excellent---and has been so well received that Orlando is adding it to the East Coast Studios park. And, Sea World is always a nice change of pace from a "ride-oriented" day.

We usually pay a visit to Knotts when we are in the area, because we are Cedar Fair passholders. But, we spent a week in Orlando this summer at all the "not-Disney" parks: USO, IOA, SWO, and Aquatica, and had a great time. My kids (11 and 13) would rather go back to those parks than WDW, to be honest.

The links you sent are very informative. We have always wanted to stay in the DLR Parks, but since that option at this point is not available, Knott's is something my family, and probably a lot of others on these boards, will certainly look into. Thanks!

 

[Renae De Liz]

My reply from Disney. Very cut and paste. Here's hoping that the "appropriate leaders" the messages are forwarded to are not the trash bin

Dear Ms. Dillon:

Thank you for your e-mail to the DISNEYLAND® Resort. We appreciate you
taking the time to share your experience with us.

We are concerned with the disappointments you mentioned in your e-mail
regarding the availability of the 6-day Park Hopper ticket. As you are
aware, our goal is to provide the finest service and accommodations.
Please be assured we do take our Guest comments very seriously, and take
them into consideration when evaluating our operation. Your remarks have
been forwarded to the appropriate leaders so they are aware of your
experiences.

Our goal is to provide an enjoyable visit for each of our Guests,
through a wide variety of attractions, entertainment, dining and
shopping experiences. We are confident that you will have a memorable
time during your upcoming trip to the DISNEYLAND® Resort.

Again, thank you for contacting us. Comments such as yours are welcomed
in that they assist us in evaluating our operation and our success in
generating happiness for our Guests. We hope you will have the
opportunity to visit the DISNEYLAND® Resort soon and that our
attractions and entertainment will delight you in every way.

Sincerely,

Michelle Newmar
DISNEYLAND® Resort
Guest Experience Services

 

[jory29]

My reply from Disney. Very cut and paste. Here's hoping that the "appropriate leaders" the messages are forwarded to are not the trash bin

Thanks for your post. I think they are being forwarded to other departments, etc., but they definitely by now understand this to be an issue with their guests.

I wonder if we are all getting somewhere... since your letter of reply from them states:

"We are concerned with the disappointments you mentioned in your e-mail
regarding the availability of the 6-day Park Hopper ticket. As you are
aware, our goal is to provide the finest service and accommodations.
Please be assured we do take our Guest comments very seriously, and take
them into consideration when evaluating our operation."

 

[Renae De Liz]

Hmmmm y'know you're right! Maybe we are getting through? And they did specifically acknowledge that I was talking about 6 day (and more) hopper tickets). Hope everyone keeps sending their emails!

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

We are new DVC members and living in Oregon is it often easier for my family to visit DL over WDW due to added expense of airfare, however with the new ticket policy and the potential for added expense for park tickets we may have to reconsider vising DL and keep our stays at WDW when when we plan to be there for longer than 5 days.

I have sent an email as well.

Good Afternoon,
I am writing to voice my concern about the recent change in the amount of days that can be purchased on a Disneyland Park Hopper ticket. My family of 4 has a very special trip planned from December 16th to 22nd to celebrate my graduation from nursing school. We are staying off site for 3 of the nights then moving to the Villa's at Grand Californian as we are new Disney Vacation Club members as of this year. Being that this is a special trip to celebrate and our first trip as Vacation Club members we were prepared to spend 7 full days in the park, thus allowing us to enjoy both parks at our own pace instead of trying to pack everything in to a shorter amount of time, especially during the holiday season. However come to find out that we can NO LONGER purchase park hopper tickets for longer than 5 days. This is very disappointing to us as it changes our vacation itinerary and has caused my family to consider moving across town for the last two days of our vacation to visit another theme park in the area.
We currently visit WDW or Disneyland yearly and I understand the yearly price increase of the park tickets, however Disneyland is a vacation destination not only to locals but for those who travel great distance as well and it is quite disheartening to find that we can no longer enjoy the parks for more than 5 days without a significant amount of added expense to purchase additional park tickets to cover added days. If WDW is able to have tickets for up to 10 days, I'm not understanding why this is not possible at Disneyland as well.

Thank you,

 

[DnA2010]

Received this follow-up reply this afternoon at 1:00pm-

Dear Mrs. H:

Thank you for your e-mail to the DISNEYLAND® Resort. We appreciate you
taking the time to share your experience with us.

