Bear Hugs & Piggy Kisses - Baby's 1st Trip ~ Updated 12/6: Aulani TR Started!!!

[Denovagirl]

I'm here! Told ya I would stop by!!

Love the TR so far!! How funny that Izzy was the same age as Maddie on our trip! I was really quite impressed with how much there was for them to do at that age! It was sooooo fun!!

She seems to be doing very well so far, despite the non-napping issues, lol... we had planned to go back to our resort every day for a nap...it never happened once! Luckily, Maddie was content with her stroller naps and never really got too fussy the entire trip!

Side note- I have the same Mickey pj pants as you that I also got at Target on Black Friday for $5! Wooo!

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Dugette]

Just wanted to mention I'll get back to updating as soon as I can! We're in the midst of Year End at work (accounting), which means long days and tons to do (if you're out there, Danielle, I'm sure you understand!) Tomorrow is the hopefully-leaving-before-midnight day and it gets better after that, but doesn't fully die down until next week. Hoping I can get an update done later this week, but we'll see what I have time for. Hope everyone is doing well!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We had a very similar thing happen to us when we were at the Poly! We got on the TTC monorail because of DH! It was a less than stellar moment of our trip!

Ugh, that's the worst. And, once those doors close, you're stuck!

I hate it when Charlotte falls asleep in the car or stroller. Its like she gets enough sleep to be wide awake but not enough sleep to be in a good mood. Its amazing how much toddler's sleep can control the quality of your life isn't?

Yes, it's very tricky. We learned from that first nap to not mess with her during a stroller nap. Even reclining her is a special skill (recline, she cries, start moving fast, she goes back to sleep). Their sleep really impacts the trip!

That pillow provided lots of fun for Charlotte as well! The Poly rooms really are an indoor playground for toddlers aren't they?

I am glad you enjoyed reading about our Poly stay. It really is the greatest place on earth!

I'm pretty sure, at that age, she could have spent the majority of every day in the room and had a blast! Closets, safes, pillows, trash cans w/liners...so many fun things!

So glad I found this! Your trip sounds wonderful so far- much like ours in October. We learned a lot of the same lessons!

How exciting about Hawaii! Those rates are unbelievable!

Yay, glad you're here! It really was a wonderful trip and I'm so glad yours was too! I bet we did learn a lot of the same things from our kiddos!

Yes, Hawaii is amazing. I'm so excited, but still in a bit of disbelief!

I'm here! Told ya I would stop by!!

You are quick!

Love the TR so far!! How funny that Izzy was the same age as Maddie on our trip! I was really quite impressed with how much there was for them to do at that age! It was sooooo fun!!

Agreed...Disney really has options for all ages! I really felt this was a great age to go on a first trip. She had a blast!

She seems to be doing very well so far, despite the non-napping issues, lol... we had planned to go back to our resort every day for a nap...it never happened once! Luckily, Maddie was content with her stroller naps and never really got too fussy the entire trip!

Yeah, we had intentions of resort naps most days, but the stroller ended up being a better option, as we learned that first day.

Side note- I have the same Mickey pj pants as you that I also got at Target on Black Friday for $5! Wooo!

Can't wait to hear more!

I may have spent all of yesterday in another pair of Mickey PJ pants I have... So comfy!

 

[Denovagirl]

Forgot to mention before, I LOVE that the babies get magic bands too! I was curious about that... Maddie loves wearing jewlery and always has her charm bracelet on so I was worried she'd feel left out if she didn't get one! Sooooo happy to see they do! How FUN!

I have noticed in most people's TR's that I have been reading that no one seems to have any Magic Covers things or Sliders on their bracelets! When we were there we saw them for sale all over the place, and the little sliders were especially cute! Did you guys notice people wearing those? Or do people seem to just have the bracelets plain? Maybe they're too bulky? I know my oldest wanted to buy them then, before we even had Magic Bands!! LoL!

