We were there just before Christmas, and as I've posted elsewhere on here, the rooms (well, certainly in the block I was in!) need some TLC. These are things that are specific to OUR one room (out of HOW MANY?! lol), so won't necessarily apply to all:
Bad things:
1. Had trouble with the card reader for unlocking the door - not the cards themselves, but the reader was loose and we had to wobble it about to even allow the card to go in fully!
2. Wallpaper was peeling in places.
3. Curtain wasn't connected to all the curtain rings! And I couldn't reach to re-attach them. And CM obviously didn't notice or weren't bothered about it. Made the room look uncared for.
4. Bed a bit hard (but that's down to personal taste!) so much so that DH ended up sleeping on the bottom bunk of the bed for the last 2 nights as the mattresses on there were slightly softer! lol (DD slept well all week on the top bunk!)
5. Bed 'banging'. Ok, now before anyone gets their dirty minds in gear, that's NOT what I'm talking about!! lol Basically everytime we sat on the bed, it 'knocked' and on inspection noticed that the base of the bed is NOT attached to the head board. So if it's a little wobbly and the right distance from the head board, it knocked and would have done when turning int he night too. But I simply pulled the bed out an extra inch and problem solved!
Good things
1. Personally love the theme, and the benefit of bunk beds is great with kids.
2. We had a lovely electronic safe in our room which you could set your own pin number for. It was a great thing to have for things like ipads during the day! (Great for bringing for the drive down, but not really used once there!)
3. Cleanliness was great, can't fault that at all.
4. Room was lovely and warm (in fact, we opened the window a crack every now and again - personal thing!) - much better for a room to be warm than cold in December!
5. We loved the location. We were first a bit disappointed on arrival as our room was in a block that was at the furthest possible point from reception/breakfast/shop/bus!! However this ended up being a major advantage as we were the closest to the park and the path was just behind us making the walk to the park very easy!
Ultimately, we would go back as it's the only hotel with bunks, especially when we have child number 2, and the themeing is the most fun! But I'd prefer to wait for the refurbishment. But seeing as Newport Bay and New York are first in line, that could be sometime. I'm looking forward to trying both Sequoia and Santa Fe this year to see how the refurbishments compare....
Hope that helps - trying to be honest about the good and bad!
C x