What's the worse experience you have had??

[2 Point]

Leaving for our honeymoon and my wife's first trip abroad we were delayed 24 hours from Birmingham. We were pt up in the Excelsior (£700 a night), fed and given a bar tab of £60. On arrival in the Domincan Rep one of the passengers 'lost' his luggage, as he was staying at the same hotel as us the bus had to wait for him. Two and half hours later (!), we were off, a poultry pickup crashed in front of us, the transfer was another two and half hours. Loads of people were complaining and wanting to kill the reps, we just hit the ha and enjoyed the holiday. We were given £460 compensation, without even asking for it, after a few days. Result.

Orlando has been painless. Our first visit we were on a Disney shuttle with the Von Trapp family, It's a Small World in harmony with dad conducting. Very distressing.

Our last trip was marred slightly by the whole party recovering from flu. The only day it rained was Christmas Day and we had to cancel our PS in the Liberty Tree Tavern as my daughter was quite poorly and just wanted to sleep.

Fingers crossed for this trip and for everyone else that needs a little luck.

 

[IrishAngel]

My first holiday me and my best friend decided to go to Disney World. We were both 19 at the time and i worked for 2 years to pay for it. Anyway the plan was fly into New York and stay with relatives of mine for 4 days then on to Disney for 10 days then onto chicago for 6 days.
My friend had spent the summer before as a nanny and we were going to stay with them. Anyway first part of the holiday went to plan, got to Orlando. The first night my friend says she's homesick (remember she spent the whole summer before in america with a family she didn't know before going) and wants to go to chicago the next day!!!! Well i managed to convince her to give it a few days but she still wanted to change the tickets that night. So back to the airport and $150 to change the tickets. Wish i hadn't bothered. All she did was complain. She also wouldn't stay later than 6pm in any of the parks. In the end we did MK, Epcot, AK and Universal. Haven't been back since but my wonderful boyfriend knows how much i want to go back so he's saying we might manage it next September!!!
Oh yeay... got to chicago, wasn't the city, was some huge suberb, with nothing to do all day, and i got an inner ear infection and end up hooked up to a drip in hospital!

 

[CousinB]

1975 - first time via Washington (overnight stay) then on Southern Airways stopping at 4 places en route to Orlando. Left Heathrow at 10.30am, arrived Orlando 4pm local next day. Total travelling time 34hours 30 min. Similar journey back. Those were the days! Disney was only (a smaller) MK. No Epcot, no MGM, no AK. It was however totally magical and well worth the journey.

1980 - this time via Miami (overnight stay) and a drive. Quicker this time 29 hours. Still no Epcot although it was under construction. On the drive back to Miami stopped off for refreshment in the evergalades and got bitten so severely by mosquitos that DW's legs swelled up to 2x normal size. Needed medical attention at the airport and awheelchair to get on the plane.

1997- flew Virgin via Boston. Left UK with 7 suitcases (there were 3 men 2 women and 2 children in the family party) Arrived Orlando with 1 (man's) suitcase. Remaining cases turned up 4 days later. The only mitigating circumstance was that for the first 2 days we had continuous heavy rain so we did not want to go far from the villa and indulged in some skinny dipping in the, fortunately not overlooked, pool. (No AK)

1998 - severe toothache and a trip to the dentist for extraction.

2000 - via a few days in Las Vegas. no problems

2001 - no problems

2002 (twice) - EAL Sunshine first luxury!

2003 March - again after a few days in las Vegas. 1day in hospital with asthma

2003 September - travelling 17th with Virgin

Why do we keep going back? Because even the bad times are good and the good times are brilliant

 

[UKAnnie]

Worst experience has got to be our week's stay from 11-18 December 2001 when DH had a dull ache in his tummy for most of our stay. To make a long story short, he ended up in Celebration Hospital on 17th undergoing major surgery. He had diverticulitis and his colon had burst in 3 places (sorry for the gory details!). He was in hospital until 26th Dec. We flew home 30 Dec.

He had never suffered from this before - fortunately, because if it had been a pre-existing condition the insurance wouldn't have covered it. He had wonderful treatment and although it was a traumatic time we're glad it happened there instead of here. I don't think he would still be here, our NHS would have probably fobbed him off with painkillers or antibiotics. The condition only came to light when they scanned him - and you know how long it takes to get a scan in the UK! He already had perotinitis when they operated.

Fortunately he's great now, and we have had another super trouble-free Florida holiday since and are due to go again this November.

By the way we went with Virgin and they were just great with all the help they gave us, nothing was too much trouble.

Ann.

 

[Beth__WDW23/6/02]

Ours:

DB and his DW having marital problems on our 1st ever trip to disney (we all went together),spent most of the holiday being the referee!,in the end we all went our own ways!! until the end of the holiday! getting lost driving from naples to miami!

Getting caught out with the car,had to pay an extra £200+ as soon as we had landed because dp wasnt over 25!! we wasnt told about this with virgin! gr!

