Reply from WDW Guest Communications

[ConvenientTruth]

I run a small business and customer feedback is VITAL to me, negative and positive. I want to know what we are doing well and on what we need to improve. I have had clients in the past not tell me something that was going on and then get upset a year later when it was still going on, and it was something I could easily have fixed if I would have known. While Disney is a huge business, they are in the business of customer service. That's all they do day in and day out. I write emails and handwritten letters when I feel the situation warrants it, and I have called on rare occasion both for good and bad reasons. If you care enough to visit a vacation destination every year, a restaurant weekly or monthly, or purchase a product on a regular basis, you care enough to take a minute to let them know how they are doing. I know in my business, complaints I have received made my company better, and the compliments I received made my day!

It was less about the letter itself (after further discussion) and more about the tone (using how much they spend)...it was poor execution.

 

[Rip]

You're confusing the letter of the law with the spirit of the law in this instance. The spirit of FP is to use a few a day. The "gamers" used the letter of the law to maximize the amount the could obtain. Understand that I'm in no way saying the gamers of the system were wrong but they definitely took full advantage of the letter of the law in this case.

No one will agree about that topic so I'll just leave my comment at that.

Nope, Disney trained their CMs specifically to allow guests to return any time after the window opened. I'm not confusing anything at all. It has been proven upmteen times on here that doing so had no effect on wait times for either FP or SB lines. The only reason they stopped doing so was in order to prepare guests for FP+, which obviously cannot work by definition if that were allowed.

 

[TNDisneyNut]

It is entirely possible (and likely) that you will have a great time. But what is too often lost here is that there is no "one way" to tour the parks, and the new system has most definitely handed a short straw to a large segment of the touring population, and they will complain. (And we are not talking about a "small minority" here.) Let's assume that one of the great benefits that you see of this new system is the ability to avoid Rope Drop, tour more leisurely and do things outside of the parks that you could never do before. You've always wanted to have breakfast at Chef Mickey's but could never squeeze it in because you were always going to the parks early. FP+ allows you to arrive at your pleasure. So now your family is at Chef Mickey's from 8:30-9:30 and you hope to get to DHS by 10:00. Your goal for the day is to ride TSM, Rock-n-Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror at least once each. Seated next to you is another family that is going to do the exact same thing. You are staying on site and have pre-booked your FP+s. The other family is staying off site and will have to wait in line to use a kiosk when they arrive. Your two families are going to have incredibly different touring experiences once you get to the park. When your two families arrive, the kiosk lines are 45-60 minutes long, and the FP+ options are very limited. Your family might have a great day and the other might have a lousy day, and neither is "right or wrong", and neither's satisfaction or dissatisfaction is based on an "opinion". The two experiences are measurably different. So it does little good for people here to insist that FP+ will always fail, just as it is irrational for people here to say that there is nothing wrong with the system and nothing worth complaining about. The successes that people are having with FP+ are real. And so are the disappointments. Can't we all agree on that?

Very wise!

 

[goofyintoronto]

What were you expecting them to say?? Hoping for compensation??

Exactly what I was thinking. You decided to stop going to Disney, fine, but why write a letter about it unless you want money from them? Just stop going. Period. What did you expect them to say in return? "PLEASE dont go!".

Why was a letter necessary couldn't you simply stop going?

A customer mentioning how much they spend in establishment as to why one should fight to keep their business is second only to "do you know who I am"...

 

[faneuil]

Right. But the point is that they should care and they should absolutely want to know why. At least that's what they teach as their business model.

Sometimes I think some Disney executives need to go to some Disney Institute sessions.

The problem with complaining is you have to find the right balance of getting your point across intelligently, showing you truly are emotionally upset, AND staying calm. Otherwise, the whole thing can come off melodramatic.

 

[Rip]

Exactly what I was thinking. You decided to stop going to Disney, fine, but why write a letter about it unless you want money from them? Just stop going. Period. What did you expect them to say in return? "PLEASE dont go!".

Probably because some people are hoping that if enough people voice their complaints that maybe some changes will be made to at least make things more enjoyable than they currently are.

I really don't get why that seems so hard for some people to understand. I always want to know if my patients have a complaint so that I can make an effort to fix whatever the problem is. I hate it when I don't hear anything from them and just get a request to have their records transferred.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Probably because some people are hoping that if enough people voice their complaints that maybe some changes will be made to at least make things more enjoyable than they currently are.

