SoCalDisneyLover
Well-Known Member
Did this start as of today? I went on Sunday, so just wondering whether I am already eligible or not.
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All things Knotts Berry Farm
- Thread starter Phroobar
- Start date
Just started today.
SoCalDisneyLover
Well-Known Member
May I ask where you found out about this? There's nothing on their website, Facebook or Twitter.
Professortango1
Well-Known Member
Disney also wouldn't need to shut down every time it rains. Knotts really needs to build more darkrides/indoor experiences to balance out the park.
D.Silentu
Well-Known Member
I hear you, but as someone who was at Disneyland over the weekend, any kind of guest consideration would be appreciated. I anticipated weather related issues at the park, but not the level of unpreparedness we found. Naturally, outdoor rides would close, but indoor ones would shut down unexpectedly as well. There were a handful of cast members trying to rise to the occasion, but so many of them seemed to be huddled under overhangs alongside paying guests. The cherry was closing the park early, which I do understand but it felt like adding insult to injury for those of us who were trying to tough it out. The prospect of the park seeming any kind of apologetic for the circumstances crossed my mind, but as far fetched and humorous.
PiratesMansion
Well-Known Member
I'm sure they didn't do a 100% perfect job with handling the weather/day, but it's far from unheard of for Amusement/Theme Parks to close early because of extreme or unusual weather situations. Usually the people who do come that day are able to enjoy quiet parks with short lines; if that didn't happen at Disneyland, it's probably because the higher proportion of indoor rides meant that people stuck around than would have if they were at a park like Magic Mountain, where there's truly almost nothing to do if things have to shut down for storms. Given the unique circumstances of the last weekend, I can't entirely blame the park for closing early, so long as this remains the exception and not the rule when adverse weather happens.
For me, a park just up and closing because of weather (Knott's) is less commendable than a park that tried to stay open and offer something for people who wanted to go.
No park in the universe is going to lower their ticket prices because of weather. And they aren't generally going to straight-up close for weather unless it's going to be the apocalypse outside (generally in the Midwest, this would generally be blizzards or intense snow). Although it wasn't just an ordinary rain storm, I've never seen a park just decide not to open because of rain, other than Knott's this last weekend. Maybe if there was flooding and the park was damaged after the fact, necessitating repair work and so on, sure, but it's not something they would generally do pre-emptively.
We know that reliability has been a mess since reopening regardless of weather conditions, so I would not blame any ride downtime issues for indoor attrations on the weather.
DLR could probably do more to deal with rain/weather, but that could be extended to SoCal as a whole. There's nothing I'm aware of that points to DLR being uniquely bad at dealing with outdoor weather within the area. If anything, they have a decided advantage over places like SFMM or Knott's by sheer virtue of having many more indoor attractions. And they opened, something that at least one competitor chose not to do.
Cast Members huddling under cover...I'm not sure what they were expected to do here. I can't say I blame them for looking for cover unless they were explicitly needed in the moment to be out dealing with the weather conditions or byproducts that happened as a result.
In other parts of the country, where severe weather is a more frequent occurance, people either choose to not go on days where severe weather is supposed to happen, or they know going in that it's not going to be a perfect day, but decide to make the best of it all the same. No one in that situation goes and then is mad that the weather that was advertised did indeed occur, and park operation was affected-they anticipate it and if by lucky chance it doesn't happen, then hey, it's an added bonus.
While I wasn't there on the ground, I do not get the impression that Disneyland did anything uniquely wrong or unfair in this situation given the exceptional circumstances that occured.
D.Silentu
Well-Known Member
With respect to the conditions, they are at work. Other cast members had rain gear and really were trying in spite of circumstances. It struck me as an interesting paradox to see employees seeking cover next to those who paid admission, but were not getting their money's worth. I'm not a Key holder and while we made the best of our trip, it is disappointing that my day visit was devoid of entertainment and plagued with unscheduled ride closures. After all, it costs the same. I know nobody was having an ideal time and I don't expect the world for my diminished experience. Still, if Knotts can at least acknowledge that they couldn't deliver the experience on the tin, some word or gesture of consolation from Disney isn't unreasonable.
