Flights of Passage and Disney Officially Suck

[hsmamato2]

Even better they could've had CMs stationed at the exits handing them out automatically

Yeah- we went on the HP train at Universal a couple of years back- it broke down and everyone in the station had to leave, at the exits there were CM's handing out FP's to everyone. Disney can do better than that.

 

[hsmamato2]

I'm sorry but some replies are hilarious..... OP has a real gripe here- Disney used to be (and many times still is) the BEST customer service out there,making it worth all that extra money we all love to spend there....this instance was a terrible example of customer service. Like my pp noted, at Universal, which everyone always says 'just doesn't do customer service like Disney' can step up easily when there's a problem, then we the customers who are paying a LOT of money can expect at least that level of service at Disney! They should, every single time a ride goes down, hand out fp's to those in line. Maybe that sort of ethic would improve things all over the parks. (you know, a reason to keep the rides in tip top working order, happier customers,etc) I myself have only experienced great customer service at Disney,and expect nothing less. (like any paid experience)

 

[patrickpiteo]

When you pay a lot of money (as we all do at Disney and Universal) you expect and should get world class customer service..

 

[DopeyDame]

OP (and anyone else), as an FYI the concierge at onsite hotels can do a lot of things that the guest relations people can do, usually without the crazy long line that arises when something like this happens at a park.
We were in Epcot one night and had a pretty whacky Test Track experience and there were, evidently, issues at Soarin at the same time too. All I really wanted was a replacement FP for Test Track, which the CM said would automatically appear in my account. It didn't, so I was going to stop by GS, but the line was super long and not worth the wait. Anyway, when we got back to the hotel, we stopped at the concierge desk and she took care of it quickly and easily.

So, in the future, if you have a problem like this, go to guest services or the concierge at your hotel. If you're polite and your request is reasonable, they'll usually accommodate you.

 

[LadyDiznee123]

This is Long, but you might want to read it. We just got back from a last minute quick trip to the World. Pandoraland and Flights of Passage were tops on our list, so this past Friday morning, we headed to AK and entered the park around 7:15 am. The Park wasn't scheduled to open until 8, though like everyone else, we headed straight towards Pandorland. It wasn't long after we got to the Tree and made the left turn that we ran into the masses of people who arrived before us. After waiting for 30 minutes or so, the line began to move. It stopped a few times, but we finally got into the Flights of Passage ride queue, and the wait time at that point said 120 minutes.

I thought that sounded long, but what the heck, this ride was the ONLY reason we went to AK to begin with. We progressed through the queue relatively quickly until we got to the Lab room where the line completely stopped. It took at least an hour to get through the room. We checked our phone and the wait time had been changed to 4 hours and 40 minutes. We spent another hour in the last room, and we had just arrived at the point where the FP and Stand-by lines merge. We were the next group to go into the final portion of the line when the Fire Alarms went off and the lights came on. We were told to leave immediately. A cast member escorted us through a back stage area and back to the park. Are you FREAKING KIDDING ME. We waited over 2-1/2 hours, got no sorry for the inconvenience, no fast pass, no nothing. I was told by an AK cast member (who is a personal friend) later, that if we had just gotten past the FP/SB merge point, we would have probably received FP's. We arrived at the park at 7:15 and we were escorted out of the attraction at 10:15.

I was told by that same cast member, that the attraction has 3 theaters like Soarin. One of the theaters from the very beginning hasn't worked properly, because it over heats and keeps setting off alarms. I was told that it is a multi-million dollar problem, that they're going to have to close the entire attraction down for several months to fix. They're having problems with a 2nd theater, but it still continues to work most of the time. The 3rd Theater is working fine. The attraction stayed down until 3 PM, as we were leaving the park and heading to EPCOT. On Saturday we went to the MK, which was our final day. I'm completely disgusted with Pandora, AK and Disney.

Long or not, thank you for sharing this. It needed to be posted.
I would like for things (lines, kinks, etc) to be attendee-friendlier by the time I get there in November. But I think it may be a good idea to resign myself to perhaps even SKIP Pandora. November is right around the corner, and I do not see this chaos getting much better by then. Lines are still long for 7DMT, and how long has that been open now.

You are waking me up out of DisneyStupid/Blinders mode, and keeping me grounded in the harsh realities. I will keep my eyes on the DIS boards for these types of updates and just save myself a LOT of time on my November trip by just conceding to skip it altogether. Because it's new, I'd like to experience while I'm there... sometimes we just don't get what we'd LIKE to do. Once I know ahead of time, I'm happy with that knowing. So I wont be upset in missing it.

Thanks again.

