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MagicB4Money
10-20-2003, 11:50 AM
So I've been silently reading this site and others for a while in anticipation of our trip last Wed-Friday. I've been to Disneyland about once a year for 30 years. I've been there in spirit every day in between.

My momma always said that if you look for trouble you will usually find it. So I really did not look for trouble last week. But trouble there was---------so I have questions:

1) At opening on Wed morning, both Pirates and HM were not working. A HUGE line formed at the gates to HM and it opened about an hour later. The CM's at Pirates kept a line from forming and said there were camera problems. Eventually Pirates opened that day but then the lines were huge. On Friday, Pirates closed after being open for 30 mins or so, and then stayed closed for hours. I saw on another thread that it was closed 4-5 hours on Saturday. In 30 years, I do not remember any ride closing in the middle of the day. How long has this been going on?

2) Since when do they close a ride for refurbishment for months and then not finish the job? If you stand in line for Matterhorn on the F-land side and look at the steeple of the queue, it has peeling nasty paint. Totally obvious and smacks you in the face.

3)If they know that the Indy Fastpass machines aren't working one day, why don't they work on them at night? The CM fixing it on Friday morning said "I could shoot that other Cast Member." That is a quote, and she said it in front of children.

4)Why do they have the board in the Hub, if it isn't accurate? About an hour after Pirates closed on Friday, I walked to the board and saw that it said Pirates was open. I even asked the CM to confirm. After maneuvering past Indy, I saw that Pirates was still closed. I told the CM, and she said she called them an hour ago. She went over and called again.

5) I spent 30 mins filling out a form at City Hall. Commending one terrific CM and also stating my concerns. Why did the CM make me stand there while he read my form? Then he just said "thank you." No apology. No apology from anyone for anything. Are they told not to apologize?

6) Now I wish I hadn't put my personal info on the form at City Hall. Are they going to sell my info? Do you think I will ever hear anything back?

7) With all the great info and comments that I have read on this site, does Disney have someone reading? And is there anything that we can do besides complain?

On the bright side, I saw them painting Space Mt white, and I was so happy. I spent Friday there by myself b/c my husband was in a conference, and I had a great time. I learned that last week was "Fall Break" for Arizona, Utah, and Nevada schools so I'll avoid the week next year. I still love Disneyland and it still has magic, but I'm worried....

jrad32
10-20-2003, 12:06 PM
Well they do have a lot of work to do. Hopefully a white Space Mountain will be a start.

By the way not sure what you mean by Fall Break. There was no fall break for Nevada schools last week that I'm aware of.

LegolandMC
10-20-2003, 12:37 PM
Yeah, no Fall Break here in Utah either....I wish there was!

Edit: You know what, I take that back. I'm sorry, I forgot about the UEA conference for the elementary schools. It didn't even get triggered in my mind, cause I was trying to think why we would get a whole week off, which we don't, and since you called it Fall break, I was confused. But yeah, Utah elementary schools had Thursday and Friday off. Sorry!

Aimz
10-20-2003, 01:32 PM
MagicB4Money, it sounds like you had a frustrating day. I'm sure I'd feel the same in your shoes. I don't have answers to your questions, but I am curious if anyone knows what was meant by "camera problems" on Pirates. I'm trying to picture where cameras might be involved in the ride and how involved they could be to the point where they could shut the ride down. Are they taking your picture now on Pirates, like on Splash, and that was the camera with the problem? Or, did they mean that too many rowdy tourists were taking tons of flash pictures and they had to stop the ride in order to kick them all off? Those last two thoughts were in jest, of course :D but I am curious what the CMs meant if anyone has an idea.

Aimz

LegolandMC
10-20-2003, 01:34 PM
My guess would be that the surveillence cameras on the ride weren't working, or something along those lines.

Aimz
10-20-2003, 02:21 PM
I hadn't thought of those cameras, but that would make sense in regards to safety issues if they couldn't monitor the ride.

Morrigoon
10-20-2003, 03:05 PM
Yeah, you can't operate the attraction if you can't see all the cameras.

