Disney World Charges Guest For Medical Emergency at Theme Park - Inside the Magic

Comments for Disney World Charges Guest For Medical Emergency at Theme Park

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Credit: Disney

49 Comments

  1. Shely M.

    The charge is unethical and unwarranted.

    1. Disneymom

      Not at all. They agreed to the charge when they made the reservation & put it on their credit card. It is completely explained. She only had a minor medical issue. They could have cancelled or called.

      1. DisneyDaddi-o

        Agreed.

      2. Charles

        People need to read the fine print ,as a former employee I know forst hand these things go happen.

        1. Theresa

          As a former cast member I am shocked and disappointed. They should return the $ ASAP because that is good customer service which they always used to have.

        2. Lauralee

          Disney makes PLENTY of $$, it was a verifiable incident and I feel its in poor taste as well as not showing compassion or good will.

          1. Renee

            As a stock holder Disney does not away make their numbers, so saying they make enough money is a does not sit well when stock holders are losing money. Check Disney stock performance this year for yourself.

      3. Bob

        If Disney wishes to keep guests coming to their parks, it’s best not to charge guests for missed reservations due to Medical Emergencies. Doing so is bad for business not to mention completely unethical and wrong. You mentioned it was only a minor medical emergency in your comment. The entire point of seeking health care when you don’t feel right is because you have no idea the severity of the issue. It could be very minor or you could quite literally have hours to live and not know. So from Disney’s vantage point, you don’t charge people for having a medical emergency. Period. It’s incredibly stupid for business as well as just plain wrong.

        1. Renee

          I will continue to go to Disney. A phone call to cancel might haven given a wait-list guess or walk up an opportunity that would have made their day. As a stock holder Disney does not away make their numbers, so saying they make enough money is a does not sit well when stock holders are losing money. Check Disney stock performance this year for yourself.

    2. Marilyn

      You can blame Bob Iger He is so greedy

    3. Anna

      Guest services could have fixed this. We missed reservations when our children were sick and Guests Services fixed it right away.

    4. Renee

      Please explain why it’s unethical.

  2. Debbie

    I’m making the assumption that you didn’t return to the parks after the medical emergency. My husband and I have always had an excellent response from guest relations in the parks, either at the main buildings or at the blue umbrella stands throughout the parks…I.E. recently we had to leave early ahead of Hurricane Nicole-not because we were afraid of the weather but since we both use ECVs and had tickets to MVMCP, we were able to cancel and get a refund. We were also able to get our cancellations through Ohanna’s after the fact because we hadn’t been able to get through in a timely manner before. We had on another occasion been able to get a reassignment of party tickets for the Halloween party after a truly horrible experience-this had been several years ago. I think the key is, don’t depend on just one form of communication…remember you can email through the My Disney Experience on your computer…don’t do everything through your phone

    1. Peggy

      Yes email. We had issues after they closed the pool for a child having an accident. My daughter got sick in the evening. We missed 2 days at the parks. We went to concierge service and they accommodate us. We missed a dinner reservation they got the refund. I have emailed before when I couldn’t get through. Thank goodness they are changing the policy from 24 hours to 2 hours before.

      1. Marilyn

        You can blame Bob Eiger. He is very greedy

        1. Jill E. Bean

          Oh, give it up already🙄.

        2. Renee

          Greedy – goods are priced “What the market will bear” . Everything ain’t good for everybody; entertainment is a luxury not a need.

      2. SUSIE WILSON

        Regardless of when they notified whoever needed to be notified the issue was it was a medical emergency. During that time canceling a dinner reservation is the last thing on your mind. They eventually notified the appropriate person. The money should be reimbursed.

    2. Bill C

      So just keep complaining and whining when you don’t keep your end of the reservations bargin? Trash

  3. Kerry

    Email or go in person.

