Worst WDW Vacation EVER!!!!!

I just returned from a 10 day stay at the WDW Carribean Beach Resort. This was my 20th time staying inside of the park....In general, I always come home impressed and in awe that after 18 years of visiting the parks they still provide a level of enjoyment unmatched by anywhere else in the world....Not this time however...I need to vent on this thread. This last stay may have been the worst 10 days i've ever spent away from home. I'm not sure what to do, or who to complain to.....Heres a list of everything that went wrong.

1) The folks working for the Magical Express service lost my luggage upon my arrival. It took a 11 hours for them to find it.

2) On the way to the hotel, the bus driver turned off the disney video's and music and instead put on his favorite radio station on and blasted the sound system to the point where the speakers began to distort.

3) Not a single cast member (no exageration) working in the food court said "your welcome", "please", "thank you", after any transaction. One of them actually told me "hurry up" because he thought I was taking to long while I was putting the wrinkled reciept and change he gave me into my wallet.

4) Sombody spilt a massive amount of ketchup on the stairs leading to my room...after several calls to the front desk to complain, noboby came out to clean it up...after a few days it began to morph into a graveyard for dead love bugs and took on a horrible stench. Its probaly still there. In general the Resort was very dirty...empty been cans on the beachs, cigarette buts everywhere, over flowing garbage from almost every can in the the food court, ect...

5) I broke my foot at Blizzard Beach (my own fault completely....I thought I just sprained it at first). When I got back to my room I called Center Care and requested a bus come and pick me up so I could get checked by a doctor. The woman on the phone told me the bus would arrive in 20 minutes and to walk to the front desk. I called the front desk to see if anyone could send a wheel chair over for me...the Cast member told me "No i'm sorry" and my jaw almost hit the floor. I limped all the way over to the customs house and waited for an hour and a half. The bus never showed up. When I got back to my room I called Center Care and the woman I spoke with told me I wasen't even on a list to be picked up, she had no idea who I was, and was unaware I called earlier...In a fit of anger I hung up on her, took some motrin and went to sleep (still unaware of the severity of my injury). The next day I deciced man it up and tag along with my friends to Animal Kingdom...Within a few minutes of walking around the park my foot swelled up and I called it quits. I went to the first Aid station and told them the what happened with the bus the previous day. They were appalled...They were nice enough to get a bus for me within 15 minutes.


6) My party and I ate at Alfredos where, to my amazement, our waiter screwed our order up to the point that only one person recieved the correct dish. The next night we ate at Mama Melrose's in MGM. Just as we arrived the urinals in the mens room flooded and filled half the lobby with with septic water. No disinfectant was sprayed...after it was cleaned 20 minutes later...To top it off, our server here also screwed our order up and my salmon was RAW in the middle.

7) Almost every cast member I ran into at the Magic Kingdom had a puss on thier face as if they absolutly hated thier job. I totally understand its hard to work with a smile and maintain your composure in the heat, and around screaming kids, but come on....If your really not that happy with your job...quit.

8) The parks were filled with people on scooters...I have no problem with people riding in them, but I do have a problem with people honking at to get out of the way while i'm limping on one foot. My girlfriend was acutally hit by a man on a scooter.....the second it happened he jumped off and ran to first aid....I know this was an accident....but if he was able to jump out of the vehicle and run to first aid...why was he in a scooter in the first place???....I think people are taking advantage this service. Its a shame too...I feel for the people who actually need them.

9) Finally....My luggage believe it or not, was lost again on the way home....I'm not sure if it was the airline's fault or the people at who checked my bags at the hotel, but it showed up almost an two hours after I landed, with luggage on a flight from Boston....I have no idea.......a horrible ending to a horrible trip.

I'm sorry if i'm ranting and raving...but I feel soooo cheated. I'm not sure what to do. I love Disney, and I've always had an amazing time there...so in a way I wouldn't feel justified to complain and cause a stink because this is the first time I've had a horrible experience.....On the other hand I feel like I was treated in a way that unfit for such an amazing company. What should I do?

Again...sorry to post this long message...I just needed to vent.

