Sorry I am so late in posting ... it has been crazy since we returned.
We stayed at the WL from October 19- 25th for our honeymoon with our three kids. We had booked back in February two standard rooms and we got our paperwork indicating we had guaranteed connecting and a request for bunk beds. Long story short between February and our trip Disney Reservations managed to screw up our ressies in a fine way. So much that I wouldn't call them any more because whenever we did they screwed things up worse.
Check in was well ... and interesting experience. Knowing we could be in for problems given the state of our ressies my DH took the three kids DD14, DS11 and DS 10 to sit in the lobby while I "duked it out" at the check in desk. At first all they could find was one room ... then they found the second room under my husband's name (I didn't take his name). This was weird because I had booked and paid for both rooms. I then asked if they were connecting ... and she said "Yes they are adjoining". I shook my head and said are connecting and adjoining the same thing? ... knowing full well they weren't. Then I asked if one of the rooms had bunk beds ... and she said they didn't. SIGH ....
So I showed her all the various paperwork that I had been sent over the months from Disney Reservations and went onto explain to her the problems I had with them. I also pointed out that we are on our Honeymoon with the three kids so at the very least I wanted them to find us our guaranteed connecting rooms.
She asked me for all my paperwork and disappeared into the back office for 20 minutes !! When she returned she told me that they had moved us to a courtyard view (a double upgrade), they were connecting rooms AND we got our bunkbeds that we requested.
WHEW !!!
Our other experiences dealing with the front desk were also enough to shake ones head at ...
On our first night my son hurt his leg and by the second day couldn't put weight on his right leg so we got him a wheelchair at Epcot. We then quickly realized that getting back to WL was going to be a challenge. They allowed us to take the wheelchair out to the bus stop where we used it to get him onto the bus. At the WL the family waited on the benches at the bus stop while I raced up to the front desk to get a wheelchair for him. Since we had stayed at Epcot till 12:00 (read midnight) it was now pushing 1:00 in the morning. When I got to the front desk I had to wait in line for over 15 minutes then the woman I got barely spoke english. She wasn't sure what to do and had to go ask for help. I finally got a wheelchair and filled out the paperwork ... I returned to the bus stop 40 minutes later with the wheelchair.
The night before we checked out we went to the front desk to enquire about getting my son to the airport and needing a wheelchair both on the Magical Express and at the airport and to board the plane. NO ONE knew what to do ... and they told us to check with the airline check in desk outside the front of the hotel in the morning. At 7:00 a.m. we went out to the airline check in desk and they too had no idea what to do. We tried the front desk one more time and still no luck.
I then went back up to our room and called the Magical Express myself. They suggested that we use the hotel wheelchair to get onto the bus ... and call the airline to arrange for them to meet us at the bus with a wheelchair. So I called Northwest and they were great. They were going to have a wheelchair waiting and a "transfer" chair for him to board the plane with. They also made arrangements for us to be met at the airport in Minneapolis when we arrived.
I went back to the front desk to find out how to go about signing the wheelchair back in ... but still maintain use of it till we boarded the bus. I ended up with the same non english speaking woman that got me the wheelchair in the first place. SIGH ... she didn't know what to do. She went to the other end of the counter and was talking to two other women who looked confused by what she was telling them. I proceeded to walk down to the other end of the counter and told them myself what I needed. They both said OHHHH !!! ... just sign it out now and give it to the Valet at the front of the hotel when you leave. They then went to get the book that has all the wheelchair paperwork in it ... guess what ... our paperwork was nowhere to be found !!
We did have a great vacation ... but a deluxe hotel really needs to spend more time training their staff. They also should ensure that the front staff have enough of a grasp of the english language that they can service the guests efficiently. It was very frustrating dealing with the front desk staff.
So ... now that all of the negative is done with ... I am going to put up a seperate post with all the GREAT things that happened during our "Vacation Moon"
Cheers,
Norma