Because of Frances, I couldn't get to either home! (long)

[mkkim]

DrTomorrow


Like I said enjoy and APPRECIATE the upcoming vacations you have in Disney. The rest of us may not be as lucky as you are!

Thanks for you good wishes!

 

[CarolA]

The problems of the people in Florida do not make my problems any less significant! This is what matters to me at this point in time.


Think about it

This may get me banned, but


I thought about it.....


Personally, the problems of the people in Florida are a LOT more significant. No power, no gas for their car, threat of job loss due to the tourism drop and here comes another storm.

 

[anniet]

Originally posted by Sammie
We were at the Grand Floridian at the time and yes it was a disappointment to have the pool closed early so they could prepare the area, it was disappointing to be a MK resort that we booked so we could enjoy E-Ride night, to have the park close early and E-Ride cancelled. But we got over it and would never voice any concern over the changes.

I think there's a difference between the pool being closed and actually needing a roof over your head.

Nobody here was complaining about a cancelled E-ride night.

 

[Sammie]

Originally posted by anniet
I think there's a difference between the pool being closed and actually needing a roof over your head.

Nobody here was complaining about a cancelled E-ride night.

Correct me if I am wrong, as I can certainly be at times, they had a roof. It might not be the roof they wanted but they were not forced out in the storm to sit it out in a car.

And yes we had to extend our stay and yes we had to pay for that extension and it was not cheap.

I think anyone that comes to Florida during Hurricane season needs to be prepared for a hurricane and what that might include. Including being caught and extending your stay and the cost of that. If that is not possible then you need to get out before it gets to the point you can not leave.

 

[anniet]

Originally posted by Sammie
Correct me if I am wrong, as I can certainly be at times, they had a roof. And yes we had to extend our stay and yes we had to pay for that extension and it was not cheap.

Some, like me (and I am the OP) did NOT know IF or where they were going to have a roof for 24 hours or more before the storm. We were originally told by the resort we were staying in "You have to check out on your original check out day" which was Saturday and then were told by Disney "Sorry we can't take you AND NO we won't call you if anything opens up"

In the end it did work out, but as others said, when you are making calls to the airline, to family and everywhere else trying to find a place those hours where you have no idea where you are going to spend 48 hours waiting out what could be a category 4 hurricane are far less than magical.

We were told at 3:00pm on Thursday there were no accomodations for us. We found out at 6:00pm on Friday that we could stay put. We spent 27 hours just looking for a roof over our heads. I would have paid full points or full rack rate. They wouldn't take either from us, but we weren't originally on Disney property. I think being a DVC member, they should have at the VERY LEAST taken my name and cell phone number and called if there was a cancellation, which at these times I understand there can be many, but they weren't even willing to do that.

There were others on this thread who had similar experiences.

 

[jennymouse]

I can see both sides to this situation. I've been very surprised and disappointed to hear how cold and unDisney MS has been to members calling wanting/needing to extend thier stays, or just get a room. I mean, you can say no without being hateful. But I can see Disney's side too. I think it's just one of those no win situations for everyone.

We could all learn a lesson from this, when a hurricane is coming, get out while you can...don't wait and see what course it's going to take. Get in the car and head home or pay the $50 or $100 fee airlines charge to change to an earlier flight. If we see a hurricane heading to Florida when we are going to be there reschedule.

I'm sorry you had to go through that, anniet. I'm sorry Floridians are having to go through all these horrible hurricanes too.

 

[Sammie]

Originally posted by anniet
Some, like me (and I am the OP) did NOT know IF or where they were going to have a roof for 24 hours or more before the storm. We were originally told by the resort we were staying in "You have to check out on your original check out day" which was Saturday and then were told by Disney "Sorry we can't take you AND NO we won't call you if anything opens up"

In the end it did work out, but as others said, when you are making calls to the airline, to family and everywhere else trying to find a place those hours where you have no idea where you are going to spend 48 hours waiting out what could be a category 4 hurricane are far less than magical.

We were told at 3:00pm on Thursday there were no accomodations for us. We found out at 6:00pm on Friday that we could stay put. We spent 27 hours just looking for a roof over our heads. I would have paid full points or full rack rate. They wouldn't take either from us, but we weren't originally on Disney property. I think being a DVC member, they should have at the VERY LEAST taken my name and cell phone number and called if there was a cancellation, which at these times I understand there can be many, but they weren't even willing to do that.

There were others on this thread who had similar experiences.

Ok I am confused, see I told you I can be.

You were at a Disney resort during the hurricane, your flight was cancelled due to the storm and Disney made you check out anyway. This really surprises me as all of us at Disney during Charley were allowed to extend our stay at Disney resorts during the hurricane and friends I had staying at the Contemporary during Francis were also allowed to extend their stay. Which Disney resort would not let you extend your stay?

 

[mkkim]

Ok everyone....

The "self-centered" person has something to say.....

This has turned into something it was never suppose to be.

All I am asking is that DVC give us some type of break on the number of points used for Sat. and Sun for a 2 bedroom.
That's really all I want out of this! We used 150 pts for 3 days. I worked very hard to be able to buy into DVC. I don't have big money to pay cash for rooms and I can't put my stays on Visa nor do I have a million banked point (right now I think I'll be able to get back there in 2008!). Our vacations are about once every two years. We are not rich people. So.... the main point of this whole thing is that I hope DVC gives us a break on points per night. And...if they don't I'll get over it... but I do think that I needed to voice my issue wether it's well received or not.

 

[anniet]

Originally posted by Sammie
Ok I am confused, see I told you I can be.