The hotel in miami,being a complete and utter "dive!" we had to take toilet roll,and seat covers out of restaurants just in case we needed the toilet! (it was horrid),The shower turning from warm to freezing,then to mad hot,it burnt our little un! The beds being YUK YUK YUK!!

Thats about it,this years holiday was perfect nothing didnt go to wrong!!

Beth

Getting stuck (this time) in thunderstorm on I-drive,in traffic, poor chelsea was in tears,it was quite bad.

 

[Minx]

Going to walgreens in the dark (5 minutes from hotel) coming out from wrong exit getting lost and driving round for nearly 2 hours.

Got bit by a fire ant and ended up hospitalised for two days.

DS at the time aged 7 was attacked by wasps that had made a nest on the hotel balcony.

Dee

 

[RUSHBURY]

On my very first day of my first visit to Orlando - coming out of a store and getting into the wrong car - then saying OK that's us finished we can head home now - to be answered 'HELLO!!! HELLO!!!' to which I then answered 'HELLO' and turned to face the driver who was shaking his head and smiling.


Helen

 

[sallybrealey]

Ok this are my experience and they arent at disney but I thought I would give you a little insite to some of the stuff I saw happen to people when I was a rep...

*I saw a woman (not staying my company) fall over she landed on the centre of her sunglasses, anyway her nose was nearly hanging off and cause I was in uniform I was asked (dragged) by the police into taking her to the hospital as she was on her own. i didnt mind but I am very queasy and nearly passed out when looking at her.

*I had numerous people with lost luggage, the worst was one guys whos luggage somehow went missing on the bus, we never found it and all we can think is that maybe someone else stole it !

*I had a lady get into a fight with another lady and have her thumb bitten so hard, the bite went to the bone.

* I had one woman diagnosed with a brain tumour and 2 have strokes (in the same week!)

Luckily I have never had anyone die but my boyfriend had a lady die and my friend had a little girl drown which is probably the most difficult thing to deal with. I have been the first person someone has seen when they found out their mother had died, again very difficult to deal with.

I have had a lot of customers have a lot of money stolen, so many people still carry way way too much cash (over 1k in their wallets) and the insurance wont pay out for that.

Ive had a bug from the pool in a hotel (not mine) that made the front page of national papers this year, I was called to the hotel and can only call it an experience. I have never heard so much abuse in my whole life ! I appeciate people were angry and upset but I went through something very similar when on holiday with my family at the age of 14 and however upset my family were we never wanted to scream verbal abuse at anyone or push a table violently but somepeople do !

Anway, love my job and cant wait to get repping again !

Hope I havnt scared you !! So many people have a great holiday, my advice is try not to get worried if thinks are quite what you wanted, ok you didnt get the pool view you wanted but how often are you going to in your room oh adn if the travel agent tells you that a request is almost guarenteed (ie a certain room, quiet, pool view) its not, 95% of people request poolviews (and many requested sea views in my hotels - not bad when it was a mile from the sea!)

Sally

 

[JohnnySharp]

After 9 trips there are a few I am afraid:

1. My wife being rushed to Hospital on our honeymoon , she was suffering from sunstroke whilst sunbathing on Miami Beach.
The hospital doctors were fantastic, never seen so many crowded round one patient in my life, staff at the Thunderbird hotel were great too - people kept shaking my hand and wishing us luck.

2. Travelling down the Tamiami Trail driving from Naples to Miami, it cuts right through the Everglades, we were driving in the dark, no street lights or nothing for over an hour, never seen so many creatures in my life, we were scratching and itching all the way.
Laugh about it now though.

3. One of the engines failing just after take off, can't remember which year, we had to make an emergency landing and came home the next day. I was (still are to a degree) a nervous flier.

4.Stayed in Day's inn hotel one year, not listed below, we were the only 2 people on the entire floor who were not rowdy brazilian teenagers, talk about brats - walked down the corridor to confront about 10 of them, all lads...10 rowdy brazilians v. 1 angry brit - no contest, it was quieter after that.

5. We were in Sarasota staying in a hotel on the beach, I left to put stuff in the car and decided to leave the engine running with the aircon on as it was hot, my wife then appeared with our young son - I had only shut the door with the engine running, all the doors were automatically locked, there we stood engine running unable to get into the car, called a locksmith cost me $50!

6. Stayed at villa near Loma Linda, Davenport - relocated to one at Chatham Park after a week.
We now have a son, he is Autistic. The web site looked fine, however, when we arrived it was a nightmare - the villa was in need of severe re-furbishment, the 3 piece suite was filthy, bed linen ripped, dirty walls, and the pool area was such a disgrace we could not use it for three days..shame cos our boy loves water..oh it was terrible, never rent a home that is several years old - this was 10. One mistake I won't make again.

