How was the Crowne Plaza?

[DinoMike]

I've been hearing some concerning stuff from folks at Wonderfest regarding the Crowne Plaza after its recent "upgrade." Things like room air conditioning not working in several rooms, the hotel restaurant having REALLY gone downhill, and complaints about the changes in the layout. Does anyone have any stories to share about their experience with the hotel itself this year, positive or negative?.

[jafo]

The fresh paint smell was strong. The carpeting was "interesting". In my room there was only 2 sheets, no blanket or comforter. There used to be 2 sinks in each room, now only one. In room refrigerator. New shower heads. New 3 bottle dispensers in the shower. Shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. However, 2 different languages on the front of the bottles made you used deductive reasoning to figure out which was which. My room only had shampoo in it, the other bottles were empty. I had to call for more. The room safe was pretty hard to reach as they put it on the top shelf in the closet. Smaller desk under the wall mounted flat screen. There used to be another decent sized table but replaced with a pretty small one. On my floor, the ice machine did not work. In every elevator that was refurbished, at least one hand rail was very loose. The bar was moved up next to the reception desk, which made the lobby very loud. The fireplace and the wall it was near is gone. All lobby furniture replaced with less space to sit. The Blue Horse restaurant in now "Al's Table". Mixed reviews from many people. The breakfast buffet is same old taste but far less choices. I only ate breakfast there on Saturday morning for the convenience. Will not be going back. A friend had the meatloaf on thursday and liked it but someone else hated it. My servers nails were overly long and disgusting. (just my 2 cents). Staff was very pleasant. No staff at the restaurant nor front desk, had the same answer about operating hours. The vendor room "cut out" in the back is now gone, probably storage. A very different vibe for the "upgrade".

[tay666]

Not a fan of most of the 'upgrades'
Likes -
I like the bigger TV.
I liked the USB slots in the receptacles
I liked the mini-fridge, though I still kept most of the stuff in the two coolers I brought
I liked the new bedside lights
liked the shampoo dispenser in the shower

Dislikes
Not enough table space
Dresser is way too small now. I was the only one in the room and I barely fit 4 days worth of cloths in the dresser with one drawer for snacks
No clock
I've been complaining about the lack of blankets on the bed since covid. They just have a thin blanket. It's warm enough, but has no weight. I like the comfort of a nice heavy blanket when I sleep.
Also been complaining about a lack of other things since covid. Like no pens, or pad of paper, or even a phone book, room service menu, or absolutely anything at all. They used it as an excuse to cheap out on all the little amenities they used to provide.
Thermostat controls were mildly annoying. Used to automatically do what it needed. If you cranked it down, it would cool the room. I assume if you cranked it up, it would have heated the room. Now every time you change it, you have to set it to either [heat] [cool] or [off]

As for the rest of the hotel. The lobby is way too loud now when the bar has a bunch of people in it. You cannot hear anything. It already has a low ceiling and tiled floors so it echos. Now with the whole side of the bar, open to the lobby it's just insane.
They continue to pick out furniture based on style and not comfort. Every time they 'upgrade' the furniture get more uncomfortable.
The construction was a real issue. I huge part of the parking lot is filled with containers and dumpsters. So parking is at a real premium. Having an entire section of the first floor hallway completely closed off really hampered moving around the hotel. I also felt sorry for anyone leaving this morning. Most of my stuff was loaded in the car last night, but I know people who usually pull up to the door to load up. Not an option this morning as there was a box truck parked there, and several pallets of stuff scattered around. You could barely even walk out the door and get to the parking lot. Let alone maneuver one of those hotel luggage carts. That all happened at around 9 AM. I only had my small cooler to carry through that mess.
Not only were those elevator rails loose, but the bottom edge was also pretty sharp.
Then there is the normal inability to put people where they were expecting to be. But that has been ongoing since Crowne Plaza took the place over.

I heard plenty of horror stories from people who had other issues.
ACs not working, being completely iced over. Key cards not working. Key readers not working. Plumbing not working. Several ice machines not working. I kept running into a gentleman on the elevator going from the 5th floor to the 4th floor to get ice. (or maybe the other way around)

[Rocketeer]

It was the other way around. The only working ice machine seemed to be the one on the fifth floor.

