Dollywood Discussion Thread

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Yeah, dude, you're comparing LR not running to a hurricane. And yes, Disney did basically have to refund you. Whether it's their policy or not, if they sold you a ticket for a day that they weren't open, you would have the ability to dispute the credit card charge. And whether they win or lose, chargebacks hurt any company, so they'll definitely try to avoid it.

 

Conversely, no company is obligated to do anything for someone who's butthurt that they didn't get to do everything they wanted.

 

Sent from my understanding of the way business works via a mic drop.

[MidwestThemeParks]

dsteph isnt comparing the roller coaster to the hurricane. He just said that Disney customer service refunded his tickets (which could've been used on any day of the season, when the park was open) without asking questions (and without him asking for a refund) even though they didn't have to. He also said that Dollywood wouldn't do that unless they got manager approval because they do what their book says.

 

Now, I'm not saying Disney has better customer service than Dollywood; I don't have experience with either.

[dstephe9]

dsteph isnt comparing the roller coaster to the hurricane. He just said that Disney customer service refunded his tickets (which could've been used on any day of the season, when the park was open) without asking questions (and without him asking for a refund) even though they didn't have to. He also said that Dollywood wouldn't do that unless they got manager approval because they do what their book says.

 

Now, I'm not saying Disney has better customer service than Dollywood; I don't have experience with either.

Exactly. And with Dollywood I was just trying to get them to waive the $15 or $20 fee (whatever it was for the replacement season pass). It's not like it was a huge loss to them vs 5 days of tickets and 6 nights at Disney (when they only closed 1 day) I had asked just to move it to later in the year

 

Now I'm just going to get a new card every year when I renew so I don't have to deal with the hassle again. It's free then.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Companies often will invoke flex policies during natural disasters. I work in the travel industry, so this is an area I know pretty well. If your stay/ticket/event falls within a certain date range when a natural disaster occurred, you get your money back, no questions asked. It's really common and is not at all indicative of the type of service you would get if you had booked different dates. Literally the only thing that the two experiences you've cited have in common is that they both happened to you.

[dstephe9]

Fine I'll give and say it was OK for the lady at the Cinnamon Bread place to question and say my Gold Pass was no good.. Which snowballed to guest services who sent me to the season ticket office who tried to make me "pay" for a new season pass because mine wasn't damaged until a manager came which took 30 minutes of waiting.

 

No matter how you look at it, that is not customer service.. Simply put.

 

Even if Disney had a flex policy in place, it was a positive experience vs Dollywoods negative and that's what it comes down to.

 

You have one opportunity to provide good customer service before folks form an opinion. And their opportunity to me wasn't a good experience. It might be better if I ever need their CS again, who knows and Disney might be worse..

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Okay, dude. After years of having a season pass, this was their one opportunity for customer service. This right here. Your mind was just a blank slate through everything else they have done, and just as you're getting ready to finally form an opinion about that place you've been going for years, they messed up at that crucial time. I get it; that makes perfect sense.

[dstephe9]

The park itself is great, it just made up my mind about their customer service and that it is lacking. Hopefully I'll never need their Guest Services again but who knows.

 

Yeah the park itself has bad days but majority of their days are good.. yeah they have policies I don't like (mainly their no rerides even if the park is dead. I feel telling guest to run back to the entrance is more dangerous than allowing rerides) but the park itself I have positive experiences with.. Customer Service is what I feel is lacking at Dollywood

 

Now I don't mean customer service between myself and ride ops or sales associates at the park (Overall that's very positive).. I mean guest services.

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[rebelrailroad]

I'm a longtime Dollywood fan who has visited several times per year for the past 18 years. I've witnessed the customer service levels decrease annually and spiraled down under the Craig Ross regime. They no longer respond to Facebook complaints (or compliments) and their TripAdvisor responses are typically canned reponses. I assume this is largely due to growing pains and their lack of staffing dedicated strictly to customer interactions on social media. I've said it before here, the Dollywood of today does not provide the same level of customer service that the park was once known for (and likely never will under the current leadership). I love Dollywood, it is a special place for my family. My daughter has rode every ride there all the way back to when she was 3 years old and began riding the Convoy trucks, the old kids cars that went around in a circle, the old log flume, even timber tower, and now she rides Lightning Rod (when it operates). Yes, we can recite all the lines from Blazing Fury. Part of what has brought us back year after year was some of those early customer service interactions (Tinker the talking Christmas Tree). These are all "memories worth repeating." Sadly, the new Dollywood just doesn't compare to the old one. Our "memories worth repeating" are becoming fewer and fewer. It is less about the overall experience and more about luring folks in with a new ride. Look at Craig Ross' previous parks and you'll see what Dollywood is turning in to. We are diehard fans and love the park but I agree with everything that dstephen has said.

