Instead of documenting a chronology of events, I'll just focus on the highlights...
We stayed in a 1BR villa on the 5th floor (rm 548) from 10/20 thru 10/28, so we were there for the 'hurricane' which in WDW really only amounted to 40-50 mph winds and a lot of rain for the entire morning of 10/24. By 2pm the sky was clearing and MK & Epcot had reopened with later closing hours (midnite for MK I believe). I'd like to commend the BCV mgmt for the wonderful job they did of keeping everyone informed of what was happening during the hurricane. They left several voice-mails to let us know what the impact to the park hours would be, we even got a letter hand delivered to all of us at Crews letting us know that the storm had lifted and parks were now open. Also to soften the loss of morning park hours, the hotel ran pay-for disney movies for free all day.
Every cast memeber and employee at the hotel was extremely courteous to us, always going out of their way to say good morning to us, or stopping to chat with our kids as we passed through the halls and lobby. Housekeeping employees especially, were very good about extending a hello or a quick chat here and there. It was nice to get the old 'welcome home' line from both the security guard and the front desk cm at check-in.
Property and landscape upkeep get high marks. The green and white exterior paint seemed almost fresh, courtyard ground well manicured, windows sparkling, clean pool area, everything you'd expect from a luxury resort.
Room cleanliness also gets high marks. Carpet was very clean, kitchen and bathroom were practically spotless. Furniture was showing some wear, but I thought it was commensurate with the age of the building so no big deal. The only 'nasty' thing really was the ceiling of the outdoor balcony, which had lots of cobwebs and mold/mildew stains (a good pressure washing would of taken care of it though). As I didn't spend a lot of time looking straight up at the ceiling it did not bother me, but I did report it to maintenance the morning we left. There was also the mystery of the loud pipe clanging whenever someone in an adjacent room turned on their water. It only happened 3-4 times while we were in the room, and sometimes it was loud enough to wake me up. I called maintenance, but they sounded doubtful as to whether anything could be done about it (I imagine it would involve ripping up the floors to get at the problem pipes).
A big thumbs up to whoever came up with the idea of flight & baggage check-in at the resort, made our last day in wdw practically stress-less.
Some trips notes on outside of the resort...
Why does Birbaum rate Mickey's Backyard BBQ the 'best' dinner show?? Unless you are a true fan of modern country music, and like to do a lot of line dancing, the slide, and other dance stuff, avoid this! It's back to the Hoop Dee Doo for me. Ok, well I do have to confess that our kids (4 and 2) both loved dancing with the disney characters
If you are using the monorail to commute back-forth from Epcot resorts to MK area, be sure you get back to your Epcot resort BEFORE Epcot closes! After an evening at MK, we got back to Epcot at 9:30, which is when things are starting to close. For some ridiculous reason, I thought that by staying in an Epcot resort, I should be granted permission to walk thru Epcot back to my hotel, but this is not the case... At the gate they turned away the couple in front of us, I immediately sought out another cm, who kindly let us through with a friendly warning about park hours.
Park crowds were moderate. The longest wait in line had to be either Peter Pan at MK or the Great Movie Ride at MGM. We spent about 45 minutes each waiting at both rides. We should have gotten fast passes at Peter Pan like we did with most other rides. Monorail wasn't very crowded, security gate at the parks flowed smoothly, park pass turnstiles at the park entrance were like a 3 minute wait most times.
Food at the $$ restaraunts were very good (we ate at Concourse Steakhouse at the Contemporary and Whispering Canyons Cafe at WL). Fast food restaraunts at the parks are getting better (they had a terrific tabbouleh wrap at the Commissary at MGM); alternatives to the typical burger and fries meal are being offered more. By the way... I HATED being tricked into eating at McDonanlds at dinoland in AK; not until we passed thru the restuarant doors, parked the strollers, found a table, and stood in line, did we realize our mistake. They don't tell you it is McDonalds food until you see the packaging of the food.
But all in all it was a wonderful and magical experience, looking fwd to our next trip home 9/17/2006!!