PiratesMansion
Well-Known Member
Perhaps there wasn't enough rain gear for the CMs to go around? I don't understand the expectation that people just stand there and get soaked.
Of course entertainment gets cancelled, there's weather.
Of course there's unscheduled ride closures, there's weather and you're at Disneyland post-reopening where ride reliability is a roulette wheel on any given day, even in perfect conditions.
It might cost the same, but any reasonable person would know just by looking at the weather forecast that it wasn't going to be the same as a sunny day in July. As I said above, in areas where weather is more varied than SoCal, people know that if you're going to a park where there's a chance for rain or severe weather in the forecast, they know that they're rolling the dice and taking their chances to some degree. They either choose to postpone their visit for a day with better weather (most people choose this option), or they decide to go, knowing that there's probably going to be some situations that arise (ride closures, weather, etc) that are out of their control. And again, those are generally places where there is a lot less to do that is indoors or otherwise covered. It wasn't unknown that there was going to be weather last weekend by any stretch. It was talked on here, and presumably within SoCal, for at least a week. So there's not really a way IMO to say that there weren't any signs that this wasn't going to be a perfect day at Disneyland.
You are never going to get a big corporation to admit that every day isn't a perfect day to visit their park or consume their product. If you got mostly a full day out of it, or could have, then there's not really anything they can do there.
D.Silentu
Well-Known Member
Well, I didn't expect my comments to become a diving board for debate. As I'm sure you've gathered, I'm letting off a little steam about a trip that was less than ideal. Accounting for the weather is difficult when a reservation system necessitates getting tickets over a month in advance when coordinating a group visit. Who expects anyone to stand in the around in the rain? We brought rain gear and had as much notice of the conditions as anyone else. As I've mentioned, we did the best with the day we had. I hope you noticed that we're in agreement about Disney's response.
Professortango1
Well-Known Member
Its a good thing that Knotts doesn't have a Florida park, or else they would close for the 2nd half of summer. Whenever I visit WDW and USO, half of my summer days have rain.
As for Disney, people do make the choice of going in that weather. They could always move their reservation to another date. If people go during the rain, they kind of chose to be there. I do agree that Disney shouldn't close early without notice unless there is some major unforeseen circumstance. And in such a case, discounts or return vouchers or compensation of some type should be available for those affected.
As for Disney, people do make the choice of going in that weather. They could always move their reservation to another date. If people go during the rain, they kind of chose to be there. I do agree that Disney shouldn't close early without notice unless there is some major unforeseen circumstance. And in such a case, discounts or return vouchers or compensation of some type should be available for those affected.
Went to Knotts for the last couple of hours to get my $15 credit and have dinner. The place was deserted. We were able to do coasters that we typically won't bother to do because of the wait. All of Fiesta Village is completely closed now. We took Silver Bullet to see what was going on. All of the pavement is pulled up. They have rebar all over the place. Most of the buildings are completely gutted with new framing going in. Looks like they started the rainbow spiral on the ground next to Mexican Hat Dance. Large sections of Montezuma's track is gone. I couldn't see the new queue. This all reopens this summer.
SuddenStorm
Well-Known Member
Can we just take a second to acknowledge how ridiculous this is? It's a crying shame they didn't use that year to get some maintenance in- or that they haven't invested properly in the years since to get show standards up to par.
It has never cost more to go to Disneyland- the least they can do is make sure rides are able to operate consistently and that effects work.
PiratesMansion
Well-Known Member
For sure! Just pointing out that regrettably this is not an unknown at this point, regardless of weather conditions.
And even pre-closure there were constant refrains from WDW and other non-DL veterans about frequent ride breakdowns, so perhaps it was happening for longer than is generally acknowledged here. I didn't notice it much pre-closure, but I certainly heard from others who felt differently even then.
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Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
SoCalDisneyLover
Well-Known Member
Eric, one of the Bluegrass performers was just told they're being brought back as of Friday March 24th. Fantastic News!