Lives4Disney
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2004
- Messages
- 6,924
Hi! We had a really fun trip to WDW over THanksgiving. It was just supposed to be a 5 nighter, but my girls and I sent the boys home and we stayed an extra 3 nights!! Too much fun to leave 
I posted earlier, but never saw my thread, so sorry if this is a repeat. Don't know what happened to what I typed!!
Anyway - the trip was great EXCEPT our stay at the Boardwalk. It was awful. Sorry to everyone out there that loves it, but our stay stunk - literally. There were many blunders and bloopers from housekeeping and concierge even. The really worst part - and I mean bad - was the bed situation. I booked a concierge deluxe room for my family of 5. The room had two queen beds and a sofa sleeper. I had originally booked a room at the Dolphin and planned on bringing an Aero for my teenage son, but I was so excited at the possiblity of staying at the BWI and getting some Disney magic on our THanksgiving trip, I blew it big time by cancelling the Dolphin reservation. The whole thing is so ironic......
We arrived the night before Thanksgiving to a 20 minute wait to check in at the front desk. There was nobody around from concierge to escort us up. We waited in line and then told the CM that we are checking into the concierge floor. She had to phone 2X for anybody to bring us up. A bell service guy did the honors. I had mentioned to the IPO team (IPO was fabulous, by the way) that I would prefer a room on the lounge level because my older daughter is vision impaired and uses a cane & steps are a challenge for her. Of course, we did not get that room.
Our room, I think, was 3227. We made the best of it, but we had to use a cement stairway that was kind of intimidating. It wasn't what I pictured when I thought of using the stairway. (at the GF & Poly there is a nicer, carpeted stairway) Anyway.....The concierge CM met us in our room to check us in. He didn't leave any info about the lounge or anything they offer. We were in a hurry and didn't notice until the next morn when we were scrambling to make bfast by 10am (what we thought was the end time) Oh!! Back up to 2:30 am that morning. My husband and girls and I returned from EMH at the MK to find my son (he is 15 1/2) sleeping on the floor because the sofa bed was not comfortable. The mattress should have been tossed years ago. It was THIN and completely wirey and springy. AWFUL. So at 2:30 am I called the front desk and told the CM what was wrong and requested a rollaway. He transferred me to NOTHING. I held for a few minutes and waited and hung up to call back. I spoke to an apologetic guest services person that told me the BWI was sold out of all rollaways. She could try and get one from another resort in the morn. We folded up the sofa and my 5'9" son slept crunched up on the sofa. The next morning we checked in with concierge about it and they said a rollaway would be over. We went on our merry way to MGM for a great, beautiful Thanksgiving and yummy lunch at Brown Derby. We were out all day. My daughter lost her molar and my husband phoned the concierge staff and asked if they could surprise her with something from the tooth fairy. They asked who her favorite characters are and my husband told them Pooh & Eyeore. He said just "Put it on my bill" so it didn't matter what was in the room, we just thought it would be exciting for her to get surprised at WDW by the tooth fairy. We went back to our room between 6 and 7 pm. When we arrived and opened the door we were met with the most gross smell. I gagged, and I am not squeamish. We all agreed it smelled like urine and what was the only different thing??? A big gross rollaway standing in our closed up room. It was disgusting. My girls went into the bathroom to wash up and I noticed on one bed a balloon bouquet and picture signed from Pooh & friends. I thought how cute & nice until I read the card - it was addressed twice to somebody named "Chloe". I do not have any idea who Chloe is, but she loves Pooh and friends just like my daughter that lost a tooth! Before my daughter could see this cute thing the "tooth fairy" left for the wrong girl, I ran it to concierge as I was in running mode anyway due to the disgusting odor in our room. I told them it was mistakenly left in our room. So, nothing from the tooth fairy at that time.
