Just back from OKW

[PatsMom]

It was our first stay there - our home resort is SSR. We were in a handicapped accesible room but had a great location. Room number was 2611 - at check in we were given a choice, we could take the handicapped room or have a regular room that would not be ready until later in the day and would not be as close to Hospitality House and the main pool. We opted to take the room that was ready (at 10:30 in the morning!). Room was in good shape. We were very impressed with the size of the living room. Having the extra space for the love seat made it really nice. We checked in on Sunday and it was on Tuesday that the plumbing nightmare began. We got back to our room around 6 from the AK - soaked from Kali River Rapids. We had an ADR at Olivia's and were planning to shower quickly and head over. Maintenance people were outside the room and informed us that we had no hot water - they had turned the water off entirely earlier hoping to fix the problem with no luck and were now waiting for a contractor to come and check the hot water valves for the building. Instead of showering we just washed up in cold water and went to dinner. Had two teenage girls who were heading to the pool afterwards. So DH and I returned to the room. Still no hot water but no big deal so far. They kept saying it would be fixed soon. Around 9 or so the maintenance people asked if they could run the water in our sinks and tub to flush the pipes since it had to be one of the two rooms nearest the valve they were replacing and the people on the second floor had a young child already sleeping. Of course we said yes. The water ran for about 30 minutes then maintenance was back saying the problem wasn't fixed. We waited a bit longer and when it was getting close to 10 I walked over to the pool to meet the girls and tell them they should rinse the chlorine off in the pool showers since we didn't have hot water yet. Got back to the room, maintenance was still working. They came in to run the water again - by now it was after 11. DH asked how much longer since we needed to get to bed since we wanted to be at the MK for opening on Wednesday. They finally announced they were done. I looked at the tub and sinks and the bottom was covered with black sludge that had washed out of the pipes (DH is an engineer and told me that is what happens when you replace valves - it was sticky and oozy and couldn't just be wiped up). So I called the front desk and was assured that housekeeping would come the next day to clean the tub and sinks. In the morning DH went to shower and found that the shower head was almost completely blocked with presumably the same sludge - a trickle of water was coming out. He called for maintenance and again we were assured it would be taken care of. The girls were in the room when maintenance came and checked to confirm that there was an issue. Off we went for a great (but very hot and long) day at the MK. When we returned to our room I checked the tub and sinks - they were still filthy. I then turned on the shower - when they replaced the shower head it appeared they hadn't tightened it since the water sprayed straight up at the ceiling. By now it was 10 at night. DH called for maintenance - I took the girls to the pool so they could shower. At 11 we called again - they front desk (which is who knows where) had no idea when maintenance would show up. So we went to sleep. At 1210 the phone rang - it was maintenance wanting to know if we still wanted the shower fixed. The maintenance man arrived and said something had cracked when they replaced the shower head. When he tried to tighten it, it broke completely. He said nothing could be done until the next day. In the morning DH tied a towel around the shower head and we were able to rinse off quickly and at least not feel smelly. At this point I was aboslutely livid - the girls were up late (which meant I was up late) for two nights and were tired. I hadn't had a good shower in two days. OKW is probably lucky that it was DH who went to the lobby and said he wanted to see a manager. He spoke with the manager on duty and said the manager indicated that this was not acceptable and to leave our cell phone on so he could confirm that maintenance and housekeeping would both be in our room that day. The guest relations manager (at least I think that was the title he gave) called to follow up about an hour later and also assured us that this wasn't normal. Maintenance should have followed up to have housekeeping in our room the day after the original problem (which would have meant at least the girls and we could have used the tub to clea up). And obviously the maintenance man fixing the shower should have tested it when complete. We just wanted everything fixed but we were also given a credit on our room charge - the manager said to have a nice dinner on OKW to make up for our inconvenience. We hadn't expected that and it was a nice surprise. When we returned to our room that night, the shower was fixed and the room was spotless. Other than this inconvenience we found OKW to be a beautiful resort. We were glad to have the Hospitality House booking category since the kids really enjoyed the main pool. And it was nice to be near Good's to Go for coffee in the morning. Busses were fine - we never waited long at either the resort or the park. The movies at the pool were a great touch. We'll definitely be trying to stay at OKW again in the future!

 

[ChelleinNC]

Wow, what a PITA. Sorry you had all those plumbing issues, but I'm glad to hear that as soon as you got a manager involved things were taken care of

What type of room were you in? What differences are there between the HA room and regular room? We're also SSR owners and will be staying at OKW for the first time Nov/Dec

 

[Chuck S]

I'm sorry you had maintenance issues, but it sounds like they were taking care of things...although a but slow.

