WDW cancelled our castle dinner?

[Nancyg56]

I hope you're right and wished I had your confidence.

If there is one thing that DIsney is known for, it is how they make situations like this right. If they did not reach every party, they know who they need to be waiting for, and will be prepared to do more than tell them to hop on the carousel. Those who were not happy with the first offer will have someone work with them to try to rectify the problem.

I am not trying to give Disney a pass on this because even as I understand businesses do make these changes, I do not approve.

I think the unhappiness is more about the idea that this wasn't an isolated incident, that other people were similarly bumped on OP's night and theoretically have been or will be in the future for similar reasons. I think it's about losing trust in the reservation process that Disney trains people to buy into, and ultimately maybe losing a little trust in Disney. I think it's more like that.

I think that in part, you are right. Even knowing that no matter where you go, or what you reserve, there is a chance the business will change it if they determine it is in their best interest, it is not easy to believe tht Disney will do that.

You know, the outrage or dissatisfaction would not be so profound if this was a normal Disney practice. Folks would commiserate but then tell the OP this happens all the time, and this is what they do to avoid it. Disney is known for keeping promises, and an ADR is a promise. Disney customer service standards are high, and that is why folks were upset that the original offer did not seem to be enough to rectify a circumstance that was not okay. That Disney corrected that is what we all wanted to happen in the first place.

One thing we do not know is how many other families Disney that Disney made whole again. We know that many were very upset, but the OP is not able to tell us how many of them were offered something that made their plans better.

If this event is successful, I think that rather than folks getting bumped, the evening that it is held on will be blocked from the schedule. It seems to me that DIsney is trying to expand their high end dining events that are successful during F&W, and is experimenting with locations that they did not traditionally use.

 

[Nancyg56]

Maybe "understandable" is the wrong word, but it's certainly not unexpected or unusual. This happens all around the hospitality business all the time. I don't quite see why so many people are so shocked.

I travel for about 150 nights per year. I've showed up at hotels in the middle of the night, only to find out there are no more rooms available, despite my reservation. I've had car rental locations run out of vehicles, despite my reservation. I've had airlines change aircraft at the last moment and suddenly not have enough seats for all confirmed passengers, despite my reservation.

In other words, I'm used to it. The key is how the company responds. I applaud the original poster for pushing the issue and receiving an acceptable resolution.

People are upset because this is so unusual as far as Disney goes. I think that as a business, Disney has a reputation of high standards in customer service and satisfaction. Even as we discuss areas that we see a decline we still maintain this expectation that for the most part, Disney will keep it's promise. You rent a room, it is there, and if not....boom! You get a better one. Disney does not send you to Motel 6 when they oversell. You buy tickets, the park is open. You reserve your table at CRT, it is there. So when it is not, we are surprised and upset.

I truly believe that the reason people are offended for the OP having to ask to be better accomodated is that we do not want that special bubble we call WDW exposed as a business like all others. Kind of like we really don't want our local representative, the one we went to school with, attended fundraisers with, and trusted to be "one of us" to turn out to be a "Politician" like all the rest of them.

One thing that I think we should all remember in this is that while Disney knew they were displacing these families, they had no way of knowing all of the plans that they had in place. The original offer was probably just that. A place to start and for some would be enough. For other, a more involved plan would need to be offered.

 

[Sargeant Tibbs]

I agree that there is probably more to this story and I am also glad that OP'S situation worked out fine and hope the other 29 families are at least as pleased as he is.
The examples you cited are operational issues. They're things that just happen, that can't be controlled or predicted. Another example would be if CRT was upgrading their kitchen equipment.

What happened in this case was not operational in my opinion and can't even technically be claimed to be. It was a conscious decision to displace 30 families to accommodate 60 people willing to pay a boat ton of money. That isn't operational, that is greed.

Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know the titles for these kinds of jobs, but let's just say that Sally works at DW as an events coordinator. She and her team are put in charge of this food event. They plan it out months in advance, then send these plans out to the appropriate people; chefs, restaurants, managers, etc. One of those people is the one who loads restaurant availability into the system for ADRs. Someone has a job like this, or it is part of their job, as availability fluctuates throughout the year depending on crowd levels and how much wait staff they are going to bring in. Let's just pretend that this person forgot to load no availability for CRT that night. Or maybe Sally forgot to tell him. Oops! It doesn't get caught for quite awhile. ADRs have been made, but this event, which has already had lots of money sunk into the planning of it, cannot be cancelled. What should Disney do?

How is this not an operational issue due to human error?

I think they handled it admirably. If all those families are being moved to different days and being given park hoppers, Disney is putting out a bit of money to make this right. They will have to bring in extra wait and kitchen staff on those days to turn tables over faster, as the restaurant is actually booked solid and they are finding ways to squeeze them in, which means they now have to pay more employees when they hadn't planned to. They are now putting themselves out to fix their own mistake.