 

[daverube]

6) ....To top it off, our server here also screwed our order up and my salmon was RAW in the middle.

Sorry about your terrible trip.....I would also complain if anyone half-cooked my salmon!!! I love it completely RAW!!! :slurp:

 

[happymom52003]

i also found the parks dirty and any where near a rest room the smell septic. iwrote this on another thread and they told me to go to universal

I have to agree with this one (the restroom part...not going to universal!). I noticed on our trip in April that alot of the restrooms at the parks seemed more dirty than on our past trips...even early in the day. And the "septic" smell was so strong around the restroom next to noodle station in TL that my 5 year old even made a comment about it.

 

[Imaginationeer]

Man, that sounds like a two part episode of Seinfeld. In my experience, Carribean beach has been horribly staffed, and the bus that never came sounds like a bad experience, but the other stuff sounds like bad luck. I have eaten at Alfredo's at least 200 times, and have never had orders messed up. How often do urinals overflow? Is Disney responsible for these people in these scooters?(I too have been hit by these people and was once so POed that i kicked the scooter)I agree with you that the workers at CB being nasty, is not to be accepted. As for the workers on Main Street, they were probably frowning because i was there for the 200th day in a row looking at their lanyard full of pins. I hope this trip hasn't soured you on the Disney experience. Better luck next time.

 

[radiohost]

After reading your story, I have a sick feeling in my stomach!!

UMMMMM, I dont know what too say??




















I will say this, I have never heard of a trip being that bad to wdw!!!

Radiohost

 

[aladdinjrstar]

WOW And i thought my vacation sucked! I can relate about the leg.. I was ay a ski resortand this girl came in limping cause she fell on ice outside. There was no sign of warning or anything. She sent a complain amnd they didnt do anything but call a doctor to come one hour later. She sayed if it is broken she will sue. Then we had to leave so i neevr saw her the rest of the trip though i saw the people who had been with her. But with the horrible staff i mean really its summer heat yeah but why work at WDW if your going to be grumpy?

 

[dixiegirl]

Definatlly write a letter or call to speak with someone, don't let this slide.. Disney needs to know if their "guests" are satisfied or not...So sorry about your trip...

 

[CleveRocks]

1) The folks working for the Magical Express service lost my luggage upon my arrival. It took a 11 hours for them to find it.

First of all, I feel badly for you that you had such a rotten time. It sounds less like a trip report and more like the plot line of National Lampoon's Disney Vacation starring Chevy Chase. I hope all of your positive experiences in the past aren't forever sullied by this one.

Now, about your luggage ...

It's entirely possible that Disney's Magical Express was the hero rather than the villian. Before everyone laughs and rolls their eyes, let me explain. I'll do this with a few questions.

If you fly into Orlando (without using DME) and your checked bags never come out on the baggage claim carousel, what happened and what happens? Often, this is the result of the airline misdirecting your bags at your home airport. Your bags could have been sent to another airport in error. When this happens, you have to, first of all, waste a lot of time and stress waiting for the bags not to come out. When you come to the ugly realization that they're not coming, you have to go to your airline's baggage office and wait in line behind the other unhappy vacationers. You end up getting to your resort an hour or two later than you should have. Your airline will probably eventually find your bags, and fly them in from wherever the mistakenly sent them to. Then, they will use a 3rd-party courier to get them to you ... and this courier will probably wait until they have sveeral other unlucky people's bags before venturing out to deliver your bags to you at your resort. ALl the while, you're hopping mad at your airline, and deserve to be.

If you fly into Orlando with DME tags on your bags, what happens if your bags are misdirected by the airline? Well, when you check-in at the DME Welcome Center, they ask you how many bags you checked with your airline. The DME luggage tags you put on each bag have a barcode on them. If within a reasonable amount of time after you check-in with DME one or more of your bags are not in the system, a red flag will be raised by the computer, and Disney CMs will start searching the airport for your bags. If nothing shows up, they then go to your airline and put a tracer on the missing bags. Let's say the bags got misdirected to MCI (Kansas City) instead of MCO. Your airline gets the bags on the next flight to MCO, whenever that is. DMe then claims the bag for you, and it gets sent to your resort in the normal fashion on the next available luggage delivery truck.

