Tiffany
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 17, 1999
Hi All,
We took a holiday weekend trip to WDW as I did not think that I was going to be able to make it all the way to our Sept trip without a trip in between.
We decided to go with a moderate on this trip, even though the last time we stayed at a moderate was back in 1997 when we stayed at CBR. Since then we have only stayed at the deluxe resorts. We figured since we stayed AKL Concierge in Jan and were staying at the Dolphin, as of right now, and if AP rates come out for Sept poss. changing to the AKL again that we would go with a moderate on an AP rate for our May trip to save a little money. This was a mistake.
Even though we knew going in that the CSR had double beds and that it is set up like a motel instead of a hotel and the size and everything else we did not appriciate the differences until we were there. Don't get me wrong CSR is beautiful, the landscaping is well maintained and the grounds are great. But.
1. You could here every flush, every shower and even the laundry cart when it moved on the floor above us. We were in Cabanas 8B room 8506 on the first floor. We did not care of this.
2. The double beds. We sleep on a queen at home. We have been married for going on 11yrs and the last time we slept on a double must have been back in 1997 when we stayed at CBR. We are not big people but the experiance of having to sleep in a double bed we did not enjoy. For this reason alone we would be hard pressed to stay at a moderate again. I truely did not think that double beds would be an issue before the trip.
3. The main pool area. While it is very pretty it just did not seem big enough for the size of the resort. It was packed and very loud. The pool side bar and food service window was not staffed to deal with the crowds. We enjoyed the quiet pool in the Cabanas section to the main pool area.
4. Housekeeping - When staying at the Dolphin and the AKL they offer a service where you can call housekeeping and arrange for a time for your room to be cleaned. I was not sure if the CSR offered this service so I called housekeeping on the morning of our first day and inquired if they offered the service. The woman I spoke with said that they did. Our room was done by the time we got back from our morning stint at the parks on Friday and Saturday but on Sunday the housekeeper did not show up until after 2pm when we were just coming back to the room from spending time at the pool. I know that housekeeping is done until 4pm but my issue was do not tell me you can provide a particular level of service and then don't do it. One other note there was a metal piece on the floor infront of the air conditoning service hatch for the entire time we were there. It was not a big deal to us but you would think that housekeeping would have noticed something like that.
On the upside.
1. The CM that we encountered were all very nice. We check-in very late on the 27th and the woman at the front desk was very nice.
2. The Peper Market. We liked the quality of food there as they strive to be between a regular food court and a sit down place and we felt that they achieved that. Everyone was very nice and the food was good. It is more expensive then regular food court food but then you are eating a better quality of food so that was not an issue to us.
End result is a very beautiful resort and a very nice place but I just think that we have gotten used to a level of service that can no longer be meet at the moderate level. Unless the moderates start garenteeing King Bed rooms I do not think that we would return. We only paid $89 a night plus tax with an AP rate for a water view room(only view they had left at the AP rate) and for that price we thought the level of the service was in line with the price but I could not image ever considering paying rack rate to stay at a moderate any moderate.
I know this sounds very negative but we really did enjoy our trip just trying to give an honest review so others can make informed discisions.
We took a holiday weekend trip to WDW as I did not think that I was going to be able to make it all the way to our Sept trip without a trip in between.
We decided to go with a moderate on this trip, even though the last time we stayed at a moderate was back in 1997 when we stayed at CBR. Since then we have only stayed at the deluxe resorts. We figured since we stayed AKL Concierge in Jan and were staying at the Dolphin, as of right now, and if AP rates come out for Sept poss. changing to the AKL again that we would go with a moderate on an AP rate for our May trip to save a little money. This was a mistake.
Even though we knew going in that the CSR had double beds and that it is set up like a motel instead of a hotel and the size and everything else we did not appriciate the differences until we were there. Don't get me wrong CSR is beautiful, the landscaping is well maintained and the grounds are great. But.
1. You could here every flush, every shower and even the laundry cart when it moved on the floor above us. We were in Cabanas 8B room 8506 on the first floor. We did not care of this.
2. The double beds. We sleep on a queen at home. We have been married for going on 11yrs and the last time we slept on a double must have been back in 1997 when we stayed at CBR. We are not big people but the experiance of having to sleep in a double bed we did not enjoy. For this reason alone we would be hard pressed to stay at a moderate again. I truely did not think that double beds would be an issue before the trip.
3. The main pool area. While it is very pretty it just did not seem big enough for the size of the resort. It was packed and very loud. The pool side bar and food service window was not staffed to deal with the crowds. We enjoyed the quiet pool in the Cabanas section to the main pool area.
4. Housekeeping - When staying at the Dolphin and the AKL they offer a service where you can call housekeeping and arrange for a time for your room to be cleaned. I was not sure if the CSR offered this service so I called housekeeping on the morning of our first day and inquired if they offered the service. The woman I spoke with said that they did. Our room was done by the time we got back from our morning stint at the parks on Friday and Saturday but on Sunday the housekeeper did not show up until after 2pm when we were just coming back to the room from spending time at the pool. I know that housekeeping is done until 4pm but my issue was do not tell me you can provide a particular level of service and then don't do it. One other note there was a metal piece on the floor infront of the air conditoning service hatch for the entire time we were there. It was not a big deal to us but you would think that housekeeping would have noticed something like that.
On the upside.
1. The CM that we encountered were all very nice. We check-in very late on the 27th and the woman at the front desk was very nice.
2. The Peper Market. We liked the quality of food there as they strive to be between a regular food court and a sit down place and we felt that they achieved that. Everyone was very nice and the food was good. It is more expensive then regular food court food but then you are eating a better quality of food so that was not an issue to us.
End result is a very beautiful resort and a very nice place but I just think that we have gotten used to a level of service that can no longer be meet at the moderate level. Unless the moderates start garenteeing King Bed rooms I do not think that we would return. We only paid $89 a night plus tax with an AP rate for a water view room(only view they had left at the AP rate) and for that price we thought the level of the service was in line with the price but I could not image ever considering paying rack rate to stay at a moderate any moderate.
I know this sounds very negative but we really did enjoy our trip just trying to give an honest review so others can make informed discisions.
Glad you had a nice time anyways, that is all that counts.
