Grand Gatherings Disappointment

[ceejay13]

We had booked the Epcot dinner for January 12th. Today they called and said there was some kind of booking issue with the restaurant, and they were cancelling the dinner for that night. We are extremely disappointed as this was the one grand gathering we could fit in. They don't offer everything every day and with our group schedule, it was the only good fit. We tried for the character breakfast for that Thursday but they don't offer it on Thursdays. I do have to say that all of this caused quite a bit of trouble for getting absolutely nothing out of it. We are DVC members, so we didn't make our room ressies through Magical Gatherings but all our meals we did have to make through Magical Gatherings. When I made this ressie for the dinner, I was on hold for 90" while they went back and forth between DVC and Magical Gatherings. The CM was very nice and apologetic but I couldn't believe how long all this took. Then I had two phone calls back because they thought they had charged us twice for the meal. I then had to get with my credit card company to check on that and then phone them back. We got several confirmations in the mail and then were notified they were moving the time back. Now we hear it is cancelled. I was told we needed to make our other PS with magical gatherings so I did that for a couple of meals and again those took a 30" phone call to make. I realize it is all new but I hope they get more efficient at this whole process.

 

[Dad of 3]

Just shows despite the marketing and commercials, Disney puts itself first. There is simply no excuse, why they could not book your gathering when you wanted it. Disney has pull with their renters. They should have offered an acceptable alternate.

Dad of 3.

 

[AZKathy]

I have had an absolute terrible time getting through Magical Gatherings with the phone numbers given to me. We are also DVC members and did the booking through Member Services and they gave me our Magical Gathering number and two phone numbers. One number is constantly busy and the second number I was on hold for 30 minutes and I finally gave up and decided to try a different time. I have not had time to check it out again, but so far I am not thrilled.

 

[lentesta]

My experience trying to book a dinner for 25 for my brother's wedding next week went equally bad. Though we're all staying at the Poly (some of us concierge), we were told we couldn't book dinner at 'Ohana between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. We ended up at Teppanyaki at Japan in Epcot at 7:50 p.m., but some folks will have to purchase admission to Epcot just to eat there.

Jim Hill Media had an interesting article earlier this week on the disconnect between what Disney is promising for Magic Gatherings, and what they're able to deliver. Apparently the folks working at the WDW resorts hadn't yet figured out the logistics of accommodating these kinds of groups before Disney started heavily promoting Magic Gatherings. So the resort folks are scrambling to make good on the marketing promises. The full article is here: Jim Hill Magical Gatherings Article .

Len

 

[InstImpres]

Ceejay -

That really stinks. I'm sorr tht happened to you, I would be very dissappointed.

I am wondering if it truly was

Today they called and said there was some kind of booking issue with the restaurant, and they were cancelling the dinner for that night.

or if they cancel if they don't have enough groups to make it worth their while

I hope they get their act together.
Sandy

 

[ceejay13]

I called today to voice my concerns and sure enough we were the only family booked so they cancelled. They did tell me today that they are having some problems with booking. Interestingly enough, they decided to offer the fireworks that day. Originally, only the Epcot dinner was offered that day. I did book the fireworks cruise, but also asked to speak to a supervisor to let them know my frustrations. I am told I have to write in my concerns, so I will definetely be doing that.

 

[ceejay13]

My saga continued today. I did send my concerns in earlier today in an Email. As I was preparing my final agenda, I realized I hadn't written down the time for the fireworks cruise, so I call back to the Magical Gatherings line. I am so glad I did this now as I found out it was never booked yesterday. They only saw the Epcot dinner cancellation. As usual, they were very nice but it took another 30" phone call to straighten this out. Supposedly we are booked now. I did send another note to the Disney folks about this and attached my earlier note. To book 9 people for the 2 hour fireworks event, I figured I spent a total of 3 hours on the phone, longer than the event itself.