 

[Mike Jones]

First time we went we drew attention to ourselves at immigration by filling in the visa waiver incorrectly. The official then gave our passports a very thorough inspection and decided that my 1994 photo (2" brown hair, no spectacles and no beard) bore no resemblance to the current 'me' (number 1 cut grey hair, goatee beard and glasses!) It took an endless time (probably 30 mins!) of interrogating the rest of the family before they grudgingly decided not to deport me! On subsequent visits I have grown my hair, shaved the beard and kept my specs off until thru customs!!

Never had a bad experience in the world though..... but done a few things I wouldn't repeat (" it's a small world, after all, it's a small world etc")

 

[Red-Snapper]

Worst experience was probably a week or so ago.
We went to Mk on Labor day weekend to see Spectro and FIS as it was the only published day it was on that week.

After a day at Epcot we arrived at Mk at 5.30pm - it was absolutely packed !! worse than on 4th July. All wait times for the major rides were 80 - 90 mins and even IASW had a 40 min queue

The park was full of very fed up people just stood about as it was impossible to move in the tighter areas - many already had their blankets out on main street waiting for the parade.

The crowds to me seemed almost at a dangerous level in some areas.

We eventually decided to join a line so went on POC as it only had a wait time posted of 30 mins. The line was crammed tight into the tunnel area decending into the ride.

We all shuffled forward like a line of convicts - we were being continually pushed by the people behind. The American woman in front who was with 2 teenage daughters suddenly turned to us and asked that we give them some personal space. We were so shocked (we had not been pushing them or even touched them at all) that we said nothing.

When we got to the boat we were sent forward as a group of 2 and as we passed, the woman made a sarcastic comment about "Brits".

Well we did stay to see Spectro but left immediatly afterwards and were very very grateful to arrive back at the quiet of our hotel.

Sadly MK is now well down our list of priorities for future visits.

 

[Mike Jones]

Redsnapper's experience and decision to relegate MK to the bottom of the 'must do' list mirrors our experiences in the past, although we never had as bad a time as that! I just think that MK is so over-hyped that there are generally too many people in the park at busy times... we still go, but limit MK to an early start, max. 2 hours, before seeking sanctuary at Epcot... where we've never felt pressured even at Easter weekend. Mike. (it seems almost sacriligeous to dismiss MK like this, but it's a victim of its own success)

 

[Muppet]

I have to agree with the MK comments. We avoid at all costs now. Only did it last year due to going to MVMCP.

LOL at your american woman saying they needed personal space. A woman said to me that I needed to keep up with the queue. If I had moved forward I would of been sitting on another mans shoulders!!! When I turned round to explain she said move up or she will move me up. I simply smiled and told if she felt that stressed maybe she should go in front of us. I 'accidently' kicked or stood on her heels at least 20 times in that queue.

We have also been told we shouldn't be in there as we don't have kids and it all for the children really

Only in MK do we have these occurances happen.

I've never been in crowds as bad as Red-Snaper though. I wouldn't cope in that high level of people. I'd have a wobbly (panic attack).

 

[AlisonB]

Red Snapper - was that on the Saturday of Labour Day weekend?

We were there that evening and didn't think it was that bad!! We got there about 7ish I think and yes, it was crowded, but they were showing Spectro twice, so we did quite a few rides - including Buzz, IASW and Haunted Mansion. We ate and then watched FIS, used fastpasses and then got our best ever view of Spectro (the late one - at 11pm).

We've been at Easter before and thought this Saturday was not too bad at all!

 

[kazzie]

My second from worst experince was the same as another posters.On our very first trip to Orlando we arrived tired and disorientated with three children under 10.DH had never driven in the US.Basically we could not find the hotel! Bearing in mind we were staying at The Grosvenor near DownTown Disney.We drove for hours until it got dark.I was nearly crying and I knew Dh was worried too.A couple of times we drove into DTD and drove to valet parking and asked where the hotel was,they gave wild directions,we'd drive off and then end up driving to Downtown Orlando then further still! The final time we made it to valet parking at DTD someone actually pointed to the hotel which was literally a minutes drive away,we could not believe how close we'd been several times Instead of arriving about 4.30 we got there about 8pm Very traumatic!On any subsequent visits we always get lost a few times but no sweat,just this first scary inexperienced time!

The worst thing is what happened at DLP last November when a woman pulled my DS who has Asperger's out of the car of a ride because she thought he'd jumped the queue as he had the disbled guest pass so he didn't need to queue.The CM did nothing which left me trying to deal with the situation,my DS ran off humiliated and broken hearted and me the most unconfrontational person sceaming at this woman How dare she,my son has special needs etc.The CM just left me to cope with it.when i found my DS and went to Guest services as by this time I was crying hysterically because I was also shook up from being angry.They took me in a room and told me the CM should have called the police,as the woman had assualted my son.I felt I had let him down as if the woman had been arressted I would have felt she was paid back for what she did.It may appear obvious I still do not have 'closure' over this incident

Oh BTW this scum of the earth was English,from the French people I only encountered friendliness.