We are concerned with the disappointments you mentioned in your e-mail.
As you are aware, our goal is to provide the finest service and
accommodations. Please be assured we do take our Guest comments very
seriously, and take them into consideration when evaluating our
operation. Your remarks have been shared with the appropriate leaders so
they are aware of your experiences.

Regrettably, the DISNEYLAND® Resort no longer offers 6, 7, or 8-Day Park
Hopper Tickets. We do apologize for any inconvenience this may have
caused you and your family. The DISNEYLAND® Resort Main Entrance ticket
booths feature 1-Day/1-Park tickets, 1-Day through 5-Day PARK HOPPER®
tickets, Southern California CityPass tickets, and Annual Passports.
Disney Stores throughout the country offer selected DISNEYLAND® Resort
tickets, so please call your local Disney Store for more information.
Disneyland.com features Multi-Day Tickets. Select Ticket options may be
purchased by calling our Ticketing & Reservations line at (714)
781-4400.

Again, thank you for contacting us. Comments such as yours are welcomed
in that they assist us in evaluating our operation and our success in
generating happiness for our Guests. We hope you will have the
opportunity to visit the DISNEYLAND® Resort soon and that our
attractions and entertainment will delight you in every way.

Sincerely,

Terry Sampson
DISNEYLAND® Resort
Guest Experience Services

 

[jory29]

We are new DVC members and living in Oregon is it often easier for my family to visit DL over WDW due to added expense of airfare, however with the new ticket policy and the potential for added expense for park tickets we may have to reconsider vising DL and keep our stays at WDW when when we plan to be there for longer than 5 days.

I have sent an email as well.

Good Afternoon,
I am writing to voice my concern about the recent change in the amount of days that can be purchased on a Disneyland Park Hopper ticket. My family of 4 has a very special trip planned from December 16th to 22nd to celebrate my graduation from nursing school. We are staying off site for 3 of the nights then moving to the Villa's at Grand Californian as we are new Disney Vacation Club members as of this year. Being that this is a special trip to celebrate and our first trip as Vacation Club members we were prepared to spend 7 full days in the park, thus allowing us to enjoy both parks at our own pace instead of trying to pack everything in to a shorter amount of time, especially during the holiday season. However come to find out that we can NO LONGER purchase park hopper tickets for longer than 5 days. This is very disappointing to us as it changes our vacation itinerary and has caused my family to consider moving across town for the last two days of our vacation to visit another theme park in the area.
We currently visit WDW or Disneyland yearly and I understand the yearly price increase of the park tickets, however Disneyland is a vacation destination not only to locals but for those who travel great distance as well and it is quite disheartening to find that we can no longer enjoy the parks for more than 5 days without a significant amount of added expense to purchase additional park tickets to cover added days. If WDW is able to have tickets for up to 10 days, I'm not understanding why this is not possible at Disneyland as well.

Thank you,

Excellent letter, very well stated. Thank you for taking the time to write in to them. I sincerely believe that when they start seeing the stories behind WHY we are requesting the FORMER 6, 7, etc. Park Hopper passes that they will begin to see an error in their methods, and hopefully will change it back to what it had been.

Please let us know when you receive a response, and thanks for posting this on this thread. Congrats on both the nursing school Graduation as well as being members for the Vacation Club!

 

[jory29]

Received this follow-up reply this afternoon at 1:00pm-

Dear Mrs. H:

Thank you for your e-mail to the DISNEYLAND® Resort. We appreciate you
taking the time to share your experience with us.

We are concerned with the disappointments you mentioned in your e-mail.
As you are aware, our goal is to provide the finest service and
accommodations. Please be assured we do take our Guest comments very
seriously, and take them into consideration when evaluating our
operation. Your remarks have been shared with the appropriate leaders so
they are aware of your experiences.

Regrettably, the DISNEYLAND® Resort no longer offers 6, 7, or 8-Day Park
Hopper Tickets. We do apologize for any inconvenience this may have
caused you and your family. The DISNEYLAND® Resort Main Entrance ticket
booths feature 1-Day/1-Park tickets, 1-Day through 5-Day PARK HOPPER®
tickets, Southern California CityPass tickets, and Annual Passports.
Disney Stores throughout the country offer selected DISNEYLAND® Resort
tickets, so please call your local Disney Store for more information.
Disneyland.com features Multi-Day Tickets. Select Ticket options may be
purchased by calling our Ticketing & Reservations line at (714)
781-4400.

