Need help for accident at MK last night....any help/suggestions on where to turn?

[Shannon D]

Hi there. I just returned from a lovely stay at the Port Orleans French Quarter. My sister, her husband and their 2 little ones (boy age 3 and infant daughter) flew in on Friday night and we had a wonderful weekend visiting with them. They are still down at Port Orleans French Quarter. They were visiting the Magic Kingdom last night and a VAT of popcorn oil that was on a wobbly transport was spilled over from a bridge on TOP of them, completing coating the 3 year old as well as most of my sister (over half of her, her entire left side) and much of the baby. Their personal stroller (double stroller, nice model) was ruined. The poor young cast member who had the accident was very apologetic and physically cleaned them up to the best of her ability (with rags on hand) before escorting them into someone's office.

To make a LONG story short, they were then treated rather poorly...no apology at all. She said the supervisor that eventually came in never even made eye contact with her! They were only given disney vouchers for their clothes and told to buy them on the way out...mind you this is very late at night (did I mention they were on their way out of the park when this incident occured b/c she puts the kids down early) with a 3 year old and an infant covered in popcorn grease. THEY WERENT EVEN OFFERED A RIDE BACK TO THE HOTEL. She boarded the bus and broke out in tears as popcorn oil spilled out when she folded up the stroller. So there is my sister telling other guests to please be careful and not slip on the oil. The bus driver was better to her than the 'suits' who provided the measly clothing compensation and a paltry $50 credit for the stroller (which doesn't begin to cover the damage) The bus driver at least acted sorry and compassionate and gave her loads of fast passes so they could enjoy their remaining park visits. They have been completely inconvenienced by this mishap to say the least.

I believe it was the bus driver who took the stroller and said that it would be cleaned up for them; but now they are without a stroller. You can imagine the work it took my sister (by the time they finally got back to their room) to get the exhausted kids "de-greased" and into bed.

Is there anyone there at Disney who could actually be of some assistance to her? I mean, all she wants is for what was ruined to be fairly replaced. She had some really cute and comfy brand new leather sandals that she splurged $50 on (they match all her outfits) that Disney says should be replaced with some Mickey shoes that she needs to track down while covered in grease making her way through the crowds??????

I don't get it. What happened to taking care of your GUESTS, Disney?
Does anyone have any idea who they could speak with to get some kind of assistance? Thank you for listening to this rant!

 

[tiggersmom2]

OMG! That is so horrible, I am speechless. Hugs to your sister's family I hope they get it worked out to their satisfaction.

 

[Nanu57v]

My parents had an incident while they were at Disney, not nearly as horrible as your sisters though. They talked to their resort manager about it (although it did take a while to get a response from a manager). If your sister's already left, I'd write a detailed letter to Disney about it. Maybe then someone who could properly apologize will compensate her. That's really awful!

 

[Boardwalk Tigger]

Thank god it wasn't HOT popcorn oil! I would write to Disney and let them know the details of your incident and they will probabvly compensate her for an additional out of pocket expenses.

 

[CarolMN]

Assuming your sister is still there, my advice is to ask for the POFQ manager and then ask him/her for the name of the MK manager. (Ideally, the resort manager will offer to put her in touch with the proper person. If not, your sister should ask the POFQ manager specifically to do that).

Then she can tell her story to the right person! Sounds to me like the "Supervisor" she talked to that night really didn't know what to do or was afraid of something.

Sure hope no one ended up with any burns from the oil.

Best wishes -

 

[trooper]

I can't believe you weren't treated better!! A quick call to a friend who works at one of the resorts got me this info.

You can write to:

WDW Guest Communications
P.O. Box 10040
Lake Buena Vista, Fl 32830

or E-Mail

wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

She said be as specific as you can and include names, descriptions, and times as much as you can.

 

[Gupsmom]

The best advice I can give is to complain while they are still down there. I think you get better results in person.

we had 2 days of very bad bus service on one of our trips. One day it was so bad that we gave up, hopped in our van and went to the mall instead of the park. When we got back we decided to mention this to the supervisor at BC. We didn't ask for any compensation and we were very nice. The manager gave us six 1 day UPH's. We couldn't believe it.

I think your sister's stroller should be cleaned or replaced along with something to cover either cleaning or replacing their clothes. I hope it works out for her...

Jess

 

[flyball]

This is an awful story. I would imagine your sister could talk to their resort manager for assistance on how to proceed. Hopefully they'll pay her family some attention and take care of them. What is it with Disney's "Stepfordian" response to these incidences? A few years back, my daughter and I were in one of the MK Indy race cars when, contrary to the many instructions to refrain from doing so, somebody slammed into the back of our car as we were coming to a stop at the end of the ride. My then 8-year old daughter hit her lip against something on the car so hard, that she immediately started profusely bleeding. I was panicked (but didn't let on to my daughter) because I couldn't tell where she had been injured (too much blood). One of the CMs took a very nonchalant approach to escorting us to the first aid center so she could be cleaned up and bandaged, but nothing else was done. I realize they didn't want to panic my daughter, but there was no sense of urgency and nothing was done to reprimand the guest that had caused the injury. Don't get me wrong, I love Disney, but their approach to mishaps is a little scary.

