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emd2611
01-03-2006, 02:53 PM
Yesterday, (1/2) we took advantage of the rain and journeyed to the resort in hopes of finding light crowds.

We arrived at 2:00pm to no rain and the lightest crowd I have ever seen, even on slow weekdays. I think Disney did a lousy job of managing the park this day though.

Even though the web site said they would close at midnight, the decision was made the day of to close the park at 10pm. However, most in the park was not made aware of this:

Upon arriving at the structure the sign at the ticket booth indicated the park was closing at 10pm. Then on the parking lot tram the conductor said midnight. At the entry gate the schedule said midnight, with no signs posted indicating otherwise.

At 5:30pm or so the monorail driver announced that the park was closing at 10pm and Fantasmic and parades have been canceled. After getting off the monorail we saw the parade passing the castle... oops.

After the parade an annoucement was made the park was closing at 10pm because of inclement weather. The truth was it had not rained since around 2pm. Maybe a few sprinkle drops here and there, but not enough to even wet the drying walkways. Some visitors seemed quite angry as they noticed the storm had moved out.

They held two parades, 1st performance of Fantasmic, and the fireworks before closing down at 10pm with what I considered pre holiday weekdays crowds. It seemed to get a little busier as the night wore on.

As for the crowds to give an idea at 6pm with both sides open we rode the Matterhorn 3x in a row with walk right on. Space had a 15 minute standby line at 4:00pm, Indiana Jones was 5 minute standby at 3:30, Splash Mnt walk on at 7:00pm, Mansion walk on at 7:30pm, Small World 25 minute wait with one side operating at 6:30pm.

As for the weather it caused some issues. A tree fell on the Jungle Cruise closing it down the entire day. The day before wet weather killed several of the Autopia cars leading to evacuation and shutdown of the ride. Rumor had it that on Monday a loose tree branch threaten the ride leading to its closure.

On Small World the left side projector closest to the train station was dead leading to a half show.

Andrew
01-03-2006, 03:03 PM
A tree fell on the Jungle Cruise closing it down the entire day.
And we were not informed?!

pisces
01-03-2006, 04:22 PM
I heard an announcement several times throughout the Park saying they'd be closing early. I heard announcements as early as 3:30 pm.

The big shocker was DCA which they closed at 6:00 pm. And, I heard no announcements for that. For months the DCA schedule online, as well as the daily brochure at the gate stated DCA closes at 9:00 pm. What's really sad, was the Electrical Parade, which obviously didn't go on. There was no inclement weather, and had they stuck to the originally planned DCA schedule, they could have done the very last Electrical Parade at 8:45, as per the schedule.

As it was the Electrical Parade had been cancelled the last 3 nights, and now, I don't know when it will be coming back. :(

DCACM
01-03-2006, 05:05 PM
The cup being half full...

Even though hours were reduced, guests were able to enjoy more attractions given the ultra-light crowds and short (if any) waits in line.

Wesley815
01-03-2006, 06:27 PM
I was also in the park and heard many announcments over and over again through the full park PA system, it was VERY bad weather in the morning so I'm sure they thought most things would be canceled at night... but thankfully it cleared up.

All the CM's I talked to knew about the 10pm closing. Sometimes things can get cosfusing at the park even for CM's during bad weather days since most shows are decided "last min." if they are going to go or not. Would you rather cancel everything in the morning and have no chance to see anything, or try as best as they can to keep at least something running.

IMHO it almost sounds as if you were just trying to pick out a wrong answer from someone just to complain... hopefully I'm wrong.

emd2611
01-03-2006, 06:34 PM
> IMHO it almost sounds as if you were just trying to pick out a wrong
> answer from someone just to complain... hopefully I'm wrong.

That has got to be the stupidest statement. How could I pick out wrong answers? Oh yes, I questioned the tram driver and they answered on the PA. I asked the monorail driver and they told me through the PA so I would hear it. Plus, just to get back at me they purposely told me the parade was canceled. The point being is cast members did not know what was going on.

