2princes'mom
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2010
- Messages
- 115
We returned a few weeks ago, but I just now finally had a moment to sit down and write about it. This is the letter that I sent to Disney in order to let them know about a few of the things we experienced both good and bad. Overall it was an amazing trip and we can't wait to return. So this is my post trip report. 
I wanted to tell you about my family's magical trip in Disney World this past Labor Day week. During this trip we experienced many wonderful and amazing events, but we also had a few negative experiences as well. We wanted you to know about both.
We arrived on Saturday, September 4th and used the Magical Express to take us to our resort (All Star Movies). We arrived in good time and while check in took a very long time (even though we had checked in on-line) due to the Cast Member at the front desk not considering the possibility that my mother's last name was different that my husband and I's, we still managed to get to our room and then make it to Down Town Disney only 20 minutes late for our reservations at T-Rex. However we we returned that evening one of our pieces of luggage was missing. We searched the room thinking that surely there would be some type of form letter explaining why our other bag had not arrived yet but there was nothing. I called down to the front desk and the front desk transferred me to the correct area. I explained to the young man what was going on and he was less than polite and accommodating. After quite a bit of time on the phone he finally was able to tell me that my bag was "locked up at the air port and they didn't know when it would arrive." I called down to the front desk again after this conversation and explained what I had just experienced. At this point I was transferred to a manager who promised to look into the situation. A short time later she called back to tell me she was unsure why they had not kept our luggage together, but that it would be arriving at the hotel around midnight. She asked if I wanted it delivered and I told her that I did not. I had just put my children to bed and did not want it to disturb them. I told her that I would pick it up in the morning from down stairs. She apologized for the inconvenience (as we had explained that this had caused several problems) and we said good-bye. After this my husband and I preceded to unpack, lay out the clothes for the next day, etc. he ran down to the food court and got us a coke, and around midnight we finally began getting ready for bed. No sooner had we climbed in the shower, there was a loud knock at the door. We were unable to hear this and so my VERY scared 8 year old got up and came into the bathroom to let us know "A stranger was knocking on the door." When I peaked out, I saw a gentleman standing there with our missing bag.
At this point our 2 year old woke up and began to get agitated. I quickly took the bag from the gentleman, mentioned that we had requested it not be delivered this late & was a bit surprised when he just looked at me and then left with out saying anything.
On Monday, Sept 6th we headed to Animal Kingdom and made our first stop at Donald’s Safari Breakfast @ Tusker House. We were thrilled to see Donald Duck (our youngest son's favorite). We were even more excited when we saw that our picture was going to be taken with him. When the ladies working the event would not use our camera to take a picture and insisted on the Disney photographer taking it we didn't think to much about it as we recalled our dinner in Cinderella's castle years previous in which we were given a photo package as a part of our dinner. We were beyond disappointed and our son very upset when they came by with the pictures and told us we would have to pay over $30 for them. As are most families these days we are on a budget, and this was not something that we had been forewarned about in any way. When researching the restaurant on the Disneyworld website we found nothing about needing the extra $ in order to be able to purchase the photograph nor were there any signs outside of the area explaining that the pictures would cost. It is called DONALD's Safari Breakfast - we specifically made reservations there to see Donald (with our son's developmental delays anything that gets him excited and motivated to speak is exciting and Donald is one of them), so it was really disappointing to find that we were unable to obtain his autograph or a picture (that we didn't have to pay for).
Sadly, I also wanted to mention that we were disappointed with the T-rex & Rainforest Cafe meals. I realize they are not Disney restaurants, but they are located at your parks & nowhere is it said that you have to have the Deluxe Dining in order to be able to use the Dining Plan at those locations. The servers were very irritated that we even asked about it, explained that it would be another 20 minutes to check out if we wanted to use the dining plan or use our room key as payment, and told us we should have known we could not use the regular dining plan at their locations. While we were frustrated with the way they priced things out so that not even a drink comes with a child's meal, we understood that this was not Disney's doing. We just thought it worth mentioning.