    But, in all honesty, the fee is $10 per person for missed reservation. I can’t imagine that was going to break the customer’s bank! All this for a very minimal amount of money in the grand scheme of things?! 🤦🏼‍♀️

    1. Disneymom

      Exactly

    2. Karen

      I know right!! The missed fee is $10 pp – this writer/reporter and the person complaining is complaining about $10/$20?

      They should THANK the people who assisted them. And they will probably get refunded for it in the end. People smh

    3. Sam

      As if DISNEY can’t afford to lose the $20? Charging a guest in a situation like this one is unethical and grimy.

      1. JeffT0962

        Exactly. Remember, this is a kids park that calls a 10y.o. an adult when pricing dinners. I think they can manage without the fee in the case if a medical or other emergency.

    4. atlanticjem

      $10/person adds up for some people. Even just 2 people, if I didn’t make a reservation due to an emergency I can’t afford to waste $20. That’s no small amount for a lot of people.

      1. steve jenney

        You made a reservation at one of the most expensive restaurants in WDW. $20 shouldnt be a missed meal at home.

  4. M. Hendricks

    Email them. It’ll take a few weeks, but they will bend over backwards to resolve the issue once they start working with you. I had to cancel unexpectedly due to my father having a heart attack.

  5. Jim

    Stay away from Disney They have been terrible the last year

    1. Chris herbert

      I agree and I complain to the Better Business Bureau about it because I was banned for life for no reason you can look it up. I was shocked to find out there were so many complaints about Disney recently

      1. Jill E. Bean

        Nobody gets banned for life for no reason. It may be a reason you didn’t like or agree with, but it’s still a reason. What exactly did you do?

    2. Renee

      Speak for yourself, I had an awesome time. 10 days – Stayed at the Rivera and Old Key West. Service was great and the employees very nice and accommodating. The parks were crowded but not overwhelming – the heat and sun🥵 was another story – but that was all Mother Nature and no complaints from me on that ☺️

  6. Disneymom

    A “slight medical issue” is not Disney’s fault. When you make a reservation you agree to pay if you miss the dinner. Other guests had to forego this opportunity because you didn’t cancel. The server has to be paid. A $10 fee is not worth fighting over especially since it was your choice to make the reservation.

    1. Tim

      First, love the empathy. Now for the charge. Imagine if Disney does this say 50 times a day for missed reservations that were impacted by emergencies. That is 5000 dollars a day, times 365 that is 1.825 million dollars a year. On top of that they will fill the seat with a walk up and if not, they didn’t have to cook the food so another savings there. While I think that due to how Disney currently does dining the charge is generally good. However, I think this points out a much bigger problem within Disney and that is its poor customer care.

      1. Efrog

        Hey Tim,
        $10.00 x 50 per day is $500.00 per day. $182,500.00 a year. Chump change to WD.
        Just saying!

  7. John Racine

    I was out at Disney recently with my mom and she had an incident at EPCOT and she had to be transported to the local hospital. We had dinner reservations at Rose & Crown planned. While we were waiting for Reedy Creek, I mentioned to a Cast Member with us we had an engraved item at the perfume shop and also had dinner reservations at Rose & Crown. They went and picked up the engraved items for us and cancelled the dinner reservation without charge. On top of that, they gave us vouchers to get back to our on site hotel via taxi so we did not have to worry about anything. I thought they handled it wonderfully for us.

    1. NJDVCMom

      This is more the normal Disney way, they go the distance for most of the issues guest encounter.

  8. John

    It’s a scheduling system, the reservation wasn’t canceled or checked in, the charge went out. There was no human intervention and not likely that there was any information entered into any system at that time that would allow them to access it and determine that you weren’t at your appointment because you had an emergency. Keep trying to contact Disney I’m pretty certain they will remove the charge.

  9. Tokyo

    My girlfriend/ fiancée came out of a 9 month coma and survived she has always wanted to go to Disney. I’m autistic and I’m a Disney disability person. I’m pissed off at the op who thinks not to call I know cast members in Disney that are deeply annoyed with the op in general.

