ceo/disney contact info

[joannelee217]

Just finished my 8 days
of the most un magical vacation ever.

dont happen to have time to post it all now...
but does any one have the addreess phone number of
walt disney execs

my problems were so
many...
they cannot go unaddressed.

thanks in advance

the best part was MAGICAL EXPRESS...................

we were treated so horrible, and were made spectacles
by many cast members who would not acknowldege the stroller as a wheel chair and .....forget a shaded place to wait....

upon entereing a ride we immediately took out OUR gac...
half way up the ramp another cast mmbr is screaming....
park that stroller outside the ride.
over and over this same routine. NOt one cast mmbr had to scrutinize the card but rwo or three, they were loud, they were very unproffesional and just rude.

ON the last day at the last ride, I asked to speak to the manager of mgm, he was at the beauty and the beast show.
He didnt show concern, sympathy or compassion.

After 7 days ofthis loud abusive treatment
I was more than ready to depart.

 

[SueM in MN]

Very sorry to hear you were treated like that. i don't have the contact info. Hopefully, someone else does or I will try to find it for you.

 

[spotdog]

I hope you let us know exactly what happened. I have found this board to supportive.

 

[DisneyRocks!]

we were treated so horrible, and were made spectacles by many cast members who would not acknowldege the stroller as a wheel chair

Did you consider getting a wheel chair and using it instead of a stroller? Strollers are not normally associated with someone who needs assistance. Did the stroller have the markings to identify it properly for the CM's?

 

[JudithM]

I am very sorry to read about your unmagical trip to WDW. There is no excuse for rudeness. Having a GAC & showing it is a fine line. I want the CM to be able to see it &, of course, read it, but I don't want every guest around me to know what it is.

I tried quickly to find the email address for guest communications on the Disney official web site - no luck - not easy to navigate if that is all one wants .

 

[SueM in MN]

Did you consider getting a wheel chair and using it instead of a stroller? Strollers are not normally associated with someone who needs assistance. Did the stroller have the markings to identify it properly for the CM's?

Good points, but wheelchairs don't usually work well for smaller children.
Obviously, I don't know the specific answer to your questions, but I'll try to answer generally.

I'm assuming that either the OP had a young child that a rental wheelchair would not work for or had a special needs stroller. They might have even had a regualr stroller, which is OK.
The GAC (Guest Assistance Card) with a stamp to "treat stroller as a wheelchair" is the mechanism that WDW has set up to deal with people who need to use a stroller in that way. Posters have reported some problems in the past with CMs not recognizing their special needs stroller, but this is the first report I've seen where the poster got really rude treatment (and continued to get rude treatment after showing their GAC). In the past, posters have written that other guests in line gave them a hard time, but the CMs were generally nice once they knew there was a GAC for stroller use and actually helped them deal with other guests.
So, what the OP wrote is a change compared to previous.

The rental wheelchairs at WDW really not appropriate for children. They do have a very limited supply of larger child size wheelchairs, but those might not be appropraite because of size and/or because they have no seat belts. I have heard they have pediatric rental wheelchairs, but in all our WDW trips, I have not seen more than one in the parks.
A child sitting in an adult wheelchair will either have to sit way back in the seat (which means their legs stick out straight in front of them because their knees are not at the edge of the seat), or the child has to sit way forward in the seat so their knees can bend (which means they are sitting with no back support). The wheelchair seats are sling type are very wide for a child. The armrests end up being somewherre between midchest and neck high and because of the unstable sling seat, the child can get jostled around a lot while riding the wheelchair.

Special Needs strollers used to look a lot different than regular strollers, but over time, the manufacturers have been making them look more like "typical" strollers. In fact, some "special needs strollers" are just larger versions of the "regular" strollers. In addition, the makers of "regular" strollers have been making their strollers fancier and larger to hold biger kids. When my DD's were little, my fairly small 2 and 1/2 year old didn't fit in her umbrella stroller any more. Now, if you go on the Family Board, you can find posts of people whose 4-6 year olds (even ones wwho are sort of large for their age) still fit in a stroller. So, when you put that all together, the Special Needs strollers don't stand out as much as they used to. Short of putting a sign on the stroller that say "this is a Special Needs Stroller", there is not much way to mark them so they stand out.
And, some people do use the WDW park rental strollers, especially if they have an older child who occasionally needs a stroller (they may not use one enough to buy one since special needs strollers cost at least several hundred dollars).

