Waiting for Frances at OKW

[Pootle]

Well I hear the weather is good in the UK! What can I say? As I write (Saturday 3.30 pm), the TV coverage is wall-to-wall Hurrican Frances and here at OKW the weather outside is currently sunny and threatening at the same time.

We arrived at Vero Beach last Wednesday evening after flying in from Nashville. We knew about the impending hurricane and had phoned Disney as late as that morning, but they were unable to give us any information and we were to check in. By the time we arrived around 4 pm we were met with our options of checking in for the night and leaving by 8 am the next morning or turning around immediately and the advice given was to 'drive as far north as you can'. They offered free phone numbers to all the hotel chains and high speed internet access so we took the latter option and booked ourselves into the Embassy Suites at Lake Buena Vista. I mention this because we were told (and our friends who checked in 3 hours later were told exactly the same thing) that Disney in Orlando were not taking any further reservations because they too were in the path of the hurricane.

It was some time later when I became irritated about this approach when I discovered that Disney were allowing people to cancel without penalty (as were other hotels) and were making these rooms available to locals (including DVC resorts) who needed to evacuate. This is very honourable, but I really feel that at a time like that, people are people and tourists (who had a Disney reservation), should not be treated any better or worse! We had been sent packing by Disney at Vero Beach without the option of transferring to Orlando, and I feel a letter coming on when I return.

Now I've got that off my chest, I am happy to report that our treatment at OKW has been very good and we were allowed to check in a day early (for the full points of course). It's bizarre that they are in the midst of a crisis and are still wishing callers 'a magical day' on the switchboard

2.5 million people have been evacuated so it's very serious, and the events in Russia are just horrendous, so I hope I don't come across as 'me, me, me ...' in this post. I hope to regain my sense of humour soon We really do need some pixie dust right now - come on Kaylee, get sprinkling

 

[Miffy2003]

Hey Moira,

Pixie Dust from me!

You take care out there and I hope Frances passes by quickly and with minimal disruption.

More PD (you can never have too much!)

Karen

 

[Pootle]

Oh thank you Karen! You made me smile and I need that right now.

 

[Hilary]

It's great to hear that you are all safe and well, and that you managed to salvage something 'magical' at OKW!

Lots of PD on its way from me, too

 

[Pootle]

Thanks Hilary. There's not much magical here at the moment, alas, but at least it's comfortable and the worse thing that's happening to us is a ruined holiday. Your heart goes out to all the displaced people around Orlando, no doubt worried about their ruined homes. There are dreadful things happening somewhere all the time, but there's nothing like being in the middle of it to really bring it home to you.

 

[KayleeUK]

Moira




Lots of it heading your way

 

[jools]

We too were at VB and were not happy by the way VB handled the situation. We had checked in on the Tuesday at which point nothing was mentioned about the hurricane or what may happen. On the Wednesday evening we had dropped the children off at the discovery club and returned to our room to get ready to go out for an evening meal when we noticed a message on the telephone. It mentioned an earlier letter, warning about the approaching hurricane (we had not received this) and the telephone message now informed us that we had to evacuate the hotel by 8.00am the next morning. We were totally shocked by this message and immediately returned to reception to find more out.

Then we had a totally un-Disney experience with the receptionist. The receptionist quite abruptly stuffed a copy of the letter in our hands with no apology for us not receiving it earlier and said it was not her fault we had to evacuate. When we asked about what would happen to the points we had used for the rest of the stay at VB and if we could transfer to a DVC resort in WDW she said we would have to ring Members Services ourselves to sort that out. We pointed out that at this time of night MS was not open and it would not be open before we had to evacuate the following morning (this apparently was not her problem). When I asked did Disney not make arrangements for guest to transfer to other accommodation under these circumstances she said that WDW were not accepting any reservations due to the hurricane and it was up to us to sort out alternative accommodation and drew our attention to the hotel numbers on the letter which were for non Disney hotels. Then she pointed out that everyone was heading for Orlando and at this late time we may not get anything. We returned to our room (nice relaxing evening meal without the children long forgotten) to consider what to do. Not believing that Disney would be full up we decided we would try and get a DVC room at WDW.

