Just a quick update on the current trip.
The original plan was a night in the Animal Kingdom, followed by a move to the Beach Club for the week, and finally Vero Beach for 5 nights and Hilton Head for 2 nights. That was all about to change.
Before we departed, we found out that we will have to spend some time overseas for my company. This would require me returning a day early from the trip, cutting 1 day off of Hilton Head. We arrived in Orlando a day early due to an earlier than anticipated departure time from home. Now the tough decision stay onsite for the first night or offsite. In our goal to stay at every WDW Disney Hotel, we decided on the All-Stars Movie.
What I am posting here is an honest opinion on the resort. It is very nice, well themed, but our experience with the staff was just not great. The lady at the check-in desk never smiled, and in fact made it almost seem that we were an inconvenience to Disney by staying just one night. We asked about using our DVC or Annual passes to get a discount, and were told in a very cold manner that they do not do this at the desk, go use a phone and call central reservations and come back later. I opted to forgo the discount to get into a room, as I was feeling a little exhausted and under the weather. The room they gave us was a handicapped room. The lady at the check-in desk conveniently did not mention this even though she knew we had a 2.5 year old with us, who generally require bathtubs. Fortunately DS took to the shower quite well. Interestingly, the rooms also do not have hair dryers. Even the cheapest basic hotel/motel rooms have hair dryers these days. We had dinner at the food court. DW had to wait over 20 minutes for her food. DS and myself were finished when she showed up. The lady at the checkout never cracked a smile. In fact, it was not until the morning that I finally saw a cast member smiling one of the housecleaning staff.
Arrival at AK was exact opposite. We were greeted when we drove up by very friendly staff, welcomed, and looked after from start to finish (current at least). They even went so far as to upgrade our room to a safari view because they did not have a room with a king size bed, even though they did not have to do this. There was a minor problem with our room, the previous guests were still in it, but this was resolved quickly and efficiently and with a smile. Boma was great again the staff was all smiles. The server even went so far as to go to a restaurant next door to get a small spoon for DS because their spoons were too big.
I think that in two nights here, we have seen both sides of Disney. While I dont expect much for the value resorts, after all they are value I would expect at least something comparable to the local Ramada, and preferably with a smile.
I will try to post further updates as the trip moves along.
The original plan was a night in the Animal Kingdom, followed by a move to the Beach Club for the week, and finally Vero Beach for 5 nights and Hilton Head for 2 nights. That was all about to change.
Before we departed, we found out that we will have to spend some time overseas for my company. This would require me returning a day early from the trip, cutting 1 day off of Hilton Head. We arrived in Orlando a day early due to an earlier than anticipated departure time from home. Now the tough decision stay onsite for the first night or offsite. In our goal to stay at every WDW Disney Hotel, we decided on the All-Stars Movie.
What I am posting here is an honest opinion on the resort. It is very nice, well themed, but our experience with the staff was just not great. The lady at the check-in desk never smiled, and in fact made it almost seem that we were an inconvenience to Disney by staying just one night. We asked about using our DVC or Annual passes to get a discount, and were told in a very cold manner that they do not do this at the desk, go use a phone and call central reservations and come back later. I opted to forgo the discount to get into a room, as I was feeling a little exhausted and under the weather. The room they gave us was a handicapped room. The lady at the check-in desk conveniently did not mention this even though she knew we had a 2.5 year old with us, who generally require bathtubs. Fortunately DS took to the shower quite well. Interestingly, the rooms also do not have hair dryers. Even the cheapest basic hotel/motel rooms have hair dryers these days. We had dinner at the food court. DW had to wait over 20 minutes for her food. DS and myself were finished when she showed up. The lady at the checkout never cracked a smile. In fact, it was not until the morning that I finally saw a cast member smiling one of the housecleaning staff.
Arrival at AK was exact opposite. We were greeted when we drove up by very friendly staff, welcomed, and looked after from start to finish (current at least). They even went so far as to upgrade our room to a safari view because they did not have a room with a king size bed, even though they did not have to do this. There was a minor problem with our room, the previous guests were still in it, but this was resolved quickly and efficiently and with a smile. Boma was great again the staff was all smiles. The server even went so far as to go to a restaurant next door to get a small spoon for DS because their spoons were too big.
I think that in two nights here, we have seen both sides of Disney. While I dont expect much for the value resorts, after all they are value I would expect at least something comparable to the local Ramada, and preferably with a smile.
I will try to post further updates as the trip moves along.
