Disenchanted and Disgusted

[PoppyTwnklhopr]

Ok folks!

I am a huge fan of Disney, their products, movies and stuff. Until this weekend I was a Resort and Disneyworld Vacation advocate. I've been spending my family vacations with the mouse since I moved here to Florida in 1983. I've stayed at the Contemporary, Carribean Beach, Port Orleans, Dixie Landings, Old Key West AND non-disney resorts as well. I've always found bang for the buck that although it cost a little more, the value and service you received when staying at the Disney resorts was outstanding and always superiour to elsewhere.

I've visited all the theme parks far too many times to count.

This time, because my nephew is 7 years old and a lover of all things musical, we decided to stay at the Allstar Music Resort. This is noted as a Diseny "VALUE Resort". (The price averaged to approx. $100/nite incl. taxes room only) Again, we didn't stay there because it was cheap, which it wasn't, but we selected it for the theme. It seemed that it would be a fun place for Thomas and after all that's what it was all about.

The food in the food court was barely edible and not cheap. The cleanliness of the food court and surrounding the pools was questionable. The service of the staff was hurried and not friendly. One gift shop girl clerk out of several hundred empolyees I encounterd over our 4 day visit walked passed me and smiled saying hello and asked how I was doing. ONE!

Second day there by 3:30 pm our room hadn't been cleaned, when we called to see what the delay was we were told that the room "SHOULD" be cleaned by 4:30 and if we were staying, did we really need it serviced. Since we were instructed to take our room towels to the pool and leave them there, yeah it needed servicing. Today our last day there, at 8:15 am the maid came knocking to clean the room. Hmmm...

The bus drivers that take you from your resort to the theme parks and area attractions were rude and unfriendly. Not one smile, welcome aboard ...just "MOVE ALL THE WAY THE BACK" as far too many people were crammed onto the bus like sardines.

I am so disenchanted by the whole thing. Going to Disneyworld was the one place you could still be a kid and see the magic and be part of it. Now all I saw was some corporation raping the public and taking them for whaterver they could get. The saddest thing for me is saying I will never EVER do it again. Complaining to the resort or the Disney Corporation in my opinion is pointless. There are so many 1000's of people that will flock there my measly $1200 won't be missed. But its a real shame, I have some wonderfully magical memories of my childhood visits to Disneyworld. Even my 7 yr old nephew was unimpressed. Everything was too crowded and too expensive. He was ready to come home.

I'm not sure if this is what happens in the other more expensive resorts. Its nothing I've ever experienced. But for sure a theory I'm not interested in testing. I hope someone in Disney is bothered by this. They should be.

[Bubbles]

That's horrible. I am so sad to hear about this. I am almost in tears to hear that my favorite vacation destination has fallen to the depths of other "ordinary" theme parks. We didn't stay in any near-by hotels, but when my family took me to Kings Dominion before I went to EPCOT for the WDW College Program, my mother walked around the whole day saying, "Thank God you're not working here." It was a complete dump. Trash everywhere, no friendly staff, ride attendants leaning and slouching in the public. I don't wanna know that Disney is heading closer to that. <sniff>

[JJ]

yes I had a hard day too all the Hotels were tooken in disney Resort! We had to sleep in my dad's friend's house until tommorow the next day Disney Resort was crowder and we missed the main street paraid cause it was time to go to sleep! Wait a minute is this Disneyland or is it Disney Resort? aah for get it. so the next day we went home without a picture of Mickey mouse cause the KIDS crowded him! Well at least it was woody!
well ALL the theme parks r boring...
I wish we can make our own theme park!!!!!

[Clifford]

DISNEYWORLD IS BEING TAKEN OVER BY COGS!!

[PoppyTwnklhopr]

That is just exactly what it was like! I wish you had been with me! You'd have figgerd that out, we'd have gone in there loaded with gags and cleaned the place up!

YOU ROCK!

[PrincessPoppy]

My $.02...

No doubt you had a bad experience but don't look at it as the entire resort going downhill. I think you should write to Disney about it. They do care. If nothing else, you'll get it off your mind knowing that you told them. And don't give up on them. Summer is a bad time to go to any theme park.

Laurie

[lil feathertoes]

That is SAD!

I was hoping on going there in the near future. By the sounds of it, I don't want to go now. I want my familys' experience to be a good/memorable one. Not with yucky memories!



Hopefully by the time we get there they will shape up and think about their customers and not the ALMIGHT BUCK!

Keep Tooning!

Little Feathertoes
Captain Rhinocrunch
And all of our LIL toons!

[Offy]

I'm 27 years old and have been to Disney World 3 times in the past 3 years with my girlfriend. We've stayed in the All-Star Movies resort each time and haven't had any problems at all. If the food court food isn't any good, there's a McDonald's right down the street that has a huge TV showing Disney movies all day long.

