We were excited to have our first official stay since adding on at AKV. We stayed for 8 nights in a 1 bedroom with a pool view (we like it better than savannah view):
1. Check in was a breeze! Came back later after 3:00 to our room being ready. Walked in and room was very clean, so we started to unpack and settle in. DD5 had to use the washroom, so I opened the door to the private toilet only to be met with smoke! Previous guests smoked in there - it was nasty! The trim, door and walls all reeked of nasty smoke. We are allergic/asthmatic, so I called to front desk. She voiced my concern, but offered no other solution. Went down to speak to managers who sent up an air purifier, after being on all night, this still didn't help, so next day, called to speak to housekeeping supervisor who gave us a special cleaning - baking soda on walls, floors, etc. This seemed to do the trick and we kept the air purifier the whole time.
2. Our full clean went well, but we didn't get our trash/towel. Left at 8:30 that morning and banged into the cart outside of our room, came back at 5:00 to no trash/towel. Didn't bother calling as we were checking out - this bugged us as they are saving money if they don't do the trash/towels.
3. Bathrooms are way too dark - makes it very difficult for make-up, etc. This drove us nuts - lights were burned out as well. I let them know about this and a musty smell in carpet, but nothing was done while we were in the room.
4. Like the pool and playground area - we stayed here on cash a few years ago, but never got to use the pool/playground. Loved the fun children's activities like the nightly parade.
5. Although Boma has a cool buffet, this is one of the most disorganized and terrible service restaurants on property, IMHO. Every occasion there is the same thing: pagers never seem to work, so they try to organize slips by hand and this allows for walk-ups to get seated before ADRs. Also, the service was the worst we had the entire trip.
6. Although we don't normally eat counter service, we find that Mara is one of the best counter services. They had great roasted chicken that my daughter loved (we were on Deluxe plan, so paid cash) and good snacks. They do need to add juice in the refillable mug dispensers though.
All in all, we had a great stay here. We had a few problems that required us to advocate and they then took care of them. The smoking thing still has us very angry as it costs us all money in the end, not to mention that it's against the rules. Although they smelled the smoke and documented it, they said they couldn't charge the guests because they weren't able to do cleanings (they had privacy sign up constantly because they were smoking), and so they couldn't document it while they were staying in the room.
Our daughter really likes this resort, as do we. We saw many animals, luggage transfer was great, delivered our Disney Florist gift baskets while we were gone, so that was a great surprise and we like the location of the DVC units on floor 5.
If anyone has questions, I'd be happy to answer! Tiger
1. Check in was a breeze! Came back later after 3:00 to our room being ready. Walked in and room was very clean, so we started to unpack and settle in. DD5 had to use the washroom, so I opened the door to the private toilet only to be met with smoke! Previous guests smoked in there - it was nasty! The trim, door and walls all reeked of nasty smoke. We are allergic/asthmatic, so I called to front desk. She voiced my concern, but offered no other solution. Went down to speak to managers who sent up an air purifier, after being on all night, this still didn't help, so next day, called to speak to housekeeping supervisor who gave us a special cleaning - baking soda on walls, floors, etc. This seemed to do the trick and we kept the air purifier the whole time.
2. Our full clean went well, but we didn't get our trash/towel. Left at 8:30 that morning and banged into the cart outside of our room, came back at 5:00 to no trash/towel. Didn't bother calling as we were checking out - this bugged us as they are saving money if they don't do the trash/towels.
3. Bathrooms are way too dark - makes it very difficult for make-up, etc. This drove us nuts - lights were burned out as well. I let them know about this and a musty smell in carpet, but nothing was done while we were in the room.
4. Like the pool and playground area - we stayed here on cash a few years ago, but never got to use the pool/playground. Loved the fun children's activities like the nightly parade.
5. Although Boma has a cool buffet, this is one of the most disorganized and terrible service restaurants on property, IMHO. Every occasion there is the same thing: pagers never seem to work, so they try to organize slips by hand and this allows for walk-ups to get seated before ADRs. Also, the service was the worst we had the entire trip.
6. Although we don't normally eat counter service, we find that Mara is one of the best counter services. They had great roasted chicken that my daughter loved (we were on Deluxe plan, so paid cash) and good snacks. They do need to add juice in the refillable mug dispensers though.
All in all, we had a great stay here. We had a few problems that required us to advocate and they then took care of them. The smoking thing still has us very angry as it costs us all money in the end, not to mention that it's against the rules. Although they smelled the smoke and documented it, they said they couldn't charge the guests because they weren't able to do cleanings (they had privacy sign up constantly because they were smoking), and so they couldn't document it while they were staying in the room.
Our daughter really likes this resort, as do we. We saw many animals, luggage transfer was great, delivered our Disney Florist gift baskets while we were gone, so that was a great surprise and we like the location of the DVC units on floor 5.
If anyone has questions, I'd be happy to answer! Tiger
