Bad Disney - Lost Magic

[NEUBER]

We have our vacation scheduled in a few days. The other half of our party has already checked in , they had called to add a few days. The Disney operator modified the reservation to allow for the earlier check-in. When they checked-in they were informed they had been downgraded to a standard site without their knowledge or approval. Also the operator removed all connecting notes to their reservation & modified them from a 32-ft motor home to a 20-ft trailer. They tried to correct the errors at the front desk & gate. But, all campsites are booked for our entire trip. We can not even downgrade our preferred loop to standard.

The front desk suggested connecting the sites back to back from the 700 to 800 loops. Could we walk thru from one campsite to another? Is the 500 to 600 back to back close?

My father-in-law is a disabled veteran who uses an ECV for mobility. It is very embarrassing and hard for him to use buses for transportation. He is able to use the large boats to transfer to Magic Kingdom. From there we can ride the monorail to Ticket & Transportation to get to Epcot. We usually drive to MGM and Animal Kingdom. Now we will be forced to drive to all the parks.

Disney has given the "oh, well" attitude to this operator error. Where is the accountability?

I have been on the phone for about 3 hours today. They have spent the entire morning/afternoon at the front desk trying to sort out Disney's error. It is extremely upsetting that this operator has tarnished the "magic" of Disney. I hope we can sort this out before our trip or our 6 year old will be devastated. She is planning on camping next to her grandparents.

Any suggestion or comments?

 

[clkelley]

My father-in-law is a disabled veteran who uses an ECV for mobility. It is very embarrassing and hard for him to use buses for transportation. He is able to use the large boats to transfer to Magic Kingdom. From there we can ride the monorail to Ticket & Transportation to get to Epcot. We usually drive to MGM and Animal Kingdom. Now we will be forced to drive to all the parks.

Why does he need to use the buses?? My hubby owns an ECV. When I camp at Ft. Wilderness, (he doesn't camp). I bring the ECV along and ride it all around Ft. Wilderness. (I then leave it parked in golf cart parking). There are lots of sidewalks and golf cart paths around Ft. Wilderness. It is very ECV friendly. He can drive the ECV from the campsite up to the marina from any Loop at Ft. Wilderness!!

 

[DisCamper]

Look out NEUBER the wagons are starting to circle. Last time I brought up bad service at FW I was told I was very negative and was run out of town. There is starting to be more and more people telling stories about bad service but on this board no one can believe it. So just hag on and don’t take any thing personally.

 

[auntie]

I'm not following? Why does it mean you have to drive to the parks because your father inlaw uses an ECV? What does that have to with what loops he is in..or whether he is next to you. While I agree it is very dissapointing to not be together as planned, I'm missing the point as to why it is your father in law using an ECV has to drive to the parks? I do hope it all works out for you. They really should have indicated when the reservation was changed that your inlaws wouldn't be in a preferred loop any longer. However, there also should have been a change in price to reflect that. I have found that the reservationists aren't really familiar with FW..and the questions regarding the type of rig you have are fairly generic...I could see how you could be placed somewhere you don't want to be if you aren't familiar with the types of loops that are offered, and the differences between them. Possibly during your stay they might be able to change the sites so that you may be together. I do hope it works out for you. There is no excuse for bad service...are the people actually at the front check in trying to work it out for you?... Do let us know.

 

[NEUBER]

I had a very nice operator that checked on moving sites all the way thru half of our visit. No preferred sites are available. I checked on the Disney website as suggested by a previous operator, first day preferred is available is the last day of our trip. We also asked about downgrading our site. She said the only way to do it would be to cancel our current reservation, allow someone from standard to upgrade, then hopefully call back and get the available standard. But, she did not recommend that option, as we may not get any site.

The point I am trying to make is why was the reservation downgraded without approval. None of our problems would be happening if the operator had done her job and correctly modified the additional days.

Why will Disney not take any accountability for thier error?
The comments from every operator so far has basically been, "sorry, I wish we could help you....their is nothing we can do."

As for the ECV and the other stuff, we were venting.
It's been an extremely stressful day.

 

[HappyDznyCamper]

I'm sorry you are having a hard time with your ressie. Unfortunaly these things happen because most CRO people really don't understand what FW is like. As for the TT size being changed, I think that may be a computer problem, when my parents booked for our spring break trip(online) the computer changed his 40ft 5thwheel to a 20ft tt. We called CRO to change it, and while the operator was very nice I don't think she really understood the need to change the size of the camper on the res.
Hope you have a magical trip after all.

