Why, oh Why Dont they Listen???

[revdon64]

Those TS ressies were tough for me when I was booking an early December trip at the 180 day mark. Had to get Bog near the end of our trip instead of the beginning. Couldn't get CP before opening and had to settle for 930AM. Also couldn't get Chef Mickey's early in the trip and had to go with our last day on property. That travel agent knows nothing about booking a Disney trip, or OP's coworker is making that stuff up (I only say that because I've seen it happen).

 

[Pigletpal40]

Same thing with my family. My brother called me last minute (August a few years back) saying they're bringing their teenage boys to Disney on Thanksgiving week. I urged them to choose a different week, before or after. I quickly looked and saw I could get them into Old Key West and lined up points for them to use. He calls me back saying it will be cheaper for them to rent a house and travel into the parks later in the day so my nephews can sleep in. The exact words from my MIL after returning were "I didn't like Disney 20 years ago and I don't like it now." All they did was stand in line for BTM because there were no Fast Passes left. Never made it on Space or Splash. Went on Pirates and Haunted Mansion. Couldn't get in anywhere to eat(group of eight). I just bit my tongue and listened to how much better Sea World is than Disney. Oh Well.

 

[Jon84]

My Wife has someone at work who has booked a crazy complicated trip part of which is 5 nights at BC and 5 Nights at HRH, they wanted to use their leftover DDP Credits while at Universal. And their TA said they need 5 days for WDW and then 5 Days for UOR. And they don't wanna hire a car.

Time to just let them get on with it, especially when they don't listen to any advice!

 

[Kristine316]

We get these threads often.. And what I don't get is why does anyone really care?

Ok we know better.. Well many of us are obsessed with WDW on this forum so naturally we would know 10 times more than your average person about WDW.

I do get the urge to give advice and want to help them.. I get that. I've been there myself a few times and what happens is someone will ask a couple WDW questions and I answer and then their eyes glaze over and I can actually see them disconnect from the conversation. Most people get overwhelmed and then tell themselves there is no way a WDW trip can be THAT involved or complicated and that I am just some uber, crazy planner and they will be ok just doing it their way.

At that point I don't care.. And just let it go. It's their money and their time and maybe things will be ok for them. Not everyone who goes to WDW plans like they are invading a small island country, and many of them end up having a terrific time anyway!

I don't get coming to this forum to tell everyone about this stuff. I'm sorry I just don't. I'm not saying you shouldn't start a thread like this, I am simply saying I don't understand why anyone would. What difference does it make to anyone if someone won't listen to advice about WDW? If you aren't traveling with them and it's not your money does it truly matter at all?
Ok.. Some of us are practically experts at WDW, and if we planned others vacations chances are they would have a truly magical trip .. But.. It's like we need to discuss that in length and feel sorry for the poor souls who don't know better... Lol

 

[Sparkie]

I, too, do not give out unsolicited Disney advice but coworker number one came to me and said, I need your help in getting cheap airfare for her trip. And from there unfolded the rest of the conversation. Then coworker number two says what do you think about week between Christmas and New Years- of this year I said. I actually told her to go chat with coworker number three who went two years ago, bought tickets after arriving in Orlando and tried to go to MK on the afternoon of New Years Eve- they ended up at Epcot- MK was closed to capacity- really, she says- yes, really. They could both go at their chosen times with their minimal planning but whT gets me is they hear others ask me what I think or I'm chatting with two other Disney nuts I work with and they are going to choose less than stellar travel agents when I'm right here - ready willing and enthuasticly able to help them.
To end this on a POSITIVE note. Coworker four is headed down sept 13, free dining, coveted reservations made, prime fast passes or toddler girls secured- the only thing she didn't get was BBB - the girls are too little- so I was able to guide this first timer in making her desired vacation a reality.
So how is the job market in the travel industry? Maybe I can retire from nursing and be a travel agent!

