First, that we heard of this happening to one person out of 30 I think is statistically remarkable. The others are probably on Facebook, instagram,etc. I highly doubt anyone who goes through the pain of a CRT reservation would be like "oh well" if it got cancelled by Disney. The fact that the OP had to argue for a different reservation is against everything that is Disney guest services or at least was in the past. and that is what has us outrage. Any other arguement about operatons etc is blowing smoke. Yes Disney makes mistakes but this was at the cost of a guest, several guests, and the guest should have been coming out saying how acomidating and wonderfull Disney was in correcting their mistake.
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WDW is canceling Jan. 31st reservations at CRT to hold event for more $
- Thread starter GhostHost1000
- Start date
If they changed your dining time, gave you three fastpasses that you can use at any attraction at any given moment (literally just walk up and scan your band), you kept your original three to modify however you please....you'd be unhappy? If you're paying out of pocket and they have you a gift card, would you be unhappy? Or instead of a gift card they hooked you up with a dessert party free of charge...would you be unhappy? From a customer stance what would it take to make the situation okay?
I'm curious because I have a different outlook on the upcharge events. They don't bother me. I encourage people to spend their money on those so Disney can hopefully put new stuff in the parks. Yes I know they don't always but here's to dreaming...
Upcharge special events are fine, but when they start taking away from the average guest and their time and experience there....
@21stamps had a trip recently and talks about it. Some folks here have a real problem with that.
ETA: I also think that when CRT is used for special occasions like you referenced, that Disney needs to take that into consideration and it is a concern. (Do they or did they in this case? We don't know, only that the one person was satisfied with the resolution.)
and they should plan it more than 180 days in advance so this doesnt happen again
SorcererMC
Well-Known Member
There are literally several new posters, or those who seldom post, participating.....which is amazing given some of the regular hostility of the boards.
I can completely accept that. Perhaps "greed" was not the proper term to describe the profit expectations for executives of the past. In no way was I attempting to compare the methods of the past to those currently being executed. I personally feel that todays management is way passed greed at this point. It is borderline destructive to the fabric of the company and they do not seem to care one bit.
Whats just as disturbing is how some people will find any reason or excuse to justify the completely absurd ethics of the company today. I do not think any amount of up charge events, extra fees or horrible customer service (such as this CRT fiasco) will open their eyes to the complete lack of pride displayed by the executives in being care takers of the parks.
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
What "reputable theme parks" have an event business on the scale of Disney's where an after-hours event costing $500 per person would ever come up in the first place? The answer is zero.
Again, you're completely right that Disney should probably do a better job sharing communication between departments. But to compare the scale of the Walt Disney World Resort to any other theme park operation is disingenuous.
How is it that an event planner who is scheduling an exclusive event at CRT did not realize that customers had made reservations at CRT 6 months ago? I just don't believe it. At the very least the event planner had to have been in touch with the CRT manager.
I would bet they scheduled this based on the availability of the Chef and other factors. Displacing regular guests was an acceptable outcome.
I would bet they scheduled this based on the availability of the Chef and other factors. Displacing regular guests was an acceptable outcome.
Just collateral damage.
SugarMagnolia75
Active Member
Outside the one poster, we don't know what type of compensation the other parties received. The truth is, I would only know to ask for those things because I'm part of several Disney discussion boards and am familiar with these options. The regular family is not going to know that. They will most likely take the first thing that is offered to them, which will probably not include most of the options you listed.
I probably would have accepted those options under the understanding that the restaurant was unavailable to everyone, but I would still be frustrated. Once I found that the restaurant was open for a $500/head event, I would be upset.
I look at the upcharge events differently. If Disney can make money enough money to pad its bottom line through dessert parties and VIP events, they have no incentive to develop new experiences that would draw in additional guests and their revenue.
I understand we're not sure what was given. I was really just curious what would have remedied the situation for you because it seemed that it would upset you a bit. I haven't experienced the customer service that many portray on here. All of those examples I listed have been offered to me At one time or another for whatever reason. For the record I didn't take them up on all of them.
I feel like the point is being missed that the experience isn't being taken away. More than likely it is being moved. Honestly anytime I have been in Disney and had any issue come up that changed our "scheduling" it's always worked out better than I could have imagined and originally planned. I get the bad taste it leaves but I have never had Disney take something away or move something without giving me something else. People just need to have a more the glass is half full approach. It is a Disney vacation, #firstworldproblems
What if it was their last day in the park
What if they had planned out all their fastpasses for that day in the MK...
We don't know if everyone was able to get moved to another day and we don't know that this hasn't disrupted any plans.
The fact is, Disney is pushing aside their "normal" guests so they can host a $pecial event (emphasis on the $)
I've never been in CRT. No daughters and my son wasn't interested. So I have no idea what the capacity of the place is and I don't know if the 30 reservations that were stated as being cancelled constitute a full seating. I also don't know if this is one of the restaurants that if you don't get your reservations in 180 days out, you're otta luck. If it is, I'm not understanding how Disney is going to re-book those 30 parties on other days in that week.