[dstephe9]

I mean, I love Dollywood and always will.. just because I feel their Guest Services is lacking doesn't mean I hate the park.. it means I don't like dealing with their Customer Service and hopefully I won't have to often. I love their food which is a big draw for me.. Shows are decent. I have tons of memories at the park.. Create new memories every year.. I do remember old memories that don't seem as great now as they did though, mainly Christmas.. I noticed this year, not nearly as many traditional Christmas songs or Christmas songs from Dolly. Now it's more mainstream stuff which loses some of the charm. I remember the old Mayor in the black top hat as a kid! He always made me smile when I was younger

 

But yeah I can see Dollywood turning into the old "Paramount Parks"..I believe those are most of his older parks that he has had management in. When it comes to the old Paramount Parks, I only have experience with Kings Island though

 

I mean, the big thrilling rides to bring people in aren't bad (I am actually a fan of these) but they don't have the charm of the Dollywood rides I grew up with. But again I am very excited seeing Dollywood grow! And big rides allow this.

 

But there is a new level of "corporate" feeling in Dollywood that has been getting worse and worse over the years. At times worse than Six Flags.

 

For example, policies like the no rerides.. Six Flags builds excitement by saying "you know you wanna ride again" when rides are dead.. Dollywood just reminds you that you must walk around (or run) and get back in line.. Honestly though, I have noticed the younger ride ops don't follow this rule as much as the older ones do anymore and it depends on the crew. Last year I hated when they said "it's against copyright laws to have your cameras on rides" (I haven't heard that once this season though).. All the fine print on their Bring a Friend passes.. Again just corporate feel

 

BUT a lot of this is needed to allow growth, however, Customer Service is something that can allow growth without changing for the worse

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Edited December 30, 2016 by dstephe9

[ernierocker]

^^So, their social media presence is lacking? You didn't give any examples other than that. Not sure you are effectively making your point when you aren't even citing actual park experiences.

 

Just got back from the park today and customer service was as good as it always has been. I've also been going to the park for years and I can count the number of negative experiences at the park on one hand and that was mainly due to other guests not park employees. If you look through the history of the thread, the only consistent negative posts are from members like you and dtephe9 who have also been going to the park for years. Perhaps, both of you have set the bar too high based on past memories and every little thing that goes wrong on your visit is magnified more than it should be.

 

Look, I am not saying the park is the best customer service on the planet, I agree that Disney is better. The situation with Lightning Rod could of been handled better for sure. I think the majority of people on here have agreed with that, but also understand that a prototype ride was likely to have issues and that there was a risk with basing a vacation solely on one ride. Other than that, the complaints I have read from these "long-time" park visitors is nothing but nit-picky complaints that most people wouldn't break a sweat over.

 

dsteph isnt comparing the roller coaster to the hurricane.

 

No one is saying he was literally comparing a roller coaster to a hurricane. He was comparing Dollywood's raincheck policy with Disney's hurricane policy which is beyond ridiculous. Dollywood didn't have to do anything because of Lightning Rod's issue but they offered a free ticket which I call great customer service. He brought up Disney for whatever reason other than other posters were speaking positively of this policy.

 

 

Now I'm just going to get a new card every year when I renew so I don't have to deal with the hassle again. It's free then.

 

 

If you had done this to begin with (like you are actually suppose to do when renewing passes online) than you wouldn't have had to wait 30 minutes for a manager to stop whatever he was doing to make an exception for you. Maybe they waited 12 days, because they were busy responding to legitimate complaints.

