Did I expect too much? CBR disappointing...

[Disneydenise]

I have been going to DW yearly for the past 14 years. I have found that if you go during the summer you will most likely not be happy with the level of service you recieve. We went to DW this past April and since it was 2 weeks past Easter it seemed like the DW of years past. I think that the place is still wonderful but when you go with the hoards and masses you will be unhappy. I think that the little extras are a hit and miss thing too, mostly a miss. We went to the Poly for our Honeymoon way back in 1983 and we were on the Grand Plan(it wasn't called that then) We got nothing special not even a congratulations or a towel animal. It was not expected back then so Iwasn't disappointed. I do think that with the internet everyone thinks that this stuff happens to everyone but really it doesn't. I would go on your trip in NOv. if it is not during a school holiday. The whole world travels then and you will be setting your self up for disappointment. I really did enjoy my last trip and we are going again in Oct. this year again it is over a holiday but we will not be in the park vey much ove the weekend. It is a shme that everyone has found out how much fun DW really is.

 

[Tiffany]

Originally posted by Mooneybeams
Jeez....I'm not anti gay, I just want to be the one to tell my daughter about it... when she's old enough.

Mooneybeams,

As far as the gay comment goes without knowing the context of the conversation it is tough say whether it was out of line or not.

If it bothered you that much I would have reconmened that you spooke with the manager on duty about the conversation so that he/she could speak with the CM.

 

[year2late]

I don't like labels either! His friend being gay had no place in the conversation. Just like I would never say "my black friend, Annie". I would say "my friend, Annie". The addendum of his friend being gay was at best superflous to the conversation!

 

[Tiffany]

Originally posted by year2late
I don't like labels either! His friend being gay had no place in the conversation. Just like I would never say "my black friend, Annie". I would say "my friend, Annie". The addendum of his friend being gay was at best superflous to the conversation!

Why I agree with this there are many young adults up here in the Boston area that I can picture saying "my gay friend John has a shirt just like that". Is it correct? Not in my opinion but the person just doesn't know any better.

This is why I feel the best way to have handled the situation would have been for the OP to go to the manager on duty right away and explain the context of the conversation and ask the manger to speak withe the CM about the proper way to have expressed themselves. I agree that "my friend, Tom" would have got the job done without any issues.

But, by waiting and putting it in a letter that does not give dates or times and has other "complaints" that are not that legit there is no way for this CM to know that what they said could have been said in a different way. Disney and any service company for that matter cannot correct something that they do not know about.

 

[TheLionKing]

Disney is a corporation that expressess a willingness to try to exceed expectations. Maybe that is not ossible in every situation.

It is completely within your right to send this letter. As a customer, you have the right to make your perceived complaints known. If you state the place and time where the hair wrap was done, they can probably identify that cast member and discuss the incident with them.

The question I have for you is what are your other expectations regarding Disney's response?

I think most are in agreement that room requests are just that... requests. Maybe that part of the complex was closed due to less than anticipated attendance.

In any case, depending upon your expectation, Disney's response may further sour your perceived experience or maybe salvage it.

Send off the letter and let us know their response and what you felt about the response.

 

[RobinMarie]

We spent 4 nights there a week ago. I have stayed at many Disney resorts and this resort is my least favorite. I had a discount rate, which seems to translate into least convenient location. I wasn't too happy with my GF Sago Cay 5th floor room this trip either, but I still love the resort!

We were in Trinidad South, and I was told that was my only option when checking in. I did notice that several islands seemed to be not in use. The playground was not able to be used, which didn't ruin the trip, it just added a little inconvenience. When we walked to Parrot Cay we saw no parrots and did not find the playground there. I did notice the smell there and was glad I did not have to cross that bridge to go to the food court.

This place just wasn't my cup of tea. I love the POR, GF, Poly and FW but the WL, Swan and CBR just aren't places I will return to.

I am wondering if the poster appreciates a different type of hotel like I do and these things just added to it. I liked the little courtyards at the CBR, but thought the landscaping wasn't as impressive as other resorts. During our walks to the food court, we heard a generator running constantly across the lake while they were in the middle of construction of the Pop Century Resort.

People write to Disney all of the time, if you want to send the letter then send it! I do think your expectations might have been a little high but I understand your frustruation having just returned myself. I would have answered the question, 'what does gay mean' with a short and simple response of: happy! My only concern would be if she decided to call one of Snow White's dwarves.. gay!

