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Disneyland - California - First Visit to Disneyland & California Adventure
Customer Service - Complaint
Review by AngieB53 on 2012-10-25
Rating: 
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA -- This was the first time me and my family had visited Disneyland and California Adventure.
Our experience was horrible because we did not receive any assistance from the park workers whenever we asked questions. All the information we received that was helpful was obtained from other visitors.
I informed the person at the ticket window that it was our first visit to Disneyland and California Adventure - she gave me my tickets and told me which tickets to use for which park etc. Magic Morning came with the tickets. She told me the park was closing on that day at 7 P.M. for an EXCLUSIVE Halloween Party. She did not tell me whether we could purchase tickets for the Party. When I purchased my tickets, no one told me that I would not be able to stay until 12 A.M.
The first day we went to Disneyland, we asked the park worker that was at one of the gates where was the main entrance to the park, the young lady told us, as she through up her hands and in a condescending voice, "This is the main entrance" as if we were supposed to already know. She did not explain that individual cars could not come through that particular gate. She then directed us to an area that was under construction - the workers were actually working at the time. We asked one of the construction workers where should we go to park. He directed us to the shuttle buses, which took us back to the gate where the young lady was.
We asked another park worker about what Disneyland was about. He said, as if he was annoyed with us asking, "We're not like a 6 Flags, we don't have a lot of rides here."
We walked around and noticed that the wait time for the rides were at least 1 1/2 hours long, each. We asked about what a Fast Pass was - every time we went to a Fast Pass Machine it was not working. We were given three different descriptions as to what a Fast Pass was. We had my two year-old grandson with us and he waived at Goofy, twice - Goofy just kept walking. However, not even five minutes later, Goofy was taking pictures with five other little boys, right next to us.
We went across to California Adventure. We were not told by Disneyland Staff that we needed a hand stamp to get into California Adventure. Whenever we asked questions - we got the same treatment, condescending responses from the park workers, as we did at Disneyland.
The next day, we went back to Disneyland before 7 A.M. for Magic Morning. When we asked was the Buzz Lightyear ride open, the park worker said, "I can't tell you that." He did not tell us if the ride was closed, not working, etc. We came back to the Buzz Lightyear ride after 8 A.M. and the park worker was still standing there. About five minutes later, we saw a line full of people and people actually getting on the ride.
We went back to California Adventure to ride a specific ride. My daughter waited outside with my two year-old grandson - she asked for a stroller switch pass from a park worker so she could go on the ride directly after we got off. When she showed another park worker the pass to get on the ride, the park worker said, in a condescending manner and glaring at her as if shes did something wrong, "You are not supposed to have that pass, you are supposed to have this one" (holding up some other type of pass). My daughter said, "This is the pass I was given by your co-worker, I don't know which pass I am supposed to have." "I just know that there is a pass I can use to get directly on the ride after my family got off the ride."
The park workers are not helpful, they have no customer services skills, the wait time for the rides are too long, all the Fast Pass machines we tried to obtain Fast Passes from were not working, and all the park workers we asked to get Fast Passes from told us they did not have any more Fast Passes available - this was at 8:30 A.M.
I also found out later - after I returned Home from Disneyland, etc. that Disneyland Staff could have assigned an Ambassador to us to take us around the parks since this was our first visit and we were not familiar with the set up.
I had a 3-day hopper pass, but only went 1 1/2 days to Disneyland and California Adventure because of my horrible experience. I also had a pass to Universal Studios and Seaworld. We had a great time at both of those parks even though it was raining the whole time we were at Seaworld.
Our experience was horrible because we did not receive any assistance from the park workers whenever we asked questions. All the information we received that was helpful was obtained from other visitors.
I informed the person at the ticket window that it was our first visit to Disneyland and California Adventure - she gave me my tickets and told me which tickets to use for which park etc. Magic Morning came with the tickets. She told me the park was closing on that day at 7 P.M. for an EXCLUSIVE Halloween Party. She did not tell me whether we could purchase tickets for the Party. When I purchased my tickets, no one told me that I would not be able to stay until 12 A.M.
The first day we went to Disneyland, we asked the park worker that was at one of the gates where was the main entrance to the park, the young lady told us, as she through up her hands and in a condescending voice, "This is the main entrance" as if we were supposed to already know. She did not explain that individual cars could not come through that particular gate. She then directed us to an area that was under construction - the workers were actually working at the time. We asked one of the construction workers where should we go to park. He directed us to the shuttle buses, which took us back to the gate where the young lady was.
