Just returned from Disney

[can'tgetenufofwdw]

DH and I just returned from 6 days in Anaheim. Let me begin by saying that I have no intention of starting a war. I only want to share what were my observations. First off it rained every single day we were there and it was cold. Now I know that is nobodys fault and in true Disney fashion we braved the weather with our ponchos and our umbrellas. We went through three I might add. I will say that DL has a far superior Pirates. We both enjoyed it very much and rode it about four times. I also liked your BTMR better. Maybe not but it seemed to me to be a tad better than the one at DW. We also LOVED the Indy ride. It is awesome. DW in Orlando needs to bring one there. The Matterhorn was also alot of fun. We did the jungle cruise at night and that was alot of fun. Now for my other observations.......I'm sorry to say that I found the park to be dirty in comparision to DW. The bathrooms were FILTHY. I saw an employee walking around with the dustpan thing sweeping up small bits of paper on the ground which was great but I witnessed him spit on the ground. This is not Disney etiquette. I found the cast members to be mostly nice but not in character. ie.... at the HM all we got was "step inside please". At DW they get into full character with accents, facial gestures etc. I noticed this on a few of the rides TOT, HM BTMR. Even the ticket takers seemed to be impatient and forgot to bring their smiles to work with them. I was also very dissapointed with the shops in and around DL. Their is absolutely nothing on Harbour Blvd. I went the Character Warehouse but they didn't have too much but I know from Orlando that this is a hit or miss. Inside they don't have much either. Dw has gift shops for about every attraction. Now I know some people don't like that but I am one who does. I could find nowhere to get things engraved or personalized like frames or Christmas ornaments. I always get an ornament at DW. If these places exist I could not find them. CA was a neat park but with the exception to a few attractions that are pure disney genius it felt like a cheap carnival. Not Disney stlye at all. Soarin is awesome. CS is a great coaster too but we were evacuated from the ride in the middle of the first hill at about 7:30pm monday 2/21 so that wasn't too cool. TOT is always a great ride but again I missed the cast members acting in full character. They seemed like over tired college students who were cranky. Now I know this is not the case with all cast members but this is what I experienced. The Alladin show was beautiful Ishould add. Other than that we didn't see too much there. WWTBAM was closed for some reason. I am glad I experienced DL but I am totallly devoted to DW. Even on the ride into Anaheim going south on I5 their were no bilboards advertising the park like their is in Florida. For me that is part of the excitement building up to getting closer to the Happiest Place on Earth. Their is only ONE billboard on I5 and it advertises to go to Disneyland.com with a picture of Tink on it. I was so disappionted. I was disappointed to see that the monorail runs parallel to Harbour Blvd which is essentailly a four lane highway. Their is no magic in that. Please,Please try not to take this as an attact on Dl and I don't want to upset anyone but I saw what I saw.

 

[AFMom]

It is very different, and part of the reason is that Walt only bought enough land for the park back then - so all the cruddy establishments could spring up, and the 4 lane hwy you mentioned from the monorail was developed. But with the land restraints, there wasn't much else to be done there to fix the problem later. I believe they are trying to aggresively buy the land near the parks - but it's so valuable now it may just not be worth it.
As far as the cleanliness - I have to agree that park maintanence has certainly gone downhill in the last 10 years. Everything used to always look shiny and brand new, but not as much anymore. However- I noticed this same problem at WDW in September, so I think it's the Disney companies cutbacks and not just DL.
The staff - it's always hit or miss - but it shouldn't be there! Customer service should be the number one priority - especially at DL - it's going downhill.
We're from CA originally, and will always have a soft spot for DL as it reminds us of our childhoods. All the more reason for people like us to complain and demand better!

 

[grinningghost]

As someone who is going to be a DL first-timer in a couple weeks, this is an interesting read. I'll tell you why. Our last WDW trip was in August, 2003. I was pretty disappointed in a few things.

The restrooms were, in a couple cases, deplorable. No flushed toilets, bodily fluids on the toilet seats, paper all over the floor, empty soda cups on the counters - just a horrible mess. Not EVERY restroom, but two in particular, at the TTC and in Tomorrowland. I also thought the restroom in Cinderella's Royal Table needed a serious update - but at least it was pretty clean.

Another sad sight was unopen food carts and other snack vendors. And this was in the summer, it was still pretty busy. It just creates a feeling of neglect, even if that's not the actual reason for it. Nobody likes to walk through a "dead" theme park.

Also, I found graffiti on Splash Mountain and the interior of the monorail - Walt would have a heart attack if he saw that.

