Arrived on property at approx. 12:30 pm and waited one hour to make my way to the check-in cast member! The Magic Express bus had arrived some time before me and clogged the entire process, lobby and waiting area! Only three cast members were working to check in arriving guests at the time I got there [perhaps other cms had gone to lunch, burned out or quit before we got there!]. Of the three cms working, one was a trainee receiving one-on-one attention from a more senior associate. And there was the requisite supervising check-in cast member standing behind the three workers - watching the waiting guests fidgit, moan, groan, gnash teeth; or she would stare over the heads of the guests giving the appearance that she was teleporting herself to a more magical place than the check-in lobby!
At 1:30pm my check-in went smoothly despite my room not being ready and not being in either of the buildings that I had requested. The good news was that I had a room and it was going to be the dedicated two bedroom unit member services told me I would have.
Got back in the car and did things like go to pick up park tix, cruise the neighborhood along Rt.538 to see what was new and what wasnt there anymore and grabbed a bite to eat. Room was ready at 3:30, so it was back to the resort to really get down to vacationing!
Arrived at unit 2414 - they could not have put me further from either of the buildings I had requested unless they put me out on the highway! - and to boot, keys did not work to open the door! It was a good thing this trip did not involve more than one park day because the hike to the bus stop would have devastated my three handicapped guests. Guess I was supposed to be happy that we were close to the Turtle Pond quiet pool - would have been if it had ever warmed up enough to use it! Was so cold that week, I dont recall even seeing the snack shed open! But I digress - used cell phone to alert the front desk and was told they were sorry, theyd have new keys sent over - but it would be some time before a runner could get to us because they had so many runs to make ahead of us!!! So we continued to fiddle with the bloody key cards and by chance got one of them to open the door - musta been pixie dust!
So the guys unpack the car and the girls do the inspection: a) door does not close tightly and must be pushed/pulled to full closure; b) oven and dishes clean/pots and pans new; c) blinds not attached at bottom of patio door because of broken widgit; d) floor lamp next to chair inoperable because light socket assembly is hanging out of holder; e) gook stuck on kitchen sink and sink in 2nd bedroom dirty; f) shower in master bedroom schieved me! - needed to be totally scrubbed down and regrouted; g) toilet seat in 2nd bedroom has broken hinge; h) decorative ornamentation on patio surround missing a piece [located on ground beyond the patio area]; i) opened food left in freezer and unopened food left in overhead cabinet.
A call to the main desk got housekeeping to clean bathrooms and kitchen - but main shower still had mold and grout issue unresolved all week; maintenance came quickly and adjusted door aircheck but never returned to fix toilet seat, door blind or floor lamp - fixed patio surround one day while we were out by using patio chair rather than own ladder.
A good thing about villa 2414 was that it was located alongside one of the golf course tees, thus providing us with some morning entertainment over coffee. The downside of the view was that the area just to the right of the unit appeared to be where landscapers drag and pile downed branches from around the resort - quite scruffy when compared to the rest of the grounds. The pond fountain to the left of the unit never did work - but the unaerated end of the pond stream outside the unit never did get to being stinky.
How can Disney justify having one trainee and two cast members [and a supervisor who did nothing] on the desk at the largest vacation resort on a Sunday? OKW was essentially flying at half staff! If any of us in the service industry ran our business in such a way - wed be outta business real quick! Is it because Disney knows were the ones under contract for 40 or 50 yrs and were not likely to go anywhere regardless of how were treated?
I can appreciate that we each bear some responsibility to notify staff when things break or dont operate properly so that a situation can be corrected...but is there no grand maintenance schedule for the resort? Is there no head housekeeping staff that inspects for mold/grout in need of repair? Our shower was so not up to minimum standards of cleanliness! Is there no head maintenance staff responsible to inspect for safety conditions or general resort appearance? How long had the decorative surround at our unit been broken [am still wondering how it broke - hit by an errant golf ball?]?
Perhaps the new maintenance fees for the OKW members will resolve some of the problems we encountered [I hope that you at least get new carpeting! I wont even discuss the stains and rips in our unit!] And perhaps other vacation clubbers will pay better attention to the maintenance of their units than did the previous occupants of villa 2414. Maybe the previous occupants didnt use the toaster either, and thus, didnt know that it only browned one side of a piece of toast at a time! Or maybe that was something else they didnt care about or its how they liked their toast so there was no need to get one that browned both sides of a piece of bread!
Sorry to be so long and time-consuming, but I felt this all had to be said so that others going to OKW in the future will be aware of what might be in store for them. This was a surprise to us because our stay there in the South Point neighborhood last year was so pleasant and issue free [outside of the view that we didnt have!]. And it probably wont deter us from staying there again in the future - but if I ever walk into a villa in such disarray again, I will make sure that I am relocated rather than make a list of things that need to be corrected.
