A very disappointing visit - results of my email to DLR 7/9

[whoever]

Oops, I left some stuff off...

We rode Space, watched Mickey's Magical Map, rode Roger Rabbit, IASW, Tea Cups, Matterhorn, Alice, BTMRR, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, 2 rides on Splash, Indy (it was now 430), stopped to eat for 90 mins, then hit ToT, Screamin', TSMM, Swings, back to Cars Land for Racers and Maters, off to ice cream, over to Mermaid, and walked up to WoC before calling it a night.

Seems you had a stupendous time! I often marvel how two people can be at the park on the same day(s), and have such different experiences. I'm definitely in the camp of make the best out of every experience at the park, and I can only assume that (and my expert knowledge of the parks) allows me to have a better and better and better time every time I go.

 

[conniehar90]

While it wasn't all in one day, we had a similar experience at WDW a couple years ago. We go to WDW at least annually, but one trip the main headliner at each park was down for hours upon opening. It was disappointed that we got up super early to hit rope drop only to find the ride we needed to hit first was closed. This happened on 5 out of our 6 parks days. It was crazy.

I did contact Guest services when we returned and they did contact me back in a reasonable time (a week or 2). They offered us 4 sets of FP's for our next trip. I thought that was very generous!

Sorry that you had a disappointing trip. I don't blame you one bit.

We are scheduled to hit DLR in 2 weeks - we haven't been there in 20 years so I hope we don't encounter as many issues as you did.

 

[The DIS Moderator Team]

Cleaned up the thread a bit.

Note to all to please be respectful of each other. It is okay to disagree. It is not okay to attack each other on these boards.

Carry on.

 

[HenDuck]

To the OP, I am so sorry that you didn't find much magic in your Disneyland visit.

On our trip last month, we found many more rides breaking down than in years past. This was frustrating and then became a running joke with us. I took it as a sign that Disneyland is showing signs of age. Wear and tear is at an all time high. And I do have a partially drafted letter to Disneyland describing our experience, good and bad.

Some of the CMs shared that the maintenance crews were focusing on certain refurbs or certain rides in preparation for the 60th Anniversary celebration next year. That may explain why rides were down so often and for so long.

I am a die-hard Disneyland fan and it even made ME think that maybe next year, we won't renew our APs, but will get shorter PHPs and visit other parks in So. Cal. (Yeah right!)

We ended up enjoying our trip completely but we were there for over a week and got to do everything we wanted to multiple times, so our experience was a bit different.

All the best,

 

[cmpeter]

OP - sorry you experienced so many ride closures, I would be disappointed too.

If not getting on a ride or two makes for a wasted day in one's opinion than maybe DLR isn't the place to vacation. I simply can't understand how a ride or two would destroy a visit.

I can tell you my teen dd will be seriously disappointed if Screamin is down the entire time we visit in Oct. We had annual passes for three years when we lived in So Cal but she was always too short to ride Screamin. We have since moved to WA and this will be her first return visit now that she is tall enough to ride. I'll never hear the end of it if she doesn't get to. It is the primary reason for her visit. Me...I love it all and have been on Screamin a gazillion times, so I'll be fine either way.

 

[SweetAlex]

To the OP: I'm sorry you weren't able to accomplish what you were hoping to get done at your day at Disney. That must have been extremely frustrating, especially when you weren't able to make up for it with another day or two (or four ). Maybe your luck is similar to mine. I know if I ever tried to plan something so carefully and only have a limited amount of time, it would have all gone bad for me too... Murphy's Law, everything would have broken down and nothing would have gone right. That's just my luck though and I personally couldn't blame Disney as I know they didn't have it out for me (thank goodness!).

Knowing this, I never plan our days in Disney, other than a few things that we aim to get in on a specific day (like a show or parade) and we always have 5 days in the parks, just in case things don't work out the way we like one day. If I don't, something is bound to go wrong and I'll leave frustrated or sad.

I know Disney does really and truly want all of their guests to have a magical time and would be sad to hear you didn't experience that. They do their best to keep their attractions running smoothly but unfortunately, there are just SO many people going through that they are bound to glitch or break down for many different reasons. It's just too bad it all coincidentally happened on the same day for you

I encourage you to give DLR another chance as soon as you can. I highly recommend at least 3 days, if not more, to allow yourself enough time to absorb everything the parks have to offer... which is just SO much. There's no doubt in my mind that if you are able to go in with high hopes, you will fall in love.

 

[SweetAlex]

I wanted to add that I recommend waiting in line for a bit if a ride goes down while you're waiting. We did this a few times and tons of people leave the line so when they do restart it, the lineup usually has shrunk substantially by then and you're in a better position than before.

