Disney Screwed up

[devoy1701]

I never thought this thread would make it to 98 posts!

Some comments....I agree that the Check-in Cast Member is not the one to ultimately blame. She made a critical mistake and going forward I bet she will find a way to "feel out" the situation (or just not say anythign at all! :lol. But it seems like there were already issues that were setting up the events to unfold.

If anyone is to blame, it is the CM that was working on the Florist line. I told her I didn't want to put it on the reservation but she insisted she would mention that the Engagement hadn't happened yet. I too do not thing that the disclaimer was put on the reservation. What also bothered me was that when I called her after check-in (I was able to speak with the same CM) she insisted that she had not put ANYTHING on the reservation and that they do not have access to adjust/add notes to resort reservations.

The funny thing is, when I called the Florist line back on Monday to tell them about the botched dinner as well, I found out that my particular Florist CM had been transferred to another department. hmmm...

Anyway. My letter to Disney Communications was very well written and did not express anger or colorful language. I kept saying Frustrated and Disappointed many times! I wanted it to be clear that my past experiences and Disney's reputation gave me an impression that Disney would be able to pull this off and they dropped the ball many times. I told them how upset we were and that there should definitely be a procedural check to insure that this series of unfortunate events doesn't happen for some other happy couple. I didn't ask to be compensated or anything like that...if they feel they would like to continue to try to make it up to us, than that is definitely their decision.

 

[blackthidot]

It's unfortunate, but it can easily happen. It's frustrating to me, because the more I think about it, I really can't understand the florists reasoning behind wanting to list the celebration on the reservation. There was just no good that could have come from it.

Yeah, it's like the florist WANTED to screw this up...

 

[Arecheri]

Once again, this is not to make excuses, but a lot of people don't realize how stressful it is to be a CM at Disney. CM's have to deal with hundreds if not thousands of guests a day, and they try so hard to give individual attention to as many people as they can............... All and all, what matters is the fact that you have hopefully found the love of your life, and regardless of the mistake that occurred, you will both live happily ever after. Despite how special an engagement is, there are plenty of other ways to make magical moments in your lives (i do it everyday). While a lot of planning goes into big events, it's the little things that matter the most in life.

I usually don't respond to post's but this one, I need to say something. You should listen to what TRONorail has said and move on. To keep complaining about this mistake is petty. My mom had a truly "unearthed" experience when my dad asked her to marry him. Now he is gone and now for her, that engagement nightmare, is one of the best memories she has of him. I know so many that wish they had an event such as yours to remember their engagement b/c theirs was too boring. If you think of it, you will always have a "crazy adventure" to remember your engagment. :animwink:

 

[sublimesting]

I never thought this thread would make it to 98 posts!

Some comments....I agree that the Check-in Cast Member is not the one to ultimately blame. She made a critical mistake and going forward I bet she will find a way to "feel out" the situation (or just not say anythign at all! :lol. But it seems like there were already issues that were setting up the events to unfold.

If anyone is to blame, it is the CM that was working on the Florist line. I told her I didn't want to put it on the reservation but she insisted she would mention that the Engagement hadn't happened yet. I too do not thing that the disclaimer was put on the reservation. What also bothered me was that when I called her after check-in (I was able to speak with the same CM) she insisted that she had not put ANYTHING on the reservation and that they do not have access to adjust/add notes to resort reservations.

The funny thing is, when I called the Florist line back on Monday to tell them about the botched dinner as well, I found out that my particular Florist CM had been transferred to another department. hmmm...

Anyway. My letter to Disney Communications was very well written and did not express anger or colorful language. I kept saying Frustrated and Disappointed many times! I wanted it to be clear that my past experiences and Disney's reputation gave me an impression that Disney would be able to pull this off and they dropped the ball many times. I told them how upset we were and that there should definitely be a procedural check to insure that this series of unfortunate events doesn't happen for some other happy couple. I didn't ask to be compensated or anything like that...if they feel they would like to continue to try to make it up to us, than that is definitely their decision.

After the wedding is all done and you're on your honeymoon you guys will laugh about this for sure. Things are never bad as they seem when they first occur. Maybe Disney will have Mickey skydive into your wedding ceremony to present the rings. Then again with your luck the chute may not open....

