I've reached my breaking point with Disney and this mess

[brockash]

People tend to think Disney is a world of pixie dust and nothing bad happens. Actually Disney is a huge company trying to survive this pandemic. Thousands of employees were without work. Call center employees had angry customers whose vacations were ruined because of an unforeseen pandemic. They did the best they could thinking parks would be open and offered free dining. They weren’t aware of all the new social distancing rules and laws in states. They don’t have a crystal ball. Things change daily! The Disney owing anyone anything is untrue. They can’t allow free dining because of restrictions. Parks can’t be open late because of distancing. Fastpasses go becauseof distancing. People need to think they aren’t the only ones affected by this and not have the entitlement attitude .

I'm sorry how is reduced hrs good for social distancing? Oh right it's not, it's the complete opposite.

They couldn't live up to their end of deal they initiated in free dining (will they not be selling food?) - at the very least they should allow those ppl. to get their money back for all the upcharging they paid to get the free dining. Yet, they're not instead they're only allowing them to cancel or pay way more than earlier agreed upon terms. Give me a break.
Look for those who are happy to deal with and give a company who behaves in this manner more power to you...you're the ones, the only ones Disney wants. However, the disgusting ambushing of ppl. jumping all over the OP, because she wants to express her concern of being taken advantage of is shameful.

 

[brockash]

So what would you have them do? If they're realizing that they don't have the capacity to offer the service ("Man, we sold enough plans to fill X% of our TSR, but now we can't put that many people in there"), they have to come up with something that will allow them to open. The alternative is zero Disney for anyone.

Allow them to book at a price and with tix they would've had the offer not been extended. Pretty simple, you know treat them decently. We paid more for park hoppers and with more days than we needed to get the "deal." We paid rack rate for the resort...no Disney knowledgeable person would ever pay rack rate without some kind of deal. They're doing none of that though...only giving us the opportunity to be "lucky enough" to pay way more than we agreed upon or cancel. Horrible customer service and beyond dishonest... I never thought I'd get that from Disney of all companies.

 

[skyblue17]

If you can cancel and get your money back, what is the problem? Cancel and get your money back.

 

[Planogirl]

No one is forcing anyone to go to WDW. Don't like their terms then don't go. Unless I've missed something, no one loses any money if they cancel.

I'm a huge Disney critic nowadays but some of this seems unfair.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I would just cancel and get my money back. I wouldn’t go to Disney with how it’s set up right now. Complaining is a waste of time IMO.


I’m not the one who makes excuses for Disney so I do think maybe they pulled a fast one by offering free dining knowing darn well they wouldn’t be able to have restaurants at capacity. They probably had an idea they’d have to cancel them later. But this is a pandemic. Customers should know things are changing at a moments notice too.

That’s why we aren’t vacationing anywhere this summer and maybe even fall and winter. Too much unknown and uncertainty. I don’t want to invest that much money and then show up and have things cancelled or changed. Whether it’s Disney or elsewhere.

 

[Dole_whip_doll]

This seems really familiar to something I remember from college....

decided to go to Denny’s, we never went to Denny’s, but that was the only place to get pancakes, so we went.

The waitress came to our table and immediately started listing off “we don’t have a, b, c....” she listed about 10 things. Much like what Disney first said: they won’t have parades, fireworks, characters, etc.

ok, no biggie, she didn’t say what our draw was-pancakes-so we order and wait. Much like people that said “well, we still have dining/fast passes” whatever.

the waitress did offer us a free app sampler because of the problems—similar to Disney’s free dining plan extension for those affected

A few minutes later she came back “we’re actually out of the sampler too AND pancakes”. So also similar to Disney’s bandaid that they subsequently ripped off.

That Denny’s shut down completely a few weeks later.

 

[tcufrog]

Honestly, this is a classic First World Problem, and I'm saying that as someone who isn't a Disney fan. Right now, the news for my city is flooded with news of major companies headquartered here who are filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy because of this pandemic. The people working for those companies have problems. You have an inconvenience.

 

[Searc]

I'm sorry how is reduced hrs good for social distancing? Oh right it's not, it's the complete opposite.

