Just back from a quickie Labor Day weekend trip... mixed review (LONG)

[BelleBway]

First of all, we had a fabulous time! But we're the type of people who can create lasting memories from a spontaneous road trip that ends up in a random 24 hour Walmart, so it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that we'd have a blast no matter what happened. I was traveling with my teenage niece; it was the first time I traveled with just her, but I'd taken 3 other trips with her and her older sister (who was at college already)

Also I was pleased that just about every cast member with whom I interacted in person- ranging from security to bus drivers to ride attendants to Photopass photographers- were excellent. Many were outstanding and really added a positive touch to our days.

We were lucky enough not to get caught in any major rain showers; it poured on Sunday but it didn't start until just after we'd stepped into our Uber car from Universal and we'd already decided not to go back out. Monday it sprinkled a bit but that was awesome because it kept the sun from beating down on us. We even joked that rain ruined the trip because it never rained enough to keep the crowds/sun away. LOL

Unfortunately... we did experience some problems which mostly seemed to indicate a decline in service. I plan to write Disney a letter because my feeling is that if they don't hear about it, they will never do anything to improve. I am not a big complainer and I do not want any compensation- what's done is done, basically. But these kinds of issues would make me more hesitant to return to WDW.

• Problem: The first not-so-magical moment came after we got off of the DME bus at Pop on Friday night. We'd already received our room assignment before we even got on the plane- 4th floor in the 70's section, just as I'd requested. There was one staff member to greet the bus. He didn't have any resort maps or check-in packets or anything. When I told him we had our room, he just basically told us to go to the right. I'm not sure if anything in my facial expression showed puzzlement but he corrected himself to say to the left before I could vocally question him. So that's it- we were left to hunt for the room ourselves in the dark- fortunately I'd stayed at Pop before and basically knew the layout of where the elevators are.
  Suggestion: Additional staff, hand out maps or even check-in packets to arriving guests (afterall, they know who is arriving because we scanned our bands)
• Problem: We arrived at the hotel at 9 (our plane landed before 8) and headed out to Disney Springs for 3 hours. When we returned to the room at midnight, the bags still weren't there. The DME literature says bags will be delivered within 3 hours of when you arrive and we were really tired; my niece had been up since 5:30am. I would completely not care how many hours the luggage delivery took if I'd arrived in the morning, but having to stay up til after 1am for our bags to arrive just simply isn't acceptable to me. Moreover, I called a few times to complain (really nicely, actually) and the DME person started giving me sass. Also, she stated that it can take up to 5 hours.
  Suggestion: Update DME literature to state that luggage can take up to 5 hours to arrive if that is indeed the case, so guests can make better decisions whether to retrieve their own luggage. Also staff such that you can ensure that bags are delivered in a more timely manner at night. Also provide better training to the people answering the phones and empower them to do *something* to make things better for potentially upset guests. (I realize that DME is not Disney but I did also talk to someone at Disney because I was really upset at how the DME person was sassing me)
• Problem: Having seen many signs advertising pizza delivery service, we decided we'd take advantage of that when we returned from Universal on Sunday night. I expected that it would take longer than usual since it was rainy. However, I gave up holding after at least 20 minutes, which is IMO a ridiculous amount of time. When I called the front desk directly, they blamed the holiday weekend and rain- both of which were predictable and could have been staffed for. The CM offered to transfer me back to the dining phone queue which was not helpful since I'd already done that for an absurd length of time and I didn't want to start from scratch. I finally spoke to a manager who at least gave us some extra FP+ for the next day so that was something and I was at least ok with his guest recovery since by that point, he couldn't call anyone else in and they were truly swamped.
  Suggestion: Staff extra people to man the phones on holiday weekends. Provide better training to front level phone support and empower them to do *something* to pixie dust upset guests.
• Problem: You know those extra FP+ they gave us? I checked them on my phone Sunday night and verified that they were there. We went to use them on Splash Mountain the next morning- and they were gone from the system! They were no longer on my phone and the really nice ride attendant couldn't find them either. I was livid, especially since we had to walk all the way back to guest services at City Hall to attempt to get this fixed. The lady there was very nice and supposedly gave us 3 extra FP+ instead of the 2 we had. (I say supposedly because they never seemed to go away- nor did our scheduled Splash FP that we made later as a 4th FP; we only did try to use the bonus ones 3 times though)
  Suggestion: I'm going to have to think that this was just another IT glitch so there's not much they can do other than fix their systems. However, it would be wonderful if there was a way to contact guest services that didn't involve going to front of the park- either more stations or a chat function on the app.
• Problem: We never got an express checkout on our door. We would have waited in a long line at the front desk but they were encouraging people to just rely on being automatically checked out at 11am. I had a chance to come back to the front desk later to get my print out, and they told me someone had specifically flagged my account not to get express checkout. I have no idea why that would have happened.
  Suggestion: Maybe this was a training issue? Honestly, I wouldn't have thought much about this at all if it hadn't been for the other problems I'd been having.

