So I had an argument with a Cast Member

[MaxPower]

Here's a bizarre story that I'll be interested to hear comments about.

Last week, I was at the Hollywood Studios first thing in the morning. After riding Toy Story Mania, my friend and I went to ride Rock N Roller Coaster. We waited maybe 5 minutes total in the queue.

My friend had never been on Rock N Roller Coaster before so I was excited for him to experience it. I have ridden it many, many times before.

By chance, we were directed to sit in the very front two seats of our "limo". As we pull away from the loading area, we stop at the usual place under the display board to wait for Steven Tyler's countdown and then our immediate take-off.

After about 3 minutes of waiting, I knew that there might be a glitch and that the ride was having an issue.

Now remember, I am in the very front seat, and after about seven minutes of waiting, I can see that all of the lights down the track and into the building that houses the coaster track have all been turned on.

At this point a cast member walks up to the side of the limo and tells all of us they are fixing the problem and we should take off in a few minutes.

Of course, the queue is growing and growing at this point and there are a lot of people in line behind the fence just watching us sit.

After about 20 minutes of being strapped in the limo, I am fully expecting someone to come release us and direct us to just walk out at this point - but INSTEAD, a cast member comes up and says to all of the riders:

"We're having an issue with the coaster. Right now, we're going to launch you into the ride and you will have full audio, However, all of the lights will be on during the ride."

And sure enough, One minute later, we are launched into the ride building with perfect audio but all of the lights are on in the building.

Now as a Disney fan who has ridden this ride many times, I am in heaven. All of the lights are on. I can see every twist and turn of the black track and how it's actually laid out (The room is more like a large square box rather than a rectangular warehouse.)

To my surprise, all along the walls and underneath the track down on the floor are numerous work benches and tables covered with tools and boxes--much like a garage or storage area. You can tell it must be used as a workshop after hours. Of course I can see all of the signs that are usually individually illuminated during the ride- such as the Hollywood sign and the spotlights. I'm surprised I didn't hurt my neck as I was trying to take everything in rather than enjoying the coaster ride.

So the ride ends as quickly as it begins, and we pull into the unload area. I immediately notice that there is a RNR cast member ( a woman in her 40's) standing on the unload platform handing a fastpass to every person coming out of the secret "I'm now too scared to ride" exit door that connects to the original queue. I thought she was going to give us fast passes since we had to wait so long and we had to ride the ride with the lights on. But obviously what has happened is that the ride is now being closed and all of those in the queue are told to go through the "chicken" exit and they are all given a fast pass for later.

Now, since I am in the front seat, I am basically the last one to exit from our ride. And by coincidence, the last person in the queue has now exited. As I pass the cast member, I ask her for two of the fast passes ( because my friend still has not ridden it in the dark with all of the effects.) Her face and body language instantly told me she was not going to be accommodating and she said, "No, you just got to ride the ride." I was actually surprised because she is holding at least 100 fast passes in her hand.

I said, "Actually, we just had to ride the ride with all of the lights on so they could test it - and that was not the real ride."

She said, " But you still got to ride it."

I said, "Plus we had to sit strapped in the car for 20 minutes." ( Did this bother me? Not really- but if you think about it, we were basically trapped in an uncomfortable position for a fairly long period of time--it's not like we could have gotten out if we wanted--and I think that they should have given everyone fast passes for that alone--even if we had ridden in the dark.)

Unbeknownst to me, another cast member behind me had just witnessed our exchange, he was probably 20 years old, and he came up to her and said "Give them two fast passes. You know that they didn't even get to ride in the dark."

She was then obviously mad at him and begrudgingly handed me two fast passes that were actually good for the entire week.

I'm still surprised that they did not give everyone in our limo a fast pass to come back and experience it in the dark. There surely had to be other first-time riders.

And the fact that I had to argue with a cast member over two fast passes is ridiculous.

Any thoughts or comments? How would you have handled it?

[Altair]

On Dec. 8, we were on Splash Mountain and the ride shut down when we were just around the corner from the exit point. We sat for about 10 minutes while they did a re-set. They were in the middle of the re-set when some clowns decided to get out of their logs, which delayed us another 5 minutes (I thanked the log leapers as they were escorted past our log).
Once the ride was re-started and we exited, we were given re-entry passes that could be used one time on any ride at MK and could be used any time though the end of December.
So I guess there is no set policy.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Yes, I think you should have gottent the fastpasses...don't know why she was so adament not to give them

[Ruprect]

What drives me nuts about stuff like this is that these perfect examples of times you can provide excellent customer service at zero cost to your employer. All companies should be encouraging their employees to take advantage of these situations and rewarding those that do.

[Strmchsr]

Maybe she was having a bad day. Who knows? Sounds like you handled it all right and it all came out okay in the end. I don't know that I would have made a big deal either way, but I can understand your friend wanting to ride with all the effects. Cast Members are trained to "exceed guest expectations." In this case, that didn't happen with this lady, but, fortunately, anther CM stepped in and did the right thing. Just chalk it up to her having a bad day and at least you didn't end up suffering because of it, and actually got a pretty neat experience to boot.

[LuvsTigger80]

This also happen to my hubby and I on our last trip. However our outcome at the end was different. Since the ride didn't shut down after...they told us to go through the some door and we got to ride it again with like a 5 min wait. I think that was the day we rode it 3 times in a row.

