Hello everyone- I am so sorry for the delay! I hope you all are having a wonderful New Year! I kept meaning to finish this post, but this one was particularly grueling. I couldn’t decide whether or not to include the email I sent to Disney regarding the extremely disappointing customer service (or lack thereof) I received from DCA on the morning of Day 2. I decided to include it just because the whole situation was so horrible and I didn’t want to have to re-write a summary of the incident and spend more time stirring the pot of negativity. Until July, I had never had anything but pleasant encounters with Disney Cast Members and in my opinion Disney’s wonderful customer service is part of what makes it so special.
Anyway, without further delay…
DAY 2.1: How Rude!
Last time we left off with the conclusion of Day 1. To recap, it was a doozy. We kicked off the day with a fun shopping spree at WOD and BBB, where we bought Violet and Dash Minnie hats and special costumes, however immediately thereafter Dad ran over Dash with the ECV. We tried and failed to ride BTMR twice (never did get on that), Dad became lost for hours, we were trapped in the Casey Jr. queue for eons, we never made it to the pool, my family was an hour late leaving GCR for Paint the Night, and the fireworks were cancelled (in the middle of the show!). It was also hot and very crowded. Not to be exclusively negative, we met four characters, got the best Splash Mtn ride photo ever, had a wonderful dinner at Storyteller’s Cafe, and everyone loved Paint the Night!
After Mom and I picked up our pity FP’s from City Hall, we returned to the room where Dad was already snoring away. I updated my TR notes, hoping that eventually the snoring would die down, but it seemed to get even louder. At home I always sleep w/ a fan, so it’s usually hard for me to fall asleep in hotels (I really need to look into getting a portable white noise machine). Anyway, where I’m going w/ this is: I did not sleep a WINK that night. The snoring was too powerful of a force. It would stop for a few minutes, but whenever I would be on the verge of drifting off, the room would explode into reverberations of madness.
By 5:30 or 6am, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I got up and got the heck out of there. To remind you of our plan for the day, once again may I present the clipboard of fun:
We had a very simple set of goals for Day 2. We had a 9am ADR at the Plaza Inn in DL. Directly after, we would park hop to DCA and do Cars Land (specifically RSR of course) and the new Frozen show in the Hyperion (the 11:30am or 1:35pm showing). Time permitting, we would also do an Anna/Elsa meet ’n’ greet, a class at the Animation Academy, Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, and the new Soarin’!
The plan was that I would head out to DCA, obtain FP’s for RSR and Frozen Live, meet back up w/ everyone at GCR, and then we would all walk straight to the Plaza Inn in DL. I was in position at the GCR DCA portal by 7:15am. I think I psyched out the security team down there b/c I was interrogating them about what time they started letting people in and what time the line started forming. They were like: “Line? What line?” Apparently it’s generally pretty chilled out over there which is why they were confused. I guess I’ve been to WDW enough times that I’m always preparing for a high level of intensity. If that had been WDW then I feel like the line at the DCA portal would have been a mile long by 7:30am!
I think they opened the portal around 7:45am. There was only one other family using the portal at the time. I approached the turnstile and got out everyone’s tickets, but the CMs would not scan them! Since the tickets had not been activated for the day yet, I needed to get them scanned at the portal in order to obtain FP’s in DCA. I explained my situation to the CMs but they still would not scan the tickets. I went back to the GCR front desk and asked the CMs if they could help. One CM was very nice and went to the back room to speak with a manager, but she told me that the hotel could not help with anything related to the parks.
I returned to the DCA portal and asked the CMs if DCA Guest Services would be able to help. The CMS thought that that was a possibility so they scanned my ticket, I entered DCA, and walked to Guest Services near the front gate. I approached the counter and introduced myself to CMX (Cast Member “X”), who rapidly revealed himself to be entirely unfit for a position in Guest Services. In fact, CMX would be better served driving a submarine or unfolding strollers. I explained that I was just trying to make the day easier for my family, since we had had a rough go of it the day before and our party consisted of seven people including two children and one adult w/ mobility issues on an ECV. Not to mention we were all guests of GCR. The encounter was so bad that I actually wrote a letter to Disney, which I have copied below:
Dear Disneyland,
My parents, brother and his family (visiting from Texas), and I recently spent two days at the Disneyland Resort on Wednesday, July 27th and Thursday, July 28th. We stayed at the Grand Californian Resort on the night of the 27th. We had a frustrating two days in the parks. Our party of seven included two little girls (ages four and seven) and my father, who has mobility issues and was riding an electric convenience vehicle (ECV). It was difficult for us to navigate through the heavy crowds in the heat with the ECV and young children, but what ultimately made our time touring the parks very stressful and disappointing were the endless technical glitches, ride breakdowns, and an extremely upsetting and unhelpful encounter with a cast member in the California Adventure guest services center.