You were at a Disney resort during the hurricane, your flight was cancelled due to the storm and Disney made you check out anyway. This really surprises me as all of us at Disney during Charley were allowed to extend our stay at Disney resorts during the hurricane and friends I had staying at the Contemporary during Francis were also allowed to extend their stay. Which Disney resort would not let you extend your stay?

No---it was a Downtown Disney resort- It was the Grosvenor. Originally we only expected to be there for two nights because we were staying in Melbourne with family, but they evacuated and told us to go back to Orlando early and get a flight out--we tried, GOD KNOWS we tried....our flight was rescheduled 3 times.

But I do know of someone who was at a DVC resort and not allowed to extend, and I have it on good authority from several sources that there were indeed rooms available.

Maybe Disney didn't have the staff to accomodate the guests- FINE tell us that. But we weren't going to be looking for housekeeping or room service. We were looking for a place to stay ANY PLACE.

Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for the way it turned out and I do feel for all the Floridians. Like I said, I have family there, but even they are appalled at what happened. And one of them used to work for Disney for 3 years and even she is skeptical that the rooms were booked. She even said while she was in Tampa watching TV the news talked about all the cancellations at WDW.

It all just didn't add up.....

I just got the feeling someone high up decided they did not want the liability and at a certain point said don't take any more ressies, and don't tell people they can stay. If they get out we don't have to worry about them...

Believe me, I'm always one of the first to defend Disney and they did great as far as they went, but this was very confusing and disappointing--they could have gone a little further and for whatever reason chose not to because it wasn't to their benefit.

 

[jennymouse]

Originally posted by anniet
I just got the feeling someone high up decided they did not want the liability and at a certain point said don't take any more ressies, and don't tell people they can stay. If they get out we don't have to worry about them...

I think you might be on to something here. I could be wrong, Lord knows I usually am, but it seems that Disney reacted differently with Frances than they did with Charley. I've read about every thread from folks having experienced Charley and Frances (yeah, I need a life.) and there seems to be a big difference. Maybe the difference was in the size of the storm, I dunno.

There were reports of people hogging/hording the bag/boxed meals that Disney had out for Charley people. Most reasonable people praised thier resorts and WDW for how it handled Charley, but reported that other people were complaining about wanting refunds since they couldn't go to the parks and stuff. No telling what those CM's had to go through with people. We all know how some people can raise ten kinds of heck if they don't get the view they wanted, imagine how some people reacted when told they had to stay in thier rooms...lockdown they called it. Maybe, with Frances, they didn't want to repeat the fiasco. Maybe with the size of Frances, they knew it would be worse.

It might be just my overactive imagination, but seems like maybe some of the CM's that post on the DIS knew of this "new policy", (if there was one) and couldn't actually tell us because there were Florida residents that I believe are CM's on these boards practically begging people to stay home. If you look back at the resorts boards, theme parks board threads, you'll see what I mean. Saying Gov. Bush was asking people to stay home, etc. All this is purely conjecture of course....

Okay, flame me as usual...

 

[nntucket]

By the way, Disney did not "hand out" food during Hurricane Frances. They set up stations in the hotel and sold bag lunches at reasonable prices. A peanut butter sandwich or ham sandwich or turkey sandwich, plus a piece of fruit, chips and a soda cost $5.00. A bottle of beer cost $5.00. No body went hungry, but the food stands were not very busy. Most of the time, the restaurants at the Beach Club and the Yacht Club were open. In addition, a small army of cast members played various games with children in the lobbies of the Beach Club, the Beach Club Villas and the Yacht Club. For adults, there was a wonderful "swing" style jazz band playing in the lobby of the Yacht Club. Honestly, though, with the hurricane coming, it made me feel like I was on the deck of the Titanic!

My description of my experience, earlier in this thread, was not intended as a complaint about all of Disney nor all of Disney's employees, but rather was simply a statement my bad experience in dealing with DVC Member Services during the hurricane. As I said earlier in this thread, the front desk clerk at the Beach Club was extremely sympathetic and clearly stated Disney's intent to help all of its guests staying in Disney resorts. I apologize if I have offended Florida residents, or anyone else, by my description my experience with Member Services.

 

[DrTomorrow]

Originally posted by mkkim
[...]All I am asking is that DVC give us some type of break on the number of points used for Sat. and Sun for a 2 bedroom.
That's really all I want out of this! [...]

All "sound and fury" aside, I wonder if DVC could legally do this. DVC is a timeshare, and has a lot more rules and regulation than a normal hotel. Since we're all "owners", it might not be easy for DVC to reduce the number of points for a DVC room in an ad hoc fashion.

Anyone have any info on this issue?

 

[DrTomorrow]

Originally posted by nntucket
By the way, Disney did not "hand out" food during Hurricane Frances. [...]

I think that may be part of jennymouse's point: I read several "Charley" posts where Disney did indeed have free box meals available. Since it sounds like this didn't work out - hoarding, hogging - they had to change their tactics; maybe the same thing happened to room reservations.

 

[carolanne]

I was glad to see that all worked out well for you. I had just about the same experience and posted on this site. The comments were nasty that I got from the people who responded. I was glad that I read your letter and the comments that followed. I agree that this was handled poorly by MS and DVC resorts.

 

[disneymom2one]

As a Floridian who is actually preparing to evacuate (we live on the Panhandle) I thought I'd give a reality check ebcause my guess is most of those Disney employees were facing what we're facing now -

- going through your house and trying to decide what is important enough to bring with you (baby clothes, the computer? pictures?).
- Boarding up every window and door
- Trying to arrange for hotel rooms and deal with a nine year old autistic child and two large dogs
- constantly watching the weather channel as the forecast changes and changes

And many people where I live have stood in lines for hours getting plywood, tarp, etc.

It is NOT fun. This is our first big one in years. Those people went through two in three weeks.