I can't believe how mad i am!

[robinb]

Last time I was stranded at MCO due to snow in the Northeast, that is indeed the rate I was charged.

Yikes ! Every time I have been stranded at an airport I have paid a negotiated price through my airline.

For the record, I didn't being up being stranded somewhere along the way.. Mkrop did back in post #39. I was just responding to her with my experience at being stranded in an airport because of weather and bicker responded to me and so on and so on .

 

[Planogirl]

I also side with Disney on this one. The OP needed a room due to circumstances but as someone already pointed out did not need themepark admission. There's a lot to do on Disney property.

 

[Bluestars]

Did the OP need a room on Disney property? Why couldn't she take a cab to a a less expensive hotel?

 

[robinb]

Did the OP need a room on Disney property? Why couldn't she take a cab to a a less expensive hotel?

Probably because the concierge at OKW (the resort she was checking out of) told her she could have her passes extended .

 

[Bluestars]

Probably because the concierge at OKW (the resort she was checking out of) told her she could have her passes extended .

I saw that the concierge at the OKW made a mistake and must not have realized she had discounted tickets. But she found out they couldn't do it before she checked into the Value. At least that is the way I interpreted it. So, at the time she found out that Disney was not able to do it, why didn't she take a cab to a hotel off site?

 

[HoneyPooh]

How many should they do it for? As many that ask in this situation. The number of people who have non-upgradable tickets cannot be all that large compared to the people who already have valid tickets or those that can be upgraded. Not only is it the nice thing to do, but it also makes good business sense. The Disney business model is based on encouraging people to stay longer because they know that they make money off of people eating at restaurants and shopping. That's why after 3-4 days the price per extra day goes down drastically. Disney wants you to stay longer. I would contend that keeping the parks open for the next two days is a fixed cost and that extending the passes because of a situation out of the OP's control does not cost Disney a thing. It gains them so much more than they lose. It gains them good will from the OP and everyone else reading this. This would be a happy positive thread showing Disney in a good light and not a negative unhappy thread showing Disney to be intractable and uncompromising. It also gains them money freely spent by the OP. Hey kids! Two more days of fun at WDW! If I were the OP my pocketbook would be so tight right now it would squeak! They wouldn't get one more unnecessary dime from me. Lastly, it gains them a happy customer. If I were the OP in that situation, I would seriously re-think where to go on my next vacation.

Funny you mention that. Hotels do offer special weather rates when passengers are stranded in nearby airports. They could jack things up to their maximum rack rate that's listed on the back of the door. But they don't. Hmmm ... I wonder why .

Let me get this straight. If someone buys a HIGHLY discounted and VERY restricted ticket the company should just bypass the rules in place for that ticket and be "nice" and give the customer what she wants when a situation arises? And they should do this with EVERY customer who asks? This is very nice in a pixie dust way but when I am the person standing next to that customer in line and I paid FULL PRICE for my UNRESTRICTED ticket so that I can get what I need when I need it....not so much pixie dustish. I would ask for a refund in the amount between her disounted tickets and my full price tickets because that would be WHY I paid full price for them and didn't buy the discounted ones, because I believed them when they said I couldn't do certain things with the discounted version. I took them at their word and paid the extra for that security and peace of mind.

In your scenario, why would anyone ever buy full priced tickets? Why would anyone ever buy trip insurance? Ever?

The OP took a huge chance with no trip insurance and restricted tickets in the middle of winter to save money. It's like not getting trip insurance during hurricane season. Her only problem seems to be 2 days of no parks, not a huge problem in my book. No room I may feel differently about but I'm not sure, but no parks, definitely not. Too many other fun things to do.

 

[Magic Mom]

Apples and oranges and you know it.

Sure, knock yourself out!

It isn't apples and oranges. You want Disney to bypass their rules because the OP is in a tough position and wanted to entertain her kids while she was waiting. You think Disney should take the hit financially because its a small hit and the OP has a sad story. If you think they should do it for her, then shouldn't they do it for every customer that has a compelling reason why the policies shouldn't apply to them?



FTR none of this is aimed at the OP, as she obviously has moved past her disappointment and is off having fun with her family.

 

[Buckalew11]

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=34809662#post34809662


I was just reading this thread on the budget board.

Disney has been pretty generous with these tickets. The OP was able to purchase 7 7 day passes for a great price.

She was able to purchase the tickets without being part of a group. She was able to purchase 7 day tickets instead of 5. Her kids were also able to attend a few great classes.

After all of the discounts and perks disney said yes to, how can she be mad now?



Check out the last page of the thread. They may be offering these tickets again in June and July.

