Rant from a Disney Optimist

[barbarabini]

Two cents... about CM's. Some are good and some are bad. But, its those indifferent ones that really get me. They behave as if they are automatons with no independent thinking capability. I was in the Contemporary gift shop one evening with my baby and my parents. Another family was there with a small child, maybe three. The child began having some time of reaction, wheezing, difficulty breathing etc. The mother became very panicked and asked the cashier for help.
The cashier said "You will have to go to first aid" "Its on the road past the contemporary." The mother asked for the cashier to call for a car or ambulance to be sent. The cashier advised her to bring the child to the front desk and have them call a cab. It was as if the cashier just couldn't understand what was happening and what was needed. At that point my father stepped in and told them to go to the front door and he would drive them to first aid. My mother helped them downstair. The child was conscious and ultimately had some allergic attack from some item she touched in the store. She was fine after some shot. After that, I vowed (1) always to rent a car just in case and (2) Recognize that being in the World was akin to being in a foreign country where people may not understand your needs.

 

[gilesmt]

I agree with the OP, we just returned from 13 days at wdw. I tried to be positive in my report. But wdw is going down hill, and dlr is going up hill as others have posted. We started dlr back in 1992 and have gone at least every other year or more, we started wdw in 2008 and just finished our fourth trip.

MDE is a total waste of time and does not work, and wdw does not have enough wifi to support people using it in the parks or hotels. We never could change anything with the system.

FP+ was a neither take it or leave it for us. We found it a waste on many rides that were walk on and you did not need a FP but since you are so limited you got what they had. Many days we never used all three because it was just so frustrating to go back to the ride, or when we pass the ride earlier in day with a five minute wait we did it then and did not have to go back, but did not want to stand in a 30 minute line for the change of a FP.

Also we found that FP lines where not all that fast. At least not as I remember them. Why wait in soaring for 30 to 45 minutes to use a FP. Do RD and get there first and wait only 10 minutes. I think of FP is you can get a ride done in less than 15 minutes from walk up to walk off. That just does not happen with any of the big rides in Epcot or HS. Soaring you walk up and then have to wait in a line outside area, then a line in the back of ride area, then to be placed in a line at the ride, then listen to the video and then on ride, the FP always took us at least 30 minutes if not more, to me that is not FP. Safari was just as bad, it took us and the ones in front of us so long that we missed our next FP, it literally took well over an hour in the FP lane and no the ride was not broken down, they were training people they said so they had two cars running for people and 6 cars for training with no people in them. But on many other rides it did work great, jungle cruise, thunder railroad, toy story was not to bad.

It took 13 days of asking questions and visiting photopass stores for the main people in the stores to tell us that MM was not iPad comparable, they should have that as a claim before you buy it for $149, since we all use iPads. We had to call a special number and have it linked to a DD who was not on vacation with us because she has a computer (Mac), then three more phone calls to get it all downloaded, so now our pictures are on a dd computer who did not go on vacation with us and who lives 4 hours from us, so in a month or two we may be able to go and get the pictures we want from Walgreens. I feel they need to reimburse us some money for not disclosing that and for not telling us everyday we asked for 13 days.

I disagree with housekeeping, but we were at POFQ, and the beds, toilets and sinks were clean, but the dusk was three inches thick on the fancy woodwork into the sink area and picture frames. It was at least a year since anyone dusted those off. We ate at prime time at a tv table, it was just as dusty but even worse was the food stuck on the knobs and grooves in the tv. There were bugs crawling on the table next to us at 1900 park fare. And the bathrooms that I always pride Disney on, were the worst of any bathrooms I have ever seen, even mcdonalds out shined Disney and I think they are pretty bad. Toilet paper all over the place, trash cans no emptied, sinks over flowing with water because paper was in the sinks. No toilet paper in stalls. Seats dirty and stalls. I would say at least once a day in every park except AK was like this, if not more than once a day. I remember when the ladies cleaning never left the restrooms, they went from stall to stall and cleaned when they were done they started all over again, those days are gone, many times I could not find a person to every tell how bad the rest rooms are. The worst one of all was at chef mickeys, and I told the manager, an hour later my dgd had to go and the bathroom was even worse, so I told the manager again. Thirty minutes later my dd went and said it was still that bad.

