August 07- just back, time to relect!!

[archcrb]

Ther was a lot of good , but also some bad in our trip to The World! I'm going to try and keep this simple, but excuse me if I ramble.

Some good:

Cast member Michelle for keeping us sane in line with my Autistic niece after grumpy cast member refused to let us take the H/C line. Jessica was a trooper thanks to CM and we made it. It wasn't that we weren't able to skip, honestly, it was that one CM said to come with her and he trumped her and then made a scene by having us try and find our original place in line. Very awkward for WDW, unless it's just me??

Good:
CM Christine for finding my lost bag in LEgo land. Pheww!!

BAD:
All those inconsiderate smokers by the stairwells at the resorts, on line for the buses, walking freely around th eground and in the parks. Didn't Disney make a big announcement about 'Smoke Free' parks/property. I didn't see it. It was the same rudeness you see everyday with smoke in your face and butts flinging everywhere. This definately took away a little of my families magic, then again maybe it's just me!!

Bad:
Mousekeeping?
I'm not sure If this is my fault or not. You die hards will probably find fault with me but here goes anyway.
Our room was always clean, so this isn't my problem, the thing that irked me was that the last visit we had, granted it was 6+ yrs ago, I didn't know I should or needed to tip everyday for mousekeeping. Even so, our room was dressed each day with towel figures or our toys arrainged into some cute pose, and all without a tip. On the last day I left a decent tip, for our stay.

This time we had MM ears the first day at check-in, then nothing for 2 days. the 3rd I left a tip and then miraculously there was a scene when we returned. The next day , I didn't leave anything and got nothing. Am I naive to think that part of the magic is those little traets? I hope I'm not wrong because these are the reasons you chose WDW over something like Busch Gardens.

This was also my first summer/in season trip so:

Are people who go these times always so rude?
Are the vacationers from overseas always so distant?
Most of the CM's were great but a number of them resembled the punks at BGardens?

I thiught It was interesting that a bottle of water at a shop in MGM was $2.39 while at a cart 50 ft away it was $2.00? HMMMM!!!

Also, I found that there were very little in the way of quick snack carts.

The food court didn't really have as much selection as I remember.

Now in conclusion, We really did have a good time, despite all my complaints, and in the future I look forward to returning, but I just hope we hit the Dis on a bad week , because if this is where it's heading, it's not looking good from here, and that would be sad.

Carmine Barone

 

[ClaraBug]

Carmine,

I am with you on many things.....

At our resort, there was one person who didn't even go to the stairwell, she just smoked outside her door leaning on the railing.

We didn't recieve any towel animals at all. But many vet. WDW goers say that towel animals are the luck of the drawl. My parents were one floor above us and received a towel animal everyday and didn't tip either.

I am not sure but we didn't have as "magical" time as we did before. I don't know if the heat had something to do with the attitudes and patience of CMs and park goers or not. But we are going to hold off on Disney for a couple years and go during the off-season.

 

[Dis Fan Dad]

Carmine,

You are right about the attitudes and short temperments of guests and CM during the summer. This is why my family chooses not to go during peak summer times, but I do understand that going at other times of the year is not an option for everyone.

I think people are more level headed when the crowds are more manageable, the weather not so hot, and you don't have to stand in line for the Flying Dumbo Ride for 90 minutes with a tantrum throwing toddler.

As for "Mousekeeping" I think Disney is slipping big time on this one. I certainly don't think they do as good a job as say, a decade ago. I blame Disney for this though, and not the Mousekeeepers, as staffing levels don't seem to be what they used to. Guests seem less impressed with overall attention to detail in the resorts as well as the parks, But hey, as long as the shareholders are happy right .

Still, I have always considered towel animals as a bonus. I do tip everyday and if something is not to our liking I do not hesitate to call the front desk, I feel that leaving a tip everyday earns me that right. Thankfully we have never had to call the front desk because our rooms have always been clean and well stocked.

The smoking thing irks me the most. I have, in the past asked people to move to designated smoking areas and most often I am told to " Take a flying leap" and worse. Why do smokers feel they can smoke wherever they want and fling their butts on the ground. They can choose to smoke in designated areas, I can't choose not to inhale/exhale.

Boy I feel the flames coming for this post

I'm glad you still had a good trip overall and I hope you were able to find a little bit of the magic in the summer mayhem.

Smokers ........ let the flames begin!

 

[ClaraBug]

In defense of my DH and mom (both smokers) made the extra effort to always find their "happy spot" which meant they had to normally walk out of their way to find the designated area. They never smoked where they weren't suppose too. They were at least trying to be considerate, unlike the others. But I fully agree!

 

[lynn71092]

I myself tip everyday because you may not have the same Mousekeeper doing your room every day, and I don't do it for the towel animals because tipping doesn't have anything to do with it.

As for the smokers, I saw many smoking in non-designated areas in the MK. There is a small bridge after leaving the POTC area, and it was bad enough that there were a number of smokers there, but they were throwing their butt's in the water under the bridge.
Ugh!! I don't want to see a lot of floating cigarette butts, it was disgusting!!

Stop dirtying our parks!!