Exactly. These were special discounted tickets with lots of rules.

I was there 2 weeks ago and my DD could have participated in a homeschoolers class while there. However, you had to buy the park ticket/pass and class ticket all in one price. No price for just a class because park entry is needed to be in the class. However, I didn't NEED park entry, my dd has an annual pass. But Disney could NOT make any kind of discount/exception for me so that I could just pay for the class and not the entrance fee.

I asked, in an email, once. I was told no and moved on. They don't make any exceptions for YES tickets, period.

What about other sad situations? Should they bend the rules for those people too. DH was gone all last year so we couldn't take advantage of the military special. This years special isn't as good, and it might mean we can't go. The "right" thing for Disney to do is to give us last years special, because it wasn't our fault we couldn't use it, he was away at war supporting the country that supports WDW. I'm sure relatively speaking, the number of people that would ask for this exception is very small, so the rules should be bent for us.

I don't believe this to be true, but using your logic I should try it.

I totally agree with you.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

You know what, I would have never posted if I realized that people were going to reply like this. You're right, I had a choice to leave early. I could've tried to get on Thursday's train, if there was room. Secondly I did not ask for free food or accommodations, just the $3 extension on the ticket.

GEEZ! You would think this was a political thread!

Don't sweat it babe.

 

[robinb]

In your scenario, why would anyone ever buy full priced tickets? Why would anyone ever buy trip insurance? Ever?

Holy extrapolation Batman! It's not like this kind of thing happens every day. And in THIS INSTANCE I think that Disney should have upgraded her tickets. I am not ready or willing to discuss any other wild scenarios that you pull out of thin air.

And, for the record, I have only purchased trip insurance once and that was for my honeymoon 17 years ago. I think it's a complete waste of money and over the years I have saved far more in declining it than the cost of Pop Century for 2 days and a couple of 2-day park hoppers.

 

[AC7179]

What if they offered her the upgrade if she paid the difference between the tickets she bought and the ones that are upgradeable. That would be the only way her $3 upgrade would be truly what it cost.

That actually sounds like the PERFECT solution to the whole thing!

 

[crashbb]

That actually sounds like the PERFECT solution to the whole thing!

If the YES tickets were very heavily discounted, I suspect that that solution (upgrading to non-discount 7 day tickets and then adding the 2 days) would have cost the OP pretty much the same as just buying two days worth of tickets.

 

[Bluestars]

If the YES tickets were very heavily discounted, I suspect that that solution (upgrading to non-discount 7 day tickets and then adding the 2 days) would have cost the OP pretty much the same as just buying two days worth of tickets.

I suspect you are correct. I looked on Disney's website, and for a 7 day hopper it is $286. For a 5 day Yes ticket hopper it is $157. That is a difference of $129. So it seems that if Disney were to agree to adding days, they would have charged her $129 per ticket (If those are the type of tickets she got). I don't know why anyone would expect the upgrade for less than that though.

But they didn't, so oh well. There is plenty to do at WDW and I know my kids would have been thrilled to spend a couple more days, even if we didn't go into the parks.

 

[Ceila]

Holy extrapolation Batman! It's not like this kind of thing happens every day. And in THIS INSTANCE I think that Disney should have upgraded her tickets. I am not ready or willing to discuss any other wild scenarios that you pull out of thin air.

Delays happen for many reasons, all year long. Since the OP chose to purchase deeply discounted tickets - knowing full well that they could not be extended - then there is no reason to expect the Disney "should" bend the rules. Would it have been nice if they did? Sure. Is it poor customer service that they didn't? Absoloutely not.

 

[bunkkinsmom]

http://disneyyouthgroups.disney.go.com/wdyp/ticket/ticketPackagesPage?page=YES_10_TicketPackagesPage



They only show 3, 4 or 5 day tickets.



From this thread post #234


"Just a minor word of warning. YES tickets cannot be upgraded or modified in any way once issued. So make sure you buy the number of days you will need. "


The poster is a CM who works with tickets.

Haven't finished reading all of the replies yet, but if you read the entire thread, which you act like you did, you would see that I have 7 day tickets. I purchased them through the YES program. If you read the thread you quoted Cheshire from you would see that lots of other people ordered tickets that were more than 5 days. In fact, there are instructions in the thread on how to do it. I personally contacted Cheshire for help with this and they were kind enough to give me some advice. But thanks for seeming so thorough. Oh, PS, I also purchased my tickets online with the CM on the phone with me to ensure they were ordered correctly, just in case you can think of anything else I might have done wrong.

I have totally learned my lesson and next time will go ahead and either pay travel insurance and/or order a couple of extra days just in case of any unforeseen issues.

