Has anyone else noticed the same "Disney Defenders" complaining when people report problems with their resort stays?

[Ninja Mom]

Has anyone else noticed the same "Disney Defenders" complaining when people report problems with their resort stays? They could very well be employed by the Disney Company to control the narrative on social media.

I have not been shy in various online communities about what I see as the degrading of the Disney Parks vacation experience. I tend to be "followed" around in these online venues by the same posters who argue with my opinions or actual experiences. I have always thought it suspicious that these people would rush to defend Disney all over these boards no matter how ridiculous their logic or justifications were.

Now, thanks to this article, I know that there is a high potential they are employed by the company, especially since "normal' people would NOT be so constantly and consistently engaged in monitoring every single complaint and attacking the people who have had problems. Normal people are generally not that vested in posting to assorted forums correcting people's opinions or experiences.

I recently had a person reply to one of my posts with this: "We have stayed at WDW resorts of all levels six or seven times a year for the past thirty years, from Pop and all of the All Stars to concierge level at the Contemporary. Not a single time have we had a “dirty” room. Not once has housekeeping failed to service our room. "

I replied that if it seems too good to be true it probably is... I mean really, who stays at WDW SIX or SEVEN TIMES a YEAR?

And then there's "NOT ONCE has housekeeping FAILED TO SERVICE THE ROOM".


It's always seems to be the same people too. Now I understand what is really going on.

Read on for more information about this manipulation of message boards and social media:
https://medium.com/@snydergary310/the-dis-influencer-2ec902b53c77

~NM
PS, a big hello to all my favorite "correctors".

 

[DLgal]

Yeah, it is always possible there are corporate plants on message boards and social media. In fact, I'm certain there are. It is also possible that those posters have never had the experience you have had, but that doesn't mean you didn't have it. I always find it amusing that people can't accept that not everyone has the same experience and can't admit that EVERY company is made up of people who make mistakes.

 

[DLgal]

Call them out! I'd like to know who you think these people are. I'm bored.

 

[Captainkidd76]

Yup. It's the same people who score Fastpasses for Flight of Passage right when the park opens, gets a table at Cinderella Castle just by walking up and asking for one, and never wait in line for more than 5 minutes, yet go on Slinky 10 times in one day.

 

[snappy]

Yea, I wasn’t born under a lucky star like some

 

[Ninja Mom]

Call them out! I'd like to know who you think these people are. I'm bored.

 

[Ninja Mom]

Yup. It's the same people who score Fastpasses for Flight of Passage right when the park opens, gets a table at Cinderella Castle just by walking up and asking for one, and never wait in line for more than 5 minutes, yet go on Slinky 10 times in one day.

You forgot the ones who ALWAYS get room discounts so they NEVER have to pay rack rates. I think anyone who has been paying attention knows that Disney is throttling room discounts by offering fewer of them for fewer time periods. The purpose of DISNEY offering any kind of a 'discount' is to get you to consider making the buy. They never want you to actually acquire a discount.

I think it's interesting that during slow attendance periods, Disney is releasing room inventory on other sites that offer discounts. Think about what that means.... That Disney can't even sell them at a "discount". So in doing the discount math, you're only going to see them attainable during the times when people aren't coming but they will be "offered" (but unobtainable in reality for the overwhelming majority of people) during all the other time periods.

I can definitely see how the professional Disney Defenders are tasked with perpetrating the narrative that these heavily marketed discounts are legitimate when in reality they aren't. Bob Iger himself said years ago that Disney was going to decrease the discounts that were being made available to the public. What didn't happen was the commensurate decrease in advertising for discounts that aren't really there.

~NM

 

[DLgal]

You forgot the ones who ALWAYS get room discounts so they NEVER have to pay rack rates.

I have never paid rack rate. For real. But we are eligible for the military discount so we use that mostly. If military discount isn't available, I won't book at rack rate. There has to be some sort of other discount available (AP, Disney Visa, public room only discount, etc). I have stayed at the Swan and Dolphin, using AAA discount, when I couldn't get a discount at a WDW hotel. On principle, I won't pay rack rate at Disney. Been going regularly since 1998 on discounts. It isn't that hard.

P.S. No, I'm not a corporate spy.

 

[snappy]

I had to pay rack rate for 2 rooms at WL a few years ago before a BWV stay that I had booked 11 months earlier. No discounts available. No way to tweak our BWV days. It also can be hard to get discounts at WDW if your dates are inflexible due to work/school/caregiver obligations. We are more successful now getting discounts.at the Dolphin and off-site at the Bonnet Creek properties.

 

[ZuuL]

Or, you know, people may not have had the same problems as you. Things happen.

Like I'll never stay at the hard rock universal hotel ever again after the issue we had. But if other people want to stay there, go for it. I wont stop them.

 

[Mousemom234]

I think I paid rack rate once when I needed to add on a room due to a mis-booked flight. But I scour diligently for discounts, and I'll stay off-site if I really have to.

But yeah... I'll agree that it seems to be the same 'defenders of the faith' that show up on a lot of different threads whenever somebody has a complaint. They almost never show up to answer any questions, though

 

[Disney Frenhines]

No place is perfect, Hitch knows what I have encountered with poor mousekeeping and not on par CMs. Anyone who visits regularly cannot possibly have had perfection everytime. However, I do get annoyed with trivial gripes, especially if the fault lays with the guests own poor planning. I have managed to score a FoP at the last minute, but, being a single rider and managing it just once shows what a total fluke it was.
I'm an AP holder and I've never had an email inviting me to register for any event or offering discounts on rooms.
I've had problems with poorly cleaned rooms, PORS being the worst offender. I found a dead cockroach and put it in plain view and three days later it was still there.
On the whole though, 95% of the time things do go pretty well and I will defend Disney if I see the complaint as petty or trivial, like the complaints about restrooms or overflowing bins, the custodial CMs do a great job in the face of increasingly dirty guests dropping garbage or messing up restrooms.

