"Official" 2018 Disney After Hours (DAH) Thread (Now Closed, see New 2019 Thread)

[fbb]

If they get lots of complaints about running out of drinks, they should fix that, since it is within their control. I would not be surprised if they require each guest to come to the cart to get their own drinks one at a time, rather than letting one person grab five at a time for their whole party.

They'll 'fix it' on the next round of DAH by allowing each guest one drink, one ice cream, and one popcorn.

 

[Haley R]

Hi, I just wanted to follow-up on my post. I did send an e-mail to Disney yesterday letting them know of the issues I mentioned in my prior post; that I was disappointed and that it may impact my attendance at future DAH events. I already received a call and e-mail back from WDW Guest Services. I spoke with a great CM who apologized and asked for more details about my experience. He also mentioned that coincidentally a co-worker of his attended DAH the same night and experienced similar issues.
He offered to refund 50% of my DAH cost in form of a Disney Gift Card. (I have an AP, so it is 50% of the reduced rate) He spent quite a bit of time talking to me about the process that will happen to ensure my feedback is heard by Disney leaders. I asked if the issues I experienced are ones that I should expect now going forward at these events. He said that while they are always looking for ways reduce bottle necks on the rides, that a 20 min wait may be typical for a ride like 7DMT going forward. He also stressed that he understood that 20 min is a long time when you only have 3 hours and most guests attending the party are doing so to have access to the big rides. But they would continue to see if they can make improvements. As far as the carts that ran out of the beverages and snacks he said that was not what is supposed to happen and should be addressed by Disney leadership. He said the CMs should be replenishing their carts with items they are out of throughout the evening and if this was not happening it would be flagged as an issue.
He said that DAH is new to them for the summer so they are still adapting as they go right now and they need Guest feedback to know where things need to change.
Overall, I was pretty impressed with Disney's response! I felt this CM did a great job engaging me and making me feel like a valued Guest. Thanks!

I have not heard back from Disney yet about my email. I’m hoping I get a call or email back soon. Who did you send an email to?

 

[martaroo]

I have not heard back from Disney yet about my email. I’m hoping I get a call or email back soon. Who did you send an email to?

I sent it from the email form on their website under “contact us”.

 

[Haley R]

I sent it from the email form on their website under “contact us”.

Huh okay. I emailed to wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

I'll try sending it through the form as well and see if I have better luck there. It does say on their response email that it might take 3 days for me to hear back, but I'll try it anyway. I'm wondering if I will also get offered the 50% back.

 

[martaroo]

Huh okay. I emailed to wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

I'll try sending it through the form as well and see if I have better luck there. It does say on their response email that it might take 3 days for me to hear back, but I'll try it anyway. I'm wondering if I will also get offered the 50% back.

Yep, that’s the same address the form sends to. I also had received the 3 day auto reply email initially.

 

[Haley R]

Yep, that’s the same address the form sends to. I also had received the 3 day auto reply email initially.

Well I filled out the form anyway lol. Hopefully someone will respond to me soon.

 

[whiporee]

They'll 'fix it' on the next round of DAH by allowing each guest one drink, one ice cream, and one popcorn.

That wouldn't surprise me. But this is the kind of thing that happens -- people take advantage and Disney overreacts. My guess is they've plotted out how much they expect people to use during the event, and people go overboard because it's free (not passing judgment on that, but we've read of people loading up before they go back to the resort) and then they run out. They probably budgeted the entire summer, because it wasn't an issue at all early, and now that it's later supplies are running thin. I was there the first night -- one cart ran out but got quickly replenished. We all took a lot -- didn't bring anything home, but never even thought about asking for a drink or an ice cream because it was part of the deal.

They also might have made projections based on the winter events, and people drink a lot more in the summer heat.

I'm not apologizing for them, because running out of free stuff when free stuff is promised is not acceptable. I just can see how it happens, and i can project how WDW will react. Which will probably be to limit the amounts of everything, and also switch from lanyards to wrist bands of some sort.

 

[Rich M]

That wouldn't surprise me. But this is the kind of thing that happens -- people take advantage and Disney overreacts. My guess is they've plotted out how much they expect people to use during the event, and people go overboard because it's free (not passing judgment on that, but we've read of people loading up before they go back to the resort) and then they run out. They probably budgeted the entire summer, because it wasn't an issue at all early, and now that it's later supplies are running thin. I was there the first night -- one cart ran out but got quickly replenished. We all took a lot -- didn't bring anything home, but never even thought about asking for a drink or an ice cream because it was part of the deal.

They also might have made projections based on the winter events, and people drink a lot more in the summer heat.

I'm not apologizing for them, because running out of free stuff when free stuff is promised is not acceptable. I just can see how it happens, and i can project how WDW will react. Which will probably be to limit the amounts of everything, and also switch from lanyards to wrist bands of some sort.

Lets be honest though with the cost for DAH nothing is free. You have paid a premium price for some drinks, ice cream, and popcorn so there is no excuse for running out of it. I don't remember hearing of them running out of stuff during the Christmas party. Everywhere we went there was plenty and people took way more then one per person.

