Disney got my money for the last time

[Matt_Black]

Please please PLEASE understand that not all guests plan their Disney vacations down to the hour, nor do they all know they even have to. It's a harsh reality that hits you in the face the moment you walk into the park if you don't know.

A friend of mine is planning her trip in early October. After her last trip she got the same exact dose of reality. She told me last night that planning this trip is equal to planning her wedding.

Ah, but he did know that he had to plan SOME. After all, he had the MDE app. And clearly he knew he was interested in timed events. I find it very hard to believe that the only piece of entertainment he and his family were interested in seeing was the fireworks and everything else they were willing to just wing it.

 

[G00fyDad]

Please please PLEASE understand that not all guests plan their Disney vacations down to the hour, nor do they all know they even have to. It's a harsh reality that hits you in the face the moment you walk into the park if you don't know.

A friend of mine is planning her trip in early October. After her last trip she got the same exact dose of reality. She told me last night that planning this trip is equal to planning her wedding.

You keep talking about planning trips. And planning in general. As Inigo Montoya once said "I'm not quite sure that word means what you think it means." I never said anything about planning. It would take me 30 seconds to go to another web page on the phone that I'm typing this on and look up the information without having to use that app. Am I a genius for being able to do such a wonderful feat? No I'm not. He could have looked the information up anytime during his trip. On top of that knowing what park is open on what day isn't necessarily planning. It's called getting your head out of your butt and paying attention to what park you're actually going to be able to go to. If someone is going to spend the money to go to Disney World and they're not going to find out what parks are open on what days and what the hours are then that's their own fault. It's not over planning. It's called having some damn common sense.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

I'm sure Disney won't even miss you. Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on theirs.

You sure about that? In 3 weeks, WDW will be reporting their third straight quarter (possibly 5th) of cratering attendance numbers.

And isn't "planning" finding out the desired info from the paid professionals and then enacting a "plan" based on the provided info? Which is exactly what the OP did? I fail to see how it is the OP's fault that Disney's own concierge provided incorrect information.

 

[Matt_Black]

Now you're really jumping to your own conclusions.
I went to CS. Asked immediately for a supervisor. She came out very quickly and listened to me explain the situation. She offered fast passes, which I refused. I said I wasn't interested in FP, I just wanted to take my daughter to the fireworks. She said no. I told her that she disappointed a little girl today and I walked out.

So, for the record, a Cast Member tried to initiate a dialogue that would eventually lead to some sort of compromise, you stubbornly refused, and then tried to guilt trip them to boot, just for the sole crime of them doing their job? Is that an accurate read on things?

 

[Deranged Hermit]

So how was she supposed to know that you're not one of the other many liars that come to the desk every single day stating that they were supposed to get something that they didn't get? Answer that. No, don't answer another question or post one yourself. Answer that question. How was she supposed to know that you were telling the truth?

She easily could have called Coronado about the band problems even gave he the name of who I spoke too. The problems with the frozen and mansion rides she acknowledged she knew about. The only hearsay was about the cast member who screwed up the park times. I did not have her name. So two of three were easily verified. Enough for benefit of doubt I would think.

 

[raven]

Ah, but he did know that he had to plan SOME. After all, he had the MDE app. And clearly he knew he was interested in timed events. I find it very hard to believe that the only piece of entertainment he and his family were interested in seeing was the fireworks and everything else they were willing to just wing it.

So you and your S.O. go to Chilis one night and after you drive all the way there you find that it's closed due to private event. Guess you should've "planned" better.

If someone is going to spend the money to go to Disney World and they're not going to find out what parks are open on what days and what the hours are then that's their own fault. It's not over planning. It's called having some damn common sense.

And maybe they DID plan, through the app that wasn't working when they arrived and needed an alternative day to visit MK because they didn't want to see them in the rain. So they go straight to the best source...and are given bad information, which they don't know about until they are actually there and it's happening. Nothing to do with common sense.

 

[Deranged Hermit]

So, for the record, a Cast Member tried to initiate a dialogue that would eventually lead to some sort of compromise, you stubbornly refused, and then tried to guilt trip them to boot, just for the sole crime of them doing their job? Is that an accurate read on things?

Exactly what would the fp fix? In what world was that a compromise?

 

[The Empress Lilly]

So how was she supposed to know that you're not one of the other many liars that come to the desk every single day stating that they were supposed to get something that they didn't get? Answer that. No, don't answer another question or post one yourself. Answer that question. How was she supposed to know that you were telling the truth?