The CM that didn't help you was very rude. At least you managed to get some fastpasses but I think that I would have said something to her lead! That is not the Disney way...

[vicster]

Yes, you definitely should have gotten fast passes. Disney should know about your experience.

[kakn7294]

Well I think you should have gotten the re-entry passes. For goodness sake, that's only an additional 2 dozen people to cover everyone who was actually on that train!

[faline]

We were once on Tower of Terror when it malfunctioned. We were offered a reride which we accepted and, wouldn't you know it, the second ride malfunctioned as well. We were offered a third ride (which we declined) but that's certainly the way it should go!

Glad you were able to get fast passes - you certainly should have been eligible given the experience you had!

[buzznwoodysmom]

What drives me nuts about stuff like this is that these perfect examples of times you can provide excellent customer service at zero cost to your employer. All companies should be encouraging their employees to take advantage of these situations and rewarding those that do.

My thoughts exactly. It would have been such an easy thing for her to do, cost nothing for her or her employer, and it would have made several guests very happy. Sounds like someone was having a bad day and was taking it out on her guests. I just don't understand why giving fastpasses to you guys bothered her so much. Glad you got the fastpasses in the end anyway.

[JPL]

I just returned on Monday and I ran into a rather surprisingly rude CM at RNRC too. Even my friend commented that what this guy did was really rude and inappropriate for Disney.

We were in the pre-show room and waiting for the show to start the CM was doing his spiel about no flash photography and someone took a picture of thier group with their phone just as he was saying it. He then continued and added to the spiel saying "once again I said no Flash photography but I guess everyone in here isn't smart enough to understand and for those no so smart I am repeating it" It wasn't just what he said it was the tone that he said it in.

[Mousemates]

Lets hope she learned a lesson from the other cast member and that he took the time to her that she didn't get bonus points for still having fastpasses in her possession at the end of the day.

[Gator]

I can kinda see her point of view - she thinks you're just trying to milk the system and she's not gonna let people walk over her just because her nametag says Disney on it.

However, she must have slept through her training, cuz I'm sure that's not how it happened in class.

[plutolovr]

I'm surprised she didn't give fastpasses to your limo also.
We rode RNRC a few years ago with a first-timer. The music cut out about half-way through the ride. We were the only ones in the limo that mentioned this to the person on the unload platform. He immediately opened that "chicken exit" door and told us to go right in and ride again. Were were riding again in less than 5 minutes.

[SBETigg]

They should have given everyone the Fastpasses, as you said. I'm really surprised this woman was actually arguing with you or denying you the pass and didn't just hand them over, especially when you were persistent. I think maybe she was dealing with a lot of complaints from the people who didn't get to ride and she was just at the end of her rope and feeling defensive. Who knows. But you did get the passes, and really, if you didn't, you probably would have still moved on and had a great day. Plus, you have that cool rare experience of having ridden it with lights on.

[Ian]

I don't know that I have an opinion one way or the other as to whether or not you should have gotten Fastpasses, but once you asked for them she should have smiled and handed them to you.

It costs Disney absolutely nothing and is an opportunity to have a positive guest interaction. As Ruprect said, she really missed a chance to make some magic.

[CaptainSad]

On Dec. 8, we were on Splash Mountain and the ride shut down when we were just around the corner from the exit point. We sat for about 10 minutes while they did a re-set. They were in the middle of the re-set when some clowns decided to get out of their logs, which delayed us another 5 minutes (I thanked the log leapers as they were escorted past our log).
Once the ride was re-started and we exited, we were given re-entry passes that could be used one time on any ride at MK and could be used any time though the end of December.
So I guess there is no set policy.

This is funny. I was there when both the RNRC and this one you just mentioned. I was outside Splash Mountain when this happened and heard the Cast Member over the loud speaker really lay into those two log jumpers. I wish more CM's would do this. They should have ridden Space Mountain and try to stand up. Of course it would have been a mess or they would never do that again. Those clowns could have gotten hurt and of course Disney would have been sued. I wonder if those two were escorted out of the MK?

[CU Tiger]

Typically I find the CMs to be very accomidating. If you ask or just push a little they will give in. There are a lot of people who take advantage of this (this does not sound like the case here) and that frustrates me. DW does a great job making sure eveyone is satisfied. Go to any other non-Disney park and you will not get the same customer service. This is why I do not mind paying the little extra $$ for DW.

[CaptSmee]

On Dec. 8, we were on Splash Mountain and the ride shut down when we were just around the corner from the exit point. We sat for about 10 minutes while they did a re-set. They were in the middle of the re-set when some clowns decided to get out of their logs, which delayed us another 5 minutes (I thanked the log leapers as they were escorted past our log).
Once the ride was re-started and we exited, we were given re-entry passes that could be used one time on any ride at MK and could be used any time though the end of December.
So I guess there is no set policy.

We had this happen at SM as well and were given...NOTHING

[BellesRose]

Come on, we're in a recession you know! Disney can't afford to just give out free fastpasses!



In all seriousness, people are stingy about things, even if it doesn't cost anything to them. It wouldn't hurt her all at, but the fact that she needed to feel in control...well, I'll just shut my mouth. Glad you got a pass though.