mudpuppysmom
02-01-2008, 03:56 PM
Cast:
Me: Dana (age is just a number)
DH: David (43)
DS: Jacob (5)
Today we are joined by:
Bill, aka the Tour Guide (my cousin)
Paula
Kira (12)
Jena (10)
Sami(7)
Day 4: Segway Tour for the guys and AK for the girls (and Jacob)
The guys (Bill and David) were scheduled to go on the Segway tour at Ft. Wilderness at 11 am so we met in the parking lot area at 10:30. The guys went on their way and us girls (and Jacob) went in the other car to AK. We got there around 11 and the place was BUSEEEEEY. I knew it was going to be busy, just not the wait times we expected. First, Paula ran to get Safari FP's for everyone and I took the kids to Dinoland. We stopped and let them play at the Dig site playground where Paula met up with us. Then we went to see if Jacob was actually tall enough to ride Primeval Hurl as I call it.....and he was just there!! He was SO excited!! For the past nearly three years he has wanted to ride this oaster but not been tall enough. Each trip though we check in and he sees that he needs to grow, so he was just tickled that he was now tall enough!! The wait however was 40 minutes.....onward we pressed. Once we got to the Kali Rapids area I needed something to drink and blue Powerade was my craving.....red was all we could fine...so on we walked. At this point we could get another FP so Paula walked back to EE (which was also posted at 40 min when we walked by) and grabbed FP's for everyone. I took the kids once again and walked toward Harambe. We grabbed some snacks there and recharged for a few minutes. I needed it though. Next we were onto the Safari!! We saw SO MANY animals this time!! Black and white rhinos, okapi, gators/crocs, bongo, birds of course, lions were out, giraffees (including a youngster), zebras, tommies, ankole cows, warthogs, elephants (even the babies!!), cheetahs and oh lest we forget the ostrich that was about a foot from my head!! One of the ostriches had stopped in the middle of the road, so we had to stop.....well, there was the other a foot from the truck!! I did not move a muscle!! It was great though!
The guys called as we got off the Safari ride and SAID they were at Epcot, where were we??? I firmly told David not to mess around, we specifically said we were going to AK!! He said they were in the parking lot "dear" don't freak out! We met them back around Pizzafari after us girls went to the Lion King show.....great as always!! I did get a bit dizzy in there though and thought of calling it a day, but didn't. We then hit with everyone, Primeval Hurl, Dinosaur (where BIll and I saw two Dream Squad members with PACKED bags....we thought our group might win something, but alas not -- again no biggie). Then we wandered up to EE and everyone took a spin while I walked with Sami and Jacob to the Safari as they wanted to do that again.....we arrived in Harambe at 5:15 and the last safari left at 5, the kids were bummed, but we'll go back again someday!
Sami, Jacob and I walked back down to the otters, but there were none so we then parked ourselves near some flamingoes and waited for the rest of the crew to meet up near Pizzafari.
We left AK and I rode with Paula back to SOG with the kids and Bill and David in the other car. We all decided to eat the buffet that night at SOG (country buffet night). Our guests enjoyed dinner so much they went back the next night for prime rib!! This was the night of the only substantial rain our entire trip.....it thundered, lightening, and POURED rain!! People were coming in totally drenched and IN ponchos!!
