Question re: something one of the CMs said to me

[larryz]

My husband begged me not to ride SM and I caved to him and didn't go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_IlNbsILLE

 

[Lizziejane]

It's a bigger deal, since FP is strictly enforced. Now, we are expected to leave lines, pay penalties for late arrivals for ADRs, miss FP windows because of inaccuracies. And, of course, it's the customer's "choice".

I apologize for veering a little off-track here, but we haven't been to the world since 2010 - what penalties are there for late arrivals to an ADR? that statement is kind of scaring me...

 

[Gorechick]

If you miss an ADR that requires a CC guarantee you get charged a no show fee. I believe it is $10 per person.

 

[mom2rtk]

I apologize for veering a little off-track here, but we haven't been to the world since 2010 - what penalties are there for late arrivals to an ADR? that statement is kind of scaring me...

Character meals and signature dining locations now require a $10 per person credit card hold. They must be cancelled by end of business the day prior to avoid a no-show charge. (At least I believe that was the latest interpretation of the timeline).

 

[Lizziejane]

Character meals and signature dining locations now require a $10 per person credit card hold. They must be cancelled by end of business the day prior to avoid a no-show charge. (At least I believe that was the latest interpretation of the timeline).

so if you're sick the day of your ADR, you're out of luck?1 hmmm...making me rethink character meals

 

[mom2rtk]

so if you're sick the day of your ADR, you're out of luck?1 hmmm...making me rethink character meals

I suppose you could call and ask for mercy, but I haven't heard anyone report yet that this worked. Just let your family members know that you need 24 hours notice of any impending illnesses.

 

[Lizziejane]

I suppose you could call and ask for mercy, but I haven't heard anyone report yet that this worked. Just let your family members know that you need 24 hours notice of any impending illnesses.

I'll be sure to stress that point with the 2-year old!! LOL

 

[tlkgt76]

so if you're sick the day of your ADR, you're out of luck?1 hmmm...making me rethink character meals

I don't know if its changed, but I missed a ADR at Chef Mickey's for breakfast that I held on my credit card because of an issue with my blood sugar. I called the WDW-DINE number as soon as I could and explained the situation. They didn't charge my card and even made a new reservation for us at Akerhus Royal Banquet Hall.

I'm sure they could see that I had never missed a reservation before.

 

[Mom2HandR]

Just piping in on CC guaranteed ADRs. We arrived at Disney with reservation for Cinderella's Table. Our oldest got sick and I stayed back with her. They did not charge us for our meals. We were pleasantly surprised as we knew we were obligated.

Disney magic strikes again.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Good morning all! We just got back from our surprise trip to Disney and had a GREAT time despite a few obstacles. Thank goodness my BIL took his daughter to the park on our arrival day and had to wait in a 2+ hour line for Space Mountain . . . they were more than willing to listen to me and my Touring Plans advice for the rest of the trip and we barely waited for anything! Except once . . .

On our first full day in the MK, we went from ride to ride with little wait. We had decided we were just about done and while walking through NFL, checked the app for the LM ride time wait. It was listed as 25 minutes posted, 21 expected. We walked up to the ride and sure enough it was posted at 25 minutes. About 25 minutes in, we were still in the outside portion of the queue and my youngest had to use the potty (thank you falling water!) I excused the two of us from the line (had to use all of my strength to keep her from kicking anyone else since she was upset that we were leaving "her best princess ever"!) We went over to Rapunzel's tower, did our business and headed back to the line. I spoke with the CM at the front and asked if there was anything that we could do, my BIL was ahead of us in the line, I had to leave with my youngest etc. He chuckled and said that he remembered her and to go on ahead through the line. Luckily, most of the people we were passing also remembered my little screaming banshee and let us through with no issue.

By the time we caught up to my BIL, the group had just made it in to the covered area and we had been waiting for about 35 minutes. The line continued to inch forward and we got into the room where you load after waiting for about an hour.

A CM who was standing in the middle of the room made a comment about seeing lots of grumpy faces. She made eye contact directly with me and so I answered. I asked her about how much longer it would take to load from the point where we were standing. She kind of shrugged her shoulders and said that it shouldn't be too much longer. I told her that we had gotten in line because the wait time was posted as 25 minutes and that we had been waiting for over an hour already. She apologized and said that it was just an estimate. I told her it was one thing to make a choice to get in line with 4 young kids for a 25 minute wait but it was entirely different to wait for over an hour. She then told me that they have no control over the wait time that is listed, that it's all computerized and they can't do anything about it. At that point we were moving again and we got on the ride about 10 minutes later.

