Unmagical Day at the Magic Kingdom

[rob45]

And no free dessert for you!

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

 

[The Mom]

No comment on the link...BUT

I HATE comments on YouTube and other sites that allow general population un-moderated editorial comments.

If ony we could get @The Mom to clean up You Tube!

It's suppose to be such a "PG" rated website, but the comments are pure potty mouthed adolescent ramblings that make you wonder about the future of intelligent life on this planet.


Thank god that there are sites like WDWMagic that generally intelligent people even bother to care to comment on.

I like to read those comments to increase my vocabulary. I don't post any comments. Too bad, as I have a few expressions that 99.99% of the population haven't heard, courtesy of a criminally insane woman I took care of a lifetime ago. She had some incredibly descriptive phrases.

 

[copcarguyp71]

OMG some of the TripAdvisor reviews!!!


How should they hide a crane or a giant drained moat?

To be honest...the crane is a huge pet peeve of mine. Every trip I think since 2006 it has been in our pictures. I do not know how many years it has been going on for sure but what I am sure of is that leasing a crane and operator for weeks/months at a time is no cheap endeavor. I wish they would take the money they sink into that thing and just embed the face of the castle with lighting that can be there year round. It may even require a new facade altogether but I just have to question if that would not be more cost effective long-term and be more visually pleasing for guests. Sorry to inject this into the "crackpot lady" thread but it is something on my mind of late about areas of reasonably expectable improvements.

 

[OnyxNine]

For someone who has been at Disney 20 times, you must have a really bad memory. Most of the things you mentioned were probably there the last 20 times you visited. And I won’t even go to the bad planning on your part. So a cast member didn't offer any sympathy to your kid because of Cinderella?. Maybe, just maybe; they could have said a thing. But; the CM was (were) there for a reason. Seems to me, it was to prevent people from walking in an area the public wasn't allowed to be. Maintenance has been going on for a while in the castle, and the drainage of the water surrounding it was announced a while ago. Restaurant was crowded?. Is Disney, all restaurants are crowded between 11am-2pm(3pm).

Paying 100 bucks for a ticket. Everyone pays that to enter the parks.
With that said, i must get some rest, and sneak into sleepyland.

 

[rob0519]

Thing is, a well worded LEGITIMATE complaint may get you something. I wrote (or called, can't rmember) a complaint to US/IOA about poor ADA treatment at their park. It was well worded, unemotional, clear statement of facts given in a calm manner. They contacted me back and gave my family the same tickets to come back again. I wasn't looking for that, though, and I think that was evident in my approach. I just wanted them to know how their employees were treating disabled children and their parties. I was surprised they even responded. Now that I think about it, I think it was just an email I sent.

Congratulations on getting a response and the free tickets. That however, is a standard Disney approach to offer you some form of compensation when you are not asking for something specific. My wife made a complaint about a situation in the MK a number of years ago. A few weeks later we received five one day tickets in the mail with a very sincerely worded letter of apology.

We felt good, as a company they looked caring and responsive. The tickets cost them probably under 2 cents a piece to print and on our visit to use the tickets we probably spent over $200 dollars in the park, but saved the price of admission. It was a win-win for both sides.

 

[mergatroid]

Let me start out by saying that I love Disney World, or at least I did until my recent trip on Monday, March 3, 2014. I have been to Disney at least twenty times. I honeymooned at Disney World. I have Disney stock. I never ever thought I would ever write a complaint letter to the "happiest place on earth". Granted, I have not been in a few years. There have been lots of changes at Disney, and most of them are not good. The reason I have not gone in a few years is that I have been busy having children, an adorable little Princess who is 2 years old, named Skye, and my 5-month old little Prince Dylan. I also have a twelve year old princess, Julie, and 14 year old princess, Kaitlynn. We are a big family. We paid lots of money for our tickets.


