Just returned from Disneyland

[Mickey81]

Just returned from our first trip to Disneyland, and thought I share a few thoughts. We stayed at Disneyland hotel...which was nice and convient, but over priced. We spent 6 days in the parks, went to the San Diego zoo, and saw The Force Awakens again in IMAX. While I don't post on the forums much, I do use them for information. While I feel very knowledgable in WDW, all the information posted on here by the DL regulars was extremely helpful...so a big Thank You for all the information. We loved both DL and CA. Hyperspace mountain was an amazing overlay!! Very impressed with holiday small world, Pirates, big thunder...all better then the WDW counterparts. As a fan on nightmare before Christmas I enjoyed the haunted mansion overlay. California Screamin and radiator springs was the highlights of CA. I dread seeing Fantasmic in WDW now....paint the night was amazing!!!!! World of color and Disneyland forever was awesome...but I still prefer wishes and illuminations. The only complaint I have over all was the CM's...while we meet some fantastic ones, compared to WDW they just wasn't at the level they should be. I work in the customer service industry and if my employees presented themselves this way, I would not find it acceptable. However I don't want to say it was all negative, we had some great experiences. The other guests was great, mostly locals who was friendly and very outgoing. Which makes me wonder how the CM's at DL would be able to handle the average WDW guests??? Anyway, a great trip.

 

[Kramerica]

Sounds like you had a good time. The on property hotels for Disneyland are all wildly expensive, but you can't beat the convenience. And I think that the Disneyland Hotel is the best Disney resort there is at any price.

I'm surprised you had that experience with the cast members. In all of my experiences, the Disneyland cast members were always more enthusiastic and polite than Disneyworld's.

 

[TP2000]

My worst CM experiences have been at WDW. I have seen WDW CM's completely lose it and yell at "guests", or publicly berate them. I've also seen some really unsafe behavior from WDW CM's operating rides. And then there's this sort of thing, where WDW CM's really just aren't able to cope, much less exhibit grace and poise (WARNING: This is painful to watch)...



I visit Disneyland quite regularly, and I have NEVER seen anything like this from a Disneyland CM.

The absolute best CM's are found at Tokyo Disneyland, but that's because they are Japanese and take their service skills very seriously.

Disneyland Anaheim CM's seem to range from fun and perky, to mellow and slightly bored. But I've never seen anything truly bad, or ever seen a Disneyland CM just flat-out lose it.

 

[Californian Elitist]

My worst CM experiences have been at WDW. I have seen WDW CM's completely lose it and yell at "guests", or publicly berate them. I've also seen some really unsafe behavior from WDW CM's operating rides. And then there's this sort of thing, where WDW CM's really just aren't able to cope, much less exhibit grace and poise (WARNING: This is painful to watch)...



I visit Disneyland quite regularly, and I have NEVER seen anything like this from a Disneyland CM.

The absolute best CM's are found at Tokyo Disneyland, but that's because they are Japanese and take their service skills very seriously.

Disneyland Anaheim CM's seem to range from fun and perky, to mellow and slightly bored. But I've never seen anything truly bad, or ever seen a Disneyland CM just flat-out lose it.

That video was hilarious to watch! I thoroughly enjoyed it, from spieling from English to Spanish and the guests leaving... I thought it was funny.

 

[DisneyPan]

Wow! Fired.

 

[Phroobar]

I've never come across a cast member at either DL or WDW that were as bad as the employees at Magic Mountain. I remember waiting at FreeFall back about ten years ago. It took the employees almost ten minutes to get around to checking everyone and dispatching the ride. There were eight employees around the ride control booth. One of them actually brought the other ones sodas. They seemed to be having a small party and forgot they were all working. Most of them didn't seem to work that ride. I wonder where the manager was?

 

[dweezil78]

In general, I find WDW CMs to get into character a bit more than DL's -- which really only affects attractions like Haunted Mansion, Tower of Terror, etc. With some exception of course, the DL CMs never seem as fully committed to the roles. To be clear though, I have seen some great ones out here (i.e. Maynard!) and some not-so-great ones at WDW, so it's hardly a blanket statement.

 

[Curious Constance]

That video was hilarious to watch! I thoroughly enjoyed it, from spieling from English to Spanish and the guests leaving... I thought it was funny.

I don't blame them for leaving, wow! LOL

 

[Bairstow]

In general, I find WDW CMs to get into character a bit more than DL's -- which really only affects attractions like Haunted Mansion, Tower of Terror, etc. With some exception of course, the DL CMs never seem as fully committed to the roles. To be clear though, I have seen some great ones out here (i.e. Maynard!) and some not-so-great ones at WDW, so it's hardly a blanket statement.

That's the crux of it.
From what I've seen, the entire mindset of the average Disney World cast member is very theatrical and dynamic, whereas the people working at Disneyland are much more laid back, though not in a lazy way.
I don't know whether the different attitudes are due to differences in coastal culture, their training, or just because the guests at Disney World tend to be a lot of highly-strung families on "the Vacation of a Lifetime" with high stress and expectations, and the guests at Disneyland are just trying to have a fun afternoon off with their kids.

I know I definitely prefer the attitude of the Disneyland crew- since they're more relaxed, I'm more relaxed, and have a better time.

 

[TP2000]

I don't know whether the different attitudes are due to differences in coastal culture.

I lived on the East Coast for years, both in the South and the North. It's a culture thing. Even in the South you can get these parents who are really high strung and uptight about their big vacation, and Southern CM's who can't cope when their robot answer of "No Ma'am" doesn't work. And then the Northerners (both visitors and CM's) often layer on a whole different veneer of pushiness and brashness and deliver it with some of the most unattractive regional accents the English language has ever known. Yikes.

The sum of all that East Coast culture can be a really unfortunate brew when you are in a 90 minute Standby line in the horrible Orlando humidity.

Can you tell I don't miss living on the East Coast?

I see the mostly laid-back OC kids working at Disneyland and I'm reminded of how very different the vibe and culture is compared to WDW. Even with ultra-planning tourist families at Disneyland from Australia or New Zealand or Alberta who paid and planned much more and travelled much farther than any family from Boston or England paid and planned to visit WDW, the mellower vibe of Disneyland lowers the New Zealanders stress level and keeps them mellower. The opposite is true at WDW.