Disney World - Report #1

I've got three posts planned to tell you about our Disney World trip. This is the first one. And it's really all about Disney service. The overall trip was great. Surprising the kids was fantastic. The rides were as charming as I remembered. But the service was above and beyond. Some of the outstanding moments:



1) After we arrived and checked into the lovely Fort Wilderness Cabin, we had a complication ending up with a wounded Maude (she's fine and dandy now). Within a few minutes, the staff at Disney World had sent paramedics and located a new room for us at a nearby resort, Old Key West. David, the property manager at the Cabins helped us stay calm, introduced pin-trading to the kids to keep them entertained (more on that in the next report) and did everything he could to get our vacation back on track as quickly as possible.

2) We spent our first evening of our trip touring Epcot. When we arrived at Soarin' near closing time, we realized Oscar and Betty were too little to ride. So I planned on waiting at the ride exit with the little ones while Ben took the big kids. To my happy surprise, the Soarin' ticket taker gave me a rider-switch-pass, so that when Ben and the kids were done, I could go on the ride without having to wait — and the big kids could ride with me, getting a second chance to go on Soarin'. Apparently this rider switch policy is standard on any ride at Disney World. Nice, right?

Here's where they really stepped it up though. It just so happened that by the time Ben and the kids met me at the end of their ride, it was after 9:00 and Soarin' was closed. I assumed I had missed my chance to try it out. But the ticket taker made a point of sending me and the older kids back on the ride. Basically, they kept the ride open just so I could get a chance to try it. In fact, we (me, Ralph, Maude and Olive) had the ride completely to ourselves. Which was really, really fun.



3) A couple days into the trip, the Manager of the Old Key West resort left a message checking in to make sure Maude was okay. She was. And we were touched that someone called.

4) We used the Kids Night Out babysitting service for Oscar and Betty while we took the older kids to La Nouba. And we were very pleased. Our sitter's name was Brandon and when we got back he said everything was "fantastic", that our kids are super smart and that they went right to bed. (Note to all babysitters: that is exactly what every parent wants to hear when they arrive home.) If you need a sitter at Disney World, you should totally request Brandon.



5) Another thing we loved is that the hotels at Disneyworld are full-fledged resorts themselves. Meaning, even if you didn't go to one the parks, there would be plenty of entertaining things to do right at your hotel. Our kids loved watching a nighttime showing of Ratatouille at the Old Key West pool. If we'd had more time, I'll bet they would have loved taking one of the crafts classes that were offered. Or trying out the family-size bicycles.

Old Key West photos from About.com