 

[Grammy4Lizzy]

I'm sorry but some replies are hilarious..... OP has a real gripe here- Disney used to be (and many times still is) the BEST customer service out there,making it worth all that extra money we all love to spend there....this instance was a terrible example of customer service. Like my pp noted, at Universal, which everyone always says 'just doesn't do customer service like Disney' can step up easily when there's a problem, then we the customers who are paying a LOT of money can expect at least that level of service at Disney! They should, every single time a ride goes down, hand out fp's to those in line. Maybe that sort of ethic would improve things all over the parks. (you know, a reason to keep the rides in tip top working order, happier customers,etc) I myself have only experienced great customer service at Disney,and expect nothing less. (like any paid experience)

The people that had passed the merge line did get FP. they were in the Standby line even if they would have been next to merge. I have never seen FP given to people in SB if the ride goes down. I would never expect to get a FP if the ride broke down while I was still in Standby.
Some people think that they deserve compensation for every little thing. That is life. Stop playing the victim card and get past it.

 

[maxiesmom]

Some people think that they deserve compensation for every little thing. That is life. Stop playing the victim card and get past it.

And I think this is why customer service isn't what it used to be anywhere. If something is messed up, it is not good enough just to get what you deserved, you must gain from the mess up. People know if they act rude and scream and yell and cause a scene more likely than not they will have something extra thrown at them just to get them to go away. Any little thing that goes wrong is met with demands for compensation. It is beyond ridiculous that people think it is ok to behave this way. And ridiculous to expect that it wouldn't have a negative affect.

 

[snoopy352]

And I think this is why customer service isn't what it used to be anywhere. If something is messed up, it is not good enough just to get what you deserved, you must gain from the mess up. People know if they act rude and scream and yell and cause a scene more likely than not they will have something extra thrown at them just to get them to go away. Any little thing that goes wrong is met with demands for compensation. It is beyond ridiculous that people think it is ok to behave this way. And ridiculous to expect that it wouldn't have a negative affect.

Are you kidding me? So you think it's ok for a family to spend $100 per person for a one-day park ticket, get in line at RD, wait over three hours, get ready to ride the hottest ticket in WDW, get evacuated, be thrown together with people who had been waiting in line for one minute as well as the FPers, see a couple inept CMs spouting ignorance to a crowd of hundreds, wait in line for another hour at Guest Relations, and get ZERO compensation? And you think this is "any little thing?" They spent $100 each and lost an entire half day of their money doing NOTHING but waiting in lines. (And wasting a half day only to get an any-time FP does NOT cut it - they had that anyway considering where they were at in line - any FP for that same day is gonna have LONG waits due to the circumstances, not to mention since they got there at RD maybe they don't want to be there at night too?

 

[rteetz]

I was there on Sunday (6/11) and I'm guessing they got all three theaters to work because I saw waits go as low as 70-90 mins at random points throughout the day. It seemed better to wait for one of these periods than go for rope drop (the boat ride on the other hand was walk on at rope drop).

FoP has 4 theaters no 3.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

This is the Disney Cheerleading association. As a general rule if you say anything bad on the DIS the long knives come out to attack. There's a lot of "Disney can do no wrong" regardless of what they do. The poster will be attacked for expecting to be able to ride the ride, after all it's Disney and we are suppose to be grateful they even let us throw money at them!

Sadly they can do a LOT wrong and under current management they continue to try to do things "as cheap as possible" and there's a price to be paid!

 

[maxiesmom]

Are you kidding me? So you think it's ok for a family to spend $100 per person for a one-day park ticket, get in line at RD, wait over three hours, get ready to ride the hottest ticket in WDW, get evacuated, be thrown together with people who had been waiting in line for one minute as well as the FPers, see a couple inept CMs spouting ignorance to a crowd of hundreds, wait in line for another hour at Guest Relations, and get ZERO compensation? And you think this is "any little thing?" They spent $100 each and lost an entire half day of their money doing NOTHING but waiting in lines. (And wasting a half day only to get an any-time FP does NOT cut it - they had that anyway considering where they were at in line - any FP for that same day is gonna have LONG waits due to the circumstances, not to mention since they got there at RD maybe they don't want to be there at night too?

I don't think it warrants some kind of monetary compensation, if that is what you are getting at.

 

[DisneyOma]

Yeah- we went on the HP train at Universal a couple of years back- it broke down and everyone in the station had to leave, at the exits there were CM's handing out FP's to everyone. Disney can do better than that.

You can't compare a fire alarm going off to emptying a queue because a ride broke down. For a fire alarm, you get the hell out. period.

I'm sorry but some replies are hilarious..... OP has a real gripe here- Disney used to be (and many times still is) the BEST customer service out there,making it worth all that extra money we all love to spend there....this instance was a terrible example of customer service. Like my pp noted, at Universal, which everyone always says 'just doesn't do customer service like Disney' can step up easily when there's a problem, then we the customers who are paying a LOT of money can expect at least that level of service at Disney! They should, every single time a ride goes down, hand out fp's to those in line. Maybe that sort of ethic would improve things all over the parks. (you know, a reason to keep the rides in tip top working order, happier customers,etc) I myself have only experienced great customer service at Disney,and expect nothing less. (like any paid experience)

See above. there are a finite amount of FP slots available, unless you'd like to have the standby queues closed two hours before the park closes...

