jmpurdy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2001
- Messages
- 653
Just got home from OKW for 6 nites (and Hyatt Hotel at airport for 1 nite).
Grandpa, Grandma (me), DD (27)with our two young grandsons 2 and 4 months, DD 28, and DS, 24.
This was a planned family reunion as our son lives in Oregon. Our daughters/grandsons all live in MA as do we.
I'll start with the good and end with the not so good. The good is that we had a wonderful time, though we will never go in the summer again. It was just too hot. Our original plan was beginning of May, but DD began nursing school and had a mandatory class, so we pushed it to June. We have previously gone in January and will always do this after fighting the heat.
We did go back to the hotel and take breaks/swim/nap with the little ones.
I am proud we did this and wish other parents would have done the same. Alot of miserable wee ones I'm afraid. Hot, tired and crying. One night as we fought the crowds to leave Magic Kingdom, we were the picture of what people might look at and say 'why do people bring young children!'
We knew it was time to go, it wasn't late, but the 2 month old had a meltdown and the stroller wouldn't collapse properly (we were frazzled trying to get out of the way) and we got split up with our family and were left with the 2 month old and NO food! We survived and all was well after we finally got on the bus and back to the resort, but that was not a fun hour or so.
The resort is beautiful as we remember (we rented points). The pool breaks were welcome and so much fun. We went to SSR one day as well and had a very nice time at that pool as well. We liked that pool better than OKW with the little ones. We were treated with kindness from everyone at the resort and have nothing but kudos to them.
Now the not so good...we were frankly disappointed in the grand villa. I know this must sound unfathomable, but the condition of the villa was such that we made our very first call to complain EVER in all our stays at Disney.
First, 2 bathroom floors were covered in hair (not ours!) since we hadn't even used them yet. YUCK. We did call immediately. A remote didn't work, that was replaced and we also requested a drain stopper which was not delivered until we called a 2nd time the next day.
There were large stains on a couch which we know can happen, but it still is so unappealing and gross. The rug in the living room had not been vacummed well and it looked like the entire downstairs was just given a cursory once over. The upstairs was fine. These are very expensive villas and if I were an owner, I would have been even more disappointed to see this. Even renting points was very expensive and I never complain since it's my choice to pay the price, but I do have an expectation that there won't be stains on the furniture and that it will be very clean. We were in bldg. 15. Then we noticed the huge rise in the floor at the entryway where the entire floor had lifted up like a bubble under the linoleum. Our son tripped on it and we knew that this was an accident waiting to happen with our toddler grandson. After calling, maintenance came out and told us that this villa should not have been rented! He acknowledged it was a trip hazard and we were offered another room (don't know what they would have given us), OR they said they would put down a carpet over it. We let them do the temp fix and felt we would be fine after seeing what they did. We just couldn't bear to move all of us, with a toddler, infant and several pieces of equipment from A Baby's Best Friend, luggage, etc. But the reality that we were given a substandard villa just did not feel very good and to remedy it would have been a really big inconvenience. So, we stayed and we made the best of it. I am not the type of person to ask 'what's in it for me' so I did not ask for any other compensation. We were offered another room and we declined. End of story. It just still felt kind of unnecessary that we had to experience this in the first place if only housekeeping had alerted maintenance to this issue. Surely they saw and felt the floor. It was that obvious! We had only one request and that was room location and we were not given our request. Bus service was good except our last day when we waited 45 minutes for the bus to Magic Kingdom. The Hyatt at the Airport was wonderful. Very nice rooms and we saw the shuttle launch from the pool. Perfect view and it was wonderful! Nice service and very clean hotel. It was very crowded at the parks. In the evening, it was better, but the best night was at Animal Kingdom when we arrived before 5:00 PM. All rides were walk on and it was perfect. It stayed consistently crowded at the Magic Kingdom though. If anyone has questions, I'd be happy to answer. We're exhausted, but happy we were all together for one precious week.
Grandpa, Grandma (me), DD (27)with our two young grandsons 2 and 4 months, DD 28, and DS, 24.
This was a planned family reunion as our son lives in Oregon. Our daughters/grandsons all live in MA as do we.
I'll start with the good and end with the not so good. The good is that we had a wonderful time, though we will never go in the summer again. It was just too hot. Our original plan was beginning of May, but DD began nursing school and had a mandatory class, so we pushed it to June. We have previously gone in January and will always do this after fighting the heat.
We did go back to the hotel and take breaks/swim/nap with the little ones.
I am proud we did this and wish other parents would have done the same. Alot of miserable wee ones I'm afraid. Hot, tired and crying. One night as we fought the crowds to leave Magic Kingdom, we were the picture of what people might look at and say 'why do people bring young children!'
We knew it was time to go, it wasn't late, but the 2 month old had a meltdown and the stroller wouldn't collapse properly (we were frazzled trying to get out of the way) and we got split up with our family and were left with the 2 month old and NO food! We survived and all was well after we finally got on the bus and back to the resort, but that was not a fun hour or so.
The resort is beautiful as we remember (we rented points). The pool breaks were welcome and so much fun. We went to SSR one day as well and had a very nice time at that pool as well. We liked that pool better than OKW with the little ones. We were treated with kindness from everyone at the resort and have nothing but kudos to them.
Now the not so good...we were frankly disappointed in the grand villa. I know this must sound unfathomable, but the condition of the villa was such that we made our very first call to complain EVER in all our stays at Disney.
First, 2 bathroom floors were covered in hair (not ours!) since we hadn't even used them yet. YUCK. We did call immediately. A remote didn't work, that was replaced and we also requested a drain stopper which was not delivered until we called a 2nd time the next day.
There were large stains on a couch which we know can happen, but it still is so unappealing and gross. The rug in the living room had not been vacummed well and it looked like the entire downstairs was just given a cursory once over. The upstairs was fine. These are very expensive villas and if I were an owner, I would have been even more disappointed to see this. Even renting points was very expensive and I never complain since it's my choice to pay the price, but I do have an expectation that there won't be stains on the furniture and that it will be very clean. We were in bldg. 15. Then we noticed the huge rise in the floor at the entryway where the entire floor had lifted up like a bubble under the linoleum. Our son tripped on it and we knew that this was an accident waiting to happen with our toddler grandson. After calling, maintenance came out and told us that this villa should not have been rented! He acknowledged it was a trip hazard and we were offered another room (don't know what they would have given us), OR they said they would put down a carpet over it. We let them do the temp fix and felt we would be fine after seeing what they did. We just couldn't bear to move all of us, with a toddler, infant and several pieces of equipment from A Baby's Best Friend, luggage, etc. But the reality that we were given a substandard villa just did not feel very good and to remedy it would have been a really big inconvenience. So, we stayed and we made the best of it. I am not the type of person to ask 'what's in it for me' so I did not ask for any other compensation. We were offered another room and we declined. End of story. It just still felt kind of unnecessary that we had to experience this in the first place if only housekeeping had alerted maintenance to this issue. Surely they saw and felt the floor. It was that obvious! We had only one request and that was room location and we were not given our request. Bus service was good except our last day when we waited 45 minutes for the bus to Magic Kingdom. The Hyatt at the Airport was wonderful. Very nice rooms and we saw the shuttle launch from the pool. Perfect view and it was wonderful! Nice service and very clean hotel. It was very crowded at the parks. In the evening, it was better, but the best night was at Animal Kingdom when we arrived before 5:00 PM. All rides were walk on and it was perfect. It stayed consistently crowded at the Magic Kingdom though. If anyone has questions, I'd be happy to answer. We're exhausted, but happy we were all together for one precious week.
