magical "nightmare"

[grammy3princesses]

My Magical Gathering started as a magical nightmare. The Disney people should really have done more of a pilot before putting this program into action.

We paid for preferred rooms at Fantasia, ground floor, crib and bed rails and refrigerators. After standing in line for 45 minutes, OOPS they put us on the second floor, Sorry we had a 75 yo and an 80yo, that's why we asked for ground floor. After another 30 minute wait, they put us in Dalmations. That was okay but they FORGOT to put in the frig, crib and bed rails. At this point our milk for the babies had already spoiled after sitting in the car. We started the check in at 3:15, we got to the rooms at 5:45, the refrig never showed until 7:00. They called at 9:00 to see if they had been delivered.

GRRRRRR. There was no apology, nothing.

My Daughter's room was left open by housekeeping, for who knows how long. It was left with the metal security bar out when we returned from the parks. She placed a phone call and they said "Check to see if anything is missing." Sorry that is not okay.....


I'll write more later but had to get this off my chest.

jo

 

[Blondie]

 

[helenk]

Sorry to hear about the bad start to your trip. I'm not sure though, what does it have to do with the magical gatherings?

 

[bytheblood]

Originally posted by grammy3princesses
My Magical Gathering started as a magical nightmare. The Disney people should really have done more of a pilot before putting this program into action.

Couldn't agree more. From the calls I have made to Disney to speak with a "Magical Gatherings Specialist", I learned that I know more about planning a Disney vacation than they do and that they cannot do any more for me and my reservations, PS, etc. than I can do for myself.

Bad idea on Disney's part. There is no incentive for any family to do this and it certainly does not save you any money or add anything special to your booking.

 

[Cris]

you cannot reserve a ground floor room, and they will not put the fridge and bedrails in the room until it is occupied.

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

Sorry about your Magical Gatherings.

Luggage Assistance will keep your perishables in a refrigerator for you until you check into your room.

There is no excuse for leaving a room open.

Lori

 

[grammy3princesses]

This has to do with Dissney doing "all the leg work" to make a large group go seamlessly trhough their plans......hah.

We were told when we made the gatherings reservation that our request would be honored.

At check in there is no "energy". They all moved at a slow and deliberate pace, even though the lines were going out the door.
And to top it all off, their computer system was down and everything was done via phone calls.....

The dining reservations were also not to our satisfaction. At HDD we were at two tables across the aisle, not even next to each other.

Oh well, we all survived but I would caution others who make MG reservations to check, check and re-check.

jo

 

[airjoe]

Any room requests are just that 'requests'.

Disney does everything they can to honor these requests but they can guarantee very little.

As far as separate tables for dining, again they cannot guarantee that these tables will be together or even close.

 

[*Fantasia*]

Originally posted by airjoe
Any room requests are just that 'requests'.

Disney does everything they can to honor these requests but they can guarantee very little.

We paid for preferred rooms at Fantasia, ground floor, crib and bed rails and refrigerators. After standing in line for 45 minutes, OOPS they put us on the second floor, Sorry we had a 75 yo and an 80yo, that's why we asked for ground floor. After another 30 minute wait, they put us in Dalmations.

They paid for preferred rooms at Fantasia... They got rooms at Dalamations. That sure was not a request. However, it would be nice for Disney to work a little harder for them to find a room on the ground floor due to ages of the party. They weren't too thoughtful about that. Sorry you didn't have a "magical" gathering.

 

[goofyernmost]

Originally posted by Cris
you cannot reserve a ground floor room, and they will not put the fridge and bedrails in the room until it is occupied.

What kind of bull is that....Good Grief, I can reserve a ground floor room at Econolodge and I expect to get it from them, AND pay a lot less. Refrigerators? Another already in the room item I got when I checked into my "off site" hotel at $29.00 per night.

When you consider how much "extra" you pay to be at a Disney Resort that is just not acceptable. When you reserve a spacific room because your plans somewhat hinge on that, in this case the elderly needing a ground floor, that is what you should get. Are they just promising stuff to everyone and then being discriminate about who gets it. Why do the people that are in the ground floor rooms there, have them. What did they do different, that allowed them to have a room that was promised to someone else.

This is not sitting well with me and just reinforces my lack of desire to stay on site. Just exactly what do I get for my money other than the satisfaction of knowing that I just contributed to the "richly deserved" bonus of M. Eisner.

Sorry, just one of my infrequent, anti-Disney, moments. I'll be OK!

 

[tamu91]

I totally agree with goofyernmost on this one
Disney can not guarantee room request and they do say so but under certain circumstances as this where elderly and children are involved, they should make every effort to accommodate the guest. No BUTs.
Disney experience for most of us is fantastic and memoriable. Sadly, there are exceptions to this rule even at WDW.