 

[Dugette]

Forgot to mention before, I LOVE that the babies get magic bands too! I was curious about that... Maddie loves wearing jewlery and always has her charm bracelet on so I was worried she'd feel left out if she didn't get one! Sooooo happy to see they do! How FUN!

Yes, Izzy loved wearing her Magic Band! It was so cute - she'd put her wrist out for it after getting dressed. I think she wanted to be like Mommy and Daddy. I had noticed Maddie's charm bracelet...I'm sure she'll love another thing to wear! We never tried to scan hers or anything, but I doubt it does anything, really just for show. Though she did hold it out once like she was going to pay for our meal for us!

I have noticed in most people's TR's that I have been reading that no one seems to have any Magic Covers things or Sliders on their bracelets! When we were there we saw them for sale all over the place, and the little sliders were especially cute! Did you guys notice people wearing those? Or do people seem to just have the bracelets plain? Maybe they're too bulky? I know my oldest wanted to buy them then, before we even had Magic Bands!! LoL!

You know, I had no idea they existed until I asked Dug what they were in the Poly gift shop (Izzy was pulling them off the shelf). I can't say I noticed anyone wearing them, but I also can't say I spent much time looking at other people's Magic Bands. They looked pretty cute, though.

 

[Leshaface]

Ugh, I can feel that feeling when you heard 'Epcot' I've done this once or twice and it's not fun.

Too bad about no naps, but YAY FOR KISSES!!! What a cute, unexpected surprise.

Oh great, another unfriendly CM? Hopefully the nice one makes up for the rude one.

 

[lilmape]

Finally caught up! I am so impressed with all you can get Izzy to eat! Our DD is so selective and still won't touch fruit unless its puréed (20 months). We offer a lot but she's not a fan. My DH and I had several mishaps on the monorail our first trip, we can laugh about it now.... The transferring from the stroller also made me cringe. We've only been successful a handful of times. Can't wait to read more! Izzy is such a doll!

 

[disneygirl2785]

HI! Joining in and all caught up! We will be going to The World for the first time as a family of 3 in Ocotber!!! Our DD will be 18 months and I'm LOVING all these TRs with "little bitty" little ones for the first time!

 

[Dugette]

Ugh, I can feel that feeling when you heard 'Epcot' I've done this once or twice and it's not fun.

It is just such a terrible stomach-dropping feeling. Especially the helplessness.

Too bad about no naps, but YAY FOR KISSES!!! What a cute, unexpected surprise.

That was such an awesome surprise. Babies sure find ways of making you feel better when they don't cooperate, I guess.

Oh great, another unfriendly CM? Hopefully the nice one makes up for the rude one.

I know, we really had a run of bad luck. Fortunately, things get better after this point.

Finally caught up! I am so impressed with all you can get Izzy to eat! Our DD is so selective and still won't touch fruit unless its puréed (20 months). We offer a lot but she's not a fan.

It's funny how often their preferences change at this age. We started solids with Izzy when she was 6 months (using the baby-led approach and food from our plates) and she loved meat at first (chicken and steak, especially). Now she rarely touches meat. And it's like that with a lot of things. Just keep on trying and hope things change, I guess. She does generally love fruit, though, I guess.

My DH and I had several mishaps on the monorail our first trip, we can laugh about it now.... The transferring from the stroller also made me cringe. We've only been successful a handful of times. Can't wait to read more! Izzy is such a doll!

I'm glad others can relate to all of this! Yes, definitely laugh at it now, but it wasn't quite so funny at the time. I still can't believe I didn't even touch her, just unbuckled the stroller harness, and she was wide awake! Must have been in a light sleep state. Unlike this morning when I was talking to her and patting her and she stayed sound asleep. Silly girl!

HI! Joining in and all caught up! We will be going to The World for the first time as a family of 3 in Ocotber!!! Our DD will be 18 months and I'm LOVING all these TRs with "little bitty" little ones for the first time!

and glad to have you here! So fun to be planning the first family trip! You must have a 10-month-old now? Fun age! It'll be amazing to see how much she changes in the 8 months between now and Disney. I would think that would be a good age to take her. And I love reading all the baby trip reports too - read a bunch before our trip and still reading!

