Originally Posted By avimagine <<(By the way... why do people caulk around toilets? If the toilet is installed properly that should be absolutely unnecessary. All it does is collect dirt and mildew.) >> When I was looking at new houses at a well advertised subdivision by a "multi-award winning" builder who prides themselves on the fine quality of their homes built by the finest people in the industry. I inquired about said caulking. If you bolt the toilet down properly and set the wax ring right it shouldn't leak. Their salesperson couldn't answer got one of the construction supervisors to provide an answer. Oh we give the job of caulking to one of the newer general laborers. Needless to say I bought a semi-custom home (and ended up with a better price/location). My guess is probably the same thing. Hand a cheap laborer a caulking gun to go in and say caulk everything up. Oh and mould with caulking. The answer is instead of the 3.99 tube of caulking buy the 5.99 silicone. I haven't had mould in any of my units since.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<The only resort where I’ve never had an issue with the room was at Saratoga Springs, and that was probably because both times I was there was during it’s first year of operation.>> Trippy, if that's the case all I can say is you're staying in the wrong places and giving the wrong company your business. You shouldn't be having issues with your rooms/villas everytime you stay at WDW. That shows a fundamental lack of running a resort and a 'have a magical' attitude (you know I mean that in the bad way, right?) toward guests. Totally unacceptable. I'd be sending a detailed letter with pictures to Dijuan Rivers, VP of DVC. Maybe you could 'poke' him as he is on Facebook (along with MANY Disney execs, who may be tempted to ignore you otherwise). They don't maintain rooms. DVC or regular. And if folks don't complain, vocally ... they never will. Right now, I'm staying at a hotel from a national chain that is maybe three miles from OKW by the way the crow flies ... it is decorated in a similar motif to OKW and my standard hotel room is larger than an OKW studio (and has microwave and fridge). I also have great free breakfast every morning. ... Oh, and I'm paying $35 a night.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost >>>Right now, I'm staying at a hotel from a national chain that is maybe three miles from OKW by the way the crow flies ... it is decorated in a similar motif to OKW and my standard hotel room is larger than an OKW studio (and has microwave and fridge). I also have great free breakfast every morning. ... Oh, and I'm paying $35 a night.<<< And that is really not an exception, it is how the vast majority of off-site places are. If the public could get over their obsession with having to be in an immersion mode and needing a 5 ft mouse to run up and down their hallways to get the "full" experience, maybe something will happen. As long as everyone is willing to pay the long price for substandard rooms they will most certainly stay substandard. Since I am almost completely an off-site guest. I cannot say how the really high priced resorts are, but for those prices, they better have their own private cleaning person that stays just outside your room 24/7 just waiting for a mildew molecule to form. The extras offered off-site, like the fridge, microwave, larger room and a TV that gets more than 8 or 9 Disney related channels is incentive alone, but the price...it makes me have tingles of joy. This is interesting, I think. My first trip to WDW was in 1983. My cost for a hotel room was $28.00 per night. My last trip last September was $33.00 per night. Not bad over a 27 year span. Now if everyone abandoned the Disney Resorts the prices would, no doubt, jump up considerably. With that in mind ignore all I just said about a Disney Resorts and by all means flock there. They are such a deal.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***Now if everyone abandoned the Disney Resorts the prices would, no doubt, jump up considerably. With that in mind ignore all I just said about a Disney Resorts and by all means flock there. They are such a deal*** lol.
Originally Posted By Christi22222 >>Now if everyone abandoned the Disney Resorts the prices would, no doubt, jump up considerably. With that in mind ignore all I just said about a Disney Resorts and by all means flock there. They are such a deal. << I got a kick out of this, too. We all go on the internet and share our best Disney secrets and display our knowledge with pride.....only to have a - Doh!- moment when we realize it's not a secret anymore!!
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Location, location, location. As in real estate, location is everything. If it's off Disney Property, it just isn't the same. The one exception to this would be the hotels on Hotel Plaza Blvd, but for the most part they are just as expensive as the Disney resorts. The Disney resorts get heavy use by groups including lots of children. The rooms are going to start showing some wear between renovations. Did they wait too long to renovate OKW? In my opinion they did. But on the other hand, would I be willing to have my maintenance fees double to make sure that I would never have a room with a stain on the carpet? No, I would not. Although the rooms may not be all that different, the exterior theming, landscaping and pool areas are all considerably better at a DVC resort than you would ever find at your $35 hotel. And although you will claim I'm high on Pixie Dust, it just FEELS DIFFERENT on property. When I've stayed off property I was visiting Disney World. On property I am LIVING at Disney World. The immersion makes a difference to me, and I am willing to pay for it. Are the rack rates at the DVC resorts ridiculous? Of course they are. But who pays them? Even when I was paying mortgages for both my points purchases, the total cost including maintenance fees for an OKW studio worked out to about $245 per night. Now that I am paying maintenance only it costs about $85 per night. I think those prices offer good value... your mileage may vary.
