Disney is losing some magic......

[marivigi]

This change in policy (or flat out abandonment) is more than obvious when you see that the training period has shrunk from several days to less than one day. Combine that with poor pay, lack of hours, and understaffing/increased workloads, and who can be surprised if the average CM isn't exhaling pixie dust with every breath.

This exactly!

 

[maxiesmom]

For those who have been going for 20+ years, were there as many younger / college aged kids working then? Not that I put the blame on that as a whole but I do know that the younger, entitled, getting a participation trophy, never keep score generation tends to be less open to going above and beyond

I honestly don't remember.

Funny on how another thread a poster was commenting that there are too many older people working. They said they were too slow and didn't move fast enough.

 

[MrKnight]

I honestly don't remember.

Funny on how another thread a poster was commenting that there are too many older people working. They said they were too slow and didn't move fast enough.

It seems to be about a 50/50 mix. There are ALOT of young college interns who normally get scheduled the most undesirable shifts and work the longest hours and then there are also ALOT of senior cast members that have been with the company for 20+ years that work bankers hours and walk around with a sense of entitlement that supercedes directives from management. There seems to be a lack of in between cast members that are not on either extreme of the spectrum.

 

[Laketravis]

Maybe that poster isn't telling the whole story. Like maybe the last day of the trip was on a separate reservation and there was no guarantee that that day could be in the same room. And maybe he DID receive compensation for the inconvenience, like a free room and other items. And maybe the description of having belongings thrown onto a cart is a little overstated.

Despite the derogatory reference to cheerleaders as "cupcakes" I think it is important for a hotel to keep young people and their chaperones together.

I always suspect that some of these rude cast member horror stories would sound pretty different if they were told from the CM's perspective. Maybe this is one of them. Once someone withholds some significant facts to make a point, I think he or she has damaged his credibility to the point that you have to take everything he says with a grain of salt.

I can't say I'm surprised. I fully expected you to come out at some point and question elements of our experience.

You want to hear the whole story? Would that change your annoying habit of making assumptions and running with them based on your never-ending defense of Disney in general?

Yes, we had a split stay, a 14 night reservation followed by a 1 night stay. They were linked. We confirmed when we checked in that we would be staying in the same room. The night before the split, we returned to the room to find a voice mail informing us that there was no need to stop by the front desk and that our magic bands would continue to work for our room.

The next morning, DW was taking DS to the lobby to buy some stuffed toys. I asked her to stop by the front desk and confirm with them that our dining credits had carried over like they should. This was at approximately 7am.

She returned to the room in tears. Told me that she had stopped by the front desk to ask about the dining credits when they told her that we had to change rooms, they were moving us to the most remote of Ranchero's locations, and that we had to do so by 10am because they had a group of cupcakes they needed to put in our room so they wouldn't be separated from their chaperones. And that is what I call them, so get over it.

Now, Wisblue, what you don't know is that DW is probably more of a Disney loyalist then even you. When I married her, she had two storage rooms full of nothing but Disney memorabilia. If Disney sold it, she bought it. She loves Disney. She loves Disney world. We've been more times than we can count, our spending with the mouse is well into six figures, and we've been loyal customers.

So maybe even you can understand how devastated she was when she pointed out to them that this was our last park day, we had plans and we had been led to believe that we would be staying in the same room, and she was simply told "Sorry, there's nothing we can do".

When she returned to the room in tears and told me we had to pack, I was still in disbelief when she got on the phone and asked for a resort manager. I listened as she had to insist multiple times, still in tears, to speak to a resort manager. After several minutes, "Toby" came on the line and identified himself as an associate resort manager. DW explained to him what happened, he informed her he was aware of the situation but that there was nothing he could do and we had to move. She continued to express her severe disappointment, explained how we were not prepared to pack two weeks of personal belongings on our last park day, and how this was ruining our day. He continued to apologize and offer that there was nothing he could do.

After this continued back-and-forth, I got on the phone. Now, Wisblue, I've got several years experience in corporate negotiations and I have to tell you I found this to be one of the most difficult conversations I've ever had with a supposedly customer service oriented manager of a company that takes great pride in it's level of customer service. He insisted time and time again that there was nothing he could do, he needed our room. I told him that we were headed out the door to the parks on our last day, we were not prepared to nor would we pack, and what would happen when we returned to our room later that evening? He informed me that they couldn't touch our property but that our room key would not work.

