Oh man, I'm sorry your stay was less than magical.
I'm not sorry that we tried it again, just disappointed. We had tried it once and wanted to give it a second try, hoping that perhaps our experience would be different the second time, but it really wasn't any different.
Thanks for your detailed (and honest) review. I'm sorry your stay was not a positive one. YC CL used to be on my list of clubs to try, but has been taken off that list for a few reasons (same for BC CL), but mostly due to all of the negative reviews I've read about it the last several months. Having only stayed 3 CLs (with WL CL being one of them), I often wonder how others will compare. Reading reports such as yours has made me rethink the YC, so we will be sticking with the MK area resorts for now
.
Regarding Yachtsman....I'm glad you had a great experience there. We tried it a few years ago and can't wait to go back. The food was great, the waitstaff was very friendly and attentive, and the atmosphere was nice. Glad you will be returning
.
I'm sorry you didn't have a pleasant YC CL stay. I totally agree about WL CL as it's hard to beat
.
I agree as she has a lot of good input all the time.
WL CL was our first CL stay and we had an amazing time!!! It makes me sad that not all Disney CLs are the same as far as friendly CMs
.
I have no regrets that we gave YC another try and if we weren't staying there, we probably wouldn't have tried YS, which is now a must-do for us.
BTW, did you book your package yesterday?
I didn't think anyone would surpass GF CMs, and picky DH even got along SO well with the WL CMs
(sorry to hijack the YC review Kook)
No apologies - please! I always enjoy a varied and far-reaching Disney discussion. It's all related and pertinent in my Disney book
Sorry to hear that you had such a terrible experience at the YC. 2 years ago you gave me some great info on WL CL and I have to say that has been my favorite place so far. Last year we stayed at BC CL in a 1 bedroom suite and had an experience very similar to your stay at YC. This year we're staying at the BWI in a deluxe room. This will be our 3rd stay there. I'm hoping the rehab on the deluxe rooms will be complete by the time we get there in 3 weeks. It's too bad that we can't just pick WL up and move it over to the Epcot hotel area!
I love the Bay Lake/MK area too much to move it, but I know what you mean. I really love the lush surroundings and woods and being near FW.
The BWI Deluxe rooms on the 4th floor are already done and the five on the 3rd floor should be done by now, too. I hope you'll post about your stay on the BWI thread - happy travels.
it must be contagious. My children don't listen to me either.
Thanks for the review.
You're welcome and speaking of not listening, I have an example of DD not listening to me just yesterday when I asked her to "smile." This is what a 15-year-old looks like driving home from school for the first time:
Oh I had hoped it might of gotten better ... Yikes! I had a similar experience with bags of trash in hallways and trays ect. and this was 2 yrs ago. It definitely does not have to be this way and simply sending CM to pick up 3 times a day is a need. We just stayed at an embassy suites and the hallways were picked up several times a day ... At a disney world CL this should be a no brainer to clear the hallways of trash and trays.
The location is fabulous so it's sad
And, I bet the WiFi was better at the ES
The CL 7th floor of WL rarely ever has anything in the hallways except a couple of Lodgekeeping carts in each wing and sometimes a room service tray. Either fewer guests are leaving dishes in their rooms there or they are being brought back to the lounge more often/quickly than some other resorts.
KOOK, dd favorite dinner restaurant is the Yachtsman! Food is great and service matches.
YS seems to be a consistent favorite of so many
That's what great about Disney - different resorts for different people.
The one resort I have absolutely NO desire to stay at is WL.
We've gone there for dinner and looked around and it's just eh to me. Add that fact that the rooms are so small makes it easy to avoid staying there.
Now we loved YC and BC CL!
Different strokes for different folks. Sorry you didn't enjoy your YC stay,.
I looked at it as a learning experience. Staying twice at YC-CL gave me a more informed opinion of the resort. While visiting a resort answers many important questions about the location, feel, amenities and theming, when you actually experience the resort by staying there, you have a much better feel for things like the lounge, level of service, the CMs and the food quality and offerings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MXqb1a3Apg
thank you
and I really wish they could get Housekeeping under better control everywhere. Of course, it depends on the behaviors of the guests as well. As you said, rooms can get so much wear and tear very quickly
Loved the vintage video! You are so right that resorts everywhere have many challenges when it comes to guests. And, some resorts seem to handle that challenge better than others.