This was also the night of the lovely customer service bestowed on us by the SOG staff......We came "home" and our room was infested with ladybugs.....we were in Room 170, basically as far back from the lobby as you can get, and as I am having contractions I march to the front dest after a phone call was not answered. When I get to the front desk they are all occupied and when it was my turn (I also had forgotten a bag I had sent, so I asked for that first), I hit the guy with "we have a problem with our room"....his reply, "and what is that?"....I told him we had an infestation of ladybugs and he looked at me like I had just asked him for the honeymoon suite for free or something! He questioned me on it and my cousins wife was with me and confirmed that indeed there were dozens of ladybugs in our room all over the ceiling and walls! He called housekeeping who had no idea what to do; he called maintenance who had no idea what to do -- they suggest calling housekeeping. Well, I told him if they sprayed I could not stay in the room as I was pregnant -- he replied there was "no room at the inn". I told him firmly that he had to put me somewhere and he once again just said "there are no rooms". I said "I suggest you call Disney overflow then and I'm not paying more than what my rate here is either". He went in the back and magically a room appeared in inventory -- directly above the room we were in, which upon checking before moving our things was -----infested with ladybugs also!! The guy was just flustered at this point and when we went back down to our original room there were two men (we were not informed they were coming either) picking the ladybugs off the walls by hand and putting them in bags! Yep, that was the remedy. My DH was a little disgusted by this and said "let's go somewhere"......mind you it is 10pm and we have a toddler who is basically falling asleep.....so we didn't go far--to the POLY for a Dole Whip and a coffee. The guy at the front desk informed me that the night manager would be in touch with me within the hour (this was at 9 pm)....at 11 pm we returned to our room without ever hearing from the night manager. The next morning I marched to the front desk once again and demanded to speak to the morning manager -- who would not come out and see me. The nice man who I dealt with the night before was still there and he just looked at me and grinned.....also of note is that the previous night my cousin made a remark about how "this is Disney and customer service is number one with Disney isn't it?" I looked at her and said, "this isn't disney, it's the military"....the guy just looked at her and said "WE'RE NOT DISNEY"......no they are not, Disney would have moved us immediately to a room that was not infested.....Disney would have more than likely upgraded us to a bigger room (not guaranteed, but I'd guess this).
The next day when the morning manager finally got back to me (she had until noon and then I was going back to the hotel and she was coming out, or bail money was going to be needed!). She said they were moving us to a different room and would comp us half the cost of the room for the previous night. Well, the new room was smaller and much louder (the next two days I was awoken to "where's my passport" at 6 am and "can we go on Buzz now mom" and 6:45 am the next morning......I'm not happy and a letter is in the works, but I feel it will fall on deaf ears.
The point of this diatribe is that you should not expect the same service that one might expect at Diseny, because SOG is not a Disney owned property after all.....it is an MWR run through the military.
Sorry for the vent........and I must say that we have stayed here numerous times and never had a problem, but when we did encounter this problem it was not really taken care of how I would have liked it to be.
Tomorrow we go to Epcot....brrrrr it was sorta cold!!
Me: Dana (age is just a number)
DH: David (43)
DS: Jacob (5)
Today we are joined by:
Bill, aka the Tour Guide (my cousin)
Paula
Kira (12)
Jena (10)
Sami(7)
Day 4: Segway Tour for the guys and AK for the girls (and Jacob)
The guys (Bill and David) were scheduled to go on the Segway tour at Ft. Wilderness at 11 am so we met in the parking lot area at 10:30. The guys went on their way and us girls (and Jacob) went in the other car to AK. We got there around 11 and the place was BUSEEEEEY. I knew it was going to be busy, just not the wait times we expected. First, Paula ran to get Safari FP's for everyone and I took the kids to Dinoland. We stopped and let them play at the Dig site playground where Paula met up with us. Then we went to see if Jacob was actually tall enough to ride Primeval Hurl as I call it.....and he was just there!! He was SO excited!! For the past nearly three years he has wanted to ride this oaster but not been tall enough. Each trip though we check in and he sees that he needs to grow, so he was just tickled that he was now tall enough!! The wait however was 40 minutes.....onward we pressed. Once we got to the Kali Rapids area I needed something to drink and blue Powerade was my craving.....red was all we could fine...so on we walked. At this point we could get another FP so Paula walked back to EE (which was also posted at 40 min when we walked by) and grabbed FP's for everyone. I took the kids once again and walked toward Harambe. We grabbed some snacks there and recharged for a few minutes. I needed it though. Next we were onto the Safari!! We saw SO MANY animals this time!! Black and white rhinos, okapi, gators/crocs, bongo, birds of course, lions were out, giraffees (including a youngster), zebras, tommies, ankole cows, warthogs, elephants (even the babies!!), cheetahs and oh lest we forget the ostrich that was about a foot from my head!! One of the ostriches had stopped in the middle of the road, so we had to stop.....well, there was the other a foot from the truck!! I did not move a muscle!! It was great though!
