Disney Calling...

[ellie05]

If they gave me a call I would tell them sure if they planned my whole vacation again and get me the ADR that I have and avoiding the parks that are not recommended by Josh.

I find it ridiculous that you have to make ADR 180 in advance, FP+ 60-30 days in advance and now they call you to change your plans, because of their screw up? I don't think so. I would probably ask them to cancel my vacation and refund my money. Because if they are paying employees to do this right now it only means it is going to be a very bad situation.

 

[Stacy's a freak]

Let's step back and put this in another context ... I have an office job that is mostly busy with summers being the busiest and a slight lull around January/February. We would love to call our summer clients and say "would you like to adjust your business needs and request this work in January/February? We would be able to expedite your matter(s) and we would both be happy." But we are not able to do this. This is basically what Disney is trying to do but instead of changing the time of year, they are trying to change the location. And I see no harm in attempting it. If they get enough guests to refuse the offer, then they might be forced to up the CMs on duty. Maybe we should wait until after Easter week to see how this all shakes out. Let's give Disney a chance to prove that it worked. Or let's give them enough rope to hang themselves and then judge

 

[Angel Ariel]

Let's step back and put this in another context ... I have an office job that is mostly busy with summers being the busiest and a slight lull around January/February. We would love to call our summer clients and say "would you like to adjust your business needs and request this work in January/February? We would be able to expedite your matter(s) and we would both be happy." But we are not able to do this. This is basically what Disney is trying to do but instead of changing the time of year, they are trying to change the location. And I see no harm in attempting it. If they get enough guests to refuse the offer, then they might be forced to up the CMs on duty. Maybe we should wait until after Easter week to see how this all shakes out. Let's give Disney a chance to prove that it worked. Or let's give them enough rope to hang themselves and then judge

While I may not have an issue with your business example, that's a business transaction. While I understand that Disney is a business and don't treat them as a charity by any means, *I* am not conducting business while I am there. I am on my vacation from work. It's not the guests responsibility to make changes to their plans so that Disney can make more money. Closing to capacity over Easter is not a new phenomenon for WDW. There's absolutely no reason they should be contacting guests like this as though they just realized crowds would reach capacity on those days less than 2 weeks beforehand. If they were doing it for the guests they would have had advisories up on adr booking pages 180 days ago, and on fp+ booking days 60+ days ago.

 

[Stacy's a freak]

While I may not have an issue with your business example, that's a business transaction. While I understand that Disney is a business and don't treat them as a charity by any means, *I* am not conducting business while I am there. I am on my vacation from work. It's not the guests responsibility to make changes to their plans so that Disney can make more money. Closing to capacity over Easter is not a new phenomenon for WDW. There's absolutely no reason they should be contacting guests like this as though they just realized crowds would reach capacity on those days less than 2 weeks beforehand. If they were doing it for the guests they would have had advisories up on adr booking pages 180 days ago, and on fp+ booking days 60+ days ago.

I agree that this is your pre-planned leisure time and you are very entitled to that (we all work hard to go on vacation!). And you're right to say that it is not your "responsibility". That word means that you HAVE to do it (or should do it for some moral reason). I see no reason for you to adjust your vacation schedule or plans to facilitate Disney's business needs. But I see no harm in Disney asking you if you wouldn't mind while offering you an additional perk if you agree. And I also see no harm in you politely declining. Like they used to say on the DISUnplugged podcast, "they can't hit ya". You can't hit Disney for asking. And they can't hit you for declining.

 

[ktlm]

From the above posters who received calls, and those who say they didn't, it looks like they are calling people who have started their FP+ at 5:00 p.m. or later? This whole thing is just so bizarre to me. I'm just trying to think what the Disney thought process might be? I wonder if this is directly due to all the staff cuts, and that now they can't staff the park like they need to for the most high volume times. I suspect if they are only calling 5:00 p.m. or later, that they are figuring that even if they do not offer 3 extra FP+ at another park, that they have that in their pocket to offer if people request it or complain. Doesn't the park usually open back up most evenings even when it is closed to capacity in the afternoons? To me, the fact that they are calling people with FP+ set up in the evening when they are usually letting people in again, means that they fully intend to offer 3 extra FP+ during the day to divert people and let them keep the evening FP+ if they customers ask for that when they call. Otherwise, why wouldn't you be calling the afternoon people (the most crowded time) and be rescheduling their afternoon FP+ for another park to hopefully be sure to get them out during the most crowded time of day? As a PP questioned, I wonder if they actually intend to enforce the statement of the PP that they would not come to MK to 5? Would they really go so far as to block the ticket until 5:00 p.m.? This whole thing is crazy to me.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

