A sad day at disney, Oct 21st 2017

jmc92

Earning My Ears
Joined
Oct 27, 2017
I would like to share my day, which was a genuinely awful experience.
This was intended as sort of a last hoorah for my elderly grandmother. My nephew was on his 1st visit, as well as my sister in law. All in all, 1100 dollars spent in tickets alone.
Getting into the parking lot took a half hr as some dude with a hand radio kept waving us to different areas. It was almost as if the parking lots were closed until the park was actually opened.
And once finally in, we were met with the worst crowds I have ever seen. The last time I went was 2014, it at least seemed stable then.

First the staff lied and looked down upon us for not having a max pass. And we got the runaround when trying to obtain a non paid for fast pass for the haunted mansion ride. When we finally came to ride it, it had broke down. Unlike my 2014 visit, nearly every ride was breaking down due to the abuse being put on them by being sped up beyond what they were originally made to handle. I can see the haunted mansion ride breaking down, but a simple one like the snow white ride breaking down? It finally became operational, and when I rode it, the ride went so fast it did not even give you time to see the witch turn around to face you, as it slammed into it's track/rails. Me and my family got in a total of 6 rides, no shows, and half a parade while waiting in a line. I consider us to be lucky though. Lunch was ok, spent 10 dollars per person for a few fish strips which at least didn't get us sick, but what got me was the inconsiderate park goers who would slam their fist on the table and sit their butts down on the chairs as I was already setting my stuff down at a table to eat. Well, evening was approaching and we finally made it on to the small world ride. But of course, it broke down. This time though, my grandmother and all of us were on the ride and she had a panic attack as she sat there in the dimly lit part of the ride with the song on repeat for 20 minutes..we were concerned that she would pass away on the ride, and feared her searing heart pain was a sign of a heart attack. The ride operators said they hadn't called the paramedics yet, but intended to "eventually" Guess the malfunctioning small world clock mechanism should have tipped us off. Grandma insisted that she would be ok and didn't want to spoil things for everyone else, so we stayed in the park.

From there, we left for what we hoped would be a calming dinner, eating at the same place. This time however, I was hit in the groin by a cone waver, my dad was hit in the shoulder by another, and I nearly killed a child by falling over onto her because of the slaughter line they've made out of the walkways. Between the small world ride breaking down, and the migratory walk that took so long, it was nearing 9pm. Finally we got to the golden horseshoe and ordered. While they waited in line to order, I went out to the bathroom without trouble, but on the way back, I was ordered not to cross the line, but to go completely around the land to get back into the restaurant to eat with my family. I was squashed into a line where shoulders were rubbing shoulders and people were breathing down your neck from being so close. I was smashed into someones soda cup, as it splattered both of our clothes. I was in a rush so all I could do was pay that person for his drink and point him to the nearest bathroom. Once I was back at the horseshoe, a staff member demanded if I had family inside, insisting that this would be the only reason for them letting me in. By the time we got our food and was going to carry it out, the fireworks had already started, and we decided just to sit inside and eat, rather than have our food knocked out of our hands. What a miserable day of being pushed and shoved by crowds and being sneered at by unhappy staff members, missing the fireworks and avoiding death or causing death by trampling. So fast forward to 10pm, we thought hey, lets at least get in the Indiana Jones ride with the fast passes we had managed to obtain earlier. So we get there, only to find out the the ride has broke down, and there's no way it will reopen tonight. So me and my family were finally entirely disheartened by the whole ordeal. As we walked through main street, we discussed not buying anything as a form of protest, but decided that it wouldn't make one bit of difference. It was interesting seeing a 9 dollar regular pencil 9$! The fanciest art store in the whole of my state doesn't even have a 9 dollar pencil. I ended up getting a cheap pen, my brother got a post card, and we stayed on the lesser side of the souvenirs. It was sad to see many more of the penny arcade machines gone.

11pm came and we decided to spend the last hour at disneyland waiting in a very very long line that had built up in front of guest relations. The guy in front of us was so hostile in tone and livid at what had happened to him, he actually had gotten taken into the back room where I could see office cubicles behind a curtain. I sorta wish I could have channeled his level of fury when it came my time to complain, but I was exhausted. The guy in back of us who's veins were bulging, asked us what we were in line for. He too had had a miserable day, being one of the riders who had to be evacuated off of the indiana jones ride. Well, after getting my turn and telling them everything that happened, the staff just laughed and gave me a stupid little card with an email on it, and said that's all they could do. Outside of the building, I told the others waiting in line what to expect. If they weren't so tired, I'm sure there would have been a mob-like storming of the building..

I finally got a call back from a representative at disney that did not care what had happened, but demanded if I was going to go forward with legal action, and would not admit to any wrong doing. As I pressed her about disneyland potentially exceeding it's legal human occupancy, she only said that there was more people then there ever usually is that day, but that it was still within the limit of the law. Likewise when asked about the abuse of the rides, especially the antique rides there, she merely stated that they were being ran legally under osha's guidelines, and disney was at no fault for anything whatsoever. After she literally stated that she did not care about the "what ifs" as I talked about my grandmothers potential death and me being forced into hazardous situations in the herd lines, I was feeling rather annoyed at the condescending disrespectful attitude I was getting, I hung up.

I wasn't really after compensation, seeing as I wouldn't even be in town for another day at disney even if they had granted an extra day, nor was my intent to press legal charges for being hit reasonably hard in my reproductive organs or nearly having my grandmother die on small world...I guess I was simply hoping for a sincere apology. I could not even get that out of them.
Literally nobody cared and instead, simply laughed. And that's unforgivable.

It was on this last trip, that for the first time in my life, I felt regret for going to disneyland. I guess the money of 10 individuals isn't but a drop in the bucket in the eyes of a greedy corporate machine. But if this is to become common place for a growing multitude of people, perhaps they'll take notice..
 
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What a horrible experience. I am sorry that happened to you and disappointed at Disney's response.
 
jmc92, You're a new member :welcome: I see this is your first post.

Sorry this was your Disneyland experience.
Now that you have found this board, I believe you'll learn how to navigate the parks during crowded times.
I trust your next trip will go better.

For anyone reading this trip report....
October 21st was a Saturday.
While the parks are generally busy most of the time now, the weekends can be the worst.

Do some planning for your trip. This is so important due to the volume of people.
Have an idea of what to expect on the day(s) you plan to be in the parks.

If you have a person in your group with medical issues, have a plan for the "what if's" that may occur.

The cost of a trip to the parks adds up fast. Please try to have a plan for your time there.

G
 



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