tinkerbellmagic
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2003
- Messages
- 3,258
POR REVIEW
Date: Nov 26 - Dec 4, 2005
Acadian House Mansions
Who: just me and 7 yo DGS
Arrived at resort via ME bus: 11:00 am
Wait in line to check in: 30 mins
Room ready: 2 pm
My overall opinion of POR is that while it is showing some wear and is not as spanking new as the Dixie Landings mansions I remember of 1997, the grounds are still as breathtakingly beautiful as ever. As tired as I was from the uncomfortable mattresses and a day at the parks, I never minded the walks to lobby, bus, pools, laundry, etc, as each time was a feast for the eyes. Simply gorgeous!
OUR ROOM: I was satisfied with our second floor room in Acadian House, even though I was hoping to try Alligator Bayou this time around. Acadian, was a short walk to the north bus depot. Though the view from our window looked down on some sort of containers that may house dirty towels or septic tanks or some darn thing and that sometimes guys would park huge carts of dirty towels in front of the room and throw them off the balcony into the bins below, this honestly did not bother me. No, really, it didn't, I just want to make it clear, I was not there for a room with a view. We spent most of our time at the parks.
The Good Stuff:
The landscaping, can't say enough good things about it. Those walks down the river... I never tired of the view or took it for granted. The clippity clop of the horses hooves across the bridge, the bunnies scampering about, the peaceful surroundings really make me feel like I'm on vacation. I remember one negative thing that stood out about POP was being surrounded by all that concrete, not enough nature and greenery. POR is different. Just beautiful.
Yeah! We got the free fridge in our room, but boooo, it was set so high that our stuff froze. The button to adjust the temp was missing, so couldn't lower the temp.
We always found a table at the food court. DGS favorite table would be any table near the big wheel. The cast members were so nice and helpful (just a few exceptions). I know there is more good stuff... I will add on if I remember it, though this post is quite long already.
The Not So Good Stuff:
The mattresses from hell - oh, my aching back...more on this here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=974826
The room was not as clean as I would have liked. We found things under the beds, such as an empty mini bottle of Seagrams, a sheet of unused bunion pads, various scraps of paper, crumbs in the drawers.. and more, but more unsettling was that the corners of the bathroom floor were not cleaned. There were teeny scraps of paper, like ripped off pieces of tags from clothes or towels, and yucky hairs in the corners. Ick! But I know no resort is exempt from "gifts" from previous guests. But the hair thing ...
ugh!
Ok, I am one of those people that removes the heavy bed spreads off the beds every day as soon as we get in the room. I don't even want to know what those awful orange brown stains were on the back side of the bed spread and again, I know you can find this at all resorts, it's just never a pleasant sight and just gives me a yucky feeling. I guess the maids got so tired of finding our bed spreads folded up on the floor each day, that one day we walked in to find that the bed had been made up without the bed spreads. I was happy!
The worst thing that happened at POR was on day #2. We were leaving for the parks at 10 am. I notice the maids cart next door, so I figure our room will be cleaned next. When we return to our resort later that night at 7 pm (that's 9 hours later) I look up to the second floor to our room and the lights are on and the blinds are wide open. As I approach our room, I notice the door to our room is not shut all the way! I do not have to use my KTTW card. All I have to do is give the door a little push, and it opens. Our room was unlocked for anyone to get in and it was like this all day, for 9 hours with all the lights on and the blinds open. Since it was just DGS and I, I worried someone might be inside the room. Without thinking, I go into the room and check behind doors and the shower curtain, just to be sure no one is in there. All is well, so I check to make sure nothing is missing. It appears everything is in present and accounted for. Luckily, I always use the safe for the good stuff. Looking back, I should have probably called someone before entering the room, just in case, but I was caught off guard.
So, I call the front desk to tell them that I believe my maid left our door open all day. I expressed my concern, since it is only DGS and I in the room and how I need to feel safe and know I can leave for the parks with the comfort that no one will be waiting in my room when we get back, that my room is locked and my stuff is safe. They said they would be sure to tell a supervisor about this and they will get back to me.
I heard nothing from them, so the next day, I taped a note to the inside of our door for the maid that said, "Please made sure to shut door all the way. Yesterday it was left open all day. Thank you." Then, I went to the registration area to report this again in person. The girl took down the info, but I never heard a word from any manager saying they were sorry this happened. All I wanted out of this was the security that I could leave my room and know my stuff inside would be safe, not open to anyone that happened to walk by. I wanted someone to tell the maids to be careful and make sure to close the door securely when she left the room. Well, I never heard a word from anyone and that was disappointing.