 

[Dugette]

After giving up on our nap, we got Izzy changed into her second outfit of the day – a Tinkerbell shirt. We had originally thought she’d be wearing it when we rode Peter Pan, but we’d ended up getting that done earlier in the day. Oh, well, still gotta wear the cute outfit!

We gathered all our things and headed for the Great Ceremonial House to see if the Concierge could help us with our Fast Pass+ problem.

Once we got to the GCH, we went up to the Concierge desk and explained our issue to the Cast Member. She agreed that it sounded as if Dug’s late night Space Mountain ride was blocking our ability to update our Fast Passes. She said she could do some overrides and tried to get us Enchanted Tales with Belle, as we’d requested. However, the system wouldn’t let her do that particular attraction. She said there were some others she could add for us (she had limited abilities) or else we could go to Magic Kingdom Guest Services and they could probably do the override for Enchanted Tales. We decided to do that, since we were on our way there anyway and had to deal with my Magic Band fingerprint problem at Guest Services too. She was very helpful and nice, even if she couldn’t do what we were hoping.

We went upstairs next, in search of caffeine to offset our lack of nighttime sleep and lack of afternoon nap. Kona Island was closed, so Dug opted for a Diet Coke from the store instead of coffee. I think I shared a bit of it. Also, we discovered that Izzy likes dolphins:



Off to the monorail platform! We had to wait for several minutes. Izzy thought these decorations were fun to play with:



Soon, I became aware of some giggling coming from behind us. This is when I realized that Izzy flirts with the people behind us in lines!

There were three women wearing sparkly Minnie ears and they were having a great time with Izzy. And Izzy was fascinated by their sparkly ears. It was super cute to watch her interact with them. She’s a little flirt, for sure!

Also, we didn’t know at the time, but it turns out that the couple behind the Minnie ears group would be our buddies later that evening at Fort Wilderness. Small world.

Soon enough, our monorail arrived. Since I was holding Izzy, she got to ride like a “big girl” instead of in her stroller. She really liked this:







When we arrived at the security area, we decided to save a bit of time. Dug took the bags to wait in the fairly long bag-check line and I took Izzy through the “guests without bags” entrance and went to the Guest Services booth line, just outside of the MK. Timing worked out fairly well. I was up at the window about a minute or two before Dug came along to join me.

Let me preface the reasons for our visit before going any further:

1.) We had been told that my Magic Band was now linked with Dug’s fingerprint and I wanted to find out if that really was true and, if so, fix it.

2.) The My Disney Experience App was not allowing us to change Dug’s third FP+ reservation for the day because he had ridden Space Mountain after midnight with a FP+ from the previous day (and had used his first and missed his second FP+ for this day). We were really hoping to FP+ Enchanted Tales with Belle, which is what we’d missed earlier, due to our broken-ride delayed morning.

3.) The week prior to our trip, I had pulled out my Disney Visa Rewards Redemption card, as I had about $50 in rewards on my Disney Visa that I wanted to spend on our trip. I remembered from past use that I had to have Chase (credit card company) transfer the rewards to a Redemption Card in order to use them. However, since it had been a while since our previous use of them, my Redemption Card was expired! I had checked the website for info and found that, if I had them send me a new one, I probably wouldn’t get it before the trip. However, I could get a new one while at WDW instead – at all of the Guest Services places. So, that was the plan – get a new Redemption Card and then I’d call Chase and have them transfer the Rewards. No big deal.