We stayed at YC-CL about 5 years ago. I think the rooms had been redone not long before our stay, so room cleanliness wasn't an issue. I was disappointed with the CL lounge itself though. We've stayed CL at AKL,Poly and GF before our stay at YC. The YC lounge does not compare to the other three in the least!! (SAB was a major plus, though) In the future, i may stay at YC, but not book a CL room.
SAB is a big draw for many guests and it offers something for everyone
So sorry you did not have a pleasant start to your vacation. I'm happy tho you finished off at WL/CL. Curious... When you saw the side/roof view would you have considered asking to switch rooms if the resort not at (hard to believe) capacity?? Another thing checked off our list.
We have not yet tried Yatchman but just may have to next trip. The ribeye and unique Cesar look yummy!
Thanks for your always thorough and honest reviews.
You MUST try YS!
The view wasn't an issue for us for a couple of reasons. We didn't book a Water/Pool View on purpose, we were upgraded to it. And, my only room request was to not have a connecting door. When the CM told me that our room had one, I asked if there was a room, any room, without one, but she said they were at 100% occupancy so moving to another room wasn't a possibility. I already knew that all the 5th floor rooms have rooftop views, to some extent. That's why we booked a Standard View since paying for a Water/Pool View isn't worth it to us. It isn't necessarily a Lagoon View and you see a lot of the roof from your balcony. This is also one of the reasons we never book a TPV at CR, but we love the BLV.
So sorry about your YC CL stay, Kook. Poor housekeeping is the worst! One would expect better in a luxury resort, especially at CL level.
Looks like you may have had the same room that we had last November. I was definitely less than thrilled with the view (We paid for lagoon view). Our room had the connecting door as well.
The CL offerings have gone down hill tremendously over the past couple of years. The days of shrimp lobster and crab seem to be long gone. Now it's fried pastries filled with mystery meat/gunk. I still remember all that delicious Maine lobster.....Mmmmm!
I am surprised that you couldn't sit outside on the balcony. You were able to do so when we stayed at YC CL last. However, as you said, the view is less than inspiring.
The MK CL's still seem to be pretty good, though. I don't think that staying CL in the Epcot resorts is for me anymore.
Looking forward to hearing about your WL CL experience!!
There weren't any chairs out on the lounge balcony and there seemed to be some cleaning equipment(?) out there. The curtains/sheers were often closed so going out onto the balcony didn't really seem like a viable option. We feel the same as you about the Epcot CLs and we prefer the Bay Lake CLs.
We stayed at Poly the first week of Feb. in the Fiji Longhouse facing the Marina. I was shocked at how dingy and worn out the hallways appeared. The elevator walls were filthy. However, room was clean and spacious. There were bags of trash and dirty laundry up and down the hallways for most of each day.
It is amazing to me that Disney is so busy with new construction while neglecting basic repairs needed in existing buildings and just deep cleaning of common areas. This seems to be a problem across Disney resorts as we also had stay planned at CBR October, 2013 and had to leave after a few hours in room due to terrible odor which turned out to be mold growing inside A/C . After calling front desk (or where ever call went to) a maid came to room and told us we would get used to the smell, no worries!" We left and went over to POFQ which along with the WL is our favorite resort!
Now THAT was a really bad room and this isn't the first time I've read comments similar to yours about the Poly.
We've stayed only twice at the Poly and have pretty much decided never to return. We had a similar experience to yours as far as the overall cleanliness. The hallways at the Poly were filled with dirty dishes and sand was everywhere most of the day. We started taking the stairs because the elevator was too funky. We had trash in our room when we arrived and a pervasive moldy smell as well. This experience was enough for us and after enduring a couple of nights, we moved to CR. There weren't any Tower rooms available, but we had a Bay Lake-facing Garden Wing room. The room and view were wonderful, but the GW hallways were also full of dirty dishes and linens most of the day.
Thanks for your honest review (love your reviews!)
We are staying BC CL (our first time in CL) before we head over to WL CL so hoping that it doesn't start off like your trip!
SO GLAD you liked the Yachtsman! DH and I Love Love Love this Steakhouse and have made it so that we will always go there no matter how short of a trip we take to WDW
Will you be at BC before or after the rehab? Split stays are fun!
We stayed there last year and I remember the dishes in the hallway all day long. I thought it was strange that they wouldn't send someone through a few times a day with a cart to pick up dirty dishes.
I even mentioned the YC hallways to a WL manager and he, too thought that was odd and they shouldn't be full of carts, dirty dishes and laundry.