Originally Posted By FenwayGirl I totally agree with you Roadtrip. Although it might cost more, we always stay on site.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 There are great things about staying on property. It definately can be immersive and some of the resorts have real charm. I would also say that there are definate advantages of staying off property including the price. And some off property hotels offer some nice little bonuses of their own. The question is what your looking for in your vacation? If your plan is to hit the parks both on and off property each day then maybe spending $200+ on a hotel room is not the way to go. If your doing the parks early, then the pool, then the parks again and your planning to enjoy the resorts as part of the experience then there are some wonderful choices in all price catagories. As a side note...Universal's resorts are just as nice as Disney's. We had friends who stayed at Portofino recently. The places was beautiful, had some wonderful views and resturants and the boat ride to City Walk was very nice.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost You folks are absolutely right. I am in favor of as many people as possible staying on site. Don't know why, just feel like being a Disney Resort cheerleader for some reason. In the words of one of our more famous posters...It Totally Tocks!
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper Now that I'm not a cast member, I'll never stay on site again, unless it's some very special trip. There's no reason to pay that exorbitant fee.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 The problem as a CM is that even though we get a nice discount, I cant often get a resort I would want to stay at. BTW...what kind of drugs is Disney on charging $109.00 with tax for a tent campsite?
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo There is an arguement in staying on site IF they maintained properly, and offered a more efficient service. Given that the Marriott Villas offer more space, theming and better maintenance for a lesser cost, then I would stay off site from now on, especially as the parks become less compelling with broken effects, toonization and 6 months reservation windows for meals. I stayed at AKL thinking it would be a once in a lifetime type experience. And although there were some very cool experiences, we now have a Holiday Inn in the UK that offers animal views, and I can stay there for free with my loyalty points. Disney stopped offering value to me when they stopped taking care of the little details. Also, I think the real slide happened when they broke ground on the All Stars Resorts.
Originally Posted By u k fan ^^^ I remember Dave, that you had some transport issues while you were there. we hired a car, but when we used Disney transportation it worked really well (and we were at POP!) I have mixed feelings about being on or off site. Coming from the UK a trip to Orlando is not cheap anyway so paying to be on-site is just another expense to add to the pot - what's a few $100 more in the grand scheme of things? By the same token, we've had some very nice stays off site. We'll travel to eat etc. wherever we stay as we always rent a car so that's not a concern either. I do agree with whoever said that if your group is likely to want to split up or if you just fancy a visit to Epcot after dark then being on resort is easiest. So I guess I'm on the fence on this one!!!
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost My question would be...when were the parks not toonized? What was Snow White, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Dumbo, Mr. Toad or, for the complete lack of a better example, Mikey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy, Minnie Mouse and on and on. There were other attractions basically based on movies like Jungle Cruise, 20K, Swiss Family Tree House and I'm sure more if I think about it. At what point do we draw the line and say that the old toons were acceptable but the new ones are sacrilegious? Disney has spent many years keeping its feature movies under lock and key. Because of that kids of just a few days ago and today have no real base of reference for those characters other than what their parents have driven into them. The only thing I see that is changing is that the toons are now more current and identifiable to the newer generations. Sure, I don't know anything about them but that's my fault for not being able to maintain my Peter Pan syndrome and basically growing up. That doesn't mean that they are bad, in fact because of technology they are more creative and interesting. As for cleanliness in the parks, well, it depends. The size of the crowd as well as the social makeup of it, is far more responsible for it being messy than the maintenance people are. If I go in and there are very few people there and trash cans are overflowing, they are out of towels in the bathrooms and so on, then I get upset and think that Disney is falling apart. If there are 10's of thousands of people, just a mass of humanity then, let's get real here, unless they have a person for every single trash can in the place, somewhere along the line some are not going to have been emptied yet. Big damn deal. Now for something that is constant, like the number of hotel rooms in a resort, then moldy shower walls, sinks or toilets is completely and totally unacceptable. On top of that when you pay that premium rate, for a simple (and smaller) hotel room and that's what you get for your money then Disney can forget about me being part of the picture. Everything is different and everything has its own standard of judgment. Everyone has to make up their own mind about what is realistic to expect and what isn't. Living totally in a fantasy glaze is neither very useful or attainable.