I'm not sure who to contact at Disney with my concerns and I'm frankly not sure if they will care. But I do want to get my feedback on record just in case it could help people. Also, perhaps my post will help people make a better decision about whether to get their own luggage if they use DME for a flight that lands at night. (ours landed just before 8pm) In all the trips I've made to WDW (see my signature), this is the first time I've ever felt dissatisfied- in the past, I've written a letter to praise cast members but I've never written in with complaints. That's generally not me. And I absolutely did not and do not want any monetary compensation- I just want the magical Disney experience I've always had, where there may be a very occasional minor glitch but it gets handled well. And I want that not just for me, but for everyone.

Meanwhile, I am very excited for my upcoming trip to the Asian parks where I'm confident I'll receive better service despite the language barriers. (I've been to HKDL and TDR multiple times)

 

[Shadowcat70]

• Problem: We never got an express checkout on our door. We would have waited in a long line at the front desk but they were encouraging people to just rely on being automatically checked out at 11am. I had a chance to come back to the front desk later to get my print out, and they told me someone had specifically flagged my account not to get express checkout. I have no idea why that would have happened.
  Suggestion: Maybe this was a training issue? Honestly, I wouldn't have thought much about this at all if it hadn't been for the other problems I'd been having.

We were there from the 23rd to the 31st and we found an Express Checkout envelope on the ground on the way to our room (70s section 4th floor). I don't remember the exact day, but we found it in the late afternoon, picked it up and walked it over to the proper door. We were in 6465, and we had to walk past our room (toward the 80s/90s area) and around towards the Lake side to find the right room number. I am wondering if that was yours. We were all hoping that whomever's it was hadn't checked out yet. It was just weird finding it all the way over on our side on the ground like that.

Edit: We also had issues with our bags. Our flight landed around 8:35pm, and we got to the resort about 45m or so later. We ate, walked around a bit and then went back to our room. We waited until almost 1am as was, then hubby called to see where it was because we had clothes for the next day if needed, but our PJs were in the checked bags. They actually had our luggage there, but no one had delivered it yet. It was a bit odd. I agree though, they need to give a more definite time, or even better, since they like to have an automated process they should have a luggage tracker as part of your My Disney Experience. That would be pretty cool.

 

[BelleBway]

We were there from the 23rd to the 31st and we found an Express Checkout envelope on the ground on the way to our room (70s section 4th floor). I don't remember the exact day, but we found it in the late afternoon, picked it up and walked it over to the proper door. We were in 6465, and we had to walk past our room (toward the 80s/90s area) and around towards the Lake side to find the right room number. I am wondering if that was yours. We were all hoping that whomever's it was hadn't checked out yet. It was just weird finding it all the way over on our side on the ground like that.

Nope, not mine! We just checked out yesterday (9/5), and the cast member we talked to later told us that my account had been flagged not to get an express checkout though she had no idea why. I certainly hadn't done anything to warrant not getting an express checkout.

 

[Shadowcat70]

Nope, not mine! We just checked out yesterday (9/5), and the cast member we talked to later told us that my account had been flagged not to get an express checkout though she had no idea why. I certainly hadn't done anything to warrant not getting an express checkout.

