Who do i contact with issues while here?

[disneygma]

Unfortunately, even then it's not guaranteed. I know first hand. They will say it's guaranteed and will do everything they can to get connecting rooms. But definitely not guaranteed.

I worked for Disney and what I said is true So many CMs would get it wrong It was thing that our supervisors would remind us. One or two adults from same address could reserve 2 rooms on one reservation and it would be guaranteed

 

[dansdad]

I worked for Disney and what I said is true So many CMs would get it wrong It was thing that our supervisors would remind us. One or two adults from same address could reserve 2 rooms on one reservation and it would be guaranteed

I understand what you're saying but I have actually experienced not getting our "guaranteed" connecting rooms. My wife and I had 5 kids with us, the reservation was booked the correct way and yet no connecting rooms for us. We weren't even on the same floor at first. Day 3 they were able to get us next to each other but not connecting.

 

[disneygma]

I understand what you're saying but I have actually experienced not getting our "guaranteed" connecting rooms. My wife and I had 5 kids with us, the reservation was booked the correct way and yet no connecting rooms for us. We weren't even on the same floor at first. Day 3 they were able to get us next to each other but not connecting.

I understand now Sorry that it was not guaranteed for you. I hope you sent a email to complain

 

[grkmbee]

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.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

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.

perfectly said. This thread is reminding me why I've been gone from here for two years. Cut the lady some slack. Disney messed up and they messed up badly

I just hope that when my kids are on a school sponsored trip, they are traveling with someone as diligent as the OP.

 

[disfan07]

I'm confused about the need for connecting rooms.

When we went to Disney for a band trip we definitely did NOT all have connecting rooms. Would not have been possible. There were over 100 students going. And the students ranged in age from 14-18. And there were definitely rooms that were all 14 or 15 year olds. the chaperones took shifts during the night to monitor the rooms. The only requirement as far as I know was that there were a certain number of chaperones for the group of students. But connecting rooms were not a part of the deal. When booked as a group I don't think the same rules apply for not having minors in a room with no adult. We had rooms grouped together but there were other guests in our area as well.

I'm just curious....was the connecting room a request on part of the OP or a requirement from Disney? Because if it was just a request, Disney didnt HAVE to give you a connecting room if it wasnt available. If you reserved as a school group, they probably sssumed that there would be enough chaperones to monitor the group there.

 

[eeyoresnr]

I'm confused about the need for connecting rooms.

When we went to Disney for a band trip we definitely did NOT all have connecting rooms. Would not have been possible. There were over 100 students going. And the students ranged in age from 14-18. And there were definitely rooms that were all 14 or 15 year olds. the chaperones took shifts during the night to monitor the rooms. The only requirement as far as I know was that there were a certain number of chaperones for the group of students. But connecting rooms were not a part of the deal. When booked as a group I don't think the same rules apply for not having minors in a room with no adult. We had rooms grouped together but there were other guests in our area as well.

I'm just curious....was the connecting room a request on part of the OP or a requirement from Disney? Because if it was just a request, Disney didnt HAVE to give you a connecting room if it wasnt available. If you reserved as a school group, they probably sssumed that there would be enough chaperones to monitor the group there.

that makes more sense than anything I have read here so far

 

[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.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Oh, and vouchers were in luggage b/c rooms were promised by noon and we were eating at resort.
A

Your decision to leave items you'd need some time during the day in your luggage isn't the resort's responsibility.

 

[emilyltd]

I hope the rest of your trip goes better. That sounds very stressful.

 

[Sophiesmom]

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.

perfectly said. This thread is reminding me why I've been gone from here for two years. Cut the lady some slack. Disney messed up and they messed up badly

I just hope that when my kids are on a school sponsored trip, they are traveling with someone as diligent as the OP.

Well said and agree with both of you...

 

[stitchlovestink]

Since people seem to be confused, I will try to clarify each item below as well as making my comments, please correct me if I am wrong on anything that I am trying to clarify.

I believe this means it took you 2.5 hours of standing there to get checked into your rooms.

This one should be obvious, but just in case, you had to go all the way back p to the front desk, which can be quite a hike when you are tired after travel.

Not having your bags is a very big deal, as is not having a connecting room with unaccompanied minors.

This is way too late, the rooms should have been switched that night, even if they had to give you a new resort.

This is a HUGE deal, as the strangers could have taken anything from the bags, I would carefully check everything.

