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[TigerLilly's Mom]

That would have been nice to know - we would have gone Wed. instead for sure. We didn't check in until Tuesday, so to me that is not right. It should have been posted more. I can't see a notice on that was sent out on Monday, if I don't check in until Tuesday. And It still is not fair for all the people who were not staying at a Disney hotel. They chose to be dishonest instead. One notice slipped under the door of a small percentage of people who wanted to go to to EE, doesn't make it right.

 

[DevilDuckie]

Hi Everyone,
Does anyone want to comment on the fact that Disneyland canceled early entry? I am still incredulous over this fact and can't believe no one has mentioned it. They know people spend the extra money to get a three day park hopper to get early entry. I believe they were dishonest about it and that is inexcusable.

There was not an EE scheduled for Thursday because grad nights get out at 6 and you *can't* open the park at 7 after that. A few cast members (including one we spoke to) were confused. They were misinformed, not dishonest. The second cast member who broke the bad news to us was very polite and explained that some cast members didn't realize that grad night preempts EE.

I'm surprised that people would spend extra on a 3-day for one hour. The EE is a nice extra but it's not what I consider the value of the ticket.

 

[DVD CM]

Just chiming in with some info that may or may not be of importance -

Disneyland is right in the heart of the giant thing that is Southern California. And for many locals, going to Disneyland is as common as going to the mall. There are annual passholders by the jillions (I have heard as many as 600,000 - the park can only hold, what 70,000?) because a Premium annual pass to Disneyland is still only about $300. Then there are lower levels of APs which become increasingly less expensive. This has had a side effect of allowing Disneyland to become an easy REPEAT weekend escape for many locals on a budget. If a local goes to the park just a handful of times they've covered the cost of admission and the rest of the year - is gravy.

And Disneyland (and resort) is a tiny place (when compared with the 46 sq miles of WDW).

Of course, Walt had no idea how popular this park might become or he may have attempted to buy even more orange groves and make the place bigger to accomodate tens of thousands of people a day - but that's as maybe. Disneyland as built was a fairly isolated, small (by today's MEGA-POPULUS standards) location - Anaheim today is much like the rest of LA: dense, asphault covered, cityscape.

But what adds to Disneyland's congestion (on TOP of the HALF MILLION PLUS annual passholders) is the frequent "local discounts" which adds to the people who have been so often that they feel they have the "right" to do certain things and behave certain ways because they think it is "their" park.

And they ruin it for every other guest. ESPECIALLY for out of state guests who expect the original park to be the best (and yes, sentimentally, crowds or no - it very much is).

Don't get me wrong. I love Disneyland. I go there 8 to 10 times a year (we live 35 miles away) - but the crowds are often unbearable. I hate to say that. I LOVE the company. I WORK for the company.

We were there 3 weeks ago and after 4 hours I had had enough. People cutting in line, strollers banging ankles, nowhere to move in crowds (and we know ALL of the In's and Out's and SECRETS of getting around DL) rudeness like you would not see anywhere else - let alone the Happiest Place on Earth. I told my wife "this is not why I come here".

And then there are days like yesterday. A Saturday in late June:

We rode 11 attractions (without really trying hard - 2 Fastpasses all day)
Sat right at the foot of the castle for the fireworks (a 1st for me - in all my years going to the park I've never been so close - and this 50th show is just AMAZING)
Met and talked to lots of wonderful people who were on vacation from around the States
Saw few "undesirables" roaming the park
And had one of the TOP TEN best days I have EVER had at Disneyland

Luck of the draw I suppose.

But Disneyland will always have it's own unique set of obstacles that it must always overcome that WDW will never face. Much of which is due to it's size AND it's own popularity with the local fan base. LA area is about 14 million people - all within an hour's drive (or so) of the 55 ACRE park of Disneyland. The 46 sq MILE WDW resort is next to a city of what? 1 million? 2 million?

This is why Walt & Roy bought all the extra land in Florida for the 2nd time out. They didn't want liquor stores and sleazy motels across the street.
Plus I believe tight spaces have a tendency to bring out the worst in people and the LA area is, on the whole, a great deal more rude than most other places I have lived and travelled.

