Just Back from Poly Concierge. Are Most People There Celebrating Something?!!!

[luckytso]

Just came back from Poly GV concierge. Our first time doing it and DH is completely convinced of this. It will be concierge going forward!!!

One thing I can't understand, does every family have something to celebrate? We did not ask for anything. However, we saw the concierge staff bring baloons, gifts and everything everyday to different rooms. Can this be possible? Or do many people just say they have something special so that they get some extra goodies? It almost makes me want to ask the staff if my children can get a baloon or something when they see all these going by everyday.

 

[Redmic]

I don't know the answer to your question, but when we ate at O'Hana's I did notice that just about every table in the place had someone sing the birthday or anniversary song to them. Even my kids got annoyed after a while (Mom, people must be making up birthdays!).

I have read on this board that many people will celebrate a birthday all week, or all month, or "celebrate" it at Disney months early because they can't make it to Disney on their actual birthday, etc. Tacky, but very common I think!

 

[luckytso]

For all the trips we made to Disney, we had never made one request for anything, anniversary, b-day, etc.

I guess we really missed out something Celebrating all week?!!!!!!

They should give out stuff to others for just being honest, if that is the case!! Just kidding.

If I ever say it is my kid's birthday, I can just picture my 5yo telling people today is NOT my birthday, and I will be totally embarrssed.

 

[luckytso]

For all the trips we made to Disney, we had never made one request for anything, anniversary, b-day, etc.

I guess we really missed out something Celebrating all week?!!!!!!

They should give out stuff to others for just being honest, if that is the case!! Just kidding.

If I ever say it is my kid's birthday, I can just picture my 5yo telling people today is NOT her birthday, and I will be totally embarrssed.

 

[BCVNovember]

We will be staying at the Poly/GVC in November. My 3 daughters do not know yet they we are going and I'm hoping to surprise them a few days before we leave.

Anyway, my youngest daughter's third birthday will be the day before we leave WDW for home. I really kind of tried to avoid vacationing over her birthday as my other 2 will probably be none too happy about it, but that is just the way it worked out. I plan to be fairly low key about it, but don't want to ignore it as I adopted her last year and we arrived home the day before her second birthday and was too tired to do anything. She would have been too freaked out by anything more at that point, so her birthday has literally never really been celebrated, and I'd like to make up for it a little.

I did ask the Poly concierge staff for help in getting a small cake for her birthday at Chef Mickey's where we will be having dinner when I sent in my planning information. I had planned to order one from CM's and pay for it of course. However, I just had a call from a woman on the Poly concierge staff a few minutes ago (how is that for timing in terms of this thread) about my request for help with the cake and a couple of other things. I was told that they always deliver a cake to the room for a child's birthday and that Chef Mickey's would give my daughter a special cupcake, so I decided to skip ordering the cake.

I think it is possible that a good percentage of the guests may be celebrating during their stay in concierge as it is pretty special place, and people often time their vacations around special occasions. I do understand from these boards that there are some who may take advantage though...

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to our trip...

 

[BCVNovember]

One thing I did forget to add, was that the planning questionnaire from the Poly concierge does ask if you are celebrating anything special (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.) during your stay.

 

[pooh6890]

When we stayed at the Poly about 4 years ago, we got a questionnaire in the mail before our visit. They asked if we had any special occasions during our visit. I did put down that we were celebrating my birthday during the time we were to be there. They left me a card with a tall Burgundy really great smelling candle one night. That was a very nice touch and very much appreciated.

We have been going to DW for a lot of years and over that time have gotten many birthday cakes and cards and flowers and balloons. Never asked for either. Used to be when you made ressies they would ask about your stay and what you had planned while there. Times are different now and people request those things that used to be given freely I guess.

 

[Growin'upDisney]

We will be staying at the Poly Concierge in January for my DH's 30th birthday. Its a surprise trip. I would never expect anything to be done by the hotel. That's a family's responsibility. But I did decide to spend the extra $$$ because it's such a special occasion and our wedding anniversary is Jan 1, so I am sort of combining the two, but again I would not expect that anything be done especially for an anniversay 3 weeks before the trip.

I would truly hope people don't make up or celebrate months earlier just to get free goodies. I think concierege is just a special place that some people splurge on when its a special occasion like honeymoon, anniversay, birthday, etc.

 

[tnkrbell]

I have read on this board that many people will celebrate a birthday all week, or all month, or "celebrate" it at Disney months early because they can't make it to Disney on their actual birthday, etc. Tacky, but very common I think!