But there are FPs still open for most everything except for the usual suspects on 3/25 to 3/31. At least there is for a party of 3. I just checked. Now they are most 7:30 p.m. and after but I did see one 6:40 pop up. There were even a couple of days with Wishes open. With the reports of how busy that week is at Disney, I thought there would be a few more things fully booked like PP or Space.

 

[strat68]

I'm assuming that if Disney was not cutting CM hours and staffing these calls would not be so big of a deal.

 

[epcotty]

"oh you really wanted to go to a different park, didn't you? Didn't you?" I think I would think it was probably a scam if I got that call

 

[Mindy5767]

Wow. They did not extend the hours every day, just the Wednesday before and the Monday after, not over the holiday itself.

where are you seeing the hours posted? I just opened the TA site and it STILL says the hours were last update in February.

Why? Cost overruns in Shanghai and apparent losses(?) at Disneyland Paris.

Yes, ALL of this mostly has to do with the loses in Paris and the major cost overruns in China. We, who like 99.9% most likely never ever see those parks, have to pay for it. how magnical..

 

[fbb]

w

Yes, ALL of this mostly has to do with the loses in Paris and the major cost overruns in China. We, who like 99.9% most likely never ever see those parks, have to pay for it. how magnical..

None of us have to pay for it.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I agree that this is your pre-planned leisure time and you are very entitled to that (we all work hard to go on vacation!). And you're right to say that it is not your "responsibility". That word means that you HAVE to do it (or should do it for some moral reason). I see no reason for you to adjust your vacation schedule or plans to facilitate Disney's business needs. But I see no harm in Disney asking you if you wouldn't mind while offering you an additional perk if you agree. And I also see no harm in you politely declining. Like they used to say on the DISUnplugged podcast, "they can't hit ya". You can't hit Disney for asking. And they can't hit you for declining.

I think it's poor customer service for them to be asking their customers to adjust their plans less than 2 weeks before their trips for issues that they should have realized would exist LONG before these customers made any of these bookings.

If Disney wants the flexibility to change things so close to trips, then they need to alter the booking windows accordingly and stop encouraging a culture of having to have everything booked 6 months in advance. They can't have both the flexibility to do what they want on their end AND also expect the customer to lock everything in 6 months out.

 

[Mindy5767]

None of us have to pay for it.

What do you mean none of us have to pay for it? We are paying through the larger % increase in tickets, parking, resort rates, savings gathered by reducing cast member hours and cutting entertainment and park hours. Yes, prices go up every year, but NOT by as much, and all at once like recently. Reducing entertainment, cast member hours and park hours ahead of one of the busiest periods during the Disney year seems very short sighted.

 

[Angel Ariel]

What do you mean none of us have to pay for it? We are paying through the larger % increase in tickets, parking, resort rates, savings gathered by reducing cast member hours and cutting entertainment and park hours. Yes, prices go up every year, but NOT by as much, and all at once like recently. Reducing entertainment, cast member hours and park hours ahead of one of the busiest periods during the Disney year seems very short sighted.

I think the idea was that no one *has* to go to WDW in the first place.

 

[AnnaKat]

I don't see their motive being so altruistic. It's a move that costs them nothing, that ensures people are still in the parks spending their money, rather than being turned away at the gate. It'll also hopefully avoid some bad PR and reduce complaints. All wrapped up in "but we selflessly did you a favor".

I agree. IMO, they appear to be trying to create some positive PR THAT they care about crowd levels & the guest experience by calling & encouraging guests to change their FP+s. As a PP noted, there may be slim pickings, if anything @ the other Parks.
IF they were REALly concerned, THEN WHY wouldn't they have this special team email ALL(@ least) on-site resort guests and inform them of the anticipated MK closures on the 4 days after Easter, AND informing them THAT IF they call the team, the team will cancel their MK FP+ for them, & in exchange, mail or Fed Ex the family 3 paper FP for each member, designated for the Park they ask for @ the time of their call. Numbers-wise, this might actually make a difference, AND ALL the on-site guests would be forewarned, & " armed " with 3 ANY RIDE/any time FP+ to the non-MK Park of their choice. The paper FP+ could be dated as
" Good for 3/28/16 through & including 3/31/16 ONLY ". Guests could be SO pleased that they might " forget " about all of the CM, entertainment & hours cutting & recent price increases.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think this is a test. I don't think they can call enough people to make a difference in crowd levels.

