By resourceful mommy | Leave A Comment
Last December my family took our first vacation to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. I call it our first because I knew almost immediately that it would not be our last. In fact, we have already decided that we will be returning to the World this year during the same week of December, and hopefully every year thereafter while our kids are young. I am going to share some of the tips that I picked up along the way here at Family Bliss in the coming weeks along with some of my favorite Disney moments – like the moment I met the nicest store manager in the World…and the world.
We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge during our 2008 vacation, and the very first day my two year old son noticed a stuffed Pluto in the gift shop window. Fully expecting him to ask for many souvenirs during our week long trip, I quickly shushed him along, but made a mental note about that gift. As we moved from park to park each day, my son ended up not wanting to buy any other toys or gifts. He only wanted that Pluto! The problem was…that Pluto was not available in the gift shop, only in the gift shop window! We made it our mission to find that Pluto in the Magic Kingdom.
Our last day we browsed every gift shop in the MK and could not find that exact Pluto. I approached one store manager and described the item only to find out that no store carried that item any longer. He suggested that I ask the gift shop manager back at the Wilderness Lodge to pull that Pluto from the window, but cautioned me that unless there was a price code with it, he would not be able to sell it to me, either. And then that store manager did something that no one has ever done before for my children. He grabbed another style of Pluto from a nearby shelf, pulled the price tag off of it, and handed it to me. He said, “Take this. I hope that the store manager at the Wilderness Lodge can help you, but in the meantime, I hope this makes your son happy.”
Disney does many things right – very right. And on this particular day, I was blown away by their customer service – just one reason why we’ll be returning this December!
ABOUT resourceful mommy
Amy is a stay at home mom to a quirky five year old girl and a wacky two and a half year old boy, ma{read more}
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Thank you so much for this article, which has cheered me up no end!
My family and I are making our first trip to Walt Disney World in Florida this summer, and your testimonial and your overall enthusiasm for the Disney World experience, has fired up my excitement about our trip!
This is our dream trip! We missed out on a holiday (vacation) last year, due to personal circumstances, and so this trip was booked up to compensate us somewhat.
Customer Service is very important to me and, of course, I want everything to be perfect during our stay.
That kind gesture by the store manager has (more or less) guaranteed that you and your family will be repeat customers, not only to his gift store but to Disney World as a whole. People tend only to realy stories about customer service when it’s either VERY BAD or VERY GOOD. These stories then get spread quickly round the world in this technological age. Therefore, it’s very important for companies to realise the importance of going that extra mile.
Thanks Amy! I look forward to hearing more about your trip, as I move closer to my own trip!…
Annette
Great post!
This really goes to show that any CM at Disney has the opportunity to make or break your stay. Thank goodness the majority are there to make vacations truly magical. We have not been since our honeymoon almost 8 years ago. In May we are taking our boys for the first time. I can not wait because my parents are going with us. It is only fitting that they see my boys experience the magic. They are the ones that took me to Disney World almost yearly while growing up.
I am always so impressed by how the cast members handle the lines for getting autographs. For as busy as Disney is we have always been able to get a characters’ autograph in a timely fashion without pushing.
We love Disney too. We honeymooned at the Wilderness Lodge. It is beautiful, isn’t it? Everyone at Disney is so nice and they do so much so well. We cannot wait to take the kids. We are planning on going next summer. I wish we had the money to go every year.