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

[Madi100]

But if the CM in question simply lost their grip -- if they tripped, or sneezed and lost their grip on the oil container -- then it's a true accident that can't really be blamed on anyone. Accidents happen.

Accidents do happen, but they still have to be paid for. It might not have happened intentionally, but the CM still spilled oil, and it is the CM's fault that the family is now covered in it, accident or not. Because that CM is on the clock, it is the company's responsibility.

I feel so bad that this had to happen on their vacation. For a lot of people, Disney is a one time thing. I know that we have a sue happy society. Me personally, I'd be more apt to make a stink if Disney treated me with the lack of hospitality that they are giving this family. If Disney told me they were going to give me reimburse me for the cost of items, and to also maybe do something a little special for the horrid mess it caused, I'd be fine. You know, there is no reason they couldn't give them a night free on their bill or arrnage for a special charcter meal to be had. And, for those kids I've heard many a story where Disney has given free merchandise. Why not have a stuffed Mickey waiting in the room. SOMETHING that shows that Disney cares.

 

[zakatak]

Back in October 2002 my son (then 6) was playing with some other children in AK on the rope showers over by the bar. We were waiting for the parade, it was hot and all the kids were having fun. Well, some decided to play "Tarzan" on the ropes and sure enough, when my son did it, he slipped off on the upswing and landed on the concrete on his head. It was one of those things that I saw but was too slow to do anything about (I was across the path in the shade with his sleeping sisters, dh was shopping). Needless to say, he was pretty banged up, both his arm and his head. When my dh came back (about 5 minutes later) we rushed him to the First Aid Station. At this point he was a bit confused, cold and wet. The nurse was fantastic. She bandaged his arm, cleaned his head and checked for a concussion. They offered us an ambulance ride to the hospital if we felt he needed it. We were headed back to the resort anyways so we said we would watch him there while he rested. She gave us a slip for new shorts and a new shirt. We did get him a new shirt on the way out, but his shorts were fine... no need for new shorts.

Anyways, Disney never followed up on it (no need to), but I did notice that in our last trips since then (July 2003, Feb 2004 & April 2004) that those ropes are now tied up onto the shower heads and are unusable. That was what I was hoping for. Who knows how many kids before or after my son played "Tarzan" but at least it is taken care of now.

Good luck to the family with the oil accident. I would think they would replace the stroller at full value and add in shoes too.

 

[Chicago526]

Try this:

Michael Eisner
Chairman and CEO
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank CA 91521-4873

Paul Pressler
Chairman and Presient
Walt Disney Parks & Resorts
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-4873

Al Weiss
President
The Walt Disney World Resort
P.O. Box 10040
Lake Buena Vista FL 32830

 

[WDSearcher]

Originally posted by lfontaine
You're telling me that I should not have sent the email because I do not have first hand knowledge of the incident. But you are passing judgement on the email I sent without having first hand knowldedge of it. Isn't that hypocritical.......

No, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that none of us were THERE. Not even the OP has the full story. So to write a long e-mail that likely had a frustrated or angry tone to it regarding a situation that you know about second or third hand and don't have all the facts on is probably not the best way to go if you want something to be taken care of.

Something along the lines of: "I read on the Disboards about an incident that happened at MK last night where a vat of popcorn oil was apparently spilled on a guest. It didn't appear that the guest was very well taken care of by Disney, and I was disappointed to hear of that. I hope that you will forward my concern to the proper folks in Food & Beverage at MK so that they can take another look at the situation. It's getting a lot of play on the bulletin boards right now, and I know we'd all like to hear that it came to a satisfactory conclusion. Please don't make me lose my faith in the Disney magic as it relates to caring for Guests!" would, in my opinion, be far more direct and get a far swifter reaction. It lets the person reading the e-mail know that there's a situation that's being talked about on the boards that could damage Disney's reputation in peoples' eyes, but it says it in one paragraph without getting emotional or angry or upset. Because, after all, the person who reads and then routes your e-mail is not likely to be the person who caused the accident or the one who treated the OP's family badly.

