My review of my experience at DLR during Halloween time...

[lildreamer101]

I have split this review into three categories and all have to do with Disney only.

The Good

-I really liked the decor. Walking up to the gates and seeing the pumpkin decorations featuring each famous disney character. I was in awe!
-I liked the Holiday Mansion! Very cool to finally see it!
-The treats were well themed for the holiday.
-The Mickey pumpkin.

The Bad

-There was no Halloween merchandise available. (Do they get scooped up fast?)
-Character meet and greet lines. Wowsers!
-CM's are allowed to scare guests to move for the parade. lol
-Strollers and scooters everywhere.
-People abusing the single rider line.

The Ugly

- The crowds, crowds and crowds. It was sooooooo crazy crowded. Which does not surprise me, it is the holidays after all.
-The lines for almost everything. (Rides... okay I get it, food... okay, character meet and greets... okay, pictures in front of the Mickey Pumpkin.... weird but okay, but there were lines for the restroom?!)
-A fellow guest was being rude to my DM because she was taking her time to walk through Carsland. Apparently, if you almost injure someone because you are in a hurry to get to the Cars ride it is not a big deal. However, it was my DM's fault because she wasn't hurrying. Grr. This guest didn't take in account that people are not able to race around like them nor walk fast just to accommodate them. Why is it a race?
-A CM in the Penny Arcade was abrupt when I was just asking a question about the treats for sale.
-There was trash on walkways that wasn't cleaned up until late evening. EEK!
-Everything is sooooo expensive. (The food, merch, use of a restroom... last one is a joke.... I hope...)
-Dining experience at Carnation Cafe was not good.

Anyone else have this experience?

 

[BecAus]

Thank you for posting your review.
Can you elaborate more on >>> People abusing the single rider line <<<
Thanks

 

[FCDub]

Probably groups entering then being "surprised" when they're split up/arguing with CMs, who then relent and let them ride together.

 

[lildreamer101]

Thank you for posting your review.
Can you elaborate more on >>> People abusing the single rider line <<<
Thanks

Hey!

The single rider line abuse: Guests know that by getting in this line you are likely to get split up. Fellow posters on here have told me that on here when I was trying figure out the SRL rules, the paper given and the signs also all indicate this when in the park. However, guests will plead with the CM's, share their sob stories, or lie and say they didn't know when I just heard them talking about how to cheat the lines earlier when I was waiting behind them.. This is all before getting on the ride. They would tell CM's that they can't be separated from their parties and CM's would let them sit together anyway. These guests don't care about how long stand by has been waiting. This is not right.

 

[lildreamer101]

Probably groups entering then being "surprised" when they're split up/arguing with CMs, who then relent and let them ride together.

Exactly, what I said!

 

[BecAus]

Ahhhh, thanks. I should have realised that was likely what you meant. I've used the SRL quite a bit when just me and my son travelling - expecting to ride separately, not together!
I've not really come across any of that I don't think but I'm sure it happens - if 'some' want to get around the rules they'll always try and find a way.
It would be great if CM's were consistent and simply refused them, they're welcome to join the main line and just wait : )

 

[midnight star]

I do SRL's all the time. I noticed they get abused when the standby lines exceed 90 minutes. I really wish CM's would crack down more about this. I've seen someone bring in their whole party, then complain to the CM's that they don't want their kids riding alone. Since the CM's are most likely tired, and don't want to hear it, they let them go in together.

And I personally think Halloween brings bigger crowds than Christmas (minus when it's really close to Christmas). I have an AP, without block-outs, and live 35 minutes away and only went twice during the Halloween season because it was so crowded.

In regards to merchandise, they begin selling Halloween stuff before Labor day I think. So people buy it up before then. Believe it or not, I feel like this year it lasted much longer than last year. Last year I went 2nd week of October and everything was gone.

 

[lildreamer101]

Has anyone been approached in negative way by CM to move because of the parade?

 

[emmybee]

I agree about Carnation Cafe being a bummer. I finally went this past summer because people raved about it, and ick...I might as well have been at a Cracker Barrel DL just can't get sit down dining right. Thank goodness for DCA!

 

[midnight star]

Has anyone been approached in negative way by CM to move because of the parade?

I did over the summer, but for Paint the Night. I was trying to trying to cross the street, but since there were so many people and ropes, I had to stop. A CM thought I was standing there, rather than moving (I was going to move, I just couldn't), and then she yelled at me. I just ignored her though. Unless she wanted me to run over children and strollers, there was no way I could've moved.

 

[lildreamer101]

I agree about Carnation Cafe being a bummer. I finally went this past summer because people raved about it, and ick...I might as well have been at a Cracker Barrel DL just can't get sit down dining right. Thank goodness for DCA!

