Tips From A CM on How to Have The Best Vacation!

[CMBoy99344]

Hey Guys,

CMBoy Here again, with some great tips for your next Disney Trip. Take these tips into consideration when you start to plan from start to finish.

1)Dont Overplan. It kills the whole meaning of vacation. If you have yourself stuck to a such rigid schedule, you will be misrable trying to run back and forth, and making your family angry and tired. I have seen those guest come to me with perfect notebooks stocked full of their vacation info who have a such rigid schedule, that if one thing is thrown off, it all breaks down. Remember its easier to go with the flow. Make yourself loose plans, for example: Which parks you are going to which days, if you are eating at a popular restaraunt, go ahead and make a reasonable priorty seating and allow travel time. MY PERSONAL RECOMENDATION: Priority Seating For A BIG Breakfast, A Light Lunch at an ODF Kart, maybe a snack in the afternoon, then a BIG dinner once the day is over with. See, that way, the "meat" of your day is free to spend however you want to.

2)If you really really are dying to get into Cinderellas Royal Table, here is a tip: Before making any other reservations INCLUDING YOUR HOTEL STAY, make those priority seatings at cinderellas royal table and then plan your vacation from there, remember 90 days out, call at 7:00 AM on the dot, because by 7:15, they are gone. This way, you know that during your stay, you know that you will definately get to eat with Cindy.

3)Always remember: book what you want to stay in. If you want to stay in the closest buildings at all star, book prefered. If you want the tower at the contemporary, book the tower, not the garden wings. If you want concierge at GF, book concierge at GF DO NOT EVER EVER COUNT on being upgraded at no charge. I dont care what your travel agent or anyone tells you about how we "always" upgrade. Besides, think about the people next to you. They saved the money, they did the planning, they booked Tower rooms at the contemporary at the full rack rate, and you come in paying for the cheaper rooms, yet you got upgraded at no charge?? That makes me mad to know that someone got something I paid for, for free! Plus, Something to keep in mind: The mouse has started to look at the bottom line a lot more this year, if some of you have noticed, you may not have had that same complimentary upgrade that you had last year this year.

4)Pre-Purchase your tickets and SAVE!! Did you know that the cost of a pre-purchased 5 day UPH is cheaper than a at the counter 4 day UPH!!!!! THATS ONE FREE DAY!!!!!

5)Along with the overplanning bit I went over in No. 1: Come during slow season!! It is well worth pulling the kids out of school for an extra 2 or 3 days to avoid the monster crowds, and if you have ever been during the 3 weeks surrounding easter, you know exactly what I am talking about. Two weeks before Halloween, my family came into town, the longest wait: 15 minutes at mission space. The next day we were able to ride litterally every open ride at the Magic Kingdom, and we did not even stay from open to close. Remember: 2 weeks after labor day-October 25, November 1 - November 20, December 5-20, JAN 5-MAR 15!!! SLOW TIMES!!!!!!!

3) And The Number One Rule: Remember, Castmembers are human too, we may work in the happiest place on earth, but remember that we are people too!! Especially those of us who have been devistated by the three hurricanes. The nicer you present your problem to us, the more likely we will be nice right back.
I once had a guest who was upset that Cirque Du Soliel was not showing during her stay, and she purchased the Gold Dream Maker PKG which was supposed to come with Cirque Tickets, but instead came with extra Disney Dollars valuing the tickets. She came to me, and presented her points clearly and very nicely. What Did I Do? I found out when they were going to be showing again, which was the next night after they were supposed to leave. I asked her if she would like to stay with us an extra night on us, and go to cirque on us too. I even called the show up and made sure her husband was picked to be a participating audience member. They wrote me a letter later that month thanking me for my generosity. NICE GUEST GOT: FREE DISNEY DOLLARS, FREE NIGHT ON US, FREE FRONT ROW SEATING AT CIRQUE ON US.
On the flip side: Earlier that week, A different woman came up to me and as soon as she came within speaking distance of me started yelling that Cirque was not playing that week and that was rediculous and demanded her stay be "comped." I told her I was terribly sorry and the disney dollars are the exact amount of the purchase of tickets. ANGRY RANTING GUEST GOT: NOTHING!!!!!!
SEE THE DIFFERENCE!?!?!?!

