To the CM's on the board: what is the one "tip" you can give us?

[1stvisit0909]

Here's something that's less of a tip, but more of a request.

Please don't try to get us to "break character." Even those of us who aren't characters are involved with a storyline, especially the attractions CMs. I work on the safari and I always have people trying to get me to tell them "the real deal"

Yes, the safari is actually 2 weeks long (but its so fun you'll feel like it was only about 20 minutes)There is only one Mickey Mouse and no amount of you winking or making sure there are only adults around will change that. He doesn't wear a costume, there is no one inside of him and the Cinderella you just saw was the same one you saw yesterday.

We love our jobs and we preserve the magic for everyone, not just those young enough not to know better. Of course, this doesn't mean that you'll never hear a backstage tip from a CM, but just because you tell me you've been to Disney 50 times and understand and there are no children around does not necessarily mean I'm going to break character to "let you in on it." If you want the real deal, take a backstage tour, buy a book or surf the net. It's all out there.

You'll never convince me or my kids that the Belle we saw at the breakfast at epcot in her yellow dress was not the same Belle in France in her blue dress later in the day. She even gave our DD4 at the time a great big hello! and said "did you enjoy your breakfast with me?" Uh - yeah idk how that did that, but it was pure magic

 

[cmwade77]

Go to the left??? Seriously? Do people subliminally pick "right" for some reason or are the left lines built to be shorter?

The answer is yes to both. Human nature is to go to the right (there have been many studies that back this up), so as a result the lines on the left will tend to be designed to be shorter as well since there will usually always be fewer people that pick them.

 

[butsy113]

We arrived at AKL in May 2011 and our room was ready! We walked straight to the balcony to look for animals. There was a giraffe about 30 yards from our room! We watched for a while and then noticed some of the CM on the savannah. It turns out the giraffe was outside the perimeter and they were getting him back out on the savannah. One CM noticed us watching and came to talk to us. He explained how the animals are kept away from the buildings, told us the names of the animals that we could see. (the giraffe was the grandson of another giraffe that was there when the park opened) Anyway this was a very special experience for us. We will never forget it! I wish I had gotten his name

 

[sephorachick]

Our dates for next year are May 4th-11th. Kind of creeping into mid May I suppose. Does that count?

You should be ok

 

[RyMacJ]

You rock. Thanks!

 

[Gginnola]

This a great thread!!!! I just read the whole thing. We leave in October for our 24th anniversary celebration, and if it's possible, I'm even more excited!

Thanks to all the CM's, you are what puts the MAGIC in Disney!!!!!

 

[dumape]

Lately my Dis planning/obsession has been conflicting with my WoW obsession. It's so hard to play and keep up with the boards at the same time. I took a month break from the game when I was first planning my trip. Now that everything is about set I'm back into the game.

I'm juggling planning a trip and Guild Leading with the expansion coming out in a week! I could never pull it off without Disboards. These tips have been soooo helpful.

I'm no CM but here's my tip: If you're staying at a Disney resort & shop in the park, CMs can send your packages to your room so you have nothing to lug around! Saves time not having to "wait & buy that before we leave"!

 

[MrsKreamer]

I'm juggling planning a trip and Guild Leading with the expansion coming out in a week! I could never pull it off without Disboards. These tips have been soooo helpful.

I'm no CM but here's my tip: If you're staying at a Disney resort & shop in the park, CMs can send your packages to your room so you have nothing to lug around! Saves time not having to "wait & buy that before we leave"!

I don't think the packages go directly to the room. You still have to pick them up at your resorts gift shop, it takes up to 24 hours to arrive, and they won't accept alcohol(like if you purchase a bottle of wine in Epcot).

 

[dvcterry]

I don't know about this. We were always that family that got the room over the dumpsters. AKL, WL,CR every resort we stayed at we got the worst room possible, the one next to the service elevator, or the janitor's closet etc. Even at the Poly we always got the room with the parking lot view. Sigh.

lol, too funny. sounds like us if we put in a room request.

 

[tkd27]

Okay, it took me awhile to give share this tip since I have used it for the past few years. But, since this will be our last trip for awhile I will share:

Ask for a room near the laundry room. First, most CM's are sympathic towards any woman who has to do laundry on vacation. Second, rooms near the laundry are also near the pool and/or main building. I do laundry everyday on vacation and each time I have asked for this request we have gotten a great room location near pool and main building, even when these rooms are preferred and we paid for standard.

Bumping the thread for awesomeness, and quoting the tip because it's great That's one I'll try and use as we book out next trip for next year!

 

[jennykay]

Okay, it took me awhile to give share this tip since I have used it for the past few years. But, since this will be our last trip for awhile I will share:

Ask for a room near the laundry room. First, most CM's are sympathic towards any woman who has to do laundry on vacation. Second, rooms near the laundry are also near the pool and/or main building. I do laundry everyday on vacation and each time I have asked for this request we have gotten a great room location near pool and main building, even when these rooms are preferred and we paid for standard.

Genius! Do you ask as you check in? Or do you do online check in? I haven't been since they started that, and I didn't make a request when we went before. With a toddler in tow, I'm thinking a room near the laundry would be a good idea even if it wasn't close to the main building!