Did you use the cold water outdoor pool showers? There are full shwers at OKW in the restrooms by the main pool where you should have been able to get cleaned up, even though is certainly wasn't very convenient.

The main differences, in one bedroom and larger units at OKW, is that the HA unit will have a roll in shower, raised toilet, and possibly lower counters in the kitchen. There is also less storage space in the bathrooms to allow wheel chair turning radius. They still have a huge jacuzzi tub.

 

[manning]

It was our first stay there - our home resort is SSR. We were in a handicapped accesible room but had a great location. Room number was 2611 - at check in we were given a choice, we could take the handicapped room or have a regular room that would not be ready until later in the day and would not be as close to Hospitality House and the main pool. We opted to take the room that was ready (at 10:30 in the morning!). Room was in good shape. We were very impressed with the size of the living room. Having the extra space for the love seat made it really nice. We checked in on Sunday and it was on Tuesday that the plumbing nightmare began. We got back to our room around 6 from the AK - soaked from Kali River Rapids. We had an ADR at Olivia's and were planning to shower quickly and head over. Maintenance people were outside the room and informed us that we had no hot water - they had turned the water off entirely earlier hoping to fix the problem with no luck and were now waiting for a contractor to come and check the hot water valves for the building. Instead of showering we just washed up in cold water and went to dinner. Had two teenage girls who were heading to the pool afterwards. So DH and I returned to the room. Still no hot water but no big deal so far. They kept saying it would be fixed soon. Around 9 or so the maintenance people asked if they could run the water in our sinks and tub to flush the pipes since it had to be one of the two rooms nearest the valve they were replacing and the people on the second floor had a young child already sleeping. Of course we said yes. The water ran for about 30 minutes then maintenance was back saying the problem wasn't fixed. We waited a bit longer and when it was getting close to 10 I walked over to the pool to meet the girls and tell them they should rinse the chlorine off in the pool showers since we didn't have hot water yet. Got back to the room, maintenance was still working. They came in to run the water again - by now it was after 11. DH asked how much longer since we needed to get to bed since we wanted to be at the MK for opening on Wednesday. They finally announced they were done. I looked at the tub and sinks and the bottom was covered with black sludge that had washed out of the pipes (DH is an engineer and told me that is what happens when you replace valves - it was sticky and oozy and couldn't just be wiped up). So I called the front desk and was assured that housekeeping would come the next day to clean the tub and sinks. In the morning DH went to shower and found that the shower head was almost completely blocked with presumably the same sludge - a trickle of water was coming out. He called for maintenance and again we were assured it would be taken care of. The girls were in the room when maintenance came and checked to confirm that there was an issue. Off we went for a great (but very hot and long) day at the MK. When we returned to our room I checked the tub and sinks - they were still filthy. I then turned on the shower - when they replaced the shower head it appeared they hadn't tightened it since the water sprayed straight up at the ceiling. By now it was 10 at night. DH called for maintenance - I took the girls to the pool so they could shower. At 11 we called again - they front desk (which is who knows where) had no idea when maintenance would show up. So we went to sleep. At 1210 the phone rang - it was maintenance wanting to know if we still wanted the shower fixed. The maintenance man arrived and said something had cracked when they replaced the shower head. When he tried to tighten it, it broke completely. He said nothing could be done until the next day. In the morning DH tied a towel around the shower head and we were able to rinse off quickly and at least not feel smelly. At this point I was aboslutely livid - the girls were up late (which meant I was up late) for two nights and were tired. I hadn't had a good shower in two days. OKW is probably lucky that it was DH who went to the lobby and said he wanted to see a manager. He spoke with the manager on duty and said the manager indicated that this was not acceptable and to leave our cell phone on so he could confirm that maintenance and housekeeping would both be in our room that day. The guest relations manager (at least I think that was the title he gave) called to follow up about an hour later and also assured us that this wasn't normal. Maintenance should have followed up to have housekeeping in our room the day after the original problem (which would have meant at least the girls and we could have used the tub to clea up). And obviously the maintenance man fixing the shower should have tested it when complete. We just wanted everything fixed but we were also given a credit on our room charge - the manager said to have a nice dinner on OKW to make up for our inconvenience. We hadn't expected that and it was a nice surprise. When we returned to our room that night, the shower was fixed and the room was spotless. Other than this inconvenience we found OKW to be a beautiful resort. We were glad to have the Hospitality House booking category since the kids really enjoyed the main pool. And it was nice to be near Good's to Go for coffee in the morning. Busses were fine - we never waited long at either the resort or the park. The movies at the pool were a great touch. We'll definitely be trying to stay at OKW again in the future!

