Club 33 Woes

Tamandua

Well-Known Member
Let’s see how you look today, since we’re apparently sharing.
It doesn't matter what I look like. I don't work with customers and I still work from home. And since you decided to turn to personal attacks instead of addressing points in a debate you engaged in, I'm just adding you to the ignore list from now on.
 

Mickeyboof

Well-Known Member
It doesn't matter what I look like. I don't work with customers and I still work from home. And since you decided to turn to personal attacks instead of addressing points in a debate you engaged in, I'm just adding you to the ignore list from now on.
Sure, but remember your egregious personal “attack” on a CM without their permission on a public forum to chastise their appearance.

You look bad, not them.
 

Sharon&Susan

Well-Known Member
Have you guys ever seen that old Disney movie The ****gy Dog?​
The
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Dog​
 

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
It appears to me that Club 33 has lost a great deal of its luster.

I feel like that's the whole park. This last year has changed my perception of the place- I definitely don't have that same level of excitement about it that I did in February 2020.

Now, there's a chance that when I make it out to visit the park I'll fall in love with the place again, but the fact remains- Disneyland is a very different place now and will likely continue to be different as things get back to normal.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Ah, yes this is great. I guess the sentiment is the same across the board with Club 33's management team. The only members I know are tied to corporate accounts in someway, but it looks like during the closure everyone was left in the dark. I thought if there was one place Disneyland would be a little more generous with payroll during the closure it would've been Club 33 leadership, but looks like I was dead wrong.

That's where it gets interesting. During the depths of the Covid closure last spring, most park management and many TDA executives were put on furlough. There was one exception; the General Manager of Club 33, who we can call Mr. S for his actual name and to give him some anonymity. He was the only real in-park executive kept on the payroll and was part of the skeleton crew of executives left to keep the park afloat. This news got out to the Club members (they are very well connected and talk regularly amongst themselves) that Mr. S was part of the small emergency executive crew left, and they took that as a very good sign that their interests were being put near the top.

That turned out to not be the case. They had radio silence for all of 2020, with very little communication that wasn't neutered by a lawyer and a 24 year old cubicle drone writing it into useless puffery. By late 2020 many had their personal attorneys look into the contracts to see how quickly and painlessly they could get out.

Now it's almost summer 2021 and their investment and the future of Club 33 still are mostly unknown. They are fed up. More than fed up actually, many are leaving.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
I feel like that's the whole park. This last year has changed my perception of the place- I definitely don't have that same level of excitement about it that I did in February 2020.

Now, there's a chance that when I make it out to visit the park I'll fall in love with the place again, but the fact remains- Disneyland is a very different place now and will likely continue to be different as things get back to normal.

Sadly, I have to agree with that. The park is changing very fast now. I'm convinced most of these changes aren't for the better, unless you are a sharp pencil boy in Burbank or are a big fan of depressing hourly wage growth.

I've been drifting away since Covid. I have a few fun new interests and hobbies and near-future travel plans, plus I'm just not as young as I used to be and I'm not up for the physical abuse it requires to go to Disneyland for a day; parking, miles of walking, screenings and prodding, plus the backbreaker that are a few of the latest rides. Matterhorn is now out of the question and I can only do Mission Breakout once, and then I need to sit down on a bench for 10 minutes. 🤣

I'm also lucky in that I visit Japan every two years or so and can get a huge dose of top quality, high-standards, traditional Disneyland by visiting the Tokyo Disney Resort. The spiels are in Japanese, but the product is pure high quality Americana.

I hesitated for about 20 seconds to include the lady's remarks on tattoos. But then I realized that if someone has a problem with another person's values or their different culture that is their problem not mine. So I included her pointed critique of waitresses sporting tattoos at the dinner table as a reason they are abandoning Club 33.

They were also quite disappointed with Mr. S and the communication, or entire lack thereof, that they got from Club 33 management over the last 14 months. TDA had a year to figure it the heck out, and they failed. So many members are simply walking away.
 
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BasiltheBatLord

Well-Known Member
I feel like that's the whole park. This last year has changed my perception of the place- I definitely don't have that same level of excitement about it that I did in February 2020.

Now, there's a chance that when I make it out to visit the park I'll fall in love with the place again, but the fact remains- Disneyland is a very different place now and will likely continue to be different as things get back to normal.
Yeah. It might sound kinda dramatic but the announcement of the Splash Mountain closure made me realize that I'm too emotionally invested in these parks. If the closure of a theme park ride (even if it's a beloved legendary one) is enough to make me feel genuinely angry and sad for a prolonged period of time, that means I'm way too concerned with something that in the long run really doesn't matter.

The other operational changes over the years are all just icing on the cake that's been slowly making me realize that Disneyland isn't the place it used to be for me anymore. Alcohol in Disneyland, tattooed CMs etc.