Staff was not as friendly and not as magical. Non of the staff went out of there way to be friendly. Did not get bell service from magical express at night, 2am no bell service for bags to be found anywhere. The lady who checked us in, was rude and threw the paper down and said everyone has to sign there name, and then started to argue with the other staff for not jumping up and helping us because she needed to rest. It just mad us feel uncomfortable, and okay staff need to be disciplined at time but even at 1 am do it in the back room. Bus drivers where useless and not helpful, many days we got on wrong bus because they kept changing our bus stops and never told us. Yes we had some magical moments but far less than before. Yes some staff were friendly but we found non going out of there way like we use to.

I am not saying it was a bad trip, but it was frustrating and different and definately there is a difference in what we expect from our Disney trips and what we got. I would hope that they catch up and try to find the balance again, otherwise I agree for the price Disney is not worth it anymore, I can find and do other vacations that will be just as magical and a lot less stressful, frustrating and clean than this last wdw vacation.

 

[Son of Gadsden]

Two cents... about CM's. Some are good and some are bad. But, its those indifferent ones that really get me. They behave as if they are automatons with no independent thinking capability. I was in the Contemporary gift shop one evening with my baby and my parents. Another family was there with a small child, maybe three. The child began having some time of reaction, wheezing, difficulty breathing etc. The mother became very panicked and asked the cashier for help.
The cashier said "You will have to go to first aid" "Its on the road past the contemporary." The mother asked for the cashier to call for a car or ambulance to be sent. The cashier advised her to bring the child to the front desk and have them call a cab. It was as if the cashier just couldn't understand what was happening and what was needed. At that point my father stepped in and told them to go to the front door and he would drive them to first aid. My mother helped them downstair. The child was conscious and ultimately had some allergic attack from some item she touched in the store. She was fine after some shot. After that, I vowed (1) always to rent a car just in case and (2) Recognize that being in the World was akin to being in a foreign country where people may not understand your needs.

I don't think you can blame that scenario on the CM, or Disney for that matter. We live in a world of political correctness and lawsuits. It's likely the CM was not allowed to interfere not just from Disney, but Disney's insurance. There is likely a Disney policy that says "direct guests to first aid for medical emergencies". Otherwise, Disney likely gets sued. For that, you can blame society.

That's not Disney, that's just the world we now live in, whether we like it or not.

 

[Wef]

I don't think you can blame that scenario on the CM, or Disney for that matter. We live in a world of political correctness and lawsuits. It's likely the CM was not allowed to interfere, and likely under a policy that says "direct them to first aid for medical emergencies". Otherwise, Disney likely gets sued.

That's not Disney, that's just the world we now live in, whether we like it or not.

I don't think it's fair to assume that. I trust that the person who was there has a good sense of the CM's interest in getting involved/incompetence, better than any of us who weren't there. And as far as lawsuits go, imagine the liability if a child died due to CM inaction.

 

[JimmyV]

I don't think you can blame that scenario on the CM, or Disney for that matter. We live in a world of political correctness and lawsuits. It's likely the CM was not allowed to interfere not just from Disney, but Disney's insurance. There is likely a Disney policy that says "direct guests to first aid for medical emergencies". Otherwise, Disney likely gets sued. For that, you can blame society.

That's not Disney, that's just the world we now live in, whether we like it or not.

I don't agree with that at all. Many public places, (and I'm betting WDW is among them) have defibrillator stations and people trained to use them. I seriously doubt that if someone was having a cardiac event 10 feet from a defibrillator, the Disney policy would be to tell the guest that there is an AED station nearby and to self-administer emergency care. Likewise, I doubt that Disney's policy when encountering a child in distress is to tell the guest to walk a half-mile down the road to a first aid station. There is no legal liability that can or will attach when one renders reasonable aid to a person in distress. In fact, most states have passed "Good Samaitan Laws" to account for this very situation. (See Florida Statutes Section 768.13).

768.13 Good Samaritan Act; immunity from civil liability.—(1) This act shall be known and cited as the “Good Samaritan Act.”
(2)(a) Any person, including those licensed to practice medicine, who gratuitously and in good faith renders emergency care or treatment ...at the scene of an emergency outside of a hospital, doctor’s office, or other place having proper medical equipment, without objection of the injured victim or victims thereof, shall not be held liable for any civil damages as a result of such care or treatment or as a result of any act or failure to act in providing or arranging further medical treatment where the person acts as an ordinary reasonably prudent person would have acted under the same or similar circumstances.

