Originally Posted By A Happy Haunt This morning I received an e-mail from Disney.. $199 a night for Animal Kingdom Lodge & Wilderness Lodge!! HHHHMMMMMMMM...
Originally Posted By Bolna <<But maybe it is time for me to step away. I have been wondering. Most of you are on my Facebook, so we wouldn't lose personal connections, but maybe it is time for me to step away from Disney unless it is the family vacation time? I don't know really.>> I would be very sad if you stepped away. In my brief time here at LP I learned to value your posts a lot. Not only because we share a common interest in DLP (and the German parks you recently visited), but also because you bring a different perspective to the table. You are not the average guest as has been stated, but how boring would this place be if everyone were the average guest? Not because one is more valuable than the other, but because discussions thrive on diversity of opinion. One of the difficulties of online communication is definitely that it is reduced to just words without everything else we usually use to understand each other. So people might not get the tone something was said in. And just to offer a different perspective, from your report I did not at all come to the conclusion that you were being an unreasonable guest. One of the things that impressed me about you when I started reading your DLP trip report was when you mentioned that you spoke German to the person at the check in desk at the Europa Park hotel. Even though I don't work in the service industry, I have lived in touristy areas for long enough to observe tourist behaviour. Someone who tries to speak the native language normally is quite a "model tourist".
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Wow. I thought my first post was quite sympathetic. <<Dave... a few comments about your experiences, which I’m sure, were very frustrating. The delay in getting luggage to your room is TYPICAL with Magical Express if you have a flight arriving late in the day and has happened to me at both Saratoga Springs and the Boardwalk. If you use ME you MUST pack a day bag with a day's worth of clothes and toiletries and carry it with you. It is one of the reasons I have stopped using Magical Express. Your bus issues (except for the breakdown) are primarily the result of the hotel's location. The AKL is huge and it can easily take 5-10 minutes to walk from your room to the bus stop. We'll imagine you wait 15 minutes for the bus (which is quicker than their stated time frame of up to 20 minutes). It is ALWAYS going to take at least 20 minutes to get to the MK... more during busy times. This totals 45 minutes or more. It would take the same time driving your own car except for the 15 minutes waiting for the bus. It is a primary reason the AKL is the least popular of the Deluxe resorts even though it is a beautiful resort. I'm sure the problem with the room was frustrating but it is understandable. When you get the confirmation of your reservation from the hotel it explicitly states "smoking preference is noted but not guaranteed". You USUALLY get what you want but may not during a busy time, especially if you are checking in late in the evening. I'm sure what happened is when you pushed the point they gave you a room that had been taken out of service for additional cleaning. It was probably the only available non-smoking room in the resort. ALL of those items would have been frustrating, but most of them cannot be attributed to poor service by the hotel. Sorry it all happened on one trip.>> I pointed out (I feel appropriately) that some of the problems experienced could not be attributed to the hotel. One was the fault of Magical Express, which I have experienced myself and will never use again because of that. One was due to the hotel's remote location. There is really nothing they can do about that either. If a person books there, they better expect to spend more time in transit than they would from other WDW hotels. For the incident with the room, all I did was point out reasons why it could possibly be something that fell within Disney's SOP, and while perhaps objectionable was nothing that a specific hotel should be held responsible for. I ended my post by saying I was sorry that Dave had to experience so many problems during one trip. I really did not think I had said anything that critical of Dave. Do I think that for whatever reason Dave has been excessively negative about that one trip? Yes I do. I would hesitate to let one bad experience with a destination I had previously enjoyed completely turn me off to visiting that destination in the future. I was in no way stating that he had no problems... just that I didn't think they were all the fault of the hotel in question. As I said, I have stopped using ME because of problems I've had. But that is the fault of ME... not the AKL. X took me to task for what I said which is certainly his right, but I thought was perhaps an over-reaction. In defending my statements I apparently offended Davewasbaloo (to differentiate the two Daves) which was never my intention. But what the hell... it's the freaking Internet. That crap happens all the time. I would never stop posting or expect anyone else to stop posting over such a minor incident. Yes, I stayed away for a while because of VERY INSULTING remarks made about my personal life during a time of great stress. In this instance I was reacting to an opinion of a WDW hotel... a whole different thing as far as I'm concerned. But if people want to be offended that is their right also. But there really isn't much I can do about it, and I've never been real partial to the whole hair shirt thing. And this is the last I will ever say about that!