Lastly, during our morning at Magic Kingdom on Tuesday, Sept 7th my family headed to Tom Sawyers Island to look for a hidden paint brush. While we never did find one we enjoyed the adventure of roaming the island, crossing the bridges, and walking through the tunnels. What we did not enjoy was the amount of trash that we found located all over the island. Stuck under leaves, behind trash cans, and located all throughout the island there were plastic wrappers, a few water bottles, etc. It was as if the island were a forgotten about area of the park. We picked up as much as we could and turned it into a lesson for our children about not littering, but we thought you would want to know about this.
With all of that being said, I want to let you know about the experiences we had that made our vacation magical.
I would like to say thank you to the person who decided to change the way the children are chosen for the Jedi Training a DHS. Knowing what times the shows were going to be held so that we could get in line and allow our oldest son to participate was something that made for some wonderful memories.
When we entered the Magic Kingdom with the rush of people, our youngest son was holding onto a very expensive therapy ball. It would have made sense for us to put it away; I do understand that, however it was just not an option at that moment. Within moments he began to cry and when we looked down we saw that the ball was gone. My family made their way on down the street while I went back to look for it to no avail. As we turned to go into Liberty Square I saw a cast member with a button up shirt on as well as a radio on her hip. I walked over to her and ask if there was a lost and found in the Magic Kingdom. She replied there was one in City Hall and asked me what I was looking for. I couldn't help but begin to cry as I explained what had happened. At this point we continued on in hopes to find a place to have breakfast (a CM had told us that we would only be able to go to the bakery on Main Street) but thankfully we found a place just right there in Liberty Square that served waffles and we could use our Dining Plan to purchase them. After finishing our wonderful waffles we headed back out to go to Fantasy Land when the wonderful Cast Member that I had spoke to about the therapy ball called out to me. "Ma'am, is this what you were looking for!!??" and she held up her hand. In it laid my son's therapy ball. I rushed over to her, gave her a hug and started crying. How she did it, we still don't know, but we do know it was Disney Magic at work.
Later that afternoon, we headed down Main Street to have our oldest son's hair cut at the Main Street Barber Shop. When our youngest saw the balloons that filled the street he began to ask for one. Balloons are something he LOVES and with his delays, it is one of the few things he can attempt at saying. Sadly, there was no way for us to purchase one with out cash and we only had our room key/park tickets on us. So as my oldest had his hair cut, I walked over to City Hall to see if it would be possible to charge a balloon to our room. The woman behind the desk immediately took out what appeared to be a receipt pad and said "follow me." She handed me off to a gentleman who escorted me to a balloon handler and wrote out a reciept. I was then asked which balloon I wanted. Being able to walk into that barber shop with a balloon was such a blessing as I truly don't know how the rest of the day would have gone with out one. I realize it sounds ridiculous, but when something that small can be a trigger for our son it was beyond magical to have that kind of help.
The next day we headed to Epcot and had a wonderful time. The character's reactions to our son's green spiky hair were hilarious.
On our last day, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for just two hours of fun before we had to leave. We headed straight for Ye Ol' Christmas Shoppe to pick up a few last souvenirs that we had decided on the night before. We were disappointed to find that even though the park was open (Extra Magic Hours), the store was not and would not be until we were already having to leave. A Cast Member by the name of Jenn over heard our conversation and asked if she could help. We explained that there were several ornaments that we had planned to buy that morning, but would not be able to due to the store being closed. She told us to hang on and she would see what she could do. Within 30 minutes she had a store manager there opening the store for us and had given us passes to walk on to Splash Mountain and the Train so that we could still get in each boy's favorite ride before we left. It truly made for a magic last few moments of our trip and helped my husband and I decided that we definitely want to return for our anniversary at the end of the school year, (just the two of us).
So thank you to all of those who gave us our special Magical Moments, we know that you didn't have to, but you did anyway and we will cherish them always!!
