It’s being reported that Walt Disney World Orlando has begun replacing “Do Not Disturb” door hangtags with “Room Occupied” hangtags. Disney employees will have to enter a guest’s room at least once per day, regardless if housekeeping is elected or not:
If you choose to forgo housekeeping on a given day, the Disney terms of service state that “the hotel and its staff reserve the right to enter your room for any purposes including, but not limited to, performing maintenance and repairs or checking on the safety and security of guests and property.” Disney states that cast members will give reasonable notice prior to entering by knocking and announcing that they will enter.
Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort
The hotels that have already implemented the change are the Grand Floridian, Polynesian, and Contemporary resorts, all of which are within close proximity to the Magic Kingdom park. This is an important point because it is being speculated that this change was implemented as a precaution subsequent to the deadly shootings in Las Vegas a few months ago. In that shooting, as many of you know, the killer holed up in his hotel room at the Mandalay Bay with numerous weapons and a clear vantage point of a popular music festival across the street. All of these three Disney hotels have somewhat clear, if not direct, views of the Magic Kingdom park entrance.
I may be in the minority here but I love this move. Sure, you have to worry about the safety of your valuables, but each hotel room has a password-protected safe. Disney World, especially the Magic Kingdom park, has an incredibly dense population nearly year round. Any attack on the Magic Kingdom like the one we saw in Las Vegas could surpass that death toll, which is already the highest in American history.
Kudos to Disney for being proactive about this. I’m curious to see if this will start to become a trend among other, non-Disney hotel chains. I’d certainly welcome it.
What are your thoughts on this development? Feel safer? Think it’s a bad move? Why?
(H/T) Business Insider
Mandalay Bay had and has a 48 hour welfare check on any room that has a do not disturb sign up for 48 hours. Also housekeeping entered the shooters room at least once and at least 10 staff members interacted with him. I’m so tired of fake security to make people think they are doing something. SeaWorld and Universal in Orlando sends all guests thru metal detectors. Disney world randomly chooses a few people to go thru the metal detectors. Disney has the worst security in Orlando. At Disney there are no physical barriers between secure and non secure areas.… Read more »
Less about safety but more about privacy. I have had an hotel employee enter the room despite the do not disturb sign while I was completely naked in the bedroom area that anyone walking in the hallway could see me. I am sure I am not the only one that changes clothes in the bedroom. While I don’t care too much if someone sees me naked and I always treat those situations as it is what it is, however I can imagine the embarrassment the employee will feel plus the unintentional potential of a child seeing a grown adult naked… Read more »
Great point. I get dressed in the bedroom too and always make sure to but the latch lock on the door when doing so, just in case! It’ll be interesting to see how they implement this.
This is a very good move by Disney and will definitely minimize the possiblity of the Las Vegas shooting