 

[Ninja Mom]

I'm an AP holder and I've never had an email inviting me to register for any event or offering discounts on rooms.

I think I can help you with this.

Basically you have to agree to sign up for ALL of the email lists that Disney offers to get special offers. To do this, (if you wish), go to your My Disney Experience account, click on Profile, Scroll down to communication preferences. Click on that and go to Marketing Messages and click on the Privacy choices website link. This will take you to a Disney company Email preferences page.

To get certain offers you will have to opt in to receive emails from ALL of the email listings. This is because a certain type of offer may be coming from a specific site, for example Lucas Film. I don't know why it works that way but that's what I learned from a Dis Boards Podcast.

So I hope that helps you out.

~NM

 

[indoshakespeare]

I think there are people who legitimately never had any bad experience in Disney but I wish they would understand that other people may have legitimate complaints

 

[vacationer1954]

I think it depends on the complaint. If people are complaining about an unusable shower in the bathroom or being shuttled off to a moderate because the deluxe was overbooked that's one thing. Those things should never happen and when they do Disney should jump on top of the situation and do things that make the guest forget about the problems and instead rush to post about how great Disney's response was.

On the other hand if people are complaining that the room rates are too high or that the room or discount they want is not available, or complaining about some marks on the wall in the year before the scheduled room rehab or about the decor, that's different. Everyone sees their own vacation as precious of course and that makes sense, but we're also adults and have to know that we're just one reservation among tens of thousands and that things aren't going to be pristine and perfect for every guest. We can be disappointed with trying to make it sound like Disney did us wrong.

We have visited almost 50 times in almost 50 years. We've had our share of the greater wonderful and we've had our share of the lesser wonderful. There's more of the greater than the lesser. If there isn't a place for the lesser in your plans, then I'm not sure where I can recommend you travel because we've had a share of both greater and lesser wonderful everywhere we have gone.

 

[Miffy]

I have never ever paid rack rate at WDW. This is because I wouldn't stay there at rack rate, not because there are always discounts available, although, actually, there are rarely no discounts available. So it's not a fantasy or some kind of Disney-sponsored hype that there are those of us who never pay rack. I'm not a defender or apologist for Disney, and have definitely had less-than-stellar experiences there, but the "never rack rate" thing is real. One easy way to never pay rack is to always book a bounceback, for example. Or to have an AP. Or a Disney Visa. Or just do a lot of shopping around.

I've done all these things. Twenty years ago the company I worked for offered its employees something called, IIRC, the Magic Kingdom Club. When I discovered this, I started staying onsite, since this "club" offered major room discounts. Before then, I never stayed onsite.

As for the rest, I don't know. There are people who are so loyal to certain brands that they have a "they can do no wrong" attitude regardless of what is actually going on.

ETA: OP--the link you posted is available only with a FB or Google sign-in. Perhaps you didn't realize this.

 

[Meglen]

Excuse me while I go make a tinfoil hat. Gotta stay protected.

 

[snappy]

I have never ever paid rack rate at WDW. This is because I wouldn't stay there at rack rate, not because there are always discounts available, although, actually, there are rarely no discounts available. So it's not a fantasy or some kind of Disney-sponsored hype that there are those of us who never pay rack. I'm not a defender or apologist for Disney, and have definitely had less-than-stellar experiences there, but the "never rack rate" thing is real. One easy way to never pay rack is to always book a bounceback, for example. Or to have an AP. Or a Disney Visa. Or just do a lot of shopping around.

I've done all these things. Twenty years ago the company I worked for offered its employees something called, IIRC, the Magic Kingdom Club. When I discovered this, I started staying onsite, since this "club" offered major room discounts. Before then, I never stayed onsite.

As for the rest, I don't know. There are people who are so loyal to certain brands that they have a "they can do no wrong" attitude regardless of what is actually going on.

ETA: OP--the link you posted is available only with a FB or Google sign-in. Perhaps you didn't realize this.

It worked for me without signing in to either.

 

[Miffy]

It worked for me without signing in to either.

Couldn't get it to work--but I'm not on FB and not signed in to my Google account.

 

[Nancyg56]

You forgot the ones who ALWAYS get room discounts so they NEVER have to pay rack rates. I think anyone who has been paying attention knows that Disney is throttling room discounts by offering fewer of them for fewer time periods. The purpose of DISNEY offering any kind of a 'discount' is to get you to consider making the buy. They never want you to actually acquire a discount.

I think it's interesting that during slow attendance periods, Disney is releasing room inventory on other sites that offer discounts. Think about what that means.... That Disney can't even sell them at a "discount". So in doing the discount math, you're only going to see them attainable during the times when people aren't coming but they will be "offered" (but unobtainable in reality for the overwhelming majority of people) during all the other time periods.

I can definitely see how the professional Disney Defenders are tasked with perpetrating the narrative that these heavily marketed discounts are legitimate when in reality they aren't. Bob Iger himself said years ago that Disney was going to decrease the discounts that were being made available to the public. What didn't happen was the commensurate decrease in advertising for discounts that aren't really there.

~NM

I have no idea about professional DIsney Defenders, and I sure am not employed by Disney, but I have to sa that I have never, not one time, in 15 years paid rack rate to stay in a WDW resort hotel. I work at it though and have been known to make a big pot of coffee and stay up all night waiting for a discount to drop.

I also get my fast passes, but I did stay up even when FP opened at midnight.

I will not say I have not had a bad experience, however I have always been happy with the WDW resolution when I brought my displeasure to their attention.

Not everyone has perfect experiences, but I think that when someone says they have had one we should believe them.