I dont think it is tacky to celebrate your birthday,anniversary ect.. not on your exact date! We just celebrated our anniversary on this last trip a few days early becausewcould nt go on our exact date. We didnt ask for anything special but we did recieve some gifts in our room. I thought it was so thoughtful of the resort to acknowledge our special day!

 

[Growin'upDisney]

I agree a few days early or late or even a week is Ok but I woud think that going to the World in September and celebrating a May birthday would be a little tacky IF they expected to get gifts from the resort. Other than those expectations I think people should celebrate whatever, whenever.

 

[Nuts4Disney]

Originally posted by luckytso
Just came back from Poly GV concierge. Our first time doing it and DH is completely convinced of this. It will be concierge going forward!!!

One thing I can't understand, does every family have something to celebrate? We did not ask for anything. However, we saw the concierge staff bring baloons, gifts and everything everyday to different rooms. Can this be possible? Or do many people just say they have something special so that they get some extra goodies? It almost makes me want to ask the staff if my children can get a baloon or something when they see all these going by everyday.

IMO, I think it's not too hard to know the answer to this question after reading many of the posts on these boards. However, trying to keep a positive spin on it, the concierge also delivers gifts which people PAID for to the room as well.

 

[Dalpal]

Originally posted by tnkrbell
I dont think it is tacky to celebrate your birthday,anniversary ect.. not on your exact date! We just celebrated our anniversary on this last trip a few days early becausewcould nt go on our exact date. We didnt ask for anything special but we did recieve some gifts in our room. I thought it was so thoughtful of the resort to acknowledge our special day!

I agree with tnkrbell, Its not like people are begging for free stuff.
It is nice to make it a celebration if you are going to be there around the date of a birthday or whatever. Especially for a child. It would make it something they will remember the rest of there life.

 

[turnlisa]

We are one of those families who will be celebrating during our stay. My birthday is the day we arrive and my son's birthday is a couple of days later.

We are also staying concierage and have noted it on our reservation. Tara told me to expect a special amenity on my DS's birthday. I had already asked that not a big deal be made about mine.

I have also read on a lot of the threads where people expect things to happen and then they don't. In this vein, I have decided to decorate the room myself. I had asked with arrangements to have balloons delivered to the room the night before his birthday. This is not a freebie and something that I expect to pay for. I expect that a lot of the things that you saw delivered were probably the same way. I have heard on birthdays they deliver a cake with some balloons. Just in case this didn't happen, I didn't want my son to be disappointed.

I also would feel bad if we said that it was a birthday trip when it really wasn't. We do expect to celebrate all week but for us that is normal. My DS usually has a big deal made about his birthday and in lieu of the usual birthday party, this is our celebration. I would hope that other parents would feel the same way.

 

[GeekChic]

We're staying GF SLC for the first time ever this next trip, and we are celebrating, various things. But I don't expect to get anything from the resort!

No, it's not our actual anniversary (I would never lie and tell the resort people that it was!) but I have MS and I had to cancel three vacations last year, including Christmas and DD's 7th b-day at WDW just days before departure. Talk about disappointing! (thank heaven we were going to surprise her with the trip and she didn't know about it!)

So, we're going in Sept and are not planning to travel next spring when our fifth anniversary is, so we will be 'celebrating' on this trip. We're also celebrating the fact that my dad survived a very close call (we very nearly lost him suddenly). Not the 'normal' kind of celebration but it'll be special for our family.

Now, again, let me repeat that I would never make up a b-day or something and ask for anything from the resort, but before I would judge anyone else who might, I would rather think they had extenuating circumstances that precluded them from celebrating on the actual date. It's none of my business who gets what, when! If CM's feel they can, and want to fuss over a child or family, what harm comes to me if they do it?

However, trying to keep a positive spin on it, the concierge also delivers gifts which people PAID for to the room as well.

This is a good thing to remember. I just arranged to have the concierge order more than 200 dollars worth of gift baskets for my family members to surprise them during our stay. If other guests see them getting delivered and wonder why my daughter is getting a cinderella basket with a doll in it, the answer is, because her mommy paid for it to surprise her!

My DD had her fourth birthday at WDW on Christmas day (she's one of those babies!) and a very kind CM noticed it on the reservation and moved us into the CR Tower, he also brought baloons and a stuffed mickey and autograph book to the room himself (we were not staying concierge). I found out later that they came out of his own pocket, he just liked our child and wanted to make her birthday special.

I think people expecting this extra stuff may be the problem. If everyone gets everything, every time, the surprises aren't as special, are they? I don't think so.


