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Unpleasant experience at HHI, we are not completing our contract now

lovemickeyworld

Earning My Ears
Joined
May 7, 2005
We are DVC owners at SSR, and thought we would enjoy an additonal purchase at HHI. We arranged a great deal through our guide for a purchase of 181 points at $87/pt, plus full use of '05 points which we could bank into our Sept '06 use year. Sounded wonderful to us. Until we went there.

Let me just say that we know many of you LOVE Disney at HHI, and we thought we would too. We live fairly closeby, and went on a preview this last weekend just to check it out to be sure. Here's a list of reasons I sent to our member guide explaining why we would not be finalizing our HHI purchase.

*lack of Disney themeing on the property which we really love. We did not get that "welcome home" feeling, and just felt that this could have been any other property on Hilton Head.

*decor of rooms was too dark and gloomy for me personally, and although I understand the fishing theme, none of it really made me feel that I was near the ocean or in a tropical setting. It seemed more appropriate to me for a mountain/lake type setting. Also, we thought that some of the areas were in need of refurbishment.

*Sadly, I cannot remember her name at this time, but upon check in, we DID have a wonderful woman that explained the resort to us, gave us plenty of information and maps of the resort. However, beyond this one woman, we just didn't get the "homey" feeling from any of the other cast members. Everyone else seemed almost "sullen" and "lifeless".

*we rented a studio on a cash basis to preview the property before finalizing our purchase. We did not actually check into our studio till 8pm, and noticed that it was extremely damp and humid in the room, although the air conditioner was running and set in the high 60's. It never improved as the night went on. When we awoke we found all the bedding, carpeting, and any clothing left out to be extremely damp to the touch. At 9am we notified the front desk of our concerns, and we were told that South Carolina was humid. We realize that, but we've stayed in other humid climates and have never encountered these condidtions. We were told someone would look into it, but by 11am checkout, no one had responded back to us.

*smell of the marsh: it had rained during the night and the marsh smelled like a sewer to us. Again, when we inquired at the Front Desk, we were told that it's very common in that area and that's just how the marsh smells. I guess nothing can be done about that, but it's just not our idea of a relaxful area if you don't like the outdoor odors.

*Entertainment by B'Lou: As a mother, I found some of his comments to be extremely rude. In front of my child, age 6, and three others, he was questioned about the "scare factor" of the ghost story program. In his own words, he said that children will be a little scared at the beginning and maybe climb into their parent's laps, but by the end they'll understand that it was all funny, and by then they'll all "feel like idiots" for being scared. My daughter is not allowed to use the word "idiot", and she questioned why an adult said that about her and other kids her age. I told her he was simply being rude. Despite all of this, she was very excited to go to the ghost story program, which we did. She was not scared, in fact, both she and I were so bored of his incessant rambling that we left about 10 minutes before the end of the program.

We understand that any one of these items could be overlooked if everything else about the resort was overwhelmingly fantastic, as are most of the Walt Disney World DVC locations. But for us, as the weekend progressed and our concerns were compounded, we just could not justify the additional purchase at HHI.

We know it's all different strokes for different folks, but guess this one is just not for us.
 
It was smart of you to stay there before making a purchase of additional points. It's too big of an investment of your time and money not to be completely satisfied!
 
It is so funny to read posts about HHI on this board -- people either like it or hate it and there doesn't seem to be any inbetween...I keep trying to convince DH to visit and I keep changing my mind as I read posts here! :confused3
 
Sorry yo did not like HHI, we just returned from our 5th trip there and it was perfect, but for most the reasons you did not like it we love it. We love the downplay of Disney theming and like that the resort is not on the beach, I have gotton that marsh smell before but your on the marsh so thats cool. But its not for everyone, we hear a lot of differant opinions on this resort, but we love HHI. :cool1:
 


I'm sorry the resort did not meet your expectations.

For anyone out there contemplating a purchase at Disney HHI, don't be discouraged by one report. As the OP pointed out: "different strokes for different folks." Several of the negatives listed above are positives for my family.

I would also add that a one night (15 hour) stay would not have been enough for me to form an opinion. It takes me several days to slow down to the low country pace -- and B'Lou Crabbe's pace is way below that even. By the time I leave I can spend a half hour talking to him and thoroughly enjoy it and I know I'm relaxed.

Personally, I wish they would take the TV's out of the rooms. That's the one improvement I would suggest.

(We own OKW.)
 
The good thing is that you paid cash just to check it out :)
sorry you had a bad time! We can't wait to try this place out!
 
