Who do i contact with issues while here?

[anonymousegirl]

To the OP who suggested spending more and use a travel agent, it does not cost money to book through a travel agent. Travel agents do not charge you to book your vacation.

Sorry but this statement is not correct. Many travel agents now charge fees since so many suppliers not longer pay reasonable commissions. Service fees are how agents earn money.

Many years ago, airlines, hotels, car companies, and tour operators paid commissions and the traveler didn't pay the agent. That model is long gone.

 

[Lynne M]

Folks we're getting kinda close to the "pointless circular argument" phase of this thread. If there are helpful suggestions for the OP, please post 'em, or else the thread will be closed.

The guaranteed/not guaranteed argument is an old one, and is not helped by the fact that Disney reservations will happily print "guaranteed" on just about any reservation confirmation that involves a request for connecting rooms. The reality is, since they don't block connecting rooms, "guaranteed" is hogwash. If 500 people request connecting rooms at a resort that has 450 connecting room pairs, then 50 of those people that requested connecting rooms aren't getting them, no matter whether it says guaranteed on the confirmation or not.

Is this a good thing? Certainly not. But it's the way Disney chooses to operate its resorts. If that's unacceptable to you (and it is to many people), you can complain to Disney about it, and/or take your business to a hotel that blocks connecting rooms. Arguing it out here isn't going to change the fact that requesting a connecting room at a Disney resort does not mean that you will get a connecting room 100% of the time.

 

[Arielle22]

I've never brought a school group to Disney, but speaking from a teacher's perspective, bringing kids that are not your own vs. kids that are your own are totally different things when it comes to connecting rooms. When you bring your family and request connecting rooms, it's possible you won't get them and one parent is expected to sleep in each room - not ideal but doable to avoid unaccompanied minors. When you're bringing a school group, a chaperone isn't going to sleep in the same room as their students - talk about allegations and a lawsuit waiting to happen! Not only is it not advisable to share a room with non-related minors, it's against district policies (at least for many districts). In this case, connecting rooms are necessary - not just convenient - in order to not have unaccompanied minors. Given that Disney hosts school groups, this would have to be taken into account in their planning policies.

To the OP, I'm sorry you've had such a rough go of this. It seems that Disney dropped the ball on a multitude of occasions - the first being that they didn't assign you rooms and the rest just snowballing from that. As the lead teacher on this trip, it sounds like you've had an extremely stressful time trying to remedy these situations. I think some posters don't recognize the difference between your role vs. that of a regular vacationer. I hope that you are able to attain some reparation for the trouble you've been through as no doubt this whole ordeal has affected the students' experience as well.

I am curious, if a teacher shouldn't sleep in the same room with students (which I understand and agree with; how is connecting rooms superior to that? It is still beds in an area connected by an open space.

My DDs went to Quebec in middle school and shared a room with 3 other same sex students. One teacher would stay up all night to make sure no one left their room. Also each room had tape put on the outside of the door so if it was opened a teacher would know.

 

[grkmbee]

how is connecting rooms superior to that? It is still beds in an area connected by an open space.

My DDs went to Quebec in middle school and shared a room with 3 other same sex students. One teacher would stay up all night to make sure no one left their room. Also each room had tape put on the outside of the door so if it was opened a teacher would know.

The door connecting the room doesn't need to be left open. I would agree though that if it were, it is no different than sleeping in the same room. It boils down to resort and district policies - how overnights are handled is a very litigious situation.

 

[suemom2kay]

I would have to agree with everyone. Next time you book a large group with underage persons, you should have spent a bit more and go with a travel agent. Everything you mentioned is not guaranteed for a variety of reasons and you should have done your homework a bit better or let a TA handle it.

OP is a teacher on a school trip. What makes you think that she booked the trip at all? I'm sure the school used a TA and I'm sure OP didn't actually book this trip. And even if they used a travel agent, how would that have made a difference?

The resort made a bunch of mistakes and wasted a lot of OP's time. They should not be paying for a night in the wrong room , then the following day were denied access to a room from the morning until evening. They already had wasted 2.5+ hours on the first day and had no room on the second day. A comp of 1 night would be appropriate.

And for those that think this is going in OP's pocket and she's trying to get something for free... um... how would she??? Do you think OP booked all the rooms and paid out of her pocket??? That would be one nice teacher if she just decided to treat a bunch of her students to a WDW vacation. And uh... kinda weird.

OP, I hope everything got ironed out and the kids (and you) are able to have some FUN for the rest of your trip.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Carrie in AZ
To the OP who suggested spending more and use a travel agent, it does not cost money to book through a travel agent. Travel agents do not charge you to book your vacation.

Quote:
Sorry but this statement is not correct. Many travel agents now charge fees since so many suppliers not longer pay reasonable commissions. Service fees are how agents earn money.

I stand by my original statement. The TA with whom I work who books Disney vacations exclusively DOES NOT charge her clients. I do not want people to read your reply to my statement and think that they will need to pay out of pocket to use a Disney travel specialist to book their vacation because that is not true. They can use a Disney travel specialist for FREE! People can tap into her passion for Disney and all of her expertise and professionalism for FREE.

