Worst Disney World hotel experience thread

[Dad 2 M & M]

Our one and only stay at AS Sports. Took my 2 girls for spring break (DH had to stay home for work) - grls trip, YAY. Except it turned out that there was a cheerleading competition, and the resort was full of over energized and severely under chaperoned teenage girls. I understand being noisy and excited, but they would swarm the CS area, cutting into lines in groups. They did the same thing at the bus stops, and you almost needed earplugs on the ride to and from the parks. But nights were the worst. I don't know when they slept. You could hear them outside til all hours. They also seemed to delight in banging on doors as they ran by. The worst though was the repeated phone calls. Apparently our room number was close to that of one of the chaperones, and we kept getting calls for Mrs. So-and-so late at night. I complained to the front desk, but they just shrugged their shoulders and told me to unplug my phone. It didn't ruin the trip, but even my teenage daughters were shaking their heads over the behavior they saw.

Love those domestic tour groups! Everyone always mentions those from South America, bt the domestic groups are the worst on the planet!

I once tried to stay at All-Star Movies in 2006 and when I was walking to the room, a bunch of twenty-somethings were bringing kegs into their room. I was about the same age and they must have assumed that I would want to get involved because he yelled "This is the party resort" and shook a can of beer at me and sprayed his friend. As I was walking to the room, I saw a woman at the pool wearing a yellow bathing suit and you could see a lot of her anatomy through the suit--so much, that my nearly 4-year-old son commented about it. Lastly, I got into the room and there was a big hole in the wall. So, I went promptly to guest services and upgraded to Coronado Springs. During my last trip when I stayed at Poly, the balcony door was broken and the handyman was in there when we got to the room and was there for hours. Then, the safe's battery didn't work and had to be repaired, so the guy was back again. I said something to guest services about giving someone a room that they knew needed repair and the next thing I know, I get contacted by the manager and was given a $150 gift card. We didn't move rooms as I guess the repair work was done. I wasn't expecting any compensation, but will take it if offered.

Ahhh....the All-Stars clientele! We've heard the stories of keg parties, chaperones that bring shopping cart after shopping cart of beer, etc......never seen one of these parties, but have heard the stories.....

All Stars. All of them. Now, I'm not necessarily knocking the property. It is what it is. As long as you have expectations set correctly - it's not bad.

It's just I've never had a stay at one of them be particularly memorable. It's usually one of the following: I need a cab to get to the food court due to my room being so far away; food court is insanely crowded; bus lines insanely crowded; the property is being overrun by cheerleaders, pop warner football teams, and/or little league baseball teams, - and lets say the chaperones probably need chaperones; pool is overcrowded; parking lot is overcrowded due to several buses, trucks, etc...taking up multiple spots.

Well done....stay away from Sports and you have a shot at a better experience. Movies is the quietest, with the Love Bug 7, Fantasia 8 being the most secluded...

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

"Worst" experience we have had was at the Beach Club. I must say the experience was not at all bad, but is was not up to our expectations. The shared busing to MK/AK was a challenge, and the pick up schedule never varied, with Beach Club being the last pick up/drop off. We are "Value Resort" peeps and have given the Mods and Deluxes a chance, but cannot get past the $$$. We see a resort as a place to sleep, bathe, and use the restroom. It is funny the amount of times we've stayed at the All-Stars we never had the shared busing experience, but had it 100% of the time for MK/AK at the Beach Club!!

 

[Jon81uk]

We have had one bad experience. We checked in on the opening day of BLT. The sensors above the automatic doors weren’t set right. It didn’t stop for my 7 yo son and the door took the toenail of his big toe off. It was late and he was screaming and bleeding. I travel with a full first aid kit. We carried him back to our room and bandaged him up. After a couple of days a started to worry about infection, so I went to the front desk. They asked what I wanted them to do about it. I said I wanted someone to look at it. They sent someone to our room. My son was fine. We bought him Crocs a size bigger to wear with the bandage and rented a stroller to make sure it didn’t get stepped on.

So, it was an accident, but I didn’t like how the front desk treated me. They acted like I was trying to put one over on them.