 

[sharona]

OP here - I sent my email to Disney yesterday and today I received a call from someone in "Guest Experiences Services". My email included details with approximate times that we encountered the shut downs and I expressed our disappointment with so many premier rides being out of service during our visit. After a very brief conversation, he invited us back for a return visit. They will replace our 1-day PH tickets with a "Will Call letter" that we can present at the gate for 3 1-day PHs.

Highlights of the conversation for those who are interested - he advised that ride shutdowns are usually caused by loose items or slow loading guests (but you all knew that). The only questions he asked were if we had complained to anyone while in the park (no) and if I still had our tickets (yes). When I told him that we were in New England and didn't have any plans to be back in CA anytime soon he said that while the letter has a 2 year expiration, I could call to extend it if necessary.

That's it. Thanks to all who suggested that I follow through on my intention to write to them. Great customer service for them to have gotten back to me so quickly. We don't have plans to return to CA anytime soon but maybe we'll work in a west coast stopover on our next trip to Hawaii. As I said in my original post, we really wanted to love it... maybe we'll give it another try.

 

[cmpeter]

Glad to hear you had a positive response from customer service.

 

[crystal1313]

I'm so glad that they got back to you so quickly and they offered up tickets. I never commented previously, but did read most of the posts. You feel disappointed and I totally understand that. I think anyone would have been. I just hope you make another trip out to use your free tickets and give DLR another chance. It really is so charming

 

[TinkFlies]

Thanks for posting the follow up. I'm aways glad to at least get an apology and an offer to try again free.

 

[DDhunter]

Wow, that is a very impressive gesture on Disney's part. Especially since there is no guarantee when you buy a ticket that you will be able to accomplish everything you want in 1 day.

 

[mom2rtk]

OP here - I sent my email to Disney yesterday and today I received a call from someone in "Guest Experiences Services". My email included details with approximate times that we encountered the shut downs and I expressed our disappointment with so many premier rides being out of service during our visit. After a very brief conversation, he invited us back for a return visit. They will replace our 1-day PH tickets with a "Will Call letter" that we can present at the gate for 3 1-day PHs.

Highlights of the conversation for those who are interested - he advised that ride shutdowns are usually caused by loose items or slow loading guests (but you all knew that). The only questions he asked were if we had complained to anyone while in the park (no) and if I still had our tickets (yes). When I told him that we were in New England and didn't have any plans to be back in CA anytime soon he said that while the letter has a 2 year expiration, I could call to extend it if necessary.

That's it. Thanks to all who suggested that I follow through on my intention to write to them. Great customer service for them to have gotten back to me so quickly. We don't have plans to return to CA anytime soon but maybe we'll work in a west coast stopover on our next trip to Hawaii. As I said in my original post, we really wanted to love it... maybe we'll give it another try.

That's great news! I hope you can figure out a time to use them, and that you have better luck with ride closures this time!

 

[sharona]

Wow, that is a very impressive gesture on Disney's part. Especially since there is no guarantee when you buy a ticket that you will be able to accomplish everything you want in 1 day.

Not to beat a dead horse but, for those who still don't get it, the issue was not that we couldn't accomplish everything we wanted to in 1 day. The issue was that there were multiple, lengthy, premier ride closures in both parks throughout the day and night.

 

[ginodeyoung]

Wow! That was great news! It's sad that luck was not with you that day - I'm an AP holder and this spring I felt a need to be in the park. I begged a friend to go down with me. We arrived to peak crowds and after we saw what was ahead of us, we got on the train and circled the park a few times. Each pass we saw so many new details and moments we hadn't seen before! Then we found ourselves at BTMR with a short line and we rode that, then left! It's one of my favorite park days ever.

I guess I've always believed that the price of the ticket (or the AP - they're not cheap!) gets me in the gate and then what I make of my day is up to me.

 

[love2go2disney2]

Awesome!!!! Pixie Dust came your way , along with Disney magic!!!

 

[lk2500]

Great news OP.

(You should also put your email results post as an edit to the end of your original post so it's easier to find.)

 

[AustinTink]

Imagine if Disney had to hand out park hoppers to all the disappointed guests who don't get to ride every headliner. The squeaky wheel I guess.

 

[whoever]

That's a pretty outstanding response by Disney.

 

[mom2rtk]

Not to beat a dead horse but, for those who still don't get it, the issue was not that we couldn't accomplish everything we wanted to in 1 day. The issue was that there were multiple, lengthy, premier ride closures in both parks throughout the day and night.

I do love your persistence in trying!

Imagine if Disney had to hand out park hoppers to all the disappointed guests who don't get to ride every headliner. The squeaky wheel I guess.

Or maybe Disney realized they really did have some serious issues that day. I highly doubt they hand out park hoppers to anyone with an email address and a gripe.