I’ve made mention of our recent Disneyland trip over and over again ever since we got home, but what I haven’t divulged quite yet is why we didn’t care much for that trip and why we don’t wanna go to Disneyland again for a really long time, if ever. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to blog about it, but so many people have asked, and I want to give you the answers to your questions. Especially for those of you who are planning trips right now whom I have scared!
Let’s start by going back into the past and talking about Fast Passes (I’m not gonna lie, this is going to be long, boring, and wordy).
Once upon a time, when I was in high school, Disneyland introduced Fast Passes (FP). A FP could be obtained by scanning your ticket at a kiosk near the ride. The kiosk would then print a ticket with a time window during which you could come back and go through the FP line, which would give you a shorter wait time on that ride. The FPs were distributed in such a manner that every patron of Disneyland could have an opportunity to use some FPs throughout the day. It didn’t matter how much money you paid; if you entered the park with a ticket, you had access to FPs. It was a great system because you could get on a couple of rides faster, but it was timed and controlled in a way that also made you have to wait in some standby lines. You could only have 1-2 FPs at a time, and you weren’t eligible for more until the time on those FPs began. It felt fair, and it was free and available to all.
The FP system worked well for many years. Then Disneyland decided to incorporate a digital version, which you had to pay for. This allowed you to reserve FPs on your phone for a fee, but you still had the option to go to the physical kiosk and get a FP for free. I wasn't very happy about this, but it didn't ruin my Disneyland experience. Over time, the entire system became more app-centered.
When Scotty and I went to Disney World with our friends, Chad and Carlie, a couple of years ago, Genie+ and Lightning Lane were unrolled. Starting the very week we went, FPs were completely eliminated and Genie+ and Lightning Lane (LL) (all completely digital) took over. The next year, Disneyland incorporated Genie+ and LL.
There are a few different things going on with Lightning Lane.
First, there’s a cost. You can access LL by purchasing Genie+. The price for Genie+ fluctuates daily. The first time we ever used Genie+, it was $15 per person per day. On our last trip to Disneyland it was $35 per person per day. Genie+ allows you to book LL times on your phone. Some rides (not all) have LL, and some of those LL lines (not all) can be accessed by paying for Genie+ and then booking your times through the app. It’s similar to the FP system in that it allows a certain number of people during a certain amount of time to go through LL, which is the short line. However, not every ride that has LL is included with Genie+. So on top of the expense of Genie+ there are additional fees that you can pay to ride a ride via LL. Radiator Springs Racers and Rise of the Resistance are examples of those rides. So basically, you have to pay an additional fee (aside from Genie+) to go on those rides through LL. That price, like the price of Genie+, fluctuates. While we were in Disneyland, they were $22 per person per ride. So we had the option to pay $132 for our family to ride Radiator Springs Racers through LL. Then, if we wanted to continue to live it up, we could have paid another $132 for our family to ride Rise of the Resistance. Instead, since we can’t afford to pay hundreds of dollars to go on a single ride, we had to wait in the standby line.
Now let’s talk about those standby lines…
They were atrocious.
I understand that when a theme park is crowded, the lines are going to be long. My problem isn’t necessarily with the length of the lines. Disneyland has a system where they can make a pretty good estimate of how long you’re going to have to wait in line. That time is right at the entry of the ride, so you have the knowledge you need to choose whether to get in that line. I know that there needs to be some margin for error in those wait times, especially if it’s a longer line, but I think Disneyland has good enough resources that it should never be longer than 15 to 20 minutes more than the projected time. This is where things get ugly - none of the times posted were even close to accurate. We would get in the standby line expecting to wait (approximately) the posted amount of time, and it would often be double that. The standby lines did not move. The people being moved through the lines were the ones who paid for LL. The rest of us took a step forward about every five minutes.
So here’s one scenario we had to deal with:
We got in line for Radiator Springs Racers, and the projected time was 105 minutes or one hour and 45 minutes. We ended up being in line for exactly an hour longer than the projected time. And if that’s not bad enough, the entire time we were in line, a cast member kept coming over the intercom system, announcing to us that LL was the priority, and that our wait times might be longer than stated. So not only was the wait time significantly longer than posted, we were constantly being told how unimportant we were because we were not paying for LL.
Another scenario:
We got in line for Goofy’s Sky School with 90 minutes as the posted wait time. After one hour, we had only moved about the length of about five families. At that pace, we had at least two more hours to wait, so we left the line. It was devastating to have to leave, but we just couldn’t wait that long. Scotty stopped and talked to the employees, and of course, their response was, “Sorry, LL takes priority.”
My fury about this process was enough that if I could have left Disneyland the first day, and gotten my money back, I would have. I would have walked away from that vacation, called the loss on a few things, and planned an entirely different vacation for another time.