All but one of the cast members we encountered in the parks were very nice, especially Eileen at the Disneyland guest services center. Unfortunately, I have never had such an unpleasant experience at Disneyland as I had with CMX (Cast Member “X”) on the morning of July 28th at the California Adventure guest services center.
On Thursday morning (7/28), my family had a 9am reservation at the Plaza Inn for the Minnie & Friends Character Breakfast. Our plan was that I would gather all of the tickets, get up early, and acquire Fastpasses (FP’s) from California Adventure for Radiator Springs Racers and the Frozen musical. I would meet my family back at the hotel, we would travel together to the Plaza Inn for breakfast, and then park-hop to California Adventure to use our FP’s for Radiator Springs and Frozen. I wanted to make things as easy as possible for my family by limiting walking and park-hopping. It can be difficult to navigate the parks with a group of seven, including two little girls and my father riding the ECV. Other guests can unthinkingly cut or stand in front of the ECV and do not allow it to pass or turn. On Wednesday afternoon, we became separated from my father for several hours because we lost sight of each other in the crowds; my father had forgotten his cell phone at home so we could not contact him. I did not want this to happen again. Unfortunately it did, despite my best efforts and as a direct result of my unpleasant, unhelpful experience with California Adventure guest services.
At 7:30am, I arrived at the Grand Californian private portal to California Adventure. I explained to the cast members at the turnstile that I needed my family’s tickets scanned so that I could get our FP’s. They confirmed that I could not acquire FP’s unless the tickets were scanned but would not scan my family’s tickets. I went back into the hotel and inquired at the front desk to see if they could be of any help, but they said there was nothing they could do. I returned to the California Adventure portal and asked a cast member if guest services could help. They said that it was a possibility so I entered the park and walked to the guest services center.
At guest services, I was greeted by CMX. I explained to CMX that I hoped he could help me scan my tickets so that I could obtain FP’s for my family. I explained that we had a large group with two little girls and my father on an ECV and I was just trying to make things easier for them. I showed CMX my seven park-hopper tickets. CMX said that he could not scan the tickets. He explained that since my family was not present, the “tickets aren’t really here” and he made air-quotes with both hands to emphasize his point. I told CMX that the other day I had seen a cast member at the Disneyland turnstile scan an extra ticket for a man directly in front of me because he wanted to get a FP for his daughter. CMX said: “I wasn’t there and I didn’t hear the conversation between that cast member and that particular guest.” CMX’s tone and choice of words made me feel as if he was suggesting that I had made up that story.
I said that I did not understand what the issue was since all of the tickets already had names and photographs associated with them and my family members were registered guests at the Grand Californian. At this point, CMX actually paused, stepped back from the counter, and exchanged a glance with his co-worker. He acted like he was exasperated with me and I felt like he was trying to subtly roll his eyes at me with his co-worker.
I explained that, the day prior, we had had a frustrating day in Disneyland. I outlined all of the technical glitches and ride breakdowns we had experienced and described how navigating the park had been challenging. CMX did not make eye contact with me, stifled a laugh under his breath, and said in an almost amused tone of voice: “Well, I’m sorry that you had such a bad day yesterday.” This did not sound sincere at all. He then said that he could do nothing to help me.
I tried a fourth time to explain my situation to CMX. I told CMX that my family was next door in the hotel and that we had a 9am breakfast reservation in Disneyland. I said that if I did not get the FP’s for Radiator Springs Racers before breakfast, then the FP’s would surely run out. CMX stiffened and said that the park could not guarantee a FP for any ride. His tone and demeanor made me feel like he thought I had no right to ask for such help, like I was trying to “cheat” the system. CMX said that the FP’s for Radiator Springs Racers usually run out around noon and did not offer any other information. The way CMX delivered this remark made me feel like he was saying: “Well, that’s your problem.” I thought his remark was careless because obviously if there were any FP’s still available by eleven or twelve o’clock, then they would surely be for late at night. This was unrealistic for us because we had two little girls who would not last that long. That day was also our departure day, and we would be leaving the parks by 5pm. Further, my father, a retired Marine with 33 years of service and a veteran of the Vietnam and Iraq Wars, believes in reserving the handicapped line for “people who really need it.” As a result, the only other option was the stand-by line, which was unrealistic for us because the girls and my father would have been very distressed waiting in a 90 minute line in 90 degree weather.
