I spoke to someone in the Disney executive offices today

[HBK]

Maybe you should just save yourself some heartache and stay off site and rent a car...

That's not all I'll save....

I guess I missed the part where Disney promised to take you wherever you want, whenever you want. It's BUS service that is used by EVERYBODY. Why would you expect not to wait? No matter how many busses and drivers Disney hires, you will still have to wait at a bus stop for some period of time.

Tell that to Planogirl..she must have felt differently since complained.

Let me get this straing HBK - you don't want to fork out an extra amount of cash so you can rent a car because you already forked out some extra cash to get a premium service by a bus?

A) If I'm forking out the extra cash for a hotel room which promises all of the transportation I'd need....I've already forked out the extra cash. Why should I pay a premium twice?

B) If Disney didn't position their own transportation system so prominently in their vacation planning materials, I probably wouldn't have much to squak about....but since Disney doesn't want you to leave the property, they discourage car rentals by pushing their "included" option.

A little more work on your behalf would have even yeilded a better outcome. After the first day of your visit, when you discover the service is so deteriorated, you go to the front desk, complain on the spot, pull your premium services and rent a car. Now that makes a statement that will get attention. It's immediate.

You're kidding me right? The first line is a beauty. I'M ON A VACATION FROM A HIGHLY STRESSFUL JOB. You want me to WORK while I'm on Vacation? You need to really remove your blinders.

Oh well, at least this has been a fairly interesting discussion. I'm still cautiously optimistic though.

Yeah, you gotta love a post where people defend their arguments by telling you that you should "work harder while you're on vacation" and you should never complain....because aw shucks, Disney can't do no wrong.

I'm taking a deep breath and basically lurking on this post. Flame away.

 

[JeffJewell]

...I mentioned Joan's name because she was the terminally perky CM who I talked to concerning the letters I wrote in June. It sounds like they've got a set of 'em.

She was nice enough, and sent me a hundred Disney Dollars for my "inconvenience." Yes, I was glad to get some kind of response, and yes, the Disney Dollars will come in handy when we go down in December; but no, I did not get the feeling that Disney was concerned about correcting the mind-set that led to the problems that prompted my letters.

It's the customer service version of asking permission vs asking forgiveness: Disney believes it is cheaper for them to toss a few Disney Dollars to the folks who'll bother to write a letter than it is to meet customer expectations in the first place.

Their calculations do not take in account the loss of customer loyalty this policy is truly costing them.

Jeff

 

[HorizonsFan]

I have never suggested that people not complain.
I have moved to car 2 because of the confusing direction of current managment so I don't think that Disney can do no wrong.
The only reason I'm even in this discussion is because I thought it was unfair of johare to suggest that Disney was only making phone calls and not actually working on the transportation problem. I don't believe that to be the case.
A bus system is not the most ideal transportation for a place as magical as WDW, but that's what they have. It's what Disney advertises and it's what they deliver. That they are trying to make it better is evidenced by new busses, additional CMs and shorter wait times (in my experience).
I still don't understand how calling a guest and personally addressing their complaint is such a problem for some.

 

[johare]

Their calculations do not take in account the loss of customer loyalty this policy is truly costing them.

Which is unfortunate for them...for ever customer who writes a letter there are probably 2 (or more) customers who won't come back for quite a while.

A bus system is not the most ideal transportation for a place as magical as WDW, but that's what they have.

And if the bus system is not the most idea for a place like WDW, then why do they rely on it so much? Could it be because they are too cheap to expand the monorail line or provide other alternative modes of transportation? Guess that's another reason I prefer Universal. I can walk just about anywhere in half the time it takes to wait for a bus.

I still don't understand how calling a guest and personally addressing their complaint is such a problem for some.

It's not a problem...it's just not enough.

 

[HBK]

I still don't understand how calling a guest and personally addressing their complaint is such a problem for some.

It's not a problem for anyone. Kudos to Disney for following up so agressivly with their customer complaints. But it's not where it should end. Adding more and more busses is fine for the short term. But they should be working on a new transport system.

Look at it this way. Compare the transport system to an open wound. By adding more and more busses, the company is putting band aids on the wound....when it needs some stitches.

 

[Another Voice]

It’s perhaps sad to say this, but both sides of this issue are correct in a way – Walt Disney World knows there is a serious transportation problem and wants to find a solution, but The Walt Disney Company does not intend to fix it.

WDW’s original master plan called for the place to be a masterpiece of transportation. Stoplights were forbidden on property, intersections were seamless and a family could leave their car for a week and still visit every part of the property quickly and comfortable. And through the 1980’s, it all worked great. As with the opening of EPCOT Center, transportation was supposed to be included in each new development.

But, that costs money. In the rush to build hotel rooms, any planning or accommodation for moving people was eliminated as a “non-revenue” luxury that could wait until later. WDW knew that the bus system would not work even before the opening of the Disney/MGM Studios. Until Corporate would invest some real money, busses were seen as a cheap and quick “temporary” fix. In what has now become an annual event, a new master transportation system plan gets drawn up which includes monorails, light rail and water craft (including one plan for boats from Dixie Landings to Pleasure Island through EPCOT to the Studios). Each time the plan would be killed by Corporate (too much money) and WDW would have to throw another quick fix at the mess (lease more busses).

With the bus system at the breaking point, WDW came up with yet another master plan last year. That too was killed by Corporate who considered the return to be below their standards (even though the transportation system would have turned a profit because guests would be charged). This year’s fix, the “Busses on Demand” system was not really designed to improve guest service, its real goal is to keep things from getting worse as quickly as they used to. The system simply redirects underutilized capacity to where the demand is. Based on the idea of “the great good for the greatest number”, the system is wonderful if you’re with a busload of people at Animal Kingdom, but it does make you wait longer if it’s just the two of you at the Old Key West Resort. It’s the best solution that’s possible given the situation - at least until next year.

Yes, the folks at WDW know they have a serious problem and they know it causes the guests immense problems. But when the decisions have to be made, many people on the other coast that would like you to stay at home and watch The SoapNet Channel instead.

 

[YoHo]

Another Voice, thankyou for interjecting here. People we're dealing with about 3 different Issues here. Apparently we've all forgotten how about two month's ago WDW had a big callback day where everyone's letters and emails and phonecalls were responded to. This was done by the WDW president's secretary if I recall correctly. WDW still takes customer service very seriously and the Message left, that we are trying to fix this and we think we have it better is the exact right impression to leave. Had more complaining happened, perhaps the Disney dollars would have flowed.
Walt Disney World is doing everything it can. If I recall correctly, Each bus queue has an expected wait time and that is usually posted at around 20-25 minutes which means 25 minutes is acceptable. 45 minutes is not!

Walt Disney corporation Managment is screwing things up and that is where the problem lies.

 

[HorizonsFan]

Once again, AV and YoHo are the voice of reason.
Thanks guys!