Could you edit this and put into paragraphs. I am having a heck of a time reading this. thanks

 

[PatsMom]

I'm sorry you had maintenance issues, but it sounds like they were taking care of things...although a but slow.

Did you use the cold water outdoor pool showers? There are full shwers at OKW in the restrooms by the main pool where you should have been able to get cleaned up, even though is certainly wasn't very convenient.

The main differences, in one bedroom and larger units at OKW, is that the HA unit will have a roll in shower, raised toilet, and possibly lower counters in the kitchen. There is also less storage space in the bathrooms to allow wheel chair turning radius. They still have a huge jacuzzi tub.

We used the full showers by the main pool - the girls really would have been upset if they had to do cold showers with no shampoo, etc. The restroom showers were clean and served the purpose although as you said it certainly wasn't convenient!

We weren't upset about the original plumbing issues - that comes under the category of "things happen". We were upset that the sinks and tub weren't cleaned as promised and that maintenance did not test their repair of the shower head. That was sloppy work. We were pleased with the response once we got management involved, we just wished that we hadn't needed to.

 

[PatsMom]

Wow, what a PITA. Sorry you had all those plumbing issues, but I'm glad to hear that as soon as you got a manager involved things were taken care of

What type of room were you in? What differences are there between the HA room and regular room? We're also SSR owners and will be staying at OKW for the first time Nov/Dec

We were in a one bedroom. This was our first stay so I'm not sure of the specific differences between a handicapped and regular room but we did note the things Chuck mentioned - the wheel in shower and the lower counters in the bathroom. The rooms were large compared to SSR - we noticed it more in the living room. There is a love seat in addition to the sleeper sofa that was great - a good place to sit and watch TV even with the bed made up. We really liked the resort and plan to try to stay there again.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We used the full showers by the main pool - the girls really would have been upset if they had to do cold showers with no shampoo, etc. The restroom showers were clean and served the purpose although as you said it certainly wasn't convenient!

We weren't upset about the original plumbing issues - that comes under the category of "things happen". We were upset that the sinks and tub weren't cleaned as promised and that maintenance did not test their repair of the shower head. That was sloppy work. We were pleased with the response once we got management involved, we just wished that we hadn't needed to.

I think the first problem was calling "the front desk" since the "front desk" is not at the resort. Whenever we have an issue, we call maintenance or housekeeping direct so it gets handled right away. If that isn't available because of the hour, we physically go down to the front desk and speak to the manager on duty. Fortunately, we have not had many issues in our 11 years of staying at OKW. Just a leaking fridge once and a burned out light bulb another time. Both were fixed ASAP.

Your experience was totally unacceptable, and I'm glad that once you got to the correct people they finally got it taken care of. There is a SERIOUS lack of communication within the current WDW system!

 

[PatsMom]

I think the first problem was calling "the front desk" since the "front desk" is not at the resort. Whenever we have an issue, we call maintenance or housekeeping direct so it gets handled right away. If that isn't available because of the hour, we physically go down to the front desk and speak to the manager on duty. Fortunately, we have not had many issues in our 11 years of staying at OKW. Just a leaking fridge once and a burned out light bulb another time. Both were fixed ASAP.

Your experience was totally unacceptable, and I'm glad that once you got to the correct people they finally got it taken care of. There is a SERIOUS lack of communication within the current WDW system!

This was the first time we've ever had an issue with any of the resorts we've stayed at. If something else happens in the future we will remember to walk over to the front desk to speak to the manager on duty instead of calling "the front desk". I have learned my lesson on that one! As I said, we didn't find the original problem an issue - things like broken hot water happen. What upset us was the failure to fix things the second day. And once we found the correct person to speak with, things were resolved quickly. I have to agree with you that it appears that the nebulous "front desk" had a definite failure to properly communicate our issues!

 

[chepic]

Sorry your week was crummy right in the middle...at least it was fixed.

Where were the movies by the pool? We haven't experienced that yet.

thanks

cheryl

 

[PatsMom]

They did have movies by the pool and they were a lot of fun. The girls would take their refillable mugs with them and had a great time. Toy Story II was on one of the nights I was there. You could watch from in the pool which was great because it was really, really hot!

 

[dianeschlicht]

They did have movies by the pool and they were a lot of fun. The girls would take their refillable mugs with them and had a great time. Toy Story II was on one of the nights I was there. You could watch from in the pool which was great because it was really, really hot!

I wonder if that's going to be a seasonal event only?