I wanted to tell you about my family's magical trip in Disney World this past Labor Day week. During this trip we experienced many wonderful and amazing events, but we also had a few negative experiences as well. We wanted you to know about both.
We arrived on Saturday, September 4th and used the Magical Express to take us to our resort (All Star Movies). We arrived in good time and while check in took a very long time (even though we had checked in on-line) due to the Cast Member at the front desk not considering the possibility that my mother's last name was different that my husband and I's, we still managed to get to our room and then make it to Down Town Disney only 20 minutes late for our reservations at T-Rex. However we we returned that evening one of our pieces of luggage was missing. We searched the room thinking that surely there would be some type of form letter explaining why our other bag had not arrived yet but there was nothing. I called down to the front desk and the front desk transferred me to the correct area. I explained to the young man what was going on and he was less than polite and accommodating. After quite a bit of time on the phone he finally was able to tell me that my bag was "locked up at the air port and they didn't know when it would arrive." I called down to the front desk again after this conversation and explained what I had just experienced. At this point I was transferred to a manager who promised to look into the situation. A short time later she called back to tell me she was unsure why they had not kept our luggage together, but that it would be arriving at the hotel around midnight. She asked if I wanted it delivered and I told her that I did not. I had just put my children to bed and did not want it to disturb them. I told her that I would pick it up in the morning from down stairs. She apologized for the inconvenience (as we had explained that this had caused several problems) and we said good-bye. After this my husband and I preceded to unpack, lay out the clothes for the next day, etc. he ran down to the food court and got us a coke, and around midnight we finally began getting ready for bed. No sooner had we climbed in the shower, there was a loud knock at the door. We were unable to hear this and so my VERY scared 8 year old got up and came into the bathroom to let us know "A stranger was knocking on the door." When I peaked out, I saw a gentleman standing there with our missing bag.
At this point our 2 year old woke up and began to get agitated. I quickly took the bag from the gentleman, mentioned that we had requested it not be delivered this late & was a bit surprised when he just looked at me and then left with out saying anything. On Monday, Sept 6th we headed to Animal Kingdom and made our first stop at Donald’s Safari Breakfast @ Tusker House. We were thrilled to see Donald Duck (our youngest son's favorite). We were even more excited when we saw that our picture was going to be taken with him. When the ladies working the event would not use our camera to take a picture and insisted on the Disney photographer taking it we didn't think to much about it as we recalled our dinner in Cinderella's castle years previous in which we were given a photo package as a part of our dinner. We were beyond disappointed and our son very upset when they came by with the pictures and told us we would have to pay over $30 for them. As are most families these days we are on a budget, and this was not something that we had been forewarned about in any way. When researching the restaurant on the Disneyworld website we found nothing about needing the extra $ in order to be able to purchase the photograph nor were there any signs outside of the area explaining that the pictures would cost. It is called DONALD's Safari Breakfast - we specifically made reservations there to see Donald (with our son's developmental delays anything that gets him excited and motivated to speak is exciting and Donald is one of them), so it was really disappointing to find that we were unable to obtain his autograph or a picture (that we didn't have to pay for).
Sadly, I also wanted to mention that we were disappointed with the T-rex & Rainforest Cafe meals. I realize they are not Disney restaurants, but they are located at your parks & nowhere is it said that you have to have the Deluxe Dining in order to be able to use the Dining Plan at those locations. The servers were very irritated that we even asked about it, explained that it would be another 20 minutes to check out if we wanted to use the dining plan or use our room key as payment, and told us we should have known we could not use the regular dining plan at their locations. While we were frustrated with the way they priced things out so that not even a drink comes with a child's meal, we understood that this was not Disney's doing. We just thought it worth mentioning.