I told CMX that I wanted to fill out a feedback card and explain to Disneyland that I would like the opportunity to obtain FP’s for my family without making them walk into the park. CMX said that usually guests only fill out feedback cards to give positive feedback about a particular cast member or feedback regarding a ride. CMX then stopped and just looked at me, making no attempt to get out a feedback card. I repeated a second time that I wanted to leave feedback. CMX slowly got out a feedback card and slowly began writing. He asked no clarifying questions about my feedback. While he was writing, I conversationally mentioned that the park should have exceptions to the FP policy especially when all family members are staying at the hotel. CMX stopped writing, again exasperated, and said: “But you DO understand that your family members’ tickets really ‘aren’t here’ right?” He used the air-quotes for at least the third time. His tone and body language made me feel like CMX thought that I was deficient and unable to understand this concept. I told CMX sternly that “I understand.” I told CMX that he came across as rude. CMX apologized but his apology was insincere and he made no eye contact with me. He continued to write on the feedback card. I have no idea what he wrote. I had to lean over the counter just to make sure that CMX was actually writing something on the card at all.
After he finished writing, CMX asked if there was anything else he could help me with. CMX’s tone and facial expression indicated to me that even though my problem had not been resolved, he wanted me to leave. I felt like CMX dismissed my problem as illegitimate and also felt like CMX dismissed me personally.
I was extremely stressed at that point because I was going to have to hurry back to the hotel to get my family mobilized earlier than planned, since now we would have to stop at California Adventure before our breakfast reservation to acquire the FP’s. After we checked out of the hotel, I led my family through the Grand Californian portal to California Adventure and told them to meet me at the park exit. I obtained the FP’s and met my family at the exit, only to find that my father had gotten lost on the ECV again. He had lost sight of everyone while they traversed through a thick crowd and he had apparently taken a wrong turn. He had left his cellphone at home so no one could contact him. Also, he did not have his park ticket since I had collected all of the tickets when I went on my FP run.
At that point my family was very upset since without his ticket, my father would not be able to get into Disneyland for our 9am reservation at the Plaza Inn. After attempting to find my father, we had to proceed to Disneyland without him. By the time we arrived at the Plaza Inn, we were fifteen minutes late and incredibly stressed. We felt awful that my father would miss the character breakfast because we had all been looking forward to it so much. Thankfully, my father was eventually able to join us. After going out of their way and taking the time to call the Plaza Inn in order to confirm that we had checked in, the amazing cast members at the Disneyland entrance allowed my father to enter the park and facilitated his being able to join us for the character breakfast.
In spite of my major attempt earlier that morning to alleviate stress for my family, and as a direct result of the poor customer service I experienced from CMX, my family endured an extremely stressful situation that could have been easily avoided. When I sought help from the California Adventure guest services center to obtain valid FP’s with my valid tickets, CMX stonewalled me and offered no assistance or alternative strategies to alleviate my family’s mobility issues. He was misleading by stating that he had absolutely no capabilities with which to help me and also by claiming that I could not leave guest feedback. I believed that I came forward with a legitimate issue that could have been very easily addressed. I felt like CMX did not listen to my problem, was dismissive of me personally, and was insulting to my intelligence by assuming that if I had a problem, I must not understand how Disneyland works. Cast members were extremely respectful and accommodating of my father, but when I approached CMX for a customer service problem, he was dismissive, misleading, and condescending. I don’t believe that CMX would have repeatedly used the air-quotes on my father, for example, but his disrespectful and dismissive treatment of me as a young woman alone verged on an example of gender discrimination.
I have been visiting Disneyland with my family for over thirty years, and was an annual pass holder for several years, including one year during which I was a Premier Passport holder for both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. I have never had anything but pleasant and helpful encounters with Disney cast members. My experience in July was one of the worst customer service encounters I have ever had. What I needed in order to facilitate my family’s needs was straightforward and easily acquired. Not only did I not receive any help whatsoever, but I actually felt demeaned and dismissed.