 

[devoy1701]

Trust me. We are definitely already laughing about it...have been since the day it happened. The initial anger is gone...the underlying anger still there...but the initial is gone.

I get the whole "move on" sentiment...but I have a feeling that most of you would probably send a letter over to guest communications as well if you were in my situation. Please send letters to guest communications for issues much less memorable than this, so I do not think I am out of line whatsoever making sure that my experience gets reviewed by some "higher-ups" in the guest relations department. I will be awaiting their call and will be more than eager to tell them the story again and see what they have to say about it! :king:

 

[snowpony]

Sorry to hear about your situation...at least that's nice of Disney to try and make up for it with the fireworks cruise.

However, why not look at it as an interesting story to tell others? It may not have gone the way you wanted it to, but there will be a time when you look back and just laugh at the whole thing. It's kind of like when you have a horrible vacation where everything goes wrong and it really sucks while you're going through it, but later on when some time has passed you have a good laugh about it.

 

[Pseybert]

I have a good feeling about the letter you sent to guest relations. I am glad that you waited to write it after you had time to cool down. I am willing to bet that you might even get some more freebies out of this. I know that's not what you're after, but it likely will happen.

What I also hope for is that your letter will help prevent this problem from ever happening again. I would definitely like to see more specific training on ways I, or my fellow cast can avoid such a terrible thing from re-occurring.

 

[devoy1701]

I have a good feeling about the letter you sent to guest relations. I am glad that you waited to write it after you had time to cool down. I am willing to bet that you might even get some more freebies out of this. I know that's not what you're after, but it likely will happen.

What I also hope for is that your letter will help prevent this problem from ever happening again. I would definitely like to see more specific training on ways I, or my fellow cast can avoid such a terrible thing from re-occurring.

This is probably the main thing I am hoping to accomplish here. I said it in my phone calls to the Florist Line, I said it to the manager at the Wilderness Lodge, and I said it in the letter. I think my exact words were "It is completely horrible that this happened to us and I would hate for it to happen to other as well, and I hope that the procedures for handling these types of special celebrations can be reviewed."

Whoever said that one person couldn't change the World anyway???

The only thing that I said in my letter that was completely unacceptable was the fact that I paid extra to have flowers delivered prior to dinner and they didn't arrive.

 

[devoy1701]

Hi All,

It's been a couple of months now but I do have an update on the situation of my botched marriage proposal.

The week we came back from our trip in August I did write an email to Guest Communications explaining our debacle. I was sure to include names of people involved, dates, reservation numbers, costs, etc. I did not try to place blame on anyone in particular, mentioned that we had no hard feelings directly towards the check-in Cast Member who made the slip, and made sure to comment on how wonderful the manger Alex Colon at the Wilderness Lodge was to us in trying to make up for our unfortunate luck.

About 2 weeks later, I received a call from Andrew from Guest Communicatons who wanted to go over everything again, tried to connect with us on a personal level about being in a relationship and understanding how much time and effort goes into planning an event like that, etc. At the end of the call he invited us back for a complimentary weekend stay at either the Wilderness Lodge or Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Now we have been wanting to stay at AKL for quite some time now, but being that the Wilderness Lodge is our absolute favorite resort (and I also didn't want to seem greedy or anything) we again opted to stay at WL. Andrew asked us some additional questions about what we like to do out there, what our favorite characters were etc.

The character question ended up being because Andrew wanted to send up some goodies. About 2 weeks later we received a package that contained a Jim Shore Goofy figurine (my favorite character) and one of the artist drawn color pencil sketches of Eeyore (my fiance's favorite). Not terribly much, but a wonderful personal gesture.

We ended up taking our free weekend this past weekend. We wanted to go when crowds were lower and it wasn't so hot anymore and let me tell you, we had a wonderful weekend on both of those accounts! When we checked in at the front desk we found that we had been upgraded to a conceirge room. In our room we were greeted with rose petals spread out in a heart shape on the bed. Both of these were very nice touches. But one thing that impressed me more than those was that the manager Alex recognized us immediately and came over to chat when we entered the Lobby coming back from the parks Friday evening after not seeing us in 3 months and not being at the desk when we initially checked in. Small gestures like that go a very long way in my book.

