Just sent Disney an email about the first party. This is what I told them (I would like to point out that before this night it had been an excellent trip with LOADS of pixie dust including a free BOG breakfast and a few free Anniversary desserts so there absolutely no issues except for the party):
Good Evening,
I just returned from a great five night trip to Walt Disney World. I was hoping that attending my first Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party would have been the highlight of the trip. Unfortunately, it was not.
My wife and I had five day park-hoppers along with our party tickets and we arrived at the Magic Kingdom around 2:00PM this past Tuesday. Crowds were low and we were having a great time. As time got closer to the party, crowds picked up, but we (as most people did) expected them to dissipate as the party started. Unfortunately, they did not.
In the five hours we were at Magic Kingdom during the actual party, we were only able to meet two sets of Characters, and ride three rides due to the insane crowd levels. While I understand this party sold out the day of, it did not help that Cast Members did not enforce the party exit policies. Cast Members were NOT making guests leave that did not have wrist bands for the party, and it appeared as though Disney woefully understaffed this event as there were many cast members who looked dazed and confused at best due to the crowds. While I understand the party sold out day-of, it is impossible to believe that Disney was not aware that the party was close to selling out, and that there was not an alternative staffing plan in place in case the party was busier than anticipated. Combined with the large number of comp tickets given to bloggers and media, it made for an extremely crowded and uncomfortable event. On top of this, no announcements were made (that I heard) saying the park was closing due to the party, and that all guests without tickets would need to leave.
The fact that Disney did nothing to work to remove guests who did not pay for the party is extremely frustrating to myself and many other paying patrons. It is not fair that between the two of us, my wife and I paid $136.00 for a pair of tickets and $138.00 for two seats at the Dessert Party (so a total of $274.00 plus tax) when so many people were simply allowed to stay in the park and nothing was done about it. In fact, had it not been for the Dessert Party, I have no doubt we would not have been able to find adequate viewing spaces for the parade and fireworks. It took us almost thirty minutes to get from Frontierland to Tomorrowland to check-in for the Dessert Party.
To be completely honest, I feel deceived by Disney, as this event was billed as a limited, hard-ticket event. In reality, people were allowed to do as they please, with only those of us who actually followed the rules and paid for the party being punished. This has severely affected my view of not only special ticketed events, but of the Disney company as a whole. To charge guests for what is supposed to be a "limited hard-ticket experience" and then to not enforce the rules by allowing any park patrons who refuse to leave to stay at the party not only devalues the experience for those of us who spent our hard-earned money on the admission to the party, but shows a lack of disrespect to the patrons who did pay. Why should we continue to pay the exorbitant prices that the Walt Disney Company charges, when we know if we just argue enough with cast members and work to skirt the rules, Disney will concede and allow people to break the rules? It is a shame that those of us following and playing by the rules are punished under the system Disney has of non-enforcement.
To conclude this email, I am asking for a refund of the cost of my party tickets, as what was promised by Disney was in no way what was delivered.
Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you regarding my above comments.
