21stamps
Well-Known Member
Can you articulate what the difference is?
-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
Changes to private dining hours at Walt Disney World Resort hotels
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
Can you articulate what the difference is?
Horizons '83
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Hilton Fees will get you. $20 bucks for parking $25 for the ever so useless "resort fee" and without being on property nor getting any of the perks (at least currently). Disney Resorts do have their advantages. Price can't be the only reason to choose nor late night room service.
Andrew C
You know what's funny?
Horizons '83
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Holy Bojangles!Resort fee is up to $30 BTW
Guess I haven't stayed offsite in a while. I never understand why they don't just included that in the room rate, its much more tolerable in my mind when I see a $200 a night room rate without a resort fee as opposed to a $170 a night room rate plus $30 "resort fee".
peter11435
Well-Known Member
I'm specifically referring to the actual check in experience. The front desk cast members are just generally not as friendly knowledgeable or even helpful as they once were. The whole process seems largely cold and impersonal nowadays and I generally get a sense that the cast member is just trying to get it over with. Which is a stark difference from the experience years ago.
Nowadays it's generally being instructed to touch your magic band confirming a credit card and confirming a phone number so they can text you when your room is ready. Certainly not the days of being provided your SSC passport and the latest addition of the Sassagoula Times while the cast member extensively went over resort information and events and actually knew the answers to questions about the property.
Quoting, because it's just that damn good. Captured the difference and summed up perfectly and succinctly.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
I am dealing with that right now. $30-$50 resort fees per night, plus anywhere from $38-$45 per night for parking.
All of the hotels are well over $300 per night before these fees, and not one of them includes local transportation, and especially not to and from the airport. They also don’t include campfires, tiki lighting shows, maid-parades, fireworks views, etc etc etc etc.
On the Cabana note that someone brought up earlier, I rented a cabana at GF last year.. the entire day was only around $230 or something like that. I can not rent a cabana for that price at the majority of non-Disney resorts that we stay at.
I stay at Waldorfs relatively often and none have ever gifted me with a lei upon arrival
Maybe it’s because of the areas I travel to, but Disney front desk staff always appears just as nice and helpful as any other check in experience. I can see what you’re saying though, I think hospitality in general has gone downhill in recent years.
peter11435
Well-Known Member
I stay at Waldorfs relatively often and none have ever gifted me with a lei upon arrival
Maybe it’s because of the areas I travel to, but Disney front desk staff always appears just as nice and helpful as any other check in experience. I can see what you’re saying though, I think hospitality in general has gone downhill in recent years.
I'll just point out that this problem is not company wide. Checking in for DCL, Disneyland, or Aulani still provides a great experience. Especially Aulani.
Pixieish
Well-Known Member
See, I find that the front desk staff (or any person you deal with as part of their job) respond to how you behave yourself. If I'm super excited and happy, they respond in kind.
peter11435
Well-Known Member
My poor interactions are not my fault. Regardless this would not be a valid excuse even if it was and wouldn't explain them largely not having the knowledge to perform their role.
Pixieish
Well-Known Member
Maybe not, but I'm of the "you draw more flies with honey" variety, so I tend to be sugary sweet when dealing with anyone who works in a role like that and I've never had an issue that wasn't resolved.
Your comment makes actually no sense. Orlando is a market infiltrated with hotels, so comparing Disney to their nearest neighbors is the most apt comparison, not a semi-rural amusement park. Are you getting, essentially, a competitive experience compared to the market standard in Orlando for the hotel class of your choice? Deluxe Disney hotels charge more and advertise themselves as luxury experiences, so it's only fair to compare them as such. Six Flags and Cedar Fair are fine for why they are but they are regional amusement parks, not world class travel destinations that cater both to tourists and have thriving high-end convention businesses.
No Cedar Point hotel is charging $500-600/night for a basic room, either. When you fork over $700/night, you expect to pampered, catered to and have a flawless service experience that is on par with similar hotels of that price point. Sadly this is not the case in 2017.