 

[kathylovesdisneyworl]

Originally posted by *Fantasia*
They paid for preferred rooms at Fantasia... They got rooms at Dalamations. That sure was not a request. However, it would be nice for Disney to work a little harder for them to find a room on the ground floor due to ages of the party. They weren't too thoughtful about that. Sorry you didn't have a "magical" gathering.

But the only reason they were in Dalmations was because they requested a ground floor room which they did not get. So they were moved from the preferred room at Fantasia because they were not able to honor a request.

I do wish the CM's at reservations that are making all of these promises would stop. It is really ashame when someone is told inaccurate information, it can put a real damper on someones trip.

 

[Cinderella89]

I think we've only had 1 bad experience. It was with a maid putting used tissue on our beds, but the managers that responded to the problem were great. And did you state the ages? Every time we check in we say we have a special needs child, and they're good with that...but maybe it's just at ASMovies and PC

 

[LIFERBABE]

That this was a Magical Gathering stay.

Everything I have read about MG's tells me that I am better off booking a group stay myself. We had a group in 2003 before MG and I booked our PS's thru Group DIning. We all sat together.

If they are not going to make the effort to room you together or dine you together, how magical is that?

There are also alot of restrictions MG puts on you and members of your gathering when it comes to making ressies. Once you are part of a MG, it is hard to get out as they take the names of all members in your party. Once you are assigned a number, everything has to be done under that number.

They show Grandparents in the commercials, so if you bring them along as part of your MG, they should expect to honor the request of ground floor accomodations for those that need them.

Yes Disney needs to do better when it comes to MG's. There should be some benefit to booking this way, but as far as I can tell, it is more punishment.

 

[lwestwise]

They will reserve a ground floor IF IT IS MEDICAL reasoning. I feel that a 75yo and an 80yo is Medical reasoning enough. It sounds like they were treated less than Magical. When this action has not been the norm in the past, it seems to be more frequent now a days. I hope these issues didn't ruin your vacation.

 

[grammy3princesses]

As far as going thru Disney MG coordinator the ONE and only ONE magical thing they did was:

Handled our Princess breakfast ressies and we were down iin front with a beautiful view of the kingdom. We were called about 3-5 minutes after arriving. The princesses were absolutely charming, sat at the table and had conversations with the kiddos and the NOT so kiddos. We ranged in age from not quite 2yo to 80 yo.

The memorable parts for my 80yo MIL were the breafast and her lunch at Rain Froest Cafe.

She and my 75yo mom both complained that this was not what they expected as part of the MG.

Oh well, its done. I will NEVER go with a group larger than 6-8 again. It was just too hard to coordinate. And by the way, 'Ohana did seat us all together. Not tables across the aisle from each other.

don't want to be a whiner and dampen someone else's ideas but we were told several times that these "requests" were all taken care of. The refrig and crib, bed rails I can understand waiting until we check in but a several hour wait was not acceptable.

jo in NY

 

[lwestwise]

We did our own Magical Gathering in 2003. We planned for a few things together with everyone MBYBQ and Princess Dinner at 1900 Park Fare. Other than that we all did our own things and gathered for dinner at the campground. We had 19 and that was a lot of people to make happy all at the same time, doing the same thing.
Sounds like your Princess Breakfast was a special time. I'm glad it was.

 

[Emmaline Lola]

You do request ground floor, non-smoking, near an elevator- but it is never a guarantee! No matter what you are told when you make your reservation.

Let's say the preferred 1st floor rooms in Fantasia were blocked correctly, but the guest staying in those rooms the night before, did not check out or one of the rooms had a toilet overflow. It is impossible to give you those rooms. I understand your desire for 1st floor, but there are elevators in the buildings too.

Sometimes things are beyond the control of the hotel and requests are not met. Hard to believe but very, very true!

I once had someone demand an ocean view room at the Dolphin front desk! I once was screamed at because we did not have a monorail! How on earth were they supposed to travel throughout WDW!

el

 

[airjoe]

Up until the last 5 years or so, I spent about 90% of my time traveling.

There is not one single hotel chain that will guarantee anything. Every request is just that a request.

Let me say that Disney goes far beyond most when it comes to honoring requests. With the amount of reservations that are processed daily it is impossible to keep everyone happy

The best way to get your requests is to keep them to a miminum, request only what you really need. Don't expect a quiet room poolside. If you want a water view room don't pay for standard view and request water view.

 

[disneyjunkie]

Eight of us went to Disney together last Easter. I booked us as a MG so that our rooms would be together. My son and I checked in on Friday and the other 6 checked in on Sunday. All three rooms were together.

When I booked I had the following request listed on our reservation.

Non smoking rooms
Connecting and adjoining rooms
50's section
4th floor
facing the pool

When we checked in we had non-smoking, connecting and adjoining rooms, on the 2nd floor of the 70s building, facing the playground.

They only thing they could guarantee were that our rooms would be together. Everything else was just request.