Worst Disney World hotel experience thread

[Stitch826]

(If anyone has done a thread like this before, let me know.) I thought it would be fun to create a thread where people could post their worst hotel experiences while staying on Disney property. Whether it was because of a dirty room, plumbing issues, pests, noisy neighbors, etc. Thankfully, in the seven times I have stayed on Disney property, I have had a great experience every time. I know that is certainly not always the case...

 

[Club Cooloholic]

(If anyone has done a thread like this before, let me know.) I thought it would be fun to create a thread where people could post their worst hotel experiences while staying on Disney property. Whether it was because of a dirty room, plumbing issues, pests, noisy neighbors, etc. Thankfully, in the seven times I have stayed on Disney property, I have had a great experience every time. I know that is certainly not always the case...

Haven't had any real bad ones, but one time at POFQ we went to check in pretty as early like 11 and were told our room wasn't ready. So we went to parks they said they would text us when it was ready. Came back at 4 after no text. Still not ready. At this point we got a bit agitated, went for. A drive came back and still not ready because now the room was being decommissioned, bed bugs, trashed who KNOWS! I asked why it took so long to figure that out and why not just put us in another room earlier, which they were now gonna do, got a manager, he gave us a river view, but was really lot that great in how he spoke to us. But still it stunk to check in at like 5:30

 

[surfsupdon]

First time at Coronado in 2013, I woke up to the sink regurgitating water and overflowing the vanity onto the floor.
They fixed the problem and gave a voucher for 4 nights free at a Moderate next time. Used voucher for Riverside

In 2016 for Princess Race Weekend, stayed at Coronado. Morning of race I awoke at 2am to see the toilet overflowed at night soaking everything on the floor in the closet area. After the race I went to front desk. They dry cleaned all clothes that were on floor, gave vouchers for new clothes at Disney Springs, and moved us to Beach Club.

Clearly Coronado has had plumbing issues. I’d think the refurb would help.

 

[LUVofDIS]

In 2013 we were staying in the Dolphin the week before Christmas. On our last two nights there a bunch of family's must have shown up together and were a group known to each other. Our last day was the 21st and they first arrived on Friday the 20th. At around two in the morning I was woken from a sleep to banging doors and loud talking. This lasted around a half hour until I opened my door and yelled to keep it down. I was able to go back to sleep, though I could still occasionally hear lighter talking and doors opening but at least not slamming. The next night, after midnight the slamming and talking started again. This time I called the front desk and after a few minutes it subdued. I was amazed that the parents let this happen. I sort of understood he first night, not that I agreed with it, just understood why it could happen (just arrived, stress from holidays etc.), but the second night, they had no excuses.

 

[The Mighty Tim]

First time at Coronado in 2013, I woke up to the sink regurgitating water and overflowing the vanity onto the floor.
They fixed the problem and gave a voucher for 4 nights free at a Moderate next time. Used voucher for Riverside

In 2016 for Princess Race Weekend, stayed at Coronado. Morning of race I awoke at 2am to see the toilet overflowed at night soaking everything on the floor in the closet area. After the race I went to front desk. They dry cleaned all clothes that were on floor, gave vouchers for new clothes at Disney Springs, and moved us to Beach Club.

Clearly Coronado has had plumbing issues. I’d think the refurb would help.

Interesting you mention this, since we had a plumbing issue at Coronado, only back in September. We were in Ranchos 6B and it had been recently refurbished, as far as I know.

We'd just returned from an off-site day out, intending to dump our stuff, freshen up and head out to the parks for evening fun. However, the toilet developed a leak whilst flushing, spreading it's delightful contents all over the bathroom floor. Fortunately, we didn't have much of our stuff in there.

Anyway, we quickly got in contact with the front desk, who sent a handyman to our room about ten minutes later to take a look. Shortly after that, the head of maintenance came along. He took one look at the situation and said that we couldn't stay in that room and that they'd have to move us and that front desk would be in contact shortly with the new room arrangements. So, we packed up our gear and the front desk called us about 20 minutes later with our new room details. They were moving us to a premium room in another part of the resort. They asked us if we wanted Bell Services to help us move our stuff, to which we said yes. We waited ages for the Bell Services guy to show up (I'd say about 45 minutes) and we were just about to contact the front desk again to say that we'd move our stuff ourselves since there was no sign of Bell Services when he showed up.

By the time we'd gotten to our new room and settled in, it was too late to go to the parks, so we had drinks in the Rix Sports Bar instead.

