Just Bcuz It Says Deluxe, Doesn't Mean It Is !!!

[erinshaneb]

We just returned from our week at WDW yesterday and I will be posting a trip report when i get a spare minute, but I did want to share this. We started out our trip at OKW, and it was so horrible we had to be transferred to AKL...I was shocked, I assumed that since OKW was a deluxe villa resort it would be up to Disney's standards..NOT EVEN CLOSE !!! I could have stayed at the Motel 6 and had nicer accommodations...It started out okay, we were greeted as we got off of Magical Express by a wonderful women that welcomed my daughter as "princess" and said "welcome home" and walked us inside and then it went downhill from there...She dropped us off at the counter that to me was a bit childish..they had ballons made into shapes of letters spelling out Welcome Home scotch taped the wall behind the counter (oh well, that may be just a matter of opinion)...The lady that checked us was non-chalant about the whole thing and then when I asked her where we were to go now she pointed out the parking pass in the folder..i told her we didn't drive, we flew and she said "oh, head back outside and see bell services..they will help you"..so we tromped back out side and waited in the heat for 15 minutes as they tried to figure out what to do..we had a crib and stroller deliverd to the resort, the crib was found, but not the mattress..then the stroller was found, but the lady that found it couldn't get it down, so the guy she sent back there to find it couldn't find it and it was just a mess..they finally load us onto a dirty golf cart that belched diesel smoke all over us the whole way to the room..The bell services guy was not very friendly and even had the stroller hanging half off the golf cart and I was very afraid it would fall off and I would be responsible....Finally we get to the room and were kinda underwhelmed....we have stayed at All-Stars Movies, Carribbean, Coronado, and AKL and there is a "Disney" standard that all resorts have (regardless of price level)..the room seemed a little dirty, but since we checked in before noon we thought that maid service might not have been there and decided to not worry too much, we unpacked and headed to the park since last year we miss Fantasmic and my daughter was soo upset..That night when we returned we discovered all the other problems..I have taken pics so that you can see i am not a nut case whose standards are way to high...Other than an over-all unfriendly atmosphere (we passed about 20 employees and not one said anything to us) we found these major problems..

• Hair dye all over the tile in both parts of the master bathroom
• Shower head constantly dripped and leaked
• Cracked tile in the master bath
• Urine stains (or lack of cleaning) at the toilet
• Mold all over the window in the shower
• Access door for jacuzzi tub had broken lock and instead of fixing it they wedged a piece of cardboard in the door to keep it closed (my 20 month old found it crawled under the tub IN the dirt they had been sweeping in there)
• A/C access door also had broken lock and it would swing open all the time
• Leaves all over porch that had been there so long some were starting to rot apart
• Lock on patio door broken
• Cart path for golf course less than 5' from patio
• All tile and shelves in bathroom covered in dust
• No toiletries left in master bath
• Fan in master bath covered in dirt and made horrible noise
• Handles on TV cabinet broken and just spun around
• Broken wire on light in 2nd bedroom
• All lights in 2nd bedroom would be one brightness when you turned them on, then dim to almost unusefulness after 3 minutes
• Fire hose connection outside of villa (glass box on wall) was missing the hose and a fire extingusher was just stuck in the case
• Dirt and mold all over door threshold going to patio

I can excuse a little dirt (that can always be cleaned), but the safety issues are unexcuseable !!! This was NOT a Disney hotel..this is our 7th trip in 10 years and we were shocked at the state of this resort..When we returned back to the resort that night and discovered all these issues we heade to the front desk to speak to someone....He offered to move us to another room and at that time, my husband was done...we decided to just move to AKL (which we should have stayed at in the first place, but I wanted to try somewhere different)..They called AKL, made the arrangements and apologized..They did say they were going to credit the cost of the room for the night..When we got to AKL after being at the park on Monday, there was NO reservation !!!! They called, but never transferred us!! So it took another 30 minutes at AKL to figure it out and fix the situation..we did get the credit, but I am not that worried about that...I do have to say the rest of the stay was as it should be...DISNEY quality to the nines....We tried to explain to the people at OKW that when you spend almost 5k on a vacation certain things should be a given...they are clueless, when we left the front desk at OKW we wanted to get some cokes..the store was closed so we asked if they had vending machines and they DIDN'T KNOW !!! He said he could call someone, but......NEVERMIND....I don't think I will ever get my husband to try a "new" place at WDW again...I can say that in the end Disney made good (as if they wouldn't), but it's a damn shame that the first two days of our vacation were filled with such hassles....I am so dissappointed, to me Deluxe Villa MEANS deluxe Villa...there should be a standard across the board for that level and OKW was NO WHERE NEAR IT !!!

https://picasaweb.google.com/110030352883970304605/OKW#

This is a photo album to all the pics

 

[Scuttle]

Are cobwebs the only thing you found? Because if so then it is not quite Mousekeeping's fault. A spider can put out a web amazingly fast. Plus. remember that Mousekeeping does not re-clean a room if it has been checked off as cleaned and not used since. They don't have time to clean the same room every day if no one has checked into the room. They will move on to the next one allowing a spider plenty of time to form a web. Now as for the stains and broken stuff like the OP had, yikes. No way that should have been allowed.

