WDW renegged on my old never-expiring tickets. -watch out!!!

[jleslie48]

The reason they won't check tickets over the phone is to discourage people from selling their tickets on ebay. Suspicious? Nah ...

And ditto to the PP who talked about National's Emerald Club aisle. Alamo offers a similar program called Quick Silver. If you are renting, thats the only way to go, imo.

I thought that's what the fingerprint thing was for. Plus that situation can easily be fixed since my room key has my name on it and so does my drivers license.

And as far as Alamo is concerned, they were actually great. The car return took less than 15 seconds. I literally parked the car, and the guy came and handed me a receipt that the car was returned. The girl that gave me the car was very apologetic. they realized instantly their error about not saying I needed a voucher (I never even realized I had a voucher) When I called to be picked up to be brought to my car, they said all I needed was my drivers licence and credit card I made the reservation with. That makes sense. The whole idea of computers is to reduce paperwork. I would rationally think that that is all that is necessary to look up my reservation. I just found it ridiculous that here I was sitting on disney property, and the alamo rental agent had to dial the 1-800 number to get my reservation.

 

[jleslie48]

Truth be told, as I read your letter to WDW, I was pretty surprised at the overall nasty tone. Sure, you are entitled to be angry. Given the incidents you descsribed, I would be too to be quite honest. But I'd strongly advise you to tone it down and up the professionalism. I would be surprised if you ever received a response. Just something to think about.

Now another word of advice. You posted your letter on the DIS. So far, when you've responded to everyone's advice and thoughts, you've done so with that same nasty attitude. I strongly advise you to tone that down quite a few notches as well. Folks here are pretty cool for the most part, but when you start focusing your rage on everyone, you aren't going to get far.

The tone of your letter combined with your attitude with folks on this board, is rather telling. I'm not surprised you didn't get far with your complaints when you voiced them in person. I can only imagine what you were like at the time these things happened!!!

Like you, I've had problems on a couple of trips to WDW. On one occasion, the situation I found myself was downright distressing and I was over the top ticked off. The others, just a couple of irritating situations. Whatever the case, I picked my battles and those that I chose to deal with, I did so with a smile, a calm demeanor, and an understanding that the individual I was dealing with wasn't the culprit. And you know something? Every time, the situation at hand was handled pleasantly in return, and to a level of satisfaction that I was happy with.

you are quite right. And if I was rude on this board I apologize. I was sweet and charming at the hotel, and at epcot, where I finally did get some results, and I got nowhere at Magic Kingdom when I first blew my stack (that was right after the car incident, which was on the heals of getting to bed at 1:30am from the disney magical express 2 hour tour. Not an excuse mind you, just trying to establish my state at the time of the yet next incident)

 

[Toby'sFriend]

I thought that's what the fingerprint thing was for.

From 4 years ago?

IIRC the only tickets using the biometric scanning 4 years ago were the Annual Passes and those definately weren't on your room key.

Or maybe I'm just getting old and senile. That is what my kids tell me.

 

[phillybeth]

If they would of told me at when I was at home my tickets were expired I would of investigated it prior to going down there. That would of made sense.

You'll also get much further is you follow the baisc rules of English grammar and sentence structure. It is WOULD HAVE, not would of.

 

[dcgrumpy]

From 4 years ago?

IIRC the only tickets using the biometric scanning 4 years ago were the Annual Passes and those definately weren't on your room key.

Or maybe I'm just getting old and senile. That is what my kids tell me.

You're right, they only started doing it for other passes this year

 

[phillybeth]

I thought that's what the fingerprint thing was for. Plus that situation can easily be fixed since my room key has my name on it and so does my drivers license.

It's NOT a fingerprint. It's a biometric scan of the size and shape of your fingers. Fingerprint scans are possible but take much more time, proper fingertip positioning, etc etc.

I agree with everyone else- non-expiring passes were not on room keys until January of this year. If you had your admission on your room keys it was length of stay.

 

[CharlesTD]

Wow we took our passes on our room keys that we forgot we had from 96 when we went in May and had no problems using them even the plusses that were left. Good luck but with that letter I doubt you will get very far people usually respond more freely to non confrontational e mails and letters and phone calls than they do to ones calling them theives and liars.