LegolandMC
10-20-2003, 04:51 PM
Especially on a ride like Pirates, it's important to have surveillance cameras operating because you have a.) drops without restraints, which, the drops aren't huge, but still, because of reason b.) the water.....if someone, for whatever reason, fell out of, got out of, jumped out of the boat, they need to be able to see it, have it on film, and all of that if something happens, so they have a reference to look at during their investigation.

Ghoulish Delight
10-20-2003, 06:02 PM
Adressing some of the OP's points:

1) Rides stopping in the middle of the day is a common occurance in theme parks all over. It is NOT a new phenomenon. They run scores of highly complex ride systems all day, ever day. Each of them have who knows how many individual systems operating properly. That includes security cameras, loading gates, air conditioning, track switching, ride sesnors, etc., etc. If any signle system isn't working, they whole ride must be stopped as a safety issue. It does seem that perhaps there has been a general increase of these incidents at Disneyland in the last decade, but not by a huge ammount. It is not a new thing.

6) As far as I know, Disney does not sell the information they receive on comment cards. I have received a reply every time I've left a comment at either City Hall or via email. Sometimes it's a form letter, sometimes it's been an individual response (I think I tend to get a more individual response from emails, but I can't back that up).

7) It is widely believed(known) that people within Disney read these boads. But that doesn't mean they always (or usually) act on what they read. While it may be a good source of free market research, it is only a single source of info from a somewhat narrow demographic, so it's hardly their main concern. As for doing more than complaining. You have the option to not spend your money there. If there's one thing we've learned, the reason for most of the things you mention is because the people in charge can only think with their wallets. Complain away, but if they continue to profit, they won't care.

Disney also has a job board online. Apply, get promoted, fix things. :D

LegolandMC
10-21-2003, 05:24 AM
Just adding something to the last little bit of your post....

Does Disney read these boards?

I think they do.

Why?

Because I've been involved on much, much smaller message boards where one of the members has been contacted by Disney and asked to remove a certain post. I also know a member who used to work for Disney on the college program, and they contacted him to remove his post, and because of the nature of his post, he was given a temporary no-rehire status.

So, if something like that can happen on a board much smaller, and less known, than MousePlanet....I'm sure they're keeping an eye on this one. I think that they just usually don't step in unless someone is posting something as fact that would not be good PR for their company.

Doodle Duck
10-21-2003, 05:41 AM
This is a Test.


Disneyland is owned by the Mafia.




This concludes this test.

LegolandMC
10-21-2003, 06:03 AM
ROFL!!

Yeah, that'll work! ;)

Demigod121
10-21-2003, 11:32 AM
Originally posted by Doodle Duck
This is a Test.


Disneyland is owned by the Mafia.




This concludes this test.

Yeah, better watch out or Eisner will call Guido to come over and break both your legs.

ROFL!

-Demigod
(Putting NOTHING past Eisner - that's for sure! LOL!)

dasrock
10-21-2003, 09:56 PM
Magic
I hear you!
We were there at Disneyland Fri-Tues (just got back!) and it was crazyyyyy. Saturday was a full blown summer crowd plus the heat. We try and go every year but after this trip maybe NOT. Just from last year to this year the park has changed. Even the crowd at the Grand California has changed. Guest act like it's a $50 a night hotel...kids running down the hall at 12:30 am and it was the 5th floor. :~D

sleepyjeff
10-21-2003, 10:07 PM
Originally posted by dasrock
Magic
Even the crowd at the Grand California has changed. Guest act like it's a $50 a night hotel...kids running down the hall at 12:30 am and it was the 5th floor. :~D


"Now kids, last night we were at a $50.00 a night Hotel, so I didn't tell you not to run....but tonite we spent $249.00; please walk";)

Might I suggest the Seal Beach Inn and Gardens B&B. You won't find any running children there;)

hazlnut
10-22-2003, 09:45 AM
Originally posted by Ghoulish Delight
Adressing some of the OP's points:

1) Rides stopping in the middle of the day is a common occurance in theme parks all over.