 

[MamaBelle4]

Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know the titles for these kinds of jobs, but let's just say that Sally works at DW as an events coordinator. She and her team are put in charge of this food event. They plan it out months in advance, then send these plans out to the appropriate people; chefs, restaurants, managers, etc. One of those people is the one who loads restaurant availability into the system for ADRs. Someone has a job like this, or it is part of their job, as availability fluctuates throughout the year depending on crowd levels and how much wait staff they are going to bring in. Let's just pretend that this person forgot to load no availability for CRT that night. Or maybe Sally forgot to tell him. Oops! It doesn't get caught for quite awhile. ADRs have been made, but this event, which has already had lots of money sunk into the planning of it, cannot be cancelled. What should Disney do?

How is this not an operational issue due to human error?

I think they handled it admirably. If all those families are being moved to different days and being given park hoppers, Disney is putting out a bit of money to make this right. They will have to bring in extra wait and kitchen staff on those days to turn tables over faster, as the restaurant is actually booked solid and they are finding ways to squeeze them in, which means they now have to pay more employees when they hadn't planned to. They are now putting themselves out to fix their own mistake.

But that is only one, very narrow, hypothetical situation. Allow me to pose one.

2 months ago, not happy with the current profits, a higher up came up with a suggestion. "Let's start the Chef series early and start at CRT, since the castle holds a special spot for a lot of people. We can have a reception and primo fireworks viewing."
"What about all those people with ADRs?"
"They can be moved. After all, that's how it's done in the hospitality business. Everyone knows a reservation isn't a guarantee. Work on the press release and details of the plan, then we will figure out what to do with those 30 families."

Isn't that JUST as likely?

 

[eeyoreandtink]

Maybe "understandable" is the wrong word, but it's certainly not unexpected or unusual. This happens all around the hospitality business all the time. I don't quite see why so many people are so shocked.

I travel for about 150 nights per year. I've showed up at hotels in the middle of the night, only to find out there are no more rooms available, despite my reservation. I've had car rental locations run out of vehicles, despite my reservation. I've had airlines change aircraft at the last moment and suddenly not have enough seats for all confirmed passengers, despite my reservation.

In other words, I'm used to it. The key is how the company responds. I applaud the original poster for pushing the issue and receiving an acceptable resolution.

I don't think anyone is shocked. I do think people with reservations that were cancelled are understandably upset, and those of us observing this play out are not pleased that people are being lied to and that Disney doesn't seem to want to truly make this right unless pushed.

 

[TeresaWen]

Yes, I feel 100% confident that every single person who was displaced was offered a replacement time or another solution. I do not believe this OP was the only person they worked with

They worked with him because he did not take the first offer. many will take the advice of some and "go with the flow"

 

[ellie05]

Yep, and this issue was managed brilliantly. A replacement, which was ultimately better for the OP, was found. Just what is the issue now?

It wasn't managed brilliantly at all OP got a call and got unacceptable replacements had to wait to get another call all while waiting in limbo. The situation would have been handled brilliantly if they say hey we all ready have a full restaurant let's move the dinner to somewhere else. Heck for all I care close the hub grass area throw some tables and serve dinner out of the plaza kitchen.

I can't get over whats the most insane to me, that Disney did this or that some people don't see an issue with it. Look, it's DISNEY that created this mentality of planning at 180 days out, DISNEY has to accept the blame when they mess people about because they figured out a way to rinse an insane amount of money from people.

I agree completely with you what I learned on this boards are that certain people can't take off their Disney color glasses at any point and will take anything that Disney does with a smile nothing is somehow unacceptable when it comes from Disney. For me this just add to a long list of issues why we won't renew our AP and will take a long Disney break.

Op I am glad you work something out. I wouldn't accept this from Disney or any other place and if they weren't kids involved I would have cancelled that trip in a minute.

 

[Accident]

Also a bunch of us here have been emailing our dislike in this situation. WDW Guest Services <guest.services@disneyworld.com> if you have something to tell disney as well

 

[AngiTN]

I was done with this thread. But really, this rant on the video goes too far. Talk about leaving out facts and details and twisting things to make it sound worse that it is

Also a bunch of us here have been emailing our dislike in this situation. WDW Guest Services <guest.services@disneyworld.com> if you have something to tell disney as well

Douchy is to present this as if they threw the guests out with nothing. Nothing of the sort happened.

No, I don't think Disney does no wrong. I got a phone call from George's office today to discuss something else. From an email I sent.
But folks, this was happened for a reason that NO ONE HERE KNOWS. Calls were made to fix it. Matter of fact, I'll venture to guess that many who had 9:00 ADR because that was all that was available when they called were able to get a better time. So like OP, this horrific situation worked out to their benefit. Bet they don't think it was douchy at all.