So weird. How annoying for you. =(

 

[BelleBway]

So weird. How annoying for you. =(

Honestly, it was the least of my problems. I used to work at a hotel and sometimes it seemed like a certain guest would just have a rash of weird bad luck. That was probably me this weekend. However I do think that my biggest issues (luggage delivery after 1am, no one answering for 20+ minutes when I wanted pizza delivery, and poor front line response to problems) are things that could have been prevented and/or dealt with better.

And we did have a fabulous time, which is the most important thing.

 

[MinnieMSue]

After it taking forever to get our bags once (not late night) years ago we get our own bags when we have arrivals at dinner time or later. Don't want to risk that 1-2am bag delivery. Sorry that happened to you but glad you had fun anyway even with all the problems.

 

[Oozma_Kappa]

Sorry this happened to you. I stayed off property this past weekend to use up some free stays with my hilton points, but I will be at Pop in a month and I will for sure try to be aware of stuff like this. Thanks for the heads up! All the CM's in the restaurants, parks, security, and monorail were amazing though! Honestly the best service I've experienced since '09.

 

[Anal Annie]

Sorry to hear of your problems - I'm sure it was frustrating. Definitely write an email to guest satisfaction and tell them about it - they need to hear about the same issues over & over to make any changes.

For the most part now whenever we fly we try really hard to go with just each of us in our respective carry-ons. If we DO check a bag (usually on winter trips when clothing is heavier or on trips longer than 6 nights) then I try to have all of us just share 1 large duffle. I have tried realllllly hard to get past the over-packing days. On the couple of times when we HAVE arrived late and had a checked bag I have been extra sure to pack all of our essentials in our carry-ons (PJ's, meds, toothbrushes, toiletries etc) so that there wouldn't be anything we'd need immediately in the checked bag. Then upon check-in I have told them to just hold the bag at Bell Services over night and I get up and call for it to be brought up first thing in the morning. I'd rather not have to be waiting around (or waiting up) for it to arrive.

 

[BelleBway]

I absolutely need to check a bag because of sunscreen, which can't be in a carry on. But I like the idea of asking them to hold the bag. I usually fly in early in the morning so I've never had that problem before.

 

[Aimros]

We also had issues with our bags. Our flight landed around 8:35pm, and we got to the resort about 45m or so later. We ate, walked around a bit and then went back to our room. We waited until almost 1am as was, then hubby called to see where it was because we had clothes for the next day if needed, but our PJs were in the checked bags. They actually had our luggage there, but no one had delivered it yet. It was a bit odd. I agree though, they need to give a more definite time, or even better, since they like to have an automated process they should have a luggage tracker as part of your My Disney Experience. That would be pretty cool.

We had a similar experience at BWV in January. We waited and waited and waited for our bags (flight arrived around 11am, it was now 9pm; granted we spent the day at Epcot and not in our room waiting for our stuff ), and when we called Bell Services they had all of our luggage downstairs and delivered it immediately.

 

[BelleBway]

In my case, the bags truly weren't at the hotel yet. When I first called, they said the case with our bags was last scanned at 11:51pm at AKL. I guess this was around 12:15am. I called again at around 12:50am and there was no updated scan. The 2nd call was when the DME agent was all "I don't control what happens at the airport/ I just got in for the overnight shift. / you're talking sideways at me." I was really tired and frustrated but I was speaking very calmly and politely. In retrospect, I do realize that there's nothing she could have done but it made things worse that she acted like I was the problem.

 

[Anal Annie]

I absolutely need to check a bag because of sunscreen, which can't be in a carry on. But I like the idea of asking them to hold the bag. I usually fly in early in the morning so I've never had that problem before.

We always bring a few of the small travel size sunscreens which we like to bring to the parks with us because they're not big & heavy. For the larger size ones we leave a few in our Owners Locker (we usually drive down on our summer trips so I can restock them then with new ones).

 

[stink]

Thank you for the feedback on DME luggage. I have always used DME for luggage transfers but my flights have always have arrived in the AM or early afternoon and have had no issues with getting luggage within three hours.

