A little disappointed...

[SusanDK]

I opened my room door and stepped out and onto the wet paint on the walkway. No sign just open, step, and squish.

That's awful! What were they thinking?

What did you do after making the call and washing off your shoes? Did your entire family have to walk through wet paint to leave the room and get to the park? I'm just curious -- it sounds like you were 'trapped' and painted into your room. I can't imagine how they expected people to exit and enter their rooms if they were painting walkways.

Susan

 

[maxiesmom]

Staying at a Deluxe resort does not give you better ME service. If you want to get to your hotel fast, ME is probably not for you. It is not as good as a town car, but then you don't pay $100 for ME either. For free, I have found it to be pretty darn good.

I'm not sure what kind of service you think that you would get staying at a Moderate resort that you didn't get staying at a Value. I have not experienced a difference, but then again I don't know what you are looking for. They do not place all the ok CMs at the Values, all the good ones at the Moderates, and all the excellent ones at the Deluxe resorts. They are a mixed bag wherever you happen to stay.

 

[joybeth]

I am sorry for the experience, me and DH will be staying for the 1st time and going for the 1st time to WDW and staying at All Star Nusic. Wish us luck,

DH and I took a quick trip over labor day weekend to take advantage of free dining. We stayed at ASMu for the first time. I was not expecting much, and was pleasently surprised! ME went off with no problems. We checked in very quickly and given a king room as requested. The resort was clean and service was great. We never had a proble with the buses except for the last day when we had a long wait for Animal Kingdom.

Don't worry about staying at ASMu. We were completely satisfied and would enthusiastically recommend ASMu and ME.

jb

 

[GinnyFavers]

My husband and I call DME "Tragic Express" but that's because he is incapable of waiting for more than three minutes for anything, and we'd both rather travel with one roller bag than ever check our luggage, much less be seperated from it. Plus, we hate riding Disney busses and always have a rental car that we drive to the parks from our Disney resort. Gives us lots of eating and grocery and sundry shopping off site, too, which can save a heap of money on a trip of several days.

Other people swear by DME and get really offended that we can't stand it.

I guess everybody has to try things out and see if they like them, themselves. Next trip, I suggest you try using a rental car or towncar service, and avoid the Value resorts.

We're addicted to the way we do Disney now - Deluxe or moderates with king beds, only, and our own car.

 

[bnk1120]

I too was disappointed in the value resorts when I stayed at ASMu in May. Magical Express can be a wait no matter what hotel you are staying at. We know that and deal with it. But I really did not feel that I was an important guest when I stayed at ASMu. I felt like one of many of a herd of cattle. To each his own, I know. I just personally will stick w/ moderates. (Or deluxe if I can ever afford it. )

 

[JennyDrake]

If I am reading your post correctly (OP) it seems you are not upset with ASMu and the resort experience, but you are most upset with ME and with maintenance. When WDW began contracting out some of the maintenance, I feel both maintenance and their "attitudes" went way down.

 

[eliza61]

Foghorn,
So sorry you were disappointed. I'm a little on the opposite range. I never expect any thing to do with airports to be quick. I remember the old mears buses that use to take you to the resorts, that was definitely a 1-2 hour wait.
FYI,
Unfortunately transportation issues are not exclusive to the values. All resorts have been know to have their bus meltdowns.

Hope you have many more happy vacations

 

[Disneyholic]

Foghorn,
So sorry you were disappointed. I'm a little on the opposite range. I never expect any thing to do with airports to be quick. I remember the old mears buses that use to take you to the resorts, that was definitely a 1-2 hour wait.

I thought I read somewhere that ME is actually MEARS contracted by Disney.
That would explain alot. We took MEARS on our 2nd trip and almost missed it because even though it was outside our hotel the bus driver didn't open the door until we knocked to ask if it was our bus. He acted like we had interrupte his nap. He got lost and went to in the wrong direction at the next hotel and then read a map while he was driving to the airport

After this experience we took the AutoTrain so we had a car or drove all the way down ourselves.

 

[disneyfan55]