And I didn't pass judgement on the content of your e-mail, but was reacting instead to what you'd said about it yourself. You mentioned it was a VERY LONG e-mail -- the capital emphasis being yours -- which certainly seemed to indicate that it was a long somewhat harsh message that took Disney to task for not taking care of the people in question. If I'm wrong about that, and it didn't have that tone at all, then I apologize.

 

[WDSearcher]

Originally posted by Chicago526


Try this:

Michael Eisner
Chairman and CEO
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank CA 91521-4873

Paul Pressler
Chairman and Presient
Walt Disney Parks & Resorts
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-4873

Al Weiss
President
The Walt Disney World Resort
P.O. Box 10040
Lake Buena Vista FL 32830

Actually ... Paul Pressler has been gone from the Disney Company for some time. He heads up The Gap now. In his place is Matt Ouimet. But of those three addresses, Al Weiss will be the most pertinent for something that happened at WDW.

 

[WDSearcher]

Originally posted by ehsween
Even if it was an "accident" caused by a cast member, then Disney is still responsible (at fault).

It is the same as a car accident for example. If I am driving down the road and my hands accidently slip off the wheel because I 'sneezed' and that caused me to cross the center line and strike another vehicle or cross the white line by the shoulder of the road and strike a pedestrian, then even though it's an accident, it's still me that is at fault and I am liable. Now do you see why Disney is still liable? It was their employee or their oil transportation process that caused the accident.

I know that Disney is still liable. But the Company, as a whole, is not at fault if it was truly an accident. There's a difference between fault and liability. But, also, in your car accident scenario, you as the driver are at fault, but the company that made the car is not. In that case, the car company is not even liable. In the popcorn oil case, if it was an accident, then the CM is, technically, at fault, but Disney would be liable.

 

[DizBelle]

Originally posted by WDSearcher
So to write a long e-mail that likely had a frustrated or angry tone to it regarding a situation that you know about second or third hand and don't have all the facts on is probably not the best way to go if you want something to be taken care of.

You have no idea how my email was written. Why are you making assumptions about it? Why do you think it had an angry or frustrated tone?

Originally posted by WDSearcher
And I didn't pass judgement on the content of your e-mail, but was reacting instead to what you'd said about it yourself. You mentioned it was a VERY LONG e-mail -- the capital emphasis being yours -- which certainly seemed to indicate that it was a long somewhat harsh message that took Disney to task for not taking care of the people in question.

Passing judgement is exactly what you did in your prior post and is also what you are doing in this post. Long does not mean harsh. "Long" doesn't indicate anything except "long". Not harsh, not angry, not frustrated, not mean. For some reason you are assuming that I wrote a mean email and I don't know why....

 

[Shannon D]

I appreciate the addresses and info. I was pretty sure Al Weiss would be the person for them to contact if need be (that is, if they didn't get their clothing/shoes/stroller properly compensated.)
Thanks for posting the address.

I haven't spoken to my sister yet today so I'm hoping that means they are now back to enjoying their vacation. I hope so. And I hope to soon report a happy ending to this "sticky" situation
Thanks to all for the support and kind words.

 

[WDSearcher]

Originally posted by Madi100
Me personally, I'd be more apt to make a stink if Disney treated me with the lack of hospitality that they are giving this family. If Disney told me they were going to give me reimburse me for the cost of items, and to also maybe do something a little special for the horrid mess it caused, I'd be fine. You know, there is no reason they couldn't give them a night free on their bill or arrnage for a special charcter meal to be had. And, for those kids I've heard many a story where Disney has given free merchandise. Why not have a stuffed Mickey waiting in the room. SOMETHING that shows that Disney cares.

Exactly! As I said earlier, it's more about the reaction to the accident than about the accident itself. Disney needed to treat this family better. Of course ... we haven't had an update from the OP in a while. It may HAVE been taken care of already. Here's hoping!

 

[WDSearcher]

Originally posted by lfontaine
You have no idea how my email was written. Why are you making assumptions about it? Why do you think it had an angry or frustrated tone?