P.S. A side note with the mean guest. Dont ever use the word "Comped" in any situation. its extreamly tacky and distasteful. We are not Las Vegas. If a guest ever utters the word "Comped" to me, I will not offer anything but my apologies.

PPS If we truly did something wrong, we will fix it. We know when something is our fault we will take the blame and treat everyone fairly.

PPPS: Dont ever fish for free things. I once had a guest who had an issue at the Magic Kingdom, and said that I needed to resolve it. So What Did I Do? I mean, I dont work at the Magic Kingdom, How Was I Supposed to Know If They Already Fixed It? AH HA! The Handy Dandy One Of A Kind Disney Tracking System. Any time that you are given anything for anything that may have gone wrong, we track it. We have a great computer program that keeps logs of each guest and their issues. I told the guest to hold on a moment, pulled up his name, and told him "Sir I see that you spoke with Michael today over at MK Guest Relations, and he gave you 25 disney dollars for the inconvienence, is their anything else I can do for you?" the guest looked extreamly embarrased and walked away. Just Remember, We Are Two Steps Ahead of You and watching Two Steps behind you!!

Thanks Guys!
More To Come Soon!!

 

[bcvgal]

As the old saying goes "You attract more flies with honey than vinegar" Thanks CM

 

[Bracho]

I have always treated the CM's the way I am treated and how I want to be treated. Although I have had a few peoblems from time to time, overall... I have met some wonderful people at WDW

 

[Nolcrest]

Thanks for taking the time to post your tips. A nice reminder for all. Personally I've never had a "rude" CM. Maybe because I've always treated them with respect as I would want to be treated. Looking forward to more inside tips.

 

[LATigger]

Hi CMBoy99344 and thank you for posting all of that great information. I AGREE!! You are definately only human AND trying to provide guests with a dream experience so why should you catch heck from spoiled rotten adults that give you a hard time?!?!? I am always trying to "out-Disney-friendly" the CMs that I speak with since I am a CM-at-heart and think it must be so special to work daily at providing magic!!! Glad to know you CMs work on the principle of be-kind-to-the-kind sometimes.

What you describe works in the real world too...in traffic, at the airport, at the doctor's office, even in the carpool line. Why can't people just GET IT!?! We are all in this together.

OK, enough ranting! Just many thanks for sharing your insight and keep on working your magic. Those of us who aprreciate it will continue to notice! I have only been to Universal one afternoon on a free pass with a friend 8 years ago. After seeing the mentality of the workers who were "just filling time on their shift", I ran back screaming to WDW!!! I don't want to hear the workers say to each other "OK, I'm back from lunch, guess I will take over for you-- Ugh!" while I am on vacation at a carefree place! Thanks to you for carrying on Walt's dream ----!

 

[Lou-Ann]

Thanks for sharing. As I told the new Manager of the WL........"You have a beautiful building but you have the best CMs on property. That is why we come here. You folks are what makes Disney what it is.not the rides. Have a great day and thank you.......

 

[Pig Pen]

Fabulous tips. I have never had a rude CM either, but I rarely complain. Once I booked a standard room at CSR with an AP rate and was given a free upgrade to a wonderful waterview room (the resort was deserted). Next time I booked a standard with AP rate and had a view of the parking lot.

Did I complain? No, I got what I paid for. But I certainly missed the waterview and will request and pay for waterview next time I stay at CSR.

I love Disney and am always amazed at how well everything runs in spite of the thousands of people who are there everyday. It is truly an impressive operation with impressive staff.

 

[momxx5]

When we book our vacation, we do not even do requests for locations or views. We book what the resort we want and of course non smoking and then let the rest be "magic". No fishing for upgrades here.

As far as the CMs, we are so excited to be at the happiest place on earth, I cannot imagine being rude to a CM or anyone else for that matter. Kinda follows the "do unto others....."

I agree, that going in the slow season is a better choice, unfortunately with DH's schedule and the children's school rules, that is not an option for us.

Thanks for the insight.

 

[DMRick]

If a guest ever utters the word "Comped" to me, I will not offer anything but my apologies.

I wonder..is this something Disney advocates? If the guest asks about a comp, even if it's within your power to offer something you wouldn't? Maybe the guest didn't realize that word shouldn't be used.

