Won't be doing the Frozen Ever After dessert party again

I don't feel like the ride is at all a "bonus".
You are paying for the ride.
Prior to the addition of the Frozen theme the Illuminations Sparkling Dessert Party cost $49 per adult. With the addition of the attraction the price went up to $79 per adult.
Clearly Disney feels that riding the attraction is worth another $30 per adult.

You're not paying $30 for the ride. If anything you are paying $30 for the free-flowing hard liquor they added over the old party and it is comparable in price to the other dessert parties that also include booze + fireworks (Star Wars party), but ALL of the dessert parties (with booze or without as in the MK) have gone up since first introduced. If the star wars party was $79 and Frozen party was $109 THEN you could argue you are paying $30 for the ride... but you're not.

Since it seems you are going back again I hope they give you an anytime fastpass for Frozen, as that is the most fair thing to do. It's unfortunate this happened at the end of your trip, but if it hadn't I bet any CM you asked about it would have happily given you the FP for your disappointment. I think in the moment the best they could do was sub another Tier 1. I would have been thrilled to end my night with Soarin', but everyone's taste is different.
 
I'm a little curious why the OP didn't address the issue at Guest Relations prior to leaving the park? Wouldn't an immediate solution have been more satisfactory?
I rarely address stuff in the moment either.

First of all, the OP said that it was cold and late and everyone was tired. At that time of night guest relations might have even been closed since it was after park hours.

But my general attitude on vacation is I'm not going to waste time standing in line to complain about something unless there is a specific resolution I am looking for. In this case if it was not the last day of my trip (and it WAS for the OP) AND Frozen was super important to me, I might have taken the time to stand in line and say "hey I didn't get to do my whole reason for booking this thing, can you please make this right?"

But if it's something where I'm not looking for a specific resolution, I will often not take precious time out of my vacation to deal with it then - if it is still bothering me when I get home, I will take the time to write an email. If it's not bothering me when I get home then it was not important enough to complain about in the first place.

I know they SAY that you should complain in the moment but that is just not how I roll. I have a delayed reaction to things and often blow something off until it starts to bother me later.

Disney has never chastised me for not dealing with it in the moment. Also I will say that in park guest relations can be very hit or miss but the CMs at the email address are pretty stellar. Probably because they are not dealing with people angry in the moment all day and have time to digest in private and figure out the best way to approach it.

A friend of mine was treated HORRIFICALLY at lunch with an imagineer. When she asked to speak to a manager, the manager was even worse. She spoke to in park guest relations and they basically shrugged and said they couldn't help her with that particular problem. When one of the front desk CMs saw her crying back at her value resort, she did what she could to make it better and offered her whatever she was in power to offer her after hearing the story because she was kind and the kind of CM you want to meet, but it still did little to address the original issue. I encouraged her to write to the guest communications email and she got a thoughtful and kind response and a resolution she was happy with. I have seen too many stories of in park guest relations being hit or miss for me to waste time and emotional energy on that.

But that said, this would have been an easy fix with an anytime FP+ for the ride at a later date. Something like that I'm confident they could have handled in park, except the timing makes that not work for the OP.
 
Last edited:


I'm a little curious why the OP didn't address the issue at Guest Relations prior to leaving the park? Wouldn't an immediate solution have been more satisfactory?

I did. While they were very nice and understanding they offered no further solution.
 
A look behind the curtains.

The FEA ride is notorious for going off line and the parties Leaders biggest concern all night long is will the ride be operating. So much so that there is a party CM who's specific duty is to go to Norway about 30 minutes before the escort to the ride and make contact with the rides manager to find out if the ride is operating.

At about 10 to 15 minutes before the escort, the CM radios the party Leader and either gives them a thumbs up or down. I've been that CM numerous times, but fortunately it was always a go.

However, I've also been there in other positions when it wasn't a go and it was a challenge for the party staff to make everyone happy with alternative offerings. The OP has a legit gripe and is a good example that it's not always possible to satisfy everyone.

I hope the OP gets the $30 refund she's asking for, but I agree with Lisa F that "Since it seems you are going back again I hope they give you an anytime fastpass for Frozen" as I feel that the OPs $30 figure as the ride's value is rather high and I would put the value at between $5 to $10.
 
A look behind the curtains.

The FEA ride is notorious for going off line and the parties Leaders biggest concern all night long is will the ride be operating. So much so that there is a party CM who's specific duty is to go to Norway about 30 minutes before the escort to the ride and make contact with the rides manager to find out if the ride is operating.

