Frommer article full of WDW misinformation

[The Big Daddy]

Here is the response that I sent back to Jon Douglas:

"Hello Mr. Douglas,

Thank you for the follow up letter. I would like to inform you that Ms. Frommer still does not have her facts correct, even in the letter below. The correction that was added to the article yesterday only covered some of the inaccuracies this reporter has stated. It frightens me that she has written a book on this subject. In her article and in the letter below it is quite clear that she knows nothing about Disney World, nor does she care to find out the facts, as show by her blatant distain for the Disney Company. This makes me question any article and/or book she has ever written. Please have another reporter do the research and write an article that contains the accurate information, as Ms. Frommer has shown a lack of integrity when it comes to her writing.

Thank you,"

I think that he needs to know that this is far from fixed.

Yes please, let's get this woman fired! That's a very Disney-esque attitude! Thank goodness none of us have EVER made mistakes at our jobs. Thank goodness none of us have ever made MORE than one mistake on our jobs, right? Does she claim to have a PhD in travel? It's very easy to say she should be an expert but should everyone here be called an expert at their job then? Should we all face the same hostility when making a mistake because we're an expert because it's our job? I personally found nothing offensice in her follow-up letter. Sure if you go into expecting the writer to have an attitude then that's the way you're going to read it. But is the attitude really on her part? I'm not so certain.....

 

[mking624]

Yes please, let's get this woman fired! That's a very Disney-esque attitude! Thank goodness none of us have EVER made mistakes at our jobs. Thank goodness none of us have ever made MORE than one mistake on our jobs, right? Does she claim to have a PhD in travel? It's very easy to say she should be an expert but should everyone here be called an expert at their job then? Should we all face the same hostility when making a mistake because we're an expert because it's our job? I personally found nothing offensice in her follow-up letter. Sure if you go into expecting the writer to have an attitude then that's the way you're going to read it. But is the attitude really on her part? I'm not so certain.....

You seem rather quick to defend such faulty information. Why are you so against people trying to correct everything that was wrong so that people who are researching trips are getting the correct information?
Yes, how horrible of us to expect a travel writer, who even publishes a book on the subject (and whose family name is VERY well known in the travel world so there are many many people to who look to their info for advice) to at least do basic research on the topic she's writing about. Terrible terrible people we are.

 

[The Big Daddy]

Just because you may agree with Pauline Frommer's viewpoint (unfounded as it is with seemingly no accurate facts) does not mean that her sloppy, inaccurate and biased article is anything other than a waste of vacationers' precious money and/or time. I agree with others that this article makes me cross Frommer's off my list of travel reading for when I wish to research visiting unfamiliar places.

Unfounded with no accurate facts? Is it inaccurate that it's cheaper to room and eat offsite than on? If you read her follow-up she stated the $1,600 has to cover airfare. So leaving them $800 after airfare where would you have them stay and eat for a week? Maybe they could sleep behind a dumpster and eat park leftovers as the remaining $800 might be needed to buy park tickets. Again I say that most posters in this topic feel too strongly about Disneyworld to view the article objectively and I think sending emails to people's supervisors in the heat of the moment is wrong. You can cost someone their job. She had a few mistakes. Move on. She didn't cost anyone their life. She commited no crime (despite being accused of being criminally negligent) and no one was hurt. Let the buyer beware. If the person asking the question in the article stops his research right there with her advice then he isn't a very smart consumer.

 

[The Big Daddy]

You seem rather quick to defend such faulty information. Why are you so against people trying to correct everything that was wrong so that people who are researching trips are getting the correct information?
Yes, how horrible of us to expect a travel writer, who even publishes a book on the subject (and whose family name is VERY well known in the travel world so there are many many people to who look to their info for advice) to at least do basic research on the topic she's writing about. Terrible terrible people we are.

And you seem very quick to nail her to the cross over it.

 

[Mkrop]

Yes please, let's get this woman fired! That's a very Disney-esque attitude! Thank goodness none of us have EVER made mistakes at our jobs. Thank goodness none of us have ever made MORE than one mistake on our jobs, right? Does she claim to have a PhD in travel? It's very easy to say she should be an expert but should everyone here be called an expert at their job then? Should we all face the same hostility when making a mistake because we're an expert because it's our job? I personally found nothing offensice in her follow-up letter. Sure if you go into expecting the writer to have an attitude then that's the way you're going to read it. But is the attitude really on her part? I'm not so certain.....

yes if I put incorrect information out in a company document and it was published extrenally then YES I probably would be fired. Thta is how may company worked.

 

[Mkrop]

And you seem very quick to nail her to the cross over it.