I had a full 15 minute conversation with Toby, the granular details of which I hope you will allow me to not include, but the net of all this is that I fully empathized with his situation but was disappointed and surprised that he could not empathize with ours and that we had been assured not once but twice that we would be keeping the same room. After 15 minutes in which he did not offer a single point of consideration, I laid it out for him. I told him that rather than a room in the farthest remote point of the resort, I wanted him to upgrade us to a business class room. I told him that I wanted 3 FP's for each of us for both Epcot and Hollywood Studios for that day, the two parks we had planned on visiting. And then I told him that I wanted a full refund for that evening stay.

After a few more minutes of negotiation and his checking of availability, he agreed to my requests. Keep in mind that this took almost 20 minutes of negotiation, that he never once made first-offer.

The time now was approximately 8:30am. I confirmed with him that we would pack our belongings and leave them by the door for bell services to retrieve and take to our new room. I'm sure you understand that being under somewhat of a time crunch we didn't take a lot of care in packing our things - 6 suitcases worth plus several bags of purchases and other items (sorry I can't provide you with an inventory).

But then within 30 minutes, bell services was knocking on our door. One guy with one hand cart. He said he needed to get our belongings out of the room. When he saw how much there was, he asked me to help him. Did you read that part? Yes, he asked me to help him carry several items. I asked him what room we were taking our belongings to. He said he wasn't taking them to a room, he was taking them to storage because they didn't have a room for us yet. DS had several loose items of clothing (jackets, shoes) and he DID just pick them up and throw them on top of luggage he had already stacked on the hand cart. I expressed my concerns about losing these items and he assured me that they have never lost anything. I continued to express my concerns and asked if he had a bag we could put those items in. He said he didn't. I went and found one of the housekeeping staff and asked for a large plastic bag, which she gave me from her cart.

I returned and helped bell services load our belongings. He couldn't fit everything on his cart so I ended up carrying several pieces. We were on the 4th floor. His golf cart was a good 5 minute walk away. I told DW and DS to go ahead and go to the parks and I'd catch up with them.

The time now was almost 9:45am. I rode with him to the front of the resort and helped him unload our belongings into a "cage" and got the ticket. He was belligerent the entire time, but I won't waste words trying to explain that for you.

I then returned to the front desk and asked for Toby. The first three people I spoke with didn't know who Toby was. Finally, they found someone who did and they went to get him. I waited in the lobby until 10:30am when Toby finally appeared. He apologized for the entire situation. I asked him what room we would be in and when would we be able to access our belongings in case we needed to. He said he didn't know what room yet but would call me when he did, and that if we needed anything out of our belongings we could go to storage to get it. I explained how we would feel a lot better knowing what room we were going to be in and when our belongings would be there. He told me he would check.

Fifteen minutes later he returned and was able to tell me what room and then tried to confirm with housekeeping when it would be ready. They estimated 30 minutes. That put us at 11:30am, and Toby said he would have bell services deliver our belongings as soon as the room was ready. I waited in the lobby until 11:30, then went to Cabanas 9B and the room (9630 for your records) was ready. I called bell services and asked about our belongings, they said they hadn't been told the room was ready yet or what room it was so I told them the room number and that I was in it. They said they would bring our belongings over.

Twenty minutes later the same guy showed up with our belongings. He asked me if I could help him with a few pieces because he had "another job" he had to get to immediately.

By 12:30pm, I had all of our belongings in our new room and went to catch a bus to HS. I met up with DW and DS at approximately 1:15pm and they told me that they tried to use the FP's but that they didn't work. We spent another 45 minutes at guest services getting that straightened out.

By 2pm that afternoon, we began our day that was supposed to have begun seven hours earlier.

Now it would not surprise me at all if you continued your never ending defense of all things Disney and accused me of twisting details or leaving out facts or that hasn't been your experience at all, but frankly I'm tired of your antics and am not interested in catering to your tendency to waste time on ridiculous armchair debates.