Edited December 30, 2016 by ernierocker

[dstephe9]

They give you the option to keep your previous year passes and skip the line. One year they did require a new card, but they never say you have to get a new card every year

 

I wish they would just go to a membership system in general and just pay monthly like I do for Six Flags.. no renewal, just a fingerprint and my old card with a barcode and a picture you can barley make out haha

 

Also, we might be in the minority here that has issues with Dollywood but look at TripAdvisor or even the BBB.. Dollywood has 13 lifetime complaints on the BBB.. 80% of them are this year.. They are having growing pains, it's apparent if you look around.. even their Facebook is full of complaints (I actually defend Dollywood on Facebook some)

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[rebelrailroad]

For examples of Dollywood's lack of social media presence just go to their Facebook page and read the reviews where people give a star rating. How many do you see where the park responds?

 

Dollywood encourages you to reuse season passes year after year. You are not required to get a new one every year. I finally had to get a new one last year because mine was so old it didn't even have a bar code to scan with their new system.

 

Dollywood is indeed a great park but for folks who have been going there for 10-15+ years will notice the difference. This is why the bar is so high for the old-timers because we have experienced the difference. They have some hosts who still try to deliver those special guest experiences but not like the old days. They even used to have survey folks walking the park and would ask you key questions about your experiences. Nope not any longer. Not even an email survey in recent years.

[dstephe9]

I actually get email surveys everynow and then.. I fill them out, usually positive. I did fill one out negatively

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[ernierocker]

Again with the social media. People use social media more and more just to bitch about something and Trip Advisor has always been a forum for bitching. I do understand the sharp increase in BBB complaints as we already agreed that the park's handling of Lightning Rod wasn't the best. Can you imagine the complaints if they just kept it closed the majority of the year whether than trying to get it running? They have been in a lose-lose situation; at least the majority of us got multiple rides in, right?

 

For examples of Dollywood's lack of social media presence just go to their Facebook page and read the reviews where people give a star rating. How many do you see where the park responds?

 

Dollywood encourages you to reuse season passes year after year. You are not required to get a new one every year. I finally had to get a new one last year because mine was so old it didn't even have a bar code to scan with their new system.

 

Dollywood is indeed a great park but for folks who have been going there for 10-15+ years will notice the difference. This is why the bar is so high for the old-timers because we have experienced the difference. They have some hosts who still try to deliver those special guest experiences but not like the old days. They even used to have survey folks walking the park and would ask you key questions about your experiences. Nope not any longer. Not even an email survey in recent years.

 

I didn't realize that about the season passes. It has never been an issue for me to get it updated at some point on my first visit of the year so I don't have to worry about it. I didn't get a new driver's license when I turned 21 so I got hassled all the time when I got carded since it said "Under 18". I didn't file a complaint with the restaurant, I eventually just got a new one.

 

You guys are indeed in the minority. They don't do surveys anymore?!? Yup, the park is going downhill. They don't sing as many traditional Christmas songs anymore?!? Yeah, Craig Ross is ruining everything. Seriously guys, you can complain about these little details, but don't try and convince us that the park is becoming Six Flags or old-school Paramount because things you loved in the past are taking away.

Edited December 30, 2016 by ernierocker

[michaellynn4]

I visited the park for the first time this year on two separate occasions, once in March and once in November. Man, had I know the exemplary and compensating customer service I received both times was actually in fact pure s**t as a result of not being near Disney's "please, take our bath mats, too" level of service, I would be pissed. Then I could join in on the relentless bitching and whining on internet forums, too.

[njcoasterguy34]

I visited the park for the first time this year on two separate occasions, once in March and once in November. Man, had I know the exemplary and compensating customer service I received both times was actually in fact pure s**t as a result of not being near Disney's "please, take our bath mats, too" level of service, I would be pissed. Then I could join in on the relentless bitching and whining on internet forums, too.

 

[MidwestThemeParks]

Dollywood didn't have to do anything because of Lightning Rod's issue but they offered a free ticket which I call great customer service. He brought up Disney for whatever reason other than other posters were speaking positively of this policy.

 

He wasn't comparing anything about Lightning Rod to Disney's hurricane policy. He was saying that it was much easier for him to get his tickets refunded at Disney (without asking for a refund), than it was for him to get a new season pass to replace his older one that was causing issues at Dollywood. Nothing about Lightning Rod.

