Have I Become Jaded?

[copcarguyp71]

Literally nothing you posted besides the specific experience with management on the roaches sounds very bad. In fact, it sounds like the typical Disney complainers and generalizations they make.

So stolen credit card info by mousekeeping should be expected, tolerated and not complained about? You are certainly well traveled on these threads and longer in the tooth than I but when hotel staff are stealing and using credit card info I do think that this is more than a little hiccup....

 

[DisneyDoctor]

It's time for a fifth gate. And some serious expansions to the parks. Star Wars and Toy Story will help DHS. EPCOT, as we all know, needs some serious love and attention. I think we will see some massive upgrades and it'll help with crowds, but I really think a fifth, dare I say even a sixth, gate will drastically improve crowds while simultaneously bringing in more people. I think Disney's major plan was to increase international love and tourism for WDW, and they did this very well. But, now they really really really need to catch up with respect to new developments in order to satisfy all their new fans and tourists. I guess for now we sit and wait, hoping for the best. Until all this new development is complete, just hang in there.

 

[Pixieish]

It's time for a fifth gate. And some serious expansions to the parks. Star Wars and Toy Story will help DHS. EPCOT, as we all know, needs some serious love and attention. I think we will see some massive upgrades and it'll help with crowds, but I really think a fifth, dare I say even a sixth, gate will drastically improve crowds while simultaneously bringing in more people. I think Disney's major plan was to increase international love and tourism for WDW, and they did this very well. But, now they really really really need to catch up with respect to new developments in order to satisfy all their new fans and tourists. I guess for now we sit and wait, hoping for the best. Until all this new development is complete, just hang in there.

I agree. I'm glad WDW is so popular, but at the same time, the crowds are to the point where they are affecting guest experiences in a negative way, and I can't even imagine what they do to employee morale (which, contrary to the belief of some, is very important).

 

[AndyS2992]

Last year a mouse keeper went into my wife's stuff, and found a credit card she had hidden in the dresser. They charged $50 to an online purchase to a catalog of some sort. We were given nothing but our $50 refunded on the card.

So stolen credit card info by mousekeeping should be expected, tolerated and not complained about? You are certainly well traveled on these threads and longer in the tooth than I but when hotel staff are stealing and using credit card info I do think that this is more than a little hiccup....

At Disneyland Paris, it would be your fault for leaving the credit card out and you'd get nothing. I had to take a photo of this sign during my trip last week, was shocked. Surely they shouldn't be employing thieves.

 

[Pixieish]

At Disneyland Paris, it would be your fault for leaving the credit card out and you'd get nothing. I had to take a photo of this sign during my trip last week, was shocked. Surely they shouldn't be employing thieves.

You would think they at least run a background check, but at the same time, people like to blame Disney for literally ANYTHING, so this sign really doesn't surprise me at all. On FB, I've seen people post right out in the open that they leave laptops, iPads, etc. in their rooms in plain sight. To me, that basically begs for things to get stolen.

 

[Chef Mickey]

So stolen credit card info by mousekeeping should be expected, tolerated and not complained about? You are certainly well traveled on these threads and longer in the tooth than I but when hotel staff are stealing and using credit card info I do think that this is more than a little hiccup....

My response was directed at the OP. I didn’t read anything about a stolen credit card in that post.

If my credit card information was stolen and was proven it was a Disney employee, I would sue them (Disney).

 

[mitchk]

At Disneyland Paris, it would be your fault for leaving the credit card out and you'd get nothing. I had to take a photo of this sign during my trip last week, was shocked. Surely they shouldn't be employing thieves.

I hear you, its crazy, we always keep cash, credit cards, and other valuables in the safe, but this card was hidden in a drawer that my wife had her undergarments in.... I told her it was kind of her fault, but man, to pay what we did a night, you would think we wouldn't have to worry about thieves ... but they are everywhere

 

[Pixieish]

I hear you, its crazy, we always keep cash, credit cards, and other valuables in the safe, but this card was hidden in a drawer that my wife had her undergarments in.... I told her it was kind of her fault, but man, to pay what we did a night, you would think we wouldn't have to worry about thieves ... but they are everywhere

I will say this, too - the Disney safes are WAY too small. The ones at Great Wolf Lodge will hold 4 iPads, 3 phones, wallets, and a purse with room to spare.

 

[Pixieish]

My response was directed at the OP. I didn’t read anything about a stolen credit card in that post.

If my credit card information was stolen and was proven it was a Disney employee, I would sue them (Disney).

That would be a losing case. The best thing to do is report it to your credit card company.

 

[Chef Mickey]

That would be a losing case. The best thing to do is report it to your credit card company.

I would do the obvious stuff and I would sue them.

 

[Pixieish]

I would do the obvious stuff and I would sue them.

For what though? Your credit card company will refund your money. No judge is going to give you any more than that.

