Merged Irma impact on The Fort threads here

So, after a lengthy discussion with the CM, we decided to cancel our trip. A full refund will be posted to our CC. We will try again some other time. Sorry I had to miss all the fun with the campers that might be able to wait it out.
 
So, after a lengthy discussion with the CM, we decided to cancel our trip. A full refund will be posted to our CC. We will try again some other time. Sorry I had to miss all the fun with the campers that might be able to wait it out.

Oh man I'm sorry to hear that!
 


We are booked end of October... I'm keeping my Fort reservation because there is no way it won't be ready by then. That's 6 weeks from now.

We are the same - arriving 6 weeks from today. I am 'tuned in' for the sake of knowing when firm information is released, but I have no real worries about our time there.
 
Hey guys- I'm a Disney newbie here... Our family of 5 is scheduled to arrive 09/24 for a week at a cabin. Spoke to a CM yesterday who assured me that everything would be up and running by our arrival, but now after finding this board, i'm so confused what I should be doing. The CM i talked to didn't even give an option to relocate yet.
 
This is the problem I'm having with Disney. There is no official answer, we are just being kept in limbo and it's starting to tick me off. There are people traveling down there, as we speak. Campers usually take a few days travel time. What about those that aren't on these boards? What about those that don't/can't check their emails on the road? They are really dropping the ball on this one. Pick a date and have it ready. By now there has been plenty of time to do an overall check and estimate of repair. Let your campers know so that they can make other arrangements if need be.
 


Honestly it's not about plans not working out. We went through the hurricane too. We live in New Port Richey and until the last second we were expecting a category 3 or 4 storm to hit us. We knew that something might go wrong, but never expected that it would be what appears to be a totally mismanaged communication plan on Disney's part. People with check-in dates after ours have had their accommodations for 2 days and we're on our 10th phone call and probably 20+ hours in hold times still trying to get info 48 hours before we're due to check in. This is unacceptable regardless of the circumstances.


I finally received a call this morning for our check in tomorrow but missed it by a minute so it went to voice mail. I called back immediately and literally spent my day trying to get to Guest Services. 5 hours spent between 2 calls which were disconnected at 2 hours 14 min and again at 2 hours 18 min. The CM I spoke with before connecting me the second time to Guest Services said she just had a guy disconnected 3 times today. We are due to check in tomorrow. I don't fault the CMs either but the communication has been terrible. I got my email that my magic bands would be at the resort this afternoon. At this point I have no idea which resort??! My voice message asked me to call. I did to no avail except long holds and dropped calls. Seriously rethinking even getting our annual passes and going to Food & Wine this year.
 
I think people are asking a lot for Disney to pick a date and stay with it. Major parts of the campground are still flooded, meaning work is delayed in those areas. The workforce is variable as workers are day to day dealing with their own storm related issues. Disney is trying to reopen as soon as possible but that date simply isn't known. If it is a problem then reschedule. There are bigger issues at play than a vacation that can be refunded.

I sympathize with the inconvenience and I understand that you are getting imperfect information and long wait times, but all this was suspected before the storm hit. Patience must extend more than a few days as it has been less than a week since the storm rolled through. As for people being enroute, if they didn't call the campground following a hurricane I question their judgement. This was not an unknown event. I'd also point out The Fort was closed for three weeks following the storms in '04. It is quite reasonable that this will take more than a week.
 
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There are bigger issues at play than a vacation that can be refunded.

As for people being enroute, if they didn't call the campground following a hurricane I question their judgement. This was not an unknown event.

But there's two problems with this. 1st - at least a couple people on the road right now heading to the Fort were told to go ahead and come Sunday- directly led to believe they'd have a campsite when they got there. And 2nd- only disneys part of this vacation can be refunded at this point in time. And for us ( and I'm sure there's many others in the same situation) we are a family of 9 with plane tickets, universal tickets, legoland tickets, and gator land tickets. None of these are refundable now that Irma has past and things are up and running again. That's a HUGE chunk of money we'd lose if we simply "rescheduled ", because this is the only time of year we can go.
 
But there's two problems with this. 1st - at least a couple people on the road right now heading to the Fort were told to go ahead and come Sunday- directly led to believe they'd have a campsite when they got there. And 2nd- only disneys part of this vacation can be refunded at this point in time. And for us ( and I'm sure there's many others in the same situation) we are a family of 9 with plane tickets, universal tickets, legoland tickets, and gator land tickets. None of these are refundable now that Irma has past and things are up and running again. That's a HUGE chunk of money we'd lose if we simply "rescheduled ", because this is the only time of year we can go.

