Dining advice

[heathpack]

They may have looked long, but they move very fast. It is incredibly unlikely that you would have waited more than 5 minutes or so. I’m sorry that you had such a poor experience.

We actually weren’t there for treats so we didn’t really care about the treat lines until there was nothing else to do, and as an example of something Disney could easily modify on the fly to give the impression that they care about zero entertainment happening.

However, Mr H was in the men’s room and some guy was trying to open his fun size Skillets and they fell on the floor. Bathroom guy expressed frustration to Mr H because he’d waited 25 minutes for that pack of Skittles. So I can’t say every treat line took 25 minutes because they all looked too long to me to bother. But some of the treat lines were a 25 min wait to obtain an 11 cent piece of candy. Back in 1974 when my allowance was 25 cents a week, that ratio of effort to reward might have worked for me. But nowadays not so much.

 

[heathpack]

Reading on FB that even the Hocus Pocus show that went off was 3 min instead of the full show.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Reading on FB that even the Hocus Pocus show that went off was 3 min instead of the full show.

I would contact guest relations. You may be able to get some kind of credit. They’ve done that in the past.

 

[heathpack]

Got a refund.

 

[TheHolleys87]

Got a refund.

I’m sorry you had such a bad time, happy that you got a refund!

 

[heathpack]

I’m sorry you had such a bad time, happy that you got a refund!

We are back on track, lesson learned. Currently enjoying the pool complex at BCV while thunderstorms threaten. The cloud cover is really nice!

This morning we had a nice 40% off breakfast at Ale & Compass. We did the continental buffet enhancement to our entrees. I had the steak and eggs which were meh, Mr H had the French toast special which was a banana bread theme- it was very good. But the continental buffet was the star- every pastry I tried (cheese pastry, banana bread, cinnamon roll) + the overnight oats was excellent (there was also a cheddar biscuit which was ‘fine’’). I think it was something like $45 for two including tip. The likelihood of being hungry for our Toledo dinner reservation is low. Still stuffed!

The “enhancement” course:

 

[nomoretslt]

@heathpack wow what a disappointment. Florida weather is so unpredictable. More disappointing is that you were given 1 bag of skittles at a time? Last time I went it was a few at a time. Seemed very disorganized especially with the app going down. Not surprising tho….about the app. Glad you got your refund, but still a waste of your evening. When I went with DD a few years back, it was a Mother’s Day or birthday gift.

When DH and I went to a moonlight Magic event at AK a couple years back, we were given a boatload of candy when exiting the park…apparently leftovers from a cancelled Halloween party the previous night due to weather.

Hope the rest of the trip goes smoothly.

 

[heathpack]

@heathpack wow what a disappointment. Florida weather is so unpredictable. More disappointing is that you were given 1 bag of skittles at a time? Last time I went it was a few at a time. Seemed very disorganized especially with the app going down. Not surprising tho….about the app. Glad you got your refund, but still a waste of your evening. When I went with DD a few years back, it was a Mother’s Day or birthday gift.

When DH and I went to a moonlight Magic event at AK a couple years back, we were given a boatload of candy when exiting the park…apparently leftovers from a cancelled Halloween party the previous night due to weather.

Hope the rest of the trip goes smoothly.

I think what they need to do is:

If the first parade hasn’t gone off by say 8:30, they need to cancel it and announce a new entertainment schedule based on their best knowledge. “The second parade is planned for 10:45, the fireworks at 11:15, a full Hocus Pocus show at midnight, and limited Hocus Pocus shows prior to that”. That way people can use their time reasonably.

Then if by 11pm, the second parade hasn’t started, announce a new entertainment schedule. “The fireworks are planned for 11:15, the second parade for 11:45, and the last Hocus Pocus show at 12:10am.”

And so on. Pretending everything is fine is just insulting.

Or SOMETHING that recognizes that you if expect people to plan out their evening based on their priorities, you need to provide some kind of basis for making decisions.

 

[nomoretslt]

Hope you had an uneventful trip home. Curious about how you liked Cake Bake and if you did Fantasmic.

 

[heathpack]

We did go to Fantasmic, 2nd show, perfect seats with no wait.

On our last night (yesterday) we ate at Amare at the Swan Reserve for the Orlando Magical Dining three course meal, with the wine pairings, and then we headed over to HS for Fantasmic.

