Stupid Ticketing Tricks

[Amphigorey]

I just came back from a lovely weekend at Disneyland and the new European fashion exhibit at LACMA (beautifully preserved clothes from 1760 - 1910; they have some seriously amazing pieces). We had a great time, but this post is about the not so fun bit: the problems we encountered at ticketing.

We bought our tickets online through disneyland.com in advance. Unfortunately, my friend L. bought a 3-day pass because she didn't realize that you had to use all three days within two weeks. Fortunately, she figured this out before she went into the park the first day, and I told her that she should be able to get it fixed at the park. We decided to be efficient and take care of it the night before so that we didn't have to deal with standing in line in the morning, so we headed over to the Guest Relations booth just outside DCA.

I'm sorry to say that the GR CM was unhelpful and clueless. L. found that she couldn't exchange her ticket even though she'd bought it directly through Disney, and the GR CM told L. to go to City Hall the next morning to get it fixed. I was dubious about that since I suspected that once she used the pass it would be a lot harder to get it fixed. We spent a bit of time at Downtown Disney, and on the way out we tried asking the front desk at the Grand Californian for help. That also didn't work, though it took a good twenty minutes of trying before the CM there gave up. He told L. that he'd only be able to help her if she were a guest at one of the Disney hotels. I understand that the front desk of the hotel can't and shouldn't act as a secondary ticket booth, but he also didn't provide any useful suggestions, beyond telling her that she should call the phone number for ticketing at disneyland.com.

Of course, since it was late, nobody answered the phone, and no one answered the next morning either, since apparently the ticketing dept. at disneyland.com is only open M - F. Since tons of people visit the Disney parks on the weekends, this strikes me as poor.

The next morning, we went over to one of the ticketing booths outside Disneyland. I thought that surely L. would be able to resolve things here - these are the people who deal with admissions media all day! It shouldn't be a problem, since she bought her ticket through Disney, she hadn't yet used it, and Disney should be able to exchange it.

I was wrong. Apparently, the ticketing system at disneyland.com and the ticketing system at the park itself are not linked at all, so Disneyland could not issue her an exchange. The only solution they offered was that she could buy an entirely new ticket, and then ask for a refund from disneyland.com later. The problem here is that it would take a week to process her refund, and meanwhile L. is standing at the ticket booth very upset and frustrated because what should be a simple process is turning out to be very difficult, and she's getting blocked at every time. To make matters worse, the ticket booth CM mentioned that we could have gone to a ticket booth last night because they're open as long as the parks are open! I had thought that that might be the case, but I didn't see any open ticket booths when we were there. My guess is that there was one open booth, but since they are little round structures and there are a lot of them in the plaza, I just didn't happen to see the one that was open that late at night. The worst part, though, is that the Guest Relations CM that L. talked to the first time didn't try to point her to a ticket booth - she gave her the bad advice to go to City Hall the next morning! If I hadn't been there as a guide, L. probably would have taken her advice, gone into the park, and then been told by City Hall that since she'd used the ticket, it was now nonrefundable. I'm really glad that didn't happen.

L. did eventually get her ticket refund and a new one-day ticket, but it was much, much harder than it should have been. She can't possibly be the only one who encountered this problem - it's something that needs to be fixed. I understand that disneyland.com and Disneyland are essentially different companies operating under the same umbrella, but that shouldn't matter to a guest, and it especially shouldn't impact their experience. L. was ready to leave that morning, and I don't think she would have returned to Disneyland any time soon, since that experience left a bad taste.

The two main problems are a) the nonlinked systems and b) the bad advice she got from Guest Relations. I was really surprised at just how bad the suggestions were; I've never encountered quite that much difficulty in all the years I've been visiting the parks.

[IndyandMarion]

And here I thought the topic would simply be a photo of someone pointing at a sign with DL ticket prices (Or even WDW) and laughing.

[BirdMom]

