I just wanted to give a small trip report for my stay from 8/8 to 8/17.
I want to give a spectacular report, however, there are a few things about the BC that left me feeling a bit less magical
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We stayed in the Villlas in room 305. The room was clean and everything was in working order. we had a view of the quiet pool which was nice, however, not as spectacular as last year's view of spaceship earth
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As usual Stormalong bay was fantastic. We spent hours there swimming and laying by the pool. I will say that some folks took advantage of the pool area by hoarding (no lie) 15 chairs (as we could hear them counting them out) and then as my husband and I sat on our chairs watching our children, noone ever came to at least 12 of those chairs during the 4 hours we were there. Very disappointing for guests who had no chair. Not sure how the resort could monitor that, but it is a pet peeve.
The cleanliness of the general hotel is a bit more upsetting. The mens room off of the main lobby had a broken urinal in it during our entire stay. With all the maintenance staff WDW employs one would think it would have been fixed within 10 days. My husband reported that it was also dirty and smelled every time he went in it. I used the women's room off the lobby and it too smelled of very strong urine. It appeared clean, but didn't smell it. The bathroom near Cape May's was also covered in toilet paper and not very tidy the few times I went in there.
The food tasted good at the quick service and Cape May's Breakfast (although this costs way too much money if you pay OOP). THe burgers at Hurricane Hanna was very greasy as it seemed like it sat on the bun way too long, causing the bun to fall apart. The poor staff at Hurricane Hanna's had a non-stop continuous line. I felt really bad for them because the obviously didn't have enough staff to get orders cooked fast enough. Some patrons were complaining and getting mad about the wait.
My biggest complaint is the buses. I don't want to sound snotty
, but for the price of the hotel rooms the bus situation should be addressed and corrected. I realize that BC is in close proximity to the BW and swan/dolphin. However, having 5 bus stops plus a ride to blizzard beach and then AK or to DTD is absurd. The bus drivers pack guests in like sardines which I think could be in various violations of the acutal # of guests allowed. Then it takes forever to go to/from your hotel or park. I don't usually complain about the buses because I know it is public transportation, but this time was the worst I ever had (and it wasn't as busy as it has been in the past). The worst instance we had was going to DTD. On the night we were coming home a huge thunder/lightning storm was approaching. We saw a bus leaving as we got there. We were waiting with another family who got dropped off from the water parks after they waited for over a 1/2 hour for a bus. We were at the bus stop for over 1 hour and 15 minutes before a bus finally arrived. During this time at least 5 or 6 buses came for all other resorts (as the crowd grew so did the number of folks counting buses) and no BC bus came. There was a bus monitor CM there and we tried asking him for an answer to where a bus was, could he send a bus etc. He kinda gave the crowd the run around for about a half hour then he left and we still had no bus. Sadly when the bus showed up the entire crowd couldn't fit on it and many folks were left out in the storm. I have no idea how much longer they had to wait. I have never had issues with buses like this before and don't know if it is a fluke or poor management but I hope it gets corrected soon.
THe rest of the vacation was great and the CM's throughout the resort were friendly, courteous and kind. I just hope the BC can work through some kinks that were very noticable compared to visits past. I am sure that there have been staff cuts due to the economy, but those cuts are definitely felt by the consumer who isn't being charged less for less service.