Arrival…airport, customs bah blah no one cares about that part. We chose to rent a car this trip because it actually worked out to be more cost effective than the shuttle, and by now we know our way around.
Got the car, and headed toward Desire, with a planned stop at 7-11 along the way (there’s now a STARBUCKS in the same strip mall!!) to stock up on red bulls and Gatorade for the week.
Back in the car and headed for those 4 antennas, my personal landmark to make the left turn toward paradise!
Arcos opened the car door with his signature “welcome home”, and we were on vacation!
We ended up on an earlier flight then originally booked so we arrived at desire much earlier in the day then planned. Our room wasn’t ready, unsurprisingly, so we headed to the pool for brunch, and got our first glimpse of the new swim up bar…WOW! (We were there last, during the last week of the old pool). We didn’t get 4 feet into the pool area before Danny came up to us with a big hug and hello….and boom, we had chairs! The new lunch buffet area is an incredible and the shaded area near the swim up bar is one of the greatest improvements made by the rebuild!!
So here are the other things that needed reporting-
1. As posted elsewhere in the forums, on our first day we noticed that the Entertainment crew was only 2 people and they seemed really "new"....we later found out that was their FIRST day at DRM!!!
They are Natasha and Tim, and we spent a lot of time talking to both of them. They were recruited from another hotel after Jay got married and left. A lot of guests didn’t realize that it was their first week at the resort....and were giving them a hard time for not doing this thing or that event....but by the end of our 6 day trip they were really getting into the swing of things!
If you are going to DRM in the next few weeks....make sure to spend some time talking to them, they are a really great couple (oh yeah, apparently the new policy is they only hire EC "couples" now) and love learning from desire vets what activities and events worked and what didn’t. We had saved beaded necklaces with our names on them that Kayla (a past EC) had made for us during one of our past visits, and wore them this trip. That seemed to be a big hit and they are planning on bringing that back.
2. The seaweed on the beach is a problem that’s here to stay. The truth is it wasn’t as bad as we had feared, and the grounds staff does a hell of a job keeping it at bay. The ocean that was once an inviting blue is now swampy brown, but that just means more activity at the pool!
3. They have done a great job keeping the menus fresh and new. The food has improved greatly since our past visits. 3 AM Pizzas still awesome!...although the raccoons/lemurs seem to be on vacation themselves. Hadn’t seen any of them this trip.
4. The hardest working people at the resort are still the best we’ve ever met, those bartenders work their tails off and still remember the guests and what they drink! And can’t ever leave out kudos for Carlos, Joel, Sylvia and Africa.
5. The theme nights were kinda lame and there was very little participation by the guys
6. The evening shows really need a fresh look….we’ve seen the same strippers with the same routine for 3 years now..(not that their not awesome)
7. The repeaters party is gone…and that’s a damn shame…not because we needed another hat…but that was where we got to interact with management and discuss issues and ideas that might enhance guests experiences.
8. The people…there’s nothing like it!!! An hour after arriving we were naked in the pool with 6 new best friends …one of the funniest (and true) things I once heard about folks like us – was when we go on vacation, our friends all want to know why we always go back to the same resort, yet we can never remember the name, and come back with friends who have no last names! shout-out to philly, boston, cali, texas, texas, texas, texas, (right?), montana, miami, both ausies!, colorado, indy, and of course Chicago!! PS we are still figuring out the cardinal puff
9. The hot tub…not so hot! (talking temperature here) for some reason, the hot tub was actually cold at night
10. We have never been there this late in the summer, in the northeast, school doesn’t start until after Labor day, however, y’all (texas rubbed off on me
) who live in the rest of the country start school way earlier, so during the end of our trip the place really emptied out, on our 2nd to last night it seemed like the resort went from around 80 percent to less than 25 percent occupied! Not that it was a bad thing…we kinda felt like we suddenly had the place to ourselves and 10 new best friends!! But the next day a whole new group checked in and as we were leaving the next morning, the theme song from St Elmo’s Fire was playing in my head! (Yes, an old movie reference where in the final scene the camera looks through the window of the bar and a new group of kids are now holding court)If you were at DRM in during the last week of august/1st week of September…..drop us a note….and do your own trip report!!
