Hi All,
Just got back today from a wonderful vacation at Disney staying at Pop Century. We had a great timeLoved Star Wars weekend
This morning was frustrating though, you know how you are bumming anway because you are leaving and headed back to reality. Our flights were at 9:50am so I knew when I booked that our Magical Express back to the airport would be in the 6am/7am time frame. We got our envelope on the door a day prior with 6:45am pick up.
We complete our airline check-in at 6:15, grab a quick cup of coffee and are at the bus pick-up area at 6.30am. We were told by the bellman at Airline check in that the 6:15am bus is running late and that the two buses (6.15am and 6.45am) would arrive together.
At 6.40am the 6:15am bus arrives and loads the 6.15am passengers, one of the other couples waiting asks the driver if he is taking the 6.45am passengers as well. The driver informed those waiting that he could only take the 6.15 passengers. No problem we understand and anyway the 6.45 bus should be arriving soon based on what as the bellman had stated at our airline check-in.
7:00am rolls around and a non-uniformed (shirt and slacks) Disney manager comes out and asks if anyone waiting was taking an international flight. The one family who were traveling internationally were put into a taxi to the Airport. No other information was provided to anyone else in the bus pick-up area. We start to get worried and my DH walks over to talk to this Disney manager who had walked back to the hotel enterance. He told DH our bus would be there shortly, he'd called the company. We relayed this information to some of the others waiting with us.
We waited some more and still no bus. DH talks to the Disney guy again and this time the converstation is it's not Disney's fault it's the contracted company and the manager kinda shrugs his shoulders. Information is still only provided to those who walk back to the hotel enterance and ask. Finally the 7.15am bus arrives at 7.35am and they manange to load everyone on to the one bus. The bus driver stated that there were not enough Magical Express buses available to be dispatched this morning and there never was 6.45am bus dispatched. He also stated that the three hours departure from the hotel to is account for problems.
So I have two main problems with what happened this morning:
1. I book my vacation with Disney and if they choose to contract out a service they advertise as a benefit they should not point fingers at each other when it goes wrong. I have written enough contracts to know you can add in avenues to deal with contigencies and problems. I could understand if there was a sudden mechanical failure or traffic problem this morning but this was an issue that could have been predicted or was certainly known about prior to 6:00am this morning. If this was in fact a problem with not enough Magical Expess busses being available this morning - who's fault is that Mears or Disney?
2. I fulfilled my part of the contract I had with Disney and Magical Express this morning by being at the bus pick-up 15 minutes before my scheduled departure time. This was not an accident, bus broke down on the way or traffic back up. My concern is why is there no consistent communication avenue/tool between Mears, who provide the Magical Express transportation, and someone at the hotel who can relay reliable accurate information to those waiting? I can appreaciate that problems can and will occur but why is there not someone who could come out and tell us exactly what was going on and what was being done to get us to the airport and when. Instead if fingers being pointed and everyone disowning the problem? That could be written into any contract.
Anyhoo just a small bump in what was a great vacation. We were just glad that security wasn't backed up at the Airport this morning
I didn't mean to imply that, I said "it's possible if...." I asked you about the details of the interaction that is the primary basis for most of your complaint and this entire thread. You say they pointed fingers, but didn't really detail how, or the context in which any statements like that were made.
He knew something was wrong for them....which is why he wished them away. The fact that they only asked about international folks, and knew others were there but didn't ask about them or put them into a taxi, to me says they realize we're here but don't feel this will affect us. And you already knew about the 6:15 and 6:45 buses at that point according to your OP. You said that the luggage people already told you this.
Yes, but perhaps the first person didn't really know this, or simply didn't want to tell you the nitty-gritty details that really don't affect you anyway. His job was to get you to the airport, not reveal the inner workings of Mears and DME that morning, regardless of your curiosity.
Everyone would love more of everything. Sometimes that's just not possible. Based on the incredible track record of DME, I'm willing to give them some slack. I think the one thing they could have done here is simply say "don't worry, everything will be fine" to reassure guests that didn't seem to have faith in them. Again, perhaps a training thing especially for some who don't deal directly with the public quite as much.
You said that he told you they were coming shortly. So you DID have a way of knowing that a bus was coming, just not exactly when...perhaps he didn't know exactly.I guess using your logic if there seems to be a problem, and the information we were given was incorrect, then we should just have sat there waiting for 50 minutes to see if it would correct itself. We had no way of knowing when a bus that could take us would arrive and what we had been told twice was wrong. We should have no expectation of being updated on the situation.
I am not going to defend each one of my points here. I have been using DME since it began. There is no bigger Disney lover than I. BUT....MCO officialy recommends that you get there 2 hrs prior to flight time. It is up to us to get there in time.And they got the OP there in time.
If they made the flight, and didn't have any rush through the airport....how did they drop the ball?
Actually, that's exactly what it is. They did exactly what they were supposed to do, which is get the OP to the airport for their flight. Instead of getting them there ridiculously early like normal, they ate into their time buffer and got them there closer to a normal, or even a no-time-to-spare arrival, but they still got there on time.......right?
Soooo.....if there was an accident or a traffic jam or who knows what else that could cause the exact same situation...wouldn't that also cause the exact same stress? Even if Disney had nothing to do with it? Who would be dropping the ball then? Whose forum would there be a complaint on?
Was there a rush to get to a flight? I tried to look at every post from the OP, and the answer to that question still alludes me. How "late" was the OP? From the description it seems about 50 minutes late from being 2 hours early....so....basically on time.
You did? DME's main purpose is to get you to the airport 2 hours prior? That's their "promise"? Where is it stated that is their "promise"?
Why? You don't believe that the very reason they pick you up very early is because sometimes things happen and they want lots of extra time just in case? You tell Disney your flight time, they do the rest. THEY decide how early to get you, and how to plan for contingencies. The contingencies worked perfectly. Good for Disney! The only problem being complained out in the OP is the mixed....not lack of....but mixed communication. The luggage check in told them they were running late that day. They acknowledged that they knew about the issues. You have a reservation. It has a bar code. They know who has and who has not yet been picked up. They even asked about international travelers and put them in a cab....another sign that there were on top of things.
I agree with both statements. You don't need that stress, and there is a problem. But ultimately it wasn't a problem that caused a problem for YOU, or in this case the OP. It was Disney's problem.....not yours. You or the OP may have had stress because they didn't trust Disney to get you/them there after they weren't there 3 hours early, but that stress turned out to be unjustified, at least according to the story so far. If someone had to run through an airport or missed a flight, I would understand the logic for this thread.
I'm curious, if you had a 2 hour layover, and the first plane was late for (insert a reason here), and that 2 hour layover turned into a 1 hour layover, and you still made your connecting flight with no issues, would you be demanding that hour of your life back that you were "promised"? Just askin'.
Yep, they would say...'But hey...Mickey tried putting it out himself. How wonderful. What great service!!!'
Yup exactly. I believe that Disney is the largest single site employer in the country (maybe even the world). It's unrealistic to thing that everything will go smoothly all the time. Things happen, people have bad days, some CM's may be rude. It's how Disney deals with these situations that counts. Sometimes they drop the ball (as it seems they might have done in this case) but I'd like to think that 99% of the time the fix the things that went wrong.