We stayed in a 1BR villa on the 5th floor (rm 548) from 10/20 thru 10/28, so we were there for the 'hurricane' which in WDW really only amounted to 40-50 mph winds and a lot of rain for the entire morning of 10/24. By 2pm the sky was clearing and MK & Epcot had reopened with later closing hours (midnite for MK I believe). I'd like to commend the BCV mgmt for the wonderful job they did of keeping everyone informed of what was happening during the hurricane. They left several voice-mails to let us know what the impact to the park hours would be, we even got a letter hand delivered to all of us at Crews letting us know that the storm had lifted and parks were now open. Also to soften the loss of morning park hours, the hotel ran pay-for disney movies for free all day.
Every cast memeber and employee at the hotel was extremely courteous to us, always going out of their way to say good morning to us, or stopping to chat with our kids as we passed through the halls and lobby. Housekeeping employees especially, were very good about extending a hello or a quick chat here and there. It was nice to get the old 'welcome home' line from both the security guard and the front desk cm at check-in.
Property and landscape upkeep get high marks. The green and white exterior paint seemed almost fresh, courtyard ground well manicured, windows sparkling, clean pool area, everything you'd expect from a luxury resort.
Room cleanliness also gets high marks. Carpet was very clean, kitchen and bathroom were practically spotless. Furniture was showing some wear, but I thought it was commensurate with the age of the building so no big deal. The only 'nasty' thing really was the ceiling of the outdoor balcony, which had lots of cobwebs and mold/mildew stains (a good pressure washing would of taken care of it though). As I didn't spend a lot of time looking straight up at the ceiling it did not bother me, but I did report it to maintenance the morning we left. There was also the mystery of the loud pipe clanging whenever someone in an adjacent room turned on their water. It only happened 3-4 times while we were in the room, and sometimes it was loud enough to wake me up. I called maintenance, but they sounded doubtful as to whether anything could be done about it (I imagine it would involve ripping up the floors to get at the problem pipes).
A big thumbs up to whoever came up with the idea of flight & baggage check-in at the resort, made our last day in wdw practically stress-less.
Some trips notes on outside of the resort...
Why does Birbaum rate Mickey's Backyard BBQ the 'best' dinner show?? Unless you are a true fan of modern country music, and like to do a lot of line dancing, the slide, and other dance stuff, avoid this! It's back to the Hoop Dee Doo for me. Ok, well I do have to confess that our kids (4 and 2) both loved dancing with the disney characters
If you are using the monorail to commute back-forth from Epcot resorts to MK area, be sure you get back to your Epcot resort BEFORE Epcot closes! After an evening at MK, we got back to Epcot at 9:30, which is when things are starting to close. For some ridiculous reason, I thought that by staying in an Epcot resort, I should be granted permission to walk thru Epcot back to my hotel, but this is not the case... At the gate they turned away the couple in front of us, I immediately sought out another cm, who kindly let us through with a friendly warning about park hours.
Park crowds were moderate. The longest wait in line had to be either Peter Pan at MK or the Great Movie Ride at MGM. We spent about 45 minutes each waiting at both rides. We should have gotten fast passes at Peter Pan like we did with most other rides. Monorail wasn't very crowded, security gate at the parks flowed smoothly, park pass turnstiles at the park entrance were like a 3 minute wait most times.
Food at the $$ restaraunts were very good (we ate at Concourse Steakhouse at the Contemporary and Whispering Canyons Cafe at WL). Fast food restaraunts at the parks are getting better (they had a terrific tabbouleh wrap at the Commissary at MGM); alternatives to the typical burger and fries meal are being offered more. By the way... I HATED being tricked into eating at McDonanlds at dinoland in AK; not until we passed thru the restuarant doors, parked the strollers, found a table, and stood in line, did we realize our mistake. They don't tell you it is McDonalds food until you see the packaging of the food.
But all in all it was a wonderful and magical experience, looking fwd to our next trip home 9/17/2006!!
At least for part of your trip. We were in villa 546, Oct. 19-23! Small world!!
That is too funny, Small World indeed!! I loved the view also, was initially worried the road noise would bother me but I never tuned into it. I was surprised to find in making next years reservations that they do not allow "epcot view" as a request. So I requested non-smoking & 5th floor for requests and am hoping for the best.