I agree, it was very wise that you visited before you signed on the Mickey heads! I am a little surprised that you did not know what the decor of the villas is. Didn't you do any research about this resort? There are several very good sites including the official DVC site that has great pictures of the resort including the interior of the villas. It is also pretty commonly known that HH does not have any characters at all. No character meals, autographs, nothin', nadda. But then neither does VB, because they are not WDW resorts located near parks. However, if you did not know this ahead of time, I can see getting confused, since the DCL is full of characters.
I also agree, that you either love or hate HH; VB is also this way. We have several family friends that love HH. None of the families have pts at HH; yet they spend equal # of trips at HH as they do WDW DVC resorts.
I am glad you were able to see that HH was not for your family before you made the financial commitment.
 


It takes me several days to slow down to the low country pace

But we LIVE in NC, and know all about a slower pace, so it wasn't just that. And we did have a little more than 15 hours, (26 hours) we arrived at 11 am Saturday and didn't leave the resort till around 1pm the next day. (Daughter had to do about 20 rotations on the slide at the resort pool!)

I was actually quite disappointed in not getting the points, plus the extra freebie points, but it's still hard to spend almost 15K on a place that feels less than "just okay".

We did LOVE Hilton Head though and plan to return, but just to a different resort.

We didn't even mind that Disney wasn't directly on the beach. The drive over or shuttle was not that inconvenient and their pool and beach area was very nice.
 
Studios are pretty small. And with the dark decor, it probably seemed smaller. We stayed in the main lodge in a studio when we were there and we had a huge porch, though. The Marsh didn't stink when we were there, so no problems at all with that.

We LOVE B'Lou Crabbe. He is an out of this world musician. We loved his Low Country stories and the ghost stories were really great out underneath those spooky Carolina moss hanging trees. We had a ball. We didn't see any small children at the ghost story sessions, though. Just older kids and adults.

Maybe you should have tried a larger unit - the one and two bedrooms are really nice I've heard.

Well, one thing about it, if you don't like it, at least you found it out before you bought some points there. Different strokes for different folks. Marriott has some beautiful ocean front properties on Hilton Head. Maybe you'll get a chance to try one of those out next time.
 
It is good you found out now. I guess I'd asks the reason for your interest in HH originally. If it's beach and proximity, you may want to look at other timeshare resorts at HH or closer to your home.
 
littlestar said:
We LOVE B'Lou Crabbe. He is an out of this world musician. We loved his Low Country stories and the ghost stories were really great out underneath those spooky Carolina moss hanging trees. We had a ball.

Agreed. I don't think that just because someone doesn't share your position on what "right" and "wrong" word or language use is concerned makes him him rude. Actually, he is extremely kind and attentive and resembles nothing close to rude.
 
Sorry you were dissapointed with HH. We love HH and always look forward to each trip. It is the most relaxing place we have ever gone. We love riding bikes and cooking shrimp and playing shuffleboard and just having nothing in particular to do. Well.. except maybe riding bikes some more :rotfl:
 
For TCPluto:

Agreed. I don't think that just because someone doesn't share your position on what "right" and "wrong" word or language use is concerned makes him him rude. Actually, he is extremely kind and attentive and resembles nothing close to rude.

Okay, next time, let him call your kid an idiot. Since that's okay with you. :confused3

I was posting my personal opinion of my experience. I did not find him to be charming in the least. The word issue was only one instance. When a few people walked in late for the ghost stories, he made a big deal out of them being late and that he wouldn't start over for them. No one asked him to. And he didn't do it in the funny comedic way that others do if you arrive late or have to leave for a bathroom break, etc.

After the magic show, when a few of the little ones asked for a balloon animal, he went on for 10 minutes about how he doesn't have time for it, and then begrudingly blew up a few balloons. In fact, then he told the parents who walked out where to find a "balloon book" at Borders! I've just never experienced this kind of behavior from someone at Disney before and was surprised. If we were to ever go back to Disney, I would not be looking to him for any sort of entertainment, but would go elsewhere on the island.

To answer another poster's question, we are considering some of the oceanfront Marriott properties on a rental basis. We live within a few hours of HHI, so the drive is quite reasonable. When I'm at the ocean, I prefer a more tropical, light and airy feel to the resort.

To each his own, as I said before.
 