Okay, so back to Guest Services. I started explaining our Magic Band situation to the Cast Member that was helping me. I wanted to know if it was actually possible that Dug’s fingerprint was on my Magic Band. She didn’t seem to even listen to my question and also didn’t really seem interested in the problem at all. So, to this day, I have no idea who’s fingerprint – if anyone’s – was linked with my Magic Band. Well, I wanted to make sure I’d be able to get into the park without creating some sort of embarrassing scene, so I asked if she could reset it or something, since it seemed that she was just going to dismiss this as a rhetorical question. She let out a deep, exasperated breath and asked what kind of tickets we had. I told her they were 8-day Park Hoppers and she took my Magic Band into the booth. Now I was a little nervous. A Cast Member who seemed irritated with us for – you know - asking for guest service from the Guest Services booth now had my Magic Band/Tickets/Fast Pass+/Room Key all in her hands. Maybe they would all be wiped out? We were particularly worried that all of my Fast Pass+ selections would disappear. She came back and told me that she’d reset it. I just hoped for the best (And, thankfully, I never had a problem! So, at least she did it right!)

I think she was ready to be rid of us after that and get on with an easy guest who just needed to pick up their Christmas Party tickets (seemed like that’s what most of the line was there for, since it was a party night). But we had more issues to resolve. Dug had joined me by this time and we explained the Fast Pass+ situation, just as we had to the Concierge. This CM, however, responded quite differently. Rather than expressing understanding, looking things up, and trying to be helpful like the Concierge, she just kept cutting us off mid-sentence to snap, “Go to the Kiosk!” over and over. We tried to explain that we’d been told she might be able to override the problem and, as far as we knew, the Kiosks are just the My Disney Experience App, which is what was giving us the problems. She was just a broken record of “Go to the Kiosk!” followed by fake I-helped-another-dumb-guest-because-I’m-so-awesome-smiles. I really should have known we were dealing with someone like this right away when she didn’t smile upon seeing Izzy being all adorable…

At this point, Dug was so annoyed that he just walked away so he wouldn’t blow up at her. Well, not any more so, at least. He did say something as he left about how we'd been on a lot of trips and had never had so many unhelpful experiences with Cast Members on all of our trips combined. We were frustrated, but being very calm and rational with her to that point, just as we had been with the Concierge. He was starting to lose it with this Cast Member, though, so probably good he took off. Though awkward for me, as I had another request and wasn’t about to wait in line later to deal with it.

So, again, she clearly was done with me, but I forged on. I asked, very clearly, for a new Redemption Card for my Disney Visa Rewards so that I could transfer what I had onto it and use it. She immediately launched into a big spiel about how she couldn’t give me Disney Visa Rewards and that’s something I had to call Chase about and she couldn’t do it…blah, blah, blah. It was clear to me at this point that she hadn’t really listened to anything we’d said for more than a word or two, then went into her mental files of “stupid things guests ask for that we can’t do”, found the most appropriate one, and responded accordingly. I told her that their website clearly said that I could get a Redemption Card here. She kept saying that she couldn’t do it, etc. Eventually, she handed me an envelope and said something to the effect of, “Here’s all the Disney Visa information.” I thought to myself, “Is she giving me an application for a Disney Visa Card?? I don’t need that!” I asked, once more, about how to get a Redemption Card. To which she replied, “There’s a card in there.” What? At first, I thought, “A new credit card?”, then realized that wouldn’t be possible and asked, “There’s a Redemption Card in here?” She said yes. I said, “That’s exactly what I needed!” I took it, made sure it felt like a card in the envelope, and left her beaming her fake smile/eye roll behind me. Of course I knew that I had to call Disney Visa to transfer the money and she couldn’t do that – I just needed the card, which is exactly what I had asked her for in the first place.

That whole Disney Visa part of the interaction really got under my skin. It was a whole tension-filled, uncomfortable conversation that was trying to make me feel silly – when it could have (and should have) gone more like this:

Me: “I need to get a new Redemption Card for my Disney Visa Rewards so that I can transfer the money over and spend it.”

CM: “It’s in this envelope. Here you go.”

Me: “Thank you, just what I needed!”

Real smiles all around at a guest happily serviced!