Our ideal vacation does not involve planning everything out days in advance. I don''t mind walking up to a restaurant and getting a table with a 0-90 minute wait and standing in line for an attraction for 0-30 minutes. But that is not the reality of a WDW trip. They force me to start planning 6 months out. First I have to figure out which park we are going to be at on each day. Then we have to figure out where we are going to eat dinner (and possibly other meals) on each of those days, just so I can get up at midnight 180 days before to try and get reservations. Then 60 days before, I get to experience yet another magical midnight awakening to "lock in" the fast passes for our trip.
If I had planned the vacation around a special event (i.e. CRT), I think I'd be pretty ticked if they pulled the rug out a couple of weeks before the trip. Even if they could somehow get a CRT booking for another day and throw some fast passes at me, now the activities that were planned for those two days are all jazzed up. If we are forced to jump through hoops just to try and ensure we can experience and accomplish everything that we want to on our trip (because with the pricing, who knows when we'll be able to afford a repeat trip), you would think that a big "service centered" company would also be able to schedule "special events" 180+ days out so stuff like this doesn't happen.
Our ideal vacation does not involve planning everything out days in advance. I don''t mind walking up to a restaurant and getting a table with a 0-90 minute wait and standing in line for an attraction for 0-30 minutes. But that is not the reality of a WDW trip. They force me to start planning 6 months out. First I have to figure out which park we are going to be at on each day. Then we have to figure out where we are going to eat dinner (and possibly other meals) on each of those days, just so I can get up at midnight 180 days before to try and get reservations. Then 60 days before, I get to experience yet another magical midnight awakening to "lock in" the fast passes for our trip.
If I had planned the vacation around a special event (i.e. CRT), I think I'd be pretty ticked if they pulled the rug out a couple of weeks before the trip. Even if they could somehow get a CRT booking for another day and throw some fast passes at me, now the activities that were planned for those two days are all jazzed up. If we are forced to jump through hoops just to try and ensure we can experience and accomplish everything that we want to on our trip (because with the pricing, who knows when we'll be able to afford a repeat trip), you would think that a big "service centered" company would also be able to schedule "special events" 180+ days out so stuff like this doesn't happen.
Yeah, I know; Disney is a business and money talks.
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I know it was said, but it bares repeating.
L.C. Clench
Well-Known Member
This is most likely the chain of events and the fact that they would consider displacing regular guests as an acceptable outcome is where the problem lies.
JoeCamel
Well-Known Member
Now if TDO laid off the IT worker who's job it was to coordinate the ADR schedule with special events about 6 months ago to let the system run on autopilot then it is perfectly understandable how this happened.
#Thanks Shanghai
But the Exclusive event planner would have spoken with the CRT manager, at the very least. Can you imagine that manager not telling the event planner that his restaurant was a hot ticket that booked out at 180 days?
IT is another joke. #Thanks MDE
rael ramone
Well-Known Member
Reminds me of a NFL players contract. For a player to play, it must play for the team they have signed a contract, for the pay that's in the contract, until the contract is expired. The team doesn't have the same requirement. If it doesn't want to keep the player for the length of the contract (or even if they want the player but not at the price agreed upon in the contract) it can cut the player.
For a family to eat at CRT, they have to make a financial commitment for the full price of the meal at the time of the reservation. During the 180 days or so, they lose the ability for that money to work for them in other ways (or even worse, if it's on credit and they don't pay off in full, they are paying interest on that down payment). The Mouse doesn't put that deposit in a lockbox.... they put it to work.
$DIS want's the guest to plan ahead and not be spontaneous - when it's in their interest. And they want guests to be flexible, again, when it's in their interest.
The TOS may cover $DIS to do whatever they want with (or to) their guests, but the honorable thing for them to do is to honor their original commitment to their original guests. The people who made reservations for the 2nd 'seating' should be informed that the company is going to honor their original commitment, make a genuine apology, and will offer something to make it up to them...
For a family to eat at CRT, they have to make a financial commitment for the full price of the meal at the time of the reservation. During the 180 days or so, they lose the ability for that money to work for them in other ways (or even worse, if it's on credit and they don't pay off in full, they are paying interest on that down payment). The Mouse doesn't put that deposit in a lockbox.... they put it to work.
$DIS want's the guest to plan ahead and not be spontaneous - when it's in their interest. And they want guests to be flexible, again, when it's in their interest.
The TOS may cover $DIS to do whatever they want with (or to) their guests, but the honorable thing for them to do is to honor their original commitment to their original guests. The people who made reservations for the 2nd 'seating' should be informed that the company is going to honor their original commitment, make a genuine apology, and will offer something to make it up to them...