New Rule: For orders placed after 10/1, guests must be present to meet mobility vendor deliverypersons

[ImperfectPixie]

It appears Disney now has ONE, exclusive mobility vendor.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

Disney probably doesn't own enough strollers and ECVs to meet the demand, especially at peak times. For what people pay to stay at those resorts, it's a slap in the face to remove this service.

Yup, the problem is twofold...first, the Disney ECV's are big and "clunky". Secondly, the ECV's can't be taken off park property. You can't take them back to the resort. THIS is a logistical nightmare for guests. I can also see why the bell services don't want to be bothered with taking responsibility to "babysit" them until the guests arrive. Having worked in retail management, I always told employees that the reason why there are stupid policies is because someone did something stupid. I guarantee you that a guest probably blamed Disney for "losing" their ECV. Disney got tired of the grief, and said that the guest will be responsible from drop off to turn in.

 

[xdan0920]

Honestly. Who cares anymore?

Let me just be as clear as I can be.

Disney does not care about the guest. They don’t care about guest satisfaction. They don’t care about being a hospitality leader. They care about efficiency and maximizing profits.

We all need to stop expecting them to be something they aren’t anymore.

 

[KingdomofDreams]

I completely understand why Disney no longer wants their staff to be responsible for these things. They are expensive and if one is lost or damaged in any way, guess who gets the blame and is expected to absorb that expense? If someone needs to rent a scooter or stroller for their vacation it's not unreasonable to expect them to take responsibility for that themselves. No one is saying they are "banned", just that the renter has to be the one to take responsibility for them. The companies who rent these things will not want to have their business negatively impacted so it's a safe bet they will quickly adjust their hours and delivery/pickup process to better accommodate their customers.

 

[larryz]

So instead of banning groceries (which would be sad but on an annoying level). They banned the mobility aids. I don't understand Disney. The number of senior citizens with disposable income who like to go to Disney is high and this policy is almost like asking them to go elsewhere.

It sounds like a management decision made without researching the possible guest effects. >.<

Outside mobility aids and vendors are not "banned." But their customers will have to meet the vendors in person -- Bell Services will no longer accept delivery for those items not delivered by their preferred vendor, whoever that is.

 

[Fairy32]

I don't see the problem in this. If you order pizza or uber eats you have to meet the delivery person. Scooters and strollers are very expensive items and I often see them lined up outside for anyone to take or mess with. Disney doesn't want that responsibility and this will hopefully cut down on the number of scooters being rented by people who may not need them as badly if they don't wait.

 

[WDW862]

Did the policy change on grocery delivery? I stayed at Pop in 2016 and had instacart deliver directly to my room

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Outside mobility aids and vendors are not "banned." But their customers will have to meet the vendors in person -- Bell Services will no longer accept delivery for those items not delivered by their preferred vendor, whoever that is.

Their one, exclusive mobility vendor (I don't know for sure who that is yet) will still have use of bell services. Only if you use a different, outside service will you have to meet the vendors.

Did the policy change on grocery delivery? I stayed at Pop in 2016 and had instacart deliver directly to my room

As of right now, mobility vendors (ECVs, wheelchairs, strollers) are the only ones affected by the change.

 

[flynnibus]

I am confused.. because Disney made changes awhile back to try to limit ECV rental deliveries to their authorized vendors, etc... whatever happened to that program?

 

[unmitigated disaster]

Frankly, if I were going to rent a stroller, wheelchair or ECV, I would want to receive it in person. What if it's damaged or the battery is dead?

 

[Figments Friend]

Well this is timely...

I am currently here at WDW and have been curious as to why there is this huge glut of strollers and evcs lined up outside of the All Star Music Resort.
I never noticed such a large amount of them lined up before on prior visits, but when I arrived two days ago it was very obvious.
It stil is...and clutters up what was once a rather open entrance area.
I finally guessed today, seeing them all sitting there, that they must be drop offs or pick ups.

Seeing how it is effecting the entrance area I can see why Disney is wanting to reign this in.
It's the first thing you see now when arriving at the hotel - curbside rows upon rows of these.
Agree that a Guest should be present to receive delivery.

-

 

[nickys]

I am confused.. because Disney made changes awhile back to try to limit ECV rental deliveries to their authorized vendors, etc... whatever happened to that program?

