Email I sent to Disney

[sonofanarchy]

This is the plan I like. Let us pick 1 or 2 ahead of time. Then let us use FP+ like regular FP in the parks the day of. Especially if we plan on park hopping.

I don't care if we can't pick any ahead of time. Just let us use FP in the parks the way we always have.

 

[cabanafrau]

OP, I hear your frustrations but an email is going to be meaningless. Snail mail is probably only minimally more productive. The only way I feel Disney is going to course correct on this mess is if attendance drops. Sadly, I think they are banking on a pretty substantial supply of uninformed rookie visitors, many of whom may be satisfied not knowing any better; a continued South American marketing push and the rabid pixie dustbunnies willing to hold open their wallets and accept whatever morsels Disney dishes out on their terms.

Disney's new program doesn't fit with the way we like to enjoy our vacations so we're done with WDW for the time being. We may visit DLR within the next couple years unless we get wind they're trying to corral visits there in a similar way.

 

[Flametamr]

Very well written.

To the PP saying TheHub was lied to: TheHub actually works at Disney and often provides information that is not usually available to the public, or isn't available yet.

In your Test Track example, you missed your FP+ window so they offered you a DAS return time. Sounds like you wanted them to make an exception and let you on the ride right away because the DAS time conflicted with your ADR. Why don't the FP return windows and DAS return times apply to your family?

I meant WE were lied to. It's obvious TheHub is a CM. As for wait times they do apply to us and as you read I had waited. I missed my return window by a few minutes (13) and was also willing to wait the additional DAS time (40). But not well over an hour to ride. I didn't have the time to get the kids back to Ft Wilderness and get to our ADR. I simply asked if we could be walked through the preshow area and not go trough the car design part. My point is that if you ask for additional accommodations such as alternate entrance or waiting areas you are now refused. Disney has done all they intend to do for us.

 

[aaarcher86]

I meant WE were lied to. It's obvious TheHub is a CM. As for wait times they do apply to us and as you read I had waited. I missed my return window by a few minutes (13) and was also willing to wait the additional DAS time (40). But not well over an hour to ride. I didn't have the time to get the kids back to Ft Wilderness and get to our ADR. I simply asked if we could be walked through the preshow area and not go trough the car design part. My point is that if you ask for additional accommodations such as alternate entrance or waiting areas you are now refused. Disney has done all they intend to do for us.

Isn't the whole premise of the DAS that you're waiting in an alternate area of your choice?

I've never ridden test track. Is skipping the show portion something that is an option for everyone? If not, I don't see why they would do it for you because you have an ADR and missed your FP time. No one else has that luxury. If it's skippable for anyone, I agree that they should have done it for you and don't know why you'd be refused.

 

[ArwenMarie]

That's professional.

It's not a "game". I've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars at Disney over the years. Glad you're laughing about it.

Why would I NOT say we aren't coming back? Should I say "The new system sucks, but no worries, we'll be back!" I'm not cursing Disney out or saying how horrible they are. In fact, quite the opposite. I'm just being honest.

I agree, extremely unprofessional. Glad employees are laughing at their customers.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

I meant WE were lied to. It's obvious TheHub is a CM. As for wait times they do apply to us and as you read I had waited. I missed my return window by a few minutes (13) and was also willing to wait the additional DAS time (40). But not well over an hour to ride. I didn't have the time to get the kids back to Ft Wilderness and get to our ADR. I simply asked if we could be walked through the preshow area and not go trough the car design part. My point is that if you ask for additional accommodations such as alternate entrance or waiting areas you are now refused. Disney has done all they intend to do for us.

According to what you've posted, you didn't need to bypass the preshow as an accommodation with the DAS. You needed it because of your ADR. If that is the case then that sounds like your problem, not Disney's.

 

[AmyB2006]

I meant WE were lied to. It's obvious TheHub is a CM. As for wait times they do apply to us and as you read I had waited. I missed my return window by a few minutes (13) and was also willing to wait the additional DAS time (40). But not well over an hour to ride. I didn't have the time to get the kids back to Ft Wilderness and get to our ADR. I simply asked if we could be walked through the preshow area and not go trough the car design part. My point is that if you ask for additional accommodations such as alternate entrance or waiting areas you are now refused. Disney has done all they intend to do for us.

I thought what he was trying to say was that if you ask at Guest Relations when you're getting the DAS they might give you a different kind of pass. That's how I interpreted that.

That's professional.

It's not a "game". I've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars at Disney over the years. Glad you're laughing about it.

Why would I NOT say we aren't coming back? Should I say "The new system sucks, but no worries, we'll be back!" I'm not cursing Disney out or saying how horrible they are. In fact, quite the opposite. I'm just being honest.

Well... so is he. He's just being honest. We may not like it, but I bet it does happen. They probably think, "yeah right, they'll be back".

 

[ArwenMarie]

OP, I hear your frustrations but an email is going to be meaningless. Snail mail is probably only minimally more productive. The only way I feel Disney is going to course correct on this mess is if attendance drops. Sadly, I think they are banking on a pretty substantial supply of uninformed rookie visitors, many of whom may be satisfied not knowing any better; a continued South American marketing push and the rabid pixie dustbunnies willing to hold open their wallets and accept whatever morsels Disney dishes out on their terms.