No CM difficulties though. They were all quite nice, although the Spanish speaking mousekeepers are a little loud in the early AM - I do wish they would chat together in a breakroom rather than outside my door.

I can't wait to see how DL (where I've longed to go my entire life) compares. I know they're two different places, and I'll keep that in mind. I just hope that some of your concerns might be addressed before I get there. Thanks for the report.

 

[got2travel]

Thanks for your honest observations. I've been to both parks although since I live in CA, I have a DL AP, so that's where my heart lies.

As another posted stated, Disney wasn't able to buy all the land around DL, so he couldn't fully develop it like WDW was. In fact, that was a major catalyst for building WDW. As a result, yes there are many tacky places all around DL. But I rarely venture out of the parks except to sleep, so it doesn't bother me all that much.

I've found that a both parks, its hit or miss with the CMs. I've had some in DL stay so awesomely in character, it just makes the experience so much better. But I've also encountered those that are just trying to make it to the end of their shift. Same thing at WDW.

As for CA, even us DL diehards are disappointed in it. True, its got some shinning stars, but not much. By the way, Millionaire is closed for good now. Not sure why, because that's what got us overthere many times.

At least now you can say that you've seen both parks.

 

[tinker-kyle]

hey there ...
we too are wdw vets (and DVC members)just back from five days at DL ... and i have to disagree
we LOVED DL ... found it to be more intimate than WDW
loved that we could walk to everything ... we stayed at DLH and never ventured off disney property during our stay so the magic stayed with us ... parked our car monday and didnt see it again til friday

found a lot of the individual rides to be better at DL --- BTMRR, peter pan, pirates.

monorail was slow ... but i found the glimpses behind the scenes fascinating coz you dont get that at wdw were everything is underground.
yes ... a lot for snack carts were closed ... but it was a quiet time of the year its the same as wdw.

found there to be a lot more characters out and about ... could walk around a corner without bumping into a princess or someone. we rode on omnibus with mickey and minnie and tea cups with alice and mad hatter in one day. in all my years at WDW having that kind of character interaction only happended once (rode WTP with pooh)

we were very very lucky with the rain ... didnt get a drop until thursday(our last park day) and it rained from about 1 to 5pm ...we did find with ponchos though my feet were soaked ... friday am was rainy ... but that was our DTD shopping day and the rain wasnt a probably. we loved the way DTD was set up between the hotel and parks ... we rarely make it to DTD at WDW b/c its such a separate trip. at Dl we took out dinner several nites from DTD, ate and played at ESPN zone, had breakfast at Rainforest cafe ... never would have done that at "home"

remember its hard to keep bathrooms clean with everyone wet ... (dont know about the spitting deal- yuck) and also its hard to be cheerful when dealing with cranky wet guests ... who are upset that its raining on their vacation its a vicous cycle

also a lot of the CM have been standing in the rain for weeks ....

 

[missmulan]

i am an AP holder and go there quite often. i can count that the last 5 times i've been, i've had "words exchanged" with CMs. one of them actually made it his business to turn around and come back to me to say something.

someone was right when they said these CMs are overtired. they just don't look happy to work there. i used to work for a woman who held a high position at DL and she used to tell us stories about Walt taking pride in bathroom cleanliness. he would be seen sweeping the floors himself!

but i've also noticed that since the southern CA AP is so affordable, DL gets alot of regular locals who also take the park for granted. i kid you not, two female locals shouting profanity at each other in the parking structure because one drove the opposite direction. i knew they were locals because of their car (not a rental) & license plate frame.

 

[LucyKate]

I suspect the weather may have had a big influence on your views, and perhaps on the performance of the CMs. e had great weather and it certianly gives you a better imnpresion of a place if you are not fighting rain, howling winds and collapsing umbrellas while traying to enjoy yourself.

We went to DL in December and just loved the place. We found it spotless, the CMs wonderful and the rides sensational.nwe especially liked (and were surprised by) how compact the park was - we'd expected it to be much, much bigger but found this aspect of it to be a bonus.


That said, DCa was a disappointment it just didn't have the same magic as DL and some of thre rides, such as those in Bug's life were just awful. However, it also had the three best rides in Tower of Terror, Soarin and Grizzly River Run.

Yes, the areas surrounding the park were a disappointment but as mentioned above, when Walt decided to build the theme park he had very little money and was only able to afford to buy a small area for the park.

He was horrified at what sprung up around DL, which is why he made sure, when he had money, that the same didn't happen at DW and bought up a whole county. That way he could control not just the park but the surrounding area and have land for expansion (Disney still has enough spare land to more than double its existing theme parks there).

