California Adventure **WARNING**

[roymccoy]

Hi All...

Just wanted to pass on something to you all and ask for your help to fix it. My wife, me and our 2 year old daughter
went to DCA today and we discovered something I think you should all know about. There is NO WAY that park has
enough drinking fountains to go around. It was about 90 degrees today and we all started getting a little heat sick
and dehydrated. Started looking for a drinking fountain and guess what....there ain't many of them. We came up on some in
the Redwood Trail but they didn't work. Went on to the San Francisco area and couldn't find any. On to Paradise P
Pier...we found a pair of them by a bathroom but only one worked and there was a line of 34 people. (I counted)
On around to the farm area....no drinking fountains!!! Did I forget to mention that I could have paid $2.50 for a bottle of
water almost anywhere? Could it be that Disney purposefully didn't put in a whole lot of drinking fountains to up the
water and soda sales? Could it be that the broken drinking fountains were "broken" to help off-set the $33 tickets with
a free kid? Kind of the way McDonalds sells you a $ .39 hamburger but you pay $1.75 for a coke and $1.90 for a fry?
When I complained to Guest Relations about it he quickly (scripted?) explained that he could point out 4 drinking fountains
within the entry plaza including one right at guest relations. (It is located by the main gate) I told him "Yeah, you give us free water when we're on our way out and you can't soak us for $2.50 anymore...what about back in the park when your dying of thirst?"
He had no answer.

I think we should all do a little complaining about this when we go to DCA. Please stop by guest relations and complain about this.
We are being duped, my friends and it has to stop. I was told by a senior manager that DCA could never have opened if it
didn't have the legal amount of drinking fountains. They may have the "legal" amount but just barely AND they are clustered
near the entrance AND they are in pairs of two so they can have more of a "dry stretch" between them. I pointed this out to the
higher up that Disney not only needs to worry about being "legal" it also has to be willing to answer to the consumer who is
paying through the nose for $30 food and 12 rides. You know, it's not like they ain't ever built one of these before...they have
one right accross the way that has drinking fountains every three feet. They are either stupid or greedy...which do you think
it is??

Roy

P.S. Sorry about the length of my post.

 

[sueg]

I hate drinking fountains. I'd rather pay for water than risk the germs!!!!!!

 

[raidermatt]

I rarely use them, but I can understand the frustration.

I assume the law specifies a certain number of WORKING fountains, and I would think Disney is complying. But a suggestion would be to check out the law yourself, and call them on it.

A suggestion would be to bring some water in with you. You would succeed in not purchasing Disney's water, and avoid the germs of the public fountain. You could always refill when you are lucky enough to come across a fountain.

Just a few suggestions...

 

[roymccoy]

I think that this just goes to the heart of Disney's problem right now....penny-wise and pound foolish.
It seems that they want to push all sides to the maximum, spend less on the parks and charge more for everything.
This type of mentality was prevelant in the early 70's when Roy was in charge...I remember them asking me one time when I entered the park in 1973 if
I would pay $1.00 for popcorn (unheard of at the time) and if we would still have came if Disneyland was only open
4 days a week. (The hours back then were like 10-6) Then Eisner came in and said "Spend, spend and spend."
If there were two people needed at a ride he would call for three to be there. If popcorn was small, he made it
large for the same price. Money was no object. He did the "blast to the past" and the 30th anniversary- car a day
giveaway. You could win prizes just for going thru the turnstiles. It made people want to go to Disney.
AND IT WORKED! Big time. Disney was the corporate darling and poster boy. Eisner took it from just a few years away
from a takeover...(there were literally talks with a Japanese company to take over Disney in the 70's) to
a model company. What happened?? Pressler happened. He is a cheap, simpleton with very limited vision. Light magic
sucked. Toon town just barely works and DCA is a disappointment. All were Pressler's "babies." He has failed. He needs
to be replaced with a "Disney" loyalist. I think another problem is the caliber of executives that Disney is attracting. No more ride operators or ticket takers rising up thru the ranks. Nope, now it's 27 year old, snot faced yuppies who, with
BA in hand, get a $100K a year job to try their best to soak us. I know, I get to work with these "executives". If they weren't working for Disney they would just be with Mitsubushi or Ingram-Micro or something. I know someone who designed the parking garage. She is a stooge. She drives a 740i BMW, but she's a stooge. I asked "why don't the trams come up into the levels of the garage instead of making us walk 1/4 mile to get to them?" She looked at me as if I had
asked her what the meaning of life was. Not going to happen.