 

[joannelee217]

I hope you let us know exactly what happened. I have found this board to supportive.

we asked for a stroller because it was covered
the wheel chairs are big and open.
harderto manuever


they are allowed only to provide to stamps we asked for a stroller as wheelchair
and a shaded place to wait
as far as th shaded area forget it ....these rides are so jammed you are lucky to find a cast mmbr til the line moves, and then its to late

We showed the past to every cast mmbr and were re questioned creamed at etc...by some who did not know we had already showed it

at one ride a guy says if you keep walking and ignore me you will be thrown off the attraction
I understand the need to show it to one person but3-4 more is absurd.
I thought the stroller would make my littel one comfortable
but alas she felt like a freak.

and heres the rest of my adventure

Did you mention your concerns when you were there?[/QUOTE]

we did....
and heres the deal
arrived---reservations wee wrong
cast mmbr asked m to re pay.
Had aaaa confirmation in hand.

they called aaa reluctantly
and aaa says the reservation was changed

but no one knew how

one was blaming the other

from there I had to call my credit card and have my bank verify payment
and ---that no credits were issued back

four hours of arguing
in the lobby before someone took ownership....

finally a person named audra called told me to calm down she picked up the tab for my lunch----we were so upset and sick it went in the trash
and would send my autistic child a autograph for our trouble. (WHICH SHE AUDRA never followed through on)

waiting four hrs is hard enough for a child with out a disability,
we had been on a plane since 6am at the airport at 330
and waiting in a lobby forever.


so already the trip has a down side
get to a ps its a bit...out of schedule

Head to the parks pick up a guest assistance card
using a stroller as a wheel chair
I HAVE NEVER encountered so many rude cast members
we would show the card

half way up the ride another cast mmbr begins screaming
park the stroller out side,
at each ride we were made a spectical...
A few cast member were nice but the majority treated us less than
kind. It was 8 days of being screamed at by cast mmbrs...really got to you.

then the first night after the checkin crap
we stayed at MK late...
get back to our room late..

go to crawl in bed the sheets were not changed from the previous guest. to late to call house keeping we laid on our beach towels
kind of like camping out

the dining pplan was good but oyu had to really watch themmany times they charged the room, not the plan....
probably sunday or monday we went to downtown disney to use or aa discount at the world of disney when we got back the cast mmbr did
not take off the 10 percent.
I calledthe front desk of the hotel (MUSIC) and a rude clerk answered told me the disney group doesnt offer a aaa discount, I said I had the card in front of me, he said we dont offer it...I replied I have had a less than magical disney experience...and its getting old fast ....he replied I could make it worse i could hang up on you. and did.

I was shaking, livid, and tired of disney, I called back asked for the manager...she did take off th 10 percent
apologized for Patricks rudeness
and offered to make up for Audras less than proffesional followup.
She sent my little one an autograph of mermaid, and a Stuffed minnie.....

The night befroe we were at epcot
treated the same rude way by cast mmbrs
were never offered a shaded area to wait
they all looked at me like I had 2 heads

but on the way home We got on the music bus which should have take no mo more than 15 mins, and sudddenly the bus is panicking
the driver missed a turn and we were all headed towrads the airport
He dangerously pulled into a road and backed into traffic.....my little one was scared....and we had a hell of a job getting her onto a bus after that.about an hour later we arrived at music.

we went to the pool one day came back to the room our camera was missing, scoured everything suitcases....drawers etc....
finally found it under a bed.

called to report that also....but was told things happen
the maid probably didnt see it.

Another day we got on a bus, it was full sitting.
8am suddenl bus driver lets on a group of Brazil tourists wearing yellow shirts.
not one or two he had about 40 standing up.
They chanted
they hooted hollered in their native tongue...loud over bearing as if they were the only people there. they were so loud it was scary
stomping rocking screaming

Again my little one was overwhelmed and if she saw anyone wearing a yellow shirt we hadato turn away.

the whole vacation wa a draining experience....
I could have gotten past the first day....
but the rude cast members were really
the straw that broke this camels back

One girl was so rude I took her picture
she said why did you photograph me, I said because its going to go with my letter of complaint to roy disney.


It was less that magical

 

[bicker]

I'm so sorry you had such a terrible time. I've never encountered any of the kind of rudeness on the part of cast members that you experienced, which makes your story all-the-more disappointing, that you'd be subjected to such atypical service, especially given you had special needs to contend with.

I have read other stories about AAA messing up reservations. That does seem to happen quite a bit. I do know that each AAA office is individually operated, so service levels from AAA vary. I'm glad to read that Disney finally decided to cover for AAA's error. That's really more indicative of the service we typically get from Disney -- where they go out of their way, doing far more than they really are required to, in this case even making up for the errors of another company.