I've also had most of the employees that I've encountered in my three trips there bend over backwards to make sure that we had a good time during our stay.

I wouldn't let one person's negative experience be the sign that Disney is falling apart. I know plenty of other people besides myself that have gone to both parks recently and have had incredible times.

I also disagree about not complaining to the company. They're not doing as well as they usually do because of the poor state of the economy and other factors. They really don't want to lose any business.

I even have an example. When you book a trip through Disney themselves, you can pay off the trip on their website in installments. One time when I did this, I got double charged which led to about $75 in overdraft fees. I e-mailed and called Disney to alert them to the issue and they knocked $100 off of my trip. So, to say that they don't care and that they won't do anything when you haven't even tried is completely inaccurate.

[Iggie]

wdw.guest.communications@disney.com is the email address I believe. Or at disneyworld.com.

Regardless, I was at Disney World in May for 8 days (stayed at CBR) and it was NOTHING like what's described above. All the bus drivers I encountered were wonderful, the resort was clean, and the parks were clean and filled with happy cast members.

I hate to say it, but I think staying at the All Stars and visiting in the middle fo summer on a weekend may be what "did you in."

You chose one of the busiest times of year to stay at the resorts with the most rooms, therefore the most crowded buses. And, if the CMs were cranky, then, wow, I'm sorry! It disappoints me every single time I hear of someone having a bad experience at Disney. WHy? Easy, I'm a stock holder and one of Disney's biggest devotees - it saddens me every time the company disappoints.

[PoppyTwnklhopr]

Hey offy...me too til this time. I was shocked and appauled. The management was unsympathetic in fact who I encountered.

Upon arrival we checked in, were rushed from the desk. No biggie.
We had questions about our park options the clerk put a place mat thingie in front of us, we discussed, we were'nt quick enough so she told us to go back to our room and think it over. OOH there was no one on line.. we arrived at 9pm. OOH but maybe it was the end of her shift. How rude of me to keep her.

We were hungry. We put our things in our room, which was adequate and cute. Went to the food court. Ordered 3 spaghetti with meatballs dinners and an individual pizza. Bought 4 refillable drinking cups @$10.99ea. Or you could buy bottled pop for $1.50/bottle. Dinner came to $76.22. $40/cup was what made it crazy. Which i STILL think was a little much for a cup that I could have bought in Walmart for under $2.00. OH yeah forgot to mention the spaghetti was over cooked and cold. OOH and the food never changed. Was the same everyday breakfast they didn't expect you to eat it though thank goodness. But yanno I guess I could've gone to McDonald's. But for every meal? Don't know about you but I don't eat McDonald's or any of those fast food places...stuff'll kill ya. AND part of the whole RESORT thing is you don't ever have to leave. You eat, sleep and are entertained withing. That's the point. Or am I wrong? Someone correct me.

I could go on but no one wants to hear this and I really think I'll just put this weekend behind me and plan to stay at the Renaissance Resort and visit Universal Studios next time.

[Offy]

I'd say that the other Disney resorts are good places to spend a whole day in, but the All-Star resorts really aren't for that. They're a good place to sleep and recharge your batteries before you head back out to the parks the next day, but that's about it. That's why they are cheaper than the other resorts, they don't have as much to offer.

I personally love the All-Star Movies resort and have stayed there three times. It's a lot nicer than most of the run of the mill hotels that you'll find in the Orlando area and a lot of the hotels in the area can be pretty shady.

The refillable cups are for short trips. Whenever I'm there for a week, I get more than $10 worth of soda by the time I'm done. It's great to bring with you if you're going to hang out by the pool since it's right by the food court and you can get as many refills as you want. For a shorter trip, you're better off just getting a regular cup.

Sure, you can stay at Universal, but what benefits does that get you? When you stay at a Disney resort, you're able to go to E-Ride Nights (one of my favorite things to do at Disney) and early opening days. I'll wrap this up though because I'm starting to sound like a commercial for Disney.

[Iggie]

Poppy - please do NOT take this as an attack in any way, shape or form, but something just popped into my head. YOu mention $100/night for the All Stars. You also mention $1200.

My question is this - why didn't yoiu get a Flroida resident rate on the room since you live just 90 miles from WDW? Also, you could have gotten Play for 4 days tickets (as a Florida resident) for just $99 per person. That at least would have saved you some money.


Now, as for the mugs - personally, I find the mugs a great deal! $11 and change to get all the drinks I want at my hotel's food court, PLUS I have a groovy souvenir for once I get home. Lately I've been swappi9ng off putting my daily dose of V8 in my Grand Californian and Caribbean Beach mugs. Port Orleans (old style, the REAL PO! hehe) is joining the mix this week, I think! hehe

Now, if you're not going to use your mugs there at LEAAST 4 or 5 times, then I say don't get one - it's just not worht it if you're looking at the cost of buying 3 sodas versus the mug and a couple refills.

