Coachella Board Members invade Disneyland

[scenicworld]

I feel a disneyland trip coming up in the next couple weeks. it's been a few years since I've been! it's a real shame they are cracking down on those park hopper passes since that's what I was going to look into to save a few bucks.

[ENluv12]

I feel a disneyland trip coming up in the next couple weeks. it's been a few years since I've been! it's a real shame they are cracking down on those park hopper passes since that's what I was going to look into to save a few bucks.

Our friends sister works there. Lets plan a trip all together and we will have her sign you in. :-p

[scenicworld]

well shoot, ok! haha
I have a friend that works there too, or at least used to, and has all the sign in hook ups, but I was always afraid to ask since we aren't that close.

[ivankay]

If she can also get you in a hotel with a friends and family voucher, that i have discovered recently is a lot of fun. Nice discount if the day(s) you go aren't blocked out. i stayed at the Paradise Pier and going from room, walking across the street and in through the DCA entrance in the Grand was very nice. Magic morning hour was sweet too. Problem with taking advantage of the magic morning hour the day she signs you in is whether or not she can sign you in that early.

[chairmenmeow47]

i stayed at the grand californian for the 50th anniversary. loved it. my parents paid though, i'm sure it's pricey. so nice to be able to just walk in or take the monorail.

[amyzzz]

Yeah I heard on NPR how Disney is cracking down on the multi-day pass "fraud." That is how we always did it too.

[chairmenmeow47]

i wish they'd take that as a sign that their ticket prices are insane.

[ivankay]

They know. They also know people still show up.

[amyzzz]

Bastards.

[eddiebrock]

wow @ those photos.

nice work

[nahuatldream]

Those are awesome pictures, indeed. When I win the lottery, I'll justify staying at one of the Disney hotels. although, now my cousin and my cousin's boyfriend's sister both work there. We might have a hookup for getting a nice discount on disney hotels...Still no hookup for Club 33, although my cousin (another cousin) had dinner there with her boyfriend...they still won't tell us how they hooked that up. Nice anniversary or birthday gift, whatever it was they were celebrating.

[ivankay]

A couple of weeks ago i stayed at the Paradise Pier and this was what i saw when i woke up at sun rise:



And in honor of the Sparks being on the 2013 line up:

[vogina]

A couple of weeks ago i stayed at the Paradise Pier and this was what i saw when i woke up at sun rise:



And in honor of the Sparks being on the 2013 line up:

fap fap fap fap fap fap


This is an awesome picture. I just might turn it into my Facebook timeline pic.

[fatbastard]

Disney cracks down on Fastpass useBy SARAH TULLY
2013-02-19 17:24:30

ANAHEIM – For more than a decade, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure have issued passes allowing visitors to leapfrog to the front of some ride lines within a specific time frame.

But savvy visitors knew that employees laxly enforced the hour window stamped onto Fastpasses, letting guests board rides with the passes even after the time expires.

Not anymore.

Starting Tuesday, the parks began requiring visitors to use Fastpasses within the hour time period. Earlier this month, the parks put up signs at the rides, reminding guests to return during the time window.

"As more guests take advantage of Disney Fastpass Service, we want to offer everyone the same opportunity to use this popular service," Kevin Rafferty Jr., a Disneyland Resort spokesman, said in a statement.

Fastpasses are available at 13 rides.

Visitors scan their entrance tickets into machines that print out Fastpasses with a time to return, like between 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. Visitors can only get one Fastpass at a time. When the window expires, they can get a Fastpass for another ride.

Fastpasses for Radiator Springs Racers, an extremely popular ride in Cars Land, have regularly run out by early morning but some visitors waited until night to use them. Anaheim parks have about 1 million annual passholders, many savvy enough to know about the lax enforcement.

Attendance at the Anaheim parks appears to have dramatically increased since the June opening of Cars Land in Disney California Adventure.

In Florida, Walt Disney World began enforcing the Fastpass time windows about a year ago.

Locally, the switch had mixed reactions.

Emmanuel Elefante of Torrance figured enforcement will mean that the Fastpass lines don't get clogged.

Jenn Fujikawa of Los Angeles, who visits the parks twice a week, said the leeway on Fastpass times had been helpful, especially with children's schedules and unexpected waits in food lines.

"I understand why they are doing it, but it's definitely going to change up the way I plan out my own day at the park," Fujikawa said in an email.

[ivankay]

i have been cursing this day since the Florida started their stricter enforcement. Many a fun night has been had due to the lax enforcement of return times. It's a new world. i will adjust.

This is one of the more recent pictures from a visit i was stoked to take:

[welgo800]

DL with my best friend lucy was the best!!! not sure if i can go back

[Archie Bunker]

Disney cracks down on Fastpass useBy SARAH TULLY
2013-02-19 17:24:30

ANAHEIM – For more than a decade, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure have issued passes allowing visitors to leapfrog to the front of some ride lines within a specific time frame.

But savvy visitors knew that employees laxly enforced the hour window stamped onto Fastpasses, letting guests board rides with the passes even after the time expires.

Not anymore.

Starting Tuesday, the parks began requiring visitors to use Fastpasses within the hour time period. Earlier this month, the parks put up signs at the rides, reminding guests to return during the time window.

"As more guests take advantage of Disney Fastpass Service, we want to offer everyone the same opportunity to use this popular service," Kevin Rafferty Jr., a Disneyland Resort spokesman, said in a statement.

Fastpasses are available at 13 rides.