How about guest services starts from the premise the paying customer is not a liar?

Yes, yes, difficult enough, especially at WDW which nowadays aims at the lower ranks of society. But still.

 

[Matt_Black]

So you and your S.O. go to Chilis one night and after you drive all the way there you find that it's closed due to private event. Guess you should've "planned" better.

YES. We should have called ahead. Instead, we made an assumption.

Exactly what would the fp fix? In what world was that a compromise?

Well, you would say, "Thank you, that's very generous, but the only time we could redeem those would be when we have dinner reservations." At that point, a reasonable person would have suggested something else. Instead, you cut off the line of dialogue entirely.

 

[Matt_Black]

How about guest services starts from the premise the paying customer is not a liar?

That's how we got people abusing the privileges for disabled guests.

 

[BrittanyRose428]

Were the fireworks actually even cancelled on Sunday? I swear I got Snapchats from friends who were there watching them..

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Let me ask you all this: If the OP posted the exact opposite on here (telling everyone about the wonderful thing that Disney did for his family to compensate them for their troubles and were allowed to see the fireworks that night), would you all be on here complaining that Disney did the wrong thing? I don't think so. You'd more than likely be telling him that it was great that the company did such a wonderful thing and they are still living up to their reputation of making dreams come true.

Brilliance.

 

[Deranged Hermit]

YES. We should have called ahead. Instead, we made an assumption.



Well, you would say, "Thank you, that's very generous, but the only time we could redeem those would be when we have dinner reservations." At that point, a reasonable person would have suggested something else. Instead, you cut off the line of dialogue entirely.

I did thank her, and brought up the fact it doesn't help my problem. She said there was nothing she could do, so there was no reason to continue the conversation.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

That's how we got people abusing the privileges for disabled guests.

True, sadly. And still, it has to be the basic premise. Defend against abuse, but assume your customer is not a liar.

 

[mousehockey37]

Were the fireworks actually even cancelled on Sunday? I swear I got Snapchats from friends who were there watching them..

One of the DVC Rental companies actually had a live feed from Sunday's fireworks.

 

[LongLiveTheKing]

And if the ToW lounge was close to capacity that night and a DVC member could not get in to watch the fireworks as they had planned because this person was given access who is not a DVC member, how should that member have been compensated? See the problem with everything needs to be fixed the way you want it fixed?

Just have the person organizing the fix calling the places they're hypothetically gonna give the peeved person access to until they find one available, and no a worst case scenerio where 5+ locations are filled is not going to happen. You do checks to make sure the program's not gonna crash before doing the action, and yes I realize this applies to OP as well but he's also the one handing over thousands of dollars for a trip to a place priding itself on customer service. It's an easy task.

 

[BrittanyRose428]

One of the DVC Rental companies actually had a live feed from Sunday's fireworks.

So personally, I'm disregarding the OP's whole complaint here because it doesn't sound like the fireworks were even cancelled on Sunday. They are very rarely cancelled, and it's not looking like that's what happened. If they missed them then again, poor planning on their part.

 

[Kamikaze]

You sure about that? In 3 weeks, WDW will be reporting their third straight quarter (possibly 5th) of cratering attendance numbers.

You do know they WANT lower attendance, right?

 

[mousehockey37]

Now you're really jumping to your own conclusions.
I went to CS. Asked immediately for a supervisor. She came out very quickly and listened to me explain the situation. She offered fast passes, which I refused. I said I wasn't interested in FP, I just wanted to take my daughter to the fireworks. She said no. I told her that she disappointed a little girl today and I walked out.

I did thank her, and brought up the fact it doesn't help my problem. She said there was nothing she could do, so there was no reason to continue the conversation.

Ok, so which is it? You now have 2 stories of varying degrees to which you spoke with someone.

So personally, I'm disregarding the OP's whole complaint here because it doesn't sound like the fireworks were even cancelled on Sunday. They are very rarely cancelled, and it's not looking like that's what happened. If they missed them then again, poor planning on their part.

Exactly. Regular Wishes went up every night this week, except for Thursday which was Hallowishes.

 

[Deranged Hermit]

So personally, I'm disregarding the OP's whole complaint here because it doesn't sound like the fireworks were even cancelled on Sunday. They are very rarely cancelled, and it's not looking like that's what happened. If they missed them then again, poor planning on their part.

It poured from 6-10. The only fireworks I saw were the short burst after they lit up the castle shortly after 10.

 

[mousehockey37]

You do know they WANT lower attendance, right?

As long as the rooms are full...