We wound up getting home super late, still stuffed and feeling the wine, and decided to cancel Cake Bake. It was just too much to try to squeeze in.

In the end, we cancelled Toledo and Cape May too, but snagged a dinner reservation at Beaches and Cream (which was both good and kind of gross). We never got back to the Epcot booths, either.

We had a great time at HS EEH- arrived around 8pm, ate a Ronto wrap, rode Rise with a 25 min wait, and then Falcon, Saucers, Toy Story, and Railroad by 10:30. We were going to back track to ride Slinky but we were tired and headed home. But otherwise we were lazy and didn’t feel like rope dropping, and didn’t spend much time in the parks. It was just too hot and lines were too long. The parks feel less fun to us, just multiple layers of hassles, while we still enjoy the resorts.

Somehow after Beaches and Cream we decided to ride the Skyliner over to check out Riveria- and managed to catch Epcot fireworks going and MK fireworks coming back, without paying any attention to the time or trying to “time it” right.

We spent a lot of time at Stormalong Bay, sleeping in, and not going anywhere in a hurry. Even though it was hot, we were happy with the Sept visit- it was easy to get a shady lounger, lazy River float, etc.

I think our future approach to WDW is going to focus on “nesting”- enjoying the resort and the things near it. Small doses of parks. Calm adult dining experiences (ie probably not Beaches and Cream). Simple transportation routes. Less restaurant meals and more in villa home cooking (six days of Disney food/portions was too much!)

Next trips are:
Dec AKL
Jan Boulder Ridge
Mar Split stay BCV/Poly

After those trips, I will have to assess whether an AP is worth it. It’s a lot to spend for how little time we might spend in the parks in the future. I think it might make more sense for us to just buy a 1 or 2 day no hopper pass during a week’s stay, and some judicious LL purchases. Or maybe even try some parkless stays! We’ll see how we feel after a few visits in cooler weather.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Got a refund.

Glad to hear it. You called guest services? This is one area where Disney absolutely shines. Did they give you an actual refund, or just a credit? Credits sound pretty common but if you got a full refund that’s some decent pixie dust.

 

[rickandcindy23]

We have arrived to our 9 point studio (whoops we got an upgrade) 1BR at OKW.

Met up on the drive down with my Cast Member cousin who gave us six snack vouchers that she can’t use and are expiring soon. Good for Mickey bar, frozen banana, Mickey pretzel, and similar items. Just what we need: more food!

That is a nice pixie dusting! I love OKW. It's Rick's absolute favorite, which is why we bought there. The rooms are amazing, and the kitchen is so big and nice and room for me to make our sandwiches for lunch, while he makes breakfast. The other one bedrooms, we are in one another's way to get these tasks finished.

 

[heathpack]

Glad to hear it. You called guest services? This is one area where Disney absolutely shines. Did they give you an actual refund, or just a credit? Credits sound pretty common but if you got a full refund that’s some decent pixie dust.

We went to guest services at the International Gateway at Epcot. Yes, we got a full refund in the form of a Disney gift card. We will apply it to our MF.

It seemed like they were making an exception for us. I was calm but I think they could tell that I was 100% dissatisfied with the experience. I think I would have had zero argument if they had issued a new entertainment schedule. But my basic complaint was that it was not possible to go off an do anything else because you had no idea when the entertainment you were there to see might actually happen. So all you could do was stand around the parade route listening to an announcement every 10 min that the parade was delayed, with no idea what that translated into for a parade time, fireworks time, stage show time, and no idea how you'd find out about those things other than standing around and listening for announcements.

I think Disney has people well trained to accept this kind of BS. "It was weather!" "Your own fault for going in the rainy season!" "Disney can't predict the weather!"

Sure all of those things are true- but if you (Disney) are going to charge a butt ton for a party like this and plan entertainment that's so elaborate that it can't happen if if is threatening to rain (but not actually raining), then you should also have the skill set to formulate a rain plan and have a method to convey that plan to your customers. Not being able to throw a functional party because of the threat of rain is a complete deal breaker for me to even consider a future party. But the refund made me feel like Disney at least does give a flip what my experience was like, even though during the party itself it sure didn't feel that way. So I think the refund was a smart move on their part because it wasn't completely about the money. It was in part about willing they were to leave me feeling completely ripped off. Which honestly- I somewhat feel with the current park experience.