 

[Chef Mickey]

For what though? Your credit card company will refund your money. No judge is going to give you any more than that.

I’d sue to make a point that I’m not OK with it. I fully understand how credit cards work.

 

[POLY LOVER]

So first, let me start by saying this post could easily fall under this category or Trip Reports category but I settled on here since I'm not going to recall all of my trip. Second, I swear I'm not just looking for a place to complain. I am a Disney parks fanatic through and through and I feel like I'm usually about a step away from selling Disney vacations door to door. I just wanted to start a discussion and see if I'm alone in feeling a certain way after our last trip.
Two weeks ago, we spent 8 days at WDW staying at Port Orleans - Riverside. This was our first trip staying at that resort but not our first WDW trip. In fact, we've been visiting WDW every year for the past several years. I'll start by saying I've seen a lot of chatter lately (on this forum and others) about how the parks, specifically MK, have become TOO crowded to be enjoyable. I really thought this was just people being a little over dramatic but after a couple of days of the same experience, I was starting to second guess that. I will say that not every day was this crowded but there were several days where you just could not move through the sea of people. Several times we just sat and people watched as it was just too crowded to actually do anything.
Then, there was the bus transportation. Now, I've had some crazy bus lines but every single night on this trip; no matter the time, no matter the park, the bus lines were crazy. I wouldn't have been too upset by this but we were always next to the Coronado stop and every night, they would have about 4 buses picking up 15-20 people in the time it took us to get two buses and man, were the bus drivers some of the most hateful cast members.
Then the final straw for me was the resort. The food court was a nightmare every night. Usually Disney seems to be pretty organized when it comes to food service but not here. On at least two different nights, we waited for 20+ minutes for food only to find out the kitchen had somehow lost our order. We had housekeeping leave a dirty tray of food in the room (that was sitting in plain sight on the table) and found roaches on two different occasions.
I say all this to come around to my discussion topic I guess. I went to the front desk and wrote an email to guest services. I've always heard about Disney's excellent commitment to customer service but as we've never complained or gone to guest services, I've never had a personal experience. The hotel manager acted like I was an idiot for complaining about roaches. He proceeded to tell me we were in Florida and there are roaches in Florida. He apologized and moved us to another room. My email to guest services got us a whopping $150 back. Now look, I certainly wasn't trying to get a full refund of our trip but after spending over $2000 just in room fees and park tickets, $150 almost seemed laughable and I'm not sure I've ever stayed in ANY hotel that would take having roaches as lightly as the manager at Port Orleans did.
Usually, by this time, I'm already rearing to go back but we actually just cancelled our trip for next year and are trying to decide if we really want to go back before 2021. Has anyone else run into this feeling? I don't want to become jaded but I just feel a complete sense of disappointment after this trip.

How much would have been enough? To have made the roaches go away and turn your experience wonderful again? We go to the parks we want no lines, we want instant service, we want no annoyances, we want an absolute perfect experience, is it realistic to expect this today?

 

[larryz]

We go to the parks we want no lines, we want instant service, we want no annoyances, we want an absolute perfect experience, is it realistic to expect this today?

I think you're exaggerating just a bit. When most of us go, we want reasonably short lines, reasonably quick service, relatively few annoyances and good value for our money.

What I'm picking up on is people are experiencing what they consider unreasonably long waits, slow food service, more "unreasonable" annoyances (meaning simple stuff that someone could take care of relatively easily, but won't/didn't) and a sense that WDW is providing less and less value for the money spent because of all of the above.

 

[GoofGoof]

My response was directed at the OP. I didn’t read anything about a stolen credit card in that post.

If my credit card information was stolen and was proven it was a Disney employee, I would sue them (Disney).

I don’t know about suing anyone, but if I actually had proof that my credit card was stolen by an employee at a hotel I would absolutely call the police. At a very minimum if there was proof of theft I would expect Disney would want to immediately terminate the employee and would most definitely involve the police themselves. It seems kinda odd to me that the police were not called in this case unless the person just suspected that’s what happened but had no actual proof. My credit card number has been stolen several times but despite having suspicions of the source I never had enough proof to actually press charges.

 

[GoofGoof]

@Jeremy P I understand where you are coming from. The bug thing is a problem. Roaches are not uncommon in FL but the manager’s reaction was not appropriate. Even if that’s how you feel when you work in customer service you need to act a certain way towards the customer. At least giving you another room was the right thing to do. As far as crowds, the parks felt really crowded this past week too. There doesn’t seem to be a down time anymore. I had no real issues with rides due to good fast pass planning on my part but I actually saw HM standby wait over and hour for the first time in my life. I did have to wait a crazy long amount of time at several counter service meals for food. I wonder if the online ordering is causing the lines to be even longer. I also had a situation where the kitchen lost my order. They realized the problem when people who ordered several people after me started getting their food. The guy said the printer in the kitchen ran out of paper and I had to give him my copy of the receipt which he gave to the kitchen. I can’t believe they don’t have video screens these days instead of paper but I’m no expert on food services.