No, but there was like 3 different cobwebs. Also some stains on the walls and a little bit of dirt. I can't believe your basically saying it is not a big deal to have cobwebs on your balcony. I mean really? You pay all this money to stay at a hotel and they can't even do a brisk walk through of the check in rooms that day? I know at Loews the rooms are kept up a lot better. We constantly have people doing touch up work and painting rooms and painting the hallways and everything. It seems like Loews are worthy of the AAA four diamond award, but Disney deluxes do not seem worthy. Excluding the GF since I have never stayed there.

 

[wdwfan22]

We had the same issues when we stayed at Old Key West. It's an outdated resort that has not been kept up like the other Disney Resorts. The staff were not friendly and in the end we ended up moving to another resort.

 

[SusanAnne]

Disney should be ashamed that they allow any of their rooms to look that way. The pictures say it all. I'm glad you were able to get to the AKL, such a beautiful resort. I had thought in the past about staying at the OKW, but after reading all these post, I will never stay there. I will stay at the Beach Club instead. I hope you get a quick response, when we had an issue last year, Disney came thru with flying colors and made it right. Good Luck.

 

[walee]

I work at DHS and I can't tell you how many times i've heard this same story, and its so intresting that people keeping using the same phrase "I thought it would be up to disney standards" LETS BE REAL PEOPLE, Disney has been slipping this past decade 2000-2009, AND they still are. Until we demand better were gonna get the same, Disney doesn't have any competition, so really I think disney is just like a famous family, relying on their name alone at this point to make them money, but the time will come when they must change, you can't be on top of the pops forever

 

[disneyrcks]

No, but there was like 3 different cobwebs. Also some stains on the walls and a little bit of dirt. I can't believe your basically saying it is not a big deal to have cobwebs on your balcony. I mean really? You pay all this money to stay at a hotel and they can't even do a brisk walk through of the check in rooms that day? I know at Loews the rooms are kept up a lot better. We constantly have people doing touch up work and painting rooms and painting the hallways and everything. It seems like Loews are worthy of the AAA four diamond award, but Disney deluxes do not seem worthy. Excluding the GF since I have never stayed there.

We had the same problem at Poly. We called and they came and cleaned the spider webs and sprayed so the spiders wouldn't come back but those little jerks just kept rebuilding lol. I absolutely hate spiders but it seemed they did everything they could to try and fix the problem.

 

[Scuttle]

We had the same problem at Poly. We called and they came and cleaned the spider webs and sprayed so the spiders wouldn't come back but those little jerks just kept rebuilding lol. I absolutely hate spiders but it seemed they did everything they could to try and fix the problem.

Thats good. I guess next time I will call them and ask to get rid of them. Finally staying at the GF in December! Hopefully I won't have to call about cobwebs at the flagship resort, but you never know.

 

[wvdisneyfamily]

We had a similar experience at the Poly. The manager moved us to the Contemporary after 4 nights. We definitely wrote let guest relations know.

 

[wvdisneyfamily]

We had a similar experience in the famous Poly in 2010. The furniture looked used with several visible damages, there were coffee creamer stains spilled over parts of the furniture, there were a lot of cobwebs on our balcony, the windows hadn't been cleaned for weeks and it took THREE complaints until the not-so-able CMs at the front desk finally managed to get them NEARLY clean. Completely cleaning seemed to be a task they simply couldn't fullfil.
It was a shame for one of the most expensive resorts in WDW.

We were majorly unimpressed with the Poly, too. Cleanliness issues.

 

[maryszhi]

one of my cousins stayed a few years ago at okw on points from a friend and they couldnt believe the condition and the bugs. it took a while but they finally were switched to a different villa. they were so disappointed that they did not chose that resort when they went the next time. i am sorry you had to deal with this, and i hope you get something back because you should not have to pay for that!

 

[Spike-in-Berlin]

Are cobwebs the only thing you found? Because if so then it is not quite Mousekeeping's fault. A spider can put out a web amazingly fast. Plus. remember that Mousekeeping does not re-clean a room if it has been checked off as cleaned and not used since. They don't have time to clean the same room every day if no one has checked into the room. They will move on to the next one allowing a spider plenty of time to form a web. Now as for the stains and broken stuff like the OP had, yikes. No way that should have been allowed.