Anyway, I ain't gonna pay $2.50 for water. I am going to go into every restaurant and ask for a FREE cup of water WITH
ICE. I suggest we all do this AND complain about the drinking fountains. Maybe, just maybe, the all mighty dollar will win over as it did in the 70's and they'll have to think of ways to SPEND money instead of FLEECING it.

Just my two cents...



Roy

 

[Kelsie]

Although I am not the biggest fan of DCA and only because I feel that they forgot a key group (2-7 years olds) when they designed it, I have to say that my impressions were not that of a cheap park. I must admit that the feeling of Disney was is not near as strong as other parks but I got the impression it was meant to be that way.

I DO remember the car a day . Actually a little girl, 3 people in front of us won one!!

 

[roymccoy]

Yeah, Kelsie...I was BEHIND a woman who won a car..and my good "ladies first" manners cost my
a Camaro! Thanks Mom!!

Roy

 

[princessKT]

It's just one of those things you HAVE to do when you go to a park - pay the prices. Disney drinking fountains are usually warm anyway.

 

[roymccoy]

But I don't feel $2.50 for water is "part of it." I consider water to be a basic need that, by law,
has to be provided for all guests. Think about it...they are charging you $2.50 for W A T E R!
WATER. What's next? Air meters? They gonna charge you for how many cubic litres of "their" air
that you breath?? If Pressler has his way, it's probably next! No, water MUST be provided in
abundance to all guests - end of story. AND if they wanted to really make us happy and come back,
they'd chill the water in the drinking fountains. (Like Disneyland use to have)

Come on, people!! I can't believe how there is no uproar about this. As a matter of fact, many of you are
DEFENDING Disney on this. It's sad that they have won. I guess they can just keep erroding the services
and eventually we will all forget. Not me, though. I'm going to make them remember the past!

Roy

 

[princessKT]

It's not just Disneyland, it's every park in this country. You have to pay for bottled water everywhere, why would Disneyland be any different?

Drinking cold water isn't good for you anyway

 

[roymccoy]

DISNEYLAND has drinking fountains EVERYWHERE. Most of them are chilled. All of them
work. My beef is with the fact that Calif. Adventure has hardly any AND half were not working.
It's not like they haven't had any experience building theme parks before. They have a pretty
good example of a good one right across the entrance from DCA. As far as "all amusement
parks charge for water, why should Disney be any different?" That argument doesn't hold water for
me. (pun intended) If Disney is going to be "just like any other park" then what are we all doing here on this board?
Disney is supposed to be the flagship of the industry, not a follower. Disney is supposed to "raise the
bar" for Six Flags, Cedar Faire and Universal...not come down to their level. The "why can't Disney be like
all the other parks" mentality is why we have DCA to begin with. It's a second rate park that deserves the
"Universal Studios" moniker...not Disney. There aren't a lot of the "hard core Disney types" still working for
Disney. Most are just new college grads who took Disney's employment package. The reason we need to
complain about water is to remind them that we ARE watching and we know EXACTLY what they are trying to get
away with. It's the same reason we complain about Mr. Toad's Wild Ride closing and Great Moments with
Mr. Lincoln closing. They'll slip anything they can past us to save a buck. Only with public outcry will we
"teach" the newcomers over in the head office what Disney is all about. Disney is about free, chilled water
in abundance.

Nuff said.

Roy

-

 

[raidermatt]

Choosing your battles.

