No Dreams, No Magic

[eliza61]

Op had a less than magical vacation at Disney, It's unfortunate but some times that happens. Why do we act like Disney is the only place in the world that this has happens. Why do we expect every single vacation to the world to be "perfect". Don't people go any where else? Please spare me the "good old days" reports. I've been on cruises where every one has caught a bug and ended up 7 days with they're head it the toilet. I've stayed at the Waldorf Astoria at $500 bucks a night where the tub would not drain and spent a week in Spain where everyone was seriously pissed at Americans and treated us like crap. I've also had glorious vacations at the world and around the world. It's called life people, some times you get roses and some times you get lemons. Take the lemons make lemonaide and look forward to your next vacation.

 

[grimley1968]

We went to Disney World in late August of 06 and had a magical, wonderful time. We were not planning on going back in 07 but we received a "code" for discounted resort rates and jumped on it. We were expecting another magical, wonderful trip. Boy, were we surprised! Our trip this year was the total opposite of last. The parks were extremely crowded, very dirty (which shocked us) and the cast members were anything but pleasant as they had been last year.

Our resort was Port Orleans Riverside and we were there for 8 nights. We had 5 people in our room and they constantly left 4 towels, even after calls to housekeeping. The first two nights, the beds weren't even made...the quilt was simply thrown up on the bed. Our sheets were never changed the entire time we were there.

We had cast members respond to our have a nice day with "How can I, I work for a Mouse." Complaints about their wages and in general a sour demeanor. We even had a bus driver with the bus listing where he was going, refuse to take us there. He was sitting in a slot (apparently not the correct one for where we wanted to go) with the lights showing where we wanted to go and when we got on the bus, he said in a rude way that he was getting ready to go on a run and wasn't going where the bus stated. However, he said in a put out way that he would take us. I told my kids to get off the bus...I didn't need more attitude. We came away wondering if there are labor issues going on at the World.

In general what shocked us most were the attitudes of the cast members and the lack of cleanliness in the parks. We have never seen Disney dirty before but it sure was this time.

- How can you blame Disney for the crowds? Sorry it was crowded, but choose a less crowded time of year.

- Was there anything good that happened that you care to mention? The fact that you got a discount wasn't one good thing?

- Dirtiness is a bad thing. But in all the times I've gone, WDW has been as clean as I could ever expect it to be, especially given the wanton disregard for other people many guests show by littering all over the park. The CM's can only wade through the crowds so often with their litter-pickers before it jams crowds even further. Bottom line: heavier crowds means dirtier parks. No amount of trash-cleaning CM's can change that. That is mostly a function of our self-centered society.

- Sheets not being changed during your stay? Sorry, but that is pretty much the industry standard. Most (but not all) hotels (Disney and non-Disney) will change sheets before and after your stay, but I have never once seen sheets changed during my week-long stay at a hotel, and I've been to a lot of hotels.

- Not making the beds up neatly is a bad thing. Not leaving enough towels is bad.

- The bus driver was inexcusable. But that is one driver. Were there not any good drivers that deserve a mention?

- The "I work for the mouse" CM's sound bad, but that is to be expected at minimum wage. Was it more than one CM who said this? Frankly, though, I've seen far, far worse behavior by employees of Six Flags, Universal, King's Island, etc., and on a far broader scale. I've never once personally heard a CM complain about wages. Ever.

- I am sorry all this happened to you. Did anything good happen, besides the discount?

 

[GemmaPixie]

It's called life people, some times you get roses and some times you get lemons. Take the lemons make lemonaide and look forward to your next vacation.

Or use my saying "When life throws you lemons- breaks open the tequila and salt!"

 

[momtoBrandon&Jacob]

I really don't understand how some people come on this board complaining about the poor CM's who have to deal with thousands of people all day long, not to mention the heat, the crying kids, the loud and sometimes obnoxious parents who are ready to bite the CM's heads of when they don't get a smile, etc. I mean when we were there in April I barely even noticed the CM's and did not expect exemplary service from anyone. From my perspective, Disney runs a meticulous operation, but you know what they say "you can't please everyone".

 

[ky07]

come on you think prices are low at Disney then you must have money running out of those mouse ears lol

 

[LilGMom]

Or use my saying "When life throws you lemons- breaks open the tequila and salt!"

I love your saying! Mind if I borrow in on occaision?

 

[GemmaPixie]

Not at all! Use away!

 

[eliza61]

Or use my saying "When life throws you lemons- breaks open the tequila and salt!"

You're officially my hero for today.

