When Everything Goes Wrong, Can Customer Service Make it Right?

I'm sure you have all heard the Disney Parks referred to as "The Happiest Place on Earth", but what happens when your dream trip turns into a nightmare? Allow me to share my story with you.

After 15 years of traveling to Walt Disney World with my children, my mother and I decided it was high time just us girls had a little get-away. We had always wanted to take a tour, but with kids along it just wasn't in the cards. This trip was providing the perfect opportunity, and seeing as we were going in December, there was no doubt we would do the Yuletide Fantasy tour. Mom wanted to try out a new resort too and liked the idea of getting to Downtown Disney by boat, so you guessed it, booked Port Orleans for our stay.

The only obstacle we saw, was Mom needed a wheelchair. I knew I could handle pushing her all weekend, but was the tour wheelchair friendly? I made our reservations, making sure the tour was handicap accessible  and to also let the resort know we needed a chair and a 1st floor room if possible.

Fast forward to our arrival. Checked in at Port Orleans and they had a wheelchair waiting for us. We drove down to our designated parking area and I helped Mom in the chair and grabbed the suitcases. Picture in your mind a crazy woman pushing a chair, dragging suitcases behind, circling the building over and over looking for the elevator, only to be told after my 3rd lap and much swearing, that the building only had stairs. Really?! Back to the front desk to hear "Oh I see you needed 1st floor. Our apologies". Back in the car and off to a new building, with a first floor room.

We were able to laugh about it over dinner and figured it could only get better from there. Boy were we wrong.

The next morning was our tour. I wheeled Mom up to our tour guide to check us in, and when the group was together we all dispersed to the parking lot of Epcot to get on our coach. The first thing the tour guide said is she was unaware that there was a need for a handicap bus. Did she not notice the lady in the chair or the note on the paper where we checked in? Fortunately, the bus had a lift. Unfortunately, once she was on the lift the driver couldn't seem to get the chair through the opening and onto the bus. He said our chair was too big. Huh? It was a standard Epcot chair. As my mother was left panicking in mid-air, the guide looked at me and said "So now what are we supposed to do?". We ended up having to pack the chair underneath and Mom had to climb the bus stairs. That was a slow and painful process, not to mention the bus driver seemed a bit ticked that he had to keep pulling the chair out at every stop.

Our guide, Mary, never bothered to wait for us. Once everyone else had gotten off the bus, she started walking.  It was a constant game of catch up the entire tour. Of the 3 countries visited in Epcot, we completely missed out on the stories from Germany then caught up at the American Adventure, but Mary brought the group through a side door that was not handicap accessible. Once I found the way in, they were already done with those stories too!

The icing on the cake was trying to keep up in the Magic Kingdom. The park was already rather full, and Mary had us walking down the sidewalks. When she decided one side was too crowded, she would cut across Main Street to the other side. I didn't want to dump Mom out of the chair so I had to continue on until there were ramps I could use to cross. A few ladies on the tour, that had been asking Mary to slow down and not forget about us, started walking with us. Very sweet.

Thankfully, the tour ended and we had half a day to ourselves, but by then Mom was in so much pain from the bus stairs she really wasn't enjoying herself. We called it a day and went back to the resort to pack.

You better believe when I got home I was immediately on the phone to Disney Customer Service. Turns out Mary is not normally a tour guide. Get this, she works at the Disney Institute and TRAINS the tour guides! Needless to say they were a bit concerned. Here's the silver lining. My complaint was not brushed aside. I had numerous communications, by phone and email with Ms. Annie Logan in Guest Communication Services, to clarify all details and to see how they could rectify the situation.

I was not really expecting anything, just wanted to make sure incidents like ours did not happen to anyone else, and I made that quite clear to everyone I spoke with. However, Mr. Mark Mathies from the Disney Institute wanted to make things right, so my mom and I were able to enjoy another tour that would have been out of our budget, and another day in the park on our next trip. Now, if I only knew what happened to Mary...

So things can and do go wrong, but rest assured Disney Customer Service is there to make things right, even after your trip is over. I also must mention, Mom and I have gone on a couple more tours and everyone of our guides has been extraordinary! Guess we know who didn't train them. ;)