The TINKMOBILE Returns!-just back with a not-so quick review

[Jeanieblue114]

We just got back from our Disney trip. Due to a recent foot injury, I was in a scooter for the first time. I decorated it as THE TINKMOBILE.

Thanks to all the Dis-ers who stopped to say hello. It was so great to meet you all!! If any of you saw the Tinkmobile and didn't say hello...HI to you too and sorry we didn't get to chat!
Hi to:
IlovemythreeC's
jerseyBeachgal
mgjmom615
America
lotsofpixiedust/alittlebitofpixiedust
Kaitlyn06016
Disneyfreak7

Thanks for stopping to say hello!
Anyone else who's name I may have misplaced....very sorry, still in the unpacking whirlwind.


Quick review of the trip
We got the free upgrade to OKW. Nice resort, nice staff. The bell staff was nice and very helpful. Unfortunately, the slip in Disney service is showing there as well .
We had 1 towel animal when we got there but I think it had been there forever. Future mousekeeping consisted of dumping some towels and soaps on the counter in a pile and making the beds. (we paid cash and had full housekeeping services). Having the Do not disturb up apparently doesn't mean they can't hose down your room door and scare the crap out of you. The bathroom mirror had muck all over it and was never cleaned all week. Mousekeeping also threw away my blister packs of medication that were on the nightstand and still half-full...I was reimbursed for the medication.
The beds are about a foot higher than most standard beds and were comfy but very difficult to mount. The patios are lovely, but have a good 6 inch gap around the edge of them that the chair legs can fall into...MAJOR injury risk there.
As we were checking out, it seems the battery died on the door lock of one of our rooms and half the luggage was still there. We had to wait 20 min. and make multiple phone calls to get someone to let us in...very frustrating.

I also forgot my phone charger in the room. We were still in town for a few extra days at a condo and I called to pick it up. It took several hours of phone calls and being transferred to 6 people to speak to someone in lost and found. They had it right there, but it was very difficult to figure out the line of communication to get it back.
I would stay there again. It was nice and quiet, but I would never pay full price for it.

We did DHS on Wed. Sept. 30. Very low crowd levels. No F! show that day but it WAS EMHs. No more than a 10 minute wait for anything. Toy Story had 20 minutes mid morning. We rode once on stand-by and then used fastpasses later. We still had some leftover fastpasses. It wasn't that great of a ride. Fun, but not worth the exceptionally long wait that happens sometimes. Not sure why it has to be so jerky.
Surprisingly, some of the shops closed prior to the end of EMH's.
The only real issue was trying to get counter service food. There seems to be a large influx of Asian students for the college program. After being the only person in line and watching the poor guy struggle to fill an order for 1 meal, I realized that he couldn't read english well enough to figure out what to put on the tray. I'm all for the cultural exchange, but the CM's need to have a certain level of communication skills before they are sent out on their own. It really created a problem and the CM was completely frazzled.
Overall, it was really a beautiful day at the park.

Oct. 1 we did the Halloween party. We had higher crowds than we saw last year, but we were a week earlier for the party last year. Rides were still only about 10 minute waits, but the park was just more congested in general and we had to wait a couple of minutes for candy distribution instead of walking straight through.
I was very disappointed that the Mainstreet bakery was closed early. The park was open til 7, the party til midnight. We tried to go to the bakery at 5:30 and were turned away and told they were closed. We also encountered an enormous amount of difficulty with the communication skills of the CM's. I had a scooter and many of the rides were operated by students from China. They couldn't answers questions or respond with anything other than a couple pre-learned phrases. Without going into specific detail, this lack of communication ability created a very unsafe environment on one ride and I was injured. There really should be a blend of CM's so that someone is there to help with questions and comments.

They also showed no knowledge of anything Disney, so that fun interaction that can occur with CM's was completely non-existent. For example, we were dressed as Peter Pan and Wendy and John Darling. Other people in the park were taking pics of us when we met with Hook. But, when we rode the Peter Pan ride, the student CM's didn't even seem to understand our costumes. They could only communicate enough to point and say "stay here" or "go ahead". It was really sad. I know it takes some time to get comfortable with a new culture and language. Until that time, there should be much more supervision to help things run more smoothly.
This really shows how far Disney has fallen in providing COMPLETE training for CM's.

We rode the balloon at DTD. After several tries on various trips and getting cancelled for weather, I made it on. It was fun, but just felt like going up an elevator and looking over a balcony of a high hotel room. I guess I was expecting a bit more of a thrill. So, if you are worried about that, go for it. It's a pretty calm ride.

We had the free dining and we went for some unexpected dining choices. Some ended up good, some not so good. I will make a more detailed dining report in the next couple of weeks.

In general:
GF Cafe'-dinner-hectic, slow, average food, some cleanliness issues. Friendly server, MIGHT try it again but only for a lunch.

Starring rolls-delicious-lunch doesn't start til 11:30 though.

Cantalina eddies-horrible

The Wave-lovely salads, great service, quiet lunch

Pecos Bill-new chicken dinner was pretty darn good. The fixin's bar is great!

Olivia's/OKW-quiet, very friendly service, fresh homemade good food and delicious desserts...lunch. The best place for desserts with key lime tart or the banana bread pudding sundae.

OKW/goods to go-great fresh fries, nice fresh sandwiches, homemade chicken soup.

Planet Hollywood-appetizers-mid-afternoon...easy walk in, tasty fresh food, sweet server. THEY USED BOTH $15 Certificates at one time.