We love Disney and we love the vacation club properties...but we do not like to spend our vacation dollars on resorts that are shabby and poorly maintained - villa 2414 was just that. I hope that the list we left will make the unit better for the next guest.
At 1:30pm my check-in went smoothly despite my room not being ready and not being in either of the buildings that I had requested. The good news was that I had a room and it was going to be the dedicated two bedroom unit member services told me I would have.
Got back in the car and did things like go to pick up park tix, cruise the neighborhood along Rt.538 to see what was new and what wasnt there anymore and grabbed a bite to eat. Room was ready at 3:30, so it was back to the resort to really get down to vacationing!
Arrived at unit 2414 - they could not have put me further from either of the buildings I had requested unless they put me out on the highway! - and to boot, keys did not work to open the door! It was a good thing this trip did not involve more than one park day because the hike to the bus stop would have devastated my three handicapped guests. Guess I was supposed to be happy that we were close to the Turtle Pond quiet pool - would have been if it had ever warmed up enough to use it! Was so cold that week, I dont recall even seeing the snack shed open! But I digress - used cell phone to alert the front desk and was told they were sorry, theyd have new keys sent over - but it would be some time before a runner could get to us because they had so many runs to make ahead of us!!! So we continued to fiddle with the bloody key cards and by chance got one of them to open the door - musta been pixie dust!
So the guys unpack the car and the girls do the inspection: a) door does not close tightly and must be pushed/pulled to full closure; b) oven and dishes clean/pots and pans new; c) blinds not attached at bottom of patio door because of broken widgit; d) floor lamp next to chair inoperable because light socket assembly is hanging out of holder; e) gook stuck on kitchen sink and sink in 2nd bedroom dirty; f) shower in master bedroom schieved me! - needed to be totally scrubbed down and regrouted; g) toilet seat in 2nd bedroom has broken hinge; h) decorative ornamentation on patio surround missing a piece [located on ground beyond the patio area]; i) opened food left in freezer and unopened food left in overhead cabinet.
A call to the main desk got housekeeping to clean bathrooms and kitchen - but main shower still had mold and grout issue unresolved all week; maintenance came quickly and adjusted door aircheck but never returned to fix toilet seat, door blind or floor lamp - fixed patio surround one day while we were out by using patio chair rather than own ladder.
A good thing about villa 2414 was that it was located alongside one of the golf course tees, thus providing us with some morning entertainment over coffee. The downside of the view was that the area just to the right of the unit appeared to be where landscapers drag and pile downed branches from around the resort - quite scruffy when compared to the rest of the grounds. The pond fountain to the left of the unit never did work - but the unaerated end of the pond stream outside the unit never did get to being stinky.
How can Disney justify having one trainee and two cast members [and a supervisor who did nothing] on the desk at the largest vacation resort on a Sunday? OKW was essentially flying at half staff! If any of us in the service industry ran our business in such a way - wed be outta business real quick! Is it because Disney knows were the ones under contract for 40 or 50 yrs and were not likely to go anywhere regardless of how were treated?
I can appreciate that we each bear some responsibility to notify staff when things break or dont operate properly so that a situation can be corrected...but is there no grand maintenance schedule for the resort? Is there no head housekeeping staff that inspects for mold/grout in need of repair? Our shower was so not up to minimum standards of cleanliness! Is there no head maintenance staff responsible to inspect for safety conditions or general resort appearance? How long had the decorative surround at our unit been broken [am still wondering how it broke - hit by an errant golf ball?]?
Perhaps the new maintenance fees for the OKW members will resolve some of the problems we encountered [I hope that you at least get new carpeting! I wont even discuss the stains and rips in our unit!] And perhaps other vacation clubbers will pay better attention to the maintenance of their units than did the previous occupants of villa 2414. Maybe the previous occupants didnt use the toaster either, and thus, didnt know that it only browned one side of a piece of toast at a time! Or maybe that was something else they didnt care about or its how they liked their toast so there was no need to get one that browned both sides of a piece of bread!
Sorry to be so long and time-consuming, but I felt this all had to be said so that others going to OKW in the future will be aware of what might be in store for them. This was a surprise to us because our stay there in the South Point neighborhood last year was so pleasant and issue free [outside of the view that we didnt have!]. And it probably wont deter us from staying there again in the future - but if I ever walk into a villa in such disarray again, I will make sure that I am relocated rather than make a list of things that need to be corrected.
We love Disney and we love the vacation club properties...but we do not like to spend our vacation dollars on resorts that are shabby and poorly maintained - villa 2414 was just that. I hope that the list we left will make the unit better for the next guest.
