WDW is canceling Jan. 31st reservations at CRT to hold event for more $

[Brad Bishop]

True, I think everyone knows the food is meh. But it's not about the food. It's about taking your kids, who still believe in Princesses to CRT. It's about watching their expressions as the enter CRT and interact with the princesses. It's all about those memories.
None of my WDW memories are about food. They are about the experiences and atmosphere of WDW. Those are great memories.

It doesn't have to be fantastic food but, at the same time, it seems like it ought to be better than one of the buffets.

I completely get why people want to eat in there. If I were to have read my review of it I'd still have wanted to eat there just to say I've done it. My daughters were 22yo and 15yo at the time so maybe it's different with 10 and under girls.

From my point of view the inside theming just could have been so much better. Probably the best part, theme-wise, is when you go up the circular stairs to the dining hall (cafeteria). There's a, I think, well-themed fireplace like area where you get your picture made with Cinderella and that's done well.. Then you enter the dining hall and, in my opinion, that's where it really falls apart (or did in 2008 - maybe they made it better since then).

It's one of those things where if someone were to tell me that they were thinking about doing it I'd say, "Yeah.. it's not great. Here's why..."

 

[Kingtut]

How, you ask?

How about a swingers event at the Cinderella suite?
100k per couple for 4 hours.
Low labor, material, and overhead.

Maybe they could have a test run of this at the Cabanas first. Just to work out the operational details.

 

[Grimley1968]

Maybe they could have a test run of this at the Cabanas first. Just to work out the operational details.

Just hope there are no "operational issues" with that, or at least they're kept quiet.

 

[Cletus]

True, I think everyone knows the food is meh. But it's not about the food. It's about taking your kids, who still believe in Princesses to CRT. It's about watching their expressions as the enter CRT and interact with the princesses. It's all about those memories.
None of my WDW memories are about food. They are about the experiences and atmosphere of WDW. Those are great memories.

Exactly. The one and only time we ate there was for my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary trip. Our entire family went on the trip, including two granddaughters and a grandson. It was the highlight of the trip for them to eat in the castle with the Princesses (well...not so much the boy ). In order to get that reservation, I had to get up at 4:30 am CST and be on the computer hovering over the reservation site at 180 days before our planned trip.

I would be ticked to high heaven if they called me and cancelled that reservation 2 weeks before we were to eat there.

 

[tigger1968]

The part that seems to have been glossed over a bit (especially by those who continue to insist that WDW made right by the one person who we know had his BBB and CRT ressies moved) is that the initial offer was for him to book another restaurant. He had to stand his ground and escalate this, and forced a call from the manager of CRT to make this right for him. I am sure that many people would be less confrontational and simply accepted the decision of Disney. WDW put all of the work to make this right on the guest. HE had to escalate his complaint and force someone higher up to respond. Bad show all around in my opinion. As other's have stated, WDW most likely made a mistake in failing to block out the room accordingly, or just decided to do this and walk everyone. In either case, it falls to WDW to make this right for the guests who were inconvenienced, but it seems that plan A was just boot them and hope they took the cancellation. And I guess hope nobody complained to much. Kudos to the guy for being a stick in the mud and making WDW do the right thing. Just sad that HE had to push them to do it.

 

[SorcererMC]

I personally think the "vacation ruined" comment is a technique used to shut down conversation. You're not supposed to complain about something unless your trip is "ruined". Then I can guarantee that if someone posted that this ruined their trip, they would be raked over the coals for an overreaction.

I said I hoped that someone's vacation wasn't completely ruined over this - because one's threshold and flexibility for their vacation may vary, and therefore the extent that Disney can fix it for them may vary. Was the ADR scheduled with BBB to make the vacation special? Was the ADR for a proposal, birthday, or anniversary celebration? Is there an acceptable alternative? If there's not an acceptable alternative, do you cancel your trip two weeks out? Or keep it and be angry/bitter/resentful the whole vacation or try to make the best of it? All of that depends on the individual circumstance and how Disney responds.

