Could this possibly be true?

[clovermeg]

And, as far as misinformation from Disney: When you call Walt Disney World, unless you really know a direct number, you will get one of two offices.

The Disney Reservations Center (DRC) includes Walt Disney Travel Company (WDTC), Central Reservations Office (CRO), Disney Dining, and some other lesser known information lines. To the best of my knowledge the DRC locations are in the International Drive area, Tampa, Houston, Salt Lake City and somewhere in North Carolina. There may be more. Some of the people working at the DRC call centers may never have been to either WDW or DL (or both).

The Main Switchboard (407-824-2222) is also where all calls to Disney Resorts go if you are dialing the phone number on the back of your reservations form. Also that is where calls go if you dial the Operator from your room, and possibly even calls to the Front Desk. The Main Switchboard people will, if asked, also identify themselves as Guest Services. They can put you through to any number on WDW.

Unfortunately, to add to this, it is also possible that you will get an outsourced agent who is working from his or her home, anywhere in the United States...NICE!

 

[chartle]

I have a niece who met her husband when both were in the Army in Military Intelligence. She has a degree in English from a major university. She has two children, ages 10 and 7, both with special needs. While living in Florida the whole family had AP's.

She applied for the Mom's Panel and did not get accepted.

And whenever she has a question she is not sure of she has an expert in the family that she asks. So we have no idea how they really selected the members.

And, as far as misinformation from Disney: When you call Walt Disney World, unless you really know a direct number, you will get one of two offices.

The Disney Reservations Center (DRC) includes Walt Disney Travel Company (WDTC), Central Reservations Office (CRO), Disney Dining, and some other lesser known information lines. To the best of my knowledge the DRC locations are in the International Drive area, Tampa, Houston, Salt Lake City and somewhere in North Carolina. There may be more. Some of the people working at the DRC call centers may never have been to either WDW or DL (or both).

The Main Switchboard (407-824-2222) is also where all calls to Disney Resorts go if you are dialing the phone number on the back of your reservations form. Also that is where calls go if you dial the Operator from your room, and possibly even calls to the Front Desk. The Main Switchboard people will, if asked, also identify themselves as Guest Services. They can put you through to any number on WDW.

At both DRC and MS they have access to a computer which has lots of Guest Information and it is very well organized. Actually, all CMs who have access to a terminal, or who even can access the "Cast Portal" from off-site, have access to this Guest Services information. I will often open an extra window when I am responding to people and go into the Portal for the latest official information.

The people at DRC and MS do not deal with upgrades, partially used tickets, or problems related to tickets. They do not know all the rules. The people at DRC can sell unused tickets; the people at MS don't deal with tickets at all.

The people who work in the ticket booths at the Parks or in Guest Relations at the Parks (and this includes TTC, the Water Parks, and GRO in DTD) deal with ticket upgrades and unusual problems on a daily basis. I would not say that someone you talked to on the phone lied to you, but just they were attempting to answer a question when they really did not have an answer.

CF, in prior posts, you have written that you are very low on the totem pole at TL and sometimes try to "let the powers that be" know about issues brought up here. But have you ever brought issues like this up with the people in charge of ticketing?

I think bad info like this has caused a lot of "Guest Issues" in the parks. I understand that I think CM's are trained to try to answer questions and not pass the buck to the next guy, but the people who answer the phones need to know that some questions need to be transfered.

A wrong answer can cause a family major problems if they need to decide whether to spend an extra $200 so their family of four can dine at the castle after spending the day at Epcot or lose their deposit because of a missed ADR.

 

[chartle]

No response, either from a member on the panel or from a CM, should start with or include the words: "I think"

If someone does NOT know the answer, then they should NOT guess but, rather, should seek out the answer from someone higher up the chain.

If the "Mom" had just read the other posts on that board she would have found the correct answer.

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

I'm more surprised this incorrect info was on the "Mom's panel".

OMG!!! I was thinking the exact same thing!!!! How can someone from the Mom's Panel get this wrong!!??? I thought that they were supposed to be the experts........hmmmm I'm just sayin'.

 

[chartle]

Ok here's another one.

I read somewhere that the 1 day base ticket + water park fun and more ticket give you 2 extra admissions to blizzard beach, etc., in addition to the 1 admission to the theme park. Is this true?

- Asked by Kevin on 3/2/2010 Answered by
Kathie F., SC Category
Park Hopper/Water Parks

HI Kevin!

With the Water Park, Fun and more option added to your ticket, you'll have 1 admission to Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach, DisneyQuest, Disney's Wide World of Sports, or a 1 round of golf at Oak Trail for each day of your park pass.

In your example above, you would have one admission to a theme park and 1 admission to the places listed above.

I hope this helps with your planning! Have a great trip!

So you pay $52 for one $46 admission.

I think the issue with the Mom's Panel is that there are no checks to the replies. On these boards, if I posted that answer, I would be corrected within 5 seconds by at least 5 people.

As for who they pick for the panel, I think its 50% knowledge and 50% "Have a Disney day" cheerleader type comments.