Hi Everyone, Before I begin I'd like to put in a little history. My Wife and I spent out honeymoon at WDW in Dec of 95. We stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort for a week. We enjoyed our stay and new we'd be back... About 2 years ago we started talking about going on a family trip with both sets of grandparents and my son... Well, we were delayed due to a new bundle of joy. Fast forward to last week.. We booked our trip and all 8 of us went. All the grandparents, my wife and I and my son(5) and daughter(1).
In the planning stages we decided to get the most bang for our buck and chose the All Star Movies resort. Our thoughts were "Hey we'll just be there mainly for sleeping at night and afternoon for naps." I guess we just figured that we'd still get the quality of service that Disney was known for. (Quality not level, we did pick a value and not moderate resort.) Well we were very let down.
We arrived on Saturday August 11th and Departed on Saturday the 18th. We decided to use the "Magic Express" to take us and out luggage to the resort. We arrived at the airport and checked in at the Magic Express counter and waited to be "wisked away" on our disney adventure... and waited, and waited... Ok here's something to note... Wisked away must mean "expect to wait about 40 minutes before we get you on a bus". We arrived at the hotel at the resort about 1:30PM.. and finally checked in around 2:00. (Checkin is officially 4:00pm and we were not expecting to actually get into a room...) They did actually have 2 of the 3 rooms ready and we were very pleased. We dropped off our carry on stuff and headed over to the park. (Note: the movies resort is the farthest resort from the magic kingdom... With shuttle bus wait times expect about an average of 1 hour to the Magic Kingdom)
Wow this is longer than I expected... Let me try to cut to the chase. We got back to our rooms around 9:00 that evening to find that only 1 or 2 peices of luggage there. My family had 5 and I think that's pretty good considering we packed for 4 including an infant for a week.
On Monday morning I stepped out of My room door and into wet paint. Yes, wet paint. It was 7:15 and we were planning on going to MGM for the extra magic hours... We called to complain but I might as well have called California to complain about tea prices. (Its the first time I've personally had a "Monday" on vacation).
On the upside, we did enjoy the parks... There's a trick to the Fast Pass (Get them early), the early hours are good (especially at the water parks) , Character meals are the best way to get autographs, My wife and I took our son to the "Pirate and Princess party" and had a blast. it was a late night but we only waited about 10-20 minutes for anything. (Worth the money). On the last day I received a dream fast pass for Epcot!!!
On the whole we enjoyed our stay we were just a little disappointed with the quality of service that we received(or didn't) while at the Movies resort. I'll be happy to elaborate on any questions anyone has. I will stay on the property again but it will not be at a value resort.

My kids used this service and were staying in the Caribbean Beach Resort and experienced the same problem. Some of the luggage was not received until the next day.

 

[ASFCurly]

I can't comment about the ME, but I have stayed at the value resorts the last 3 times I went to WDW and never had a problem with the resorts or luggage or busses, I am sorry that you did.

 

[tinawv]

We have never had a problem with ME, but we have always arrived in the mornings during our travels to WDW. We also rented a car from Alamo on one of our trips to WDW, and it took us over two hours to get our rental car. We had to take an Alamo shuttle from the airport to their rental business, and then had to wait a hour in line to get our rental car (also had to argue with them about acquiring their insurance). This may not be a problem if you are getting a car at the airport, but I would much rather catch a ride using ME than get a rental car offsite. Also, we have stayed in values and moderates, and the service we received did not seem to be better or worse between the two. I think the kind of service you receive is just the luck of the draw. It's like buying a car; sometimes you get a lemon. I happy to hear that your experience didn't ruin your whole trip.

 

[MartDM]

Sorry to hear you were disappointed. If you had tuned in to these boards before rather than after your trip, you would have avoided many of the pitfalls you experienced because you would have been better informed.

 

[*love*2*shop]

Just an FYI from something I learned here on the DIS about the ME.....TAKE YOUR LUGGAGE with you@@@ you * are * allowed too....DONT put any tags on your luggage with anything ME on your WAY DOWN TO FLORIDA ...when you fly into Orlando, go Down to the baggage claim and GET YOUR BAGS!!! Get a CART and head down to the MAgical EXPRESS with all of your LUGGAGE, ,BOARD the BUS and your luggage will be stored ON THE BUS, in the under compartment...When the BUS pulls up to your resort, they will open the compartment and VOILA!!! you have your luggage the WHOLE TIME!!!! I wont do it any other way!!!!

 

[Foghorn_NC]

Thanks for all the comments.. I'll add a few more peices of this story.... On this trip we had My Family including wife and 2 Children {5 and 1}, My parents and my wife's parents. {8 total} We use the Me just so we didn't have to try to transport all 8 and luggage. [As a note, since the infant didn't pay we didn't qualify for the "Magical Gatherings" package]
I think one of the replys was pretty close.. We didn't have a problem with the cleanliness or amenities of the AS Movies resort..
Just a note on the paint issue.. we actually had adjoining rooms with my parents and we went out their door.
A final comment on the ME back to the airport.... {Yes it Neers contracted by Disney} Our flight was at 10:20 AM... We received a notice telling us to be at the ME pickup by 7:00AM for the 7:15 bus. We actually got there early and spoke to the driver for the 6:45 bus... He couldn't let us on because of the number of passangers he had to pick up on the way. {Fair enough} Well the 7:15 bus never showed and we didn't leave till almost 8:00. The thing that set me off the most was that after arriving at the airport, the driver had the nerve to wait by the door for a tip untill all of the passangers got off. While everyone waited for their luggage.

Thanks for the feed back.

PS we've started a Disney account at the Bank for our next trip.. I hope we can stay at the contemp or wilderness...