 

[Kurby]

I'm going to remember the laundry room request

We do a lot of laundry too and always lugging it around the resort

 

[minnie mum]

Genius! Do you ask as you check in? Or do you do online check in? I haven't been since they started that, and I didn't make a request when we went before. With a toddler in tow, I'm thinking a room near the laundry would be a good idea even if it wasn't close to the main building!

You would need to make this request by phone (I always make my requests at the time of booking). There wouldn't be anywhere to make this request with the online check in.

 

[jennykay]

You would need to make this request by phone (I always make my requests at the time of booking). There wouldn't be anywhere to make this request with the online check in.

Thanks, minnie mum. Having never made a request before I'm not sure how to go about this- call the reservation line? Or call the hotel directly? And I guess I could go ahead and do that now?

 

[MikeyTex]

We had a nice family buy our meal for us w/ left over TS credits once, so we decided to do the same when on that trip we then had 3 left over meals. We do this with any left overs we have. We are on the deluxe dining and always have 1 or 2 left overs. It really suprises people- it is spreading a little pixie dust yourself!

Did this on a past trip with CSs.......ordered everybody in our party lunch and ordered a pizza for a table of teenagers next to us!!

 

[Mariep26]

Thanks, minnie mum. Having never made a request before I'm not sure how to go about this- call the reservation line? Or call the hotel directly? And I guess I could go ahead and do that now?

Looks like you are at Pop Century.. not sure what the process is there but remember sometimes when you think you are calling the resort, you are actually getting a call center (and that call center may not even be in Florida). I know POR has a fax number where requests can be sent --perhaps Pop has something similar?

 

[MikeyTex]

Ditch the schedule......

Couldn't agree more.......the only "schedule" I go with is the ARD's and plan to be in the park that I am eating at instead of hopping at the last minute....if I do hop, I'll do half-days........

 

[TPCShauna]

Genius! Do you ask as you check in? Or do you do online check in? I haven't been since they started that, and I didn't make a request when we went before. With a toddler in tow, I'm thinking a room near the laundry would be a good idea even if it wasn't close to the main building!

I handle resort guest relations, and deal with room request issues daily. The old method for making room requests was to fax them to the resort. The room assignment CMs have been instructed to ignore all such faxes.

If you are more than 2 weeks before check-in, call the reservation center to add your room requests. If within the 2 week mark, the best way to get your room requests added is to call the resort directly, and add them to your room reservation. As someone else posted, even if those calls go to a "Call Center", the call has to be transferred to the resort itself for those requests to be added to the reservation since call center staff doesn't have access to the reservation system.

The most important thing to remember about room requests is that they are requests, and not guaranteed, especially if you have a very long list of them. If you have more than one, list them in order of importance as we may not be able to fulfill all of them. Also, adding more than 2 or 3 requests max will almost guarantee that it will be unable to fulfill them all. Our room assignors work very hard to fulfill as many requests as possible, and they really are masters at juggling availability against incoming requests. They want to do everything possible to make your stay magical, but may still not be able to fulfill 15 different requests for the same room.

 

[jennykay]

I handle resort guest relations, and deal with room request issues daily. The old method for making room requests was to fax them to the resort. The room assignment CMs have been instructed to ignore all such faxes.

If you are more than 2 weeks before check-in, call the reservation center to add your room requests. If within the 2 week mark, the best way to get your room requests added is to call the resort directly, and add them to your room reservation. As someone else posted, even if those calls go to a "Call Center", the call has to be transferred to the resort itself for those requests to be added to the reservation since call center staff doesn't have access to the reservation system.

The most important thing to remember about room requests is that they are requests, and not guaranteed, especially if you have a very long list of them. If you have more than one, list them in order of importance as we may not be able to fulfill all of them. Also, adding more than 2 or 3 requests max will almost guarantee that it will be unable to fulfill them all. Our room assignors work very hard to fulfill as many requests as possible, and they really are masters at juggling availability against incoming requests. They want to do everything possible to make your stay magical, but may still not be able to fulfill 15 different requests for the same room.

Thanks!

 

[tkd27]

I handle resort guest relations, and deal with room request issues daily. The old method for making room requests was to fax them to the resort. The room assignment CMs have been instructed to ignore all such faxes.

If you are more than 2 weeks before check-in, call the reservation center to add your room requests. If within the 2 week mark, the best way to get your room requests added is to call the resort directly, and add them to your room reservation. As someone else posted, even if those calls go to a "Call Center", the call has to be transferred to the resort itself for those requests to be added to the reservation since call center staff doesn't have access to the reservation system.

The most important thing to remember about room requests is that they are requests, and not guaranteed, especially if you have a very long list of them. If you have more than one, list them in order of importance as we may not be able to fulfill all of them. Also, adding more than 2 or 3 requests max will almost guarantee that it will be unable to fulfill them all. Our room assignors work very hard to fulfill as many requests as possible, and they really are masters at juggling availability against incoming requests. They want to do everything possible to make your stay magical, but may still not be able to fulfill 15 different requests for the same room.

Thanks for taking the time to post! This is really helpful

Follow up question, though: Do you guys get a lot of requests for proximity to pools or buses or anything? Are the majority of those requests usually able to be honored, or do most people not get it because of the number of similar requests?