That sounds like a bad experience, but you should have gone straight to the front desk to report the accident and then go straight to hospital. Reporting something immediately means it doesn't look like "trying to put one over one them". In fact if he was screaming and bleeding I am surprised no member of staff heard and came over to offer immediate assistance, if they didn't I would be fetching someone to administer first aid and get me to hospital.

 

[LAM378]

I’ve had not-so-great experiences at a few resorts, but normally Disney will try to fix any reasonable concerns or complaints.

I was really unhappy with my stay at GF this past September, for a lot of reasons. The elevator in our building was broken more than it was working (not fun if you’re on the fourth floor with lots of kids, strollers, and luggage). Multiple outlets broken in both our rooms, where plugs would just fall out. They were maintaining the outside of the buildings, which meant lots of maintenance vehicles and noise all day.

But the situation in Gasparilla Grill is what did it for me. Some of the worst, disinterested cast I’ve ever encountered. Long lines at the grill. Insane lines at the two Freestyle machines, which were dispensing ice one cube at a time, and usually didn’t have half the beverages available. They “fixed” this by putting out a bin of ice for guests to dip their cups and mugs in, which is absolutely disgusting if you think about it.

The cherry on top was the fruit fly infestation. The beverage bar was teeming with them for my whole 6 day stay. CMs working in there were like, “Oh, we know about it.” I went to the front desk and they were like, “Oh, how horrible. Thank you for the information.” On day 4, I wrote an email to the general manager, and I did received a phone call from someone within an hour. They offered me a small room credit, which I didn’t want; I just wanted my iced tea without insects in it.

It just irritated the heck out of me, because it was rooted in pure indifference. This is WDW, the swamp with no mosquitoes; surely they can handle fruit flies in an eatery at their flagship resort? But no one cared to do anything about it, so nothing was done.

Like I said, I’ve encountered little issues at every resort level, and some hardly worth complaining about. This stay at the GF, though, was the only time I really felt like I wasted money staying at a resort.

 

[ctcdisneymama]

All Stars. All of them. Now, I'm not necessarily knocking the property. It is what it is. As long as you have expectations set correctly - it's not bad.

It's just I've never had a stay at one of them be particularly memorable. It's usually one of the following: I need a cab to get to the food court due to my room being so far away; food court is insanely crowded; bus lines insanely crowded; the property is being overrun by cheerleaders, pop warner football teams, and/or little league baseball teams, - and lets say the chaperones probably need chaperones; pool is overcrowded; parking lot is overcrowded due to several buses, trucks, etc...taking up multiple spots.

I just stayed at Sports (normally I stay at POR or POFQ) and I have to say the walk from our room (basketball) to the food court was not long at all. Compared to where we stay at POR, which is in the bayou, the Sports walk was way closer. I will say though there was a huge difference in clientele and feel of the resort. Not bad, just different. Needless to stay, I won't stay at a value again unless I have to.

 

[jaklgreen]

I’ve had not-so-great experiences at a few resorts, but normally Disney will try to fix any reasonable concerns or complaints.

I was really unhappy with my stay at GF this past September, for a lot of reasons. The elevator in our building was broken more than it was working (not fun if you’re on the fourth floor with lots of kids, strollers, and luggage). Multiple outlets broken in both our rooms, where plugs would just fall out. They were maintaining the outside of the buildings, which meant lots of maintenance vehicles and noise all day.

But the situation in Gasparilla Grill is what did it for me. Some of the worst, disinterested cast I’ve ever encountered. Long lines at the grill. Insane lines at the two Freestyle machines, which were dispensing ice one cube at a time, and usually didn’t have half the beverages available. They “fixed” this by putting out a bin of ice for guests to dip their cups and mugs in, which is absolutely disgusting if you think about it.

The cherry on top was the fruit fly infestation. The beverage bar was teeming with them for my whole 6 day stay. CMs working in there were like, “Oh, we know about it.” I went to the front desk and they were like, “Oh, how horrible. Thank you for the information.” On day 4, I wrote an email to the general manager, and I did received a phone call from someone within an hour. They offered me a small room credit, which I didn’t want; I just wanted my iced tea without insects in it.