As for the inconvenience, WDW bumped us up to a nicer room in the Casitas block - much closer to El Centro which helped. We didn't get any monetary compensation per se though. You see, earlier in the trip, we'd kicked up a bit of a fuss due to some missing photos from our Memory Maker and as a result, they knocked $75 off our final bill. Since we got our pictures eventually, we accepted that the $75 discount was adequate for our room moving inconvenience. Perhaps we could have gotten more if we'd have kicked up more of a fuss, but hey.

 

[aliceismad]

In 2013 we were staying in the Dolphin the week before Christmas. On our last two nights there a bunch of family's must have shown up together and were a group known to each other. Our last day was the 21st and they first arrived on Friday the 20th. At around two in the morning I was woken from a sleep to banging doors and loud talking. This lasted around a half hour until I opened my door and yelled to keep it down. I was able to go back to sleep, though I could still occasionally hear lighter talking and doors opening but at least not slamming. The next night, after midnight the slamming and talking started again. This time I called the front desk and after a few minutes it subdued. I was amazed that the parents let this happen. I sort of understood he first night, not that I agreed with it, just understood why it could happen (just arrived, stress from holidays etc.), but the second night, they had no excuses.

You’re assuming it wasn’t the parents?

 

[Minnie Mum]

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.

 

[CLEtoWDW]

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.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

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?

 

[Hcalvert]

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.

 

[LUVofDIS]

That is true, though, if I remember correctly, I recall hearing children's voices, at least at times.

 

[Paper straw fan]

Our Bay Lake trip, the rooms, and seemingly everywhere on the lower floors was just infested w bugs- they came and cleaned somewhat, although the bathrooms and closets still had some flying around. Otherwise they left us a can of spray and it was basically “good luck”

It was somewhat convenient being on a lower floor, but I imagine the problem lessened the higher up you went. Not like I was expecting the honeymoon suite, but yeah, could have moved us.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Our horror story involves unchaperoned cheerleaders and teens running amok throughout the resort multiple nights. Being allowed to party late into the night, running past our room, lots of loud noise, causing disturbances throughout the night that were not addressed by the resort mgr when we complained. The chaperones were having their own parties and not caring where the teens were or what they were doing. Fortunately we were at the end of our stay and didnt have to tolerate it for the entire stay.

 

[zurgandfriend]

Over the years, we have stayed at the former Dixie Landing, Contemporary, Grand Floridian, Wilderness Lodge, Animal Kingdom Lodge Yacht Club and Polynesian. We have never had a bad experience; in fact, the only real complaint was when we stayed in Polynesian before the refurb. The bathroom was “dated” other than that the safe would not lock. My DW brought her laptop and wanted to lock it up after two attempts to have facilities fix it we just put it in a suitcase. So either we are lucky or easy to please.

 

[wdwfan22]

we were given a dirty room at the Grand Floridian that obviously wasn't cleaned before the last group checked out. There was a half eaten sandwich on the bed, trash in the bathroom on the floor, glasses that were dirty. The housekeeping manager was rude and finally had to have the resort manager come speak with us. Needless to say we had them relocate us to the Beach club, they upgraded us to club and took the first night off the bill.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

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.

 

[MinnieM123]

The one and only time I stayed at the GF (this was quite a few years ago), my carryon bag was lost in their checked luggage room! (I had arrived on an early plane, so checked my luggage there, until the room would be available later in the day.) The general manager tried everything to find the carryon, but to no avail; so he offered me free dinner, and asked me to make a list of what was inside and the cost of the items.

I decided to wait another day to see if it showed up. Well, it did--a former guest said that Bell Services had thrown it in the back of his car the day before, along with his luggage, as he departed. He actually drove back to the GF the following morning to return it! It had my electronic airline ticket inside, etc. The GM told me the guy drove quote a distance to do this. I would have thanked the guest, but he was gone by the time Bell Services brought the carryon up to my room. Thank goodness for that guest.

 

[davidfarley]

I've stayed on property five or six times for between one and eight nights and I've never had a memorable bad experience. I've been at
ASMu, Pop (3-4 times), and CSR. I went in with realistic expectations and was never disappointed.

 

[BethG]

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.

 

[Frontierland's Finest]

I never had too bad experience the two times I've stayed at the Disney resorts (Pop and Poly). However, during my stay at Pop last summer, it took them forever to get my bag delivered to my room. I got there at 3pm and didn't get my bag until midnight of that night and I was on my way to going to sleep for the night. I even asked the desk about it after spending some time in Disney Springs that same day and they said that my bag should have been there by now. It was a bit of an inconvenience to since my bed clothes were in the bag too.