I think the bad thing here is that by early afternoon the rain stopped and went away. Many of the people who left to go back to the hotels came back later to find the parks closing earlier than they thought. Why close the parks early? The only reason I could see was to save a buck because there were not as many people at the park. To use the reasoning that "the people had a good deal because the crowd was light" is not a fair argument. Things were closed and they could have kept Disneyland park open for two more hours.

As for California Adventure, that is really too bad as the park really closed early. If I spent the bucks on the day to spend a good portion huddling away from the rain, then to find out because not as many people showed up that the park was going to close early I would feel cheated.

I did not really care as I was tired by 10pm, but I did hear a number of angry people griping to one another about the early closing when they kept saying because of weather, when the weather was nice.

cyberRoo
01-03-2006, 06:37 PM
We stopped by the parks for a couple of hours in hopes of riding Monsters. We didn't have high hopes about the crowds, but figured the rain would have kept many of the locals away.

Wait for Monsters was maybe 15 minutes around 4:30, Soarin' was basically a walk on, so we crossed the esplanade (no line to get in), caught the end of the parade, and headed to Space, where we joked that we should take photos of the Standby time of 10 minutes. After all of the horror stories from December, we were delighted.

But, when we left a little after 6, it was obvious that DCA had just closed, and that everyone was crossing over to DL for the rest of the evening. Not big crowds, but enough that it was noticeably different than it had been even half and hour earlier.

We weren't worried about operating hours, but we didn't hear any announcements in either park.

sunfun94
01-03-2006, 06:51 PM
> IMHO it almost sounds as if you were just trying to pick out a wrong
> answer from someone just to complain... hopefully I'm wrong.

That has got to be the stupidest statement. How could I pick out wrong answers? Oh yes, I questioned the tram driver and they answered on the PA. I asked the monorail driver and they told me through the PA so I would hear it. Plus, just to get back at me they purposely told me the parade was canceled. The point being is cast members did not know what was going on.


Ok, calm down... Obviously some heard announcements and some (like you) did not. You have to remeber that the same CMs that are on duty in the morning wont be the same that are working the afternoon/evening. Not to mention... do you realize the sheer amount of CM's working at DLR at any given time? You have to credit the fact that there will be some who did not get the info when they came on stage. Given, their leads should have made sure that changed closing information should have been provided to everyone...but some may have forgotton given the amount of time in the past that they have been saying DL is closing at midnight.
Im sure in your job you have not purposly given out incorrect information at one time or another w/o meaning to. The CM's are human, give em a break.
Oh, and one other thing, I seriously DOUBT they purposly told you that the parade had been cancelled. Those things can be changed w/o his knowing at a drop of a hat.
Just breath man. Its all going to be ok. :)

Wesley815
01-03-2006, 06:57 PM
...I did not really care as I was tired by 10pm...You sure must have cared judging by how worked up you're getting over all this here on the message board.

breath... relax... :|

DCACM
01-03-2006, 11:07 PM
Disney does not control the weather, nor can they predict it. Given the bad morning storms, doppler and sattellite info, it was decided to close the parks early. When that decision was made, the many scheduling departments had to call 1000's of cast members and cancel their shifts. An unpredictable act of Mother Nature cleared the storm, but it was too late to reverse the decision and bring 1000s of cms in.

For what it's worth, there were several times during the past few weeks where both parks' hours were extended and Fantasmic! showings were added.

Iluvwalt
01-04-2006, 08:23 AM
We were there...the storm was bad!! We toughed it out for a few hours in the morning and then came back for a wonderful evening! The rain had ceased, weather was cool, and there were NO crowds!! My 5 year old and 2 1/2 year old were thrilled to go on all the open Fantasyland attractions twice! My honey and I got to have our fun on all the big kid rides too. Since the crowds were non-existant we could do each ride twice switching off while one stayed with the 2 year old. I was impressed that the parade and fireworks went on especially considering the nasty storm earlier in the day. I feel D-land had the right to close early to re-group and clean up. We definately did not get cheated with all the rides we were able to tackle in such a short amount of time. We also arrived the next day at opening to find the park in pristine condition and every Christmas decoration (including that enormous) tree removed! I can only imagine how many people they had working that night! It was one of the best days ever for this die-hard Disney family!!

