Okay... so I don't usually write trip reports since I'm a cast member... but... I got to visit the parks as a tourist the past few days... soo... here goes.
Well... as some of you might know, my mother came down this past week to visit me for Mother's Day... I wanted to put her up at AK Lodge... but since it was just her, and not my father, she didn't want to spend that money just on her... so, she went for All Star Music.
Before she checked in, I went down to ask if I could put in for some preferences. The cast member at the desk happily obliged me, and put her in the Rock 'n Roll section for me. I knew it was further back, but I wanted her to be in a section she'd like... (she's not a big fan of country, or jazz) Besides, my mother likes to walk, and it's really not a far walk at all.
I was working the day she arrived, so she took the Mears shuttle in... (and will be taking it back, as well) She had no problems with the Mears shuttle, they were very good to her. When she got to All Star Music, she checked in, and they gave her a map, and sent her on her way to her room... by herself... having to lug around her bags. It took her 25 minutes to find her room because she ended up getting lost. (She now knows her way)
Maybe it's because I'm used to putting them up in a Deluxe resort, and I know it's a value resort, and you won't find all the amenities... but I think it would have been nice if they at least helped her to her room. My mother is a very capable person, a world traveller, and extremely intelligent person... But, when in a new location, one can get lost easily. They didn't even point her in the right direction...
The first night she arrived, we went to Boma for dinner... (Restaurant review in other topic)... excellent place. Our second day, we went to Epcot for the day... We had fun, remembering when I was a little kid and such. And my mother got to go on Test Track again... (that, and It's Tough to be a Bug are her two favorites). We were in France, and I got pulled aside to be part of the World Showcase Players, and I ended up playing "Cyranose Deburgerac" It was fun, and I got a cool pin out of it.
We then went to the Beach Club, for the Cape May Cafe seafood buffet. To be honest... I wasn't too impressed... there wasn't much selection, and the food was okay at best. (But then again, I'm a New Englander... so nothing can top true NE seafood...)
After dinner, we went back to Epcot to see Illuminations. We got a nice spot right between the tower gift shops... I don't know whether it was because we were so close, or if they've changed Illuminations (I know they were dabbling with some things), but this was the BEST RoE show I've ever seen... more spectacular than normal.
The next day was spent at DAK... Went to see Festival of the Lion King (Love that show). While on the Kiliminjaro Safari, one of the Giraffes came up to us so close, we could have petted it... really cool. We did a bunch of other things, and had fun. I wanted to stay for the parade (My favorite parade) but it was so hot, so we ended up going back to All Star Music.
(By the way... we took Disney Transport the entire time, and left my car at the All Stars... We never waited more than 5 mins for a bus... and although the bus was crowded during peak usage times such as park exits, it was never bad...)
We went to Spoodles over at the Boardwalk for dinner... The food was incredible. I would definetly highly recommend this restaurant. Our server, Karen was very friendly... Unfortunetly, halfway through my mother's salad, she discovered a small piece of metal... looked like the head to a screw... Karen quickly took the salad to a manager, who came over to apologise. He offered to get my mother another appetizer, but my mother just wanted another Arugala salad because it was so good. When Karen brought it over, she told us "I'm very sorry about that... I talked to the manager, and he said he'd take care of your dinner for you." Now... when someone tells me that, I take it to assume that our meal was on the house... However, as it turns out... just my mother's dinner was comp'ed... we ended up having to pay for everything else. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mind paying for my meal, it was very delicious... but when something like that happens, and the manager comes over to handle it, I kind of expected Disney to comp the entire meal. But... oh well. It was still a good restaurant, and I'd definetly eat there again.
After Spoodles, we went to see Cirque du Soleil. *SIMPLY INCREDIBLY AMAZING* I can't say enough about that show. It's definetly a MUST SEE. (And for all those cast members out there... we can now buy tickets for any show in ADVANCE... just like everyone else... so don't beleive the people who tell you that you have to go an hour before the show... because then you'll get nose-bleed seats like us...) Actually, our seats weren't that bad... Row wise... any row is good... I'd actually prefer the back ones to the front ones. But as for section, I'd go for the center most area... the top corners have a tendancy to cut off some of the "backdrop acrobatics" that goes on. Oh, and by the way... bring an extra set of eyes, because there's always like 10 things going on, and it's hard to figure out which one to look at!
To bring a close to my mother's vacation... because of my mother's flight... Mears has to pick her up at 4:00am... Now, I didn't want my mother walking with her luggage at night through the resort to the front, so I went to Guest Services, and asked if they could arrange someone to pick her up. I was told that they can't do that, and the only thing they might be able to do is pick up her luggage only at 3am. Nope, sorry, not good enough for my mother. I ended up going home, and calling one of the managers there. He was very nice to me, and explained that although it's not a thing they usually do... he would ask for the same thing for his mother, at that hour, and so he told me, "Consider it done."
Soooooooo... all in all... there were some things that I was dissapointed with in Disney... and other things that I thought were good... I'm really glad that manager at All Stars took care of my concern... restores my faith in creating guest magic.
