OK...can I vent about Splitsville?!

[gregf71]

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.

 

[VandVsmama]

That’s an awful lot of money just to go bowling. You could do The Void for about the same price (it’s an hour long). We did the Star Wars one in WDW last summer. It was pretty darn awesome. Do that, shop, have lunch somewhere and that will kill some extra time.

 

[dieumeye]

Sorry to hear about your poor experience. The good new is that you'll probably be fine walking up.

I visited Splitsville for the first time just a few weeks ago on a whim. We were a big group, tired and hungry, and didn't want to wait for a table anywhere. Splitsville was available immediately. It's huge in there and as I was talking to the server about the place, he mentioned that they had never reached capacity. No complaints about the food and we had a good time.

Sounds like they need to work on their advance reservation system, though if they never get that busy it explains why they probably haven't put too much effort into it!

Edit: something else to note... you can check in as early as you want and the GCH will store your bags. You can use the pool as soon as you check in even if your room isn't ready. They'll send a txt when your room is ready. Last time I visited, one of the rooms I had booked came available around noon, so you might get lucky and get it early.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

We always drop our bags at the bell desk and head straight to the pool when staying at the DLH. There is a nice place to change in the pool restrooms. I imagine it’s the same at GCH. I just pack a separate pool bag with all of our swim stuff and a change of clothes.

 

[gregf71]

We always drop our bags at the bell desk and head straight to the pool when staying at the DLH. There is a nice place to change in the pool restrooms. I imagine it’s the same at GCH. I just pack a separate pool bag with all of our swim stuff and a change of clothes.

Yeah, we talked about doing that as well. Thanks for the reminder!

 

[gary1955]

last year I was a guest in a group that went to Topgolf driving range. I wasn't there to check in at the counter but the business model sounds similar with the membership sign-up and all. can't speak to if there were up-charges.

 

[DLgal]

First of all, your room will probably be ready pretty early in the day. We stayed last summer, checked in at 7:30am and our room was ready before noon.

Second, Splitsville is NEVER FULL. Ever. It's so expensive that it never fills to capacity. I'm kind of surprised they haven't lowered their prices yet. You will be fine to walk in.

 

[Joestoppable]

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.

That’s an awful lot of money just to go bowling. You could do The Void for about the same price (it’s an hour long). We did the Star Wars one in WDW last summer. It was pretty darn awesome. Do that, shop, have lunch somewhere and that will kill some extra time.

I would also like to recommend The Void over splitsville. Its fun for a lot of different age ranges. I've done both the star wars and wreck it ralph version.

I also guess it depends on what day you are arriving. the lego store on weekends sometimes has free events for kids where they get to learn and build lego's.

so after The Void and maybe some random free activities offered around down town disney, and then if you grab a bite to eat. That should kill way more then enough time.

As for food options there are the hotel restaurants (goofys kitchen, steakhouse 55, Disney PCH grill etc), but those are usually a little pricey (but the character breakfast are fun). If you want to eat at DTD, i usually recommend LA brea Bakery for breakfast for families. They have a lot more kid friendly options served compared to Catal.

 

[gregf71]

First of all, your room will probably be ready pretty early in the day. We stayed last summer, checked in at 7:30am and our room was ready before noon.

We will certainly cross our fingers, but we have stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and the Grand a couple of time and have never received significantly early access to our room. Not to mention, this trip will be during D23 week, so I'd really be surprised.


Second, Splitsville is NEVER FULL. Ever. It's so expensive that it never fills to capacity. I'm kind of surprised they haven't lowered their prices yet. You will be fine to walk in.

Thanks for the positive affirmation here. If we can get there right at opening, I am thinking that we should be fine. Though this experience has left a bad taste in my mouth so to speak and we may blow them off completely.

 

[gregf71]

I would also like to recommend The Void over splitsville. Its fun for a lot of different age ranges. I've done both the star wars and wreck it ralph version.

I also guess it depends on what day you are arriving. the lego store on weekends sometimes has free events for kids where they get to learn and build lego's.

so after The Void and maybe some random free activities offered around down town disney, and then if you grab a bite to eat. That should kill way more then enough time.

As for food options there are the hotel restaurants (goofys kitchen, steakhouse 55, Disney PCH grill etc), but those are usually a little pricey (but the character breakfast are fun). If you want to eat at DTD, i usually recommend LA brea Bakery for breakfast for families. They have a lot more kid friendly options served compared to Catal.

