shadowryter
DISNEYHOLIC
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2008
- Messages
- 5,781
It started out so perfect. A good morning at the parks. We rode everything we wanted. A return in the afternoon found a huge bouqet of balloons and a georgous birthday cake. How could everthing fall apart so fast and I'm not even talking about Fay.
I heard that Portofino management had changed since our first visit in 06. How was I to know it was for the worst?
I heard that Portofino management had changed since our first visit in 06. How was I to know it was for the worst?
Where do I start? First off, the continuous downpours from Tropical Storm Fay did not dampen out spirits. We were already halfway down the coast when we heard of her arrival. We arrived early and to our surprise, our room was ready. We went to the park with ponchos in hand and when we returned there was a balloon bouquet and a cake both of which I ordered previously. 
Two plates, two forks, no knife, three people.
I called down for a knife but more importantly, to cancel the Wantilan Luau due to TS Fay. The boats stopped running after our boat slammed into the dock 
and we were soaked, tired, and just wanted to feel dry again. We almost thought about going by taxi since the luau was moved inside, (the rain and wind was so hard it couldn’t be held in its regular place) but thought different, since we received a letter from the Portofino telling us the restaurants were closed and those that were opened had a select buffet along with select room service. The woman I spoke too was more interested in telling me I would be charged $20 each, 60 dollars for three people if we did not show up. I was 20 minutes late to cancel on time. 
So we canceled the luau and waited for a knife that didn’t appear. Has anyone tried to cut a 10 inch 3 layer birthday cake with a plastic knife that was half the size? My DD told me I did pretty well. It still rained the next day and we trudged on deciding to do some shopping, only problem was our room key was declined, something the Hard Rock told us happens a lot. “After all you are staying at the Portofino.” What was that supposed to mean?
After an embarrassing 30 minutes or so, we got our purchases and headed back to the Portofino where my husband made a beeline to the front desk. He was really angry and was gone a long time. After telling off the concierge who was all-apologetic, he returned. The Portofino wanted us to have dinner on them but my husband wanted nothing to do with them at that point and so did I. The next day was our last and when we finished at the parks, the rain came down and we found there were no boats. Therefore, we walked in the deluge just to return to find the elevators were not working. 
There were three good things about our stay. 1. The parks. We got to do all we wanted to do. 2. Housekeeping was fantastic. She kept up on all our needs. 3. When the Islands Dining room manager at RP overheard our story, he asked us to stay with them next time, which is where I wanted to go in the first place, just to try something different and he gave us each a scrumptious dessert on the house. Oh, there is a 4. After my DH’s complaint, the Portofino did take $150 off our bill and we were never charged for the canceled luau or the cake. That’s a little over $300 returned. And a 5. We had cake for breakfast every day. 
I really loved the parks but will never stay at PBR again. It's not the hotel. It was the people we dealt with. By the way we also got the dreaded tree view. We arrived around 10am and the rooms are cleaned from the end of the wings first. Something to keep in mind if you don’t want to get stuck in the end. Same thing happened with an early arrival at Disney’s AKL in 06. I will give RP a shot next time. For me, I guess the magic is still at Disney. IMHO.