It just irritated the heck out of me, because it was rooted in pure indifference. This is WDW, the swamp with no mosquitoes; surely they can handle fruit flies in an eatery at their flagship resort? But no one cared to do anything about it, so nothing was done.

Like I said, I’ve encountered little issues at every resort level, and some hardly worth complaining about. This stay at the GF, though, was the only time I really felt like I wasted money staying at a resort.

I have seen this disinterested attitude at many of my stays at different resorts and it drives me crazy. On one of our stays at POFQ, the food court was starting to get their evening rush and someone would take the order for burgers/fries/nuggets and pass it on to the cook. Well at this time the "cook" would do 1 order at a time. He literally would put 1 burger on the flat top an stand there and watch it cook and when it was done, move on to the next ticket. It was one of the few times that I actually said something directly to the cast members there. They didn't give a crap. I did go to the front desk and say something to them. Any other restaurant and that person would have been fired. I think the mentality at most of the Disney resorts food service is "so what, where are they going to go", type of attitude. I have never worked so slowly in my life as I see them work. And the fruit fly issue is just a cleanliness issue. No excuse for that, they probably did not want to bother finding the source of the issue.

 

[Weather_Lady]

I'm happy to say I have very little to contribute to this thread. Our "worst" experience (and it's really a blip on the radar, nothing to get too upset about) was with Bell Services at Caribbean Beach Resort, which delivered one of our almost-new carryon suitcases to our room with the handle torn completely off. We knew it was their fault, because we'd hand-delivered that bag to Bell Services that morning in perfect condition, but all we got in return was a shrug and some mumbling about, "that's the way it was when we got it," which we knew was a lie. While Disney did nothing to rectify the issue (I'm sure they would have if I'd raised it with a manager, but it didn't seem worth bothering with late at night on our arrival day), the luggage manufacturer honored its warranty and sent us a new bag after we got home and filed a claim, so "no harm, no foul." Second-worst experience also involves Bell Services -- this time at Wilderness Lodge, where they carelessly dropped one of our bags on the ground along an outdoor walkway en route to our room, and could not have been more sluggish or unconcerned when we pointed out it was missing. My husband ended up being the one to find the bag, as he attempted to retrace Bell Service's steps. Thank God, nobody had picked it up in the meantime, as it contained some valuable electronics!

Our other hotel issues have been de minimis -- finding someone else's bra stuck behind a drawer in one room, housekeeping "forgetting" to clean our room a time or two, leaky faucets, slow-draining bathtubs, non-working bathroom fans or nightlights (but never more than one or two of these per stay)...

 

[80sRockKevin]

Never had a "bad" experience, but our first trip ever we had a fairly frustrating first day at the resort. We arrived at All Star Music via Magical Express. Checked in, got to our room, and no luggage. No big deal, it happens. I go back to the front desk and ask about it. No worries they say, sometimes it ends up on a different bus. As long as you don't need anything right away hit the parks and have some fun. So that's what we did.

Get back in the evening, still no luggage. A bit concerning, but again, still not a panic. Grab a late dinner at the cafeteria. Head back to the room, still no luggage. Back to the front desk. They are puzzled now as well. No one can find our luggage. They are now actively trying to track down the luggage. They offer to comp us some toiletries in the gift shop, which was nice. While there the kids were allowed to pick out PJs and swimsuits as well as they wanted to hit the pool badly (they were 12 and 5 at the time). Very nice of them to do that.

Off to bed, wife and I sleep in our clothes, the kids in their comped PJs. Woke up early the next morning to a knock at our door. It was our luggage! The best part, it was at the resort the whole time, in the room next to us!!! The room next door was vacant until that morning. When the new guests arrived they discovered our suitcases and called the front desk. Harmless mistake, it happens. We laughed, and still laugh about it. We were able to clean up and hit the parks that day, and the kids walked away from the trip with some sweet Disney PJs and swim suits.

 

[Hockey89]

Never had an issue at Poly/YM/BC... Only issues I ever have is with dumb guests....