I really don't get why that seems so hard for some people to understand. I always want to know if my patients have a complaint so that I can make an effort to fix whatever the problem is. I hate it when I don't hear anything from them and just get a request to have their records transferred.

 

[dwheaton]

Probably because some people are hoping that if enough people voice their complaints that maybe some changes will be made to at least make things more enjoyable than they currently are.

I really don't get why that seems so hard for some people to understand. I always want to know if my patients have a complaint so that I can make an effort to fix whatever the problem is. I hate it when I don't hear anything from them and just get a request to have their records transferred.

Exactly. I was going to write basically the same thing in response to this comment. Any customer service organization is only as good as the information that they have about what their customers want. Even if the OP hasn't experienced FP+, it's important to Disney to know that they have concerns. For example, if Apple is changing the iPhone, it helps to know that the change will be received poorly BEFORE it's made.

 

[goofyintoronto]

Probably because some people are hoping that if enough people voice their complaints that maybe some changes will be made to at least make things more enjoyable than they currently are.

I really don't get why that seems so hard for some people to understand. I always want to know if my patients have a complaint so that I can make an effort to fix whatever the problem is. I hate it when I don't hear anything from them and just get a request to have their records transferred.

.

 

[Golf4283]

Probably because some people are hoping that if enough people voice their complaints that maybe some changes will be made to at least make things more enjoyable than they currently are.

I really don't get why that seems so hard for some people to understand. I always want to know if my patients have a complaint so that I can make an effort to fix whatever the problem is. I hate it when I don't hear anything from them and just get a request to have their records transferred.

If you had 8 million patients that would be a ton of work. If only there was a way to thank them for their feedback and let them know that you will be reviewing it and responding in as timely a manner as you could....

The original complaint isn't even that. It's a statement that this person will no longer go because of the changes.

 

[TooExcitedCantSleep]

If you had 8 million patients that would be a ton of work. If only there was a way to thank them for their feedback and let them know that you will be reviewing it and responding in as timely a manner as you could....

The original complaint isn't even that. It's a statement that this person will no longer go because of the changes.

Any one who is really a medical doctor would not dream of comparing their patients medical care with a trip to Disney World. The doctor and patient are a team-----communication and working together is the key here. Disney and I are not a "team".....I pay them money to go stay there and go on the rides. It's not the same thing. If I leave and go to Universal-----Universal doesn't have to call Disney to get my file.

 

[goofyintoronto]

Any one who is really a medical doctor would not dream of comparing their patients medical care with a trip to Disney World. The doctor and patient are a team-----communication and working together is the key here. Disney and I are not a "team".....I pay them money to go stay there and go on the rides. It's not the same thing. If I leave and go to Universal-----Universal doesn't have to call Disney to get my file.

No kidding. What a comparison! Disney trip ---> Patients. Ummm no.

If you had 8 million patients that would be a ton of work. If only there was a way to thank them for their feedback and let them know that you will be reviewing it and responding in as timely a manner as you could....

The original complaint isn't even that. It's a statement that this person will no longer go because of the changes.

Exactly.

 

[DividedSky]

1. You lose credibility when you write in terms of "most people" and "they".

you lose even more credibility challenging axiomatic responses.

 

[chmurf]

I can tell you right now I am 100% sure I won't like the new system because, ...

... because of a thing called "bias".

when you decide you're not going to like something, it doesn't matter how good it finally turns out to be, it will never be good enough.

Probably because some people are hoping that if enough people voice their complaints that maybe some changes will be made to at least make things more enjoyable than they currently are.

I really don't get why that seems so hard for some people to understand...

see the other side of the coin.

How many guests actually dislike the system ?
Here on the DIS or other Disney forum, you will see people who go so far as to hate the system. That's is absolutely true. But consider that the users here are all trained and seasoned guests. Most of us knew all there was to know about Fastpass. And we were a minority, a very small minority.

But we all flock here, and that's a place where the majority of MM+ haters will congregate.

How many are we ? 470k accounts on DIS, how many active ? how many multiple accounts ? How many actual guests who go to Disney ? How many who have experienced MM+/FP+ ?

how many ? let's say 10k people, does that sound like a good ballpark figure ?
Compared to 16 million guests each year at MK alone.

