Just got back-awesome trip, but a little diappointed in how disney handled something

[jakoky]

HI everyone, we just got back last night from an awesome 10 day trip to disneyland...we had great weather, the crowds were pretty good (best day was a thursday, almost no waits)...My oldest dd turned 18 on mothers day, and we had a blast in the parks....she got a lot of attention from the CM's while wearing her birthday button....

The hojo again, was awesome....just love that place....and cannot say enough good about it


Here is my diappointment...our last day in anaheim, we saved and made it our last disney day-our 5th in the parks....Our group of 7 started out together in magic kingdom....once in, we could NOT get fastpasses...kept saying ticket wasnt validated, or something along those lines...talked to a cm at indianna, who gave us tickets to use to get our fastpasses the rest of the day...she was awesome....Now, our group splits, and my older dd and her two friends go off on their own...we decided to hit CA around noon...as they scan our tickets, she says "sorry, all 5 days have been used" where i calmly reply, no, that is impossible...she does the right thing and calls a supervisor over and the look into it, and yep, we are right so they fix it and in we go....Well, late afternoon, we head back to find out the girls were NOT allowed in CA...told the same thing as us, except, they never called a supervisor, they just basically embarrassed the girls in the line... my daughter tried to explain, but was rudely handed her tickets back...anyways, i was very upset as they lost their last day and went down to talk to someone...they told they would "comp" the girls a t-shirt and wrote something up for 25 dollars...so off we go shirt shopping....we get to the tills with our 28 dollar shirts(as that is what almost every shirt costs) with our money out to pay the difference, and were told NO NO NO, the shirt has to be under 25....the CM tried to help us find shirts in that price but couldnt find any, so the poor girls had to go to the mens section and pick out shirts to sleep in...anyways, i was told at the gates that sometimes this happens, the computer will get the days mixed....This has me somewhat frustrated and i am just glad it happened on our last day because up until then, the trip was truly magical....

Oh, one last thing....on our fourth night we went to reenter the parks and they couldnt see our hand stamp...she told us we can NOT use hand sanitizer, sun screens or lotions once we have the stamp...Has anyone ever heard of this, because, not only is this crazy, it is impossible?????

Anyways, trying to figure out when our next trip will be....
sharon

 

[teatime]

yikes, what confusion. Glad to know you had the other days as wonderful. I hope this does not happen to us! To bad for the rude CM, poor girls should have seen a supervisor

 

[Krissy Marissy]

glad most of your trip was magical. That last day sounds awful and I would have made a big fuss about them wrongly treating my dd the way they did. I have been told you can swim and wash your hands....but lightly. Never heard about lotion but that makes sense. You rub it into your skin and probably smear the stamp...they need to be able to see it. Welcome home!

 

[redsox721]

Sorry about what happened to the girls.

We had wonderful time on our trip also. We got alot of attention with our Happy Anniversary buttons on. At first it was weird but after the first day, we loved it.

As for the handstamp, I asked a CM after she stamped us if the stamp would wash off in the shower or pool. She said not to use any lotions on the stamp but that showers and pool water were ok.

 

[DizNee Luver]

I hope Disneyland can get a different system.....doesn't WDW use a fingerprint??? Anyways, our older sons went back to the motel & swam for a couple hours & then came back to the park.....they got hassled about not having a stamp....but after a supervisor came over, they were allowed back in. This is not an uncommon problem...so hopefully they can come up with something better. They tend to question the teens more than anyone.......

 

[azdisneylover]

What a damper on a day!

 

[bumbershoot]

They have to do a better job at explaining the "fast pass tickets". I nearly had an argument with a CM when he kept using that phrase and I just didn't understand him. Finally I realized what he was saying, substituted "pass that you use in the FP machine", and we parted good friends...he even gave me their version of a "front of line" pass (except for Nemo) because he felt bad for confusing me but was glad we figured it out, and I ended up putting in a compliment at City Hall for him.

But still, it's a bad phrase to use. In my case it was b/c my AP didn't "take" that morning, even though it made the proper sound in the machine, my pic popped up, etc.

I bet when they were trying to figure it out they wiped the days off in some way. Rotten.

And yes, teens are always suspect.