This makes no sense, it sounds like they messed up massively.

Does this really matter?

I would insist on speaking with the manager over all of the hotels, you should be owed a MINIMUM of 1 day's stay for each room. I think asking for 2 days for each room should be a good start to getting this kind of compensation. Additionally, I would ask for more Fast Passes for all of the time spent.

This is actually an example of where using a travel agent helps A LOT. We had issues at All Star Sports with cleanliness of the rooms, called our travel agent and it helped, but still was not good, we literally found a receipt on the floor under the bed from one year earlier, meaning that the bed had not been moved for an entire year! And it was not a small receipt, it was the print outs from the front desk. In the end, we ended up emailing them and they gave us a voucher for two nights free in two rooms at a value resort.

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...

cmwade77.... thanks for clarifying for all of us confused DISsers... name changes to rooms matter after checkin in for a reason... if there was a fire or other catastrophe they need to know where each person should be... as for luggage nothing was taken (if it had been she would have told us) the unaccompanied minors is a big deal and should have been handled at original checkin... and there is no reason rooms would not be ready til 5? sorry too much doesn't make sense... and if you know room won't be ready til 5 why would you leave food vouchers in them?
Disney made a mistake..it happens... but for as many people that they deal with daily I say overall they do a pretty good job... they don't intentionally try to screw up your trip, after all they want you to come back... just my opinion


minnie mum posted the info she needs to complain further so she should enjoy rest of trip and deal with it when she gets home

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.

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 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.

I'm confused about the need for connecting rooms.

When we went to Disney for a band trip we definitely did NOT all have connecting rooms. Would not have been possible. There were over 100 students going. And the students ranged in age from 14-18. And there were definitely rooms that were all 14 or 15 year olds. the chaperones took shifts during the night to monitor the rooms. The only requirement as far as I know was that there were a certain number of chaperones for the group of students. But connecting rooms were not a part of the deal. When booked as a group I don't think the same rules apply for not having minors in a room with no adult. We had rooms grouped together but there were other guests in our area as well.

I'm just curious....was the connecting room a request on part of the OP or a requirement from Disney? Because if it was just a request, Disney didnt HAVE to give you a connecting room if it wasnt available. If you reserved as a school group, they probably sssumed that there would be enough chaperones to monitor the group there.

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

 

[maxiesmom]

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.

/QUOTE]

You would be wrong. Disney also has in writing that anything and everything when it comes to your room is dependent on availability. There have been posters here who had guaranteed connecting rooms on their reservation and not gotten them. It stinks, but the fine print backs up WDW. A request is a request, and to them, connecting rooms are a request.

Disney tries their best to give connecting rooms when REQUESTED. However they also have written themselves one huge out for any room request not being met. Even your resort itself is subject to availability.

Btw, 3 pm is when they start checking people in to their rooms. Officially. It is impossible to check everyone in at exactly that time, and some times people have to wait a bit. Again, there is no guarantee of getting your room right then and there.

 

[WDW in Pearls]

I don't buy into the Disney can do no wrong school of thought, sorry. Some of you are really reaching in your attempts to blame this on OP.

OP has a responsibility to the children's parents, and adjoining rooms is important to fulfill that responsibility. If nothing else, those walls are paper thin and she would be more likely to hear kids sneaking out or acting up. How could she do that from a building away? If I was a parent of one of those kids, I'd like the peace of mind of knowing the teacher is just a wall away in case of emergencies.

I can't help but wonder how some of you would feel if a hotel that wasn't Disney owned had service failures like this. I have past experience in customer service and DBF has 15+ years in CS management and this is absolutely unacceptable, especially for a company like Disney that prides itself in it's ability to wow the customer.

Fastpasses are nice, but in my opinion I don't think OP is out of line for expecting more.

 

[kaytieeldr]

And check in is 3pm...rooms should be ready at 3pm..NOT 5pm.

No. No no no no no no no no no.
Just NO.
check-in isn't at 3* PM. It's after/starts at 3* PM.

Five PM on a day when the resort was so crowded the party could couldn't be moved the first night? Not out of the ordinary.

 

[dansdad]

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.

I too have had it in writing that our connecting rooms were guaranteed and did not get them. Out of 8 nights 2 we were on different floors and 6 were adjoining at least. Spoke to the CBR general manager while there and contacted guest services once home. Both said the same thing, if you read the fine print the only thing that you truly are guaranteed is a room on property. Both apologized profusely but both held that stance. So I can't in good conscience tell people here that they are guaranteed.