We asked another park worker about what Disneyland was about. He said, as if he was annoyed with us asking, "We're not like a 6 Flags, we don't have a lot of rides here."
We walked around and noticed that the wait time for the rides were at least 1 1/2 hours long, each. We asked about what a Fast Pass was - every time we went to a Fast Pass Machine it was not working. We were given three different descriptions as to what a Fast Pass was. We had my two year-old grandson with us and he waived at Goofy, twice - Goofy just kept walking. However, not even five minutes later, Goofy was taking pictures with five other little boys, right next to us.
We went across to California Adventure. We were not told by Disneyland Staff that we needed a hand stamp to get into California Adventure. Whenever we asked questions - we got the same treatment, condescending responses from the park workers, as we did at Disneyland.
The next day, we went back to Disneyland before 7 A.M. for Magic Morning. When we asked was the Buzz Lightyear ride open, the park worker said, "I can't tell you that." He did not tell us if the ride was closed, not working, etc. We came back to the Buzz Lightyear ride after 8 A.M. and the park worker was still standing there. About five minutes later, we saw a line full of people and people actually getting on the ride.
We went back to California Adventure to ride a specific ride. My daughter waited outside with my two year-old grandson - she asked for a stroller switch pass from a park worker so she could go on the ride directly after we got off. When she showed another park worker the pass to get on the ride, the park worker said, in a condescending manner and glaring at her as if shes did something wrong, "You are not supposed to have that pass, you are supposed to have this one" (holding up some other type of pass). My daughter said, "This is the pass I was given by your co-worker, I don't know which pass I am supposed to have." "I just know that there is a pass I can use to get directly on the ride after my family got off the ride."
The park workers are not helpful, they have no customer services skills, the wait time for the rides are too long, all the Fast Pass machines we tried to obtain Fast Passes from were not working, and all the park workers we asked to get Fast Passes from told us they did not have any more Fast Passes available - this was at 8:30 A.M.
I also found out later - after I returned Home from Disneyland, etc. that Disneyland Staff could have assigned an Ambassador to us to take us around the parks since this was our first visit and we were not familiar with the set up.
I had a 3-day hopper pass, but only went 1 1/2 days to Disneyland and California Adventure because of my horrible experience. I also had a pass to Universal Studios and Seaworld. We had a great time at both of those parks even though it was raining the whole time we were at Seaworld.
Comments:
Posted by CowboyFan on 2012-10-25:
That's why one should come to Walt Disney World in Orlando. It is a much better park, and us locals love the tourist--and their money.
Posted by FoDaddy19 on 2012-10-25:
Do they not have maps of the park available? Those are generally pretty easy to follow and let you know where everything is. Having worked at a theme park for a summer once, I can say, that not everyone that works there is going to know everything that's going on in the park at any given time. A the park where I worked (this is before widespread use of radios for every employee) sometimes someone would come up and ask me if "X" ride, on the other side of the par, a good mile away, was open. I had no idea, and I couldn't leave my post and hoof it a mile over there and mile back to check either. So I just told the customer that I didn't know, and had no real way of checking on it. It's possible some of the employees you encountered had the same problem.
You have to be quick about the fast passes. Since they are done by windows of time, the number of available passes is limited and they sell out quickly.
It does sound like you got some wrong/useless advice from some employees, but I also get the idea that you didn't do any research on what to expect at the park either, it sounds like you just showed up and hoped for the best. These days with parks trying to micromanage everything, and offering various services and programs (that change almost daily), you really have to do you homework before you set off to insure that everything goes as well as it can.
You have to be quick about the fast passes. Since they are done by windows of time, the number of available passes is limited and they sell out quickly.
It does sound like you got some wrong/useless advice from some employees, but I also get the idea that you didn't do any research on what to expect at the park either, it sounds like you just showed up and hoped for the best. These days with parks trying to micromanage everything, and offering various services and programs (that change almost daily), you really have to do you homework before you set off to insure that everything goes as well as it can.
Posted by Angela Bradford, Author of Initial Complaint on 2012-11-06:
I complained to Disney Communications Services, they responded immediately. They sent me three 3-day Hopper Passes good for two years. Now, that's Customer Service!!
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