They couldn't live up to their end of deal they initiated in free dining (will they not be selling food?) - at the very least they should allow those ppl. to get their money back for all the upcharging they paid to get the free dining. Yet, they're not instead they're only allowing them to cancel or pay way more than earlier agreed upon terms. Give me a break.
Look for those who are happy to deal with and give a company who behaves in this manner more power to you...you're the ones, the only ones Disney wants. However, the disgusting ambushing of ppl. jumping all over the OP, because she wants to express her concern of being taken advantage of is shameful.

Man, you sure think Disney owes you something, don't you?

The shorter hours are to compensate for all of the massive cleaning/disinfecting they'll need to do at the end of every day.

 

[Searc]

Allow them to book at a price and with tix they would've had the offer not been extended. Pretty simple, you know treat them decently. We paid more for park hoppers and with more days than we needed to get the "deal." We paid rack rate for the resort...no Disney knowledgeable person would ever pay rack rate without some kind of deal. They're doing none of that though...only giving us the opportunity to be "lucky enough" to pay way more than we agreed upon or cancel. Horrible customer service and beyond dishonest... I never thought I'd get that from Disney of all companies.

Then cancel.

Your options are pretty simple ~ cancel and get all your money refunded and take that money to a business you feel deserves it, or keep your reservation and deal with the new Disney guidelines.

 

[Disneylover99]

When Disney offered the free dining recovery, I believe they did it believing Disney would be opened with some semblance of normalcy when parks eventually reopened. But so much has changed since then. And Disney now realizes, there is no way to feasibly make this work.

So I actually applaud Disney on this move. Cancelling dining plans, fp’s, experiences, etc.... Pare it all down. Let people cancel who are not happy. Disney needs to limit attendance anyways.

And I say this as someone who has just lost their fp’s, dining reservations and free dining. There has been a worldwide pandemic going on for months and the future of many things is uncertain. Disney doesn’t owe me or anyone else a thing over this.

People should cancel, get their money back and move on if they don’t want to go.

 

[Disneylover99]

I'm sorry how is reduced hrs good for social distancing? Oh right it's not, it's the complete opposite.

I was thinking the reduced hours is just another way to discourage people from taking their vacations right now. Nobody wants limited park hours. They are trying to limit people who want to come.

@Searc had a good point too. Needing time for CM’s to disinfect parks. Which is probably the main reason.

 

[Renarr]

I was thinking the reduced hours is just another way to discourage people from taking their vacations right now. Nobody wants limited park hours. They are trying to limit people who want to come.

@Searc had a good point too. Needing time for CM’s to disinfect parks. Which is probably the main reason.

The other thought I had is that most of the parks are now only open for 8-9 hours, which signals to me that there will be much more limited shift changes.

 

[DeniseJH]

We had to cancel a vacation in May. It never occurred to either one of us to ask for, or expect anything. We got our money back and if/when we can go again in the future we will. None of this is Disney's fault.

 

[skyblue17]

We had to cancel a vacation in May. It never occurred to either one of us to ask for, or expect anything. We got our money back and if/when we can go again in the future we will. None of this is Disney's fault.

I go on an annual international vacation that takes place in late January. It went on sale as usual a few weeks ago and most people went ahead and booked it. I didn't feel comfortable figuring out all the contingency plans that might be needed, or want to have to figure out how much money I might lose if I couldn't go and it wasn't canceled ("cancel for any reason" travel insurance is hard to come by in my state) so I simply opted not to book. No one is being forced to book vacations in a period of time where no one knows what the heck is going on. Doing so is signing off on any changes or uncertainties that come with it.

 

[NotUrsula]

I think that a lot of frayed tempers would be diffused if Disney would just be open about reasons and stop trying to keep secrets in order to hedge bets. Transparency goes a LONG way when it comes to corporate popularity. Look at how much we are all guessing at motives; wouldn't we be happier if they just told us why they are making the choices that they are? (And it can be done without drowning the disinterested in information; that's what webpage links are for.)