To paraphrase you, I would say that I really don't get why that seems so hard for some people to understand... that we really don't know if this new system is so unpopular as some would tell us it is.


yes, MM+ and FP+ will wreak havoc on some of the regular, seasonned guests that roam these forums. And of course there is an army of guests who would like the system changed. But how big is this army ? Do they outweigh the army of those who have found an improvement with the new system ?

because you're very right when you say that 3 FPs do not compare with the 6 you used to get.
But, keep doing the maths, if you could get that many FPs, it also meant that some guests could get none. Now a few of them can finally get the FPs you're being denied. One disappointed guest yields one very happy guest (maybe 2). How does that rate as far as customer satisfaction and service go ?

 

[Rip]

If you had 8 million patients that would be a ton of work. If only there was a way to thank them for their feedback and let them know that you will be reviewing it and responding in as timely a manner as you could....

The original complaint isn't even that. It's a statement that this person will no longer go because of the changes.

I think Disney employs somewhere in the neighborhood of 60K people. Horrible analogy.

ETA - And they actually have employees whose job it is to handle complaints.

 

[Rip]

Any one who is really a medical doctor would not dream of comparing their patients medical care with a trip to Disney World. The doctor and patient are a team-----communication and working together is the key here. Disney and I are not a "team".....I pay them money to go stay there and go on the rides. It's not the same thing. If I leave and go to Universal-----Universal doesn't have to call Disney to get my file.

Wow, you really don't grasp core concepts at all.

 

[Rip]

... because of a thing called "bias".

when you decide you're not going to like something, it doesn't matter how good it finally turns out to be, it will never be good enough.



see the other side of the coin.

How many guests actually dislike the system ?
Here on the DIS or other Disney forum, you will see people who go so far as to hate the system. That's is absolutely true. But consider that the users here are all trained and seasoned guests. Most of us knew all there was to know about Fastpass. And we were a minority, a very small minority.

But we all flock here, and that's a place where the majority of MM+ haters will congregate.

How many are we ? 470k accounts on DIS, how many active ? how many multiple accounts ? How many actual guests who go to Disney ? How many who have experienced MM+/FP+ ?

how many ? let's say 10k people, does that sound like a good ballpark figure ?
Compared to 16 million guests each year at MK alone.

To paraphrase you, I would say that I really don't get why that seems so hard for some people to understand... that we really don't know if this new system is so unpopular as some would tell us it is.


yes, MM+ and FP+ will wreak havoc on some of the regular, seasonned guests that roam these forums. And of course there is an army of guests who would like the system changed. But how big is this army ? Do they outweigh the army of those who have found an improvement with the new system ?

because you're very right when you say that 3 FPs do not compare with the 6 you used to get.
But, keep doing the maths, if you could get that many FPs, it also meant that some guests could get none. Now a few of them can finally get the FPs you're being denied. One disappointed guest yields one very happy guest (maybe 2). How does that rate as far as customer satisfaction and service go ?

RIF (reading is fundamental) - I spelled it out pretty clearly, re-read and it might sink in this time. I didn't bother reading past the first sentence of your post because if you can't pay attention to what I actually say, there's no point in bothering to read your response.

 

[brockash]

I couldn't disagree with this more. I think it's important for WDW to hear from customers if changes negatively impact them. I don't know if it matters at all, but I still think it's important.

ITA! ....I completely get that in reality Disney doesn't care right now, but I still think it's important for ppl. to explain what they don't like and at some point it may become relevant to Disney and then they'll have something to look back and reflect on.

 

[Rip]

No kidding. What a comparison! Disney trip ---> Patients. Ummm no.


Exactly.

OK, I'll type slow. I didn't compare a vacation to my patients. I compared the process of voicing a complaint. Complaint = Complaint. My job ultimately is customer service, and if my bedside manner rubs someone the wrong way I want to know so that I can make sure I do a better job for all of my patients. When I get a request for records to transfer most of the patients will send a letter explaining their decision, but some don't. Typically it has nothing at all to do with anything related to their care, but occasionally something I or more often one of my nurses did irked them. Those are things I need to know in order to address them so that they don't happen again in the future.

Savvy?

 

[Cyrano]

Time to close as the conversation has gone off piste