Again, thank you for contacting us. Comments such as yours are welcomed
in that they assist us in evaluating our operation and our success in
generating happiness for our Guests. We hope you will have the
opportunity to visit the DISNEYLAND® Resort soon and that our
attractions and entertainment will delight you in every way.

Sincerely,

Terry Sampson
DISNEYLAND® Resort
Guest Experience Services

Thanks, DnA2010 for sharing this with us. How totally disheartened were you to get this reply?

To Disney - Re: The bolded part of the response you sent to DnA2010....

No kidding, we understand that, that is WHY we are writing in to ask you to CHANGE the policy.

If what you state is true, "our goal is to provide the finest service and
accommodations", then this is the utmost nonsense I have ever seen in regards to your RESORT.

IF this actually is the case, very easily, the 6 and 7 day Park Hoppers can be reinstated so that your Guests, who you are concerned about, can have similar options as before, and NOT be penalized with a HIGHER PRICE per day if you choose to visit more than 5 days.

Disney, you are aware of this thread, it will be interesting to see what transpires.

 

[jory29]

My daughter always asks what's going on a Disneyland, (on the DISboards), so I was explaining this thread to her. She wanted to contribute something to this thread, so I am posting this on her behalf.




Dear Disney,

I am Jory29's daughter. I am 10 years old, and I have made these Wedding cake creations out of clay for Jack and Sally Skellington, and for Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. I also made clay sculptures using Fantasia as inspiration. I wouldn't have been able to make them if I didn't get inspiration from Disneyland.

Just like Walt Disney was inspired many years ago to build Disneyland, I hope that Disneyland will be inspired to help people to spend more days in the park, by letting them purchase a Park Hopper for more than 5 days.

I asked my Mom if we could buy more than 5 days the next time we go to Disneyland, but she explained that it costs more every day to go, the more days you go if you go over 5 days.

I'm glad my Mom is trying to get people to write into Disney to get this changed, because we want to go back in 2013 and I really hope we can go for more than 5 days!

Thank you.

 

[DnA2010]

Indeed, as we aren't going to travel for 5 days...such an inconsiderate reply in my mind...

 

[Mouser172]

I appreciate the link provided early in the thread. I put it to good use and e mailed disney with my complaint. We're going in October for a week and would have bought a 6 day hopper if they were still available. Now I guess that extra day will be used for knotts or medieval times or just relaxing by the pool. I'm not paying $100 bucks on top of the $300 we're already spending for a 5 day park hopper. That's just ridiculous.

Let's all keep up the good fight and hopefully we can get them to see the error of their ways.

 

[CrazyDuck]

You guys are going about this the wrong way.... Your emails are being intercepted by a bunch of low ranking cronies hired specifically to put out fires with their cut and paste scripted responses... You need to try an Executive Email Carpet Bomb (EECB). First figure out who you want to reach... George Kalogridis (president DLR), Jon Storbeck (VP DL), Mary Niven (VP DCA), Daniel Delcourt (VP DLR Hotels) would be a good start... You may also try the executives at Disney Corporate... You know where to look.... The hardest part will be figuring out their emails, sometimes you can find these on shareholder earnings reports etc... Good luck...

I'm going to try a different approach... I'm going the DVC route and start by complaining to my guide and see if I can't work my way up from there... I need to use my points for at least 1 week at a time because of how far away I live from my home resort... It makes no sense for them to expect me to buy an AP for my annual/biennial trips...

 

[zavandor]

I got this email as an aswer to my request to be able to get a 6 days parkhopper since I'll stay at the Grand Californian for 5 nights:

Hello Stefano ,

Thank you for contacting the Disneyland Resort.

Please contact Guest Services directly at 714-781-4400 and a Cast Member
will be able to assist you.

We look forward to future opportunities to entertain you.

Sincerely,

Eden Ward
Disney Ticket Services

They are telling me to call. Should I think I might get a 6 days hopper? Maybe only if staying onsite?

 

[edge0329]

Hi all...heading down to Disneyland after a six year hiatus..been lurking here in preparation. Glad I rediscovered this board as we were planning on spending eight days in the parks. With this change, that won't be happening. So...I have added my voice to the complaints...I left my question open-ended but expect the same copy and paste response others have been getting. Doubt anything will change before we head down in the next couple of weeks but one can hope it will be fixed before our next visit. Here is my contribution to the chorus...

