Our vacation was a disaster, and Disney didn't live up to expectations.

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I definitely understand your frustration. Our last trip was not as I was accustomed to. However, I was quick to put the blame where the blame was due and most of it was not at Disney. However, I have the opposite feeling as you. I can't wait to go back so I can have a positive experience.

As far as the doors. Please remember children are not the only ones that stay at the hotel. I really don't see it as Disney's problem that one child closed the door on another child's fingers, as unfortunate as it was. My DD closed her hand in a car window once and I wasn't faulting the car maker. It was an accident. Curious why you called 911 though. Did the other child open the door? Could you have gotten your child to the hospital?

The issue with strawberry milk sounds very strange. I have never encountered a CM like that. How would they know whether or not you were on the dining plan? Not everyone that stays at the hotel chooses the dining plan. Did your child start to drink the milk before it was purchased?

I'm sorry for your bad experiences. Give Disney another try.

Ummm... My child's fingertips were hanging (literally) off the ends of his fingers. Would you have NOT called 911??? He was spraying blood everywhere, and it looked to me like his fingers had been severed. Are you seriously implying that I shouldn't have called for an ambulance to get my son medical attention? Even if I did have a rental car, where is the hospital? How am I supposed to apply pressure to the open wounds to stop the bleeding? Think about it.

No, I didn't bring our medical cards or credit cards or anything to the hospital, because I was panicked because I thought my son's fingers had been severed. I was too busy trying to comfort my child to think of things like that.

I don't expect anything from Disney monetary-wise or a gift to my child or anything like that (as another poster suggested). I didn't and don't expect them to pay for any type of medical bill or expense. I do think that an appropriate protocol should be put in place to give guests information on what to do in case of an emergency transport to a hospital. I was in a place I'd never been before, neither of my child has ever had a medical emergency/broken bone/severe cut or wound. The whole situation was completely foreign to me, and it was frightening. No, I wasn't thinking clearly. I was only thinking about my son.

As for housekeeping - there was still blood in and on the door. That wasn't simply an oversight. Someone dropped the ball by not communicating what happened and/or housekeeping didn't realize that the object that causes an injury likely has blood on it.

My children weren't arguing when the door was closed. I was right there, scrubbing a stained tee shirt in the sink, less than six feet away. I don't know if you've ever been in a CBR room before, but the toilet and shower are in one room, and the sinks are right outside the stupid door. My sons were just chatting, and one closed the door and locked it, oblivious to the fact that the other kid's fingers were there. If that would have happened at home, yes, my younger son's fingers would have pinched, but that door isn't so heavy that it's going to close and the tumbler isn't going to fall into place.

For those who are pro-bathroom-door-lock - I really hope your child or loved one never gets hurt in a bathroom and you're unable to help them because you can't get to them. My grandmother suffered a concussion once when she slipped in a bathroom (at home), and no one could get to her for several minutes. That's long enough for a child to drown in a bathtub.

And, no, I didn't lock myself out of my room. I do know how to use a hotel key. Something was mechanically wrong with it, as the concierge guy couldn't get in with his electronic key, either. He had to use the manual metal key, and he said that was very unusual and that maintenance would have to come look at it. Disney told me I had to switch rooms. The irritating part was wasting my morning repacking and waiting for bell services. I understand that stuff happens, things break, etc... But spending two hours waiting for bell services just plain sucked.

I'm not blaming Disney for everything that happened - our vacation basically sucked for many stupid reasons, partly my kids, partly weather, partly Disney. I'm just saying that Disney didn't quite live up to my expectations, particularly the cast members.