The charge of parking has gone up. It is $14.00 and it was $10.00. When you park for the Magic Kingdom, you actually wind up at the ticket and transportation center and then have to take a tram. You can't put the baby and all the stuff in the stroller because it will not fit on the tram. I guess you could walk, because it took fifteen minutes to wait for the tram anyway. After you get to the Ticket and Transportation Center then you have to take the ferry or monorail to the actual Magic Kingdom. It took over an hour to actually get to the gates of the Magic Kingdom from the time we parked. I think that's a little ridiculous.


The first thing I noticed from the monorail is that the castle is under construction (hmmmm, not very magical). Once inside the park the moat is drained!!!! It is ugly, not magical at all. And the inside of the castle is closed. There were two cast members blocking the way who rudely told us we could go around the back - past the smoking area and drained moat - which is very un-magical. The cast members could clearly see that Skye was crying because all she wanted to do was see Cinderella's castle and meet Cinderella. They didn't do anything!!!! In fact, they just looked disgusted that we were bothering them and now my annoying kid was crying. They didn't say, "Don't worry, you'll see Cinderella later." or offer to escort her in back themselves, or tell us where we could meet or see Cinderella later, or even say "I'm sorry, little princess, please don't cry!" So basically, we were there for less than fifteen minutes and my little girl is crying. So we went in the back way, made a wish in the fountain, and saw what we could of the castle, which wasn't much.


My little girl never did see Cinderella that day. I thought we could meet her after the castle show because all the characters come down afterwards to greet the children, but apparently that is a thing of the past. After the show the characters disappeared? This caused my little princess to cry again. Then I was told that they are holding Cinderella captive in the new Princess Fairytale Hall and you can get a fastpass so you don't have to wait in line for over an hour. Well, I went to get fastpasses and the new system would not allow me to get one. Ariel was also "unavailable" and so was Rapunzel. I was able to get a fastpass to meet Mickey but that wasn't until 6:30pm - 7:30pm. I used to be able to get a fastpass outside any ride. Now you can only get three? This is a horrible system. I was waiting in line for 45 minutes to get the fastpasses! How is that fast or magical?


At lunchtime, we went to Cosmic Ray's, or at least tried to. I got little Dylan out of the stroller along with all the stuff and sent my hubby to get the food so I could sit down with the little kids. There were two cast members guarding the door to where the seating is blocking the way. I was told that I couldn't sit down unless I have bought food!!!!! What!!!!!!!! Are you serious?????? I pointed to my husband in line and told him that I could not wait 30 minutes with a two year old and five month old without a stroller. I told my husband who was furious and complained to the manager, Sam. Sam did nothing. Sam did not apologize. Sam did not let me sit down. Sam did not give us vouchers for free dessert. Sam did nothing but stand in front of the door and treat us like second-class citizens. I wasn't bringing in food from home. I was planning to buy it, but even if the opposite was the case - why aren't people allowed to sit down anywhere for free? Especially people with little children who paid over $100 per person to get into the park? I was so angry I left and went over to Pecos Bills. They also had cast members guarding the seats. I was hungry and frustrated, so I gave in and waited with the kids to get all the food before I sat down. This is a ridiculous policy and it needs to be changed right away. People are paying ridiculous prices for so-so food and you won't let a mother of four sit down! I'm serious, if you keep doing this to mothers with little kids, it will cause a riot. There was a mother of twins and another grandmother at Cosmic Ray's who were just as angry as I was. I would also like to mention that Julie , is a picky eater. She eats chicken nuggets or pizza. There was nothing on the menu at Pecos Bills for her to eat - only burgers. I talked her into a Southwest Salad, which had grilled chicken on it. Food selection, quality and customer service is better at the state fair, than at Disney World restaurants. Don't you think all the restaurants should have staples for the kids? - Hot dog, hamburger, pizza, mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, corn dogs. Skye wanted ice cream. I couldn't get it there. I was told to go to a vendor outside. And why don't you sell McDonald's fries anymore. I loved that! After we were seated I needed to get up and get napkins and toppings. Apparently, you are paying the guards to watch the guests because three cast members asked me what I was doing out of my seat and reminded me that I couldn't sit down unless I had bought food. They were not offering to help me get everything I needed to feed my troop - they were strictly enforcing the rules and treating everyone like cattle. A cast member followed me back to my seat to make sure I had really bought food! So lunch was not very magical at all. I paid over $70 dollars for everyone and nobody was happy.


