we stayed in room 8567... the gazebo was in front.. If you walked down the center walk way it looked like the owners moved out about 6 months ago… . I talked to a cast member who said the landscaping was outsourced…. and to the point of cleanliness... shouldn't these things be done prior to you even entering the room as part of a quality assurance? shouldn't the room be clean prior to a new guest? I had family staying in 8592 and the refrigerator cabinet door was no longer there…. You could see the hinges, but no door, should you notify mgt about that? Shouldn’t that be part of the QA of a room? You pay a lot of money to stay here….
We just returned and were in 8606. My parents were in a connecting room to ours (8605??). This was our fourth stay at POR and we had similar experiences to you. I wonder if we had the same housekeeper? Our rooms were filthy. The carpets were so dirty that our socks were black after about an hour. Just two years ago, when I still had a "9 month old crawler", we were so pleased at how clean the carpets were in both POP and POR. I honestly didn't mind letting her crawl around on the floor in either resort. Thank goodness my kids are beyond the crawling stage because it would have made me sick to let them crawl on these floors. The dust was months thick in places. My dad was having a horrible time with his allergies until we realized that by leaving the ceiling fan on, it was blowing all the dust around. We received towels that were worn thin. Dad put his finger through a washcloth one morning. The paint was peeling off our door on the outside (not just a little, but a section that was probably one foot square). Cobwebs were on our door and around our door upon arrival and were still there when we checked out 12 days later. One day we returned from the parks to find one bed completely made and the other one was only partially made and the bedspread was on the floor. Coffee and styrofoam cups were not replaced for 10 nights. We had to request that they vacuum the rug and even then, only the middle section was done. The shower curtain had quite a bit of mold on it, and the corner of my parents bathroom floor had mold coming out from behind a loose tile (appeared like maybe a leak behind the wall). The furniture is definitely showing signs of wear and tear, but I'd be willing to overlook that if the room was at least kept clean.
I also agree that the grounds were not nearly as well kept as in the past. The walkways were often left unswept and the grounds were just not kept in the same condition as in previous trips.
Granted, we could have complained and maybe we should have, but we had to fight all the way to top management to get the location of our rooms that we did. We needed 2 connecting rooms for 12 nights that were centrally located because my mom has a bad leg. We really didn't want to chance losing our location so we put up with the conditions of the room. Frankly, we aren't in the room that much anyway, but it is really sad and disgusting that disney is allowing their standards to slide. I will be writing a letter to let them know about all of the complaints, but I'm sure I'm not the first one to do so. I don't know how true the numbers are, but last year our housekeeper told us she had 14 rooms to clean, this year our housekeeper claimed to have 18. Like I said, I don't know how true this is because it is only based on what they told us, but maybe that is part of the problem?
We saw quite a few areas where disney is slipping in the parks as well. For instance, their rental strollers (particularly in the MK) are in horrible condition (broken wheels, ripped canopies, and generally dirty), as well as their
ECV's. Mom had to return her's once because it kept getting stuck, others had completely bald tires, broken speed controls, and rattled like they were going to fall to pieces under her.
The merchandise we purchased was no better. $28 for a tinkerbell cotton nightgown on which the tinkerbell decal began peeling off after the second wearing. It hadn't even been washed yet. Another $11 down the drain for a belle polly pocket set whose head broke out of the body (the body split in 4 places) the first night my daughter played with it. She's been playing with polly's for over a year and owns at least 20 and we have never had this happen. My DS got a pirate gun which broke after 5 days. Can't remember how much that one cost. My older daughter got a tinkerbell baton with light up ends that didn't work even after we replaced the batteries, and had silver fringe on the ends that ripped off within two days. How disappointing for children to have their souveniers break after such a short time. Disney should be able to do better than that.
Disney is not a cheap vacation, but it used to be that you got great, clean value for your money. We certainly didn't feel that way after this trip. We still had a great time, but something was definitely missing and for the first time in 7 years, I didn't come home and start immediately planning my next disney trip. I'm not saying we won't return, but most likely not next year (we've gone 6 out of the last 7 years). The magic was missing this trip.
ETA: forgot to mention that it took almost an hour to check in because they kept messing up applying my disney gift cards. We didn't find out the true problem until we checked out. They apparently applied them to the wrong room at first and then needed the manager to check all of the gift cards and reapply them. So, for our aggravation and time, they gave our kids some extra stickers for making them stand there for an hour waiting.
I don't doubt that he didn't enjoy his stay and that he had problems and I'm sorry for his experience, but please don't let his experience make you nervous about a wonderful resort because POR usually gets excellent reviews 
We are going to POR in 23 days for the 1st time! I hope I will not be disappointed
...maybe I'll see ya at check in