The cast member at the contemporary resort was extremely out of line; maybe he thought he needed to act like a parent to my child because it was just me and my kids, but we were doing fine until he came along. He tried explaining something about me using my drink credit to pay for my son's strawberry milk. I told him that we'd be fine, thank you, I'll take care of it. He was going on and on about me using my drink credit for my kid's milk. I told him that I was thirsty, and I'd like a Diet Coke with my meal, but thanks for trying to help, but I'd use a snack credit for the strawberry milk. So he's still rambling on and on and I said, "Sir, I've got this. Give my son back his drink, and let's be done with this." He's still trying to explain, "I'm trying to help you, blah blah blah." That's when I told him to get out of my face. He wouldn't give my kid's drink back, and I'd tried to ask him to leave twice before I said to get out of my face. The very FIRST time I told him that we were fine, he should have left us alone. It NEVER should have gotten to the point that I told him to get out of my face.
 
I'm certainly no WDW apologist--I've had various complaints, too--but our vacations on the whole have been wonderful.

That being said, I have the following comments:

1. Reading some of your other posts, I see that you were by yourself for a week at WDW with a 4-year old and and a 7-year old. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy! I know that many people don't agree with me, but I wouldn't bring children that young at all, much less by myself. I personally wouldn't take a child small enough to still be in a stroller (which doesn't apply to your kids), and it would be even better if the child was old enough to not need daytime naps.

2. I see from another post that you planned to surprise your children about the visit mid-flight to WDW! I know that many people think that this is cute and fun, but it also (IMHO) sets the children up to be overstimulated, and doesn't give you a chance to get them used to your expectations for their behavior on the trip.

3. We've gone twice during the last week in August, and yes, it rains every day--but only for about 30 minutes or an hour. The rain is great--it cools things off and clears out the parks. We have never interrupted our vacation for rain, not even when it rained all day once for us last February. We just pulled on ponchos and enjoyed the short lines at MK.

4. The milk thing is weird. Not sure why you seemed to escalate the incident with your insistence that the CM "get out of your face." One quite effective technique for things like this is to get very, very calm instead of confrontational. In other words, I would have let the CM take the milk, thereby ending the immediate confrontation, and then very calmly asked for a manager.

5. Sorry about your son's injury. I hope he gets better soon.
 
I believe that OP's attitude prob had alot to do w/ her experience. From what I can tell from her post she seems as though once she was angered and inconvenienced, her attitude changed and probably remained this way throughout her whole trip.

Like I said I’m really sorry but I just don’t get that most of the CM’s she encountered were rude, especially the Milk incident. I just don’t see it. My husband works in the convention and tourism business here in Houston and was so impressed w/ their level of cust service when we visited for the first time last yr that he is looking into a seminar/ class that Disney offers to train their employees in Cust Serv.


I have a friend who does have a very sour attitude and is normally met at first with smiles, but after a while she is met back with a similar attitude to hers. A CM probably couldn't help but defend themselves against that type of behavior. I love my friend dearly, but I have been in stores with her where she goes into tirades with store clerks, managers, etc. In restaurants, she isn't any better. I have come to see over time, that it is because her world is so small - she lives in a small town, has had the same job for almost thirty years, and strays little from the area. Her friends are just us at work and any of her friends from HS; she graduated 33 years ago.

She also travels very little and when she does, she is very overwhelmed by how everything works. Last year, she traveled to Williamsburg, VA with her aunt, which is a place my mom and I travel quite often. We have a very favorite hotel we like to stay at, so when she asked for a recommendation, I quickly recommended our fav hotel.

She came back with nothing but negative comments about the hotel and how stupid they were - she had to put down a credit card to reserve the room (which she couldn't understand why) but said at the time of check-out she wanted to pay cash. I asked her why she just didn't pay cash when she first got there, and she said she wanted to make sure everything was to her satisfaction.

Well, check-out was 11:00 am, and they first loaded up the car with all the stuff and then walked to the main building about 11:15 am. Of course, the computer had already charged her credit card at 11:00 am. She ranted and raved apparently for quite a long time at anyone who would listen to her about how utterly stupid these people were, that couldn't seem to even handle one easy direction.

I explained to her first of all that hotels will automatically charge the credit card at check-out time, because it is their right to be paid for services rendered. She actually had the gaul to say that they should have seen her loading her stuff up in the car through the window and should have realized she was on her way to pay for it and waited. I was like, really???? I would have suspected the opposite - that she was skipping town w/o paying. When I told her the computer does it automatically..... she looked befuddled.