_________________

My partner and I are looking forward to celebrating our 15th anniversary at the Disneyland Resort. We will be spending nine days and eight nights in a concierge level room at the Grand Californian Hotel. When we purchased our package, we got 6-day park hoppers with the understanding we could add on two more days for about $5 each per day. I now understand this is no longer possible and we can only add two days by purchasing a 2-day park hopper for $200 each, or, by purchasing an annual pass for an additional $218 each. As of a result of this new policy, I have gone to my local AAA office and purchased tickets to Universal Studios ($72 each with a second day free) and Six Flags Magic Mountain ($35 each) for a total of $107 per person. While I was disappointed we could not go with our original plan, I could not justify spending the twice as much money on two days at the Disney parks when we had already spent quite a bit initially. I have now embraced our new itinerary, which will have us spending 2 -3 days away from the resort.

I guess my question is this: If Disneyland is billing itself as a resort destination, what is the rationale behind limiting the number of days I can spend enjoying the resort, pushing me to spend 2-3 days in another location thus losing the admission, food and other money I would normally spend during those days at the resort?


Thank You

_____________

 

[Lucille1963]

I'm going to try a different approach... I'm going the DVC route and start by complaining to my guide and see if I can't work my way up from there... I need to use my points for at least 1 week at a time because of how far away I live from my home resort... It makes no sense for them to expect me to buy an AP for my annual/biennial trips...

I had a long conversation about this issue with my Disneyland based DVC guide last fall. I had really hoped she would have additional insight, or some type of "in". She didn't.

 

[lkperich]

I got this email as an aswer to my request to be able to get a 6 days parkhopper since I'll stay at the Grand Californian for 5 nights:



They are telling me to call. Should I think I might get a 6 days hopper? Maybe only if staying onsite?

Did you call? What response did you get?

 

[Lucille1963]

I had a long conversation about this issue with my Disneyland based DVC guide last fall. I had really hoped she would have additional insight, or some type of "in". She didn't.

Also, I did make it clear back then that this was an issue that was holding back our purchase of DVC points.

At the time we talked (last fall maybe?), our dilemma seemed like news to her. I wonder how many more people have contacted her since.

 

[jory29]

Thanks everyone, for keeping this thread going strong!

I also want to draw your attention to this thread:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2981517

We have been speculating most people won't be purchasing additional days in the Park past the 5-day Park Hopper, but this solidly confirms it, I feel.

Indeed, as we aren't going to travel for 5 days...such an inconsiderate reply in my mind...

Yes, we all understand your frustration.

I appreciate the link provided early in the thread. I put it to good use and e mailed disney with my complaint. We're going in October for a week and would have bought a 6 day hopper if they were still available. Now I guess that extra day will be used for knotts or medieval times or just relaxing by the pool. I'm not paying $100 bucks on top of the $300 we're already spending for a 5 day park hopper. That's just ridiculous.

Let's all keep up the good fight and hopefully we can get them to see the error of their ways.

Agree! Let's keep this thread going strong, keep writing to Disney, keep calling Disney, and get the word out there. It is good for Disney to know how many of us (obviously the vast majority) will NOT be purchasing any more days than the 5-day Park Hopper.

You guys are going about this the wrong way.... Your emails are being intercepted by a bunch of low ranking cronies hired specifically to put out fires with their cut and paste scripted responses... You need to try an Executive Email Carpet Bomb (EECB). First figure out who you want to reach... George Kalogridis (president DLR), Jon Storbeck (VP DL), Mary Niven (VP DCA), Daniel Delcourt (VP DLR Hotels) would be a good start... You may also try the executives at Disney Corporate... You know where to look.... The hardest part will be figuring out their emails, sometimes you can find these on shareholder earnings reports etc... Good luck...

I'm going to try a different approach... I'm going the DVC route and start by complaining to my guide and see if I can't work my way up from there... I need to use my points for at least 1 week at a time because of how far away I live from my home resort... It makes no sense for them to expect me to buy an AP for my annual/biennial trips...

I am willing to bet that right now every single Disney Exec. knows and is highly aware of this thread and how their guests feel about the new Park Hopper pass policy. I even think they are trying to come up with a solution to this issue, because it will not go away. So many Park guests are clearly so dissatisfied with this turn of events. I firmly believe Disney is actively monitoring this thread, and so though we could all start writing in to the execs., my guess is we won't receive personal replies yet until they decide how best to resolve this to our satisfaction. There is power in numbers here on the Disboards, as well, there is a lot of clout in this being published on a well known forum. With this going public, and being out in the wide open, it isn't the best thing for Disney, and hopefully they will choose to clear this up so that everyone is happy again. If anyone wants to personally write to the Disney Execs it can't hurt, and could help, so I'm game for that if we can find the addresses.... my point is simply that I am sure they are all aware of this problem now.

