This week’s mailbag devotes a lot of space to answering questions about vacationing at Walt Disney World. First up, staff writer Lani Teshima answers some reader questions about Disney’s Magical Express service to Walt Disney World Resorts. Margaret Z. writes:
In October of 2006, my family visited Disney World and participated in Disney’s Magical Express. One of our 4 pieces of luggage was lost. Magical Express took 2 days to determine that the lost luggage was not within the Magical Express system and then filed a claim with Southwest Airlines on our behalf. Southwest airlines has subsequently denied my claim for reimbursement since the preliminary claim was not made within 4 hours of our arrival. Note that none of our bags were delivered to our room at the resort within the 4-hour timeframe.
I have contacted Disney reservations, Disney’s Magical Express representatives and sent email to Disney’s guest relations. The Disney representatives whom I talked to over the phone were not able to help me nor were they able to provide me with a phone number for someone who could help me. Disney guest relations has not responded to me and I sent an email to them approximately 2 weeks ago.
I’m sorry to hear about your situation. You were caught in a Catch-22 situation since you thought Disney had your luggage, and you didn’t file a claim. I thought I would seek for some additional opinions and contacted New York Times travel writer and consumer advocate Chris Elliott (who is a Walt Disney World annual passholder).
If this type of situation happens again in the future, Chris suggests that you file a claim with all parties as soon as possible. I would tend to agree, since at least that starts the ball rolling, regardless of who winds up being ultimately responsible.
Please email me if you hear anything back from either Southwest or Disney. I would be interested in whether you are able to have some sort of resolution for this.
Margaret replies:
Thank you for your response. I just recently reached a resolution with Disney on this issue and they have agreed to reimburse me in full for my luggage. It’s a bit unfortunate that the resolution to this issue came about due to a claim I filed with the Central Florida Better Business Bureau. I would have preferred to resolve the issue by dealing directly with Disney but was not successful in contacting a Disney representative who could help me.
I appreciate you spending some time to investigate options on my behalf. As both you and Chris suggested, should this happen again, I will most certainly file claims as soon as possible.
Next, Walt Disney World Update author Mark Goldhaber answers some Walt Disney World-related questions. Tim J. writes:
We are planning a trip to Walt Disney World this summer and were thinking about staying at the Polynesian. I hear a rumor that the Great Ceremonial House roof was going to have some work done and would affect the monorail station. Do you have any idea when this may happen and if the station would remain open during the work?
I don’t know the timeframe of the work, as it wasn’t definitively indicated on the Notice of Commencement filed with Orange County. However, I would imagine that you’d still be able to use the monorail, even while they work on the station. It may not be pretty, depending on the extent of the work, but they can’t go without running the monorail.
Bill M. writes:
I just got back from Walt Disney World and have used the dining plan several times. I usually do dinner takeout on the plan when getting back late, but I was told they would no longer give dinner takeout on the dining plan.
Also—I am a DVC member—the service was not what it used to be. The personnel had a “too bad” attitude to every problem—shower problem, sick child—and I needed another 15 minutes for check out.
We used Magic Express and waited 5 hours for our bags. When we called to check on our bags, we were told by the Disney bellman, “There was a security problem at the airport.” These bags were coming from the airport, so what was the security problem? Keep up the good work.
Thanks for your note. I’m sorry to hear that the DVC cast members were not as helpful as they should be. Which resort were you staying at?
As to the issue with the bags, if there was a security issue at the airport that for some reason prevented any luggage from leaving the airport, it may have affected your bags.
It’s interesting that they won’t allow you to use the dining plan for takeout, as the restaurant wouldn’t have to lose a reservation to allow you to use your plan. Maybe they have a quota on the maximum number of dining plan meals that the restaurant has to serve? Who knows. Thanks again for writing.
“Buying DVC” (link), Tony Phoenix’s March 6 article that provides a breakdown of buying into the Disney Vacation Club generated the following letter from Jill, who writes:
I am really grateful for your DVC financial analysis. I was trying to “crunch” the numbers myself, and I was happy you did all the legwork. By my calculations it was taking about 15 years to hit the break-even point. I was using a lot simpler calculation than yours. I just took the total cost (plus interest and yearly dues) and divided it by the number of years it was used so far. My sales consultant too was confused by my calculations. However, she was very low key too.
I signed a contract but still have about 2 weeks to make up my mind. My biggest concern is my age. My husband and I are both 50 and not sure if it is price-efficient for us.
Anyway, thanks for your data and hard work.
I am glad that you found it helpful. The numbers can be overwhelming—it could have easily be the subject of a final exam in one of my graduate finance classes.
You raise an interesting point about age, and the life of the contract. If you buy now into Saratoga Springs, by the time your contract is up, you will be nearing 100 years of age. On average, most of us won’t make it quite that far—the average life expectancy in the US is currently about 78 years.
So let’s assume that you are an average American. (I know—we are all above average here, but just play along, if you will). On that basis, you would see about 28 years of use. Since the break-even is between 7-10 years, you would will have up to 18 years of use at the much lower price. Now, all of that assumes that you will be traveling up to age 78. If you don’t, you could 1) sell the membership on the resale market, and still be ahead, or 2) give/will/place in trust for your heirs or other parties, and they could continue to use it.
In your case, the big question I would ask is, do I plan to travel to WDW regularly for the next 10+ years—or more accurately, the breakeven point from the spreadsheet? If you expect that you will, then it would make sense for you. If, for health/work/family reasons, you expect to visit regularly for that period of time, than I would argue it isn’t worth the buying into it.
Finally, Alex Stroup responds to reader Pete F., who wrote in response to Alex’s recent review of Meet the Robinsons (link):
Boy, Alex, I couldn’t disagree more. I thought Meet the Robinsons was a fantastic movie, and this is coming from someone who refused to see Chicken Little and loathed the second Pirates movie. I am a harsh critic of the decaying animation department of the pre-Pixar merger Disney, and thus, after reading your review of Meet the Robinsons, I was more than a bit concerned going into the theater today. I was so relieved when the movie turned out to be classic Disney. There were so many little surprises. Where you did not like the montage scene, I loved it—so quirky and not even remotely a “connect the dots” kind of scene so typical of the Dreamworks crew.
C’mon, how can you not like the guy married to the hand puppet? And the uncle who loses control once he sees the toast and there’s no accompanying PB&J!? I absolutely loved the positive attitude of the flick, right down to Wilbur’s “that’s a good question” whenever he is stumped or stymied. The idea of “keep moving forward” is a very positive message. Even Goober’s story is important: taking responsibility for one’s life and not blaming others.
And how, upon seeing Walt’s quote at the end of the film, could one not tear up a bit—here’s a guy who failed, failed, and failed again, but kept moving forward until he created something unimaginably wonderful, continuing to be an inspiration for filmmakers, even today, even for this very movie. No, I think you are off the mark here. This is a wonderful, fresh, creative piece of work, and is to be applauded. Well done Disney, Walt would be proud!
Thanks for your comments Pete.
Like I said in my review, there are many good things about the movie that point in a positive direction. I also recognize that what didn’t work for me will work for a lot of people (who will, as you have, champion the film).
My problem with the guy married to the hand puppet and the PB&J guy aren’t with the characters themselves but rather confusion as to what they’re doing there in the first place. They are simply sight gags, and neither one, in my opinion, all that funny (hey look, the fat guy throws a tantrum if you withhold food). There were other funny parts though.
But what I can say, the movie did not connect with me emotionally and left me feeling beaten about the shoulders by the unnecessarily scattershot pacing.
I’m glad, though, that you liked it, and even if I didn’t much; it does offer hope for Walt Disney Feature Animation.
