just returned from disney very disappointed not sure when we will go back

[chimommy]

I've been to disney 5 times over my lifetime.. 3 in the past 4 years. It seems every trip just keeps going downhill. This was our first time staying at a disney resort. I did think our resort was beautiful (we stayed at a deluxe resort), but had some major hiccups. IT was very busy when we checked in… While I was waiting in my checkin line, i was passed up twice by other families who were checked in before me… but behind me in line. Not sure if the person with the iPad didn't realize i was not in the party, but still it was a bit aggravating. The person who checked me in was very nice, but seemed clueless about what she was doing. we kept having to wait for someone to come and help her. I don't blame her, she was doing her best, but if she was in training or something, why didn't they have someone training her? When we got to our room it was very nice, not exactly what I had requested, but I realize disney can't make all of our request happen if any. either way i was really happy with our room. My parents were in a room next to us. When my mom opened her bedside drawer for the first time, she found a dirty (poopy) diaper in the drawer. We did bring it to the attention to a housekeeper who took care of it… but obviously the room was not cleaned very well. Our first full day at the parks we had an early morning breakfast. We were told that the boats would be running by a certain time and we could take it to magic kingdom. So we chose to take a boat. However no boat ever came. Luckily the person driving the resort boat noticed us still waiting on her second time around… and this and must have felt bad for us. she took us over to the contemporary so we could walk over to entrance of magic kingdom. I was very grateful for her… she said she didn't know what was going on with the other boat. Overall i was really surprised with how many cast members seemed unhappy. They did not have the typical "disney spirit" I cannot say that for everyone… we did encounter cast members who were wonderful. I don't want it to seem like everyone was unhappy and miserable… but we did have quite a few run ins with people who obviously did not want to be there. I know everyone has a bad day… but this was a lot of people. I have always preferred disney parks over other orlando parks, because of the people who work on disney property. I didn't get the same feeling this time. Numerous times when we were at restaurants… our waitresses didn't even come back and fill up our water glass?? We were basically ignored for most of our meal. Pretty sure my dad even got food poisoning from one of the restaurants we ate at…. it was bad and he spent an entire day in his hotel room very sick.. I purchased photo pass plus for the 3rd time.. probably won't again. I took much better pictures than the photo pass people. a lot of them are horrible! They are pictures taken from the side and not even centered. I don't know how they are training the photo pass people… but they are not photographers. Ive normally had really good photos with photo pass… but this time was totally different. Probably was upset me the most was our disney magical express. the day before check out i received a notice for our magical express pick up time and instructions. everything was set and appeared normal. the morning of check out i received another lettering stating that due to system requirements disney would not be checking us into the airport and i would need to transport all of our luggage on the magic express bus with us. normally i probably wouldn't be too upset by this… but i am pregnant in my third trimester and traveling with a two and four year old and my husband. (we have five large bags including the carseats which were were checking)… We had a lot of luggage including two giant carseats. I was seriously very happy about not having to take the luggage around with us… so finding out that we would be bring our luggage with us was disappointing. I was also told their would be a curbside check in right when we got off the magical express.. which wasn't true because the curbside check in is on the third floor of the airport, by the normal checkin. i tired to figure out why this happened and see if they anything could be changed given our situation… and i got a different story every time… basically told they couldn't do anything… the magical express driver told me.. sometime disney just simply doesn't have room to transport everyones luggage so the just have to say no to some people. Im not sure what the true reason was, but the fact that disney made no effort to help us with this situation was very disappointing. I just expect more. if you are actually reading this, please know I'm not a person to complain all the time. Im just very upset by our last trip. I love disney. I love taking my kids to disney. the look on their faces when they go on their favorite rides or meet their fav. characters is priceless. And not everything about our trip was horrible…. i was just really disappointed. about a lot of things. I feel like every year we go… disney is just downgraded a little more. Its such a machine and so scheduled and i see the people working their more and more unhappy. Watching the disney promo video on the way to the airport, which is all about the exceptional disney service and experience… all i was thinking about was how this was the first time i was every happy to leave a place that was sunny and 84 outside to go to back home to 19 degree cold weather.

 

[dsnymomof4]

So sorry to hear about your disappointments. I remember hearing someone say on one of the Disney TV specials that people's expectations are higher when they go to Disney than when they do anything else in their lives. I think that's what we've come to expect - that everything will be "magical". So, it's disappointing when it's not. On our last trip, there were things that frustrated us on our trip - like the enormous amount of bugs in the pool, or the CM who took at least a half hour to check us in - even though we did online checkin before we came. But, hopefully, it didn't taint your overall experience. I hope your next trip is better.