Kona Cafe'-on our Anniversary Day. This was the only place that didn't actually offer anything for our anniversary. Not that we needed it, but it's the thought that counts and it WAS our actual anniversary day.
We waited 50 min. past our ADR time and our dining time was very rushed and only lasted 45 min total. Food was obviously pre-plated and sitting under heat lamps, dried out, luke warm scallops, very disappointing over all. I would only go again to TRY for lunch.
The bread was warm and soft and good though...too bad the server ripped it off the table as we were still eating it.

POFQ breakfast platters-bacon was actually crispy despite what I had heard. Everything was still fresh tasting and we were there at the very end of breakfast service.

Captain's Grille/Yacht Club-WOW-fun server, delicious food, appetizers included with select dinner options. They even brought a lovely extra dessert that said happy anniversary for us and made the entire restaurant sing to us (the waiter cleared it with us first though in case we would get embarrassed....we didn't mind at all).
Absolutely our favorite restaurant. Nice and quiet even at dinner. They even took us in earlier than our ADR.

Earl of Sandwich-fresh and tasty as ever (kinda slow on the service though).

Wolfgang puck express-delicious! Friendly staff, helpful with letting us use up all of our remaining dining credits for take out to our condo.

One last review is of Walker ECV rental. I will probably cross-post this separately on the disability board. This was my first experience needing this, so I have little to rely on for comparison. Some good and some bad. The scooter was waiting for me when I arrived. But, it didn't have the small battery that I requested to be able to charge during long park days. So, I had to call. They were there quickly with a small battery, the bell staff waited for them so I didn't have to, but of course I had to tip extra for their helpfulness for something that should have been there to begin with.
There was a bit of used-ness on the scooter. They are supposed to inspect them between uses, but mine had a tear in the rubber hand grip that was a bit irritating, the right arm rest wouldn't stay up, the battery cover on one battery was cracked, there was a slight tear in the stitching on the seat, and it looked a bit dirty on the back. I let them know of the cosmetic issues, they said they would notate it.
I was also told that even though it was a heavy duty scooter, it would breakdown and fit into a mid-size car. We have a ford 500 with a HUGE trunk and it was a real struggle to wedge it in there. Had we brought our taurus, I don't know that it would have worked.
A final issue was that my scooter had a charging problem on the third day. It had been fine previously and we charged it all night each night, but when we went to the MK for the halloween party it had no power. It was the first time I had used it during the day and didn't know until I got there. My family had to push me up any hilly areas including the monorail ramp. I got to the park and plugged in for an hour and nothing helped. So, I was stuck doing nothing. It took 3 calls to Walker to get help. The first one I was put on hold before I could talk. I hung up after 5 minutes and called back. That went to voicemail. The third call was answered with "I'll call you back". I interrupted and said I was stranded in the magic kingdom with my family pushing me. About an hour later some met me in the park and changed the batteries. He was very nice and helpful and I didn't have any problems after that.
None of the issues (besides the final string of calls) was that big of a deal, but all the little things really started to add up after a while. Not sure if I would go with them or not again. I'm glad that the scooter was there. I'm glad that they responded ONCE the message got through, but I had several hours during my vacation of avoidable issues that would make me think twice.


Overall we had a great time. I'm not sure how long Disney is going to be able to keep declining in service quality. They are a service industry, and they can't afford to keep going in this direction. It became a running gag by the end of our trip that every CM would respond to a question with "I don't know" and a shrug of the shoulders. No attempt to find out and pretty much the same attitude as any big box retail store employee who hates their job.
They really need to get their act together at Disney if they are going to make a come back.


That's the overall report.....Check for a full Dining Report Next week.
Look for the TINKMOBILE!

[mariepapa]

I noticed on my trip in August that there were so many who did not speak English or whose English was so accent laden that it was hard to understand them. Now my husband is an immigrant from Greece and he also had problems and feels for these people. If you are going to communicate with people all day then you need to be able to speak and do it clearly! When he first came here he took courses!

You should not have tipped for the extra battery as it was something that was supposed to be there in the first place.

Glad you had a nice trip though!

[Jeanieblue114]

the bell staff were kind enough to let me wait in the lobby and sit while they exchanged the battery with Walker. It wasn't their fault that the battery was wrong and kind of them to handle the exchange.

I think the cultural exchange is great.
But, communication skills must be good enough to make the rides and service efficient and safe. There seemed to be no minimum standard on communication skills.

[TGaines107]

Wow, great report. Over all, sounds like you had a pretty good time. Heck, anytime is a good time at WDW! Beats the heck out of work!

[Piglets Mommy]

Thanks for the report! I'm sorry to hear about the decline in service and CM interaction. Great CM's are part of what makes Disney so Magical.
I can't wait to read your full dining report!

[Sleeping Becca]

Bummer to hear about the scooter! It really sounds like you are a happy go lucky type of person, and I'm sure the problems with the scooter began to grate on you. But good for you to still have a wonderful trip despite your scooter issues!

Also very sorry to hear you were injured on a ride, that is not cool!

[Jeanieblue114]

Thanks for the comments.

I was hesitant to list 'bad' stuff.

But if we really want Disney to improve, we have to let them know where we are not satisfied.

Regardless of the issues, we all still have to make a personal decision to enjoy the quality time with our family.

One of the BEST parts of this trip was meeting all the Dis-ers! Wow, what FUN conversations! I haven't been a Diser for long, but I plan on sticking around.

[Im_with_Dopey]

Sorry I missed meeting you. I parked my scooter right next to yours Wed. night at HS at Tower of Terror. Sounds like you had a great time minus the few problems. We had an awesome time, we were there Sept 26 to Oct 3.

[Brian_WDW74]

I've moved this thread to the Trip Reports board.