Grand Floridian RPC - Horror Story

[disneyispi]

WeLuvDisney

Would you like his address and phone number?

By the way, I am so incensed over what you and others have written that I am printing out all of these threads and am going to mail them to various Disney execs, including Eisner!!

I am a Disney stockholder and the GF is "supposed to be" the flagship of the entire WD experience. Not only has the flagship hit a titanic-sized iceberg - it's staff and their treatment of guests have run all of the lifeboats aground or scuttled them completely.

 

[pollyanna]

Disneyispi.........having a strange man in your room and the bus incident were both incidents that put you in bodily harm and were caused by WDW employees neglect-thus i can see a reason for compensation.

As to the original poster(Sorry,just playing Devil's advocate here)......all the troubles that happened were merely inconvieniences(wrong PS's) or wanting something that you could not have(slippers,robes,food that was eaten)..I just can't see Disney giving monetary compensation for these things,no matter how disappointing they were for your family.

 

[Laurie528]

Pollyanna,

First of all let me start by saying that none of us are expecting monetary compensation. By the way this is Laurie, welovedisney's sister (in case you were confused again). I agree that what happened to disneyispi was far worse by any account. However, as for your opionion of us having to deal with just some mere inconveniences, you obviously are confused yet again. When you pay the money we were paying for service you shouldn't have to deal with inconveniences. Not being able to get an extra bathrobe or slippers, or wrong PS were not major complaints, they just compiled onto the main complaints we already had.. i.e. key cards that would not work, resulting in 30 min waits in guest relations, staff that was not only rude but actually offensive, losing valuable items and just the sheer negligence of the staff with concern to anybody's feelings at all. Merely inconveniences that we had to deal with? I don't think so. Good thing you're not running Disney.

 

[TammiMcMan]

I am so sorry that you had such a hard time at the RPC. I made a trip report and resort review as soon as we returned. We were there from 7/27-8/3. We actually had a wonderful time and experienced no problems. However, a trip that we took in 2000 to the GF was terrible. I also had a manager who out right lied to me and every time I tried to contact Ms. Sussan, she would put me back in touch with the afore mentioned liar. I went through the chain of command at Disney management and even tried Eisner himself. Finally, I was able to get the name of the president of Disney Hotels, Al Weiss. He can be reached at their corporate office. The address is P.O. Box 10000, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-1000. My letter to him was answered promptly. We never asked for monetary compensation either and in fact I returned the offer that was given to us. I had already paid the money, I simply wanted my concerns addressed so that improvements could be made and those in the wrong, would be written up or better yet, given their walking papers.

It's disgraceful the way that you're family was treated. We were given robes and slippers for everyone in our room and several times members of the lounge staff would go into their staging room and bring back cookies for the kids between servings. So obviously these things can be done and you had the misfortune of having to deal with some extremely rude staff members.

I hope you can get some satisfaction from Mr. Weiss, but I know that I still have a bad taste in my mouth whenever I think about that July 2000 vacation.

Tammi McManus

 

[minnie56]

A comment made by a Disney employee at Port Orleans/FQ (Front desk) back in June.
I asked her was she happy that PO/FQ had re-opened, having been closed for quite some time.
She said "Oh yes, I am so happy to be back. I was placed at The Grand Floridian during that time and I hated every minute of it"........when I asked her why?...she remarked that the clientelle at that resort are such snobs and expect so much...everyone just 'hates' working there!! I remarked on the popularity of the Hotel and was advised it had dropped to the number 8 position amongst the deluxe resorts.
Interesting, I guess it works both ways!

 

[Kim89]

Im sorry about your stay at GF! My parents and I weren't impressed with this resort as well. I really don't think my family and I will be staying there again any time soon!

 

[doombuggy]

Wow! There are alot of bad experiences out there. I have never used conc., and now probalby never will. Ugh!

Congrats to your mom on surviving cancer! My grandma is in the same boat. My grampa died a couple of weeks ago (speaking of Altzheimer's) and I have been planning to take my gradma to WDW next May. We will not be staying at GF, that's for sure!

Thanks for the info, and good luck in your writing endeavors!

 

[wdw4us2]

I am so sorry to read about all the problems you had during your stay at GF. I also agree that you need to send letter to all of the Disney higher-ups (address listed on the Rumors & News Board).

I have stayed at all of the Disney owned Resorts on the property EXCEPT the GF. After reading posts such as yours, I'm thinking that maybe we're not missing anything.

I have stayed in Concierge at AKL, YC and BC. Each time I've stayed at YC/BC Concierge, I have been very impressed by the CM's working there. AKL was nice, too, but at YC/BC they seem to go above and beyond.

I sincerely hope you get some satisfaction from Disney after you write to them!

Lisa

 

[Jennyfyar]

I am so sorry the GF RPC was not as magical as you had hoped. It sounds like they have employed many uncaring, untrained people and the level of service is greatly lacking. I shudder to think of the money you and your parents spent on this trip to receive horrible service and rude CM's.

I sincerely hope you have many fond memories of this trip, beyond what you experienced at the GF. You were at a magical place, with your whole family, celebrating two tremendous milestones.

I also hope you receive some satisfactory compensation from the GF RPC.

Jenny

 

[Babsy]

I am sorry that you had such a poor experience with service at the GF, however, I cannot say that I am surprised. I have had similar experiences there, myself. The first time, I thought that it may have been an unusually bad experience and decided to give the GF a second chance. By the end of the second visit, I had decided to never again stay at the GF. I, too, have stayed in most of the WDW resorts, and felt that i had reasonable expectations! What I didn't know is that the service at the All Star resorts is vastly superior to that provided at the Grand Floridian. It is unfortunate, because it is truly a beautiful resort.


