So what causes a miserable trip anyway?

[KNWVIKING]

I think everybody has a different level of expectation. Personally,when I'm on vacation the last thing I worry about is laundry soap. If I need to wash something, I'll wear it into the hot tub.

Maybe I'm very tolerant of a less then perfect situation because I manage a GMC truck service department. I wish people would remember that I didn't design,build,price or sell the truck. I just don't get upset because A/C isn't working or a faucet leaks or whatever. I call,they fix.Have a nice day.

We stayed at Westgate one year. It was sooo bad, all we could do is laugh about it. It didn't ruin our vacation. There's an old ditty about fishing that I'll modify for this thread.

My worst day at WDW is better then my best day at work.

 

[nydizfan]

count myself lucky but I have stayed at okw and bcv and have never had a problem except my room key didn't work.. and I have been a member for almost ten years. .. I feel sorry for the poster but she did get comps.. well I quess i just jinxed myself.... ...dave

 

[niks81]

The girl on the resort board is a friend of mine. I am glad Vicki spoke up because even though Erika is NOT a DVC member, she visits about 4 times a year. So there hasn't been any huge anticipation. Her problems are legit problems and are also just plain bad luck.

There was a comment made regarding "adjusting" to staying in DVC resorts. Well about 50% of the time or more, she rents points for stays at DVC. They are going back soon at OKW which is their absolute favorite. Hate to say it, but she's well adjusted. And she agrees that OKW is the best resort (Richyams!) for DVC.

I am going to be interested to see what she has to say about this thread. I told her to post on the DVC board about her stay but she didn't...and probably because she felt like she would be reamed.

One thing to note...everyone has bad trips or bad experiences on trips. In her particular case....I don't see how the issues she had are even remotely her problem. She's had several roadblocks on their stay I think...I would be disappointed also.

I think this is interesting that someone started this thread and people have made judgements and assumptions and she isn't even here to comment or defend her opinions. JMO.

 

[WDWLVR]

I think Granny sized it up best by saying sometimes people have too high an expectation. Add to that some people (not naming names and not talking about the OP) expect the world to revolve around them. If they don't have it their way they are miserable and make others miserable.

We had one bad experience in DVC when we stayed at VWL in a studio after our 4 day cruise last year. Checked in and the room was ready - walked over, opened the door and found a woman and child sitting on the bed. We high tailed it out of their quick!
A call to the lobby - a walk back to the lobby - a long talk with the manager who insisted it was our room (might be but it seems since it was a ground floor room that someone kept the patio door opened and made themselves at home) and we got a new room.

It was only for 2 nights. I didn't like being on the 1st floor (especially when the snake went past on the patio) and I really didn't care for the room (too dark for my tastes). Did I let it ruin my vacation - no! Will I stay at VWL again - probably not - not my taste.

I have too many other happy memories of that trip to let a few bad things get me down.

It is all in your frame of mind. If you are happy things look much better. If you aren't happy no matter how great things are you will most likely still be unhappy.

Sorry to hear that Erica had a bad streak of luck. I hope that she can keep the happy memories and that her next trip is better!

To answer the original question "what causes a miserable trip?" my quick answer is letting things get to you. I've done it in the past and my vow is to hopefully never let it get to me again. Life's too short to be miserable.

 

[KNWVIKING]

This thread has turned into a debate about what happened to your friend. If the OT did not contain a reference to a Resort Board Thread then this thread probably would have stayed on topic. It's just something that happens on these boards. And I'm not blaming the OP for doing anything wrong, it's just that as soon as I read the OT, I knew this was going to happen. It's what we do. We're bored

 

[twinmomplus2]

Ok do not flame me. First of all, I agree with the above poster. To restock the laundry soap is not a simple housekeeping job, It probably has to be done by a vendor. I as well travel with babies in diapers, in fact 2 of them. Thats alot of diapers....At home I never keep diapers in the house. I would not do so at DVC either. I can not get my DH to run them outside, so I certainly would not expect maid service to empty a diaper pail. You should never use the pail to begin with< as it will stink. I purchase small garbage bags, bring them with me in fact. And walk them to the trash. I firmly believe that is the parents responsibility. As for the soap, I would have gone to the gift shop and bought some soap. Yes, I would have left my clothes in the washer and left, if someone steals your dirty stuff... they really must need it. Pack tide tablets they are a lifesaver.....For everything else broken AC is a valid gripe. I do not however see the others as such. Lets face it once you start going into the 1 and 2 bedrooms a standard room is a big let down. most of all for those of us with little ones.