IT IS HER JOB! If I wrote that article, then yes I would deserve to be crucified.

 

[grimley1968]

Unfounded with no accurate facts? Is it inaccurate that it's cheaper to room and eat offsite than on? If you read her follow-up she stated the $1,600 has to cover airfare. So leaving them $800 after airfare where would you have them stay and eat for a week? Maybe they could sleep behind a dumpster and eat park leftovers as the remaining $800 might be needed to buy park tickets. Again I say that most posters in this topic feel too strongly about Disneyworld to view the article objectively and I think sending emails to people's supervisors in the heat of the moment is wrong. You can cost someone their job. She had a few mistakes. Move on. She didn't cost anyone their life. She commited no crime (despite being accused of being criminally negligent) and no one was hurt. Let the buyer beware. If the person asking the question in the article stops his research right there with her advice then he isn't a very smart consumer.

Umm, I don't think she will be fired anytime soon, being PAULINE FROMMER, writing for Frommer's!

I don't expect anyone to get fired, but I would hope she wouldn't make any money on this book or article, since it's shoddy journalism. I really doubt she has any "supervisors." That's another thing that makes the article/book troubling, that the editor/owner of the company is the one making the bogus claims and conclusions with no independent fact-checking before publication.

And it IS inaccurate in this instance to say it's cheaper to stay offsite than onsite, since there is no perspective. For all we know, someone could be staying offsite at the 4 Seasons in Manhattan, flying in on a private jet, and then going to parks. That's a little more expensive than staying at All Stars and riding the bus in. That may sound ridiculous to you, but to me it sounds no more ridiculous than Pauline Frommer, inheritor of the great Frommer's Name, calling resorts like Grand Floridian, Polynesian, Contemporary and Wilderness Lodge "motels", which is exactly what she was referring to when she talked about "motels" that form a ring around Magic Kingdom.

 

[The Big Daddy]

I'm still failing to see how giving wrong information (including wrong prices) is considered "good advice" to some here? Am I missing something here...do people really believe that giving out such faulty information is indeed good?

Suggesting to someone on a VERY tight budget that staying offsite might make his trip actually doable IS good advice. To have someone misquote the price of a hot dog by $2.50 is not worth getting her fired. Am I missing something? Do people really believe that misquoting a hot dog by $2.50 is criminally negligent and worth geting someone fired? And do people really believe that a PERCEIVED preference to Orlando attractions other than Disneyworld is worthy of tar and feathering this woman?

 

[nick262]

Yes please, let's get this woman fired! That's a very Disney-esque attitude! Thank goodness none of us have EVER made mistakes at our jobs. Thank goodness none of us have ever made MORE than one mistake on our jobs, right? Does she claim to have a PhD in travel? It's very easy to say she should be an expert but should everyone here be called an expert at their job then? Should we all face the same hostility when making a mistake because we're an expert because it's our job? I personally found nothing offensice in her follow-up letter. Sure if you go into expecting the writer to have an attitude then that's the way you're going to read it. But is the attitude really on her part? I'm not so certain.....

Sorry, but where in my response did I request that she be fired. I only requested that they have another reporter do another article with the correct information as she had already shown she had no interest in doing the necessary research. No where did I say fire her.

 

[The Big Daddy]

And it IS inaccurate in this instance to say it's cheaper to stay offsite than onsite, since there is no perspective. For all we know, someone could be staying offsite at the 4 Seasons in Manhattan, flying in on a private jet, and then going to parks. That's a little more expensive than staying at All Stars and riding the bus in.

No perspective? In this instance? We are well aware of what this instance is...the person with the question is on a tight budget. We even know how much...$1,600 for everything! So I guess what led you to beleive he had a private jet?

 

[grimley1968]

Suggesting to someone on a VERY tight budget that staying offsite might make his trip actually doable IS good advice. To have someone misquote the price of a hot dog by $2.50 is not worth getting her fired. Am I missing something? Do people really believe that misquoting a hot dog by $2.50 is criminally negligent and worth geting someone fired? And do people really believe that a PERCEIVED preference to Orlando attractions other than Disneyworld is worthy of tar and feathering this woman?

Big Daddy, no one gets fired. She's Pauline Frommer!

Yes, misquoting the price of a hot dog IS a big deal, when you then use that misquoted information to buttress your conclusion that food is more expensive at WDW than other places.

You try going to an NFL football game or MLB game and getting a hot dog or a beer for less than what you'd pay at WDW. Well, you don't need to, because I've done it at both places, and I can assure you that WDW is much less expensive than any professional sporting event I've been to and tried to buy food or drinks.