I do hope you take the time to write to Disney Guest Communications to give them a chance to make this up to you. Above all else, Disney *is* Magic, and they deserve a chance to right the wrongs you perceive were dealt you.

Now, how about some of our lovely CMs here speak up and let Poppy know that you're not all rotten? (I had the pleasure of meeting three Toons who are also CMs when I was at WDW in May).

Ooo, closing happy thought - when I was at WDW during May, I had multiple guests AND Cast Members ask me which park I worked at! I love it I love it I love it! I can't wait until I retire from the real world so I can move to Celebration and work part-time for the Mouse. Heck, I'd even clean toilets for him! hehe I just looooovvveeee Disney! 136 days until I return! :-)

[PoppyTwnklhopr]

It was with tax incl $97.+ per nite to stay. I'm not sure why I wasn't offered a florida resident discount. We asked, it wasn't available. There were many things that I wasn't offered and used prior to this visit that I didn't have EVERY other time I stayed at a, for lack of better phrasing, better resort.

I picked what I did for the kid. I made a HUGE mistake that I won't make again. This was the worst experience I've ever had. It really has upset me. The cost of the weekend wasn't the real issue. I didn't expect cheap. I expected a certain level of quality service that I did not get.

I sent e-mail to that address you gave me. We'll see.


P.S. Yes I do expect when I stay ANYWHERE to be treated like a guest. I expect to use the facility, and have it be clean, have a tidy room and clean linens and towels, for $100/day - that shouldn't be too much to ask. I shouldn't have to eat at McDonalds.

[Lil Tiger]

if you go to disneyland in french they are nice.
entertainers are happy and stuff... i didn see bus driver because it was crowded but they all said hello! and someone wanted to take a picture XD

[Elmer]

Now, how about some of our lovely CMs here speak up and let Poppy know that you're not all rotten? (I had the pleasure of meeting three Toons who are also CMs when I was at WDW in May).

They are all rotten, trust me - I have to work with them every day (don't get me started on those lazy bum cats - and those cats know who they are)

Seriously, sorry to hear about your poor trip. Unfortunately, despite best efforts, some folks get missed with the pixie dust and that's a real shame.

I'm with Iggie, I'm surprised that the Florida Residents rate wasn't available. I wonder if it was just for that resort... they're advertising all kinds of deals on billboards and tv and radio.

That said, it's FAR from unreasonable that you expect people to respond to your concerns, especially something as simple as clean up the room (what a dumb question, do you want it serviced - would you call and ask them about it if you didn't?) or giving you some time to think about your ticket options.

For the room cleaning, they should have said something like, when our Guests are staying, we try to clean the room in the late afternoons by 4:30, because that's generally when people are out playing in the Parks. However, let me page Housekeeping and have them come over to take care of it for you. That gives you the WHY it's at that time and also handles your problem. Both important components of good service skills. That way, if you do have special needs due to a young child or whatever, they can work around it.

For the tickets, If it were me, I would have asked if you wanted to decide then OR take it with you to your room and call or come by later to set it up. Then it would be your choice, which it should be anyway, since it's your money. Even if there was a big line (yeah, nobody there is a HUGE line), offer to let you read through the paperwork and choose while they booked the next person in line. Simple courtesy goes a long way.

Maybe the crowding has something to do with All-Star being the largest and most inexpensive on property? Just guessing. I do know that the resorts have been pretty busy as of late, even though attendance is supposedly down, according to the news. Doesn't make much sense does it?

I highly recommend writing Disney and telling them about your experience - I know it seems at times that we're all just numbers when in the park, but expressing your concern really does help, plus they may be able to "make it right" - maybe an offer to give you a free upgrade when you come back or something or even a free trip (I'm a cheapskate, can't you tell? ). Things like double strollers, quiet rooms for mothers to nurse/take a break, electric carts for Guests who can't get around and such are all results of someone taking the time to say they were disappointed.

Other options I can suggest for next time - try eating at different resorts for a change of pace - for example, Coronado Springs is just up the road from All Star (really neat food court concept - kind of like a market - pick what you want), as is Animal Kingdom Lodge (spectacular if you haven't been there). For concerns, if a Manager doesn't seem to be sympathetic, ask them to explain why they can't meet your request and/or go up the chain of command. Reasonable requests shouldn't be brushed off, they should be responded to.

Flip through Birnbaum's (or whatever it's called now) Official Guide, or the Unofficial Guide for a lot of tips to make life a whole lot easier next time you go. They're chock full of ways to avoid the crowds, for one.

Anyway - sorry you had a crummy time, but don't let the one time ruin all the good times. Go back and be determined to have twice as much fun, so it averages out to a good time over both visits. Every single one of them may be rotten, but they're still there to make sure you have a good time.

(For the comedy-impaired, SOME of this post is tongue-in-cheek. You have to figure out which is which)