I think the real problem is there are only a certain number of Guest Relations people that can do the overrides to do things like switch resorts without charging the difference and refunds within one week and so on. Those types of things are probably tightly controlled and your average Guest Relations CM who answers the phone doesn't and probably shouldn't have those abilities. So no, there probably isn't an easy way to ramp up that access.
One thing we've seen on the camping board is that while hold times were a problem, the bigger problem was just a lack of information. Now some of that is reasonable, if you don't know when Fort Wilderness is going to reopen, you can't tell people. But other parts of it, where some CMs were trying to change reservations and requiring the difference to be paid while others who got through to the "relocations group" or whatever you want to call it were getting it done without the difference needing to be paid, is a problem that can be resolved.
People won't like the resolution however, and that is simply long hold times or, what Disney actually wanted to do, reverse contact. In other words, instead of people calling Disney, Disney was trying to call them so someone with the power to make the changes and decisions was the one that spoke to the guest. People, however, aren't that patient, and it didn't seem like there were enough people making phone calls. Emails also seemed inconsistent at best.
Disney probably needs a better system. You can't eliminate the hold times. Nor can you empower front line employees to do higher level jobs, because chaos lies in that direction. But emails to reservation holders could probably lay the ground work for more effective and shorter phone calls. For example, emails telling them if your check in date is between x and y, you can expect a phone call on these dates. If your check in date is between A and B, you can expect a phone call on those later dates.
Also in the email an explanation of options, cancelling, changing the date, or having your resort changed, plus any associated costs or loss of discounts (free dining is a prime one, though that wouldn't apply to Fort Wilderness), would probably be helpful.
In other words, while I don't think there is a way to avoid long wait times and flustered nerves from people calling the help line, I think a few mass emails with basics might have calmed some of the issues and made the process more tolerable for most.
One big thing to take away is that it seems even with Fort Wilderness closed, based on reports I've seen in various Facebook groups, people who have shown up without having checked in or been contacted, have all be redirected to prepared changes. So it seems Disney has done everything they can to keep people coming in as happy as possible, even if they haven't been so good at telling people that before they showed up.