It is what it is, and the experience I just described for you left a significant impact on our family and has us questioning if we will ever return. And guess what, Wis? It had absolutely nothing to do with FP+.

Oh, and by the way - I'm sure the only reason for the smug confidence of your suppositions is because you read my post in the Resort section of the Disboards describing what happened, not that you were particularly astute enough to think them up on your own.

 

[danikoski]

Went to WDW last November and had no issues with the CMs. Actually, spent one night at OKW and the CM checked us in, but said our room wasn't ready, which was fine. She stated they'd text us when it was. Never got the text. We went and ran some errands and came back to check and see if the room was ready since it was between 3:30 and 4pm. Literally, while I was waiting in line to speak to the CM, another guest reamed another CM for not getting the text message. Apparently they were having an issue with the texting system. I got up to the next available CM and she was so apologetic. Asked me if she could do anything for me...I just wanted my room number, nothing else. She seemed shocked I didn't want anything else. Really? There was a technical glitch, no big deal. Why should I be entitled to something for nothing because of a technical glitch which just means I have to go check on a room like at any normal hotel?
We then moved to AKL Kidani the next day...I thought I left my phone charger at OKW. The concierge at AKL called over to OKW to check. They called me on my cell phone to let me know they hadn't found it, but they could get me one if I needed it. I didn't because I could use my mom's, but it was nice to know I could have.
So no real issues, and I'm looking forward to meeting some great CMs in January when I'm back at WDW.

 

[maxiesmom]

Maybe that poster isn't telling the whole story. Like maybe the last day of the trip was on a separate reservation and there was no guarantee that that day could be in the same room. And maybe he DID receive compensation for the inconvenience, like a free room and other items. And maybe the description of having belongings thrown onto a cart is a little overstated.

Despite the derogatory reference to cheerleaders as "cupcakes" I think it is important for a hotel to keep young people and their chaperones together.

That was it exactly. They had posted about it before. But it is funny how an experience that only deserved a sentence or two before is now a huge long diatribe.

Never ever call down if you have an issue. Always go to the front desk. They are the ones actually at the resort, the ones who can help you. Arguing on the phone is frustrating and almost useless.

But as that poster was well aware, there is always a chance you will have to switch rooms if you have a split stay of some sort. I will agree Disney dropped the ball by telling them something else ahead of time. The promise of staying in the same room shouldn't have been made. They truly don't know until the day of if they can keep that promise or not. That is the mistake Disney made. Having them move in and of itself was not a mistake. That and having made the promise they should have kept it.

 

[larryz]

(personal observations deleted)

Yes, we had a split stay, a 14 night reservation followed by a 1 night stay. They were linked. We confirmed when we checked in that we would be staying in the same room. The night before the split, we returned to the room to find a voice mail informing us that there was no need to stop by the front desk and that our magic bands would continue to work for our room.

The next morning, DW was taking DS to the lobby to buy some stuffed toys. I asked her to stop by the front desk and confirm with them that our dining credits had carried over like they should. This was at approximately 7am.

She returned to the room in tears. Told me that she had stopped by the front desk to ask about the dining credits when they told her that we had to change rooms, they were moving us to the most remote of Ranchero's locations, and that we had to do so by 10am because they had a group of cupcakes they needed to put in our room so they wouldn't be separated from their chaperones. And that is what I call them, so get over it.

Now, Wisblue, what you don't know is that DW is probably more of a Disney loyalist then even you. When I married her, she had two storage rooms full of nothing but Disney memorabilia. If Disney sold it, she bought it. She loves Disney. She loves Disney world. We've been more times than we can count, our spending with the mouse is well into six figures, and we've been loyal customers.

So maybe even you can understand how devastated she was when she pointed out to them that this was our last park day, we had plans and we had been led to believe that we would be staying in the same room, and she was simply told "Sorry, there's nothing we can do".

When she returned to the room in tears and told me we had to pack, I was still in disbelief when she got on the phone and asked for a resort manager. I listened as she had to insist multiple times, still in tears, to speak to a resort manager. After several minutes, "Toby" came on the line and identified himself as an associate resort manager. DW explained to him what happened, he informed her he was aware of the situation but that there was nothing he could do and we had to move. She continued to express her severe disappointment, explained how we were not prepared to pack two weeks of personal belongings on our last park day, and how this was ruining our day. He continued to apologize and offer that there was nothing he could do.