Anyway.....I explained the gross rollaway situation to them and my family joined me in the lounge. We had opened up the sliders and turned on all fans. And were waiting to hear what they could do to get that smell out of our room and a new rollaway. My son went back down to sit on the balcony and while he was there, a housekeeping guy came in and SPRAYED IT WITH FABREEZE!!! Ugh. He told my son that "you don't want me to take it or you won't get another one"!!! How gross. Anyway, while this fabreeze treatment was going on, a duty manager met us up in the lounge and told us he would get an aero bed for my son to sleep on that night and an air purifier machine in our room. We went down to our room to get our sweaters and leave for the evening. We put the stinky rollaway out in the hallway and left our sliders open to help air out the place. We again went on our merry way back to MGM feeling confident that the manager would get my son off the floor for this second night. We got back to our room and the stinky rollaway had been put back in our room!!!! NO AEROBED, either!!! We put the stinky rollaway back in the hallway and phoned the manager who by now was gone for the night!! I spoke with a nice and apologetic lady that was now the manager. She told me there were no more aerobeds. She had a bunch of blankets and a comforter sent up so my son could get more comfortable on the floor for the second night. My husband was POed. We were paying close to $600/night and our son is on the floor. I could have had the Dolphin for $169/nt with our own aero!!! I went to sleep that night thinking there is no more Disney magic. I tried several times to get a new room but all rooms were booked.
After our troubles (there were more little annoying ones but my son on the floor of our $600/nt room is the worst) we were told by the second manager that the exective housekeeper would call last Monday or Tuesday. No call yet and it is Friday night. I would NEVER NEVER NEVER stay at the crummy BWI again. I just felt like we got the major runaround from the management staff and then were treated like outcasts because they couldn't solve the problem. I know I have heard some concierge staff names mentioned on these boards, but we didn't run into any of the nice ones I have heard of. I really don't have anything great to say about the ones I met. The hotel is beautifully decorated and it is a lovely place, but the people working there need to get it together.
On the third night, they had switched out the mattress of the sofabed for a much much nicer one. Unfortunately, housekeeping had taken ALL THE BEDDING out of our room for the sofa bed. We were sick and tired of dealing with them, so my son slept in his sweats and used a sheet and blanket & pillow from our bed. I was so glad to leave that place and check into the GF!!
The GF is beautiful and it was a breath of fresh air (literally) after that crappy BWI stay. It smelled like the gorgeous gingerbread house in the lobby. Our room was 4309 and had a castle view. The housekeeping was fine except the chocolate free turn down. My 5 yr old loves to get chocolates at bedtime! Don't know what happened there.
The lounge was great with nice music and yummy treats. I love the GF. I have had problems there a couple of times, but they solve them. They don't pass it around to the next person that is going home or make false promises. It was a lovely stay at the GF - so lovely in fact that my girls and I decided we didn't want to leave. We checked and found that we would have to change rooms, so we opted to just give the Poly a try for the next three nights.
We checked into the poly about 4pm. Unfortunately, on our first stay about a year ago, it was the lacking concierge staff that turned us off of the place. It happened again. We were checked in by a young guy. Very young. There were two young guys working at that time. The one next to me was just gushing to the family he was checking in. Our guy was more dry. He put us on the 2nd floor. I asked for 3rd and after 15 minutes he got us a great 3rd floor room. 3527. We had a pretty view of the quiet pool and gardens. The family next to us got leis and the kids got buckets. I had to ask for both. I was told that they do not have buckets. I let him know that I was asking for my 5 yr old that just saw the other kids get the buckets. The other guy asked what I needed and told the guy checking me in to look in a bottom drawer. tada. Buckets. I had only two other encounters with concierge and they left me unimpressed. I did better on the reservation front by using my cell and phoning myself. It seemed concierge was very quick to say nothing available - too quick. When I called, I got it. Strange, but true. I didn't feel they added anything to my stay at the Poly. I like the new room decor. It just seemed dark. We kept losing our TV remote on the dark prints of the bedspread, chair, daybed, carpet, etc. The lounge had yummy food. My daughter loves the orange guava juice and pineapple bread (I do too) The volcano pool was much more fun this trip as it was so much less crowded. The girls got to go down the slide over and over again with no line. I decided I like the Poly. It was a much better stay overall because the place was pretty empty. No lounge or pool crowds at all. We ate at the Lilo & Stitch Bfast (fun) Ohana for dinner (yummy & fun), 1900 Park Faire - another yummy and fun one, and the Plaza twice. We have yet to get a pleasant waitress at the Plaza. They are always cranky and they are the same ones year after year!!! My kids like the food and desserts so we keep going back, but gosh! We tried Mama Melroses for the first time. I had the grilled chicken flatbread pizza and sangria. Mine was good, but my family didn't care for theirs. Don't remember what they got other than a 4 cheese flatbread pizza that was just too tangy and smooshy. We ate at Tony's. It left us all a bit queesy. We did Beaches and Cream twice. Great both times.
