Telephone Information
Some Do's and Don'ts

gardenia worked for Vista United (Disney's telephone service) answering 407-824-2222, 407-824-4321, Resort phones, CM 4500 calls, Alpha Paging system, "0" phones from all over property, and about 10 other smaller lines.

• Please use a corded phone. Cell phones pick up almost every other noise *but* your voice and hearing every 5th syllable gets rather annoying.

   

• Know that the SWITCHBOARD answers your calls to the Hotels, NOT the Front Desk or Guest Services... please don't scream at us that you only have 4 towels instead of 5... we are the peons.

   

• Please spell difficult names for us. Invariably, people will say, "Hall... H-A-L-L" but when it comes to Chernovehski, there is silence, leaving us to guess the spelling.

   

• We do not EVER sit and not answer calls. Calls come in right after another, we answer as soon as it comes in. I take around 600 calls a day and my average call is about 35 seconds long. Some calls, Info Phone calls, can be 10-20 minutes long (these are my favorite, btw!). There are anywhere between 100-140 operators on duty at a time, we are answering as fast as we can.

   

• PLEASE do not call the Hotel to confirm your reservation or to modify it. Until the DAY you check in, you have to call CRO at 407-WDISNEY.

   

• PLEASE do not call the Hotel to MAKE a reservation unless you want it for that night. Hotels do not have access to reservation lists until about 4 days before the date you are in their hotel... and if you call for two days from now, they will send you through CRO.

   

• Asking for a refrigerator, crib, hair dryer, coffee maker, or bed rails before check-in does you no good. Wait until you check in to do that, please.

   

• Call FOUR DAYS before you are supposed to be in the room to ask for your preference on room location... room assignment is not done until then.

   

• THERE IS NO 800 NUMBER TO CALL! I know some of you have seen some number from time to time, but *generally*, there is no 800 number. Disney doesn't *need* an 800 number (which costs them every time it is called) because people call anyway. Call it arrogance, call it whatever, they don't have an 800 number. (Can you tell I am asked that about 100 times a day?)

   

• Your hotel phone works this way:
  

   

  Every call will cost you at least 75¢
  
  Calling local, dial a 9 first
  
  Calling long distance, dial an 8 first (and yes, Kissimmee is long distance, sorry, we didn't draw the line)
  
  Calling an 800 number, dial 8 first, then the 1-800 and the rest from there (and yes, this costs 75¢, too)

  To dial from your computer, local access, dial 9 then comma, comma then the number... long distance access, dial 8 then comma, comma then the number (pick Orlando numbers, not Kissimmee ones for your access numbers).

  Collect? Dial 8, then 0, then the area code and number you are dialing

  Calling card with 800 number? See above.

  Calling card with no 800 number? 8, then 0, then area code and number you are dialing, operator will assist.

  Blinking red light? There is a button on your phone that has a picture of an envelope... press that and you will get your voice mail.

  Other mail? Did it say you have "other mail'? We at the switchboard will retrieve the mail from a different system and read it to you. Please be patient while we look for it.

  Let us dial Mears, Pizza Hut, Dominos, Centra Care, a taxi, another Hotel on property, and anything Disney for you... save yourself that 75¢ (can you tell that people ask about the phones more than any other thing?!)

• When you hit 0 on your hotel phone, that is ME! I LOVE answering questions about WDW and directing your call to wherever it needs to go. You don't always have to go to the front desk or Guest services to get your questions answered... getting hooked up to them can take loooooooong minutes (ask anyone who's stayed at Dixie Landings or Caribbean Beach) when we can just as easily help you with your needs.

   

• You do not need to go to Guest Relations at one of the parks to find out park hours, when Off Kilter is playing, if the fireworks were canceled, or if Typhoon Lagoon is closed. We have ALL that information and a LOT more... each location calls us and lets us know the status of parks, shows, etc. We have a HUGE database available to us including partial menus at restaurants, minutely detailed trivia, and so much more.

   

• For CMs... when you hit 0 for a Guest needing to get hooked up to their room, just ask us to do it, that is what we are there for... to "connect calls"... you don't need to ask for the Front Desk of the Hotel... that just keeps the Guest waiting on the phone needlessly.

   

• Hmmm... I think that might be it for now. I'm sure I will think of more helpful hints! Thanks for listening... I feel MUCH better now! (especially about how the phones work!)