 

[kbowfamluvswdw]

We have been several times in years past. Some were great and some were soso. People do have high expectations for Disney based on the cost and the advertising they see. Hopefully this was just a passing thing. We have encountered some cast members that didn't have the Disney pzazz, but overall our experiences have been good. Our last trip was this past September and the cast members went above and beyond on 2 different occasions. Best experience was staying at Wilderness Lodge, worst was staying at All Star Movie.

 

[DebbieB]

I've been to disney 5 times over my lifetime.. 3 in the past 4 years. It seems every trip just keeps going downhill. This was our first time staying at a disney resort. I did think our resort was beautiful (we stayed at a deluxe resort), but had some major hiccups. IT was very busy when we checked in& While I was waiting in my checkin line, i was passed up twice by other families who were checked in before me& but behind me in line. Not sure if the person with the iPad didn't realize i was not in the party, but still it was a bit aggravating. The person who checked me in was very nice, but seemed clueless about what she was doing. we kept having to wait for someone to come and help her. I don't blame her, she was doing her best, but if she was in training or something, why didn't they have someone training her?

When we got to our room it was very nice, not exactly what I had requested, but I realize disney can't make all of our request happen if any. either way i was really happy with our room. My parents were in a room next to us. When my mom opened her bedside drawer for the first time, she found a dirty (poopy) diaper in the drawer. We did bring it to the attention to a housekeeper who took care of it& but obviously the room was not cleaned very well.

Our first full day at the parks we had an early morning breakfast. We were told that the boats would be running by a certain time and we could take it to magic kingdom. So we chose to take a boat. However no boat ever came. Luckily the person driving the resort boat noticed us still waiting on her second time around& and this and must have felt bad for us. she took us over to the contemporary so we could walk over to entrance of magic kingdom. I was very grateful for her& she said she didn't know what was going on with the other boat.

Overall i was really surprised with how many cast members seemed unhappy. They did not have the typical "disney spirit" I cannot say that for everyone& we did encounter cast members who were wonderful. I don't want it to seem like everyone was unhappy and miserable& but we did have quite a few run ins with people who obviously did not want to be there. I know everyone has a bad day& but this was a lot of people. I have always preferred disney parks over other orlando parks, because of the people who work on disney property. I didn't get the same feeling this time. Numerous times when we were at restaurants& our waitresses didn't even come back and fill up our water glass?? We were basically ignored for most of our meal. Pretty sure my dad even got food poisoning from one of the restaurants we ate at&. it was bad and he spent an entire day in his hotel room very sick.. I purchased photo pass plus for the 3rd time.. probably won't again. I took much better pictures than the photo pass people. a lot of them are horrible! They are pictures taken from the side and not even centered. I don't know how they are training the photo pass people& but they are not photographers. Ive normally had really good photos with photo pass& but this time was totally different.

Probably was upset me the most was our disney magical express. the day before check out i received a notice for our magical express pick up time and instructions. everything was set and appeared normal. the morning of check out i received another lettering stating that due to system requirements disney would not be checking us into the airport and i would need to transport all of our luggage on the magic express bus with us. normally i probably wouldn't be too upset by this& but i am pregnant in my third trimester and traveling with a two and four year old and my husband. (we have five large bags including the carseats which were were checking)& We had a lot of luggage including two giant carseats. I was seriously very happy about not having to take the luggage around with us& so finding out that we would be bring our luggage with us was disappointing. I was also told their would be a curbside check in right when we got off the magical express.. which wasn't true because the curbside check in is on the third floor of the airport, by the normal checkin. i tired to figure out why this happened and see if they anything could be changed given our situation& and i got a different story every time& basically told they couldn't do anything& the magical express driver told me.. sometime disney just simply doesn't have room to transport everyones luggage so the just have to say no to some people. Im not sure what the true reason was, but the fact that disney made no effort to help us with this situation was very disappointing. I just expect more.

if you are actually reading this, please know I'm not a person to complain all the time. Im just very upset by our last trip. I love disney. I love taking my kids to disney. the look on their faces when they go on their favorite rides or meet their fav. characters is priceless. And not everything about our trip was horrible&. i was just really disappointed. about a lot of things. I feel like every year we go& disney is just downgraded a little more. Its such a machine and so scheduled and i see the people working their more and more unhappy. Watching the disney promo video on the way to the airport, which is all about the exceptional disney service and experience& all i was thinking about was how this was the first time i was every happy to leave a place that was sunny and 84 outside to go to back home to 19 degree cold weather.

