So sorry that I didn't update...I never even powered up my computer for the entire trip.
I don't have a lot of time to post right now, but I will let you know that the trip was absolutely FANTASTIC
. There were a few ups and downs, mostly due to hot and tired children (and occassionally an adult
), but overall, we had a great time
.
Our flight was on time and probably the smoothest one I've ever experienced. We had a short (less than 15 minute) wait for DME but we were the first stop
. From the time we stepped off the plane to the time we arrived at OKW was just over an hour.
As I expected, they had all kinds of confusion with our reservation
. They filled our requests, putting us in the Turtle Pond area in villas right next to each other. We were in rooms 3422 and 3423. Our view was nothing spectacular...an overgrown tree obstructing the view of a fairway and and algae-covered pond...but we never spent any time on the patio anyways so it was not an issue.
The rooms were in good shape with a few minor issues...shower door a little crooked and a wheel missing from the dishwasher shelf in our room and the other villa was missing a spatula. We mentioned it at check out so that maintenance could take care of it.
Oh boy, are their computers a mess
. As I mentioned, we booked a continuous 7-night stay through Member Services, with the first and last nights on cash and the 5 in the middle on points. They said that they could see that we had a continuing reservation, but that their system wouldn't recognize it. So, we had to go back the next morning and get new keys...and guess who was knocking at the door? Yup, mousekeeping
. THEIR system said we were checking out so we ended up with a full cleaning. Then, on Wednesday (day 4 of our points stay)...here they are again with our trash and towel service. Well, you can guess what happened Friday afternoon...yup, we returned to find we'd received another full cleaning
. THEIR system showed that we'd checked out on Friday which was the "checkout" day for our points stay. Then, as expected, our keys didn't work on Saturday morning. That was not a big deal since we didn't leave the room until we were checking out anyways.
If Disney could just get all of their computers to communicate, it sure would save a lot of money
. Good grief! We had THREE visits from housekeeping (which should have only been one!) and we went through 45 resort ID cards, which could have been only 15. Oh, and then there was the check out...
Dad and I went to the HH at 9:15am on checkout day because he had $1000 in gift cards that he needed to apply to the room charges. So, they "merged" our rooms (oh, sure
) and it shows the total owed is $386
....uh....that's not right. So we look over the "itemized" bill. I think you need some sort of advanced degree to understand it
. DH and I charged the $216 fishing trip to the room. That showed up as a charge of $64.15
. Then, there were the transactions that weren't even there...
...$450+ for dinner at Mama Melrose's...
...$250+ for 1/2 of the bill at Chef Mickey's (oddly, the other half WAS on there)...
...at least 3 different charges for food at the resort...
...the $250 payment that DH made with gift cards...
It didn't help the matter that the poor CM trying to help us did not have English as her first language. We kept trying to tell her that we owed almost $1000 in charges and she kept saying "No, this is the correct total". She finally went and got the manager, Hope, who was also completely confused by our folio. My dad pulled out the receipt from Mama Melrose's which clearly showed that it was charged to the room. The reason that this was such an issue is because dad had bought the gift cards specifically for these purchases. His credit card was on file so if the missing charges were eventually found, he didn't want them charging his card since he had the money in gift cards. He certainly didn't want to go home with $1000 in gift cards AND another $1000 charged to his credit card.
Since we had a 10am reservation at Olivia's, and it was now 9:55am, Hope told us to head over and enjoy breakfast and she would get the problem resolved. Sure enough, as we were finishing up, she came to our table and gave dad the corrected bill. It took a total of almost 2 hours to get it all straightened out, but in the end, it all worked out
.
I'll get into more details about the trip later. Right now, I have to get ready to go back to work tomorrow
.
Thanks for reading and if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them
.