I thought that the point of those little red squares was to help have an accurate wait time listed. If not, what is the point? FWIW, when we left the wait time was still listed at 25 minutes and the outside line was all the way filled.

That was seriously the ONLY Disney downside to our trip. We had some other rough bumps, but those were totally out of Disney's control.

The only viable option to never have incorrect wait times posted is to never have any wait times posted at all. More times than not, they are accurate, or at least close. If one time during my entire vacation my wait is double what is posted, I wouldn't even remember it to come home and post about it on a message board.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Character meals and signature dining locations now require a $10 per person credit card hold. They must be cancelled by end of business the day prior to avoid a no-show charge. (At least I believe that was the latest interpretation of the timeline).

I apologize that my wording was off. The fee is meant to be applied to no shows, and those that cancel less than a day in advance. There were reports on the DIS, shortly after this fee was started, that folks who showed up more than 15minutes late were also charged.

It is also my understanding that the no show fee at Victoria and ALberts is $25, and at prepaid meals you'll be charged the cost of the prepaid meal.

 

[delgrec]

Forgive my ignorance, but can someone explain the "red cards" and how they work in informing wait times? Thanks!

 

[sassie_kat]

The only viable option to never have incorrect wait times posted is to never have any wait times posted at all. More times than not, they are accurate, or at least close. If one time during my entire vacation my wait is double what is posted, I wouldn't even remember it to come home and post about it on a message board.

The reason I remembered it was because it was SO different from what was quoted. That, combined with the "eh" attitude of the CM coupled with my BIL threatening to write a letter to Disney stayed with me. It didn't ruin my vacation, it didn't even rain on my parade - it DID make me wonder about the validity of the statement from the CM that they have no control over what is displayed.

I worked at an amusement park back in the days before there were wait times displayed. We had little markers at different points along the lines stating that the expected wait time from this point was X number of minutes. But, we also knew when those estimates were way off (ride was breaking down, we had less ride vehicles in action than normal etc.) and would do our best to let people know that the wait was going to be longer than expected.

 

[DebbieB]

Forgive my ignorance, but can someone explain the "red cards" and how they work in informing wait times? Thanks!

When you approach the line, the cm will give you a red card, they beep it on a terminal and when you get to the front of the line you give the cm the card back and they beep it on their terminal. So that tells how long it took for you to get through the line.

 

[delgrec]

When you approach the line, the cm will give you a red card, they beep it on a terminal and when you get to the front of the line you give the cm the card back and they beep it on their terminal. So that tells how long it took for you to get through the line.

Interesting. Thanks. I have never seen that.

 

[mom2rtk]

I really think they've been monkeying with the FP/SB ratio so much lately that the red card is almost pointless. It means nothing if they stop the standby line from time to time and let 90% fastpass in.

On the up side, I also think this is all sort of a trial period. Once they get FP+ all figured out they should be back to being able to better predict the wait times. That should only take what..... a couple more years? They're going to have to decide how many to issue, but then they're going to have to wait and see what the no-show rate is on pre-scheduled rides, then adjust for that.

 

[hollygolitely93]

Stuff happens.

I think OP is looking for understanding of what kind of "stuff" happens to cause such inaccurate postings...as the next poster explains...

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

The only way to totally eliminate long lines and the need for crowd control is to have less people in the parks. There are 2 ways to do that - let less people in the parks (which people would get mad about) or charge more so less people can afford it (which people would get mad about). Disney can't win on that front.

I do think Disney needs to religiously give out the red cards every 10 minutes for each line and have the signs updated in 10 minute intervals. I understand that they don't have to post estimated wait times (a lot of parks don't) but of they are going to extend that courtesy, then they need to put a priority on making it more accurate.

 

[larryz]

Interesting. Thanks. I have never seen that.

now you have...

 

[larryz]

I do think Disney needs to religiously give out the red cards every 10 minutes for each line and have the signs updated in 10 minute intervals.

Actually, if they just wrote the code to update in real time how long it's taking the red card to get from the first post to the second, it would be constantly updating itself the whole time. Of course, they'd have to track multiple cards simultaneously, and update the wait time to the longest of the currently active cards...