 

[Son of Gadsden]

I don't agree with that at all. Many public places, (and I'm betting WDW is among them) have defibrillator stations and people trained to use them. I seriously doubt that if someone was having a cardiac event 10 feet from a defibrillator, the Disney policy would be to tell the guest that there is an AED station nearby and to self-administer emergency care. Likewise, I doubt that Disney's policy when encountering a child in distress is to tell the guest to walk a half-mile down the road to a first aid station. There is no legal liability that can or will attach when one renders reasonable aid to a person in distress. In fact, most states have passed "Good Samaitan Laws" to account for this very situation. (See Florida Statutes Section 768.13).

768.13 Good Samaritan Act; immunity from civil liability.—(1) This act shall be known and cited as the “Good Samaritan Act.”
(2)(a) Any person, including those licensed to practice medicine, who gratuitously and in good faith renders emergency care or treatment ...at the scene of an emergency outside of a hospital, doctor’s office, or other place having proper medical equipment, without objection of the injured victim or victims thereof, shall not be held liable for any civil damages as a result of such care or treatment or as a result of any act or failure to act in providing or arranging further medical treatment where the person acts as an ordinary reasonably prudent person would have acted under the same or similar circumstances.

This is not the same argument. There is no evidence that the cashier was trained to use a defibrillator. Would you want someone who is not trained in the use of such equipment to use it on you because they think you need it? It's not uncommon at all for companies to tell untrained personnel not to get involved and to direct medical emergencies trained personnel.

As for the rest, I don't know Florida law. I can't debate that.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Sometimes it isn't a matter of "can't" but won't instead.

Dh and I are going in Sept/Oct for 2 weeks. We had planned to do a throwaway room to get advance fp but instead decided to extend and go down a couple of days earlier . Normally we do 4 seasons type properties and other deluxe type hotels. We decided that we'd try any of the 3 monorail properties since those days we'd concentrate on MK.

I have to be honest when I looked at the room photos, and the overall hotel photos there was no way on earth I would pay the prices that Disney was asking. We recently paid over $ 1000 a night in Anguilla for the Viceroy and had no qualms about doing so but imho we got value for that price ie : private pool, ocean front villa with butler service etc.

I'll be damned if Im paying nearly the same thing ie : $ 800 a night for a basic room with a view.

We're going to stay at a moderate instead unless the prices are discounted.

When I tell my dh that we can get into the Ritz for the same price as a moderate, then I KNOW he'll think Im nuts....lol

I agree with this comment so much. It's about "won't" not "can't."

They are out-of-their-mind bonkers with their room prices for the quality of the rooms and that goes for all of the resort levels, not just what they call deluxe.

Any discounts just bring them sort of back down to where they should be.

 

[*disgal*]

I agree with this comment so much. It's about "won't" not "can't."

They are out-of-their-mind bonkers with their room prices for the quality of the rooms and that goes for all of the resort levels, not just what they call deluxe.

Any discounts just bring them sort of back down to where they should be.

And I agree with both of you.

On paper, my DH and i can afford a house 3 times the price of the one we live in. Doesn't mean we want to pay that if we think it's not a good value. And living here in taxland, my friend's house that's $500,000 means a $14,000 a year tax bill. To me, that's not a good value even if the house is gorgeous.

Same goes for Disney hotel rooms. Love the resorts we've been to but compared to the prices now, we got them for a song.

 

[xie]

And check out the square footage of the suites at the Waldorf that you can get for less than a Moderate. And the Swan and Dolphin give you Deluxe location for Moderate (or less) prices.

Swan and Dolphin also have MUCH nicer mattresses and linens than any Disney resort property.

We haven't stayed at the Waldorf, but we have stayed at the Bonnet Creek Hilton adjoining it, and we felt that the Hilton was fairly priced for what it offered. Our room was very nice and appropriate for the approximately ~140 we paid per night.

