OKW experience- reservation requests- Pool slide- Hurricane Jeanne - LONG!

[BAYBREEZEDISNEY]

Hi Doc,

Thank you for the report...I must have been writing my thread at the same time you were posting yours!

I depend so much on this board for news...I have searched everywhere for current info on closures etc and found nothing from Disney...even the member website says that the site is too busy...

Hope your next trip is MUCH better!

 

[DebbieB]

Originally posted by OneMoreTry
I thought rooms were preassigned and not assigned first-come, first-serve. Otherwise it sounds like a housekeeping issue and the fault of that asst. manager. Maybe a new or, hopefully now, an ex housekeeper not properly supervised.

It sounds like the manager did what he could and compensated you. I'm not sure what else he could have done in the situation.

It would have been a nightmare for us with all our kids and our ill 5-year-old who has to have an afternoon rest or she becomes impossible.

This just goes to show that even the best DVC resort can have problems.

DVC changed this about a year ago. It's a policy called "room ready". With "room ready" they do not preassign. When a guest arrives, they try to find a ready room that meets at least one of their requests. So people who arrive late get a pick of what's left. They claim members like this because you are more likely to get into a room if you arrive early. I liked the old system where rooms were assigned by date of reservation, so if you booked early you have a better chance of getting your requests. I've found that sometimes they do pre-assign if the resort if full. When we arrived at BWV last Dec & April, our room was pre-assigned. Our room at OKW in May was not, we arrived about 8:00pm and we didn't get the first floor I requested (was not for medical reasons).

 

[MarkRG]

Wel Doc, sorry your trip started off with a mess. Like you, I have zero tolerance for people who abuse policy like that and Disney lets them get away with it. Maybe they should insitiute a policy for charging the last guest for fumigating a room that's been abused.

And I guess i should keep booking trips when I miss you, you seem to be a magnet for messes lately.

Be safe, going to be a rough few days for you down there.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Originally posted by lenshanem

Yikes, we arrive at OKW next Saturday night and we probably won't get in until close to midnight. I really hope we don't have a HA studio, I want a tub. Any suggestions on what I should do? Call them on the way down to mention we'll be arriving late and that we want a studio with a tub? I've never requested that on my ressies cause I've always been worried they'll glance at it and think I need a HA instead.

The main reason I keep room reports on OKW is so I know which rooms are HA when I'm given the room #. Last time I got a HA studio by mistake (asked for a tub) and the CM told me that the room had been "incorrectly marked as not HA"-which is something I kind of wonder about after over 10 years of OKW? It was studio #2315.

 

[Lew]

Sorry to hear your horror story, Doc...

We went through the same thing you did last year. We were assigned a non-smoking two-bedroom unit in building 63. It reeked of smoke. How does housekeeping not notice this and take action immediately?!

We called the front desk and they sent someone over with the spray…this did absolutely no good. We requested a room change…no two-bedroom units available until the following day.

We did the check out, wait, wait, wait, check in routine the following day. One would think the resort personnel would go out of their way to make the move as easy as possible. Why enforce normal check out / check in rules in a situation such as this? When we stayed at Hilton Vacation Club at Sea World this past February, we needed to change units because they didn’t have the requested accommodations available the first night. They allowed us to stay in our unit until the new one was available. I thought that was very accommodating.

BTW, we’re arriving at OKW Tuesday for a couple of weeks. I’ll be giving OKW a call for room requests courtesy of your pal, Peter.

Perhaps I’ll see you this trip, Doc…

 

[KLR-wlv]

I don't understand why - if it was not fully occupied - dvc resorts can't give "upgrades" to a clean, non-smoking available 2 br? that makes no sense to give that as an excuse. You had a 1 br booked - it isn't your fault that the only one left is completely unsuitable.

Hope the rest of your trip is a good one!

 

[Shadeaux]

Originally posted by Lew
We went through the same thing you did last year. We were assigned a non-smoking two-bedroom unit in building 63. It reeked of smoke. How does housekeeping not notice this and take action immediately?!

In June, we were also given a 2BR non-smoking room that reeked of smoke. There is no way housekeeping couldn't have noticed. I called housekeeping and arranged for an ionizer the next day. I made sure they noted not to use a deoderizer because that would have caused my asthma to be worse than from the smoke. I was very surprised that the ionizer worked as well as it did.

We've stayed at OKW 11 times since '94; this was the first time we got a non-smoking room in which someone had smoked. Someone mentioned there being only two smoking buildings left at OKW. Just my opinion, but I think that's part of the problem; they've eliminated too many smoking buildings.

 

[SueM in MN]

Originally posted by Shadeaux
In June, we were also given a 2BR non-smoking room that reeked of smoke. There is no way housekeeping couldn't have noticed.

If the Housekeeper was a smoker, they probably would not notice at all. I've been places with smokers where I could really smell a strong smoke smell and the smoker could not smell anything at all. If you smell a particular smell all the time, you get acclimated to it.

 

[JMWSR518]

Doc,
You referred to your 11th trip in the "hot seat". Please explain what the hot seat is ???

JMW

 

[debloco]

The "hot seat" is in the show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" show at the Disney-MGM Studios. It's just like the TV show "hot seat" where the contestant sits, except you don't get to win a million dollars. You win Disney merchandise and other stuff. You have to do very well in the pre-game part of the show to even get a chance at the "hot seat". Way to go, Doc!

CLC Tiger Pom Mom

 

[RobDoc]

Light bands of rain have been flowing into the WDW area since about noon. No heavy rains yet, but the wind has picked up considerably. All parks and DD close at 7pm tonight. PI and Cirque are closed this evening. No word yet about park hours tomorrow (I'm not expecting to have them open at all.)