After this continued back-and-forth, I got on the phone. Now, Wisblue, I've got several years experience in corporate negotiations and I have to tell you I found this to be one of the most difficult conversations I've ever had with a supposedly customer service oriented manager of a company that takes great pride in it's level of customer service. He insisted time and time again that there was nothing he could do, he needed our room. I told him that we were headed out the door to the parks on our last day, we were not prepared to nor would we pack, and what would happen when we returned to our room later that evening? He informed me that they couldn't touch our property but that our room key would not work.

I had a full 15 minute conversation with Toby, the granular details of which I hope you will allow me to not include, but the net of all this is that I fully empathized with his situation but was disappointed and surprised that he could not empathize with ours and that we had been assured not once but twice that we would be keeping the same room. After 15 minutes in which he did not offer a single point of consideration, I laid it out for him. I told him that rather than a room in the farthest remote point of the resort, I wanted him to upgrade us to a business class room. I told him that I wanted 3 FP's for each of us for both Epcot and Hollywood Studios for that day, the two parks we had planned on visiting. And then I told him that I wanted a full refund for that evening stay.

After a few more minutes of negotiation and his checking of availability, he agreed to my requests. Keep in mind that this took almost 20 minutes of negotiation, that he never once made first-offer.

The time now was approximately 8:30am. I confirmed with him that we would pack our belongings and leave them by the door for bell services to retrieve and take to our new room. I'm sure you understand that being under somewhat of a time crunch we didn't take a lot of care in packing our things - 6 suitcases worth plus several bags of purchases and other items (sorry I can't provide you with an inventory).

But then within 30 minutes, bell services was knocking on our door. One guy with one hand cart. He said he needed to get our belongings out of the room. When he saw how much there was, he asked me to help him. Did you read that part? Yes, he asked me to help him carry several items. I asked him what room we were taking our belongings to. He said he wasn't taking them to a room, he was taking them to storage because they didn't have a room for us yet. DS had several loose items of clothing (jackets, shoes) and he DID just pick them up and throw them on top of luggage he had already stacked on the hand cart. I expressed my concerns about losing these items and he assured me that they have never lost anything. I continued to express my concerns and asked if he had a bag we could put those items in. He said he didn't. I went and found one of the housekeeping staff and asked for a large plastic bag, which she gave me from her cart.

I returned and helped bell services load our belongings. He couldn't fit everything on his cart so I ended up carrying several pieces. We were on the 4th floor. His golf cart was a good 5 minute walk away. I told DW and DS to go ahead and go to the parks and I'd catch up with them.

The time now was almost 9:45am. I rode with him to the front of the resort and helped him unload our belongings into a "cage" and got the ticket. He was belligerent the entire time, but I won't waste words trying to explain that for you.

I then returned to the front desk and asked for Toby. The first three people I spoke with didn't know who Toby was. Finally, they found someone who did and they went to get him. I waited in the lobby until 10:30am when Toby finally appeared. He apologized for the entire situation. I asked him what room we would be in and when would we be able to access our belongings in case we needed to. He said he didn't know what room yet but would call me when he did, and that if we needed anything out of our belongings we could go to storage to get it. I explained how we would feel a lot better knowing what room we were going to be in and when our belongings would be there. He told me he would check.

Fifteen minutes later he returned and was able to tell me what room and then tried to confirm with housekeeping when it would be ready. They estimated 30 minutes. That put us at 11:30am, and Toby said he would have bell services deliver our belongings as soon as the room was ready. I waited in the lobby until 11:30, then went to Cabanas 9B and the room (9630 for your records) was ready. I called bell services and asked about our belongings, they said they hadn't been told the room was ready yet or what room it was so I told them the room number and that I was in it. They said they would bring our belongings over.

Twenty minutes later the same guy showed up with our belongings. He asked me if I could help him with a few pieces because he had "another job" he had to get to immediately.

