DisneyWorld reviews and complaints

Beginning of April I visited the Disney World's "Magic Kingdom" Park in Orlando, Florida. We are German citizens visiting the US and thought a special highlight for our six-year-old daughter (who is a great Disney "Frozen" fan) would be a visit to Disney World. The "Magic Kingdom" Park was especially recommended to us by a local Tour Guide. Not only was my daughter very excited to go there, I myself had childhood memories of a visit to Disneyland (California) with my parents more than 30 years ago and was now eager to have a similar experience with my own family (husband, daughter and 21-month-old son).
Unfortunately, our visit to the Park turned out to be an absolute frustration! We felt like the undermost "cash cows" on Earth.

The park was way too crowded, the lines in the restaurants / ice-cream parlors / coffee shops were way to long (waiting time for an ice-cream at the ice-cream parlor about 45 minutes), Hardly any Disney characters were to be seen in the streets (except for a parade which we missed because we couldn't stand too long in the hot, burning sun at 83°F (hardly any sunshades, parasols, benches from where to watch presentations), and if you wanted to meet a character, you also had to get up in line (waiting time again - in our case "Elsa&Anna" - 110 minutes) - just for having a quick photo taken?
So we decided to walk from the castle to look for other "available" attractions, but almost all the attractions had waiting time from 35 minutes minimum to 110 (!) minutes in the stand-by lines.
The "Swiss House" (basically just a short walk up and down a wooden ramp) and the "Prince Charming" merry-go-round were the only "attraction" with only 5 and 20 minutes waiting time.

Summing up: during our five-hour-stay we paid $329.10 entrance fee (two grown-ups and one child, the infant went without charge) and $ 17.00 parking fee for
- watching a short "Welcome to Magic Kingdom" presentation with a handful of firecrackers
- one ride on the merry-go-round
- one walk through the "Swiss House"
- the opportunity of buying an overpriced ice-cream bar and soda from one of the refreshment stands
- some Disney merchandise of very poor quality we could have bought easily at any Disney Store etc. (but we wanted to cheer up the kids at least a little bit)
- feeling as 3rd class guests (one-day-visitors with a regular ticket ("stand-by lines"))

In my opinion, it is uncandid to make families and little kids waiting everywhere in long lines, selling them on top of astronomical entrance fees merchandise of inferior quality (most of the "Frozen" merchandise I've bought for my daughter fell apart pretty quickly) and trying to make them believe that this was the kind of "fantastic experience" you'd want to come back for ("1st-Visit"-Button/ "see you soon"-sign at the exit). The Disney Company should be ashamed of treating "guests" as mere "cash cows" at every possible corner. The Disney business has become too greedy, too commercialized - the values of "fair-minded business/trade" are lost.
My recommendation: STAY AWAY and do not support this phony business - there's better things to do with your time and money and other worthwhile adventures you can explore with your kids.

On December 4, 2007, while in Disney World, I ordered a burger meal from the restaurant in Tomorrowland. Almost half of my burger was finished, when I bit into something that was very hard and felt pain in my jaw. I spit out my food only to find a small piece of a hard substance, along with a piece of my tooth. To shorten the story, I reported what happened to the manager, who wrote my name on a scrap of paper. I then went to guest services and was advised to call a number and report the incident. I asked to fill out a form there, but was told there were no claim forms to fill out. The next day I called Disney guest relations and advised them of an object in my food. The woman took my information and said someone will call back. I was called back and my conversation was taped. The representative asked me to send in the object, which I agreed to. After she finished taping the conversation, she advised me that they will have a lab analyze the object. I suggested the object my be a piece of bone, but I would still like to know what it was.

The next day was spent at a dentist in the Orlando area, where the dentist had to rebuild the damaged tooth. My wife and three young children spent the day at the hotel, since I had the rental car. We all flew home several days later. After three weeks, I still had not received a call or letter from Disney and started calling the Guest relations number and finally spoke with the representative who had taped my call. She stated they had completed their investigation and they were not responsible. I was told to call another number, which was for the supplier of the meat. They could not tell me where I was calling. I call the "supplier" and was told to call their insurance company. I asked for a call back. The insurance company did call back and I asked for an acknowledgment letter before we continued. I was informed I would get one. After another month of waiting, I called back the "supplier" and left several messages, I called Disney back, and the same woman asked "Do you want me to call them for you?"... I asked her to since no one was calling or writing. I waited another 10 days and wrote a letter to every board member on the Disney website (12 in all) and a letter to the "supplier". I did get a call just over a week ago from the same representative at Disney who informed me that she did call the "supplier" again and that all my letters to the Board of Directors went to her. I have since spoken to a representative from the "suppliers" insurance company asking for bills and my dental history.

The bottom line is, don't get hurt at Disney, but if you do, get an attorney the next day. Disney could have offered to pay the dental bill and then placed the claim, but I guess they would rather let the individual try to sue them knowing that many of their guests are from out of state, so they let the matter go. After spending thousands of dollars over the last few years on tickets, after hour park passes, food at Disney and Disney souvenirs, I guess when you are just a dollar sign and not a person, there is no reason to act responsibly or professionally. Good luck out there.