 

[kaytieeldr]

OP is a teacher on a school trip. What makes you think that she booked the trip at all? I'm sure the school used a TA and I'm sure OP didn't actually book this trip. And even if they used a travel agent, how would that have made a difference?

The resort made a bunch of mistakes and wasted a lot of OP's time. They should not be paying for a night in the wrong room , then the following day were denied access to a room from the morning until evening. They already had wasted 2.5+ hours on the first day and had no room on the second day. A comp of 1 night would be appropriate.

And for those that think this is going in OP's pocket and she's trying to get something for free... um... how would she??? Do you think OP booked all the rooms and paid out of her pocket??? That would be one nice teacher if she just decided to treat a bunch of her students to a WDW vacation. And uh... kinda weird.

OP, I hope everything got ironed out and the kids (and you) are able to have some FUN for the rest of your trip.

Of course they should pay for the rooms. They had rooms. Nobody slept in a car or a hallway or a pool chair.

 

[ajwomic]

Op here, thanks for the kind words and suggestions. You are right that IF they were to comp anything, it would be refunded to the students parents. We enjoyed our day in Magic Kingdom and were all the more thankful to have rooms to come back to tonight! ;-)
A

 

[vicki_c]

I stand by my original statement. The TA with whom I work who books Disney vacations exclusively DOES NOT charge her clients. I do not want people to read your reply to my statement and think that they will need to pay out of pocket to use a Disney travel specialist to book their vacation because that is not true. They can use a Disney travel specialist for FREE! People can tap into her passion for Disney and all of her expertise and professionalism for FREE.

Agree. The vast majority of TAs booking Disney trips do not charge anything, that service is funded by Disney. I can't speak to every TA for every type of trip, but I know MANY TAs (I'd say probably 20-25) and none of them charge for their services. And no one has to spend anything with a TA for Disney, there are lots of very good Disney specialist, Disney College of Knowledge TAs that are free to the client. So it is not true that those days are gone.

I believe most TAs do charge a service fee for airline bookings now because that reimbursement model for the airlines changed quite a long time ago. But that's just a fee in the airfare portion, which is not the same.

 

[nkereina]

Of course they should pay for the rooms. They had rooms. Nobody slept in a car or a hallway or a pool chair.

I agree that rooms should not be comped. If you ever watch any of those court shows and you see someone who rented an apartment for a month suing for their month of rent back because of issues, they always get shut down because they had a place to live. Court is about making you whole, not putting you in a better position than before the bad happened I would think the same would apply here.

Anyway, OP, you said student so are you with a group? If so, you may have better luck with the Sales team or Sales Manager your group booked with. Usually group contracts are different than if you booked everyone room only or as part of a package.

 

[ajwomic]

Sorry, mistype...group sales only works when 25 or more students. We have 14. So even though we are doing the yES program, we could not use group sales. The only reason I think one night should be comped is that we booked 4 nights and the sexing day due to them not changing on time as promised, we did not have access to those rooms for 10 hours of the second day, yet we. We're still paying. But if not, no worries.
A

 

[Mama Who]

My best advice for a future trip is that if you absolutely, positively must have adjoining rooms, book suites. That's the only way to have separate bedrooms guaranteed to be connected to each other.

 

[disfan07]

And 2.5 hours to check in is ABSOLUTELY & COMPLETELY unreasonable IMO... there is no acceptable reason for an individual to be standing at the check in counter working with a CM & mgr for that long!
And I agree totally!! they should have had them in connecting rooms that night even if it meant moving them to a different resort! They move guests when resorts are overbooked, this is a new process...



I totally agree that Disney never intentionally tries to mess up any guest's trip, but when they foul up like this they need to stand up and take responsibility!!And check in is 3pm...rooms should be ready at 3pm..NOT 5pm.

On our March trip, they changed our room assignment. I had checked into the hotel first and headed off to my dinner ressie (late albeit due to check in problems at the hotel) DD showed up after work to retrieve her room key from the front desk and was given a key to the first room we had been assigned!! Well, that key worked and she walked into an occupied room on another couple!! She was pretty mortified!! She went back to the front desk and told the CM "Umm...I'm pretty sure my mom is not a man, nor Spanish, and she is not bald!! I just walked into a room occupied by someone that was not my mom!" The CM kinda half laughed and then said "Oh yeah!, Your mom is the one I moved earlier today! She's in XXXX now." No apology, nothing. I guess she figured since DD was a CM as well she didn't need to apologize, but it was quite awkward for my DD and I would imagine for those other guests.


I call bull pucky on this one. I have had written reservations that say it is Guaranteed. I have had it in writing. I've saved them because I get SO tired of people saying that are 'NEVER' guaranteed. So I say they would have to make good on it one way or another...they may have to move you to another resort but if they put it in writing in your reservation then they need to honor it.



Yes but 14/15 year olds are high school aged kids. This person's kids weren't that old....

But we did the same thing when we went to Bush Gardens for our 8th grade field trip. 13 year olds....no connecting rooms. chaperones monitoring the rooms from outside.

