We're home!!Highs and Lows

[theprincessofpink]

hi everyone

we got back very late on tuesday from our week at dlrp and this is the first chance ive had to come online really (god i hate unpacking!!)

well having only been to dlrp twice once last year and once this year i have to say this year wasnt what i was hoping for so sadly a good few lows on my list but a lot of highs too thankfully so here goes

highs
1-the interaction dd got from various characters most notably belle, gaston and the queen of hearts who were nothing short of amazing with her
2-when patience in scrum situations paid off leading to more special photo ops or nicer autographs
3-toystory playland which wasnt open last year when we went but dd loved
4-dd getting to be stitches new best friend and me getting to be his girlfriend in the show which we had somehow missed out last year but that we both loved
5-dd getting to be in the follow leader show dressed as tinkerbell
6-dd getting to be in the interactive show stops at the parade with the alice characters while dressed as alice
7-the general fuss made of dd by cast members while dressed in her various costumes of the trip (helped by her love of matching accessories lol)
8-the food at planet hollywood and rainforest cafe easily the best we ate all week

lows
1-our room at the npb club which had a toilet that didnt flush properly, a leaking tap on the sink which had to have towels wrapped round it permenantly and most worringly a connecting door through to the next room which didnt lock our room keys were also tempermental at best and had to be reprogrammed twice!!!reception just were not interested in any of these issues and told me the hotel was full so i had to just put up with it as there was nowhere to move us to
2-the lack of any fairy dust sprinkled on us at all despite me requesting things at time of booking and phoning the hotel ahead of arrival explaining the fact it was a special trip due to dd recovering from heart surgery and that i wanted things as special as possible, no balloon as requested, no room allocation as requested nothing special at all
3-the busyness of the resort as a whole it was ridiculous far too busy everyday we were there the queues were mental!!!
4-the sheer rudeness of people which never fails to amaze me...the character scrums were downright dangerous at times and when dd got pushed to the floor by one child desperate to get at tigger i decided enough was enough
5-the serious lack of interest displayed by cast members at any issues regarding scrums/guest rudeness
6-the toilets-YUCK
7-last but not least cafe mickey......can honestly say i will not be eating there again anytime soon!!!!!!that night was a disaster!!!

i was very sad to find so many lows esp as this was meant to be a special trip for dd after a very hard year and ive lost heart a little bit if im honest last year was full of magic and this year def not so much.last year when i got home i was straight in to planning for the following year and this time, although i think i will go back, i need to let the negative thoughts go out of my head first.

i'll wait a few days before doing my trip report till ive sorted out my pics etc and maybe calmed down lol

 

[Samf1971]

Sorry you had a lot of bad experiences on your trip, unfortunately it seems to be happening more and more, shame that there isn't just a "highs" list.

On your comment about the room requests and nothing special being arranged. I have to say I sympathise about this. Our trip last year to the DLH was at a time after my DH had been very ill and it did cross my mind that this might have been our last family holiday so I contacted Disney and asked if they could sprinkle any fairy dust on our trip to make it even more magical then it would really be appreciated. I also requested specificly lower floor room as both my DH and DS had mobility issues - again all of this was completely ignored.

Sad that they can perform extra magical things for some like upgrades, toys etc and yet do nothing for others.

 

[theprincessofpink]

On your comment about the room requests and nothing special being arranged. I have to say I sympathise about this. Our trip last year to the DLH was at a time after my DH had been very ill and it did cross my mind that this might have been our last family holiday so I contacted Disney and asked if they could sprinkle any fairy dust on our trip to make it even more magical then it would really be appreciated. I also requested specificly lower floor room as both my DH and DS had mobility issues - again all of this was completely ignored.

Sad that they can perform extra magical things for some like upgrades, toys etc and yet do nothing for others.

im glad someone sympathises with me.....i understand that the hotel was full so the room i requested was not available thats fine but for any other requests to be completely ignored when i know they have done it for others seems unfair...i wasnt asking for free stuff i was more than happy for the cost of any items placed in the room to be added to my bill and explained that at the time.then to be placed in a room with so many issues instead was disappointing.....better luck next time i suppose

 

[DLPdaft]

that is a shame about your room - I would write to Disney and complain about that, the state of the bathroom, the problem with your keys/interconnecting door, and how you were treated by the staff when you brought this up with them. Its not acceptable, in my opinion. Its not like the NBC is a cheap option is it!

 

[Samf1971]

Yes definately complain. We had a bad room at Davy Crocketts and just let it go and put it down to experience but now I would definately complain. I've just sent a complaint this morning about the pricing issues I had with my booking, I know it's probably picky and some people would just say it's the luck of the draw but I still think you should let them know if you're disappointed in something.

 

[theprincessofpink]

i was considering adding the room issues onto the complaint that im intending to write regarding the appalling experience we had at cafe mickey but didnt know if i'll actually get anywhere.......i can only try i suppose and no dlpdaft you're right the NPB was def not a cheap option esp since we had paid for admirals floor

 

[Nightmaremum1]

Sorry to hear about all your lows but glad you also had some highs. I would also complain about the hotel etc. Has Cafe Mickey gone downhill as we're due to eat there on Wednesday?

 

[theprincessofpink]

Has Cafe Mickey gone downhill as we're due to eat there on Wednesday?

i think we were just very unfortunate to have a terrible experience which wasnt helped by a manager who clearly doesnt understand the concept of customer service

basically we had a tray of hot food dropped on our table you know those huge trays that they carry to and from the kitchen on one hand full of plates and glasses...yeah one of those right onto the side of the table where my 5 year old daughter was sitting she was covered in food, drink and broken crockery and glass.now thankfully she wasnt hurt bar some small scratches but very frightened and shaken up but she could have been badly injured/burnt.

the managers attitude stank quite frankly and i was furious!just to top it all off dd's autograph book which she had diligently been filling all week was on the table and got ruined

you should be fine as i say i think we were just very unlucky but i would be careful as to where you place your child at the table........