At about 10 to 15 minutes before the escort, the CM radios the party Leader and either gives them a thumbs up or down. I've been that CM numerous times, but fortunately it was always a go.

However, I've also been there in other positions when it wasn't a go and it was a challenge for the party staff to make everyone happy with alternative offerings. The OP has a legit gripe and is a good example that it's not always possible to satisfy everyone.

I hope the OP gets the $30 refund she's asking for, but I agree with Lisa F that "Since it seems you are going back again I hope they give you an anytime fastpass for Frozen" as I feel that the OPs $30 figure as the ride's value is rather high and I would put the value at between $5 to $10.
Thank you so much for your response.
Since you do have some background here can you specify if there is any where in fine print that states an alternative ride will be provided in the event the attraction is down? I feel the alternative location and potential cancellation of illuminations was clearly stated but find nothing about the situation that occurred the other night.
 


Thank you so much for your response.
Since you do have some background here can you specify if there is any where in fine print that states an alternative ride will be provided in the event the attraction is down? I feel the alternative location and potential cancellation of illuminations was clearly stated but find nothing about the situation that occurred the other night.
You're absolutely correct. If it is stated, I've never seen it. Just like there is a note about Illuminations being cancelled, there should be a note about the ride being down. But that gets a little messy if Disney were to admit that an attraction is not reliable, which it is not.
 
Thank you so much for your response.
Since you do have some background here can you specify if there is any where in fine print that states an alternative ride will be provided in the event the attraction is down? I feel the alternative location and potential cancellation of illuminations was clearly stated but find nothing about the situation that occurred the other night.

I'm a little confused. You said that they offered you an alternative ride (Soarin') but just that it didn't suit you since you rode it earlier. If you are looking for Disney to specify the alternative ride in the contract, I don't see that happening. There is no way for Disney to know if the alternative might be out for rehab or down for its own problem. Since the park was already closed, I think that options for alternative rides would have to be limited. I don't believe $30pp is the value of a ride that wasn't operational during the party. I agree with PP that the fairest solution is for you to get anytime FP+ for Frozen that you can use on your next trip. Did you try asking for that?
 
I rarely address stuff in the moment either.

First of all, the OP said that it was cold and late and everyone was tired. At that time of night guest relations might have even been closed since it was after park hours.

But my general attitude on vacation is I'm not going to waste time standing in line to complain about something unless there is a specific resolution I am looking for. In this case if it was not the last day of my trip (and it WAS for the OP) AND Frozen was super important to me, I might have taken the time to stand in line and say "hey I didn't get to do my whole reason for booking this thing, can you please make this right?"

But if it's something where I'm not looking for a specific resolution, I will often not take precious time out of my vacation to deal with it then - if it is still bothering me when I get home, I will take the time to write an email. If it's not bothering me when I get home then it was not important enough to complain about in the first place.

I know they SAY that you should complain in the moment but that is just not how I roll. I have a delayed reaction to things and often blow something off until it starts to bother me later.

Disney has never chastised me for not dealing with it in the moment. Also I will say that in park guest relations can be very hit or miss but the CMs at the email address are pretty stellar. Probably because they are not dealing with people angry in the moment all day and have time to digest in private and figure out the best way to approach it.

A friend of mine was treated HORRIFICALLY at lunch with an imagineer. When she asked to speak to a manager, the manager was even worse. She spoke to in park guest relations and they basically shrugged and said they couldn't help her with that particular problem. When one of the front desk CMs saw her crying back at her value resort, she did what she could to make it better and offered her whatever she was in power to offer her after hearing the story because she was kind and the kind of CM you want to meet, but it still did little to address the original issue. I encouraged her to write to the guest communications email and she got a thoughtful and kind response and a resolution she was happy with. I have seen too many stories of in park guest relations being hit or miss for me to waste time and emotional energy on that.

But that said, this would have been an easy fix with an anytime FP+ for the ride at a later date. Something like that I'm confident they could have handled in park, except the timing makes that not work for the OP.
What horror happened to your friend at a lunch with an Imagineer?
 
I'm a little confused. You said that they offered you an alternative ride (Soarin') but just that it didn't suit you since you rode it earlier. If you are looking for Disney to specify the alternative ride in the contract, I don't see that happening. There is no way for Disney to know if the alternative might be out for rehab or down for its own problem. Since the park was already closed, I think that options for alternative rides would have to be limited. I don't believe $30pp is the value of a ride that wasn't operational during the party. I agree with PP that the fairest solution is for you to get anytime FP+ for Frozen that you can use on your next trip. Did you try asking for that?
I don't need a specific alternative but even a general if the ride is down an alternative option will be provided. Basically no where does it state that you may not be able to ride the attraction. Everything else is pretty specific..
We were told Soatin, Frozen fastpass for the next day, or sorry bye
All very nice and understanding with the guests but just had nothing else to offer and I was not satisied.
 
