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I have never been to a Huanted Mansion event. I have been a HUGE HM fan since I can remember and have been wanting to attend an event since i heard about the 30th anniversary event. During that hour I spent refreshing and trying to get in, the server crashed several times. Of the 3 conversations that I had with the rude special events agents, I was told that the response was 4 times what they had anticipated. I suggested that they add three more nights and they could quadruple their money, but they didn't really seem to care that there were so many people who were left out. After all they're merely mistreated cogs in the Disney corporate machine who get paid by the hour.

I believe that several spots were already reserved for "cast members" before they even began registering guests, who are unfairly given preferential treatment. This is outrageous when considering the limited capacity for this event.

When I attended A Pirates event in 1999, it was also a HUGE fiasco. Hundreds of us were forced to wait in line, baking under the hot sun for several hours, just to preview the freakin' merchandise. Than they were unable to fill completed orders. I was forced to get a hotel room and buy a ticket to return to the park the following day just get get the merchandise. But at least all who wanted to attend got to go. I vowed not to go to another one. I thought I would make an exception for this event, but alas...

Disney management ALWAYS screws this stuff up. The more that I deal with Disney anymore, the more disgusted I get with them. It is all I can to not completely throw out any and all of the cheap Disney crap that I spent hard earned money on.

You both are seasoned on these issues with intelligent and insightful perspectives. Thanks for the good words and your very valid points. Please forgive the lengthy follow-up.

Disney is a huge multi-national company that has been in the entertainment business for nearly 100 years and in the theme park business for over half of that time. There is no excuse for habitually botching-up planned events and crowd control like they have been for this length of time. And to be rude about it when frustrated fans are trying to give them their hard-earned money borders on unconscionable.

I worked at Imagineering on special effects systems for over a year. I got into that work largely because of the HM. Getting my foot in the door there was one of the most thrilling developments of my life. Once settled in however, I found a diseased (for lack of a better term) company culture where ruthless manipulation, political glad-handing and verbal abuse were not only the typical ways of conducting daily business, but even rewarded. This was not is just my dept. either, but palpable company wide in all of the depts that I visited or spent time with. The bitter arrogance was as thick and wide-spread in the atmosphere as the humidity in the air after a summer shower. Regardless of such an intolerable environment, I busted my butt because I wanted to make a career out of it. But it eventually was not worth it. I have never before or since encountered this kind of business or work situation (this includes working extensively with other large multi-national companies including: Boeing. Eaton, Hewlett-Packard and Black & Decker). I had hoped with Eisner's departure and the infusion of Steve Jobs and John Lassiter, that these traits would be excised or at least fade by attrition.

Recently, because of missing the work, I have started my own sideline venture and have been contacting former colleagues from Universal and Disney for services. I have found that the former Disney people I have met with still harbor this "down-their-nose" attitude, much to my ever-growing disappointment. Encountering this with artists , techies and engineers is not too unusual and sometimes manageable. But getting that business from Customer Service reps is unfathomable in my opinion. They not only lost a potentially great imagineer, but they are now rapidly losing a most loyal, vocal (as you can see) and generous fan. Furthermore I have decided after these occurrences that I need to be very noisy about it to perhaps wake people up a little so that they might hopefully begin demanding the respect from the Disney company that they very much deserve.