Great Trip, Kids loved it, however a few observations:
Resort: I am an RCI Member and was treated as such. Since I traded RCI points for DVC points, it seems there is an agreement to lesson the privileges of RCI members. So, I did not get regular made service, it was going to cost me extra for Towels, Linens, etc. I was very annoyed since I am a premium member of RCI.
The resort itself was just OK. The food choices, gift shop were substantially smaller then that of the moderate resorts. That was very disappointing.
Generally speaking, the resort was clean and the staff was nice.
Transportation: The buses were mostly a positive experience save for two trips. One was a before part hours trip to the Poly. The SSR cast members misinformed us on several fronts on what the proper procedure was for getting to the Polynesian Resort. We were told 3 different things. One was there was a bus with a character's name on it that would show up at the bus stations and we could tell them where we wanted to go and he/she would take us there directly. The second was that we could get a regular bus to the Magic Kingdom and then we could take a Monorail to the Poly. The third was that we could get regular bus to the TTC and we could take the Monorail to the Poly. Well we managed to get a bus to the Magic Kingdom and then when we got there the monorail was down for maintenance. A cast member said take a boat, but there weren't any boats at the dock, nor were there any coming. We found a Poly bus dropping off people, so the guy let us jump on board and he took us over there.
The second issue was a Magic Kingdom bus was 40 minutes late picking up at SSR. I was concerned that I was going to miss HDDR, but we actually gave ourselves 2.5 hours because it was a bus and boat ride.
Parks: Mostly a great experience here. The parks are not kept as clean as I remember, Lots of stuff on the ground in the parks, some stuff floating in some waterways etc. Sort of disappointing. There were many rides with broken down parts. For example, IASW seemed like there were several dolls either missing or not working. The sun didn't spin, the doll rolling on the wire wasn't even on the wire. Generally speaking, the parks were great, but not nearly as clean or working as well I expected. That expectation was set in 1981 and 1983.
Magical Express: No complaints, all worked perfectly!
Restaurants: No complaints, food was great everywhere we ate albeit with far fewer selections in some places.
General comments would be that the cost cutting measures of recent years has become very obvious!
Resort: I am an RCI Member and was treated as such. Since I traded RCI points for DVC points, it seems there is an agreement to lesson the privileges of RCI members. So, I did not get regular made service, it was going to cost me extra for Towels, Linens, etc. I was very annoyed since I am a premium member of RCI.
The resort itself was just OK. The food choices, gift shop were substantially smaller then that of the moderate resorts. That was very disappointing.
Generally speaking, the resort was clean and the staff was nice.
Transportation: The buses were mostly a positive experience save for two trips. One was a before part hours trip to the Poly. The SSR cast members misinformed us on several fronts on what the proper procedure was for getting to the Polynesian Resort. We were told 3 different things. One was there was a bus with a character's name on it that would show up at the bus stations and we could tell them where we wanted to go and he/she would take us there directly. The second was that we could get a regular bus to the Magic Kingdom and then we could take a Monorail to the Poly. The third was that we could get regular bus to the TTC and we could take the Monorail to the Poly. Well we managed to get a bus to the Magic Kingdom and then when we got there the monorail was down for maintenance. A cast member said take a boat, but there weren't any boats at the dock, nor were there any coming. We found a Poly bus dropping off people, so the guy let us jump on board and he took us over there.
The second issue was a Magic Kingdom bus was 40 minutes late picking up at SSR. I was concerned that I was going to miss HDDR, but we actually gave ourselves 2.5 hours because it was a bus and boat ride.
Parks: Mostly a great experience here. The parks are not kept as clean as I remember, Lots of stuff on the ground in the parks, some stuff floating in some waterways etc. Sort of disappointing. There were many rides with broken down parts. For example, IASW seemed like there were several dolls either missing or not working. The sun didn't spin, the doll rolling on the wire wasn't even on the wire. Generally speaking, the parks were great, but not nearly as clean or working as well I expected. That expectation was set in 1981 and 1983.
Magical Express: No complaints, all worked perfectly!
Restaurants: No complaints, food was great everywhere we ate albeit with far fewer selections in some places.
General comments would be that the cost cutting measures of recent years has become very obvious!
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