 

[POLY LOVER]

@Jeremy P I understand where you are coming from. The bug thing is a problem. Roaches are not uncommon in FL but the manager’s reaction was not appropriate. Even if that’s how you feel when you work in customer service you need to act a certain way towards the customer. At least giving you another room was the right thing to do. As far as crowds, the parks felt really crowded this past week too. There doesn’t seem to be a down time anymore. I had no real issues with rides due to good fast pass planning on my part but I actually saw HM standby wait over and hour for the first time in my life. I did have to wait a crazy long amount of time at several counter service meals for food. I wonder if the online ordering is causing the lines to be even longer. I also had a situation where the kitchen lost my order. They realized the problem when people who ordered several people after me started getting their food. The guy said the printer in the kitchen ran out of paper and I had to give him my copy of the receipt which he gave to the kitchen. I can’t believe they don’t have video screens these days instead of paper but I’m no expert on food services.

I can honestly say that in the 20 years I have been going to Disney I have never had to wait for my quick service meal. I pay , walk to the pick up area and in a matter of minutes my food comes out. I don't doubt what you are saying but I have never had that problem.

 

[eliza61nyc]

I asked the same question And OP wouldn't answer it.

Even though they gave him $150.
I get the feeling Disney would have had to give him $1200 and an upgrade to a Suite for him to be satisfied.

So I worked in the hospitality industry for quite a while and studied at Temple University Event leadership program in their school of tourism, although I didn't make it my career I do want to point out a few "truism".

When you are in any type of "customer service" industry, whether it's selling a product or offering a service, First response is crucial. Studies have shown that the vast majority of customers experiencing a problem DO NOT want any type of compensation, what they want is to feel that their problems are taken seriously and that their concerns are being addressed.

When I was in school the famous case studies they used were the Tylenol poisoning incident and the Mcdonalds coffee burn suit.
The makers of Tylenol are the example of handling a horrible situation and coming out relatively well. When the first case popped up Tylenol immediately addressed the problem, reassured the consumer, and mitigated all legal issues resulting in a restored public image.
Mcdonalds is the case of "what not to do". had they simply addressed the womans claims and handle it seriously they would not have suffered the PR disaster they did.

The problem with Disney is their front line staff is ill prepared, disinterested and cannot make any type of decision. Case in point, when you call from your hotel room with a problem you don't even get the desk of your hotel, you get some bs central location. let me tell you I have worked in just about every price point hotel. ABSOLUTELY NO ONE ELSE gets away with that crap. I have a problem with my room and I now have to physically go downstairs to the lobby to get immediate service?? and that's a good business model?? bull.

The reality is HAD the front desk manager shown proper attentiveness and concern, the op probably would not have had to take it a step further. Had guest services swooped in, made an effort and rectified the situation without trying to make crappy excuses (oh it's Florida, of course their are roaches. Seriously??? hell yeah you would have been in hot water with that lousy excuse) I'm willing to bet a huge amount of cash that the 150 would not have been needed.

If you want an example of the difference. My late hubby and I did an anniversary trip to Vegas for my 50th. we stayed at Cesears, the room was gorgeous. anyhoo, a manager stopped by the room about 15 minutes after checking in to make sure our room was satisfactory and my husband jokingly mentioned that the handle on the toilet "jiggled". lol 20 minutes after that a team of bell service arrived to move us up to another room. 2nd room was even more phenomenal than the first. we spent the entire day apologizing to the staff because we were joking. and this happens constantly at Vegas.

 

[eliza61nyc]

There use to be a saying that a few Disney execs "reportedly" live by...

Disney is in the Theme park/movie business, every thing else is secondary. they are not in the hotel business.

 

[eliza61nyc]

oP says,
" Now look, I certainly wasn't trying to get a full refund of our trip but after spending over $2000 just in room fees and park tickets, $150 almost seemed laughable".

Says the $150 was laughable. That seems to indicate that there was a certain amount of money that would have made him whole. Somewhere in the range above $150 and below $2000.

true but that was after the disastrous encounter with the manager. so I wonder if the front desk guest person would have been more accommodating and not given the snarky remark about this being Florida, would the Op had to have written to guest services in the first place.
I'm standing by my assumption. if his first encounter was great there may not have been a need for anything else. ONLY after he felt dismissed did he go higher up.

I'm just speculating.
When I worked for a popular line of global mid size hotels we viewed things differently, like I said our emphasis was always to solve the situation immediately so an angry email never occurs. but like I said I accept the fact that Disney is in the entertaining business and not the hotel/accommodation business.