Total Nightmare @ Disney

[BigGreen73]

I think what happened to you at WDW was totally inexcusable. I hope you do complain and that Disney learns from this one. I don't care what level of compensation WDW gave--staying overnight in a hotel room 80-89 degrees with a 2 year old!! WHAT?? That is not only wrong but dangerous. The issue with not loading your park tickets and DDP, just added to the frustration. I think you dealt with it in the best way you knew how at the time and I'm glad that, in the end, you received some respite from the manager. I mean, really--if the manager felt the room was HOT, then imagine how miserable it was for the poor toddler? I wonder exactly how many CMs just passed the buck on this one? SAD...

WDW is supposed to be a happy experience--that's what you pay for!!

Nicely put. The OP's experience was definitely a nightmare for those first two days. IMO, it's great that Disney compensated by upgrading rooms, but the OP will never get the 1st two days back. Yes, the next 8 of 10 days were probably good, but Disney should have refunded the 1st two days along with the upgrade. Honestly, the OP paid for two days that were definitely less than "Magical."

Oh well, I agree that a letter or e-mail should be sent on this situation.

 

[sjs314]

I learned one thing from the OP's post :

Never check into a resort at 10pm , this is the second post I read where upon checking in late and finding a problem in the room said problem was not fixed in a timely manner, the other resort was a deluxe BTW.

In the case of late check-ins there is not always an open room to move someone to when a problem occurs if the resort is sold out.

The late check-in time is what promted my question in my other post as to how many maintenance workers disney has "on call" at 10pm which definately is not during normal business hours and also what priority they place on a/c in relation to other room problems such as a stopped up toliet and or plumbing leaks?

I have to wonder if the previous occupant of said room even bothered to report the a/c problem at check-out when maintenance was on duty?

A few factors contributed to OP's Problems which should never have happened in the first place but this is life and then there is Murphy's Law

As far as the thread title I have to agree about the impression it gives that the entire 10 days were a nightmare

First it was not even 2 days since the OP checked in at 10pm on 9/2 and were moved to SSR during the day of 9/3

As far as time lost yes time was lost having to return to the resort to have the KTTW cards fixed and time was lost in moving to the new resort, but on the other hand the OP now had the convience of a W/D in the room, a separate room for the 2 year old to sleep in undisturbed if parents stayed up later an other amenities all of which would give OP extra time, a full kitchen, walking distance to DTD.

I do think Disney compensated the OP quite satisfactory, the vacation started off on a bad foot but seems it should have ended on a positive note.

 

[eliza61]

I think saying that the entire trip was a nightmare is a bit harsh. Granted, the first 2 days were a nightmare. That still left 8 days of a wonderful vacation. 8 days in a villa is a lot longer that most people can afford. If nothing else went wrong, I would say it worked out good

I can sort of understand the "harsh" evaluation though.

1) For whatever reasons, wdw vacations seem to come with a high level of expectations. Maybe it's from the boards, maybe it's from us using words like "magical", "once in a life time" etc. but what ever reason we don't like real life to intrude into our disney vacations, so when it does it seems worse than any other murphys law type of day.

2). Initial reactions often color the entire experience. You ever hear the expression, "you only get 1 chance at a first impression". My worst experience at Disney was at the Grand Floridian, which is suppose to be the flagship resort. because this was my 1st time there and it went south on the 1st day, I now have a really bad impression of that resort. I have to curb my reviews of it because I never have anything good to say. It's probably an overly harsh impression but until I go back (which I never will) it will always give off that illusion.

 

[d1gitman]

1. the OP now had the convience of a W/D in the room, if they planned on doing laundry during their trip. some people pack enough clothes for the entire trip.
2. a separate room for the 2 year old to sleep in undisturbed if that is what the parents do. i know people who have their young ones still in the parents room at home, never mind on a trip in a 'strange' place.
3. if parents stayed up later hard to say, that would depend on the parents schedule. thus it may or may not be a perk.
4. an other amenities all of which would give OP extra time, no such thing as 'extra' time, just time.
5. a full kitchen, only a perk if they were planning to cook and eat in the room. based on their initial ressie, i don't think so.
6. walking distance to DTD. if they were going to DTD during their trip and were inclined to walk their vs. bus or car.


