DVC Polynesian Village - Bad First Day

[DisneyMattB]

Let me start by saying that my wife and I joined the Disney Vacation Club in 2013 and are really enjoying the membership. We are traveling more to Disney World and were very excited to start our first day at the new Disney's Polynesian Village Resort in a DVC Studio Room. Let's just say that things did not go well. Lot's of waiting... No Welcome, No Lei, Waited a long time for bags, Magic Bands didn't work and had to sit in the hall for 40 minutes for someone to let us in... Here's how it played out.. my rant....

Arrived at the Disney Polynesian Village resort and made our first stop at the guard house. We always film the guards as we arrive to capture the DVC message of "Welcome Home". No "welcome home"... just a gruff response that the entrance is to the left. Ok... Maybe he's having a bad morning... Ok. No problem. Now we get to pull up and get our lei greeting... Let's pull up and wait.... and wait.. and Hello are you checking in.. Yes we are... Can I take your bags. Sure thanks. Where do we self park? Make a U turn and the lot is on the right. Ok.. No lei greeting, but at least he has our bags.... Let's head in and see if we can get into our room early. DVC members cannot get in until 4pm, but we are checking in at 10AM, so maybe, but let's see. Hello, welcome to the Polynesian Village Resort, can I help you? Yes, please, we are checking in. Stop over here and I'll help you. No room available now, but we'll text you when it's ready. I'll setup your magic band now so you can get into your room. blah blah blah... Ok. Have a nice day, we'll text you.... No lei... No Welcome Home... No room ready...

Oh Hello... Mr Manager. I have to say that I was disappointed... No Welcome Home, No Lei, no room ready. We understand, we'll talk to the team and make improvements.... Thanks for your comments.... So everyone else after us is not getting Lei'd and better treatment. Well at least we helped everyone else.

We decided to spend the morning/afternoon at Downtown Disney and Magic Kingdom. It's 2:30PM and we're at the Magic Kingdom. I just got a page that says "Please see the front desk about your room assignment when you arrive at your Resort." I guess that means we have a room... I called the Disney Poly front desk number... Oh yes sir, we have a room for you. Here is the number. Which magic bands do you have, so I can make sure they work. Ok... Can you have our bags brought to the room? Not until you get here... Just call or stop at the front desk and we'll bring them right up. Thanks, you are all set.

Let's head back to the room and get our bags, change and get ready for dinner. Hello... We want our bags sent to our room.. Please head to the Bell Desk. Ok sir, we'll have them sent up right away. Head to your room and we'll meet you there. Ok. Here's the room. Try your band.... Not working. I'll try my band, not working. It is now pouring rain outside. Let's call the front desk.... Sorry to hear that you can't get in, I'll have someone there... I'll put you on hold while I get someone.... 10 minutes of on hold music so far... My wife calls and asks for a manager.... We are waiting for someone... please help. 10 more minutes of hold music... Sorry it took so long, we'll get someone up there right away. And don't forget to bring the bags. Hello sir, I can let you in... But I don't have the bags and you need to go back to the front desk. We're in and now let's call the manager again. We'll send someone to get your bands and reprogram them. What about the bags... Now there's lightning... You'll have to wait until it stops and we'll bring you the magic bands and your bags.... It's now 5pm. Hello.... Here are your bags and your bands....

This was just poor customer service and poor training of the interns that run the front desk..... I expect much better from Disney. The manager offered to provide us round trip cab fair to dinner and offered to pay for our Dinner. That was nice, but the least they could do to compensate for our inconvenience. When you come to a nice hotel for your vacation, you expect really good service. I can understand a couple of missteps, but after so many you really lose your patience..... I just want to relax, get into my room, get my things, and enjoy my time away. I expect to be able to get the same treatment that we've come accustomed to at Disney, and really this was a disappointment.

Anyone else have a similar experience at Disney Polynesian or other Disney property hotels?

 

[DVCcurious]

Yes we have had that experience. We NEVER check our bags with bell services. We NEVER use those yellow tags when we check our luggage. Too many bad experiences. Now we pick up our bags at the airport and put them under the ME bus, then get them out and wait with them until our room is ready.

The thing to remember is that they won't give you your bags unless you are there because they want you to tip them. The whole process is incredibly inconvenient. So we've just decided to always have control of our bag and not trust Disney with them.

As for the MB not working to get into your room that was our experience at Villas at Wilderness Lodge last April. It was the biggest pain the in butt getting the bands to open our door. We checked in, went to our room and the bands didn't open the door. So I went back to the desk and they "fixed" it, then back to the room and it didn't work, then back to the desk. Eventually we got in. But I was not happy.

 

[manicstreet]

It stinks that you were inconvenienced, but at least they attempted to make it right by treating you to a free dinner.

 

[DisneyMattB]

It stinks that you were inconvenienced, but at least they attempted to make it right by treating you to a free dinner.

I agree that it was nice of them, but I spent a lot of money to stay at a premium hotel and expect exceptional service. If I was staying at the Hampton Inn or Days Inn, I wouldn't complain. I also noticed that there are a lot of "interns", working at the front desk, and very few veterans. They need to make sure they do a better job of training before putting these inexperienced cast members on the front lines.

 

[DisneyMattB]

Yes we have had that experience. We NEVER check our bags with bell services. We NEVER use those yellow tags when we check our luggage. Too many bad experiences. Now we pick up our bags at the airport and put them under the ME bus, then get them out and wait with them until our room is ready.

The thing to remember is that they won't give you your bags unless you are there because they want you to tip them. The whole process is incredibly inconvenient. So we've just decided to always have control of our bag and not trust Disney with them.

As for the MB not working to get into your room that was our experience at Villas at Wilderness Lodge last April. It was the biggest pain the in butt getting the bands to open our door. We checked in, went to our room and the bands didn't open the door. So I went back to the desk and they "fixed" it, then back to the room and it didn't work, then back to the desk. Eventually we got in. But I was not happy.

Learned the hard way not to give them our bags. We got to the hotel early (9am, check in is not until 4pm) hoping that they would give us a room early. So we dropped our bags off with the bell desk, while we headed off to the Magic Kingdom. We were hoping that the bags would be delivered to the room when it was ready. Live and learn.