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

[anniet]

DH and I planned a vacation to visit his cousins in Melbourne for 8/28 thru 9/4.

The plan was we would fly into Orlando on 8/28, have dinner with some friends- the next day we would drive to Melbourne, stay with family and then drive back to Orlando on 9/2 and spend 9/2 and 9/3 in a resort in Downtown Disney.

Well Frances changed all that. On 8/31 our cousins decided they were going to evacuate Melbourne the next day. They advised us to go to Orlando and get the first flight back to Boston. So we did, however the first flight we could get on wasn't scheduled to leave until 9/3 at 7:00pm. We knew we were cutting it close, but were hopeful that we would be able to leave Orlando. On 9/1 we spent the day at Typhoon Lagoon. It was a beautiful day, but not very crowded. I figured well the kids have gone back to school- that cuts down on the crowds.

That evening we drove over to SSR to check out the resort and the model rooms. The place was deserted. We went into the lounge and ordered a drink from Darrell who looked very lonesome. I said "Is it always this quiet?" and he said "No, many guests have left to avoid the impending doom." We talked about Frances and told him how we tried to get out but were hopeful we could leave on Friday. He said he was still recovering from Charlie and after a while we wished him luck and went on our way.

The next day, Thursday 9/2 we decided to use the one park hopper day left on our pass and do the parks. We started in EPCOT, but since world showcase hadn't opened yet we hopped the monorail to MK. Then back to EPCOT. The whole time the parks were empty- and we usually go in January so for us to say they were empty is saying something. We were walking through WS when DH decided we should go out the back way and walk around the boardwalk. We went into the lobby of BWV and dh went over to the desk and began speaking with the CM. It was there that we found out that the airport was closing at noon the next day and we would not be able to get out! I was sooo upset I couldn't even speak to the woman.

DH, knowing that our reservation at the DD resort was only through 9/3 asked about availability at BWV to which she instantly replied- We are all booked.

Huh? I looked around the lobby and there were no more than 2 people there. There was one group of 4 people out on the boardwalk and the area was more deserted than it is in January. None of this made sense.

So I told dh not to worry. That DVC MS was open until 7:00pm on Thursdays and I would call them and see what we could do. When I called at 5:00pm there was a recording saying they let MS go early to prepare for the storm, but MS would be available from 9-noon the next day. I kept my faith.

DH went down to the lobby at our DD Resort where we were staying and asked about extending the reservation. "We are all booked" he was told. You've got to be kidding me!!!!

So at this point we have a category 4 hurricane coming towards us, no flight home and no hotel to stay at. I tossed and turned the whole night. The next morning at 9:00am I called MS.

With a trembling voice and trying not to cry I spoke with Roxanne. I told her the situation and she gave me the company line....DVC is all booked and all the Disney resorts are booked. I begged her and said "But please, we are DVC members and have nowhere to go!!!!" She repeated that ALL DVC resorts and all Disney resorts were booked. Still none of this seemed to ring true with the scarcity of people I had seen on the property for the last two days. I asked to speak to a manager, got put on hold for a minute or so and then was told the managers are all speaking with other guests.

At this point I just thanked her (for what I don't know) and said goodbye. She told me to have a "magical day"

Next I called OKW directly. I was told they were full because they had to bring everyone from the Fort Wilderness campsites to OKW. I guess I should have camped at FW, instead of buying DVC. I asked if she could find out for me if there was availability at any other DVC resorts and she oh so happily transferred me, supposedly to BCV's front desk where the phone rang....steady....for five minutes....before I hung up!

I called MS back about an hour later and asked about a waiting list- Nope....no waiting list. Again I explained the wholes story...again nothing, but as I hung up I got "Have a magical day!"

Not knowing what to do with ourselves, DH and I decided to walk over to DD. He stopped at the DVC kiosk and told the woman what was happening. At this point I had given up...we had no room to stay in, no flight home and I had visions of us sitting with our luggage in the lobby of the resort we were in. Where else were we going to go?

The DVC lady told us to go to Guest Services around the corner so we walked in and dh began explaining everything to the very nice men. However as dh explains all this - to me these men started to look like cats who just ate the canaries! Just my opinion, but it seemed like they were getting uncomfortable with what we were telling them. One of the men tells us to use the phone and call Wilderness Lodge directly, since that is my home resort. Dh picks up the phone and the CM crosses his fingers and says, we are hoping there's something for you. DH gets transferred to what they told him was operations, and he puts me on the line, cuz I'm the DVC member and I've got the card. After a few more moments on hold again I get the same answer "Sorry everything is booked. No there is no waiting list. Have a magical day!"