I do think Disney compensated the OP quite satisfactory, I agree, the vacation started off on a bad foot but seems it should have ended on a positive note.

.

I agree they were compensated fairly but that's looking at it from my perspective. The room/resort upgrade would have been welcome in our family. However, we can't assume that the upgrade was of any added value to the OP. The OP paid for accomodations to begin with. Sure the upgrade had a significant dollar value to it, but if the upgrade was of no use or enjoyment over the value resort, then all they got was another room and the hassle of repacking and moving, along with the time spent for that.

I think it's completely reasonable for the OP to send a letter to WDW explaining what happened and to voice any additional concerns they may have had.

 

[BigGreen73]

1) For whatever reasons, wdw vacations seem to come with a high level of expectations. Maybe it's from the boards, maybe it's from us using words like "magical", "once in a life time" etc. but what ever reason we don't like real life to intrude into our disney vacations, so when it does it seems worse than any other murphys law type of day.

WDW come with a high level of expectations because:

1. The cost of a WDW vacation and everything associated with it. It's quite expensive to take a vacation with the Mouse.
2. WDW prides themselves and everything they do with a high level of service and customer satisfaction. They sell the "magical" experience.

If I wanted cheap vacations, below average service, average food, and dumpy looking attractions and "resorts" I'd just vacation around home. I go to WDW for an above average experience with great service to get away from life. Yes, real life issues can happen, but WDW should resolve the issues within a couple of hours not days.

When I stayed at POFQ in may 09, the toilet in the room was not working. They had the issue resolved in a couple of hours and even someone from mouskeeping came a minute after to clean and sanitize everything. Great job, no impact to any of my vacation. In the OP situation, the WDW manger should have stated we can't get someone there tonight, let's change your rooms and they should have taken care of the entrance issue at the park, not make the OP go back to the resort.

 

[WDSearcher]

Except most places aren't Disney and have teh range of offerings that Disney has. I wouldn't expect a restaurant that totally botched my meal to offer me a hotel or a hotel to offer a meal or minigolf place to offer a waterpark, etc... However, Disney is all of these things and more, so it would be appropriate to have a range of offerings. They certainly have a level of offerings for compensating guests when problems occur. I mean, if you didn't get your extra towels for the added guest, that they are gonna give you a resort upgrade.

Right ... but you're assuming that ANY problem leads to a resort upgrade. My contention is that that is not true. Other people have reported problems ranging from dirty ashtrays to bad Mousekeeping to forgotten birthday cakes, compensated by FastPasses, complimentary desserts, free meals and other items. So it's not as though Disney thinks that an resort upgrade is a "one size fits all" solution. Disney looks at the problem and makes an offer. The Guest either says yes or no.

I mean ... can you imagine what it would be like if someone had a problem with their room. So ... they go to the front desk demanding something be done. Disney says, "We're so sorry ... let us make this right" and then they pull out a long list of offerings to show the guest. The Guest -- who, when they walked up, was hoping for a room upgrade or maybe a free night -- is now faced with dozens of offerings. Do they want La Nouba tickets + water park entry + six Dream FastPasses? Or do they want a room upgrade + a special character greeting + a note from Cinderella? And how do you assign "value" for each of those items? Suddenly, it's not about Disney making it right. It's about the guest having to peruse this list of items and try to get the most they possibly can out of it. And it turns into a huge barter session.

It's the COMPANY's decision what they offer the guest. Not the other way around. The Guest can ask, but the Company is under no obligation to give away the farm because you didn't get enough towels.

 

[Planogirl]

Sometimes the company offers nothing.