 

[Shannon D]

Yes, that was the first thing I asked her last night...was it HOT oil?!! She was calm though, so I figured no. (she had called me on her cel phone while she was waiting for them to write up the vouchers)

She assured me that they were physically OK. I thought to tell her to ask for a ride back to the hotel, but we got sidetracked talking about how my nephew was upset that his popsicle was ruined (he was enjoying a popsicle when the oil dumped on him)

Anyway, I guess I assumed that they would at least give her a ride.

Today she told me that my nephew was shivering on that bus ride home last night (even though she had changed him his skin was still damp from the oil coating) AND she had to take him barefoot into a public bathroom (after accident/while waiting to be 'compensated' before new shoes)...he had been sloshing around in those oily shoes!
Isn't that rich?
argh.

 

[Janemoj]

My son burnt both his hands on a pavement light at MGM. They gave him a Mickey Mouse soft toy in first aid, and were very nice to us but when I asked to see the duty manager (to make sure the pavement was made safe) he was hardly interested. It was only when I said I was just popping back to take some photos of it for my solicitor that they started showing any interest at all. Please don't give up. You do have 'rights' even in Disney. I'm still sorry I didn't fight a bit more, but at the time we were all so distressed.

 

[liznboys]

OMG what a horrible incident!! I hope they get what they deserve... I can't believe Disney didn't do more right away!!!

 

[sotoalf]

That is appalling. Tell your sister to speak to the Port Orleans manager right away. He/she will be agle to contact a MK manager.

 

[Boardwalk Tigger]

If your sister is still down there she should resolve this before she leaves. I agree with other poster , start with resort manager to get appropriate contact. MAKE SURE the children did not inhale( breathe in) any of the oil. I saw a story about a child who died after he inhaled baby oil( not at disney).

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Thank goodness it was not hot oil. As I was reading I was almost afraid to continue, fearing the worst.

Does she have receits for her new shoes and the stroller? If so and they are still there you could fax them to her. It is such a shame that Disney missed the opportunity to "do the right thing" last night. She should certainly have expected to have the clothing and stroller cleaned or replaced and a ride back to the hotel and maybe even a new popcycle! I hope the rest of the trip is a good one!

 

[lwestwise]

Your sister doesn't have to replace their clothes and shoes with DISNEY merchandise. If she isn't reimbursed to her satisfaction while there, she should replace the items and send copies of the bill to them along with her letter. However, I agree that the best time to fix the situation is while she is still there. She should also be compensated for the time away from her vacation to take care of the matter.
Good luck to her.

I love Disney, but sometimes you have to interact with some not so Magical CM's. For all of our sakes, let's hope she gets things taken care of to her (and our) satisfaction.

Keep us posted.

Linda

 

[johnnyr]

This is sad. I know what they are feeling. My DD cut her foot on a sharp broken piece of plastic on the Poly Volcano pool. We brought it to the Lifegard's attention, and she acted as if we were a bother. All we asked was that something was done so another guest would not get hurt. We had to tell three other CM's before they actually did something. I've seen this type of treatment many times with people in distress. No one wants to get involved to help. It's not the same world as it was in 1971 when they opened.

 

[DeeCeeSW]

WDW has a "Guest Claims Department" where you can speak to people whose job it is to deal with incidents such as this. My son fell at the Poly 2 years ago and chipped his front tooth--we spoke with someone at the resort and then Guest Claims. Two years later we had a different type of incident at an MGM restaurant. We spoke with the management at the restaurant and were then directed to WDW Guest Claims. I am not allowed to discuss either of these incidents, so please don't ask me to elaborate...

If you can get a main telephone number to MK, all you need to do is ask them to transfer you to Guest Claims.

 

[DeeCeeSW]

WDW has a "Guest Claims Department" where you can speak to people whose job it is to deal with incidents such as this. My son was involved in a minor incident at the Poly 2 years ago--we spoke with someone at the resort and then Guest Claims. Two years later we had a different type of incident at an MGM restaurant. We spoke with the management at the restaurant and were then directed to WDW Guest Claims. The Poly incident was reported while at WDW and we got in touch with Guest Claims after our trip. It would be best to have this incident reported before the trip is over, but not completely necessary. BTW, I am not allowed to discuss either of these incidents in detail, so please don't ask me to elaborate...

Have your sister call the front desk at POR and have them transfer her to MK Guest Claims Dept., where she can explain the incident in detail, including how poorly she was treated. I am almost certain that they will offer her assistance.

 

[DeeCeeSW]

Can't delete the first one--here's the number to Guest Claims (407) 397-6697. Hope this helps.

 

[Shannon D]

Thank you for your help, I believe they have been instructed to contact that claims department.
Thanks.