gregf71
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2012
My family of three are planning a visit to Disneyland this summer, staying at the Grand Californian. Driving up from San Diego, where we live, we know that most probably we will not be able to get into our room until mid-afternoon at best. So, if arriving early that day, we were thinking about ways to spend time in Downtown Disney. Splitsville immediately popped up to the top of our list! Having never been there before, it sounded like a fun way to spend some time and grab some lunch in the process! Win Win!!
Then reality set in. I checked the webpages on Disneyland's site and Splitsville's, discovering that you can reserve a lane. Great, I thought, let's do this! Strangely though, the links to make a lane reservation led me to a small web-form that simply generated an email to Splitsville. Apparently, a staff member would then be in contact with me to setup our reservation. OK, I thought, this is a bit weird, but I will play along. Within a hour or so, I received an email from a Splitsville rep, detailing the pricing and the process. Apparently, we would need to sign a contract with them to reserve a bowling lane for the three of us...a contract!!! It wasn't like we were planning a birthday party or a corporate event, my small family and I just want to bowl! Oh, and did I mention that it wasn't even a true reservation?! They call it a Priority Bowling and it is "you pass to the FAST LANE and allows your group to receive the next available lane upon check in...Your wait time will vary based on volume." So, in reality it isn't a reservation, but basically a Fast Pass!
I figured what the heck and initiated the process. Then I noticed that the pricing he quoted was $10 more per person than the posted pricing. Thinking that it may have been a simple mistake on his part (he got our requested arrival time wrong on the contract too), I asked to confirm. Yep, his words, lane reservations "come at a premium rate of $10 more than our walk in rates." No where, and I mean no where on either website is this up-charge indicated!
So, at that pricing rate, for the three of us to bowl for 1 hour and 15 minutes, the max time allocated for groups of three to four people, it would cost us almost $94!!! Granted, it includes shoe rental, but still...sheesh!!!
Talking it over with my wife, we decided to just take our chances and show up that morning when they open to see if we can get a lane at the walk in price. Hopefully it will work out. Needless to say, this process was frustrating and in my mind a bait and switch tactic on their part.
Thank you for letting me rant.
Then reality set in. I checked the webpages on Disneyland's site and Splitsville's, discovering that you can reserve a lane. Great, I thought, let's do this! Strangely though, the links to make a lane reservation led me to a small web-form that simply generated an email to Splitsville. Apparently, a staff member would then be in contact with me to setup our reservation. OK, I thought, this is a bit weird, but I will play along. Within a hour or so, I received an email from a Splitsville rep, detailing the pricing and the process. Apparently, we would need to sign a contract with them to reserve a bowling lane for the three of us...a contract!!! It wasn't like we were planning a birthday party or a corporate event, my small family and I just want to bowl! Oh, and did I mention that it wasn't even a true reservation?! They call it a Priority Bowling and it is "you pass to the FAST LANE and allows your group to receive the next available lane upon check in...Your wait time will vary based on volume." So, in reality it isn't a reservation, but basically a Fast Pass!
I figured what the heck and initiated the process. Then I noticed that the pricing he quoted was $10 more per person than the posted pricing. Thinking that it may have been a simple mistake on his part (he got our requested arrival time wrong on the contract too), I asked to confirm. Yep, his words, lane reservations "come at a premium rate of $10 more than our walk in rates." No where, and I mean no where on either website is this up-charge indicated!
So, at that pricing rate, for the three of us to bowl for 1 hour and 15 minutes, the max time allocated for groups of three to four people, it would cost us almost $94!!! Granted, it includes shoe rental, but still...sheesh!!!
Talking it over with my wife, we decided to just take our chances and show up that morning when they open to see if we can get a lane at the walk in price. Hopefully it will work out. Needless to say, this process was frustrating and in my mind a bait and switch tactic on their part.
Thank you for letting me rant.