We once had a situation where we checked in and couldn't get into one of our rooms. Repeated calls and walking to the lobby (this was CSR and was quite a walk) did nothing to resolve this problem for several hours. On top of that it was late and raining. Luckily we had two rooms so we had somewhere to put all the luggage. Finally someone who worked at the front desk left her post to try to fix the situation and it worked. She offered nothing which was fine but my point is that Disney doesn't always offer anything extra.

By the way, this was my mother's one and only trip to WDW and she was mad at Disney right from the start thanks to this. She was already wary of going to begin with and this just turned her off completely.

 

[KellyNY]

If upgrade from value to deluxe cannot compensate 2 days of inconvenience, then I do not know what can. Time cannot be returned but making the rest of the stay(8 more days) more comfortable is a big deal. What else could be done, firing everyone envolved, closing resort, public execution of maintanance crew? Seriously, situation was handled pretty well ($2,000 upgrade). It does not matter if OP did not plan booking deluxe and was OK with value, OP definitely had more comfort at villa and that is the point.

 

[Pjimmeyer]

What else could be done, firing everyone envolved, closing resort, public execution of maintanance crew?

Hmm. A Disney execution. Which character do you think they would use to carry it out?

 

[KellyNY]

Hmm. A Disney execution. Which character do you think they would use to carry it out?

Lets say a month on IASW would break anyone, although it is cruel and unusual.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

I'm not the poster who wrote what you're responding to - but that's the kind of thing I always address while there.

We were finally told our room was ready at about 3:15 or so. I think we were at Whole Foods, near Universal, when we found out, so it took a minute to get back to the room. Plus, when we arrived, I grabbed ALL of our luggage, which was quite a bit. It couldn't have been before 3:45 pm before I went into the room. When I did go in, the mousekeeper was in there still cleaning.

Now I was aggrevated, but it was certainly something I could work with. Until she opened her mouth. And proceeded to give me attitude. It was clear she was slacking, and called in that the room was complete to make the 3:00 deadline and was ticked that I was back before she could finish.

I really was very nice, despite being really annoyed. I told her she could finish up, I just wanted to leave the bags instead of lugging them back to the car. This is when she started giving me attitude and told me she wanted to vacuum. So I mentioned I'd just leave them on the bed. Got a big old huff and a "Fine!".

If when I asked if I could leave the bags, she would have just said: "Sure!", no harm, no foul. But that attitude pushed me RIGHT over the top.

Went down to the front desk IMMEDIATELY. And I told the manager I spoke to flat out that I wanted NOTHING. I wasn't seeking anything. I wanted to let them know about the issue so they could work with her and other housekeepers to make sure that situation didn't happen to someone else. The manager insisted on compensating. I reinforced that it really wasn't necessary, but she basically said she had access to the computer and would do it irrespective. She cut the room rate by 50% for the night I think, and told me to take the family out for a nice dinner on the resort.

We had not ONE housekeeping issue the rest of the week, and the housekeeper was very pleasant the rest of the week.

That incident taught me 2 things. 1.) Tell someone while you're there. It's FAR too easy for stuff to get lost in the Disney beaurocracy and different divisions and levels of management after you get home. 2.) They do take guest complaints seriously.

Long story short? I'd say something now.

I agree that the attitude from the Mousekeeper was unacceptable and I would have complained as well, but I'm not sure what you meaqn by 3pm "deadline."

Check-in at WDW resorts BEGINS at 3pm, that does not mean that all rooms must be ready to turn by 3pm. We have been fortunate to get rooms as early as 11 or 12, but we have also had to wait as late as 4 or 5.

It is possible that there was a miscommunication and that your room notification was sent to you prematurely.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

I learned one thing from the OP's post :

Never check into a resort at 10pm , this is the second post I read where upon checking in late and finding a problem in the room said problem was not fixed in a timely manner, the other resort was a deluxe BTW.

In the case of late check-ins there is not always an open room to move someone to when a problem occurs if the resort is sold out.

