Warning- daily safety and security room check

[BK2014]

The above smilies represent the number of nights (17) that I am NOT staying in a Disney Hotel for my next trip. I am staying at a hotel that has a kitchen, living room and 2 queen beds for $101.58 dollars a night. That includes tax.. There is no parking fee nor is there a resort fee.

$101.58 dollars a night
Oh, and there's a free breakfast.
AND a FREE Beer and wine happy hour.
It's 5 minutes north of Disney Springs.

AND.... Yes, I did contact Disney and tell them of my concerns about all the crazy "carp" going on with the room checks and the rip off parking fee and the shoddy house keeping leading to DIRTY rooms.

I did not discuss the "Hospital" style sterile room redesign. Sadly that ship has sailed.

~NM

Is this at the Embassy Suites in Lake Buena Vista?

 

[nkereina]

Do cars get a full security screening every time they are brought onto Disney property ?

This seems like a better option than checking bags at check-in. Checking bags wouldn't prevent someone from sneaking something in or bringing it in later or driving it around to their room. To my knowledge, every resort has gated parking that is often (always?) staffed by a guard. Have the guard check the vehicle, pop the trunk, unzip suitcases, etc - Customs Agent style. If something raises a red flag, notate the name or room number and enact random security checks on that guest. There's obviously issues with this too because it would be time consuming, so alternate stopping points would be needed near the entrance, and it would add to staffing cost, but it seems like it would require the least amount of change.

I understand the thought process of wanting to do random/unannounced security checks. Obviously, if they are looking for weapons or any other nefarious activities then they need the element of surprise and to not be able to give people the chance to tidy up, so to speak. However, this is a vacation resort. Guests want to enjoy their vacation. They want to be able to take a shower knowing someone isn't going to barge in on them, they want to let their kids nap mid-day without having someone pounding on the door waking them, or heck...maybe they just want to sleep in for a few hours after a late night without having someone trying to enter. While Disney has a right to enter any room on their property at anytime, there has to be consideration given to the paying guests, the overwhelming majority of whom are just trying to have a fun vacation and not commit mass murder, traffic children or anything else. Disney has got to find a better way to handle these security checks before they start losing customers. People will only put up with so much before they go elsewhere. We love Disney resorts but they are not cheap. Add in additional parking fees at resort and now intrusive room checks and one has to start reconsidering the true benefits of staying on property.

A random visual inspection of a room isn't likely to reveal much. Someone that is planning something horrible like Vegas isn't going to just leave something laying out for anyone to see. If they want to truly catch someone, they need to check luggage that is coming and going or check vehicles. A visual room inspection is not going to turn up much.

As I was typing this, I wonder what the security check experiences are between people that fly in and use the magic express transportation vs people that drive themselves? Those that fly and use DME would in theory be the least risky guests as their luggage would have been screened before coming in and if they don't have a car registered at the resort, they are less likely to be able to bring in weapons themselves.

Disney tracks so much data on their guests with the magic bands that you would think that they could us technology to make their security checks less obvious and more discreet.

You're not wrong, but how would they allow all guests to go undisturbed while still completing their daily checks? I haven't thought of a plausible way to do that, without an added expense that I am sure Disney is not willing to take on. There clearly isn't overwhelming guest dissatisfaction over this because the policy hasn't changed yet. We hear about all the bad experiences here because its a hot topic here, but in the grand scheme of transient guests in and out of all the Disney resorts, this topic may not even be on the radar.

 

[maxiesmom]

This seems like a better option than checking bags at check-in. Checking bags wouldn't prevent someone from sneaking something in or bringing it in later or driving it around to their room. To my knowledge, every resort has gated parking that is often (always?) staffed by a guard. Have the guard check the vehicle, pop the trunk, unzip suitcases, etc - Customs Agent style. If something raises a red flag, notate the name or room number and enact random security checks on that guest. There's obviously issues with this too because it would be time consuming, so alternate stopping points would be needed near the entrance, and it would add to staffing cost, but it seems like it would require the least amount of change.

What would you do about the resort buses? It is not out of the question for someone to take a bus or boat to Disney Springs, or over to the Boardwalk, and go off Disney property. How do you keep the people on the buses, and their bags, screened?

 

[MissManda]

You're not wrong, but how would they allow all guests to go undisturbed while still completing their daily checks? I haven't thought of a plausible way to do that, without an added expense that I am sure Disney is not willing to take on. There clearly isn't overwhelming guest dissatisfaction over this because the policy hasn't changed yet. We hear about all the bad experiences here because its a hot topic here, but in the grand scheme of transient guests in and out of all the Disney resorts, this topic may not even be on the radar.

