Hi all:
Just wanted to send some quick thoughts about staying at POR. We had 3 rooms, with one for us (DS5, DD2, DH and I), a connecting for MIL, and my parents in a 3rd room. They had us originally blocked off for 3 rooms in a row (2 connecting, a 3rd next to that) in AB 15 but I declined (big mistake--I think I should have kept that) because I didn't think my mom would want the rustic look of AB and would prefer the mansions. In fact, I had requested at the time of reserv. and also faxed our prefer. for the mansions (Magnolia Bend/Terrace). But they didn't have avail. there. They did "upgrade us" to a river view (no charge) at Parterre Place, rooms 19582, 19581, and 19579 (mom and dad checked in a day later and were separated by one room from us).
First floor at Parterre is not, however, a river view. It's on the river, with a nice view of greenery and shrubs. Just FYI. Grounds were magnificently kept up and buses ran pretty frequently to the parks; had just one day at MK when we had to wait almost 20 min. for a bus back to POR. Otherwise transport was nice. We had a bit of a walk to the main depot at POR but we didn't mind.
I have just 3 "negatives" for those who are interested. I was not entirely pleased with Mousekeeping. I left very generous tips every day. I don't think that any bathroom at any hotel at WDW should have black mildew/mold growing on the shower tile. I started to really notice this by day 3 of the trip. Anyone interested, I took pictures just to remind myself I wasn't crazy. Really.
Also, my mom said they did not replace dirty glasses in the room until she started putting them in the SINK. They also missed a lot when it camed to cleaning the bathroom. MIL was equally not pleased with their bare minimum "towel/sheet changes." It just wasn't that clean, and I can live with some dust, etc, but you just felt like no one really made much effort. I never heard a vacuum while I was there. Or smelled bleach after a room was cleaned.
Generally, there was also not a lot of straightening up or basic cleaning. I don't expect anyone to clean up my stuff but at regular hotels, I have seen better as far as just straightening up goes. I was underwhelmed.
Had I not gotten extremely ill during the latter part of my trip, I would have gone to management to complain. I'm pretty easygoing, too.
Second thing: the people who checked us in were great but other than that, POR guest relations staff was just OK. We had to go there with a few different yet not complicated questions, and let's just say there wasn't a really positive, let me try to help you kind of attitude from any one of their CMs. On one occasion, not even "can I help you." Just a stare from one CM till I finally said, "Hope you can help me..." At which point she reluctantly answered my question. Again, I might expect this from a lesser hotel but not anywhere on Disney property. If I wanted other than a magical experience, I could have rented off property and spent a lot less.
Third: the food court was not a very pleasant experience. Again, I understand that there are lots of people coming through everyday and I did see staff clearing tables, wiping, etc. Still, it's very sticky in there everywhere you sit and the service is very slow. I would not go there unless it's a necessity or at late hours when crowds are down.
I'm not sure if the masses from spring break just wore out the staff in the past few weeks--the resort was not at all crowded this past week. But we just didn't get that warm fuzzy feeling from this resort (elsewhere in the parks CMs were great). I'm not sure if I liked POR enough to recommend it--maybe I'd try much harder to stay at AB instead if I do go back there.
-Jess
Just wanted to send some quick thoughts about staying at POR. We had 3 rooms, with one for us (DS5, DD2, DH and I), a connecting for MIL, and my parents in a 3rd room. They had us originally blocked off for 3 rooms in a row (2 connecting, a 3rd next to that) in AB 15 but I declined (big mistake--I think I should have kept that) because I didn't think my mom would want the rustic look of AB and would prefer the mansions. In fact, I had requested at the time of reserv. and also faxed our prefer. for the mansions (Magnolia Bend/Terrace). But they didn't have avail. there. They did "upgrade us" to a river view (no charge) at Parterre Place, rooms 19582, 19581, and 19579 (mom and dad checked in a day later and were separated by one room from us).
First floor at Parterre is not, however, a river view. It's on the river, with a nice view of greenery and shrubs. Just FYI. Grounds were magnificently kept up and buses ran pretty frequently to the parks; had just one day at MK when we had to wait almost 20 min. for a bus back to POR. Otherwise transport was nice. We had a bit of a walk to the main depot at POR but we didn't mind.
I have just 3 "negatives" for those who are interested. I was not entirely pleased with Mousekeeping. I left very generous tips every day. I don't think that any bathroom at any hotel at WDW should have black mildew/mold growing on the shower tile. I started to really notice this by day 3 of the trip. Anyone interested, I took pictures just to remind myself I wasn't crazy. Really.
Also, my mom said they did not replace dirty glasses in the room until she started putting them in the SINK. They also missed a lot when it camed to cleaning the bathroom. MIL was equally not pleased with their bare minimum "towel/sheet changes." It just wasn't that clean, and I can live with some dust, etc, but you just felt like no one really made much effort. I never heard a vacuum while I was there. Or smelled bleach after a room was cleaned.
Generally, there was also not a lot of straightening up or basic cleaning. I don't expect anyone to clean up my stuff but at regular hotels, I have seen better as far as just straightening up goes. I was underwhelmed.
Had I not gotten extremely ill during the latter part of my trip, I would have gone to management to complain. I'm pretty easygoing, too.
Second thing: the people who checked us in were great but other than that, POR guest relations staff was just OK. We had to go there with a few different yet not complicated questions, and let's just say there wasn't a really positive, let me try to help you kind of attitude from any one of their CMs. On one occasion, not even "can I help you." Just a stare from one CM till I finally said, "Hope you can help me..." At which point she reluctantly answered my question. Again, I might expect this from a lesser hotel but not anywhere on Disney property. If I wanted other than a magical experience, I could have rented off property and spent a lot less.
Third: the food court was not a very pleasant experience. Again, I understand that there are lots of people coming through everyday and I did see staff clearing tables, wiping, etc. Still, it's very sticky in there everywhere you sit and the service is very slow. I would not go there unless it's a necessity or at late hours when crowds are down.
I'm not sure if the masses from spring break just wore out the staff in the past few weeks--the resort was not at all crowded this past week. But we just didn't get that warm fuzzy feeling from this resort (elsewhere in the parks CMs were great). I'm not sure if I liked POR enough to recommend it--maybe I'd try much harder to stay at AB instead if I do go back there.
-Jess