Lastly, during our morning at Magic Kingdom on Tuesday, Sept 7th my family headed to Tom Sawyers Island to look for a hidden paint brush. While we never did find one we enjoyed the adventure of roaming the island, crossing the bridges, and walking through the tunnels. What we did not enjoy was the amount of trash that we found located all over the island. Stuck under leaves, behind trash cans, and located all throughout the island there were plastic wrappers, a few water bottles, etc. It was as if the island were a forgotten about area of the park. We picked up as much as we could and turned it into a lesson for our children about not littering, but we thought you would want to know about this.
With all of that being said, I want to let you know about the experiences we had that made our vacation magical.
I would like to say thank you to the person who decided to change the way the children are chosen for the Jedi Training a DHS. Knowing what times the shows were going to be held so that we could get in line and allow our oldest son to participate was something that made for some wonderful memories.
When we entered the Magic Kingdom with the rush of people, our youngest son was holding onto a very expensive therapy ball. It would have made sense for us to put it away; I do understand that, however it was just not an option at that moment. Within moments he began to cry and when we looked down we saw that the ball was gone. My family made their way on down the street while I went back to look for it to no avail. As we turned to go into Liberty Square I saw a cast member with a button up shirt on as well as a radio on her hip. I walked over to her and ask if there was a lost and found in the Magic Kingdom. She replied there was one in City Hall and asked me what I was looking for. I couldn't help but begin to cry as I explained what had happened. At this point we continued on in hopes to find a place to have breakfast (a CM had told us that we would only be able to go to the bakery on Main Street) but thankfully we found a place just right there in Liberty Square that served waffles and we could use our Dining Plan to purchase them. After finishing our wonderful waffles we headed back out to go to Fantasy Land when the wonderful Cast Member that I had spoke to about the therapy ball called out to me. "Ma'am, is this what you were looking for!!??" and she held up her hand. In it laid my son's therapy ball. I rushed over to her, gave her a hug and started crying. How she did it, we still don't know, but we do know it was Disney Magic at work.
Later that afternoon, we headed down Main Street to have our oldest son's hair cut at the Main Street Barber Shop. When our youngest saw the balloons that filled the street he began to ask for one. Balloons are something he LOVES and with his delays, it is one of the few things he can attempt at saying. Sadly, there was no way for us to purchase one with out cash and we only had our room key/park tickets on us. So as my oldest had his hair cut, I walked over to City Hall to see if it would be possible to charge a balloon to our room. The woman behind the desk immediately took out what appeared to be a receipt pad and said "follow me." She handed me off to a gentleman who escorted me to a balloon handler and wrote out a reciept. I was then asked which balloon I wanted. Being able to walk into that barber shop with a balloon was such a blessing as I truly don't know how the rest of the day would have gone with out one. I realize it sounds ridiculous, but when something that small can be a trigger for our son it was beyond magical to have that kind of help.
The next day we headed to Epcot and had a wonderful time. The character's reactions to our son's green spiky hair were hilarious.
On our last day, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for just two hours of fun before we had to leave. We headed straight for Ye Ol' Christmas Shoppe to pick up a few last souvenirs that we had decided on the night before. We were disappointed to find that even though the park was open (Extra Magic Hours), the store was not and would not be until we were already having to leave. A Cast Member by the name of Jenn over heard our conversation and asked if she could help. We explained that there were several ornaments that we had planned to buy that morning, but would not be able to due to the store being closed. She told us to hang on and she would see what she could do. Within 30 minutes she had a store manager there opening the store for us and had given us passes to walk on to Splash Mountain and the Train so that we could still get in each boy's favorite ride before we left. It truly made for a magic last few moments of our trip and helped my husband and I decided that we definitely want to return for our anniversary at the end of the school year, (just the two of us).
So thank you to all of those who gave us our special Magical Moments, we know that you didn't have to, but you did anyway and we will cherish them always!!
We knew that we would be able to see Donald and get a picture with him at a different time at no extra cost, however our son did not understand that. Because Donald was out front, he didn't come in to visit the tables. 
hope when they return they hae a wonderful time
