OKW gave my groceries away

[Chuck S]

I've used both Prime Now and Whole Foods at Disney. The cold items were in insulated bubble wrap type bags. Usually I order the first day, right after we arrive at the resort and wait for the grocery delivery before we head to a park. I never actually plan a park for the first day, there are just so many possibilities of flight delays and cancellations these days. If we have extra time, we head to Disney Springs.

 

[robinb]

I've used both Prime Now and Whole Foods at Disney. The cold items were in insulated bubble wrap type bags. Usually I order the first day, right after we arrive at the resort and wait for the grocery delivery before we head to a park. I never actually oplan a park for the first day, there are just so many possibilities of flight delays and cancellations these days. If we have extra time, we head to Disney Springs.

This is exactly what we did. We finalized the order when we landed and ordered while on DME.

 

[DaveL]

Pop Century told me they didn't have my cases of water I ordered. Called and Amazon was very apologetic and refunded my money. The next day our cases of water were delivered by bell services. Basically they had misplaced them for a day and instead of just stating they did that they claimed they'd never been delivered. For sure a Disney problem, not an Amazon problem.

Same exact thing happened to me at Pop, Amazon was great in 'resolving' it without issue even tho some things were OOS and the replacements were higher cost they covered it with a promo code and waived the delivery fee for the fastest option. We were on our way to HS that evening when I called Amazon after POP said it was not delivered and when we returned a few hours later both orders had appeared in our room. It was a large order too, including a few cases of water so I just passed it out to the neighboring rooms after Amazon said they didn't want it back.

Edit: I did end up tipping twice, the first driver did nothing wrong I am sure, so in the end it did cost a bit more than the promo code covered.

 

[MelanieRI]

Hate to be a debbie downer but. This service is very low on disney's priority list. The staff are doing more with less preforming a service that Disney makes NO PROFIT on. I am sure the powers that be would love for the whole idea to go quietly into the goodnight.

1) Disney might not have made a profit but you'd think BS would want the tip you give them when they deliver the goods. When they're off delivering luggage from MS their is no tip involved and most people probably aren't in their rooms. You'd think they'd be fighting over delivering things they could get tipped on, but whatever...
2) If Disney put groceries in every resort, not just those with villas and offered delivery to the room maybe they could get in on the grocery game.

 

[AnnaS]

On our recent stay, my son's delivery from Instacart was either never delivered or given away too. He was getting the run around. I don't know all the details. They told him it was delivered but it was not there. Then the girl delivering said she was at the lobby and my son was at the lobby with no one there.

Long story short, they refunded his order and we took him to Publix to get what he needed (ended up saving close to $70/he has a baby). We told him originally we would have taken him (we were staying at the Beach Club). We had our car but we had a busy week for my dd's Disney Fairytale Wedding.

 

[Chuck S]

That's why I like Amazon Prime Now, they have real time tracking, you can see when the delivery person is getting close to the resort, and meet them at the Bell Services stand.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

As a driver it is so fustrating , the bellhop /hotel employees avoid you they know why i am standing there and they walk around me, dont care that i have heavy cases of water plus bags.
I really wish instacart and walmart would give me boxes that i could box up the bags. The best part of Amazon prime now is they have paper bags that are stapled/taped up easy to transport and no one can tamper with the bag or nothing can fall out. If you have amazon fresh they are deliverd with freezer packs for the frozen.

Instacart is nice because you have realtime shopper if something is out you can ask them what to look for through the app, you can make changes easily.
I use to deliver amazon prime now but now i deliver door dash they deliver walmart and i also deliver instacart.
I stopped delivering prime now just because it was hard to get shifts.

 

[snappy]

Thanks for the info. Sorry to hear how the bell services react.

 

[CarolynFH]

1) Disney might not have made a profit but you'd think BS would want the tip you give them when they deliver the goods. When they're off delivering luggage from MS their is no tip involved and most people probably aren't in their rooms. You'd think they'd be fighting over delivering things they could get tipped on, but whatever...

Do you mean when they're delivering luggage from Magical Express? Disney covers the tip for those deliveries - that's why the guest doesn't have to be there to receive the luggage.

 

[HaphazarMe]

I live about 15 minutes past Amazon Prime Now in my area (Boo!), but Instacart expects you to meet at door. I am always home and have instructions for them to leave in foyer of my secure building, but delivery person always buzzes me and waits until I am downstairs to personally hand me purchases. I have always assumed it is for their review rating; I do not know exact policy.

Interesting - I've used both multiple Amazon Prime Now and Instacart in my area and have pretty much always asked that my order be left on my porch. 99% of the time, that's what happened.

 

[Yes! maybe not]

It would appear that a secondary delivery service for the delivery services are needed now that the deliveries are getting to be a larger number...... for a charge, imagine a refrigerated food truck that would accept items for you and deliver them. Even better if it was made to look like Minnie Vans..

 

[Chuck S]

It would appear that a secondary delivery service for the delivery services are needed now that the deliveries are getting to be a larger number...... for a charge, imagine a refrigerated food truck that would accept items for you and deliver them. Even better if it was made to look like Minnie Vans..