 

[tweedlemom]

 

[The Big Daddy]

You try going to an NFL football game or MLB game and getting a hot dog or a beer for less than what you'd pay at WDW. Well, you don't need to, because I've done it at both places, and I can assure you that WDW is much less expensive than any professional sporting event I've been to and tried to buy food or drinks.

Did she suggest he take his meals at a football game rather than eating in the parks? I don't remember that. I'm pretty certain, without trying to be criminally negligent, that he can probably get a hot dog much cheaper offsite at a Portillos than he can at Disney.

 

[marivaid]

She's wrong about other things besides Disney.

From my research, there's little cost difference between Oklahoma City and Dallas-Fort Worth, at least on this route. Go with whichever is more convenient.

Does she even know that there's a 2nd airport in Dallas, less than half an hour away???

Flying from Dallas (Love Field) to Orlando is $95 each way.
Flying from Oklahoma City is $177 each way.
That's almost twice the cost.

She has no clue about anything, she just throws facts around without doing any research.

This family is supposed to be on a budget yet she's telling them to spend a day at SeaWorld, which will add about $200 to their expenses, while an extra day at a Disney park would have cost them around $10.

(And for the record, I LOVE SeaWorld, been there more times than WDW).

 

[The Big Daddy]

IT IS HER JOB! If I wrote that article, then yes I would deserve to be crucified.

That's not a very Disney attitude. Thank goodness most employers don't take the same hardline attitude that you do or everyone in America would be unemployed because of the human errors we make.

 

[mking624]

"The Big Daddy", it's become quite clear that you're adamantly against any form of accountability and against well seasoned travelers from trying to help provide the correct information so that other travelers actually know the facts...and it's become quite clear that you have no interest in listening to any form of reason. You've made up your mind that apparently her words are "good advice" in spite of much of it being downright wrong, so there's no point in continuing to argue with you. I will say, though, that if you think that a hot dog price was the only thing she got wrong, you're obviously not well aware of WDW yourself.

As for me, I'll happily continue this discussion without feeding the troll. I suggest others do the same since it's plainly obvious he is more interested in controversy and debate (and not just in this thread, but others as well) then he is actually discussing things.

 

[The Big Daddy]

I don't expect anyone to get fired, but I would hope she wouldn't make any money on this book or article

So she'll have a job...just not get paid for it. Wow there's a big difference between the two.....

 

[nick262]

Did she suggest he take his meals at a football game rather than eating in the parks? I don't remember that. I'm pretty certain, without trying to be criminally negligent, that he can probably get a hot dog much cheaper offsite at a Portillos than he can at Disney.

Actually, that offsite hotdog will cost more then the onsite one. After paying for the rental car, gas and the parking at the parks.

I am sorry that all we want is for accurate information to be printed. I am sorry that you dont care about the details but some do. If you were to really crunch the numbers, staying offsite could possible cost you more then onsite in some cases. If she had done her research, she would know that.

 

[grimley1968]

"The Big Daddy", it's become quite clear that you're adamantly against any form of accountability and against well seasoned travelers from trying to help provide the correct information so that other travelers actually know the facts...and it's become quite clear that you have no interest in listening to any form of reason. You've made up your mind that apparently her words are "good advice" in spite of much of it being downright wrong, so there's no point in continuing to argue with you. I will say, though, that if you think that a hot dog price was the only thing she got wrong, you're obviously not well aware of WDW yourself.

As for me, I'll happily continue this discussion without feeding the troll. I suggest others do the same since it's plainly obvious he is more interested in controversy and debate (and not just in this thread, but others as well) then he is actually discussing things.

I'll feed the troll just a little more: Being from Chicago, Mary, you might remember just how far offsite "Portillo's Hot Dogs" would be that The Big Daddy mentioned. It's a Chicago area chain! Oh, it has 3 locations opening soon in California by the way. Yes, they have slightly cheaper hot dogs, but I think I'd rather pay the $1.50 extra for a WDW hot dog than pay to have a Portillo's dog delivered to my park bench inside Magic Kingdom.

 

[mking624]

I'll feed the troll just a little more: Being from Chicago, Mary, you might remember just how far offsite "Portillo's Hot Dogs" would be that The Big Daddy mentioned. It's a Chicago area chain! Oh, it has 3 locations opening soon in California by the way. Yes, they have slightly cheaper hot dogs, but I think I'd rather pay the $1.50 extra for a WDW hot dog than pay to have a Portillo's dog delivered to my park bench inside Magic Kingdom.

Good point. Yeah WDW does come out cheaper in the end when you consider Portillos delivery of crossing state lines.