This is a two way street. I have run into some pretty bad CM's..just like it sounds like you run into some pretty bad guests. Although no one should be yelled at or treated badly, sometimes in this type of industry, by the time the CM's see the people, they have run into a late plane, cranky kids, a room not ready, etc. You (the CM) may be the first person they see after a really bad day, and maybe what you are hearing is frustration, not meanness. I know that on a trip I took tow years ago, by the 8th time I talked to someone, I was no where as nice as the first time. I have a couple of disks out in my back, and while it may not have been the smartest time for me to travel while it was acting up, I did. When we got our room, I tried to lay down for a bit, but the mattress had a real problem..it leaned way to the one side and I couldn't stay in one place. I called the desk and they sent maintenance who said..wow, what did the last guest do to this bed, and stated the maid never should have made it up. The bottom was actually broken, and they needed to fix/replace it. We went for lunch and when we came back, the bed hadn't changed. I called down and the "snippy" CM said she would get right to it. An hour later (all time I should have been off having fun), I called back again and there was no record of the maintenance report or my phone call. We waited two more hours (and of course we had a king bed, so no other choices), talked with a manager who said it was decided if they put a board under the mattress it would be ok, and they would be right up (not what teh first guy there said). We went out and came back around midnight, same old bed, no one at the desk knew anything about it, and they said they could switch us, but to another resort, or I could wait and they would send up someone. By two in the morning, I was ready for blood. I went down to the desk, and the girl said there was no report. I said not only did I want to be moved, but I did not want to pay for that night (I asked to be comped for the night). She said she would send up someone to help us move, and with a new room key. At three oclock no one had come..and I was definately a lot nastier when I called down. At 3:15 someone finally came, brought us to another room, which had no towels and we settled in, after they said they would hang them on our door (of course this stress was not helping my back, and by then I was on pain killers). They didn't bring towels. Obviously, whoever we got didn't like the word "comp" and we got nothing. We talked to the manager that day (we happened to be invited to a managers meeting..wasn't that funny!), who said he would take care of it. When we checked out 5 days later, nothing had been "comped" I called Disney when we got home and was comped that night, and next rip given a preferred room at no extra charge. (Comp is the right word, by the way).
So I guess the moral is, you don't know what happened to the guest before you saw them, you don't know if they had a death in the family before coming, if their child was ill and this trip was suppose to be something special, their plane was late and they are tired, they had a bad drive down, that trip to the Circus was the highlight of the trip (if you have a way to get one guest another time slot, how can you make a choice not to give it to the next person, just because they were nicer to you?), and their room still isn't ready, and since they snapped at you, now you won't help them and they'll have to wait another hour for a room that in my opinion should be ready by three...you just don't know why the guest may have reacted like they did. Should they be nasty to you? No, but in a service industry, you either need to give them the best you can, or call over a manager, who has been trained in guest relations, to take over for you. I happen to feel everyone deserves the best you can give, even the crabby, tired guets.
I'm sure there are plenty who don't agree with me, but I work with clients all the time, and some of them are really a chore, but they ALL get the same service..even the ones who are not happy with me. And you know what? I find when I give niceness, they almost always give it back..and niceness can calm a ruffled person.

 

[STEPHILL]

I had a mix up with my AP on our Dec '01 trip. We had purchased our AP's at MK the first day of our vacation. The next day we go to EC and my AP is saying invalid. The CM at MK put in the wrong year so it was showing my AP was expired. I was not happy as I was also pregnant. I waited in the ticket line for probably 40 minutes, while my husband and DD3 waited inside the gates for me. The manager of EC just happened to notice my husband and DD sitting at a bench at the entrance. He asked if my husband needed some assistance. My husband was as nice as I guess he could be watching his pregnant wife stand in line for 40 minutes that seemed like it was barely moving. My DH explained what had happened. The manager came and got me out of line brought me to the ticket counter, they fixed my ticket and he gave my DH and DD complimentary VIP tickets for 2 rides on Test Track and he put our name on the list for the VIP viewing area of Illuminations. He did not have to do this. It was not his fault, the problem occured at MK. The benefits far outweighed the problem. We did not have to wait for an hour around WS to get a good view of Illuminations. We walked right up about 15 minutes before it started. These few perks brightened our day and we really did forget about the mix up. This is why we go to Disney, we stay at Disney and we don't bother with anything else that is not in the World. Disney's CM make everything magical even when on the rare occasion it is not.