Meanwhile, you are steamed with DME for the delay, when in fact DME did all the work for you to get your bag back. Since DME does this behind-the-scenes and doesn't toot its own horn in this regard, you have no reason to suspect it could possibly be the airline's fault and not DME's.

I don't think this happens a lot, but when it does happen, it seems obvious to blame DME when other possibilities also exist.

With 1,2, 10 thoses are not really Disney fault, because the bus system is out sourced.

Even though I'm a HUGE fan of DME, I totally agree that the buck stops with Disney. Mears supplies the drivers and the buses, but Disney makes the rules. Think of it as Mears is the muscle but Disney is the brains. If Mears does anything wrong, it is ultimately Disney's responsibility.

The Resort Airline Check-in service available to passengers of "participating airlines" on their return flights home isn't operated by Mears, it's operated by BAGS Inc. Again, Disney is the boss and is ultimately responsible for BAGS Inc.'s performance and for the Disney guests' satisfaction.

9) Finally....My luggage believe it or not, was lost again on the way home....I'm not sure if it was the airline's fault or the people at who checked my bags at the hotel, but it showed up almost an two hours after I landed, with luggage on a flight from Boston....I have no idea.......a horrible ending to a horrible trip.

RAC is a form of curbside check-in. Just like a skycap does at curbside, a RAC employee puts onto each piece of luggage the official airline tag that has the three-letter airport code on it. Whenever I do curbside, I always make sure to eyeball the luggage tags to make sure they're correct. But since you are also being checked in for your flight at the same time, it would take the mother of all computer glitches for the tags to be labeled differently than the boarding passes. That's why it's my very strong opinion that your bags that saw Boston were misdirected by your airline at the airport. When BAGS Inc. brings bags to MCO, they deliver to each airline, and from that point the airline controls which airplanes they get loaded into ... there's no way RAC could screw that up themselves.

I'm sorry if i'm ranting and raving...but I feel soooo cheated. I'm not sure what to do. I love Disney, and I've always had an amazing time there...so in a way I wouldn't feel justified to complain and cause a stink because this is the first time I've had a horrible experience.....On the other hand I feel like I was treated in a way that unfit for such an amazing company. What should I do?

Again...sorry to post this long message...I just needed to vent.

Please, don't be sorry. That's what we're here for.:ROFLOL:

Definitely write a letter/e-mail to Guest Relations. If nothing else, it'll make you feel better.

 

[WDWFigment]

First, sorry about the terrible experience. I think as WDW fans we all feel a little bad when anyone has a less-than-stellar experience at WDW. But, as others have said, it's still the best place out there, and most times is going to be a great vacation. Your experience seems to be bad luck of the absolute worst variety. I wouldn't recommend filling out one of those guest service online forms, I'd go more formal, and take it directly to the executives. Addresses: http://www.allearsnet.com/pl/contact.htm

Take wedway71's experience as motivation to do this. A truly wonderful experience that makes me have faith in the whole guest feedback system. Stories like this show why these parks are so great.

Sorry about the trip.WDW still is the best run operation in the biz.

When there is a breakdown in service like this we need to let the WDW Execs know 100%.

They do care and they do let the appropriate people know.

I sent Al Weiss 2 letters at 2 seperate times while ago.Both times I got his assistant calling me back.

One time a really nice guy called me back 6 times until he actually got me on the phone to tell me what they were doing to fix the problems.Keep in mind I never gave them my phone number.HE ACTUALLY CALLED INFORMATION TO FIND IT!!!

If you fly into Orlando (without using DME) and your checked bags never come out on the baggage claim carousel, what happened and what happens? Often, this is the result of the airline misdirecting your bags at your home airport. Your bags could have been sent to another airport in error. When this happens, you have to, first of all, waste a lot of time and stress waiting for the bags not to come out. When you come to the ugly realization that they're not coming, you have to go to your airline's baggage office and wait in line behind the other unhappy vacationers. You end up getting to your resort an hour or two later than you should have. Your airline will probably eventually find your bags, and fly them in from wherever the mistakenly sent them to. Then, they will use a 3rd-party courier to get them to you ... and this courier will probably wait until they have sveeral other unlucky people's bags before venturing out to deliver your bags to you at your resort. ALl the while, you're hopping mad at your airline, and deserve to be.

