Rosebud123
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2012
- Messages
- 880
First off, we all adore this resort! It's our first time here and we all love being right in the middle of the WDW action. The resort is crazy close to everything. It's more convenient than the locations of our last two stays - Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness. IMO, no difference between WBC and staying "on-site." (Disclaimer: On all our on-site trips, we've always avoided EMH parks and although we've had the dining plan when it was free, we'd never choose to pay for it. We also always rent a car because we don't like relying on busses.) Anyway, the grounds are gorgeous and super clean.
Now for the bad stuff... We checked in on a busy Thursday (end of week after Easter) at 2:30. They said they normally don't let you check in early, but they had a room ready in Tower 5 on the 3rd floor, parking lot view. I nicely asked if there was anyway we could get a pool/water view in any of the towers. The person checking us in called someone a few times, but every room he tried had some issues (broken door, carpet that needed to be cleaned, etc.) He said we could have a first floor parking lot view in the same tower, but we choose the 3rd floor. Anyway, went to the room and we discovered that we had one of the gross peeling couches. Someone had written "bull...." on the part that was peeling in black marker and housekeeping must have tried to clean it off. Also, our view was of the parking lot and parking garage. Ugghh!! Anyway, I called our assigned parking desk person and she said she'd see what she could do. 10 minutes later she called back to say we could look at the first floor room if we wanted, but there was no guarantee that that couch would be better. I walked over to the front desk at tower 6 to pick up a key to the other room. Although the couch was perfect, the unit on the first floor was even darker looking that the one we already had, plus it was dirty! Crumbs on the counter and a very dirty mirror. We decided to stay put and just threw a small towel over the stained/peeling part of the couch so we wouldn't have to look at it. We stayed in this room for 5 nights and made good use of the pool/lazy river outside our building, as well as the pool/pirate slide by bldg 6. Both of these pools were fine, but, like the rooms, a little dark looking. They were also pretty crowded. One thing that totally grossed me out was the dirty, smeared window in a hallway in tower 5. It was covered in gross, dirty handprints/food smears for the entire 5 nights we were there! I couldn't believe that housekeeping didn't break out the Windex and clean it up.
We had family who joined us later in our trip who were staying in bldg 2, 5th floor lake/fireworks view. We met them in their room for drinks one night and almost died when we saw how gorgeous their room was! Granite counter tops, beautiful furniture, and an unbelievable view! (Even the hallway in blgd 2 was super pretty and clean!) They were only staying a few days, so I went to the front desk and asked if we could switch to their room for the last 5 nights of our stay. (We had to go the front desk and get our keys the minute they checked out. Otherwise the room would be turned over to housekeeping and we'd have no guarantee of getting it.) We're in this room now and so much happier! The view is so beautiful during the day and night. Awesome view of the Epcot fireworks and another set 15 minutes later. I'm guessing those are from Fantasmic?? Since moving over, we've used the pools at the Grand (nice), the pool w/the blue slide between 3 and 4 (kids love the slide, pools a bit lame and loud, but the bar/food aspect is nice) and the main pool/lazy river, which is our favorite by far! Very mellow and very pretty!!!
Anyway, I'll post pics when we return but I wanted to share my experience. IMO, the best buildings are the main building and towers 1, 2, and 3. I think 4, 5, and 6 are too big and not that pretty. Also, that part of the resort just seems much darker/cramped overall. Even the parking lots views of the towers I like are much nicer that the parking lots views from the other towers.
I'd come back here again in a heartbeat, even if I had a peeling couch and lousy view! It's awesome.
Now for the bad stuff... We checked in on a busy Thursday (end of week after Easter) at 2:30. They said they normally don't let you check in early, but they had a room ready in Tower 5 on the 3rd floor, parking lot view. I nicely asked if there was anyway we could get a pool/water view in any of the towers. The person checking us in called someone a few times, but every room he tried had some issues (broken door, carpet that needed to be cleaned, etc.) He said we could have a first floor parking lot view in the same tower, but we choose the 3rd floor. Anyway, went to the room and we discovered that we had one of the gross peeling couches. Someone had written "bull...." on the part that was peeling in black marker and housekeeping must have tried to clean it off. Also, our view was of the parking lot and parking garage. Ugghh!! Anyway, I called our assigned parking desk person and she said she'd see what she could do. 10 minutes later she called back to say we could look at the first floor room if we wanted, but there was no guarantee that that couch would be better. I walked over to the front desk at tower 6 to pick up a key to the other room. Although the couch was perfect, the unit on the first floor was even darker looking that the one we already had, plus it was dirty! Crumbs on the counter and a very dirty mirror. We decided to stay put and just threw a small towel over the stained/peeling part of the couch so we wouldn't have to look at it. We stayed in this room for 5 nights and made good use of the pool/lazy river outside our building, as well as the pool/pirate slide by bldg 6. Both of these pools were fine, but, like the rooms, a little dark looking. They were also pretty crowded. One thing that totally grossed me out was the dirty, smeared window in a hallway in tower 5. It was covered in gross, dirty handprints/food smears for the entire 5 nights we were there! I couldn't believe that housekeeping didn't break out the Windex and clean it up.
We had family who joined us later in our trip who were staying in bldg 2, 5th floor lake/fireworks view. We met them in their room for drinks one night and almost died when we saw how gorgeous their room was! Granite counter tops, beautiful furniture, and an unbelievable view! (Even the hallway in blgd 2 was super pretty and clean!) They were only staying a few days, so I went to the front desk and asked if we could switch to their room for the last 5 nights of our stay. (We had to go the front desk and get our keys the minute they checked out. Otherwise the room would be turned over to housekeeping and we'd have no guarantee of getting it.) We're in this room now and so much happier! The view is so beautiful during the day and night. Awesome view of the Epcot fireworks and another set 15 minutes later. I'm guessing those are from Fantasmic?? Since moving over, we've used the pools at the Grand (nice), the pool w/the blue slide between 3 and 4 (kids love the slide, pools a bit lame and loud, but the bar/food aspect is nice) and the main pool/lazy river, which is our favorite by far! Very mellow and very pretty!!!
Anyway, I'll post pics when we return but I wanted to share my experience. IMO, the best buildings are the main building and towers 1, 2, and 3. I think 4, 5, and 6 are too big and not that pretty. Also, that part of the resort just seems much darker/cramped overall. Even the parking lots views of the towers I like are much nicer that the parking lots views from the other towers.
I'd come back here again in a heartbeat, even if I had a peeling couch and lousy view! It's awesome.
This will be my first trip and if all goes well I want to make it something that we do more often.