 

[Colson39]

I'm truly sorry this is happening to you. There is nothing worse than a bad start to a vacation. It's sad there is nothing they can do about it, but you have to understand, if it's full, it's full. The mistake lies on whatever happened with the reservationist when you were modifying your ressies. If they gave you the site you needed, that means they would have to turn down another family. And two wrongs do not make a right.

As the other posters have said, you can quite easily get his ECV from anywhere in Ft. Wilderness to the marinas or what have you, there is no need to take the buses if you don't want to.

Others are right, a lot of the operators at Disney don't understand fully how Fort Wilderness works, and that is something that is wrong. They should have a seperate number, or what have you, because mistakes like this do happen.

The operators are also right, there probably really is nothing they can do. Like I said, in order to give you back your ressie, they would have to downgrade someone else's ressie, which in the end would cause more headaches for someone else. They just can't do that

This is not a good start to your vacation. It's how you deal with it that will determine how good the rest of your vacation is. Stay positive!

Look out NEUBER the wagons are starting to circle. Last time I brought up bad service at FW I was told I was very negative and was run out of town. There is starting to be more and more people telling stories about bad service but on this board no one can believe it. So just hag on and don’t take any thing personally.

And that's not it at all. All of us have probably had a bad experience here or there at Fort Wilderness. But people don't come to this message board to read about negativity, that is where it differs. People come here to talk about the Fort, to remember, to post pictures, and to obsess over Disney and the Fort like we all do. If people want to post negative things, feel free. But also don't act like you did nothing wrong when people come back at you for being negative. Go to one of the other resorts and post something negative, or go to the main park forums and post something negative, and you'll get run out of town there as well. It's not that we don't believe that you had a negative experience, we just don't want to hear about it (and I don't mean that in any kind of a negative way towards anyone, especially this poster). Disney is an escape for a lot of people, and it's their own little "perfect" world. It's a place that makes them smile, makes them laugh, makes them long to be young again. The last thing they want to do is spend their time degrading it.

We all deal with negativity enough in our lives, I'm sure there are other places you can find on the Internet that will allow you to gripe about the Fort without having people wondering why you're doing it.

 

[auntie]

Have they asked to speak to a manager at the front check in? Has anyone been able to explain to them why their reservation would have been changed from a preferred loop to something else? Was there a change in the rate...or didn't they notice due to the additional days added. I wonder if they had a printed reservation in hand...and didn't it indicate what type of loop they were supposed to have? I am sorry for your inconvenience and hope that maybe while you are there something can be worked out. I don't think it's likely they will be able to accomodate you by phone ...not at this point. You're best option would probably be to go to the front check in EVERY day while you are there. I know we have changed resorts while we have been in Disney..and when we would call the central reservation number..nothing was available..yet when we would physically show up at the resort we wanted to changed to we were able to secure a room, as they do keep a certain amount of rooms for walk in availability. Or at least they used to. Perhaps it might be the same with the sites..although getting sites together is probably even more difficult. Again..I do hope it works out for you.

 

[Shannone1]

Others are right, a lot of the operators at Disney don't understand fully how Fort Wilderness works, and that is something that is wrong. They should have a seperate number, or what have you, because mistakes like this do happen.

I agree with this too. The first person I talked to back in early October about my reservations for next week was wonderful. Asked me lots of details about my rv and spent lots of time with be talking about different loops. I felt great about it.

Two months later I called back because we changed from a fifth wheel to a motorhome and I wanted to make sure they had my current info. I was told the particular rv size didn't matter and when I checked in they would work it all out. They told me to tell them at check in about my length, slides and awning.

A month after that our plans changed and we now have to bring our dog with us. So again I called back and this time our reservation number didn't match our last name ?!?! Eventually they found my ressie with my name and phone number. Made me nervous !! I told the person that I needed to switch to a pet loop and she had no idea what I was talking about. She didn't understand what a "loop" even was. She made the change though and I asked her to send me a confirmation of the change. She did...but when we got it two weeks later it still said 1300, not a pet loop.

So I called again and this time the person on the phone sounded REALLY busy and not friendly at all. I explained the situation and she looked it up and sure enough, it did NOT say anything about a pet loop request. She made the change and said she would send me a new confirmation. I would just feel better going all the way down there with my dog if I had something in writing that they knew he was coming !!

So that was a few weeks ago and I never did get another confirmation. I called today just to make sure it WAS changed in the computer. Once again got someone who sounded busy and unfriendly. She looked up my ressie (after about 5 minutes) and it does say pet loop requested. At this point even if she mailed me a confirmation, I wouldn't get it before we leave. I am just hoping everything is fine when we check in.

The whole point of this long post (sorry) is that it WOULD be nice if we could make ressies with people that just handled F.W. Or at least people who have been there and completely understand how it works. And I WISH all the ressie people were as great as the very first person I spoke to last year !!