  10. Jennifer

    I just went to Disney October 6th 2022. I broke my foot and ankle walking out of the restroom my first day there. They had to take me to the Urgent Care outside of the park. I missed a full day at Animal Kingdom and could of sued them or even contact customer service to reimburse me but I didn’t because I made sure I had a magical time and made the best of it.

  11. Nicole

    Ya, you know they don’t make enough money currently! (They just raised their rates … Again!) So of course they have to nickel and dime everyone for every little thing they can! Oh, and did you know that they own their own fire department and EMT services? Well they do! It is the Reedy creek fire department/ EMT services. They don’t pay local/ state taxes here in Florida so they have to supply all of those services themselves. But, they save SO much money NOT paying local/ state taxes! So, of course they have to charge more and more for everything they can think of! IT IS SICKENING! I bet if Walt Disney was still alive he would be so mad at how they have become so money hungry not even caring about their guests health but caring more about money they can make off of them when they are sick or needing medical assistance the most! It is sad and quite sickening to see a company that already makes so much money; doesn’t pay their employees fairly, and cheats the locals out of taxes which our state could use. Then now using health as another way to take more money away from people!? It is frustrating to the extreme! Go Disney!!!
    Ex- Disney employee.

    1. Stitch

      Actually Disney pays not only their Taxes to Reedy Creek but also to Orange and Osceola counties and they pay state taxes so while I agree they have been super money hungry lately to say they aren’t paying their fair share plus more in taxes is completely wrong

  12. Breena

    I understand where everyone is coming from but I want to address the comments regarding the *brand new* CEO of the Walt Disney World Company. Having gone through leadership changes in multiple companies I know for a fact that while you can be considered responsible for something the instant you are given the title it unethical to blame the new leadership for things that were implemented and agreeded to during the old leadership. Leadership changed literally days ago. There hasn’t been time for the new leadership to fully change anything. I can also say that the system used is automatic. Reach out via messenger, chat, email, phone. Tell them you were automatically charged when you missed a reservation due to a medical emergency.

  13. Christine tullock

    They don’t care! I fell off ratatouille getting off I face planted. The employees acted like they didn’t see it! Went to the urgent care in Epcot ( mind you I was shaking and just had surgery for a blown out ulcer) the lady asked what happened I told her I was so shaken up I was throwing up. Lady gave me some ice like wtf where should I put this homemade ice pack cause my back hurt my legs my arm and my neck! She then tells me to leave! Myself and my daughters had to leave the park, guess who was called to my hotel… (process it) 911 I was in such bad condition that I had to stay in the crappy hospital ( it was as actually crap) for 4 nights!

    1. Jill E. Bean

      You yelled at her because she gave you ice? If you are hurt, that doesn’t give you the right to be nasty to people who are just trying to help. I’m guessing that’s why you were told to leave.

      1. Eri

        Was the comment that you replied to edited? I don’t see where it said that the worker was yelled at…

  14. Kerry

    That is awful. It’s not like the guest planned to take ill. Walt Disney should be happy that people still want to go to their theme park, with the extravagant rising costs.

  15. Tammy

    I don’t feel Disney should be charging guest for missed reservations if they can prove the had a medical emergency that caused them to miss that reservation.

  16. Steve

    As a Paramedic, we bill for service, healthcare costs money. Training, salaries, equipment cost money.

  17. There is a previous article about WDW losing it’s soul. Disney isn’t losing its soul, it lost that a long, long time ago. From all of the stunts that the CEOs have been pulling for decades on the guests, (chumps) the greed and the outright blatant letting the theme parks themselves to go to Hell. Changing CEOs is not going to change anything. It’s all clever bullsh#t to sucker the suckers into returning. All I want to know is how much more is this new, old, new CEO is going to get for returning. I’m sure the damn price will be reflected in the price increases each and every year. And, of course it will be the same crap, just another layer of whitewashing the place with more manure. Same old, same old.

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