Listening to Rod Miller’s “Ragtime”, I’m in a characteristic mood. It’s Friday night and I’m stuck at work dealing with slightly more than the usual nonsense…
I’ve been heard to say that the worst day at Disneyland beats the best day at work. From my point of view tonight, that seems about right. (I imagine if I worked at Disneyland that would be cause for a long visit on a psychiatrist’s couch.) Mister Miller’s musical selections appeal to me in any case, but I have spent more than a fair number of hours just listening to him at work.
So… as my Disneyland Premium Annual Pass is up for renewal, I’m in a bit of a fix as to whether or not I should drop the bucks to re-up it. Giving it a bit of thought, I did get my money’s worth out of it last year with a fair number of days visiting both parks, and shopped enough to use the discounts in and out of both.
Now after last weeks piece, you might get an idea where I’m headed with all of this. It is not that I’m all of a sudden turning sour on the concept of having an AP. It’s maybe more of a “What’s in it for me?” kind of thing. Being that I live about six hours away from the place, I’m far less likely to stop by every week or weekend, much less than once a month or even once every couple of months.
I’ve had an AP and usually a Premium one off and on over the life of the AP program. The longest day I have spent at the park was July 17, 1990 literally from gate open to park close for the Thirty-Fifth anniversary. I did that with two great friends, one of which is longer with us. So there are a lot of wonderful memories from that visit. The shortest day ever was all of about a minute during one of the prize giveaways. I went in, saw I didn’t win and came back out. (We were meeting friends for dinner at the Disneyland Hotel anyway, and I had time to kill, so why not?)
I have heard and seen both sides of the CM and AP issue, sadly. Folks who believed that a purchase of a small piece of plastic entitled them to special treatment and privileges. Don’t know where they got such ideas, but misinformed they were. On more than one occasion I’ve watched CM’s deride guests, in one lovely case right to that guests face, for being an AP. Clues could not be handed out fast enough as without each other, neither one would be there. Kind of a symbiotic or parasitic relationship gone astray. And yes, I stopped mentioning I had an AP after hearing CM’s go off on the subject. But I’ve also been mistaken for a CM often enough to hear those immortal words — “Pardon me, but do you know where the closest restroom is?”
A recent discussion here at work asked if there was a company we admired and may have wanted to work for. Once upon a time, I might have responded that Disney would have been the one. Based on what I’ve seen and heard, again both from AP’s and CM’s, I don’t know that I could answer that way now. While it may look nice on a resume, it hold less weight now than it might have say ten years or more ago. And one can see that the standards for hiring have changed quite a bit.
I have worked in variety of customer service environments from the call center to one-on-one in the private railroad car excursions. The great and ugly truth is that there is no difference in what it takes to do either one. You give it all you can for the customer or guest and then move on to the next. At Disneyland, frankly, it is no different. You do what you can for one guest and then there is another one to assist. Does not matter what you do from collecting garbage to processing a souvenir sale. It should not be a secret and you should have heard it more than once during training, may Van France and others rest in peace.
Now I don’t understand why we as customers or guests can’t accept the reverse. If we don’t get our way, what do we do? We complain! If the service we do receive isn’t exactly what we want or exactly how we wanted it provided, we complain! Sometimes, there may be grounds for such a complaint, but often not. We’ve just become programmed to respond that way.
To use a favorite phrase: “I am not having a positive customer service experience.” Just the thing those quality assurance folks that are listening in hoping to hear on your call being recorded for the “training and development” of the staff.
So much for the special treatment issue on both the AP and CM coins…
In all likelihood, I will still manage to visit the Resort five days in the coming year. So that amortizes the cost of it. And as I’m traveling from a fair distance, I will probably not park in Mickey & Friends parking structure, so that washes. And I still do not understand why the folks at Disney Magazine can’t check their database and save a few bucks by sending me one copy instead of two of each issue.
But let’s think about what I can do with the same money I would spend on an AP. For what I’ll pay for Michele and I for another year, we could both could fly to Hawaii and back again, or with a bit of investigation, do the same to Orlando or other destinations. While some of the junior weasels at Disney try to decide if the AP program is worth continuing, maybe that’s something to consider. During my five days or more at the DLR, I’m likely to spend on lodging, food and goodies while I’m there. And if temptation is right, it may be high end goodies like limited edition collectibles or clothing.
I guess I’m one of those AP’s that they don’t really understand. I’m not a teen dropped off by mom, dad or the s.o. for an afternoon with a few bucks to stay out of trouble. Nor do I live less than twenty miles from the park, and just add up as another daily number.
One has to wonder what Walt or Roy would have made of the AP. I can imagine them both smiling at the thought of such return customer loyalty. Yet the overcrowding because of AP’s we experience during the peak days would have to be of concern. I’m sure there are folks on both sides of this fence in the Mouse house who can give Mikey (or the next one in line) very good reasons both for and against AP’s of any kind. Yet I suspect they’ll be around in one form or another for a while yet.
Out of all the comment I’ve heard about AP’s, it is the one I have not heard that I find the most interesting. If Disney truly wanted to reduce the number of AP’s, there is one simple way. Raise the price! Those of us who are hooked will grumble, but trust me, we will pay. If my AP cost me $300 instead of $200, I’d probably think a lot harder about it, but buy one anyway. And if the problem is the locals, by elimination of any local discount and raising the price for the standard pass and adding more blackout dates, there will be fewer sales and renewals with fewer folks using them. One doesn’t need an MBA to see this coming along…
But back to the question at hand, should I or shouldn’t I? Looking into my crystal ball, it’s a good bet that I’ll be in Anaheim for more than five days in the coming twelve months. But before I renewed my pass in 2002, I did get by with out one, just fine thanks. I had friends who signed me in or I enjoyed a Club 33 meal or three which covered the admission to both DL and DCA. And I’ve been lucky enough as well to benefit from having my own travel agent with comps on occasion, too. So you can see that it’s not an easy choice. Given that I have a month left before it expires, I still have time to decide.
In the end, I suspect I’ll break down and hand over the plastic for processing funds from my bank to their bank, and I’ll enjoy another year of having an AP. It is amusing to use to as a photo I.D. when I get the chance.
If you want to get the info on AP’s, here is the official link from the Disneyland web pages. As of this writing, you can purchase any of the AP’s online here. The Southern California Annual Passport is $105, the Deluxe Annual Passport is $165 and the Premium Annual Passport is $225 — all per person.
And if you’ve enjoyed Roger’s ruminations over his decision about renewing his, please take advantage of his Paypal Donation Box to drop a few bucks. Don’t worry. He’s already got the money to buy it. You’re just paying for a pin or two along the way…