Early Morning Magic Fantasyland Fail

[erij11]

I will note that while break downs can happen, they don't happen for most dates.

I agree, Angie. I've read nothing but good things about EMM until now. I'll give it a shot.

 

[otten]

We were also at EMM this morning. I did get a couple extra anytim FPs but I wonder if I should be asking about a partial refund.

The thing that irritated me most honestly was that they should have had guest services come over to FL instead of asking us to trek back to the front.

 

[L&Lfan]

Seems like your problem was needing to use the hopper after one attraction. I wouldn't blame early morning magic for that. But that's just me...

 

[AngiTN]

We were also at EMM this morning. I did get a couple extra anytim FPs but I wonder if I should be asking about a partial refund.

The thing that irritated me most honestly was that they should have had guest services come over to FL instead of asking us to trek back to the front.

I agree. When you have an event with 3 rides and 2 of them are down, you should be proactive to compensate your guest. Just assuming offering FP till noon is an option is poor CS. For 1 ride, maybe. For 2, no.

 

[baler31]

We were also at EMM this morning. I did get a couple extra anytim FPs but I wonder if I should be asking about a partial refund.

The thing that irritated me most honestly was that they should have had guest services come over to FL instead of asking us to trek back to the front.

They honestly should have handled this with a massive recovery. With 2 rides down for the majority of the event ....well they should have had a plan. They seem to have no middle ground, people are massively compensated for some trivial thing and yet something they should handle they just don't.

 

[My3SweetSuns]

I will note that while break downs can happen, they don't happen for most dates.

Thanks Angi...yes, I plan on taking my chances, too. It’s a short trip and I want to make the most of it.

 

[fiasco32]

I'm starting to get very worried about this event. We go 1/28.

I've heard way more positive reviews than negative ones. I wouldn't worry. I'm not (going on 1/21).

 

[AngiTN]

MK GS is so busy - I don’t think they could have spared the manpower, and I’m not sure they’re set up to “go mobile” at will.

I didn’t mind going back to the front of the park, but I was glad that it was just me for EMM. My family would have been murderous if they had been dragged out of bed for this. There would have been mutiny!

I know the dates we attended there were "plaids/suits" all around FL. They may have even out numbered the regular staff actually. No idea if that's remained normal or not. We haven't attended one in a while.

 

[Linkura]

Man, this thread is scary. I've done it twice with zero issues on the ride side. First time the food was kinda meh, but it was quite a bit better the second time. I got it booked for a third time March 6th. Hopefully they'll have worked out the new season's kinks by then.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Yeah, I follow EMM pretty closely (and have done it four or five times) and this is the first all out “nothing went right” morning that’s been widely reported (at least around DIS) that I can recall. There have been reports of an occasional ride being down (happened to us once during EMM) but I can’t recall many/any with two rides and for so long. Generally speaking, reviews and comments tend to slant overwhelming positive.

But this AM definitely sounds like an unfortunate worst case scenario type of morning.

Thanks for reporting back on your resolution OP.

 

[baler31]

The problem is not that ride(s) were down. It's that they don't have a concrete plan of what to do if 1 or more rides are down and in this case for the majority of the event time. Of course maybe they do and just want to see how little they can get away refunding.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

The problem is not that ride(s) were down. It's that they don't have a concrete plan of what to do if 1 or more rides are down and in this case for the majority of the event time. Of course maybe they do and just want to see how little they can get away refunding.

Well, when situations have occurred in the past the pattern has consistently been “FP access through noon with your EMM writstband” - so there is at least some sort of plan. A cheap and easy plan, but a plan none-the-less. Unfortunately that’s not always a great solution for some folks depending on other park plans.

But yeah, in the case of two or more rides for an extended period of time, you’d like to think that maybe a plan B of some sort would be in order.

To Disney’s credit, on our morning when 7DMT was down, managers and CMs were waiting when we arrived to Fantasyland, clearly explained the situation and that our wristbands would be honored in the FP line through noon. I’m sure there are times when they don’t communicate as well, but this was one time I was actually pretty impressed by Disney’s communication during an event.

 

[otten]

I don’t know I think a situation like that probably warrants shifting some manpower. At least have someone come out and apologize instead of leaving it to attraction staff to bear the brunt of it.

I didn’t want to waste more Park time on guest services so I didn’t bother.

MK GS is so busy - I don’t think they could have spared the manpower, and I’m not sure they’re set up to “go mobile” at will.

