Trip report 6/28-7/4

Normally I'd be estatic after 7 days in Disney but this year seems to be the exception. We had an absolute lousy time all 7 days. Everything from rude people to rude cast members seems to be the norm down there.

Here's some highlights (sorta):

Character dining at Garden Grill 7-4: We had to set our reservations 3 days in advance, which wasn't that huge of a deal. So our time was at 2:50 to be there. The characters (all of them) breezed by for all of 1 1/2 to 2 mins each one after another did a couple poses and left. No interaction except Pluto who acted like he got a furball from biting my father-in-laws head. Then this woman comes over and asks me if the characters had been by (which I thought was odd) and I told her yes, briefly and she was off. Keep in mind all this took place BEFORE we got our rolls/biscuits. That was the last time we saw anyone except for the waiter who maybe peered up every 20 mins. if we were lucky. Now keep in mind, there were 8 people in our group. When he finally brought out our food, 1 plate of it, it tasted old. And when we asked for more than one plate for the 8 of us, he acted foul(I had a stronger word but Steve doesn't like bad language on the board..LOL). Then after everything was said and done, they informed us that the characters stop coming around at 3:30. No one mentioned that at all to us when we set the time up. Overall, very bad experience and a very big let down given we've done character dining at Garden Grill 4 times previously so I KNEW what was supposed to be the standard.

I'll stop here, I don't want to annoy anyone with a gripe-fest. But overall trip report this year.. I'd have to say Disney was a 2 out of 10 and the only reason it got a 2 instead of one was because Soarin' made up for a LOT of rudeness systemwide this year. Soarin' IS AWESOME. Honestly, I may save myself quite a bit of money and just go to Holiday World or Dollywood next summer.

 

[mouselvrmom]

I'm sorry to hear that you didn't have a great trip!

 

[jiminy.cricket]

Wow, sorry to hear about that! I can't imagine what was up with that.

 

[tn1999]

sounds about right

 

[Champion]

Was the only thing you had wrong this experience at Garden Grille? Because, truthfully, to expect special treatment on July 4th, one of the three busiest days of the year, is pushing it.

And be glad you could get reservations 3 days in advance.

 

[Gepettotrevor]

I highly reccomend e-mailing or calling guest services (or simply filling out the online thingy in the link below)....they will set things straight. In the past, they have been exceptional handling this type of situation. You'll be taken care of.


https://secure.disney.go.com/wdw/contact/contactUs?id=ContactUsPage

 

[Mecha Figment]

as a general rule characters are only suppose to stay a max of 3 minutes per table.

 

[Capt. Jack]

Was the only thing you had wrong this experience at Garden Grille? Because, truthfully, to expect special treatment on July 4th, one of the three busiest days of the year, is pushing it.

And be glad you could get reservations 3 days in advance.

Very true there.

 

[Christopher5927]

:veryconfuApart from the Garden Grille, what else made your 7 days so lousy?

 

[themarchhare]

Was the only thing you had wrong this experience at Garden Grille? Because, truthfully, to expect special treatment on July 4th, one of the three busiest days of the year, is pushing it.

And be glad you could get reservations 3 days in advance.

I really don't think he was expecting special treatment - just standard service. Standard service means that the waiter checks on you somewhat often and that you are not given sass for asking for extra plates. If that's special treatment to you then I'm wondering what restaurants at which you've been dining. :lookaroun

 

[disneydudette]

Was the only thing you had wrong this experience at Garden Grille? Because, truthfully, to expect special treatment on July 4th, one of the three busiest days of the year, is pushing it.

And be glad you could get reservations 3 days in advance.

:shrug: Selective reading I guess eh? The OP, mentioned this was a highlight, and the "norm" for 7 days. I never knew that "getting food hot and fresh, and plenty of it" was special treatment these days either

To the OP, I'm so sorry your vacation wasn't top notch. Character meals have definatey lost there magic over the years, as I noticed it on my last trip as well. Last time we ate at the GG it was a wonderful expereince, but that was back in 2000! We ate at Chef Mickeys in January and it left a lot to be desired. Dinning overall in Disney has become a headache and hastle to many. For the price I pay at some of these places, I would like good service, hot food, and a great experience.

I would actually consider writing Disney a letter. I wouldn't do it expecting compensasion, but to vent and make them aware of the overall situation.

I'm sure there are some great memories from this trip (as you mentioned with Soarin') but the bad ones will always leave the "strongest taste." I hope you do some day return to Disney though... it's not worth it to let one trip ruin a lifetime of them...