Yeah, not so much. Luckily, that type of guest disservice was now behind us for the trip. I caught up with Dug and we made our way to the entrance. I was quite nervous about whether or not my Magic Band would work, but it did! Whew!

Our first stop was the Photopass photographer by the toy soldiers in Town Square:



We made our way down Main Street and arrived here:



I took an artsy shot of the poinsettia/castle view:



We made it over to Sleepy Hollow where I got in line for our snack and Dug grabbed a table and waited with Izzy:



As I stood in line, I saw this sign:



It was 5:02pm. Uh oh. We’d been planning to split the Ham, Prosciutto, & Swiss Waffle Sandwich. Who knew there was a time limit on them? I texted Dug:

“The sign says the sandwiches are till 5pm. If no go, Nutella ok?”

He said yes.

A minute later, one of the CMs from Sleepy Hollow popped out and asked the line, “Is anyone here for a Chicken Waffle Sandwich?” Someone said that they were and she said she’d get one in for them. Then someone else said they had wanted the ham one. She took that order too. And asked if anyone else wanted one of those. I told her ham. She put the order in! Woo hoo! I texted Dug and we rejoiced that we finally found a great CM going out of her way to make guests happy. I mean, we were past the deadline when I got in line, so she really didn’t need to make our waffle. But she did. After saying something about this being the best time of day because she gets to go home!

It did end up taking a fair amount of time for the waffle, but that was okay. I watched the activity inside while I waited at the window to pick it up:



I also got us a couple of ice waters. Here’s our sandwich:



“Um, guys, that waffle looks pretty good…”:



The sandwich was really good and the perfect snack to share. We all had some. Izzy really liked the waffle itself. Mmmm, tasty!

Next, it was time to “Go to the Kiosk!” and just see if there was any chance of making a FP+ change. We did not have high hopes.

A nice view on our way over to the FP+ Kiosk near PhilharMagic:



So, Dug comes from a long line of family with back issues and his acts up when he does a lot of walking. Which, obviously, applies to Disney. So, though he felt pretty good his first night, he was in pain by this evening. And he is just a tad bit dramatic sometimes. Not necessarily on purpose, but he wears his feelings all over his face. I’ve tried to explain this to him, but he never really seems to fully understand what I mean about how he looks to others. So, I snuck a picture of him walking along, pushing the stroller:



Even he laughed at that. I don’t mean to make fun of being in pain, because I know it’s not fun for him and he’s quite the trooper to love WDW despite this, but the expressions!

Anyway, we made it to the Fast Pass+ Kiosk and tried again to make a change. As we were starting, a FP+ Cast Member came over and we told them what our situation was. We didn’t think they would be able to do anything, but they actually were able to enter something and allow us to get another Fast Pass+ selection! Yay! Maybe the Guest Service person should have explained that there were CMs at the FP+ Kiosk that had the ability to help us. That might have been nice. I am so glad a nice and helpful CM was stationed at this FP+ Kiosk. Anyway, since it was fairly late and nearing MVMCP time at this point, there were not many choices. Enchanted Tales was long gone, so we’d have to do that another day. I think we only had a couple options, so we chose Pirates from 5:35-6:35pm. I believe it was about 5:30pm right then. I think I had wanted to ride right away, but Dug wanted to go to Winnie the Pooh first and then see the castle lighting. Afterwards, we’d do Pirates towards the end of the FP+ window and grab dinner at Pecos Bill’s before heading out. Sounded okay, so off we went to Winnie the Pooh.

Right after we got in line, we saw some old friends doing a meet & greet:



Izzy got a kick out of seeing them again. She was pointing at them and all excited. But we didn’t have time for a meet & greet. Instead, it was time to play in the queue:



She really loved this honeybee track:



I showed her how to use it and she watched some other kids playing with it. The other kids were very nice and made sure to share the honeybees with her, so that was sweet. It was fun to see her learn how to do it all by herself as we went around it:





That was a lot of fun and she loved it. Up next was the honey wall:



I have an extremely brief video of her hitting the honey wall:

(click to watch)

She liked playing with these too, but soon enough our Hunny Pot was approaching:



Once again, she just sat and looked around at all the things to see. Dark rides were a big win with her. We copied JC040404 and shouted “Hooray!” at the end.

