Carable
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2013
- Messages
- 267
Day 1 - Part3 - Seriously, We Get to STAY here?
A quick walk over the breezeway and down the elevator we walked out to see this beautiful sight:
although technically this is from the ridiculously nice bathrooms we went to to change into our swimsuits...
a view of the peaceful lake with the loud chaos of happy kids in the background
We scored some sunny seats by the splash fountains, which Pascal was happy with, but my parents were not. We are more shade people, it is all that Irish/Dutch skin, freckles are NOT that cute as an adult, people.
The Slide was AWESOME, even DH and I went down it countless times. We were here for almost 4 hours while waiting for the Room is Ready TEXT. We got good use of the mugs this afternoon. The refill station for BLT is here at the pool. I was a little frantic, because I was hoping to get the text early and sneak away to put together the Mickeys Grand Welcome I had created for everyone. When it became apparent it wasnt going to happen that way I had to start thinking of a back-up plan. Then a rainstorm quickly formed and headed our direction.
We had to skedaddle around 3:45, and we STILL didnt have a room. Sat outside by the fountain waiting, because it was too cold and crowded to wait inside in our wet suits. And, if I'm truthful, I was getting the very non-Disney feeling of being annoyed. But, there are no promises of a room before 4 so I made myself get over it.
Nana went in to check and our room had been ready earlier, but they were experiencing computer difficulties that afternoon. That translated into their texting announcement program was not working. GRRRRR, but at least we had a room {or so we thought}. We get up to glorious room 8417, which I initially thought was on the 8th floor, but realized it was on the 14th eventually. I mean where in the number 8417 am I supposed to figure out that it is on the 14th story? We get to the beautiful door that I forgot to take a picture of, pull out the key to do our first RFID entrance and&
the key did not work.
After a few minutes of feeling like a fly trying to get out a closed window using everyones card over and over again trying to make some broken work, I trekked downstairs to get some help. The feeling of chaos permeated the lobby, the computer system fail was affecting a lot of people and the CMs were scrambling. It took 30 minutes to get someone to walk us up and let us in. The manager CM was very nice and did give us a $250 credit on our account to make up for the inconvenience. That is serious customer service at work there, Disney. I have a feeling they did that for quite a few people that afternoon.
Somehow though, ALL of that didn't matter once we got into our stunning resort room. My DH and I have stayed at some serious swanky hotels including a honeymoon suite in Vegas where we were married and this topped them all. It was posh, sophisticated, organized, practical and beautiful all wrapped up in one.
We walked into the foyer with a closet (yes, a hotel room with a foyer is so awesome) and was greeted with this picture and tiny shelf which worked great for Tink gifts each night.
right off the foyer is a full bath with a sliding smoked glass door that I took over as my own
to the left was the West Wing (as we called it) and was our family's spot, which was really nice. There were TWO closets and a big bathroom (with drawers and shelves to the left
again a sliding door to the BIG bath and toilet area, plenty of room for DH and kiddos
And two queen beds (the girls slept under Minnie, the boys under Mickey) I would pay serious money for the artwork in this room
A dresser/TV stand/awesome storage unit plus a table and chairs that we used as a computer table
View from our room's balcony, I spent evenings and mornings writing in my trip journal here.
NOW, in the center was the living space which was so spacious. Seriously, my first house wasn't this big. Those light fixtures wouldn't fit in my bag, or they would have come home with me.
Kitchen: I want that backsplash!!!!!!!
On the backside of the living space was this laundry ROOM, which rivals the space I have in my HOUSE. We threw in a load daily, and dried it at night. Word to the wise, don't put too much in there, as the DRYER takes forever.
And, behold the Master Suite on the right side of the villa. First the bathroom:
there is like 100 heads in here, including a rain shower head up above. Ambient lighting was beautiful and soft. Also, a bench and great tile work that didn't show up in this picture:
weird divider thing Disney loves
They also had some great storage in here, as well as hooks on the wall that I wish we had had in our room.
{giant SIGH} inserted here. Looking back at all this, I really, truly miss this hotel. I felt so comfortable and spoiled here and would be happy to stay nowhere else on property again. It was THAT good. Chances of that happening are, well, zip, but a girl can dream. I'll leave off here and be back soon with the rest of our day.
Continued in next post.. .
