big_red_s
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2009
We had a great time on our vacation (see the Trip Report). Here are some feedback and observations from my feverish, pragmatist, analytical mind.
What was good:
- It’s Disney – always fun and an event by itself
- Mostly friendly staff
- Clean
- Detail in the parks is unbelievable and amazes me every time I go there
- Love the new system for wait times (red cards) which gives pretty accurate and reasonable estimates.
- Love that Disney knows when people congregate at one area (probably due to the wristbands) and starts an “event” somewhere else to break the crowd
- Pop Century’s staff was great
- Halloween party was fantastic
- PhotoPass – can’t say enough good things about this service, I recommend it to anyone who goes.
- Wrist bands worked great as long as a human wasn’t involved in the process.
- Pirate League was great.
What could be improved:
- Wrist band software seems to me like it was designed in sections by different groups who didn’t talk to one another (something big organizations seem to thrive on but never seems to work or very difficult to maintain and troubleshoot).
- Wrist bands create a structured and rigid environment which prevents staff from exercising “magic moments”.
- If you can get my picture & wrist band info on a ride going at 30 - 50 mph, why can’t you scan my wristband walking into the park through a tunnel or a gate? Instead I have to wait in the bottleneck while scanning wristbands and fingers to thousands of people.
o Is it worth to spend millions to prevent losing a few hundred bucks?
o Why not make a line for daily visitors (vast majority) who just walk in and one for season pass holders who must scan their fingerprints?
- Anything that had to do with staff + wristband was a lengthy exercise in patience (10 minutes to get a snack in the afternoon…)
- Dining Quick Serve – need to be better organized at resorts. Most people who are on the dining plan are not Disney regulars, it’s confusing. Need to have sections of “Entrée”, “Sides”, “Desserts”, “Snacks”, etc. even if some are duplicated. This was the same mass that existed during our last visit 3-4 years ago (stayed at AKL).
- Quick Serve choices for kids 9 and under are few and horrible. I know Disney could do better. Why not offer the same as the adults but half the portion? Or even a good old American hotdog as a standard choice instead of the exception.
- Cannot have Quick Serve stations that serve “ready to eat” and “made to order” in the same line. This just ties up the lines and causes frustration with those who want an in/out meal, not to mention that all of the customers hit the cashiers at once.
- FastPass: would be great if the parks would release FastPasses during the day (say once an hour). For example:
o If any ride has a wait time of 90+ minutes
o Popular rides should have FastPasses released during the day for those of us who didn’t plan to be on a random rollercoaster on a random day 180 days in advance.
- Pop Century Resort seems to be running in slow motion; everything was slow (1-1.5 hours to check in, quick serve was anything but quick, etc.). Most of the time it was due to wrist band confusion with either staff or guests or both. I get the “personalized service”, etc. but if you have a bus load of people coming in, why not check everyone in and have someone on the side explain about wristbands?
That being said, staff should be able to handle a bus load of people at any given hour of any given day.
- Younger Disney park employees seem to err on the side of American bureaucracy and extremism which has taken the country by storm (think of elementary schools’ zero-tolerance policies) , instead of good old common sense and friendliness which used to be a Disney trademark. Examples:
o Cast member loudly berating a lady because her stroller wheel was an inch or two outside the sidewalk tape during a parade and that she “must be over the line”.
o Cast member telling 2 kids during the MNSSHP to walk around the whole roped pathway to get candy, instead of ducking under the ropes even though the line was empty and they would get soaking wet due to the rain.
o Yet, not a word to the Brazilians cutting in line everywhere.
- I know there isn’t much that could be done about this, but I’m sure I’m not the only one that feels that planning 180 days ahead of time where to eat and what ride to be on is ridiculous.
What was good:
- It’s Disney – always fun and an event by itself
- Mostly friendly staff
- Clean
- Detail in the parks is unbelievable and amazes me every time I go there
- Love the new system for wait times (red cards) which gives pretty accurate and reasonable estimates.
- Love that Disney knows when people congregate at one area (probably due to the wristbands) and starts an “event” somewhere else to break the crowd
- Pop Century’s staff was great
- Halloween party was fantastic
- PhotoPass – can’t say enough good things about this service, I recommend it to anyone who goes.
- Wrist bands worked great as long as a human wasn’t involved in the process.
- Pirate League was great.
What could be improved:
- Wrist band software seems to me like it was designed in sections by different groups who didn’t talk to one another (something big organizations seem to thrive on but never seems to work or very difficult to maintain and troubleshoot).
- Wrist bands create a structured and rigid environment which prevents staff from exercising “magic moments”.
- If you can get my picture & wrist band info on a ride going at 30 - 50 mph, why can’t you scan my wristband walking into the park through a tunnel or a gate? Instead I have to wait in the bottleneck while scanning wristbands and fingers to thousands of people.
o Is it worth to spend millions to prevent losing a few hundred bucks?
o Why not make a line for daily visitors (vast majority) who just walk in and one for season pass holders who must scan their fingerprints?
- Anything that had to do with staff + wristband was a lengthy exercise in patience (10 minutes to get a snack in the afternoon…)
- Dining Quick Serve – need to be better organized at resorts. Most people who are on the dining plan are not Disney regulars, it’s confusing. Need to have sections of “Entrée”, “Sides”, “Desserts”, “Snacks”, etc. even if some are duplicated. This was the same mass that existed during our last visit 3-4 years ago (stayed at AKL).
- Quick Serve choices for kids 9 and under are few and horrible. I know Disney could do better. Why not offer the same as the adults but half the portion? Or even a good old American hotdog as a standard choice instead of the exception.
- Cannot have Quick Serve stations that serve “ready to eat” and “made to order” in the same line. This just ties up the lines and causes frustration with those who want an in/out meal, not to mention that all of the customers hit the cashiers at once.
- FastPass: would be great if the parks would release FastPasses during the day (say once an hour). For example:
o If any ride has a wait time of 90+ minutes
o Popular rides should have FastPasses released during the day for those of us who didn’t plan to be on a random rollercoaster on a random day 180 days in advance.
- Pop Century Resort seems to be running in slow motion; everything was slow (1-1.5 hours to check in, quick serve was anything but quick, etc.). Most of the time it was due to wrist band confusion with either staff or guests or both. I get the “personalized service”, etc. but if you have a bus load of people coming in, why not check everyone in and have someone on the side explain about wristbands?
That being said, staff should be able to handle a bus load of people at any given hour of any given day.
- Younger Disney park employees seem to err on the side of American bureaucracy and extremism which has taken the country by storm (think of elementary schools’ zero-tolerance policies) , instead of good old common sense and friendliness which used to be a Disney trademark. Examples:
o Cast member loudly berating a lady because her stroller wheel was an inch or two outside the sidewalk tape during a parade and that she “must be over the line”.
o Cast member telling 2 kids during the MNSSHP to walk around the whole roped pathway to get candy, instead of ducking under the ropes even though the line was empty and they would get soaking wet due to the rain.
o Yet, not a word to the Brazilians cutting in line everywhere.
- I know there isn’t much that could be done about this, but I’m sure I’m not the only one that feels that planning 180 days ahead of time where to eat and what ride to be on is ridiculous.