Good idea to let your DVC guide in on this, I'm not sure how much control they would have over it, but of course, again, power in numbers, so the more people who complain, the quicker a resolution should come to us.

I got this email as an aswer to my request to be able to get a 6 days parkhopper since I'll stay at the Grand Californian for 5 nights:



They are telling me to call. Should I think I might get a 6 days hopper? Maybe only if staying onsite?

Yes, please do call, and keep us posted! Good luck! They actually stated that a cast member will be able to assist you, and of course you were asking about being able to purchase a 6 day Park Hopper, so let's hope that this is possible, since they did say a cast member can help.

Hi all...heading down to Disneyland after a six year hiatus..been lurking here in preparation. Glad I rediscovered this board as we were planning on spending eight days in the parks. With this change, that won't be happening. So...I have added my voice to the complaints...I left my question open-ended but expect the same copy and paste response others have been getting. Doubt anything will change before we head down in the next couple of weeks but one can hope it will be fixed before our next visit. Here is my contribution to the chorus...

_________________

My partner and I are looking forward to celebrating our 15th anniversary at the Disneyland Resort. We will be spending nine days and eight nights in a concierge level room at the Grand Californian Hotel. When we purchased our package, we got 6-day park hoppers with the understanding we could add on two more days for about $5 each per day. I now understand this is no longer possible and we can only add two days by purchasing a 2-day park hopper for $200 each, or, by purchasing an annual pass for an additional $218 each. As of a result of this new policy, I have gone to my local AAA office and purchased tickets to Universal Studios ($72 each with a second day free) and Six Flags Magic Mountain ($35 each) for a total of $107 per person. While I was disappointed we could not go with our original plan, I could not justify spending the twice as much money on two days at the Disney parks when we had already spent quite a bit initially. I have now embraced our new itinerary, which will have us spending 2 -3 days away from the resort.

I guess my question is this: If Disneyland is billing itself as a resort destination, what is the rationale behind limiting the number of days I can spend enjoying the resort, pushing me to spend 2-3 days in another location thus losing the admission, food and other money I would normally spend during those days at the resort?


Thank You

_____________

First of all, congrats on your 15th wedding anniversary! What a magical time you will have. I really hope you will get a real response. With copy and paste, there is no acknowledgment that personalizes each of our individual predicaments, etc. and even in a form letter that is copy and pasted, it would be nice if they would acknowledge the words/reason behind why you are seeking the longer Park Hop passes to be reinstated. It's not like we're asking for something outrageous, or some new thing that has never been offered before. All we are asking for is to for something we once used to be able to do. Good luck, and thanks, if you can keep us posted.

I had a long conversation about this issue with my Disneyland based DVC guide last fall. I had really hoped she would have additional insight, or some type of "in". She didn't.

Yes, I am not sure if they have any control at all over any of this. I strongly doubt it. All they can do is pass on the guests dissatisfaction to the Disney Execs., and they already know about this dilemma now.

Did you call? What response did you get?

Yes, we can't wait to find out the response you get. Thanks!

Also, I did make it clear back then that this was an issue that was holding back our purchase of DVC points.

At the time we talked (last fall maybe?), our dilemma seemed like news to her. I wonder how many more people have contacted her since.

Probably a LOT since it sounds like people usually book out a week at a time? On the other hand, many people don't find this out until they get to the Parks. But now this is all wiiiiide out in the open, and Disney knows the word has spread.

 

[Escape2Disney]

Well I got a response, but nothing terribly helpful. Here it is:

Thank you for contacting the Disneyland Resort.

Please contact Guest Services directly at 714-781-4400 and a Cast Member
will be able to assist you.

We look forward to future opportunities to entertain you.

Sincerely,

Eden Ward
Disney Ticket Services

 

[jory29]

Well I got a response, but nothing terribly helpful. Here it is:

Thank you for contacting the Disneyland Resort.

Please contact Guest Services directly at 714-781-4400 and a Cast Member
will be able to assist you.

We look forward to future opportunities to entertain you.

Sincerely,

Eden Ward
Disney Ticket Services

Have they changed their policy already? Maybe they will reinstate the 6 and 7 day pass if they state that a Cast Member will be able to assist you. If they can NOT let you buy more than a 5-day Park Hopper pass, and they know you want to buy a 6 or 7 day pass, then why would they state a Cast Member will be able to assist you?

Fingers crossed! Please let us know after you phone. Good luck, and thanks!