The late check-in time is what promted my question in my other post as to how many maintenance workers disney has "on call" at 10pm which definately is not during normal business hours and also what priority they place on a/c in relation to other room problems such as a stopped up toliet and or plumbing leaks?

I have to wonder if the previous occupant of said room even bothered to report the a/c problem at check-out when maintenance was on duty?

A few factors contributed to OP's Problems which should never have happened in the first place but this is life and then there is Murphy's Law

As far as the thread title I have to agree about the impression it gives that the entire 10 days were a nightmare

First it was not even 2 days since the OP checked in at 10pm on 9/2 and were moved to SSR during the day of 9/3

As far as time lost yes time was lost having to return to the resort to have the KTTW cards fixed and time was lost in moving to the new resort, but on the other hand the OP now had the convience of a W/D in the room, a separate room for the 2 year old to sleep in undisturbed if parents stayed up later an other amenities all of which would give OP extra time, a full kitchen, walking distance to DTD.

I do think Disney compensated the OP quite satisfactory, the vacation started off on a bad foot but seems it should have ended on a positive note.

I second your assessment that checking-in late can be the cause of huge issues.

The worst experience we ever had at Disney resulted from a late-night check-in. I won't go into detail but it was sheer insanity the way we were treated.

 

[ols386]

Yes, the op was compensated by being moved to SSR villa, and that was great that the manager did that. But to me, the whole point in writing to WDW now (after the fact), is to ensure that the right individuals are made aware of the situation, in order to improve customer satisfaction, and hopefully avoid future things of this nature from happening. Just because the manager gave them a free room upgrade, doesn't necessarily mean that the information at hand gets to the right person (in this situation, whomever is in charge of overall maintenance issues).

It shouldn't take several hours to get maintenance up to the room to check-out the a/c problem. So, maybe management needs to make sure that maintenance employees understand how imperative it is to respond as quickly and efficiently as possible.

As far as the problem with the park tickets being included on the KTTW card, that was a big pain in the neck for the op, but it sounds like that was just one of those human-error things that can happen. But still needs to be brought to the attention on upper management in order to look at it, and figure out if there is a solution to preventing it from happening. Just another item to look at and try to improve customer satisfaction.

 

[DisGirl23]

What else could be done, firing everyone envolved, closing resort, public execution of maintanance crew? Seriously, situation was handled pretty well ($2,000 upgrade). It does not matter if OP did not plan booking deluxe and was OK with value, OP definitely had more comfort at villa and that is the point.

Totally agree with this. This thread is starting to prove that some people will complain for just about anything. Disney hasn't figured out a way to go back in time. They are human, they make mistakes. They upgraded the family to a villa as an apology for it. That's a nice way to make up for it.

 

[photobob]

You have every right to send in a letter for the way your first two days were butchered, the series of events were inexcusable. You had to have felt snake bit when every where you turned major mistakes were made. Obviously though they knew how badly they botched the first part of your stay or they wouldn't have moved you from All Stars to a 2 BDR Villa, I hope that helped enhance the rest of your stay!

 

[sjs314]

Yes, the op was compensated by being moved to SSR villa, and that was great that the manager did that. But to me, the whole point in writing to WDW now (after the fact), is to ensure that the right individuals are made aware of the situation, in order to improve customer satisfaction, and hopefully avoid future things of this nature from happening. Just because the manager gave them a free room upgrade, doesn't necessarily mean that the information at hand gets to the right person (in this situation, whomever is in charge of overall maintenance issues).

It shouldn't take several hours to get maintenance up to the room to check-out the a/c problem. So, maybe management needs to make sure that maintenance employees understand how imperative it is to respond as quickly and efficiently as possible.
As far as the problem with the park tickets being included on the KTTW card, that was a big pain in the neck for the op, but it sounds like that was just one of those human-error things that can happen. But still needs to be brought to the attention on upper management in order to look at it, and figure out if there is a solution to preventing it from happening. Just another item to look at and try to improve customer satisfaction.

