I think most of my displeasure was the bait and switch. There have been many pin or artist events in the past. This should have been advertised as such. We are not big collectors. We wanted more from the event that an opportunity to buy. Wish we could see the findings of the survey. I bet many out of state folks share my thoughts. I can understand how enjoyable this would have been for a local who made an organized plan. We calculated our expenses and spent will over $2500 for this event. We had no intention of an August trip, in fact we leave for WDW in a few days! I bought into the hoopla and paid dearly.
Disneyland portion: Too many confusing lines. We had a purchases mix up that cost us most of our afternoon. Disappointing experience for sure.
Party: everytime I go to DL I forgot how many line cutters there are. Just doesn't happen at WDW. Here is what we did:
+Arrived at 11:15
+In around 12:50
+Mark Twain, then Rivers of America by show time
+caught a seat at River Belle Terrace A+ spot
+show was alright. So much happening from far away. Why no Fantasmic barges?
+hit POC since it was chaotic after the show
+rode with no sound, kind of cool
+I went to French Market and husband went to Stage Door for our food. Big mistake. Husband's line was 30 minutes longer. Ate soup alone. By the time we were united it was already past 2am
+Went to HM, loved it
+Stood in line for churro, but gave up after about 10 minutes of standing still
+Decided to go to Golden Horshoe for sundae
+got to Big Thunder right before 3am
+got off and discovered they had closed Big Thunder after our ride. Wow, it's already past 3 am!
+went to Mark Twain, no ride for 20 minutes, can't wait or it would be the last thing we do
+decide to head to HM to do lantern shot. Line to Splash, decide to go on HM again instead
+get stuck in Portrait Gallery for 15 minutes with a lady who absolutely lost it. Yelling her complains in everyone's ear. We were all in the same situation. Losing too much time standing still. They continued to stuff us in the hall. When the line started again everyone was cutting to get closer.
+Gus was the highlight of our night. Kudos to Gus!
+Decided to give churro cart another try. Big mistake, too long.
+Very thirsty, had only used two tabs so far. Went to Royal Veranda for punch.
+As soon as we got in line they put up the closed sign behind us. Guests would approach us asking for us to "buy" their items. It was very ackward as the CMs gave us disapproving looks.
+Decided to take our punch to Adventureland to catch a glimpse of the Hitchhiking ghosts. Ghosts were already gone. I had hoped there would still be a closed line of guests.
+4:15 in front of the castle and sat with our punch until we exited. So many folks with leftover tabs. Overheard lots of complaints.
+not one photo in our photopass
So in total: $2500 for 4 rides, the Leota show, and three tabs used. We could have had an entire vacation for that much.