We don't have much experience with the hand stamps, as AP holders only need them on the busiest days, but I've heard repeatedly that you can swim, shower, etc and not have them come off. I don't use much lotion and I rarely use hand sanitizer (I wash my hands with soap and water, though), but when I've gotten a stamp (sometimes DS requests that we all get stamped, LOL) I can see it for days. But maybe this is something new with all the obsessive purell use from the last month, and they've figured out the alcohol-based stuff is destroying the ink.

It does sound like ultimately they tried to treat you well. And that's good, even though each step of the way was difficult.

 

[kerickson]

we had a similar issue with my kids tickets this week. I bought the 6 days for 4 park hoppers and on day 6 they came up in the system as not valid. I spoke with the CM about it briefly explaining the date we arrived and that we couldn't have used up the 6 days, and she over-rode something in the system and let us in. We didn't re-enter again so I don't know if it would have continued to happen. Sounds like some glitch in their ticketing system...

 

[Mike_M]

I've seen the people at the gate get a little snippy about the hand stamps too. I can understand that there probably is a problem with people sharing admission tickets but I think that they sometimes are a little over the top in enforecement of it and a bit pushy at times.

 

[kc10family]

OP- sorry to read this.
I always go to the guest services to let them know what occured. I may not be upset about it, but I know they can not make changes or improve if they do not know it goes on. I don't ask for anything, just a give them the little FYI to make the park better for the next person and our next trip. Sometimes coming from the guest helps more than from the CM at the location of the issue.

 

[nzdisneymom]

I'm glad to have read your post, OP, because we're used to WDW's way of ticketing with season tix, but we'll have a 5 for 3 ticket for our DL trip in June. We've not had a handstamp in years - so it's good for us to be prepared for it.

But what's this about Fast Passes? Do you have to get a separate pass thing to get a FP rather than using your ticket?

OP -- that really stinks about the $25 voucher and them not letting you just pay the diff.

 

[bumbershoot]

But what's this about Fast Passes? Do you have to get a separate pass thing to get a FP rather than using your ticket?

It's not a normal thing.

But sometimes your ticket or AP gets messed up and the system doesn't "think" you've used it for entry that day. If you haven't used it for entry, you can't get a FP with it. In my case, even though the AP scanned and my picture came up on the screen and the machine made the right noise and I got in...when I put it into a FP machine it spit out a thing telling me that I had invalid admission blah blah.

I went to the CM at that ride wait-time kiosk, and he said that I could go to City Hall to get a "fast pass ticket". For some reason I just didn't understand that at first, but basically it's a substitute for your own ticket/AP that you use in the FP machines, when your own ticket/AP is messed up.

The other options are...if you're leaving that park soon anyway, just hop over to the other and things will get cleared up (usually), or leave then come right back in which should fix it as well.

So that's what the "fast pass ticket" is all about...it's quick and temp fix when your admission media gets messed up.

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

It's not a normal thing.

But sometimes your ticket or AP gets messed up and the system doesn't "think" you've used it for entry that day. If you haven't used it for entry, you can't get a FP with it. In my case, even though the AP scanned and my picture came up on the screen and the machine made the right noise and I got in...when I put it into a FP machine it spit out a thing telling me that I had invalid admission blah blah.

I went to the CM at that ride wait-time kiosk, and he said that I could go to City Hall to get a "fast pass ticket". For some reason I just didn't understand that at first, but basically it's a substitute for your own ticket/AP that you use in the FP machines, when your own ticket/AP is messed up.

The other options are...if you're leaving that park soon anyway, just hop over to the other and things will get cleared up (usually), or leave then come right back in which should fix it as well.

So that's what the "fast pass ticket" is all about...it's quick and temp fix when your admission media gets messed up.

Yep, I didn't understand it either when I had to use one. Last year I was getting FPs for us for Space, while DH took the kids on BTMRR. DH's wouldn't work and I couldn't explain to the CM that he really was in the park! Like yours, his AP seemed to work just fine on entry. Thankfully we also were able to get the "fast pass ticket" so it wasn't an issue the rest of the day.