I think it's a fairly common issue with many resorts' CL floors. I remember this being an issue at BWI as well. It's very unappealing to look at, and since it's mainly contained to one floor at most resorts, I'm not sure it would be difficult to keep up with.
You work there, you walk by, you pick it up. Problem solved
Funny you mention the bolded because at least in the parks, that is the motto that CMs live by. You will see ALL CMs picking up trash. Unfortunately, I've experienced the dirty hallway effect at non-CL floors, too. Particularly bad were the Poly and GW at CR. We also noticed it on the 5th floor of WL when we stayed in a Deluxe room. The 7th floor of WL is the only floor where it hasn't been an issue - yet.
Thanks Kook for the honest and thorough review. We have not stayed at YC CL (just a regular room at YC, but we prefer the BC so we probably won't go back to YC...). We've stayed many times at various CL's and I don't understand why there aren't higher standards on housekeeping. I'm not sure if it's hard to find good, quality workers or if the workers simply can't keep up with the guests. We personally don't put dirty dishes outside of our room -- we keep them neatly stacked on the dresser/area right near the door. But, still, someone should take a stroll down the halls and collect dirty dishes/linens/trash on a regular basis.
Also, I think Disney needs to plan refurbs sooner rather than later, perhaps even yearly. We stayed at Poly CL right after the room refurb was done and the room was absolutely fabulous/flawless/beautiful. Then 9 months later, we stayed there again (and had the EXACT same room!) and we couldn't believe how much it had deteriorated in just 9 months. It's almost like just the basic cleaning is done between guests -- sinks, toilet, shower, dressers -- but everything else goes to pot. The basics weren't dirty, but the carpet was all stained, dust had accumulated "behind and under" things to the point where you could tell it probably hadn't been cleaned in months.
I really think it always comes down to management. If the managers don't care, then some of the employees who work for them won't care or won't know to care, either.
Disney's challenge is to consistently clean up a room or a hallway even after the messiest of guests. This can be done, but it isn't done
consistently and I think much of the reason comes down to the manager. If a manager isn't doing random room checks and hallway checks, the employees know this.
Your example of the new Vs. 9-month old Poly room is very interesting. Once a room is forgotten by management and is minimally cleaned, then that room will, as you say, go to pot fast.
Thank you for your review; it is much appreciated. Gotta say that the trash thing in the halls is more than I can stand. No excuse for that.
We are booked in a deluxe room in December at the BC, in a deluxe room--more for the space than the CL thing, which I have found rather lackluster at my one CL stay, at the WL. We were in a deluxe room on the 4th or 5th floor (can't remember which, sorry) and had a great view but the beds were horrible, and the CL service was spotty. The room was clean, and in good repair, though. But that was last December. The armoire didn't have a noticeable odor...but the TP roller on the toothpaste?
I would have taken a picture of that and stormed the GMs office.
Am I understanding the BC refurb will be done by December?
These reviews of the YC/BC resorts and the CL are making me re-think this whole deal. I realize this post may make me sound super picky and demanding, but actually I have fairly realistic expectations and only expect that promises made are delivered upon. If Disney can't give CL service, they shouldn't offer it. If they can't or won't maintain clean, well kept rooms they should sell their properties to someone that can, and cut their prices in half.
I confess I put the CL CMs rather on notice by basically saying that for our family it is "put up or shut up" time for Disney resorts. If standards aren't met we will probably will still go the parks but will stay OP, where our dollar goes further and we won't be frustrated by the inattentive, lack luster, uninspired service and worn out rooms. Get it together, Disney. Leaving junk in the hall all day is inexcusable at any monetary rate, but certainly at the "deluxe" rates it is just simply ridiculous.
Again, WDWKook, thanks for your fair and balanced review.
You're welcome and really, WDW Resorts are all about location, location, location. Of course there are finer resorts, with more expansive and better club levels and cleaner and nicer rooms and better service, but none are located on Disney property. Sounds to me like you might be considering the Four Seasons soon
BTW, Guess Communications is a great way to convey your thoughts to WDW about your stay. I always email a note after our stays and mention any CMs, by name, who went above and beyond. I have also mentioned disappointing experiences. I've always received a response, usually by phone and they always seem appreciative of my comments. I know that management does share the comments, usually on a weekly basis during meetings, with CMs.
and I agree with you about the messy hallways and need for much better cleaning of Disney rooms, especially in between guests.
You obviously haven't met my 15-year-old DD