Five days later, the day before we left, DGS and I were sitting on the stairs outside, near our room waiting for the maid to finish cleaning it (it was about 3:30 pm and our room still had not been cleaned). One of the maids (not ours) happened to walk by. Our maid came out and told the other maid who we were (in another language). This other maid told us they are going to get maintenaince to come fix our door. Well, yeah, whatever, the incident happened 6 days ago... too little.. too late and we are leaving tomorrow. So, the moral of this story is to check your door before you leave to make sure it is closed and pray your maid will do the same because no one really cares if your room is open all day or not but you.
Other not so good stuff: a few of the girls at the POR food court hamburger hot dog grill are severely lacking in customer service skills. Yet, all the food court cashiers and other cast members at POR were very sweet.
The bus service was a little disappointing. I'm not talking about the drivers, they were awesome, full of the old fashioned Disney magic I remember! They were so nice, helpful, and even humorous at times. I'm talking about waiting an hour two nights in a row for a bus to MK. Then the nightmare at MK when you want to return to your resort. POR is huge. The bus lines can get huge! It is no fun to have to wait an hour at MK only to stand on the bus smashed in like sardines all the way from MK to POR at midnight, after MVMCP, or any night. I think Disney can do better than that.
Other notes: I like the fact that the laundry room was next to our quiet pool. We could swim while waiting for the laundry. Here's some advice... while I noticed the main pool had towels for guests to use, there were no towels for guests at the quiet pool while we were there, so we brought our own towels from the room. Just thought I'd mention it, if it saves you a trip back to your room.
Would I stay at POR again? Hmmm.. not sure... maybe if they replace those uncomfortable mattresses and make vast improvements to the bus system. Ok, I just heard on another thread that all the WDW resorts will be switching over to the "firm" mattresses that POR has now, so there will be no escaping them. As for the bus system, I heard a rumor on the transportation board that the bus system is in for some changes as well. And I know that all the things that bug me at POR exist at other resorts too, so I do not want to sound like I am down on this resort, not at all. I still think the values and mods are a bargain. That said, if I never stay at POR again, I will most definetly miss the scenery and since it was our very first on site stay back in '97, it will always hold a special place in my heart.
Thanks for reading,
Tink
Date: Nov 26 - Dec 4, 2005
Acadian House Mansions
Who: just me and 7 yo DGS
Arrived at resort via ME bus: 11:00 am
Wait in line to check in: 30 mins
Room ready: 2 pm
My overall opinion of POR is that while it is showing some wear and is not as spanking new as the Dixie Landings mansions I remember of 1997, the grounds are still as breathtakingly beautiful as ever. As tired as I was from the uncomfortable mattresses and a day at the parks, I never minded the walks to lobby, bus, pools, laundry, etc, as each time was a feast for the eyes. Simply gorgeous!
OUR ROOM: I was satisfied with our second floor room in Acadian House, even though I was hoping to try Alligator Bayou this time around. Acadian, was a short walk to the north bus depot. Though the view from our window looked down on some sort of containers that may house dirty towels or septic tanks or some darn thing and that sometimes guys would park huge carts of dirty towels in front of the room and throw them off the balcony into the bins below, this honestly did not bother me. No, really, it didn't, I just want to make it clear, I was not there for a room with a view. We spent most of our time at the parks.
The Good Stuff:
The landscaping, can't say enough good things about it. Those walks down the river... I never tired of the view or took it for granted. The clippity clop of the horses hooves across the bridge, the bunnies scampering about, the peaceful surroundings really make me feel like I'm on vacation. I remember one negative thing that stood out about POP was being surrounded by all that concrete, not enough nature and greenery. POR is different. Just beautiful.
Yeah! We got the free fridge in our room, but boooo, it was set so high that our stuff froze. The button to adjust the temp was missing, so couldn't lower the temp.
We always found a table at the food court. DGS favorite table would be any table near the big wheel. The cast members were so nice and helpful (just a few exceptions). I know there is more good stuff... I will add on if I remember it, though this post is quite long already.
