I just returned from a trip to Disneyland. I traveled with two other adults and we stayed at the Paradise Pier. When we checked in we realized we have been upgraded to a beautiful room with a fabulous view of California Adventure. That made our trip start wonderfully. However that night at 11:30 we were very rudely awakened by a fire alarm. We were instructed to evacuate the building immediately. Of course elevators were not running so we went down 8 flights of stairs. No problem but I did feel bad for families carrying sleeping and crying children. 8 flights is a long ways down. The second we got outside they ushered us back into the lobby. Didn't seem like a good idea to me but we followed instructions and after a couple of minutes the elevators were turned on and we went back to our room. I was exhausted because I had been up since 3am so I went right back to sleep. The next day we asked what had happened and they said they couldn't give us details but guests shouldn't bring appliances from home to use in the hotel. I don't think they are talking about curling irons. Once in the park I noticed more debris on the ground that I had ever seen before and the bathrooms were a mess. Not just one bathroom but every bathroom we used. And traveling with two other women we probably used every bathroom in both parks. I also noticed two different areas where they actually had portable partitions up and workers working. One had painters painting right to the left of city hall and the other was a group of workers taking the lid off of a small opening in the ground. In the good old days you would never see this kind of work being done in the daytime. My husband was a painting contractor and he talked to cast members about painting (several years ago) and he was told they only painted after the park closed. I have a disability that after several hrs of waiting in line I have a really hard time with stairs. I always go to City Hall when I get there and they explain their latest disability policy. I was there in Nov. and they told me to approach each rides first cast member and they will zap my ticket and give me a return time. And to tell the first cast member that I can't do stairs and they would provide an alternate entrance or exit. This worked OK. This time the City Hall cast member I spoke to said they have no disability policy. That since it was a new year since my last visit things had changed. I was told to talk to the first cast member and they would determine what they could do to help me. They didn't do the zapping of my ticket and giving me a time to come back. She said that when you come to an amusement park you come knowing that you have to wait in long lines and if you can't physically do that you should choose a different vacation destination. I was stunned. I couldn't believe she actually said that. But I walked away trying hard not to explode and tell her she was crazy and should be fired. She also said if I couldn't stand in lines for a long period of time I should be in a wheelchair or scooter. What a great way to start my vacation at a place I have always loved. I had good experiences avoiding stairs at Toy Story Mania, Cars & Indiana Jones. When I talked to first cast member at Run a Way train he told me to go the exit. I went there and the cast member gave me a lecture about having my ticket zapped and coming back later. I told her that City Hall had told me that services didn't exist and that the first cast member hadn't offered to do that. She continued lecturing me about following rules and she would let me on this time but not to try it again. Really???? This was crazy. I don't usually get angry or scream or anything like that but this just about put me over the edge. I know people take advantage of any disability rules but I'm 67 years old and I was traveling with two other older ladies. Did these people really think I wasn't in need of a bit of assistance? It really wasn't busy while I was there so it wasn't like I needed to jump ahead of anyone in lines. At the other rides you have to wait til the very end before you go a different direction to avoid stairs. And quite often after waiting in the regular line they keep you waiting again for the handicap ride to come along. The other thing that really irritated me and surprised me was that overnight they put up a partition in front of Star Tours. I'm not sure what was going on but it obstructed the traffic between Star Tours & the Buzz Lightyear shooting thing. We were going to the monorail to exit the park during the Electric Light Parade and found that it was nearly impossible to get thru the walkway. We finally got thru and got up to the Mono Rail station. A train was there but it was empty. It left empty. Another train came and the gates didn't open so no passengers could get on. Someone asked what was going on and one of the cast members said the gates were malfunctioning and they couldn't get them open. So another train left empty. Cast members said the train was closed and to exit the ramp. So we left. As we were trying to leave park we encountered a huge crowd of people at that same spot we encountered on our way to train. But now the parade was over and people were headed to the monorail. (they didn't know it was closed) All of the people from the monorail were trying to leave the park thru the small opening between Star Tours & Buzz Lightyear. It turned into a very dangerous situation. There were absolutely no cast members to be seen to help with the crowd control. People with strollers, scooters & wheelchairs were having a really hard time and just regular walkers were squished beyond belief. Hopefully that barricade was temporary because it was causing a lot of dangerous problems. This has been long and maybe boring to some of you but as a disney fan it really made me sad. I go once or twice a year but maybe not anymore. It costs a lot of money and left me very unhappy and frustrated this trip. I know a lot of construction is going on but the things that ruined my trip didn't have anything to do with that. I know areas of the park are closed and you can see construction cranes around but that's to be expected. The things that ruined my trip could have been prevented if Disney still cared about the "magic". I'm afraid it's gone....never to return??? I hope not.