For dinner, I tried to make reservations but was told there was nothing available unless I went to Downtown Disney. Crystal Palace and Be Your Guest had a three hour wait and we were told that people with reservations have priority. I find it really hard to fathom that Disney World is making it so difficult to get a simple meal. We skipped dinner and ate at Denny's - which was cheaper and made everyone happy.


Next week we are planning to go to Epcot or MGM during spring break. I called Disney Dining to make reservations. I was appalled when I was told I had to guarantee any dining reservation with a credit card and cancel up to 24 hours in advance or be charged $10 per person. Ok, so that's $60 if we are stuck on a ride or get there late. People with four kids are rarely on time. At this point, I was angry enough to ask for a manager to discuss all of these "new policies". I spoke to Winston. He was also no help. He said he would gladly take my reservation but not without a credit card. I told him about the debacle at Cosmic Ray's. He said he had never heard of that happening before, so I guess it's not his problem. I told him that I took my two year old princess to the Magic Kingdom and she was unable to see Cinderella or Mickey Mouse. Apparently, he didn't care about that at all? Then he had the nerve to tell me that everyone is held to their high standard of policies, even Executive Vice Presidents! Really, well how does he know I'm not an Executive Vice President? He said he knew because an Executive Vice President would not cut off his sentences. Wow! Well, you can tell Winston that I am not an Executive, but I am a travel agent. And you can bet that this letter is going to be emailed to everyone I can think of at this point. And if any of my clients ask me where they should visit in Orlando - I will definitely tell them that Disney World is not worth the money anymore. Their customer service is sub-par at best and they simply don't care if a little kid is crying because they can't meet their favorite character. And if I could have a dollar for every time a Disney Cast member rolled their eyes at me on my visit - I would have over $100 dollars - which would cover the cost of my over-priced Disney ticket. I asked Winston to refund my tickets because at this point I never want to go to Disney again. He offered to transfer me to ticketing but reminded me that the tickets are non-refundable. Great customer service Disney! Epic Fail! I am ashamed of you. I've been a loyal Disney fan and guest for forty years. It's a shame that that loyalty was shattered in one visit to the so-called Magic Kingdom. If you refuse to do anything to make this right, any future visits to theme parks for my family will be spent at Universal Studios or Busch Gardens. And I meanmorethan a half-hearted apology and an eye roll!

Well, I bet this post didn't go quite as you'd hoped did it (unless of course you just wanted responses of any sort).

If this is a real post I'm just gobsmacked at your attitude to everything, would hate to think how your kids are going to turn out when they grow up with some of the examples of entitlement shown above. Maybe if you contact Disney they might think of building a special parking lot for you so you don't have the inconvenience of having to use the monorail and trams again? Perhaps they could ask you before they do any refurbs to make sure it doesn't upset your 'special' family and put it off so they only inconvenience other people in future? Maybe they could write to you in advance of your visits to find out which restaurants sell what you want so they can adjust their menus to suit you? How about a specially reserved table at Cosmic Rays also, they could have it guarded 365 days a year on the off chance you and your family decide to grace them with your presence? And God forbid they get rid of McDonalds fries without first checking whether you approve or not

If I've missed anything then I do apologise, though I won't be offering you any freebies to make up for it though

 

[Tom]

To be honest...the crane is a huge pet peeve of mine. Every trip I think since 2006 it has been in our pictures. I do not know how many years it has been going on for sure but what I am sure of is that leasing a crane and operator for weeks/months at a time is no cheap endeavor. I wish they would take the money they sink into that thing and just embed the face of the castle with lighting that can be there year round. It may even require a new facade altogether but I just have to question if that would not be more cost effective long-term and be more visually pleasing for guests. Sorry to inject this into the "crackpot lady" thread but it is something on my mind of late about areas of reasonably expectable improvements.

