Bad Day at DCA: Do you think it's worth a complaint?

[gelatoni fan]

I do not believe that CMs at Disneyland are not allowed to tell general guests when characters are coming out. I know this is the current policy at Hong Kong Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland but CMs at Disneyland are regularly telling people that character hosts CAN give out accurate information about when characters come out. I have gotten decent answers post-pandemic far too often for me to believe that the official policy is to not provide this information. If it is the policy, then Disney is abysmal at training because many character hosts do give out this information and many non character host CMs believe that character hosts can give out this information.

Somebody mentioned that there are different CMs with different instructions on how to handle questions about character times. My understanding is that most of the CMs in entertainment and guest flow carry a schedule. Guest flow CMs will have the schedule to direct traffic at appropriate times but are not supposed to give out precise information for characters. My understanding is that character hosts are supposed to provide information but it is up to the discression of the character host how much to provide. The unfortunate thing about Avengers Campus and Galaxy's Edge is that character hosts do not wear special uniforms that make them easily distinguishable.

So I think there could be one of two situations here:
1. The CM being asked the question was not a character host but in a team with the schedule. In this case, the policy was being followed to provide information to plaids but not general guests.
2. The CM being asked was a character host and chose to not provide information to some guests while providing it to others. This is far more common than I think most people realize. I hope something can be done about this so that everybody can be given accurate information.

 

[twodogs]

I think this looks particularly bad in your case because they answered a plaid but not you.

While I don't think another complaint about this will do much, I think this is worth bringing up because I would like Disneyland to become more fair for everyone. Another thing to do would be to go to City Hall and leave compliments for CMs who are forthcoming with information.

I agree that the situation with the character should have absolutely been handled with more discretion by the CM. But if the CM did not offer additional information to the VIP guide/family, I would just offer that it might then be "unfair" to the family that paid the thousands of dollars for the VIP tour and upgraded experience. Disney (and many other businesses) offer more expensive upgraded lines of service, and they aren't intended to be equal to lower priced offerings. They are purposely not equal; they are priced to have additional benefits or services for those who pay more. This is the business model. Similar to mailing a package and either paying less for 3 day shipping or paying more for overnight shipping. You pay more for an upgraded offering. I think fair depends on how you look at it. I think it is fair to offer services at the level that the person paid. If they offered the same to everyone, it would not be fair to those who paid more, expecting more services.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Avengers Campus is interesting right now because the spreadsheet sometimes doesn’t say which character is showing up. So sometimes the CMs genuinely don’t know. It’s possible that the CM didn’t have info on Loki, but did have info on whichever character the plaid asked about.

For anyone else reading along, you can always try another CM, too. Sometimes individual CMs are misinformed or, yes, just unhelpful.

To the OP, it sounds like this was just one issue out of a number of disappointments, and I’m sorry your day didn’t go the way you wanted. It is a bummer to invest your money and energy into a day that falls a bit flat. I hope any future visits will be more magical for you.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

I find it can be incredibly stress relieving to write a polite, well-worded feedback letter to highlight areas that could be improved. It might not amount to anything, but you will know you have shared your experience and it is up to Disney to take your feedback.

From the unacceptable wait times you experienced at counter service, to the bubble-popping experience with the CM and the Plaid, clearly there is room for improving experiences and you'll probably feel better if you write it down.

 

[evilmommie]

I find it can be incredibly stress relieving to write a polite, well-worded feedback letter to highlight areas that could be improved. It might not amount to anything, but you will know you have shared your experience and it is up to Disney to take your feedback.

From the unacceptable wait times you experienced at counter service, to the bubble-popping experience with the CM and the Plaid, clearly there is room for improving experiences and you'll probably feel better if you write it down.

Yes! Love this response.

 

[gelatoni fan]

I agree that the situation with the character should have absolutely been handled with more discretion by the CM. But if the CM did not offer additional information to the VIP guide/family, I would just offer that it might then be "unfair" to the family that paid the thousands of dollars for the VIP tour and upgraded experience. Disney (and many other businesses) offer more expensive upgraded lines of service, and they aren't intended to be equal to lower priced offerings. They are purposely not equal; they are priced to have additional benefits or services for those who pay more. This is the business model. Similar to mailing a package and either paying less for 3 day shipping or paying more for overnight shipping. You pay more for an upgraded offering. I think fair depends on how you look at it. I think it is fair to offer services at the level that the person paid. If they offered the same to everyone, it would not be fair to those who paid more, expecting more services.

I agree that it is reasonable to offer better service to people who pay more. I also think it's appropriate for the plaid to have gotten information.

That said, I think it is best to make it a company wide policy to be more transparent about character times to everyone as there is clearly demand for such information. Providing this costs Disney basically nothing but can save significant guest frustration. If they wanted to create a different tier of experience, they could just allow VIP tours to jump the line to meet characters. Of course, Disney can opt to make the regular guest experience worse for the sake of making VIP tours seem better but I personally would like to see them try to improve the experience for everyone.