 

[happymom52003]

We have found that character meals are very hit or miss. We've had some great ones, and some horrible ones. But mostly good ones. I refuse to go to Disney in the summer because I hate being hot (I live in Texas...go figure!:shrug: ) and I dont like going during peak times, like holidays (before I get flamed by that comment, I totally understand that alot of people have no choice but to go in the summer or a holiday due to school and work schedules...I am just stating my personal prefences for when to go). But I would imagine that the heat and crowds around July 4 would put alot of people in a bad mood....cast members and guests alike. I am not saying that is an excuse....there in no excuse for people being rude. But maybe that has alot to do with why so many people have reported rude behavior lately and bad experiecnes. And there is no excuse for your experiecne at the Garden Grille as far as the food goes and the service....it sounds horrible and you had a right to be upset. But the characters rarely stay more than a minute or two at any character meal, in our experince. Two minutes would actually be pretty good. But it sounds like they all came to your table at the same time, and it was at the beginning of your meal? And then there was no more charcter interaction during your meal? I cant really tell from your post. If that is the case, then I would be mad too. I am sorry you had a bad trip, but dont let that discourage you from going back. We were there less than 3 months ago and had a magical, near perfect week, so I dont think Disney has lost its magic.

 

[TikiBeckie]

This was the highlight of your trip? So what else made the trip so bad? Even that whole ordeal doesn't sound THAT bad to me. Everytime I have been to a character dinner they stay about 1-2 minutes at our table and move on, SOMETIMES coming by twice. But I am sure it is hard for them, after pictures and hello's, what else can they do since they can't talk? Usually I see them stay even longer at tables with children.

Sorry you didn't have a good trip, hope to hear some more elaboration!

 

[DisneyJill]

Was the only thing you had wrong this experience at Garden Grille? Because, truthfully, to expect special treatment on July 4th, one of the three busiest days of the year, is pushing it.

And be glad you could get reservations 3 days in advance.

He wasn't asking for special treatment-just common courtesy. And, truthfully, if he had been expecting special treatment, he should have received it-July 4th, or any other day. You go to Disney for magic, and you pay a lot of money for that magic. Too much to feel like you've had anything less than a fantastic experience. Mediocrity should not be accepted regardless of the day or time.

Just my $.02. :wave:

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

We had an absolute lousy time all 7 days. Everything from rude people to rude cast members seems to be the norm down there.

No, its not the norm - what else went wrong. You open with such a sweeping statement and detail the events of just one afternoon over lunch (or dinner) - I'm confused.

 

[mousermerf]

Aww - i'm sorry for the op. I was at Epcot on the 4th too and there were some miserable bits. I had a woman literally shove me out of the way to get in line for Grand Fiesta Tour because someone infront of me was on an ECV and waiting for the CM to open the rope/gate for him.

As crappy as it may be, and as much as Disney does need to improve in handling larger crowds: a good rule of thumb is to save -yourself- the misery and not go on major holidays. They are generally unpleasent to say the least.

 

[jayhawk2307]

a good rule of thumb is to save -yourself- the misery and not go on major holidays. They are generally unpleasent to say the least.

My family always goes during the slow season in the middle of January since we just don't want to spend our whole vacation fighting off crowds and waiting in huge lines.

 

[davidpw97]

No, its not the norm - what else went wrong. You open with such a sweeping statement and detail the events of just one afternoon over lunch (or dinner) - I'm confused.

I agree with the Hook. If the trip was only rated a 2 then everything must have gone wrong that could go wrong, so I'd like to hear more about what happened. I'd also be interested to know how much of the problems were actual problems that should never happen, or how many were things that are easy to avoid by not going during one of the busiest times of the year. Was your hotel room dirty every single day you returned to it? Did each ride seem to break down as soon as you got on it? A full trip report would be much appreciated I think by most people here. It's always interesting to compare notes from each other's trips even if they are mostly negatives.

 

[Pooh88]

Been reading too many bad reports the last couple of months. What's going on????

 

[JustPlainBill]

Been reading too many bad reports the last couple of months. What's going on????

I know what you mean, in my own report that I recently posted for my WDW trip last month I included the negative experiences I had along with the positive. I have observed that when it comes to WDW some people may tend to forgive the bad experiences they encounter for whatever reason. I've observed, 1st hand, guests receiving terrible service, but they wouldn't make a peep about it, they were being walked all over, but didn't seem to care. I have even told of a bad experience I've had to another guest at one of the parks only to have them make the sign of the cross with their fingers at me and run screaming into the night like I was a vampire or some other form of evil. I feel very comfortable expressing both positive and negative views, either more bad things are happening to guests at WDW or more guests are becoming more comfortable expressing their true experiences. It doesn't bother me if someone disagrees with me or has a very different experience. Just a thought.