Then I said that she wasn't out the money - she still had the cash and she could have gone to the bank the next day and deposited in into her account. As long as she paid the bill before the due date, she wasn't going to get charged any interest, so what was the harm????

She said it was the principal of the thing and they had clearly inconvenienced her. She was never staying there again.

And you know, a couple of years later, she went back to the same hotel and the same exact thing happened, and she ranted and raved about it all over again.

Some people will never learn.
 
we go to ER and have an ADR for the hospital cafeteria at 7:00(had to make 180 days in advance because they book up fast, little secret no one knew about)

LOL!! :rotfl2: that's hilarious!


I believe that OP's attitude prob had alot to do w/ her experience. From what I can tell from her post she seems as though once she was angered and inconvenienced, her attitude changed and probably remained this way throughout her whole trip.

Like I said I’m really sorry but I just don’t get that most of the CM’s she encountered were rude, especially the Milk incident. I just don’t see it.


I stand by my previous post but I do think some of yall are being a little too harsh. :sad1:
 
This statement is quite harsh and if your vacations are perfect and nothing goes wrong than more power to you. It is impossible to plan for accidents to your children and other people's attitudes and even your children's behavior. :confused:

While you can not schedule accidents or the outcome of them, you can (and should, IMHO) think about the basics of "what if". Everybody knows a child can get sick from one minute to another. They can get into the weirdest accidents in a matter of seconds, even if you're the most hands on parent. A parent knows that more than anybody else. With that knowledge it would be basics to give a second or 2 to "what if....". Many spend hours, if not months planning where to eat, what ride to do on what day etc.

But the "what if..."? Nah, doesn't happen to 'me'. And if it does; the airline/Disney/you name it is responsible and should safe the day.

I'm sorry to say it, but I do find it everybodies responsibility to think about what if. What if your flight gets delayed, cancelled, diverted, you name it? What if you child gets sick and needs medication or a doc? What if your child goes oooooops, slips at the pool and has a cut in his/her head? All can happen very easily. It's amazing how many folks aren't even thinking about these basics. Not having their insurance papers with them on a trip. Having no clue where to go for help, etc. etc. It takes no more than max. 1 hour to go 'what if' and have some basic info prepared. Know where there is a hospital, pharmacy and how you can get a doc to make housecalls. Have ID and insurancepapers or copy on your, or within reach. Make a recap of what you need in what type of emergency. Preparing, repeating and repeating is half the profit. Very much like thinking about escaping a fire in you hotelroom or plane; having a plan can make a huge difference. Unlike the real big life threatening things, most things that happen to kids can be very scary and emotional but do leave more than enough time to get your stuff together if you know what you have to do. Being prepared makes that a lot easier. And if the moment comes where every second literally counts; one wil love having things engraved into their system through repeat and prepare.

So yeah, very much just MHO, but I do think accidents are something you can prepare to in certain ways.
 
Also, I don't understand waiting for bell services for 2 hours. Leave your stuff at the front desk and go to the parks. Or, if you're hanging around the resort all morning, you don't need to go back for a rest later in the day.

I was supposed to haul two children, two suitcases, two backpacks, and a rented double stroller over to bell services by myself? Huh. Where can I sign up for the eight arms you must have? lol
 
The cast member at the contemporary resort was extremely out of line; maybe he thought he needed to act like a parent to my child because it was just me and my kids, but we were doing fine until he came along. He tried explaining something about me using my drink credit to pay for my son's strawberry milk. I told him that we'd be fine, thank you, I'll take care of it. He was going on and on about me using my drink credit for my kid's milk. I told him that I was thirsty, and I'd like a Diet Coke with my meal, but thanks for trying to help, but I'd use a snack credit for the strawberry milk. So he's still rambling on and on and I said, "Sir, I've got this. Give my son back his drink, and let's be done with this." He's still trying to explain, "I'm trying to help you, blah blah blah." That's when I told him to get out of my face. He wouldn't give my kid's drink back, and I'd tried to ask him to leave twice before I said to get out of my face. The very FIRST time I told him that we were fine, he should have left us alone. It NEVER should have gotten to the point that I told him to get out of my face.