By 12:30pm, I had all of our belongings in our new room and went to catch a bus to HS. I met up with DW and DS at approximately 1:15pm and they told me that they tried to use the FP's but that they didn't work. We spent another 45 minutes at guest services getting that straightened out.

By 2pm that afternoon, we began our day that was supposed to have begun seven hours earlier.

(personal observations deleted)

I'm speechless.

 

[Laketravis]

But it is funny how an experience that only deserved a sentence or two before is now a huge long diatribe.

I don't think it's funny at all. I mentioned what happened in a sentence or two and (as always) another poster questioned it, so I supplied a wealth of details. I actually found it agonizing that I had to defend the integrity of my original comments.

And of course we understood that there is always a possibility of a room change with a split stay, that is why we diligently confirmed multiple times that we would be in the same room and received that confirmation multiple times.

Mistakes happen. It is often HOW a company responds to an error by which their level of customer service is judged, and in this case (and also completely relevant to the title of this thread) they failed miserably when given multiple opportunities to excel.

 

[Luckybee]

I don't think it's funny at all. I mentioned what happened in a sentence or two and (as always) another poster questioned it, so I supplied a wealth of details.

And of course we understood that there is always a possibility of a room change with a split stay, that is why we diligently confirmed multiple times that we would be in the same room and received that confirmation multiple times.

Mistakes happen. It is often HOW a company responds to an error by which their level of customer service is judged, and in this case (and also completely relevant to the title of this thread) they failed miserably when given multiple opportunities to excel.

We have been disappointed at the way Disney has handled a lot of things in the last few years but this is over the top. You are so right about what you've said above. As an example of how it should be done...we own Marriott timeshares . Marriott is not always known as a pillar of customer service. On our last trip we had a complete flop because of our room assignments on our 2nd week. We complained. We were given a replacement week. They handled it correctly pure and simple. It didn't solve the immediate problem but it was appropriate compensation. In our case we had very good customer service.
Im so sorry you had to go through that. In addition to losing all those hours if you're anything like dh and I you probably would have been so worked up by the end of all of it I expect you didn't enjoy yourself as much as you otherwise would have that day. What a way to finish a trip

 

[maxiesmom]

I don't think it's funny at all. I mentioned what happened in a sentence or two and (as always) another poster questioned it, so I supplied a wealth of details. I actually found it agonizing that I had to defend the integrity of my original comments.

And of course we understood that there is always a possibility of a room change with a split stay, that is why we diligently confirmed multiple times that we would be in the same room and received that confirmation multiple times.

Mistakes happen. It is often HOW a company responds to an error by which their level of customer service is judged, and in this case (and also completely relevant to the title of this thread) they failed miserably when given multiple opportunities to excel.

I agree they did fail. If you ever find yourself with a problem again, please remember to not call, but to walk to the front desk. The people on the phone are not at the resort, but at a call center. You may as well tie 2 cans together with some string. Walk down if you ever have an issue.

 

[Jennasis]

I can't say I'm surprised. I fully expected you to come out at some point and question elements of our experience.

You want to hear the whole story? Would that change your annoying habit of making assumptions and running with them based on your never-ending defense of Disney in general?

Yes, we had a split stay, a 14 night reservation followed by a 1 night stay. They were linked. We confirmed when we checked in that we would be staying in the same room. The night before the split, we returned to the room to find a voice mail informing us that there was no need to stop by the front desk and that our magic bands would continue to work for our room.

The next morning, DW was taking DS to the lobby to buy some stuffed toys. I asked her to stop by the front desk and confirm with them that our dining credits had carried over like they should. This was at approximately 7am.

She returned to the room in tears. Told me that she had stopped by the front desk to ask about the dining credits when they told her that we had to change rooms, they were moving us to the most remote of Ranchero's locations, and that we had to do so by 10am because they had a group of cupcakes they needed to put in our room so they wouldn't be separated from their chaperones. And that is what I call them, so get over it.

Now, Wisblue, what you don't know is that DW is probably more of a Disney loyalist then even you. When I married her, she had two storage rooms full of nothing but Disney memorabilia. If Disney sold it, she bought it. She loves Disney. She loves Disney world. We've been more times than we can count, our spending with the mouse is well into six figures, and we've been loyal customers.

