VGC report

[Stitch]

Thanks for sharing your trip report, Stitch. It sounds like the opening of Cars Land was a ill-planned, chaotic madhouse . . . and I wish I had been there to complain about it. Did Disney offer anything like "I Was There" buttons or t-shirts to the opening day visitors? Or were those things reserved just for the special invitees that attended the "private" party?

Perhaps your experiences at the opening of Cars Land is not unlike the experiences of the guests who visited Disneyland in 1955 for its grand opening. Remember, on its opening day, Disneyland was swamped with thousands of extra guests, the water system wasn't working properly, rides broke down, asphalt melted, etc. So, I suppose we can say that the opening of Cars Land was just like Walt himself would have done it!

Do you think you'll go back to Disneyland any time soon?

We did get some sort of "special button". I'll take some pictures of them and post soon. They were not that special, honestly, but we did get four of the six designs they were offering, and they were free.

My TR sounds more chaotic than it actually was. Yes it was mobbed, and yes I was frustrated with the lack of information, and yes the lines were huge and the rides went down. But that's not real chaos. That's just a way-to-busy day in the parks.

And yes, I'd go back in a heart beat.

[Stitch]

As frustrating as it is I don't think it is really fair to put that much pressure on the CMs to have all the answers.

I disagree. If a CM is wrapping a blue band around your wrist and you ask why, they should have a decent answer. Heck I'd take a made up answer, but to have no answer was wrong. The nice young woman said "I have no idea why I'm giving these out, or what they mean."

When three different CMs give you different answers about the actual opening time of the gates, that too, IMO, is a problem.

I fully appreciate that the front line CMs are the bottom rung of a very tall ladder. I hire people for those types of positions myself in my industry. When we have a public event, and we have dozens a year, we have briefing sessions ahead of time, and fact sheets hanging around for folks to acclimate themselves for questions guests may have. Disney prides itself on its training program and we all know just how great the CMs are. In every other instance over the past 15 years I've been going to parks, I've encountered very knowledgeable CMs for even the silliest questions. But opening day was plain weird. It's like I said, there was alot of mystery about the opening day events for the public which may have led to the lack of details shared with the employees.

[idratherbeinwdw]

Tom I have to admit I'd be irritated at all the celebrities being allowed to enjoy the new stuff on their own "special" day. I guess that's the way that the world goes round, but it's not fair and if I was there no doubt I'd feel annoyed.

However I am glad that it seems you mostly had a positive experience on your vacation. And ITA the Grand Californian is awesome. I didn't stay in the villas when I was there, my friend and I had a two bedroom suite. I was mighty impressed with the resort as a whole.