 

[cavecricket]

thanks alot for the tips,
i have never met a disney CM that wasnt very kind to us in the 27 times we have gone. we had a minor glitch our past trip with the bus system, we had ressies for a 50th anniversary dinner , and we goofed , we had been catching a bus at the ttc to go back to AKL appearently the cm;s were giving us a lift as they only went to AK from ttc. the night of our ressies we shopped at poly and walked to ttc and the driver of he ak bus said he could not take us to akl, when we finally managed to get back to akl ( 9pm wishes just let out) we had alltogether missed dinner, i calmly went to our front desk and explained what had happened , i comended the drivers that had helped us before but simply recommeded that they should let customers know that " i can bring you to the resort tonight but we dont normally service akl from the ttc" the woman felt so bad we were given disney dollars for the whole family to have dinner and they upgraded us to a king bed w/fridge which was not avail at checkin. i was not looking for freebies as i was just making a suggestion, but i was so pleased with her service to us that i spoke with her manager to compliment her and i also wrote and mailed a letter of customer service excellence!!!

some of us customers will do our best to give back to cm's for their efforts especially to those who go above and beyond the call of duty!!!


A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL THE CM"S PAST AND PRESENT THAT HAVE BEEN SO KIND AND INFORMATIVE TO GUESTS! YOU GUYS REALLY DO CONTRIBUTE SO MUCH TO DISNEY's MAGIC!!! FROM THE CM IN CENTRAL RESERVATIONS TO THE CM CLEANING THE RESTROOMS, I THANK YOU FOR YEARS OF LAUGHTER AND JOY IN THE PLACE WE ALL CALL HOME!!!!!
HERE"S TO MANY MANY MORE!!!!!
:thewave:

 

[GoldenOldie]

Originally posted by CMBoy99344
4)Pre-Purchase your tickets and SAVE!! Did you know that the cost of a pre-purchased 5 day UPH is cheaper than a at the counter 4 day UPH!!!!! THATS ONE FREE DAY!!!!!

Not quite. 5 day advance UPH is $275.84 including tax. 4 day UPH at check in is $ 251.36. What you suggest is true at the 11 day advance/10 day at check in level, not at the 5/4.

 

[CMBoy99344]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the great feedback. Not to sound mean or anything like that, I did not mean to offend anyone at all!!! I know every now and then, there have been mistakes made, as perfect as those who visit disney think it is, it does have its flaws!! We will admit it!! Disney is an ever changing company that makes changes every day! As CM's we try to roll with the punches and make it the best experience for our guests.

As for any of you who have ever experienced a "rude" CM. I terribly appologize! We try to hire the best here at Disney and with a company of 55 THOUSAND+ hourly cm's in an area the size of San Fransisco, it is sometimes kinda hard!! I know I go through and make sure that my cms are the best of the best. If they have personal issues during the day that I see, I will allow them to leave and come back when they are in a disney mood!! With the recent hurricanes, it has all been very hard on the entire resort. We were exausted, most of us got very little sleep during the hurricane if we were working, and some of us did not even know what was happening at our homes, which make us worry!! I know we as floridians may have been using it as a crutch for a while now, but we are still in the healing process, Disney may look great, however, the rest of central florida is still working.

I Love Disney, and absolutely adore making a single guest's day. It makes me smile to stop at the gas station on my way to work when a child looks up at me and sees my nametag and lanyard on and say "Look Mom, He works at Mickeys House!" I love to make any situation a guest brings to me a great situation. Not to say that I am denying everyone compensation when something goes wrong, its just that I can "sense" what type of person you are, what the problem really is, and know what to do to turn things for the better. I know what to do, thats my job, SERVING YOU is my career, Making your day, makes my day. Seeing the smiles makes me smile. If I know that your issue is a valid one, I will make it better.

Im sorry if my earlier post sounded a little ranty and may have seemed like I was letting off steam, but these are great things for people to know not only for Disney, but for life as well

 

[Professor Mouse]

Thanks for the tips everyone. Goodness, there seems to be a lot to remember. The only other time I went to Disney was spur of the moment, but I'm trying to make this next trip really nice for my new family. You guys are great here.

