We arrived at the resort early Friday afternoon and after getting settled into the room went over to see the toy soldiers (yes, that’s the reason we went) I think this guy must’ve spent thousands building this game – it was about Zombies. The board is a detailed diorama of the city complete with a moving Elevated train and LED screens one on the side of building for a moving billboard and the other a drive in theatre (showing what else?... Dawn of the Dead).
We tested out the hotel pool - and for the record, it was really warm and clean and very fun and they had all the fluffy clean white yummy smelling towels you could ever want. So we decadently wrapped our heads in a towel and had one on our shoulders and one around our waist and then we stood on towels while we put our shoes back on for the stroll to the elevators wich Ella kept calling "alligators". Whoever washes the towels - please forgive us, we don't usually get to do such things.
After a nap we ate very yummy sushi for dinner at a nice place up the street called Wakaba.
We played in the park at the resort until the sun went down at which point we walked all over in the hotel observing people in evening gowns for a wedding and sparkly sweaters for the theatre and business attire for an awards ceremony and then we went into the gift shop. Ella found the tiniest little tea set and anyone who’s ever been to our house can attest for how she loves to play tea so – voila! We were back at the room playing tea with her Mermies on the giant bed. We ate Fruit Loops and Reeses Pieces from the tiny plates while we watched "Hoodwinked".
The next morning we awoke to room service. Lovely lovely lovely. 
Even though Ella had perfectly yummy eggs and bacon and jelly toast for breakfast she opted for her most favorite thing in the whole world... butter. What am I going to do - tell her she can't have her favorite when they so clearly put it in it's own little dish so nicely for her?
We went shopping at my favorite mall with some very good friends. We had lunch and played at the giant tree in the middle and bought:
-A swimming suit for Ella
-Presents for Baby Colin (Welcome to the world kiddo!)
-Sun hats
-A wind up tin robot for Dan (from Ella)
-New lipstick at the Clinique counter (where the two Russian ladies working there gave Ella a makeover and a free bag while I looked at colors). Let me take this moment to say: I love Clinique!
After shopping we ventured outside again. To our delight there were lots of kids Ella’s age to play with at the playground. I was afforded the luxury of putting my ear-buds in and listening to the program I downloaded for just this occasion. I heard “This American Life, Episode 311 entitled ‘A Better Mousetrap’” uninterrupted in its entirety. I didn’t even have to make small talk with the other moms, they talked to each other – aaaaah.
Back in our room, Ella played and took a hearty 2 hour nap while I ordered “Nanny McPhee”, drank coffee and ate a blueberry muffin. Yes, I could’ve watched a “The Hills Have Eyes” or “Memoirs of a Geisha”, but I wanted to see “Nanny McPhee” and it was probably a little scary for a two year old. I liked it. After, I took Ella to Red Robbin for dinner where we stood around amongst the other cool kids on dates (honsetly this must be THE PLACE on a Saturday night). We put our hands in our pockets and slouched and looked cool too. This, just before we colored our menus with crayons and stuffed ourselves with cheese burgers, french fries and ice cream floats.
On the way out we played video games untill we were out of quarters and then we went back to the hotel with nothing else in mind except swimming until exhaustion and watching SNL in our undies.
Sunday morning started like this...
We had a nice breakfast, went back to look at the games again and played in the park one more time before we left for home stopping for lunch at Roly Poly Sandwiches for totally yummy sandwich wraps.
What a great weekend - Thank You Dear Husband!
P.S. Dan won a nice prize at his toy soldier thing (a BIG box of toy soldiers), Ella peed in the potty at least once a day and the hotel stay was free as was the room service because of a letter I wrote last year. How's that for whipped cream and a cherry on top of my Sunday?
9 comments:
Yeah, do spill...I was wondering that myself. Was it a "you're great we can't wait to come back and I'm telling all my friends" or "you suck, we're never coming back and I'm telling all my friends"?
That sounds like a wonderful weekend, and the free hotel/room service is definitely the cherry on top.
Sounds awesome. Looks like a nice hotel, too. And the pictures of the mini city-scene are intriguing -- I could look at that kind of thing for hours.
And my Mimi would so be joining Ella in the eating of the little butter balls. ;-)
Here it is:
March 17, 2005
Corporate Headquarters Marriott International
Attn: Customer Service
Re: Stay at (Resort - address)
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing to express my displeasure with a recent trip to your resort. My husband attended a convention March 5th through March 7th at your (location) Resort. I decided to join him along with our one year old daughter, as there would be plenty for us to do at the resort. Unfortunately we had a very frustrating stay.
