experiment626mom
<font color=purple>I hate when people breathe on m
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2005
Disneyland, we had a wonderful time but it made me realize how much I appreciate DW. Now don't get me wrong we did have a good time. I wish DW's PoC was as cool as the one at DL. The park itself was, well, what you would expect from Disney and then some. The attitude was lacking in the key respects that have come to be expected if you are afrequent DW visitor. We stayed at one of their partner hotels only two blocks (As sold by Disneyland travel) from the main entrance. In Chicago we pride ourselves on our long city clocks but you would never put a half mile or more of pavement under your feet to walk two of them. And much to our chagrin we will never again complain about waiting for a bus at DW again. (At least those are free.) The ART system, although quite adequate for what it is doing, leaves you wanting. Our branch was a whole six stops in perhaps a 5 to 6 mile loop. We waited 30 - 40 minutes at times for a bus. At least we were able to sit in the shade while we waited at their stops. (A feature that was unfortunately beyond the capabilities of DL) The drivers turned out to be the friendliest people we encountered on the trip,.
Food prices were outrageous and the selection was limited. Not only did we find ourselves bewildered at the price of food but astonished at the child size portions of their offerings. (The only time we were truly filled
up by a meal was when we stopped at a Jack in the Box off of park grounds and ate).
Now I have never encountered a CM at DW who was not cheerful, helpful and very concise in anything they said from giving directions to making
suggestions. A large amount of the DL CM' s would never be able to show their faces in DW. Being a smoker, I frequently will ask where the
nearest smoking area is. They gave directions in generalities.
Do you see that round building over there? Walk around it, it's
over there somewhere" At one point I was directed to three different locations each time after following the directions of a CM directed me to an entirely different area than that the first. (I finally found a dark corner and hid to have a quick puff.) If you think this might be a bit of
exaggeration then consider this one, a CM directed us to just walk over to the monorail line and follow it. He said that the smoking area was beneath
it, what he failed to tell us was that it was ¾'s of the way across DL.
We walked up to the Indiana Jones ride (Very cool ride, did it three times) and they had three different lines open. (We learned from experience that when they are busy and switching around lines it is very easy to start up an exit line or be walking through a maze that you could have avoided or step into a fast pass diversion line that sends you all the way back to start again) So as a veteran of DW I saw 4 CM's standing at the front of the entrance so I decided to ask them. I went over and said Excuse me To which they looked at me smiled and went back to their conversation.
Or perhaps the trying transaction of picking up our pictures that the park photographer took. 6 girls all standing there talking. (This includes a manager.) Walk up to the counter, no one acknowledges us. A hand comes out of the group and my wife puts the tickets in it. Our 4 pictures come up on the screen as thumbnails. Girl pushes the button so we can see th first one larger, we see it and then wait. We had to tell her the next 3 times to change the picture. We choose a picture and finally had to yell over the conversation what we wanted. We are given a price for an 8 X 10 only. We were never told that there were other packages. She scribbles something on a piece of paper and points us to the register. Never, ever did she stopped her part of the conversation with her co-workers. Pay for our picture, the cashier had to ask 3 times for one of those girls to break away and get our picture out of the printer. She never showed the picture to us, just jammed it into a photo file and put it in a bag.
One evening while leaving we were standing in the line to leave and the young girl in front of us was getting her hand stamped. The CM says
left Hand and the girl holds out her right hand at which point the cast member asks again and once again the girl holds out her right hand. Then in the most undisney like moment I have ever seen the CM grits her teeth reaches for the girls hand and through her gritted teeth in a voice more at home on a Disney villain says Give me your d*** hand
The rides and attractions were good, the shows were impressive and the fireworks were awesome. I can now say that I have been there. I can also now say that I do not want to go back. I do not know if it was
something in the overpriced bottles of water or perhaps just a general attitude that sweeps the area but I am happy to get back home cherish the good memories, discard the bad, nurse my bruises and look forward to my return to civilization in DW.
This trip report written by my dh.
Food prices were outrageous and the selection was limited. Not only did we find ourselves bewildered at the price of food but astonished at the child size portions of their offerings. (The only time we were truly filled
up by a meal was when we stopped at a Jack in the Box off of park grounds and ate).
Now I have never encountered a CM at DW who was not cheerful, helpful and very concise in anything they said from giving directions to making
suggestions. A large amount of the DL CM' s would never be able to show their faces in DW. Being a smoker, I frequently will ask where the
nearest smoking area is. They gave directions in generalities.
Do you see that round building over there? Walk around it, it's
over there somewhere" At one point I was directed to three different locations each time after following the directions of a CM directed me to an entirely different area than that the first. (I finally found a dark corner and hid to have a quick puff.) If you think this might be a bit of
exaggeration then consider this one, a CM directed us to just walk over to the monorail line and follow it. He said that the smoking area was beneath
it, what he failed to tell us was that it was ¾'s of the way across DL.
We walked up to the Indiana Jones ride (Very cool ride, did it three times) and they had three different lines open. (We learned from experience that when they are busy and switching around lines it is very easy to start up an exit line or be walking through a maze that you could have avoided or step into a fast pass diversion line that sends you all the way back to start again) So as a veteran of DW I saw 4 CM's standing at the front of the entrance so I decided to ask them. I went over and said Excuse me To which they looked at me smiled and went back to their conversation.
Or perhaps the trying transaction of picking up our pictures that the park photographer took. 6 girls all standing there talking. (This includes a manager.) Walk up to the counter, no one acknowledges us. A hand comes out of the group and my wife puts the tickets in it. Our 4 pictures come up on the screen as thumbnails. Girl pushes the button so we can see th first one larger, we see it and then wait. We had to tell her the next 3 times to change the picture. We choose a picture and finally had to yell over the conversation what we wanted. We are given a price for an 8 X 10 only. We were never told that there were other packages. She scribbles something on a piece of paper and points us to the register. Never, ever did she stopped her part of the conversation with her co-workers. Pay for our picture, the cashier had to ask 3 times for one of those girls to break away and get our picture out of the printer. She never showed the picture to us, just jammed it into a photo file and put it in a bag.
One evening while leaving we were standing in the line to leave and the young girl in front of us was getting her hand stamped. The CM says
left Hand and the girl holds out her right hand at which point the cast member asks again and once again the girl holds out her right hand. Then in the most undisney like moment I have ever seen the CM grits her teeth reaches for the girls hand and through her gritted teeth in a voice more at home on a Disney villain says Give me your d*** hand
The rides and attractions were good, the shows were impressive and the fireworks were awesome. I can now say that I have been there. I can also now say that I do not want to go back. I do not know if it was
something in the overpriced bottles of water or perhaps just a general attitude that sweeps the area but I am happy to get back home cherish the good memories, discard the bad, nurse my bruises and look forward to my return to civilization in DW.
This trip report written by my dh.