 

[HouCuseChickie]

While the awful beds we had during our stay at POR (two rooms- all four beds had springs you could feel in your back and a horrible squeaking) and the super dim bathroom light in our AKL room that maintenance never fixed deserve an honorable mention...our experiences at Yacht Club are the ones that always stand out in my mind as worst.

Some of it was just annoyances...the CM who checked us in was snotty and got an attitude when he saw a birthday on our reservation. I remember him saying "So, I guess you'd like a button" with this bothered tone. He scribbled my daughter's name on there and handed it over, but it was barely legible. It may seem petty, but it was so bad that when we went to BBB a couple of days later, the FGMIT insisted she make my daughter a new birthday button because it was so bad. She went on to shame the CM who thought this was acceptable. I hadn't even mentioned that I thought it was bad or that he had a bad attitude...so this was just another CM picking up on something done poorly.

At the tail end of check in, I asked this same CM about where to go for a bellman for our bags and Mr. Cheery advised me to see this woman standing over at the Concierge stand. So, I went over to her and she bit off my head. Seriously. She demanded to know who sent me to her for this and that I should be going out front to find myself a bellman and that Concierge shouldn't be bothered with such things. This would have been rude and unprofessional no matter where I was. In fact, I was advised the following day (by a different front desk CM) to go to this awful woman again to inquire about my stroller rental delivery... and her attitude and commentary on my wasting her time was equally as hostile and unprofessional.

This trip was also back when Ale & Compass was more of a lounge and they handle refillable mug refills. We'd stop by each morning before hitting the parks to get our mugs filled and the two ladies handling this were like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. Some mornings they were just sort of brusque while others they were down right sharp with us and the other guests.

Our room was the other big issue. I'm not sure what our room had been treated with, but something in the beds gave us allergic reactions. For three of us, it was just minor skin irritation, but my younger one broke out from her neck to her ankles in hives each time she tried to sleeping in the beds. Our dr suspected it was some kind of chemical based allergic reaction since we were all fine if we slept in the day bed and Benadryl stopped it. It definitely wasn't the sheets, pillows or blankets since she could take those into the daybed and be fine, so it was definitely the mattress. I asked the front desk about either swapping out the beds or getting us in a different room. They said they couldn't do anything to help us since it was Thanksgiving week, so it was either tough it out or leave. We toughed it out (which may not have been the right decision), but it really tainted the trip and made bedtime really stressful since we never knew how sick we'd get at night. We've never had this happen at any other Disney resort.

Oh...and the front desk routinely has no clue about buses. If you want to know where the whole "buses start 1 hour before the parks open" thing is coming from...go talk to YC. I know we heard this during our trip even though I knew it wasn't right and a couple of trips later, they gave my dad the same bad info.

I found out that nobody I spoke with kept any kind of record of our complaints, because I got a call a few weeks after our trip (in response to my post trip email complaints), and there was nothing on record. This was also our trip where we had a ton of ride breakdowns (something like 9 or 10 in one MK day alone). They gave us a few days of complimentary park hoppers to make it all better, but I still get bothered when I think about this trip.

END RANT

 

[Crazydisneygirl]

Only bad experience was with the bartender at Boardwalk Belle Vue Lounge. One evening my son who is 16 went there to ask if they could fill his re-fillable mug with sprite ( I had done this the previous night with no issues as I had asked the bartender if they do this and he said yes). The bartender who was there when my son went down told him no and to not waste his time. He came back up and told me this. So, I went down with this mug and asked and the bartender filled it for me after making me wait 8 min while he cleaned his area. The next night I went down and he saw me and did not make eye contact and continued to 'clean' his area, helping others who came after me and basically ignoring me until someone else said I was here first. He filled the mug but it left me with bad taste that I never went back. After that I only went to the lounge to get coffee in the morning. The woman working there in the am was a peach. I understand I can go down to the bakery to get re-fills but when it raining, I prefer to stay inside.

Other than that the other who worked at Boardwalk were wonderful. One day I asked about early buses as we had a breakfast at animal Kingdom and wanted to make sure we get there in time - if not will take a cab. The CM working the desk could not find concrete information on starting time so she gave us a pass to get a cab and they would pay for it. Really sweet of her.

