... just pointing out that all requests are just that requests. I'm sure there were many other people who wanted room for their awnings also. virtually stomping your feet and insisting that nothing but tonight will do. no we can't wait till morning? yes, you were that rude guest ... 2003 yes I remember it well. I think that was about the time they started the no smoking rooms and no smoking on the balconies rule. we were smokers at that time, did a split stay, the first resort we had a smoking room, the 2nd? nope they were already deep cleaning the rooms. I know it's hard to adjust but nowadays smokers need to go to DSA's. hubby and I quit almost 5 years ago. he went aback to it about 2 years ago ... sigh ... but people smoking on balconies is inconsiderate to your neighbors who also want to enjoy their balcony. sorry, but it's true.
I apologize for the tardiness of this response. I first noticed your bright red text on a very busy day. And then, I'm afraid that it slipped my mind. A circumstance that is becoming increasingly common these days. In any event:
Yes, I was rude. Far beyond that. I was livid. And to this day I have no idea to what degree the three Cast Members who were present in the office that night were responsible for Disney's failure - in this instance - to exercise the most rudimentary norms of hospitality. And because of that,
they received my apology for my behavior. However, briefly:
This was 1985. People still
talked to people then. And this was our first trip of any length to WDW. So, I had spoken to Disney Cast Members (associated with Reservations and on staff at Fort Wilderness) no fewer than a dozen times before our arrival:
the awning had become something of an inside joke during those conversations.
Initially, because my father had read or heard somewhere that the preferred - and more expensive - loops/sites (up front/close by Pioneer Hall) could be noisy, my one request had been that we be assigned a spot in the back of the campground. But, when it became apparent that space for the awning was the most important consideration, I asked, during several calls, if everyone was absolutely certain that the sites in the rear of Fort Wilderness would accommodate the awning. And if there was any chance that ours might not, I asked to be given the opportunity to change our reservation. I was assured that that wouldn't be necessary. In fact, when I first offered the awning's measurements, I was told that that also wasn't necessary. The awning
would unfurl on
any Fort Wilderness RV site. I submitted the measurements anyway.
So, I don't know, with any certainty, what happened. I
do know that, whatever it was, it had nothing to do with a paucity of empty, spacious campsites. We were there for ten days and they were all around us. There were three within sight of our own that remained unoccupied the length of our stay. As for my insistence that we be allowed to move that night:
My parents had already done whatever needed to be (or could be) done outside (hookups, etc). But I saw absolutely no reason why they should have to go through the process of 'unpacking' the motor home that night only to have to stow everything again in the morning. Too, I saw absoluely no reason why we should have to go through the entire scene again with the day-shift Cast Members. We were up. They were up (and certainly not demandingly engaged). Half the campground was up. There was no reason not to do it then. Other than that they preferred to have someone else deal with the problem. Finally:
I spent 45 years in service and sales industries. Most of them as a commissioned agent. No hourly wage. No salary. And I cannot recall an instance when, knowing that I was going to have to disappoint a client/customer by whom my company was being handsomely paid, I permitted them to be nastily surprised by my inability to fulfil their requests. I too much preferred to help keep the roof over my head. Note: Disney employees have far more often amazed us with outstanding service than they have shocked us with poor.
As for smoking:
I was, for over forty years, one of
those smokers. I never smoked in the presence of those I didn't know well without asking if it would cause them to be uncomfortable or concerned. I never disposed of a cigarette any where other than in an ashtray. Ever. In fact, when all of the ash receptacles disappeared from public spaces, I carried a valet in my purse. I have never smoked in any one of the ever-widening areas designated
Non-Smoking by the movement that
first said that it 'had absolutely no wish to ban smoking or inconvenience smokers'. Who, they announced ever so cloyingly in their slippery-slope beginnings, only wanted some small, inobtrusive smoke-free places for their very own. I played by their rules.
I was a '50s child: I never smoked while walking ... anywhere. Cocktail parties aside,
ladies sat when they smoked.
I never smoked on a public street until I was forced there. And that is how they, ultimately, won. I stopped smoking several years ago. In the interim I had a great deal to say on the subject. Now, I no longer debate the matter. It should be, I think, enough for everyone concerned about their welfare to know that the world's balconies are safe from me ...
