We arrived at Kalahari tonight to the sound of Toto playing Africa at the valet drop off. My kids and I knew we were in for a fun 24hrs. To be fair we did not have high expectations before arriving so we’ve taken all the over the top decorations and theme gimmicks for fun. The problem is that the hotel double booked to capacity. It’s a zoo and the staff is completely overwhelmed.
We had made a 9:15pm dinner reservation at the Italian restaurant. Upon arrival there people waiting with much earlier reservations were screaming that they hadn’t yet been seated. They all had little kids, who at that time of night were understandably cranky and starving. So seeing a fight might break out, we headed to the buffet. We checked in. All the staff was lovely but beyond slow. We sit down with a large party of friends and got up for the food. That’s when we realized why the buffet was empty - there was no food. They had been wiped clean. We tried to scrounge a few pieces of lettuce and ends of the fatty roast beef at the carving station. Literally we were scraping the ends of what serving dishes we could find. In the end we gave up and had kids eat dessert. It took 25 min to get a glass of water. We found out from staff that the hotel algorithm predicted occupancy for 280 rooms and they had 600 rooms filled.
We haven’t tried the water park yet. I’m scared of the line for breakfast tomorrow. I have to say that staff has been lovely. I feel bad for them they seem stressed. The hotel seems clean. The beds are very uncomfortable and sink in. Hoping we get a better experience tomorrow.
