A conference took place in Orlando in December and I had to attend. I decided to bring my family - wife, 4 year old, 3 year old.
We didn't tell the kids we were going - just 'for daddy's work and to a pool in america'.
Before we went, problems started - booking meals seems harder now than ever with the app in control and some misunderstandings led to some disney phone calls and some rudeness - the sort of response that in the past, I wouldnt have expected from disney. But then it started to change....A few days before travelling, I got a phone call and was suprised that this ended with 3 extra 'VIP FP+' a day - we could use these any ride, any time, without planning. Additionally, a pile of cash on our account.
We were due at WL. We knew the pool was being worked on and rang at least 4 times to check on progress, the last time 4 days before travelling and were told all was well. As I was working, this was key to keep kids happy and manageable for my other half.
When we arrived after 16 hours into our journey, we were told pool was still not open and due in a few days. We were offered $50 per day. A couple of words with a manager, a 2 minute phone call on her behalf and we were back in the car - Grand Floridian we were told and when we arrived, we were ushered straight to our room. And oh my, is GF 'Grand' - a marvellous week,
great meals - in particular, healthly offerings for kids were impressive - beatiful salmon, rice, fresh vegetables - we struggled to find anything similar on offer anywhere outside the world. Character meals were good - although, I miss printed pictures that are lost thanks to memorymaker- they need to add something - a unique video summary of the experience or similar.
The parks - DHS is dead / dying - a mad dash either to Toy story mania or Jedi academy, three rides on star tours, but very little else - with the loss of backstage tour, american idol, imminent indy closure and closure of sparrow, there must be a pending huge announcement? I wonder if they will close the whole park - extreme, but surely it reaches a point when they cant justify the cost of the park with so little on. But then, the street shows were great - my boys still keep shouting 'water check' and fantasmic was awesome. I wonder what you think?
Epcot leaves me again ambivalent - the showcase is great, but lacking something, imagination sade but michael jackson still awesome, the land a shadow and soarin aged, but food in sunshine amazing, the boys enjoyed running in fountains and jumping on light up flooring at night
Animal kindgom - half a park - still! We could not justify more than 5 hours there - particularly for younger kids - they know zoos, little else unique for them. Dinosaur fun, but that is it.
All in all, CMs were ace - one grumpy older member of staff in MK who wound me up by telling me 'there is no way I can help you' as an opening gambit. Most were friendly, helpful, understanding and still the difference - particularly, at hotel.
It was helped that we wound up with a free hotel upgrade, double the number of FP+ with half of them these VIP ones (that no cast members seemed to know about, but they worked!) and $500 of spending money for souvenirs.
My approach - calm, friendly, understanding and none entitled. CMs seemed rather suprised about this and determined to reward it - to be honest, reading from others here, this seems to be the exception, rather than the rule!
I wondered, has anyone else recieved similar and how did they approach it?
Considering I was personally working most of the time, jumping in and out of parks via GF boat for me and the family by themselves was amazing and so easy. Amazing trip - whilst disney is eroding everywhere they can and how ever much you complain and fight it, they still have 'the difference' - in my experience, if you treat them with respect, you will still see that disney magic.
Thoughts?
We didn't tell the kids we were going - just 'for daddy's work and to a pool in america'.
Before we went, problems started - booking meals seems harder now than ever with the app in control and some misunderstandings led to some disney phone calls and some rudeness - the sort of response that in the past, I wouldnt have expected from disney. But then it started to change....A few days before travelling, I got a phone call and was suprised that this ended with 3 extra 'VIP FP+' a day - we could use these any ride, any time, without planning. Additionally, a pile of cash on our account.
We were due at WL. We knew the pool was being worked on and rang at least 4 times to check on progress, the last time 4 days before travelling and were told all was well. As I was working, this was key to keep kids happy and manageable for my other half.
When we arrived after 16 hours into our journey, we were told pool was still not open and due in a few days. We were offered $50 per day. A couple of words with a manager, a 2 minute phone call on her behalf and we were back in the car - Grand Floridian we were told and when we arrived, we were ushered straight to our room. And oh my, is GF 'Grand' - a marvellous week,
great meals - in particular, healthly offerings for kids were impressive - beatiful salmon, rice, fresh vegetables - we struggled to find anything similar on offer anywhere outside the world. Character meals were good - although, I miss printed pictures that are lost thanks to memorymaker- they need to add something - a unique video summary of the experience or similar.
The parks - DHS is dead / dying - a mad dash either to Toy story mania or Jedi academy, three rides on star tours, but very little else - with the loss of backstage tour, american idol, imminent indy closure and closure of sparrow, there must be a pending huge announcement? I wonder if they will close the whole park - extreme, but surely it reaches a point when they cant justify the cost of the park with so little on. But then, the street shows were great - my boys still keep shouting 'water check' and fantasmic was awesome. I wonder what you think?
Epcot leaves me again ambivalent - the showcase is great, but lacking something, imagination sade but michael jackson still awesome, the land a shadow and soarin aged, but food in sunshine amazing, the boys enjoyed running in fountains and jumping on light up flooring at night
Animal kindgom - half a park - still! We could not justify more than 5 hours there - particularly for younger kids - they know zoos, little else unique for them. Dinosaur fun, but that is it.
All in all, CMs were ace - one grumpy older member of staff in MK who wound me up by telling me 'there is no way I can help you' as an opening gambit. Most were friendly, helpful, understanding and still the difference - particularly, at hotel.
It was helped that we wound up with a free hotel upgrade, double the number of FP+ with half of them these VIP ones (that no cast members seemed to know about, but they worked!) and $500 of spending money for souvenirs.
My approach - calm, friendly, understanding and none entitled. CMs seemed rather suprised about this and determined to reward it - to be honest, reading from others here, this seems to be the exception, rather than the rule!
I wondered, has anyone else recieved similar and how did they approach it?
Considering I was personally working most of the time, jumping in and out of parks via GF boat for me and the family by themselves was amazing and so easy. Amazing trip - whilst disney is eroding everywhere they can and how ever much you complain and fight it, they still have 'the difference' - in my experience, if you treat them with respect, you will still see that disney magic.
Thoughts?