 

[Brightsy]

You don't need to have a wheelchair if you have a GAC the specifies that the stroller is to be considered as a wheel chair. The stroller doesn't need any markings. The CMs need to look and read the GAC, not just blow it off. I've never had an issue w/ this thankfully, but have heard of people who had problems w/ it.
Some kids can't sit in a wheelchair for whatever reason, be it sensory or physical. A guest at WDW should not have to jump hoops to get the help they need, nor should they be treated rudely. The CMs are supposed to read the GAC...

Sara

QUOTE=DisneyRocks!]Did you consider getting a wheel chair and using it instead of a stroller? Strollers are not normally associated with someone who needs assistance. Did the stroller have the markings to identify it properly for the CM's?[/QUOTE]

 

[MommytoMJM]

I am soooo sorry you had such a hard time. One thing that I know happened recently that may have impacted your stay is that we just got a whole bunch of CP'ers in. I have found that they are not well trained in the use of the GAC and must be trained by guests as to how to use it (shouldn't be that way I know, but it seems to be) We had a fight with one on the Jungle Cruise just a few weeks ago (long story) The CP'ers are very afraid of not following things to the letter and just don't realize how to follow rules and make guests feel the magic all the time.... Again, I am sooo sorry....

 

[roseprincess]

joannelee217,
sorry to hear about your WDW trip.
If I were you, I would ask for a full refund of your vacation or at least Disney should give you free Hopper passes for your next visit.

As of the Brazilian tourists, I have read on another Disney message board(not the DIS), that these Brazillian tourists show up in July, all of July. and it gets pretty roudy,also. So warning for anyone planning to go to WDW in July, that there is always a huge group(hundred and hundred of them) roudy Brazillian tourists. That could be why some of these CM's are in a bad mood? To accomodate these Brazillian tourists? Not that it should be any excuse to how you were treated by the CM's.

Mommy to MJM, what are CP's? Are these CM's in training? What does the "P"stand for? If WDW is training new CM's, why don't they train in Sept. when WDW is a little less crowded?


Rosemarie

 

[minnie61650]

Just finished my 8 days
of the most un magical vacation ever.

dont happen to have time to post it all now...
but does any one have the addreess phone number of
walt disney execs

my problems were so
many...
they cannot go unaddressed.

thanks in advance

the best part was MAGICAL EXPRESS...................

we were treated so horrible, and were made spectacles
by many cast members who would not acknowldege the stroller as a wheel chair and .....forget a shaded place to wait....

upon entereing a ride we immediately took out OUR gac...
half way up the ramp another cast mmbr is screaming....
park that stroller outside the ride.
over and over this same routine. NOt one cast mmbr had to scrutinize the card but rwo or three, they were loud, they were very unproffesional and just rude.

ON the last day at the last ride, I asked to speak to the manager of mgm, he was at the beauty and the beast show.
He didnt show concern, sympathy or compassion.

After 7 days ofthis loud abusive treatment
I was more than ready to depart.

When you went to guest services did you get a handbooks of the parks for guests wuth disabilities?
I have my books and have read through them.

The books says :
The Walt Disney World® Resort strives to provide mainstream access whenever possible; that is, all Guests utilize the main entrance to the attraction. However, accessibility varies from attraction to attraction within our Parks. The Guidebook for Guests with Disabilities and Park Guidemaps use symbols to indicate boarding procedures for each attraction. In addition, Guests should contact a host or hostess at each attraction before entering

That means most often you will stand ih the same line as other guests. Most rides are mainstreamed.

Some attractions have auxiliary entrances for Guests with disabilities. These are intended to offer Guests in wheelchairs or with service animals a more convenient entrance to the attraction. Auxiliary entrances are not intended to bypass waiting lines. Guests with disabilities and up to five members of their party may enter through these entrances. The rest of the party should use the main entrance.

Having a GAC lets the CM know what kind of needs you have. Therefore if you need shade and none is available in the regular que contact a CM and they will direct you.

You Should use fastpass whenever you can.
Meaning get a FP and come back at the alotted time and then you can wait in the FP line.


A GAC pass is not a front of the line pass.
I am sorry if you thought it was.
Also each CM along the way needs to look at the card so he knows your childs needs and can assist you.

Hope this helps you and others who have special needs.
Linda
only 87 more days

 

[joannelee217]

I am soooo sorry you had such a hard time. One thing that I know happened recently that may have impacted your stay is that we just got a whole bunch of CP'ers in. I have found that they are not well trained in the use of the GAC and must be trained by guests as to how to use it (shouldn't be that way I know, but it seems to be) We had a fight with one on the Jungle Cruise just a few weeks ago (long story) The CP'ers are very afraid of not following things to the letter and just don't realize how to follow rules and make guests feel the magic all the time.... Again, I am sooo sorry....

you don't need to be sorry....

the feeling I got wee tht these people were seasonal and didn't care

 

[joannelee217]

When you went to guest services did you get a handbooks of the parks for guests wuth disabilities?
I have my books and have read through them.