Originally Posted By ADMIN <font color="#FF0000">Message removed by an administrator. <a href="MsgBoard-Rules.asp" target="_blank">Click here</a> for the LaughingPlace.com Community Standards.</font>
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<A hair shirt is a coarse garment which intended to be worn next to the skin, thus keeping the wearer in a state of discomfort and constant awareness of the shirt's presence. Such garments were traditionally worn by some Christian religious orders, along with individuals who felt penitent about certain actions or their lifestyles. The use of hair shirts is fairly limited in the modern era, but the term is often used metaphorically, which is why someone might refer to wearing a hair shirt when they perform some other act of self-imposed penitence.>>
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Lol, something you need to tell us Wahoo? Maybe you could benefit from staying on site in a villa, seperate rooms from the kids ;-)
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Nope, I'm happily married. Off to Lover's Key Resort over near Ft Myers Beach next week for some R&R...and yes...separate sleeping arrangements!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Fantastic! Have a great time my friend. And I thought things were sweet, I was just joshing.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb And here I thought a "hair shirt" was what one sees pool side when certain "gentlemen" go topless.
Originally Posted By Bolna <<Bolna, we are similar souls! I've always dreamed of a WDW treehouse stay back in the day AND some campground fun at Ft. Wilderness (naturally, River Country was a big draw too!)...back when I was a kid I actually tried to plan a camping trip to Ft. Wilderness when I realized the Contemporary was way beyond my means (I actually DID send a deposit to the Contemporary, in the mail, and had to cancel when my parents found out lol)...at that time (late 70's??) a camping site was just $15 bucks or so compared to $100 for a Contemporary or Poly night...>> great story Mr X! The first trip I planned to WDW was first supposed to be a camping trip as well. It got cancelled and I am not too sorry that I did not get to stay in a tent at Fort Wilderness in August.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Dave, I think you need a hug, so here's a big cyber-hug for my special UK Duffy Bear! Seriously, I commented a whole lot on your trip when you got back (still convinced it would have been much better if you hadn't have gone two weeks before me!) I think you got some exceptionally bad service. Was it unacceptable? Yes. Was it typical? Very hard to say because the only thing about WDW's consistency these days is in its inconsistency. I have spent about 75-80 nights at DAK Lodge (all between 2001-2006, I might add). I stayed there for six nights on my trip that followed yours and generally had excellent service (except for a snotty little wretched manager at The Mara, who I've never seen again). I've also used DME about 5-6 times despite living only 180 miles away, and its always been fast and reliable. The biggest problem I have with WDW and what should really be at the heart of your issues from the '06 trip is that Guest Recovery and just plain basic decency is no longer stressed from management on down. It's a revolving door. Guests come, guests go. Cast comes, cast goes. I wonder how many folks at the top levels at DAK Lodge were there in 2001 when it opened. My strong guess, none. That doesn't happen at say the LAX Hilton, so it shouldn't happen at a 4-star resort at WDW. Anyone at any resort can have problems that would dwarf the issues you had at DAK Lodge. The difference ... the Disney Difference ... should be in the way things are made right again. That didn't happen with you and you have every right to not be happy considering what the trip cost you and what Disney advertises its deluxe product to be. And I really can't believe I haven't stayed at DAK Lodge since two weeks before they began ruin...I mean DVCing the property.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Thanks Spirit, much appreciated. I hoped it was an annomoly. But it does make me very gun shy. I think next trip to Orlando would likely be in either a MVCI Villa or at Universal hotels (or maybe both) with a couple of day trips to WDW. I suspect that would be much more enjoyable.