Well, we had some fun magic in the parks, too. My girls and I went into the barber shop and they got their hair cut and decorated with pixie dust. While my 5 yr old was getting hers done a camera crew came in and asked if she could be interviewed. It was GAC and their top 20 countdown. She is Josephine from Illinois if anybody sees it on Saturday. I don't get GAC!!! Ugh. I am bummed about that and Jo will be too!! She clammed up, but smiled and looked cute. My older daughter was jealous! She actually would have been the better interview as she can gab all day.
The girls also got to participate in Belle's story time. They loved that. We ran into some super nice and kind CMs and even park visitors. Had a very sad and mean experience at the MVMCP night before Christmas show. As I said, my older daughter is vision impaired. She is actually losing her sight due to a retinal disease. My husband got her the GAC card so she could sit up front for this show (we remembered the crowd from last years that was a bust)We waited 1/2 hour in line to get in, showed the card and were escorted to the front row.
A bit later some angry people came in and demanded to sit in the hc rows because they had as much right as anybody else. They were pointing to us and fighting with the CMs that "what's wrong with them? They don't have a wheelchair - why are they up front??" So rude. I am sad about it now typing this. People need to shut up and watch what kind of idiots they make of themselves in public. They argued for about 10 minutes and continued to stand there at my shoulder even after the CMs had directed them to leave the area. I don't know when or where they finally left to go. I have no other experience with anybody that is handicapped, but this just saddened me so much. This trip really showed me the extremes of humanity. I was so touched by some kindnesses of strangers and blown away by the rudeness of others. At a Christmas party of all things. It really dampened the night for me. I don't think my daughter realized what was going on and I am thankful for that.
Well!! I am sorry to be so wordy - it felt good to get it all down. Hope it works this time!
Lives4Disney :earsgir
I posted earlier, but never saw my thread, so sorry if this is a repeat. Don't know what happened to what I typed!!
Anyway - the trip was great EXCEPT our stay at the Boardwalk. It was awful. Sorry to everyone out there that loves it, but our stay stunk - literally. There were many blunders and bloopers from housekeeping and concierge even. The really worst part - and I mean bad - was the bed situation. I booked a concierge deluxe room for my family of 5. The room had two queen beds and a sofa sleeper. I had originally booked a room at the Dolphin and planned on bringing an Aero for my teenage son, but I was so excited at the possiblity of staying at the BWI and getting some Disney magic on our THanksgiving trip, I blew it big time by cancelling the Dolphin reservation. The whole thing is so ironic......
We arrived the night before Thanksgiving to a 20 minute wait to check in at the front desk. There was nobody around from concierge to escort us up. We waited in line and then told the CM that we are checking into the concierge floor. She had to phone 2X for anybody to bring us up. A bell service guy did the honors. I had mentioned to the IPO team (IPO was fabulous, by the way) that I would prefer a room on the lounge level because my older daughter is vision impaired and uses a cane & steps are a challenge for her. Of course, we did not get that room.