 

Also, I have no experience with Dollywood, but if they didn't want you to keep the old passes, it wouldn't be an option.

 

So, about this new drop tower and mat slide in 2017

[ernierocker]

^Reading comprehension is your friend. You should try it.

 

As for the raincheck tickets, I have never needed one but I do like that Dollywood does offer them.. BUT Disney gave me a full refund on tickets in October due to the hurricane.. No raincheck ticket offer or anything, just a refund.. Raincheck tickets are good but not helpful for people who traveled long distances. Disney even refunded the hotel and deposit.

 

[MidwestThemeParks]

^Reading comprehension is your friend. You should try it.

 

As for the raincheck tickets, I have never needed one but I do like that Dollywood does offer them.. BUT Disney gave me a full refund on tickets in October due to the hurricane.. No raincheck ticket offer or anything, just a refund.. Raincheck tickets are good but not helpful for people who traveled long distances. Disney even refunded the hotel and deposit.

 

 

Ok, it had been a few pages since I read the original post and other posts about it made me think I was right. But either way, he wasn't comparing Lightning Rod to the Disneys policy. He was comparing Disneys hurricane policy to Dollywoods rain policy.

 

But anyway, I feel like this argument is a waste of several pages of discussion, and it also shows that the offseason is approaching

[xstech25]

I accept peoples opinions, even if I don't really understand them.

 

Yes - Lightning Rod's opening was plagued with problems. I think the park could have dealt better with their communication, but I have absolutely no idea what was going on and what information their Public Relations department was given to work with.

 

But I cannot and will not put down Dollywood Customer Service because of this one issue. They have always had, bar none, some of the BEST Customer Service in the industry. Lightning Rod, from what I've heard, is mind blowing when it is working and I have full faith that they will get the kinks worked out during their off season. I don't say this out of some blind fan-boy loyalty to the park. I say this because my experiences with Dollywood have always been overwhelmingly positive.

Actually, I personally feel Dollywood is understaffed and lacking in customer service (from my last experience with their CS). if you send them an email it takes 10+ days to respond and while they try to help in person, most of the time their hands are tied until a manager comes. I have received far better customer service from Disney and even six flags! Dale (park president of SFOG) responded to one of my emails personally on a Holiday due to a T-Shirt with a hole in it. Overnighting a new shirt!

 

My last complaint to Dollywood was due to a cinnamon bread associate not taking my Gold Pass because it had a date from several years ago.. I renew it online so yeah the pass had an old purchase date on it, but she never scanned to see it was good (I posted the complaint on this forum).. I finally talked her into taking it but I then went to the season pass center to print a new one so I didn't have the issue again with other new associates.. They wanted to charge for the "replacement" because mine wasn't broken.. They finally said they would have to call up a manager who approved it but it took 30 minutes for the approval.. I sent Dollywood and email with my complaint.. 12 days later they responded saying they love receiving comments both positive and negative and use those comments as a coaching tool.. That's it no apology or anything.. Just a canned response after waiting 12 days..

 

That's not really the best customer service..

 

Now I don't use Dollywoods customer service often, this was the first time in a few years, but it only takes one time to make people think the customer service sucks.

 

As for the raincheck tickets, I have never needed one but I do like that Dollywood does offer them.. BUT Disney gave me a full refund on tickets in October due to the hurricane.. No raincheck ticket offer or anything, just a refund.. Raincheck tickets are good but not helpful for people who traveled long distances. Disney even refunded the hotel and deposit.

 

I would have actually taken raincheck tickets for Disney because I am going there next week but I received a much better deal to Disney next week anyway

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

I agree that's really bad customer service on the Dollywood employees part to not accept your pass even when you told them you had renewed it, and there is no reason for the season pass center person to have to call a manager for something so silly when it was their fault in the first place. No business should have issues like that, Dollywood or not.

I also agree that Dollywood has become more corporate over the years however nowadays I consider Dollywood a corporate mega-park and go there knowing that. While yes the company that owns & operates it is privately owned, and yes it is themed to represent Dolly Parton's old school smoky mountain upbringing yada yada yada, the truth is nowadays it really is a corporate park and I think they overall have done a good job blending the new with the old. On all my visits (5 in all) the park has always been clean, well maintained, and friendly.