How is the Void for people who are subject to motion sickness at some level? I am ok, but like to use a motion sickness patch when we take a cruise. I also get a headache if I hit too many roller coasters back to back. Our daughter has lately begun to get woozy after multiple motion simulator attractions. Spreading them out like we do at Disney parks is fine, but when we hit Universal in Florida a couple years back, the over abundance of "screen" attraction overwhelmed her.

 

[Joestoppable]

How is the Void for people who are subject to motion sickness at some level? I am ok, but like to use a motion sickness patch when we take a cruise. I also get a headache if I hit too many roller coasters back to back. Our daughter has lately begun to get woozy after multiple motion simulator attractions. Spreading them out like we do at Disney parks is fine, but when we hit Universal in Florida a couple years back, the over abundance of "screen" attraction overwhelmed her.

That is a tough call, the game itself isnt very physical. You arent running around or anything. But there is a lot of stuff happening. If you've never done VR before, i think a good way to judge your tolerance to something like that would be the star tours at DL. If you can handle that i think you should be ok. Its obviously not as long as The Void session, but its a lot more rocking and rolling then it.

 

[PHXscuba]

How is the Void for people who are subject to motion sickness at some level? I am ok, but like to use a motion sickness patch when we take a cruise. I also get a headache if I hit too many roller coasters back to back. Our daughter has lately begun to get woozy after multiple motion simulator attractions. Spreading them out like we do at Disney parks is fine, but when we hit Universal in Florida a couple years back, the over abundance of "screen" attraction overwhelmed her.

The Void is top-quality VR. I don't do spinning rides and certain seats work better for me on Star Tours, but I had no problems with Void. I think we'd be about the same motion-sick level. It really does feel like you are there in the Void because there are also smells, things to touch, etc. Not a disconnect like some 3D rides/movies.

And I was screened-out after 2 days at Universal too.

PHXscuba

 

[PatMcDuck]

We went to Splitsville once at WDW Disney Springs. While waiting for our lane, we noticed most other waiting people grabbing bowling balls. Did not understand WHY, until it became clear that the time looking around for a ball that fit or was acceptable, counted towards your bowling time. So good tip, grab a ball while off the clock.

Worse, the lanes upstairs, where we were sent, were crazy slippery. Yes we had on the bowling shoes. People on lanes next to us also were falling and throwing gutter balls. It was not very enjoyable, and the staff just shrugged when we complained. The lanes seemed shorter than usual? (I am not a frequent bowler so that was not a huge problem).

Food was great and it was nice to have the food delivered to us lane side.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

we looked into this once but it is too pricey for us. (just to bowl we can go down the street for like 15bucks)

 

[Whistlebee]

We wanted to make dining reservations just to eat heee a couple months ago. We also were supposed to sign a contract to reserve a table for lunch. LOL! Yeah, that didn’t happen. We just ate somewhere else that didn’t require multiple steps just to book a reservation. I did notice you can now reserve a table through the Disney app at least!

 

[LizzyS]

I'll be surprised if this place makes it long term given the complaints about pricing and weird, more expensive advanced reservations.

It looks nice from the outside, but I don't want to bowl while at Disney, personally.

 

[tarheelalum]

Splittsville is disappointing and a rip off. The house of blues was much better in that location.

 

[gottalovepluto]

You can do other stuff. Trader Sam’s can be fun for lunch & easier to get into than at night & kids are allowed at the indoor tables in the afternoon. You could also get dole whip at DLH if that floats your Disney boat! The shops are enjoyable to meander through. There are new places in DtD, like The Void (I think reservations are necessary due to demand?), a new ice cream place & a brewery.

 

[gottalovepluto]

...We also were supposed to sign a contract to reserve a table for lunch...

 

[gottalovepluto]

We always drop our bags at the bell desk and head straight to the pool when staying at the DLH. There is a nice place to change in the pool restrooms. I imagine it’s the same at GCH. I just pack a separate pool bag with all of our swim stuff and a change of clothes.

Yeah, we talked about doing that as well. Thanks for the reminder!

Fwiw GCH is supposed to have that new pool bar/restaurant this summer I think. Construction was paused for a bit from what I’d read here but was back to full force when I stayed a couple weeks ago. Might make a long pool hangout day a more enjoyable experience.