BFF and I decided to take another trip to The Happiest Place on Earth off our normal schedule last week because they are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the park being open. We knew there was tons of special stuff being done to celebrate and we didn’t want to miss out on any of it.  Now, if you follow our exploits regularly, you will know that we usually avoid going to DL in the summer because of the crowds.  We decided to go when we knew both AZ and CA had already started school , hoping this would limit the crowds and prevent us from having some sort of Disney throw down because we got cranky.  So we packed up BFF’s car and headed out to have an adventure.  Little did we know this trip would be the craziest trip from the beginning.

We don’t usually do the drive out there in one shot because we decide to stay the first night in a cheaper hotel about an hour outside of LA.  We then get up and drive on in after rush hour knowing we can check into the Grand Californian early and they will hold our bags in bell services till our room is ready.  We were totally excited to try out the Club Level at our favorite hotel like we did at the Disneyland Hotel and couldn’t wait to check in and see their Club because we like to pretend we are fancy.  I think I secretly hope we will run into someone famous since The Grand is the hotel all the celebs stay at, but why would they even come to the Club?  I mean, if I were famous, I would just room service it up since I make a gazillion dollars.  Why would I socialize with commoners to get a free continental breakfast, snacks, desserts and watch the fireworks?  Pssssshhht….I would totally room service it up in the themed suites.  Yup…themed suites people….it is a dream of mine to stay in one of them sometime.  Sigh.  A Fat Girl can dream.

Now, let me tell you something about Disney’s customer service.  It is the best.  Hands down.  If you are in a job that requires customer service, you should take a trip to a Disney resort and see how they do it.  Never have we had a problem with the hotels we stay at there.  Ever…..until this time.  But let me preface this statement by it was NOT with the customer service and you will see why.  It was just the weirdest series of events we have ever had there.  When you pull up to the hotel, they say “Welcome home!”  and it always makes me smile.  Because they do such a good job of making you feel welcome, it is like pulling up to your home with a gazillion people to clean your room, park your car, carry your luggage and cater to your every need/want/desire.  I wish my home was like this!  We pulled up to valet, handed over our keys and the million pieces of luggage we had between us…I am shamed to say the bell hop wrote 11 on our claim ticket for the number of bags…and he was correct.  Ridiculous amount of luggage for 2 of us.  I tried to make BFF feel better when I saw another car had that much till she said “Yes and they have 2 kids with them!”  And just think…this is BEFORE we shopped at DL…..I won’t tell you how many bags we had when we left…. Don’t judge.

We then went in to check in, anticipating the Club Level check in we had gotten at the DL Hotel.  As we started the check in process, the gal started checking us in like normal and BFF and I looked at each other curiously having had a different experience before with Club Level.  Then she made the statement that we had a premium view room…ummmmm….nope.  We never do that because why pay to see the park when all you are gonna do is sleep there?  Confused, I asked her if that room was Club Level and got the confused look back from her and she asked if it was supposed to be.  I explained that I had asked for Club Level when I called and booked the room and immediately she apologized profusely.  She told us to hang on a minute and she would see if she could get that for us and went to the back.  As she went to try to clear up our reservation, which by the way, indeed was even wrong in our email and I didn’t catch it, BFF and I started talking about how it was weird that passholders weren’t being given a special fast pass this time like always.  We then overheard the people next to us checking in and getting those fast passes as passholders….huh. Now we are truly confused as to what happened to our reservation as I know I told the agent we were passholders.  The registration gal comes back, apologizing again for the wait, and tells us she can get us Club Level service but it would be on the 4th floor and not a premium room if that was ok.  BFF and I both assured her that we didn’t care about the room just about the Club Level so she started making adjustments to our rate.  Poor girl….I then asked her about passholders rate/special and she again was confused as to why that was not on our reservation.  Apparently, our reservation had been changed several times in the computer, but quickly, our little gal changed it all and got us what we wanted all with a smile on her face and telling us how wonderful we were to work with and pleasant we were because we weren’t yelling or mad…I guess we didn’t have Resting Bitch Faces on this time. All said and done, she bent over backwards and fixed everything on our reservation (including the special fast passes), even making a special trip back to the back to get the concierge to take us to the Club (bet she got her steps in on her Fitbit).  We knew checking in so early that our room wouldn’t be ready and as she was stating that they would text me with a room number, my phone went off with a room number…..on the 6th floor….a premium room.  Even she was surprised as the concierge came over and told us she upgraded us because we were so patient and pleasant.  All the gals who helped us were AMAZING and really went out of their way to fix everything so we headed up to get into our room and see the Club after asking for comment cards so we could praise our registration gal.

After a tour of the Club, which was gorgeous,and grabbing a couple of complimentary Diet Cokes and bottles of water, we walked over to where our room was located.  It was next to a HUGE themed suite and in a corner….nobody on either side of us and right around the corner from the elevators.  I desperately wanted to break into the themed suite and see what it looked like in there. I really had to resist not trying to see if my key might work on that door like magic. I then called bell services for our luggage. 10 minutes later and I opened the door to the bell services guy with an empty cart. Hmmmmm.  He looked at us and our clearly made up room and said “You aren’t checking out?” Ummmmm…nope.  WTH was happening with this trip?  Are we in the Twilight Zone?  Are we being punked?  Do they know I am The Fat Girl?  I smiled and showed him our claim ticket.  He apologized profusely and said he would be right back with our bags.  10 minutes later, he knocked and I opened the door to a cart full of luggage….somebody else’s luggage.  I quickly said that it wasn’t ours and he was so embarrassed and kept apologizing and ran back down to hopefully return with our bags this time.  10 more minutes later and he returns sheepishly with a cart full of…OUR bags!  Yippee!!  He quickly unloaded them, apologizing for the wait and mistakes.  We assured him it was ok and I went to hand him the tip I had ready.  Immediately he pushed it away and said he couldn’t take it because he had messed up and walked away.  I even practically ran after him, insisting he take our tip as he was so upset at making us wait and I finally tucked it into the pocket of his vest…I almost felt like I was intruding on his private space….like I mean I know you are not a bell hop stripper but here is your $20 tip.  Please do not break out into bad porn music and give us something else with our “Club Level” service please.  I wanted to hug him because he was so visibly upset about the wait and mistakes made with our bags.  Never have I had a bell hop refuse a tip and not just once…he kept refusing it until I tucked it into his vest.  I really hope he didn’t get fired…I mean that could have been totally a horrid situation for him if it wasn’t us.  Luckily, BFF and I can laugh about all the mistakes to the start of our adventure (because we knew a good blog would happen).  Plus it really hard to have a bad time when I am with BFF.  I mean look at this:

Oh yeah.  I didn’t die today.  I did discover what excellent customer service looks like when everything seems to be starting off wrong but I didn’t die.  I am Fat Girl who hopes the bell hop didn’t get fired and is super glad I stuck that tip in his vest Running.  The experiment continues….