Disney Screwed up

Magenta Panther

Magenta Panther

Well-Known Member
devoy1701 said:
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:
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Wow....I'm floored...and DELIGHTED! Your experience proves that a heart still beats within Walt's world! I'm so glad you were treated so well. Thanks for the update!
 
von Slapschtick

von Slapschtick

Member
devoy1701 said:
last post I promise until after dinner!

I turned the pins over as fast as possible and the CM said no? And my girlfriend just smiled and said "I think you just gave a way a surprise".

She handled it very well, though I saw a tear as we walked back to the car after check in.

I haven't proposed yet. We've been trying not to talk about it! Ha! I still have my deliveries coming to dinner so I will atleast let you know what she says!
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You should have dropped to one knee there and then and proposed, at least you would have saved the moment...

Quick edit! Now I've read the rest of the thread, Congratulations!
 
Jimmy Thick

Jimmy Thick

Well-Known Member
devoy1701 said:
So we are out here at the Wilderness Lodge to celebrate a very special weekend where I was/am planning to propose to my girlfriend. I have been working with the Disney Florist line and also Artist Point where I am going to be popping the question to tonight. After I had made my delivery reservations the representative from Disney Florists asked if I had listed the celebration on my room reservation. I told her that I was hesitant to do that just incase the CM slipped at check-in. She assured me that it wouldn't happen and that she will be sure to note on there that the proposal had not happened yet.

Sure enough, we check in this morning and as we were finishing up the process, the cm threw 2 "Just Engaged' pins out in the counter. Surprise of a lifetime ruined!
I called Disney Florist to express my deep frustration and spoke to the same woman who assured me she only put the note on the dining reservation and not the room reservation. So no one can tell me how it got there.

I also spoke to the manager at the Wilderness Lodge who expressed sincere apologies and that was it. Later I got a voice mail saying the hotel has comped us a free fireworks cruise for tomorrow night.

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.

Just to be clear. My girlfriend honest to god had no idea whatsoever that it was coming...
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While it sucks your surprise was destroyed, I say chalk it up to experience. Once you involve others, as in human beings, you always run the risk for something going wrong.

While a free fireworks cruise is not enough compensation for what was ultimately ruined, its better than nothing.



Jimmy Thick- Thank God my wife asked me!!!
 
4everDory

4everDory

New Member
What a great ending to what could have been a total catastrophe. Kudos to you for the way you handled everything! Thanks for sharing your experience, so the rest of us can learn from it. As a TA, I'll keep your experience in mind, so I can help any of my clients who might be planning "surprises" not have their surprises mistakenly "given away"! Can't wait to see wedding pics!
 
Weather_Lady

Weather_Lady

Well-Known Member
Tom Morrow said:
This is a very dissapointing story, OP, and you have my sympathies. At least it all turned out alright in the end, though.
That said,only in the US would somebody sue over this.
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Please don't judge the U.S. by these kinds of stories -- the media has hyped litigation to the point that people think they can sue over the most frivolous of things. The fact is they can, and some do -- but they don't succeed. That's what the media ignores: we all know about the fat kids' parents suing McDonald's for making their kids fat, but how many papers put the dismissal of those suits (which occurred swiftly and equivocally) on their front page?

I'm an attorney, and my first instinct when I read folks encouraging the OP to sue was still to say, "Are you kidding?" It's terrible that this happened, but tortious? Do you want him to dwell on, fight over, and throw money at this problem, when it means missing out on enjoying the excitement of being engaged and planning a future? No way. Let him move on and enjoy his life -- which, incidentally, is going to be full of non-magical moments that he and his bride will have to learn how to learn from and laugh at. While it's a terrible shame that a special surprise was ruined, Disney apparently did its best to salvage it, however clumsily. The OP's later efforts to inform WDW about the systemic problems that caused the slip, in order for them to be corrected, clearly were a productive way to respond -- and he must have been very diplomatic about it, given the free weekend stay that was offered in response!

However, the only people who would benefit from a ridiculous lawsuit over "negligent infliction of un-magical moments" are the lawyers.
 
Weather_Lady

Weather_Lady

Well-Known Member
Sorry - I had followed a link the OP put in a new post and didn't realize I was dredging up such old news. Kindly disregard. :oops:

@rsoxguy, my screen-name is derived from my actual name, which refers to a weather condition. If you can figure out what it is, you are free to name me as a defendant in your lawsuit, although I can't imagine how you have been damaged by relying on that representation! ;)
 
rsoxguy

rsoxguy

Well-Known Member
Weather_Lady said:
Sorry - I had followed a link the OP put in a new post and didn't realize I was dredging up such old news. Kindly disregard.

@rsoxguy, my screen-name is derived from my actual name, which refers to a weather condition. If you can figure out what it is, you are free to name me as a defendant in your lawsuit, although I can't imagine how you have been damaged by relying on that representation! ;)
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Just messing with you. :)

(By the way, your name is Torrential Downpour? Odd, but hey, heritage is heritage.)
 
Doombuggy13

Doombuggy13

Active Member
devoy1701 said:
So we are out here at the Wilderness Lodge to celebrate a very special weekend where I was/am planning to propose to my girlfriend. I have been working with the Disney Florist line and also Artist Point where I am going to be popping the question to tonight. After I had made my delivery reservations the representative from Disney Florists asked if I had listed the celebration on my room reservation. I told her that I was hesitant to do that just incase the CM slipped at check-in. She assured me that it wouldn't happen and that she will be sure to note on there that the proposal had not happened yet.

Sure enough, we check in this morning and as we were finishing up the process, the cm threw 2 "Just Engaged' pins out in the counter. Surprise of a lifetime ruined!
I called Disney Florist to express my deep frustration and spoke to the same woman who assured me she only put the note on the dining reservation and not the room reservation. So no one can tell me how it got there.

I also spoke to the manager at the Wilderness Lodge who expressed sincere apologies and that was it. Later I got a voice mail saying the hotel has comped us a free fireworks cruise for tomorrow night.

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.

Just to be clear. My girlfriend honest to god had no idea whatsoever that it was coming...
Click to expand...
 
Doombuggy13

Doombuggy13

Active Member
Ok sorry for just reposting my-boss interrupted me. This almost happened to me three years ago at Saratoga Springs. I was set up to pop the question on the evening we arrived at CRT. We had a pleasent Chinese castmember checking us in. As the check in proceeded she noticed on the reservation that it was an engagement trip and started congratulating us. Fortunately my future wife had a hard time understanding her due to her Chinese accent. I quickly gave the cm the universal "SSSSHHHH" sign and she understood that it had not happened yet. Thank god she didn't whip out the Just Engaged buttons. As we walked away my beloved asked me why the cm was so excited, so I told her she thought it was our first visit. That is unfortunate that it happened to you guys, but getting engaged anywhere at Disney is a great thing. Congratulations! Unfortunately it seems as though reservations should be asking if engagements will be occurring on property.
 
jlevis

jlevis

Well-Known Member
That's too bad. What could have been a special moment was ruined. It can never be taken back. Beyond what Disney did, the fireworks cruise and the apology I wouldn't expect anything else. Sure I would be angry but that would just ruin the rest ot the trip and you don't want that.
 

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