 

[auntie]

I think you are right. The reservationists certainly aren't familiar with the particulars of FW. It would be a good idea to have certain reservationist trained on the specifics of the accomodations there..and a little camping experience themselves wouldn't hurt either!

 

[kc5grw]

The downgrade most likely occured at the time the the other half of your party extended the stay. It just wasn't communicated when it happened, probably by an operator that doesn't fully understand FW. It is likely that when the request was made to extend the stay that a preferred site was not available for the new length of stay. Unfortunately it doesn't sound like that this adequately communicated. I also know from some changes that I have made, that everytime you modify the reservation the system resets the info to 20ft TT. I've had this happen at least twice and when I call to make a change I always verify that information in the system.

 

[OneLittleSpark]

I'm afraid I can't offer any advice on the campsite, but I can offer a whole heap of sympathy .

Sorry to hijack the thread every so slightly, but I'm guessing it's the Disney buses with lifts that your FIL has trouble with. If you wanted to try the buses at some point, he might well find the newer Nova buses, that kneel and have a ramp, to be easier to get into. If one of the older, lift-fitted buses is going to the place you want, just ask the driver (nicely) if they can send for a Nova. I've never done this myself, but I've heard a lot of positive reports from other people who have. If you have any more questions, just swing by the disABILITIES board, and we'll help out.

OK, hijack over, you will now be returned to the previously scheduled programming

Oh and don't worry about the distances around the Fort if he's got an ECV, you guys will be running to keep up with him .

 

[nbodyhome]

I worked at DRC for a year, and we were told we needed to put everything in writing regarding the camper - 5th wheel, size, etc...even though I didn't know what much of it meant, our trainer went over that very well.

However...there are agents I've talked with on the phone that didn't know much about a lot of things! If they don't sound like they are adding all the notes, call back and get someone who will.

 

[clkelley]

I agree that you may be able to get something else worked out once you arrive.

A friend of mine had a tent camping trip at Ft. Wilderness for a two week period, except no matter what he tried, he couldn't get the middle weekend in any level of site.

He decided to just let it go and came anyway, preparing to move over to a cheap hotel on 192 for that middle weekend if he had to.

Sure enough, once he arrived, the folks at the front desk were able to guarantee him his entire 15 night stay in the same site.

Also, as far as camper type getting messed up on your reservation. I ALWAYS fax a request directly to Ft. Wilderness 5 days before arrival telling them my needs as far as site size. I've always been pleased with my site.

You can be more specific in the fax. (i.e., 40 ft MH with 1 driver side slide and 2 passenger side slides and 12 ft awning, with Ford Escort Toad, plus I'll have a 10x10 tent that I want to set up on the sand pad.) CRO can't put that much information in the record.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

I think that discussion/debate good or bad is healthy regarding Fort wilderness. Criticism is healthy for any organizaton as long as its polite and constructive.


Scott

 

[ftwildernessguy]

Look out NEUBER the wagons are starting to circle. Last time I brought up bad service at FW I was told I was very negative and was run out of town. There is starting to be more and more people telling stories about bad service but on this board no one can believe it. So just hag on and don’t take any thing personally.

Not really wishing to beat a dead horse, but I see a big difference between what the OP has as a problem, namely reservations being altered by Disney without their consent, and your situation where you were dissatisfied with getting an old golf cart and not being allowed to check in to your site early. Enough said by me on this topic.

 

[DisCamper]

Want I talked about was BAD Guest service. It would never happen in the old days.

 

[Colson39]

Want I talked about was BAD Guest service. It would never happen in the old days.

lol, trust me, there was bad guest service back in the day too, there just were not as many visitors, or message boards to complain about the bad guest service on

And BigDisneyDaddy, no one is saying people don't have the right to complain here. I agree, debate about Fort Wilderness can be healthy. I just don't like it when people come in here and complain that no one agreed with their negative post, and that we're all trying to sweep it under the rug. As I mentioned, some people just don't want to hear it is all, and that's their right as well. I think it's the way people post that determines the response. This poster had a valid complaint, and didn't "whine" about it, or spend the whole post raving about how bad Fort Wilderness is now. Other posts have done just that, basically been nothing but harping on the Fort, which is nothing but the squeaky wheel trying to get some oil. It solves nothing, and people don't want to read a message board that is nothing but whining. That is when people tend to bring out their torches...lol

Now time for a tongue twister:

Feel free to complain, but don't complain when we complain about your complaint!

 

[ftwildernessguy]

Hey Colson39 - have you ever considered running for political office?

 

[cerdafied7]

Neuber, i feel for u and i hope that all gets worked out for you and your fam.
-be sure to keep us updated!