Why would someone leave a poopy diaper in a drawer? That is sick. The housekeeper should have found it.

As far as the luggage, sometimes the airline's system does not allow remote check-in, which Disney (actually the contractor BAGS) can't control. Either a systems glitch or a random flag for extra security check. I doubt it was because Disney did not have room in their truck, unless you were right at the 3 hour mark and they didn't think it would make it to the airport on the next truck. A bellman should have been able to help you carry the luggage to the bus and a porter at the airport.

 

[kapoof]

I've been to disney 5 times over my lifetime.. 3 in the past 4 years. It seems every trip just keeps going downhill. This was our first time staying at a disney resort. I did think our resort was beautiful (we stayed at a deluxe resort), but had some major hiccups. IT was very busy when we checked in… While I was waiting in my checkin line, i was passed up twice by other families who were checked in before me… but behind me in line. Not sure if the person with the iPad didn't realize i was not in the party, but still it was a bit aggravating. The person who checked me in was very nice, but seemed clueless about what she was doing. we kept having to wait for someone to come and help her. I don't blame her, she was doing her best, but if she was in training or something, why didn't they have someone training her? When we got to our room it was very nice, not exactly what I had requested, but I realize disney can't make all of our request happen if any. either way i was really happy with our room. My parents were in a room next to us. When my mom opened her bedside drawer for the first time, she found a dirty (poopy) diaper in the drawer. We did bring it to the attention to a housekeeper who took care of it… but obviously the room was not cleaned very well. Our first full day at the parks we had an early morning breakfast. We were told that the boats would be running by a certain time and we could take it to magic kingdom. So we chose to take a boat. However no boat ever came. Luckily the person driving the resort boat noticed us still waiting on her second time around… and this and must have felt bad for us. she took us over to the contemporary so we could walk over to entrance of magic kingdom. I was very grateful for her… she said she didn't know what was going on with the other boat. Overall i was really surprised with how many cast members seemed unhappy. They did not have the typical "disney spirit" I cannot say that for everyone… we did encounter cast members who were wonderful. I don't want it to seem like everyone was unhappy and miserable… but we did have quite a few run ins with people who obviously did not want to be there. I know everyone has a bad day… but this was a lot of people. I have always preferred disney parks over other orlando parks, because of the people who work on disney property. I didn't get the same feeling this time. Numerous times when we were at restaurants… our waitresses didn't even come back and fill up our water glass?? We were basically ignored for most of our meal. Pretty sure my dad even got food poisoning from one of the restaurants we ate at…. it was bad and he spent an entire day in his hotel room very sick.. I purchased photo pass plus for the 3rd time.. probably won't again. I took much better pictures than the photo pass people. a lot of them are horrible! They are pictures taken from the side and not even centered. I don't know how they are training the photo pass people… but they are not photographers. Ive normally had really good photos with photo pass… but this time was totally different. Probably was upset me the most was our disney magical express. the day before check out i received a notice for our magical express pick up time and instructions. everything was set and appeared normal. the morning of check out i received another lettering stating that due to system requirements disney would not be checking us into the airport and i would need to transport all of our luggage on the magic express bus with us. normally i probably wouldn't be too upset by this… but i am pregnant in my third trimester and traveling with a two and four year old and my husband. (we have five large bags including the carseats which were were checking)… We had a lot of luggage including two giant carseats. I was seriously very happy about not having to take the luggage around with us… so finding out that we would be bring our luggage with us was disappointing. I was also told their would be a curbside check in right when we got off the magical express.. which wasn't true because the curbside check in is on the third floor of the airport, by the normal checkin. i tired to figure out why this happened and see if they anything could be changed given our situation… and i got a different story every time… basically told they couldn't do anything… the magical express driver told me.. sometime disney just simply doesn't have room to transport everyones luggage so the just have to say no to some people. Im not sure what the true reason was, but the fact that disney made no effort to help us with this situation was very disappointing. I just expect more. if you are actually reading this, please know I'm not a person to complain all the time. Im just very upset by our last trip. I love disney. I love taking my kids to disney. the look on their faces when they go on their favorite rides or meet their fav. characters is priceless. And not everything about our trip was horrible…. i was just really disappointed. about a lot of things. I feel like every year we go… disney is just downgraded a little more. Its such a machine and so scheduled and i see the people working their more and more unhappy. Watching the disney promo video on the way to the airport, which is all about the exceptional disney service and experience… all i was thinking about was how this was the first time i was every happy to leave a place that was sunny and 84 outside to go to back home to 19 degree cold weather.