[Modelmaker]

Was there any workshop videos like airbrushing and construction videos like there was in the 80's so those of us who can't go to these shows see what others are doing ? thank you Karl

[mjbare]

I've only been at WonderFest for the past three years so I haven't stayed there before this year (2024). This year, to get to my room, I was told to take the first elevator to the fifth floor, turn left, go down around the corridor to the next elevator and take it to the second floor. My room was to the left. But I was near the entrance where WonderFest was taking place so I could easily walk down a flight and be where I wanted to be. The new restaurant cuisine, I was told, was southern cooking with a Louisville accent. I ordered the fried chicken and it appeared that it was dipped in the batter 10 times. It was so thick and had no taste at all. I took all of the batter off and the chicken was good. Next day, I tried the fried egg and ham sandwich. OMG, it was dripping in oil! I couldn't eat it without using several napkins to soak it up. The breakfast Buffett was adequate. I had flown in so I didn't have a car to go somewhere else to eat. I did enjoy the hallway lunch sandwiches though. The food at the wrap party wasn't good either. Hope they have a new restaurant operator in 2025.

[tay666]

I've only eaten at the hotel restaurant a couple times in 20 years.
I didn't get anything bad, but it was rather mediocre, and the price was high, and it always took forever. Which is why I have only done it twice.
I did used to order pizza from room service back when it was still the Executive West. After it became a Crown Plaza they said they didn't have the pizza anymore.

[FlemFilms]

I ordered meatloaf take out at the bar, which is the only way to order take out. It does not come with anything. Even fries are an extra. They were busy. Every five-ten minutes or so a server would tell me that my order was up next. For 55 minutes! I was starving but didn't want to lose my parking spot, or wouldn't have waited that long. I finally gave up and told the server I was leaving. She said: "but your order is up next!" I did everything in my power to not cuss her out. I wasn't even given a water. I will never again (attempt) to eat there.

[bucketfoot-al]

I ordered meatloaf take out at the bar, which is the only way to order take out. It does not come with anything. Even fries are an extra. They were busy. Every five-ten minutes or so a server would tell me that my order was up next. For 55 minutes! I was starving but didn't want to lose my parking spot, or wouldn't have waited that long. I finally gave up and told the server I was leaving. She said: "but your order is up next!" I did everything in my power to not cuss her out. I wasn't even given a water. I will never again (attempt) to eat there.

I commend you for your patience sir, especially given that you were probably quite "hangry" after 55 minutes!

[tay666]

Wow!
That's bad

[FlemFilms]

I ordered meatloaf take out at the bar, which is the only way to order take out. It does not come with anything. Even fries are an extra. They were busy. Every five-ten minutes or so a server would tell me that my order was up next. For 55 minutes! I was starving but didn't want to lose my parking spot, or wouldn't have waited that long. I finally gave up and told the server I was leaving. She said: "but your order is up next!" I did everything in my power to not cuss her out. I wasn't even given a water. I will never again (attempt) to eat there.

I commend you for your patience sir, especially given that you were probably quite "hangry" after 55 minutes!

I was well past Hangry! But that shows how little I wanted to move my vehicle.

[FlemFilms]

I ordered meatloaf take out at the bar, which is the only way to order take out. It does not come with anything. Even fries are an extra. They were busy. Every five-ten minutes or so a server would tell me that my order was up next. For 55 minutes! I was starving but didn't want to lose my parking spot, or wouldn't have waited that long. I finally gave up and told the server I was leaving. She said: "but your order is up next!" I did everything in my power to not cuss her out. I wasn't even given a water. I will never again (attempt) to eat there.

I commend you for your patience sir, especially given that you were probably quite "hangry" after 55 minutes!

I was well past Hangry! But that shows how little I wanted to move my vehicle.

And I guess that's another criticism: there isn't enough parking for this size of an event. I was staying at the hotel and felt like I couldn't leave and safely expect a parking spot upon returning. This was only on Saturday, btw.

[tay666]

Yeah, having almost half the parking blocked off for the construction was a PITA.