Now let me say that I am NOT a person who thinks owning DVC should give me "special priveleges". But being a DVC member in Florida, with an impending,hurricane with nowhere to go, and no way to get home, shouldn't someone in the organization stop for a moment and say "Hey we've got a person on the phone who's loyal enough to make a large investment in us. She's going to be with us for at least the next 38 years, Maybe we should try to help her find a place to stay for the hurricane, or at least take her name and cell phone number so if ANYTHING comes up in the next 24 hours we can try to help her out"

Wouldn't you think so? I cannot tell you how disappointed I am. And if the attendance on Disney property supported their claims that they were booked to capacity, I wouldn't feel so bad, but my observations did not match what I was being told.

We walked back to the DD resort where we were staying, and dh went over to the desk....pleading with the girl behind the desk she answered "You can stay, we've got cancellations and now we've got plenty of rooms". We hunkered down there and waited for Frances to pass.

I'm still very upset with Disney's unwillingness to help me. I don't want anything from them, just for them to think next time about the possibility that perhaps they should give a DVC member just a tiny bit more consideration than they gave me, when they call and are in need. If they really didn't have the rooms, fine....they still could have taken my name and number in case something came up.

I'm thinking of writing a letter. Anybody got a name and address?

 

[Muushka]

Poor Annie! I am sorry that DVC let you down. I am glad that the DD resort found room for you though. Not sure who to write to. Let us know how you make out.

 

[daddiojiggy]

first i'm glad you made out all right!what i would have done is to stay in your original room and hunker down for the storm.i can't tell you how many times(the last time was in richmond,w.v. )i've booked WAY in advance ,asked for a particular room , shown up and not been able to get my room !i'd finally had enough when we were in w.v. and talked to the manager.she told me that it was a law that they couldn't kick out a customer if they were staying in the hotel and in good standing -- even if their reservation had expired!
next time(hopefully, never will come) stay your ground.of course this would be a terrible thing to do to someone coming in on a reservation if everything was okay but you didn't want to leave your(now theirs) room.

 

[jimmytammy]

Hey Annie

Tammy and I were praying for yall knowing what was coming your way. We were glad to hear that the DD resort worked out for you after all. It really didnt make sense to us about the on sites being to capacity. I think someone posted that Vero resort had been evacuated and those folks were relocated to on site DVC resorts. But all of the resorts being full, something sounds a bit fishy.

We are looking forward to Jan. See ya then if not before

Jimmy

 

[AnnetteF]

I'm glad it worked out for you in the end but how dissappointing to hear the reaction from Disney. I read on another post somewhere here that they were putting up the families of castmembers who were working during the hurricaine at Old Key West. Someone said they were even able to bring their dogs with them because they saw a couple of different people walking the dogs around the resort. You would think that they could have come up with something. I would think that they could have at least called around and double checked every resort for you. I don't know of any contact information for you but I would write a letter to DVC general manager and also to the Walt Disney World Resort general management. It makes me wonder what would happen if that ever happened to us on our upcoming October trip with our 7 month old baby.

 

[The Prophet]

Start at the top. Write a letter to Michael Eisner about your experience.
BTW...We were staying at the BCV and had no problems extending out stay until Sunday (However, we left as scheduled on Friday).

The Prophet

 

[rsschneck]

In regards to the letter you would like to send you can send it to the following address:
DVC Member Services attn: Marcia Reed
200 Celebration Pl
Celebration, FL 34747


I posted another thread about our experience. The beginning of our story sounds a lot like yours. However, we had Janet from MS who did a wonderful job of getting us a studio @ OKW for 3 nights. I emailed MS because I want to write a letter to commend Janet and to Thank her for keeping my Sister's family safe during the hurricane.

I was puzzled why every CM kept saying all the WDW resorts were full when they clearly were not.

Where did you end up staying? When did you end up flying home?

My sister's family flew home yesterday from MCO. It took them 15 hours between delays, missed connections, etc. At least they are safe and had a room to stay in during the hurricane.

 

[buzz5985]

This happened to us during Hurricane Charlie. The way it was explained to me - I did not try to go through MS since it was the weekend. But CRO told me they were unable to make reservations. Their computers were shut down. If you wanted a reservation you needed to drive to the hotel directly and ask. You could not make phone calls.