When we got back up to our hotel room we had a voice mail waiting for us inviting us to view Holiday Wishes privately from the rooftop of the hotel which we accepted graciously....I've always wanted to go up there but didn't think that 2 early twenty newly-engaged people qualified for flag family! :lookaroun We did not know however that the invitation was a ploy to get us out of the room for a couple minutes...when we got back, we were greeted with 2 iced bottles of Pinot Gris, a basket of goodies (cheese, coffee, tea, chocolates, biscotti), and a gift card that we ended up using for dinner the following night at Le Cellier.

Needless to say, this weekend was fantastic..and although we weren't celebrating anything this time, we truly enjoyed an opportunity to unwind for the weekend. The engagement may not have gone quite as I planned back in August, but we have a truly unique story of how we got engaged and a great feeling that the staff at the Wilderness Lodge has made right with us in our book...and that the resort and the Guest Communications staff truly felt sorry for the botched plans last August and made a solid effort to make up for it.

Again I wanted to point out that the manager Alex at the Wilderness Lodge was wonderful both trips, he is truly a 1st class Cast Member who will go out of his way to make sure you're having a great trip. Also, Sandra who is a Cast Member with the Old Faithful Conceirge Club at the Wilderness Lodge was also fantastic. We met her Friday night when she took us up to the roof of the resort, and continued to see her the rest of the weekend. Each time she remembered what we had said we were doing that day and asked us how we were and how we enjoyed whatever we said we were doing. As I said earlier too, it goes a long way when the staff remembers and greets you by name each time you see them! I will again be writing a letter to Guest Releations and let them know that we truly appreciated this past weekend! :wave:

 

[trr1]

just consider it a rehersal for the honeymoon:animwink:

 

[ddbowdoin]

I would have laughed it off and completely played dumb... this stuff happens to me ALL the time. People always assume that my girlfriend and I are engaged... why? I have no idea but I've had people ask if there was a special occassion, got the wink, had offers extended and you could have creatively played it off.

That still sucks though... I guess if I were looking for a complete surprise I just wouldn't have planned something that elaborate. The more people involved typically means the more chance it has to get spoiled, murphy's law I suppose.

 

[Disneygal24]

Hi All,

It's been a couple of months now but I do have an update on the situation of my botched marriage proposal.

The week we came back from our trip in August I did write an email to Guest Communications explaining our debacle. I was sure to include names of people involved, dates, reservation numbers, costs, etc. I did not try to place blame on anyone in particular, mentioned that we had no hard feelings directly towards the check-in Cast Member who made the slip, and made sure to comment on how wonderful the manger Alex Colon at the Wilderness Lodge was to us in trying to make up for our unfortunate luck.

About 2 weeks later, I received a call from Andrew from Guest Communicatons who wanted to go over everything again, tried to connect with us on a personal level about being in a relationship and understanding how much time and effort goes into planning an event like that, etc. At the end of the call he invited us back for a complimentary weekend stay at either the Wilderness Lodge or Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Now we have been wanting to stay at AKL for quite some time now, but being that the Wilderness Lodge is our absolute favorite resort (and I also didn't want to seem greedy or anything) we again opted to stay at WL. Andrew asked us some additional questions about what we like to do out there, what our favorite characters were etc.

The character question ended up being because Andrew wanted to send up some goodies. About 2 weeks later we received a package that contained a Jim Shore Goofy figurine (my favorite character) and one of the artist drawn color pencil sketches of Eeyore (my fiance's favorite). Not terribly much, but a wonderful personal gesture.

We ended up taking our free weekend this past weekend. We wanted to go when crowds were lower and it wasn't so hot anymore and let me tell you, we had a wonderful weekend on both of those accounts! When we checked in at the front desk we found that we had been upgraded to a conceirge room. In our room we were greeted with rose petals spread out in a heart shape on the bed. Both of these were very nice touches. But one thing that impressed me more than those was that the manager Alex recognized us immediately and came over to chat when we entered the Lobby coming back from the parks Friday evening after not seeing us in 3 months and not being at the desk when we initially checked in. Small gestures like that go a very long way in my book.

When we got back up to our hotel room we had a voice mail waiting for us inviting us to view Holiday Wishes privately from the rooftop of the hotel which we accepted graciously....I've always wanted to go up there but didn't think that 2 early twenty newly-engaged people qualified for flag family! :lookaroun We did not know however that the invitation was a ploy to get us out of the room for a couple minutes...when we got back, we were greeted with 2 iced bottles of Pinot Gris, a basket of goodies (cheese, coffee, tea, chocolates, biscotti), and a gift card that we ended up using for dinner the following night at Le Cellier.

