Just back. Some issues but - I STILL LOVE DISNEY!!

[melissarose]

I wasn't sure how to write this post because I don't want to bash Disney, or upset anyone with my comments, but I also do feel like this trip was a bit of a disappointment, and I wanted to share my experience.

That said, I still LOVE Disney. I will never not love Disney. It is a wonderful, magical place to be. Maybe they can't always provide 100% stellar service and I should just realize that we all have bad days and that people make mistakes! Nothing that happened on this trip will prevent me from going back, but I do feel like maybe it would be more magical if I spaced out my trips a bit more.

I'd like to start by saying that only a small portion of my disappointment was related to the Magic Bands. We had an issue with our pins at the beginning of the trip that lead to a bit of anxiety, and I did find that going through the lines took longer because we had to wait for the Mickey to turn green, but other than those two issues, our bands worked well. Yes, I still think it sucks that you can only have 3 FPs, and you have to plan your trip so far in advance, but the bands themselves didn't give us much grief. They actually worked quit well.

My main complaint this trip was that I felt the customer service was severely lacking. The magic just didn't seem to be there. Service was incredibly slow in restaurants (restaurants that were not even remotely busy, places that we ate at last year and received excellent, magical service), our waiters were not very friendly, our table wasn't cleared after dinner for SO long, the receptionists at check-in seemed annoyed at some of my questions and requests related to credit card and MB linking, and associates in the stores at MK were less than friendly and helpful (especially compared to last year, when I had a wonderful experience trying to locate a certain item/size in a store). I won't go into great detail on all of these instances, but I was very let down by this stuff. I didn't hold on to the frustration (what's the point?!), and these issues by no means ruined our trip, but I did feel disappointed by Disney.

There was also two instances that were so non-Disney that it was actually funny. The tram driver in the parking lot at HS yelled at someone not to get on the tram, which I get is for safety reasons when they are preparing to depart, but he just kept yelling over and over, so obnoxiously, I was pretty surprised. "DO NOT GET ON THIS TRAM!!! DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT GET ON THE TRAM. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO BOARD", over and over was a bit much. Also, in Mickey's Philharmagic, a CM SCREAMED (not exaggerating!) several times to move to the ends of the rows (again, I get that this is always asked, and it's important for efficiency, but OMG if you could have heard her shrieking, it was unbelievable!) The man beside me even turned to me and said, "What happened to the Disney magic?! Is she really screaming at us?!" My friends and I laughed at both of these things, but it IS Disney, and it IS supposed to be the HAPPIEST place on Earth, not a place to go and get yelled at by CMs. I am very, VERY fond of Disney World, and I was genuinely sad about this stuff.

We had a few other things happen that were less than magical, but at the end of the day I still had a great time. I still bought some souvenirs, I still took a zillion pictures, I still smiled, I still laughed, I still cried. It was by no means a perfect trip, the kind of magical, stress-free, wonderful vacation that I had last February, but I was still overjoyed to be at Disney World. How lucky am I? Lots of people will never know the happiness that is Disney World. Perfection is hard to come by, how can I hold Disney to that standard?

They need to make some changes, they need to improve in a few areas. Customer service was way lacking this time around. They need to deal with the new system they've implemented and find a way to make it more user-friendly. However, I STILL LOVE DISNEY, and in four or five years, I will be back. I will hand over thousands of hard-earned dollars, because there is no where else on Earth that can give me the same feeling as Disney World.

I'm happy for those who are still having perfect vacations! You guys rock! I hope those who have had so-so experiences like mine don't give up on the World either! It's still Disney right?! And for those who can't stand it anymore, well, I guess that's their loss.

 

[jj1403]

Thanks for your post!

 

[Rosanne]

I'm glad you kept a positive outlook and still found many things to enjoy.

I totally get it with the tram operator. Makes me wonder if it was the same one that screamed at me and my girls at Epcot. I can't remember exactly what we did wrong... maybe were on the wrong side or were coming up to the wrong spot to load but we totally got screamed at in an angry way. There weren't any directions that I could see as to how to do it correctly so it was pretty unsettling and my girls were not interested in getting near a tram again. I imagine they are concerned about safety but if you don't intend to do something wrong and get screamed at it's pretty unmagical, I agree.

 

[Laketravis]

WE NOTICED A LOT MORE SCREAMING CM'S TOO!

Well, maybe not screaming. But certainly much louder and more forceful than in the past. Seems like there must be a current mandate to pack 'em in tighter because I never heard the spiel about "seeing floor meaning more" than I did this last trip.

 

[melissarose]

Good to know I'm not the only one who noticed the increase in yelling! I wondered if I was blowing it out of proportion, but it all seemed so unnecessary!

 

[delmar411]

There is a lot more yelling and rudeness. Not sure what the issue is but we've run across a few CMs that were so rude my DH was demanding we go to guest relations immediately and report them. I understanding that people get frustrated but some of the CMs need to chill out.

 

[PrincessDaisyDuck]

We were also there this past week and I completely agree with you. The FP+ was fine for us and we really liked the magic bands but some cast members were sadly not really Disney caliber.

We were on the Little Mermaid ride and the cast member screamed at my DH to turn our 4 month around on his lap. We had literally just sat down and were in the midst of doing just that. It took like half a second but the cast member rolled her eyes then slammed the safety bar down so hard it hit and pressed into our baby's stomach. We were so upset, there was a survey taker at the end of the ride that asked our experience and when she came to cast-member friendliness we did tell her what happened.