Scotty decided that he was going to stop and talk to guest services. Now, obviously, this is not going to make any difference in the way Disney does business, but Scotty wanted to talk to someone. He told the gal at the desk that we were unhappy with our visit, and he asked her what sort of formula they use for line movement. She told him that when the lines are flowing smoothly, they allow approximately one standby party onto the ride for every four LL parties. But if the LL gets backed up they will allow ten LL parties per one standby party!
So basically, money talks. We know this, right? But it hasn’t been quite so ugly at Disneyland as it was this January.
The joy of Disneyland was completely sucked dry. For a service that used to be free to all Disneyland visitors, we would have had to spend an additional $1,050, and that wouldn’t even get us on the Cars ride. If we paid to ride Cars and Rise of the Resistance through LL one time each, in addition to having Genie+, it would have added over $1,300 to our trip expenses.
Again, this is something that used to be free!
After our fourth day in the parks, Scotty stopped at guest relations one more time because we decided to ask for our money back. We knew we couldn’t have it back, but sometimes it’s worth a try. Scotty was completely civilized, it’s not like he went in there and blew up at anybody - he knows that it’s not the person at the desk who makes those decisions - but he wanted to give some feedback and just see if there was anything they could do. As suspected, there are no refunds, but they did give us three LL passes per person to use on our last day.
Shortly after our trip, Provost Park Pass released two videos that called out Disney for these very issues:
How One Interview Ruined Disney
Why Disney Stopped Listening to Its Fans
Additionally, I've noticed a difference in the friendliness and happiness of the Disney cast members in the last few years. I can't help but wonder if this is a result of the Genie+ and LL system. The cast members are the ones who have to take the heat for it, and if you start asking questions about why the standby line isn't moving or why you've been in line for twice as long as you thought you'd be, it's an innocent ride operator who has to deal with your anger, and all they're doing is following the rules of their job. I get it. I'd be less than chipper, too. Disney employees still outshine all other theme park employees, but not to the degree they used to.
So that's the rundown of the biggest reasons we were turned off by Disney this last visit, but there are a couple more things I'll share. These two factors aren't Disney's fault, but they affect the experience.
One is that society has just become downright rude in the past few years. Disneyland used to be a place where people were courteous to one another (with a few exceptions where behavior of the masses would take over, but in general, people were kind). Now, it's a park full of jerks. People shove their way to the front for the parades and for rope drop. They don't care who was there first - they stomp all over you. Adults will step right in front of kids so they can see (or they'll shove their kids in front of other kids without any consideration). People cut in line, which has always been somewhat acceptable in Disneyland because people will join up with their families (I don't mind this as long as it’s genuine - I've had to leave lines to take kids potty and so forth, so I'm not going to prevent people in those circumstances from rejoining their families) but everyone would just plow their way through through the line. No one was polite about it. They would just push their way through without an "excuse me" or a "thank you." It was infuriating.
And then finally...
We had a difficult child. We know kids get tired and ornery (so do we), and everyone takes a turn being the party pooper, but this was hard. This child had to be physically restrained in most lines because she kept attacking her siblings. If we took our hands off her for one second, she would charge at someone or start kicking without being provoked. She whined and complained about everything. Any time we did something that was someone else's choice (even if it was something she normally likes), she would do anything she could to ruin the experience for everyone else. She argued, she cried, she screamed and yelled. She refused to go on rides (even ones she loves). She wouldn't eat the food we packed. She had tantrum after tantrum. I had to take her back to the hotel early every night while everyone else stayed at the parks. She had super high anxiety and was a nervous wreck about everything, especially her backpack on rides (we stopped letting her bring it). She had to be touching me at all times, and I was to the point where I was so overstimulated from physical contact that I would sometimes go in a bathroom stall and cry because I couldn't handle another second of it (and then I would see her little eyeball looking through the stall, and I would want to cry even more). It made me so sad because this one has always struggled at Disneyland. This was just the most eye-opening experience we've had with her there because now we can see that it's not something she's going to grow out of. For a long time we thought it might just be an age issue. It's not. She is not theme park compatible. I’ve looked back through all of my Disneyland posts and our memory books, and it has always been this way. We’ve just been in denial.
So it was a rough trip. We have some wonderful memories, and as with childbirth, we are forgetting some of the worst parts. Not everything was bad, but it was still a disappointment and will affect every vacation we plan for the rest of our lives.
If you’re planning a trip to Disneyland, I don’t have any good advice for you on handling these particular issues. I guess you just plan to wait or plan to pay. There’s always a chance that things will be better if the crowds are smaller. I’m sure that was a big cause of some of the wait time problem - the week we went is said to be one of the busiest weeks of the year. Also, if you have a smaller party, it’s more manageable. Scotty and I went last May and paid for Genie+ because it wasn’t too bad for two people for two days. But six people for five days? That’s a whole different story, and the sad thing about that is that Disney is making it harder for families to go.
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