As a former Ticket Taker lead, I can tell you that there are ways of looking up the codes on home printed tickets, and all the transactions on the paper tickets, but it really does take a lead to be able to take the media into a booth or office and look it up. It does get worse, because the ticketing system for WDW is separate, as well as the tickets that can be bought at Disney Stores or in grocery stores here in SoCal. However, again, the leads can look everything up. I know it's well after the fact, and I know it's frustrating to read this, but it's absolutely essential to read the fine print - read everything on the ticketing media, because if there are limited dates or expiration dates, the notice will be there on the ticket or self-printed paper. If you are ever again in a situation where it's near closing time and you have a ticketing issue, the booth nearest the Newsstand in the Esplanade - the northwest side across from the Group Sales window - is almost always the last booth to close. The windows closest to DL will be open. Also, you can go up to the turnstiles, and the CM can page a Ticket Taker Lead from any open location. It might take a few minutes to get someone out there, because there is a lot going on for the taker leads at closing time, but the leads can usually take the media into the office, scan it and see what's up, tell how many times the ticket has been used, date of first use, etc., and help figure out a solution for use queries. The taker lead can also walk the ticket over to the Vacation Planner lead in the booths and get exchanges expedited a little faster, since they've already researched what's happened. I researched hundreds of tickets in my time as a taker lead, and probably walked dozens of guests over to a booth to fix situations that I couldn't fix myself. The leads can help - a lot of times, hotel CMs aren't aware of anything outside their department, and hate to admit that there are jerk CM's who just don't want to be bothered learning who can help and how. When it's a ticketing situation, you're just best off asking for a Lead immediately, rather than going to City Hall.

[Freak]

Not to be mean, but I've had a couple bad experiences with Main Gate CMs. Just a couple examples.

On a couple occasions, I've almost had Main Gate CMs take either my ID or my Blue Pass, after insisting they gave them back to me. And they always get snappy with me. It always happens when they hand me the ID/Blue Pass replacement ticket. I've had them just start helping the next guest. So, all I do is quietly (and kindly) ask for my ID/Blue Pass, and they go "I already gave it to you!" I show them my empty card holder and tell them they still have it. They look, notice its there, and shove it in my face. Jeez. What am I doing wrong?! I'm not being rude at all!

Went into park as guest. My phone was dead/acting up (Android = battery eater), so as I went thru, I asked the Main Gate CM for the time, and all I got was "No I'm not giving you a handstamp." I repeated the question "Ma'am I'm just asking what time it is." Several times, and it just didn't seem to go thru.

Face met palm, I walked away. I felt bad, but was so confused as why a simple "What time is it?" would equate to "Hey give me a handstamp!" People ask for the time when I'm on a cart all the time, I never tell them that they can't have free food....because I don't equate "What time is it?" to "Hey give me free food!"

Sigh. End Rant. I think Main Gate CMs might have it pretty rough, I just wish I wouldn't be the target for their anger. It doesn't happen all the time, but the times I've had it happen are memorable unfortunately.

[hobie16]

Went into park as guest. My phone was dead/acting up (Android = battery eater), so as I went thru, I asked the Main Gate CM for the time, and all I got was "No I'm not giving you a handstamp." I repeated the question "Ma'am I'm just asking what time it is." Several times, and it just didn't seem to go thru.

They're not programed for that query. You're lucky she didn't ABEND and melt right there.

[Mayonnaise]

My Andriod System doesn't guzzle battery unless I'm using it for video streaming...

8^S

[Freak]

I had an old HTC Dream/G1 at the time. The thing always always ate through battery. The worst amount of battery life I got off that phone was 12 hours on a full charge.

I'm totally willing to give Android a second chance, there's a cool Motorola phone for AT&T that has Android on it that looks like it'll be my next phone.

[kcberlin]

I had an old HTC Dream/G1 at the time. The thing always always ate through battery. The worst amount of battery life I got off that phone was 12 hours on a full charge.

I'm totally willing to give Android a second chance, there's a cool Motorola phone for AT&T that has Android on it that looks like it'll be my next phone.

If you have AT&T, why not get the new IPhone. I have had great luck with mine.

[BirdMom]

Went into park as guest. My phone was dead/acting up (Android = battery eater), so as I went thru, I asked the Main Gate CM for the time, and all I got was "No I'm not giving you a handstamp." I repeated the question "Ma'am I'm just asking what time it is." Several times, and it just didn't seem to go thru.

I have a feeling I know who that was. There were at least two CMs at the turnstiles who were profoundly deaf, one of them a rather weather worn older lady. She gets very defensive; she's a nice person at heart, but just doesn't want to admit that she really shouldn't be onstage anymore.

I know from the experience of trying to deal with them as a lead that there are people at the ME who just don't belong there. Grumpy doesn't even begin to describe it - flakey, dopey. In some cases they just don't care. I think they figure out the answers that the psych inventory wants to get in the initial casting process, get through that, and they're willing to work for just above minimum wage, and so the department will take whatever they can get. But on the other hand, it's a tough department on weeks like this dealing with capacity issues, access, and all the yelling and screaming from guests that goes with those conditions. I've seen managers looking shellshocked on New Year's Eve, just from all the abuse we took out there. Unfortunately, out of all the departments I worked, ME was my least favorite. About 3/4 of the folks there just wouldn't meet old school Disney standards, but they need breathing bodies.