The books says :
The Walt Disney World® Resort strives to provide mainstream access whenever possible; that is, all Guests utilize the main entrance to the attraction. However, accessibility varies from attraction to attraction within our Parks. The Guidebook for Guests with Disabilities and Park Guidemaps use symbols to indicate boarding procedures for each attraction. In addition, Guests should contact a host or hostess at each attraction before entering

That means most often you will stand ih the same line as other guests. Most rides are mainstreamed.

Some attractions have auxiliary entrances for Guests with disabilities. These are intended to offer Guests in wheelchairs or with service animals a more convenient entrance to the attraction. Auxiliary entrances are not intended to bypass waiting lines. Guests with disabilities and up to five members of their party may enter through these entrances. The rest of the party should use the main entrance.

Having a GAC lets the CM know what kind of needs you have. Therefore if you need shade and none is available in the regular que contact a CM and they will direct you.

You Should use fastpass whenever you can.
Meaning get a FP and come back at the alotted time and then you can wait in the FP line.


A GAC pass is not a front of the line pass.
I am sorry if you thought it was.
Also each CM along the way needs to look at the card so he knows your childs needs and can assist you.

Hope this helps you and others who have special needs.
Linda
only 87 more days

I never asked for a front of the line short cut
I asked for respect
and the same consideration a visibly handicapped person would receive.

you show the pass at the front of the line

a few steps away you are screamed at by another cast mmbr that just assumed you were pulling something

I read how to properly use the pass, and I did my part.....
Five people on the smae ride do not need to scream at you to remove the stroller.

NOt once did I CUT the line
I waited like everyone else....

and never once was provided shade

the cast mmbrs were not properly trained
the cast mmbers were rude and demeaning

 

[joannelee217]

cast mmbrs were not readily available

You hadto stand in line to find a cast mmbr
by that time the shade was a mute point

 

[Talking Hands]

cast mmbrs were not readily available
You hadto stand in line to find a cast mmbr
by that time the shade was a mute point

This I am not understanding because there is normally at the entrance to the line which is the one to show the GAC. They should also have been the one to speak to about a shaded place to wait although at least in MK they really don't have many of them. Most of the lines in EPCOT are inside so shade is not an issue unless lines are very long.
I take it you were there July 4th weekend. Probably the most crowded time of year. That makes things difficult for all. Sorryyou had problems with castmembers. CP btw means College Program and I have found most of them to be very nice. Occasional jerks happen. Had one at Small World my last trip

Btw Brazilians you just have to deal with. They are guests too. See them and go the other way is the best advice with them. They are not Disney's fault and I wouldn't even bother to put that in your complaint.

 

[Bete]

I think some of what you speak of could have been handled better, but it is a two way street. I'm not being mean, but it sounds like this was a first trip or you haven't been very often, etc. You need to dot every "i" and cross every "t" when going on vacation. You still no matter how hard you try run into some issues that you need to deal with on vacation. Communication is key and that's a two way street. Attitude is next in line for importance.

First, Roy Disney is not with Disney anymore. Using his name will be a joke with any correspondence with Disney. Although, he rejoined the organization on 7/08, his role is more honorary than anything else. In the future, he may have a more significant role. We will have to see how all this pans out.

If you had changes at AAA, I think you needed to double check everything over yourself and with your travel agent, beforehand. You can't expect Disney to do it for you, especially upon arrival. Even if, this was not your fault; I would have called a few nights before the trip and I would have made sure that everything is just right. I would think there's a way to call Disney with your AAA reservation and confirm everything or go over it with your AAA agent, again. If there are billing issues then I'm sure that could have been checked very easily. Having a confirmation number may not be enough. Computer systems have glitches, etc. When I have a third party involvement, I never trust it. Also, all requests may not be honered; Disney tries to do their best, but it's not guaranteed. If the AAA agent didn't do it right, you can't blame Disney. It's hard here to know exactly what happened because you are not stating the whole story; so, we can't make a good determination one way or the other.