Monte Cristo
01-04-2006, 08:42 AM
I think the bad thing here is that by early afternoon the rain stopped and went away. Many of the people who left to go back to the hotels came back later to find the parks closing earlier than they thought. Why close the parks early? The only reason I could see was to save a buck because there were not as many people at the park. To use the reasoning that "the people had a good deal because the crowd was light" is not a fair argument. Things were closed and they could have kept Disneyland park open for two more hours.


So all those employees should be stranded until midnight so 10 people can ride Matterhorn 20 more times?

Sorry, dude. This is complaining for complaining's sake.

pisces
01-04-2006, 09:34 AM
So all those employees should be stranded until midnight so 10 people can ride Matterhorn 20 more times?

Sorry, dude. This is complaining for complaining's sake.

Here's a novel idea: How about just sticking to the original schedule that had been up online for months ???

They were fiddling with the schedule even before the "inclement" weather that wasn't.

For months, I'd been wondering about Mon Jan 2....is it an official holiday or not?

Disney months ago, decided they'd close the Park at 11:00 pm. on that day. Then suddenly, last week, in the midst of record-breaking crowds last week, they decide to extend Jan 2 to 12:00 pm. Great! ---- More time to say goodbye to the decorations and tree. Uh-oh, threat of rain forces them to close at 10:00 pm----ok, fine. But, when that rain never shows up, why not use that same flexibility to just put the schedule back where it was for months.....11:00 pm. We are only talking one hour. Yet in that one hour, with moderate crowds, that would have given guests enough time to get in last rides and say goodbye to special decorations.

Flexibility is a two-way street. If we were talking about any other day, the difference of a couple of hours would be trivial. But, Jan 2 wasn't just any other day.....it was the very last day, ever, to view the special decorations and such.

There will never again be a 50th Christmas. There will never again be a special 50th gold Christmas tree.

Nevermind, DCA closing at 6:00 pm----:eek: .

Osky
01-04-2006, 09:47 AM
But, when that rain never shows up, why not use that same flexibility to just put the schedule back where it was for months.....11:00 pm. We are only talking one hour.

I volunteer you to be the person who, on the day in question, tells all of the CMs that they need to stay an extra hour.

pisces
01-04-2006, 09:54 AM
Well, is their first responsibility to the cast members, or to the guests?

Presumably, since the schedule had said 11:00 pm, for months, the cast members would have anticipated staying at least that long.

Again, I wouldn't care in the least, other then, I wanted as much time as I could get communing with the special gold Tree----that we'll never see again.

Either that, or leave the 50th Christmas decorations up a little longer. (Put them up sooner!) The 50th celebration, itself, gets a full 18 months; but the special 50th Christmas barely gets a month and change.

Osky
01-04-2006, 09:58 AM
With the recent problems Disney is having with the CM's, that would go over real well to tell them that their shift ends at x time (regardless of if it has been at y for months), and then at the last minute tell them it is now y and they have to stay longer.

Osky
01-04-2006, 10:00 AM
Again, I wouldn't care in the least, other then, I wanted as much time as I could get communing with the special gold Tree----that we'll never see again.

It's been up since November... I cannot believe you are upset that in the grand plan, you ended up with an hour less of the gold tree.

AVP
01-04-2006, 10:02 AM
And we were not informed?!Actually, I knew about it, so the reporting requirements were covered.

A tree also fell in Autopia.

And one caught on fire in the Reindeer Roundup area.

NOT a good year to be a tree at the Disneyland Resort.

AVP

EmmasMom
01-04-2006, 11:12 AM
With the recent problems Disney is having with the CM's, that would go over real well to tell them that their shift ends at x time (regardless of if it has been at y for months), and then at the last minute tell them it is now y and they have to stay longer.