 

[Kazzabelle]

Oh no that is terrible in cafe mickey
i was dissapointed in the lack of characters we saw around the park that was one thing i did notice as we saw loads on our trip last November despite it being terrible weather too.
I too was fed up with the pushing and shoving we were waiting for jack sparrow when the family behind us could not wait one more turn and had to push past infront of us

 

[Nightmaremum1]

basically we had a tray of hot food dropped on our table you know those huge trays that they carry to and from the kitchen on one hand full of plates and glasses...yeah one of those right onto the side of the table where my 5 year old daughter was sitting she was covered in food, drink and broken crockery and glass.now thankfully she wasnt hurt bar some small scratches but very frightened and shaken up but she could have been badly injured/burnt.

Ah, that's terrible. Your poor DD she must have been very scared. The manager should have gone out of his way to help you after an incident like that. Definitely complain asap to Disney especially since you did complain at the time and the manager didn't seem to care.

 

[markpsych]

Yes, you must complain about both cafe mickey and the room standards

I wouldn't settle for anything less than a free holiday for this one...

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Speechless

I hope you took the names of all the staff that you dealt with that were uncooperative, totally unprofessional and a disgrace to DLP

Did you go and make a complaint at City hall as I know that people do and often get immediate results ?

for you and your daughter and I hope you get a proper reply and result following your mail/letter to them.

 

[theprincessofpink]

Ah, that's terrible. Your poor DD she must have been very scared. The manager should have gone out of his way to help you after an incident like that. Definitely complain asap to Disney especially since you did complain at the time and the manager didn't seem to care.

as soon as it happened our waiter whisked us away from the table to avoid any chance of further injury while another couple of waiting staff started clearing up...our waiter was great incidentally...he made sure we didnt need first aid and cleared another table for us to move to.now in all this time the manager didnt make an appearance.

once we were reseated and he still hadnt come over although i could clearly see him floating around i asked the waiter if i could speak with him regarding what had just happened.....so off he went to ask and came back and told me the manager was too busy to speak to me at this time i mean come on weve just had food tipped all over us!!!!!!!!

i continued to ask to speak with him and he finally graced me with his presence 45 minutes after the incident occured at which point i asked him what his thoughts on the matter were and he just shrugged at me!!!now this was not through lack of comprehension of what i was saying it was sheer rudeness i also pointed out that our table had been missed out by three characters and could he ensure this didnt happen again and i got treated to another shrug and a 'im not in charge of them thats the character manager'.

i mean come on this is not even a basic level of service!!!thank god i had been carrying a change of clothes for my daughter around all day in case she got too hot since her minnie costume was covered in other peoples food!!!

our waiter told us we were to be given the meal for free which is fair enough but when i asked to speak to the manager again at the end of the meal to see if i needed to sign anything about the accident etc and to tell him his customer service sucks...please note i STILL have not had an apology from him at this point which i assumed i would get (i was wrong incidentally i didnt get one) i was told that he was finished with me and he would not be giving me anymore of his time!!!!!!!

now yes ok i got my meal for free and so i really shouldnt still be banging on about it but i wil still be complaining to disney about it as this shouldnt be happening..........

 

[Michael623]

Once again it is poor management from the top down. This story should be shocking but at DLP it seems more like the norm than an exception.

I hate to keep comparing DLP to the American parks but my sister was on the train at WDW and it broke down half way between Frontierland and (the now defunct) Mikey's Toontown Fair stop. Everyone had to get off and walk to back to the station in the pouring rain. They gave everyone a free T-shirt for their troubles. My sister estimated it was at least 200 people and at $25 a piece Disney shelled out $5000+ to keep everyone satisfied and the problem was really beyond the control of management. This poor family's experience is due to a server, whether accident or negligence to me is irrelevant, and they didn't even get an apology from the manager on duty? Absolutely unacceptable.

Disney is Disney and there shouldn't be separate rules for separate parks.

 

[wildelady]

definately put it in writing asap, people have had free holidays for less. Send the letter to as many people as poss, manager of npb, cafe mickey, city hall and heqd office itself. my dh is a great believer in complaining to the top

 

[elstoleno]

My sister estimated it was at least 200 people and at $25 a piece Disney shelled out $5000+ to keep everyone satisfied and the problem was really beyond the control of management.

Sorry, but you're wrong with that one.
Each shirt will only cost Disney around $3 to produce.
So they've given out $600 and lost profits, but gained a good reputation in doing so, making more profit from future visitors.

Not attacking, just noticed you've done alot of rage posting on here recently and thought i'd set you straight on this one, no offence or anything.

 

[Samf1971]

How terrible, and how rubbish of the manager.

Don't know if you did, but I would have been shaming them by taking loads of photos of the mess they left you in and be claiming damages for the autograph book, clothing, time spent cleaning up etc too.

 

[markpsych]

rage posting

 

[DLPdaft]

remember guys, keep it on topic and not personal - we can debate the issues without getting personal. If it helps, try putting "in my opinion" in front of posts you read .

 

[elstoleno]

remember guys, keep it on topic and not personal - we can debate the issues without getting personal. If it helps, try putting "in my opinion" in front of posts you read .

Understood, just thought I should reply incase he made himself sound silly. Looks like i've done that myself now!

Sorry won't happen again (except this off topic post*)

--

But just noticed I didn't post my original post to this topic so..

I'm sorry to hear that happened to you theprincessofpink
I hope that they give you some compensation and that it doesn't happen again.
It's just horrible they were so rude to you, it was an accident but they should have at least said sorry!
Glad to hear your daughter is ok