OhanaMoana
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2019
I apologize in advance that this is going to be a bit long, but I would really appreciate some opinions on my recent experience at Animal Kingdom Disney After Hours (on Saturday October 5th). I'd like to know:
(1) Whether I now properly understand how the queuing/wait time process is supposed to work at DAH events
(2) Your opinions on whether you would feel frustrated, upset, or misled based on the events I describe below. (Based on what I think I know now, I think our plans were materially and very negatively impacted by the communication issues I describe below, but I'd like your honest opinions to see if I'm being reasonable/bitter)
(3) How would you suggest I go about communicating this experience to Disney (if you think that is warranted)?
The series of somewhat interlinking/compounding problems we encountered are as follows:
(1) One of the two rides we thought made it worth buying tickets to the event, Expedition Everest, was off-line for the entirety of the evening except for the last 10 minutes, when we had already started to exit the park in frustration and could not make it to the ride in time. We were really excited about riding it in the dark, but we understand that Disney was doing its best to get it online and that it was just unfortunate timing that the ride was working before DAH hours and happened to crash for the entirety of the event. Stuff happens, and in isolation this would've registered as bad luck that couldn't be avoided.
(2) Knowing what I think I know now, I'm tremendous frustrated with the communication of wait times, specifically for DAS pass, during the event: We had a person in our travel group who needs DAS in order to be able to ride attractions with anything but a minimal/FP-length wait time. When we asked the CM at FOP that night what our wait time would be, he assured us that the wait time would be so low during DAH that we wouldn't need to worry about using our DAS pass (he had said "under 25 minutes for sure"). Right after 9pm when DAH had started, we asked another CM about the wait time and he quoted the standby wait time, which at the time was 125 minutes because of all the people who had gotten in line before park closing. It was made clear to him that we were attending the DAH event, and had a DAS pass, but he quoted the 125 minute wait time nonetheless, and didn't offer us a 115 minute return time as would normally be operating procedure for a normal park hours DAS user. Our group couldn't possibly do that wait time without abandoning the DAS user, so out of solidarity we wandered the park together, waiting for the FOP wait time to go down or for Expedition Everest to come on line. We went on lesser rides we had no plans to go on during this event - It's Tough to Be a Bug, Dinosaur, Nav'i River Journey - that for us represented poor value for our time at the event (all we wanted/intended to do was FOP and EE over and over again). We checked in again with the CM at FOP, still quoted 45 minute standby wait which was too long for the person who needed to use DAS. At this point we were maybe a bit more than half way through the 3 hours of the event and EE was still down. We got some water, some ice cream, watched the Pandora drummers, and then went on another ride. It wasn't until I asked questions to the CM at that other ride, purely because I was frustrated about how our evening was turning out, that I received a different explanation of how the lines during DAH worked: she told me that essentially everyone who is attending DAH automatically gets put in what would be the FP+ line, not the standby line, so that there should never be a long wait for us during the event! We rode the ride and then went back to FOP, which at that point had a manageable wait time for our DAS user, and got to ride it once before heading for the park exit since it was about 11:45. So to go back to my question above - would we have been put in a FP+ line along, meaning the FOP CM basically caused us to think we couldn't ride FOP for nearly the first two hours of the event because of the needs of our DAS user?
(3) On our way out of AK, I stopped by the Customer Relations area by the exit, mostly out of desire to make sure that Disney would have the opportunity to receive feedback to (1) alert them to the fact that their staff's communication of how wait times would impact a group with a DAS user during this event was inconsistent; (2) to confirm that the wait time system works how I thought it did after the second CM "educated" me; (3) if the wait time system worked as I thought, to express that the poor communication by the FOP CM had been problematic and that Disney needed to address the issue and not have it impact other DAH attendees in the future (I consider myself a pretty savvy tap and go FP+ user, touring plan strategizer, and generally knowledgeable person about most things WDW - if not doing my own thorough research on DAH beforehand caused me to be misled by a CM because I didn't feel I "knew enough" about how the event works to challenge their explanation, I can only imagine that many other guests who might stumble into the same situation as I did would also be led astray). In talking to the Guest Relations CM, i led off by mentioning the Everest was down so we were focused almost solely on FOP for the night (with an eye on whether EE would come back on line). The CM was quick nod in understanding, clearly having heard this complaint from many guests that night. But I told her that if that was the only issue tonight we would have been bummed but understanding. I told her about the contradictory ways the wait times were explained to us, and even she at first responded by telling us there were no DAS return times during DAH due to the lack of need. I told her that was fine, but that based on what some CMs later told us, it seemed we had been quoted wait times that wouldn't have applied to us for FOP, which had the effect of essentially shutting us out of the two rides - ones that were virtually the sole reasons we wanted to attend the event - for nearly the entire night. I made it clear I was concerned this would happen to other future guests with a DAS user in their party and that we had found it very frustrating. She thanked me for the feedback but didn't seem to understand the point I was trying to make about how the issue I was most pointedly concerned by was consistency and accuracy of communication of information that would be vital to any guest party with a DAS user in tow trying to navigate the event in an informed manner. She did not weigh in on which CM was "right" about the wait times we should've expected for FOP - I'm not sure that she knew, actually, and it seemed like she did not want to take