What Happens When Your Disney Resort Isn’t So Magical

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Staying at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, or any other Disney Park on your Disney vacation should be a magical experience. If there is one way to make a trip to Disney better, it’s to stay on property. Unfortunately, even at the Most Magical Place on Earth, things are not always so magical.

disney world reopening
Credit: Disney

For this article, we will refer to Disney World Resorts, but please note that any Disney Resort would follow these same procedures. There are many perks to staying at a Disney World Resort when you are on vacation, including being in that coveted “Disney bubble,” but it comes at a price tag.

Even Value Resorts, which are the lowest price you can get to stay at a Disney Resort, can cost upwards of $200 USD a night, and Deluxe Resorts can run upwards of $1000 a night, so having a perfect and magical room is expected.

But, like any hospitality company, Disney World is run by humans, and we all make mistakes. So, let’s take a look at a few stories on things that have gone wrong at a Disney World Resort, from pretty horrible, to a minor inconvenience.

Facebook user Amy Riese posted about a not-so-magical experience she recently had at Disney’s Riviera Resort.

“Ewww.. blood stained bed sheet. Not mine!!!.. didn’t notice this last night… There are actually several spots.. called housekeeping..they will bring fresh sheets, but can’t change them due to covid. Fun times ahead…”

blood stain on bed sheet
Credit: Amy Riese

This is something that, for many, could ruin a vacation. Finding blood-stained sheets in a Deluxe Resort at Disney World is unacceptable in terms of Disney standards — or, really, any standards. As Amy mentioned, unfortunately, due to the pandemic, housekeeping does not change your bedding for you, and having to do that yourself in this situation would definitely be upsetting.

But nevertheless, the solution is always to call Guest Services in order to remedy the situation. In this case, it seems Disney did their best to replace the sheets while social distancing.

Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
Credit: Disney

Inside the Magic, Senior Editor Kelly Coffey also shared her story about a recent stay she had at Disney World where things were not going exactly as planned:

So on our recent stay at Caribbean Beach, when we finally got to our room we noticed our fridge wasn’t working, our light switch in the bathroom was extremely loose, and the faucet in the shower was leaking, even when the water was turned off. We called the front desk who put us in contact with maintenance.

With covid, they have a schedule and we were like 5th on the list. Almost an hour went by and we were getting frustrated because we were up since 3am that morning flying into Florida and it was now nearly 9pm and we just wanted to go to sleep. I called again and they put me in contact with the head of maintenance who apologized and said we were next on the list.

Within 10 minutes they finally showed up — 2 maintenance guys. They came in with masks on and looked at the fridge. Luckily that was an easy fix and it just got unplugged from behind the desk.

The faucet took about 15 minutes to fix and then the light switch they had to schedule to come back for since they had to shut down a grid for the power. They asked when we were planning on leaving for the parks the next morning so they could coordinate and not get in our way in the morning.

Despite it being a bit of a wait for maintenance and we were exhausted, they were very nice and so accommodating, and in the end, they made it right.

Again, we can see that calling Guest Services at your Disney Resort’s front desk will always be the fix. Unlike the previous scenario, fixing a leaky faucet is something a Disney maintenance Cast Member would need to do and therefore enter the room for. It is good to know that they did their best to be safe with proper face masks and arranged to try and fix the problem when they were no longer in the room to avoid further disrupting the vacation.

pop century
Credit: Disney

Personally, I have had things go wrong at my Disney World Resort a few times. From my body wash pump having no soap inside to my Magical Express taking 9+ hours to arrive at my room, it can be upsetting to have everything not perfect when you are paying so much money. The good thing here is that Disney World wants it to be perfect and can always help.

When my body wash was out, a call to the front desk had it refilled within 10 minutes, so that was super simple. When I had missing luggage, that was pretty frustrating. After a 6 a.m. flight, I remember it was past 10:00 p.m., and I wanted to brush my teeth. I was upset because I knew if I just picked up my luggage myself, it would have taken 10 minutes, and I wouldn’t have had the issue, but just hopping on the Magical Express is so convenient.

I called the front desk at Disney’s Pop Century Resort, and once they had it at the hotel, they said it was on the way; an hour later, I still didn’t have it, so I walked down to the luggage storage and saw that it was sitting there and brought it to my room myself.

I let a Cast Member know that it took up a lot of my day to find the luggage, and they gave me an extra 3 FastPass+ options per day on top of the 3 that came with a park entry. This, of course, was pre-pandemic while FastPass+ was still active.

This is not to say that Disney will do this for anyone, but in my experience, when things go wrong, they often try to make sure you are still having a magical stay — but in any case, always make your concerns known so that Disney can fix them! 

Have you ever had something go wrong in your Disney World Resort room? 

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