Just got back yesterday! I had posted before I left, if I was crazy for getting a little teary at the thought of going to Disney and you all made me feel normal!
Well, I was crying by the end of day two, and it was not good. The handling of my reservation by the Polynesian was an abomination. I booked this trip back in April (which I know is not all that early by some standards) but that was a full 9 months out. Plenty of time to have gotten a decent room reserved for me. I got a room in the Aeroteara building, which I have seen described as a nice building if you like a view of the Monorail. HA! As most folks with kids likely do, we would return to the room around 2 or 3 PM to recharge. The monorail 'view' - it was about as close as one can get with out being actually under the monorail. So, it was noisy, the sun was on that side of the building, and if you had the curtains open, to enjoy the lush vegetation, the monorail ran by every couple minutes blocking the sun out, and making the room feel as tho it was having a power failure.
Not to mention the mold and mildew on the carpet outside of the bathroom. My daughter has mild asthma, and the bathroom stank very badly.:hurl:
I kindly asked for a new room. Of course, there were none available. I asked about a concierge room (mine was not a refurbished room either) and they did have one available starting Monday. This was Saturday. I asked if I could be transferred to that room, it was an extra $100 per nite. The cast member either did not understand me or vice versa because she said I could call Monday before 11 to see if I still wanted the room. I told her I could not stay in the room I currently had as my child began coughing within hours of being in the room. I gave her my credit card and said please pay for and hold the room for me. She said, call Monday morning if I still wanted it because people change their minds.
After about 20 minutes of this banter, her manager came out to offer her help. I reiterated my tale and she said everything was fine, the room was reserved for me, but I needed to call Monday morning to have my bags picked up and held so I could check out at 11 and recheck into the new room after 3 PM. I made her charge my card to be sure to keep the reservation. I had no room from 11 to 3 on Monday.
We tried to get dinner after a long day of travel at the Kona Cafe in our hotel. The hostess said it would be a 30-45 minute wait because we did not have priority seating (this 'priority seating' would haunt me over the next several days...) After an hour, the hubby went to check and she said another half hour. We checked several more times and we ended up waiting 2 hours for dinner that was not even hot. My daughter cried she was so hungry. I offered her a snack but she loved dining out and wanted to wait for dinner. She eventually broke down and had some crackers.
OK, so it is day two, it goes relatively OK other than my daughter's hacking all day and night. I call in the AM to make reservations for dinner. The cast member helped to guide us to a place near the park we wanted to be at (MGM) that day and recommended Spoodles on the Boardwalk. I think, Great! We can go have dinner, and see the Chocolate Boardwalk, then MGM for Extra Magic Hours. HA! We just miss the MGM bus and figure, no problem. They run every 15 minutes or so we are told.
FORTYFIVE minutes later, the next bus pulls up. My mother in law is on an electric scooter. Now, I have seen other buses pull up, load wheelchairs and scooters, then everyone else. Not this driver. He lets the entire mob scene load (we have been there for 45 minutes and it is dinnertime) while I stand at the doorway stating we have a member with a scooter. He looks at me and says "Well, I don't have any room for a scooter now." :brick: I stared at him a minute and say, "Well when is the next bus? I have been waiting for 45 minutes for this one and now we are late for our reservation!" He rolled his eyes and said, "Let me see if I can get the seat then".:hammer:
That was it for me. Where was the Disney Magic I had heard so much about? I can pay $200 a night in the mountains and have people wait on me hand and foot! Here I am paying double that, and all I get is rudeness!
We did not get to our 6PM dinner reservation until 9, missed the Chocolate boardwalk and had barely enough time to run into MGM during EMH to see the Osbourne lights and run back out again. Good thing we are changing rooms the next day and won't have a room again until after 3 pm. I cried.
The very next day, we went back to MGM since we needed to be out of the room all day. We took a CAB. The day was Magical! I could not get dinner ressies for Prime time Cafe the entire week so we did a 3 PM lunch instead. It was great! Our waiter was great, the theming was great, and the food was likely close to if not the best food we ate all week! My daughter loved to hear daddy get corrected for table manners! LOL!!! Rides were all walk on, and we just squeaked into Fantasmic (standing room only , but that was OK - I really am quite easy to please!) By this time, I am crying tears of joy! Fantasmic was really a great show, as were the Osbourne Lights! It was a magical day, finally! Just what I expected! We went back to our hotel and were finally able to unpack and settle in. The room was a MAJOR improvement. I will likely only stay Concierge level rooms from now on. Can I tell you I love cookies and milk before bedtime?! This is getting long, so I will break here and come back with the better details later........:sohappy:
Well, I was crying by the end of day two, and it was not good. The handling of my reservation by the Polynesian was an abomination. I booked this trip back in April (which I know is not all that early by some standards) but that was a full 9 months out. Plenty of time to have gotten a decent room reserved for me. I got a room in the Aeroteara building, which I have seen described as a nice building if you like a view of the Monorail. HA! As most folks with kids likely do, we would return to the room around 2 or 3 PM to recharge. The monorail 'view' - it was about as close as one can get with out being actually under the monorail. So, it was noisy, the sun was on that side of the building, and if you had the curtains open, to enjoy the lush vegetation, the monorail ran by every couple minutes blocking the sun out, and making the room feel as tho it was having a power failure.