We are ( were ? ) planning a DVC trip there summer 2007 -

so I am disappointed to hear what "lovemickeyworld" had to say about HHI

I think the non-Disney theme in HHI would be find with me -
I would like a laid back vacation for a change.
 
thelobstershanty said:
I agree, it was very wise that you visited before you signed on the Mickey heads! I am a little surprised that you did not know what the decor of the villas is. Didn't you do any research about this resort? There are several very good sites including the official DVC site that has great pictures of the resort including the interior of the villas. It is also pretty commonly known that HH does not have any characters at all. No character meals, autographs, nothin', nadda. But then neither does VB, because they are not WDW resorts located near parks. However, if you did not know this ahead of time, I can see getting confused, since the DCL is full of characters.
I also agree, that you either love or hate HH; VB is also this way. We have several family friends that love HH. None of the families have pts at HH; yet they spend equal # of trips at HH as they do WDW DVC resorts.
I am glad you were able to see that HH was not for your family before you made the financial commitment.

Just left vero beach yesterday, and Donald Duck and Goofy (no more Max) appear at the Saturday Breakfast at Shutters and sign autographs, etc.

-Tony
 
dvc at last ! said:
We are ( were ? ) planning a DVC trip there summer 2007 -

so I am disappointed to hear what "lovemickeyworld" had to say about HHI

I think the non-Disney theme in HHI would be find with me -
I would like a laid back vacation for a change.

Thank you for your post LoveMickeyWorld, I'm sorry to hear you didn't love HH, I feel the same about SSR and yes, despite what folk will say about using your points elsewhere, there is one theme prevailant: buy where you love.

Too many folk (myself included) assume that all properties Disney owns will feel like WDW. HH is a part of the South Carolina culture, I should expect nothing more, or less than a calm, friendly atmosphere that the area is well known for. I have never visited their property there, but I often wondered how in the world Disney could make HH feel like the other DVCs. Someday I plan on staying at Hilton Head and through you I now know what to expect. (BTW - the marshes and inland waterways do stink... but after years you get to associate the smell with what the area means to you)

As far as the storyteller goes... :confused3 ... maybe it was an off day for him.
 
Hhmmm...? We've only been members for a year, and have only done Saratoga Springs. I never would've even thought that HHI would have anything to do w/ Disney, so that wouldn't have bothered me at all. We're looking forward to going there. Also since we are relatively new to all this, aside from being able to book early, couldn't you just still use your points with the good deal at the other Resorts?
 
Dh and I are headed to HH in about three weeks. For us it is a great place to relax. My DH gets "tired" of the busy at WDW and HH is a great change of pace for him. I do like the fact that it is not on the beach.

I am sorry that the OP didn't enjoy their stay, but as others have mentioned - that is one of the great things about DVC - the variety it offers everyone and usually there is something to love for everyone.
 
We were told the smell comes from the pluff mud. I just found this description on another website:

'Peee-uuu! What's that smell?

You are in the Saltmarsh exhibit. If you've ever been in a real saltmarsh, you already know that it smells a little like rotten eggs. The smell in a saltmarsh is due to decomposition that takes place in pluff mud. Saltmarshes have lots of mud, called pluff mud. When plants and animals die in the saltmarsh they fall to the mud and are eaten by scavengers and decomposed by bacteria. Decomposition makes the soil rich in nutrients and a good place for plants to grow. Decomposition also produces as a byproduct sulfur gas, and it is this gas that makes saltmarshes smell like rotten eggs. Decomposition may produce strange smells, but it is important to sustaining life in the saltmarsh and all other habitats. '

Personally, I guess I'd rather enjoy my morning coffee by a fresh ocean breeze, rather than the pluff mud.


We could have kept this contract and used it for the 7 month window at other resorts, true. But we have plenty of points at SSR that currenty fit our needs. We were specifically trying to buy into HHI to be able to reserve there at the 11 month window.

I'm also glad to hear that Vero did have Donald at the character breakfast. We would still love to give Vero a try after a WDW trip. I love the idea of a totally relaxing trip, especially after WDW.

While I was not expecting the HHI to have the full Disney experience, I do feel that we pay a premium for Disney timeshares. While at WDW, I have no problem with this. However, if the resort isn't giving me any of the feelings that I would normally get from staying at a Disney resort, my money can go elsewhere.

For those of you planning an upcoming trip to HHI, you'll find many other posts here that rave about it, and you may love it as well!
 
greenban said:
Just left vero beach yesterday, and Donald Duck and Goofy (no more Max) appear at the Saturday Breakfast at Shutters and sign autographs, etc.

-Tony
Oops sorry for the wrong info. See that what happens when you post about a resort you were never at. :guilty:
I thought I had read that Vero was like HH with no characters. Sorry for the wrong info and thanks for the correction. :thumbsup2
 

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