My family’s much anticipated trip to Disneyland was very disappointing. My brother’s family and my two small nieces were traveling to California for the first time in four years. My mother and I love Disney, and we wanted to give my nieces a special, magical experience. Unfortunately, the trip turned out to be very stressful and frustrating, and not what we had envisioned giving the girls as their first trip to Disney.
Sincerely,
Lauren
And here is the response I received from Disney:
Dear Lauren:
Thank you for your e-mail to the DISNEYLAND® Resort.
The service from CMX that you described is certainly not indicative
of our usual high standards, as we consider Guest courtesy to be one of
the most important elements of our operation. Please accept our sincere
apologies and be assured that the Guest Relations management team will
be notified of your experience.
While his service were less than magical, the Cast Member was correct in
the assessment of your request. For any Guest to take advantage of
Disney's FASTPASS service, for either attractions or entertainment, that
Guest must be physically present in the park. As was explained to you
at Guest Relations, as well as at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel &
Spa, you could not acquire FASTPASS tickets for your family unless your
family's tickets were scanned for entry; as they were not physically
present at the gate, they would not scan them. We apologize for any
disappointment as a result of this policy.
If you have any questions, or additional comments you wish to share, you
may reach me directly at (XXX) XXX-XXXX.
Again, thank you for contacting us. We hope you will have the
opportunity to visit the DISNEYLAND® Resort again soon and that your
visit is an enjoyable one in every respect.
Sincerely,
Representative “X”
DISNEYLAND® Resort
Guest Experience Services
I was excessively disappointed w/ DL after this experience. I also thought that the email I received in response to my grievance was pretty weak. The fact that CMX actually stifled a laugh at me was absurdly depressing and made me feel just gross. I’d like to make a few points:
- It would have sincerely saved me and my family a tremendous amount of stress if Customer Service had JUST scanned the tickets.
- Each 3-day park hopper ticket had already been activated with a name and photograph. Each guest was a registered guest at the GCR next door. Our party consisted of two children and one adult with mobility issues. I went to DCA Customer Service before the park opened to explain my situation and ask for assistance. I think that they should have scanned the tickets.
- Is DL so big and impersonal now that they can’t accommodate guests on an individual basis? Don’t try to mislead me as to your ticket-scanning capabilities. You obviously have the capability! So just scan the tickets!
- CMX could have handled the encounter differently. He could have said: “Look, I understand your problem, but we have a really strict policy because of X, Y, and Z. Let me try and help you in some other way.” For example, he could have suggested alternative attractions in DCA that would have been appropriate or had FP’s that didn’t run out as quickly as RSR’s did.
Lastly and most upsetting was the fact that Disney made me feel really crummy. If I had been a VIP guest or a celebrity then by all means, what do you need? Right away, ma’am. But wait, you’re just some regular goofy girl? Just who do you think you are? Keep the change, ya filthy animal!
As I walked back to GCR, I dreaded the prospect of dragging my family back through DCA, once again collecting the tickets, sprinting to acquire the FP’s, dragging everyone to DL, and dragging them down Main Street in time for our Plaza Inn ADR. I had a huge knot of anxiety churning in the pit of my stomach. As I walked, I thought to myself: “I wonder why CMX treated me like such an insignificant fly?” My mind was all too ready to come up w/ plenty of things: You look too bedraggled to be of any importance. Your hair looks awful today and you should’ve packed your hair straightener. Your squeaky voice makes you sound like a bad cartoon. Get your ugly, yella, no-good keister out of my customer service kiosk.
I think that everyone should be shown respect, even if they have bad hair. And even if you truly believe for whatever reason that they are an insignificant fly.
I met back up w/ my parents in our room and explained the situation. They were surprised that I had not been able to acquire the FP’s. We decided that on our way to our Plaza Inn ADR, we would go through the DCA portal, everyone would walk to the main gate, and I would split off and do a FP run for RSR and Frozen. Then I would meet back up w/ everyone and we would proceed together to DL.
Suddenly, there arose a storm of knocking against the connecting door. Violet and Dash were ready to start their day! Day 2 had officially begun!
