2006 October DisneyWorld Trip *Complaints*

[cxcelica]

I'm sorry Devil Dog, but it is to be expected. It doesn't matter what type of business you are in. If you don't deliver 100% satisfaction 100% of the time the customer will start looking elsewhere. We all drop a ton of cash when we go to Disney and our investment should give us a good return. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if I deliver a bad product to any of my customers I risk losing that customers business. Disney has long been able to corner the market for great family vacations, but if they don't stop delivering a sub par product, Universal is just around the corner.

Here is the problem with that though. Customer Service as you say may be dropping but attendance keeps rising and rising. Hotels are full or close to capacity and Universal is taking a beating. So on one hand you have the complaints about customer service and on the other hand you have the fact that for them business is better than ever.

 

[thirtycats]

I hope this does not fall on deaf ears...........

[/I]

I hope not either.

Excellent letter, by the way.

I have felt Disney has gone down hill a bit too.

I was never sure though if I was just seeing it differently. The eyes of an adult vs. the eyes of a child. It seemed, when I was a child, that EVERY cast member was super nice and helpful. Now it seems a lot of them are bored and obviously don't want to be there.

I really hope Disney listens to you...and other people who complain. And they don't just listen to their cash registers. I understand the dollar is important, but it shouldn't be the most important thing in running a company.

You should have pride in your company and this would mean you'd want people to ENJOY the services you provide.

 

[cazzie]

We recently stayed at the All Stars, our room when we arrived had a dripping bath tap (really annoying after a while) and the cover on the one bed had a fair sized hole in it. We got the tap fixed and the cover changed but as my husband commented value resort or not you would have thought that the room would have been checked before they gave it to you.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Here's a mind blower for ya, that i did not know till this trip.
There are NO busses that go from a theme park to DownTown Disney....you have to do this song and dance with a monorail and a bus or 2 busses. Sucks if your at MK all day and need to get to Portabella Yacht Club for dinner.

But if someone intending to do that did a little research online or in guidebooks first, or even asked at the Magic Kingdom, they'd know in advance that there are no buses running between the theme parks and Downtown Disney. Now, what Disney may not tell you is why: Because Guests were parking at DtD and taking the Disney bus to a park, creating two problems: loss of parking revenue for Disney and lack of parking spaces for Downtown Disney shoppers.

Nope....he didn't say he had a bad time. He said there is room for improvement and several of us agree. Ignoring problems doesn't fix them.

Determining which are actual problems before complaining about everything helps, though.
He complains about sub-par food, but in five days mentions only two restaurants - Sci-Fi, which was disappointing, sub-par, not up to expected standards, and did not give the kids Frisbees; and Portabella, which was apparently great. That averages out to average, not sub-par.
He points out that Spaceship Earth and Haunted Mansion stopped several times as another drop in service; despite several later posts pointing out that this is done so mobility-impaired Guests can board (and unboard) the attraction/s, he hasn't indicated any misconception about this being an operational problem.
It's unusual that the audio on both Haunted Mansion AND Test Track was faulty - but to the best of my knowledge, this is vehicle-specific - so they had a bad Doom Buggy AND a bad car, but the attractions overall are fine. The sooner a Guest informs a Cast Member that there is a problem anywhere, the faster Disney can work on fixing it.

2-Disney prices keep increasing so I expect perfection--I can't say that I have done a full blown financial comparison on this but I suspect that rising Disney prices are relatively proportional to the overall inflation observed in the cost of everything that we buy here in America. Do you remember when an adult could go the the movies at nigh for $5.00?

Okay, I feel old. Do you remember when a kid could go to the movies any time of day for fifty cents? Wasn't all that long ago - I'm still years from retirement... Or when you could get three gallons of gas for less than a dollar? Vastly different from this past summer, when you couldn't get one gallon of gas for less than three dollars

See, i think many of you are getting my intentions wrong. You are reading it one way and doing a bizzare interpritation of my complaint.

Ah, but that could likely be because we're seeing (aside from your comment about Portabella) ONLY complaints. Surely the entire trip wasn't disappointing?

What the restaurant prints out for the guest, and what the restaurant gets reimbursed from Disney are 2 different things. What the server gets is 18% of the "reimbursed amount" not 18% of the check.

To the best of my knowledge, restaurant reimbursement only comes into play for NON-Disney-owned restaurants. Any restaurant Disney owns is credited at 100% of the check and the gratuity is paid at 18% of that 100%.

As a cast member, I have advice for those who have problems with other cast members:

GET A MANAGER.