That's really strange. Maybe he was trying to help you not have to pay out of pocket at all. Could you just have used your child's credit for your soft drink and your credit for the strawberry milk? I've not used the dining plan so I don't know how it works, but it sounds like that might be what he was trying to tell you. Still, once you made it clear you weren't receptive to his help I'm surprised he kept trying.

Count me as one who wants locks on the bathroom doors, and I actually locked myself in a hotel bathroom when I was little. It was a frightening experience for my parents, but they learned to take precautions to prevent that in the future. As another poster mentioned, they sell things you can put on the door to prevent this kind of situation. I've stayed at CBR fairly often and I don't remember the doors being unusually heavy, but maybe they've changed since I was there last.

I'm sorry you have a bad trip. It sounds like everything could have happened anywhere, except for the CM who tried to help you with the dining plan. Still, since you don't intend to go back to Disney World I hope you are able to find another vacation destination you like better in the future. Good luck, and I hope your son is feeling better.
 
I have to agree with being well prepared - especially since I travel alone. I would expect that traveling alone with two small children would be just as stressful as traveling by oneself.

As a precaution, in addition to the items you mentioned, I type up my itinerary with all of my emergency phone numbers and distribute it to my family. When I arrive at the resort, I tape it to the mirror in my hotel whenever I travel and place a copy in my backpack. That way, if I fall unconscious, they can easily call someone in my family.
 
I do think that an appropriate protocol should be put in place to give guests information on what to do in case of an emergency transport to a hospital.

You expect OTHERS to be responsible for YOUR and YOUR FAMILIES health!? Come on!

You, and nobody else is responsible. If you do not know what to do in case of an accident, emergency, illness etc; it is up to you to get the info on that. Very very easy in this day of age.
 
I was supposed to haul two children, two suitcases, two backpacks, and a rented double stroller over to bell services by myself? Huh. Where can I sign up for the eight arms you must have? lol

How did you make it thru your home airport? My answer to your question directly would have been make more then one trip.

edit: Also 2 backpacks??? How did they get there in the first place? If one of the kids could wear a backpack, they could carry it.
 
OP, I'm so sorry. :hug: I hope your son's fingers are healing well. Poor kid. Not exactly the best way to start out a trip. Was he able to function fairly well for the rest of the trip? I'm sure being in pain probably left him a bit irritable. I know I certainly get cranky when in pain! I'm sure that likely contributed to the sibling squabbles. It's hard to be in your happy place when you're hurting.

When you said you were locked out, was the problem a malfunctioning lock? Is that why you had to switch rooms? That's pretty lousy that you lost a whole morning to that. It must have been difficult keeping the kids occupied while waiting for bell services to help with your luggage. Two hours is a long time for kids to wait.

I know the trip did not live up to your expectations but I hope that you'll at least give it another shot again sometime in the future. I think you had the lion's share of bad luck this trip, which hopefully means your next trip will be problem free and full of magic and pixie dust. In the meantime, I would definitely write to Guest Communications and tell the of your experience. If nothing else, it might help you to feel better. :hug:
 
While it may have been a bad choice of words, automatically disregarding everything said is a little {insert PC word that would fit}. In this case, I do agree we arent getting the whole / both sides of the story though, so that makes me question more things then just a word that's used.

I strongly disagree. If a poster cannot post their experience without using a slur, then I have no use for them or their opinions. That word is tremendously hurtful and loaded, and using it implies either insensitivity or ignorance on the part of the poster. Just because it's in a person's vernacular does not make it acceptable. If the poster used a different slur, implying racial, ethnic, socioeconomic or religious overtones, they would be smacked and the post would be deleted ASAP.

Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox, but that is a mean word and I don't think it should be used like the poster used it.
 
