Disney renovation drama!

camca

Wow there's so much judgement on this thread. It may be "first world problems" but believe me, when you suffer from a chronic illness or have a difficult job and you don't have much else in life to look forward to, and you pay thousands of pounds for a holiday, and spend months planning it, it really is a downer finding out that the accommodation you have paid for is not as advertised, and that they're not refunding deposits if you cancel and charging amendment fees if you want to move!

Animal Kingdom Lodge is one of the most highly themed hotels at Disney - not like your usual resort - and you pay a premium for the theming and ambience. It's not "a few workmen pottering around" - they are completely re-doing the entire pool area (which is right next to the on-site restaurants and some of the rooms), including installing some large slides etc. Personally I'd prefer children running around to construction noise any day - or I wouldn't like going to Disney. Obviously it's not for you so I don't really know why you're reading this thread.

To the person above saying you don't understand about how moving hotel affects things: If you'd booked to eat at Animal Kingdom Lodge, it's really far to get to from other hotels. I'm not sure people realise but the many popular table service restaurants at Disney must be booked 180 days in advance otherwise availability is rubbish. Also, there basically aren't any on-site hotels left to move to anyway without paying a lot extra as they're mostly fully booked. I understand a lot of people like off-site villas, but personally I wouldn't want to go if I couldn't stay on-site because I find it much more relaxing.

There's really no need to be so judgemental and unsympathetic. If you don't have anything nice or useful to say, don't bother. Of course we realise that there are worse things in the world, but that doesn't mean it isn't upsetting for the people involved.

Nakita93

Thanks Camca for the support. I had been left feeling a little bewildered by peoples negative attitudes on this thread. You’ve explained how I feel so perfectly, so many things are affected by refurbishments like this. Not to mention the hefty 9k price tag. We definitely didn’t shell out that to be inconvenienced and have to start !!!!ing about with plans now. !!!128555;

Nakita93

Westin, I have responded to people in the manner I was addressed by them. I have shelled out 9k for this holiday. I didn’t get it for free. I did not anticipate this refurbishment taking place and therefore did not demand the things you have previously stated. I have paid to stay in a savannah view before, on this occasion I chose not to pay for a savannah view. I did not ring up demanding things for free, the savannah view was offered as an option with an extra 2.5k price tag, I said I didn’t want to pay for something I had not planned for. I asked if it were possible to be moved to an equivalent hotel, without being charged an ammendnent fee. I never demanded gift cards, money back or refunds. I made examples of things previously done by Disney when people had been inconvenienced before. My point in doing so was to understand why on this occasion they didn’t thing it was appropriate to compensate customers when they were ultimately not getting all of what they had paid for. I don’t need a gift. All I would like is what I have paid for. I work stupidly hard for my money, I don’t need to rely on free gifts and free of charge upgrades. This comes down to morals and compassion and taking something away from people that they have already paid for!

Westin

You made mention of the gift cards and upgrade to Savannah rooms in your first post.

Nakita93 wrote: »

Disney have refused to offer any gift cards, room transfers to the savannah views that are at the other side of the hotel and won’t be affected by noise pollution, or a transfer to another resort without us incurring additional costs and admin fees.

CM66

Perhaps try posting on Twitter - places seem to be quick to help once they get some negative press!

koalakoala

peachyprice wrote: »

Are you in the UK? If so you don't get jet lag going from UK to US, you get it when you come home. 9am US time is afternoon here, you will be waking up very early in the mornings.

You certainly can get jet lag going to US

balletshoes

the DIBB forum has started to pick this up as obviously there will be a lot of Animal Kingdom Lodge guests affected by this pool closure etc -
https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1079347

might be worth following that thread to see if anything further develops with regard to cancellations/moves with no amendment fees.

andrewmp

It's like CBR all over again. Keep at them, they might cave in.

sandsy

I'd probably just still go. With all the planning, we found there was hardly time to use the hotel pool and we had one of the best ones - we went to the included water parks instead. And early morning is definitely the best time to hit the parks. After late nights, the water parks are a good option as they open later anyway. Anyway, make a decision sooner rather than later to reduce your stress levels.

Hope you're planning to eat at Sanaa!