Needing a contact for guest services

[manifest]

I just got back from Shanghai Disneyland for what was easily the worst vacation I've ever had.

I can't stand when people air their grievances online so I'll lay off the details, but was wondering if anybody might have an email to corporate to express how livid I am.

I will say that while I'm sure my trip was probably an anomaly, I would recommend maybe giving them sometime to figure out how to run their park before booking a trip.

Any contact email will do.

[GUYNYC]

I don't have a contact for you but would like to hear about your experience. I'm heading there in two weeks and would like to know what to expect.

[Sanstress]

Me too - and I'm bringing my parents so I need all the help I can get!

[manifest]

While I'm sure my biggest gripe sounds petty, I counted down all year to check out the new Pirates ride. Not to say that I wasn't excited about visiting the rest of the park, but was mostly excited to see the centerpiece of the park and what was being touted as the new benchmark of Disney Imagineering.

Having read a month prior that the ride had been down constantly I would keep watch to make sure it would be open the two days (Tuesday & Wednesday) that I would be in town. I noticed that would be down occasionally due to what I imagine were technical issues, but no scheduled downtime. It was only after traveling halfway around the world I had the pleasure of finding it was down for a 'scheduled maintenance' since that Sunday and wouldn't be back up until the day after we left.

Some luck.

Needing to cool down, the wife and I walked for maybe 20 minutes and ended up in Fantasyland. While I'm pretty sure I was already checked out at this point, we had the misfortune of going on our first attraction: Voyage to the Crystal Grotto. The ride is pretty much Storybook Canal Boats without anything to look at, a dozen or so of those static figures they display at Disney Stores and a cave where absolutely nothing interesting happens.

I was done at this point.

I went to Guest Services at the front of the park and asked for my money back. I was told that I couldn't get a refund because the ride closure was stated on the park map and in a moment of irony, gave us a pair of buttons that said "We're Celebrating."

We wandered for a bit until we were at the entrance of Soarin.' I ask my wife if we could sit for a while so I can cool my jets. While I'm sitting down, an elderly lady sets a baby about a foot away from me and has her pee on the sidewalk. I sat there in complete bewilderment watching the pee dribble from a two year old collect on the side of my shoes. No apology from the grandmother...not even one of those 'sorry not sorry" shoulder shrugs in an act of defiance. Nothing.

I could go on an on about the constant line cutting, rides and restaurants constantly being unexpectedly closed, to the guy who sat RIGHT next to us at a restaurant, took his shoes off and picked black stuff from between his feet, but I won't.

In lieu of the bad luck, I tried steering the trip around. Back at the hotel room after day one, I began thinking that if Pirates is only closed until Wednesday, I can cancel my flight on Thursday morning and find another one. Because phone calls in China are almost impossible, we managed to FaceTime my wife's sister using the hotel wifi signal and after a couple dozen attempts had her call Expedia in our name. We found a Thursday evening flight for $500.00. Kind of expensive at this point, but I'm grabbing at straws here to turn what has easily become one of the worst vacations I've been on.

I book it and go right up to Guest Services, ask if the attraction will be open on Thursday. They say it will. I feel vindicated, but skeptical. I ask a couple of others who say it will as well. I'm still skeptical. I get to the attraction to which they say it won't be open until Friday. I realize I just gambled away $500.00 right then.

...and then later that night another grandmother has her kid pee next to me.

[manifest]

Me too - and I'm bringing my parents so I need all the help I can get!

If you have some really laid back flexible parents, you'll be fine, but I have to say that the other patrons there can make it pretty hard to enjoy yourself. The constant line cutting and general disregard for common courtesy that ran rampant during my visit put a pretty bitter taste in my mouth, so I could imagine it might really irk parents.

The cast members on the other hand are extremely pleasant. I'd rank their general demeanor on par with with the Tokyo Disney resort. You will always get an enthusiastic hello and goodbye. This is about as far as the language barrier allowed things to go though unfortunately. Any question or issue that goes beyond a very simple answer or explanation can was extremely tedious to address.

As far as the park is concerned, while it's extremely big, there is still very little to do. The park still feels incredibly incomplete and hasn't earned it charm yet. Because it's light on rides, the lines tend to be pretty long and fast passes for the right side of the park ran out almost immediately.

While I'm sure that this part was an anomaly for me, I still would like to warn about the constant closures that I experienced. Of the 10 things I couldn't wait to experience, 9 of them were closed the entire time I was there. What made it especially frustrating is that there would be signs saying they would open at 2pm only to never open the entire day.

Good luck on your trip. I'm sure you will have a better trip than I did.

[Sanstress]

Thanks for your response and your comments explaining your dissatisfaction. I would've been very upset also. I am trying to be optimistic that no child manages his or her bodily functions within viewing distance and barring that, I'm hoping that I can just walk away (I hope). The only thing in my favor is that my parents will probably be too afraid to ride POTC so they won't be upset if it's closed. On the other hand, I would be! That's great to hear that the cast members are extremely pleasant. I'm shocked that Guest Services didn't have a better handle on scheduled attraction closures. I'd rather be forewarned that a ride would be closed and then be pleasantly that it's up versus the other way around as you had experienced. I sincerely hope that your next Disney trip is much more fun. I'm not sure how our trip will go, but I always look forward to my next Tokyo Disney Resort trip

[Frak_G]

...and then later that night another grandmother has her kid pee next to me.

This isn't exactly on topic, but I once saw a 2 year-old smoking in the park. Way to go Shanghai Disney Resort!

[Thisguy74]

Definitely go to Tokyo Disneyland as you will have a completely different experience. That said, some of the things you experienced from other guests are common in China. Living in Shanghai I know now that kids peeing or worse on the sidewalk is commonly accepted. They make kid clothes without a crotch to accommodate this practice. I have been in many locations where seating isn't even at a premium and have had people sit uncomfortably close. You didn't mention how people pack into the queue areas and constantly bump you from behind. I had that at Disney and at the airport, the grocery store, etc.... Unfortunately the culture in China isn't what many Americans (and folks from other countries) are accustomed to and Disney (try as they can) can't control it all. Did I mention go to Tokyo Disney? (The symbiosis of Japanese culture and Disney is extraordinary)

[manifest]

Definitely go to Tokyo Disneyland as you will have a completely different experience. That said, some of the things you experienced from other guests are common in China. Living in Shanghai I know now that kids peeing or worse on the sidewalk is commonly accepted. They make kid clothes without a crotch to accommodate this practice. I have been in many locations where seating isn't even at a premium and have had people sit uncomfortably close. You didn't mention how people pack into the queue areas and constantly bump you from behind. I had that at Disney and at the airport, the grocery store, etc.... Unfortunately the culture in China isn't what many Americans (and folks from other countries) are accustomed to and Disney (try as they can) can't control it all. Did I mention go to Tokyo Disney? (The symbiosis of Japanese culture and Disney is extraordinary)

You're right. I didn't mention it intentionally although it happened constantly. I was just trying to keep the complaints to a minimal. The line cutting was awful too.

We also got ripped off really bad on our drive from the airport to the Disney resort that gave me an immediate bitter taste of Shanghai.

I can't agree with you enough about Tokyo Disney by the way. It was amazing. We went last year right around this time and I couldn't come up with a complaint about the trip if I tried. It was so good we booked a trip for next year to show it off to my mother-in-law (Don't tell my wife that I'm really just trying to make up for this last disaster.)