The guys called as we got off the Safari ride and SAID they were at Epcot, where were we??? I firmly told David not to mess around, we specifically said we were going to AK!! He said they were in the parking lot "dear" don't freak out! We met them back around Pizzafari after us girls went to the Lion King show.....great as always!! I did get a bit dizzy in there though and thought of calling it a day, but didn't. We then hit with everyone, Primeval Hurl, Dinosaur (where BIll and I saw two Dream Squad members with PACKED bags....we thought our group might win something, but alas not -- again no biggie). Then we wandered up to EE and everyone took a spin while I walked with Sami and Jacob to the Safari as they wanted to do that again.....we arrived in Harambe at 5:15 and the last safari left at 5, the kids were bummed, but we'll go back again someday!
Sami, Jacob and I walked back down to the otters, but there were none so we then parked ourselves near some flamingoes and waited for the rest of the crew to meet up near Pizzafari.
We left AK and I rode with Paula back to SOG with the kids and Bill and David in the other car. We all decided to eat the buffet that night at SOG (country buffet night). Our guests enjoyed dinner so much they went back the next night for prime rib!! This was the night of the only substantial rain our entire trip.....it thundered, lightening, and POURED rain!! People were coming in totally drenched and IN ponchos!!
This was also the night of the lovely customer service bestowed on us by the SOG staff......We came "home" and our room was infested with ladybugs.....we were in Room 170, basically as far back from the lobby as you can get, and as I am having contractions I march to the front dest after a phone call was not answered. When I get to the front desk they are all occupied and when it was my turn (I also had forgotten a bag I had sent, so I asked for that first), I hit the guy with "we have a problem with our room"....his reply, "and what is that?"....I told him we had an infestation of ladybugs and he looked at me like I had just asked him for the honeymoon suite for free or something! He questioned me on it and my cousins wife was with me and confirmed that indeed there were dozens of ladybugs in our room all over the ceiling and walls! He called housekeeping who had no idea what to do; he called maintenance who had no idea what to do -- they suggest calling housekeeping. Well, I told him if they sprayed I could not stay in the room as I was pregnant -- he replied there was "no room at the inn". I told him firmly that he had to put me somewhere and he once again just said "there are no rooms". I said "I suggest you call Disney overflow then and I'm not paying more than what my rate here is either". He went in the back and magically a room appeared in inventory -- directly above the room we were in, which upon checking before moving our things was -----infested with ladybugs also!! The guy was just flustered at this point and when we went back down to our original room there were two men (we were not informed they were coming either) picking the ladybugs off the walls by hand and putting them in bags! Yep, that was the remedy. My DH was a little disgusted by this and said "let's go somewhere"......mind you it is 10pm and we have a toddler who is basically falling asleep.....so we didn't go far--to the POLY for a Dole Whip and a coffee. The guy at the front desk informed me that the night manager would be in touch with me within the hour (this was at 9 pm)....at 11 pm we returned to our room without ever hearing from the night manager. The next morning I marched to the front desk once again and demanded to speak to the morning manager -- who would not come out and see me. The nice man who I dealt with the night before was still there and he just looked at me and grinned.....also of note is that the previous night my cousin made a remark about how "this is Disney and customer service is number one with Disney isn't it?" I looked at her and said, "this isn't disney, it's the military"....the guy just looked at her and said "WE'RE NOT DISNEY"......no they are not, Disney would have moved us immediately to a room that was not infested.....Disney would have more than likely upgraded us to a bigger room (not guaranteed, but I'd guess this).
The next day when the morning manager finally got back to me (she had until noon and then I was going back to the hotel and she was coming out, or bail money was going to be needed!). She said they were moving us to a different room and would comp us half the cost of the room for the previous night. Well, the new room was smaller and much louder (the next two days I was awoken to "where's my passport" at 6 am and "can we go on Buzz now mom" and 6:45 am the next morning......I'm not happy and a letter is in the works, but I feel it will fall on deaf ears.
The point of this diatribe is that you should not expect the same service that one might expect at Diseny, because SOG is not a Disney owned property after all.....it is an MWR run through the military.
Sorry for the vent........and I must say that we have stayed here numerous times and never had a problem, but when we did encounter this problem it was not really taken care of how I would have liked it to be.
Tomorrow we go to Epcot....brrrrr it was sorta cold!!