All visitors to Disneyland should keep these things in mind and plan accordingly.

I'm not making excuses - these are just my own observations - from close to the situation. I think a traveller to Disneyland should go with a mindset of going to see the Original park as Walt dreamed it and to walk in Walt's footsteps....to see the park (especially the facades of Main street & the structure of the Castle) as Walt envisioned.

Maybe as an adult traveller from elsewhere in the country (or world) one should go to "Walt's Park" for the experience of being where Walt was and seeing what he made - but not expect the comfort and luxury provided by the wonderfulness that is WDW. They can't compared - one is the size of Boston and the other is, several city blocks in size. And yet they both hold the same appeal and bring in vast numbers of people from around the globe. One is very well adapted to deal with these crowds - the other constantly struggles to deal with crowds in a limited space.

In that light I want to add, the tenured CM's at Disneyland do a wonderful job of bringing the magic to everyone they encounter everyday they are there.

 

[peachgirl]

But what adds to Disneyland's congestion (on TOP of the HALF MILLION PLUS annual passholders) is the frequent "local discounts" which adds to the people who have been so often that they feel they have the "right" to do certain things and behave certain ways because they think it is "their" park.

I was trying to figure out how to say what you just said so well!

 

[TigerLilly's Mom]

I appreciate all of what DVD CM said and you said it very well. I am glad I got to see Disneyland and I can see why people would love it so. There is a certain something special about it, more personal and intimate. I would have love to have seen the streets and lands with less people in them, I think they have a lot of detail and charm. I just think there are things that they can do better, and they could learn a lot from Disney World, especially with the crowds the 50th will bring.

 

[DVD CM]

TigerLilly's Mom,

Please, if you come back to Disneyland with your family, try to make it make it during my favorite time of the year there (though it may be hard with children and school schedules) - late January through late February. Southern California weather is moderate, crowds in the park Monday through Thursday are SO small you almost feel like you have the park to yourself - you can linger ANYWHERE and the CM's are happy to talk to you as long as you like.

The only draw backs are shorter park hours and attraction closures for annual re-habs.

It's a fair trade.

 

[TigerLilly's Mom]

DVD CM - I'm sure those times are wonderful to visit Disneyland. However I teach and can only have school vacations as travel time. I'm glad I had the opportunity to visit Disneyland, however when we will decide to do a Disney vacation again, it will be Disney World. They have so much more to offer and are much, much closer for us. To me Disneyland and California Adventure are nice to visit for a couple days, but Disney World with Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM, Animal Kingdom and the huge variety of hotels are more like a vacation to us. However, if we decide to visit California again for any reason, I would certainly drop by Disneyland for a day or two to give it another try (during the slow season that is )

 

[TigerLilly's Mom]

There was not an EE scheduled for Thursday because grad nights get out at 6 and you *can't* open the park at 7 after that. A few cast members (including one we spoke to) were confused. They were misinformed, not dishonest. The second cast member who broke the bad news to us was very polite and explained that some cast members didn't realize that grad night preempts EE.

I'm surprised that people would spend extra on a 3-day for one hour. The EE is a nice extra but it's not what I consider the value of the ticket.

Actually the cast members we spoke to were not confused at all. They came right out and told me they do not have early entry after grad nights. We just found out a little to late - along with countless others. Somehow Disneyland needs to let people know that there will be no ealy entry on these days, plain and simple.

 

[acrucifer]

walt may have been upset over the rudeness of people and I have encountered many in disneyworld. however, Walt also didnt like whiners, and there seems to be a lot of whining here. if its crowded, go another time, avoid grad night etc, but by all means lets move on already.

 

[2ndStar2TheRight]

In that light I want to add, the tenured CM's at Disneyland do a wonderful job of bringing the magic to everyone they encounter everyday they are there.

Speaking of...what ever happened to Maynard? He was the best CM at Disneyland. He always made the experience(s) on HM and Jungle Cruise something to remember! I hope he is still around and in good health, he was getting older the last I saw him. I know many of you know who I am talking about...