 

[MandaMom]

Got2travel,

We were told by a CM that Disney lost their licensing to use Who's Wants to be a Millionaire in that capacity. Not sure if this is true as a CM who overheard us complaining imparted this information to us.

I have been lucky enough to have had very nice CM's. But I do know through my cousin that much of the staff have been there very long. My cousin is rapidly approaching her 5th year but she works with other CM's that have been at DL 15 to 25 years. As far as cleanliness the last few times I've been to DL it has been spotless. My husband and I love DL and WDW but last August when we were in WDW at the Magic Kingdom my husband complained about how rundown and "smelly" the park had gotten. I attributed it to the heat I think with the humidity it may have been the people and not the actual park Sometimes it depends on when you go LOL.


MandaMom

 

[got2travel]

Interesting, but I don't think that Disney lost the liscense. The attraction is still running in WDW. At least it was in Dec.

 

[dsnylndmom]

I defintely agree that the weather could have affected not only your trip but the cm's also. I know that there's been a TON of rain around here and the parks were still pretty busy from what I've read.

I know that when we visited WDW in Aug '03 my husband had a reaction like yours, he really really prefer's DL to WDW and people look at him like he's crazy when he says that! LOL He just loves the intimate feel of DL, he felt the cm's were MUCH better at DL and he felt DL was much cleaner than MK and MGM, I had to agree with him on the last statement. We could not believe the amount of garbage in the water at MGM Plus, we had a horrible experience at ASMo so that soured him quite a bit. Sometimes unfortunately, you just get an "off trip"

I agree with the above posters, you have to go into to DL with an open mind when it comes to seeing the "outside world" etc knowing what Walt Disney had to deal with size-wise in building DL.

I am a diehard DL lover but I do love WDW also, just a different type

 

[Amy&Dan]

In addition to weather, the upcoming 50th might have had a big influence on your visit. They are really in overdrive getting the park ready for the big event and a lot of things are closed. I must be lucky because I have always found the bathrooms at both DL and WDW to be pretty clean except for one. It seems like the bathroom by Splash Mountain in WDW is always kind of dirty. Probably because almost all women seem to stop in there and dry off after getting wet on Splash! I am sorry you didn't enjoy your stay as much as you had hoped, I would say give it another try but first impressions often leave a lasting one and you probably won't like it any better the second time. I agree that WDW has an enormous amount of magic because it is a "world" and not just a "land". When I am at Disneyland, especially if we are staying offsite and walk down Harbor amidst all the traffic and bustle, I always feel like the park itself is more magical. One minute you are on a busy street, the next you are in a magical place. When I enter Disneyland, I feel like Dorothy when she exits her house into a technicolor world! The good thing is that now I guess you will appreciate WDW more than ever. Personally, I'll always be a Disneyland Girl, just wish they would get a DVC property there too so I could go more often now that we are members!

 

[DisneySlave]

The parking lot behind Tower of Terror is going to be used for park expansion along with a large plot of land formally the Fugishige Farm behind the Raddison Maingate is speculated to be developed into a Disney water park.

 

[WheresGoofy]

We were there last week and I was thinking the CMs were effected by the rain as was quite a few of the guests. We were grateful for breaks in the rain and tried to make the most of it. Our departure day turned out to be the best day for the parks, but we were headed to the airport for an extended wait due to the airplane being held up.

 

[disneydork]

Silly people, did you not check the weather forecast before you went? It is winter, you know! We were there in Feb. and also got rained on (only the second time in multiple trips per year for the past 15 years or so!), but I figure a rainy day at Disneyland is still better than any day that I have to go to work! I would concede that cleanliness and CM demeanor has slipped a tad over the past few years (at both DL and WDW), but if it was a 10 before, it's still a 9 now. Spend a day at Knott's for an unpleasant reminder of a typical "amusement park", it's like a slap in the face! Also, I know the outside world can be pretty scary (especially on Harbor Blvd.), but that can also be part of the touristy fun. And consider what a fantastic job they have done of completely isolating you from that scary reality when you are inside the park. Except for that one part of the monorail (which I happen to think is pretty cool), you'd never know that "4 lane highway" is so close! We've always been pretty impressed by that. Give California Adventure a chance, too. It's personality is developing nicely over the years. Definitely different, but it has it's own charm. By the way, there is an x-mas ornament store and the crystal shop (for engraving) tucked back in New Orleans Square (near the exit from Pirates). Anyway, I hope overall you had a good time and will have some good memories from your trip. If not, you'll just have to go back and try again! (I can always come up with a reason to go back!)