Just Back from a week at the world - observations

Hey Kids. I just got back from a wonderful week of Disney!

I am working on the trip report and will post it but wanted to share a few thing I noticed but they did not ruin my trip in the least...

First off, All of the parks look amazing! Everything looks clean and well maintained. (Except the one light bulb that was out on a chandelier over by the Pirates bathroom. I noticed it every day and laughed) For 5 days the mermaid projection was not working at Pirates but on Sunday (9/15) morning was working great.

Splash was looking great! Everything except that pesky wabbit and jumping fountains was working.

I did get a CM in trouble though. I have been using PhotoPass for years. I pre-pay each trip and we go 2-3 times a year. I have an old waterpark card with the blue rubber band and it works great. It hooks inside my sling bag and every PP CM has no problem using it........ Except the guy that was at Donald in Storybook Circus... He proceeded to tell me I had to use the new card and I "was" going to like it and refused to put my pictures on my existing card linked to my PP account. I could not use my old card, that just worked 2 minutes ago with Goofy. It was not RFID, it was the same type of card, just bigger and with a new picture on the front. I told the area manager and she was quite taken back. I was nice about it but she could tell I was not happy. She went as far as to say, she would be letting HR know about his behavior!... oops!

Over at Epcot, San Angel Inn was delicious as usual, so was the fish and chips quick service... The only thing I could find not working was the wave/splash effect on the Living Seas sign outside. (mine mine mine) The waterfall at Norway was lookin' good!

Kali and Everest were down most of the day on Thursday, Stitch must have caused havoc!
Our tour guide, Claire, on our 2 week safari was amazing! We had a giraffe and white rhino within 3 feet of the vehicle! woot woot! I had to tell the area manager how amazing she was!

Great Movie ride was boring this time, everything was working great, but it's time for a refresh... Our CM was sooooooo drab and just didn't want to be at work!

MNSSHP was incredible as usual and we got a pic with Maleficent and SOOO much candy. YAY ME!

I don't drink coffee so I could care less about Starbucks, but it sucked not being able to grab a bfast sammy in the morning there. We wandered aimlessly in search of morning food! I did not want a Starbucks muffin! We found nothing.

However, the buses ran SUPER slow a few times. Our buses at AKV were great, but we wanted to go to DTD from HS and the boats were shut down, so we hopped a bus over to POFQ and I had to call the front desk and have them notify Disney Transport because 70 people were waiting for a DTD bus for 65 minutes. I thought people were going to tip the bus over when it finally arrived. LOL

Overall, It was an amazing time as usual. Only 81 days till I go back!

 

[englanddg]

The BLT side wasn't too bad. The room (other than the things I mentioned before) was good. Very spacious and a great location. It was on the Contemp side we experienced the cranky CMs. The first one we encountered was when we arrived off the cruise. We told the bellhop we needed to grab some stuff out of ours bags (magic bands, my extra camera lens...) before we headed to the park. He proceeded to tell us not to worry that they would bring our bags right to our room and took our bags away. We figured we needed to go to the room anyway so we went and waited a good 20 minutes and we had to get somewhere so we walked back up to the front entrance. The bags were still there on the cart. They hadn't even moved. I told the man I needed to get some stuff from my bag and we had an ADR to get to and that we were told the bags would arrive immediately in our room. I was very angry they had not arrived. The man told me to go ahead and get what I needed and they would bring the bags down shortly. He seemed like he could have cared less that we were in a hurry. When we got back to the room that night around 9pm, the bags were not there. My mother called down to the bellhop stand and they were all huffy like "Well, were you in the room?" and my mom told them "look, we said we had an ADR to get to, the guy at the bellhop stand knew we weren't going to be in the room. He said NOTHING to the effect that we needed to be there. If we needed to be there and he failed to tell us, then that is completely unacceptible." They brought the bags down about 5 minutes later.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience in the gift shop, too I wonder if it was the same woman (I think her name was Iris? She was a short, older woman) I'm sorry but I don't pay good money to be spoken to like I am a moron, which is what she and the bellhops did. I had better service at the Super 8 in Hartford I stayed at a couple weeks ago!! And that only cost me $85!