 

[Sparkie]

As for why starting a thread like this on this formum, it's FREE GROUP THERAPY for over planners anonymous- you are not required to participate in therapy. And the mods can lock if the conversation has run it's course. I appreciate all that shared their trials and tribulations as well- have a Mickey bar for me and I'll see you on Main Street sept 16 in my crowd level 2 /;

 

[LoKiHB]

OK.
I just NOW tried to BOOK the list of restaurants you posted, for a week in early Nov.

Castle, Nov 9-14: Nothing available all day.
Askersus, Nov 9-14: Nothing available all day.
Chef Mickey's, Nov 9-14: Nothing available all day.
Ohana, Nov 9-14: Nothing available all day.

Well... There's a huge surprise! Someone I know went to Disney as part of something to do with his job. Brought the wife and 2 kids. Posted on Facebook about how ridiculous it is to go to Chef Mickey... on a Friday... at dinner time... During Spring break... without a reservation. He found the hostess "unaccommodating" because she couldn't give him a wait time and had the GALL to tell him that they were booked all night. He of course felt that he was being lied too.

 

[LoKiHB]

Folks, the reason people don't listen is because they probably have heard too much.

Seriously, I can say that none of my coworkers have a clue how often I go to Disney or what I do when I am there.

If someone does tell me they are going I say "have a good time" If they ask a SPECIFIC question I try to assist. I never give unsolicited advice (FOr example I would feel no need to "burst their bubble" about reservations!)

And while you may not believe it, people go all the time and have a great time without spending inordinate amounts of time planning (Heck I am going next month. No FP reservations, no meal reservations and no worries LOL!)

I agree... When I hear people talking about planning (or not planning) their trips, I keep my mouth shut. Even when they make those remarks that make you grit your teeth until your head hurts.

If someone asks me a specific question, I will answer it, usually with "well, what I would do is..." and then drop it. I don't offer my opinion because I've found that most people don't really care about planning, they want to have fun and they will either enjoy it or they won't.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I've had some relatives come to me for planning advice and then not take it. They went with a kid and picked a hotel two hours away from the Magic Kingdom, which was the only park they were planning on visiting. I said stay closer if you can, or even on property. Nope. "Well, I'm not paying for those front-of-the-line passes." You don't pay for them, they are free but you have to go to a FastPass machine, I said (this was before FP+). "That's too much work, we'll just wing it. How bad could it be?" They went in July. Get to the park early, I said. They showed up at the turnstiles after lunch. The lines were horrendous, it was blazing hot, and they'd just had a two hour ride. By three o'clock the kid was complaining and crying that they couldn't go on anything, she was hot, and wanted to go back to the hotel and swim. Which they did, after shelling out for admission for four people.

Then they come home and say that Walt Disney World was the worst place on the Earth and they'd never go back. Now I just keep my mouth shut, even when they laugh at me for my uber-planning.

 

[Roxyfire]

The only time I've ever been on a completely unplanned trip was in college. The student television program I worked for was accepting an award at the student emmys and most of the crew went as well. I should've known better but when I was excited to get up early to see the sights everyone else wanted to sleep in! Of course they did, they were college students on spring break! Never mind that all of my previous spring break experiences were commando-style European bus tours or very planned family vacations. I still had fun but I feel like we didn't do that much.

Last summer my son went with his grandparents and extended family to Orlando for the weekend. So one day at MK only (he said they mostly waited in line), one at SeaWorld, and One at US/IOA. So we're gonna do things right! I even pushed my trip to next year just so I could plan it right.

I know there's places you can go with little to no planning. But it's so much nicer to have a general idea of what you're going to do each day.

 

[bumbershoot]

My Wife has someone at work who has booked a crazy complicated trip part of which is 5 nights at BC and 5 Nights at HRH, they wanted to use their leftover DDP Credits while at Universal. And their TA said they need 5 days for WDW and then 5 Days for UOR. And they don't wanna hire a car.

Time to just let them get on with it, especially when they don't listen to any advice!