Maybe this is something they are thinking of automating with emails using MDE. They might be trying to find out what percentage of customers will change when asked or do you have to throw them a bone (maybe an extra FP) to get them to change. That kind of thing.

 

[Redcon1]

So if enough people take them up on their offer to change parks, couldn't that possibly result in overcrowding in those three?

 

[ChloesDaddy]

I agree. IMO, they appear to be trying to create some positive PR THAT they care about crowd levels & the guest experience by calling & encouraging guests to change their FP+s. As a PP noted, there may be slim pickings, if anything @ the other Parks.
IF they were REALly concerned, THEN WHY wouldn't they have this special team email ALL(@ least) on-site resort guests and inform them of the anticipated MK closures on the 4 days after Easter, AND informing them THAT IF they call the team, the team will cancel their MK FP+ for them, & in exchange, mail or Fed Ex the family 3 paper FP for each member, designated for the Park they ask for @ the time of their call. Numbers-wise, this might actually make a difference, AND ALL the on-site guests would be forewarned, & " armed " with 3 ANY RIDE/any time FP+ to the non-MK Park of their choice. The paper FP+ could be dated as
" Good for 3/28/16 through & including 3/31/16 ONLY ". Guests could be SO pleased that they might " forget " about all of the CM, entertainment & hours cutting & recent price increases.

Wouldn't that be a bit like inviting all the passengers to run to the starboard side of the ship to keep it from listing to port?

 

[MermaidMommy]

where are you seeing the hours posted? I just opened the TA site and it STILL says the hours were last update in February

Check the calendar in MDE for updates. We noticed for our trip last week that the TA calendar was never updated when the hours changed. Also, I saw a tweet from Josh today where he said that the TA calendar isn't updated as frequently as Disney's site anymore and that it's a "myth" now that it's more accurate than Disney's.

 

[capegirl]

But, the problem is that part of the reason this year is going to be more "hectic" than usual is Disney's own fault. This isn't a case of normal Easter crowds and Disney is proactively trying to help guests. They have cut hours, entertainment, and staffing -- thereby CAUSING the problem they're now trying to alleviate by asking guests to go to other parks. It's crazy, and unprecedented.

There's no 7 am openings at MK, no early openings at HS or AK, fewer showings of nighttime entertainment, and CM reductions of 25% according to reputable sources -- all during one of the busiest weeks of the year. Instead of adding hours, entertainment, increasing CM's -- all of which would actually benefit their guests -- they're now just trying to shuffle people to other parks.

And, while the CM's who are doing the calling sound like they're actually concerned about their guests, the cutbacks show that Disney as a whole certainly doesn't care about guests' experiences. And, I definitely can't applaud them or think that they're trying to "help" us, when they caused the problem in the first place, and are apparently unwilling to do the simple things -- that they've done in many other years -- to actually improve the situation.

Yes Disney is responsible for creating their own perfect storm.
The backlash from staff cuts, reduced hours, combined with FP+ has finally arrived. Disney is bracing for an epic Easter tsunami. MK will quickly reach capacity when you consider there will also be many, many locals visiting on Easter Sunday.
The phone calls definitely raise a red flag. Disney is hoping that enough guests will take the bait, and sacrifice prime time hours in the MK in an effort to control crowds. If this works for you, then it's great, and I think you should go for it. I'm just not getting good vibes from what is happening here, and I have strong feelings that the Disney I fell in love is breathing it's last gasp. The recent stories of the Disney IT employees who were replaced with foreign workers speaks volumes. Cutting jobs is one thing, and sad, but this was totally unethical.
Sorry for the long vent; getting a little frustrated lately, and sad.
I hope TPTB come to their senses and make the necessary adjustments with staff, hours, and entertainment that will make the parks more enjoyable. If they don't wake up and smell the coffee, we had better fasten our seat belts for a wild ride this summer.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

The audacity!

Somebody better get fired.