IMHO I think a big issue here which many are losing site of is the fact that the OP did not check in until 10pm, seriously how many if any maintenance workers were available who could service the a/c ? I am sure if it was during normal daytime shift hours the problem could have been resolved sooner.

 

[KellyNY]

Totally agree with this. This thread is starting to prove that some people will complain for just about anything. Disney hasn't figured out a way to go back in time. They are human, they make mistakes. They upgraded the family to a villa as an apology for it. That's a nice way to make up for it.

True and the funny part is that we read about nightmares when no compensation was provided at all and people say, they had to upgrade you for all the inconvenience. In this case they did and still it is not enough, there is no limit I guess.

 

[WDSearcher]

Yes, the op was compensated by being moved to SSR villa, and that was great that the manager did that. But to me, the whole point in writing to WDW now (after the fact), is to ensure that the right individuals are made aware of the situation, in order to improve customer satisfaction, and hopefully avoid future things of this nature from happening. Just because the manager gave them a free room upgrade, doesn't necessarily mean that the information at hand gets to the right person (in this situation, whomever is in charge of overall maintenance issues).

It shouldn't take several hours to get maintenance up to the room to check-out the a/c problem. So, maybe management needs to make sure that maintenance employees understand how imperative it is to respond as quickly and efficiently as possible.
I have a feeling that if a Guest was given a $2000 room upgrade because maintenance didn't get to their faulty A/C quickly enough, that management has already reminded the maintenance CMs that Disney would very much prefer to not give away their villas. But you're right ... there is absolutely nothing to be hurt by mentioning the incident.

As far as the problem with the park tickets being included on the KTTW card, that was a big pain in the neck for the op, but it sounds like that was just one of those human-error things that can happen. But still needs to be brought to the attention on upper management in order to look at it, and figure out if there is a solution to preventing it from happening. Just another item to look at and try to improve customer satisfaction.

Absolutely. But again ... if the displeasure was relayed at the time -- and to a manager, as I believe the OP wrote -- then stating it again can come across as angling for more. I mean, there are times when all of us have done something wrong and a friend or co-worker calls us on it. We fix the problem and then move on. And how frustrating is it to be reminded again about the thing we did wrong, after we already fixed the problem and thought we had it taken care of? There's a fine line between "just want to be sure you're aware of the problems we had so they can be fixed" and "let me remind you AGAIN about what you did wrong so that you'll continue to feel bad about it". JMO

 

[DisGirl23]

True and the funny part is that we read about nightmares when no compensation was provided at all and people say, they had to upgrade you for all the inconvenience. In this case they did and still it is not enough, there is no limit I guess.

Nope. No limit. Almost sad really. Maybe a night in the Castle would've made some people happy. Maybe a day at a water park on Disney. Maybe comping the night without AC. But, I have to agree, all businesses do what they believe is fair compensation. And this upgrade was very fair.

As for OP. I'm all for writing a well thought our letter to Disney if you feel the need to.

On a side note: I know people say "oh it's not worth it. all you get is a letter saying 'sorry for blah, blah, blah'" It's a standard response letter and doesn't mean it's not being taken seriously at some level. But telling people not to bother complaining is like accepting whatever is making you upset. Maybe they can't make your trip up to you but, it may help stop the same situation for someone else.

 

[WDSearcher]

IMHO I think a big issue here which many are losing site of is the fact that the OP did not check in until 10pm, seriously how many if any maintenance workers were available who could service the a/c ? I am sure if it was during normal daytime shift hours the problem could have been resolved sooner.

But, also ... at 10pm, if they called to have the A/C fixed and maintenance didn't have anyone to come immediately (it's possible, after all, that the OP's room wasn't the only one affected), then the front desk might have also told them that and, perhaps, offered them the option of either a new room in a different resort or a comp night in the warmer room and the delivery of a couple of fans.

Even at 10pm, there should have been some options.