Trip Report: OKW March 18 - 30

[jekjones1558]

Haven't even unpacked and am at the computer getting my DIS fix.
We haven't stayed at OKW for a while. Here are the highs and not so highs:

•Asked for an elevator building and got bldg. 64! Nice view of a LBV green! Room was clean and in pretty good condition. Just LOVE the size of OKW 2 bedroom units. Kids that stayed with us loved the big sand play area at the main pool. Parking near the room is so convenient.

•Elevator was out of order during the entire 12 days of our trip. We were not pleased. Door was missing from the freezer on the studio side, which caused the freezer to get thick frost. I defrosted and maintenance put on a door. Found little annoying oversights like no sheets for the pull-out, no laundry soap. I guess I will just have to start checking every last detail at check-in. It is a pain to find these items missing at bedtime, laundry time, etc. Changed our cleaning/T&T days. Mousekeeping approved changes but only cleaned one side of the 2 bedroom (and I REALLY needed both sides cleaned because guests were leaving and new guests arriving). Finally got help after numerous phone calls. They also came on the wrong day for T&T. Our room charges bill did not arrive at our door by 9:00 a.m. on check-out day and I had to go to lobby to get it. Another annoyance since we had a big bill and I wanted to check it over and we needed to get to the airport.

•I am absolutely loving OwnersLocker! Filled our locker to the tip-top and will need to bring so much less stuff when we return with a big group in November. A new person at OKW Bell Services could not find the locker when we checked in and one call to Brian at OwnersLocker fixed the problem (it was right in the Bell services storage area all along). I had an e-mail waiting for me when I got home today telling me that my locker had already been picked up and stored. Also got an e-mail at home just before we left for OKW. Fantastic service. Love it!

•Didn't care for the new Monsters, Inc. attraction in Tomorrowland. Just not our cup of tea, I guess. Loved the new Nemo show at AK. First time we sat way on the side near front, next time we were in the center closer to the back. Latter was much better. Very raggedy Fantasmic performance. I was disappointed because it is one of my most favorite things at WDW. Sparklers from Mickey's fingers didn't work. Only one torch on the canoes worked. The Steamboat Willy float was so slow that the grand finale started and the boat was still center stage. Almost no fireworks at the end. Hope this was just a computer problem for a single performance and not an indication of sloppiness to come.

•Weather was gorgeous every day! Came home to rain, but the snow is all gone and ice is off the lake near our home!

Had a wonderful time with friends and family at the Happiest Place on Earth. No little inconveniences could ever change that. Looking forward to another OKW trip in November with lots of family.

 

[DVCconvert]

Elevator was out of order during the entire 12 days of our trip. We were not pleased.
-->did you report that?..response??

Door was missing from the freezer on the studio side, which caused the freezer to get thick frost. I defrosted and maintenance put on a door.
-->so you found a problem and maintenance corrected it?

Found little annoying oversights like no sheets for the pull-out, no laundry soap. I guess I will just have to start checking every last detail at check-in. It is a pain to find these items missing at bedtime, laundry time, etc. Changed our cleaning/T&T days. Mousekeeping approved changes but only cleaned one side of the 2 bedroom (and I REALLY needed both sides cleaned because guests were leaving and new guests arriving).
-->sounds like the 'system' wanted to do you right, but the execution didn't pull off correctly.

Finally got help after numerous phone calls. They also came on the wrong day for T&T. Our room charges bill did not arrive at our door by 9:00 a.m. on check-out day and I had to go to lobby to get it. Another annoyance since we had a big bill and I wanted to check it over and we needed to get to the airport.

•I am absolutely loving OwnersLocker!

--->Excellent!

"Had a wonderful time with friends and family at the Happiest Place on Earth. No little inconveniences could ever change that. Looking forward to another OKW trip in November with lots of family."

--->that really speaks volumes!

 

[bobbiwoz]

Wow, that's a fair number of inconveniences! I'm glad you still had a wonderful time with your family and friends.

I'm guessing that the front desk didn't mentioned that the elevator was out, and perhaps you could have gotten a first floor. Did you choose not to move, or did you feel stuck?

DH and I both enjoyed the Monsters Inc. comedy, and I enjoyed Nemo at AK more than DH did. We both noticed lots more sweepers around the parks, so we thought that the trash detail was being addressed...we were there last week.

Bobbi

 

[jekjones1558]

We were not told at check-in that the elevator was out of order. We assumed it would soon be fixed. When it was not, we asked and were told that they did not know when it would be fixed. We could have asked for a first floor room for DH's knee problems, but 3 days were already gone and DH only stayed for 7 days. Moving 8 people's things and lots of groceries into Bell storage and them moving into another room later in the day was just too much work, so we stayed. (We HATE split stays for this same reason.) DH only did Fantasmic and Illuminations and was not up and down the stairs too much, so he survived. It would have been nice to be told that there was a problem when we checked in.

We were very pleased with the prompt fixing of the freezer. I just do not understand why Mousekeeping cannot report these issues and save guests the trouble. There is no way that a mousekeeper could not notice a missing freezer door. Defrosting is not on my list of favorite things to do on vacation.

 

[nzdisneymom]

We overlapped our time with y'all - we were at OKW March 18 - 23 (wish we could've stayed the extra week!) in bldg 26.

I'm not familiar with Owners Locker - what is it?

I had considered asking to change our T/T day but didn't. We got it on Wed. like we were supposed to and got new box of Tide, too, even though the original box was still sitting on the dryer (we took our own liquid detergent).

 

[jekjones1558]

I'm not familiar with Owners Locker - what is it?

Check out this thread:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1322062

 

[Boston5602]

I'm glad you and your troup had a good time.

I was thinking about changing a TaT day next vacation , I think I'll just add another mousekeeping day and pay for it.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Glad you had a good time in spite of the inconveniences, Jean! I wish you would have brought some of the sunshine home with you! I'm pretty tired of the DRIP, DRIP, DRIP, DRIP!!!

 

[jekjones1558]

Hi, Diane,
DH came home to 80° weather. I wasn't so lucky, but I am so happy to see my tulips coming up and the buds on my shrubs swelling!
We were worried about crowding during the first half of our trip because we have never had 8 in a 2 bedroom before. We tried to get an additional studio but there wasn't one available. But the HUGE OKW room was great! Since we had 3 kids and an infant it didn't seem bad at all. Much as we love the activity and view at BWV, we would definitely have been crowded at that resort.
Can't wait to try our first OKW GV next trip. I am calling in a couple of weeks to add 2 - 2 bedrooms and a 1 bedroom. May need to cancel one room later, but can't wait for family to try out OKW. The golfers should be particularly pleased. Hoping to get building 16 or 25 so we are close to HH.