 

[CharlesTD]

It's NOT a fingerprint. It's a biometric scan of the size and shape of your fingers. Fingerprint scans are possible but take much more time, proper fingertip positioning, etc etc.

I agree with everyone else- non-expiring passes were not on room keys until January of this year. If you had your admission on your room keys it was length of stay.

Not tru when we stayed at All Star Sports in 96 we got 7 day hopper plusses that didn't expire and they were on our room keys.

 

[jleslie48]

You live in NY and you are seriously asking this question? Why would I, as a Disney employee want to handle a bag that the owner doesn't want to handle...

yeah...plain stupidity!

LOL, funny, but I checked my own bags at Newark. I put the little yellow tags on the bags. I thought it was a great idea that I wouldn't have to touch my bags again until I got to my room. That's the way it should work. How I get to my room should be my choice. It should work the same way on the way back.

BTW, Disney front desk wouldn't issue me boarding passes either before 12 hours from the flight.

 

[jleslie48]

It's NOT a fingerprint. It's a biometric scan of the size and shape of your fingers. Fingerprint scans are possible but take much more time, proper fingertip positioning, etc etc.

I agree with everyone else- non-expiring passes were not on room keys until January of this year. If you had your admission on your room keys it was length of stay.

I don't remember exactly, but I think I had the non-expiring passes added to my room keys when I got to the park, not at the hotel. Either way, the Carribean Beach hotel had on "their" computer screen the exact information I had written down on the little envelope I kept the passes, 4 day park hopper, 2 days used, 2 days left.

Noone in this discussion has commented on why the two different computer systems at disney did not match. I honestly wished the CB hotel computer had said they were expired, then I would of thought it was my mistake, but with one computer telling me all is ok and one saying it its expired, that confirmed to me that I was right.

 

[jleslie48]

Not tru when we stayed at All Star Sports in 96 we got 7 day hopper plusses that didn't expire and they were on our room keys.

That's exactly what I did in 1999 as well, only I didn't have anything left over so it was a non-issue. I had such a good time in 1999 In 2001, I figured I would save some money and buy the multi-day since I was sure WDW was going to be a regular thing, so I bought the multi-day. I specifically bought the 4 day because that was the shortest time frame that included the no-expiration clause.

I see now they charge extra for the no-expiration part. I think they are really being stupid doing that. I bet more people than not lose/forget the old passes, and they are way ahead. By charging extra, people will time things better. I learned that from my friend who owns a resturant. He used to sell gift certificates with an expiration date of the end of the year. Well come December, he would get a rush of people coming in for the pre-paid meal. When he switched to no expiration date, people just forgot about the coupon, they figured they could use it whenever. As a result he made out much better with the no-expiration coupons.

 

[antmaril]

also - not to be rude - but you might wanna send that through a spell checker too.

personell is actually "personnel"

This was going to be my suggestion also. If you want them to take you seriously, you really must be certain that your complaint letter is well written and words are spelled correctly.

 

[dcgrumpy]

A big part of them offering ME for free is to stop people from renting cars and leaving the property. What would they have to gain from transferring the bags of people who aren't using the bus?

 

[jleslie48]

A big part of them offering ME for free is to stop people from renting cars and leaving the property. What would they have to gain from transferring the bags of people who aren't using the bus?

well it was a huge selling point for me vs taking a different vacation. If the Bahamas/ a cruise did the same thing I would be very interested. Virgin atlantic used to to it from your house, with a limo. great selling point.

Now I realize in the peak season WDW would care, but now in October when they are half empty,...

Plus all would of been fine if they just had a van, and I got out of the plane and stepped onto the van, and taken to my room. Shoot I should of been able to get my room key while I was waiting for the van at the airport, that would of been a better use of time as well. I mean, they had all the flight info, they could of timed things better. They knew who was arriving, head count, hotel stays, everything.

We actually believed the sales pitch. We packed in our carry-on the clothes for the morning, expecting our bags to arrive after we did. Little did we know that our "ride" was also the baggage car. It was close to an hour in the airport. And then all we got to was the check in at the hotel, wait on line,
then wait for another bus to take us to our room.

 

[jleslie48]

You were staying at Caribbean Beach? We were there just two weeks ago and were the very first stop on Magical Express. It seemed to me to work similarly to the regular Disney bus system--each bus was assigned a group of hotels. It worked the same on the way back to the airport except we were the last stop. Overall I was happy with Magical Express--there was a bit of a wait for the bus to the hotel, but I just took that time to relax and plan what we'd do when we arrived.

