Disappointment at the Happiest Place on Earth!

[apostolic4life]

My wife and I just returned from an eight day trip to WDW. Overall we were pleased with the parks, restaurants, and the cast members. Our only lowpoint was the resort stay. We were in the Pop Century Classic Years; I am fully aware this is a value priced resort and the expectations can't be the same as the other resorts on the level of amenities and overall experience. BUT, when the entire stay was mired by bad service (in this resort only) it seems a little disrespectful. Like I stated, it was a value resort and our expectations were prepared for fewer creature comforts, but when the staff generally seemed disintrested and the housekeeper would not do any more than make your bed every day (never changed the sheets, even when obviously stained) it seemed as though the experience was missing something. Many of you may believe I am being a little picky, but even a cheap hotel will empty the water from the ice bucket and leave a new bag on a daily basis (this did not happen here). Trash was only removed from the waste basket under the sink twice during our stay: normally this would be fine, but we had an infant in diapers so the can should have been emptied daily. I thought at first we may have just gotten at best a new trainee, or at worst a lazy housekeeper. We soon came to realize from talking to other guests that the level of service was not a mere fluke. I did not expect the level of service of a Ritz Carlton, but I did expect something a little better than a generic mom & pop roadside motel. When we dropped off my daughter to my ex-wife she also told us of similar experiences at the value priced resorts and now we are wondering if anyone else has had the same disappointment at the Happiest Place on Earth?

Outside of our resort issues, we were tickled to death with our experience. The trip included the dining package, the Candlight Processional and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. Everything was wonderful for all these add ons. We loved the Rose & Crown Pub for dinner in the UK at World Showcase (ask to have Jo as your server; she is wonderful and made the experience wonderful). Ohana's for the character breakfast and Chef Mickey's for the character dinner were wonderful experience's and the food was quite good also (although my wife thought the sausage links at Ohana's were too spicy). The Brown Derby was also a nice experience, but not worth the two table service credits required on the dining plan so we paid for this out of our pocket along with the Fantasmic package (Fantasmic = awesome time!!!). My wife and I greatly recommend the dinning package with your stay. We saved so much money with this and we never finished all our food. Matter of fact, we used our last 8 snacks to get bottles of soda to put in our cooler for the drive home and we used our last two table service meals at Casey's on the way out and got food for the road.

We loved our trip overall and we are coming back (this was my second trip to WDW and not my last); we are hoping to have our plans finalized for Thanksgiving 2006 within the next couple of weeks. Those plans will not include Pop Century Resort

It was magical, Thanks Walt!!!!

Howard

 

[djm99]

Wow, I loved Pop when we were there Summer 2004. The service was wonderful. The CM's were very accommodating. Just as a small example. When my family and I checked out, I signed my billed and I joked about how I "steal" pins often. The CM said, "no need to steal pins here at Disney, take a box". He gave me a whole box of those white and gold WDW pins. NO big deal, but just really nice. Another example, I had some problems at check in (my key didn't work), and I called down (via our neighbors phone). Maintenance came up and let us in within minutes. I participated in the stroller swap - stroller was in my room when we returned from the park. The food was really good (we had those $11 vouchers) and plentiful. My DH had Salmon almost everyday with those vouchers. The rooms were small, but very well kept (they were very new too). Mousekeeping came daily. I printed out those mousekeeping envelopes and left a few dollars daily. Mousekeeping left a towel "gift" for us daily too!!! Its a little small, but I loved it!!!

 

[safetymom]

Did you voice your complaints to management while you were at WDW? They won't know there is a problem unless you let them know.

 

[lynn71092]

I just got back from my 3rd stay at Pop and am planning on going back in November. As far as I know, they never change the sheets every day unless you request it (you don't change your sheets at home every day do you) and my trash was emptied every day as was my ice bucket because I used it to keep my soda cold. I have never had a problem with mousekeeping at the Pop. You should have made a complaint if it was that bad. Maybe it was a new mousekeeper or one in training and they need to be told by management.

 

[SorcererChubby]

I too just got back from an eight day stay at the POP CENTURY...But I had none of the problems mentioned before ...Our housekeeping was wonderful ...we had plenty of towels...always clean...I had stayed in all the other ALL STAR hotels before and I found that POP CENTURY was by far way ahead of the others...All the cast members were very friendly ..The girl at package pick up was wonderful....having over 600 packages deliveried each day and she was always there to make sure you got them as quickly as she could...I wouls highly recomend staying here and will stay there again myself

 

[declansdad]

Soory you had such a bad experience at Pop.

We stayed at Pop for 10 nights in July and never had a problem with the service. Our room was always cleaned and we received towel animals on more than one occassion.

 

[Shelby5514]

It's unacceptable to have stained sheets...dare I ask how they got stained?

I will assume that they were stained when you got there. I would have called mousekeeping right away, even in the middle of the night, to have them changed. YUK!
I'm sorry your resort stay was not up to par, but I'm glad you had a great time at the parks.

 

[brooker]

We just got back from our 7 night stay at Pop(our first time at Disney). We liked Pop overall....nothing outstanding but certainly adequate. We accidentally locked our key in our room once and within 10 minutes someone came up to let us in. The food courts menu does leave a lot to be desired though. The rooms were generally well maintained. We would probably go back again in a few years.

 

[tink_n_pooh]

We stayed at Pop this past August and I wasn't very impressed either. We too had a problem with our keys (for one of two rooms) not working and it took forever for them to fix it, we actually had to go to the desk to have it finally taken care of. We had other problems too, like the food court turning people away before they were closing and other little things that just weren't 'Disney'. I guess everyones experience is different but I wouldn't want to go back to Pop.

 

[FeeFeeWhite]

We stayed in September and I got more service than I expected. We were very pleased except for the bed size which we knew going in. I am very sorry you had a bad experience. Please try another resort to renew your faith in Disney!

 

[apostolic4life]

No, I did not voice my complaints, and that is my fault. That still does not validate or excuse bad service. Minimum service is all I expected with my stay; I was not aware I must complain to get it. The lady who was our housekeeper was a very pleasant lady when we spoke to her in passing as we left for the parks, so I really was not looking to rustle feathers over these things. Yes, maybe we should have requested she service the room a little better.

As for the stained sheets, we have an infant, a three year old and a 12 year old........stains happen. We did not think the housekeeper would change our sheets daily, but we did think they would change them more often than never.

As for bed size, we too felt they were small. We asked for a rollaway and they said our "type" of room was not allowed to have one.....whatever that means. So, to remedy the cramped bed I slept on the floor. When we called to request extra blankets, pillows and towels they were promptly delivered so I was pleased with that aspect of the service.....I never said everything was bad. Matter of fact I felt most people were pleasant, but I felt they all seemed overwhelmed. Maybe since this was an off peak time the manpower was a little thin.........I am always looking for the best in people so I would like to think this is the case.

I am in no way soured on the Magic of Disney. We are planning our next trip already. We just will not stay at the value resorts again........even if it means saving a little extra for a moderate or deluxe resort offering.

I would love to hear suggestions from my fellow DIS members as to their favorite places to stay!!!

Thanks,
Howard

 

[Hibernians]

We just came back from 5 nights at Pop Century in November, we had 2 adjacent rooms and housecleaning was very good, no complaints.
It sounds to me that a lot of the things people complain about appear to be Hit or Miss, which is no consolation since we are all spending our hard earned money to enjoy a wonderful vacation inside the World. I am surprised though, to read so many complaints about housekeeping on these boards. You would think Disney would do a better job of this - I guess if more people complain about this to Disney Management maybe the quality will improve. Of course I'm not sure if you can ever achieve a 90%+ customer sat score.

I'm glad to hear about the dining plan. there are 6 of us and I thought it may not work out so good with the kids but I'm hearing more & more ppl say its a good deal.

 

[lucincia]

I would love to hear suggestions from my fellow DIS members as to their favorite places to stay!!!

WL Well, first time staying on-site last month and won't be the last.

Big and tall beds

 

[Landslide305]

We stayed at All Stars years ago - never again. My son fell in the bathroom and split his chin open. (he ended up getting stitches). He bled all over the sheets while we were trying to stop the blood flow. The bloody sheets stayed on our bed for 3 days before I called absolutely disgusted to have them changed. I am fine for not changing the sheets everyday but if they are obviously soiled, they should be changed.

 

[disneymom2one]

No, I did not voice my complaints, and that is my fault. That still does not validate or excuse bad service. Minimum service is all I expected with my stay; I was not aware I must complain to get it. The lady who was our housekeeper was a very pleasant lady when we spoke to her in passing as we left for the parks, so I really was not looking to rustle feathers over these things. Yes, maybe we should have requested she service the room a little better.

(snipped)

I would love to hear suggestions from my fellow DIS members as to their favorite places to stay!!!

Thanks,
Howard

My advice? Don't stay at a value. That seems overly simplistic but we simply don't like the values. I realize many people love them but we don't. We're DVC members but on weekends we choose a moderate. There is (in my opinion) a huge jump in service and amenities between values and moderates. Moderates are resorts and values (to us) are just motels with pools. We love all the moderates but our favorite two are Riverside and Coronado (where we'll be this weekend). We are not park commandos and spend much of our day at the resort. The values just don't work for us.

 

[lynn71092]

We stayed at All Stars years ago - never again. My son fell in the bathroom and split his chin open. (he ended up getting stitches). He bled all over the sheets while we were trying to stop the blood flow. The bloody sheets stayed on our bed for 3 days before I called absolutely disgusted to have them changed. I am fine for not changing the sheets everyday but if they are obviously soiled, they should be changed.

Uh, you slept on bloody sheets for 3 days before you complained and you say it's Disney's fault?????

 

[WDWBetsy]

We stayed at All Stars years ago - never again. My son fell in the bathroom and split his chin open. (he ended up getting stitches). He bled all over the sheets while we were trying to stop the blood flow. The bloody sheets stayed on our bed for 3 days before I called absolutely disgusted to have them changed. I am fine for not changing the sheets everyday but if they are obviously soiled, they should be changed.

If something like this happens (or if any stains managed to get on the sheets), I would strip the sheets from the bed and leave a note asking for clean ones.

 

[birdiesunshine]

We stayed at All Stars years ago - never again. My son fell in the bathroom and split his chin open. (he ended up getting stitches). He bled all over the sheets while we were trying to stop the blood flow. The bloody sheets stayed on our bed for 3 days before I called absolutely disgusted to have them changed. I am fine for not changing the sheets everyday but if they are obviously soiled, they should be changed.

Would you touch someone elses blood? I would have stripped the sheets off with the blood stain visible for Housekeeping to see. They then should probably put gloves on to move the sheets from the room. JMO

 

[scorpad99]

Yes the rooms are small, and yes you are usually in the room only to sleep. But I realized this past trip that we have totally grown out of a value with an 9 and 10 y/o................and I dont see where you would fit a portacrib anywhere comfortably even to have an infant in the room..............even if it were only parents and one baby. jmo

 

[apostolic4life]

It seems to me many of you want to flame Landslide305 because she expected the staff to do their job and change the sheets. The people who are employed in housekeeping are trained to deal with biohazards (i.e. blood, vomit, snot and even fecal matter); this is the dirty part of their job, but they are still required to deal with it.

As a professional chef I also must deal with things I don't particularly enjoy (i.e. skinning fish, deveining frois gras and cleaning messes the create foul odors in the walk in fridge) but I still have to do these things as part of my job requirments.

If this person has to change the sheets after Landslide305 leaves the resort, why can't they change them while she is there????? Same person, same sheets!!!! She should not have to strip the bed and leave a note to have the sheets replaced. This is not being unreasonable........just expecting minimum service that is.

I'm on you side Landslide305!!

Disneymom2one, as for the value resorts, we too have decided not to use them again. We have stayed in the CBR before and we also have noticed the dramatic difference in the level of service and respect they provide the guests.

Howard