The water one is going to be a tough one to get anywhere on. The way people approach getting a drink of water has changed. Many people won't use drinking fountains because of the "germ factor". This was not the case 20-30 years ago. Disney is merely charging the same "amusement park" markup for water that they are charging for soda, food, souveniers and everything else. Its not a new phenomonon. Its just that when we were kids, we didn't care.

I wasn't aware of a law requiring drinking fountains, but if there is, I'm sure it makes a reference to WORKING drinking fountains. If Disney is not complying, you can go straight to the proper authorities.

Disney knows they are not going to lose many customers for inadequete drinking fountains, so I think our energy could be used better on other things like the attractions you mentioned.

Just my opinion...

 

[princessKT]

Because there was such a fuss about this, I investigated today when I went. IT WAS HOT today, I wasn't feeling too good myself, but I found plenty of restrooms and drinking fountains, and I kept filling up my water bottle - It worked out pretty good that way.

The only thing I had problems with was the lack of shade near the benchs and the lack of places to eat without airconditioned areas. When it was as hot as it was today, it would have been nice to cool off every now and then. I did eat at that Pilot place near the front, it had air conditioning, but there weren't enough umbrellas to go around near the benchs. Just a thought..

 

[roymccoy]

I'm not talking about drinking fountains by the bathrooms (which when we were there either weren't all working OR had a line of 25 or more people)...I'm saying that there aren't any drinking fountains out, alone in the park. There are no free-standing drinking fountains out among the hoards. But there ARE bottled water stands, though! Surprise, surprise! Go figure...you don't think Disney might have put in the legal minimum amount of drinking fountains so they could get $2.50 a bottle for water, do you? Naw!! Never happen...Disney would never go for the fast buck over peoples health and well-being....would they? All those drinking fountains over in Disneyland that Walt put in were a waste, Right?? Of course they weren't. I'm just wondering why there are MUCH less drinking fountains in DCA as compared with Disneyland? Do humans need less water in 2001 compared with 1955? No, I think we're the same old thirsty bunch. I just wonder why DCA would have less drinking fountains than Disneyland?? OH YEAH....I figured it out!!!! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

(I'm so proud of myself!)

Roy

 

[lminster]

I ALWAYS bring a water bottle with me to DL and most anywhere else that has hot weather. It is simply good practice. I recommend everyone in your party carrying a small water bottle. I like the small bottles because they are lighter and on hot days you can just refill them with the chilled water from any water fountain.

 

[princessKT]

Then bring a cooler with some water bottles. If you hate Disney so much, then why do you still go there?? You make no sense..

 

[roymccoy]

That was kind of a childish statement, don't you think?? "If you hate Disney so much then why do you go?"
I LOVE Disney and I want to see it flourish...not be reduced to a "six-flags" park like Knott's Berry Farm is turning into.
I have read MANY posts where you point to MANY things that you don't like about Disney (ride closures, show changes, etc.) and it never crossed my mind that you hated Disney. I inferred from your comments that you were a Disney supporter who wanted to point out things that you felt would take away from the company...not that you "hate Disney" and "why do you go?"...I guess I was wrong....I guess you hate Disney.

Why do you go?

Roy

 

[Kelsie]

Well, personally I go for the Dole Whip !

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but let's just keep it nice ok?

 

[raidermatt]

Does Disneyland/DCA have Itsakadoozies?

I never had one until I went to WDW. Now I get them at the grocery store.

Yum.

 

[roymccoy]

Don't know if DCA or Disneyland have itsakadoodles....but I DO know what else they don't have...

ENOUGH DRINKING FOUNTAINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Roy

 

[princessKT]

By what you said you were acting like Disney is some "money grubbing corporation", then why have it grab your money any more by having to pay for a lousy water bottle, eh?

Yeah, I hate Disney alright. Just because there was no shade doesn't mean I won't return when it's COOLER. You were about to have a heartattack on paying for water, and I gave you a few tips on what to do.

GET OVER THE FACT that you have to pay for water like every other American (and non American) citizen. That is all.