• REVIEW: To Kill A Mockingbird – Broadway Across America Cincinnati
  • BROADWAY REVIEW: “Take Me Out”
  • Doubly Great – I Shall Not Be Moved & Your Negro Tour Guide
  • REVIEW: Clybourne Park
  • REVIEW: Fortune
  • REVIEW: Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind
  • REVIEW: Lady Windermere’s Fan
  • FRINGE REVIEW: seXmas Cards
  • REVIEW: The Wolves
  • FRINGE REVIEW – ZOINKS! – NOT TO BE MISSED
  • REVIEW: Association of Controlled Dreamers
  • REVIEW: Skeleton Crew
  • Full Circle: A Story of Mentorship and Collaboration
  • REVIEW: The Thanksgiving Play
  • CCM’s Transmigration an Energetic Festival of New Works!
  • REVIEW: A Doll’s House, Part 2
  • REVIEW: Our Country’s Good
  • REVIEW: Ripcord
  • REVIEW: St. Nicholas
  • REVIEW: Eurydice
  • REVIEW: Mr. Burns – a post electric play
  • REVIEW: Misery
  • THE DROWNING GIRLS playing through Monday in Northside!
  • REVIEW: Jalz
  • REVIEW: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)
  • FRINGE REVIEW: One More Bad Thing
  • FRINGE REVIEW: The Mountains Did Quake, The Hillsides Did Tremble
  • FRINGE REVIEW: of Monster Descent
  • REVIEW: Noises Off
  • Monday Matinee 5.7.18 – This Week in Cincinnati Theatre
  • REVIEW: A Great Wilderness
  • REVIEW: Ken Ludwig’s Treasure Island
  • Monday Matinee 4.23.18 – This Week in Cincinnati Theatre
  • REVIEW: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
  • REVIEW: Sooner/Later
  • REVIEW: Red Velvet
  • REVIEW: Transmigration 2018
  • REVIEW: Buried Child
  • REVIEW: The Pillowman
  • REVIEW: The Humans
  • REVIEW: Poor Behavior
  • REVIEW: The Color of the Leaves
  • REVIEW: The House
  • REVIEW: The Earth is Flat
  • REVIEW: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
  • REVIEW: Dracula
  • REVIEW: This Random World
  • REVIEW: Frankenstein
  • REVIEW: Hamlet
  • REVIEW: Typhoid Mary
  • REVIEW: Guest Artist
  • REVIEW – Cannibal Galaxy: A Love Story
  • REVIEW: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
  • THEATER OF WAR Opens a Dialogue about the Impact of Battle on Soldiers and Their Families
  • REVIEW: This Is Our Youth
  • FRINGE REVIEW: Invisible Girl
  • FRINGE REVIEW: Home
  • FRINGE REVIEW: Gen & Mabel
  • FRINGE REVIEW: God of Obsidian
  • FRINGE REVIEW: Balls of Yarns
  • FRINGE REVIEW: Busted Bumpers and Other Metaphors
  • FRINGE REFLECTION: Is That All There Is?
  • FRINGE REVIEW: The Disappearance of Nicole Jacobs, Part 1 – The Sister
  • FRINGE REVIEW: Pet Fish Are Made For . . .
  • I’m Feeling Fringe-y
  • REVIEW: Erma Bombeck – At Wit’s End
  • REVIEW: Master Harold and the Boys
  • REVIEW: On Golden Pond
  • REVIEW: Bloomsday
  • REVIEW: A Raisin in the Sun
  • REVIEW: All the Roads Home
  • REVIEW: Rabbit Hole
  • REVIEW: Jane Eyre
  • REVIEW: When We Were Young and Unafraid
  • REVIEW: This Wide Night
  • REVIEW: Her Naked Skin
  • REVIEW: Summerland
  • REVIEW: 26 Pebbles
  • REVIEW: Dragon Play
  • REVIEW: A Christmas Carol
  • REVIEW: The Second City’s Holidazed and Confused Revue
  • REVIEW: The Diviners
  • REVIEW: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
  • REVIEW: Jitney
  • REVIEW: The Elephant Man
  • REVIEW: Brownsville Song (B Side for Tray)
  • REVIEW: Romeo and Juliet
  • REVIEW: Disgraced
  • REVIEW: The Road Through Damascus
  • REVIEW: The Diary of Anne Frank