Finally after ring MS, where a recorded message informed us in an emergency to ring the DVC resort directly, we rang BWV who told us to ring Central Reservations. We managed to contacted Disney central reservations and after a long and exhausting conversation with a CM who had never heard of DVC we managed to make a reservation for BWV for the following night (Thursday) at a cost of $322 (Ouch! Isn’t DVC good value)? I should point out that we only needed one night as we were due to check into the BW on Friday anyway (good job considering the price). We had no intention of paying for this but hoped that when we got to BWV we could get a nice Disney person to sort out the transfer of points from VB to BWV.

To cut an already long story shorter we departed VB at 8.00am the next morning, grumbling about the poor treatment we had received, the disbelief that Disney would treat its guests so badly, the lack of information provided to us and the refillable mug we had been persuaded to purchase by a CM who perhaps had known that we would not get sufficient use out it.

However as with all Disney stories there was a happy ending. Arrived at BWV where a very sympathetic CM apologised for our evacuation from VB (even though she didn’t have to) then she arranged for the transfer of our points from VB to BWV to cover our stay there and even attached it to our existing booking so that we would not have to move rooms during our stay. That’s more like the Disney I’m use to.

I have to add that all the CMs at BWV looked after us really well during the hurricane, which did eventually arrive and they did every thing they could to keep kids and adults entertained throughout the storm. Well done all those CMs involved and thank you.

Like Moira I too later went on a guilt trip about grumbling, considering we only had to find a room for the night some poor people (perhaps many of the CMs at VB) didn’t have homes to go back to after the storm. And there were several CMs at VB who were really nice and provided us with good advice about what to do in preparation for Frances and about travelling. I hope everyone at or from VB kept safe.


Jools

 

[Pootle]

Thanks for telling us your story Jools.

Now I'm back home and looking on the many good things of the trip, my irritation has vanished but I still don't think VB handled it well, although I imagine decisions taken had nothing to do with any individuals at VB. My personal exchanges with everyone (including the CM we dealt with at VB) were only ever friendly and it was afterwards when I realised that Disney were treating locals *better* than members with reservations and that folk from Fort Wilderness campground were also being shipped out to other resorts - including my home resort of OKW, that I began to feel a little displeasure.

When we did check in at OKW early on Saturday morning, we felt we were by ourselves almost - definitely no one either side of us or above us and few cars nearby. And so it remained until the day before we checked out.

Our treatment once at OKW was excellent but I think the decision not to offer those at VB with reservations accommodation in Orlando was poor.

I'm so glad your story had a happy ending, as did ours, but as you say, that is not so for many people including cast members. By the way, we are from Lancashire too, as are our friends who did stay on the Wednesday night at VB - I wonder if you met them?

 

[lovesdisney]

I know I'm going to get flamed for this but.........


I am sorry to hear of your experience, but I do believe you have to cut the staff at Vero some slack.

I can only imagine what they were going through, after all, they would need to evacuate themselves and their families too, leaving behond their homes. At least we can fly home at the end of our vacation to our nice warm homes. They can only wonder what they will return to.

I am sure if such a thing were to happen in the UK, most people wouldn't even turn up for work, let alone deal with tourists in anything like a helpdful manner.

 

[jools]

How amazing - "It's a small world after all"!

When we had finally sorted out what we were going to do our only option left for eating was Shutters at VB. There were lots of people dining in there that night and we did get speaking to the people on the next table but they were from New York. We left Shutters at about 9.00 to 9.30pm may be your friends were in there!

Thursday morning didn't see anyone except another couple in the car park loading their car and leaving. I think they had a people carrier type car possible white. Could that have been them?

OKW does not sound like the place to be in a hurricane. I think I would have been a bit worried there all on our own.

If ever you are in a hurricane situation again I would recommend trying to get in at the BW. It was a hive of activity throughout the storm. The lobby was totally transformed, CMs were making balloon animals, swords, hats, etc for the kids, tables were laid out with colouring activities, CMs were playing Disney trivia games with the kids. Disney characters were in the lobby all day playing with the children, Stitch helped my son colour a lovely picture, Goofy and Pluto joined in, in a game of balloon volleyball (a CM had made a makeshift net out of masking tape and attached it between two pillars). Board games were available in the Bell Vue Lounge. They even brought out a popcorn machine and were giving popcorn and saltwater taffy out to every one (FREE).

Given all that though I was really glad when they allowed us to go out on the Monday. We decided to go to EPCOT, we walked up to International Gateway to find they were letting everyone in for FREE (fantastic). Not sure if this was genuine Disney hospitality or if the ticket machines had been damaged in the storm I would like to think it was the earlier.

Jools