Our last night here, here are a few thoughts. We arrived last Saturday morning around 10 am. There were a few people in front of us when we arrived, but not too bad. When we booked our free dining bounce back last year, we had to list DH & my son in 1 room, DDIL & me in the other. The CM had help from the back to get us changed to the correct rooms. We got our mugs in the check in building, but my room did not show our dining plan. Went to concierge/ guest services desk to get it fixed. Took her several tries to eventually get it fixed. It took til a little past 12 noon to get everything right. We had an ADR at The studios, so she did give us a taxi voucher so we would not be late. She also gave us 3 extra fastpasses. Unfortunately, she tied them all together & we were only spending part of the day together that day & already had those fastpasses arranged. So we could not use them. By 10:30 or so, the check in area was mobbed. And very chaotic. So be warned about that.
We left our luggage & carry on with bell services. We had yet another issue at our lunch adr (didn't show room charging privileges) so we had to stop at check in again. We asked for bell services to take us & our luggage to our room. Again, they were very busy with about 5 parties in front of us waiting. We gave our name & waited close to 15 minutes for our luggage. Finally we were told our luggage was all delivered to our DS's room, even tho no one was in the room & we were not ME. We then had to wait for the internal shuttle to get to our room. All in all, took about another 40 minutes.
We did eat at the buffet for dinner once & breakfast twice. Dinner was ok, really just ok. Breakfast was better, with the mini Mickey waffles. Strangely, this morning as we went thru, there was a CM serving the bacon from the back of the buffet. Very wierd. Everything else you served yourself, but here was a CM passing out 2 strips of bacon. I asked for extra & she gave me 1 more slice. She was there for a few minutes & then gone & you again could serve yourself. It was worth a counter service credit, but certainly not more than that. So it is priced right.
We were in Aruba & had several issues with crowded buses or everyone not fitting on the bus. This morning we went to Epcot from the buffet & got on at the center town stop. That bus did not go to Jamaica & Aruba, even tho there was still plenty of room on it. Made me wonder if that was part of the issues we were having all week with buses.
The room is clean & comfortable. We did not take the housekeeping credit but wanted housekeeping. No issues with housekeeping. We do have an issue with our door. The outside handle has been sticking several times. We almost could not get in the room Monday. My DH called maintaince but it was not fixed as promised. It doesn't happen every time so we are ok but should have been looked at.
We like PO Riverside more than CBR. I always read comments about how that resort is too big, but we found CBR big & confusing to navigate. The construction & fact that you can't acccess the front desk without a shuttle did not help with our opinion of the place. And the theme is not our style. But I will say the CMs have all been very friendly & as helpful as can be. All 3 CMs that we dealt with at check in will get very positive comments from us if we get a survey. They were all wonderful. And the CMs at the buffet were all very friendly with a smile & well wishes for a nice day & happy holiday.
Finally, as I said, I booked a free dining bounceback in Sept 2016. After the construction was announced, I called & requested to be moved but was denied that request. I was given the $75 a night credit however. We did indeed recieve the $75 per night gift card at check in also. I was pleasantly surprised that we actually got them. Without even asking about it. So with our discounts, I am very satisfied with the value of our vacation. I would not be if I had to pay full price however.
And thanks, Dansdad for all your helpful info on this thread!
