Hi! I just wanted to post this about my brother's trip to WDW this week, b/c I was SO HORRIFIED. My husband & I are HUGE WDW fans, got married there, go there as often as we can, etc. My brother had never been, so when SIL got sent to a veterinarian conference at Orlando, I told him he should take my niece Emma (3 years old) and go to WDW for a vacation. He & Emma flew down to Orlando on the last day of SIL's conference, and they planned to spend 3 nights there together.
Now, a caveat: being first time Disers, they had no idea how much planning it truly entailed. I am absolutely anal about planning everything, so when I told them to make PS, etc., well in advance, they laughed it off as one of my quirks and said, "It's January 10! Who is vacationing right now?" Emma had her heart set on the Buzz Lightyear resort, so, against their better judgment (DH & I aren't All Stars fans, and had warned them - please don't flame, just had a few bad experiences ourselves), they made ressies at All Star Movies.
Brother & Emma check in & go to their room at All Star Movies. Upon arrival at their room, Emma is sleepy & wants to take a nap. When my brother turns down the bedspread, there is a wet spot that smells like urine. He calls the front desk, housekeeping comes, and they change the sheets but take away the bedspread & don't give him a new one. No apology from anyone, nothing like that. Just a change of sheets & removal of bedspread.
SIL arrives with luggage & calls my brother. Emma is sleeping at this point, so he tells her to ask for luggage assistance at the desk, so he doesn't have to wake Emma up to help SIL with the bags. SIL goes to the "Concierge" desk & asks for luggage assistance. Keep in mind, she has no idea about how any of this works, has never been to WDW, etc. The concierge tells her, "You would have to go to the luggage desk for that, but they're too busy to help you." This CM then turns her back on my SIL & begins doing something else, ignoring her. So SIL calls my brother again, who wakes up Emma & comes to help her with luggage.
On their way out to the parks, they attempt to see the manager, about the pee bed. They waited at the desk for 20 minutes, before being told, "The manager is too busy to see you." No, "(S)he will call you later." No, "Come back at X time." Just, too busy to see you.
They decide to try to go out to eat at Canada in EPCOT, so stop by. The CM there laughs at them, when they ask if there are any walk-ins available, and says, "Don't you know that people make priority seatings months in advance? You'll need to go to one of the counter service restaurants." My brother is irritated, because he said the CM had an attitude as she told them this. So they go to the walk-up Chinese restaurant, and don't enjoy it at all.
My brother is the absolute most laid-back person I've ever met in my life. I honestly cannot remember a single fight we ever had growing up, and I'm not an easy person to get along with
He was the kind of kid who, when asked what he wanted for his b-day, shrugged and said, "Whatever you want to get me," then was genuinely thrilled to get it. So I was stunned to hear his story when he called me for help, the next day.
He & SIL, back at the hotel room the next morning, pressed Dining on the phone & told the CM that they just wanted some priority seatings for a sit-down restaurant. They were very flexible, didn't care where, just didn't want to eat dinner that night at a counter service place. The CM, after asking what resort they were staying at, told them, "Nothing is available. You should have made priority seatings before getting here." No help, no suggestions, no checking around - just "Nothing is available." You know & I know that there are other things they could have tried, like going to Guest Services in the parks, hanging up and calling back again for a more helpful CM, etc., but they were first timers and really had no idea what to do.
My brother called me, almost in tears, because he was so disappointed that everyone was being so unhelpful. I called up WDW Dine from my home, and made PS for them that night, for the Cindy dinner at 1900 Park Fare, then the next night at Jiko. He was thrilled, so grateful, went off to the parks & had a wonderful time. Went out to dinner at 1900 Park Fare & had a wonderful time. Woke up at 2:00 that morning, because Emma was so constipated she was crying! They rushed her to the hospital, and didn't get back until 5:30 that morning. (By the way, they still didn't have a bedspread in their room - the Mousekeeper was making up the second bed with just the sheets!).
Went out to Jiko the next night & had a wonderful time.
Got to the airport, got on the plane, took off, and were told by the pilot to keep their seatbelts on b/c there would be a lot of turbulence on the ride. They noticed that, after being in the air for a while, the plane was still remarkably low, and hadn't even gotten higher than the clouds. The flight attendant came on & told them that drink service would be delayed b/c of the turbulence. A few moments after that, they smelled smoke, and Emma proclaimed, "Daddy, planes are stinky." The flight attendants went running to the back of the plane, and the co-pilot came out of the cockpit & ran to the back of the plane. They had to do an emergency landing in Jacksonville, b/c of whatever it was that was causing the plane to smoke; my brother never heard what the cause was.
I was dismayed to hear that they went through all of this. I love my brother & love WDW, and hoped that they'd have as magical a time as my DH & I always have there. I know the lack of planning & lack of knowledge contributed enormously to their experiences, but it also seemed like they were plagued with deplorable rudeness & hygiene (pee bed), as well as a streak of downright bad luck (hospital trip & smoking plane)!
I'm trying to convince him to give WDW another try, maybe next year at the conference, and that I'll help him make all of the planning well in advance. He said Emma had a great time in the parks, so he'd like to take her back. I just hope that next time, it turns out better!
Cheers!