 

I will agree with the rest of the forum on the Disney topic though. If there is a natural disaster coming Disney will issue refunds to everyone just to keep all those people from calling/writing letters and tying up their customer service people for an extended period of time. Disney World has over 20 massive resorts in addition to all the day visitors of the parks, when everyone is going to need something, its worth it to them to just lose millions of dollars and wait for people to come back later rather than spend weeks and weeks in correspondence with a hundred thousand people who all want something suited to their particular situation.

[larrygator]

But just this year DisneyWorld customers were complaining about supposed price gouging during a hurricane.

 

If you look at BBB complaints for DisneyWorld you would think they have it out for their customers.

[ernierocker]

But anyway, I feel like this argument is a waste of several pages of discussion,

 

Which you are only adding to.

 

 

But either way, he wasn't comparing Lightning Rod to the Disneys policy. He was comparing Disneys hurricane policy to Dollywoods rain policy.

 

 

Let me set you straight. Dollywood applied their raincheck policy for visitors that weren't able to get on Lightning Rod. The park could have been open the entire day with no rain and if Lightning Rod was down for less than two hours, you could claim a free ticket for any day this year. Yes, a policy that was only meant for a day that a guest bought a ticket and a rain event kept them from enjoying the majority of their day was applied to one ride.

[xstech25]

I think this is a great and very relevant topic about what has happened in the amusement park business. Not that long ago parks would build these really unreliable coasters (X, DejaVu, Xcelerator, TTD, Kingda Ka, etc) and they would be closed for long periods of time and would chronically break down on days that they were open. The attitude of the parks was basically "so sad, too bad" and since most of the other rides were running you were not owed anything.

 

While i'm sure they got a ton of complaints about it back then the internet wasn't as big of a trip planning tool and social media didn't exist. Consumer attitudes have changed bigtime since then. Now consumers can get literally anything they want, when they want it, and if they don't get their way they can do a social media rant which companies do not want going viral. I think this is a major reason companies like CF and SF aren't building big Intamin rides anymore. They have had it with the complaints. Herschend took probably a bigger risk than they anticipated with this ride and got caught with their pants down, I have no doubt they wouldn't have built if it they knew how unreliable it was going to be, they would have built it without the launched lift.

 

Dollywood also had an old business model here and should learn a lesson: in today's new consumer marketplace the operations people need to be able to tell the marketing people to NOT market the ride when its not going to be open, the marketing people shouldn't have say over the operations people. The same thing happened a few years ago at BGT, all the billboards, commercials, taco bell ads, etc all over Florida said Falcons Fury opening May 1st. Well anyone with any experience operating theme parks couldve told them never, ever promote an opening date for an Intamin prototype before it's even finished being built. You're pretty much guaranteed to have issues. It opened in October and BGT deserved what they got.

[STDog]

I recall reading that Dreammore refunded w/o hesitation during the fires.

DW was closed most of that period anyway, but I'm certain they refunded a few that changed plans due to the fires.

 

That would be a comparable event to Disney Orlando and a hurricane.

 

Thankfully DW doesn't deal with such event often, unlike Disney Orlando.

 

 

On the CS side, my only experience there was getting a 4 pass after getting 3 in the off season. Turned out my son was able to come on the spring trip. They added the 4th pass and included the discounts as if I had bought all 4 at once.

 

That was with out asking. I just explained what happened (short version as above) and asked how much for the 4th pass.

[MidwestThemeParks]

The attitude of the parks was basically "so sad, too bad" and since most of the other rides were running you were not owed anything.

 

I feel like this should still be the parks attitude. If I go to a park and ride all of their coasters and rides except for one that was closed I don't think that I should deserve a refund. I still rode rides. If parks gave refunds or rain checks for one or two closed rides, CP would be giving out so many rain checks due to how often a few of their rides close because of wind. If you go to a park, you should expect there to be closed rides, like someone said earlier, it is stupid to go to a park for one ride. Especially if it is a prototype ride that has had operating issues. (And I know your post wasn't directed towards Dollywood, but the industry as a whole, I'm just using LR as an example)