GAIL HAYDEN
DVC Member since '92
- Joined
- Aug 19, 1999
- Messages
- 13,025
Hi all,
Dee and I made our semi annual trip to WDW Jan.25 thru Feb.1.
I decided to "save" weekend points and opted for AKL for two nights on a very nice rate for AP for a savannah view at 375.00 for two nights, including taxes. We were first assigned to a third floor room that had the requested king sized bed, but, it was a no smoking room. Since I refuse to smoke in a non smoking room and since you cannot smoke on the balconies of any room facing the savannah, I requested that they reassign the room.
The room assigner said that smoking was not guaranteed, WRONG!!!! Luckily I did bring my ressie confirmation which stated that it was guaranteed, the king bed was not. SOOOOO, they upgraded Dee and I to a deluxe savannah view with two queen beds and ashtrays. The view had two different savannahs, but, a much better view of the fire escape stairs. Charming. NOT.
There was also a cockroach in the room, which sent me into a tizzy. I did call and report this. Also, housekeeping banged(literally) on the door at 8:30 am on Sunday to ask when we were checking out. I take some responsibility for this intrusion as I did not put the do not disturb sign out, BUT, the bill was hanging on the door when she knocked, so, I put some of the responsibility on them. It will be addressed in a letter to the General Manager of that resort. The room was very nice, large, and did not smell of stale smoke (yes, even a smoker can smell that). Unfortunately, you knew when you hit the smoking optional corridors, they did reek of stale smoke. They need to have one of those fresh air machines in there for awhile. I can totally understand the lament of non smokers regarding this issue. I found the front desk CM's to be cold. Boma's was a nice restaurant, but, I did not appreciate the food the way others do, but, that is me. It was nicely prepared and presented beautifully.
Our waiter, Michael, was excellent. My favorite item there was the banana bread pudding (warm) with the vanilla sauce.
Dee loved it, but, he likes beef. LOL
The fast food area was nice, but, the powdered eggs were awful, who knew they were that bad? The pizzas were good, they use a LOT of cheese on these pizzas.
The bar at Victoria Falls was very nice and the bartender was, by far, the best CM there. No, I did not drink too much.
I guess, in reality, is once you get used to staying at OKW in a one bedroom or more, a room is just that, a room. Dee and I have, obviously, been terribly spoiled. All in all, AKL is a beautiful resort, typically Disney for class and amenities. However, I would be hard pressed to stay there again. For the amount of time we were in the room, to save points I would opt for one of the moderates or a suite off site.
The moving from one resort to the other was absolutely effortless.
I had packed the night before and after being disturbed early by housekeeping, we were ready to go well before the check out time of 11 am. We went out to breakfast after we left the resort and checked into OKW around noon and were informed that our unit was not ready (no big deal as check in is not until after 4pm), so, we took off to the parks and "chilled" there.
We requested (and received) unit 4121. When we entered the unit it looked good, however, upon closer inspection found that housekeeping had not been "cleaning corners". The throw pillows on the couch and loveseat had grown legs and were no longer there. Many things were missing and I reported this and they were replaced. The thing that drove us totally nuts was a spot on the bathroom floor which I had noticed back in Sept. I know this sounds paranoid, but, it is no lie. We spoke to housekeeping about this and it was supposed to be done, but, it never did get fixed. Naturally, this lead to finding other things that were not right. We ultimately spoke with the houskeeping manager who ended up cleaning the unit and giving us full housekeeping daily for the remainder of our stay. I felt he went WAY beyond our expectations, so, I refuse to make this an issue to dwell on. Suffice it to say that when he was done, the unit looked brand new. Too bad this is not done in all the units all the time. We also had a fan on the balcony that did not work, that was replaced by maintenance, immediately.
Apparently, part of the problem is some of the housekeepers are being deployed from other resorts and do not like it, hence, the housekeeping suffers for the people who are in the units.
One of my major gripes is I constantly have to ask for pot holders.
This is something I do not understand. I do not understand why there is not a checklist and why the housekeeping staff does not do a check off list. I do not understand why items missing are not charged to the guest who takes them. If a check off list is done each time a unit is prepared and vacated and the guest informed that they will be charged for those items missing when they check out (breakage not counted) I would think that the items will not be growing legs and our costs to replace these items would be significantly reduced. I don't understand WHY people need to take throw pillows, blankets, pot holders, etc.
What is the point?
I guess this was not the most relaxing vacation I have ever had. I don't mean to sound so negative, but, it was very frustrating.
There were, however, many positive points to the vacation. Plenty of tennis time, park time, nice restaurants (Chevy's Mexican was excellent), nice people, low park crowds. I had a WONDERFUL day at SeaWorld, I love that park!!!!
We had rented an intermediate from Priceline and had a VERY low bid accepted by Avis. We got there and I asked that the car NOT be white, she asked if beige was ok, and I said, sure, well, she assigned us a lovely Champagne Monte Carlo. What a nice surprise. SWA was their usual fun airlines (we even were told about the "complimentary air", which we luckily did not need).
Our flight was delayed leaving, but, understandable considering the weather in the NE. It worked out cause we missed all the Hartford traffic on the way home. I discovered Winn Dixie, great prices, near OKW, clean and not terribly busy. They even have do it yourself scanners.