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I would not think so harshly of the on site experience if they offered comparable experience to similar class hotels and resorts elsewhere. But when the moderates are the same price as the Ritz Carlton and offer Travelodge standard experince (minus theming of course), then it makes me pretty grumpy. While people love the Germany pavillion at Epcot (as do I) and pay a small fortune for on site hotels, I will be staying in a 16th Century Wein Kelter on the Mosel for £60 ($90) a night. <a href="http://www.moselholiday.com/" target="_blank">http://www.moselholiday.com/</a> Even with the themed accomodation, we are staying at the Hotel Colloseo (4* at Europa Park) with monorail service and EMH type stuff for less than the Caribbean Beach hotel at WDW. <a href="http://resort.europapark.de/lang-en/Theme-Hotels-Guesthouse/Hotel-Colosseo/c583.html" target="_blank">http://resort.europapark.de/la...583.html</a> The Ling Bao at Phantasialand looks amazing, though we are paying almost as much as a Wilderness Lodge stay (though it includes breakfast unlike the WDW hotels). <a href="http://www.phantasialand.de/eng/Hotels" target="_blank">http://www.phantasialand.de/eng/Hotels</a> As Disney have lost their focus on service and highly themed (not toon based) experiences they were famous for decades in providing, I guess I have now moved on. I want value for money. And while if local it can provide it, and let's admit it, it is still pretty good value overall for some, I am hungry for better value, especially as we all have to work harder to survive. I don't mind putting out the time and money if the quality is there, but if it isn't I'd rather not bother. I suppose i am at that place now. When younger, I'd be happy to go in a tent or stay at economy digs if I meant I could do it more frequently. But now, I want quality and service when I go away, even if it means longer intervals between trips. I recognise mileage will vary. But I keep reading threads in the hope that just like disneyland in the Pressler years vs. the Ouimet years, we will see an improvement and we may return.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo >>>My question would be...when were the parks not toonized? What was Snow White, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Dumbo, Mr. Toad or, for the complete lack of a better example, Mikey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy, Minnie Mouse and on and on. <<< Well I was always a Disneylander and to me, the toons were mainly relegated to Fantasyland, a land I spent the least amount of time in. I also do not remember a whole lot of toons in Epcot at opening either (the most awesome place on the planet in 1982). It is now to the point where I hate toons, old or new, in the parks.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo >>>As for cleanliness in the parks, well, it depends. The size of the crowd as well as the social makeup of it, is far more responsible for it being messy than the maintenance people are. <<< the big damn deal is flying 3000 miles and spending a small fortune for virtually every AA attraction to have broken AA's, something that rarely happened years ago. It is not acceptable, and the people that do accept it are a part of the problem, and why some of us do develop a 'tude.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***When younger, I'd be happy to go in a tent*** You're still young, kid. And sometimes, staying in a tent makes for a very special trip all its' own. I'm sure your kids would love something like that (or a trailer in the woods, or a lodge, whathaveyou). I'm sure you know that, but for those who don't, sometimes the cost of the thing matters hardly at all. Some of my very BEST vacations and trips were spend in a tent, or on the road, or sleeping in a sleeping bag on a gym floor somewhere (that was more of a tour than a trip, but still...). And, of course, I love the fancy digs too (who doesn't!?). That's just a side-bit, though. I totally agree with Dave on the quality that should be DEMANDED of Disney for the prices they charge (my Grandma would call it "highway robbery!", and she never stayed in anyplace fancier than a Red Roof Inn, but that's a different story lol). ***It is now to the point where I hate toons, old or new, in the parks*** You need to get over that, or else you'll just drive yourself crazy. Hate is a REALLY strong word, maybe you meant something else (I don't want to assume)...as far as Disney Parks are concerned I don't really hate ANYTHING (well, the crowds come close...yes, I do hate the crowds, but there's not much you can do except plan ahead and visit when the crowds are lightest). On the other hand, I hate fish and I still choose to live in Japan, so who am I to say? Hopefully someday Japan will get rid of all the fish, since I hate it so much.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***The size of the crowd as well as the social makeup of it, is far more responsible for it being messy than the maintenance people are*** That's a lame and pathetic excuse for poor upkeep and staffing by Disney. And it is, ONLY, an excuse. Again to bring Tokyo to the forefront (what can I say, I know the place and the standards are high), they have huge crowds AND the social makeup is not what you are assuming...I've seen people acting like pigs and I've seen children urinating in the bushes (at the request of their parents), and all the rest. Sometimes Japanese customers but not always. The custodial staff is first rate, though, and well staffed, and they CLEAN UP any mess they find, big or small. And quickly, too. Walt Disney himself warned of "blaming the guests", when he talked about not wanting to put up "keep off the grass!" signs. And people said to him "well, then, people will walk on the grass!", and Disney said something like "well then, we'll have to budget more for re-sodding". Blaming the customers is a weak argument.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper <<Well I was always a Disneylander and to me, the toons were mainly relegated to Fantasyland, a land I spent the least amount of time in.>> This. Fantasyland was the place for toons. Not the entire frakking park.