Thankfully my home park is Tokyo now!
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Then can we have The Court of Angels back?

If/when Club 33 closes you'll need to make a reservation via the Disneyland App and be prepared to drop a few hundred bucks per person.

Disneyland is your land! ;)

Yeah. It might sound kinda dramatic but the announcement of the Splash Mountain closure made me realize that I'm too emotionally invested in these parks. If the closure of a theme park ride (even if it's a beloved legendary one) is enough to make me feel genuinely angry and sad for a prolonged period of time, that means I'm way too concerned with something that in the long run really doesn't matter.

The other operational changes over the years are all just icing on the cake that's been slowly making me realize that Disneyland isn't the place it used to be for me anymore. Alcohol in Disneyland, tattooed CMs etc.

Thankfully my home park is Tokyo now!

You too?!?

I'm not that emotionally attached to Splash Mountain, but the reasons behind its demise make me roll my eyes. Singing robot chickens are now racist hatemongers? And the author of the source material 19th century literature was white, so that means, well... you know. :rolleyes:

It's the purposeful artistic and executive decisions behind a declaration that singing robot chickens are racist that has made me question my allegiance to this theme park product.

The execs in Burbank who can make that work logically in their head suddenly don't seem worth my entertainment dollars.

Besides, I can go ride an artistically and operationally superior version of Splash Mountain in Tokyo. And a tatoo-less and perfectly groomed Tokyo CM will wipe down the seats for me with a little sponge-towel thing before I step into the log so I don't sit on any drops of water. That is the magic of Tokyo Disneyland!
 
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SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
Sadly, I have to agree with that. The park is changing very fast now. I'm convinced most of these changes aren't for the better, unless you are a sharp pencil boy in Burbank or are a big fan of depressing hourly wage growth.

I've been drifting away since Covid. I have a few fun new interests and hobbies and near-future travel plans, plus I'm just not as young as I used to be and I'm not up for the physical abuse it requires to go to Disneyland for a day; parking, miles of walking, screenings and prodding, plus the backbreaker that are a few of the latest rides. Matterhorn is now out of the question and I can only do Mission Breakout once, and then I need to sit down on a bench for 10 minutes. 🤣

I'm also lucky in that I visit Japan every two years or so and can get a huge dose of top quality, high-standards, traditional Disneyland by visiting the Tokyo Disney Resort. The spiels are in Japanese, but the product is pure high quality Americana.

I hesitated for about 20 seconds to include the lady's remarks on tattoos. But then I realized that if someone has a problem with another person's values or their different culture that is their problem not mine. So I included her pointed critique of waitresses sporting tattoos at the dinner table as a reason they are abandoning Club 33.

They were also quite disappointed with Mr. S and the communication, or entire lack thereof, that they got from Club 33 management over the last 14 months. TDA had a year to figure it the heck out, and they failed. So many members are simply walking away.

This whole drama with the tattoos is kind of like the Splash and Jungle changes, where I had no idea there was any kind of meaningful controversy but now that Disney's announced the change everyone is coming out and saying how much they support it and how ridiculous it was and stuff.

I'm all for people expressing themselves, but when they're at work they're supposed to be representing a brand. And at Disneyland, since they use buzz words like "cast member" to describe their employees, they're supposed to be putting on a show and the standard is raised beyond most workplaces.

No other theme park in the world could get away with charging the Club 33 rates Disney charged. They could because Disneyland's place in Americana was unique and special- and the experience of attending was far beyond your typical theme park. So I'm not surprised that the people who have the kind of money to have a personal membership also aren't thrilled that Disney's lowering the standards for the Disney Look like they have been.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
This whole drama with the tattoos is kind of like the Splash and Jungle changes, where I had no idea there was any kind of meaningful controversy but now that Disney's announced the change everyone is coming out and saying how much they support it and how ridiculous it was and stuff.

I'm all for people expressing themselves, but when they're at work they're supposed to be representing a brand. And at Disneyland, since they use buzz words like "cast member" to describe their employees, they're supposed to be putting on a show and the standard is raised beyond most workplaces.

No other theme park in the world could get away with charging the Club 33 rates Disney charged. They could because Disneyland's place in Americana was unique and special- and the experience of attending was far beyond your typical theme park. So I'm not surprised that the people who have the kind of money to have a personal membership also aren't thrilled that Disney's lowering the standards for the Disney Look like they have been.

That's pretty much everything the two Club 33 members I spoke with last weekend said, summarized neatly.

Except it wasn't as clear and concise as you just wrote, because it was mostly coming from a 70-ish lady finishing her second (third?) vodka Lemon Drop when she launched into her tirade against TDA, Mr. S, and Club 33 management practices in general. It takes a well-trained linguist to be able to translate that type of conversation into normal, sober English for the readers here. 🧐
 

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