As we headed out the door, I noticed that the pocket itinerary I had given Dad the other day was lying on the table by the television. I was like ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Especially after Dad’s disappearance the day before and also since he didn’t have his phone on him, I didn’t want to take any chances. If we got separated again, at least he’d know where our ADRs were. I demanded that Dad take the itinerary and put it in his wallet. He sighed and complained and rolled his eyes. But my foot was DOWN. He finally- peeved, vexed, and exasperated- put the darn thing in his wallet. Thank you. Good God.
Everyone went through the DCA portal without any issues. The line was still pretty nonexistent. When we passed Soarin’ and Clarabella’s Ice Cream Shop, it was time for me to branch off towards the RSR FP distribution area. Dash jumped off of the ECV, on which she had been hitching a ride again, and demanded to come w/ me. So we were off! I took Dash by the hand and we power-walked to Bug’s Land, where we obtained RSR FP’s for 11:45am-12:45pm. Then we raced through Bug’s Land, past ToT, and arrived at the Frozen FP distribution center (it’s outside the Hollywood Land restrooms, between Hyperion Theater and the Monster’s Inc. ride). The FP’s for the 11:30am show were the only ones available since it was still early; you’re not able to just select which show you want- you had to take whatever they were giving out at the time. I was concerned that if we went to the 11:30am show, we might miss our RSR FP window, but I knew that the show was about 45 min, so taking the FP 15 min grace period into account, we would most likely be safe. We snagged the 11:30am Frozen FP’s. The CM told us to be sure to be at the FP return queue 20 min early- apparently this was an absolute necessity. The FP itself also says to return by 11:10am.
Dash and I dashed out of Hollywood Land and met back up w/ everyone at the turnstiles. Mom was agitated, so I asked what was wrong. Yup, Dad was nowhere to be found. He had disappeared!!
“How did this happen??!” I exclaimed. And then it dawned on me: I had Dad’s ticket! How was he going to get into DL without it? And did he even remember the name of the restaurant we were heading to? “Exactly!” Mom wailed.
We decided to head to the DL turnstiles and hopefully we would find Dad there. We turned to exit the park and suddenly we spied, standing all alone, Oswald!! No line at all. Violet and Dash, you guessed it, whipped out their autograph books and sprinted over. They were sure on top of things at that early hour!
We had an excellent mini photo shoot and the girls were absolutely thrilled:
After the photo shoot, Mom ran a little ways back into DCA to try and spy Dad. The rest of us pressed on through the exit and towards DL. It was now past 9am and we were already late for our ADR. I knew that we had a 15 min grace period, but by the time we got to the DL turnstiles it was already almost 9:10am, so I was freaking out a little bit. We didn’t want to get charged a cancellation fee and lose our reservation! Suddenly Mom appeared and said that she hadn’t been able to find Dad back in DCA. We went up and down the DL turnstiles but… he was nowhere to be found. Dad was gone.
NEXT TIME: SEE YOU AT BREAKFAST
Thank you for reading along!!!!
I kept trying to shoo everyone along but it seemed like everything was in slow motion. It was hopeless like HERDING CATS. Bob was horizontal on one of the beds watching television in his room. Dad was watching television in our room. They were practically mirror images of each other for goodness sakes. I kept floating between the rooms, trying to be nice but informing these people that it was 8:05pm, 8:15pm, 8:25pm, and we REEEALLY needed to get going or we were going to miss “Paint the Night.” We still had to walk through DTD, get through security, get through the turnstiles, and somehow find an acceptable viewing location. That would all take at least 10-15 min. At 8:25pm, I stalked into Bob & Helen’s room. Dash had been fussing over her outfit for over 30min. Helen was sitting in a chair, brushing Dash’s hair verrrrrry slowwwwwwwllllyyyy. This was after I had already been in there like 5 times explaining for the zillionth time that it was crowded and you really just can’t sidle up at the last moment and expect to see anything. Plus Dash’s hair is short and straight to begin with so I didn’t know what the big deal was. I know, I know I’m either crazy or desperately punctual. I’m like Angelica Schuyler from “Hamilton”: 
I can totally relate to the scene you describe with trying to get everyone ready to go to the parade. 
There's no sin in saying, I just want to chill at a spot, but you have to say it and let everyone else move on. 
It does sound like you got a little Disney magic when it came to breakfast at Plaza Inn (per your email). I hope the rest of the day goes well for you - I'm kind of scared to read what happens next now. 
And maybe if it were about 10 degrees cooler! 