 

[Malcon10t]

I agree that it is reasonable to offer better service to people who pay more. I also think it's appropriate for the plaid to have gotten information.

That said, I think it is best to make it a company wide policy to be more transparent about character times to everyone as there is clearly demand for such information. Providing this costs Disney basically nothing but can save significant guest frustration. If they wanted to create a different tier of experience, they could just allow VIP tours to jump the line to meet characters. Of course, Disney can opt to make the regular guest experience worse for the sake of making VIP tours seem better but I personally would like to see them try to improve the experience for everyone.

Reality is, Disney wants the experience to seem spontaneous. Similar to how they don't tell you when Mickey or Pluto will be on Main St. While you say it doesn't "cost" Disney anything, reality is, if they gave out the info to one, soon everyone would be asking what time their daughter's favorite character is out and where, and then how about the son's fav, etc.... It would take up a lot of time for a CM who is really supposed to be managing a line or guest flow....

 

[wildekatza]

First off, I agree with a couple of comments above, 1. You shouldn't have overheard it, but 2. You did, so technically, you did receive your information that you were looking for and 3. This is kind of where the paying for the VIP tour gets you more than what the peons are getting otherwise, why pay for it? I see them walk past us to get on the rides after we have stood there for an hour waiting to get on and sure, it stings, but not for me to shell out $1200 or whatever it costs/person to skip lines and get to see behind the scenes stuff. Sorry. Someone said above, sadly, you just learned how the sausage is made and it is what it is. As for the long lines, sure Disney has the long lines during a holiday weekend, but so did Home Depot and so did McDonald's, etc. granted, I wasn't paying $100 to get in those 2 examples' stores, but all the same, there are long lines on holiday weekends and even though it sucks kitten whiskers, most of us anticipate that. I wouldn't complain unless the CM was rude, mean to my kid or myself or something as awful as a bad experience dining that wasn't handled properly. I have only complained one time in the 20+ years I have been going and it was when we were in the Haunted Mansion and the CM was flirting with a girl he obvs knew and had asked to meet him there at work and he wasn't doing the schpeel or moving the line along because he was busy with her. He was totally out of character and groping her in front of the kiddies and people were pretty hot over it. Several of us ended up at the front complaining about him without us even coordinating. LOL!

 

[Lm3js]

I totally get OP!.. Disney/DCA was a hot mess this weekend despite NOT being very crowded. Lines were short most of the holiday (we were there Sun, Mon, Tue) except for a few rides (Haunted Mansion w/holiday overlay) but despite that, so many rides were broken and some cast members were just plain rude. RSR went down almost all day on Monday and seemed to take down Luigis and Maters as well...those 3 rides went entirely missing from the app. Rise was constantly down throughout the weekend. We saw people using the FP line at Guardians and asked what type of passes were being used there and were told to mind our own business! The food situation was also still odd with long wait times. We still had a great time, but man, they need to step up the game for as much as we pay for tickets!

 

[DLgal]

I agree that it is reasonable to offer better service to people who pay more. I also think it's appropriate for the plaid to have gotten information.

That said, I think it is best to make it a company wide policy to be more transparent about character times to everyone as there is clearly demand for such information. Providing this costs Disney basically nothing but can save significant guest frustration. If they wanted to create a different tier of experience, they could just allow VIP tours to jump the line to meet characters. Of course, Disney can opt to make the regular guest experience worse for the sake of making VIP tours seem better but I personally would like to see them try to improve the experience for everyone.

There aren't lines to meet characters anymore. They show up spontaneously and then you can position yourself to take a selfie from a distance. The precise reason why they are no longer sharing the appearance times with guests is to prevent lines from forming in the first place. It's by design.

 

[DLgal]

I totally get OP!.. Disney/DCA was a hot mess this weekend despite NOT being very crowded. Lines were short most of the holiday (we were there Sun, Mon, Tue) except for a few rides (Haunted Mansion w/holiday overlay) but despite that, so many rides were broken and some cast members were just plain rude. RSR went down almost all day on Monday and seemed to take down Luigis and Maters as well...those 3 rides went entirely missing from the app. Rise was constantly down throughout the weekend. We saw people using the FP line at Guardians and asked what type of passes were being used there and were told to mind our own business! The food situation was also still odd with long wait times. We still had a great time, but man, they need to step up the game for as much as we pay for tickets!

The fastpass line is being used for Disability Access Service, child swap, and VIP tours. If you aren't one of those, you weren't missing out on anything super secret. Although, if a CM actually told you to mind your own business in those exact words, I would feel pretty offended by that and likely submit a complaint. There is no need for that kind of response. We have a DAS and have overheard people in the Standby line asking what the FP line is being used for and they are always answered politely and factually.

 

[cakebaker]

We saw people using the FP line at Guardians and asked what type of passes were being used there and were told to mind our own business!

