Minnies Boy Toy
Keeping an eye out for Mickey....
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2013
Just returned from one of the worst stays I have ever had at a major resort, but to be entirely fair it must be acknowledged that even though some of the resort is undergoing renovations, this is a very inviting and comfortable property. There are several different pool environments depending on your mood - a multilevel pool deck with rock features and waterfalls including separate kids areas with fountains etc, and two large hot-tubs - and a separate, quieter, meticulously landscaped spa pool area. If that's not enough there is also an indoor pool with locker rooms - and that's not even the best part. When the renovations are complete later this summer there will be water-park quality flumes and slides with steep drops etc. The poolside loungers are also impressive - not the ubiquitous standard type with bands of thick plastic sticking to your skin. Here there high-quality cushioned loungers - very comfortable. If you like playing in pools, or relaxing by them, definitely grade up for this place.
I also will say that for the most part, the staff is friendly and genuinely seem interested in attending to the needs of their guests. I would especially like to mention Frances, who checked us in at reception on arrival. She went out of her way to find us what she thought would be a nice room for us - with a balcony in an area of the hotel away from the renovations - but as it turned out, our room was the setting for a weekend nightmare....
We were there for a getaway on a busy Memorial Day weekend. We were given a fifth floor room in the North Tower - not much of a view in the daytime (overlooking the parking area) - but we did have a great view of the fireworks at the Disney parks after dark, which was a nice perk. That said, it wasn't long after check-in that we realized we might be in for a rocky stay. Many of the hotel guests for this weekend were families there for a youth soccer tournament. I am not particularly sensitive to noise from kids - I have two school-age daughters of my own. That said, I typically do not care to have groups of boys playing soccer in the hallway outside my hotel door. The acoustics are cavernous to begin with, and something about the way the doors were installed means that unless you gently hold the door and close it, it will slam shut with a loud bang that reverberates all the way down the hall. We spent the weekend flinching at slamming doors and listening to kids running around unsupervised all weekend. Hard to blame the kids - I know where the blame lies - the parents. There is no way to create white noise in the room - no fans or blowers in the bathroom, so every sound was accentuated by the silence it disrupted. Eventually we could not take it any longer so we called the front desk. Here was the first sour note by the staff. After I complained and advised the front desk staff about what was going on on our floor, the response was not "I'm so sorry, I will send security to deal with the problem and if you would like to be moved to another room please let us know." Instead, we were told "Moving you is going to be a waste of time - they're all over the hotel." Eventually they did send security, which bought us maybe 30 minutes of a reprieve before the whole thing started over again and lasted for the weekend. We thought of moving and later, even checking out entirely, but frankly we were already spread out all over the room and decided to buy some earplugs from the gift shop downstairs ($1.29 for the pair - probably the only reasonably priced item in the entire resort, lol) and stick it out.
The first night we decided to eat at Hawk's Landing on site - great steaks, professional wait-staff, and predictably expensive. And on the subject of expense - the other reviews are accurate. You pay for everything extra here - even Wi-Fi, which in this day and age is ridiculous. In room movies cost $20. Valet parking was a whopping $25 a day (not including the gratuity for the runner) and if you choose to park yourself even that will set you back $14 per day.
And the valet parking was really the point at which our stay turned irrevocably sour. Sunday morning we planned to spend the day at Animal Kingdom. Following the instructions given to us at check-in we called the valet service about 15 minutes before we planned to leave to have our car brought around. I was told there was a 45 minute wait. If only. The wait was actually 90 minutes, and there were some other unfortunate guests languishing out front who had been there for a full 2 hours. There was a crowd of people milling around, justifiably angry and frustrated. The area out front is several lanes wide - dangerous chaos, and there were cars and keys and people running around all over the place A madhouse. I think the staff was doing what they could, but no one seemed to be in charge, no one knew where anyone or anything was, and all I could do was thank God that I had not paid thousands of dollars to come to Florida for a once in a lifetime vacation to learn that I had paid $25 a day for the privilege of sitting in the humidity for 2 hours waiting for my car to arrive so I could leave. And I also wondered how many people were going to miss flights home that day. For a highly respected and usually dependable chain like Marriott, and this being one of their premier properties- this was inexcusable. Upon arrival back that evening, I did visit the front desk and at my request they moved us to self-parking, and they removed the valet charges from the bill. They did, however, charge us for the self-parking fee. I do not complain to get freebies, but I was mildly surprised that there was no offer to completely waive the parking charges, or to do something else to try to smooth our feathers. On the other hand, I'm not sure anything could have helped. The damage was done.
Our room was just OK - cushy king bed and a new big screen TV, but there were some moldy spots in the shower, and (big pet peeve for a guy) the toilet seat lid would not stay up - which caused some "interesting" moments where I barely avoided mishaps.
There is Starbucks on site. I know the hotel and Starbucks are not managed by the same entity; nevertheless I think I should warn anyone who gets coffee there to watch out for the barista who insists on moving empty cups prior to filling by sticking her entire finger inside them. Gross.
I suspect that if we had arrived on a different weekend some of what we experienced would not be an issue. But that's not the point. The point is, during our stay, on that weekend that we had looked forward to for several weeks, our stay was essentially ruined by a combination of poor room design and inattention to detail in planning for an influx of minivans full of families and soccerballs. We checked out of the hotel exhausted and relieved to be leaving, and that's not a typical experience for me.
