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

[flynnibus]

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.

Grossly simplified... and may not actually take into account all the realities. Like.. the event happening AFTER park closing.. maybe knowing how many customers would be impacted when the decision was made... requirements changing after a decision was made, etc.

In an effort to 'simplify' you might just be flushing the actual critical decision itself..

 

[xdan0920]

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.

I think you're right that this is the genesis of the situation. At some point the decision had to be made, do we move forward with this event at this location, or do we honor the reservations of the regular guests. That decision is not an error, or a mistake, that's my point.

 

[xdan0920]

Grossly simplified... and may not actually take into account all the realities. Like.. the event happening AFTER park closing.. maybe knowing how many customers would be impacted when the decision was made... requirements changing after a decision was made, etc.

In an effort to 'simplify' you might just be flushing the actual critical decision itself..

Right, I did over simplify it. My point still stands. At some point, they arrived at a decision. They were going to screw the regular guests. My simple explanation of how they got there still leads to the same outcome.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I think you're right that this is the genesis of the situation. At some point the decision had to be made, do we move forward with this event at this location, or do we honor the reservations of the regular guests. That decision is not an error, or a mistake, that's my point.

"Regular" guests are not superior to upcharge guests. If you agree on the likely genesis of the situation, then immediately prior to the decision being made, there were two different groups of guests each with a "claim" on the same space at the same time. It's a lose-lose, but I don't see any reason why screwing the "premium" guest would have been any more legitimate than screwing the "regular" guest (other than modern cultural disdain for the wealthy).

 

[flynnibus]

Right, I did over simplify it. My point still stands. At some point, they arrived at a decision. They were going to screw the regular guests. My simple explanation of how they got there still leads to the same outcome.

Personally, I think impacting a small group of guests is an acceptable outcome depending on the factors involved. What I don't think is acceptable is Disney's approach/delivery to those impacted.

@#$%@$ happens - you can't pop a vessel over that.. but what matters most is how you recover.

 

[GrumpyFan]

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.

Even if this is what happened, there's no excuse for it. Schedules and bookings are easy enough to find, and I would think that these clueless individuals who planned this certainly know how to pick up the phone or send an email and get more information before making such a stupid decision.

 

[drizgirl]

Since when is a 7:45 PM event an "after hours" event? This isn't hard ticket party season.

 

[drizgirl]

@#$%@$ happens - you can't pop a vessel over that.. but what matters most is how you recover.

But Disney could have chosen not to upend the boat in the first place.

 

[SorcererMC]

@CaptainAmerica @flynnibus - yes, I was considering both of those scenarios as possibilities b/c that is typically how large orgs function.

 

[21stamps]

Personally, I think impacting a small group of guests is an acceptable outcome depending on the factors involved. What I don't think is acceptable is Disney's approach/delivery to those impacted.

@#$%@$ happens - you can't pop a vessel over that.. but what matters most is how you recover.

I wasn't supposed to come back to this thread..lol. But I just wanted to point this out-

The reality is, a mistake was made somewhere. One of 2 groups would be effected.
Group 1- the "31" families who already had reservations during park hours.
Group 2- the "60" (or less) event attendees.

Group 1 -can have their meals rescheduled, in the same restaurant, at a different time or different day. A cast member can call and work to assist in the rescheduling and adjustments that need to be made (i.e fast pass, bbb, other restaurant reservations etc).

Group 2- has no alternative to a different day or time because it is a set event. Rescheduling and adjusting is not possible.

If you were the decision maker, which would you choose?

 

[rael ramone]

"Regular" guests are not superior to upcharge guests. If you agree on the likely genesis of the situation, then immediately prior to the decision being made, there were two different groups of guests each with a "claim" on the same space at the same time. It's a lose-lose, but I don't see any reason why screwing the "premium" guest would have been any more legitimate than screwing the "regular" guest (other than modern cultural disdain for the wealthy).

I'd say the first guest is the more 'legitimate' guest in this instance.

Let's say that this is a ticket for an airline seat.

6 months in advance you buy a seat for a specific price.

At some point later, they sell the same seat to someone else for a much higher pricepoint. And they decide to bump you, not the later purchasing guest, based on what they pay...

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Even if this is what happened, there's no excuse for it. Schedules and bookings are easy enough to find, and I would think that these clueless individuals who planned this certainly know how to pick up the phone or send an email and get more information before making such a stupid decision.

That's fine. Call it "stupid" and I'll agree with you all day long. The people I'm arguing against are the ones who are putting this somewhere closer to "evil."

Since when is a 7:45 PM event an "after hours" event? This isn't hard ticket party season.

7:45 is a fireworks reception, presumably on the lawn somewhere. Dinner isn't until 9:00.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I'd say the first guest is the more 'legitimate' guest in this instance.

Let's say that this is a ticket for an airline seat.

6 months in advance you buy a seat for a specific price.

At some point later, they sell the same seat to someone else for a much higher pricepoint. And they decide to bump you, not the later purchasing guest, based on what they pay...

That happens literally all the time. Regardless, the difference between what's going on here and your analogy is that your analogy is deliberate. Nobody deliberately bumped regular guests in favor of premium guests. The team that scheduled the premium event likely didn't know that there would be "regular" guests in that restaurant an hour after the park was scheduled to close. It's a mistake, certainly, but it's not deliberate.

 

[21stamps]

I'd say the first guest is the more 'legitimate' guest in this instance.

Let's say that this is a ticket for an airline seat.

6 months in advance you buy a seat for a specific price.

At some point later, they sell the same seat to someone else for a much higher pricepoint. And they decide to bump you, not the later purchasing guest, based on what they pay...

It's not about class warfare. It's about logistics.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

It's not about class warfare. It's about logistics.

...says WDWMagic's resident 1%er.

(I really wish this site had a designated sarcasm font. I vote for italics.)

 

[drizgirl]

It's not about class warfare. It's about logistics.

Yes, once you accept that Disney had no choice but to offer this, it does become about logistics.

I don't accept that.

I have no issue with them blocking out time to do this as long as they do it prior to others jumping through the hoops required to schedule during that time.

 

[Andrew C]

...says WDWMagic's resident 1%er.

(I really wish this site had a designated sarcasm font. I vote for italics.)

just start with a and end with a

 

[danlb_2000]

Just so we have our facts straight, I have confirmed with the OP on the Disboards that "He said that 30 parties were unconvinced" should have read "He said that 30 parties were inconvenienced"

 

[Cletus]

I could be a 1%er as well if I were a credit card scammer.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Yes, once you accept that Disney had no choice but to offer this, it does become about logistics.

I don't accept that.

I have no issue with them blocking out time to do this as long as they do it prior to others jumping through the hoops required to schedule during that time.

"That time" is an hour after park close. If the last reservation is at 7:55, on a night when the park closes at 8:00 it's not a huge leap to schedule an event at 9:00. Obviously their estimates were off because, on further review, they determined that there wasn't enough space between the last guests finishing dinner and however much setup time they need. Again, it was a poor decision, but you're wrong to imply that the event was scheduled DURING other guests' dinner reservations.