Goofy4TheWorld
01-21-2014, 11:06 PM
[I had this typed up months ago, but never had time to fine tune the grammar (I still didn't fine tune it) but this thread (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=203220) inspired me to finally post my story...]
Before I begin my thread, let me go ahead and get a few things out of the way: MDE, FP+, MB, and Horizons.
Good to get that over with, since all threads must now reference them!
As has become my family's tradition, our recent trip to Disney had some drama, something that so quickly took me from being utterly disgusted with Disney to totally in awe. But before I explain that, I want to make a few observations.
All week, I noticed a pattern where Disney Magic was very apparent in my vacation, and a pattern where it was not there at all.
A few of the problems I faced were:
- Room charges did not work at all on minute 1 of the trip
- Room charges stopped working on day 3
- In order to stay an extra night at AoA, I had to visit the front desk 3 separate times
- It was not until the second trip to the front desk that I was told the extra night would require a totally separate reservation, and was told that a voicemail would be sent to my room to explain what to do
- My room access was almost totally shut off for my "extra night" reservation, no KTTK card or MagicBand would work until my sixth trip to the front desk
The details of my problems started with no room charging at all, and the AoA manager confessed MUCH later that 90% of CMs make the same mistake that was made on my account. When you use online check-in, your credit card information and charging privileges are automatically transferred onto your room folio and there is no need for the check-in CM to re-setup your charging privileges, it is already completed. If that CM does not know that fact (and 90% appear to not) then when they re-setup charging privileges, the system enters a ZERO for your credit limit, and if the CM fails to change that back to $500, then you will be stuck at your first cash register broke and thirsty. (In 2010 my room charges would not work because the CM forgot to enter a Zip Code in my profile, and that prevented charges until I returned to the desk). Then on day 3 my account reached it's $500 limit, and the system failed to automatically charge my Visa and start over with a new $500 limit, resulting in 35 minutes of time lost at the RnRc gift shop.
I felt a little Pixie Dust come my way when, after checking online and seeing AoA was booked for the Friday of my departure, the front desk (well, really the back room behind the front desk) said they would take my exact room out of inventory and give me 24 hours to confirm I wanted the room an extra night! I came back 8 hours later to confirm, but was then told the computers couldn't actually do it until Thursday or Friday, to come back then. So I come back Thursday afternoon to confirm my stay for Friday, and only then was I told that it required a totally separate reservation (which I knew was likely to cause technical problems) and that I had to swipe my Visa to pay for it (using a MagicBand made be NEVER carry my Visa around, so I did not have it on me!). I was also told that I would have to return to the from desk Friday morning to check out and back in, that I could not do it right then. At that point I was really upset, if I was going to pay for an extra day I wanted that day to be at MK, not the front desk. The guy (Zach) was really cold and felt more like an IRS auditor than a Disney CM, and wouldn't really tell me the details of how the reservation changeover would work with KTTC cards and MagicBands, he just kept repeating that I would get a voicemail to my room explaining it all (long story short, the voicemail arrived late Friday night, 12 hours too late). I left Zach and the front desk so upset that I really wanted to just forget the extra day and leave, but Zach just took my money for the room so I guess he won.
I returned to the pool with the wife and kids after my exchange with Zach, and I was just so over this trip. The constant technological problems were wearing me down, I had lost over two hours standing in line and dealing with Guest Relations, the Front Desk, and Concierge, and was just tired of all of the background issues of this Disney vacation. I will come back to the pool moment in time in a minute, but to wrap up the last item on my problems list, Friday morning there were new KTTC cards slid under my door, which was a total shock and in direct contradiction to Zach's statement that I had to come back to the front desk. I woke up early and went to the front desk anyway, and the CM seemed puzzled as to what she should do and while she was poking around she deactivated all of my new KTTC cards except my 5 year olds. I realized this when I returned to the room at 6am and was locked out of a room full of sleeping family members. My second trip to the front desk left me with "it must have been a fluke in updating the new reservation, try again in 20 minutes." It never did work, we had to use my son's card to get in the room, and finally Friday night when I was still unable to use my own card or band I literally walked straight behind the front desk to the manager podium thingy and said you have got to fix this krap for me, this is beyond ridiculous. The manager went back to his podium and saw that the cards were are supposed to work and was really unsure what was wrong, but he said he will just reprint the KTTC cards, and when he did all cards and all bands started working.
What went well? Plenty, even the FP+ system, but a few things that stuck out were:
- The rider switch was really great and really quick, everyone in the family went to the FP entrance and we got a paper FP that let us re-enter anytime, no fuss, no smart phone.
-Mousekeeping really seemed organized this time, never anything missed, never any conflicts with them being in the room during nap time, and never a day without a towel animal or stuffed animal arrangement made.
-The busses ran far smoother than I can remember in the last 10 years, and I think the reason was because at AoA they almost always had an attendant working the park bus stops to keep things moving quickly, and that attendant almost always had a second bus loading side-by-side, many times he drove the ECVs on the bus for people who were not really experienced enough to do it, and twice I saw an attendant tell the bus driver that the ECV had just pulled up and to go ahead and load the bus and the ECV will catch the next one. I also saw an attendant gently direct the large party accompanying an ECV to wait in the regular line and he would make sure they all loaded on the same bus (but obviously not guaranteed a seat). These efforts definitely made everyone a lot less tense about the whole ECV issue since there was an effort to reduce the resentment that often comes from the ECV early-loading issue. Only one time were we stressed at all over bussing, and it was the one time there was no attendant present during a busy time
- There were CMs with stickers for the kids everywhere, I came home with a pocket full of them almost every night. This was something I had not experienced with my two previous trips with small children.
This trip was really a great trip in lots of small ways, and that includes lots of positive effects from our testing of FP+, but what took me from the brink of renouncing Disney to thinking Disney could make wine out of water happened right after my not-so-magical encounter with Zach at the front desk over my attempt to stay an extra day at AoA. But before I move on, let me just say that it is totally ridiculous that Disney cannot extend a reservation for an extra day without having to make an entirely new reservation, it is a very basic function of the hotel industry and not being able to simply change the departure date without all of this fuss flies in the face of the Disney motto of "keep them on property spending money"!
continued below....
Before I begin my thread, let me go ahead and get a few things out of the way: MDE, FP+, MB, and Horizons.
Good to get that over with, since all threads must now reference them!
As has become my family's tradition, our recent trip to Disney had some drama, something that so quickly took me from being utterly disgusted with Disney to totally in awe. But before I explain that, I want to make a few observations.
All week, I noticed a pattern where Disney Magic was very apparent in my vacation, and a pattern where it was not there at all.
A few of the problems I faced were:
- Room charges did not work at all on minute 1 of the trip
- Room charges stopped working on day 3
- In order to stay an extra night at AoA, I had to visit the front desk 3 separate times
- It was not until the second trip to the front desk that I was told the extra night would require a totally separate reservation, and was told that a voicemail would be sent to my room to explain what to do
- My room access was almost totally shut off for my "extra night" reservation, no KTTK card or MagicBand would work until my sixth trip to the front desk
The details of my problems started with no room charging at all, and the AoA manager confessed MUCH later that 90% of CMs make the same mistake that was made on my account. When you use online check-in, your credit card information and charging privileges are automatically transferred onto your room folio and there is no need for the check-in CM to re-setup your charging privileges, it is already completed. If that CM does not know that fact (and 90% appear to not) then when they re-setup charging privileges, the system enters a ZERO for your credit limit, and if the CM fails to change that back to $500, then you will be stuck at your first cash register broke and thirsty. (In 2010 my room charges would not work because the CM forgot to enter a Zip Code in my profile, and that prevented charges until I returned to the desk). Then on day 3 my account reached it's $500 limit, and the system failed to automatically charge my Visa and start over with a new $500 limit, resulting in 35 minutes of time lost at the RnRc gift shop.