I didn’t mind going back to the front of the park, but I was glad that it was just me for EMM. My family would have been murderous if they had been dragged out of bed for this. There would have been mutiny!

know

 

[GillianP1301]

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.


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.

Now that you mention it, I recall when we did EMM twice last August and one of those times was the late opening for 7DMT and they had the Carousel and Small World going as well. The 2nd morning they also had them both open and I was worried that meant 7DMT was a problem again, but it turned out not to be.

 

[sandy77d]

We did EMM in 2016 and this was our favorite event of the trip. The rides were all open and we rode multiple times. The breakfast was fine. I honestly don't remember much about it other than we all left and were satisfied with it. We have made reservations for EMM again in May. It is unfortunate that there was such a bad day this time, but I am going to risk it anyway. The event is so great if it works well, that I am willing to take the risk. What I learned from this is that if things go bad, I am going to guest services and ask for a refund.

 

[Luckysix]

Anyone doing this in early February? I’m still on the fence.....very costly for our family of six. As a compromise, I was planning on canceling our CM dinner (it would be our 3rd visit). Decisions, decisions.....

 

[HopperFan]

I'll back the OP.

We did EMM at DHS first. Loved it!

We did EMM at MK second, and won't do it again.

7DMT was broken and didn't open until right before rope drop. We rode twice. The ENTIRE point of us going was 7DMT. We did not pay that kind of money for Pooh, Peter Pan, Carousel and an average breakfast. Luckily we entered when we did to restaurant and I sat DS at table ... by time I had our food the place was packed.

Yes, you could FP+ it until noon - IF you had no other FP+, had no other plans somewhere and or planned to spend hours more in Fantasyland ... it really isn't much good. We booked all our FP+ for right after EMM ... NOT in Fantasyland ... in hopes to roll as long as we could. If we hung around then we would have lost those. So we got nothing for missing out on the main part of the event.

Honestly I would have been happier if they gave us 3 paper FP+ so we could ride 3 more times when it worked for us. $70 a piece .......... kicking myself. Yet DHS, with only 2 rides, 5 characters and an awesome breakfast put on by Disney Events, was totally worth it. I hope they bring it back in Star Wars GE.

To person who asked about limit: I know someone who works in Fantasyland and they said the event can be up to 300 people and that sounded very reasonable based on what I saw.

To OP ......... not sure which bathroom was closed to you but there is more than one that should have been open. By Pinocchio's and by Gaston's.

 

[mousefan215]

I suggested it because sometimes, you plan your day to do what you purchase, which ends at 10:00. Maybe you have other plans already made and can't remain at MK till noon to use what was provided as a replacement. Remember, in this case it wasn't something offered as a choice, it was given as the only option as a replacement, so it's not like they could have refused it or anything. So, if OP had other plans that couldn't be changed and was unable to take advantage of the ride till noon option then I can see asking GS for other choices. Or what if the ride doesn't come back up by noon?

Believe me, I'm the last one to run to GS but there are times where it's a viable option.
Going just to say you had to wait 6 more min in the FP line? No, I would say it's not one. Especially if you have 4 hours to ride vs. 90 min.
But if you plans to go to another park that day that can't be changed, say you have a FP booked for FoP and it's the only one you have for that entire trip, because you expected to be done at MK at 10:00? Then maybe yeah, it's worth saying I can't stay at MK to use the FP.

This is our EXACT Senerio in a few weeks! We purchased EMM tickets for our last day, we have the only FOP FP’s we could get for our trip at 11:00 and then have to head back to our Resort to catch ME to airport! I would NOT be happy with and extended FP until noon, just wouldn’t work for us. I would definitely be going to GS and want compensation in the form of a refund of at least one of our EMM tickets!

 

[otten]

Don’t assume that GS will refund if you do go to them. I spoke with two different GS CMs who both said all they could do was a couple of anytime FPs. Neither seemed to really understand what we lost out on. Really frustrated actually.

 

[HopperFan]

Don’t assume that GS will refund if you do go to them. I spoke with two different GS CMs who both said all they could do was a couple of anytime FPs. Neither seemed to really understand what we lost out on. Really frustrated actually.

That is when you do the email explaining the situation. Folks have gotten refunded for parties, special events etc that were failures. I have been given a choice of repeat of same event, cash or a one day park ticket. We always have taken the ticket as it was worth the most.