 

[Grimley1968]

Steve Martin could play either the Disney decision maker or the manager who made those initial calls to affected guests:

 

[xdan0920]

Technical error in their reservation system. In this case, I'm assuming that an actual person (eg special events coordinator or their assistant) has to go into the system to block out times for the special event. (Meaning I think this is an old-fashioned ID-10-T mistake or lack of communication)

Hmm. I don't think this makes one iota of sense. Basically, you are saying, TDO decided to have this special event 180 days ago, but failed to announce it, or block out reservations?

 

[drizgirl]

I took my daughters there back in 2008. I was pretty excited to not only go myself, but to share it with them.

My thoughts after:
- Cafeteria food. This wasn't anything to brag about. I'd argue it was sub-par to similar restaurants at WDW.
- The inside setting looks way better from the outside looking in than from the inside. It felt like a cafeteria with painted walls that were trying to be the inside of a castle and a few banners hanging down.
- Certainly didn't feel like I got my money's worth on it.
- Overall I was disappointed in it. I wouldn't do it again. Yeah, they characters came around and all that but it could have been so much more inside. I'd say that it was below average for theming which is really strange considering it's in the castle.

I'd say that you'd have a better meal and experience over at the Crystal Palace and it's cheaper (by about 1/2 at the time).

So what's your point? That Disney did these people a favor?

 

[SorcererMC]

Hmm. I don't think this makes one iota of sense. Basically, you are saying, TDO decided to have this special event 180 days ago, but failed to announce it, or block out reservations?

No. I'm saying that technical error in the reservation system is another possibility. However, I'm attributing the mistake to human error, possibly a low-level employee. TDO did not fail to announce it - they announced on DPB Jan 4. TDO failed to block out reservations adequately for the special event or otherwise plan the special event appropriately - probably the result of the right hand not knowing what the left was doing. Poor planning, poor decision.

It is of course entirely possible that Disney planned the event knowing that ADRs would be cancelled - IF that is the case, and for the third time, I disagree with that.

 

[Luxe]

The "vacation ruined" comment was bc not all guests take everything so seriously. Some don't notice cabanas in Tomorrowland, some are ok if a ride breaks down, some don't care if the Yeti is working, some are ok if last minute changes happen. A Disney vacation is planned and viewed differently by all. Some can handle this situation without a meltdown or needing or wanting a hashtag campaign treating them like refugees.

Sounds like some people should take a visit to their local parking lot carnival instead, since that would be on par with their expectations of themed entertainment.

Apparently Disney realizes this too, which is why they were so quick to offer a solution, and fall back to Solution B when A didn't work for a guest.

Alright, I'm out. There's no where else to go with this besides being stuck on a carousel. Have fun

They offered a solution to ONE guest that we know of. Do you have evidence to support that Disney went out of their way to provide the same compensation to the other 30 people? No? Unfortunate.

It's amusing how every time you are questioned or challenged on these boards, your response is to simply accuse everyone of Disney bashing and "ignoring the facts". Then you announce your grand exit from the thread as though we should care, only to promptly return five posts later when you finally think of something else to say.

 

[flynnibus]

The greed has always been there, the only difference is that they used to actually care enough about the companies image for impeccable standards and family values that they found ways to make money WITHOUT completely alienating their core demographic

The word 'greed' should not be used interchangably with 'doing business' or simply 'range of offerings' or 'monetizing'. Greed is about "possess more than one needs". To accept being a business is not greed.. fleecing, gouging, excess... that's when we start talking about greed.

So no, I don't agree with the statement 'the greed has always been there' - because simply offering varied price points and offering premium experience or prices is not indicative of 'greed'.

 

[xdan0920]

No. I'm saying that technical error in the reservation system is another possibility. However, I'm attributing the mistake to human error, possibly a low-level employee. TDO did not fail to announce it - they announced on DPB Jan 4. TDO failed to block out reservations adequately for the special event or otherwise plan the special event appropriately - probably the result of the right hand not knowing what the left was doing. Poor planning, poor decision.

It is of course entirely possible that Disney planned the event knowing that ADRs would be cancelled - IF that is the case, and for the third time, I disagree with that.

Oy vey....

This is what happened. Try and follow along.