 

[eliza61]

come on you think prices are low at Disney then you must have money running out of those mouse ears lol

I don't think it's totally about money. Sure, disney is expensive but so is a 7 day Caribbean cruise, so is Europe (have you seen the value of a dollar in London lately) . Heck, I went to Ocean City, MD for 7 days this year and the hotel was $225 a night simply because it had an ocean view. Vacations are Expensive, period but unfortunately as long as people are involved there may be a few that are less than perfect.

 

[mking624]

We were out to eat and my sister ordered a coke for my 4 year old nephew. He doesn't get soda all the time, but they were on vacation and wanted to treat him. The waitress insisted that a fruit juice would be better for him, and shook her head with disapproval. Finally my sister said, "I'll decide what's best for my kid, just bring him the coke". Of course the alcohol thing is different from a legal perspective, but still you get that icky sense someone is imposing their morals on you.

Your situation is rather different as offering soda to a child doesn't break any laws. This particular situation isn't really a matter of imposing morals, it's a matter of a restaurants abiding by the law.

The milkshake was served to me, not my daughter. They made a big deal out of nothing. She took a sip, big deal. I understand the drinking laws and that is fine, but what made me mad was how the manager handled the situation. He never even talked to DH or I until I butted in while he was harrassing my DD. All three of us had no idea what he was talking about. The whole seen was so unnecessary and ridiculous.

Honestly it doesn't matter who the drink was served to. There is still an issue of legality if a minor is even taking a tiny sip of a beverage with alcohol in it. You may think "big deal", but this is the law and it carries with it consequences for the restaurant and its employees. It's one thing if you allowed your child to take sips of alcoholic beverages in the privacy of your own home as you only take the risk upon yourself with alcohol laws, but when you start doing that in restaurants, that's imposing risks to the restaurant. So yes, it is a big deal.
That said, if the situation was handled poorly, perhaps you can contact Guest Services. However, to be quite honest, I wouldn't expect too much of a response if they were to discover that the reason for it was because of a minor taking a drink from an alcoholic beverage. Perhaps you will, I really don't know...but this is a situation in which neither party was really in the right.

 

[mking624]

come on you think prices are low at Disney then you must have money running out of those mouse ears lol

And again, I ask you to tell me what a good ticket price would be to run everything they do, pay the number of people that they do, etc.

I never said prices were amazingly low. But I'm also not naive enough to believe that Disney could somehow pull off everything they do and only charge people a few bucks. Disney can be as expensive as you want it to be, but after several trips there I've also discovered it can be rather affordable as well.

 

[Mermaid_Ariel]

eliza61 & grimley1968: I really enjoyed reading both of your posts. You both write very well!

I guess I just don't understand why people set themselves up for disappointment by expecting perfection.

 

[grimley1968]

Honestly it doesn't matter who the drink was served to. There is still an issue of legality if a minor is even taking a tiny sip of a beverage with alcohol in it. You may think "big deal", but this is the law and it carries with it consequences for the restaurant and its employees. It's one thing if you allowed your child to take sips of alcoholic beverages in the privacy of your own home as you only take the risk upon yourself with alcohol laws, but when you start doing that in restaurants, that's imposing risks to the restaurant. So yes, it is a big deal.
That said, if the situation was handled poorly, perhaps you can contact Guest Services. However, to be quite honest, I wouldn't expect too much of a response if they were to discover that the reason for it was because of a minor taking a drink from an alcoholic beverage. Perhaps you will, I really don't know...but this is a situation in which neither party was really in the right.

Yikes! Good points there, MKing! I totally failed to notice in my first read through of those posts that they were served an alcoholic drink/milkshake! I totally agree with you. WDW does have laws to obey and not obeying such an important law would be far more "unmagical" than strictly enforcing it and ruffling some feathers in the process.

You can't claim WDW is losing its "Magic" just because they are enforcing a law, which could result in a very expensive lawsuit if unenforced. They were taking responsibility for something in this case. Maybe it could have been done more tactfully, but that is near irrelevant compared to simply making sure it is done in the first place.

BTW, thanks for the compliments, Jessi.

 

[BamaFan121s]

In regards to the milshake situation, I can completely understand a CM saying something--what I CANNOT understand is a CM saying something to the child. The issue should have been addressed outright with the parent, not the kid.

 

[54disney]

I was just making the point that we had an entirely different trip this year vs. last. I am not blaming Disney for the crowds...only stated it was more crowded. As far as cleanliness, I am not talking about garbage as you walk, I am talking about overflowing garbage cans that could easily be cleared without disrupting the crowds. Last year our sheets were changed. Yes there were good things about vacation...being with family etc. but not what I expected from Disney based on my previous experiences and the amount of money spent. I think if you get service that is not up to expectation, you need to speak up or it will never change for the better. As far as the buses, I feel they have a serious issue with their scheduling and times. There were times at our resort that the cast member couldn't get busses there to go to a specific park...at all...and was recommending guests take a bus to the Magic Kingdom and transfer from there. All this adds time and definitely was not the case last year. We had one bus driver tell us as he was coaxing his broken buss with the engine light on that they were short on drivers. He had also called in to say the bus was in trouble and they told him to keep driving until it finally stopped. Again, I just felt things were totally different at the World than previously.