Also we noticed cast members ignoring/not helping/yelling at guests who were clearly confused since they didn't speak English very well. We felt so bad for them, it has to be so hard to tour in other countries without being treated so poorly.

 

[Mousemommy1]

Thanks for your report!! I know that the more we go, and we go a lot, we notice little things that might be classified as un-Disney but I attribute that to the frequency of our visits. If we weren't there as often, I bet some of these things wouldn't even be noticeable.

That being said. I feel so bad for the CM's most of the time. That CM in mickeys Philharmagic that you witnessed??? I can only imagine.....those CM's are constantly (and politely) telling people to move all the way down the rows....yet we still see people plunk themselves down in the middle of the row (and some refuse to move!)

Providing good customer service is difficult when you are dealing with idiotic, entitled (for lack of a better term) customers. That CM is probably just wanting to do her job the best she can. If her polite asking didn't work, she resorted to yelling. Ideal? No. But, it probably got the job done. I'm not one that subscribes to "the customer is always right", because sometimes the customer is a jack wagon...and those types need a special type of finesse.

 

[guppy1013]

Thanks for your report! (I couldn't tell, do you like Disney?) sorry! No sarcasm! Moving on....

We had a mixed bag of customer service. Most CM were awesome. After illuminations one night, went to ride soarin' and do the rider swap. It was EMH and standby was 5 min. The CM told my parents to go on and we had to wait with the kids and then just get in line when they get off. Needless to say DROVES of people entered and got in front of us. So DH and I and the girls went and got chocolate cake at Seasons and didn't ride. I have never done rider swap but I thought you all stood in line and rode consecutive (or close to it) rides? Not stand in line twice...which isn't a rider swap at all. Oh well. CM was not helpful but not necessarily rude either.

 

[delmar411]

Thanks for your report! (I couldn't tell, do you like Disney?) sorry! No sarcasm! Moving on....

We had a mixed bag of customer service. Most CM were awesome. After illuminations one night, went to ride soarin' and do the rider swap. It was EMH and standby was 5 min. The CM told my parents to go on and we had to wait with the kids and then just get in line when they get off. Needless to say DROVES of people entered and got in front of us. So DH and I and the girls went and got chocolate cake at Seasons and didn't ride. I have never done rider swap but I thought you all stood in line and rode consecutive (or close to it) rides? Not stand in line twice...which isn't a rider swap at all. Oh well. CM was not helpful but not necessarily rude either.

Sorry but that's what rider swap is. You stand in line twice but use the FP lane for those sitting out the first ride. So you would have taken the ticket and gone in he FP lane when your parents got back.

 

[guppy1013]

No fastpass lane was being used as it was EMH. If that was the case she was pretty lousy at explaining it since she said "you will have to wait here and just join the line when they get out".

 

[spunkyinkc]

We were there 2/2 - 2/9.

I actually just sent an email this morning commenting on many of the same things in the OP. This was our 3rd trip in 2 years. I'm sorry you had some issues, but I'm glad to hear it wasn't just us. We were wondering if we were being to picky. But all through the week, it was one cast member after another that yelled, got snotty, or was down right rude. The magic was definitely not there.

Our first two trips were awesome and all of our cast member interactions were great, with the exception of 1. And 1 in 17 total days is no big deal. But several every day on this last trip bummed us out. We did have fun, but it didn't feel like Disney.

 

[SnowWhite2]

That being said. I feel so bad for the CM's most of the time. That CM in mickeys Philharmagic that you witnessed??? I can only imagine.....those CM's are constantly (and politely) telling people to move all the way down the rows....yet we still see people plunk themselves down in the middle of the row (and some refuse to move!)

Every time someone plops down in the middle of the row I'm in, I make no attempt to alter my path over them. If I step on their feet, oh well. They should have listened to the CM and moved down the row. I've never had a really bad seat in any of the theaters.

 

[Ana~n~Joseph]

We had a short trip last week and I have to admit, I noticed the same things. I even mentioned it to my BFF when I got back and to a friend who happens to be a CM. It makes me really sad. It won't stop me from going back but it's just not the same anymore.

 

[tcherjen]

Thanks! We are going in March.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I noticed this in November.

But I'm from North Jersey, so they still seemed friendlier than some of the folks around here.

 

[Schmeck]

No fastpass lane was being used as it was EMH. If that was the case she was pretty lousy at explaining it since she said "you will have to wait here and just join the line when they get out".

The FP lane was closed, so where did you expect to be? A child not riding/under the height requirement (for rider swap) is not allowed in the queue. With no FP open, you had no other place to queue, did you?

 

[Amanda Esmeralda]

My main complaint this trip was that I felt the customer service was severely lacking. The magic just didn't seem to be there.

I am glad (I guess?) that I am not the only one who noticed this because I don't want to feel oversensitive. But cast members were way more rude than I am used to, or at least not friendly.

I wanted to buy a water bottle from a cart on Main Street, and the guy in front of me was taking forever so I reached over to pick the bottle out while I waited. (It was one of those carts where the bottles are right in front of you in the ice and you can just reach over and take one.) The CM actually took the bottle from me and put it back in the cart to hand it back to me! I was next in line, what was the big deal? I just said, "You know what, I'll pass on the water" I'm 30, not 3. I don't need to be scolded by an employee.

The sad part is that with bad service a little incident can have a big impact on how you remember the trip. In addition to that, the CMs at AKL were just not very knowledgeable about policies or amenities. They had to double check on things and we often got different answers. We are going back in April for a weekend, and then our annual trip in the fall, so it's not like I'm going to stop going. But hopefully things will be better!