CBR might be a great resort for some people but it wasn't for us. I try to make the best of situations and not concentrate on the little things. I think if I was really frustrated, my dd would pick up on it and it might affect her happiness so I usually don't do much complaining. Complaining is time consuming! I do, however, complain about issues that I feel can be fixed immediately.

I would definitely give the Port Orleans Riverside a try! We loved it there!

 

[jaguar9748]

Thanks for sharing your opinions of your stay at CBR. Most of us, at one time or another, have had a less than pleasant stay. Your letter to Disney comes from your heart and you should send it.

I encourage you to try Riverside. Riverside is a wonderful resort - we were just there in July (our umpteenth millionth stay). It is a family resort and we encountered just one unpleasant CM, but she was just merely grouchy at the end of her day. If you do decide to stay at Riverside, please remember that room requests are never guaranteed. They are merely requests.

 

[n2mm]

All resorts are not created equal. Keep that in mind. I have gone to WDW over 40 times now and some have been magical and some have been a vacation. Sometimes we get great rooms and upgrades and our preferences and other times we get what's leftover. I think your expectations where too high. CBR is my least favorite resort and I would only stay there if it was the only room available. While others love this resort. POR is my favorite, along with the AKL and the All Stars Resorts. I believe some of your concerns were very valid and should have been addressed when they happened. As a mother, I would have changed the wrapper's conversation very quickly if it made you uncomfortable. It's too bad that your trip was not good, but find it hard to believe that something good didn't happen. I've gone during my anniversary and did not tell anyone, because I didn't want anyone to know. We also celebrated my husband's 50th birthday there too, but nothing special happened either. I mentioned it when I checked in. We had a great time because we made our own special memories!

 

[PamOKW]

I think you were expecting more than was reasonable. It may have been encouraged by things you read on these boards concerning "magic" that people report receiving. I would encourage you not to expect too much in response to this letter either. Disney will take your comments and include them in their future decision-making process. You will probably receive a letter or postcard thanking your for writing. You "may" receive a call to ask additional questions. However, I would not expect to receive any type of compensation from Disney. Expecting this will only lead to additional disappointment.

As mentioned, room requests are just that, requests. Disney is very clear that they do not guarantee anything. They can't or they would never satisfy everyone and keep the hotels running efficiently.

I have had all kinds of celebrations at WDW -- 25th and 50th Anniversaries, 16th, 18th 40th, 65th and 70th birthdays. We've never gotten anything from the resorts. (A candle in dessert at some restaurants and a cake at V&A for the 50th Anniversary).

The bird smell problem on the island is nature. There are wild birds that live in the trees and bamboo. Not much Disney can do. They can't kill them or the environmentalists would be all over them in a second.

It's hard to know what the gay problem was without knowing the conversation. Discussion of gay people and lifestyles is now everywhere in our country. Heck "Will & Grace" is one long gay discussion. Whether this is right or wrong and whether a person agrees or disagrees it just "is". Especially among young people the idea to keep it "hush hush" or not discuss it in front of children is pretty much unheard of. I'm assuming the person doing the braiding was probably college age. This is just the demographic that wouldn't think twice about putting talk of their friend's "friend" into casual conversation. "That's so gay" is even an expression they, rightly or wrongly, use quite often. So, unless there was some technical discussion of sex, which homosexual or hetrosexual would have been wrong, I'm not sure there's anything that was done outside of our current norms.

It's good you let Disney know how you felt. It's also your decision whether you want to return to Disney and/or stay on-site when you do. There are lots of options.

 

[Disney-Kim]

mooneybeams......your original question was "did I expect too much".
my answer is yes. we all expect too much after reading about wonderful experiences on the boards.

Room requests are rarely met and I really have a hard time believing that faxing makes any difference. Its luck of the draw and how early you check in. jmho.

We stayed at the Polynesian Concierge for our honeymoon in May and we were dissappointed after reading about all these wonderful Poly experiences.

but.....we still had a wonderful trip to WDW and will continue to go back.
I think you should concentrate on the positive features of your trip. Did you have a nice time in the parks, eat at good restaurants?