Not to mention the mold and mildew on the carpet outside of the bathroom. My daughter has mild asthma, and the bathroom stank very badly.:hurl:
I kindly asked for a new room. Of course, there were none available. I asked about a concierge room (mine was not a refurbished room either) and they did have one available starting Monday. This was Saturday. I asked if I could be transferred to that room, it was an extra $100 per nite. The cast member either did not understand me or vice versa because she said I could call Monday before 11 to see if I still wanted the room. I told her I could not stay in the room I currently had as my child began coughing within hours of being in the room. I gave her my credit card and said please pay for and hold the room for me. She said, call Monday morning if I still wanted it because people change their minds.
After about 20 minutes of this banter, her manager came out to offer her help. I reiterated my tale and she said everything was fine, the room was reserved for me, but I needed to call Monday morning to have my bags picked up and held so I could check out at 11 and recheck into the new room after 3 PM. I made her charge my card to be sure to keep the reservation. I had no room from 11 to 3 on Monday.We tried to get dinner after a long day of travel at the Kona Cafe in our hotel. The hostess said it would be a 30-45 minute wait because we did not have priority seating (this 'priority seating' would haunt me over the next several days...) After an hour, the hubby went to check and she said another half hour. We checked several more times and we ended up waiting 2 hours for dinner that was not even hot. My daughter cried she was so hungry. I offered her a snack but she loved dining out and wanted to wait for dinner. She eventually broke down and had some crackers.
OK, so it is day two, it goes relatively OK other than my daughter's hacking all day and night. I call in the AM to make reservations for dinner. The cast member helped to guide us to a place near the park we wanted to be at (MGM) that day and recommended Spoodles on the Boardwalk. I think, Great! We can go have dinner, and see the Chocolate Boardwalk, then MGM for Extra Magic Hours. HA! We just miss the MGM bus and figure, no problem. They run every 15 minutes or so we are told.
FORTYFIVE minutes later, the next bus pulls up. My mother in law is on an electric scooter. Now, I have seen other buses pull up, load wheelchairs and scooters, then everyone else. Not this driver. He lets the entire mob scene load (we have been there for 45 minutes and it is dinnertime) while I stand at the doorway stating we have a member with a scooter. He looks at me and says "Well, I don't have any room for a scooter now." :brick: I stared at him a minute and say, "Well when is the next bus? I have been waiting for 45 minutes for this one and now we are late for our reservation!" He rolled his eyes and said, "Let me see if I can get the seat then".:hammer:
That was it for me. Where was the Disney Magic I had heard so much about? I can pay $200 a night in the mountains and have people wait on me hand and foot! Here I am paying double that, and all I get is rudeness!
We did not get to our 6PM dinner reservation until 9, missed the Chocolate boardwalk and had barely enough time to run into MGM during EMH to see the Osbourne lights and run back out again. Good thing we are changing rooms the next day and won't have a room again until after 3 pm. I cried.
The very next day, we went back to MGM since we needed to be out of the room all day. We took a CAB. The day was Magical! I could not get dinner ressies for Prime time Cafe the entire week so we did a 3 PM lunch instead. It was great! Our waiter was great, the theming was great, and the food was likely close to if not the best food we ate all week! My daughter loved to hear daddy get corrected for table manners! LOL!!! Rides were all walk on, and we just squeaked into Fantasmic (standing room only , but that was OK - I really am quite easy to please!) By this time, I am crying tears of joy! Fantasmic was really a great show, as were the Osbourne Lights! It was a magical day, finally! Just what I expected! We went back to our hotel and were finally able to unpack and settle in. The room was a MAJOR improvement. I will likely only stay Concierge level rooms from now on. Can I tell you I love cookies and milk before bedtime?! This is getting long, so I will break here and come back with the better details later........:sohappy:
(can you tell I am ready to go back already! LOL!)