When we returned to our room a few minutes ago there was a message on our phone stating that tropical storm force winds or higher were expected this evening and could last for up to 24 hours. Guests need to be prepared to remain in their rooms during that time and to get all needed supplies (including food) for a 24 hour period. They had already placed flashlights (2) in our room and had put all patio furniture inside our room this morning about 9:30am (so we have plenty of seating for dinner now!).

The current storm track expects Jeanne to pass just to the west of WDW- so we are on the bad side of the storm. It's expected to be Cat 1 hurricane as it passes this area (winds in the 80 mph range). 2pm tomorrow is the anticipated arrival here. The feeder bands are already carrying possible tornado and shear force winds. As I write this, there is a line of tornadic thuderstorms heading for VB. That area has been evacuated already. All local TV coverage is devoted to constant storm reporting.

MCO closed at 5:00pm today and is expected to remain closed until Monday at noon. Based on the damage remaining from Charley, that area can't handle too much more trouble.

My trip to the WWTBAMPI "Hot Seat" yesterday wasn't too stellar- I missed the 32,000 point question. I didn't know what a "Hemingway cat" was (it apparently has 6 toes). In the past, I have made it all the way to the 1,000,000 point question- where I failed to know the lyrics to a 1920's college fight song from Johns Hopkins Univ and guessed Yale instead. The room gets reaaaallly dark for those last 5 questions and the hosts get quite animated. Can't play for another month now ... One of these days .... DW has made it there 4 times. The pins are great to trade with CM's in the parks.

 

[Beth]

Missed you again, Doc...

Scott and I used our points from our cancelled Labor Day trip to VB to stay at VWL for 2 nights this weekend.

We checked in around 6:45 last night, but decided this morning that we would come back home today - dreading what the roads would be like tomorrow.

We ate at Boma this morning, then headed over to MK until about 2:15. I heard a CM in the park say that they would be closing at 7:00 today - wouldn't be suprised if they were closed all day tomorrow. We were pleasantly surprised that I-4 westbound wasn't too bad going home.... Now we're putting the beautiful plywood up - again! I think we're just going to paint them to look like windows/shutters and leave them up until November!

Hope your evening/Sunday is uneventful, and that you have a good week. Happy Anniversary!

 

[DisneyMeMa]

Doc, best wishes to you and your DW for a happy anniversary.

I am baffled as to how rooms are assigned. My DH and I checked into a one bedroom at OKW about 7:30 P.M. 9/19. We requested non smoking and non HA. We were given a choice of three units. Two were HA. The CM indicated there was a 4th unit that was unoccupied and asked an experienced CM why she could not offer it to us. The experienced CM said it was because we were staying until the weekend and it had been preassigned for later in the week.

The unit we "chose" was very clean and in good order. We have no complaints and liked the location, view, etc. Check-in was efficient and all went well. However, I wish there was a way we could be assured we will get what we want. I have assume if we had been the next person to check into a one bedroom that night we would get to "chose" one of the two HA units. Our question is why are they protecting the future guests preferences and not ours. We are there checking in and, who knows, they may have to cancel due to Jeanne or something else.

 

[baileybrad]

What do a DVC "room ready" system and a non-smoking room at a DVC resort that has been trashed by a smoker have in common?

They both stink. Bad, I know but we had the exact same situation happent to us at the BCV in June. Except there were NO n/s studios available at all. They promised to move us the next day.

I agree with the posters who say, why not an upgrade to a 2 bedroom n/s for the one night since the resort was not full. You probably would have taken a n/s studio for the night, also. Was this not offered or suggested?

My biggest gripe with these type of situations is WHY does it take SO long to clean ONE 1 bedroom when you know that a guest has been incovenienced the previous day. Put this as housekeeping's highest priority. Check-out is 11:00, why did it take so darn long? It took us until very late in the day to get our n/s studio at the BCV, also.

I think that it takes so long for the same reason that housekeeping doesn't seem to notice or does very little about a non-smoking room that has been ruined by an inconsiderate individual who chose to smoke in it.....Housekeeping really does not care.

Sorry about your inconvenience, Happy Anniversary, and keep your head down during the latest storm.

We have family in Ormond who are going to ride this one out. Hope things go fairly well for everyone.

 

[JudithM]

Doc, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to you & your wife!!


I am sorry about your check-in experiences at OKW this week. I suspect that Peter will see more than one hurricane this weekend - a weather related one & a work related one. I cannot imagine the OKW mangement will tolerate some of Peter's comments to you as a Member (especially when they read it on this public bb).

thank you for sharing your WDW, OKW, etc. expeirences with us. Stay safe!

 

[disneyberry]

<font face="times" size="+0">Thanks for the report, Doc. Sorry you had to go through all that (I can't believe the Febreze thing... ) At least you were compensated for your trouble. However, what's seems inexcusable is the attempt by a manager to appease a customer by saying things that contradict what DVC mgmt and MS have told members.</font>

Originally posted by WebmasterDoc
He suggested that, in the future, we should call 2 days ahead to make room requests. [snip] that such contact is welcomed by the OKW staff. [snip] and he again welcomed the opportunity for the quote. (He also admitted that it wouldn't be effective if everyone called to reassert their requests before arrival. So, please don't tell anyone else!! ) [snip] he admitted that requests can't always be met. I again asked why DVC would issue a policy statement about NOT calling if they were really accepted and he replied that he wasn't aware that such a policy existed.

<font face="times" size="+0">It sounds like Peter had more than a few chances to take back what he said, but just kept on going forward with it. *sigh* That's just a bit ridiculous. I agree that the people at MS who read these boards will probably be quite appalled by this story. Heh.

Stay safe.</font>

 

[RweTHEREyet]

it does appear that the pool has been drained

Bet it's full again now thanks to Jeanne.