We arrived Thursday the 5th and checked in after some desperate searching for our reservation and having to tell the desk clerk twice that our name is spelled with one “t”. Upon entering our ground floor room, we found the carpet to be buckled, the bathtub dingy and the channel guide incorrect. I was happy to see the Disney Channel listed, but terribly disappointed to see the Cartoon Network in its place. I informed the desk clerk thinking perhaps Disney was now a different number but alas the response I received was “Oh.”
On Friday, my daughter and I had planned to spend the day in the pool which was the reason a first floor room was requested. To our disappointment the pool was occupied by a dozen children and their swimming teacher all kicking their feet from the steps of the pool and several fully dressed parents proudly watching. I inquired at the front desk when the class might be finished. I received the response “I’m not sure, you could go in there and ask the teacher.” I responded that I didn’t think it would be appropriate for me to interrupt her class, to which I was told “I think they are hour classes, so she should be done soon.” I asked if we could find out for sure, so I could plan around my daughter’s nap. There was some discussion in the back room and I was told half an hour. After a half an hour I decided to walk by the pool to make sure classes were done before we ventured down the hallway in our bathing suits, alas the class was still going. I called the front desk from our room to find out again when the class would be over. The front desk said they would send a bellman down to find out from the teacher and I would receive a call back. Twenty minutes later I received a call to hear classes would be done in 5 minutes but would resume in twenty and would run the rest of the day. After expressing my displeasure a manager offered to get a shuttle for me to the next hotel over so we could swim in their pool. I found this hardly a convenient or comfortable option so we declined to take advantage.
Later that afternoon, I called the concierge to get help finding a respectable sushi restaurant, there was no one manning the concierge desk except an answering machine. I called the front desk to see if they might recommend a nice Japanese place and was told “There is a great place called ‘Benihana’ not too far, it’s really neat ‘cause they cook the food right at your table.” No offense to Benihana but I was definitely looking for something a little more upscale and locally owned. I just thanked her and turned to the yellow pages myself, resorting to calling around and asking about menus (for which I was of course charged $.75 per call).
On Friday night I decided to order a movie only to find the sound so terrible, I could barely make out the storyline. I was credited for this movie however hardly any consolation for a ruined Friday night activity.
On Saturday morning I took my daughter down to the little restaurant for breakfast. I was delighted to hear the host say, I can seat you right away only to have a pushy lady nudge me aside and say, “Oh-no! WE were here first”. The host reluctantly sat her party and we waited. We were then seated and we waited another 15 minutes before we received menus and only after I stopped someone and asked for them. We ordered oatmeal and bananas and a toasted bagel with cream cheese. We waited another thirty minutes before the host came by and said “How was everything?” To which I responded we are still waiting for our food. He apologized and immediately had our food brought out – oatmeal and strawberries. I wouldn’t have minded accept that my daughter can’t eat strawberries. The manager did get our meal out with sincere apologies and Sunday morning’s breakfast gratis as well as the meal we had just had. Upon telling my husband later in the afternoon about the experience he expressed his also painfully long and incompetent lunch at the bar in your resort.
Saturday afternoon I had planned to order another movie while my daughter napped. Instead I spent the nap-time talking with the front desk and maintenance explaining the problem we had the night before with the movie sound. I was told it was a problem with the cable company and they were working on it. I asked if it was going to be fixed in a matter of hours or days and was told they didn’t know. Saturday evening we soon found out the sound was still not repaired and we strained to hear another movie through what sounded like a drive in movie speaker. We were charged full price for Saturday night’s movie.
When my husband asked if we’d like to stick around for lunch on Sunday before heading home, we both laughed like crazy and packed up the car. Any one of these incidents alone would have been paltry; unfortunately that was not our luck. We are seriously considering whether or not we’ll be returning or recommending your resort.
Respectfully,
Bombadee
Note: The second stay was WONDERFUL and I will be writing a letter to tell them. I highly recommend them as they responded quickly to this letter and have made good.
By the way room service wasn't free. We used our club points (always join the club) for a credit to cover breakfast and an over priced pay-per-view of Nanny McPhee. (You could have gone to Best Buy and bought it then watched it on the laptop)
Always a stickler for the details - my husband
Hey! Anonymous! Go Away!
Sounds like you had such a great trip. I'm not sure I understand about the toy soldier thing, was it at the convention center or the Science & Industry Museum?
That first "Sunday morning" photo is just beautiful! Ella looks like an angel.
Mother Load - you are saving up all your good luck for something really grand, I on the other hand am frittering it away on things like hotel stays and free popcorn.
Elizabeth - I love frst thing in the morning pics because people's hair always makes them look soo... vulnerable and cute.
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