Look, I'm sorry. I was reading the tone of your e-mails on the subject, and you seemed very upset and mad about it all. You were upset with Disney for how it was handled and mad that these folks weren't treated better. That led me to believe that the e-mail was probably written in the same tone. As I said, if I am wrong about that, then I apologize.

 

[DizBelle]

Originally posted by WDSearcher
Look, I'm sorry. I was reading the tone of your e-mails on the subject, and you seemed very upset and mad about it all. You were upset with Disney for how it was handled and mad that these folks weren't treated better. That led me to believe that the e-mail was probably written in the same tone. As I said, if I am wrong about that, then I apologize.

I'm way off topic now but I am (in general) curious about human nature. And if I learn more about it, maybe I will be better able to work with it.

I'm not angry. I never really was. At this point I'm just curious about what brought you to your conclusions about me and my email. The only thing I've said so far about the popcorn oil incident itself is:

"I sent an email to WDW telling them that I don't think they did enough and asked them to make it right for the popcorn-oil-family. It was a VERY LONG email."

This doesn't say much about my thoughts about the incident except that I sent an email, it was long, and that I thought that what I was told Disney did in response was not enough.

Maybe in my attempt to keep the post brief, I didn't convey enough information about my intentions.

Every subsequent post of mine in this thread was in direct response to something you posted about what you thought my email was like. I think this is where you may be getting the "seemed very upset and mad about it all" vibe.

So, do you think that you transferred my perceived anger about your responses to my posts to the popcorn oil incident itself?

What could I have done differently in my original post about sending an email to have kept you from going down that path in the first place?

I truly want to know to help make more peaceful and happier threads. After all, Disney is a happy place and I want to be happy reading these threads.

 

[kmcdougan]

I have read this entire thread, and have been keeping up with it all day. From what I have read so far, I have made the following determination: the discussion between lfontaine and WDSearcher boils down to the usual email/written post situation - text can only convey som much of a person's message, and, when it is either misinterpreted, not articulated fully, or any other of a myriad of related text-only problems, then someone will get their feelings hurt. That, for what it's worth, is my take on that.

As far as the original intent of this thread, someone's earlier statement that Disney is "liable" and the CM would be "at fault" is correct, at least as far as Louisiana law would be applied to the situation (yes, we are dealing with Florida, but I am not a Florida lawyer and cannot speak to Florida law - I can speak to Louisiana, though). The company has vicarious liability for acts that are undertaken by the employee, especially when those acts are done in the normal course and scope of employment, as it appears from the facts presented here. Now, whether or not the manufacturer of the cart would have any share of the liability would be an issue based on whether the cart suffered from a manufacturing defect or if there was a warning on it that was ignored. Road repair is another issue, but that falls on Disney, unless they contracted out the repairs and the repairs themselves were the problem.

All in all it boils down to the one thing that seems to be at the heart of this thread: Customer Service. Whatever the compensation, something more than just a voucher for clothing should have been done, including getting those folks to someplace to change clothes in relative privacy (whether that was getting them to a private area or getting them back to their room) with minimul further inconvenience, and with minimal intrusin on others at the park/resort. This sort of failure in the customer service arena is widespread, and not just at Disney (therefore, while Mr. Eisner may be to blame for lots of things, this sort of thing is not totally his fault). The failure, in my opinion stems from people who want instant gratification, people of the "me" generation who don't seem to care much about the opinions/feelings of others (in a common courtesy kind of way), sensationalist media (who glorify trivial instances and make news all about ratings and what sells), and the over litigiousness of society - ie. - the television lawyers ("hurt in a wreck, call me, I'll get youa check!"). All of these are putting things more into the "blame throwing" nature of our society today (don't blame me - someone else is to blame). I'm not saying that this family had any control over the event. Far from it. They are indeed the victim. However, because of the above, companies in general are reluctant to fix problems when they arise - because if they do, they may be admitting fault (which can lead to an admission of liability) and open themselves up to large awards in court.