Since the park was already closed, I think that options for alternative rides would have to be limited.
The options are either Soarn or Test Track. Because of the timing and communications between the attractions that may be involved and "Park Event Operations", who put on the party, it seems to work out ok. They've had a fair amount of practice.
 
What horror happened to your friend at a lunch with an Imagineer?
without getting into why it was such an emotional thing for her... she showed up a half hour early and was told to sit and wait. Kept checking in every 10 minutes, told nope still wait. At the time it was supposed to be checked in - sorry, running late. After 2 more checkins and a half hour past the time it was supposed to have started, the person said "oh! It started a half hour ago!" She asked for a partial refund since she had missed the first half hour of it and the person said "can't do that, I can seat you now or you'll be charged as a no-show anyway." Asked to speak to the manager and the manager said the same... can't do anything for you, we can seat you now but you will be charged either way so you might as well just go in and do the rest of it. At this point she started to cry (please don't judge, she has a typically very hard life and had really been looking forward to this) and the manager told her that she couldn't join the group like that so she'd just be charged as a no-show. She left the restaurant crying and composed herself enough to go to guest services at the front where they basically shrugged and said "it was your choice not to join the group, you're a no-show, nothing I can do." She went back to her resort had to ask the front desk person something unrelated - the person asked her if she was ok and had been crying and she started crying again. The front desk CM gave her a voucher for a meal and a few fastpasses because it was all she could do. It was a nice gesture and it did make her feel better that the CM made that gesture to her but she didn't even want to use the meal voucher.

She contacted through email and a CM called her, showed some kindness, apologized for what had happened, gave her a refund and her direct contact and helped her to score a last minute reservation for the next time she traveled. Apparently it is very very hard to get a reservation last minute but she worked some magic for her. Because of her situation at home she doesn't know what her plans will be 6 months out and a couple of nights at WDW 1-2 times a year is her only break from it.

But I could not honestly believe how she was treated in the moment. She was there early, someone messed up and didn't seat her, and she was treated like a criminal when she asked for a partial refund based on missing part of it through no fault of her own, and then the manager was basically cold to her and waved her off when she got upset. I still can't believe it happened at Disney but it did. She is a huge fan of Disney and realizes she just had a bad run with a couple of bad eggs but honestly, dealing with those CMs did way more to ruin her vacation than what happened initially and that is one of the reasons I won't deal with stuff in person on my vacation... because if it goes poorly it will just waste precious vacation time. If I'm bothered enough by it I will email when I get back because I have also had an amazing and above and beyond experience with the CMs at the other end of that email myself.
 
I don't need a specific alternative but even a general if the ride is down an alternative option will be provided. Basically no where does it state that you may not be able to ride the attraction. Everything else is pretty specific..
We were told Soatin, Frozen fastpass for the next day, or sorry bye
All very nice and understanding with the guests but just had nothing else to offer and I was not satisied.

I think that is actually very fair.

This is what we can offer you RIGHT NOW: a comparable Tier 1 ride
If you prefer to ride Frozen, this is what we can offer you: you can ride it later when it's up again

that only works if someone is early on in their trip and has another epcot day planned though.

you're right that they should probably have specific language addressing it but out of a 1.5 hour event involving food, booze and fireworks, I don't think it's reasonable to attribute nearly 40% of the cost to a 5 minute ride at the end when a comparable tier 1 was substituted and a fastpass was offered for a later time.
 
without getting into why it was such an emotional thing for her... she showed up a half hour early and was told to sit and wait. Kept checking in every 10 minutes, told nope still wait. At the time it was supposed to be checked in - sorry, running late. After 2 more checkins and a half hour past the time it was supposed to have started, the person said "oh! It started a half hour ago!" She asked for a partial refund since she had missed the first half hour of it and the person said "can't do that, I can seat you now or you'll be charged as a no-show anyway." Asked to speak to the manager and the manager said the same... can't do anything for you, we can seat you now but you will be charged either way so you might as well just go in and do the rest of it. At this point she started to cry (please don't judge, she has a typically very hard life and had really been looking forward to this) and the manager told her that she couldn't join the group like that so she'd just be charged as a no-show. She left the restaurant crying and composed herself enough to go to guest services at the front where they basically shrugged and said "it was your choice not to join the group, you're a no-show, nothing I can do." She went back to her resort had to ask the front desk person something unrelated - the person asked her if she was ok and had been crying and she started crying again. The front desk CM gave her a voucher for a meal and a few fastpasses because it was all she could do. It was a nice gesture and it did make her feel better that the CM made that gesture to her but she didn't even want to use the meal voucher.

