My email to the higher ups after getting my Jenny email response. Let me know what you think!:
Mr. Iger and Mr. Kalogridis:
I am writing you in regards to a situation which does not affect me personally, but very easily could have as we will be visiting Walt Disney World, staying on property, from January 28 - February 4.
30 families were displaced from their long standing (likely 6 months in advance) ADRs so that a Delicious Disney, a Chef's Series could be held at Cinderella's Royal Table for the night of January 31st. The families were notified about a week ago.
Now, I'm not going to waste my time talking about how Disney made it right for those families and found them comparable reservations. Frankly, I don't buy it. When you tell people their reservation needs to be switched due to an operational issue, they are likely to believe you and just go with the flow, after all, nothing can be helped with operational issues, just rotten luck.
And it isn't like you could say to your guests, "We are choosing to bump your reservation because we came up with a way to have people pay $500 a head and our only obstacle in achieving that is your family's long standing, prepaid vacation plans."
No, what concerns me the most is the mindset that made that acceptable in the first place. Are middle and lower class guests worth that much less to you? You continue to come up with add ons to cater to the elite (after hours, the cabanas) and that is fine.
That is fine until the moment when you cross the line and pander to the elite at the expense of the regular family, who make up your bread and butter. Which you have done here.
If it had been a miscommunication error where you intended the castle be blacked out for this event and for whatever reason it wasn't, why not postpone the event a half an hour OR, difficult as it is to imagine, cancel on those 60 guests deep pockets instead of displacing 30 FAMILIES.
You realize the number of children this has likely disappointed? If they don't all have replacement reservations at the castle, how many of those little girls have been told for 6 months that they would be dining inside the castle with Cinderella had to be told that their reservations were moved to Crystal Palace so now they are eating with Pooh? But, those guests' disappointment is just a casualty to pleasing the elite.
As you can see, I am passionate about this issue. A family whose parents have saved every dime for 2 years (such as mine) for the privilege of bringing their children to the happiest place on earth are NOT less worthy than guests with bottomless pockets. You cannot treat them this way and not anticipate a backlash.
If actions such as these continue, this upcoming trip to Walt Disney World will be my last. We had been looking into buying it DVC and coming yearly. I know it isn't $500 a head for one meal, but it is tens of thousands of dollars of revenue. I would think you would want to show families, like mine, that you know that we are the main source of your revenue stream and that you value us equally.
I will be watching, and listening. I am very sincerely hoping that this was a one time action and you realize how wrong it was to create class distinction and inequality in the Magic Kingdom.
Thank you for this kind consideration in this matter.
[My real name]