I am sorry for the length of this post, however, I wanted to try to defuse some of the situation and hopefully shed some light on a few things (while venting some of my gripes about society in general). Thanks for your patience.

 

[WDSearcher]

Originally posted by lfontaine
I'm way off topic now but I am (in general) curious about human nature. And if I learn more about it, maybe I will be better able to work with it.

Not wishing to take this further off topic , I've pm'd you a response.

 

[Maridw]

kmcdougan - Amen to that. I read just about all of the threads, except where it got a bit off topic and into a big debate, and I agree.

Customer Service is something that Disney is usually noted for as going above and sometimes beyond. When something like this happens then you begin to wonder who dropped the ball and why.

ShannonD - I hope your sister finally gets some kind of satisfaction. I have only ever had one bad experience at WDW in all the times I have been. My family went to the Polynesian Revue with my best friend and her son. We shared a table with another family who were seated in front of us. Once the show started, the woman in front of me put her child in her lap (standing) and so I could not see. We spoke to a CM and they in turn told the woman to have her child in a seat by themselves. She moved to the other side of table and her child remained in the seat in front of me, but was kneeling in the chair and constantly moving around. We again said something to the CM and even asked if we could be moved and they said they could not do that even though there were tables a little further back with a clearer view that were empty. When the show ended my DH spoke to a Supervisor and the only thing they would do was provide me with a ticket to the next days show by myself. Since we were leaving the next day, that was not an option. When we returned home, my DH wrote a letter to Disney and NEVER heard anything from them at all. Needless to say we never did the Polynesian Revue again.
When we had a problem with our room last year they attempted to fix the problem and when that did not work, they moved us to another room, which ended up being a better room all round.

 

[DznyDreams]

Originally posted by Shannon D
I haven't spoken to my sister yet today so I'm hoping that means they are now back to enjoying their vacation. I hope so. And I hope to soon report a happy ending to this "sticky" situation
Thanks to all for the support and kind words.

YES! I also hope they are back to enjoying their trip!

You can certainly add me to the list of folks who want to see this issue with your sister and her family resolved in a satisfactory manner. Please do continue to keep us posted.

 

[Shannon D]

Well, I just got off the phone with my sister.
She was on her cel and it kept cutting out but I do understand that the incident occured just past the Sleepy Hollow refreshment stand as they were headed toward the exits. (Cindy Castle on their left side) How exactly everything happened, I'm still not clear about. I believe she said that the cart was being transported alongside them, so perhaps I misunderstood about it coming from above them. (?)
I'm not so sure she is even sure exactly how it happened. I get the idea that she wasn't aware of the cart before it tipped. And almost 48 hours later, I"m sure she's probably sick of telling the story, lol

Sis and family did board a bus this morning to try to enjoy some park time and lo and behold, they fold up the "good as new" stroller and OIL IS STILL DRIPPING OUT OF IT!

Anyway, she just sounds down in the dumps. They have gotten a lot of "attitude" from the folks they have dealt with. Food n Beverage from the MK had contacted Guest Claims with their side of the story first...they claim that my sister received her vouchers and compensation and was "perfectly happy when she left their offices. "
HA
That is because she didn't throw a major tantrum. She had spent a long time in the office and it was getting late. She still had my 3 year old nephew with her and wasn't going to make a bigger scene with him. Plus, it just isn't her style.

To quote my sister, "I was dealing with Disney. I thought if I was kind and pleasant and behaved in a calm professional manner I would be treated likewise. Instead, EVERYONE we have dealt with has gone on the immediate defense"

However, on a brighter note, I do believe that the claims department sounds like they will be working with her on replacement costs of their clothes, shoes and I assume their stroller. If I understand correctly (again, she was cutting out) they asked for receipts.

Sis and family had to cut their park touring time short today because she had a migraine come on.
sigh.

Thanks again for all the good thoughts and well wishes.
For those of you getting ready to visit WDW....save yourself a major headache and please stay clear of the popcorn vats!