However for my upcoming trip my flight does not land until 8:15 PM so I will get my own luggage, as I do not want to be up late waiting for a knock on the door for luggage. I plan to get to the resort, dump my stuff in the room, go get a night cap at the bar then go to bed.

 

[lawboysam]

Sorry for the problems! It sounds, honestly though, like most of your problems would have been solved with simply not using Disney's bag check system (you can still check your bags without the Disney tags and just pick them up yourself - so you get sunscreen and get to bypass the waiting!). That's what I do. Especially if you're getting in that late, why risk it? What if, god forbid, your bags hadn't even made it to Orlando? I hate not having my bags, though, so I'm always extra cautious about those things.

 

[Accident]

I'm not sure who to contact at Disney with my concerns and I'm frankly not sure if they will care. But I do want to get my feedback on record just in case it could help people.

email guest.services@disneyworld.com and if you leave a phone number they will call you back. 1 word of advice when you email, do not offer suggestions or your reply will be from a paralegal who says the email is destroyed for unsolicited suggestions. Basically word everything as a question without giving them a solution . for example: I want a way to ride space mountain with the lights on will get rejected but Is there a way to ride space mountain with the lights on will not..

 

[jtowntoflorida]

We stopped having DME get our luggage for us before we stopped using DME in general because of the NINE HOUR delay in getting our luggage once. It was frustrating to find out that it was sitting at the WL for hours before actually being delivered to our room. If you have to check a bag, you always have the option of picking it up from the baggage carousel yourself, even if you're using DME. You don't have to use the luggage delivery service.

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

First of all, we had a fabulous time! But we're the type of people who can create lasting memories from a spontaneous road trip that ends up in a random 24 hour Walmart, so it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that we'd have a blast no matter what happened. I was traveling with my teenage niece; it was the first time I traveled with just her, but I'd taken 3 other trips with her and her older sister (who was at college already)

Also I was pleased that just about every cast member with whom I interacted in person- ranging from security to bus drivers to ride attendants to Photopass photographers- were excellent. Many were outstanding and really added a positive touch to our days.

We were lucky enough not to get caught in any major rain showers; it poured on Sunday but it didn't start until just after we'd stepped into our Uber car from Universal and we'd already decided not to go back out. Monday it sprinkled a bit but that was awesome because it kept the sun from beating down on us. We even joked that rain ruined the trip because it never rained enough to keep the crowds/sun away. LOL

Unfortunately... we did experience some problems which mostly seemed to indicate a decline in service. I plan to write Disney a letter because my feeling is that if they don't hear about it, they will never do anything to improve. I am not a big complainer and I do not want any compensation- what's done is done, basically. But these kinds of issues would make me more hesitant to return to WDW.