 

[Haley R]

I got an email today so the form must have worked better than sending an email directly to them. I was offered a different option. The cm said they were very sorry about the number of people and that we were dissatisfied with the event. She said she is giving us 1-day base tickets each to pick up at will call. I guess we will be using those in October when we visit! I’m very happy with the customer service involved with dah.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I got an email today so the form must have worked better than sending an email directly to them. I was offered a different option. The cm said they were very sorry about the number of people and that we were dissatisfied with the event. She said she is giving us 1-day base tickets each to pick up at will call. I guess we will be using those in October when we visit! I’m very happy with the customer service involved with dah.

Nice!

 

[martaroo]

I got an email today so the form must have worked better than sending an email directly to them. I was offered a different option. The cm said they were very sorry about the number of people and that we were dissatisfied with the event. She said she is giving us 1-day base tickets each to pick up at will call. I guess we will be using those in October when we visit! I’m very happy with the customer service involved with dah.

Very Nice! I'm glad to see they are providing good service to those reaching out.

 

[Haley R]

Very Nice! I'm glad to see they are providing good service to those reaching out.

I’m very happy about it because we honestly might not do dah again unless they change something. The one in March was the best thing I’ve ever done and I told people that. I would’ve felt bad if someone I said that to went on 7/21 because it wasn’t the same experience at all.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I’m very happy about it because we honestly might not do dah again unless they change something. The one in March was the best thing I’ve ever done and I told people that. I would’ve felt bad if someone I said that to went on 7/21 because it wasn’t the same experience at all.

I am anxious to see what comes out of this week’s events. We go on 8/4 and now I’m worried.

 

[Haley R]

I am anxious to see what comes out of this week’s events. We go on 8/4 and now I’m worried.

I’m really hoping they fix the issues for you!

 

[Lsdolphin]

I am very much looking forward to reports following Saturday's DAH.

 

[Vickie1016]

I got an email today so the form must have worked better than sending an email directly to them. I was offered a different option. The cm said they were very sorry about the number of people and that we were dissatisfied with the event. She said she is giving us 1-day base tickets each to pick up at will call. I guess we will be using those in October when we visit! I’m very happy with the customer service involved with dah.

I also sent an email with our concerns from 7/21. Hopefully I receive a response back to discuss further.

 

[Haley R]

I also sent an email with our concerns from 7/21. Hopefully I receive a response back to discuss further.

The only thing she asked was for my email address that’s linked to mde because she wants to verify that I was actually at the event.

 

[hereforthechurros]

I’m running on 50 minutes of sleep so hopefully my review isn’t terrible lol.

We showed up at mk around 5:40 and were let in exactly at 6 like someone else mentioned. We had FPS for pirates, haunted mansion, and Peter Pan. I was able to move them a little earlier after each one so we could go directly there. We also did it’s a small world, Winnie the Pooh, carousel of progress, thunder x3 (or 4 can’t remember) during fireworks, and splash before dah started.

Right when dah started we got a bunch of snacks from a cart with no line. We then found a nice seat in Adventureland and ate. The rest of the night we did pirates (our own boat and no one in front or behind us), space x6, tea cups, mine train (20 minute wait), Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, buzz light year, and finished with space one more time. There were some snack stops in between all of those.

Some of my thoughts: Dh and I both agreed last night seemed more crowded than when we went on March 1 and that was a sold out night. We were never able to stay on anything and ride more than once. Mine train had a long line all night. The snack carts were efficient and we skipped any with long lines.

Now for the fun part....Dh went and lost his phone on space mountain so we wasted about 30 minutes for someone to find it. We ended up leaving and coming back later. Luckily we were able to get it but it did cut into our dah time. We still were able to do everything we wanted and had fun.

Sorry if I missed it but this seems like a pretty positive review so why the need to contact Disney for a make good? Again sorry if something happened that I missed in your posts but based on this everything seemed to go well so I’m confused.

 

[Haley R]

Sorry if I missed it but this seems like a pretty positive review so why the need to contact Disney for a make good? Again sorry if something happened that I missed in your posts but based on this everything seemed to go well so I’m confused.

It was pretty crowded, mine train had a consistent 20 minute line, and the snack carts ran out of the drinks we wanted way before the event was over. My main reason for contacting Disney was so they could fix these issues for future events. I wasn’t trying to get free stuff out of it. I also tried to be somewhat positive in my review for others going to dah soon.

 

[hereforthechurros]

It was pretty crowded, mine train had a consistent 20 minute line, and the snack carts ran out of the drinks we wanted way before the event was over. My main reason for contacting Disney was so they could fix these issues for future events. I wasn’t trying to get free stuff out of it. I also tried to be somewhat positive in my review for others going to dah soon.

From my DAH experience, and a lot of reviews I’ve read, 20 minutes is typical on Mine Train even with DAH as WDW can’t control who goes on what. Even EMM which has far fewer people was a good 10 minute wait. Seems every other ride was a walk on? It feeling more crowded is one thing but it stopping you from riding rides is another and 12 rides in 3 hours isn’t bad. And you mentioned getting snacks throughout the night so doesn’t seem that was a huge deal.

Running out of drinks is silly as it seems like an easy fix but with people loading up it was bound to happen. Wonder if they’ll start limiting snacks/drinks soon.