The thing about Disney is they have their portfolio of hotels designed so you can choose your experience. Deluxe hotels were designed to be luxury experiences. Full stop. They were in 1995, but no longer in 2017. This room service thing is the tip of the iceberg. They laid off pool cocktail servers in the mid-'00s. Spas are hopelessly small and dated. Front desk service is staffed by college programmers who have zero concept of how to function in a luxury hospitality setting. Getting a sit-down breakfast can be impossible. Magical Express has left everyone else not using it in the lurch. Valets are slow and understaffed (anyone remember when Disney didn't outsource their valets and you were greeted with a smile and welcome?). Bellmen are hard to come by. The whole thing has become a people factory, churning guests in and out but it has completely lost the sense of personalized service to the guests.
My suspicion is many of the people defending Disney here aren't luxury travelers and don't see the loss of these services when they're cut as compared to other hotels.
As for the "benefits" of staying at a Disney hotel, the early dining and now fastpasses are certainly plusses if you're into planning every last detail of your trip months in advance. Morning EMH is and always has been a complete joke, often making the park of the day far busier than it would be otherwise by 11am.
Last edited:
Disney hotel check has become a genius bar for magic bands, nothing more. Last year they didn't even know how to extend my reservation an extra night.
Little Green Men
Well-Known Member
I found checking into WDW resorts far superior to DL hotels.
To your ignorant comment that people who go to Disney arent "luxury" travelers..I stay in plenty of high upscale hotels. From the Fairmont or Ritz in DC, Surrey, Plaza and Soho in NYC, Four Seasons and St Regis in San Fran, The conrad and hotel royal in London, Etc etc. I travel a great deal for business and am accustomed to eating at very expensive michelin Star restaurants and staying at Boutique and upscale hotels due to the nature of our business. But I also live in the real world and understand Apples to apples and apples to oranges comparisons, which you obviously are oblivious to. For what they are and in comparison to similar "resort" hotels anywhere else, the WDW Deluxe hotels are just fine and offer amenities equal to or beyond what their competitors offer. And since you keep moving the lines to allow you to change your argument, its not worth the discussion.
Except... he didn't say all people who go to Disney aren't luxury travelers...
*sigh*
21stamps
Well-Known Member
You shouldn’t compare Disney hotels to other nearby Orlando hotels when doing a Disney vacation.
You say that we can’t compare another ‘overpriced’ hotel on an amusement park’s property -‘because it’s not disney’.
So I’m not sure what your exact rules are on what we can compare.. but I’ll say this, for people who do travel, and who do typically stay in upscale and luxury hotels.. they realize that Disney overall comes with a heck of a lot more than the majority of them.. for typically a lower cost overall.
This is why I specifically ask for people to name the differences. I don’t think that some people who make such claims, really understand what happens at other hotels. $700 doesn’t get you pampering at every hotel.. not even close. It pays for your room and your resort fee will pay for a few amenities, most of which Disney has as well. Everything else is extra.
I agree the certain Disney rooms are very expensive, but I don’t think there are any other rooms in the US that can offer a view of Cinderella’s Castle. If you understand how location is intertwined with real estate and hotel prices, then you will understand why the price of those rooms exist, and why they are always booked solid.
Last edited:
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
I remember a time not long ago when checking in at WDW was indeed an experience one looked forward to, OKW being a home resort one would get a copy of the Sassagoula Times (when was the last time you saw one of those) and a rundown of every special event the Resort and WDW as a whole was having at the time, Right on down to what to the Chef was doing best at Olivia's this week! and the current best adult beverage to be had at the Gurgling Suitcase.
People say I'm bitter WRT to Disney and they indeed are correct, But the reason I became so was the loss of experiences like the one described above, Remember I'm paying a Member Fee to support services like the one I described yet MF's ratchet upwards and quality and service ratchet downward.
Before cutting so deeply into services perhaps DVC could have called a special meeting of the association and asked whether members would have supported a higher MF instead of service cutbacks, I for one would have voted YES.
The product that DVC delivers today is not the one I bought into all those years ago. (when park admission was included with a stay on points) As much as I liked that one even I did not expect it to last as it was a promotion for a 'new' kind of timeshare so but the deeply discounted AP more than made up for the loss of that perk.
Now unfortunately one would have to PAY me to visit WDW.
Read your wording - "... that people who go to Disney...". That doesn't imply some or a few, it implies all. If you didn't mean "all", then use the English language correctly and say it. But, to turn what you said back on you - it isn't worth the discussion.