We were seated at a small table, no salt and pepper, no flower. So uncomfortable. The food was meh and expensive. Never again!

 

[lildreamer101]

I did over the summer, but for Paint the Night. I was trying to trying to cross the street, but since there were so many people and ropes, I had to stop. A CM thought I was standing there, rather than moving (I was going to move, I just couldn't), and then she yelled at me. I just ignored her though. Unless she wanted me to run over children and strollers, there was no way I could've moved.

Wowsers! That's upsetting. I'm sorry to hear it.
The thing that happened to me was during the Pixar Play parade. I was standing by the main entrance to the park. I couldn't pass too, so I just stood there and figured I could watch while waiting to cross. This male CM came up to me, but I wasn't aware of it as I was looking in another direction. He either grabbed my arm or nudged me which scared me. Not a good feeling!

 

[midnight star]

Wowsers! That's upsetting. I'm sorry to hear it.
The thing that happened to me was during the Pixar Play parade. I was standing by the main entrance to the park. I couldn't pass too, so I just stood there and figured I could watch while waiting to cross. This male CM came up to me, but I wasn't aware of it as I was looking in another direction. He either grabbed my arm or nudged me which scared me. Not a good feeling!

That would have made me upset and scared

 

[theluckyrabbit]

You can report negative CM experiences to DLR. You can go to City Hall or Chamber of Commerce to complain or use the "contact us" link at the bottom of the Disneyland webpage. Be as specific as you can with details, e.g. date, time, location, CM name and/or description, what happened and how things could have been better, etc. Disney management takes these complaints seriously. Things won't improve or get fixed if management never hears about any of the bad stuff.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Has anyone been approached in negative way by CM to move because of the parade?

Sort of. I had a freak total soak on Matterhorn and the sun was getting ready to set, so I found a sunny bench hoping to dry off a bit. Immediately after sitting in the Main St hub, a CM told me they would need to move the bench soon, but I could sit there for a couple more minutes. I thought that meant that I could sit there for 2 more minutes. When I didn't get up right away, another CM came over and asked me why I didn't move after being asked to move and said that I needed to leave the area.

 

[BrianL]

Has anyone been approached in negative way by CM to move because of the parade?

I will say, one thing I have experienced at DL that I have not at WDW is that the parade CM's in particular are a bit aggressive. DL is full of locals and experts, and it's a little like they expect you to know what you are doing and where to go, then it seems like they jump at the chance to "correct" you, and a bit sternly. Now, I know DL has crowd control challenges that WDW does not (like I can't believe they even let you cross between floats at DL), but that has definitely rubbed me the wrong way. I will say though that my experience is limited to the times when there were approximately 11 Billion people on Main Street and The Hub, so I can understand a little frustration on the CM's part.

 

[tarheelalum]

I was there while the op was there and I did see some bad cast members on this trip. One day at Jolly Holiday I saw a cast member standing at the front of the line and was barking at people to move closer to each other in the line. And it wasn't even crowded at that time. It was one of the most undisney things I have ever seen and reminded me of the DMV.

We also had a very negative experience with our new annual passes/max passes and dealt with some bad cast members at Disneyland's town hall. It took hours to deal with the problem and ruined our first day at the park.

We were there from the 25th of October until the 2nd of November and, from my perspective, the crowds during the weekdays were great. Surprisingly low on some of the weekdays. The weekends were crowded as expected. The weekend party nights were very crowded at DCA. The lines for food at DCA on the Halloween party nights really were bad. Fantasmic crowd control is still a god awful hot mess. Disneyland desperately needs to come up with a solution to Fantasmic crowd control.

But overall the lines and crowds were not bad for Halloween. But having said that, we either eat our meals early or late and know which areas to avoid at certain times. But I felt crowds were much better than years past and we are already planning our next trip !!

 

[BrianL]

And just let me say, that for every close-to-rude CM I have ever encountered at DLR, there are 20 totally awesome and magical ones who make my trips great. The parades are just a little irksome though.

 

[midnight star]

And just let me say, that for every close-to-rude CM I have ever encountered at DLR, there are 20 totally awesome and magical ones who make my trips great. The parades are just a little irksome though.

Very true! After getting yelled at like I mentioned above, I ended up walking further down the pathway, and a different CM asked if I was looking for a spot to watch Paint the Night, I said yes, and since I was solo, she just opened the rope and was right in front! So I had a great view!! And I didn’t get squished!

 

[GoingSince1990]

The response to people in the single rider line begging to be seated together should be “I’m sorry but if you want to sit together you’ll need to exit and join the standby line”. It may be easier for CMs to give in to these people, but they are only encouraging the bad behavior.