I agree, though, going to the fingerprint system would work a lot better. I know people that have bought partly-used say 5-for-3 tickets. However, the fingerscan "kicked out" DDs ticket our last day at WDW (of course the morning of Super Soap Weekend, crazy madhouse busy) saying her scan was invalid. The CM at the gate immediately walked us to Guest Services, no fuss- no hassle- no embarrassment, where it was taken care of. Turns out, the day before when DS lost his ticket, and it was reissued- the CM had accidentally canceled DDs ticket instead!

 

[Eeee-va]

I'm so sorry this happened to you! I find that sometimes whatever happens at the end of something (good or bad) really sets the tone for how I remember an experience. I really feel for the girls...when I was younger I wouldn't have even thought of asking for a supervisor either (and I know most places don't want to take teens seriously ).

I think I'd at least write them a sternly-worded letter.

 

[mystic_path]

Hmm I always use hand sanitizer and I have never had a problem with it at Disneyland. But I do know what you mean about the tickets that are scanned not being scanned properly.

Twice now they bling us in and we hear that magical "BLING" and yet when we go to get fast passes it says the cards havent been activated yet. So we have had to go to Guest Relations and have them correct it.

Then on our last trip we once again heard the "Bling" but it didnt dock a day off our pass which was fantastic. But since we had to head home to a different country we ended up giving waiting guests at the ticket booth our last day ticket and they were thrilled and got in just fine.

 

[Disney Dreams]

...Then on our last trip we once again heard the "Bling" but it didnt dock a day off our pass which was fantastic. But since we had to head home to a different country we ended up giving waiting guests at the ticket booth our last day ticket and they were thrilled and got in just fine.

So you helped them steal $70/person from DLR? See, I know I will take some yelling at from someone for this, but people get upset about the controls DLR has in place and how they are "overstrict" at the gates, but this is exactly why, imo.

As for the handstamp, I have heard that hand sanitizer can be an issue.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

The same thing happened one year with my DH's regular 5 day hopper. It sucks when that happens. We had to trek all the back over to City Hall to get the FP ticket thingie from Indy. Later we went to enter DCA and they said his ticket was invalid. We called a supervisor and they sent us to Guest Services where they promptly printed him a brand new ticket. They blamed it on AAA and the way they print out the tickets.

 

[visitingapril09]

We had 8 day passes when we went in April. We needed 8 days as we needed to go slow due to a child with a medical issue with us. On our last day, day 8, we were going in and 1/2 of our tickets were fine and 1/2 we got that 'boing' noise and it said that the passes were all used up. He tried about 3 times... I pointed at the others and said that theirs worked and we have been together all week. He was great. He said this happens sometimes....no problem and let us though. We didn't go in again that day as it was our day to leave but I was grateful that he waved it off and figured it was a mistake. Yes, their system needs some tweaking somehow as I think errors in the system are causing our problems.

 

[jakoky]

Hi ...well, it was definately frustrating for us, mainly because the 3 girls lost most of their last day in the parks...also, i thought it was amazing they were willing to `comp` the girls something, but the fact that the amount written on the ticket was 3 dollars less than any tshirt in the store was frustrating...we tried everything, we tried adding our own money, using the 25 towards something else...nothing.... and then to hear it is a common problem, was frustrating...

anyways, at least the rest of the trip was awesome

as for the hand stamps, this was our 4th disney trip in four and a half years, and our very first hand stamp problem....btw, that cm wasnt all that nice about it either...as we walked away, after commenting we shouldnt use hand sanitizer, i believe my girls were commenting on something about ``hasnt she heard of the swine flu``

anyways, hope this doesnt happen to anyone else...we saved our last day of 10 for our last disney day, and then the girls lost out

sharon

 

[mystic_path]

So you helped them steal $70/person from DLR? See, I know I will take some yelling at from someone for this, but people get upset about the controls DLR has in place and how they are "overstrict" at the gates, but this is exactly why, imo.

I see your point and I respect it, but I didnt really help them steal anything... Not my fault Disney screwed up, and I would rather help someone out if I can. Loads of people would have been happy to have that extra day, and if it were their original ticket they would probably have gone in for that extra day if they had more time.

I have to add too though that I didnt know the gates sometimes screw up. I didnt realize that I had that free day till the day before we left. So the last day on the ticket wasnt good for me to use. I kinda look at it like my family got in for free one day while not realizing it due to Disney's gates not scanning properly. Why waste a perfectly good day? That 8 day ticket was worth a lot of money.