The Not So Good Stuff:
The mattresses from hell - oh, my aching back...more on this here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=974826
The room was not as clean as I would have liked. We found things under the beds, such as an empty mini bottle of Seagrams, a sheet of unused bunion pads, various scraps of paper, crumbs in the drawers.. and more, but more unsettling was that the corners of the bathroom floor were not cleaned. There were teeny scraps of paper, like ripped off pieces of tags from clothes or towels, and yucky hairs in the corners. Ick! But I know no resort is exempt from "gifts" from previous guests. But the hair thing ...
ugh!Ok, I am one of those people that removes the heavy bed spreads off the beds every day as soon as we get in the room. I don't even want to know what those awful orange brown stains were on the back side of the bed spread and again, I know you can find this at all resorts, it's just never a pleasant sight and just gives me a yucky feeling. I guess the maids got so tired of finding our bed spreads folded up on the floor each day, that one day we walked in to find that the bed had been made up without the bed spreads. I was happy!
The worst thing that happened at POR was on day #2. We were leaving for the parks at 10 am. I notice the maids cart next door, so I figure our room will be cleaned next. When we return to our resort later that night at 7 pm (that's 9 hours later) I look up to the second floor to our room and the lights are on and the blinds are wide open. As I approach our room, I notice the door to our room is not shut all the way! I do not have to use my KTTW card. All I have to do is give the door a little push, and it opens. Our room was unlocked for anyone to get in and it was like this all day, for 9 hours with all the lights on and the blinds open. Since it was just DGS and I, I worried someone might be inside the room. Without thinking, I go into the room and check behind doors and the shower curtain, just to be sure no one is in there. All is well, so I check to make sure nothing is missing. It appears everything is in present and accounted for. Luckily, I always use the safe for the good stuff. Looking back, I should have probably called someone before entering the room, just in case, but I was caught off guard.
So, I call the front desk to tell them that I believe my maid left our door open all day. I expressed my concern, since it is only DGS and I in the room and how I need to feel safe and know I can leave for the parks with the comfort that no one will be waiting in my room when we get back, that my room is locked and my stuff is safe. They said they would be sure to tell a supervisor about this and they will get back to me.
I heard nothing from them, so the next day, I taped a note to the inside of our door for the maid that said, "Please made sure to shut door all the way. Yesterday it was left open all day. Thank you." Then, I went to the registration area to report this again in person. The girl took down the info, but I never heard a word from any manager saying they were sorry this happened. All I wanted out of this was the security that I could leave my room and know my stuff inside would be safe, not open to anyone that happened to walk by. I wanted someone to tell the maids to be careful and make sure to close the door securely when she left the room. Well, I never heard a word from anyone and that was disappointing.
Five days later, the day before we left, DGS and I were sitting on the stairs outside, near our room waiting for the maid to finish cleaning it (it was about 3:30 pm and our room still had not been cleaned). One of the maids (not ours) happened to walk by. Our maid came out and told the other maid who we were (in another language). This other maid told us they are going to get maintenaince to come fix our door. Well, yeah, whatever, the incident happened 6 days ago... too little.. too late and we are leaving tomorrow. So, the moral of this story is to check your door before you leave to make sure it is closed and pray your maid will do the same because no one really cares if your room is open all day or not but you.
Other not so good stuff: a few of the girls at the POR food court hamburger hot dog grill are severely lacking in customer service skills. Yet, all the food court cashiers and other cast members at POR were very sweet.
The bus service was a little disappointing. I'm not talking about the drivers, they were awesome, full of the old fashioned Disney magic I remember! They were so nice, helpful, and even humorous at times. I'm talking about waiting an hour two nights in a row for a bus to MK. Then the nightmare at MK when you want to return to your resort. POR is huge. The bus lines can get huge! It is no fun to have to wait an hour at MK only to stand on the bus smashed in like sardines all the way from MK to POR at midnight, after MVMCP, or any night. I think Disney can do better than that.
Other notes: I like the fact that the laundry room was next to our quiet pool. We could swim while waiting for the laundry. Here's some advice... while I noticed the main pool had towels for guests to use, there were no towels for guests at the quiet pool while we were there, so we brought our own towels from the room. Just thought I'd mention it, if it saves you a trip back to your room.
Would I stay at POR again? Hmmm.. not sure... maybe if they replace those uncomfortable mattresses
and make vast improvements to the bus system. Ok, I just heard on another thread that all the WDW resorts will be switching over to the "firm" mattresses that POR has now, so there will be no escaping them. As for the bus system, I heard a rumor on the transportation board that the bus system is in for some changes as well. And I know that all the things that bug me at POR exist at other resorts too, so I do not want to sound like I am down on this resort, not at all. I still think the values and mods are a bargain. That said, if I never stay at POR again, I will most definetly miss the scenery and since it was our very first on site stay back in '97, it will always hold a special place in my heart.Thanks for reading,
Tink
