Trip report - ups and downs

[Mtlchuck]

Hi everyone,

I just returned from a day at the parks. Some stuff to report

- Student discount not longer exists. HOWEVER, annual passholders can bring a person for 35 euros for a 1 day 2 parks ticket !

- Sad that there's so many things under refurbishment. This really limits the capacity of the parks and makes everyone cram into other attractions (Pirates had a rather long line for a weekday, but with so many E-tickets and areas down this is the result).

- VERY few characters out I miss when they would mingle around rather than being at specific meet areas.

- Sad that for a long time now there are still some figures missing from Pirates, noticeably the swordfighting ones, the drunken one with the pigs, the swinging one at the beginning, and the donkey with the singing pirates.

- All working in Phantom Manor except the smoke effects.

- Is it my idea or do Cast Members get really bad pins for pin trading? 99% of the ones they had were really small, generic pins. Barely traded anything at all!

- Space Mountain has audio back on!! The speakers were off for a long time.

- Saddest point of the day: I went with a friend who is visiting France and stayed until 23:00 even if we were exhausted just to watch Disney Dreams. It was drizzling at the time and a the fireworks were off! It was pretty much just the projections. Particularly frustrating because we visited Disneyland in Anaheim last year and our fireworks were cancelled that night as well .

[Mushu_Stitch]

- Sad that there's so many things under refurbishment. This really limits the capacity of the parks and makes everyone cram into other attractions (Pirates had a rather long line for a weekday, but with so many E-tickets and areas down this is the result).

- VERY few characters out I miss when they would mingle around rather than being at specific meet areas.

I was DLP last week and also got back home yesterday evening but don't really agree with the above points.

I barely even noticed the impact of the closures and thought they did a brilliant job of making any boarded up areas decorative and fit in with the surroundings. The queues were all short (except for Friday but I knew that was going to be busy as it's close to the weekend). We never queued for more than 20 minutes and pirates especially was a walk on every time. We also did a lot of meet and greets and saw quite a few unscheduled ones as we were walking around, in the studios park especially.

The week as a whole was brilliant and the closures didn't take anything away from the magic of the place and we are both looking forward to going again once all the refurbishments are done.

[Puffin]

- Is it my idea or do Cast Members get really bad pins for pin trading? 99% of the ones they had were really small, generic pins. Barely traded anything at all!

Does this also depend on the time of the day? In my opinion the best trades are done in the morning, but maybe that's just a presumption.

[bad-pink-tink]

Does this also depend on the time of the day? In my opinion the best trades are done in the morning, but maybe that's just a presumption.

I found this too, first 3 hours CMs had ok pins, after that pins on many lanyards were the same or low quality

[Ohana]

Well if I were a cast member I wouldn't want to trade my good pins haha

[bad-pink-tink]

Well if I were a cast member I wouldn't want to trade my good pins haha

just because they are good pins does not necessarily mean the person wants them. The trading pins I bring to the parks are good pins, ie genuine pins I have either bought in Disneyland California or genuine pins I have from previous trading. Most pin traders have a theme and have pins that they collect and pins that they trade. Its the same with CM's. The pins on the lanyards are for trading, the pins they want to keep they dont put on the lanyards

[Mtlchuck]

Well if I were a cast member I wouldn't want to trade my good pins haha

Oh also funny thing: a good 60% of the cast members had a "meh take whatever" attitude. One just handed me his lanyard entirely while he did something else. 90% had no idea what they pins were from (ex: One had a figment one and he said "no idea what this is". I would have taken advantage if they had had any good pins :p!

Also I was there friday and although I agree the refurnishments themselves are unobstrusive, i did see an impact on the lines. I dont want to imahine how it must be on a busy holiday or summer peak season!

[nathalie]

- Student discount not longer exists. HOWEVER, annual passholders can bring a person for 35 euros for a 1 day 2 parks ticket !

Don't forget though, you could have only gotten the tickets at that price, because the "bring a friend" promotion is running right now   this price isn't regular for people who have AP's and getting a ticket for someone else (a certain % is though when bying a 1 day ticket with an annual pass)

[Puffin]

Well if I were a cast member I wouldn't want to trade my good pins haha

They don't have a choice, right? As a CM they're obliged to trade whatever pin you want? Or is it different at DLP from WDW?

[bad-pink-tink]

Well if I were a cast member I wouldn't want to trade my good pins haha

They don't have a choice, right? As a CM they're obliged to trade whatever pin you want? Or is it different at DLP from WDW?

Exactly, pins on a Lanyard are for trading, although some CM's make up their own unofficial rules.

[Lavi]

I guess the CMs receive a lanyard full of interesting pins in the morning and then trade them with visitors. This woild explain why in three hours all their " interesting" pins are gone

[perrollaz]

Do the CM trade only on special days or every day? I never did trading but sounds like a lot of fun.