I have visited WDW 2-3 times per year for many years now. Many people have asked me why I keep returning to the same place over and over again. Now I have begun to wonder myself. When Disney ended Early Entry, I considered staying outside. However, I still wanted the convenience and atmosphere of staying inside. Finally, now, after experiencing the resent declines in service and continual cutbacks, I am starting to travel elsewhere. Next year I am planning a Transatlantic cruise and a trip to Europe. For the first time in years, I will not get an Annual Pass. This doesn't mean that I will not visit WDW again, but certainly the frequency will be substantially reduced. It is very sad, but the cutbacks have reduced the value of the WDW vacation to the point that I feel there are other places where I will have a more enjoyable vacation experience.

Sorry for rambling, but as I read your post and others, it reinforced the unhappy conclusions that I have been forced to draw for myself. But I am still a huge Disney fan. Just a little disillusioned, I suppose.

But disillusionment in the World of Fantasy Illusion that was once WDW is a bitter pill to swallow, indeed.

Babs

 

[WeLoveDisney]

Babs,
That is a good part of the reason why I'm so upset. I feel the same way you do, too. I love Disney, and have always had an annual pass and looked forward to our trips there. I know the theme park and attractions inside and out. I would staunchly defend it to friends and family who asked why I wanted to go there on almost every vacation. I have so many good memories of travellng there and have seen things deteriorate over time (this by far being the worse). I am still hopeful that Disney does something to restore my faith (and no, Pollyanna, if you read the original post carefully you will see that I am not looking for any compensation).

 

[pollyanna]

Originally posted by WeLoveDisney
Babs,
That I am still hopeful that Disney does something to restore my faith (and no, Pollyanna, if you read the original post carefully you will see that I am not looking for any compensation).

So what exactly can Disney do "to restore your faith",if it doesn't involve compensation?

 

[TammiMcMan]

I'm not sure about Welovedisney and her family, but I was finally satisfied with an apology that was sincere. There was no reason to be treated so rudely, regardless of the complexity of their requests.

Tammi

 

[WeLoveDisney]

Pollyanna,

Are you really that confused? Soemtimes it's hard to tell people's intentions on a message board, so why dont you let me know why you're so curious and I'll answer any questions you have.

 

[moosebug]

I for one think you should be compensated. At tleast give you back the money difference between standard and concierge. Seems to me concierge didn't do their job which is supposed to make your stay magical. Let's be frank--you probably spent 3 times the amount of money on your trip than I did if Disney treats their high paying customers like that what about little ol me??? I've never had a bad stay at Disney but I have heard they are having a rough time. Are the cm's feeling this in their checks and therefore taking it out on us??? I hope you and your family remember only the great times you had when you were there!!

 

[Jen D]

I am so disappointed to read yet another report of lousy and indifferent servive from RPC at the GF. You really got shabby treatment. I really hope GF turns things around soon, because I've been planning on staying there, but these reports don't lie. Even the biggest GF boosters are disillusioned. I got better treatment last month at a three-star Wyndham in Cleveland that I paid for through Priceline at $45 a night. "Minor inconveniences--" I don't think so. At the very LEAST, at the Concierge level you are paying for the extra help in trip planning (which they botched) and the food / drinks in the Concierge lounge, which often weren't provided as they should have been. So you really didn't even get the basic level of Concierge service.

I hope the rest of your trip (the stuff NOT at the GF) went well. Please keep us updated on your correspondence with the GF.

 

[Cmould]

We Love Disney,
In 1998 I too had a horrible experience at the RPC. Like you I was unable to get any immediate satisfaction. I persisted, my ongoing battle with the GF became the family joke. I was looking for compensation as I would any time I did not get the product I had paid for. I wrote, I emailed and I called. It took almost 5 months before I was able to reach someone who actually acknowledged my complaints and offered compensation for our troubles. We were offered park tickets and a discount on any future GF stays. I took the park tickets and when I was making my next years reservations I inquired if the discount could be applied at another resort as my husband was refusing to step foot in the GF again. To make a long story short we did stay at the RPC again and the staff fell all over themselves to make our stay magical. We have stayed there twice since then and both times were also magical vacations. ( The last time we were upgraded to the Vice- Presidential Suite!) Continue your contact and don't stop until you are satisfied. This is their flagship resort and their prices indicate that superior service should be a given. I'm only sorry that we had to experience the problems in the first place . It would have been nice for us and for your family to get the vacation that we paid for when we paid for it.
Carol

 

[indigo]

As someone who might be staying Concierge in the near future, I'm curious to know what people think about the concierge buffet food running out and not being refilled. If I paid for concierge service should I be able to show up with 10 minutes to go in the service time and still find all food selections (or nearly all) available? Isn't this part of what we're paying for as concierge guests?

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

Originally posted by minnie56
A comment made by a Disney employee at Port Orleans/FQ (Front desk) back in June.
I asked her was she happy that PO/FQ had re-opened, having been closed for quite some time.
She said "Oh yes, I am so happy to be back. I was placed at The Grand Floridian during that time and I hated every minute of it"........when I asked her why?...she remarked that the clientelle at that resort are such snobs and expect so much...everyone just 'hates' working there!! I remarked on the popularity of the Hotel and was advised it had dropped to the number 8 position amongst the deluxe resorts.
Interesting, I guess it works both ways!

After my last trip, I know exactly what you are talking about. I'd hate to work with those guests, too. However, in a few years I might end up being a RPC CM (for some reason, I've wanted to for years, and may have the chance to do it for 8 months).

 

[Jen D]

However, in a few years I might end up being a RPC CM (for some reason, I've wanted to for years, and may have the chance to do it for 8 months).

Now THIS gives me hope! If anyone can whip the RPC Concierge into shape and be dedicated to a level of service that befits Disney and the Grand Floridian, it is Cali!!