  • REVIEW: A Prayer for Owen Meany
  • REVIEW: The Legend of Georgia McBride
  • REVIEW: Slut Shaming
  • REVIEW: Thom Pain
  • REVIEW: Horizons of Gold
  • It’s Opening Night . . .
  • Cincinnati LAB Theatre’s 2016 Festival of New Works Coming in August
  • REVIEW: The Fisherman’s Wife
  • REVIEW: The Star Spangled Girl
  • FRINGE REVIEW: The 4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love-Suicide
  • FRINGE REVIEW: My Left Teeth
  • FRINGE REVIEW: The Gospel of Fat Kathy
  • FRINGE REVIEW: FURLESQUE
  • FRINGE REVIEW: We Did It, Girl!
  • FRINGE REVIEW: Cessna
  • FRINGE REVIEW: Naked Strangers
  • FRINGE REVIEW: The Midnight Express
  • WRECKED: A Play Reading That Did Me In
  • REVIEW: Bad Dates
  • REVIEW: Satchel Paige and the Kansas City Swing
  • REVIEW: The Shape of Things
  • REVIEW: Mothers and Sons
  • REVIEW: Annapurna
  • Still Time to See EQUUS
  • Transmigration 2016: Another Successful Festival
  • REVIEW: To Kill a Mockingbird
  • Local Director to Stage EQUUS at Miami-Hamilton
  • REVIEW: Emma
  • REVIEW: Begotten
  • REVIEW: Miss Julie
  • REVIEW: Betrayal
  • REVIEW: Ah, Wilderness!
  • REVIEW: The Revolutionists
  • REVIEW: The Glass Menagerie
  • REVIEW: Prelude to a Kiss
  • REVIEW: Native Gardens
  • REVIEW: Grounded
  • REVIEW: The Realistic Joneses
  • REVIEW: Mockingbird
  • REVIEW: This Is Our Youth
  • REVIEW: A Christmas Carol
  • REVIEW: The Aliens
  • CCM Drama Hosts Play Reading Series
  • REVIEW: Relatively Speaking
  • REVIEW: Steel Magnolias
  • REVIEW: The Mystery Plays
  • REVIEW: Mad River Rising
  • REVIEW: The Norwegians
  • REVIEW: Buyer and Cellar
  • REVIEW: Sex With Strangers
  • Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
  • REVIEW: Luna Gale
  • Monthly Matinee: September 2015
  • Cincinnati LAB Theatre Promotes Collaboration and New Works
  • REVIEW: Lysistrata
  • REVIEW: ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS
  • FRINGE REVIEW: Love and Information
  • FRINGE REVIEW: Fixate
  • FRINGE REVIEW: Occupational Pleasures
  • FRINGE REVIEW: Shirtzencockle
  • FRINGE REVIEW: Shelter
  • FRINGE REVIEW: Mouthy Bitch
  • REVIEW: Circle Mirror Transformation
  • REVIEW: Three Days of Rain
  • REVIEW: Outside Mullingar
  • Five Reasons to See VANYA, SONIA, MASHA, & SPIKE
  • REVIEW: You’re Welcome: A Cycle of Bad Plays
  • REVIEW: Taking Shakespeare
  • REVIEW: Xavier’s Spring Awakening
  • REVIEW: Death and the Maiden
  • REVIEW: Race
  • Know Theatre’s SERIALS Adds More Intrigue to the Concept
  • BIRD BRAIN is a Charming Must-See
  • Five Thoughts About THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
  • HEARTS LIKE FISTS Now Playing at Know Theatre
  • REVIEW: Buzzer
  • REVIEW: Detroit ’67
  • REVIEW: Peter and the Star Catcher
  • Transmigration 2015 – Adventurous Theatre
  • REVIEW: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
  • Five Things I Learned From CSC’s “Hamlet”
  • Still Seats Left for Tonight’s Opening of “Every Christmas Story Ever Told (and Then Some)
  • A Klingon Christmas Carol – Special Pricing Tonight!
  • One More Chance to See “The Crucible” on Sunday
  • Looking Forward . . .
  • Klingons love theatre, and so do you!
  • Local Schools Producing Classic Theater This Fall
  • See “Light Sensitive” This Weekend
  • Good Will Hunting
The Sappy Critic