Also, at Caribbean Beach nearly every room is quite a distance from the "resort services" area. They have a really great internal shuttle that gets you there without too much wait. Just curious--where were you originally located and where did they move you?

About the check-in times: The airlines require 1.5-2 hours for check in. The busses are full of people who have used the check in service as well as those who have not. Some people check their bags, some do not. The airport may be only 30 minutes away with no traffic. Add heavy traffic or an accident, and you're adding precious minutes on your trip.

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. Were I in your shoes I'd consider somewhere less stressful for my next vacation.

Not at all. we were intiall in 3924 (building 39) it was 3 or 4 buildings away from the food court. we switched to building 45. Perhaps your thinking the bus, I'm talking about the walk to get a cup of coffee in the walkways.

 

[ChristmasElf]

Yes in the park I got the same answer, the tickets were expired. I don't have to take names, each time I went to a guest relations booth they had the complete history of what had transpired, I even got "you tried to use these tickets yesterday at Magic Kingdom and Tim told you they were expired" It's amazing how complete their computer system is in telling me my tickets were NOT valid.

Carribean Beach resort had the correct information, I had them transfer my tickets to the new room keys; it was funny they said there was no reason to do it, the old tickets were fine. I insisted that they issue me brand new tickets, and give me a paper receipt.

The entrance booth still gave me a hard time. My kids got in ok since the tickets were upgraded based on their new ages, but My wife and I's new passes were flagged. The only reason the Guest relations officer had to concede was because of the paper receipt that I had from Carribean beach showing clearly I had brand new 2 day park hopper passes. And he was furious, said the hotel was out of line, the person who did this was incompetent... even threw his pen on the ground. I was utterly disgusted.

I also know I'm not getting anywhere with disney. I'm just trying to warn those out there to be carefull. If enough people who get ripped off make a big stink, they will pay attention.

I don't buy this whole story. Sorry, but it just looks like you want to get something for free. Go some where else for vacation if you don't like it here.

 

[jleslie48]

This is 100% true....and this policy has been true for while.

They will not give this info out on the phone...when I've gone to WDW in the past, I've had friends hand me passes and ask "can you check the days left for me?" no problem with that.

so...they weren't out to 'get you' on that one...that's just their policy on it. (could you imagine the backlog on the phone with people checking 'days left'?)

I could understand that. then do it writing/email. they could see I was already coming, that should of represented something more than anybody just calling "check the days left for me?" I was scheduled to come down.

 

[dcgrumpy]

Not at all. we were intiall in 3924 (building 39) it was 3 or 4 buildings away from the food court. we switched to building 45. Perhaps your thinking the bus, I'm talking about the walk to get a cup of coffee in the walkways.

CBR has an internal shuttle that will take you from one area to another

 

[Nanajo1]

Not tru when we stayed at All Star Sports in 96 we got 7 day hopper plusses that didn't expire and they were on our room keys.

We bought our parkhopper++ tix from the front desk at OKW in 99 and 01. They were put on our KTTK cards. Last year we brought some of them to Guest Services at EPCOT to check out the number of days left. The CM tried to tell me that KTTK cards didn't have parkhoppers on them.When he finally checked them he laughed and said you learn something new everyday!

 

[jleslie48]

I don't buy this whole story. Sorry, but it just looks like you want to get something for free. Go some where else for vacation if you don't like it here.

That's exactly the attitude I got at the entrance gate. Mind you, everyone told me continue to the entrance gate until I got to the gate. I see your a cast member, I am now even more sure it was a tactic to wear me down and cheat me. You are wrong and won't admit it. I'm half tempted to dig out my receipts from that rubbermaid container under my porch to prove it. I would of done that before my vacation had I known the trouble the entrance gate would give me. However WDW conviently wouldn't inform me that I would be turned down until I was right at the last hurdle, not on the phone before I left, not at the hotel, not even at the ticket booth, only right at the gate where I had no choice but to buy new tickets, Standing 10 feet from the park with two kids drooling. Sorry, but that is pure high-pressure, used car-salement brow beating tactics. It all fits. I can't believe it, seems so un-disney, but thats the way it went.