Disney's new program doesn't fit with the way we like to enjoy our vacations so we're done with WDW for the time being. We may visit DLR within the next couple years unless we get wind they're trying to corral visits there in a similar way.

I agree with this, which is why I never bothering contacting them. I only contact when there is something very specific that needs to be taken care of, like a dirty room or something. It's just pointless. They don't care, I guess they don't need to.

As far as South America, on a side note, my husband went to Brazil on business this month involving four TAM flights. All of the flights had an infomercial playing on the screens before the inflight entertainment started, all about "Come to Disneyworld!" I think going after first-timers of all nationalities is the strategy going forward.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Well... so is he. He's just being honest. We may not like it, but I bet it does happen. They probably think, "yeah right, they'll be back".

I dunno, I think there is a problem when employees are laughing at their customers. When a customer who is spending 1000s of dollars says, I'm not coming back, I dunno, might be something to take seriously. But Disney doesn't care, they don't need to I guess

 

[ShannonMB]

The problem with tiering is essentially they are limiting you to 1 FP a day. The second tier is nothing you would ever normally need or get a FP for, unless it was Christmas week or spring break. The FP+ system and picking FP in advance of your day may be flawed and unworkable because they can't work it without a 3 limit or tiers, but the tiers are taking a huge benefit away, as does FP+ in general. Basically- they are removing the FP system from existence except for giving you 1 a day, and making you think they are giving you something else by letting you jump to the front of a line that is rarely more than 5 or 10 minutes. I've never waited more than 10 minutes for anything in the 2nd tiers of DHS or EPCOT---- well, maybe 20 minutes for the great movie ride once. I would never get a FP for any of those things.


Maybe if they could get the software to work like FP- in the parks, where you can pick 1 or 2 ahead of your trip, and then on that day, it runs where you can pick an extra 1, once you enter the park, then after you use that or wait a specified period of time, can get another etc. Then it might actually be a workable system that has a benefit instead of a detriment.

Agreed, FP might be reasonable if they were actually fastpasses to a ride you need a fastpass for. Oh boy, I get to be first on something I never waited for to begin with.

OP, hope you get a decent response, but if not, at least you are adding your voice to the conversation they are *hopefully* having over there!

 

[AmyB2006]

I dunno, I think there is a problem when employees are laughing at their customers. When a customer who is spending 1000s of dollars says, I'm not coming back, I dunno, might be something to take seriously. But Disney doesn't care, they don't need to I guess

Oh ITA, but I am thankful for his honesty. It makes you look at it a different way. In my case confirms what I have been thinking all along. Disney doesn't care about the customers that are saying they won't return. Either they don't believe them, or they're confident enough that there will always be other people to fill their shoes.

 

[Planogirl]

Oh ITA, but I am thankful for his honesty. It makes you look at it a different way. In my case confirms what I have been thinking all along. Disney doesn't care about the customers that are saying they won't return. Either they don't believe them, or they're confident enough that there will always be other people to fill their shoes.

I appreciate The Hub stating what many of us suspected anyway. Plenty of people here state that if some people quit going then plenty of others will take their place. We don't want to hear that (I don't anyway) but it's true.

 

[wordwitt]

I sent an email because I participated in MB testing over Labor Day and loved it. Gave it very positive marks in the survey. But had tiering been in effect I would have hated it and told them so. I told them I wanted to give my feedback on this change. The response I got, after about 3 days, was that all feedback was being considered. No one told me that standby was still an option, which is a useless response. I guess I am still fairly optimistic that the final product will not look like it does now, but I do believe it is important to give feeback.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Oh ITA, but I am thankful for his honesty. It makes you look at it a different way. In my case confirms what I have been thinking all along. Disney doesn't care about the customers that are saying they won't return. Either they don't believe them, or they're confident enough that there will always be other people to fill their shoes.

I agree.

 

[AmyB2006]

I appreciate The Hub stating what many of us suspected anyway. Plenty of people here state that if some people quit going then plenty of others will take their place. We don't want to hear that (I don't anyway) but it's true.

It's sad just from a customer point of view. I mean you want to feel like your business matters.

 

[lugnut33]

Here is the letter I wrote to Disney, so I guess TheHub and friends will get a great laugh out of it:

Me and my family most recently visited the WDW resort from Nov. 27th through Dec. 2 and stayed at Saratoga Springs Resort Villas (we are DVC members). Our family has been making multiple visits every year to WDW since about 2005 and bought into DVC in 2008. Every trip has been fantastic, including our last one.

That said, I did observe some changes that I am not happy with.

First and foremost I really dislike the whole premise of Fastpass Plus. Once the legacy fastpass system goes away we will only get 3 choices (even if it's 4 choices in the end), rest of the time it's standby. I see where we used FP-all the time for the lesser attractions and even rode some of the major rides a couple of times in a day. That is going away. During busy times (like Thanksgiving) you can't just change your times on FP+ because those times won't be available. You are locked in and honestly that is a PITA. Old system you pulled as you needed, but with FP+ you will do as Disney wants. We had access to both systems on our last trip and I used every one of the paper fastpasses I pulled, but left many of the FP+ unused because we found ourselves not in the right spot to use them.