 

[Ted Daggett]

Typically my experiences are all great, and usually start off with a text message while I am on the tram at MCO telling me that my room is ready at 11:30 am, which always makes me extremely happy to be able to go to the room before we hit the parks!

However, one time we took DME, and were staying at the POLY. Our room was ready very early as usual, so we stopped in the room around 12:30 pm with no expectation of our bags being there, and headed to MK. Before dinner we wanted to stop back in the room to change clothes and freshen up for dinner... however our bags were not there yet. I alerted the front desk, and they said they were on their way, and sometimes it takes a little longer than usual, so we went to dinner. When we returned from dinner around 930 pm, our luggage still had not arrived. I called the front desk, and I was told that my luggage had been delivered, but it obviously had not been. I got a little nervous that our luggage had been stolen out of our room, and the front desk said they would see what they could do. My kids and I went to watch the MK fireworks from the beach at the POLY, while my wife waited around in the room for the luggage. We returned from the fireworks, and no luggage. My kids decided they would go to sleep in their clothes, when finally at 10:30 we received a knock on the door, and our luggage had arrived. The Bellperson said that our luggage had been delivered to another guests' room at 1:30, but those guests didn't get back until just then to inform them that the incorrect luggage had been delivered. Luckily the guests were honest, and we didn't notice anything being stolen, but it could have been a bad situation.

 

[larryz]

So, if I'm in P&R management on the resorts side, I'm high-fiving my staff right now, reading this thread and finding less than two pages of complaints about the resort hotels...

 

[CLEtoWDW]

So, if I'm in P&R management on the resorts side, I'm high-fiving my staff right now, reading this thread and finding less than two pages of complaints about the resort hotels...

Right? And notice most of the time the cast member fixed the underlying issue. If more companies followed the Disney customer experience model oh what a world it would be.

 

[BethG]

That sounds like a bad experience, but you should have gone straight to the front desk to report the accident and then go straight to hospital. Reporting something immediately means it doesn't look like "trying to put one over one them". In fact if he was screaming and bleeding I am surprised no member of staff heard and came over to offer immediate assistance, if they didn't I would be fetching someone to administer first aid and get me to hospital.

I have had both basic and advanced first aid and CPR training. That is why I was fully prepared with a large first aid kit (along with a small one for the park bag). It wasn't hospital worthy. It was on the sky bridge from the Contemporary to BLT after the shops were closed, so really no CMs close enough to come running. I don't excuse the attitude because I took care of it on my own. They could have led with, "Would you like someone to look at it" (or what they thought was reasonable). What they did was like jumping to conclusions about someone because of what they are wearing, it is never appropriate. FWIW, the paramedic that came to the room said I took care of it correctly and gave me some supplies for the remainder of our trip.

 

[PG 134]

Average Reedy Creek Fire Department event.... Arrival, diagnosis, some bandages and/or ice pack for small stuff, and then list of options/recommendations (for non-emergency). Options are usually: no further action, visit a drug store/pharmacy, clinic, hospital, and I think I am forgetting another common option. They have you sign a waiver if you decline ambulance transport. You can ride in ambulance, self-transport, or request a taxi voucher (for clinic or pharmacy) if you do not have a personal vehicle. The resorts should have few basic meds like Benadryl from their shops. It does not cost the Guest anything for Reedy Creek Fire Department to at minimum visit location to check Guest out.

 

[slappy magoo]

Sometimes I think other guests cause more issues than anything else... during our most recent trip we had to awkwardly walk past a family trying to get into Stormalong Bay that clearly weren’t guests at BC/YC. The dad was swearing as he berated the poor cast member that wouldn’t allow them into the pool area. The cast member couldn’t have been older than 21 and I finally went up to the guy and asked him to watch his language around my 5 year old daughter. Luckily, another lifeguard quickly called security and the family was escorted away. Otherwise, our stay at the resort was magical as always.

I always think, is it really worth it to this guy to put his family through that kind of shame, to sneak into a pool?

A frightening amount of people seem to think the most important message to teach kids is "never back down, never surrender...even if you're wrong."

Not a Disney issue, a people issue.