If you fly into Orlando with DME tags on your bags, what happens if your bags are misdirected by the airline? Well, when you check-in at the DME Welcome Center, they ask you how many bags you checked with your airline. The DME luggage tags you put on each bag have a barcode on them. If within a reasonable amount of time after you check-in with DME one or more of your bags are not in the system, a red flag will be raised by the computer, and Disney CMs will start searching the airport for your bags. If nothing shows up, they then go to your airline and put a tracer on the missing bags. Let's say the bags got misdirected to MCI (Kansas City) instead of MCO. Your airline gets the bags on the next flight to MCO, whenever that is. DMe then claims the bag for you, and it gets sent to your resort in the normal fashion on the next available luggage delivery truck.

Meanwhile, you are steamed with DME for the delay, when in fact DME did all the work for you to get your bag back. Since DME does this behind-the-scenes and doesn't toot its own horn in this regard, you have no reason to suspect it could possibly be the airline's fault and not DME's.

Very informative! I've always been scared to let DME handle my luggage thinking it was just another set of hands to possibly get it lost. Now I think I'll use them on the next trip! Thanks!

 

[prspeppers]

Thank you so much for the helpful feedback!!! I think I'm going to contact the hotel tomorrow morning and inform them I was not satisified with my stay. I really do love Disney and this experience, as terrible as it was at times, could never keep me from comming back. Its just a bummer because as we all know, trips to the world can be quite expensive. Its a total drag saving all year, spending tons of cash, and being let down in the end. As I said before, it was my 20th stay...the first 19 were amazing. I'm sure next year will be better! Thanks again for the help.

 

[Nemo14]

Don't write to the hotel. Send your entire list of complaints to wdw.guest.communications@disney.com I've contacted them twice, once for a complaint and once for a compliment, and they got back to me both times within a week.

 

[wedway71]

Thank you so much for the helpful feedback!!! I think I'm going to contact the hotel tomorrow morning and inform them I was not satisified with my stay. I really do love Disney and this experience, as terrible as it was at times, could never keep me from comming back. Its just a bummer because as we all know, trips to the world can be quite expensive. Its a total drag saving all year, spending tons of cash, and being let down in the end. As I said before, it was my 20th stay...the first 19 were amazing. I'm sure next year will be better! Thanks again for the help.

Good luck.BTW id mention to the hotel that you are sending a copy of these issues to Meg Crofton as well.This might expedite any remedies quicker knowing that Meg will more than likely have someone follow up on the matter.

 

[CleveRocks]

Very informative! I've always been scared to let DME handle my luggage thinking it was just another set of hands to possibly get it lost. Now I think I'll use them on the next trip! Thanks!

It gets better with more details.

Most airlines themselves bring DME-tagged bags to one of several drop-off points. For those airlines that don't do that, Disney has CMs stationed behind the scenes at those airlines' baggage areas, and they get the DME-tagged bags to the collection points. In addition, there are Disney CMs stationed behind the scenes at every airline, doing quality control to make sure that no DME-tagged bags mistakenly make it out onto the public baggage claim carousel.

The bags are picked up from the drop-off points and are brought to a single Disney sorting facility on the grounds of the airport. From there, they are loaded into locked steel cages by resort. The cages are loaded into delivery trucks, which themselves are tracked by GPS units. In this journey, each DME luggage tag's barcode has been scanned 3 separate times SO FAR.

When the luggage is delivered to the resort and unloaded, it is scanned a fourth time. It is scanned a fifth time by the Bell Services CM after he/she carries it into your resort room. The luggage gets brought inside whether you're in there or not. And the CM is pre-tipped by Disney, so you don't have to worry about poor service due to lack of tip.

So as you can see, with the 5 separate barcode scans AND the GPS monitoring of the delivery trucks, Disney knows where your luggage is at all times.