 

[MiniGirl]

More importantly though, OP..... did you have a good time today? I sincerely hope so.

 

[bunkkinsmom]

The question was whether the OP gave the concierge all the facts. If the OP said, "I have park hoppers and need to ... " then that's not really fair to the concierge. There are exceptions and conditions, so it would be unreasonable, in a casual verbal conversation, to expect the concierge -- someone who is expected to converse with guests in a casual, non-legalistic manner -- to include disclaimers and codicils. I can tell you from personal experience, how being so meticulous about the guidance and information I provide here on the DIS evokes negative reactions from some people -- some people simply react negatively when they perceive that they are being provided information in that manner, criticizing how the person is "covering their tail" and such. I'm not working for anyone, so I don't have to worry about anyone complaining about how cold and factual what I write is, but be sure that a concierge will be fired if too many people complain that the concierge is "covering their tail" like that. Playing the odds, it is safer to play it the way the concierge did, because it is more likely that if the consumer complained about this situation that the manager will recognize that the fault is their own (because of the direction they've provided regarding the rules and the manner in which information is to be provided to consumers), not the concierge's.

I have to disagree. If you want to hold a company's feet to the fire for such things, then get it in writing. Too many consumers are too quick to exploit such things to expect casual verbal conversations, where you cannot prove whether the consumer provided full and complete information, to constitute a binding contractual agreement, or even a moral obligation. Only if the consumer provided all the information necessary to be able to provide the accurate information, and the consumer asked the person providing the information whether that they were absolutely sure that the information would be honored, would such an expectation be even remotely reasonable, from a business standpoint. Consumers want the convenience and efficiency and "feel-good friendliness" of casual verbal communications so they must accept the natural ramifications of such an imperfect means of understanding the actual situation.

Ok, I never thought I would say this based on previous interactions, but I agree with Bicker. Even though the concierge had my tickets in her hand, unless she really read the back of them she wouldn't know they were different. I don't hold the concierge responsible, I was at the time mainly more upset about how I was treated from the manager at Guest Relations. I will go into that in an update post here as soon as I am finished reading all of the replies.

 

[TDC Nala]

I don't think it's necessary to order a couple of extra days of tickets unless you want to keep the tickets on you for each trip you make just in case something happens. There's plenty to to at WDW without going to the parks for a couple of days should one find oneself stranded by the weather, and a lot of really good ideas were set forth on this thread. In fact many guests possibly miss a lot of what the resorts or the water parks or DTD might have to offer, because they're in the theme parks most of the time. Is Disney Quest outside your budget? That would be another suggestion.

 

[bunkkinsmom]

I saw that the concierge at the OKW made a mistake and must not have realized she had discounted tickets. But she found out they couldn't do it before she checked into the Value. At least that is the way I interpreted it. So, at the time she found out that Disney was not able to do it, why didn't she take a cab to a hotel off site?

Actually that's incorrect. I had to call Disney Reservations from the lobby at OKW and book the room at Pop. So I had paid for the reservation before I ever got there. And I checked in before I saw the concierge. But again, I do not blame the Concierge, she probably didn't look at the tickets in a detailed manner.

 

[bunkkinsmom]

Let me get this straight. If someone buys a HIGHLY discounted and VERY restricted ticket the company should just bypass the rules in place for that ticket and be "nice" and give the customer what she wants when a situation arises? And they should do this with EVERY customer who asks? This is very nice in a pixie dust way but when I am the person standing next to that customer in line and I paid FULL PRICE for my UNRESTRICTED ticket so that I can get what I need when I need it....not so much pixie dustish. I would ask for a refund in the amount between her disounted tickets and my full price tickets because that would be WHY I paid full price for them and didn't buy the discounted ones, because I believed them when they said I couldn't do certain things with the discounted version. I took them at their word and paid the extra for that security and peace of mind.

In your scenario, why would anyone ever buy full priced tickets? Why would anyone ever buy trip insurance? Ever?

The OP took a huge chance with no trip insurance and restricted tickets in the middle of winter to save money. It's like not getting trip insurance during hurricane season. Her only problem seems to be 2 days of no parks, not a huge problem in my book. No room I may feel differently about but I'm not sure, but no parks, definitely not. Too many other fun things to do.

I kindof get what you're saying, but not really a HUGE chance in January when I live in NC. This has been a MORE THAN UNUSUAL winter where we live. Frankly, I have lived in NC my entire life and never even questioned weather in this situation. When we get snow, it's 1-3 inches MAYBE. This is the second time this year we have had over 6. The first being after I bought the tickets, in case you're wondering.