We ended up asking for a manager at BWV, since the CM couldn't find us rooms she had told us was available 5 minutes before. We told her we would take any room available. We were in a studio. We also told her we would move to different rooms every night if needed. So she clicked on the computer for awhile and found us a 1 BR for additional 3 nights. I was a little confused how none turned into a 1 BR, but I took it. But I had to ask for a manager to get it.

 

[Sammie]

As stated many rooms were taken by CMs and their families. Surely you did not want someone already in a room removed.

 

[anniet]

Originally posted by Sammie
As stated many rooms were taken by CMs and their families. Surely you did not want someone already in a room removed.

Absolutely NOT-in fact I commend Disney for doing what they did for CM's and FW guests. I don't know what you read in the OP that makes you think that that's what I wanted---- However as I stated there was no way from the attendance that I observed both IN THE RESORTS, SSR and BWV AND in the parks, that ALL rooms were full to capacity. Even with CM's and Vero Beach evacuees, there were a lot more people who got out than who got in.

Also our DVC contracts state that they will provide us with accomodations based on availability. If there was in fact availability and I was turned away, I have a HUGE problem with that, as should all DVC members! Unfortunately, I can prove nothing.

buzz5985 I considered going to the resort directly, luggage in tow and speaking to a manager, but when we were told we could stay put we took that route instead.


rsschneck- we did end up staying in the resort we were booked in at Downtown Disney. We flew out yesterday (Tuesday) morning at 8am. The funny thing is our resort originally told us they were booked too and that we would have to vacate the room. Then all of a sudden there were rooms and we could stay.

There was definitely something not quite right about the whole thing.

jimmytammy- can't wait to meet you all!!!! Tammy's e-mails were a HUGE comfort to us during the storm!

Thanks everyone for your support.

 

[ripleysmom]

Just a note to you for future reference.....you cannot be forced to check out of a hotel if you wish to extend your stay. If you had just said that you weren't checking out, the hotel could not evict you. I am pretty sure it is against Florida law.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

I bet the whole thing was pretty scary and I wouldn't have wanted to have been down then. But did I miss something, were you staying at a DVC property, if you were and they displaced you then I would be upset.

But just because you are a member and they couldn't find a place for you, I would't think you were entitiled to a place because you are a member. They have to take care of those already booked and staying there. Everything was shut down, they new days in advance what was going to happen, and honestly in my opinion, it was pretty stupid to even try to go to parks and be in the area with the storm on your heels. I don't mean to be nasty, but what would you have liked them to do, they knew families were going to be displaced by the storm, and they probably did have room available but were saving them for people who lost there homes, not for people that decided to still come even though a storm was on its way.

 

[Pootle]

I think the real issue here is that there obviously were rooms available - we were at OKW (where we had a reservation for the Sunday, hurricane 'day' so after much searching and negotiating, they let us check in a day early) and so know.

I've been at OKW when it's full, and believe me, this was nothing like. If Disney had said something like 'we are expecting possible severe impact ourselves and are therefore not taking further bookings' then that would have been easier to understand.

I started a thread about what happened to us at VB, and along with another poster, can tell you that unlike Fort Wilderness folk, we were NOT offered alternative accommodation at DVC in Orlando, just the return of points to our account and a list of 1-800 numbers for other hotel chains.

I'm pleased it was sorted out for you in the end. I know what a stressful time it was.

 

[marymrg]

Annie - I too was in a similar quandry as yourself. I was in Orlando from 8/31 - 9/7. I had reservations to go to Vero Beach (my home resort) on 9/6. The day before I left for the trip, I called MS regarding what they would do if Hurricane Frances proceeded as expected. I was concerned that MS would be closed over the weekend prior to my check-in and also worried about how I would be able to change my resort. I was told to call the resort directly if it did look like VB would be affected. (since it was still too early for them to take any action at that point)

Well, by Wed 9/1 it was apparent that the area would be evacuated. I called VB on Thursday 9/2 (7am or so) and they said they were indeed evacuating. So, then I called OKW to see if I could use my points there on 9/6. Like you, I was told they had no room and even if they did, they were not allowed to take any new reservations through 9/6 because they had to accomodate current guests. (understandable) My next call was to MS when they opened. They told me the same. So, they cancelled my VB reservation and they said they were waiving all banking rules. I told them to bank the points and reapply them to my next reservation. They said ok, but it might take a while since that day they had to prioritize. (no problem - I emailed them last night and am sure eventually they'll email me back a confirmation) My next stop that day was Guest Services at DD Disney. (I was staying at the DD Hilton) I had a confirmed res. for Pop Century from 9/3 to 9/6 and they told me the same info. as did OKW. I was assured that since I had a reservation, that it would be honored and they would not kick me out if I had no place to go. (ok - so now I'm feeling a little better)


So, my plan B went into action the next morning. We checked in bright and early around 7:15am. The room was ready (hallelujah) and I was able to extend my stay by one day. (a manager did come over to override or ok it) Perhaps by then they knew they had availability due to cancellations?? (not sure, I didn't question it) I just took the keys and ran.