If anyone has any questions, ask away.
Dee and I made our semi annual trip to WDW Jan.25 thru Feb.1.
I decided to "save" weekend points and opted for AKL for two nights on a very nice rate for AP for a savannah view at 375.00 for two nights, including taxes. We were first assigned to a third floor room that had the requested king sized bed, but, it was a no smoking room. Since I refuse to smoke in a non smoking room and since you cannot smoke on the balconies of any room facing the savannah, I requested that they reassign the room.
The room assigner said that smoking was not guaranteed, WRONG!!!! Luckily I did bring my ressie confirmation which stated that it was guaranteed, the king bed was not. SOOOOO, they upgraded Dee and I to a deluxe savannah view with two queen beds and ashtrays. The view had two different savannahs, but, a much better view of the fire escape stairs. Charming. NOT.
There was also a cockroach in the room, which sent me into a tizzy. I did call and report this. Also, housekeeping banged(literally) on the door at 8:30 am on Sunday to ask when we were checking out. I take some responsibility for this intrusion as I did not put the do not disturb sign out, BUT, the bill was hanging on the door when she knocked, so, I put some of the responsibility on them. It will be addressed in a letter to the General Manager of that resort. The room was very nice, large, and did not smell of stale smoke (yes, even a smoker can smell that). Unfortunately, you knew when you hit the smoking optional corridors, they did reek of stale smoke. They need to have one of those fresh air machines in there for awhile. I can totally understand the lament of non smokers regarding this issue. I found the front desk CM's to be cold. Boma's was a nice restaurant, but, I did not appreciate the food the way others do, but, that is me. It was nicely prepared and presented beautifully.
Our waiter, Michael, was excellent. My favorite item there was the banana bread pudding (warm) with the vanilla sauce.
Dee loved it, but, he likes beef. LOL
The fast food area was nice, but, the powdered eggs were awful, who knew they were that bad? The pizzas were good, they use a LOT of cheese on these pizzas.
The bar at Victoria Falls was very nice and the bartender was, by far, the best CM there. No, I did not drink too much.
I guess, in reality, is once you get used to staying at OKW in a one bedroom or more, a room is just that, a room. Dee and I have, obviously, been terribly spoiled. All in all, AKL is a beautiful resort, typically Disney for class and amenities. However, I would be hard pressed to stay there again. For the amount of time we were in the room, to save points I would opt for one of the moderates or a suite off site.
The moving from one resort to the other was absolutely effortless.
I had packed the night before and after being disturbed early by housekeeping, we were ready to go well before the check out time of 11 am. We went out to breakfast after we left the resort and checked into OKW around noon and were informed that our unit was not ready (no big deal as check in is not until after 4pm), so, we took off to the parks and "chilled" there.
We requested (and received) unit 4121. When we entered the unit it looked good, however, upon closer inspection found that housekeeping had not been "cleaning corners". The throw pillows on the couch and loveseat had grown legs and were no longer there. Many things were missing and I reported this and they were replaced. The thing that drove us totally nuts was a spot on the bathroom floor which I had noticed back in Sept. I know this sounds paranoid, but, it is no lie. We spoke to housekeeping about this and it was supposed to be done, but, it never did get fixed. Naturally, this lead to finding other things that were not right. We ultimately spoke with the houskeeping manager who ended up cleaning the unit and giving us full housekeeping daily for the remainder of our stay. I felt he went WAY beyond our expectations, so, I refuse to make this an issue to dwell on. Suffice it to say that when he was done, the unit looked brand new. Too bad this is not done in all the units all the time. We also had a fan on the balcony that did not work, that was replaced by maintenance, immediately.
Apparently, part of the problem is some of the housekeepers are being deployed from other resorts and do not like it, hence, the housekeeping suffers for the people who are in the units.
One of my major gripes is I constantly have to ask for pot holders.
This is something I do not understand. I do not understand why there is not a checklist and why the housekeeping staff does not do a check off list. I do not understand why items missing are not charged to the guest who takes them. If a check off list is done each time a unit is prepared and vacated and the guest informed that they will be charged for those items missing when they check out (breakage not counted) I would think that the items will not be growing legs and our costs to replace these items would be significantly reduced. I don't understand WHY people need to take throw pillows, blankets, pot holders, etc.
What is the point?
I guess this was not the most relaxing vacation I have ever had. I don't mean to sound so negative, but, it was very frustrating.
There were, however, many positive points to the vacation. Plenty of tennis time, park time, nice restaurants (Chevy's Mexican was excellent), nice people, low park crowds. I had a WONDERFUL day at SeaWorld, I love that park!!!!
We had rented an intermediate from Priceline and had a VERY low bid accepted by Avis. We got there and I asked that the car NOT be white, she asked if beige was ok, and I said, sure, well, she assigned us a lovely Champagne Monte Carlo. What a nice surprise. SWA was their usual fun airlines (we even were told about the "complimentary air", which we luckily did not need).
Our flight was delayed leaving, but, understandable considering the weather in the NE. It worked out cause we missed all the Hartford traffic on the way home. I discovered Winn Dixie, great prices, near OKW, clean and not terribly busy. They even have do it yourself scanners.
If anyone has any questions, ask away.