Up next: Castle lighting and early party time.

Also, I just ran across a brief video I forgot about from Be Our Guest:

(click to watch)

 

[AprilRenee]

Oh. my. gosh!! Just ridiculous!
Ugh! I can hear the tone of voice! I know exactly what she sounded like! Ugh!!!
Man it just wasn't your day was it?!?

I'm glad things got a little better after that crazy woman!

And Dugs face is kinda hilarious! Though I know back pain is no laughing matter. I deal with some myself (though not usually bad enough to make that face )

And "hooray" made me smile!

 

[BOG Obsessed]

Sorry to hear about your unmagical experience with guest services.
Your waffle sandwich looks amazing. Your daughter is adorable.
Looking forward to reading on.

 

[JillianLeigh]

Glad to hear things with CMs start to get better from here on. While I try to understand that some people just have off days, she didn't seem to even try to listen to your questions, let alone help you.

That waffle sandwich looked yummy!

 

[khertz]

Yikes! That CM at GS sounds downright rude! It seems like a lot of the unhelpful/unmagical CM stories I have been reading are dealing with GS CM's. I'm sure they take a lot of crap from guests day in and day out, but that's no reason to be rude to people with legitimate problems & questions who are being calm & reasonable! Maybe that is a job that needs a higher turnover of cast.

I'm glad your luck turned around a little though and you were able to get the snack you wanted after the time! And that you came across a helpful CM at the kiosk.

 

[jc040404]

Love the pic of the two of you looking out the monorail window! Izzy looks too cute sitting like a big girl, too!

It was clear to me at this point that she hadn’t really listened to anything we’d said for more than a word or two, then went into her mental files of “stupid things guests ask for that we can’t do”, found the most appropriate one, and responded accordingly.

I can't stand when guest/customer service ANYWHERE does that! It certainly shouldn't happen at Disney! I can imagine they must be dealing with quite a few upset guests, between GAC changes and FP+ messes, but there's no excuse for not even listening to the issue. That was worse than I was expecting!

Awesome that you were still able to get your waffle sandwich. Those look so yummy!

We copied JC040404 and shouted “Hooray!” at the end.

Hooray!! You just made me wish I'd planned a Disney Day for this weekend!

Glad the dis-service is behind you!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

What a crummy experience! You know sometimes giving good service is so much quicker than stinky service. Like you said if the CM would have just said the card you need is here, have a great day! Or the CM at the Kiosk can assist you with that. You would have been finished in minutes and happy. Ugh, when will people learn?

A sleepy hallow waffle sandwich is on my must try list for next time! I just can not decide which one I really want to try!

Your DH sounds just like mine. If he is in even the slightest bit of pain, its written all over his face. And he makes the goofiest looking faces. My DH can not handle discomfort of any type. Its just part of his charm!

 

[amazingact21]

What a nightmare! Oh my gosh!

I'll take my confused CM to that grumpy Guest Services lady anyday.
I can't believe she was acting like you were putting her out for doing her job. Yeesh. Some people....


That was nice of the Sleepy Hollow CM to let you order the waffle you wanted. Finally, some pixie dust! Ya'll deserved a little bit.


Sorry you had such issues getting the FP+ system to work. I don't know too many people who went to WDW and walked away without at least one FP problem. Guess it just comes with the territory and using a new system.


Hopefully, it's all uphill from here.

 

[Dugette]

Oh. my. gosh!! Just ridiculous!
Ugh! I can hear the tone of voice! I know exactly what she sounded like! Ugh!!!
Man it just wasn't your day was it?!?

I'm glad things got a little better after that crazy woman!