Visitors scan their entrance tickets into machines that print out Fastpasses with a time to return, like between 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. Visitors can only get one Fastpass at a time. When the window expires, they can get a Fastpass for another ride.

Fastpasses for Radiator Springs Racers, an extremely popular ride in Cars Land, have regularly run out by early morning but some visitors waited until night to use them. Anaheim parks have about 1 million annual passholders, many savvy enough to know about the lax enforcement.

Attendance at the Anaheim parks appears to have dramatically increased since the June opening of Cars Land in Disney California Adventure.

In Florida, Walt Disney World began enforcing the Fastpass time windows about a year ago.

Locally, the switch had mixed reactions.

Emmanuel Elefante of Torrance figured enforcement will mean that the Fastpass lines don't get clogged.

Jenn Fujikawa of Los Angeles, who visits the parks twice a week, said the leeway on Fastpass times had been helpful, especially with children's schedules and unexpected waits in food lines.

"I understand why they are doing it, but it's definitely going to change up the way I plan out my own day at the park," Fujikawa said in an email.

Damnit why didn't I ever think of trying this?

[stuporfly]

I'm stunned they didn't check with Jenn Fujikawa before enacting these changes.

[amyzzz]

I had no idea they were lax about the Fastpass time window.

[chairmenmeow47]

wow nice pic, mike, seems like a hard one to get with the speed. it's been too long since i've been but i know i can't afford it anytime soon.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

I had no idea they were lax about the Fastpass time window.

It was pretty awesome. You could collect them throughout the day, going on rides with short lines, then have like 9 of them stocked up for the really hot ticket rides and basically knock them all out in an hour at the end.

[amyzzz]

I thought you could only do one Fastpass at a time though.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

No, you can collect them every hour or 90 minutes or something. So even when you end up getting a fastpass that won't work for 6 hours, like it happens on really busy days for popular rides, you can still collect more fastpasses in the interim.

[amyzzz]

So now if you get one for 9 hours later, you really have to go 9 hours later? (like I was doing anyway?) Sucks for you cheaters.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

I don't think you quite get it. You always had to go at least 9 hours later, but you didn't have to go during the exact time allotment. it would say something like "return between 4:55pm and 5:55pm," but you could show up and use it at 10pm and no one would care

[nahuatldream]

I think you could get another fast pass (within the same park) as soon as your time slot started, or two hours after you received it, whichever was sooner. You could have simultaneous passes only if they were for different parks. World of Color passes didn't count towards this limit. Riding Indiana Jones at just before midnight was always awesome.

[amyzzz]

I didn't like World of Color that much. Maybe I was too old/sober.

[fetuspiniata]

My girlfriend and I always go mid october on a tuesday/wenesday and we have never needed the fastpass. If you got to Mickeys Halloween party there are no lines for 75% of the rides. We got a picture on space where we are the only ones in on the entire train and I smoked a bowl on pirates of the carribean because we were the only ones on the ride!

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

You are insanely lucky nobody caught you doing that on a security cam.

[Archie Bunker]

So now that the Fastpass trick is over, what other suggestions can you give for line avoidance (aside from the obvious, "Go during non-peak times")?

I'll start off with my own suggestion:

If you ever have a legitimate complaint there -- especially with how one of the employees treats you -- speak up. There's a good chance you'll get rewarded.

Here is what happened last time I went to Disneyland, which was 3 years ago:

We ate at one of those fast-food sandwich/burger places, where you order, wait for your food, pick it up, and sit at one of the outside tables.

My girlfriend ordered a turkey sandwich with some simple modification like "no sauce".

My food came quickly, as did the food of the 3rd person with us, but my girlfriend's did not show up. I inquired about this, and was told that it would take a few extra minutes, since it was a special order.

I accepted this and sat back down.

Like 10 more minutes passed and it wasn't ready. I finally asked the girl again what was happening, and she said, "It should be ready any second", so I sat back down.

5 more minutes passed. By this point I was getting really irritated. This was food that was supposed to be quick and easy, and we were going on 15 minutes and counting.

I went to the front and inquired where the sandwich was. The girl snapped at me, "It'll be ready when it's ready. We will call your number when that is."

I responded, "It's been 15 minutes. It's a turkey sandwich. How could this possibly be taking so long? You're not even that busy here. What is going on? Has anyone even started to make it yet?"

She then got even more obnoxious with me, telling me that it was my fault it took so long because it was a special order. She wasn't apologetic at all, but rather was treating me like a problem customer the whole way.

At this point, I demanded a manager. I just wanted to get her in trouble for how she treated me. If it seemed the manager was receptive and agreed with me, I was going to ask for the turkey sandwich (but not the other orders we already had) for free.

The manager was very nice, looked at the receipt (which was now 20 minutes old, and still no sandwich), and told me I was 100% right. She said that both the speed and the way I was treated were completely unacceptable. I asked, "Is there anything you can do for us at this point? This was a really unpleasant experience, and it wasted 20 minutes of our time."

She told me to hold on. I was pretty sure she was going to get my $10 back for the sandwich, or was going to give me some free food coupon for later.

Instead, she came out with two front-of-the-line passes for our entire party! That is, all three of us were entitled TWICE to go to the front of the line of ANY ride in either park! Sweet!

It was especially sweet because it was a Friday, and the park crowded up big time in the late afternoon (as everyone got off work and showed up with their season passes), so those front-of-the-line passes saved us a good 2-3 hours.

I'm not going to make up frivolous bullshit to complain about, but if similar crap happens in the future, I'm definitely speaking up and trying to angle for those passes!