Was that what you were actually told, verbatim? Or is it really that whatever you were told, that was the feeling you got? I can't fathom a CM actually telling a guest to mind their own business. You would've had to tie me down to keep me from going straight to guest services had that happened to me.

 

[Malcon10t]

The fastpass line is being used for Disability Access Service, child swap, and VIP tours.

It is also used for "Multiple Experience" passes... These are given when I ride breaks down and you have lost significant time in the parks. In mid July, we had waited an hour to ride Web Slingers, then once on, it broken down (it was 630 at this point), THEN we were stuck on it for an hour. When we came off, it was 730, and they gave us each 3 FPs for it. And the kids promptly used some of them on Guardians!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I would write your complaint OP. The situation was handled poorly and Disney should be made aware of less-than-magical experiences. It certainly won't hurt, and maybe it will result in a more clearly stated policy.

I agree with the PP who said that the parks were a hot mess this weekend. We were there Friday through Tuesday. Friday was terrific--light crowds and no problems. But by Friday evening it was a very different story. DL was packed. I get that it was the first night of the fireworks show, but it was wall to wall people. Crazy crowded. The crowds were there all weekend, and it was unpleasantly hot (which admittedly seems par for the course on our Labor Day trips). The lines were mostly manageable, but there were tons of rides down throughout the weekend. We kept getting hit with down rides: Racers (x2), Peter Pan, Splash, Rise, etc. The food situation was also slightly chaotic at times--especially mobile order in DL.

 

[Lm3js]

Was that what you were actually told, verbatim? Or is it really that whatever you were told, that was the feeling you got? I can't fathom a CM actually telling a guest to mind their own business. You would've had to tie me down to keep me from going straight to guest services had that happened to me.

Yes. Verbatim told my son to mind his business and then I went over and asked again because I couldn't believe it and she told me the same thing! I pressed harder and she finally said "these are now used for DAS and for parent swap, etc". I also had cast members get crabby with me that I didn't mention I was paying with gift card and had to re-do the charge. As if I knew that they had to do something special...

 

[DLgal]

I would write your complaint OP. The situation was handled poorly and Disney should be made aware of less-than-magical experiences. It certainly won't hurt, and maybe it will result in a more clearly stated policy.

I agree with the PP who said that the parks were a hot mess this weekend. We were there Friday through Tuesday. Friday was terrific--light crowds and no problems. But by Friday evening it was a very different story. DL was packed. I get that it was the first night of the fireworks show, but it was wall to wall people. Crazy crowded. The crowds were there all weekend, and it was unpleasantly hot (which admittedly seems par for the course on our Labor Day trips). The lines were mostly manageable, but there were tons of rides down throughout the weekend. We kept getting hit with down rides: Racers (x2), Peter Pan, Splash, Rise, etc. The food situation was also slightly chaotic at times--especially mobile order in DL.

We were there all day Saturday and besides the heat, had a wonderful day. No ride breakdowns that affected us, no abysmal waits for food, didn't really feel that crowded. IDK, we had a good day.

 

[Malcon10t]

We were there all day Saturday and besides the heat, had a wonderful day. No ride breakdowns that affected us, no abysmal waits for food, didn't really feel that crowded. IDK, we had a good day.

Same here. It was hot. But it didn't feel very crowded. And we didn't have issues getting food. We did have Rise and Indy down when we went by.

 

[DLgal]

Same here. It was hot. But it didn't feel very crowded. And we didn't have issues getting food. We did have Rise and Indy down when we went by.

We missed out on BG for Rise (again), so weren't paying attention to the ride status. My kids are still afraid to ride IJ, so we didn't pay attention to that one either. We got on everything we wanted.

 

[cakebaker]

Yes. Verbatim told my son to mind his business and then I went over and asked again because I couldn't believe it and she told me the same thing! I pressed harder and she finally said "these are now used for DAS and for parent swap, etc". I also had cast members get crabby with me that I didn't mention I was paying with gift card and had to re-do the charge. As if I knew that they had to do something special...

You should've immediately either asked for a supervisor on the spot or gone to guest services. There's no excuse for that kind of response and by not telling anyone, this particular CM will continue to act this way towards other guests.

 

[Malcon10t]

Yes. Verbatim told my son to mind his business and then I went over and asked again because I couldn't believe it and she told me the same thing! I pressed harder and she finally said "these are now used for DAS and for parent swap, etc". I also had cast members get crabby with me that I didn't mention I was paying with gift card and had to re-do the charge. As if I knew that they had to do something special...

I would consider writing a letter of complaint. You should know the time you were there, you likely have a good memory of the person's description and where they were located.

Also with the cast member, you should still have your receipt giving all the info needed. I've never had one get upset when I have used a gift card, it is just a 1 button reset to change from credit card to gift card.

I RARELY have a complaint about Disney CMs, but when I do, sending an email with all the info, calmly stated, lets Disney know there are issues.