 

[maxiesmom]

Are you kidding me? So you think it's ok for a family to spend $100 per person for a one-day park ticket, get in line at RD, wait over three hours, get ready to ride the hottest ticket in WDW, get evacuated, be thrown together with people who had been waiting in line for one minute as well as the FPers, see a couple inept CMs spouting ignorance to a crowd of hundreds, wait in line for another hour at Guest Relations, and get ZERO compensation? And you think this is "any little thing?" They spent $100 each and lost an entire half day of their money doing NOTHING but waiting in lines. (And wasting a half day only to get an any-time FP does NOT cut it - they had that anyway considering where they were at in line - any FP for that same day is gonna have LONG waits due to the circumstances, not to mention since they got there at RD maybe they don't want to be there at night too?

It doesn't sound at all as if the CMs were inept. There was a FIRE ALARM. Getting the guests out safely is much more important than trying to see who was standing where and handing out Fast Passes.

The OP could have gone to guest services and see what they could do, instead of expecting CMs who are dealing with a FIRE ALARM to stop what they are doing to give them a Fast Pass. If everyone got out safely the CMs did a good job, and they dealt with what was most important. Making sure everyone got out and no one was hurt.

 

[LISAMWDW]

It is very disappointing that this is ok and expected for new rides. Same thing happened to me with Frozen, except it happened 3x on the same trip.

The bugs should be worked out before it is officially opened. Crazy long waits and insane crowds are to be expected but ride breakdowns are unacceptable.
New rides should be in their prime as far as condition.

 

[maxiesmom]

It is very disappointing that this is ok and expected for new rides. Same thing happened to me with Frozen, except it happened 3x on the same trip.

The bugs should be worked out before it is officially opened. Crazy long waits and insane crowds are to be expected but ride breakdowns are unacceptable.
New rides should be in their prime as far as condition.

Unfortunately there is no way ahead of time to put a ride thought the same stresses it gets when it is being used. And according to most reports the first few days it worked well.

 

[Xennia]

New rides will always have problems. Not everyone is trained for this. Ugh. Knowing how new rides are I wouldn't race to go see it unless you're willing to wait and put up with the just opened shanaigans.

 

[Liljo22]

Long or not, thank you for sharing this. It needed to be posted.
I would like for things (lines, kinks, etc) to be attendee-friendlier by the time I get there in November. But I think it may be a good idea to resign myself to perhaps even SKIP Pandora. November is right around the corner, and I do not see this chaos getting much better by then. Lines are still long for 7DMT, and how long has that been open now.

You are waking me up out of DisneyStupid/Blinders mode, and keeping me grounded in the harsh realities. I will keep my eyes on the DIS boards for these types of updates and just save myself a LOT of time on my November trip by just conceding to skip it altogether. Because it's new, I'd like to experience while I'm there... sometimes we just don't get what we'd LIKE to do. Once I know ahead of time, I'm happy with that knowing. So I wont be upset in missing it.

Thanks again.

The ride was completely shut down three times over two days because of a fire alarm plus another time because of a medical issue. This is not FEA that was down constantly when it opened up. I think you are pretty safe to not skip it 5 months from now.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I agree with a previous comment...

Star Wars Land is going to be bonkers!

I'm so tempted to try and go on opening day so I can be in a 3rd land on opening day but I'm not sure I could handle it.

I was in Pandora on opening day and it was insane. I also had a blast even with the craziness.

OP, I'm sorry your last minute trip didn't work out the way you had planned.

 

[joyjoy]

The early 90's - WDW was absolutely amazing in the early 90's.

The first time I went to WDW was in 1992 and that's when I was hooked. Loved Epcot so much, even Universe of Energy (before Ellen). "Shale. The rock that burns.".

 

[LilyWDW]

Yeah- we went on the HP train at Universal a couple of years back- it broke down and everyone in the station had to leave, at the exits there were CM's handing out FP's to everyone. Disney can do better than that.

A break down is very different then the fire alarms going off, which is what happened with FoP in this instance. With a fire alarm, you have a very small window of time to evacuate the area. The safety of the guests and staff is number one before anything else. So I can understand why they wouldn't want to hold up the evacuation to hand out some FP. I mean, imagine if it hadn't been a false alarm (which the CMs don't know at the time it is happening) and something bad had happened because guests were slow in exiting just so that they can get a FP. No, the CMs did their job in this specific case.

If the OP had an issue with how it was handled then they can take it up with guest relations in the park.