Seriously. Get a manager. None of the corporates are going to care about the third level peons that are taking your food orders. If you have a problem with someone not giving you -at the very least - adequate service, report it to a manager. Problems don't get resolved if you leave them alone until you get home.

If you have a GENUINE problem, absolutely. But "he didn't smile at me" or "she put my change on the counter instead of handing it to me", etc., are really not report-worthy. Let it go.

Should WE have to make Cast Members smile? No. Should we treat CMs exactly as we'd like or expect to be treated - as people, as equals (actually, I think most CMs are better than me - I couldn't deal with Guests like us for hours on end)? Abso-tootin'-lutely. Somebody didn't say 'thank you' to me when they handed me my frozen cappuccino? Oh well. That was the same person who offered, without me asking, to pour it into my refillable mug so I wouldn't spill it. Yes, thank them - as it should be.
I expect good service and I get it. When I don't, I make my feelings known. When I get great or outstanding service, I let Disney know that, too. When? As soon as possible after it happens (although I do still need to write to Pop Century about some CMs who I feel went way out of their way for me when the ECV that was supposed to be delivered by 9:30 AM still wasn't there at 7 PM; one of them explained to me that they try to treat us as if we're Guests in their own homes, not just of Walt Disney World!).

 

[jarrdisney]

To anyone that will be at WDW while we are there next month, when they need to stop Spaceship Earth as my DM who is battling cancer, is getting off, please forgive us. We will try to hurry it up.

That is absolutley uneccesary.

 

[jarrdisney]

Cut the guy some slack for christ's sake. He brought up some great points that a TON of people agree with. The smell inside the monorail is akin to urine and they should do something about it. The decline in disney restaurants is apparent and he's voicing his opinion.

Also, be aware that the OP is not trying to "offend" you when he uses words like rape. It's called a metaphor.

 

[cxcelica]

Cut the guy some slack for christ's sake. He brought up some great points that a TON of people agree with. The smell inside the monorail is akin to urine and they should do something about it. The decline in disney restaurants is apparent and he's voicing his opinion.

Also, be aware that the OP is not trying to "offend" you when he uses words like rape. It's called a metaphor.

I agree with you that the OP stated some valid complaints and that he should not be taken to task for them.

But please, nothing that he experienced required the metaphor of rape.

Metaphor
1 : a figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them.

There is no likeness between what he experienced and rape. Lets not get carried away here.

 

[usewickhouse]

First I want to say "THANK YOU" to the OP for having the courage to speak up! We just returned form Disney after a long weekend trip for my DD 9th birthday and we encountered numerous problems as well as "magic". One of my biggest compliants is that on the POTC and the TTA the esculator thing that moves people to and from were both NOT working. The one at the TTA was the one to go on the ride and it was very difficult for my friend who is partially crippled to get up to the ride chasing her 2 DD's. And before any of you say, well why did you go on it? We had 4 DD's and they went ahead of us and they did not say a thing and by the time they were almost to the top we were just getting on and realizing that the thing was broke. Regarding the POTC there was no way to know that the mover was broken until we were getting off the ride. This is Disney after all and most of us expect rides to be in proper working order. As far as rides stopping, yes we all need to be patient while they load and un-load the handi-cap guests. We also had problems with the audio on several rides this weekend.

Second and most appalling is how filthy our room was at POFQ. We have stayed at almost all the resorts and this one by far had the dirtiest room. Have any of you looked behind the headboard? Had mold on your shower walls? Other than this it was a wonderful, beautiful resort and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Well, except for the non-english speaking CM's at the food court who moved about as fast as turtle's and could not understand us.

Our biggest complaint though, was a problem we had at Fort Wilderness getting tickets to the Haunted Hayride. We got there an hour before the tickets went on sale at the kennel and were about the 20th person in line so we figured we were okay? I should have started this by saying this was a birthday surprise for my DD 9th birthday. So at around 9am they finally started selling the tickets and within minutes several of the rides were sold out. My DH and another guest in line were taking turns running up to the window to see what was going on. Well, the Boy Scouts/Cub Scouts were buying 15-30 tickets at a time. They were buying entire wagon rides. According to them they had called WDW and was told that they could not arrange for a "grand" gathering and would have to stand in line with the rest of the folks. Fast forward...I'm next in line and there are only 2 tickets left for the entire night. Which of course I buy them and tell my DH that DD9 will just have to pick one, there were 6 of us, to ride with her. Meaning that my other DD 31/2 will not get to go. I was heart broken and in tears when leaving the kennel that morning but vowed to not let it ruin out trip. Later that night I talked the family into going to FW to eat because I wanted to see if there was any way to get the additional tickets that we needed. So I sent them to eat and went to the "Stand By" line for the hayrides. While there I ran into some people that had been there that morning and as we were talking about the Scouts and how really un-fair it was that they had bought the hayrides out the CM's working there ask if I could get my whole party there by the time the first hayride was to go. So I got on the cell and told them to forget eating that a WONDERFUL CM was going to make a little birthday girls dream. And he DID!! We exchanged our original 2 tickets and were able to purchase the other 4 and rode the HAUNTED hayride. It was so AWESOME!! Both DD's are still talking about the HH and where Ichobod could be? This was the highlight of their whole trip and worth every minute I did not sleep in order to be packed and ready to leave our house by 6am to get in line by 8am. Yes, we only live 2 hours away from the MOUSE.