 

[GemmaPixie]

You're officially my hero for today.

Woohoo- I feel so special!!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Bottom line: heavier crowds means dirtier parks. No amount of trash-cleaning CM's can change that. That is mostly a function of our self-centered society.

Sorry, but I disagree. More crowds mean more income which means they can afford more staff. There's no excuse for it. Big execs would rather have 6 figure bonuses.
This reminds me of when dh was renting tuxes for our wedding and half of our guys had tuxes or shirts that were either stained, reeked of cologne or had cigarette burns. When my dh complained, their reply was, "We can't possibly check everything. We had to process over 300 tuxedoes this week!" in a not very nice tone. If they can't handle the work, they should limit themselves and not accept people's money. Just say, sorry we're booked to the max this week. But they don't. They'd rather take your money and lower their standards knowing they can't keep up with what should be done the proper way. It's not like they're surprised that it's their busy season . They know it's coming and should be ready. Same goes for WDW.

Don't defend Disney's overflowing trash cans (or any parks) and say "these poor kids have to work in the sun. boo-hoo." I worked at a dry cleaners all thru high school where it reached 120 deg. in the summer and that's not including humidity. Yes it sucked but also kept me motivated to go to college and get the heck out. Also dh was a welder for many years at the Philly Naval yard and worked in 100 deg. weather in long sleeves, long pants and heavy leather, protective gear and face shield in confined areas. Yes, that sucked too but he did his job well and moved on.
My point is, they're not prisoners. They should either do their job or leave it. It's a free country.
sorry, I'm done ranting.

btw, we went to Busch Gardens, VA this summer and it was beautifully landscaped, clean, full of nice staff and was only $70 for a 7 consecutive day pass for BG and their water park, Water Country USA. I highly recommend it.

 

[Gerweniel]

My two cents on this subject.
I work in customer service in one of the most reviled of professions-cell phone technician. This is not a new thing for me, but I have worked directly with the public almost all my adult life. Not unlike WDW I am sure, the parent corporation I work for spends millions on mystery shoppers, motivational tools, incentives etc. to improve customer service - to make us smile unconditionally and "improve the customer experience".

However, what I have found to be the most common issue in all my customer service problems is not the product or service I provide but the absolute degradation of civility of the people who enter my store. In recent years I have observed people have no problem swearing at me or my employees, threatening me, lying, manipulating and carrying on to the point of shouting and/or tears with no respect for the other person. People are displaying an insane sense of entitlement and lack of personal responsibility. All this over cell phones. What ever happened to simple manners? Simple respect?

I cannot possibly imagine the craziness that the CM's have to deal with. If folks lose their minds over a $100.00 cell phone, then when thousands are on the line it must be carnage. I have the all the respect in the world for the CM's from check in to the rest room attendants. I try to remain cheerful, smile, and when I can wish THEM a MAGICAL day.

We've never been in a parade, gotten a fast pass or even received an upgrade. I must admit I was disappointed we didn't win the Castle stay .
BUT, when we are at Disney, we are together, in a magical place, have great food, lots of fun and most of all smile and be kind.

OP- sorry you did not experience the "old" magical spark. Unfortunately, I think the CMs may just be getting burned out.

 

[LilGMom]

The milkshake was served to me, not my daughter. They made a big deal out of nothing. She took a sip, big deal. I understand the drinking laws and that is fine, but what made me mad was how the manager handled the situation. He never even talked to DH or I until I butted in while he was harrassing my DD. All three of us had no idea what he was talking about. The whole seen was so unnecessary and ridiculous.

I'm curious... how old is your DD? And like it has already been noted in FL is is illegal for a person under the age of 21 to consume any alcohol at a business that has a lic. to sell it. If you want to give your DD alcohol or let her taste Orbiting Oreo Shakes until the next lunar eclipse in the privacy of your own home that is one thing but a place like Sci Fi Diner (especially since it is on WDW property) could get in major trouble for you DD consuming any amount of any alcoholic beverage. They are protecting their hineys and you can't blame them. While it might not have been handled in the best way I can understand the CM wanting to see ID, his job could have been at stake if she was/is under the legal drinking age of 21.

 

[RacingPrincess]