A quick walk over the breezeway and down the elevator we walked out to see this beautiful sight:
although technically this is from the ridiculously nice bathrooms we went to to change into our swimsuits...
a view of the peaceful lake with the loud chaos of happy kids in the background
We scored some sunny seats by the splash fountains, which Pascal was happy with, but my parents were not. We are more shade people, it is all that Irish/Dutch skin, freckles are NOT that cute as an adult, people.
The Slide was AWESOME, even DH and I went down it countless times. We were here for almost 4 hours while waiting for the Room is Ready TEXT. We got good use of the mugs this afternoon. The refill station for BLT is here at the pool. I was a little frantic, because I was hoping to get the text early and sneak away to put together the Mickeys Grand Welcome I had created for everyone. When it became apparent it wasnt going to happen that way I had to start thinking of a back-up plan. Then a rainstorm quickly formed and headed our direction.
We had to skedaddle around 3:45, and we STILL didnt have a room. Sat outside by the fountain waiting, because it was too cold and crowded to wait inside in our wet suits. And, if I'm truthful, I was getting the very non-Disney feeling of being annoyed. But, there are no promises of a room before 4 so I made myself get over it.
Nana went in to check and our room had been ready earlier, but they were experiencing computer difficulties that afternoon. That translated into their texting announcement program was not working. GRRRRR, but at least we had a room {or so we thought}. We get up to glorious room 8417, which I initially thought was on the 8th floor, but realized it was on the 14th eventually. I mean where in the number 8417 am I supposed to figure out that it is on the 14th story? We get to the beautiful door that I forgot to take a picture of, pull out the key to do our first RFID entrance and&
the key did not work.
After a few minutes of feeling like a fly trying to get out a closed window using everyones card over and over again trying to make some broken work, I trekked downstairs to get some help. The feeling of chaos permeated the lobby, the computer system fail was affecting a lot of people and the CMs were scrambling. It took 30 minutes to get someone to walk us up and let us in. The manager CM was very nice and did give us a $250 credit on our account to make up for the inconvenience. That is serious customer service at work there, Disney. I have a feeling they did that for quite a few people that afternoon.
Somehow though, ALL of that didn't matter once we got into our stunning resort room. My DH and I have stayed at some serious swanky hotels including a honeymoon suite in Vegas where we were married and this topped them all. It was posh, sophisticated, organized, practical and beautiful all wrapped up in one.
We walked into the foyer with a closet (yes, a hotel room with a foyer is so awesome) and was greeted with this picture and tiny shelf which worked great for Tink gifts each night.
right off the foyer is a full bath with a sliding smoked glass door that I took over as my own
to the left was the West Wing (as we called it) and was our family's spot, which was really nice. There were TWO closets and a big bathroom (with drawers and shelves to the left
again a sliding door to the BIG bath and toilet area, plenty of room for DH and kiddos
And two queen beds (the girls slept under Minnie, the boys under Mickey) I would pay serious money for the artwork in this room
A dresser/TV stand/awesome storage unit plus a table and chairs that we used as a computer table
View from our room's balcony, I spent evenings and mornings writing in my trip journal here.
NOW, in the center was the living space which was so spacious. Seriously, my first house wasn't this big. Those light fixtures wouldn't fit in my bag, or they would have come home with me.
Kitchen: I want that backsplash!!!!!!!
On the backside of the living space was this laundry ROOM, which rivals the space I have in my HOUSE. We threw in a load daily, and dried it at night. Word to the wise, don't put too much in there, as the DRYER takes forever.
And, behold the Master Suite on the right side of the villa. First the bathroom:
there is like 100 heads in here, including a rain shower head up above. Ambient lighting was beautiful and soft. Also, a bench and great tile work that didn't show up in this picture:
weird divider thing Disney loves
They also had some great storage in here, as well as hooks on the wall that I wish we had had in our room.
{giant SIGH} inserted here. Looking back at all this, I really, truly miss this hotel. I felt so comfortable and spoiled here and would be happy to stay nowhere else on property again. It was THAT good. Chances of that happening are, well, zip, but a girl can dream. I'll leave off here and be back soon with the rest of our day.
Continued in next post.. .
I'm really, really glad my random observations helped someone else out. I poured over these reports and the DIS for months, so glad to know I paid it forward a bit. You must be so excited for your trip, almost single digits!!! WooHoo! Have a wonderful time.
I'm also hoping to get a little video edited to add to that post as well of their reaction.
I've got the Kingdom Keepers ready to read this summer, I'm so excited.