Our room, I think, was 3227. We made the best of it, but we had to use a cement stairway that was kind of intimidating. It wasn't what I pictured when I thought of using the stairway. (at the GF & Poly there is a nicer, carpeted stairway) Anyway.....The concierge CM met us in our room to check us in. He didn't leave any info about the lounge or anything they offer. We were in a hurry and didn't notice until the next morn when we were scrambling to make bfast by 10am (what we thought was the end time) Oh!! Back up to 2:30 am that morning. My husband and girls and I returned from EMH at the MK to find my son (he is 15 1/2) sleeping on the floor because the sofa bed was not comfortable. The mattress should have been tossed years ago. It was THIN and completely wirey and springy. AWFUL. So at 2:30 am I called the front desk and told the CM what was wrong and requested a rollaway. He transferred me to NOTHING. I held for a few minutes and waited and hung up to call back. I spoke to an apologetic guest services person that told me the BWI was sold out of all rollaways. She could try and get one from another resort in the morn. We folded up the sofa and my 5'9" son slept crunched up on the sofa. The next morning we checked in with concierge about it and they said a rollaway would be over. We went on our merry way to MGM for a great, beautiful Thanksgiving and yummy lunch at Brown Derby. We were out all day. My daughter lost her molar and my husband phoned the concierge staff and asked if they could surprise her with something from the tooth fairy. They asked who her favorite characters are and my husband told them Pooh & Eyeore. He said just "Put it on my bill" so it didn't matter what was in the room, we just thought it would be exciting for her to get surprised at WDW by the tooth fairy. We went back to our room between 6 and 7 pm. When we arrived and opened the door we were met with the most gross smell. I gagged, and I am not squeamish. We all agreed it smelled like urine and what was the only different thing??? A big gross rollaway standing in our closed up room. It was disgusting. My girls went into the bathroom to wash up and I noticed on one bed a balloon bouquet and picture signed from Pooh & friends. I thought how cute & nice until I read the card - it was addressed twice to somebody named "Chloe". I do not have any idea who Chloe is, but she loves Pooh and friends just like my daughter that lost a tooth! Before my daughter could see this cute thing the "tooth fairy" left for the wrong girl, I ran it to concierge as I was in running mode anyway due to the disgusting odor in our room. I told them it was mistakenly left in our room. So, nothing from the tooth fairy at that time. Anyway.....I explained the gross rollaway situation to them and my family joined me in the lounge. We had opened up the sliders and turned on all fans. And were waiting to hear what they could do to get that smell out of our room and a new rollaway. My son went back down to sit on the balcony and while he was there, a housekeeping guy came in and SPRAYED IT WITH FABREEZE!!! Ugh. He told my son that "you don't want me to take it or you won't get another one"!!! How gross. Anyway, while this fabreeze treatment was going on, a duty manager met us up in the lounge and told us he would get an aero bed for my son to sleep on that night and an air purifier machine in our room. We went down to our room to get our sweaters and leave for the evening. We put the stinky rollaway out in the hallway and left our sliders open to help air out the place. We again went on our merry way back to MGM feeling confident that the manager would get my son off the floor for this second night. We got back to our room and the stinky rollaway had been put back in our room!!!! NO AEROBED, either!!! We put the stinky rollaway back in the hallway and phoned the manager who by now was gone for the night!! I spoke with a nice and apologetic lady that was now the manager. She told me there were no more aerobeds. She had a bunch of blankets and a comforter sent up so my son could get more comfortable on the floor for the second night. My husband was POed. We were paying close to $600/night and our son is on the floor. I could have had the Dolphin for $169/nt with our own aero!!! I went to sleep that night thinking there is no more Disney magic. I tried several times to get a new room but all rooms were booked.
After our troubles (there were more little annoying ones but my son on the floor of our $600/nt room is the worst) we were told by the second manager that the exective housekeeper would call last Monday or Tuesday. No call yet and it is Friday night. I would NEVER NEVER NEVER stay at the crummy BWI again. I just felt like we got the major runaround from the management staff and then were treated like outcasts because they couldn't solve the problem. I know I have heard some concierge staff names mentioned on these boards, but we didn't run into any of the nice ones I have heard of. I really don't have anything great to say about the ones I met. The hotel is beautifully decorated and it is a lovely place, but the people working there need to get it together.
On the third night, they had switched out the mattress of the sofabed for a much much nicer one. Unfortunately, housekeeping had taken ALL THE BEDDING out of our room for the sofa bed. We were sick and tired of dealing with them, so my son slept in his sweats and used a sheet and blanket & pillow from our bed. I was so glad to leave that place and check into the GF!!
The GF is beautiful and it was a breath of fresh air (literally) after that crappy BWI stay. It smelled like the gorgeous gingerbread house in the lobby. Our room was 4309 and had a castle view. The housekeeping was fine except the chocolate free turn down. My 5 yr old loves to get chocolates at bedtime! Don't know what happened there.