 

[jimmytammy]

I hope we can lighten this thread up a little. My most miserable trip ever to WDW was our 1st trip home this past Dec. It was cold AND rainy. Like a fool, I left NC with 1 pair of pants and 3 pairs of shorts, 1 sweatshirt and 6 tshirts. All of our pictures look like 1 continous day with the same sweatshirt and same pair of jeans on me. With 2 days left in our trip, Dw and I bought ourselves hooded sweatshirts cause it was really, really cold by that time. Here we are in MK hooded sweatshirts with the strings pulled as tight as possible, our 2 kids in tow with toboggans on their heads. This is WDW for crying out loud, it aint spose to be cold here!!

And that beats the trip when my ex SIL had every waking moment planned for us, and she had never been before.

I agree with KNWVIKING, all things aside, a bad day at WDW is a whole lot better than a great day at work, and I love my job.

Jimmy

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

This thread is cracking me up! I'm so glad Nikki emailed it to me because I don't read this board. Feel free to discuss my thread as much as you'd like, nobody is hurting my feelings at all. It's been interesting to read.

 

[manning]

"Well what do you want, more free dinners?".

From my years of negotiating, the manager would have defused the whole situation by stating, "what can we do for you to make up for all the inconvenience we caused you."

If the demands were out of line the manager could have countered with what he is authorized to offer minus a few hold backs. If the demands are still out of line a "let me talk to my manager and see what can be done". Then come back with the addition of the hold backs. Works about 90 percent of the time and everyone is happy.

 

[HorizonsFan]

I understand that the OP is a WDW veteran and had numerous things go wrong on her trip, most of all the way she was spoken to by management.
I did have to wonder though, if perhaps she overreacted to the things that happened when I read this:

Even when I realized the machine was empty I wasn't upset... it was the fact that I called four times and finally had to get VERY upset to get someone to come. By the time I'd been sitting there almost an hour I was crying hysterically and the lady who answered the phone at housekeeping probably thought I was out of my mind.

OK, things are not going well; but crying hysterically over laundry soap?
I think sometimes folks have a preconcieved idea of the way something is going to be and if it's not that way, they're disappointed.

 

[brucec32]

Let's see....

Dirty room. Remedied immediately and they were given a free meal and a great room with a great view. Problem? I think not.

AC goes out. With tens of thousands of rooms, you'd expect several to go out daily, just from the sheer odds of it. They fixed it pretty fast it seems. Bad service? Not that I can see.

A VENDING MACHINE was out of laundry soap. They called housekeeping and an hour later someone brought them soap. Not stellar, but since usually vending machines are maintained seperately from housekeeping for obvious reasons(handling money, requires pass keys, responsibility has to be kept to as few as possible, etc) I can understand it taking them a while to get the request to the right person. It's not like the maids have boxes of soap on them. They don't wash the towels in the rooms, it's all sent to a central facility. And like someone else said, there's a store on-site. A little common sense from the guest might have resulted in checking there for the soap. Overall, not A plus service, but not horrible either.

The bedrail situation was a problem. A safety issue, even. But I suppose a walk down to the front desk, inconvenient as that might be, would have solved the problem. Requests get lost in the system. All it takes is one slacker who doesnt' care to make your request get lost.

One trash can in a hotel room is not a lot, but for a studio it's acceptable. I would carry a couple of $.05 trash bags in my baggage if I had dirty diapers to deal with, anyway.

Overall, I think this was hardly the disaster some are making it out to be. But typical of the slackening of standards as Disney continues to cut costs in search of improving the bottom line during tough times.

I'm different than most and don't see hotels as places to be pampered and served, but just as a convenient place near the parks to sleep and bathe. Someone with high expectations might be disappointed. I've just learned to expect less in modern times and not get so disappointed that way.

 

[eva]

manning,

It is interesting the way that you stated what the CM or manager should have done. I work for a computer training facility and a couple of our managers have had "Disney Training for Managers". And the way that you stated it is exactly the way they are supposed to be trained. When a customer is having a bad experience you are suppose to apologize and say, "What can I do to make this a better experience for you?" We are taught that 90% of the time the customer will ask for less than what you were willing to give.

I know that problems happen at every WDW resort, but there is no excuse for a rude CM or manager. I know that they have a hard job but that is part of being in the service industry.

 

[JOC]

Originally posted by KNWVIKING

Personally,when I'm on vacation the last thing I worry about is laundry soap. If I need to wash something, I'll wear it into the hot tub.

P.S. And if you have to wash the item in cold water you can hop to another resort's pool and jump on in!