Well... as some of you might know, my mother came down this past week to visit me for Mother's Day... I wanted to put her up at AK Lodge... but since it was just her, and not my father, she didn't want to spend that money just on her... so, she went for All Star Music.
Before she checked in, I went down to ask if I could put in for some preferences. The cast member at the desk happily obliged me, and put her in the Rock 'n Roll section for me. I knew it was further back, but I wanted her to be in a section she'd like... (she's not a big fan of country, or jazz) Besides, my mother likes to walk, and it's really not a far walk at all.
I was working the day she arrived, so she took the Mears shuttle in... (and will be taking it back, as well) She had no problems with the Mears shuttle, they were very good to her. When she got to All Star Music, she checked in, and they gave her a map, and sent her on her way to her room... by herself... having to lug around her bags. It took her 25 minutes to find her room because she ended up getting lost. (She now knows her way)
Maybe it's because I'm used to putting them up in a Deluxe resort, and I know it's a value resort, and you won't find all the amenities... but I think it would have been nice if they at least helped her to her room. My mother is a very capable person, a world traveller, and extremely intelligent person... But, when in a new location, one can get lost easily. They didn't even point her in the right direction...
The first night she arrived, we went to Boma for dinner... (Restaurant review in other topic)... excellent place. Our second day, we went to Epcot for the day... We had fun, remembering when I was a little kid and such. And my mother got to go on Test Track again... (that, and It's Tough to be a Bug are her two favorites). We were in France, and I got pulled aside to be part of the World Showcase Players, and I ended up playing "Cyranose Deburgerac" It was fun, and I got a cool pin out of it.
We then went to the Beach Club, for the Cape May Cafe seafood buffet. To be honest... I wasn't too impressed... there wasn't much selection, and the food was okay at best. (But then again, I'm a New Englander... so nothing can top true NE seafood...)
After dinner, we went back to Epcot to see Illuminations. We got a nice spot right between the tower gift shops... I don't know whether it was because we were so close, or if they've changed Illuminations (I know they were dabbling with some things), but this was the BEST RoE show I've ever seen... more spectacular than normal.
The next day was spent at DAK... Went to see Festival of the Lion King (Love that show). While on the Kiliminjaro Safari, one of the Giraffes came up to us so close, we could have petted it... really cool. We did a bunch of other things, and had fun. I wanted to stay for the parade (My favorite parade) but it was so hot, so we ended up going back to All Star Music.
(By the way... we took Disney Transport the entire time, and left my car at the All Stars... We never waited more than 5 mins for a bus... and although the bus was crowded during peak usage times such as park exits, it was never bad...)
We went to Spoodles over at the Boardwalk for dinner... The food was incredible. I would definetly highly recommend this restaurant. Our server, Karen was very friendly... Unfortunetly, halfway through my mother's salad, she discovered a small piece of metal... looked like the head to a screw... Karen quickly took the salad to a manager, who came over to apologise. He offered to get my mother another appetizer, but my mother just wanted another Arugala salad because it was so good. When Karen brought it over, she told us "I'm very sorry about that... I talked to the manager, and he said he'd take care of your dinner for you." Now... when someone tells me that, I take it to assume that our meal was on the house... However, as it turns out... just my mother's dinner was comp'ed... we ended up having to pay for everything else. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mind paying for my meal, it was very delicious... but when something like that happens, and the manager comes over to handle it, I kind of expected Disney to comp the entire meal. But... oh well. It was still a good restaurant, and I'd definetly eat there again.
After Spoodles, we went to see Cirque du Soleil. *SIMPLY INCREDIBLY AMAZING* I can't say enough about that show. It's definetly a MUST SEE. (And for all those cast members out there... we can now buy tickets for any show in ADVANCE... just like everyone else... so don't beleive the people who tell you that you have to go an hour before the show... because then you'll get nose-bleed seats like us...) Actually, our seats weren't that bad... Row wise... any row is good... I'd actually prefer the back ones to the front ones. But as for section, I'd go for the center most area... the top corners have a tendancy to cut off some of the "backdrop acrobatics" that goes on. Oh, and by the way... bring an extra set of eyes, because there's always like 10 things going on, and it's hard to figure out which one to look at!
To bring a close to my mother's vacation... because of my mother's flight... Mears has to pick her up at 4:00am... Now, I didn't want my mother walking with her luggage at night through the resort to the front, so I went to Guest Services, and asked if they could arrange someone to pick her up. I was told that they can't do that, and the only thing they might be able to do is pick up her luggage only at 3am. Nope, sorry, not good enough for my mother. I ended up going home, and calling one of the managers there. He was very nice to me, and explained that although it's not a thing they usually do... he would ask for the same thing for his mother, at that hour, and so he told me, "Consider it done."
Soooooooo... all in all... there were some things that I was dissapointed with in Disney... and other things that I thought were good... I'm really glad that manager at All Stars took care of my concern... restores my faith in creating guest magic.