Disneyland 2013 - Peeing in an Elevator

Intro, Door Dings at the Disneyland Parking Lot, Kid photos required, Lost and Found, Trapped in the Elevator, Backpacks on Rides,

This isn't a story of peeing in an elevator as much as it is a story of superior customer service.

A product problem is a customer service opportunity. That is, when something goes wrong with a product, employees who represent that product can step in and help. If they do it well, the product can emerge with a better review than if nothing had gone wrong in the first place.

On a trip to the Innovations Pavillion, to view a display of armor from Iron Man 3, we needed to make a dash for the bathroom. The elevator seemed to be the quickest way out. Unfortunately, after the doors closed, they wouldn't open. Only a five-inch-wide gap allowed communication between our trapped party and the outside world.

As a mechanic was dispatched to our location, the bathroom crisis loomed. Someone was going to have to pee in the elevator. Kevin sent a request for a cup to be passed through the gap. Disney employees came to the rescue, providing a large plastic cup. Everyone in the elevator (one other family) faced the wall to provide an ounce of privacy.

Not long after, the elevator door was re-aligned and slid open. We were free! The whole experience lasted for less than 10 minutes and quick thinking and action had averted disaster.

So, what did our Disneyland hosts do to resurrect our experience? They gave us free passes, two purple “front of the line” passes to any ride in the park.

The passes were good for this day only, EACH allowed a party of up to six people to barge to the front of the line. This was a real gold star fast pass! The world was ours!

Not everyone was tall enough to go on Indiana Jones, so after dinner we decided to use the first one on Small World, and the second one on Autopia.

But a funny thing happened. When we used our pass on Small World, the operator let us on immediately, but wouldn't take the pass!

"Hold on to that, use it on a line with a real wait!" he said.

Awesome!

And when we tried Autopia, just after the fireworks, the place was wide open. The operator there wouldn't take the pass either!

"Oh, you don't need that here, you will practically walk right on!".

And we did!

Finally, still holding both "front of the line" tickets, we showed one to the gatekeeper at the Astro-Orbiter. There was a half-hour wait for the ride.

He let us on immediately. It was awesome. I'd never been on this ride!

And no, he wouldn't take the pass. "Hold onto that" he said. "That's for long lines".

No one would take the pass! We had two, and we couldn't get rid of them! By this time it was after 9 pm and the kids refused to walk any further. We were done.

Kevin gave the two passes to a young couple. I hope they could use them!

So, my point about customer service, getting trapped in an elevator and having to pee in there, a terrible experience, certainly, but the customer service safety net caught us. Two slips of paper and we were back in fantasyland, with a night we will never forget.

Intro, Door Dings at the Disneyland Parking Lot, Kid photos required, Lost and Found, Trapped in the Elevator, Backpacks on Rides,