 

[Luvchefmic]

FYI re- the child in the gift shop Glad he/she was ok but why didn't anyone ( family or observing family ) pull out a cell phone and dial 9-1-1- ? Not excusing the CM at all here but I wouldn't get so caught up in the thinking " I'm at Disney and CMs will take care of everything " You have to do EXACTLY what you would do in your real life at home for an emergency stay calm know the exact location and relay that to dispatchers


JimmyV ALL Security at WDW is CPR / AED /First aid trained AEDs are in many locations, usually near a rest room If an AED door is opened the communication center receives an alarm & someone is sent to the location ASAP

 

[Disney_Princess83]

As a mother of an autistic boy, I see some issues here. I would NOT have him out at midnight...that is asking for trouble. I would not expect a cm to go,after him during a meltdown either. A cm doesn't know or shouldn't be expected
If the child is autistic or just having a temper tantrum. Why should the cm grab a child who is screaming and kicking?? He doesn't want to get hit or bit or deal with it, I know I wouldn't want to be. Nor should anyone have to watch her other kids! She sounds like a very unorganized mother who pushed the limits of her special needs child. Not the cm's fault at all.

I didn't expect the CM to physically do anything at all. My brother has Autism so I know exactly what occurs during meltdowns. However just to keep saying "Sorry you'll just have to move NOW!" is ridiculous because it was an impossibility. The child was screaming and kicking. What was the mother supposed to do? The CM was rude and ignorant. He just kept saying "You'll need to move on now." over the screaming child. When we tried to explain the situation he just said "Oh well, you still need to move." His behaviour was an insult to the child and her mother, who was deeply distressed. Apparently the CM's at Guest Relations took the matter seriously as they brought over two managers over and I had to fill out a written formal complaint. I also had a follow up call a week later from another manager over it. Thankfully WDW take looking after people who are disabled very seriously.

She didn't ask us to help, I offered to help. I don't judge other people and I don't know her circumstances. I met her for 15-20 minutes late one evening. You can't blanket everyone with your own experience. There is no way my brother would be happy being out at 8am in the morning but he's ready to party until 2am. Everyone is different and people with disabilities are no different.

 

[luvthemouse71]

I don't think you can blame that scenario on the CM, or Disney for that matter. We live in a world of political correctness and lawsuits. It's likely the CM was not allowed to interfere not just from Disney, but Disney's insurance. There is likely a Disney policy that says "direct guests to first aid for medical emergencies". Otherwise, Disney likely gets sued. For that, you can blame society. That's not Disney, that's just the world we now live in, whether we like it or not.

No kidding. I would not expect a cashier to render medical assistance. Most people don't know basic CPR, so why are you going to expect a minimum wage worker to step in and give medical help? AED's may be easier to use than a hospital defibrillator but you still need training- it's included in CPR classes.

Regarding Good Samaritan laws, they provide some protection, but people have been sued anyway. That's why I carry my own malpractice insurance( I'm a nurse)- it covers you outside of the hospital. Sounds cynical, but that saying " no good deed goes unpunished" exists for a reason.

 

[JimmyV]

No kidding. I would not expect a cashier to render medical assistance.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that the CM was supposed to perform a tracheotomy with a pen knife and a ball point pen. But to not pick up the phone and make a call?

Regarding Good Samaritan laws, they provide some protection, but people have been sued anyway.

...and the cases get dismissed for failure to state a cause of action upon which relief can be granted. A CM is not going to get sued for calling 911, hotel security, the front desk, or his mommy for advice. In fact, there is a greater chance of the CM getting sued for failing to do anything. You have to go back and look at what the CM said: "The cashier said "You will have to go to first aid" "Its on the road past the Contemporary." It doesn't take much imagination to conjure up a more reactive response than that, even one that falls well below the level of providing medical intervention, which no one is suggesting should have been administered. There are people with bee sting and peanut allergies that could be dead by the time they walk to first aid "on the road past the Contemporary". How about a quick call to Bell Services saying: "There is a guest in distress that needs to get to the first aid station as soon as possible. I am sending them down to the front entrance. Have a cab waiting for them. Tell the cab driver to bill the hotel directly for the fare." Are we really going to be so jaded as to think that this is not the level of guest experience one should expect? Not just from Disney, but anywhere.

 

[rwdavis2]

Is anyone really shocked that since FP+ requires interaction with a Disney IT system that there are problems? I'm not going to say their website is one of the worst performing ones I've been on but... ok, maybe I will say that. The fact that the app is slow, unresponsive, non-intuitive, etc. really doesn't surprise me.

To be honest, when we tested this back in October the first comment I made was that the reason you can't use FP+ across multiple parks is because they probably couldn't figure out how to make it work in the app!