So maybe even you can understand how devastated she was when she pointed out to them that this was our last park day, we had plans and we had been led to believe that we would be staying in the same room, and she was simply told "Sorry, there's nothing we can do".

When she returned to the room in tears and told me we had to pack, I was still in disbelief when she got on the phone and asked for a resort manager. I listened as she had to insist multiple times, still in tears, to speak to a resort manager. After several minutes, "Toby" came on the line and identified himself as an associate resort manager. DW explained to him what happened, he informed her he was aware of the situation but that there was nothing he could do and we had to move. She continued to express her severe disappointment, explained how we were not prepared to pack two weeks of personal belongings on our last park day, and how this was ruining our day. He continued to apologize and offer that there was nothing he could do.

After this continued back-and-forth, I got on the phone. Now, Wisblue, I've got several years experience in corporate negotiations and I have to tell you I found this to be one of the most difficult conversations I've ever had with a supposedly customer service oriented manager of a company that takes great pride in it's level of customer service. He insisted time and time again that there was nothing he could do, he needed our room. I told him that we were headed out the door to the parks on our last day, we were not prepared to nor would we pack, and what would happen when we returned to our room later that evening? He informed me that they couldn't touch our property but that our room key would not work.

I had a full 15 minute conversation with Toby, the granular details of which I hope you will allow me to not include, but the net of all this is that I fully empathized with his situation but was disappointed and surprised that he could not empathize with ours and that we had been assured not once but twice that we would be keeping the same room. After 15 minutes in which he did not offer a single point of consideration, I laid it out for him. I told him that rather than a room in the farthest remote point of the resort, I wanted him to upgrade us to a business class room. I told him that I wanted 3 FP's for each of us for both Epcot and Hollywood Studios for that day, the two parks we had planned on visiting. And then I told him that I wanted a full refund for that evening stay.

After a few more minutes of negotiation and his checking of availability, he agreed to my requests. Keep in mind that this took almost 20 minutes of negotiation, that he never once made first-offer.

The time now was approximately 8:30am. I confirmed with him that we would pack our belongings and leave them by the door for bell services to retrieve and take to our new room. I'm sure you understand that being under somewhat of a time crunch we didn't take a lot of care in packing our things - 6 suitcases worth plus several bags of purchases and other items (sorry I can't provide you with an inventory).

But then within 30 minutes, bell services was knocking on our door. One guy with one hand cart. He said he needed to get our belongings out of the room. When he saw how much there was, he asked me to help him. Did you read that part? Yes, he asked me to help him carry several items. I asked him what room we were taking our belongings to. He said he wasn't taking them to a room, he was taking them to storage because they didn't have a room for us yet. DS had several loose items of clothing (jackets, shoes) and he DID just pick them up and throw them on top of luggage he had already stacked on the hand cart. I expressed my concerns about losing these items and he assured me that they have never lost anything. I continued to express my concerns and asked if he had a bag we could put those items in. He said he didn't. I went and found one of the housekeeping staff and asked for a large plastic bag, which she gave me from her cart.

I returned and helped bell services load our belongings. He couldn't fit everything on his cart so I ended up carrying several pieces. We were on the 4th floor. His golf cart was a good 5 minute walk away. I told DW and DS to go ahead and go to the parks and I'd catch up with them.

The time now was almost 9:45am. I rode with him to the front of the resort and helped him unload our belongings into a "cage" and got the ticket. He was belligerent the entire time, but I won't waste words trying to explain that for you.

I then returned to the front desk and asked for Toby. The first three people I spoke with didn't know who Toby was. Finally, they found someone who did and they went to get him. I waited in the lobby until 10:30am when Toby finally appeared. He apologized for the entire situation. I asked him what room we would be in and when would we be able to access our belongings in case we needed to. He said he didn't know what room yet but would call me when he did, and that if we needed anything out of our belongings we could go to storage to get it. I explained how we would feel a lot better knowing what room we were going to be in and when our belongings would be there. He told me he would check.