I don't think its possible to not disturb every guest, every day. Even before the security checks there would be disruptions or interruptions with housekeeping. That is the nature of the hotel business and it happens everywhere, not just at Disney. I think though that there has to be a level of reasonableness. It seems many of the biggest complaints are the time of day and the way in which the Disney staff is knocking and entering. There is no reason why they can't wait until a reasonable hour (say 9am to start room checks....I follow the rule that you don't call anyone before 9am or after 9pm, so that sounds like a good start for me, others may disagree)...and you can't really say that if they have scheduled times that it ruins the surprise because we know they aren't doing the checks in the middle of the night. Also, while security has a job to do, they need to be courteous of the guests that are paying their salary. Don't come banging on doors and barging into rooms with little notice or time for the guest to react.

I would be curious to know the actual % of guests that are upset over these security checks. People are more likely to complain about bad experiences than share good. Time will only tell if this change plus other changes will hurt their bottom line or not.

 

[Ninja Mom]

Is this at the Embassy Suites in Lake Buena Vista?

nope.

 

[Haber]

Disney makes us plan everything else 180 days in advance. Can't they give people a short questionnaire at check-in as to whether we're rope drop or sleep in people? If housekeeping or security wants to come in my room at 9:30 AM, have at it. But I don't want strange men walking in when my kids and I are changing into bathing suits at 2 PM.

 

[Sparkly]

Disney makes us plan everything else 180 days in advance. Can't they give people a short questionnaire at check-in as to whether we're rope drop or sleep in people? If housekeeping or security wants to come in my room at 9:30 AM, have at it. But I don't want strange men walking in when my kids and I are changing into bathing suits at 2 PM.

Do you know how many rooms are on property, heck, how many rooms are in each individual hotel? How are they supposed to co-ordinate the preferences of 3,000+ people each day and still get all the rooms done???

 

[snappy]

Excellent point about guests having to plan everything ahead, Meals, fastpasses, ordering magic bands, booking resort rooms.

DVC members get on the website to book stays at the first second that their 11 month window opens.

Scheduling housekeeping aka trash visits aka wellness visits, changing out showers curtains visits (love that one), not so much. Now just plow through the halls and start as early as possible, RO sign or no RO sign.

 

[kaytieeldr]

The answer is that if they really want to do something in the name of security they should screen luggage like they do at airport at check-in. Plain and simple. But that costs the resort money for instruments and staffing.

It probably wouldn't deter someone with nefarious intentions. Florida simply requires a three day wait to purchase a gun, and that the buyer be at least 21.

However, this is a vacation resort. Guests want to enjoy their vacation.

As is a large portion of Las Vegas, and its visitors simply wish to enjoy their vacations too.

If they want to truly catch someone, they need to check luggage that is coming and going or check vehicles.

Do you think checking possible 50,000 plus vehicles every day, entering every WDW parking area (some multiple times daily), would be efficient? Complaint free? Not affect the flow of traffic?

 

[kaytieeldr]

changing out showers curtains visits (love that one)

Well, they did actually change the shower curtain. Timing aside, the most apparent reason why the shower curtain was changed is that it needed to be changed. Using this action as a cover in 400-2,880 rooms daily would be overly expensive.

 

[Haber]

Do you know how many rooms are on property, heck, how many rooms are in each individual hotel? How are they supposed to co-ordinate the preferences of 3,000+ people each day and still get all the rooms done???

Two checkboxes: 1. rope drop people or 2. late risers? They do all the rope drop people first and then move on to the late risers. Each floor would only get covered by housekeeping or security twice. I'm not talking about making people give their schedule to the nearest quarter hour. Sure, they'll miss people who change their schedule, get sick or whatever. Or they don't get all the rope drop people done in the morning so have to do some of them later. But annoying a small percentage of people is easier than annoying a whole lot of people. I'm reading stories about people who were at the park all day who then have security hammering on their door multiple times in 2 hours while they're trying to nap before dinner. Having to go back to the same room multiple times must take them a lot more time than trying to optimize in the first place. It's Disney, everything else is computerized and optimized.