I really feel you are taking away tangible benefits from the guests. They are transforming the vacation by lowering what you can expect to get. I feel like my vacation dollars will not go as far.

I saw long lines to get into the FP line, and yes showing tickets is way faster than scanning the band. Those FP lines will only get worse once everyone is using FP+. I observed a lot of CM just finally letting people through when the Mickey wouldn't turn green. You can literally feel the frustration in the air and it's effecting the CMs.

Additionally FP+ just doesn't make sense for a lot of attractions. Take POTC for example, it was proven years ago that FP did not work well because it actually reduced guest throughput (same with Haunted Mansion). We rode it with FP on Wednesday night and literally walked on to our own private boat, however the standby line was packed and the boats sent completely full. You have effectively eliminated half the rides capacity.

The other thing I learned is FP+ will definitely cut down on the amount of hours we will spend in the parks, especially Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Probably no more 10 to 14 hours in the parks once FP-is eliminated. I will spend way less money in the parks and probably more off site because only having a tiered fastpass and quantity limits exposes the lack of major attractions in those parks. Disney needs to get back to building major attractions at WDW, not building systems to control people.

We have never been to Universal Studios in all our trips to Orlando. It's always been Disney World, however I'm considering it because I firmly dislike the new FP+ system and how it will change our trips.

Secondly it just doesn't seem the cast members are genuinely happy to be working there. I don't know what it is but this was the first trip I have heard CMs complaining openly about guests and their jobs. I listened to one CM recall her story about being assaulted by a guest at a FP line. It was also the first time I saw a security guard working the FastPass line.

Third, it felt like Disney was trying to control my every move. I heard so many guests, including us, getting told by cast members which way to move and how to stand. It just felt overbearing and it sucked a lot of the spontaneity out being in the parks. I have a feeling that cast members are just following what their managers are telling them to do, but perhaps that's the reason for my second point?

Fourth, when people are coming to the parks later in the evening, don't make them park way at the end of the parking lot even though there are tons of spots up near the front because other guests have already left. It's super frustrating to know there are tons of great parking spots up front, but instead you are parking us way out. Let people go down and find those spots, I don't see what it hurts. Maybe that goes back to the control issue in my third point.

Fifth, even the quick service restaurants are getting too expensive. We gave up eating many meals at the table service locations long ago due to costs, but still do a few. Now the quick service locations are getting expensive and we find ourselves eating quite a few meals off-site. We would like to eat more meals, but can't justify the cost.

Thank you for your time. I hope you take what I have written as constructive criticism and not just complaining. If you want to call me and discuss these issues I'm always available.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

That's professional.

It's not a "game". I've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars at Disney over the years. Glad you're laughing about it.

Why would I NOT say we aren't coming back? Should I say "The new system sucks, but no worries, we'll be back!" I'm not cursing Disney out or saying how horrible they are. In fact, quite the opposite. I'm just being honest.

Because you're basically playing chicken with Disney by doing this. If you're really not coming back, they don't need to worry about your money anyway. If you are bluffing, then they have a strong stickiness factor where they don't need to worry about you.

 

[Tigger's ally]

It's sad just from a customer point of view. I mean you want to feel like your business matters.

What's sad to me is that a father of a handicapped daughter said in one of the posts on this thread that Walt Disney World was his daughter's happy place. Then later, he said. I won't be back.

 

[lmb80129]

Isn't the whole premise of the DAS that you're waiting in an alternate area of your choice?

I've never ridden test track. Is skipping the show portion something that is an option for everyone? If not, I don't see why they would do it for you because you have an ADR and missed your FP time. No one else has that luxury. If it's skippable for anyone, I agree that they should have done it for you and don't know why you'd be refused.

I would love to know if skipping the pre show is an option as well. Under the old GAC, a cast member had no problem letting us skip a pre show. I simply explained that my son freaked out during dark, enclosed pre shows with a crowd of strangers around him and the cast member would let us walk through the show. He loves test track but hates the pre show. I suspect it is accommodation that was available with GAC but not with DAS.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Oh ITA, but I am thankful for his honesty. It makes you look at it a different way. In my case confirms what I have been thinking all along. Disney doesn't care about the customers that are saying they won't return. Either they don't believe them, or they're confident enough that there will always be other people to fill their shoes.

I appreciate The Hub stating what many of us suspected anyway. Plenty of people here state that if some people quit going then plenty of others will take their place. We don't want to hear that (I don't anyway) but it's true.

That's why I didn't bother emailing or contacting Disney at all. We have been yearly (sometimes twice yearly) visitors since 1993, but have decided that we're definitely NOT visiting next August, and, in fact, returned the no expire 10 day tickets that we purchased from Undercover Tourist. We felt it was better to pay the 5% restocking fee, than to be tied into Disney for 5 years worth of tickets considering all of these changes. We are still visiting Orlando, but we're going to spend our time at Universal and IOA. We're not going to threaten that we won't be back. We simply won't be back unless there are some major changes to the final FP+ system.