 

[flyball]

Thanks for the great tips! I just wanted to take this opportunity to say how much I appreciate all that the CMs do to make our trips so incredibly special and fantasy-like! I was particularly impressed with the dedication and enthusiasm of the CMs during our last trip, which included a visit from hurricane Frances. With one exception, every CM we spoke to (and we spoke to many at length) was kind, informative, and helpful. Unfortunately, we did run into one bad apple hostessing at Boma one night. We were so taken aback by her demeanor that we decided to turn in our beeper and dine at Jiko instead! I chalked her attitude up to hurricane stress (and, until now, blocked it from my memory, as her behavior was very un-Disney-like)!!! I was so incredibly impressed with the majority of the CMs we encountered on this last trip, that I wrote to AKL resort management to commend them for their outstanding service. I still think about our trip every day and can't wait to return!!!

 

[DebbieB]

On our May trip 2 or 3 years ago, we arrived on Saturday afternoon. We went to MK that night just to see Spectromagic and the fireworks. We knew the crowds would be bad so we planned to hop on some of the less popular rides like TTA before the parade. We went to the guest relations booth in front of MK to either buy or activate our AP's and there was a problem with the computers. I was patient, as I said we really didn't have big plans for that night and it was early. It took about 20 minutes to finally get our AP's. The cm apologized and I said no problem. The cm gave us 3 front of the line passes each! They worked like instant fastpasses. So we ended up riding Buzz, Peter Pan and I think Haunted Mansion, which all had long lines.

 

[mom23guys2]

We've always found the CM at Disney to be some of the best service people anywhere.
Two examples. Two years ago there was a mix-up on our reservations. We were staying at the Swan and then switching to AKL Savannah view.Somehow I didn't notice my dates on the confirmations were wrong. The Swan nights were fine but they had us arriving at the AKL on the day they were leaving. It was Easter week so everything was pretty much booked. I didn't notice the problem until two nights before we left. I called and nothing available at AKL. They swithed us to guest services, Troy, and the only thingavailable was POR. Had a great Cast member at guest services. He kept trying everyday for cancellations. He'd call us nightly at the Swan. First he got us one night at Standard view at WL the next night two nights, the next night one night at AKL Standard view and the rest WL and so on until we were able to get our stay completely at AKL it was only pool view but we were thrilled. They even charged us at Standard view rates. It was originally CRO's mix up but partially my fault for not checking. He didn't have to spend hours making our trip special but he did. I wrote to Disney extolling his virtues. I hope they gave him something for being so helpful.

Another time DS was with a few friends after the park closed they went back to another resort with some friends from home. They didn't realize that the busses were no longer running to get back to the BC. They checked at the front desk as to what to do. the front desk there called a Disney van and they brought them all home safe and sound, just a lot later than I thought they'd be back.
Fantastic and caring CM's

 

[cjsmom5]

CMBoy 99334

Thanks for the insight. For the most part CMs at Disney have been very helpful and great. Just as in every business one may run into someone who is less than ideal...that is the nature of the business. But, whenever that has happened at Disney and we let someone in mgmt know about it, they have always taken care of it right away. The Executive Office has been absolutely wonderful in contacting us after the trip and assisting us in resolving any situation we encountered. Can't ask for much more than that.

I was curious ... we always go the week after Thanksgiving and found it to be fairly slow ... and the next week busier because of Pop Warner Activities (typically then) ... but you didn't mention this in your post as a slow time and instead talked about Dec 5 ... we've noticed, over the last four years (we've been 8 during this time) that it has gotten busier but still felt it was pretty slow. What is your take on that? Just curious.

 

[lmk]

I'm glad I read this post. I am guilty of overplanning - interestingly enough, only at WDW, everywhere else I'm a "go with the flow" kind of person. We've had to shorten our trip by 2 days because my brother has been ill and I've been freaking out about how to cram 7 days worth of plans into 5 days. Not to mention, how things will get done with a toddler in tow as well as with the projected rainy days next week. You made me remember that this is VACATION and should be fun, not stressful. Thanks for putting some perspective on everything for me.

 

[OceanAnnie]

Thanks for your tips!! Nice to get a CM's perspective.

I don't like to overplan. I do plan a few different things to do and try to make each trip extra special.

I'll be looking forward to more of your posts!

P.S.- I do understand DMRick's points. Sometimes when it rains it pours! And you won't always know if you are encountering a person who is nice but "soaked"!