So sorry about your experience. The boat issue is weird, they should have had boats out and ready! Did you use the new fast pass system? More and more people are commenting on problems with their trips recently!

 

[Missyrose]

Sorry you encountered so many problems on this trip. Not to excuse the CMs, but Disney is going through a major transition period with the new NextGen system and the poor CMs at the resorts and parks are taking the brunt of guests' frustration. So even the most chipper of CMs can be a bit worn down at the moment.

 

[magicaldisney]

We just got back last weekend from our annual November trip. I will say I agree with you. This was our most disappointing trip. Service at all of our table service reservations was very slow to non existent. More than half of our photopass pictures are not centered and blurry. Busing, boats and monorail were horrible. Other people in general were rude to others around them and most of the time wouldn't even listen to CMs. I actually felt very bad for the CMs and many of them were new and in training.

All of this being said, we did not let it ruin our trip. We are DVC members and will continue to go to Disney for many many years to come. We take the bad with the good and the good always outweighs the bad in our opinion.

 

[irishmom58]

Just got back last night from a week at Disney World with husband, daughter, son in law and 3 yr old granddaughter. It was a wonderful trip, we had magic bands, stayed on property -Fort Wilderness cabins, utilized Disney transport to/from airport and check in. Had never stayed at Fort Wilderness but thought it would be a better choice than adjoining rooms- type accomodations. It was spacious, and afforded ease in packing lunch/snacks for day and breakfast/coffee in the morning. I packed wine in suitcase so had a nice vintage after the day's events!
We hit Magic Kingdom Tues and Wed so little one could see all her princesses. We booked our fast passess online with the app the night before and made changes on the fly as need be during the day. We didn't do the golf cart rental, and frankly is not needed - the shuttle worked fine within the resort. We took the boat to Magic Kingdom the first day and second day mixed it up with monorail via Contemporary Resort. Loved the new areas to meet the princesses, the cast members were awesome. The princesses spend personal time with the children, interact with them, Rapunzel even danced with our little one.
Day 3 we went to Animal Kingdom - little grandaughter was a tad frightened at the start of Nemo with the sharks and darker opening, so we exited to ride the triceratops'. She enjoyed the walk through where the exotic birds were and the jungle safari ride too. Met some characters too. Some disappointments with the cast member closing the rope right when we got there to meet Pocahontas - after running like crazy to make the deadline - we had 30 minutes to spare but she closed it in front of us. We pleaded but she refused. We ended up going back at 5:45 for the last attempt and the elderly gal this time minding the rope said' oh sure go in, the little princess needs to meet Pocahontas!"
All in all it was a great visit seeing it all through a 3 yr old's eyes, and adjusted on the fly to make it all work.
One thing I would change would be to not have Disney take the luggage when arriving at 5 pm - bags never got to cabin until 10pm, wished we would have just taken them ourselves, but wanted to lessen burden on our daughter and son in law for rangling suitcases and stroller.
Would probably not stay at Fort Wilderness cabins again - too many buses and shuttles - easier at Pop Music or other value resorts but lesson learned for next time.

 

[wiigirl]

Sorry you had so many problems....

 

[saskdw]

I can't even read your post with no paragraphs or sentence breaks.

 

[KrazeeK120]

OP, sorry to hear of your experience, but you do understand that Disney does not control whether or not you can check your luggage at the resort, correct? People are selected for random screening, etc., requiring them to bring their luggage with them to the airport. Disney did nothing to cause you to have to bring your luggage to the airport.

 

[DebbieB]

I can't even read your post with no paragraphs or sentence breaks.

When I quoted (post #4), I broke it up to make it easier.

 

[jaceraden]

I can understand your displeasure for a few of the reasons but mostly I shake my head. It's all about realistic expectations.

 

[Susiequsie60]

I can understand your displeasure for a few of the reasons but mostly I shake my head. It's all about realistic expectations.