• Problem: The first not-so-magical moment came after we got off of the DME bus at Pop on Friday night. We'd already received our room assignment before we even got on the plane- 4th floor in the 70's section, just as I'd requested. There was one staff member to greet the bus. He didn't have any resort maps or check-in packets or anything. When I told him we had our room, he just basically told us to go to the right. I'm not sure if anything in my facial expression showed puzzlement but he corrected himself to say to the left before I could vocally question him. So that's it- we were left to hunt for the room ourselves in the dark- fortunately I'd stayed at Pop before and basically knew the layout of where the elevators are.
  Suggestion: Additional staff, hand out maps or even check-in packets to arriving guests (afterall, they know who is arriving because we scanned our bands)
• Problem: We arrived at the hotel at 9 (our plane landed before 8) and headed out to Disney Springs for 3 hours. When we returned to the room at midnight, the bags still weren't there. The DME literature says bags will be delivered within 3 hours of when you arrive and we were really tired; my niece had been up since 5:30am. I would completely not care how many hours the luggage delivery took if I'd arrived in the morning, but having to stay up til after 1am for our bags to arrive just simply isn't acceptable to me. Moreover, I called a few times to complain (really nicely, actually) and the DME person started giving me sass. Also, she stated that it can take up to 5 hours.
  Suggestion: Update DME literature to state that luggage can take up to 5 hours to arrive if that is indeed the case, so guests can make better decisions whether to retrieve their own luggage. Also staff such that you can ensure that bags are delivered in a more timely manner at night. Also provide better training to the people answering the phones and empower them to do *something* to make things better for potentially upset guests. (I realize that DME is not Disney but I did also talk to someone at Disney because I was really upset at how the DME person was sassing me)
• Problem: Having seen many signs advertising pizza delivery service, we decided we'd take advantage of that when we returned from Universal on Sunday night. I expected that it would take longer than usual since it was rainy. However, I gave up holding after at least 20 minutes, which is IMO a ridiculous amount of time. When I called the front desk directly, they blamed the holiday weekend and rain- both of which were predictable and could have been staffed for. The CM offered to transfer me back to the dining phone queue which was not helpful since I'd already done that for an absurd length of time and I didn't want to start from scratch. I finally spoke to a manager who at least gave us some extra FP+ for the next day so that was something and I was at least ok with his guest recovery since by that point, he couldn't call anyone else in and they were truly swamped.
  Suggestion: Staff extra people to man the phones on holiday weekends. Provide better training to front level phone support and empower them to do *something* to pixie dust upset guests.
• Problem: You know those extra FP+ they gave us? I checked them on my phone Sunday night and verified that they were there. We went to use them on Splash Mountain the next morning- and they were gone from the system! They were no longer on my phone and the really nice ride attendant couldn't find them either. I was livid, especially since we had to walk all the way back to guest services at City Hall to attempt to get this fixed. The lady there was very nice and supposedly gave us 3 extra FP+ instead of the 2 we had. (I say supposedly because they never seemed to go away- nor did our scheduled Splash FP that we made later as a 4th FP; we only did try to use the bonus ones 3 times though)
  Suggestion: I'm going to have to think that this was just another IT glitch so there's not much they can do other than fix their systems. However, it would be wonderful if there was a way to contact guest services that didn't involve going to front of the park- either more stations or a chat function on the app.
• Problem: We never got an express checkout on our door. We would have waited in a long line at the front desk but they were encouraging people to just rely on being automatically checked out at 11am. I had a chance to come back to the front desk later to get my print out, and they told me someone had specifically flagged my account not to get express checkout. I have no idea why that would have happened.
  Suggestion: Maybe this was a training issue? Honestly, I wouldn't have thought much about this at all if it hadn't been for the other problems I'd been having.

I'm not sure who to contact at Disney with my concerns and I'm frankly not sure if they will care. But I do want to get my feedback on record just in case it could help people. Also, perhaps my post will help people make a better decision about whether to get their own luggage if they use DME for a flight that lands at night. (ours landed just before 8pm) In all the trips I've made to WDW (see my signature), this is the first time I've ever felt dissatisfied- in the past, I've written a letter to praise cast members but I've never written in with complaints. That's generally not me. And I absolutely did not and do not want any monetary compensation- I just want the magical Disney experience I've always had, where there may be a very occasional minor glitch but it gets handled well. And I want that not just for me, but for everyone.

Meanwhile, I am very excited for my upcoming trip to the Asian parks where I'm confident I'll receive better service despite the language barriers. (I've been to HKDL and TDR multiple times)

AND This is why I'm not sure why everyone is so die hard about staying on site. We do it when it works best for us, but the service is awful. We have had bad experiences with 2/3 of our on site stays. The hotels are very complacent about service and it's very frustrating. I also learned that if you need anything done in the hotels that you have to walk your butt all the way to the front desk and ask to speak to a front desk manager.

I'm glad the park experience was still wonderful!!

 

[jon18uk]

I have seen many reports on these boards of DME luggage not arriving until 1am when their flight landed after 6pm. I think if you want cases that night always pick up luggage if your flight lands in the evening!

 

[thelittlemermaid2]

It's interesting to me that it took so long to get your bags, we stayed at All Star Music that same weekend and got ours within a half an hour! However, we did arrive in the morning so that probably had something to do with it

 

[2Monkeys]

We had a delay with our bags on our last trip. When I called, they told me that it could take 3 hours from the time the bags arrived at the resort. Not at all how I interpreted the info I had previously been given! We will probably just get our own bags going forward!

Glad you had a magical time in spite of the inconveniences!