Did you have fun, DisneyBee? Where was your room?
Yes, thank you, we did have fun. Our room was 4219 overlooking Arusha. Great view, great room, great resort! It was very hot and the animals were really only out early in the morning and in the evening. However, I did notice that when we walked to the end of the 5th floor to go outside on the stairwell, there were plenty of animals to be seen there - even during the heat of the day. I think there are more shady areas for them there and that may have been the reason. That and the fact that the resort was trying to make up for the horrid construction view by keeping more animals there for the guests to see.
I took lots of pics and hope to have a trip report up soon. I also took photos of the new construction going on. It's quite an impressive project. I do feel bad, though, for anyone with that view right now - not a very pretty one to say the least!
I do plan to write a letter regarding some things that happened in the lounge. Children in swimsuits running wild - popping each other with towels, no food/ice/beverages (or very little) during specified times, young teens "enjoying" the evening cordials, people (adults and children) loading up their plates (sometimes two plates) with as much food as possible when there's clearly a line behind them, folks in pj pants/t-shirts - that sort of thing. I know these are basically the same complaints club guests have always had, and I know the staff cannot control everything. My suggestion to them would be that perhaps when guests register for club level the staff can send a short list of guidelines for the lounge.
Of course it wasn't like that all the time. There were times when families with children of all ages were there and they were well behaved and spoke in normal tones and acted like they were someplace special - not out by the pool, at a playground, etc.
I also feel like the staff wasn't as friendly as they've been in the past. When we approached the desks or needed something, they were always cordial and helpful, but I recall past visits where they would look up and greet you when you walked into the lounge. Most of the time they had their heads down doing "whatever" on their computers and never greeted anyone. The only one who consistently made the extra effort to greet people was was Jack - he's always been the most friendly in the past anyhow - it would be nice if they were all like that.
The buses seemed to be running slower this time around. I don't know if they've removed runs because of the gas prices, but I just know in the past we never waited more than 5-10 minutes for a bus to go anywhere. This time the waits were anywhere from 15-30 minutes. Not horrible, but not what we were used to.
Overall, it was a great stay, but there is room for improvement.
Oh, mousekeeping was great - our room was always fresh and we had turndown service. I left a tip every day in an envelope - some days it was gone, other days it was left there.
Tina