You nailed it. The WDW web site has been awful since it debuted. So it's not surprising any other net-based app they develop won't be very good either. You just have to look at the Disney career web site and it is always looking for web developers. Based on my own experience as a software developer I'll bet they hire low (at below averages salaries) to medium experienced kids and then work them to death until they quit. I know for a fact they don't pay Imagineers that well as compared to other companies requiring similar engineering skills.

 

[jaberwock]

Sometimes it isn't a matter of "can't" but won't instead.

Oh absolutely, we could find the money for the Poly ( which I dearly love) but that ain't gonna happen! When a week in a hotel room is a few mortgage payments it just doesn't make sense.

 

[pieface]

I agree I love the Poly but the price is out of reach for the average person. I have an annual pass and the hotel discounts used to be great. The hotel prices have gone up and even the moderate prices are getting to high for our Disney trip. Disney wants people to stay on property but their prices are driving people to stay off property.

I am really considering not renewing my annual pass and stop going to the world. I am considering switching to the land their good neighbor hotels are a better deal including park tickets. Hotel lodging and park tickets are not much more than just lodging at a moderate resort at the world. Airfare is surprisingly close flying across country compared to just flying to Florida. The Land still has the standard fast passes and not fast pass plus. Disneyworld is declining not the case with disneyland. I was at the land a year ago and I was amazed how beautiful and well maintained a park built in 1955 was. Well done Disneyland shame on you Disneyworld.

 

[Wef]

I don't think anyone is suggesting that the CM was supposed to perform a tracheotomy with a pen knife and a ball point pen. But to not pick up the phone and make a call?


...and the cases get dismissed for failure to state a cause of action upon which relief can be granted. A CM is not going to get sued for calling 911, hotel security, the front desk, or his mommy for advice. In fact, there is a greater chance of the CM getting sued for failing to do anything. You have to go back and look at what the CM said: "The cashier said "You will have to go to first aid" "Its on the road past the Contemporary." It doesn't take much imagination to conjure up a more reactive response than that, even one that falls well below the level of providing medical intervention, which no one is suggesting should have been administered. There are people with bee sting and peanut allergies that could be dead by the time they walk to first aid "on the road past the Contemporary". How about a quick call to Bell Services saying: "There is a guest in distress that needs to get to the first aid station as soon as possible. I am sending them down to the front entrance. Have a cab waiting for them. Tell the cab driver to bill the hotel directly for the fare." Are we really going to be so jaded as to think that this is not the level of guest experience one should expect? Not just from Disney, but anywhere.

Exactly!!

 

[Murron]

I have one word of advice for you since you've been giving large sums of money to WDW over the years and are now disappointed with your experience there……TOKYO DISNEY RESORT!….Disney's Ambassador Hotel and The MiraCosta hotel INSIDE DisneySea….You will be so totally blown away by what you experience there you won't believe its possible. Take an adventure out of America and experience an other culture based on dedication to service, quality and cleanliness….It will blow your mind. You will need to do a fair amount of research to plan your stay accordingly because the parks are crowded much of the time but if you go when the crowd calendar is good you'll see that Tokyo Disney is by far the best Disney Park in the world hands down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIFx6gvqfys

 

[barbarabini]

I don't think the mother, or me as a bystander was looking to have the CM render medical assistance. None were looking for a good Samaritan. All of us were looking to CM to call first aid, ambulance, front desk or whoever to assist and to provide the first aid a more defined explanation of where they were. i.e. - they were at the contemporary gift shop. Which one? what floor? what side? We were visitor's, I have no idea what the name of that shop is. I have no idea what floor that was considered. I would have thought a CM could and should do that. But I would be wrong.

In hindsight, we probably should have just called 911, but, none of us really would have been giving an accurate description of where we were in that hotel. So, the decision was made to bring her down to the front and put her in the car for the 2 minute ride to the first aid station.

 

[flicx]

I agree I love the Poly but the price is out of reach for the average person. I have an annual pass and the hotel discounts used to be great. The hotel prices have gone up and even the moderate prices are getting to high for our Disney trip. Disney wants people to stay on property but their prices are driving people to stay off property.

Yeah I am right with you. Ten years ago we could get a room in offseason for less than 200 tax included at the poly. That same room is double now. I can't justify 400 a night.