We did manage to locate the package the gift shop woman wouldn't/couldn't help us find the night before though.... This is after I received a phone call from the front desk at the Contemp letting me know I had a package there and since we had already checked out, they wanted to know where they could mail it to. We were at MK until we had to be back for our DME so I wanted to call and let them know we would be back to the resort shortly. We assumed this was my sisters package that we had been trying to locate but they called my number and asked for me when it was her name and number that was on the package slip. So we weren't quite sure what it was. I tried to call them back while in the park but he did not leave a number on the message. I called the number back that showed up on my phone, gave the woman on the phone my info and why I was calling and she transferred me. I assumed I was being transferred to the front desk, but another woman picked up and I again had to give her all my info and why I was calling. She then transferred me AGAIN. This time whoever she transferred me to did not answer and the line kept rininging and ringing. No voicemail picked up. I wasn't about to stand there all day and wait for someone to answer. It was just a very frustrating situtation. All those bad incidents will be mentioned in a letter I am going to write to Disney. I'm sure it will fall on deaf ears, but I will feel better knowing I complained about those things because they were completely unacceptible.

Not all was bad there though. We did have a really great bellhop on the way out named Ray. He was VERY helpful and nice. And the man at rhe front desk my sister talked to who FINALLY located her package was VERY awesome, too. Every other person we crossed paths with there though seemed like they would rather be anywhere else.

I think this is one of the issues that comes from having done a Cruise and then trying to compare it to WDW.

When it comes to CMs, Mousekeeping, maintenance, etc...they just don't compare.

And...that's sad.

 

[King Racoon 77]

I think this is one of the issues that comes from having done a Cruise and then trying to compare it to WDW.

When it comes to CMs, Mousekeeping, maintenance, etc...they just don't compare.

And...that's sad.

How do the Staff per customer levels compare cruise/WDW.?? If there is a larger percentage of staff to cruisers then it's understandable you will get better service .

 

[englanddg]

How do the Staff per customer levels compare cruise/WDW.?? If there is a larger percentage of staff to cruisers then it's understandable you will get better service .

That's a good question...Well, mathematically for a ship like the fantasy, it works out to about 1 cast for every 3 guests. Without a doubt it's far, far less at WDW.

My question is...why would 7 days on one of the ships work out to around the same price of 7 days at the world (with comparable services?)...

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

How do the Staff per customer levels compare cruise/WDW.?? If there is a larger percentage of staff to cruisers then it's understandable you will get better service .

While I definitely agree that if the ratio of CMs to guests is lower, you get better service, I feel that if I'm dining at a place like Le Cellier or any other signature restaurant, I should be given the same service as if I were dining on the ship. You're a customer to the waitstaff, plain and simple. The CM's at WDW can just as easily ask if you don't finish all of your meal "Was everything ok?" Every meal on the cruise, the staff asked that question and every tim I didn't eat everything on my plate was because I was full, not because it was bad. I've NEVER been asked "was everything ok?" at WDW when my plate isn't clean. Yes, they ask it midway through the meal, but when I'm done my food, they just ask "You all done?" and take my plate. I understand they are two totally different experiences but the attitudes of all the CM's on the ship were just outstanding. Everyone had a cheerful greeting for you. You still do see that in WDW, just not as much.

And @englanddg we did a price comparison for a cruise vs WDW for early February. We compared 5 nights at WL with 1 sit down meal a day, 2 QS meals, snacks to 4 nights on the Dream with one night at the airport Hyatt before the cruise and the cruise was about $300 cheaper. As much as I do love WDW, I see us doing more cruises over trips to WDW for the near future.

 

[Goofnut1980]

Actually a normal Starbucks has breakfast sandwiches, several of them in fact. Other websites say that the Main Street location has 4 of them on their menu, that's why I was confused when you stated that they weren't there. I don't mean to discount what you are saying, just hoping for clarification- the spinach feta eggwhite wrap is my fave breakfast sandwich, and I was looking forward to getting one at Magic Kingdom one morning.

Well where the heck was I??? lol... I searched that menu like a kid with a $10 bill in a candy store.. I was one hungry kid!

 

[Tiggerish]

And @englanddg we did a price comparison for a cruise vs WDW for early February. We compared 5 nights at WL with 1 sit down meal a day, 2 QS meals, snacks to 4 nights on the Dream with one night at the airport Hyatt before the cruise and the cruise was about $300 cheaper. As much as I do love WDW, I see us doing more cruises over trips to WDW for the near future.

Ha! I spent some time yesterday looking at February cruises on the Dream.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Ha! I spent some time yesterday looking at February cruises on the Dream.

haha, nice! Let me know if you decide to go! Maybe we will be there at the same time!

 

[Goofnut1980]

I got some TERRRRRRRRRIBLE news today... So while at MNSSHP... We decided to not use our personal camera when we got in the line for Maleficent and use the Photopass... We were the last to get our picture with her... and the photo was LOST!!!! WTH Disney!!! That was the only picture we got that night and really wanted and zero, zilch, nada. They can not find the photo... Should I resubmit the ticket? Maybe the person looking was lazy. I gave them time/date/place right down to the minute it was taken... UGH