I am a Marriott rewards member, a former Marriott timeshare owner, and I have bragged on the chain for years - even this horrible experience will not dissuade me from continuing to patronize the chain, as I have found it to be generally dependable and worthy of my repeat business. But I seriously doubt that I will be going back to the Marriott World Center anytime soon. I sincerely hope they address some of these issues with their hotel, because as I said earlier, this could, and should, be an exceptional member of the Marriott chain.
I also will say that for the most part, the staff is friendly and genuinely seem interested in attending to the needs of their guests. I would especially like to mention Frances, who checked us in at reception on arrival. She went out of her way to find us what she thought would be a nice room for us - with a balcony in an area of the hotel away from the renovations - but as it turned out, our room was the setting for a weekend nightmare....
We were there for a getaway on a busy Memorial Day weekend. We were given a fifth floor room in the North Tower - not much of a view in the daytime (overlooking the parking area) - but we did have a great view of the fireworks at the Disney parks after dark, which was a nice perk. That said, it wasn't long after check-in that we realized we might be in for a rocky stay. Many of the hotel guests for this weekend were families there for a youth soccer tournament. I am not particularly sensitive to noise from kids - I have two school-age daughters of my own. That said, I typically do not care to have groups of boys playing soccer in the hallway outside my hotel door. The acoustics are cavernous to begin with, and something about the way the doors were installed means that unless you gently hold the door and close it, it will slam shut with a loud bang that reverberates all the way down the hall. We spent the weekend flinching at slamming doors and listening to kids running around unsupervised all weekend. Hard to blame the kids - I know where the blame lies - the parents. There is no way to create white noise in the room - no fans or blowers in the bathroom, so every sound was accentuated by the silence it disrupted. Eventually we could not take it any longer so we called the front desk. Here was the first sour note by the staff. After I complained and advised the front desk staff about what was going on on our floor, the response was not "I'm so sorry, I will send security to deal with the problem and if you would like to be moved to another room please let us know." Instead, we were told "Moving you is going to be a waste of time - they're all over the hotel." Eventually they did send security, which bought us maybe 30 minutes of a reprieve before the whole thing started over again and lasted for the weekend. We thought of moving and later, even checking out entirely, but frankly we were already spread out all over the room and decided to buy some earplugs from the gift shop downstairs ($1.29 for the pair - probably the only reasonably priced item in the entire resort, lol) and stick it out.
The first night we decided to eat at Hawk's Landing on site - great steaks, professional wait-staff, and predictably expensive. And on the subject of expense - the other reviews are accurate. You pay for everything extra here - even Wi-Fi, which in this day and age is ridiculous. In room movies cost $20. Valet parking was a whopping $25 a day (not including the gratuity for the runner) and if you choose to park yourself even that will set you back $14 per day.
And the valet parking was really the point at which our stay turned irrevocably sour. Sunday morning we planned to spend the day at Animal Kingdom. Following the instructions given to us at check-in we called the valet service about 15 minutes before we planned to leave to have our car brought around. I was told there was a 45 minute wait. If only. The wait was actually 90 minutes, and there were some other unfortunate guests languishing out front who had been there for a full 2 hours. There was a crowd of people milling around, justifiably angry and frustrated. The area out front is several lanes wide - dangerous chaos, and there were cars and keys and people running around all over the place A madhouse. I think the staff was doing what they could, but no one seemed to be in charge, no one knew where anyone or anything was, and all I could do was thank God that I had not paid thousands of dollars to come to Florida for a once in a lifetime vacation to learn that I had paid $25 a day for the privilege of sitting in the humidity for 2 hours waiting for my car to arrive so I could leave. And I also wondered how many people were going to miss flights home that day. For a highly respected and usually dependable chain like Marriott, and this being one of their premier properties- this was inexcusable. Upon arrival back that evening, I did visit the front desk and at my request they moved us to self-parking, and they removed the valet charges from the bill. They did, however, charge us for the self-parking fee. I do not complain to get freebies, but I was mildly surprised that there was no offer to completely waive the parking charges, or to do something else to try to smooth our feathers. On the other hand, I'm not sure anything could have helped. The damage was done.
Our room was just OK - cushy king bed and a new big screen TV, but there were some moldy spots in the shower, and (big pet peeve for a guy) the toilet seat lid would not stay up - which caused some "interesting" moments where I barely avoided mishaps.
There is Starbucks on site. I know the hotel and Starbucks are not managed by the same entity; nevertheless I think I should warn anyone who gets coffee there to watch out for the barista who insists on moving empty cups prior to filling by sticking her entire finger inside them. Gross.
I suspect that if we had arrived on a different weekend some of what we experienced would not be an issue. But that's not the point. The point is, during our stay, on that weekend that we had looked forward to for several weeks, our stay was essentially ruined by a combination of poor room design and inattention to detail in planning for an influx of minivans full of families and soccerballs. We checked out of the hotel exhausted and relieved to be leaving, and that's not a typical experience for me.
I am a Marriott rewards member, a former Marriott timeshare owner, and I have bragged on the chain for years - even this horrible experience will not dissuade me from continuing to patronize the chain, as I have found it to be generally dependable and worthy of my repeat business. But I seriously doubt that I will be going back to the Marriott World Center anytime soon. I sincerely hope they address some of these issues with their hotel, because as I said earlier, this could, and should, be an exceptional member of the Marriott chain.