 

[Shannon D]

Okay, I spoke to her again (on a regular phone) and I do have some good news to report.

The manager at POFQ today was so nice to my sister. (the one they spoke to yesterday was not)
He had someone drive them over to Downtown Disney and told them if they found comparable shoes/clothes there that he would pay for them. They shopped for a bit but with her headache, they didn't stay long and ended up coming back to the hotel to rest.
But the gesture really cheered them up.
And I do believe the claims department will take care of them and I'm sure they won't be able to discuss it. But at least it sounds promising.

 

[Sammie]

Originally posted by lfontaine
I'm way off topic now but I am (in general) curious about human nature. And if I learn more about it, maybe I will be better able to work with it.

I'm not angry. I never really was. At this point I'm just curious about what brought you to your conclusions about me and my email. The only thing I've said so far about the popcorn oil incident itself is:

"I sent an email to WDW telling them that I don't think they did enough and asked them to make it right for the popcorn-oil-family. It was a VERY LONG email."

This doesn't say much about my thoughts about the incident except that I sent an email, it was long, and that I thought that what I was told Disney did in response was not enough.

Maybe in my attempt to keep the post brief, I didn't convey enough information about my intentions.

Every subsequent post of mine in this thread was in direct response to something you posted about what you thought my email was like. I think this is where you may be getting the "seemed very upset and mad about it all" vibe.

So, do you think that you transferred my perceived anger about your responses to my posts to the popcorn oil incident itself?

What could I have done differently in my original post about sending an email to have kept you from going down that path in the first place?

I truly want to know to help make more peaceful and happier threads. After all, Disney is a happy place and I want to be happy reading these threads.

Basically what WDSearcher is stating, and (please Shannon this is not directed at you or this situation, but an example). You were not there, you "don't" know what happened. You have written an email to Disney voicing your disappointment in the way something was handled that you personally have no first hand knowledge off. You don't personally know what they did or did not do, unless you know these people personally.

I have seen people, again not Shannon, post accounts of what they said happened when they were at Disney. They got several others on the board all upset over the situation. Those upset were ready to storm the Magic Kingdom over this situation. The thing is it was all hearsay and did not happen exactly as protrayed.

I am glad the manager at POFQ is being considerate. Sometimes the proper channels do move very slowly. And sadly as WDSearcher said, the good ones, Shannon's sister, pay for the misdeeds of others. I witnessed a lady that had one too many drinks one night, stumble and fall over her own 2 feet on the way to her room in front of the Beach Club. She looked up at her escort and said well this ought to be good for a few park passes.

 

[seashoreCM]

(Off topic)
(At the Polynesian Revue)
>>> A child was continually getting up and blocking the view... There were empty tables with a better view...

Why not use self-help and walk over to the empty space yourself without asking?

>>> apparently had too many drinks and apparently for that reason stumbled and fell...

I would feel free to write and give my opinion that Disney was not at fault, also, if I witnessed an incident.

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[Maleficent2]

what a terrible thing to happen to them at WDW!And to have to deal with on vacation no wonder she got a migraine.

I do truly hope WDW makes it right.

Was the CM at POFQ Stan by any chance? He was great with our recent trip. Long story and off this topic.


I really think they dropped the ball with this one so far. If they had handled it differently from the start your sister and her family would have a better op of WDW management now Management is just scrambling to make up for the second wrong.

1.They should have offered them a way to get cleaned up better there.
2. Once they were as clean as possible without the aid of a shower and soap they should have provided at least clean clothes for the children and tshirts for the adults.
3.A ride back to POFQ and yes WDW does have vans that can transport guests a CM would not have to use their personal car. And had the children checked out for possible oil inhalation. This can be a very serious matter.
4.Passes for the Parks for the inconvience to follow(I think these were offered they should have acccepted but I know why she did not having had nothing done initially)
5. and a follow up at their resort maybe like someone else said,without admitting quilt or anything, stuffed animials for the children or a character breakfast for the family.
6. A compenstation check for the stroller and their clothes with a little extra for the inconvience.

Mal