Just Back from POFQ

Jakesmom1

The Tag Fairy shows herself to no one
Joined
Jun 25, 2003
Messages
1,440
Well, we are back, what a dissapointment we felt with this resort.

I had read so many good things on this site, and was so excited about going, but probably would not stay there again, and could not recommend this resort to anyone.

First of all the cast members are the most unfriendly we have ever encountered, no pixie dust here from the front desk. Each one we dealt with was either angry or sad, we couldnt decide which it was, :confused3 Maybe just plain tired, after all it was the Fourth of July week, but the resort didnt seem that busy to us. No problem parking, or finding a table at breakfast, nothing to suggest they were super busy.

The first night our fridge didnt work, maintenance came up within 20 min, of our call, and did something to it, and said it should work now and left. Well when we got back from the Parks, it still wasnt working, and when we called they said we could wait till 1am for someone to come look at it, or we could wait till the morning , we opted for the morning. Turns out they needed to exchange it for another one, as it was broken.

The one good thing I can sayabout the resort, is about mousekeeping, the room was very clean and we even received a towel animal. My DS was very happy to see it.

The pool area is nice, but the water was as warm as a bathtub, not sure if it was heated or just the Florida Sun, but I live in Florida, and when my heater is turned off, the pool isnt that warm, and its a lot smaller !! Everyone was complaining about the water temp., the night we were there, Didnt find the pool all that clean either.

We did have good experiences with the restaurant for breakfast, the Benigts are wonderful and the scrambled eggs were delicious.

We had originaly booked for four nights, but decided to spend an extra day at the parks. My DH was totaly against having to change resorts, so I went to the front desk and asked about the availability of one more night, The front desk clerk could not have been less helpful, she said, nope they are all booked, I said ok, can you check another resort for me, and said nope, you need to call the normal reservation number. Could not believe they cant do that for you, but maybe against policy or something. Again there was no line, no one behind me, so it wasnt like she had anything else to do.

I went and called reservations, and was able to book the contemporary for the ap rate for one night.

Overall my feelings of this resort are pretty negative. They dont seem to go out of there way for you at all, there is no one with a smile, maybe I expect to much, but we could have stayed at any Days Inn and had the same service.
 
Some of those items do sound a little less than "Magical"...but the bright side is you got a towel animal :banana: . POFQ was refurbished last year, I would think it would be up to snuff. And I am totally shocked they could help you find another night...that is poor customer service. :confused3
 
I am very surprised at this review of our favorite WDW review. :sad2: I would suggest that you use the comment email from WDW's website to mention your thoughts and experiences.

We found everyone at this resort knowledgeable, friendly, and caring. We were upgraded to a water view and received various gifts in our room including a ceramic picture from, balloons, an authographed 8 X 10 of Mickey and Minnie, and a card from the management of POFQ welcoming us back to WDW. The grounds were beautiful as well. This was during our March trip. I am not sure why we received so many extra treats, but it was evident from the card that they were pleased we were returning to Disney after just being there in June. :bitelip:

We have only stayed at POFQ once, but would not blink an eye at going back ever again. In fact, if we cannot get into the Poly for our next trip, we plan on staying there. :lovestruc
 
Yeah, I thought POFQ was OK, but certainly not a "resort" and certainly not anything to get too excited about. Really very boring and we also had less than helpful CM's at the front desk. Hope the Swan is better in Sept!!
 

We stayed there for a second time last July (first time 12/96) and found it to be nothing special. The year before we had stayed at CBR and this just didn't compare. The CM's, mousekeeping, and buses were so much better then POFQ.
 
Doesn't sound like your experience was really all that bad aside from the CM's who were obviously having a bad day...or couple of days.

You say the resort wasn't terribly crowded and that you had no problem finding a table at meal times? Sounds good to me.

You had a broken fridge which was addressed in only 20 minutes after the initial call? A 20 minute response sounds pretty good to. The guy tried to fix it but couldn't...not a big deal to me and they did offer to try to get you one that night (albeit really late) or first thing in the morning and did follow through and bring you a working one in the am? Still sounds good to me.

The room was clean AND you got a towel animal??? I'VE never gotten one. You're still way ahead of the game.

The pool was warm? Warm? I've always experienced all Disney pools to be unpleasantly warm in the summer months (like bathwater). I do think they may be heated. Can't fault the resort for this IMO.