a definitive stance. She apologized and asked if we lived in the area or if we had days left on our stay. I told her it was out last free day of the trip before leaving and that we did not live locally, but that 2 of the 4 of us were Annual Pass holders and 3 of us would be back for a longer trip in a few weeks starting October 30. I got the sense she was going to try to offer us something, but once I said it was our last day and we didn't live locally, she seemed to kind of ignore the fact that we were saying we would be back soon and likely repeatedly after that with our APs. I was tired and frustrated and didn't have the presence of mind to ask her why she was asking, which might have helped her continue her train of thought instead of her giving up once she heard that we weren't around for the next few days. In general, she seemed really nice and well intended, but she sometimes seemed to focus on only the first part of what I was saying, the part she was able to anticipate or expect to hear (like that Everest being closed was disappointing, or that I didn't live in the area or have extra days left on my trip) and disregarded or didn't grasp what followed (that EE being down was problematic because I felt we were told we essentially couldn't ride our other favorite ride for most of the night, too, or that my being non-local meant that whatever she was going to say next was no longer relevant even though I went on to explain I was going to be around in WDW quite often in the not too distant future). She was nice but didn't give me any confidence that the key issue I was explaining was understood and would be relayed to whomever compiles all of Disney's guest issues and decides to allocate resources to address and improve the experience for future guests (the second person can't assess a situation if the person relaying it to them - in this case the CM I spoke to at Guest Relations - didn't understand the crux of the issue and how it might go on to affect many people.
Animal Kingdom was beautiful at night - loved experiencing it with sparse crowds - but we didn't spend $400+ for four of us to have the park empty so we could ride a few non E-ticket rides. We felt like the EE breakdown and the seemingly misleading communication about wait times essentially kept us from doing the things we had intended to spend 80-90+% of our time on that night. I'd honestly have loved the event if I'd gotten to ride EE and FOP repeatedly as I would've been able to if not for bad luck and (I think) poor up front explanations of wait times diverting my attention to elsewhere, which combined to make it feel like an expensive missed opportunity and disappointment.
Do you think I should reach out to Disney? And if so, through what channel?
Thank you to anyone and everyone who reads the above! I know it's a lot to digest, and I feel bad that it is frustrated and complain-y in tone - that's usually not me!
(1) Whether I now properly understand how the queuing/wait time process is supposed to work at DAH events
(2) Your opinions on whether you would feel frustrated, upset, or misled based on the events I describe below. (Based on what I think I know now, I think our plans were materially and very negatively impacted by the communication issues I describe below, but I'd like your honest opinions to see if I'm being reasonable/bitter)
(3) How would you suggest I go about communicating this experience to Disney (if you think that is warranted)?
The series of somewhat interlinking/compounding problems we encountered are as follows:
(1) One of the two rides we thought made it worth buying tickets to the event, Expedition Everest, was off-line for the entirety of the evening except for the last 10 minutes, when we had already started to exit the park in frustration and could not make it to the ride in time. We were really excited about riding it in the dark, but we understand that Disney was doing its best to get it online and that it was just unfortunate timing that the ride was working before DAH hours and happened to crash for the entirety of the event. Stuff happens, and in isolation this would've registered as bad luck that couldn't be avoided.
(2) Knowing what I think I know now, I'm tremendous frustrated with the communication of wait times, specifically for DAS pass, during the event: We had a person in our travel group who needs DAS in order to be able to ride attractions with anything but a minimal/FP-length wait time. When we asked the CM at FOP that night what our wait time would be, he assured us that the wait time would be so low during DAH that we wouldn't need to worry about using our DAS pass (he had said "under 25 minutes for sure"). Right after 9pm when DAH had started, we asked another CM about the wait time and he quoted the standby wait time, which at the time was 125 minutes because of all the people who had gotten in line before park closing. It was made clear to him that we were attending the DAH event, and had a DAS pass, but he quoted the 125 minute wait time nonetheless, and didn't offer us a 115 minute return time as would normally be operating procedure for a normal park hours DAS user. Our group couldn't possibly do that wait time without abandoning the DAS user, so out of solidarity we wandered the park together, waiting for the FOP wait time to go down or for Expedition Everest to come on line. We went on lesser rides we had no plans to go on during this event - It's Tough to Be a Bug, Dinosaur, Nav'i River Journey - that for us represented poor value for our time at the event (all we wanted/intended to do was FOP and EE over and over again). We checked in again with the CM at FOP, still quoted 45 minute standby wait which was too long for the person who needed to use DAS. At this point we were maybe a bit more than half way through the 3 hours of the event and EE was still down. We got some water, some ice cream, watched the Pandora drummers, and then went on another ride. It wasn't until I asked questions to the CM at that other ride, purely because I was frustrated about how our evening was turning out, that I received a different explanation of how the lines during DAH worked: she told me that essentially everyone who is attending DAH automatically gets put in what would be the FP+ line, not the standby line, so that there should never be a long wait for us during the event! We rode the ride and then went back to FOP, which at that point had a manageable wait time for our DAS user, and got to ride it once before heading for the park exit since it was about 11:45. So to go back to my question above - would we have been put in a FP+ line along, meaning the FOP CM basically caused us to think we couldn't ride FOP for nearly the first two hours of the event because of the needs of our DAS user?