Agreed. That is difficult, but you can hardly hold Disney responsible for non-Disney parts of your vacation. I get the frustration. I really do and I sympathize though it probably doesn't come across real well. I just think that there is only so much Disney can do, and they don't have a crystal ball. They have given dates they are targeting, but haven't given anything firm for a reason. It simply can't be done. Perhaps they should have simply given a date 4 weeks out from the day after the storm hit, but how much difference would that have made? People would be furious at their cancelled reservations, especially when the rumor got out that The Fort was ready to open after 2 weeks. And it still wouldn't have helped much with non-Disney aspects of peoples' vacations.

What people really want is a magic wand to make it all better, and sadly Disney can only do that in the movies. I also think part of the problem is that The Fort is unique. The number of people per site or per cabin is not replicated too many other places in the resorts. So if you are coming with 10 people in a trailer or tent or 6 in a cabin, there really are only so many rooms they can give you that are set up that way in other resorts. Larger parties are harder to accommodate and putting people in multiple rooms is... not optimal for many reasons, although I'm sure revenue is one of them.

I know people hate paying for trip insurance, but travelling to Florida in hurricane season, for a very expensive Disney vacation, having good trip insurance is non-negotiable.
 
. . although I am not there physically, my buddies tell me there is an army of bulldozers and dump trucks
. . . am going to drive there tomorrow (Friday, 9/15/2017) to see if I can get some "straight dope"
Rusty Scupper, glad to hear from you. How are you feeling? How is recovery going? Hopefully you'll be back to work soon. Thanks for the updates so far.
 
I think people are asking a lot for Disney to pick a date and stay with it. Major parts of the campground are still flooded, meaning work is delayed in those areas. The workforce is variable as workers are day to day dealing with their own storm related issues. Disney is trying to reopen as soon as possible but that date simply isn't known. If it is a problem then reschedule. There are bigger issues at play than a vacation that can be refunded.

I sympathize with the inconvenience and I understand that you are getting imperfect information and long wait times, but all this was suspected before the storm hit. Patience must extend more than a few days as it has been less than a week since the storm rolled through. As for people being enroute, if they didn't call the campground following a hurricane I question their judgement. This was not an unknown event. I'd also point out The Fort was closed for three weeks following the storms in '04. It is quite reasonable that this will take more than a week.

I'm not asking Disney to pick a date. I'm asking them to communicate and there's a huge difference. The email those of us who are checking in this week/weekend received said to call Disney or our travel agent to reschedule or relocate. The problem is that when you call, you get a CM in reservations who can't do anything for you, then you get transferred to guest services where there is a 2-5 hour hold time and even then the information given isn't always correct. My travel agent and her boss have called a combined 7 or 8 times just on MY reservation for Saturday and between the 2 of them they've spent close to 20 hours on hold and this is on the line just for agents. They've had people be rude to them, say they will call back and then not, and just generally been given the run-around. I called last night and got a very nice CM, but she wasn't able to help me and actually told me that guest services wouldn't talk to me about my reservation, the agent would have to call. Today, my daughter called THREE times before finally getting a CM who was willing to help, but needed to talk to our travel agent. This person actually called the agent with my daughter on hold and miraculously found 3 rooms at AoA for our party of 12, after another agent told her earlier in the day that there were no rooms available, but someone would still call her today or tomorrow. They are standard rooms so it's going to be tight, but we took them. The only hitch is that they are only Sept 16-20 and our checkout is the 22nd. The CM is certain the FW is going to open on the 20th, but if not they will still accommodate us (we had a cabin and a campsite booked). This means we will be pulling our camper over not being certain that we'll use it, but at this point I just want to stop being pissed off and try to get excited about the trip.

While a lot of people are able to reschedule their trips we have no option other than this week due family complications. I sympathize with the Disney staff in having to deal with the aftermath of the hurricane, but this is their business and they are supposed to be the best at what they do. They knew for over a week that it was coming and that it was likely going to hit them pretty hard. There was time for them to have a plan for communicating with guests arriving in 7 days post-storm and they have dropped the ball in a huge way. There's no excuse for the lack of knowledge by their first line CM's nor for the run-around that has taken place. If my daughter hadn't called and refused to be put off, we still wouldn't know what was going to happen. I sure hope they have some extra pixie dust at the front desk when we check in.....
 
What people really want is a magic wand to make it all better, and sadly Disney can only do that in the movies. I also think part of the problem is that The Fort is unique. The number of people per site or per cabin is not replicated too many other places in the resorts. So if you are coming with 10 people in a trailer or tent or 6 in a cabin, there really are only so many rooms they can give you that are set up that way in other resorts. Larger parties are harder to accommodate and putting people in multiple rooms is... not optimal for many reasons, although I'm sure revenue is one of them.