Sorry to ramble on so long, just wanted to say that I hope that everyone gets a little magic on their trip...whether from CM's, or even if they have to sneak and arrange it for their kids themselves, like I'm doing.

Ro

 

[VickiVM]

For the first time, we will be in Disney while an actual birthday occurs...We arrive 12-20 and my son's 10th birthday is the 21st. I feel he always gets slighted on his birthday because of everything that goes on during Holidays. School is usually out for break by then and I feel guilty having an elaborate party for him because it may be a stretch for some of his classmates' parents to purchase a birthday gift during Christmastime. We usually let him invite a few friends over for a sleepover, or an evening of bowling or to the movies.

Anyway...I will definitely make it a point to mention this to the Concierge planner, but at the same time, I will be requesting them to make a few small purchases on my behalf so that we have less to pack in the car. I hope they will make a big deal of it for his sake - acknowledging it, perhaps a cake (balloons are no big deal to him anymore.) One of the requests I'm going to ask that they purchase for him are video arcade tokens. He is an avid gamer and that would just make his day. But if none of those perks happen, then at least I know he will have the few gifts.

 

[Lisa3]

I do agree that one should not "make up" a birthday or special occasion just in the hopes that something might happen, however, some of us do not have the luxury of traveling when an "actual" date is. We will be celebrating our 20th Anniversary in Disney this year even though the actual date is Oct. 29th and we will not arrive until Nov. 7th. This was done to minimize the amount of time our children will be out of school. I do not expect anything special on this trip. We feel we treated ourselves by staying GV Concierge at the Polynesian (this is a big deal for us). I did note our special occasion on our Itinerary Planner but also made sure that the concierge staff knew why our trip did not include the exact day of our anniversary. Oldest DS's birthday is also in Oct. but I did not think it fair to my other two children to note his birthday and not theirs, so I didn't mention it.

I agree with a previous poster - we also tend to "celebrate" over a time frame instead of a date. Sometimes it's just not possible. From what I am getting from some of the posts is that I should tell my youngest DS that he is just out of luck since his birthday fell on the 1st day of school. Maybe I shouldn't allow him to have a party at all since it is scheduled a full month after his "official" day. (LOL) Some of you need to worry less about what others do and realize that yes there will always be those who take advantage but for most of us it's a way to make our stressed out lives a little easier.

 

[KelliR]

Just my DD5 and myself stayed at Poly concierge August 14-16. My birthday is August 11 and my DD's is August 22. On the form concierge sends out I mentioned that this little trip was our birthday celelbrations for both of us ... just a little treat before the rest of our family could arrive in WDW. I told them the true dates of our birthdays. I really didn't expect anything special because I made reservations at the Luau, 'ohana, and Cinderella's castle for us to celebrate.

Well when we checked in to our room there was a little birthday cake, balloons, party hats, noise makers, and plates, silverware, and napkins! It was a wonderful surprise and my DD was absolutely thrilled!!! She could not believe they knew about our birthdays!!!

It was such a nice touch and I guess concierge must realize not everyone can travel on their actual b'day ... but the trip is part of the celebration. I would never agree with making up celebrations, but it was nice of concierge to make us feel so special!!!

 

[Donnainnj]

KelliR,
We share a birthday! MIne is Aug 11th too. My Dh's is Aug 13th, but I don't think we will ever go down that time of year. We may get there for my DDs' birthdays, Feb 24th and Feb 27th one day. We have been there for our Honeymoon and our 10th Anniversary. Nothing extra was done. We were not staying Conceirge. We did have a great chat with The Fairy Godmother at CRT, and she wished us a happy. My dd (then 5)let her know we were celebrating. We have the best talks with her when we do CRT.
Glad you guys got the Magic!
Donna in NJ

 

[KelliR]

August is a great month! Just celebrated my 20th anniversary August 6th and my DD14 just had her b'day August 28th!

We may be back in WDW for one of your DD's b'days in February. There is a big baton twirling contest at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex starting February 20th. It is a great time of year to go. The weather is usually very nice and it is not too crowded! Hope you get to do that some year!

 

[skiwee1]

We never tell the CM about special occasions. To me it would feel like asking them for somethingfor nothing. I agree it is tacky. When we went to the Poly in May, in a regular room not concierge, we were surprised to get a cake, balloons, horns, and the like! I told them it wasn't our birthdays and the CM said it was a belated birthday surprise. They said since they missed all our birthdays 2 months before they were giving it to us. I thought that kind of strange but that is what they did. I think you are more apt to get something if you don't hint or anything. After all, what kind of surprise is it if you have to tell them.