Originally Posted By paulyahoo Just returned from Japan where we spent two days in the parks. To say this visit was a disappointment is a huge understatement. It seems everything is in shambles now. Lots of areas require urgent refurbishment, garbage everywhere and nobody cares, ride effects not working. What happened? I can honestly say that even the WDW is a much more enjoyable place now.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Odd that you had such a bad experience. When I was there about a year and a half ago, everything was great. I haven't heard of anybody else having problems, so I wonder what was going on And having just returned from a WDW trip, the parks were pretty clean and the cast members were very friendly, but I did find the maintenance (both in the parks and hotel) to be lackluster in a lot of places. It's looking better than it has in the past, but nowhere near how TDR looks every day
Originally Posted By Mr X I was there on New Years Day and didn't notice anything like that. What areas did you think needed refurbishment? I'm particularly surprised you felt like "nobody cares", as when I was there I noticed (and noted) that every employee seemed to be smiling and enthusiastic and working hard to brighten everyone's day. Not denying that you had a bad experience (and sorry to hear that!), but just wondering where such a big dichotomy came from.
Originally Posted By Mr X I *did* notice more than ever that some parts of the park felt a bit run-down, or perhaps tired is a better term. I chalk that up to the park being some 30+ years old, and I'm expecting that the big Fantasyland refurbishment will go a long way toward refreshing the place.
Originally Posted By paulyahoo We visited TDR for the first time in 2005. Back then TDS was relatively recently opened and TDL was surreal, dated and brand new simultaneously. Our previous visit was in 2013. During that time garbage was still concentrated in queues. This time I've seen a janitor only once in two days (except restrooms which thankfully are maintained well.) Here are my current gripes in no particular order: • concrete surfaces are in need of repaint literally everywhere • tiled roof over TDS entrance is black from mold • rust and stains in the Small World, no holiday overlay • broken effects in the Pooh ride (book at the end, honey scent, bouncing) • ToT is falling apart (pun intended). Everything is tired and scratched, stained-glass windows replaced with plywood, broken seats in an elevator covered by yellow tape causing people to be pulled out at the last moment (us included) One more thing I forget to mention: their FastPass system is totally broken. You can stand still in a standby line for 10 minutes while people with FastPasses are moving non-stop. This in turn leads to queue jumping. Other parks balance these lines much better.
Originally Posted By SuperDry << broken effects in the Pooh ride (book at the end, ..., bouncing) >> I noticed these two things not working in May when I was last there. To have them still broken (or perhaps broken again) 7 months later is disappointing.
I tend to notice all the stuff that DOES work in a park. Walt Disney World falls at the low end of the scale; Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySEA fall at the high end of the scale. I remember when Al Lutz used to carry on about a railing that needed to be repainted as if society was going to crumble because of that. But I often see such things at the Tokyo Disney Resort: you can't paint everything at once. Things get seen to on a rotating basis. If effects aren't working, and can't be fixed overnight, then they have to wait for the next schedule refurb. It all makes sense, no mystery there, and it has ever been thus.
