Mini Trip report May 8-12

[gatrbait]

Hi everyone,
I won't reiterate what the others have said with the exception of It Was Great!!
I just have a couple additions to the already mentioned. My son is a special needs young man (17) and I made it a point to book thru DCL so I could make sure any info I gave them about my son was passed onto the counselors. Well I made sure I was in the first wave of people getting onto the boat and went up to the Aloft and to my surprise the counselor knew nothing (I found out later that guest services had all the info it just never made it to childrens services). After that I just didn't feel comfortable sending him there so he never went. Later in the cruise I took him into Wavebands with me, and was kicked out. I had been told by a few of the DCL reps that as long as he was with me and he didn't drink he was allowed to go. More wrong info. All this broke my heart as my son will not be able to take advantage of the clubs again. I spoke with Guest Services and after being tossed back and forth between guest services and childrens services I finally got to speak with the guest services manager(Nicole) and she was very nice and sympathetic. She had a few Stitch items dropped off in our room and that was a great surprise to my son(he loves Stich).
Please don't get me wrong, I love Disney and we both enjoyed the cruise. My son didn't know what he missed and had a blast, we spent some very wonderful together time. What bothered me is I knew the difference, I knew he could of had more fun, made friends, and come back with even more memories.
One other quick note. The Discover Atlantis Excursion...when they say extensive walking they mean it!! It was very informative and enjoyable and I would recommend it to anyone. Just beware to those in wheelchairs and those taking strollers, a poor man in our group ended up climbing stairs carring his child in the stroller (I didn't witness any people in wheelchairs).
Hope this helps others in the future!! Feel free to ask any questions.

 

[rejobako]

gatrbait: sorry to hear about the hiccups in your cruise experience. As efficient as Disney is in most cases, I think the reliance upon a central computer data source for information means they don't really know how to handle some situations when they don't fit into the usual protocol. We used the new on-line source to pre-register our DD5 into the club before the cruise, but when my wife went to finalize the registration and pick up our pager they had no record of our chosen password (I couldn't remember it anyway at that point) so we made one up there. Well, the first time I tried to pick up DD5 from the club, somehow our original password had found its way back into the system, and when I gave the counselor the new one she just looked blankly at me. Took me about three minutes, but after getting my brain in gear I finally figured out the original one and got her checked out without having to go back to the stateroom to get my ID.

That was just a momentary annoyance for us; not like the more serious disappointment you experienced on behalf of your son. But the point remains, that as much as I appreciate Disney's attention to detail, they are not infallible. I always confirm, reconfirm, and reconfirm my reconfirmation whenever possible. And sometimes even that isn't going to be enough, but all we can do is our best.

 

[gatrbait]

Thank you for your comments. I am not sure that comfirming and reconfirming helped or didn't help. I must have called DCL a hundred and a half times about this and was completely reassured everytime. Nicole, the guest service manager told me they were going to turn the inceident over to the communications departments so the reservationist could get their stories straight. As I told them I have no problem with rules and policies, they just need to make them clear to the reps so they can make them clear to the guests.
I am still thinking about going again now that I know what to expect. The first day or so was a little overwhelming. Now I would like to go again to relax and enjoy.

 

[FFerret]

Yikes, sounds like they really did drop the ball there. I think you handled it splendidly. And I'm glad to hear your son enjoyed the Stitch extras. Hopefully the next trip will go more smoothly. DonaldFan kind of alluded to a hopeful future program targetted towards 18-20 yr olds...

Wanted to thank you for your reply PM.

I had a minor past experience with WDW Guest Services and special needs children. Thanks to DIS I knew about requesting a GAC rght at the start of our trip. I took my then five year old boy with PDD-NOS (autism) to the man behind the tall counter at the Magic Kingdom and asked for one. When I asked him "how does it work?" he beamed at me with this wondeful smile and siad, acidly, "You don't know how it works? You knew what to ask for." Grrrrrrrrrrrr..... As it turns out we wound up not using iit afterall, but it was great to have for any "just in cases."

Anyways it's really aweful the run around you got, especailly with all the pre-trip correspondence.you did to make sure that wouldn't happen.

 

[PrincessLuvers]

rejobako: What site did you use to pre-register for the clubs? Hadn't heard that one could do that! Thanks.

 

[rejobako]

PrincessL: Just before our cruise, disneycruise.com unveiled a feature allowing you to log-on with your confirmation # and birthdate and make Palo reservations and preregister for the kid's clubs. The site had some glitches, however, so I don't know if it's up and running currently. Worked out great for us, though

 

[spectrum-turbo]

What is a GAC? Ans since you now know , how does it work?

 

[FFerret]

What is a GAC? Ans since you now know , how does it work?

Cute

The GAC is a guest assistance card for people with disabilities. If you check out the disABILIITIES forum here at DIS it'll explain it in detail. It's often abused, which is probably why the CM was sardonic.