Fifteen minutes later he returned and was able to tell me what room and then tried to confirm with housekeeping when it would be ready. They estimated 30 minutes. That put us at 11:30am, and Toby said he would have bell services deliver our belongings as soon as the room was ready. I waited in the lobby until 11:30, then went to Cabanas 9B and the room (9630 for your records) was ready. I called bell services and asked about our belongings, they said they hadn't been told the room was ready yet or what room it was so I told them the room number and that I was in it. They said they would bring our belongings over.

Twenty minutes later the same guy showed up with our belongings. He asked me if I could help him with a few pieces because he had "another job" he had to get to immediately.

By 12:30pm, I had all of our belongings in our new room and went to catch a bus to HS. I met up with DW and DS at approximately 1:15pm and they told me that they tried to use the FP's but that they didn't work. We spent another 45 minutes at guest services getting that straightened out.

By 2pm that afternoon, we began our day that was supposed to have begun seven hours earlier.

Now it would not surprise me at all if you continued your never ending defense of all things Disney and accused me of twisting details or leaving out facts or that hasn't been your experience at all, but frankly I'm tired of your antics and am not interested in catering to your tendency to waste time on ridiculous armchair debates.

It is what it is, and the experience I just described for you left a significant impact on our family and has us questioning if we will ever return. And guess what, Wis? It had absolutely nothing to do with FP+.

Oh, and by the way - I'm sure the only reason for the smug confidence of your suppositions is because you read my post in the Resort section of the Disboards describing what happened, not that you were particularly astute enough to think them up on your own.

Gee willikers Travis...that hurts to read! Beyond unacceptable. Hugs to you and your family.

 

[Luckybee]

I agree they did fail. If you ever find yourself with a problem again, please remember to not call, but to walk to the front desk. The people on the phone are not at the resort, but at a call center. You may as well tie 2 cans together with some string. Walk down if you ever have an issue.

You are right about this, but that said why should one have to do this at a place where they used to pride themselves on customer service.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Mistakes happen. It is often HOW a company responds to an error by which their level of customer service is judged, and in this case (and also completely relevant to the title of this thread) they failed miserably when given multiple opportunities to excel.

I agree.

As to your story, wow, that's all I have to say.

I hope on your next trip (if there is a next trip), and if you have a car while you are there, you'll consider staying offsite at one of the many great resorts right outside the gates. The Disney Resorts certainly don't deserve your spending after that nightmare.

 

[maxiesmom]

You are right about this, but that said why should one have to do this at a place where they used to pride themselves on customer service.

They never should have promised you you wouldn't have to change rooms ahead of time. That was their customer service fail, in making you a promise they didn't really know they could keep. There is no guarantee you will keep the same room if you book a split stay. They do their best, but sometimes things happen. And keeping young ones together with their chaparones is more important than your family staying in the same room, if they have to decide between the two.

The thing with calling is the person you are speaking with on the phone then has to contact someone at the resort. Which is why I spoke of 2 cans and some string. It is easy for something to get lost in translation. If it is a serious problem it is to the benefit of the guest to go to the front desk.

 

[Laketravis]

I agree they did fail. If you ever find yourself with a problem again, please remember to not call, but to walk to the front desk. The people on the phone are not at the resort, but at a call center. You may as well tie 2 cans together with some string. Walk down if you ever have an issue.

I'm pretty sure if you re-read my post you'll find that DW started out at the front desk. When she called after returning to the room, we were fully aware we started with the call center but punched thru to the back offices at the resort. Then I wrapped things up in person at the front desk.

I agree.

As to your story, wow, that's all I have to say.

I hope on your next trip (if there is a next trip), and if you have a car while you are there, you'll consider staying offsite at one of the many great resorts right outside the gates. The Disney Resorts certainly don't deserve your spending after that nightmare.

I'm sure we'll go back, primarily because a week before this happened we upgraded our MYW tickets to annual passes. So we are kind of locked into that, but seriously question whether we will stay on-site anymore.

Next visit is the end of this month when we go to and stay at Universal for the first time, but then we also have a couple of weeks over Spring Break when we will have rental car and stay off-site for the first time at either.

I think after those two upcoming experiences we will be in a better position to decide what works best for us and our dollars in the future.