OP, I'm so sorry. :hug: I hope your son's fingers are healing well. Poor kid. Not exactly the best way to start out a trip. Was he able to function fairly well for the rest of the trip? I'm sure being in pain probably left him a bit irritable. I know I certainly get cranky when in pain! I'm sure that likely contributed to the sibling squabbles. It's hard to be in your happy place when you're hurting.

When you said you were locked out, was the problem a malfunctioning lock? Is that why you had to switch rooms? That's pretty lousy that you lost a whole morning to that. It must have been difficult keeping the kids occupied while waiting for bell services to help with your luggage. Two hours is a long time for kids to wait.

I know the trip did not live up to your expectations but I hope that you'll at least give it another shot again sometime in the future. I think you had the lion's share of bad luck this trip, which hopefully means your next trip will be problem free and full of magic and pixie dust. In the meantime, I would definitely write to Guest Communications and tell the of your experience. If nothing else, it might help you to feel better. :hug:

Yes, it was a malfunctioning lock. The concierge guy's key wouldn't work in the lock either, and he had to use a traditional metal key to get in. He commented that it was unusual and they'd have to call maintenance.
 
Especially since the example (McDonald's coffee) was entirely wrong. They weren't found liable because it happened on their property, they were found liable because they had been serving coffee that was considerably hotter than normal and had been warned multiple times to either warn people or serve it at a lower temperature.

This is exactly why people who aren't lawyers are not allowed to give legal advice.
 
I was supposed to haul two children, two suitcases, two backpacks, and a rented double stroller over to bell services by myself? Huh. Where can I sign up for the eight arms you must have? lol

There aren't any CMs who work there who could have helped?
 
I strongly disagree. If a poster cannot post their experience without using a slur, then I have no use for them or their opinions. That word is tremendously hurtful and loaded, and using it implies either insensitivity or ignorance on the part of the poster. Just because it's in a person's vernacular does not make it acceptable. If the poster used a different slur, implying racial, ethnic, socioeconomic or religious overtones, they would be smacked and the post would be deleted ASAP.

Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox, but that is a mean word and I don't think it should be used like the poster used it.

:thumbsup2
 
Well if the OP's posts ("r" word, calling Disney cms stupid) are any indication of her attitude I can see where the trip would be a disaster.

The whole strawberry milk story seems wierd and blown out of proportion.

I'm very sorry that the little boy got hurt, but I've had my kids fingers caught in doors at home and it's usually kids fooling around, or not being careful. It can and does happen everywhere.

Sorry - but even with kids I LIKE bathroom door locks - I think most people are more upset if the bathroom door doesn't lock.

I've had to take kids to the emergency room several times and never left without credit cards/cash/insurance information. I'm still not understanding the extent of the little boy's injuries - I've seen fractures, fingertips/fingernails hanging? I find it hard to believe that the EMTs were stupid and couldn't access the situation.

It sounds to me like OP had unrealistic expectations and kids fighting/wanting everything got on her nerves and progressed into a "everyone's out to get me" mentality.
 
Well if the OP's posts ("r" word, calling Disney cms stupid) are any indication of her attitude I can see where the trip would be a disaster.

The whole strawberry milk story seems wierd and blown out of proportion.

I'm very sorry that the little boy got hurt, but I've had my kids fingers caught in doors at home and it's usually kids fooling around, or not being careful. It can and does happen everywhere.

Sorry - but even with kids I LIKE bathroom door locks - I think most people are more upset if the bathroom door doesn't lock.

I've had to take kids to the emergency room several times and never left without credit cards/cash/insurance information. I'm still not understanding the extent of the little boy's injuries - I've seen fractures, fingertips/fingernails hanging? I find it hard to believe that the EMTs were stupid and couldn't access the situation.

It sounds to me like OP had unrealistic expectations and kids fighting/wanting everything got on her nerves and progressed into a "everyone's out to get me" mentality.


I have to wonder if she called the CM that as well. :mad: I also think some Disney CM's need customer service re-training but I do not believe a word of the Strawberry Milk story. Not one word.
 
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