Help! I just got off the phone with Disney Dining and I can cry!

[Alex2kMommy]

It's funny, I've never had a CM at dining be outright rude the way the OP did, but they never seem to be particularly happy. But, then again, it's not like stafff at non-Disney restaurants ever seem particularly "happy" to take my reservation either. I wonder if my impression of "unhappy" Disney CMs is just because I've come to expect a higher level of service.

Again, I don't mean to take anything away from the OP -- she was definitely treated badly. Just laughing at my own higher expectations for Disney.

I agree with you. Some I've spoken with are just getting through the call, being polite but not going out of their way, you know? Others have been so warm, very helpful with suggestions, and seem enthusiastic about MY trip!

Those with the extra kindness and enthusiasm do make the others look bad, and rightly so. While I would never call and complain about someone who was just doing their job, I have certainly contacted Disney to give praise to one who was extra helpful, and would for one who was outright rude.

 

[tinkerbellmom1]

Visiting Disneyland a few years ago we met up with 4 other families from our area and had a ball going on different rides and spending our days with friends and neighbors.

One of the children in our party was turning 8 while we were there, so during our trip, his mom invited all of the families to the Plaza Cafe (the pink house at the end of main street) for a birthday party.

This is one of our favorite Disney Memories! All of us (20+) were seated at adjoining tables. The castmembers put on an entire show! Patrick Edward Cake was our host (Get it......Pat E. Cake!) and he was hysterical! Mickey and Minnie, Pluto and Goofy all came by every single table for pictures with every guest. A special Conga Line dance was done. Pat E. Cake had lots of wit and 'over the kid's heads' humor. He did tricks for the kids! Then each guest was given a Mickey shaped cake with frosting a decorations to decorate your own cake!

But the best part was when the Fab 5 with Pat E. Cake sang 'Happy Birthday' to everyone. It's making me teary just typing it years later! They took pictures and had all the cute Disney borders and the date on it with a Happy Birthday banner. The picture of all of us together has been on our fridge ever since!

It is truly the best birthday party we've ever been to. Last year during spring break, the same families met there again and we all spoke about Alex's birthday party with Mickey Mouse!

 

[sasha]

Just to set the record straight, I've been dealing with Disney Dining, the Disney Hotels & Disney Vacations for years and this was my first really bad experience. I've had some "not so pleasant" experiences with a few CM's before, but nothing like this. I'm a very non-confrontational person by nature so I'm confident I didn't "trigger" a bad attitude from the CM. As a matter of fact, at the hotels I often get free upgrades which I attribute to being as nice as possible to the CMs. Of anything I felt that in this situation I was being too nice. I was disappointed that I didn't stand up for myself more.

And to clarify something, there were TWO rude CMs in yesterday's incident. The very first CM I spoke with who said "don't wait till the last minute next time" was a lady with an accent from India. I think she realized how rude she sounded because she followed her statement up with a giggle and said "we can book up to 60 days in advance". I still thought it was rude, but not as bad as the second CM I dealt with. This one was a younger girl (I won't say her name) without an accent. I believe her behavior was totally unacceptable. I felt she was going out of her way to be rude. As I said, DH & I are paying for dinner at Goofy's Kitchen for over 17 people. That's a lot of money! I wasn't looking to get anything for free. I was just looking for suggestions on how we could make this, or something else work in order to celebrate my DD's 3rd birthday at DL.

This is just my opinion, but I have found that the male CMs are usually a lot nicer to me than the female CMs. I've found that to be true time and time again, not just at Disney. And while I agree that the male CM probably shouldn't have told me to call back two more times using a different name & number, I appreciated that he was trying to help me find a solution, which is something the female CMs didn't even attempt to do. It's easy to say "can't be done", but trying to find a solution or other option to make the customer happy is something that I think we all expect from Disney. The male CM probably should've told me to have a couple different members from my party call to make their own reservations at the same time as ours. Even though we won't be able to sit together, I appreciated that he looked to find a time we could all be seated together. He found a solution while maintaining a pleasant attitude. That's the Disney difference.

I'm glad it all worked out in the end. This morning we told DD that her birthday party is going to be at DL and she was over the moon. It makes it all worth it!

 

[SILLYANDI]

Visiting Disneyland a few years ago we met up with 4 other families from our area and had a ball going on different rides and spending our days with friends and neighbors.

One of the children in our party was turning 8 while we were there, so during our trip, his mom invited all of the families to the Plaza Cafe (the pink house at the end of main street) for a birthday party.

This is one of our favorite Disney Memories! All of us (20+) were seated at adjoining tables. The castmembers put on an entire show! Patrick Edward Cake was our host (Get it......Pat E. Cake!) and he was hysterical! Mickey and Minnie, Pluto and Goofy all came by every single table for pictures with every guest. A special Conga Line dance was done. Pat E. Cake had lots of wit and 'over the kid's heads' humor. He did tricks for the kids! Then each guest was given a Mickey shaped cake with frosting a decorations to decorate your own cake!

But the best part was when the Fab 5 with Pat E. Cake sang 'Happy Birthday' to everyone. It's making me teary just typing it years later! They took pictures and had all the cute Disney borders and the date on it with a Happy Birthday banner. The picture of all of us together has been on our fridge ever since!

It is truly the best birthday party we've ever been to. Last year during spring break, the same families met there again and we all spoke about Alex's birthday party with Mickey Mouse!

Reading your post beought back my worst Disneyland memory. We took 20 family/friends to this same party to celebrate my oldest DD's 5th birthday and it was the worst experience we've ever had. I am glad to hear that someone else enjoyed it, it confirms my belief that we were just having bad luck-EVERYTHING went wrong-including our 5 year old getting knocked over and trampled by Minnie Mouse. Disney responded and made everything A-OK but I can't bring myself to try it again.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

humm i hope it all works out for you and for my sons bday. were only 3 ppl. Gona have the Bday bucket for 20dollers./gona have the goffys bag for 10dollers and the bday party at plaza inn. (hay I go out of my way for him ..one his real dad hasnt been around much and I guess i fill like have to make it up) it will be my acteule bday there to. (my sons bday is wedsday. party sunday only family he has no friends..but making it up at disneyland

 

[nursemelis374]

I bet you guys will still all get to sit together. They told us ( a party of 18) that we would not be able to sit together at both Carnation and Cafe Orleans, so we went ahead and made the seperate reservations and when we got there last weekend they let us sit together!

 

[tinkerbellmom1]

Reading your post beought back my worst Disneyland memory. We took 20 family/friends to this same party to celebrate my oldest DD's 5th birthday and it was the worst experience we've ever had. I am glad to hear that someone else enjoyed it, it confirms my belief that we were just having bad luck-EVERYTHING went wrong-including our 5 year old getting knocked over and trampled by Minnie Mouse. Disney responded and made everything A-OK but I can't bring myself to try it again.

Gosh....I'm sorry about your experience! Your poor birthday girl! I hope she doesn't dislike Minnie! I wouldn't want to try it again either!

But your note brings to light that I need to keep that in mind. Everyone has different experiences and we just need to go on. A couple of years ago we purchased the DVC. On our first trip "Home" we hated it! The staff was rude, the room wasn't what we had reserved, it just didn't go right! We can't bring ourselves to go back to Florida.......We just love Disneyland too much! The stress just isn't worth it!

Thanks for the other side of the coin!

 

[sasha]

I hope you're right nursemelis374. I really would love it if we could all sit together. Crossing my fingers....