To wit:
The view from Beach Club room 4532 by
Marlton Mom, on Flickr
Truth be told in my opinion, some of the garden view rooms are of the overgrown jungle variety like the above. Along certain parts of the property it was very apparent that the landscaping was seriously overgrown and needed a complete renovation. I've often thought about how you could classify a garden view at a Disney resort and this type of view does not qualify in any way shape or form. Perhaps if they marketed it as a "Private view" that would be more fair.
One of the things I like and respect about this thread is that we can tell it the way it is and not sugar coat things. If you pay $9 dollars more per day for an "upgraded Garden View" it should not be something like the above picture. The fact that the folks at Disney have chosen to market this view as something desirable is not in keeping with what I have come to expect and love about Walt Disney World. Yes sure there are really nice garden views around the property and you may very well get one of them. To put this type of view in that same category and charge extra is unacceptable to me.
I wrote a letter detailing my concerns about paying for this view and after 4 plus months I have heard nothing back. I suppose that I should have marched down to the front desk and asked to be moved, or perhaps even had the charges removed, but the truth of the matter is that I have much better things to do with my time when I'm on vacation. I had already had a stressful experience with the front desk while trying to check in and I knew that the last place to look for productive help would be there. I'll spare you the details on that one.
For those of you lathering yourself up into a tizzy thinking that this is what you will experience at the Beach club, be not afraid. If you ask 15 different people you will get 15 different experiences, most of which will be positive. On that day, at that moment, I had the misfortune to interact with an employee that was not motivated to help. We were at the Beach club for 10 days and I can say with all certainty that every other department and staff member that I had the chance to interact with was positive and extremely helpful. I had many specific requests for Housekeeping and let me tell you each request was met accurately and promptly!
The key to solving problems is good communication with people who care. If you are experiencing a problem and the person who is supposed to be taking care of it isn't then ask
NICELY to speak with a manager. On that day at that moment at the hotel I just didn't have the energy left to fight any more battles. As hard as the Cast Members at Disney try, they aren't perfect and they can't do everything. I know when I stay at the Beach Club I will get the best effort from 99% of the people that work there. In the real world you couldn't even get close to that number!
So getting back to the main subject, which was room views, let the buyer beware and think if it's really worth paying for an upgrade that you may or may not actually get.
~Marlton Mom