I would think that CM's would be used to their shift times changing dependant on conditions. I worked customer service for an airline for almost 10 years and although you had a scheduled shift, you couldn't leave until your flights were gone and paper work complete, especially on the closing shift. There were times I spent 2 or 3 hours past my scheduled end time waiting for a delayed flight or broken aircraft. Its part of the job.

Osky
01-04-2006, 11:37 AM
I would think that CM's would be used to their shift times changing dependant on conditions. I worked customer service for an airline for almost 10 years and although you had a scheduled shift, you couldn't leave until your flights were gone and paper work complete, especially on the closing shift. There were times I spent 2 or 3 hours past my scheduled end time waiting for a delayed flight or broken aircraft. Its part of the job.
Working a job where a handful of people have to stay late because of certain circumstances is much different than telling a thousand or so employees thay have to stay late simply because management changed their mind. I have worked jobs all my life where my time on the job is dictated by the work. I have had to stay late many times, and I understand that. However, for the reason stated above, I would think that would create more headaches in an already bad situation. Remember, Disney just denied many CMs time off that they had requested in advance, and they made it mandatory that they be available for every day during the holiday season. I'm not saying that they should not be allowed to extend shifts, which they can and do on occasion. I'm just saying, that they would have been foolish to do so in this instance. Now, if there were 60,000 people in the park, that might be different.

DCACM
01-04-2006, 11:40 AM
The closing cast members were called and told their shifts were cancelled. Some mid-shift remained, and most of the opening cast members were all extended past their off-times to close the park. Many of them are exhausted from the holiday season, they've been working 6-7 day work weeks, 12 hour days, etc. and you want them to be forcibly extended another hour or two so you can commune with a tree that's been up since Novemeber?

There were near-by storms that could have shifted at any moment toward Disneyland. Trees had already fallen in the Jungle Cruise and the Autopia, the Buzz Lightyear sign fell...in the interest of safety, the park was closed early.

pisces
01-04-2006, 11:51 AM
Last year's storms were far more destructive and damaging than this years, so far.

Yes, I did want extra tree-time, since that's the whole reason I even bother to go at this time of the year. Nevermind that I didn't get to spend any time, whatsoever with the GC tree.

That gold tree was not up for all of November. It was very unusual, in that they kept it hidden in that forest area, or where ever.

In any case, there are plenty of people who, for whatever reason, can't get to the park until early January, in order to see the decorations.

It isn't unreasonable to leave decorations up a few weeks into January, given that there will never again be another 50th Christmas.

Osky
01-04-2006, 12:01 PM
That gold tree was not up for all of November. It was very unusual, in that they kept it hidden in that forest area, or where ever.

In any case, there are plenty of people who, for whatever reason, can't get to the park until early January, in order to see the decorations.

It isn't unreasonable to leave decorations up a few weeks into January, given that there will never again be another 50th Christmas.
The tree was up since November 11, the official kick-off of the holiday season at Disneyland.

As for the rest of your logic, why not leave the Christmas decorations up until April? What if there are families that cannot get to the park until then? Hell, some people can only come in the summer. Why not leave the Christmas stuff up year round?

They didn't leave the Christmas stuff up longer the past 49 years, and low-and-behold, there will never be another first, second, third, fourth, ..., 48th, 49th Christmas!

disneyperson
01-04-2006, 12:06 PM
At least you have your extra 400.00 or so compensation from Disney. That should help soothe the pain of not getting to commune with the lobby tree.

EmmasMom
01-04-2006, 12:40 PM
I get the feeling that the reason that some guests are upset is that it's hard to get a honest, consistant answer to their questions. I've learned that the Disney web site is not always the best place to get info, but the average person would think that the information posted there is the most up to date.
Also, I'm sure most CM's do their best to give out information that is correct if they have it. Maybe the management should try harder to keep the CM's armed with the most current information. Or al least have a place the CM's can direct guests to for answers.