The only way I see that working would be to have a large backstage refrigerator/freezer unit in a single location for all food deliveries, then dispatch a smaller refrigerated truck from there for deliveries to resorts. And imagine how long it would take to get deliveries after park closing when people call, delivering to all the Disney resorts with one truck. I think it is better the way it is, and the best option is to simply plan on meeting the grocery driver at the bell services desk when they arrive.

 

[snappy]

And hope for a driver who speaks English.

 

[Yes! maybe not]

The only way I see that working would be to have a large backstage refrigerator/freezer unit in a single location for all food deliveries, then dispatch a smaller refrigerated truck from there for deliveries to resorts. And imagine how long it would take to get deliveries after park closing when people call, delivering to all the Disney resorts with one truck. I think it is better the way it is, and the best option is to simply plan on meeting the grocery driver at the bell services desk when they arrive.

yea, I see what you mean, I guess I was imagining one truck at each resort or a combined resort groupings like the three All Stars , would get one, (that had a high enough average delivery number) with a two person team, one to accept deliveries from different businesses, and one to deliver to rooms. Akin to what you are saying, but multiple locations each on a smaller scale where one food storage type truck could hand the constant turn around times on the deliveries....just wishful thinking

 

[Chuck S]

yea, I see what you mean, I guess I was imagining one truck at each resort or a combined resort groupings like the three All Stars , would get one, (that had a high enough average delivery number) with a two person team, one to accept deliveries from different businesses, and one to deliver to rooms. Akin to what you are saying, but multiple locations each on a smaller scale where one food storage type truck could hand the constant turn around times on the deliveries....just wishful thinking

The trouble is many resorts don't have the extra parking lot space for a truck and delivery vehicle. OKW and BWV for example.

 

[RobDoc]

The Bell Services storage areas have been provided as a convenience for guests, especially when arrival is often well before check-in time. Refrigeration was provided to store medicines and perishables, again as a convenience to guests.

When OKW opened in 1991 it was the first resort where all villas (including studios) had some sort of kitchen facility - although the FW Cabins, and the few Village Homes at Disney's Village Resort (where SSR is now located) also have/had kitchen facilities in the accommodations. To accommodate arrivals before the villas were available, it was logical to provide refrigeration for food supplies.

In 1991, there was no big demand for grocery delivery - those who drove would bring food supplies and those who flew took advantage of grocery stops provided by many of the limo services. Grocery delivery services began a short time afterwards, followed by Magical Express (with no grocery stop option), and now followed by online services like Amazon. With each additional DVC Resort, the number of guests requiring refrigeration increased. At dual accommodation resorts where DVC accommodations were added to existing resorts (AKL, BC, WL, CR, GF, Poly) the same storage/refrigeration facilities were used, putting additional strain on storage. Even the existing DVC Resorts were strained further once baggage services were added where guests using specific airlines could have their bags managed right from the resort. Some resorts, like OKW, were able to add storage space to accommodate ME, but the basic refrigetaion/storage facilities have continued to be further strained just by the number of guests wanting to use these services.

For awhile Disney resorts had few restrictions on how the storage facilities could be used and for awhile dorm fridges and all sorts of items were being stored there to be used/shared by guests. Stroller delivery services, where there was no barrier to starting a business, blossomed and filled the storage rooms with all sorts of items being delivered. The same thing happened with mobility devices, which eventually led to WDW restricting the number of providers allowed to use WDW Resort storage and recently, that policy changed again where mobility devices and strollers are ONLY provided storage space by one provider. The businesses sanctioned to provide strollers and mobility devices paid healthy commissions to WDW, as does the one provider now providing those services. As far as I know the local grocery delivery services do not pay to use the resort services even though they depend on storage space (at least for delivery) for the success of their operations.

With the number of services now providing grocery delivery, will it be necessary for WDW Resorts to again place limitations on services using that limited space??

Stay tuned!

 

[Yes! maybe not]

The trouble is many resorts don't have the extra parking lot space for a truck and delivery vehicle. OKW and BWV for example.

yea, your right again, and Disney wouldn't spend any money laying down some pavement close to some of those resorts just so 3rd party businesses could relieve the workload pressure off their bellhop staff and storage space for something Disney doesn't make money off, all in the name of customer service

 

[Chuck S]

yea, your right again, and Disney wouldn't spend any money laying down some pavement close to some of those resorts just so 3rd party businesses could relieve the workload pressure off their bellhop staff and storage space for something Disney doesn't make money off, all in the name of customer service

There really isn't any extra space at OKW to lay down new pavement or add storage facilities without tearing out something, the Papa's Den, the area of the lobby where people often wait for their rooms to be made ready, and where resort tours meet.

 

[Hopefully]

yea, your right again, and Disney wouldn't spend any money laying down some pavement close to some of those resorts just so 3rd party businesses could relieve the workload pressure off their bellhop staff and storage space for something Disney doesn't make money off, all in the name of customer service

In my opinion very Myopic thinking. I do not want more pavement in my DVC resorts in "the name of customer service". If it comes to being necessary I will meet my delivery.
Are you also a DVC owner?
To each their own.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Easiest of all is to bring stuff from home with you or hit the Publix just before your room is available. Unless you fly and then you need to get a ride to the grocery store.