(3) On our way out of AK, I stopped by the Customer Relations area by the exit, mostly out of desire to make sure that Disney would have the opportunity to receive feedback to (1) alert them to the fact that their staff's communication of how wait times would impact a group with a DAS user during this event was inconsistent; (2) to confirm that the wait time system works how I thought it did after the second CM "educated" me; (3) if the wait time system worked as I thought, to express that the poor communication by the FOP CM had been problematic and that Disney needed to address the issue and not have it impact other DAH attendees in the future (I consider myself a pretty savvy tap and go FP+ user, touring plan strategizer, and generally knowledgeable person about most things WDW - if not doing my own thorough research on DAH beforehand caused me to be misled by a CM because I didn't feel I "knew enough" about how the event works to challenge their explanation, I can only imagine that many other guests who might stumble into the same situation as I did would also be led astray). In talking to the Guest Relations CM, i led off by mentioning the Everest was down so we were focused almost solely on FOP for the night (with an eye on whether EE would come back on line). The CM was quick nod in understanding, clearly having heard this complaint from many guests that night. But I told her that if that was the only issue tonight we would have been bummed but understanding. I told her about the contradictory ways the wait times were explained to us, and even she at first responded by telling us there were no DAS return times during DAH due to the lack of need. I told her that was fine, but that based on what some CMs later told us, it seemed we had been quoted wait times that wouldn't have applied to us for FOP, which had the effect of essentially shutting us out of the two rides - ones that were virtually the sole reasons we wanted to attend the event - for nearly the entire night. I made it clear I was concerned this would happen to other future guests with a DAS user in their party and that we had found it very frustrating. She thanked me for the feedback but didn't seem to understand the point I was trying to make about how the issue I was most pointedly concerned by was consistency and accuracy of communication of information that would be vital to any guest party with a DAS user in tow trying to navigate the event in an informed manner. She did not weigh in on which CM was "right" about the wait times we should've expected for FOP - I'm not sure that she knew, actually, and it seemed like she did not want to take a definitive stance. She apologized and asked if we lived in the area or if we had days left on our stay. I told her it was out last free day of the trip before leaving and that we did not live locally, but that 2 of the 4 of us were Annual Pass holders and 3 of us would be back for a longer trip in a few weeks starting October 30. I got the sense she was going to try to offer us something, but once I said it was our last day and we didn't live locally, she seemed to kind of ignore the fact that we were saying we would be back soon and likely repeatedly after that with our APs. I was tired and frustrated and didn't have the presence of mind to ask her why she was asking, which might have helped her continue her train of thought instead of her giving up once she heard that we weren't around for the next few days. In general, she seemed really nice and well intended, but she sometimes seemed to focus on only the first part of what I was saying, the part she was able to anticipate or expect to hear (like that Everest being closed was disappointing, or that I didn't live in the area or have extra days left on my trip) and disregarded or didn't grasp what followed (that EE being down was problematic because I felt we were told we essentially couldn't ride our other favorite ride for most of the night, too, or that my being non-local meant that whatever she was going to say next was no longer relevant even though I went on to explain I was going to be around in WDW quite often in the not too distant future). She was nice but didn't give me any confidence that the key issue I was explaining was understood and would be relayed to whomever compiles all of Disney's guest issues and decides to allocate resources to address and improve the experience for future guests (the second person can't assess a situation if the person relaying it to them - in this case the CM I spoke to at Guest Relations - didn't understand the crux of the issue and how it might go on to affect many people.
Animal Kingdom was beautiful at night - loved experiencing it with sparse crowds - but we didn't spend $400+ for four of us to have the park empty so we could ride a few non E-ticket rides. We felt like the EE breakdown and the seemingly misleading communication about wait times essentially kept us from doing the things we had intended to spend 80-90+% of our time on that night. I'd honestly have loved the event if I'd gotten to ride EE and FOP repeatedly as I would've been able to if not for bad luck and (I think) poor up front explanations of wait times diverting my attention to elsewhere, which combined to make it feel like an expensive missed opportunity and disappointment.
Do you think I should reach out to Disney? And if so, through what channel?
Thank you to anyone and everyone who reads the above! I know it's a lot to digest, and I feel bad that it is frustrated and complain-y in tone - that's usually not me!
), you want to keep your correspondence easily readable. Side note: I once sent a one page complaint letter to a company about sales tax, but included the entire tax regulations - about 12 pages. Nobody read it because it was too long.