Sorry you found the place not to your liking. I've always enjoyed it and would stay there in a heartbeat again.
 
The pool area is nice, but the water was as warm as a bathtub
Oh my gosh! Believe it or not, I think this is part of the reason why I fell in love with POFQ! I don't like to dip in a cold water. I like to be able to just jump right in and not shiver~~ I find the pool temp warmer than the other resorts, and this is great for me!!

I love love this resort. I love everything about it, despite that sometimes the CMs are not as friendly, who cares, they are not swimming with me, eating with me, nor staying in my room. But yes, it would be nice to see them smile and be friendly when you ask for assistance. I told the guy, "you must had a tough day, where is your smile?" Then he said he did had a rough day, and still no smile. He is such a poo-poo!!
 
Did you get one of the newly refurbished rooms at the CR? Just curious. We were trying to make a decision about out Dec. trip and that was thrown into the mix, but the web site showed no availability, possibly due to the remodel?
 
we just came back from our 5 night stay at POFQ and found all the CM's very polite, attentive and cheerful with the exception of those working in the food court. We would stay again. Sorry you had a bad experience.
 
To those of you that have had good experiences at POFQ, I am very happy for you, and glad to hear you will go there again, for us it just wasnt what we expected. I also forgot to mention, I called down to the front desk one night to inquire about the times the boat to downtown Disney ran, and the response I got was " How should I know, Im not down there". What kind of service is that?

Perhaps after reading all the glowing reviews on this site, I went with my expectations too high. We have stayed at the Carribean Beach in the past and absolutely loved it, I know some folks on this site dont care for it at all.

Thats what makes the world go around, different strokes for different folks. lol

How boring if we all liked the same things...

Anyway our experience at the Contemporary was wonderful. When we checked in to the hotel, I was explaining some of the problems and "attitudes" we received at POFQ and they seemed surprised, they wound up giving us a concierge tower room, for the AP rate of a wing room. They could not have been nicer. It was totaly unexpected, I was just happy to be there. Our stay there was terrific and all cast members were polite, efficient and imagine this "smiling".
 
Sorry you had a less than magical experience at POFQ. We stayed there once last fall and liked it. Yes, the pool was warm, but I think all the Disney resorts heat them, even in summer. That CM at the front desk should have been able to check on availability at different resorts for you. Even if I am wrong and there is some policy against it, they should have been friendly and explained that. No excuse for poor customer service.

Our favorite resort is the BWI, but we like to try different places. We'd go back to POFQ if we had to pick a mod because we liked the small size and the way the rooms are decorated. (and the begniets!)

:flower:
 
I'm sorry that POFQ didn't meet your expectations. We'll be at POFQ in August and stayed there in '01 (loved it) but CBR just didn't do it for us in '02. There was nothing wrong with CBR but it just wasn't POFQ. I'm hoping we have a positive experience.

In any case, glad that the rest of your trip was uneventful and always enjoy reading about other people's trips. Thanks for sharing.
 
Sorry you didn't have a great experience at POFQ...you mentioned you were there 4th of July week which as you know is one of the busiest times. This could have factored into your experience....I'm not excusing poor service or rude CM but we all know that service can be sub par anywhere when things are busy/crowded. We love POFQ and have had two great experiences there. So glad CR was great and you ended your vacation on a happy note :)
 
To Jakesmom1:

Hello! I just recently was at POFQ too-- my family was there the Sunday thru Tuesday the week before the fourth of July (end of June). I wonder if we had the same room! We were in building seven and our refrigerator did not work either. We didn't have much to keep cool through, so we didn't bother asking anyone about it. However, we were a little upset because we booked a water view room—and they downgraded us to a garden view! They did not even inform us they were doing so—we found out when we got to our room. And we had to call the front desk and ask that they remove the charge for the water view! The staff was at least polite to us (they must have been more tired by the end of the week). Our bathroom seemed a little dirty when we arrived, but at our request, someone did clean it promptly. I guess I would say that we had a couple problems also, but nothing that would keep me from staying there again. I like the food, the atmosphere (better than off-site), and for the first time ever, we got a towel arrangement in our room. We stayed three places during our entire trip (I only got home yesterday)—POFQ, Ft. Wilderness, and GF, and I still wouldn’t have traded my time at any one of these resorts.
 















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