 

[TigerLilly's Mom]

walt may have been upset over the rudeness of people and I have encountered many in disneyworld. however, Walt also didnt like whiners, and there seems to be a lot of whining here. if its crowded, go another time, avoid grad night etc, but by all means lets move on already.

I think you must have been in the parks when I was there.

 

[Redcon1]

Miguel's in Coronado had excellent mexican food and we ate there twice.

Well, on a positive note, everytime we go to San Diego, we have to stop and eat at Miguel's as well. The atmosphere is wonderful, especially eating outside under the canopy. This past trip, instead of our usual evening visit, we went in mid-afternoon. There was no wait and had a much more leisurely meal than our previous visits. It was great!
We also like to go across to the Del Coronado hotel and pretend we're some of their well-heeled guests.
I would whole-heartely recommend a day on Coronado with a stop at Miguel's to anyone who is visiting San Diego.

 

[lntsmom]

I'm sure this is why Disney is marketing DisneyWorld, not Disneyland. They know Disneyland can barely accomodate the normal crowds...even without advertising the 50th, they are going to be stretched to their limits!

Part of the problem being that they don't dare alienate the locals during this 18 month period because they'll have to rely on them for regular income long after the celebration is over.

However, a big part of what you've described as a Disney problem happens anywhere that there is a crowd. I've noticed something interesting locally. The crowd behavior when children are involved seems to be at least partly determined by the economic status of the adults. I've been to hugely crowded events where everyone was well behaved...these were usually in the middle-class populated suburbs. When you get an event (high ticket kiddie fare) where the audience has more families from the wealthy suburbs on the other side of the state line, you get bad behavior. The parents tend to feel they "deserve" a better view because of what they've paid.

At an appearance by the Kratt brothers at our zoo, one family (who was in the front row...we were seated in the ground) encouraged their children to stand up, yell, scream, etc, to draw the performers' attention. People behind us asked them very nicely to have their kids sit down so everyone could see. They had the nerve to tell us off, letting us know that their very special children "deserved" to have fun however they wanted and it was too bad if the rest of us didn't like it. They ended by commenting, "You must all be from _____ or _______, aren't you?" Naming two of the less affluent suburbs in the metro area. Mm-hm.

I'm just saying, it's not just Disneyland. And, although the suggestion to come at an uncrowded time may work for some, there are a lot of people who can't pick and choose their vacation time. For instance, in my contract it stipulates that I cannot take any personal days for vacation time.

So, if you're stuck with going during a busy time as we are, and you know you don't like policies and procedures at Disneyland, go to DisneyWorld instead!

 

[challada]

I really don't think socio-economic status has anything to do w/the behavior, but rather CLASS of some people seem to gets lost very quickly in crowds.

When my son was very young and we were on a trip to WDW, some adult was rude to him at some point...he turned to me as mom and asked why...I told him that Disney was the Happiest Place on Earth because it sucks the happiness right out of some people when they walk in the gate...this explanation has stuck for the last seven years...so now when either of my kids see adults behaving badly in DL or WDW, they just shake their head and say "boy, he/she got their happiness sucked!"

 

[LeftCoaster]

Speaking of...what ever happened to Maynard? He was the best CM at Disneyland. He always made the experience(s) on HM and Jungle Cruise something to remember! I hope he is still around and in good health, he was getting older the last I saw him. I know many of you know who I am talking about...

He's still thee. I believe he is working the 50th exhibit at the Main Street Opera House.

 

[kelmac284]

I agree. I can say that my family and I go to disneyland at least once a year and we usually try to stay far away from busy times. We did however go over the veterans day holiday this year and unfortunately we are going in July this year a week after the 50th.

We already are preparing for huge crowds and rude people.

I do have to agree that when I went to disneyworld in 02 I was impressed by how people actually formed a line for characters and no one cut or was rude about it.

As soon as we went to disneyland the next time it was back to pandamonium.

I have had more than one time when I patiently waited in line only to have some rude family just run up or cut.

I think that in general the type of people that go to disneyland are not the same as who goes to disneyworld.

Disneyworld is obviously more expensive and I think that it is not as easy to attend versus disneyland where residents can get pretty good discounts.