 

[lvs_eeyore]

The people that do the hair wraps are not Disney Employees. They are from an outside company that rents space from Disney. You would need to contact them to complain about the hair wrap experience.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

The fact that the hairwrap vendors are ON Disney property makes it appropriate to complain to Disney. Disney has contracted them to be there. They should know. I have a 7 yr old DD who would have asked the same thing. I don't think it was appropriate for them to discuss this in front of a child. Your other complaints are just about "extra's" that you did not recieve. I would just write the letter about the Hairwrap incident, the poop, and the rude CM's. Those are legitimate complaints.
PS- DO try PO/Riverside. We have had the best CM's each time we go there. Wonderful atmosphere and, great foodcourt! We did have a rude CM at WL, that can happen anywhere I am afraid.

 

[mforbach]

I agree that you should be the one to explain what gay means however you must be prepared for these topics to come up anywhere. As for rude CMs, we stayed at POR in Jan and had the worst CMs. The food court CMs were RUDE and we did not receive any towel animals even though we had two 5 year olds with us. As for letting that ruin our trip----NO WAY!! I could not imagine going to WDW 2 years in a row before going in Jan 01 but of course we are going in Jan 03. We are staying at CBR and requesting a certain building but will take what we get. I do hope we see some parrots and can't wait to see the new food court.

 

[Poly Pal]

To tell you the truth, these boards are full of information that raise our expectations and tips (faxing room assigners, calls to resorts, e-mails to concierges, etc.) that do serve to heighten our anticipation and expectations for our requests to be met. But, all of this information comes at a cost, usually in disappointment or a lessening of the "magic."

I won't say that you expected too much. But your expectations were high. There's nothing wrong with that!

I agree with others that if you did not like your room location you could have asked to been moved. If the hair wrapper got into an area of conversation that was uncomfortable or inappropriate, you could have politely asked her to change the subject.

For our family, we've had great service and not-so-great service at the Polynesian. Last trip my wife got a birthday cake, card, party hats and balloons for her birthday. On our 10th anniversary trip, we got a voice mail message from the Polynesian's Assistant Manager asking us to call him if he could make our stay more enjoyable. Other than that, never a towel animal, no gifts, no cards, etc. but we've always had a great time!

Hope your next trip is alot of fun wherever you stay!

 

[corvair]

I can see where she would have been disappointed. I started reading this forum in March. We went to WDW in JUne. I did have a great trip. We stayed at FR-QT for 5 nights. I did pay for waterveiw requesting pool veiw. We were the fartherest away from the pool you could be and could see the lake if you looked out to the side. We did ask to be changed. I said I would take standard for the same price. Could not, they said they were full. Then while there I heard people saying how great their room was because they got poolveiw free upgrade... Makes me wonder how this happens. I did deal with the room a little dissapointed. We then went on to WL. My requests were met there. We payed for courtyard veiw. I have read so many people get all the extra housekeeping stuff. We did not receive any. I did not except any but makes you wonder why some people always seem to get extra stuff. amy

 

[Tiffany]

Originally posted by BibbidiBobbidiBoo
The fact that the hairwrap vendors are ON Disney property makes it appropriate to complain to Disney. Disney has contracted them to be there. They should know. I have a 7 yr old DD who would have asked the same thing. I don't think it was appropriate for them to discuss this in front of a child. Your other complaints are just about "extra's" that you did not recieve. I would just write the letter about the Hairwrap incident, the poop, and the rude CM's. Those are legitimate complaints.
PS- DO try PO/Riverside. We have had the best CM's each time we go there. Wonderful atmosphere and, great foodcourt! We did have a rude CM at WL, that can happen anywhere I am afraid.

When did the OP note rude CMs? The OP stated that the checkout CM did not ask why they were leaving early but I do not find that to be rude. I am sure there are many different reasons why people need to cut their vacations short. If you need to cut your vacation short due to a personal reason would you want to have to explain this to the CM checking you out?

Other then that I did not see anything about rude CMs in the OP.

As far as the "my gay friend" comment goes. Again the OP has not explained the context of the conversation. Whithout knowing the context we have no way of knowing if the pharse "my gay friend" was out of line or not.

 

[mivvers]

Mooneybeams,
I have to agree with the majority of the posters here in that you do seem to be expecting too much. I can imagine that it must feel like an affront to be reading all of these responses which don't back you up. Thanks for posting your letter and I hope that you are able to take these comments in the spirit in which they are given -- it's the advice you requested.

Try not to get tied down in these experiences, it is always so much better to have a positive outlook. We all tend to spend too much energy from time to time on things we think are a big deal, but when we step back and take a look at the big picture, we can see that we are indeed lucky and blessed.