No not only. But the cobwebs were OLD and huge. They were dusted and at least weeks old, nothing that could have been done by a single spider in just one or two days.

 

[Spike-in-Berlin]

I work at DHS and I can't tell you how many times i've heard this same story, and its so intresting that people keeping using the same phrase "I thought it would be up to disney standards" LETS BE REAL PEOPLE, Disney has been slipping this past decade 2000-2009, AND they still are. Until we demand better were gonna get the same, Disney doesn't have any competition, so really I think disney is just like a famous family, relying on their name alone at this point to make them money, but the time will come when they must change, you can't be on top of the pops forever

That's really sad but true.

 

[Spike-in-Berlin]

We were majorly unimpressed with the Poly, too. Cleanliness issues.

Yep they definitely have a problem with mousekeeping at the Poly, that's why we will not return and stay at the AKL this time. And I was quite unimpressed by the aged AC too, the loudest in any Disney resort.
Very sad because the resort is actually magnificently themed and a beauty and the location is the best.

 

[captainkidd]

It is a shame. We noticed the cobwebs when we stayed at the Poly as well. I mean that's just lazy mousekeeping. The cobwebs were in reach from the balcony and the mousekeeping easily could have cleaned them, but obviously didn't. I don't expect everything to be perfect when staying there, but there definitely should not be cobwebs on the balcony. You pay 300+ a night for cobwebs!? What a joke. We also had cobwebs on the balcony at the Wilderness Lodge back in January.

The cobwebs at the Poly are a common problem. The excuse is that spiders can make them so quickly. So what? Shouldn't someone be out there everyday cleaning them up? That's what they'd do at any other hotel that cost over $400 per night.

The Poly is my favorite resort, but mousekeeping is not their strong suit.

 

[captainkidd]

Yep they definitely have a problem with mousekeeping at the Poly, that's why we will not return and stay at the AKL this time. And I was quite unimpressed by the aged AC too, the loudest in any Disney resort.
Very sad because the resort is actually magnificently themed and a beauty and the location is the best.

I agree. I love the Poly, but as I just said, the mousekeeping sucks there. Worst of any resort we've stayed at. The AC issue is similar to the elevator issue. It's an old resort and to change those things would mean MAJOR overhaul, which Disney won't do.

 

[foreverbelle]

This is so wrong. I know from experience that I tend to hold Disney hotels a lot higher than the rest, and this should not be allowed at any hotel regardless if its at Disney or Timbucktu....it shouldn't matter there should be a level of comfort and cleanliness no matter where you stay on all levels....I am so sorry that you had to deal with this. I have stayed at OKW myself and while it wasn't anywhere near the top of my list and not one of my favorites, it was a lot better than this room....

 

[jmb2676]

I have to say that I'm surprised and this is not acceptable for any resort let alone Disney. I will say that OKW is absolutely not my favorite DVC location but we did stay there in May of this year because my parents like it there. The room (2 BR) we had was in perfect condition and I was surprisingly pleased with our stay.

 

[SleepingMonk]

We saw very similar issues on our last trip to AKL.

We stayed at the Swan a few weeks ago and it was a night and day difference.

Disney is slipping, they know and they just don't care.

 

[Spike-in-Berlin]

I agree. I love the Poly, but as I just said, the mousekeeping sucks there. Worst of any resort we've stayed at. The AC issue is similar to the elevator issue. It's an old resort and to change those things would mean MAJOR overhaul, which Disney won't do.

Yes. When I arrived at the Poly last years I couldn't believe how loud the AC was so I called for maintenance and when he arrived we spoke for more than half an hour about the topic. I am an architect so I have quite some knowledge about it and he told me I am completely right about my complaints but management did the wrong decisions about that YEARS ago when the longhouses got their major refurb (we stayed at Fiji).

 

[Spike-in-Berlin]

We saw very similar issues on our last trip to AKL.

We stayed at the Swan a few weeks ago and it was a night and day difference.

Disney is slipping, they know and they just don't care.

Oh no, please not. We check-in to AKL in a little less than 3 weeks. What were your problems or complains?

 

[COProgressFan]

Until we demand better were gonna get the same, Disney doesn't have any competition, so really I think disney is just like a famous family, relying on their name alone at this point to make them money, but the time will come when they must change, you can't be on top of the pops forever

Just so you know, no one from the family of Walt or Roy Disney has anything to do with the operation of the Walt Disney Company anymore. Just his name in the title.