Sorry, but no it is NOT. I can't remember the last time I was at Knotts or MM and something big (E-ticket) was down.

Granted, DL sees way more guests, but that means they make way more money and can afford a bigger staff of people to take care of these things.

It's a very, very sad joke and AP's are getting the brunt of it. Ironic how the most loyal, most loving guests are getting smacked in the face.

It's OUR park, not their's. I say we storm the castle!

Viva la AP!!

Captain Josh
10-22-2003, 09:50 AM
Originally posted by hazlnut
It's a very, very sad joke and AP's are getting the brunt of it. Ironic how the most loyal, most loving guests are getting smacked in the face.

It's OUR park, not their's. I say we storm the castle!

Viva la AP!!


Uhm.....okay. I could get into all sorts of topics at hand here, but I won't, because I personally don't have those sorts of facts to back myself up.

So, uhm, the guns go off at midnight, then? I always wanted to go on a violent rampage and all....so, when?

But anyways....

....now I feel bad. Since DL is MY park, and I'm not doing anything to fix it. How terrible is that? Imagine all those times, this year ALONE, of walking into those gates blindly....I must have been lying to myself that I was having a good time. All that entertainment I experienced, I guess I was wrong. *cough* :rolleyes:

hazlnut
10-22-2003, 09:51 AM
Originally posted by Doodle Duck
Disneyland is owned by the Mafia.

Skyway, Subs, Peoplemover, Tomorrowland sleeps with the fishes.

LegolandMC
10-22-2003, 10:46 AM
Hazlnut, I hate to disagree with you, but it IS a common occurance for rides to go down at theme parks, and I'm speaking as someone who works for a theme park (and not Disneyland).

There are literally dozens of reasons why a ride can shut down....anywhere from something mechanical, to a guest getting out on the wrong side of the ride....rides go down....frequently.....usually not for very long, but sometimes it can't be helped. Just because you haven't experienced it at a park other than DL doesn't mean others haven't. I mean, I've talked to people who haven't experienced it at DL, and yet saying it doesn't happen there isn't true.

hazlnut
10-22-2003, 01:15 PM
LEGO, my point only was that the frequency and type of breakdowns at DL is now worse than any other park I know of.

I worked at DL in '92 and it was never like it is now. I was an RO on both Mansion and Pirates, five days a week, and I don't recall them going down more than once--why? Because every morning when I came in to open either of those attractions there was a crew of men and women who had already been working several hours doing nightly maintainence and touch up painting, repairing boats etc.

And when I left at night, ladders where up and down main street with workers replacing light bulbs--every night.

Mr. Wiggins
10-22-2003, 02:28 PM
Hazlnut is right. In the history of Disneyland there never has been a time where maintenance has been so poorly funded, breakdowns have been so frequent, and the park has looked so ill kept.

In a not-so-long-ago time, it was very different. From local TV shows like KCBS' "2 on the Town," to the L.A. Times, to Disney's own Disney News, the thoroughness of Disneyland's maintenance, and the park's amazing cleanliness, was a popular topic of media coverage in the pre-Pressler years.

And it showed, everywhere you looked, every day the park was in operation. The morning after an 80,000+ visitor day the park sparkled. Yes, 101's happened, but infrequently. The park was maintained to such high standards that for years fans talked about the only two things that weren't fixed: the BB holes in the glass sheets at HM and the Grand Canyon Diorama.

MagicB4Money
10-22-2003, 06:33 PM
I'm just so glad that we didn't take my 70+ year old parents this time. We took them last December and had a great time. I saw some problems, but they weren't a big deal. Certainly, we didn't have several major rides break down. When my husband (who doesn't read this site or have such a history with the park) said to me "this place is falling apart," I thought I would cry. I can't take GrimGrimming's advice about joining the payroll and changing things. I don't live in LA, so I don't know, has the decline been in the media there? Mafia, or not I know that only certain unconnected people should dare speak out.

MagicB4Money
10-22-2003, 06:37 PM
"Ghoulish Delight" not "GrimGrimming" close but no cigar.. Sorry...