 

[Luckybee]

They never should have promised you you wouldn't have to change rooms ahead of time. That was their customer service fail, in making you a promise they didn't really know they could keep. There is no guarantee you will keep the same room if you book a split stay. They do their best, but sometimes things happen. And keeping young ones together with their chaparones is more important than your family staying in the same room, if they have to decide between the two.

The thing with calling is the person you are speaking with on the phone then has to contact someone at the resort. Which is why I spoke of 2 cans and some string. It is easy for something to get lost in translation. If it is a serious problem it is to the benefit of the guest to go to the front desk.

At a good hotel one can rely on assurances that are made. At a good hotel they can and do commit to various things such as not having to move rooms. At a good hotel one would be speaking to the front office if that is who you ask for, and not to some unknown call center. And finally at a good hotel one does not need to trek all the way to the front desk to sort out a problem. And most importantly at a good hotel he would not have to have gone through what he did. Period !!

 

[MadTownKatz]

Wait, what????

They evicted you from your room to give it to an incoming guest?

Has anyone ever heard of this happening before?

I had to change rooms once because a plumbing issue on the floor above caused water damage to the wall and ceiling and they needed to have maintenance fix the issue. But kicking you out to give the room to someone else????? I'm not about looking for "compensation" but an unreasonable inconvenience like that should have warranted in, at a minimum, the new room being an upgrade.

I was at a Conference at Disney, but I do not like Coronado Springs very much....so I decided to stay at the Contemporary. While at the Conference, I received a call from the Contemporary, requesting that I move rooms as a family needed adjoining rooms. I didn't care, and since i was by myself, moving my stuff was a simple matter of moving my suitcase. I didn't have a problem, and staff moved me into a new room - I was given a voucher for dinner at The Wave, which I thought was nice.

My wife says that I was too nice, and I should have tried to barter my way to a dinner at California Grill....

 

[Laketravis]

At a good hotel one can rely on assurances that are made. At a good hotel they can and do commit to various things such as not having to move rooms. At a good hotel one would be speaking to the front office if that is who you ask for, and not to some unknown call center. And finally at a good hotel one does not need to trek all the way to the front desk to sort out a problem. And most importantly at a good hotel he would not have to have gone through what he did. Period !!

Exactly right. Frequent travelers know things will go wrong. I've consistently booked over 100 nights a year for business and roughly 60 nights a year for leisure. I was in Orlando twice in November, two weeks over Thanksgiving at WDW and the first week of November at the Rosen Shingle Creek resort.

Hospitality is a rough business, possibly even harder than food service since it contains that component. So I understand that things can go wrong, I have no problem with that. At the Rosen, I was surprised to have two large roaches scurry across the room one morning. It's Florida, and they don't even call them roaches because they are so common. I stopped by the front desk on my way to a conference and asked if they could treat the room. No problem.

That night I got a call from them offering me two night's free stay and 50% off all food purchases in the restaurants.

If you know the story behind Rosen, he used to work at Disney. He saw a degradation of service over time and vowed to be even better then Disney.

Apparently, he is succeeding.

 

[Planogirl]

Exactly right. Frequent travelers know things will go wrong. I've consistently booked over 100 nights a year for business and roughly 60 nights a year for leisure. I was in Orlando twice in November, two weeks over Thanksgiving at WDW and the first week of November at the Rosen Shingle Creek resort.

Hospitality is a rough business, possibly even harder than food service since it contains that component. So I understand that things can go wrong, I have no problem with that. At the Rosen, I was surprised to have two large roaches scurry across the room one morning. It's Florida, and they don't even call them roaches because they are so common. I stopped by the front desk on my way to a conference and asked if they could treat the room. No problem.

That night I got a call from them offering me two night's free stay and 50% off all food purchases in the restaurants.

If you know the story behind Rosen, he used to work at Disney. He saw a degradation of service over time and vowed to be even better then Disney.

Apparently, he is succeeding.

This is interesting because I've wondered about Rosen. I might have to check them out.

 

[Laketravis]

I always suspect that some of these rude cast member horror stories would sound pretty different if they were told from the CM's perspective. Maybe this is one of them. Once someone withholds some significant facts to make a point, I think he or she has damaged his credibility to the point that you have to take everything he says with a grain of salt.

How dare you question my credibility.