Sam thing for my cousins 8th grade trip to DC and Boston...no connecting rooms. enough teachers/chaperones to take shifts monitoring the rooms. Again....13 year olds.

It happens in middle school all the time. Do you really think that all of the 8th grade DC trips have kids in connecting rooms?

 

[stitchlovestink]

But we did the same thing when we went to Bush Gardens for our 8th grade field trip. 13 year olds....no connecting rooms. chaperones monitoring the rooms from outside.

Sam thing for my cousins 8th grade trip to DC and Boston...no connecting rooms. enough teachers/chaperones to take shifts monitoring the rooms. Again....13 year olds.

It happens in middle school all the time. Do you really think that all of the 8th grade DC trips have kids in connecting rooms?

Well when our church youth group travels they manage to get connecting rooms. Not a problem for them to do it and they manage to get many! They even get it set up so boys are on a different floor from the girls. Don't know how they do it but they do. Whether it's the middle school group or high school or on Rare occasion combined....it gets done. They are very particular about accommodations and having same sex chaperones supervising the kids at night.

Our county school system doesn't do overnite field trips. So I can't speak for 'policy' but I would not let my 'child' go if they did not have same sex 'in room' chaperones. Now that said, I have girls and you just don't hear of cases of girls being molested by women. I very well may have felt differently if I had boys.

 

[Kristine316]

I hope the rest of your trip is better. The way I see it as that it can only go up from here.. have fun!

 

[Sammie]

Connecting rooms are never a sure fire guarantee at Disney because they don't block out rooms when you book.

That would be the only way to be 100% sure of getting two rooms that connect on that certain day.

At best they hope they can fulfill the request and they try their best but they can't ask someone to get out of a room to make it work.

It is very easy for Disney reservations to tell you they are guaranteed as they are not working the resort when you check in and really don't have any say so. Next time a Reservation CM tells you it is guaranteed, ask they if they are blocking those rooms right now as you speak to them.

If they tell you no, the resort assigns rooms, then ask, how can it be guaranteed then?

Also check in is after 3pm, not at 3pm and for DVC villas it is after 4pm.

Hope it gets better and the people to really upset with is Disney Reservations, they pass the buck all the time on this situation.

 

[stitchlovestink]

Connecting rooms are never a sure fire guarantee at Disney because they don't block out rooms when you book.

That would be the only way to be 100% sure of getting two rooms that connect on that certain day.

At best they hope they can fulfill the request and they try their best but they can't ask someone to get out of a room to make it work.

It is very easy for Disney reservations to tell you they are guaranteed as they are not working the resort when you check in and really don't have any say so. Next time a Reservation CM tells you it is guaranteed, ask they if they are blocking those rooms right now as you speak to them.

If they tell you no, the resort assigns rooms, then ask, how can it be guaranteed then?

LOL!! Exactly! This was my point....my rooms were removed from inventory the day I booked! They wouldn't tell me the room numbers (well one time they did...and boy was the CM at the front desk pissed that I knew my room numbers before she told me! But technically they are not supposed to do this just in case Something happens and they would have to give me a different set of rooms.) But anyway, to answer YOUR question...YES, the reservationists have had to put me on hold for awhile because they can't do that job. And the interesting part is the dept who does it put a block on the reservation and if I want to make ANY modification to my ressie, the CMs had to call them get them to lift the block so they could modify it and then reapply the block. It has been this way multiple times. So don't tell me they don't guarantee them. It may not be the "norm" but it does happen. Maybe under very special circumstances but again I state... It Does Happen! I have experienced it so don't tell me that I am wrong when you haven't dealt with the reservations that I have had.

 

[Cheert789]

Connecting rooms are never guaranteed. Disney wouldn't want you to have unaccompanied minors in a room either-It was not well done of them to tell you they could guarantee them, when in reality, they can not do so.

Having said that, If they were trying to shuffle things around in order to find you connecting rooms, I don't think you can be too mad that it took them a while to do so. They most likely had to give another family the boot from their connecting rooms to give them to you.

As to what you should do now, now you should enjoy your vacation. Nothing else is needed.

I am surprised they allowed u to book with an adult in the room I have booked many times for groups and I always had to have at least one person in the room that was 17

 

[maxiesmom]

My best advice for a future trip is that if you absolutely, positively must have adjoining rooms, book suites. That's the only way to have separate bedrooms guaranteed to be connected to each other.

Remember connecting rooms and adjoining rooms are not the same thing. Adjoining rooms are just rooms near each other. Connecting rooms have the inside door between 2 rooms.

And to the previous poster who got their guaranteed connecting rooms, you were very fortunate. It doesn't always happen. And while you were lucky many people are not so lucky. And as you stated even though they blocked out your rooms, there was still a way to change your room numbers if they needed to.

Disney cannot 100% guarantee any room type.

 

[Cheert789]

I am surprised they allowed u to book with an adult in the room I have booked many times for groups and I always had to have at least one person in the room that was 17

Sorry should read no adult in the room