I'm frequently the guy on NJ Transit in "the quiet car," asking people to be respectful of it, that everyone who picks the quiet car doesn't want to hear their yammering and some really need to be humiliated into compliance. One time early on with the policy, it was a whole family, kids being really loud and obnoxious. I pointed out where they were, what the policy was, what the conductor literally just announced on the intercom. The father said "yeah, it's the kids, they don't listen, I don't know what to tell you pal." So I told him "well I guess you're telling me you're an awful father your kids don't respect or else you can tell them to be quiet and they'll listen." He then threatened to kick my youknowhat and I said "so you're teaching them violence is the solution to being wrong? I already know you're a bad parent, there's no need to be blatant about it." I then proceeded to sit with them to tell them when the conversation was boring, because if we had to listen to their yapping, at least it should be entertaining, right? Eventually the conductor asked what the problem was, I said this family decided the quiet car didn't apply to them so I was joining in their fun, the family was asked to leave the car. Father said he'd be waiting for me, wherever I got off. He wasn't. I think he was probably escorted off the car at the next stop. But same deal, no one was going to tell him the rules applied to him and his family. Until someone told him the rules applied to him and his family.

 

[jaklgreen]

Just an example of the type of entitled behavior people have now. Yesterday at work we were putting together a big order of cookie trays and had some in an area where customers can reach them. Well this guy in his 20s came up and just took a cookie. When a coworker asked him what he was doing, he said "I want one". So he wants something so he just took it. Since when has stealing become OK and normal with society? We have people steal on a daily basis. They will reach up ans over the glass counter and take a pastry and then claim that they thought it was a "sample".

 

[Club Cooloholic]

A frightening amount of people seem to think the most important message to teach kids is "never back down, never surrender...even if you're wrong."

Not a Disney issue, a people issue.

I'm frequently the guy on NJ Transit in "the quiet car," asking people to be respectful of it, that everyone who picks the quiet car doesn't want to hear their yammering and some really need to be humiliated into compliance. One time early on with the policy, it was a whole family, kids being really loud and obnoxious. I pointed out where they were, what the policy was, what the conductor literally just announced on the intercom. The father said "yeah, it's the kids, they don't listen, I don't know what to tell you pal." So I told him "well I guess you're telling me you're an awful father your kids don't respect or else you can tell them to be quiet and they'll listen." He then threatened to kick my youknowhat and I said "so you're teaching them violence is the solution to being wrong? I already know you're a bad parent, there's no need to be blatant about it." I then proceeded to sit with them to tell them when the conversation was boring, because if we had to listen to their yapping, at least it should be entertaining, right? Eventually the conductor asked what the problem was, I said this family decided the quiet car didn't apply to them so I was joining in their fun, the family was asked to leave the car. Father said he'd be waiting for me, wherever I got off. He wasn't. I think he was probably escorted off the car at the next stop. But same deal, no one was going to tell him the rules applied to him and his family. Until someone told him the rules applied to him and his family.

Your right, we live now in a society where everyone is so afraid of offending that people just end up doing whatever they want. I was in a library last year and a guy fires up his phone to watch a movie with no earbuds. I finally went over to him and said "listen, it's a library even the kids know to respect the noise policy, turn that off or get head phones". He apologized. Another one is a guy in my neighborhood who never picks up after his dog. I called him out on it as I was driving byeven though the dog had not gone on my lawn, and he pretended to he hadn't noticed, then that his plastic bag dispenser wasn't working. I said, "be a grown up and just pick up after your dog, we have kids running around nobody wants to step in that". I suspect he's still doing it lol.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

Just an example of the type of entitled behavior people have now. Yesterday at work we were putting together a big order of cookie trays and had some in an area where customers can reach them. Well this guy in his 20s came up and just took a cookie. When a coworker asked him what he was doing, he said "I want one". So he wants something so he just took it. Since when has stealing become OK and normal with society? We have people steal on a daily basis. They will reach up ans over the glass counter and take a pastry and then claim that they thought it was a "sample".

It has become normal, I cant stand it when people I know tell me about illegally downloading a movie or music. It's still stealing people work hard to make that art. And I'm not talking about college kids, middle age people with decent jobs do this.