A colleague of mine described her recent experience at the MK to me and I was both unaware of and surprised by an apparent policy that (in our shared opinion) is an obvious fail.
First, there are some reasonable assumptions that we as guests make when we visit a theme park. For example, most of us reasonably assume that if we get into a queue for an attraction 15 minutes before the time that the park closes, and the attraction wait time is 30 minutes, we will not be kicked out of the attraction mid-queue.
We also reasonably assume that we will be able to make purchases at the park gift shops while making our way toward the exit of the park, even if that's a few minutes after the park closing time. After all, nobody wants to carry around a bunch of merchandise all day and so many people reasonably plan to make their purchases on their way out. WDW obviously knows this because they typically accommodate guests by leaving retail locations like MouseGears or the Main Street gift shops open for long after the park's posted closing time.
With that said, my colleague was visiting the MK on a day when the posted closing time was 7 PM, after which the park was hosting Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. (By this point you can probably see where this is going...) She reasonably planned to make some purchases on her way out of the park of items that were going to be used as Christmas presents. That's right, she actually wanted to give Disney money at retail price. Easier said than done.
The time was approximately 7:15 PM as she was making her way toward the exit. She approached a gift shop on Main Street to open her wallet for the Disney company, but was denied access to the gift shop by a CM "guarding" the entrance. Confused, she tried another entrance and was also denied access by a CM. She was told that she could not enter the gift shop because "she did not have a wrist band," and that her best bet for making her desired Christmas purchase was to drive over to Downtown Disney.
What!? :brick:
That's right. Even though she (and everyone else) had a reasonable expectation that she would be able to make a purchase at the park gift shops a few minutes after the park's closing time, and even though there were undoubtedly some hold-over day guest shoppers in those same shops gathering their desired merchandise together, she was prohibited from doing the same, and instructed to make a substantial detour in order to pick up an overpriced piece of plastic in the shape of our beloved Mouse.
This was news to me. And if you haven't experienced the same, it might be news to you too.
Okay, so Disney has every right to restrict access to whatever they want, and close whatever they want. There's no disagreement about that. The reason that this scenario was particularly frustrating, though, is because it was directly contradictory to the reasonable assumptions that all of us as guests make when visiting a theme park. And if Disney was going to make such a dramatic change to such a common practice, shouldn't they have made that obvious and explicitly known to day guests? How many of us intentionally hold off on making in-park merchandise purchases for our stroll toward the exit? How many of us have purchased something at any of the WDW park gift shops after the posted closing time?
Ironically, she could easily have stayed in the crowds to watch the parade, or fireworks, or any other out-in-the-open activities intended for the "special event" guests. But could she purchase Christmas presents? Nope. :brick:
We view this as a glaring policy fail, for multiple reasons, the least of which is the business practice of diminishing business.
As for suggesting that a guest take a trip to Downtown Disney when the item they intended to purchase is sitting 20 feet in front of them... Seriously?
First, there are some reasonable assumptions that we as guests make when we visit a theme park. For example, most of us reasonably assume that if we get into a queue for an attraction 15 minutes before the time that the park closes, and the attraction wait time is 30 minutes, we will not be kicked out of the attraction mid-queue.
We also reasonably assume that we will be able to make purchases at the park gift shops while making our way toward the exit of the park, even if that's a few minutes after the park closing time. After all, nobody wants to carry around a bunch of merchandise all day and so many people reasonably plan to make their purchases on their way out. WDW obviously knows this because they typically accommodate guests by leaving retail locations like MouseGears or the Main Street gift shops open for long after the park's posted closing time.
With that said, my colleague was visiting the MK on a day when the posted closing time was 7 PM, after which the park was hosting Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. (By this point you can probably see where this is going...) She reasonably planned to make some purchases on her way out of the park of items that were going to be used as Christmas presents. That's right, she actually wanted to give Disney money at retail price. Easier said than done.
The time was approximately 7:15 PM as she was making her way toward the exit. She approached a gift shop on Main Street to open her wallet for the Disney company, but was denied access to the gift shop by a CM "guarding" the entrance. Confused, she tried another entrance and was also denied access by a CM. She was told that she could not enter the gift shop because "she did not have a wrist band," and that her best bet for making her desired Christmas purchase was to drive over to Downtown Disney.
What!? :brick:
That's right. Even though she (and everyone else) had a reasonable expectation that she would be able to make a purchase at the park gift shops a few minutes after the park's closing time, and even though there were undoubtedly some hold-over day guest shoppers in those same shops gathering their desired merchandise together, she was prohibited from doing the same, and instructed to make a substantial detour in order to pick up an overpriced piece of plastic in the shape of our beloved Mouse.
This was news to me. And if you haven't experienced the same, it might be news to you too.
Okay, so Disney has every right to restrict access to whatever they want, and close whatever they want. There's no disagreement about that. The reason that this scenario was particularly frustrating, though, is because it was directly contradictory to the reasonable assumptions that all of us as guests make when visiting a theme park. And if Disney was going to make such a dramatic change to such a common practice, shouldn't they have made that obvious and explicitly known to day guests? How many of us intentionally hold off on making in-park merchandise purchases for our stroll toward the exit? How many of us have purchased something at any of the WDW park gift shops after the posted closing time?
Ironically, she could easily have stayed in the crowds to watch the parade, or fireworks, or any other out-in-the-open activities intended for the "special event" guests. But could she purchase Christmas presents? Nope. :brick:
We view this as a glaring policy fail, for multiple reasons, the least of which is the business practice of diminishing business.
As for suggesting that a guest take a trip to Downtown Disney when the item they intended to purchase is sitting 20 feet in front of them... Seriously?
Here's a tip for your friend... The next time she wants to make a purchase and not carry it around she should try buying said item and having it sent to the front of the park or the room. But then that would mean that she would have to behave like most everyone else and that doesn't sound like an option for her.:hammer:
