Early Morning Magic Fantasyland Fail

Update: I talked to my resort and was given a half refund. They said no one is getting a full refund. Seems like that isn’t true.

Why anyone would ever make a blanket statement about situations they are not privy to baffles me. There is always an exception and it is ignorant and shows poor judgement in customer service to ever make a statement like this. My guess is using Guest Relations at the time of the problem will always yield a more favorable result than a resort removed from the problem. Also, they most likely believe you stayed and got something out of the day so in their opinion less incentive to give you whole refund. Sorry this happened, they should have offered everyone another day or a partial refund on the spot and extra anytime Fp's.
 
Glad you all got refunds. It's not WDW's fault, but with the two main rides down, it would be hard to properly compensate outside of a refund.
 
I read somewhere that it's a few hundred, but I have no idea the accuracy of that. I do know that the times that I have been there have only ever been there were very few people eating breakfast with me, maybe 1 or two others in the buffet line with me and a dozen or so tables with people sitting at them. The line to 7DMT has only ever had 1 train full of people in front of me (I think that's 40ish people?) during the 8:00 - 9:00 hour. We usually spend 45 minutes or so just on that ride and the line is consistently a train load. The only exception was the time 7DMT had a delayed opening, it got backed up to 2 - 3 trainloads and I'm assuming that's because everyone put it off and then all wanted on at the same time and had less time to get their rides in. Pan and Pooh rarely have had more than a handful of people in front us in line, immediate walk ons. So based on that, I think the estimate of a few hundred people is probably not that far off.
This mirrors our experiences, minus ever attending with 7D going down.
Never more than 1 train load on the coaster, few guests in the buffet
No one else around when riding Pooh or Pan.
They've always opened Charming Carousel up too.
And one EMM they also opened Small World.

Glad to hear it, I would have been happy with a partial refund (since you were able to eat the breakfast, even though it had issues too), but getting a full refund is customer service above and beyond! Definitely shouldn't feel bad asking for a refund in this situation. They could only say no.

Disney does have issues with these "early morning magic" events by only limiting it to 3 rides .. if any one ride breaks down the event becomes somewhat lackluster and questionable on its value then. I am surprised they don't beef these things up a bit with some exclusive meet and greets. I am sure some people would go to these events for those and would help satisfy the participants if a ride breaks down. Meet and greets can't break down. What a magical way to start your day -- with a fun meet and greet that isn't rushed because it is mobbed full of people. I mean .. how many times do you need to re-ride Pooh or PP or 7DMT anyway?

So .. for those who have attended these .. about how many guests do you think are participating? I've been curious to how many people attend these things (as that helps determine the value of it for my own future reference).
Actually, they can "do gown". That's why characters are absent at times.
It's called "friends" get sick and at the early hour, fill ins are probably not easy to get.
 


We were there this morning as well and it was not at all a good experience. I guess that is the risk of paying a big chunk of money for extra time where there is only three rides open. I believe both Mine Train and Pooh were closed for most of the time which made breakfast a crazy mad house of really grumpy and annoyed people.

We planned to do those three rides as much as we could for the EMM times and then head to another area from 9-10 and then we had FP booked for other rides starting about 10:30 in another area of the park and an ADR right at noon.

I walked to Guest Relations at the Town Hall around 9:30 and told them my issue. They were not all that concerned and said I could use the band as FP until noon. At this point Mine Train was still not running and they had no idea when it would open again. There was no other offer of anything else to compensate us so I asked if I could get some anytime FP to use instead. They told me to come back if the ride had not started running by noon and they would see what they could do....

Well right when we walked out of Town Hall I saw on MDE or the Lines app that Mine Train was running again so we hightailed it way back up there and did manage to get on using our bands but the FP line was backed up like crazy and the whole process took about 30 minutes. By that time we were up against a time crunch for our other plans we made.

So we paid quite a bit of money for 1 ride on 7DMT and 1 on Pan plus breakfast. The food was good I thought but the atmosphere in there was miserable because it was really busy and everyone was in a bad mood.

Overall not a great experience but not the end of the world. I may try it again. I also may stop by Guest relations on my way out tonight and let them know again that I was not happy with the experience.
 
They were not all that concerned and said I could use the band as FP until noon. At this point Mine Train was still not running and they had no idea when it would open again. There was no other offer of anything else to compensate us so I asked if I could get some anytime FP to use instead. They told me to come back if the ride had not started running by noon and they would see what they could do....

Did you explicitly ask for a refund?
 
Did you explicitly ask for a refund?
No - honestly didn’t really think about it. I asked for some anytime FP instead. Was told my band was to be used for as many FP rides on those three rides until noon and to come back if Mine Train did not re-open by noon.
 


No - honestly didn’t really think about it. I asked for some anytime FP instead. Was told my band was to be used for as many FP rides on those three rides until noon and to come back if Mine Train did not re-open by noon.

Gotcha. I would absolutely go back tonight and say the event absolutely did not meet your expectations, even with the FP, and that you would very much appreciate a refund. I'd bet they give it to you.

Customer service reps are universally trained to placate customers at the least cost possible to the company. Which means most time, they won't offer you anything until you ask for it. Technically, I'm sure they're not required to give you your money back, but hit them with a little humor and a lot of politeness, they can usually pull some strings.

Good luck and let us know.
 
Out of curiosity, I checked the EMM webpage. I wasn't surprised - right there at the bottom is the magic (no pun intended) language: "All attractions, entertainment and experiences are subject to change without notice." The fine print is important - it lets Disney off the hook for stuff like this. Now, in reality, it's more CYA language if things take a very wrong turn with guest relations - but it is there (but, really, is anyone doing EMM NOT for the rides??). Glad to hear, though, that they're taking the high road (as usual) and accommodating guests for what was a mess of a morning and not relying on technicalities. It's one reason among many they've kept my business over the years.
 
The fine print is important - it lets Disney off the hook for stuff like this. Now, in reality, it's more CYA language if things take a very wrong turn with guest relations - but it is there

Exactly. It's there so Guest Relations can factually tell snippy and/or rude people that there's no obligation to give refunds. Like you said, though, Disney is in the business of creating great experiences. I have found that pixie dust goes both ways.
 
I had EMM booked for my spring break trip, but was just reading yesterday that Mine Train may not be available and the compensation is the FP+ until noon. I decided that it wasn't worth almost $300 to possibly be disappointed so I cancelled it at 6:30AM today after I got done booking all my fastpasses for the trip. I played around with FP+ availability during Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks, and I am confident I can manage to snag 7DMT fast passes after our initial Fastpasses are used, Peter Pan was even easier, and Pooh was not a problem. Of course, Disney will still get my $300 one way or another!
 
We did EMM last year in January. We were so excited because of all of the great reviews. It took 20 minutes to even get past the bridge because although we had already checked in, we had to wait in line to get our wrist bands on. The line was back up 20 people because one elderly CM was in charge of the bands. She would not let guests put them on themselves and when some of the guests asked the two other CMs who had done check-in (and now standing around watching) to help with wristbands, they said they weren’t allowed and continued to stand there and watch. All the guests were furious because it was starting to eat up EMM time.
We all ran to Seven Dwarfs to find it closed. We rode Pooh twice, Peter Pan twice, then sent a family member runner to check on seven Dwarfs (still closed). And finally decided to just go eat breakfast, which wasn’t the original plan. We got to breakfast and started going through the buffet, and I noticed my daughter’s blueberries were covered in mold. I was so shocked that I took a picture of it. In many many trips to Disney, I have never experienced an event that was done this poorly.
After breakfast, we ran to a Seven Dwarfs again. Still closed. We rode the carousel and at this point, the kids were so upset because Seven Dwarfs is their favorite ride and the whole point for booking EMM. It opened up five minutes after park opening. We rode it twice although it took 15 min each time because of the FP line plus EMM people wanting to ride and also got the fastpass until noon, but our original touring plan had us out of fantasyland by 9:30.

I’ve never complained to Guest Services, but I did this time. I kindly explained our morning in detail. I even showed him the picture of the moldy fruit. Without even me asking, he refunded the entire cost of EMM. I wasn’t expecting an entire refund, but it definitely made the day so much better, and I appreciated their effort to make it right. That being said, we would never try EMM again. Too much money plus the kids’ high expectations for no guarantee in all three rides being open.
 
Same here. We are going on 3/4. This will be our first park day and I wanted to do something super fun to kick off our trip.

I’m worried about our EMM day, too. I also hope we run into each other....lol. I’ll be the woman with the matching tees with the big blonde football player. (He’s sweet enough to humor me. lol)
 
OP here with an update. The "til noon" fp didn't work for us as we had plans and fastpasses to hop to EPCOT. I did go to guest services and spoke to a very helpful young man. I did not ask for anything and probably would have been satisfied with a partial refund or even a $25 gift card. All I really wanted was to feel like someone understood my frustration and disappointment. What I got, in true Disney style, was a full refund. I cant say that id never do the event again, but id be very hesitant about plunking down that much money to start my day off in such a rough way again.
 
I’m worried about our EMM day, too. I also hope we run into each other....lol. I’ll be the woman with the matching tees with the big blonde football player. (He’s sweet enough to humor me. lol)

I feel the same but I won't cancel. I'll take my chances on hoping to have a blast with my daughter. On the plus side, there is another EMM on 3/6 so if our day went wrong, I'd request a do over on 3/6. I have that morning set aside as a sleep in day with Disney Springs in the afternoon.

It would be great to run into each other! I don't know what we are wearing yet but we did buy matching Mickey tees recently so we might wear those. We will definitely be wearing rose gold ears, lol.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!










Top