The lounge was great with nice music and yummy treats. I love the GF. I have had problems there a couple of times, but they solve them. They don't pass it around to the next person that is going home or make false promises. It was a lovely stay at the GF - so lovely in fact that my girls and I decided we didn't want to leave. We checked and found that we would have to change rooms, so we opted to just give the Poly a try for the next three nights.We checked into the poly about 4pm. Unfortunately, on our first stay about a year ago, it was the lacking concierge staff that turned us off of the place. It happened again. We were checked in by a young guy. Very young. There were two young guys working at that time. The one next to me was just gushing to the family he was checking in. Our guy was more dry. He put us on the 2nd floor. I asked for 3rd and after 15 minutes he got us a great 3rd floor room. 3527. We had a pretty view of the quiet pool and gardens. The family next to us got leis and the kids got buckets. I had to ask for both. I was told that they do not have buckets. I let him know that I was asking for my 5 yr old that just saw the other kids get the buckets. The other guy asked what I needed and told the guy checking me in to look in a bottom drawer. tada. Buckets. I had only two other encounters with concierge and they left me unimpressed. I did better on the reservation front by using my cell and phoning myself. It seemed concierge was very quick to say nothing available - too quick. When I called, I got it. Strange, but true. I didn't feel they added anything to my stay at the Poly. I like the new room decor. It just seemed dark. We kept losing our TV remote on the dark prints of the bedspread, chair, daybed, carpet, etc. The lounge had yummy food. My daughter loves the orange guava juice and pineapple bread (I do too) The volcano pool was much more fun this trip as it was so much less crowded. The girls got to go down the slide over and over again with no line. I decided I like the Poly. It was a much better stay overall because the place was pretty empty. No lounge or pool crowds at all. We ate at the Lilo & Stitch Bfast (fun) Ohana for dinner (yummy & fun), 1900 Park Faire - another yummy and fun one, and the Plaza twice. We have yet to get a pleasant waitress at the Plaza. They are always cranky and they are the same ones year after year!!! My kids like the food and desserts so we keep going back, but gosh! We tried Mama Melroses for the first time. I had the grilled chicken flatbread pizza and sangria. Mine was good, but my family didn't care for theirs. Don't remember what they got other than a 4 cheese flatbread pizza that was just too tangy and smooshy. We ate at Tony's. It left us all a bit queesy. We did Beaches and Cream twice. Great both times.
Well, we had some fun magic in the parks, too. My girls and I went into the barber shop and they got their hair cut and decorated with pixie dust. While my 5 yr old was getting hers done a camera crew came in and asked if she could be interviewed. It was GAC and their top 20 countdown. She is Josephine from Illinois if anybody sees it on Saturday. I don't get GAC!!! Ugh. I am bummed about that and Jo will be too!! She clammed up, but smiled and looked cute. My older daughter was jealous! She actually would have been the better interview as she can gab all day.
The girls also got to participate in Belle's story time. They loved that. We ran into some super nice and kind CMs and even park visitors. Had a very sad and mean experience at the MVMCP night before Christmas show. As I said, my older daughter is vision impaired. She is actually losing her sight due to a retinal disease. My husband got her the GAC card so she could sit up front for this show (we remembered the crowd from last years that was a bust)We waited 1/2 hour in line to get in, showed the card and were escorted to the front row.
A bit later some angry people came in and demanded to sit in the hc rows because they had as much right as anybody else. They were pointing to us and fighting with the CMs that "what's wrong with them? They don't have a wheelchair - why are they up front??" So rude. I am sad about it now typing this. People need to shut up and watch what kind of idiots they make of themselves in public. They argued for about 10 minutes and continued to stand there at my shoulder even after the CMs had directed them to leave the area. I don't know when or where they finally left to go. I have no other experience with anybody that is handicapped, but this just saddened me so much. This trip really showed me the extremes of humanity. I was so touched by some kindnesses of strangers and blown away by the rudeness of others. At a Christmas party of all things. It really dampened the night for me. I don't think my daughter realized what was going on and I am thankful for that.Well!! I am sorry to be so wordy - it felt good to get it all down. Hope it works this time!
Lives4Disney :earsgir
It is just the way the BWI handled things that bothered us. The GF powerless checkin was just such a different example of handling a difficult situation from the way the BWI handled things. Excuses, lies, passing the buck, false promises.....
On the other hand, we came across so many generous people that were so sweet and kind it made me water up. Both extremes at WDW!!