Heather W
Now, a caveat: being first time Disers, they had no idea how much planning it truly entailed. I am absolutely anal about planning everything, so when I told them to make PS, etc., well in advance, they laughed it off as one of my quirks and said, "It's January 10! Who is vacationing right now?" Emma had her heart set on the Buzz Lightyear resort, so, against their better judgment (DH & I aren't All Stars fans, and had warned them - please don't flame, just had a few bad experiences ourselves), they made ressies at All Star Movies.
Brother & Emma check in & go to their room at All Star Movies. Upon arrival at their room, Emma is sleepy & wants to take a nap. When my brother turns down the bedspread, there is a wet spot that smells like urine. He calls the front desk, housekeeping comes, and they change the sheets but take away the bedspread & don't give him a new one. No apology from anyone, nothing like that. Just a change of sheets & removal of bedspread.
SIL arrives with luggage & calls my brother. Emma is sleeping at this point, so he tells her to ask for luggage assistance at the desk, so he doesn't have to wake Emma up to help SIL with the bags. SIL goes to the "Concierge" desk & asks for luggage assistance. Keep in mind, she has no idea about how any of this works, has never been to WDW, etc. The concierge tells her, "You would have to go to the luggage desk for that, but they're too busy to help you." This CM then turns her back on my SIL & begins doing something else, ignoring her. So SIL calls my brother again, who wakes up Emma & comes to help her with luggage.
On their way out to the parks, they attempt to see the manager, about the pee bed. They waited at the desk for 20 minutes, before being told, "The manager is too busy to see you." No, "(S)he will call you later." No, "Come back at X time." Just, too busy to see you.
They decide to try to go out to eat at Canada in EPCOT, so stop by. The CM there laughs at them, when they ask if there are any walk-ins available, and says, "Don't you know that people make priority seatings months in advance? You'll need to go to one of the counter service restaurants." My brother is irritated, because he said the CM had an attitude as she told them this. So they go to the walk-up Chinese restaurant, and don't enjoy it at all.
My brother is the absolute most laid-back person I've ever met in my life. I honestly cannot remember a single fight we ever had growing up, and I'm not an easy person to get along with
He was the kind of kid who, when asked what he wanted for his b-day, shrugged and said, "Whatever you want to get me," then was genuinely thrilled to get it. So I was stunned to hear his story when he called me for help, the next day.He & SIL, back at the hotel room the next morning, pressed Dining on the phone & told the CM that they just wanted some priority seatings for a sit-down restaurant. They were very flexible, didn't care where, just didn't want to eat dinner that night at a counter service place. The CM, after asking what resort they were staying at, told them, "Nothing is available. You should have made priority seatings before getting here." No help, no suggestions, no checking around - just "Nothing is available." You know & I know that there are other things they could have tried, like going to Guest Services in the parks, hanging up and calling back again for a more helpful CM, etc., but they were first timers and really had no idea what to do.
My brother called me, almost in tears, because he was so disappointed that everyone was being so unhelpful. I called up WDW Dine from my home, and made PS for them that night, for the Cindy dinner at 1900 Park Fare, then the next night at Jiko. He was thrilled, so grateful, went off to the parks & had a wonderful time. Went out to dinner at 1900 Park Fare & had a wonderful time. Woke up at 2:00 that morning, because Emma was so constipated she was crying! They rushed her to the hospital, and didn't get back until 5:30 that morning. (By the way, they still didn't have a bedspread in their room - the Mousekeeper was making up the second bed with just the sheets!).
Went out to Jiko the next night & had a wonderful time.
Got to the airport, got on the plane, took off, and were told by the pilot to keep their seatbelts on b/c there would be a lot of turbulence on the ride. They noticed that, after being in the air for a while, the plane was still remarkably low, and hadn't even gotten higher than the clouds. The flight attendant came on & told them that drink service would be delayed b/c of the turbulence. A few moments after that, they smelled smoke, and Emma proclaimed, "Daddy, planes are stinky." The flight attendants went running to the back of the plane, and the co-pilot came out of the cockpit & ran to the back of the plane. They had to do an emergency landing in Jacksonville, b/c of whatever it was that was causing the plane to smoke; my brother never heard what the cause was.
I was dismayed to hear that they went through all of this. I love my brother & love WDW, and hoped that they'd have as magical a time as my DH & I always have there. I know the lack of planning & lack of knowledge contributed enormously to their experiences, but it also seemed like they were plagued with deplorable rudeness & hygiene (pee bed), as well as a streak of downright bad luck (hospital trip & smoking plane)!
I'm trying to convince him to give WDW another try, maybe next year at the conference, and that I'll help him make all of the planning well in advance. He said Emma had a great time in the parks, so he'd like to take her back. I just hope that next time, it turns out better!
Cheers!
Heather W
We were there Labor day week and it was hot! 
We complained again the next day, asked neighbors and no one else was having problems with their air. We had to go through three CM's and two managers. I worked at Disney during college years ago and the service was never like that. Finally, the second manager moved us to another room (that worked!) and refunded us the first night and gave us an additional night free. The rest of our trip was fine. I did notice that the Allstar Movies wasn't as clean as when we visited in 2000. We are staying at Pop Century in Feb. Is that part of the All Stars?
)