I'm glad I was able to get her tone across. I was worried about that. It's hard to capture the attitude. It really wasn't our day. We were just baffled by all the poor service/bad attitude we'd gotten from Cast Members. I was starting to think maybe there had been a CM meeting that morning with bad news and they were all upset about something and taking it out on guests.

And Dugs face is kinda hilarious! Though I know back pain is no laughing matter. I deal with some myself (though not usually bad enough to make that face )

And "hooray" made me smile!

Yeah, back pain isn't funny, but Dug's faces kinda were. He would get concerned looks from others passing by and have no idea...so I had to show him that!

Hooray for the smile!

Sorry to hear about your unmagical experience with guest services.
Your waffle sandwich looks amazing. Your daughter is adorable.
Looking forward to reading on.

Thanks, it really was an odd experience at guest services. Just makes me wonder - why work at guest services when you don't like to provide guests with service?

The waffle sandwich was great and worth the wait. And thank you!

Glad to hear things with CMs start to get better from here on. While I try to understand that some people just have off days, she didn't seem to even try to listen to your questions, let alone help you.

That waffle sandwich looked yummy!

Yeah, I understand having off days too, but it was just too much. She probably should have gone on break or something and refreshed herself if this was how she was treating all the guests. The sandwich was tasty, though!

Yikes! That CM at GS sounds downright rude! It seems like a lot of the unhelpful/unmagical CM stories I have been reading are dealing with GS CM's. I'm sure they take a lot of crap from guests day in and day out, but that's no reason to be rude to people with legitimate problems & questions who are being calm & reasonable! Maybe that is a job that needs a higher turnover of cast.

I'm glad your luck turned around a little though and you were able to get the snack you wanted after the time! And that you came across a helpful CM at the kiosk.

I agree, as I've also seen other stories about guest service CMs that are less than stellar. I'm sure it can be a challenging job - especially with lots of FP+ and Magic Band problems, but they need to step back from the frustrations and put themselves in the guests' shoes a bit more. Or, like you said, maybe rotating through other positions more quickly. So glad that was the end of our rotten streak!

Love the pic of the two of you looking out the monorail window! Izzy looks too cute sitting like a big girl, too!

Thanks, I love that picture too! It really seemed like she was working to be a "big girl" on this trip. Maybe it was just being with her 24/7, but I really saw her learn and grow a lot this week.

I can't stand when guest/customer service ANYWHERE does that! It certainly shouldn't happen at Disney! I can imagine they must be dealing with quite a few upset guests, between GAC changes and FP+ messes, but there's no excuse for not even listening to the issue. That was worse than I was expecting!

I agree, that wasn't acceptable service anywhere. And certainly not what you expect from Disney. But, as you said, they are probably dealing with a lot of upset guests and eventually it gets to them. But it just perpetuates the cycle of upset guests. We could have been happy guests for her, but she was pushing us into a combative guest situation.

Awesome that you were still able to get your waffle sandwich. Those look so yummy!

It was very good and hit the spot! I'd still like to try the nutella one sometime too. After 5pm, I guess.

Hooray!! You just made me wish I'd planned a Disney Day for this weekend!

Glad the dis-service is behind you!

You should have planned a Disney Day!

What a crummy experience! You know sometimes giving good service is so much quicker than stinky service. Like you said if the CM would have just said the card you need is here, have a great day! Or the CM at the Kiosk can assist you with that. You would have been finished in minutes and happy. Ugh, when will people learn?

Exactly! The whole interaction could have been so different if she'd come into it with an open mind and a better attitude. We didn't come up and chew her out or anything. Just asked questions.

A sleepy hallow waffle sandwich is on my must try list for next time! I just can not decide which one I really want to try!

I've heard good things about all of them, so you probably can't go wrong.

Your DH sounds just like mine. If he is in even the slightest bit of pain, its written all over his face. And he makes the goofiest looking faces. My DH can not handle discomfort of any type. Its just part of his charm!