She contacted through email and a CM called her, showed some kindness, apologized for what had happened, gave her a refund and her direct contact and helped her to score a last minute reservation for the next time she traveled. Apparently it is very very hard to get a reservation last minute but she worked some magic for her. Because of her situation at home she doesn't know what her plans will be 6 months out and a couple of nights at WDW 1-2 times a year is her only break from it.

But I could not honestly believe how she was treated in the moment. She was there early, someone messed up and didn't seat her, and she was treated like a criminal when she asked for a partial refund based on missing part of it through no fault of her own, and then the manager was basically cold to her and waved her off when she got upset. I still can't believe it happened at Disney but it did. She is a huge fan of Disney and realizes she just had a bad run with a couple of bad eggs but honestly, dealing with those CMs did way more to ruin her vacation than what happened initially and that is one of the reasons I won't deal with stuff in person on my vacation... because if it goes poorly it will just waste precious vacation time. If I'm bothered enough by it I will email when I get back because I have also had an amazing and above and beyond experience with the CMs at the other end of that email myself.
That really was a horrible experience, made a 100 Times worse by so much very very poor customer service. I like your idea of dealing with situations like this once you get home and not in the moment because it sounds like it can make matters worse and wreck the rest of a Disney vacation. I would have started crying too! For sure!
 
That really was a horrible experience, made a 100 Times worse by so much very very poor customer service. I like your idea of dealing with situations like this once you get home and not in the moment because it sounds like it can make matters worse and wreck the rest of a Disney vacation. I would have started crying too! For sure!
yes, we are both VERY disney experienced and I honestly could not believe what she was telling me really happened (I kind of got the real time blow by blow because she was texting me while trying to calm down).

I'm quite sure that this is NOT a usual and very extreme situation. I think most CMs want to make guests happy. But I think there is inconsistency in what CMs can and do offer to guests and they are human too, might be having a bad day, might not handle it well in the moment. I like to take all of that out of it and send an email when I am calm and when they can put their best foot forward. I have not had a ton of trouble but at all but when I'm traveling solo with my son I am not going to take time out to wait in a line to complain about something unless it's something I NEED resolved now, like a billing error or some other kind of thing I can't just move past for the moment.
 
We were told Soatin, Frozen fastpass for the next day, or sorry bye
I think that's reasonable. Not the "sorry, bye", but party attendees were provided options. Those options did not work for some of you, but they exist(ed).

Disney can't be expected to be responsible for guests' decisions what to ride or not which days of their visit, or their respective decisions to reserve an event very late in the visit. But estimating the value of the ride at $30 is unrealistic.
 
Last edited:
We had this happen in 2017. They offered Soarin', but both of my kids were too short to ride (and would have been afraid). Then they offered a FP for FEA the next day, but it was our last day (and what is the chance someone is going to EPCOT two days in a row). Then they told me that is all they could do. Ultimately, I contacted guest services and I got an anytime FP for our next trip. Ironically, the anytime FP couldn't be used on FEA (it was excluded).

I do think considering FEA has no height restriction and a lot of families did the FEA dessert party, an alternative without a height restriction should / could be available. Like meeting Anna / Elsa would have been awesome. And given how much FEA is down, it's reasonable they have such plans in place.
 
I do think considering FEA has no height restriction and a lot of families did the FEA dessert party, an alternative without a height restriction should / could be available. Like meeting Anna / Elsa would have been awesome. And given how much FEA is down, it's reasonable they have such plans in place.
not a bad idea, but would require either having CMs sitting around in costume just in case the ride goes down, or worse, having CMs on call. Neither would be good practice. Probably the Mexico ride should be used as back-up: it's a(nother) boat ride with no height restriction, and it's adjacent.

But, did the Norway attraction go down so frequently before it was redesigned?
 
I'm getting worried now. We just booked our party for next month and it is purely because I'm a huge Elsa fan, so the themed party/desserts plus the ride are a big deal to me. I think I would cry if the ride was not available and I had not rode it yet.
I did have a FP for FEA but after the dessert party was reserved, we changed it to Test Track. I noticed that multiple times were still available for all 3 top tier rides for Jan. 27th. I'm thinking that because there's still so much availability on ALL of them, I should be able to get FEA in the afternoon when our first 3 FP are done.

Do you think I should risk it in light of this new information about your experience?
 

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!





Latest posts

Top