 

[Allison]

I think Pete nailed it.

Thank goodness in the end things worked out for this family.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

I was done with this thread. But really, this rant on the video goes too far. Talk about leaving out facts and details and twisting things to make it sound worse that it is

Douchy is to present this as if they threw the guests out with nothing. Nothing of the sort happened.

No, I don't think Disney does no wrong. I got a phone call from George's office today to discuss something else. From an email I sent.
But folks, this was happened for a reason that NO ONE HERE KNOWS. Calls were made to fix it. Matter of fact, I'll venture to guess that many who had 9:00 ADR because that was all that was available when they called were able to get a better time. So like OP, this horrific situation worked out to their benefit. Bet they don't think it was douchy at all.

I got the same call from George's office that you did. We both know they didn't handle everyone else that they called in the same way. It took a LOT of us emailing the right people to get that resolved. Had more of us not complained, what they told the first batch would have stood. We had to push to get it resolved. (For those of you not reading along this was about the Highway in the Sky event)

While the video does misrepresent the situation here, It's the same idea. They offered a much less than ideal solution at first, nowhere near equivalent to what they were losing. The OP had to really push to get a fair resolution, and that shouldn't be the case.

 

[Nancyg56]

I think Pete nailed it.

Thank goodness in the end things worked out for this family.

I think that the daily fix rant ranted without knowing more than what was posted on the thread. We do not know all the behind the scenes details that guests were offered in order to make this right. We have no idea if the timeframes the repositioned guests had was their first choice, and we do not know how many were left unhappy. I am among those who feel that these arbitrary changes are not a good practice, but I am not going to call the folks who implemented them "douchbags". I have dealt with real 'Douchy" people and businesses, and those people and businesses do not try to correct the unissued they create. They do not even apologize.

 

[Allison]

Well, I wouldn't call them names but other than that I'm good with what was said.

 

[TeresaWen]

I think Pete nailed it.

Thank goodness in the end things worked out for this family.

Pete has a new fan!

 

[pixie08]

Whatever you decide, they need to fit you in somehow. Maybe flip ressies as mentioned above and switch your BBB ressies to match your CRT. Good luck!

 

[jpeden]

I got the same call from George's office that you did. We both know they didn't handle everyone else that they called in the same way. It took a LOT of us emailing the right people to get that resolved. Had more of us not complained, what they told the first batch would have stood. We had to push to get it resolved. (For those of you not reading along this was about the Highway in the Sky event)

While the video does misrepresent the situation here, It's the same idea. They offered a much less than ideal solution at first, nowhere near equivalent to what they were losing. The OP had to really push to get a fair resolution, and that shouldn't be the case.

And I got the same calls about that issue that both of you did and I think everyone would agree that had I not reported back and said "Email George, this is unacceptable" nothing probably would have happened on that front. I'm also willing to bet my annual pass money that NO ONE got the comp that I did - mainly because I believe I was the first one to complain. I'm sure they thought if they pacified me, that would be the end of it. Yes, they reversed that decision but some people here refuse to see principle.

You work and save to take your kid to CRT and BBB and because you can't afford $500 a head, they throw you out on the street. I get they tried to make arrangements, but what if you were only there for two nights and you didn't have park hoppers or a whole other load of variables. Trying to re-book something isn't the end all be all. Disney at one point was a place where class division via income existed on a small scale. Now, if you don't have $500 a head, screw your plans you've had for six months - we're taking your place and just hope that your schedule accommodates what we can offer.

Don't get me wrong - I LOVE WDW. But these type of things really irritate me to no end. There will be a lot of people who don't read these boards and just accept what Disney offers as fact - and they shouldn't do that. When we pay what we pay to vacation at Disney, the level of customer service needs to be phenomenal. This is a money grab, plain and simple. And it's a forbearer of a sad state of the company in my mind.

 

[mummabear]

we had our castle dinner cancelled accidentally which was determined to be someone at disney. we didn't find out until we were driving to florida when we saw that what we paid was refunded back. we emailed and called customer service who said there was no availability. we were nice about it and just asked that they help find us a reservation. disney ended up going above and beyond. they found us a reservation, upgraded us to park hoppers so we could make the reservation while we were in another park, comped our meal, gave my daughter an engraved glass slipper and we received a $150 gift card.

That's a good outcome. Like you I was firm but polite when we had an issue with our CRT booking last trip we had booked for 5 (including an infant) then called because they had charged us for that infant. It took months to get the refund sorted and when I finally sorted that it turned out that the CM had changed our reservation to 4, the "new" CM was telling me that we wouldn't be able to have the booking because it was for 4 and they didn't have capacity for another. I was firm that I had made the reservation for 5, it was their error not mine and I had played by the rules to get my ADR with a BBB beforehand and it was up to them to find a way to fix it.