Have problems ever occurred? Of course! No system is perfect, but DME has been wildly successful. It was supposed to end in the Fall of 2006, coinciding with the end of the Happiest Celebration on Earth, but in April of 2006 it was extended (and kept free) through the end of 2011.

From what I hear, most minor delays in luggage delivery occur at the resort level, where overworked Bell Services (Luggage Assstance, at the Value resorts) CMs just have too much work and not enough time.

 

[rcapolete]

We stayed at the CBR twice. First time in mid 90's though it was great. Then in 2004 we stayed there again and it was the last time i will ever stay there. I had the same impression that they place was filthy.

 

[ZapperZ]

Wow! Sounds like a horrible trip! I just got back as well and luckily, mine was nowhere near yours.

As echoed by everyone here, please seriously consider writing them a letter, detailing everything that occurred that was under their control. I certainly would highlight that breakdown in service when you needed medical assistance. That is inexcusable and Disney should be very concerned that such a thing occurs to one of their guests.

If you do decide to write them an actual letter rather than an e-mail, I would recommend you send it registered. It is amazing how a company reacts when a customer thought the matter seriously enough to send it registered, and that there's a "paper trail" which indicted that they have received it.

Zz.

 

[ravensworth]

Call Diney head office and tell them what had happend. I wouldn't spend all that cash for that kind of service! Tell them you want something for all of your troubles! Let us know what happens...

 

[Ella's Mommy]

WOW. Your trip was so bad its kind of hard to believe:ROFLOL:

 

[SallyfromDE]

A couple of years ago, I had an issue and wrote them a letter. I just wanted the problem addressed. Rachel from the corporate office called me and said I should have had it taken care of while I was there!! And she was not too friendly about it. She's lucky she didn't get me (it was on the answering machine) or I would have given her a peice of my mind. Good luck, hope the foot is better. I broke mine in November and JUST got out of the cast and wheelchair. Slowly learning how to walk. Let us know what happens.

 

[wdwmomof3]

We stayed at the CBR twice. First time in mid 90's though it was great. Then in 2004 we stayed there again and it was the last time i will ever stay there. I had the same impression that they place was filthy.

We stayed at CBR in 2003 and I will never stay there again. The CM's there were somewhat rude and I just didn't feel like it was worth what we paid for the stay. The buses took forever to get to us in the mornings and the afternoon was even worse. I know that this should be resolved with the new system but I still won't chance it again.

With that said, I am really sorry that you had such a bad trip. I know how much I look forward to going and I know how you must feel. Hopefully this will never ever happen again but I do agree that someone high up at Disney needs to know about all of this. If this happened to me, I would make sure that they knew about it. I think that the way CBR reacted to your injury is unacceptable. They could have sent someone to pick you up in one of their carts that they drive around in or something. What a joke.

Good luck with everything and I hope that your foot is better soon.

 

[raven]

Now that I think about it, my last trip which ended 2 weeks ago didn't go so well either. We had a number of things that went wrong and happened to us as well but I guess the good overwhelmed the bad in the end.

The worst part was the driver for the Magical Express giving out wrong information. He said be sure to see the "Mickey and Friends" parade that goes from Frontierland to MGM. :veryconfu He also told everyone to take the monorail because it goes to all of the resorts and theme parks. :veryconfu

We obviously knew he didn't know WDW left from right and basically rolled our eyes at all of his useless information as we were headed onto property. I just hoped that no one on the bus actually believed this information and planned around it.

 

[wedway71]

It takes alot for me to write a letter or call to complain.When it comes to Disney however it is a different story.

I hold Disney to a higher standard because Disney holds themself to a higher standard.The Disney brand means superior quality and nothing less, otherwise its not Disney its Six Flags.

For those who say go somehwere else then,well, if I wanted to go somehwere else I would have have but I choose Disney.Its not that Disney offers mediocre quality and we just want more than they give.

I understand that WDW is a 24/7 operation and things will go wrong.As a consumer we tend to forget why we had an issue in the first place.Its how it is handled is what we take home. Disney =Service Recovery.

Im not talking out my butt here since I am a Guest Experience Exec. with Target in which my company went to Disney Institute to learn Guest Service.