So I'm having tons of fun at Disneyland for my bachelorette party this past Saturday, and we decide to hop on over to Disney California Adventure since a bunch of the girls hadn't gone there yet. They've completely decked me out in Bride to Be gear... FAR from inconspicuous. All 10 girls get in and I'm the last in line to get in... Here's where my story begins!
I walk up to the little turnstyle thing and this elderly white haired lady, Zoe, takes my annual pass, scans it and then looks at me. It beeped like a normal entrance ok beep I thought...
Zoe: *looks at me* Hmm...
Me: ... ?
Zoe: *looks at the pass, then looks at me again* Hmm...
Me: .... .....
Zoe: I'm just not sure this looks like you.
Me: Uh, that's me. ... *waiting for something else to happen*
Zoe: Hmm...
Me: *waiting* ...
< A couple of minutes later >
Zoe: I need you to step aside so I can let other people in.
Me: ... *thinking wtf at this point*... Okay.
< I step aside... and wait. Again. Zoe continues to let other people in. No word of what to do with me, for 5 minutes at least. Pose for a picture, trying to look happy at Disneyland, but it's not quite working haha.>
Me: ... Ok, well here's my ID then.
Zoe: *takes ID and looks at it* Hmm...
Me: ... *waiting*
Zoe: *looks at ID, looks at me, looks at annual pass, looks at me* Hmm...
Me: ...
Zoe: I need you to step aside so I can let other people in.
Me: *look of disbelief as a I step aside*
< Some other lady, Teresa, apparently the supervisor, shows up and takes my annual pass and ID from Zoe >
Teresa: *looks at annual pass, looks at me, looks at ID, looks at me* Hmm...
Me: ...
Teresa: ... I'm not sure these look like you.
Me: Okay, well here. Here's my debit card with my picture too.
Teresa: *takes debit card, looks at picture, looks at me, looks at annual pass, looks at ID, looks at me*... Hmm... *walks away to who knows where with my annual pass, ID, AND debit card without saying a word to me*.
Me: UHHHHH. *WTF, come back with my debit card and ID please.*
< More waiting here, no choice really. It's now been about 15 minutes since I've been trying to get in >
< Teresa comes back finally >
Teresa: Well, the names match, but I'm just not sure these pictures look like you. When does the annual pass expire?
Me: August 22 this year.
Teresa: ... Hmm. I don't know... You have glasses on here.
Me: Right. *slowly* But I'm wearing contacts today.
Teresa: Do you have your glasses? Can you put them on?
Me: Um. No. I'm wearing contacts today.
Teresa: Hmm...
Me: Are you serious? I don't know what else to give you. I've already given you my ID and even my debit card.
Teresa: Hmm... *looks at me, looks at IDs* ... Well, I'll let you in but I'll have to put a note in your file.
Me: ... *taking annual pass, ID and debit card back (while I can!) while entering DCA finally*
My girls greet me on the other side and we're all wondering wtf just happened. I'm still not entirely sure what just happened either. We see Teresa on the inside so I go up to her again and I ask...
Me: Excuse me, what did you mean by putting a note in my file?
Teresa: I think you might want to take a new picture or something, because that doesn't look like you.
< My friend Miley pipes in with a question of her own >
Miley: My picture doesn't look much like me anymore either, will I have problems too?
Teresa: *rudely* This is between me and her *gestures my way*. This has been resolved, so you need to step back.
Miley: No, I'm not asking about that. This is a separate issue.
Teresa: This has been resolved. I don't need to speak with you about this. < Probably not her words exactly but that is what she meant >
Miley: ...
At this point, we're all just kinda pissed and walk away. We'll deal with her later and file a complaint at City Hall. Lucky for DCA, they have an awesome awesome cast member Carrie who made up for the shitty ass customer service I just went through. Carrie hooked us up with a private meeting for wedding advice at the Turtle Talk with Crush show. She even met us at the exit of Tower of Terror to give us all buttons and front of line passes to whatever ride we wanted.
Fast forward to the end of the night. We stop by City Hall as we exit the park to file our complaint about Zoe and Teresa and to give our compliments about Carrie. Chris handles our complaint professionally for the most part, but decides to make it up to us by letting us know he'll go upstairs right after to the complaint department to talk to the people there, and then offers us some hot cocoa, or coffee or a drink.
Because free hot chocolate makes up for super shitty customer service.
Me: Oh, and Teresa mentioned something about putting a note in my file... What's that about?
Chris: Let me check... *looks up stuff*... I don't see any notes in here. I'm not sure.
Go figure.
So apparently people trying to sneak into DCA will dress up all gaudy and conspicuously with Bride to Be sashes, Minnie Bride ears and veils, big bachelorette ring plushes hanging from their necks, Bride butons all over the place, know the expiration to their fake annual pass, put a different picture but same ethnic name on their fake picture ID, and also put their fake name and yet another different picture on their fake debit card.
Kind of an awesome story isn't it?