I tend to agree. When there's a crane up for 1/4 to 1/3 of the year, that means you're putting way too much effort into the lights. It shouldn't take that long.

 

[Cesar R M]

No comment on the link...BUT

I HATE comments on YouTube and other sites that allow general population un-moderated editorial comments.

If ony we could get @The Mom to clean up You Tube!

It's suppose to be such a "PG" rated website, but the comments are pure potty mouthed adolescent ramblings that make you wonder about the future of intelligent life on this planet.


Thank god that there are sites like WDWMagic that generally intelligent people even bother to care to comment on.

I think the rise of the "cool edgy troll" is what ruined most of the comments section severywhere, not just the angry kids defending their side at all costs.

being a troll and caused a ruckus is almost nowadays (online) seen as "cool" and "awesome" by many groups, like how followers and groupies boast and approve of the bullie's actions.
then suddenly everyone can try to become a troll in the internet.

 

[Robin Of Loxley]

Can't wait to hear about her trip to a six flags park

I highly doubt she is a Six Flags employee trying to secretly do their bidding. Her grammar is far too superior.

 

[loveofamouse]

Congratulations on getting a response and the free tickets. That however, is a standard Disney approach to offer you some form of compensation when you are not asking for something specific. My wife made a complaint about a situation in the MK a number of years ago. A few weeks later we received five one day tickets in the mail with a very sincerely worded letter of apology.

We felt good, as a company they looked caring and responsive. The tickets cost them probably under 2 cents a piece to print and on our visit to use the tickets we probably spent over $200 dollars in the park, but saved the price of admission. It was a win-win for both sides.

you're right. Disney is definitely more apologetic like that. We had a situation where I got injured at MK. I tripped in the tracks in the hub. I didn't ask for anything, though, except first aid supplies back at the hotel as I had a huge road rash from ankle to knee on my leg. (pretty bad, actually. very raw. still have a scar 4yrs later) The manager told my husband they didn't have anything but could either call rescue (which was overkill) or he could go to walgreens and bring back the receipt. That's what he did. When he came back, though, that same manager said we had to go through legal. (really? for $27? why didn't you say that before?) So I called over there (he gave us the number) and filled out all of their info and continued about our trip which my leg made it suck. We came home and heard nothing from legal. Ended up being a good two months when I finally asked to speak to someone else since the agent assigned to me was never available or returned calls. Another agent immediately took the file and said she would finish it out and asked what did we want. I was just like uh...I guess the cost of the first aid supplies ($27) and maybe something else? I dunno. lol I was thinking maybe a one time merchandise discount for our next trip or something small. She offered me a check. A big one! I was like, uh...really!? WOW! LMAO I'll take it! hahaha. WTG disney! lol

 

[copcarguyp71]

I tend to agree. When there's a crane up for 1/4 to 1/3 of the year, that means you're putting way too much effort into the lights. It shouldn't take that long.

@Tom do you happen to know if all of the light stringing is outsourced or is this done in house with just a leased crane and operator? If it is done as an outsource then why not put a performance bond on the contractor stating that work must be started by xx/xx/xxxx and completed by xx/xx/xxxx otherwise a certain amount is deducted daily for lack of performance. That is the way some state contracts run and I can tell you that nobody wants to lose profit so things get done and done on time.

 

[Tom]

@Tom do you happen to know if all of the light stringing is outsourced or is this done in house with just a leased crane and operator? If it is done as an outsource then why not put a performance bond on the contractor stating that work must be started by xx/xx/xxxx and completed by xx/xx/xxxx otherwise a certain amount is deducted daily for lack of performance. That is the way some state contracts run and I can tell you that nobody wants to lose profit so things get done and done on time.

I honestly have no idea, and I'm sure they do give them time constraints. It just takes a long time to implement such a complicated and major lighting display. I think it's fantastic, but after all these years, it seems to me that they could embed at least a portion of the lights into the facade somehow. They would disappear for most of the year, then they could just drape the ice-cycle lights on the turrets and be done.