Really? I'm going in February and while I'm trying to keep my expectations realistic, I guarantee you that finding a dirty diaper in my hotel room upon check in would probably put a pretty big damper on our entire vacation. That is totally unacceptable and gross beyond words.

Honestly, take the dirty diaper out of the picture, and I personally still understand why the OP would be disappointed. For us, WDW is a pretty darn expensive vacation. I expect not to be bypassed at check-in; I expect to have the person checking me in to know what he/she is doing; I expect the vast majority of the CM's I encounter to be happy and helpful. I have these expectations because I've been to WDW before and the reason I go back is because I've found it to be a wonderful vacation.

This wasn't their first trip either. They do have experiences to compare it to and that's what their expectations are based on.

I don't understand why you'd "shake your head" and question their expectations.

 

[Networth]

Chalk this one up to people complain about an experience 10 times more often than they praise one.

 

[Susiequsie60]

Why do people get so twisted when someone comes here and complains?

For me, I'm the kind of person who only focuses on WDW when I'm planning my trip. I'm not a 365-day a year kind of fan. That being said, it is my absolute favorite place to vacation. That's why we've been 5 or 6 times with my family and why my husband and I are spending our 25th wedding anniversary there in February.

I've NEVER had any serious complaints about my past trips. All I do is go on and on to people about what a wonderful place it is. I am, however, very concerned about my upcoming trip in February. And it doesn't have to do with what people are saying here. It has to do with the info I'm getting right on the WDW site. I just don't like some of their new policies and I don't think they're going to work that well for us. And there definitely does seem to be more complaining and negativism in general than in the past. There have been changes that I don't think I'm going to be crazy about, and it seems that others are not crazy about them either.

You are correct about people complaining more than praising. I think that's human nature. It's the reason that when my kids were young, I would always be sure to send an email or a note to tell their teachers and administrators if I thought they (the teachers) were doing a great job. Why I've contacted other parents to tell them if I saw their child do something extra nice or kind. I personally try to praise more than I complain. Actually, I've never contacted a school to complain about a teacher - even though they haven't all been so great. I'm a big believer in teaching my kids to get used to the fact that you need to adjust and get along in life. My point is, I'm not a whiner or a complainer!

But this is sort of the place to do complaining, isn't it? It's a public forum for people to gather information. I promise that after my trip in February, I'm coming back here to let you all know what I really thought - good and/or bad. If I'm wrong about FP+ I will be the first to admit it. Actually, nothing would make me happier.

I don't think people should be criticized for giving their honest opinion.

 

[Susiequsie60]

I probably should have used the word "discounted" rather than "criticized" in my last sentence above.

 

[GovieMom]

I can't even read your post with no paragraphs or sentence breaks.

Yeah, that was tough. Thanks to DebbieB for sectioning it off in her post; too bad I didn't know she did until I struggled through the original. Whew!

 

[chimommy]

Final note….. I didn't create the standard/expectations for disney…. disney itself advertises it exceptional experience and high standards. I can let issues/problems go….no trip is perfect and i wouldn't want to ruin my own vacation by being unhappy. however this trip we had multiple issues (many of which I did not write about). I don't blame the cm's for being unhappy…I often saw guest treating them awful. i myself work with the public and know how it can be, but i don't take my frustrations out on everyone around me. overall i feel something is obviously going on with the company to have so many employees seem miserable. (again, i did encounter some very helpful/kind/amazing cm's, but the majority did not fit this description) Something just seemed very off for disney world on this trip. I'm sure we will be back at some point. right now, i just don't have a desire to go. Im looking at maybe doing a disney cruise (because I've heard so many wonderful things about them and it seems a little more relaxed, which is probably better for my family at this point) thanks for all of your comments! (oh and we did use the magic bands and fast pass plus, i thought both were really nice)

 

[catheren]

WDW really has changed, grown too big too fast, in my opinion. CM's and guests are not happy as they were years ago. Guests from our experience are now very rude. Example, parents not requiring their children to behave at the resort or restaurants. But then again, it's everywhere, not just at WDW.

We now see children having meltdowns at resorts, (kicking the walls, screaming, going to other diners tables and touching diners food, going to empty tables and taking the tops off salt/pepper shakers -- meanwhile the parents ignore or yell at the CM)

I will say we vacation in Bermuda and Aruba a lot recently, and never see this type of behavior.

Really sad that the "happiest place on Earth", has changed from what I experienced as a child.