If you have a trip planned for Thanksgiving, you should go. Whatever you decide to do, I hope that your next holiday is a wonderful one!

 

[hallie]

I think you expected too much. Like people have said before me, room requests are requests. if you were unhappy about your room, you should've asked to be moved when you were there.

On the whole gay converstaion, unless they were specifically talking about the *act of sex* itself, I see no way that it's inappropriate. So the girl said her friend is gay, if you were that upset you could've asked her stop, told your daughter that meant her friend was happy(gay is a term for happy-lol) or just walked away. But I don't understand why saying somoeone is gay is offending or something that is terrible for a 7 year old to hear.

My 5 year old daughter knows what gay means, she asked me one night when I was watching Big Brother 2. A cast member, Bunky, was talking about his husband when she walked in. She asked me how can he have a husband? I said well sometimes boys marry boys and girls marry girls, she said Oh, I'm marrying a boy-lol. That was it, no big deal. I want my daughter to know and respect that people come in all shapes , sizes, colors and yes, sexual preferences because if everyone was alike the world would be a very boring place.

What do you expect Disney to do? Give you money back?

 

[GEM]

Sorry to agree with everyone else, but that is what I have to do.

Not getting your room location request granted and not getting a special anniversary card are not legitimate complaints, in my opinion. They never guarantee a specific location or any special treatment for anniversaries, etc. We have been nine times, and I would say we have had our room request granted about half of those times. We have also celebrated lots of special occasions at WDW (anniversaries, graduations, birthdays, etc.) and we have only gotten anything special one time - a card signed by Mickey on my birthday last year.

As for the CM mentioning her gay friend, that would not have bothered me at all. However, we have several gay friends and relatives so most of the young kids in my life know what it means and don't think anything unusual about it. I understand that some people might feel differently, though. Still, it seems to me, that it was bound to come up sooner or later - probably sooner.

As for the birds and the bird poop, that's kind of disappointing, but nothing to write a complaint letter or cancel an upcoming vacation over.

And, last time I heard, "You're welcome" was a totally appropriate response to "Thank you" - so I'm not sure what that part of the complaint is all about.

Also, I would think about changing the end of your letter. It almost sounds like you are trying to get Disney to offer to refund the money you spent on the APs. I'm not saying this is the case at all, but they might read it and think that you are just trying to get some money back by complaining about few minor details. Unless that is what you are trying to do, I would leave it off. It sort of makes you sound a little greedy. Sorry, I don't mean to upset you. That's just the first thing I thought when I read it.

Just my opinion.

 

[GoofysPrincess]

Guests should not be expected to walk through stinky bird poop to get to common areas. I haven't stayed at CBR so don't know the exact layout -- but that seems like a legit gripe to me.

If WDW advertizes the parrots as a resort attraction, then they should be able to provide a schedule as to when to see them. Again, haven't stayed there so don't know for sure, but that too is potentially a valid complaint. We were at WL one time and the water spout thing never went off once -- not even at the scheduled times. We were a bit bummed too -- not a big thing, but the kids had been looking forward to it...

I also agree that the gay comment was inappropriate. IMHO, cast members (Disney employed or otherwise) should err on the side of caution in these instances. JMO, but I don't think any controversial subject should be introduced to anyone, much less a child, by customer service workers.

However, I think the best time to deal with these problems was right then. Personally, I would have expected the poop to be cleaned up or I would have wanted to be moved to a room where I didn't have to walk through it to get to the food court or pool area. If that didn't happen, I would have expected to be moved to a different resort. If the parrots were a listed attraction and not provided, I would have expected something else in their place -- maybe a free water sprite rental? Or an opportunity to feed the parrots on a different day? Something. Also, I would have expected the wrap to be free -- to be sure the message got back to the vending company.

Room requests and little 'extras' can not be expected -- just appreciated when they happen. Personally, I would not include these things in your letter as they weaken your more legitimate points. I was unclear on what you expected the CM to do at check-out. If they were rude or unpleasant, that too is a valid gripe. If your only concern is that they didn't ask why you were leaving early, I don't think I'd include that in the letter either.

At this point, I'm not sure what you could expect to get for your complaints -- especially if you don't plan to return. If your goal is just to get it off your chest, send your letter and see what happens. Otherwise, you may need to modify it to include what you would like Disney to do in response.