Which is another reason I can say with all honesty and integrity the MOUSE needs some work and their customer service is not what is use to be. Please do not flame me due to low posts or for complaining. I just feel the original OP has some very legitimate complaints and I for one am very happy that he want's to be heard!

FYI...for any of you that really want an AWESOME experience that is non-Disney related try the Gaylord Palms resort. The hotel is so wonderful, we have been there several times and will be returning this Christmas for ICE and absolutley can not wait.

Disney truly is in the eye of the beholder so to each their own. We go to WDW very frequently and will continue to do so. But after all these years would like to see the TRUE Disney customer service return!!

By the way, the monorail did smell but I never really gave it a thought until I read this post. I felt like we were at the AK. Maybe we all pick up a zoo like smell while at the AK and we leave it behind on the monorail? Just a thought?

To ALL, Enjoy your WDW trip's for they are ALL once in a lifetime moment's!

 

[jarrdisney]

I agree with you that the OP stated some valid complaints and that he should not be taken to task for them.

But please, nothing that he experienced required the metaphor of rape.

Metaphor
1 : a figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them.

There is no likeness between what he experienced and rape. Lets not get carried away here.

while we're using the dictionary

rape: an act of plunder, violent seizure, or abuse; despoliation; violation: the rape of the countryside.

I agree...maybe that word should not have been used. But people are attacking him with disdain.

 

[cxcelica]

while we're using the dictionary

rape: an act of plunder, violent seizure, or abuse; despoliation; violation: the rape of the countryside.

I agree...maybe that word should not have been used. But people are attacking him with disdain.

Thank you for further making my point by defining rape, the OP has valid complaints but nothing he experienced can be likened to rape. I actually feel there are just as many posts that agree with the OP as that don't.

 

[javaonline]

While we're wordsmithing....I dont particularly care for the way "crippled" was used above either.

 

[cxcelica]

While we're wordsmithing....I dont particularly care for the way "crippled" was used above either.

I will be back with an official Oxford definition in a flash

 

[usewickhouse]

javaonline...no offense but what word would be PC to use for "crippled"? My friend was nearly killed due to a head on collision at 22 yrs old. She has been left with many dis-abillities due to the accident and almost lost her leg. So, if her and I are both okay with "crippled" then I'll apologize to you and anyone else that may take offense to the word.

 

[javaonline]

javaonline...no offense but what word would be PC to use for "crippled"? My friend was nearly killed due to a head on collision at 22 yrs old. She has been left with many dis-abillities due to the accident and almost lost her leg. So, if her and I are both okay with "crippled" then I'll apologize to you and anyone else that may take offense to the word.

http://www.bartleby.com/64/C006/021.html
The adjective crippled and the corresponding noun cripple are now considered offensively blunt when used of a person with a hindering or incapacitating physical condition. The current preference in most cases is for disabled, as in an accident that left her disabled or improved access for the disabled. But when the emphasis shifts from the person to the impairment itself, there is generally no reason to avoid the stronger term. Thus while you might choose to say He was increasingly disabled by multiple sclerosis, you might describe the disease itself as crippling, especially if your purpose is to stress the seriousness of its physical effects. There is a great difference between the insensitive labeling of a particular person as a cripple and the deliberate use of such a word for its vivid effect, as in this quote from the Washington Post: “There is no more devastating blow to the human psyche than to be transformed in microseconds from a healthy robust human being into a cripple. “

 

[PlutoLuvr]

I think "disabled" is the PC term being used nowadays. At least that's the term doctors, attorneys and judges I work with use currently.