People booked CRT at the 180+10 mark, as always, it books up FAST.

Disney decides sometime in the past few weeks to do a stupid upcharge dinner thing.

Disney announces this stupid upcharge last week.

Disney then cancels these 6 month old reservations.

This is what happened. This is the timeline.

 

[Disorbust]

It may not fit the Dictionary definition but it definitely creates the perception of greed.

 

[Lets Respect]

There are two issues here. What is Disney allowed to do, legally. And what is the right thing to do.

WDW is absolutely allowed to do this legally. We all know that.

But what is the right thing to do?

The right thing to do is to say "Can't do it. We already put out the ADRs for that night. Let's try this next year and be sure to block out that night"

I don't see how there can be any counter-argument to this.

As to how important eating at CRT is to anyone, there are a lot of people who get ONE chance to go to WDW with their kids. There are also "magical" ages to visit WDW with kids, especially where the princesses are concerned. Sure you might be able to come back in a few years but that moment where they are actually into it may have passed.

On a side note, I find that the blogger-media-apparatus (not anyone here, just in general) that Disney pays off with comps is completely out of touch with the tourist visitor. Therefore, you will notice very little outrage about this. Just the way WDW wants it. But that same apparatus will go crazy over parking at Disney Springs or some change in the AP discounts.

Regardless, this is despicable.

 

[rael ramone]

WDW could have avoided this situation if they had a customer focus and asked "How does a customer reserve a table?"

Asking that simple question, WDW would realise that would need to book the event 191 days out so as not to conflict with inbound customer reservations.

Instead WDW pulls a Judge Smails.

Well, it would seem that in the eyes of TDO that if you are *only* there for the standard CRT experience that you are a ditchdigger...

 

[flynnibus]

No. I'm saying that technical error in the reservation system is another possibility. However, I'm attributing the mistake to human error, possibly a low-level employee. TDO did not fail to announce it - they announced on DPB Jan 4. TDO failed to block out reservations adequately for the special event or otherwise plan the special event appropriately - probably the result of the right hand not knowing what the left was doing. Poor planning, poor decision.

It is of course entirely possible that Disney planned the event knowing that ADRs would be cancelled - IF that is the case, and for the third time, I disagree with that.

Or probably something in the middle..

left hand says "we're going to hold a special event in CRT"
right hand says "you can't do that, its booked solid for eternity"
left hand says "ok, we'll do it after hours"
right hand says "ok, that works"

months go by.. details worked out.. event is announced.. then later worker bees realize they need setup time to make the event happen.. no one thought to communicate that as part of the 'requirements' when initially scheduling things.. then Disney has painted themselves in a corner, and must kick customers out to make room for oversight.

 

[rael ramone]

If I was Seaworld, I'd do the following promotion:

Proof of being displaced by a TDO moneygrab (like a printout of an email confirmation) gets you $50 off a Discovery Cove admission...

 

[CaptainAmerica]

And not for nothing, this wasn't an error. This was Disney deciding to do (another) upcharge event, and not giving a crap about it's regular guests. It's as simple as that.

It's easy to blame things on the nameless, faceless "Disney" and ignore the fact that the people who work there are actually human beings. What I suspect happened is this:

The folks at the Disney Event Group sold a premium event at 9:00 PM. Being well after the park is scheduled to close and not a normal time where your first thought would be that people are eating dinner, they never put 2 and 2 together. The Disney Event people are not the same as the Food and Beverage people, meaning there's no one person who said "haha I'm going to screw the plebes." Two different groups stepped on each other's toes and created a scheduling conflict.

I'm not saying it's okay, but I think it's probably a case of different departments working in silos with poor communication rather than deliberate disregard for the "regular" guests.

 

[BernardandBianca]

I am still trying to figure this out. According to the DPB, the event is "January 31st at 7:45 p.m. Fireworks Reception – 9 p.m. Dinner". So does this mean that people will be showing up sometime prior to 7:45, so that they can attend the reception and get whatever comes during that prior to the fireworks? Which of course requires setup time prior to 7:45, thus causing the number of cancellations? So that in reality it is not an after-hours event, but one that begins during park hours and extends after-hours