Disneyland use to have off seasons where work such as painting and maintenance could be done behind the scenes. Now there is no such thing as a off season. It is constantly packed with people. In order to keep up with maintenance they have to do it during regular hours too. There are just too many people out there that have no respect for their surrounding and Disney is trying to keep up with fixing what people break. At least they keep things painted. You should look at Magic Mountain. Some areas of that place haven't been fixed in decades. I agree the bathrooms can be a mess but look how many people are in there. It seems very few of them actually pick up after themselves much less flush. I think the cast members try to keep up but it does get overwhelming especially with the type of CM that works there now a days. As for disabled passes. I have experienced the same thing with my son who has cerbal palsy many times. What we have found is to never go to Guest Services to get disabled services started. They always say the same thing and will very rarely hand out such a pass. Remember you are guest number 3023 that day that they just said the same thing to them. They can't and won't hand them out to everyone because it would break the system. You can however go to any of the information umbrellas around the park and ask for a disabled pass like you expected the last time you were there. Some of them may say no while others will do it. It all depends on the person you ask and how good your excuse is. The excuse of being unable to wait in lines because of health or age is typically not good enough. If someone says no, go to a different one or wait until that person is gone and try again. It really is that arbitrary. Typically if you can't do stairs tell the cast member at that point and they will let you take the elevator but they are going to make you wait in the regular line. Even people in wheel chairs at DCA have to wait in the regular line until a switch can be made.
I feel your pain. I just about threw up when I saw this overflowing can when entering POTC. I had never witnessed anything this disgusting at Disneyland. As to the treatment of the disabled; I find the arbitrariness unacceptable. If they must make rules due to the abuse; then everyone should know the rules and follow them. I remember when we had an older lady who had a stroke with us and we worked within the system at that time (2007) but begged for some way for her to ride the Matterhorn without having to wait an hour in the hot sun. The most they would offer was to let her sit in her chair in the shade and wait for us to stand in the line. I was shocked and bewildered by the lack of caring. Just a few years before that our son had blown out his knee and was pre-surgery. We rented a wheel chair and told the boys that it was just to save his knee from all that walking. We were not going to take advantage to skip lines. Well, at that time, 1998, the CM's would not let him get out of his chair. We would say, "It's okay, he can walk." On every attraction as soon as they saw him they would insist that we go through an exit and get us on right away. I think that might have been during the "Total Guest Satisfaction" phase. Maybe that kind of treatment is what caused it to get so out of hand with people cheating. I certainly hope they can find a system that works to the satisfaction of everyone. It is so sad that there are so many people who will fake a disability to keep from standing in line. On a personal note: I have never minded seeing a disabled person skip the line. So, Disneyland is experiencing huge crowds year round, raised their prices much higher than the rate of inflation and is hiring a lower standard of CM!!
I know you wrote this a while ago, but I wanted to say, "That sucks." To have high expectations and then messes and rudeness. I'm sorry. I hope it's better next time, if you are willing to do a next time, or at least better for the next people like you. Disney prides itself on cleanliness and customer service: they have work to do.
I have wanted to add to this thread since our trip in April. The park was very clean and there was always someone in the bathrooms cleaning stalls all day every day. I was very happy to see this. Did have quite a bit of trouble with those automatic towel dispensers; they were often jammed up.