The only thing that sounds wrong there is not having a car (at least for one day) and trying to use the credits once they are at UO (especially without a car lol). 5 days at UO is the start of a terrific UO trip!

 

[DisneyMandC]

I'm with you, OP. Drives me nuts when people do this stuff. I LOVE the planning and will frequently go on the Disney website just to price out different room/dining combos during different dates. When planning for my honeymoon in April, a coworker said she didn't know why I was doing so much planning and work for it- she went in the 80s and didn't have to do all that. UHHH well there's your problem! Things have changed! And these are the people that go back now and think it's the same as it was in the 80s and tell everyone they hate it.

I, for one, love FP+ (yes, I know I'm weird to even some of you) and ADRs. To me, it is relaxing to have it all planned in advance and have a schedule each day when I go in. Then I don't have to worry about where we're going to eat, what time, whether we're going to be able to get on that ride, etc. When I walk into the park, all I have to do is pull out my phone and go "oh, we should head to Space Mountain now."

 

[momimouse27]

Oh, heavens.

I have had these moments. I told my brother and new wife many years ago NOT to go at New Years. They did it anyway...won't do it again.

It makes me smh when people who have either never been or only been a couple of times refuse to listen to those of us who make it our business to be knowledgable about it. Its not because we want to be know it all's, its just that many of us have been there/done that and are trying to impart some wisdom from the mistakes we made or know someone who did! All I want when I give advice to others is to make their trip enjoyable, so they will have as much fun as we do when we go.

I laughed at the Dining choices, because I have been trying to get into Chef Mickeys for the last three trips and this was with advance notice...

In these situations, I guess sometimes you just have to stop and say, 'hope that works out for ya'

 

[AzzySpazbourne]

So, why, oh why dont they listen?

To paraphrase a saying:

It's very hard to describe the importance of properly planning a WDW vacation to a smart person; it's IMPOSSIBLE to do so with an idiot.

 

[Robo]

I can jump over the issues of "the future guest doesn't listen" and "the future guest hasn't planned" and just focus on…
the fact that the future guest has hired a travel agent to handle the planning.

And (from what we are told) it is the travel agent who has made major planning errors.

 

[AzzySpazbourne]

I can jump over the "future guest doesn't listen" and "future guest hasn't planned" and just focus on…
the fact that the future guest has hired a travel agent to handle the planning.

And (from what we are told) the travel agent has made the planning errors.

Concur

 

[Arielle22]

If someone asks me a question about Disney I will answer (well known how much I go) but otherwise keep my mouth closed. I did help a coworker tweak some of her plans last year for which she was grateful.

 

[ttintagel]

I can jump over the issues of "the future guest doesn't listen" and "the future guest hasn't planned" and just focus on…
the fact that the future guest has hired a travel agent to handle the planning.

And (from what we are told) it is the travel agent who has made major planning errors.

Absolutely! I hope it's not a Disney Travel Agent!

 

[CanadianMerida]

I've had this problem as well, but I'm a person who actually enjoys the planning part. Pricing things out and deciding where to go and when is one of the best parts, in my opinion! Although I have had a few people I know who can't understand why an adult would want to go to Disney. I actually had one person say to me that honeymooning at Disney was "disgusting" because "there are children there." Umm...what?

 

[BradChristian]

I think its perfectly acceptable to go on an unplanned trip. I've had friends who go last minute and they have a great time. They have different priorities... One of my co-workers went and her goal was to ride Dumbo like she did when she was a child. She got to do that - she instagrammed it - and she was completely thrilled with her time at WDW.

My concern for the original post - it sounds like this person WANTS to do a lot. By the number of TS reservations she is familiar with - she should be able to do some of those.

Unfortunately because of a bad travel agent... This is not going to happen.

This is why Tony's Town Square and The Plaza Restaurant in MK can be so mediocre... because that is where these poor folks wind up.

I think it breaks our hearts because we know they are spending a lot of money, and could be having a higher quality and more enjoyable time for those large amounts of cash.