Again, the issue is that we have seen reports of people being relocated while we're getting the runaround. This is not about the hurricane or the fort, it's about Disney doing a terrible job of communicating with the people who keep them in business.
 
I t
I'm not asking Disney to pick a date. I'm asking them to communicate and there's a huge difference. The email those of us who are checking in this week/weekend received said to call Disney or our travel agent to reschedule or relocate. The problem is that when you call, you get a CM in reservations who can't do anything for you, then you get transferred to guest services where there is a 2-5 hour hold time and even then the information given isn't always correct. My travel agent and her boss have called a combined 7 or 8 times just on MY reservation for Saturday and between the 2 of them they've spent close to 20 hours on hold and this is on the line just for agents. They've had people be rude to them, say they will call back and then not, and just generally been given the run-around. I called last night and got a very nice CM, but she wasn't able to help me and actually told me that guest services wouldn't talk to me about my reservation, the agent would have to call. Today, my daughter called THREE times before finally getting a CM who was willing to help, but needed to talk to our travel agent. This person actually called the agent with my daughter on hold and miraculously found 3 rooms at AoA for our party of 12, after another agent told her earlier in the day that there were no rooms available, but someone would still call her today or tomorrow. They are standard rooms so it's going to be tight, but we took them. The only hitch is that they are only Sept 16-20 and our checkout is the 22nd. The CM is certain the FW is going to open on the 20th, but if not they will still accommodate us (we had a cabin and a campsite booked). This means we will be pulling our camper over not being certain that we'll use it, but at this point I just want to stop being pissed off and try to get excited about the trip.

While a lot of people are able to reschedule their trips we have no option other than this week due family complications. I sympathize with the Disney staff in having to deal with the aftermath of the hurricane, but this is their business and they are supposed to be the best at what they do. They knew for over a week that it was coming and that it was likely going to hit them pretty hard. There was time for them to have a plan for communicating with guests arriving in 7 days post-storm and they have dropped the ball in a huge way. There's no excuse for the lack of knowledge by their first line CM's nor for the run-around that has taken place. If my daughter hadn't called and refused to be put off, we still wouldn't know what was going to happen. I sure hope they have some extra pixie dust at the front desk when we check in.....
I think in my frustrated state, that's what I was getting at. Perhaps not so much the actual date, but the lack of communication. It would ease a lot of anxiety to put up on their website what to expect if you do have a reservation and the Fort is still closed. Maybe they should have set up a separate line for those affected, so that people wouldn't have to be waiting for hours to talk to someone. Heck, I'd be willing to boondock it in a parking lot. LOL. It's the not knowing, and having to fish around and ask the wonderful people on these message boards what to expect as far as reservations at other Disney properties, etc. And you kind do expect better than the best from Disney, because that's what they've been selling us on for years.
 
Here are 3 pictures from the Fort posted by another group that I am a member of. Not sure of the exact date they were taken.
ETGKK5Y.png

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I think people are asking a lot for Disney to pick a date and stay with it. Major parts of the campground are still flooded, meaning work is delayed in those areas. The workforce is variable as workers are day to day dealing with their own storm related issues. Disney is trying to reopen as soon as possible but that date simply isn't known. If it is a problem then reschedule. There are bigger issues at play than a vacation that can be refunded.

I sympathize with the inconvenience and I understand that you are getting imperfect information and long wait times, but all this was suspected before the storm hit. Patience must extend more than a few days as it has been less than a week since the storm rolled through. As for people being enroute, if they didn't call the campground following a hurricane I question their judgement. This was not an unknown event. I'd also point out The Fort was closed for three weeks following the storms in '04. It is quite reasonable that this will take more than a week.

Eeek! Four weeks in '04 before the Fort reopened? Now I am having another mini freak out about our cabin reservations with check-in on 9/27!!
 
Ok wow. Really. Talk about being entitled. Jesus lady.

I get what harriet is saying. People who check in Sunday are being pro-actively contacted or messaged by Disney before people who check in on Saturday. One would think the pro-active team would attack the Friday list, work it down to completion, move on to the Saturday list, work it to completion, then move on to the Sunday list...

And so on and so on. Her concern on that point is warranted.

Bama Ed
 
Ok wow. Really. Talk about being entitled. Jesus lady.
I don't understand your comment. She's coming on vacation to Disney with 12 people in a couple of days and she wants Disney to let her know where she should check in. It's not entitled, it's kind of a practical concern. At this point, no CM's life is on the line (most likely) due to the hurricane and I say this as someone who went through the same hurricane and I'm still without power. So, yeah, Disney has all our phone numbers and email, get a darn manager in an office and have them CALL each person who is checking in FW in the next week and solve their problem. Not one person on this thread that I've read is asking for too much. What did you think people on a Disney board, on the camping subforum, would be complaining about?
 

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