Needless to say, this weekend was fantastic..and although we weren't celebrating anything this time, we truly enjoyed an opportunity to unwind for the weekend. The engagement may not have gone quite as I planned back in August, but we have a truly unique story of how we got engaged and a great feeling that the staff at the Wilderness Lodge has made right with us in our book...and that the resort and the Guest Communications staff truly felt sorry for the botched plans last August and made a solid effort to make up for it.

Again I wanted to point out that the manager Alex at the Wilderness Lodge was wonderful both trips, he is truly a 1st class Cast Member who will go out of his way to make sure you're having a great trip. Also, Sandra who is a Cast Member with the Old Faithful Conceirge Club at the Wilderness Lodge was also fantastic. We met her Friday night when she took us up to the roof of the resort, and continued to see her the rest of the weekend. Each time she remembered what we had said we were doing that day and asked us how we were and how we enjoyed whatever we said we were doing. As I said earlier too, it goes a long way when the staff remembers and greets you by name each time you see them! I will again be writing a letter to Guest Releations and let them know that we truly appreciated this past weekend! :wave:

Holy Smokes it sounds like they really outdid themselves!

 

[ddbowdoin]

yeah... you made out like a bandit. I mean, sure they messed up the surprise and all but over time you and your fiancee will look back and laugh about it.

 

[foreverbelle]

Hi All,

It's been a couple of months now but I do have an update on the situation of my botched marriage proposal.

The week we came back from our trip in August I did write an email to Guest Communications explaining our debacle. I was sure to include names of people involved, dates, reservation numbers, costs, etc. I did not try to place blame on anyone in particular, mentioned that we had no hard feelings directly towards the check-in Cast Member who made the slip, and made sure to comment on how wonderful the manger Alex Colon at the Wilderness Lodge was to us in trying to make up for our unfortunate luck.

About 2 weeks later, I received a call from Andrew from Guest Communicatons who wanted to go over everything again, tried to connect with us on a personal level about being in a relationship and understanding how much time and effort goes into planning an event like that, etc. At the end of the call he invited us back for a complimentary weekend stay at either the Wilderness Lodge or Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Now we have been wanting to stay at AKL for quite some time now, but being that the Wilderness Lodge is our absolute favorite resort (and I also didn't want to seem greedy or anything) we again opted to stay at WL. Andrew asked us some additional questions about what we like to do out there, what our favorite characters were etc.

The character question ended up being because Andrew wanted to send up some goodies. About 2 weeks later we received a package that contained a Jim Shore Goofy figurine (my favorite character) and one of the artist drawn color pencil sketches of Eeyore (my fiance's favorite). Not terribly much, but a wonderful personal gesture.

We ended up taking our free weekend this past weekend. We wanted to go when crowds were lower and it wasn't so hot anymore and let me tell you, we had a wonderful weekend on both of those accounts! When we checked in at the front desk we found that we had been upgraded to a conceirge room. In our room we were greeted with rose petals spread out in a heart shape on the bed. Both of these were very nice touches. But one thing that impressed me more than those was that the manager Alex recognized us immediately and came over to chat when we entered the Lobby coming back from the parks Friday evening after not seeing us in 3 months and not being at the desk when we initially checked in. Small gestures like that go a very long way in my book.

When we got back up to our hotel room we had a voice mail waiting for us inviting us to view Holiday Wishes privately from the rooftop of the hotel which we accepted graciously....I've always wanted to go up there but didn't think that 2 early twenty newly-engaged people qualified for flag family! :lookaroun We did not know however that the invitation was a ploy to get us out of the room for a couple minutes...when we got back, we were greeted with 2 iced bottles of Pinot Gris, a basket of goodies (cheese, coffee, tea, chocolates, biscotti), and a gift card that we ended up using for dinner the following night at Le Cellier.

Needless to say, this weekend was fantastic..and although we weren't celebrating anything this time, we truly enjoyed an opportunity to unwind for the weekend. The engagement may not have gone quite as I planned back in August, but we have a truly unique story of how we got engaged and a great feeling that the staff at the Wilderness Lodge has made right with us in our book...and that the resort and the Guest Communications staff truly felt sorry for the botched plans last August and made a solid effort to make up for it.

