Remember that awesome hotel that we booked our trip at? The Disney All Star Movies Resort that I think I said something like Ellis and I didn't expect much but knew Will would just love it because of the Toy Story theme? Yea....that one... it was AWFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously. Do. Not. Ever. Stay. at this resort. Okay - forget calling this a resort - because its NOT! A glorified Holiday Inn it was not. It would have been way cheaper and a heck of a lot nicer to stay at a Super 8 Motel. It was so un-Disney; I was incredibly disappointed.
So, we left Columbia early early in the morning to arrive at the hotel at about 2:30pm so we would have time to enjoy the hotel and then head to Downtown Disney for dinner that night. Check-in was okay although the person who checked me in was not exactly up to Disney staff caliber. But that was okay because I was thrilled to be there ... and never like to think anything bad about Disney. The Toy Story wing of the hotel was wonderful from the outside - Will freaked out and LOVED the huge Buzz and Woody. Then, we headed up to our room, opened the door, and ... Ellis I could NOT believe it. Y'all - this room was teeny tiny. The "entertainment center" was falling apart blue-painted wood with tiny drawers. There is NO way those beds were full-size beds. They weren't quite twins, but they weren't doubles either. The bathroom had a dim, yellow light that made the all-black-and-white decor look dirty and a fan would come on anytime you turned on the light that sounded like the whole room would fall apart. It was terrible.
Ellis and I quickly realized this was not do-able. I called Disney reservations and found some standard rooms available at the Port Orleans Riverside Resort where we had stayed before. And it really wasn't that much more in price. But, they told me I had to change the reservation at the front desk of the All Star Movies Resort since I had already checked in. That was a disaster. The person who was "helping" me didn't know what he was doing - couldn't even use the phone system right to call the other resort. Then, he went in the "back" to change the room over, took like 30 minutes, and came back to tell me that there were no more rooms available. And that is when I started to lose it and, for the first time ever, got mad at a Disney employee. Thankfully, a manager or assistant manager or somebody, stepped in and fixed everything and we were even upgraded to one of the riverview rooms at Port Orleans Riverside.
I was so fearful that Will would be upset that we left "Buzz's house", but he really didn't care. And as soon as we drove up to the new resort, Ellis and I breathed a sigh of relief. THIS was what Disney was supposed to be about. Courteous and helpful staff, clean facilities, pretty rooms, etc etc. Unfortunately, we didn't check in to our final room till 5:30 and we should have just stayed at the hotel and called it an early night. But Ellis and I were ready to head to Downtown Disney to take Will to eat at the Rainforest Cafe. BIG HUGE Mistake. The parking lot was so crowded that it must have taken us 30 minutes just to find a parking spot. At 9:00, after some fighting, tears and exhaustion, we finally sat at our table in the restaurant. Then, as Ellis and I get ready to toast our alcoholic (and much needed) beverages, poor, overtired Will picks up his fruit punch (that had no top on it) and poured it straight-down, all over himself. So, Ellis took him to the bathroom where he dried his pants in a hand-dryer thingy. .... Seriously, it was so disatrous that Ellis and I just laugh about all this now.
So, the moral of this whole story? DON'T stay at the Disney "value" resorts. Save your self the trouble, and not the cash. :-) Or if you want to stave the cash, stay at one of the non-Disney properties that would be much cheaper and much nicer.
But, while I was starting to boil at the front desk, Ellis got these great pictures of Will with the Toy Story statutes outside of the hotel. (Its great from the OUTside.) Can you spot little Will in each picture??
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