 

[traviesojmt]

I think this thread shows why it is so important to take everything we read here on the Disboards with a grain of salt. Everyone brings a different prospective to their trip. There will always be those who love particular restaurants, ride, resort, etc. and others who don't. For every person who loves a particular restaurant, for example, there will be one who writes how disappointed they were in that same restaurant. We were at Disney for 10 days this past Aug. I am truly having a hard time remembering any real complaints from our trip. We rode the monorail on several occasions and I never noticed any unpleasant smells. The cast members that we came in contact with were wonderful. This was my parents first trip to the WDW and my mother made numerous comments on how friendly everyone was. While we were on the DDP, we found the service to be wonderful. The service did not appear any different to me than in the past when we were there without the DPP. For our family, the magic was just as strong this trip as it was our previous trips. So, the OP did not have the same experience that I did. I really think that with as many people who visit everyday, that is to be expected. I hope that the OP's next visit brings the magic back for their family.

 

[Denicio]

OK, an update and an opinion.

Just got a call from the manager from Si-Fi.
She apologized, got the waiters name and was very very very professional.

My letter accomplished one of my points.

I got the attention of a Disney manager, and hopefully things will improve for future guests!

She did mention the Frisbee's have been taken away from the meals now. I guess the dining plan may have something to do with this.

While I had her on the phone, I ASKED HER POINT BLANK about the monorail smell. I could "Hear" Her blush on the phone when she said, yeah they do smell.

She said she had a FULL copy of my letter I sent and that letters like that get circulated around to all the Management staff. My letter came to her from some VP at Disney. SO the EXCELLENT news is that its being circulated and that they ARE concerned.


NOW...on to the folk that hijacked my thread discussing what the DEFINITION of "is" is.

I hate that women get raped. It sucks beyond my comprehension. In my book women should be adored and worshiped, not abused.

But if ALL you saw in my post was the word rape and were offended...I can’t help you….you missed the entire point of the post. It’s a "Figure of speech". I type in my native southern tongue. Rape is used as a Figure of Speech in these parts to explain a raw deal. Like it or not, its just the way it is.
I had my wallet stolen once, do I get freaked out when someone uses the words "ripped off", "Cheated" or "Stolen". No. A bad and loose comparison, I know.

If you are overly sensitive to certain words due to personal experience, I’d seriously reconsider using the web, Internet or forums if I were you.

As for those that chose to throw stones at me for the "Cheer up the Cast Member" thoughts. You guys really need to pick another fight. I never said I was going down there doing my worst Sam Kennison Verbally abusing rants on these CM's. I never said I was going down there kicking their shins and calling them names. NOPE not once. I just expect a cast member who runs me over with a garbage cart to apologize and say sorry. I expect a cast member who is serving me food to be pleasant.
As for those that think I am out of my mind for expecting Disney to be superior...they are the BIGGEST boasters of "Legendary Customer Service" training. Someone used the term "Entitlement" towards me in a derogatory way. Who ever that was does not have a grip on what the Hospitality business is all about.
Am I entitled? Your darn tootin!! I have a zillion other choices, they woo us to go down there...they are, by design, to be the best of the best, to astound you, to make you feel you spent TOO much money but still feel like...somehow...in a bizarre way...you cheated them, cuz you had a life changing experience.

I am a southen boy. My momma taught me manners and I do just that. I say please, thank you and excuse me...always! But some forum members here got a whacked out view on my complaints and how the Hospitality business works.

Someone needs to Webster a definition of Hospitality for these folks that feel I am wrong for complaining.

...off my soap box.

Dennis

 

[Denicio]

Ah, but that could likely be because we're seeing (aside from your comment about Portabella) ONLY complaints. Surely the entire trip wasn't disappointing?

.

See the title of the post and more specifically the word between ** **

This thread was not designed to be a Praise Disney thread.

It appears that others have had "Less than Disney" experiences too, and have posted thier beef's.

Dennis

 

[javaonline]

See the title of the post and more specifically the word between ** **

This thread was not designed to be a Praise Disney thread.

It appears that others have had "Less than Disney" experiences too, and have posted thier beef's.

Dennis

17 posts and each one is filled with more sunshine than the last.

 

[LindsayDunn228]

I type in my native southern tongue. Rape is used as a Figure of Speech in these parts to explain a raw deal. Like it or not, its just the way it is.

Hi from Cleveland, TN, the other side of the state. I don't know how things run in Memphis, but the "rape metaphor" isn't popular in these parts. Figure of speech is used to explain things, for certain. But "I left a tip for Mousekeeping and they never even cleaned the room, talk about being raped" isn't one of them.

Please don't get the wrong idea of the South, folks!