 

[stitchlovestink]

I too have had it in writing that our connecting rooms were guaranteed and did not get them. Out of 8 nights 2 we were on different floors and 6 were adjoining at least. Spoke to the CBR general manager while there and contacted guest services once home. Both said the same thing, if you read the fine print the only thing that you truly are guaranteed is a room on property. Both apologized profusely but both held that stance. So I can't in good conscience tell people here that they are guaranteed.

Well I'm sorry but I don't think your situation is the same. While not ideal, you did have 2 adults so you could split up. Was it fair? No! Was it fun? Probably not. But was everyone safe? Absolutely!
Honestly, when there are more than 2 adults I don't think they should be guaranteed but when it is 1 adult with more than 3 minor children, then it should be. And I don't want to hear how it isn't possible for them to do this. It could be done. Disney just doesn't want to is what it boils down to! It could be done the same way HC rooms are reserved where the rooms are removed from inventory when they are booked. But Disney has decided that is too much trouble and not worth their effort. So situations like this sometimes happen and then a bunch of people (CMs and guests) are left to deal with the damages and mess it creates.

 

[maxiesmom]

Honestly, when there are more than 2 adults I don't think they should be guaranteed but when it is 1 adult with more than 3 minor children, then it should be. And I don't want to hear how it isn't possible for them to do this. It could be done. Disney just doesn't want to is what it boils down to! It could be done the same way HC rooms are reserved where the rooms are removed from inventory when they are booked. But Disney has decided that is too much trouble and not worth their effort. So situations like this sometimes happen and then a bunch of people (CMs and guests) are left to deal with the damages and mess it creates.

In order to do so, Disney would have to have connecting rooms as a bookable category. And even then, they would have to hope and pray that nothing would go wrong--no bedbugs that take a few rooms out of inventory, no not so nice people trashing a room so that it needs a few days to put back together. I'd like the number of whatever resort has never ever had issues like that.

100% guaranteeing a room type is impossible! However, Disney does do what they can with the system they have in place. I think it is beyond stupid that they print GUARANTEED on some reservations, when they will tell you nothing is guaranteed, but they are just playing the odds. Usually it works out ok. But when it doesn't work out, it stinks.

And as far as the posters who seem to think I believe Disney can do no wrong, think again! Twice now I have PAID FOR a room type and not received it. PAID FOR!!! And that is why I know that when Disney says in their fine print that nothing is guaranteed, you better believe them.

 

[stitchlovestink]

No. No no no no no no no no no.
Just NO.
check-in isn't at 3* PM. It's after/starts at 3* PM.

Five PM on a day when the resort was so crowded the party could couldn't be moved the first night? Not out of the ordinary.

Sorry, but we will have to agree to disagree! They knew how busy the resort was, they knew the number of bookings. Have the appropriate number of cleaning staff scheduled and working to have those rooms cleaned and available to guests at 3pm!! If I am paying the same price as a day I would have the room a full 24 hrs, why should I not get my room at check in time?? I mean a half hour or so is one thing but two hours?? Sorry!! That is Not reasonable in my book! They should be giving guests some sort of accommodation after 2 additional hours of waiting. I want access to my room so I can freshen up before I go to dinner. If you are willing to wait that late for your room, good for you. I'm not.

 

[stitchlovestink]

In order to do so, Disney would have to have connecting rooms as a bookable category. And even then, they would have to hope and pray that nothing would go wrong--no bedbugs that take a few rooms out of inventory, no not so nice people trashing a room so that it needs a few days to put back together. I'd like the number of whatever resort has never ever had issues like that.

100% guaranteeing a room type is impossible! However, Disney does do what they can with the system they have in place. I think it is beyond stupid that they print GUARANTEED on some reservations, when they will tell you nothing is guaranteed, but they are just playing the odds. Usually it works out ok. But when it doesn't work out, it stinks.

And as far as the posters who seem to think I believe Disney can do no wrong, think again! Twice now I have PAID FOR a room type and not received it. PAID FOR!!! And that is why I know that when Disney says in their fine print that nothing is guaranteed, you better believe them.

Oh, I don't think Disney can do no wrong. But I would like to see what happens if someone booked a HC accessible room and didn't receive those accommodations. That would put them in violation of ADA. That would be a problem!