 

[Sparkly]

Two checkboxes: 1. rope drop people or 2. late risers? They do all the rope drop people first and then move on to the late risers. Each floor would only get covered by housekeeping or security twice. I'm not talking about making people give their schedule to the nearest quarter hour. Sure, they'll miss people who change their schedule, get sick or whatever. Or they don't get all the rope drop people done in the morning so have to do some of them later. But annoying a small percentage of people is easier than annoying a whole lot of people. I'm reading stories about people who were at the park all day who then have security hammering on their door multiple times in 2 hours while they're trying to nap before dinner. Having to go back to the same room multiple times must take them a lot more time than trying to optimize in the first place. It's Disney, everything else is computerized and optimized.

That sounds a awful lot of back and forth potentially for the poor housekeepers! Say rooms 2022, 2055, 6033 and 8022 are rope droppers, right? That's going up and down floors in a illogical order, then they must service rooms 2023, 2056, 6034 and also 8023 who happen to be late risers. They have to wait for their towels and stuff because half the hotel are rope droppers so need to get done first. Now think of the poor housekeepers who already have to service a thousand rooms in any given hotel in the space of only a day and how tiring it would be to have to do it in two halves like that. And you say, oh they may have to do some of the rope droppers later, but the trouble is that then they complain, the housekeepers get punished and it just leads to a huge mess.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Two checkboxes: 1. rope drop people or 2. late risers? They do all the rope drop people first and then move on to the late risers. Each floor would only get covered by housekeeping or security twice. I'm not talking about making people give their schedule to the nearest quarter hour. Sure, they'll miss people who change their schedule, get sick or whatever.

Might work. But nobody should expect to be missed.

One problem I see is the range covered by sleeping in. I mean, someone on this thread doesn't head out until late afternoon. Sleeping in could mean 9, 10, 12, 3...

 

[snappy]

Two checkboxes: 1. rope drop people or 2. late risers? They do all the rope drop people first and then move on to the late risers. Each floor would only get covered by housekeeping or security twice. I'm not talking about making people give their schedule to the nearest quarter hour. Sure, they'll miss people who change their schedule, get sick or whatever. Or they don't get all the rope drop people done in the morning so have to do some of them later. But annoying a small percentage of people is easier than annoying a whole lot of people. I'm reading stories about people who were at the park all day who then have security hammering on their door multiple times in 2 hours while they're trying to nap before dinner. Having to go back to the same room multiple times must take them a lot more time than trying to optimize in the first place. It's Disney, everything else is computerized and optimized.

I like your idea, simple and threads the needle between accommodating guests in a general way and allowing Disney to retain the element of surprise as far as which moment of the day your room check occurs.

Love those surprises!

 

[dansdad]

The answer is that if they really want to do something in the name of security they should screen luggage like they do at airport at check-in. Plain and simple. But that costs the resort money for instruments and staffing.

WDW has never said these checks are in the name of security. Unless I missed something.

 

[KarenP64]

WDW has never said these checks are in the name of security. Unless I missed something.

DansDad, what do you feel the real reason(s) are? Thank you!

 

[Patches Lee]

Might work. But nobody should expect to be missed.

One problem I see is the range covered by sleeping in. I mean, someone on this thread doesn't head out until late afternoon. Sleeping in could mean 9, 10, 12, 3...

I'm suprised they don't have people's initial 3 FP played out. Put it in 2 groups: those before 12pm and those after. Sure people change FP all the time but it may help initially figure out when the resort could assume guests were not in the room. Sorta the first thought that comes to mind.

 

[PollyannaMom]

The other thing, and this is not directed at the quoted post above, is that these boards have deemed these to be "security checks". Disney has not used this term, and security is only one of many reasons that allows them to access your room according to the terms and conditions everyone agrees to when they book their room. Getting eyes on each room on a daily basis easily serves a number of purposes that are beneficial to Disney. The fact that most checks consist of someone simply looking into a room, or walking in, looking into the bathroom and leaving indicate that it is not primarily security focused. As others have pointed out, most Disney hotels don't have the line of sight to a highly populated area that the shooter in Las Vegas did from his room. And guests are checked before entering the parks. So the Las Vegas shooting may have simply provided a convenient time to implement this policy that accomplishes goals other than just security.

WDW has never said these checks are in the name of security. Unless I missed something.

So if it's not for "security" (because I agree it wouldn't catch a repeat of Vegas) what is it for?

 

[dansdad]

So if it's not for "security" (because I agree it wouldn't catch a repeat of Vegas) what is it for?

 

[snappy]

I'm suprised they don't have people's initial 3 FP played out. Put it in 2 groups: those before 12pm and those after. Sure people change FP all the time but it may help initially figure out when the resort could assume guests were not in the room. Sorta the first thought that comes to mind.

This is by far the best suggestion so far!

And if no FP, no room check! That would save Disney $$!