We live 90 miles south of Disneyland in San Diego and have had annual passes for the last six or seven years. Over time I have grown less and less fond of Disneyland and California Adventure to the point where we have decided not to renew my pass next year. My wife has accepted the fact she is just going to have to go without me in the future. We went up last Friday and it turned out what will probably be my last visit to Disneyland for many years. I am a licensed amateur radio operator and I wanted to take my two-way walkie talkie into the parks. My plan was to use it while my wife was on attractions I don't like. I was stopped at the bag check and told by a officious cast member who was likely a lead that I couldn't take it into the park. When I showed him my license, his reaction was "So?" At that point I lost it, said "You know what? I'm done." and stormed back out the gate. I was standing back by the tram absolutely seething when my wife came back out. I calmed down somewhat and we agreed I would make the trek all the way back to the car with the radio, then we would go to guest services and complain. At guest services we spent fifteen minutes with the cast member only to find out that the radio was prohibited because it could be "disruptive." they gave no real explanation as to why nor could they tell me why the little family radios you can buy at Walmart were acceptable and mine wasn't. We spent less than an hour in the park and then went and had an over-priced lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Downtown Disney. $53 for lunch and my wife ordered off the children's menu? Really?
We're headed to WDW in November for a week in November. This will be out third Disney vacation in as many years and I'm burned out. This trip is for my wife and is taking place this year because air fare to Hawaii (my choice) was too high and we had an offer to share a suite with friends that are members of the vacation club. So many of the attractions at Disney World are clones of those at Disneyland and California Adventure so I'm probably going to get bored after a while. We're already developing strategies to deal with the situation when I decide I've had enough. I think this will go a long ways toward making the trip more enjoyable, both for us and our friends.