 

[Pa@okw95]

After paying $650 a night at the GF about 4 or 5 years ago, I learned a big lesson, don't ever do it again. The room was the worse I ever stayed. This woman at BCV is learning the same thing. The problem with board has been another thing entirely over the years and that is you do not get a balanced idea what it is like at WDW or DVC because people that have complaints just have learned not to post them here. I think we all should thank the person for at least posting what is going on at the resort board, but it is happening to her at a DVC resort. What I have accepted at all WDW resorts or DVC resorts are that they are not first class resorts, now, I said this before and "Doc" corrected me. I just do not get into it, because you can not win here and it just does not pay to say too much negative about DVC or the mouse in general. I have been going to WDW for well over 25 years and when I started going there it was first class, now it is not. There was a time when all there was at WDW was delux resorts, now you have moderate, and value hotels where people are just happy to be there with out much demands. WDW has become a middle class resort, I love the weather down there and OKW is nice, so I am happy to be there in the winter, but I realize first class or deluxe days at WDW are long gone. I thank this lady for posting.

 

[Merilyn]

because we have never had a really bad trip. Our trades have not always been the best, but WDW has always been great. We did have the time our brother broke his toe. Now that wasn't great but it wasn't disneys fault. The weather at HH this last time was awful, but again not anyones fault. We have always rec'd the best from all who we asked help from and if something wasn't working they took care of it. I think sometimes CM's and managers take their clue from the person with the complaint. It must be hard to be nice to someone who is not being nice to you. I will never view our decision to buy as anthing but the best thing we ever did even if sometime in the future things don't go just as we planned.

 

[Nanajo1]

I think the issue was the build up of "minor" problems on top of little bigger problems. I would have been insulted when the manager went to make sure the room was really dirty before giving me a new assignment. The bed rails not being delivered promptly is a biggie. I don't think it is unreasonable to expect the laundry rooms to be well stocked, clean and functioning. I can identify with "losing it" over the prolonged wait for the soap. Why didn't housekeeping tell her it would be a while,then she could have weighed the option of going to the store. Especially after the THIRD call? We had failed a/c at OKW once, took awhile to get it fixed. It sounds like the managers were lacking in some magic. I wonder if they were having other issues with other guests that we dont know about.
Regardless of how the room is paid for, each guest should receive Disney quality service.
Off my soap box now.

 

[crisi]

Pa@OKW95,

I think I understand what you mean.

I've had the good luck to stay in a couple of really good world class hotels. The kind with fresh flowers in the room and turn down service. The kind where they wouldn't dream of having a laundry room - as their clientele sends their clothes to the valet. Where the staff knows you by name (formal name - Mr. Smith) from the moment you check in, and the concierge can get you the best tickets in town.

To the best of my knowledge, there isn't a Disney hotel in that class - and there never has been. Maybe if you are staying in one of the suites, you get that sort of treatment. But the average Deluxe hotel guest gets treated like the average hotel guests at the Hilton - a nice hotel.

Not that I think that was the problem in this case.

(I've cried over stupidier things than no detergent. Traveling with small children in tow can be very stressful. And its often the little things that set you off - particularly if you try and keep energy up for keeping a good face around the kids).

 

[niks81]

It's what we do. We're bored

LOL I know. Even though I love Vacation Club (and love to tell people about it) I stay off of this forum. I think this board has turned into nothing but a debate board. I had issues at the BWV a year ago and didn't even post it because everyone always has a reason why it's not the resort's fault Or better yet, why each resort is better than the other

Erika, I'm glad you are finding this funny!

 

[Pa@okw95]

Crisi-- finally someone who understands first class has posted to this board and that is you. I like what I call greeters at every corner of the resort to say hello, and give you any help you may need. Also if something should go wrong or break they are on it like a 911 heart attack call, you do not have to call twice or wait but a couple of minutes. Service I think is the real difference between a first class resort or hotel and others. I am sorry ,DVC and most of WDW is not first class, perhaps none are like you say. Nice to hear from someone that has experienced first class and knows the difference between what is handed out at WDW and DVC and what top notch treatment really is.

 

[Granny]

Just to clarify my response to this post, I was answering the thread question of "So what causes a miserable trip anyway". I was not referring to the post on the other board...in fact, I haven't read it. I was responding to what...in my opinion....I've seen cause dissatisfaction the most.

Having said that, there are certainly a lot of things that could go wrong that would probably make me wonder about plunking down the bucks for the DVC investment. But having been on two great DVC trips already, I now know that any situation I run into is probably a one-time problem, and not a trend.

BTW...I agree that this thread has turned into a debate about the other thread rather than responding to the originally posted question.