If you are shortening hours in order to clean, then say that. If you are doing it because finances are strained, then admit it (and make darned sure that you don't pay outsize bonuses to any executives while low-level staff deal are given layoffs &/or reduced hours.) Admit your mistakes and pledge to make a good-faith effort not to repeat them.

I think that even beyond those of us here who have always been fans, Disney has a huge load to carry as a symbol of American prosperity. I have a feeling that almost every major press outlet in the world is likely to run a major headline and photo front and center on the day that the Magic Kingdom reopens; that will be widely embraced as the most visible signal of the beginning of the end of this global nightmare. That may be unfair in many ways, but it speaks to the company's potential for a solid recovery, if only they don't shoot themselves in the figurative foot.

 

[Searc]

I think that a lot of frayed tempers would be diffused if Disney would just be open about reasons and stop trying to keep secrets in order to hedge bets. Transparency goes a LONG way when it comes to corporate popularity. Look at how much we are all guessing at motives; wouldn't we be happier if they just told us why they are making the choices that they are? (And it can be done without drowning the disinterested in information; that's what webpage links are for.)

If you are shortening hours in order to clean, then say that. If you are doing it because finances are strained, then admit it (and make darned sure that you don't pay outsize bonuses to any executives while low-level staff deal are given layoffs &/or reduced hours.) Admit your mistakes and pledge to make a good-faith effort not to repeat them.

I think that even beyond those of us here who have always been fans, Disney has a huge load to carry as a symbol of American prosperity. I have a feeling that almost every major press outlet in the world is likely to run a major headline and photo front and center on the day that the Magic Kingdom reopens; that will be widely embraced as the most visible signal of the beginning of the end of this global nightmare. That may be unfair in many ways, but it speaks to the company's potential for a solid recovery, if only they don't shoot themselves in the figurative foot.

https://www.wesh.com/article/disney-top-executives-pay-cuts-coronavirus/31982533#
While I realize these executives make millions of dollars a year and this pay cut is paltry compared to what the vast majority of us make, it's something.

 

[Southernmiss]

Let it go. You emailed and called.

They're extremely busy.

Millions of us have canceled vacation plans with no future dates in sight.

Pandemic.

People are dying and losing everything. Perspective.

I am mourning my own canceled vacation plans with 20 family members in two weeks. No one to blame. No one to "get something from". It's just they way it is.

 

[slpeters]

I'm still trying to decide whether to go in early October. There's lots to weigh. If it was a once in a lifetime trip I definitely would put it off. Since it's not the low crowds may be worth it. It would definitely be a different kind of trip--and there's good and bad to that. The fact of the matter is that if they are going to be running at half or even a third of capacity, they kind of need a lot of people who would otherwise go to decide it's not worth it.

 

[JenniferYoung44]

So what would you have them do? If they're realizing that they don't have the capacity to offer the service ("Man, we sold enough plans to fill X% of our TSR, but now we can't put that many people in there"), they have to come up with something that will allow them to open. The alternative is zero Disney for anyone.

Why don’t they just discount the room by the cost of the dining plan. Then you’d be getting the exact value of what they promised. So if the rack rate room on your current reservation is $500 and you have 2 adults and 2 kids on that reservation the discounted room price would be $500-78-78-30-30=$284.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Man, you sure think Disney owes you something, don't you?

The shorter hours are to compensate for all of the massive cleaning/disinfecting they'll need to do at the end of every day.

Actually, Disney does owe him (and all it’s other customers) something. It owes him exactly what he paid for. When money for a service trades hands, said service should be given. I understand that the situation is fluid, but as such, maybe Disney shouldn’t have been offering deals it wasn’t sure it could honor. It’s a bait and switch. “Here, pay full price for all this, and we’ll give you this valuable item for free!” Then after you pay, “oops, sorry. You won’t be getting the free item now and you still have to pay full price for everything else”. But he can always just get his money back and feel lucky that he has the opportunity to do so, right? I understand Disney can’t control the pandemic but they can control their shady behavior. I love Disney and I own a few DVC contracts but even I can see how unethical this is. But some Disney defenders on here (most people on here) are so blinded by their belief that Disney can do no wrong that they can’t see the wrong that’s right in front of them.