Ha, I'm glad Dug's not the only one. I always tell him that, if he ever has a serious issue, I'm not even going to know because he reacts so strongly to, for instance, stubbing a toe that I won't even flinch at his faces, etc.

What a nightmare! Oh my gosh!

I'll take my confused CM to that grumpy Guest Services lady anyday.
I can't believe she was acting like you were putting her out for doing her job. Yeesh. Some people....

I don't know, your confused CM was a pretty big mess too. It's no fun walking into what should be a magical place, but instead feeling like you've just been through the wringer.

That was nice of the Sleepy Hollow CM to let you order the waffle you wanted. Finally, some pixie dust! Ya'll deserved a little bit.

It was so nice. On the heels of the not-so-magical CMs we'd encountered, she seemed like an AMAZING CM. In reality, she was probably average/slightly-above-average compared to most of our trips, but she was a highlight this day. I really didn't think we'd be getting that waffle.

Sorry you had such issues getting the FP+ system to work. I don't know too many people who went to WDW and walked away without at least one FP problem. Guess it just comes with the territory and using a new system.

Hopefully, it's all uphill from here.

Yeah, I guess since it was still being tested, the likelihood of FP+ problems was high. Luckily, I think this was the only issue we had. Seemed to be a glitch in the system that wasn't accounting for the late-night park hours correctly, since Dug had used an 11:20pm-12:20am FP+. Hope they fixed that now.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

How unfortunate that you encounted so many un-Disney CMs. I know everyone has a bad day, but honestly, if you work in customer service your attitude needs to temporarily disapppear while you're working. Yuck.

What a series of unfortunate events on the monorail debacle! I could easily see myself doing the exact same thing - and my stomach sank along with yours as I read your adventure. I'm glad you eventually made it back to the room - even if you didn't all get a nap.

 

[Denovagirl]

Ugh... that CM. I would have just asked for a manager at that point. We pay thousands of dollars to come to this magical place, I do not have the time to deal with people who can't do their job! I was getting frustrated just reading that!

Sigh...but I am glad things got better after that. They really should have went out of the way to somehow get you Tales with Belle after all the junk you went through with bad CM's.... oh well.

Izzy is too cute! I love her learning the honeybees in the Pooh queue!

 

[Dugette]

How unfortunate that you encounted so many un-Disney CMs. I know everyone has a bad day, but honestly, if you work in customer service your attitude needs to temporarily disapppear while you're working. Yuck.

I agree - everyone has a bad day or things that bother them, but when you're working guest service in front of Disney's Magic Kingdom, people don't expect you to be acting like that. Heck, I think most of us probably get certain silly questions repeatedly at work that make us internally roll our eyes a bit - but we don't (I hope) treat the person asking like they're a nuisance or a moron.

What a series of unfortunate events on the monorail debacle! I could easily see myself doing the exact same thing - and my stomach sank along with yours as I read your adventure. I'm glad you eventually made it back to the room - even if you didn't all get a nap.

It was quite the adventure. I still can't believe we did that. I've never been so sad to be going to Epcot.

Ugh... that CM. I would have just asked for a manager at that point. We pay thousands of dollars to come to this magical place, I do not have the time to deal with people who can't do their job! I was getting frustrated just reading that!

She was quite the treat. Funny thing is, she technically was able to assist with all of our needs (more or less), but the attitude with which she did it was really poor. It was like she was looking for a good argument or something. Hmmm, maybe she was a psychology student using us as an experiment...

Sigh...but I am glad things got better after that. They really should have went out of the way to somehow get you Tales with Belle after all the junk you went through with bad CM's.... oh well.

At least we got something, I guess. At that point, we were pretty jazzed just to get Pirates, even though it wasn't our plan. And we did eventually make it to Enchanted Tales another day (and, really, it wasn't worth all the trouble for us).

Izzy is too cute! I love her learning the honeybees in the Pooh queue!

Aw, thanks! I had so much fun watching her learn how to make the bees go up and slide down, etc. We could have just gone around and around that thing all day and she would have been so happy.