They have made it more difficult for any other company, other than the authorised vendors.

It also seems from the Garden Grocer FB post that they now have only one authorised vendor of mobility devices who will still be able to deliver to Bell Services. Any other vendors will need to meet their client to deliver it.

 

[nickys]

Getting off of strollers & scooters - and focusing on "packages" of any sort, "dropped off" at a WDW Hotel...

Anyone consider that this could be a SECURITY measure? Similar to what Airlines do..... "make sure that the person & the package are always closely tied, in close proximity". A nice way to say that if a scooter, grocery bag, or even PIZZA Box, contains a nasty? They will be in the area when it detonates .

But this new rule only applies to scooters, strollers etc. Currently at least it doesn’t apply to grocery orders.

 

[beertiki]

So it looks like there will be one authorized vendor who can leave a stroller or ECV with Bell Services. I am sure they won't be the cheapest, if you want the cheapest, you will have to wait for it yourself. Sounds fair to me.

The sky is NOT falling.

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

I’m assuming that an authorized vendor pays some sort of fee to Disney for the relationship, and potentially a cut from every rental. People will still rent scooters and strollers then, and the CMs will still have to “deal” with them. It’s just that the Mouse will get a cut out of all these rentals.

I’m not surprised and don’t have any commentary (this is the path they’ve been going down for quite some time), but since some folks have been posting that it’s some sort of operational issue, it seems that’s not the case, since they will still be hosting them, just by their paid partner so they get their cut.

 

[dreamfinder912]

I don't know how expensive the strollers or ECV rentals are, but clearly you need this item to enjoy your vacation...won't you want to see if it is and works as you expected it to? It may be a hassle to be at your resort at a certain time but at least you know the item you're getting is exactly what you want and you'll know how to operate it. (Not just talking about ECVs, some of those strollers look complicated)

And from a liability standpoint I'm 100% with Disney on this..if you rent something from company X and company X sends it damaged but you aren't there, both you and company X can blame Disney. And now some poor CM who had absolutely nothing to do with it is getting screamed at because company X is shady.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

I don't know how expensive the strollers or ECV rentals are, but clearly you need this item to enjoy your vacation...won't you want to see if it is and works as you expected it to? It may be a hassle to be at your resort at a certain time but at least you know the item you're getting is exactly what you want and you'll know how to operate it. (Not just talking about ECVs, some of those strollers look complicated)

And from a liability standpoint I'm 100% with Disney on this..if you rent something from company X and company X sends it damaged but you aren't there, both you and company X can blame Disney. And now some poor CM who had absolutely nothing to do with it is getting screamed at because company X is shady.

We rented a stroller from Kingdom Strollers for a trip - I was actually very pleasantly surprised by the quality and cleanliness of it. You can tell when a stroller has been treated badly, and the one we got was obviously well-cared for even though it wasn't brand new.

Regarding your comment about some of the strollers looking complicated - they absolutely can be. And unfortunately, the companies that build these can't seem to make a smaller, less expensive version that has wheels that will turn easily or that will last more than 4 days on a WDW trip (we tried 3 different ones over a couple of trips and they all basically fell apart - including one we bought in a an on-property resort store for $40). In my experience, for a stroller to handle a week at WDW, you need to spend at least $100...which is why we rented one...we had a more expensive one at home and didn't want to risk it getting damaged, but it was cheaper to rent than to buy a second stroller that would last the whole week.

 

[nickys]

I read somewhere the company that maintains the ECVs for Disney might be the approved vendor. They apparently have something on their website implying it to be the case.

Just can’t remember who they are! I’ll see if I can find the info again.

 

[asianway]

Outside mobility aids and vendors are not "banned." But their customers will have to meet the vendors in person -- Bell Services will no longer accept delivery for those items not delivered by their preferred vendor, whoever that is.

So this was all fake news. Basically some vendors got tossed from the authorized list and got everyone riled up?

 

[ImperfectPixie]

So this was all fake news. Basically some vendors got tossed from the authorized list and got everyone riled up?

I don't have a horse in this race anymore since both my boys are well past stroller age, but it still irks me because it's not just another way in which Disney is making visiting WDW more of a hassle for guests, but also because they seem to care less and less about maintaining their "family friendly" image and atmosphere.

ETA: They at least used to try to give the appearance of caring...now even that seems to be going out the window.