Not Him Again

0

As big as the place is, you wouldn’t expect to run into the same cast member very often. However, every time I’ve stayed at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, I’ve encountered the same employee, Steve*. I wish I could say I remember him because of his engaging personality or helpful customer service. Instead, he’s memorable for all the wrong reasons.

In February of 2005, I stayed at the resort for the first time. I was on vacation with my friend, now a successful WWE superstar, Karl Anderson, and his mother. (Yes, I have famous friends).

I checked us into our room. Steve, the central character in this story, wasn’t exactly friendly. When I asked about possible complimentary upgrades (you should always do this nicely — at every hotel you stay in), he was non-plussed.

“Not for free,” he said with a hint of snark that I didn’t appreciate. I was in Room 5101, right off the lobby, and I was delighted with the proximity to the bus stop and other amenities. We had a fantastic trip, hitting all four theme parks, and I loved showing the two of them around Walt Disney World.

My interaction with Steve was a tiny blip on an otherwise outstanding stay in this gorgeous resort.

I went back in December of 2015 with my Mom. This time we were in a pool view room on Giraffe Trail (Room #3012.) It was an extended haul from the bus stop, but I didn’t mind.

Once we were checked in and settled, we went back to the lobby and stopped at the Concierge Desk.

This was before the My Disney Experience app and I wanted a printed list of our dining reservations. To my horror, Steve was working at the desk.

From the trip report I wrote on a message board:

OH THE HORROR! See, last time at stayed at AKL, Steve checked me into my room with less personality and lifelikeness than the bathing elephants in the Jungle Cruise. He couldn’t have been less friendly or competent. When I asked then about any chance of a free upgrade, he was personally offended and rude. He could have been any worse at his job, I thought. He proved otherwise. I told him we needed a 4 day park hopper pass and he stoically began processing that. I got nervous when he didn’t ask for her room key and I said, “Can you put it on the key?” and he said, “Oh, I already did it this way. Uh, sorry?” I rolled my eyes at him and decided not to let STEVE ruin my day. I said, “OK, one more thing and we’ll quit bugging you,” you know, trying to be casual and aloof and friendly and he said something like, “Oh, OK.” What a moron. Anyway, I wanted my dining reservations printed and I wanted to change a couple of them around. He seemed to have difficulty understanding what I wanted to do and I nearly walked away to do it over the phone or later on with a non-animatronic CM, but I stuck it out and got done. My mom was puzzled by the whole thing, because she didn’t know STEVE and our tumultuous history and now began to think that most CMs don’t care about their jobs and have no semblance of a personality. Fortunately, we would discover differently throughout the rest of our stay.

I returned to the Animal Kingdom Lodge in June of 2016, this time with my friend Connie. She had never stayed on Disney World property, usually renting a condo nearby with her brother and his family. I was insistent that she have a magical time from start to finish.

So when we walked up to the check-in desk, I looked at her and said, “Nope.” There was no way I was going to let Steve check us in. There he was, waiting for the next customer. I told the couple behind us to go ahead and we waited for the next available cast member. There was no way I was going to let Steve ruin this part of our trip.

But I mean, really, what are the odds?

*Steve’s name wasn’t actually Steve

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Related

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply