Magic Kingdom and Universal Studios - NOT!!
Day 1 - Friday 19th August 2005
I wake to find Lena in tears - she hasn't slept very well at all - our bedroom faces the pool which in turn overlooks a busy road and there are cement trucks screaming through their gears on the hill at the back of our villa - ALL NIGHT! They are literally one after the other on a continuous basis. Not the peaceful outlook we were hoping for! We didn't really notice this last night as it was dark when we arrived at the villa. I was so tired that I slept through most of it but I did wake a couple of times to hear these monster trucks thundering past. This is not quite the ideal start to the holiday!
As we look around the villa in more detail - it is apparent that the cleanliness is not all it could be - in fact we find a rather fetching pair of black panties under Ricky's bed! (He swears that they are not his!)
Some of the bed linen looks pretty grubby and there is dust and grime in the bathrooms and on the air vents too.
I will spare you the pictures here but take my word for it the bed linen was pretty awful - it is almost enough to put you off for life!
There is just one smallish TV in the lounge - none in any of the bedrooms - the only bedside table is in the "master bedroom". This room looks a bit odd as there is a standard size double bed in the middle of a huge room with a solitary table on one side of the bed. We could have a game of football in here as it's so big but the furniture just doesn't seem to fit!
What! - No bedside tables?........
It looks to me like this villa might actually have been sold recently and the furniture package may have been cleared out by the previous owners. I have heard of this problem happening to others and upon inspecting the neighbouring properties - there are three for sale - including next door!
The pool is OK but it overlooks a busy road and there is absolutely no shade to sit it. This is not good news for Cyril as he cannot sit in the sun for very long at all.
Don't get me wrong - it's not a terrible villa - it's just not up to the standard that we have come to expect from either Travel City or Highlands Reserve. If we had paid for a "standard" villa or "allocation on arrival" then I could accept this - but - we pre-booked and paid the extra for an "executive" villa and this one 'aint!
I take Lena and Joyce over to the management office to try to get us moved but they are not able to help and tell us we need to speak to "Lisa" at the property management company at the Travel City Direct office in Lake Buena Vista. We decide to sort this out before we get the holiday started so we pile into the "Jaunty Bus" and head straight over to Lake Buena Vista outlets.
Lena and Joyce "tool up" - Matrix-like - in black leather, guns and knives - ready to take on the mighty receptionist at the front desk.
The Travel City staff makes some phone calls and we go for breakfast at the Ponderosa while they try to sort it all out. This helps ease us into holiday mode and with a very full stomach we prepare to do battle with the various reps at Lake Buena Vista and then Regal Palms.
Lisa tries to tell me that all of their villas on Highlands Reserve are "Executive" standard - Yeah right luv! - And my nephew does PG Tip adverts! (Monkey's Uncle - get it? - Oh come on people - keep up!!!)
Lisa has been to visit our villa while we ate breakfast and can see nothing wrong at all! Perhaps I should talk to her guide dog instead!
I suppose it's all relative to your own viewpoint but we do feel that as we have paid for "executive" we should be getting something a little more than "Just - OK"!
I'm probably being unfair to Lisa as I know she is only doing her job and I expect she must get really fed up with all us Brits moaning and groaning at her.
All the same - we stand our ground - well Lena and Joyce stand - I lurk in the background - and tell them we want to move.
I won't bore you with all the details - but it materialises that if we agree to pay for an "upgrade" then they are prepared to offer us a villa on a nearby site.
Me and Lena go to view it - it looks fine - we take Joyce back to view it - she likes it too.
We will have to pay £130.00 extra as it has 5 beds but we need to get started on the holiday so I step in and agree to cough up and argue later when we get back home. I want to put all this behind us for the next two weeks - the sooner the better. Besides - I reckon that if I set up a temporary Hot Dog stand behind our pool I could make that in a couple of hours flogging fast food and cold beverages to the lorry drivers!
Can anybody tell me - what IS the upgrade from Executive TO?
Surely there IS no upgrade if - as Lisa said - "All of our villas are Executive"!
Maybe I'm wrong - what should we be paying for now? "Presidential?" or perhaps it's "Demi-God"!!
I JUST WANT MY HOLIDAY TO START!!!
Im afraid that I didnt take too many pictures today so I will have to just slip in a couple of non-descript photos for all of you who are not reading these reports and are just picture surfing.
Yes you come on own up I can see you flicking through my reports!
This is "Jaunty" - sunbathing!
We stock up with the obligatory essentials from Publix - Double Stuff Oreo's, Reeses Pieces, Vanilla Coke, Root Beer, sweets etc. and prepare for one more night in the "Northampton M1 Service Station".
I hope to start the holiday in earnest tomorrow. We have missed the first day at MK so the laminated plan is out of the window already!
The kids (Ricky, Hannah and Me!) swim for a while and Lena and Joyce re-pack our cases in preparation for the move tomorrow and Cyril makes tea for us all. I have to hand it to Cyril - he certainly makes a cracking good cuppa'. It must be the British teapot that he has brought with him!
We take a look around the Regal Palms pool area and it looks great. There are two pools, a Lazy River and a couple of Jacuzzis. We will have to spend a few hours here at some point - if we can fit it in.
It is actually a lot quieter on the "Juggernaut test track" today than yesterday - maybe they have knocked off for the weekend!
I drove down this road - as far as I could - to see where all these trucks were coming from and going to - about two miles along we came to a manned gate and were forced to turn around and go back - it seems that we are overlooking a road leading to a very active quarry! I guess the clue is in the name of the road - Sand Mine Road - DUH!
We are told by George (I'm on first name terms already) the manager of Regal Palms - to go out and enjoy ourselves tomorrow and they will have the new villa cleaned and ready for us on our return from the parks. Thats better! We all feel better now and start to relax.
We visit Wal-Mart on the US27 for some retail therapy and then the Golden Corral for dinner at their "All you care to eat" buffet - lovely....... this is more like it. Jaunty" groans a little as we get back in him - "Thats nothing mate - you wait till next week!"
We now feel a bit more relaxed - the weather is great - hot and sunny - the food is great - hot and tasty - the beers are great - cold and wet! ..... You get the picture!
I survey the damage to "The Plan" and decide that we simply had an early "shopping day" and we can do Magic Kingdom tomorrow instead. I know that it's Saturday and will be very busy but with an early start we should be able to get a few rides in before it gets too packed. The weather forecast is hot and sunny with a high of 94 degrees!
We will need to be there for opening time and out by lunchtime I think!
We sleep a little better tonight and I am looking forward to tomorrow - this is what we came for - the "Magic".
We decide to call it a day and have an early night.
"I suppose it's not too bad here really" I tell myself on the way back from the outside toilet. I blow out the gas mantles, empty the spittoon and sweep up the sawdust!
We squeeze into our little double bed and I turn off the solitary "Executive" bedside lamp and shout my apologies to the neighbours as they grumble and bump into things in the dark!
"Executive my ****!" as Jim Royal would say!
Day 1 - Friday 19th August 2005
I wake to find Lena in tears - she hasn't slept very well at all - our bedroom faces the pool which in turn overlooks a busy road and there are cement trucks screaming through their gears on the hill at the back of our villa - ALL NIGHT! They are literally one after the other on a continuous basis. Not the peaceful outlook we were hoping for! We didn't really notice this last night as it was dark when we arrived at the villa. I was so tired that I slept through most of it but I did wake a couple of times to hear these monster trucks thundering past. This is not quite the ideal start to the holiday!
As we look around the villa in more detail - it is apparent that the cleanliness is not all it could be - in fact we find a rather fetching pair of black panties under Ricky's bed! (He swears that they are not his!)
Some of the bed linen looks pretty grubby and there is dust and grime in the bathrooms and on the air vents too.
I will spare you the pictures here but take my word for it the bed linen was pretty awful - it is almost enough to put you off for life!
There is just one smallish TV in the lounge - none in any of the bedrooms - the only bedside table is in the "master bedroom". This room looks a bit odd as there is a standard size double bed in the middle of a huge room with a solitary table on one side of the bed. We could have a game of football in here as it's so big but the furniture just doesn't seem to fit!
What! - No bedside tables?........
It looks to me like this villa might actually have been sold recently and the furniture package may have been cleared out by the previous owners. I have heard of this problem happening to others and upon inspecting the neighbouring properties - there are three for sale - including next door!
The pool is OK but it overlooks a busy road and there is absolutely no shade to sit it. This is not good news for Cyril as he cannot sit in the sun for very long at all.
Don't get me wrong - it's not a terrible villa - it's just not up to the standard that we have come to expect from either Travel City or Highlands Reserve. If we had paid for a "standard" villa or "allocation on arrival" then I could accept this - but - we pre-booked and paid the extra for an "executive" villa and this one 'aint!
I take Lena and Joyce over to the management office to try to get us moved but they are not able to help and tell us we need to speak to "Lisa" at the property management company at the Travel City Direct office in Lake Buena Vista. We decide to sort this out before we get the holiday started so we pile into the "Jaunty Bus" and head straight over to Lake Buena Vista outlets.
Lena and Joyce "tool up" - Matrix-like - in black leather, guns and knives - ready to take on the mighty receptionist at the front desk.
The Travel City staff makes some phone calls and we go for breakfast at the Ponderosa while they try to sort it all out. This helps ease us into holiday mode and with a very full stomach we prepare to do battle with the various reps at Lake Buena Vista and then Regal Palms.
Lisa tries to tell me that all of their villas on Highlands Reserve are "Executive" standard - Yeah right luv! - And my nephew does PG Tip adverts! (Monkey's Uncle - get it? - Oh come on people - keep up!!!)
Lisa has been to visit our villa while we ate breakfast and can see nothing wrong at all! Perhaps I should talk to her guide dog instead!
I suppose it's all relative to your own viewpoint but we do feel that as we have paid for "executive" we should be getting something a little more than "Just - OK"!
I'm probably being unfair to Lisa as I know she is only doing her job and I expect she must get really fed up with all us Brits moaning and groaning at her.
All the same - we stand our ground - well Lena and Joyce stand - I lurk in the background - and tell them we want to move.
I won't bore you with all the details - but it materialises that if we agree to pay for an "upgrade" then they are prepared to offer us a villa on a nearby site.
Me and Lena go to view it - it looks fine - we take Joyce back to view it - she likes it too.
We will have to pay £130.00 extra as it has 5 beds but we need to get started on the holiday so I step in and agree to cough up and argue later when we get back home. I want to put all this behind us for the next two weeks - the sooner the better. Besides - I reckon that if I set up a temporary Hot Dog stand behind our pool I could make that in a couple of hours flogging fast food and cold beverages to the lorry drivers!
Can anybody tell me - what IS the upgrade from Executive TO?
Surely there IS no upgrade if - as Lisa said - "All of our villas are Executive"!
Maybe I'm wrong - what should we be paying for now? "Presidential?" or perhaps it's "Demi-God"!!
I JUST WANT MY HOLIDAY TO START!!!
Im afraid that I didnt take too many pictures today so I will have to just slip in a couple of non-descript photos for all of you who are not reading these reports and are just picture surfing.
Yes you come on own up I can see you flicking through my reports!
This is "Jaunty" - sunbathing!
We stock up with the obligatory essentials from Publix - Double Stuff Oreo's, Reeses Pieces, Vanilla Coke, Root Beer, sweets etc. and prepare for one more night in the "Northampton M1 Service Station".
I hope to start the holiday in earnest tomorrow. We have missed the first day at MK so the laminated plan is out of the window already!
The kids (Ricky, Hannah and Me!) swim for a while and Lena and Joyce re-pack our cases in preparation for the move tomorrow and Cyril makes tea for us all. I have to hand it to Cyril - he certainly makes a cracking good cuppa'. It must be the British teapot that he has brought with him!
We take a look around the Regal Palms pool area and it looks great. There are two pools, a Lazy River and a couple of Jacuzzis. We will have to spend a few hours here at some point - if we can fit it in.
It is actually a lot quieter on the "Juggernaut test track" today than yesterday - maybe they have knocked off for the weekend!
I drove down this road - as far as I could - to see where all these trucks were coming from and going to - about two miles along we came to a manned gate and were forced to turn around and go back - it seems that we are overlooking a road leading to a very active quarry! I guess the clue is in the name of the road - Sand Mine Road - DUH!
We are told by George (I'm on first name terms already) the manager of Regal Palms - to go out and enjoy ourselves tomorrow and they will have the new villa cleaned and ready for us on our return from the parks. Thats better! We all feel better now and start to relax.
We visit Wal-Mart on the US27 for some retail therapy and then the Golden Corral for dinner at their "All you care to eat" buffet - lovely....... this is more like it. Jaunty" groans a little as we get back in him - "Thats nothing mate - you wait till next week!"
We now feel a bit more relaxed - the weather is great - hot and sunny - the food is great - hot and tasty - the beers are great - cold and wet! ..... You get the picture!
I survey the damage to "The Plan" and decide that we simply had an early "shopping day" and we can do Magic Kingdom tomorrow instead. I know that it's Saturday and will be very busy but with an early start we should be able to get a few rides in before it gets too packed. The weather forecast is hot and sunny with a high of 94 degrees!
We will need to be there for opening time and out by lunchtime I think!
We sleep a little better tonight and I am looking forward to tomorrow - this is what we came for - the "Magic".
We decide to call it a day and have an early night.
"I suppose it's not too bad here really" I tell myself on the way back from the outside toilet. I blow out the gas mantles, empty the spittoon and sweep up the sawdust!
We squeeze into our little double bed and I turn off the solitary "Executive" bedside lamp and shout my apologies to the neighbours as they grumble and bump into things in the dark!
"Executive my ****!" as Jim Royal would say!