I'm going with an 88 year old mother-in-law who has issues with walking, etc. I've spent countless hours researching everything there is to know about the disabilities with the rides, shows, and attractions for mobiltity issues. I did not hear that you got the disabilities brochure and if you did, did you fully read and understand it? You could of downloaded the brochure ahead of time, too. If you didn't understand it, I would have had many questions ready for guest services. Also, after one ocurrence of park ride problems, I would be asking a lot more questions of guest services, cast members, etc. I certainly would not want to have the same problem happening to me over and over again, if it was negative. Also, you do have different checkpoints where you may need to show your GAC more than once. I think in case of substituting a stroller for a wheelchair, you may need to show it more often. This may not be totally fair but at least it gets you through the line. It's even true of fastpass with multiple checkpoints. I don't see the big deal showing it more than once.

I sure would be talking to every CM everywhere I went, if I was having issues especially before I entered the que. Some have walkie talkies, etc. and they can get further assistance, etc. to help with misunderstandings. I've seen the walkie talkies used; they do exist. I'm not excusing rudeness, but CMs are not paid enough to be experts. There's not a big, giant flag on the stroller to let them know ahead of time. Talk about being a spectacle, I wouldn't want this huge flag anywhere on a wheelchair, stroller, etc. I think Disney tries to handle this in the most discrete way possible. You may have run into CMs that did not have a lot of experience, especially with special needs. we all had to learn at our first job and we all make mistakes. They have to monitor the rides. They have many job duties. It might have been a safety issue with the stroller. It's hard to say without having been there and knowing exactly what happened.

I have very expensive equipment with me on vacation including a very good, digital camera, a notebook, and a video camera. If those items are in my room, they are locked up. I bought locks for three suitcases.

If the buses became such a big issue, I would have rented a car. The driver may have been avoiding a worse situation in the traffic. He might of done the best he could for the circumstances. Again, without being there, it's hard to say for sure.

If I use a discount card, it's automatic with me to check the receipt for the discount. I even go as far as to bring it to the attention of the cashier to make sure they remember to take it off before it's totalled.

I know this is not what you want to hear, but it is a two way street with vacationing. I'm not wanting to start a war, here, but I feel you expected way too much from everyone else and very little of yourself in being better prepared. If I'm wrong, I'm sorry.

 

[taximomfor4]

I never asked for a front of the line short cut
I asked for respect
and the same consideration a visibly handicapped person would receive.

you show the pass at the front of the line

a few steps away you are screamed at by another cast mmbr that just assumed you were pulling something

I read how to properly use the pass, and I did my part.....
Five people on the smae ride do not need to scream at you to remove the stroller.

NOt once did I CUT the line
I waited like everyone else....

and never once was provided shade

the cast mmbrs were not properly trained
the cast mmbers were rude and demeaning

We actually had to show our pass to each cast member as we came upon them, in the line. There are often several along the way. Castmembers at the front of the line have no way to communicate your needs to the castmembers later in the line, which is why you needed to show your GAC again.

I am so sorry this all happened to you! I wrote a rather similar complaint to WDW recently, we had several really rude CMs when we used our GAC. One really laid into us for quite some time. We were most definitely made a spectacle!! NOT fun. Sorry you had such a terrible time!!!!

 

[ducklite]

I use a GAC for shaded areas to wait in, and this is just not feasable at every attraction. I know what you mean about some rides not finding a CM until you are halfway through the queue.

Roy is no longer with the company.

Write to:
WDW Guest Services
PO Box 10,000
LBV, FL 32830

In all honesty, it sounds like part of the problem was caused by a situation at check-in. It also sounds like you were ultra tired and perhaps a bit unreasonable with them to begin with, and it set the stage for your entire trip. If someone approached me with a chip on their shoulder, I'd probably be much less inclined to try to help, and that's what it sounds like youw ere doing.

In the future might I suggest you arrange your travel plans so you aren't as exhausted when you arrive, even if it means cutting your trip short by a day or spending a little extra on your plane fare.

I'd also be a little less emotional when you write to WDW.

Anne

 

[joannelee217]

This I am not understanding because there is normally at the entrance to the line which is the one to show the GAC. They should also have been the one to speak to about a shaded place to wait although at least in MK they really don't have many of them. Most of the lines in EPCOT are inside so shade is not an issue unless lines are very long.
I take it you were there July 4th weekend. Probably the most crowded time of year. That makes things difficult for all. Sorryyou had problems with castmembers. CP btw means College Program and I have found most of them to be very nice. Occasional jerks happen. Had one at Small World my last trip

Btw Brazilians you just have to deal with. They are guests too. See them and go the other way is the best advice with them. They are not Disney's fault and I wouldn't even bother to put that in your complaint.

yea we went the other way
but as a guest in this country they should know that manners go along way
loud abnoxious
screaming does not.

the lines were long long long
and you had to wait or push through a crowd to glimpse a cast member.