If they get everyone in to CRT at some point during their trips then it isn't quite that horrible. It may mean giving them all hoppers so they can get in but I bet they can find a way to get everyone seated at CRT.

It is actually, finding them a replacement ADR at CRT is the bare minimum they need to do.
You can't forget that Disney requires you to make such set plans with FP+ that even if they comp park hoppers that is still wasted park time having to switch and possibly messes up your FP+ or makes you miss something like F! You have scheduled

I get why the fine print exists, broken pipe, another issue with the restaurant, there are legitimate reasons why Disney could cancel a reservation. But to cancel someone that booked 180 days in advance because they added a special event within a month of the reservation is absolutely not acceptable. I understand why Disney does special events at a premium, I even participate in some of them, but to cancel those that already had a reservation so that you can make money on a premium event is really taking this to a new level.

Just because the fine print on the reservation allows them to do this doesn't mean they should.

Exactly, particularly with a prepaid booking.

Being jerk would be to cancel and not offer them anything. They could have done this, folks do realize this.
So far, they are not being a jerk at all
Give them a chance before you throw the mouse under the mousetrap

Nope they definitely crossed the being a jerk line by cancelling the reservations in the first place.
The non jerk move would have been to blocked out this dinner time 181 days ago so these people weren't able to book it in the first place, let's face it had Disney done that even if they decided not to go ahead with the special event they could have likely sold out CRT on short notice.
Otherwise Disney could have had this special event as an after hours event.

 

[Lisa F]

And, based on what the OP reported I am 100% confident they were lied to, and offered the same substandard "replacement" the op was.

How is "the same meal at a different time that day or if it must be dinner another highly coveted MK restaurant" substandard? I'm guessing most people with little girls who had late dinner ADRs were happy to have an earlier one... some people like to eat late but for most little kids, eating that late is not really ideal. The big deal was the BBB reservation but when the first CM couldn't handle moving it to another date, it was escalated to someone who did and it seems like with zero pushback.

Still not sure what is so substandard about what was offered.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

How is "the same meal at a different time that day or if it must be dinner another highly coveted MK restaurant" substandard? I'm guessing most people with little girls who had late dinner ADRs were happy to have an earlier one... some people like to eat late but for most little kids, eating that late is not really ideal.

Breakfast and lunch are definitely not the same as a dinner reservation at pretty much any restaurant. Most people want a sit down dinner, not breakfast or lunch. Sure, people with a 9:00 ADR are probably glad, but dinner time in my house has always been 7:00, and if they offered me breakfast or lunch instead of that, yes that's substandard. Frankly, when you have a little girl that has a BBB appointment and her heart set on dinner with the princesses, BOG just doesn't cut it. Plus, it messes with fastpasses, park days, and other dining plans. Not fixing everything they mess up by choosing to boot them for someone willing to pay more is unacceptable IMO. They should have rearranged everything that needed fixing to make this right, and for everyone effected not just those willing to push past the corporate rhetoric.

The whole thing was poorly handled. Disney shouldn't have booted these people at all. They should have blocked this time out before reservations were made, or done the event after hours.

 

[Lisa F]

Breakfast and lunch are definitely not the same as a dinner reservation at pretty much any restaurant. Most people want a sit down dinner, not breakfast or lunch. Sure, people with a 9:00 ADR are probably glad, but dinner time in my house has always been 7:00, and if they offered me breakfast or lunch instead of that, yes that's substandard. Frankly, when you have a little girl that has a BBB appointment and her heart set on dinner with the princesses, BOG just doesn't cut it. Plus, it messes with fastpasses, park days, and other dining plans. Not fixing everything they mess up by choosing to boot them for someone willing to pay more is unacceptable IMO. They should have rearranged everything that needed fixing to make this right, and for everyone effected not just those willing to push past the corporate rhetoric.

The whole thing was poorly handled. Disney shouldn't have booted these people at all. They should have blocked this time out before reservations were made, or done the event after hours.

Lunch is in fact EXACTLY the same thing at CRT. The same menu, the same cost, the same experience. It's just a different time. That time didn't work for the OP because of the BBB reservation, and he stated so to the first line CM who called him. My impression was not that he had to "push past the corporate rhetoric"... the first line CM said "I can't do that for you but I will have someone else call you." (paraphrasing). It seems like it was offered freely. The someone else had the authority to move around whatever needed to be moved in order to make it work for the OP. Really not sure why the anger and outrage on behalf of someone who admittedly ended up with something better than what he had before, and he didn't have to fight for it, just ask for what he wanted and what worked for him. Sounds like he was accommodated willingly by someone who had the power to move more things around.