I love both places and will still go to disneyland because I live in CA and it is close and making it to disneyworld is usually a lot harder to do but I agree wholeheartedly about the rudeness and it is truly a shame.

My mom and I were just commenting about how it ruins the magic.

Sorry you had a bad time but I hope you don't give up on it completely.

Go during off season if you can. It really is nicer!

 

[DVD CM]

I haven't seen him in quite awhile - but I only get to the park every month or so and it's always a Saturday or Sunday. He could be working weekdays or I'm just not crossing his path.

I know there's a big love/hate thing with Maynard, but I think he's a hoot. Especially when he works the Mansion.

 

[YoHo]

Just wanted to comment,I've been to WDW and DL many times, and I see little to no difference in the amount of rudeness. Same for just about anywhere I've vacationed. The human race, in general, is a bunch jerks.

Having said that, I think the big problem you experienced at Disneyland versus WDW is one of Size. WDW Mk. is bigger. all the streets and pathways are significantly wider and there are very few choke points. Disneyland is built far differently.

To make matters worse, some rides and queue areas flood the pathways. This has gotten worse since Fastpass and lets not even talk about fantasmic.

Finally, Disney shot themselves in the foot with their food service staff and so now what used to be well organized, efficient buffeterias are 1 hr long waits clogging even more pathways.

As for crowd control. I've actually been very impressed given all the issues I've just outlined, how well Disney manages crowd control at DL. They are as effiecent as the possibly can be.



Also, it should be noted, that many of these issues are due to poor managment from local all the way up to corporate. Disneyland is significantly closer to Burbank then Orlando is. The current management has been taking many many steps to fix the problems with Disneyland. They aren't done yet, but they've made important progress and I would hate for you to judge Walt's park so harshly based on this one experience.


As for the EE being cancelled. It sounds like they did announce it, but somehow you missed it having checked in Tuesday. There should have been an update in your room when you checked in listing the cancellation. I know when I've stayed in the past, they had one in my room, so it's certainly a policy they have although it appears they aren't as dilligent as they used to be. Disney World works the same way.

 

[tawasdave]

I have read everyone's comments on this thread and agree with most everyone...we were there on Monday 6/20 and Tues 6/21 and it was like being sardines!!!. We met a lady in line who said she lived near DL and goes to the park twice a month or so and she said she had never seen so many people at the park...funny thing is...we were there again on Friday, 6/24, and not near as many people in the park...go figure?...in fact the park on Tuesday stayed open a hour later (Midnight Vs 11pm) due to the crowd..of course this was never announced...a CM told us...we said surely they will announce it...but we never heard it....Now I have to tell you another way they could make everyone a little happier as they wait in massive lines...and here Universal Studios has Disney beat hands down...We were at Universal on Thursday 6/23, and granted the lines were nothing compared to Disney...but in every attraction we went on...Universal had a fabric cover over the waiting cue, fans and misters going...I tell you what, I was sure in a much better mood being cool waiting in line rather than baking..it sure helped my mood all day long...I think you might find people in a much better mood if Disney would consider doing the same...

 

[FanOfStitch]

Just wanted to comment,I've been to WDW and DL many times, and I see little to no difference in the amount of rudeness. Same for just about anywhere I've vacationed. The human race, in general, is a bunch jerks.

As for the EE being cancelled. It sounds like they did announce it, but somehow you missed it having checked in Tuesday. There should have been an update in your room when you checked in listing the cancellation. I know when I've stayed in the past, they had one in my room, so it's certainly a policy they have although it appears they aren't as dilligent as they used to be. Disney World works the same way.

I agree completly about your comment above. Before we left for our trip to DL, I had already prepared myself for extremely large crowds and rudeness. I had already decided before we even got there that I was not going to let it spoil my vacation.

As for the EE, there was another message listed in Tuesdays guest letter left at turn down although I do agree it would have been nice to have it advertised somewhere in the lobbies or parks.

All in all, we had a wonderful time at DL for the 50th and it was nice to see the original. Because we are closer to WDW and I have a phobia about flying (I can drive to FL in about 1 1/2 days), we probably won't be back to DL soon, but we will be back!!