 

[Tom]

you're right. Disney is definitely more apologetic like that. We had a situation where I got injured at MK. I tripped in the tracks in the hub. I didn't ask for anything, though, except first aid supplies back at the hotel as I had a huge road rash from ankle to knee on my leg. (pretty bad, actually. very raw. still have a scar 4yrs later) The manager told my husband they didn't have anything but could either call rescue (which was overkill) or he could go to walgreens and bring back the receipt. That's what he did. When he came back, though, that same manager said we had to go through legal. (really? for $27? why didn't you say that before?) So I called over there (he gave us the number) and filled out all of their info and continued about our trip which my leg made it suck. We came home and heard nothing from legal. Ended up being a good two months when I finally asked to speak to someone else since the agent assigned to me was never available or returned calls. Another agent immediately took the file and said she would finish it out and asked what did we want. I was just like uh...I guess the cost of the first aid supplies ($27) and maybe something else? I dunno. lol I was thinking maybe a one time merchandise discount for our next trip or something small. She offered me a check. A big one! I was like, uh...really!? WOW! LMAO I'll take it! hahaha. WTG disney! lol

Might want to make sure the paperwork you signed didn't forbid you from discussing the settlement on a Disney forum.

 

[EpcoTim]

Might want to make sure the paperwork you signed didn't forbid you from discussing the settlement on a Disney forum.

It's a guarantee there's some form of NDA involved. Have fun paying that back.

 

[NormC]

Aside from the obvious trolling of the OP, I find it humorous that some people think that scrims would look better than an empty moat.

 

[WDWVolFan]

The OP wanted Disney to focus all its attention on the Queen, King, Princess and Prince...wake up!

 

[kasey1988]

Well i am sorry you didnt enjoy your trip, i dont understand why you feel you are entitled to any sortbof compensation...also, I have a hard time believing you are an experienced travel agent if the things you complained about surprised you.
-a professional should know that most resturants book up 180 days out..especially bog
-if you used a times guide you would be able to plan when to see mickey or Cinderella, the face you didn't see them is far from disneys fault
-parking for the magic kingdom has always been at the transportation and ticket Center, this is not new...
-construction needs to happen or you would be complaining that things are not functioning or are worn out
-if you want to sit down there is plenty of benches outside, the castmembers are there for a reason, to keep the flow to the seating going so these with food have a place to eat, yes frustrating but dosnt entitle you to anything
-all menus are online and can be seen before getting in line, there are lots of other options if your child isn't like what's offered at one place
-McDonald's has been gone for several years
-I support the credit card guarantee for dining, if your worried you just need to plan your day to make sure you get there..if you know dinner is in 30 minutes, don't get a 45 minute line.

Disney is far from perfect, but your complaints are lack of planning before your trip...

 

[BigTxEars]

I highly doubt she is a Six Flags employee trying to secretly do their bidding. Her grammar is far too superior.

Why bag on Six Flags? Fiesta Texas in San Antonio is a well run park. My avatar is from there, we always have a good time going there. It's not WDW, but it's not trying to be either. I have not had a bad encounter there yet with a employee. If fact I have emailed them to compliment one of their folks named Pam, she was awesome to be around

Can't speak to other SF parks but Fiesta is good to go.

 

[Azmyth]

This person has it all wrong. The only TRUE problem with Disney World trips, are the hills leading up to the monorail stations. Make ME walk against gravity like that? Are you kidding? I shouldn't have to walk up one slope on MY Disney vacation. Disney has enough characters to carry me up the hill. Beast, Bullseye, Gaston, and DUMBO for crying out loud, to name a few. They probably made millions off their starring roles in movies, yet they're too good to carry me up the monorail hill? I won't even get into the monorails themselves... having the AC at 70 instead of 66.... ugh. Never going to Disney again. HELLO, UNIVERSAL FLAG GARDENS!!