I felt a little Pixie Dust come my way when, after checking online and seeing AoA was booked for the Friday of my departure, the front desk (well, really the back room behind the front desk) said they would take my exact room out of inventory and give me 24 hours to confirm I wanted the room an extra night! I came back 8 hours later to confirm, but was then told the computers couldn't actually do it until Thursday or Friday, to come back then. So I come back Thursday afternoon to confirm my stay for Friday, and only then was I told that it required a totally separate reservation (which I knew was likely to cause technical problems) and that I had to swipe my Visa to pay for it (using a MagicBand made be NEVER carry my Visa around, so I did not have it on me!). I was also told that I would have to return to the from desk Friday morning to check out and back in, that I could not do it right then. At that point I was really upset, if I was going to pay for an extra day I wanted that day to be at MK, not the front desk. The guy (Zach) was really cold and felt more like an IRS auditor than a Disney CM, and wouldn't really tell me the details of how the reservation changeover would work with KTTC cards and MagicBands, he just kept repeating that I would get a voicemail to my room explaining it all (long story short, the voicemail arrived late Friday night, 12 hours too late). I left Zach and the front desk so upset that I really wanted to just forget the extra day and leave, but Zach just took my money for the room so I guess he won.
I returned to the pool with the wife and kids after my exchange with Zach, and I was just so over this trip. The constant technological problems were wearing me down, I had lost over two hours standing in line and dealing with Guest Relations, the Front Desk, and Concierge, and was just tired of all of the background issues of this Disney vacation. I will come back to the pool moment in time in a minute, but to wrap up the last item on my problems list, Friday morning there were new KTTC cards slid under my door, which was a total shock and in direct contradiction to Zach's statement that I had to come back to the front desk. I woke up early and went to the front desk anyway, and the CM seemed puzzled as to what she should do and while she was poking around she deactivated all of my new KTTC cards except my 5 year olds. I realized this when I returned to the room at 6am and was locked out of a room full of sleeping family members. My second trip to the front desk left me with "it must have been a fluke in updating the new reservation, try again in 20 minutes." It never did work, we had to use my son's card to get in the room, and finally Friday night when I was still unable to use my own card or band I literally walked straight behind the front desk to the manager podium thingy and said you have got to fix this krap for me, this is beyond ridiculous. The manager went back to his podium and saw that the cards were are supposed to work and was really unsure what was wrong, but he said he will just reprint the KTTC cards, and when he did all cards and all bands started working.
What went well? Plenty, even the FP+ system, but a few things that stuck out were:
- The rider switch was really great and really quick, everyone in the family went to the FP entrance and we got a paper FP that let us re-enter anytime, no fuss, no smart phone.
-Mousekeeping really seemed organized this time, never anything missed, never any conflicts with them being in the room during nap time, and never a day without a towel animal or stuffed animal arrangement made.
-The busses ran far smoother than I can remember in the last 10 years, and I think the reason was because at AoA they almost always had an attendant working the park bus stops to keep things moving quickly, and that attendant almost always had a second bus loading side-by-side, many times he drove the ECVs on the bus for people who were not really experienced enough to do it, and twice I saw an attendant tell the bus driver that the ECV had just pulled up and to go ahead and load the bus and the ECV will catch the next one. I also saw an attendant gently direct the large party accompanying an ECV to wait in the regular line and he would make sure they all loaded on the same bus (but obviously not guaranteed a seat). These efforts definitely made everyone a lot less tense about the whole ECV issue since there was an effort to reduce the resentment that often comes from the ECV early-loading issue. Only one time were we stressed at all over bussing, and it was the one time there was no attendant present during a busy time
- There were CMs with stickers for the kids everywhere, I came home with a pocket full of them almost every night. This was something I had not experienced with my two previous trips with small children.
This trip was really a great trip in lots of small ways, and that includes lots of positive effects from our testing of FP+, but what took me from the brink of renouncing Disney to thinking Disney could make wine out of water happened right after my not-so-magical encounter with Zach at the front desk over my attempt to stay an extra day at AoA. But before I move on, let me just say that it is totally ridiculous that Disney cannot extend a reservation for an extra day without having to make an entirely new reservation, it is a very basic function of the hotel industry and not being able to simply change the departure date without all of this fuss flies in the face of the Disney motto of "keep them on property spending money"!
continued below....