I'm glad I didn't have to go to Plan C (drive to stay with friends in Tampa or worse, drive to Tennesee to my sister's) I had also tried to get an earlier flight back home (for Thursday or Friday - 9/2 or 9/3 - but was more than a day late or a dollar short for that to happen)

My only wonder now is when people started leaving on Monday, if I would've been able to check into OKW. I didn't bother calling MS as I figured I would just stay put.


Overall, there were some tense moments but I knew somehow it would all work out. After talking to a few local people who didn't know if they would have a home to go back to, I knew I was lucky to have a safe place to stay. (even though I wasn't sure I did until the morning of 9/3)

There was just so much uncertainty with when and where the hurricane would hit, how long it lasted (longer than anyone hoped) and when the airport would reopen. I suppose that is why they have their guidelines in place.

 

[rsschneck]

I guess I got lucky because we were OKW members staying in OKW at the time. We went from a 2 bedroom to a studio and extended for 2 extra nights.

I agree it was VERY tense for awhile.

I am still going to write my letter of appreciation. I posted the address because I figure if I could write a letter of praise you could write you letter of disapproval.

 

[Pootle]

I too intend to send a letter of appreciation for the way things were handled here at OKW - it could not have been better.

However, I shall also be mentioning my disappointment that people with a reservation at VB were not offered alternative accommodation in Orlando when guests at Fort Wilderness were.

Makes 'Members are Magical' seem a bit hollow. I didn't feel like I was a member of any Disney 'family' when we were basically told to 'hit the road.' Interesting that non-members faired better.

 

[eileenfk]

Originally posted by ripleysmom
Just a note to you for future reference.....you cannot be forced to check out of a hotel if you wish to extend your stay. If you had just said that you weren't checking out, the hotel could not evict you. I am pretty sure it is against Florida law.

I wonder if this is why our rule book states that if we do not vacate, when our reservation expires, we will be charged whatever it costs them to find similar accomodations for the next guest (I don't have the exact wording).

Anyway, I think that Disney should have just told the people
that they could stay in the lobby while someone tried to find them a place to stay; and let them know that they were welcome to ride the storm out, in the lobby, if nothing else could be found.
I think that this would have removed some of the stress from the situation.
I think that having a policy for this type of situation, so that the CMs know what to do, would be of value.

If schools can be turned into shelters, why not hotel lobbys.
I am certain they could have found blankets and pillows.

Eileen

 

[bz8bls]

Originally posted by marymrg

So, they cancelled my VB reservation and they said they were waiving all banking rules. I told them to bank the points and reapply them to my next reservation. They said ok, but it might take a while since that day they had to prioritize. (no problem - I emailed them last night and am sure eventually they'll email me back a confirmation)

We were there also; but banking rules still applied when I got back home on 9-3-04. We have a Feb UY and since we had only to the end of July to bank 100% of our points, we could only bank 50%. (We are using the other 1/2 in Dec).

I'm a little confused by the 'waiving banking rules'

 

[marymrg]

That's what I was told by MS over the phone for my points that were cancelled on 9/2 for a 9/6 stay. My use year is October so I only had less than a month to use my points. I still haven't received my confirmation though..........so I'll keep you posted.

 

[pjtsdb]

we checked in to bwv on 8/29 with our 4 boys (2 bedroom ) on wednesday we asked about the hurricane because we were to check out on sunday - 9/5 - we were told everything would be ok if we needed to stay more nights no problem - we asked about going to pop century with other members of our family that were there - they said no because they were not taking no reservation - the room rate would be very friendly if we needed to stay - could not get a flight out till tuesday - so on sunday went to the front desk and guess what? if we used points it would be 30 points a night or $450.00 a night. they said that was the price and we could move to another room because they said there were none. i was not happy - talked to the manager - no luck with no one. i'm very frustated with disney, i understand about people who live there but i feel i was a hostage. we talked to many different people at the front desk each one said something different. i'm writing to the state about the price that we were charged and to disney about the front desk. i know how people in florida feel, my mom lives 25 miles away. so i understand how you feel.