Again I wanted to point out that the manager Alex at the Wilderness Lodge was wonderful both trips, he is truly a 1st class Cast Member who will go out of his way to make sure you're having a great trip. Also, Sandra who is a Cast Member with the Old Faithful Conceirge Club at the Wilderness Lodge was also fantastic. We met her Friday night when she took us up to the roof of the resort, and continued to see her the rest of the weekend. Each time she remembered what we had said we were doing that day and asked us how we were and how we enjoyed whatever we said we were doing. As I said earlier too, it goes a long way when the staff remembers and greets you by name each time you see them! I will again be writing a letter to Guest Releations and let them know that we truly appreciated this past weekend! :wave:

Sounds like you guys had a great time, and Disney did a great attempt at making it up to you. Very lucky indeed I hope you and your fiance had a great time and I wish you much love and happiness (and ok a little pixie dust as well) in the years to come.

 

[devoy1701]

yeah... you made out like a bandit. I mean, sure they messed up the surprise and all but over time you and your fiancee will look back and laugh about it.

Holy Smokes it sounds like they really outdid themselves!

Sounds like you guys had a great time, and Disney did a great attempt at making it up to you. Very lucky indeed I hope you and your fiance had a great time and I wish you much love and happiness (and ok a little pixie dust as well) in the years to come.

agreed. We made out very wel, though I never looked at it as "what can we get out of Disney for this". I think the key here was we were always very courteous and humble. I never once raised my voice or got angry or threatening to a Cast Member in person or on the phone (actually this might be key in all situations in life!) I kept my cool and would jusy say that I was disappointed and didn't expect this. Whenever Andrew called with news, whether to invite us back to the resort, or that he was sending us the gifts, I always graciously accepted and thanked him for the gesture.

I understood that you couldn't put a dollar amount on what had happened and that Disney didn't actually owe us anything (except maybe a refund for the dinner flower delivery ). Because of that I think it helped to make us appreciate what they did offer to make it up to us.

anyway. Thanks for the kind words everyone and for listening to my story! :wave:

 

[ddbowdoin]

agreed. We made out very wel, though I never looked at it as "what can we get out of Disney for this". I think the key here was we were always very courteous and humble. I never once raised my voice or got angry or threatening to a Cast Member in person or on the phone (actually this might be key in all situations in life!) I kept my cool and would jusy say that I was disappointed and didn't expect this. Whenever Andrew called with news, whether to invite us back to the resort, or that he was sending us the gifts, I always graciously accepted and thanked him for the gesture.

I understood that you couldn't put a dollar amount on what had happened and that Disney didn't actually owe us anything (except maybe a refund for the dinner flower delivery ). Because of that I think it helped to make us appreciate what they did offer to make it up to us.

anyway. Thanks for the kind words everyone and for listening to my story! :wave:

well thanks for sharing because my gf and I are coming to that point, but after our last trip (may 2010) if I randomly booked a trip she would know something is up because we each dropped so many hints about how nice it would be to have a disney proposal.

 

[TP2000]

I will admit its a nice gesture, but should I be satisfied? Would you guys be? the surprise is a once in a lifetime experience that we can never get back! I wanted to see what you guys thought.

This story made my stomach churn, and yet it's not surprising at all.

But honestly, this is not surprising coming from the unpolished and ham-fisted operation of Disney's alleged "Deluxe" hotel properties in America. Want a truly flawless and highly polished and ultra-luxurious Disney hotel stay? Try the Hotel MiraCosta at Tokyo DisneySea or the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel just outside the front gate. They know what they are doing there in Tokyo.

Forget the American Disney properties, as they are mostly run like an airport Sheraton with mickey shaped hand soap in the bathrooms. "Have a magical day!" :hurl:

.

 

[ShookieJones]

Wow dude, You totally made out. I know it suxx it got ruined in the first place but let me tell you something, in my book they made up for it ten fold.

Congrats!

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

So nice to read the follow up on your story - congratulations again :sohappy:

 

[Mukta]

I have thought about you two a few times since reading the original story in August.
I am glad to hear that Disney tried to make up for the mistake. It sounds like a wonderful weekend!