 

[PearlySwan]

A wrong answer can cause a family major problems if they need to decide whether to spend an extra $200 so their family of four can dine at the castle after spending the day at Epcot or lose their deposit because of a missed ADR.

^^^ Oh that would be very annoying to anyone put in that position by someone like Maribel, or a phone CM, giving out the wrong information about being able to use extra days on tickets to enter more than one park each day (without purchasing hoppers). What a nightmare for a first time visitor that would be when faced with the options of loosing their deposit (paid meal at CRT), or having to come up with the cash for the hopper option in order to enter MK for that ADR. And what if that ADR was for their very last day at WDW? If they chose to pay for the hoppers so as not miss out on CRT, then they also missed the opportunity to hop on the previous touring days during their visit to WDW. My DN's CRT ressie was on their last night at MK (yesterday). DN didn't purchase hopper tickets for her trip. I was very clear to inform her that she could only enter one park per day using base tickets, which is why they only visited one park/day. Yesterday that park was MK since I had made ADRs for them at both CP and CRT.

 

[Tomh]

It's so sad that she gave an answer so completely and thoroughly wrong. That goes for both the travel agent, and more so for the Mom's Panel. I do hope that family got the right information from somewhere else.

 

[chartle]

It's so sad that she gave an answer so completely and thoroughly wrong. That goes for both the travel agent, and more so for the Mom's Panel. I do hope that family got the right information from somewhere else.

I spent about 10 minutes and found a few more outright wrong answers and few more not so clear answers.

I've decided not to read anymore posts on the Mom's panel because I really can't fix the problems.

The good news is that the post referenced in the OP has 93 ratings with a average of 1.4 out of 5.

 

[buckler]

The good news is that the post referenced in the OP has 93 ratings with a average of 1.4 out of 5.

When I rated it a "1" last night I think I was only the 9th person to rate it. The DIS people have been busy

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

You know what's funny. On my application for the Mom's Panel I said something to the effect of I know a lot about Disney. I like to share what I know with friends who are planning a trip. But one of the things I like most is when I am asked about something I am not familiar with. It gives me an excuse to research something that I may not have otherwise known about.

Now, I did know this answer, but had I been picked on the Mom's Panel, I would have loved to have researched something I did not know about. Truth is I probably would have double checked all my answers before telling the world a wrong answer.

As for "Parents Panel", I think that has a nice ring to it!

 

[ShannonMB]

When I rated it a "1" last night I think I was only the 9th person to rate it. The DIS people have been busy

 

[mlittig]

I was just the 99th person to rate Marilbel's answer to Brooke as a 1 I also sent her a question asking if she realizes that her answer was 100% wrong I don't expect a reply but maybe it will help her double check her answers from now on

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

I was just number 101 to do it. I know she answered "I think" but considering this is on Disney's website "I think" people would assume they are being checked to only give out correct answers.

 

[chartle]

I was just number 101 to do it. I know she answered "I think" but considering this is on Disney's website "I think" people would assume they are being checked to only give out correct answers.

You would think but don't worry Disney has a CYA clause.

http://disneyworldforum.disney.go.com/about.aspx

The views expressed in the Walt Disney World® Moms Panel are those of the panelists, who are independent contractors, and may not be factually accurate. These views are not intended to reflect the opinions of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Online, its affiliates, its management, its agents or its employees. Panelists have received/will receive a trip to the Walt Disney World® Resort for their participation on the Panel.

 

[Pixie Princess]

That's what I was thinking. I wasn't picked for the panel but even I knew the answer to that!

Ditto.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

That is interesting. Kind of unfortunate because I am sure most people who ask and read think they are asking for facts and it is not necessarily the case.

 

[Kat&Dom]

You would think but don't worry Disney has a CYA clause.

http://disneyworldforum.disney.go.com/about.aspx

That just makes her answer even more wrong - she is essentially getting "paid" by being given a free trip to Disney. I don't understand why Disney would give free trips to people that are not providing factual information about the parks - if I would not have discovered DISboards, I would be relying on the information on the Mom's Panel to help me plan my trip.

At least the DISboards run in a democratic way where people can get all kinds of different perspectives but in no way be mislead so completely like this posting on the Mom's Panel.

 

[gydell]

We did it in May 2009. We bought more days and no park hopper and had no problem entering 2 different parks in 1 day. We were there for 7 days and bought a 10 day pass.

 

[Hoopfamily]

So we all agree that the answer is no you cannot use a ticket with eight days for a 5 day trip and use the 3 extra days to hop. However, Maribel is from Puerto Rico. Sometimes Disney uses slightly different ticket deals and offers outside of the USA. I can tell you the in's and out's of tickets bought inside the contiguous United States, but I know very little of the tickets sold outside of the United States.

 

[GoofyforDisney3]

We did it in May 2009. We bought more days and no park hopper and had no problem entering 2 different parks in 1 day. We were there for 7 days and bought a 10 day pass.

Was the other park a water park? If it was that would explain why you could do that. But, if it wasn't something was wrong because even Disney says you can't do this. If I remember correctly there is a disclaimer on their website when looking at ticket options.