nick hotel: does it have all the mouse's best secrets

[MickeyJman06]

i found this one website (woo-hoo, non-wikipedia)
and http://hotels.about.com/od/orlando/p/mco_nickelodeon.htm,
heres what the said
other one: character breakfast (basicly at every park at WDW)
about: water park so kids don't want to go to WDW
both: lots of costumes like disney!
do you agree? mostly i do

:sohappy:first junior member post!

 

[CleveRocks]

I'm sorry, I just can't AT ALL follow what you wrote. I have no idea what you're asking. Am I the only one???

 

[MickeyJman06]

I'm sorry, I just can't AT ALL follow what you wrote. I have no idea what you're asking. Am I the only one???

asking if Nicklodeon family suites keep the mouse's good secrets. i'll find the other link later

 

[Dangeresque]

asking if Nicklodeon family suites keep the mouse's good secrets. i'll find the other link later

Still no clue!

 

[beachclubbasics]

My family stays at the Nick Hotel every year for 2 days before we go to WDW. Let me tell you....we are relieved to leave Nick and go to WDW! Too many kids going wild, too much day glo color, too much Rug Rats!!!!
My kids are older and it might be different for those who have younger kids who have had more exposure to the Nick characters than my kids did.

Comparing WDW to Nick Hotel is like comparing WDW to that fake Disney Chinese Beijing theme park. Nick's prices for food are higher. The room prices are outragous unless you book far in advance (my $184 per night suite that I booked in August 2006 for Aug 2007 is now $330+ per night) compared to someof the nicer WDW Deluxe resorts. Even though the hotel was only a year + old last year it was ill-kempt compared to any WDW hotel. Actually, Nick is not a new hotel, it's a refub of a Holiday Inn (and laid out exactly like the Holiday Inn Sunspree in Orlando). The amenities that Nick offers are nice for a day or two, bu I still don't think they hold a candle to even the Value WDW resorts.

Their character buffet is awful...cost me $100 for 5 people to eat cereal, stale pastries, and greasy eggs/bacon/sausage. The lunch and dinner meals are worse...TV dinner quality spaghetti and chicken strips. They have a food court with Pizza Hut, Subway, and A&W, and I think a salad place, but that's it. We usually eat somewhere in Orlando (usually some of the restaurants at the Crossroads Mall) and will be defintely be skipping the character breakfast this year for one on Disney property.

That said, I wouldn't skip it if you really want to go there, but I think that it's disappointing next to WDW. We only go because my 12 year old still likes it there. This will probably be my last year there (3 in a row).

Thee are a few cute things there like the Dive in movies, the poolside Nick shows, the Nick Studios show, but that's really all there is. The rooms are cute, but if you get one with characters that you hate you'll be miserable..they are literally all over the place in your room. The only character room you can book in advance is SpongeBob and they are in the most unscenic places in the hotel (behind sheds, pool utility houses, etc).

Hope this helped...

 

[Wilt Dasney]

I think the question is if Nick Hotel is trying to copy Disney's operating model to take some of their dollars.

Things like characters and water parks aren't exclusive to Disney, especially in Orlando. If you're trying to get a chunk of the tourism pie in that town, that's the kind of stuff you offer. When in Rome and all that...

 

[mkt]

Nick is definitely trying to mimmick Disney, down to the point of giving hiring preference to any management and hourlies with Disney experience over those with relevant hotel experience in other companies (eg, a Nick Hotel Front Desk manager was previously a training manager for WDW operations. This person was given the job over a person with 10 years experience as a Front Desk manager & director with Hilton).

 

[beachclubbasics]

Nick is definitely trying to mimmick Disney, down to the point of giving hiring preference to any management and hourlies with Disney experience over those with relevant hotel experience in other companies (eg, a Nick Hotel Front Desk manager was previously a training manager for WDW operations. This person was given the job over a person with 10 years experience as a Front Desk manager & director with Hilton).

If they are trying to mimic Disney they are severly missing the mark here.

 

[mkt]

If they are trying to mimic Disney they are severly missing the mark here.

It takes way more than 2 years to get it right

They won't succeed. Their biggest problem is that they're trying to mimmick disney's success.

 

[beachclubbasics]

I would agree except that we have been there both in 2005 and 2006 and the place really deteriorated in one year. We really liked the place the first year we were there...but last year..the hotel was much more disorganized and unkempt than the year before. The level of cleanliness and organization really dropped in one year. It should be increasing, not decreasing.

Don't get me wrong..I'd like to see the place do well, and am actually staying there again this year for 2 days (because of the 12 year old), but I was very disappointed with the overall condition of the room and hotel in general last year. If you look at the reviews on about .com it gets overall poor and I mean very poor reviews...less than 3 years old and already the rooms are literally falling apart (including wallpaper peeling from walls), many appliances don't work, clogged toilets, etc.

have what I would like to consider to be a complaint that the staff needs to be made aware of...who would I complain to about this?


When we were there the first time my then 10 year old wanted for my family to get involved in the pool side show to hopefully be picked for participation in the Nick Studio show ..he was told we could participate because they look for families with mom, dad, and 2 kids....I'm a widow, my firefighter husband died in the line of duty 3 years before when the little guy was 7....this really upset the poor kid...and they really either need to get away from that policy or at least not verbalize it to children.

How many families these days are mom, dad, and 2 kids?

 

[mkt]

contactus@nickhotel.com

 

[SallyfromDE]

I looked into this place about a year ago. It was so expensive, I would have only been able to do 2-3 days compared to the week I spend at Disney.

 

[Craig & Lisa]

Trying to copy Disney, jeese, what else is new?:brick: Like that hasn't happened before. Although one other poster did state that the way the place is kept has fallen somewhat. So I would assume that they've started to try to cut corners to save $, and in so doing may have gone too far on that end. Me, have never stayed there and even when my sons asked what it was they thought it was cool, but, did not want to stay there.

 

[beachclubbasics]

This year will probably be our last there....we tend to go now just because of the 12 year old and because it has become (and a couple of short years...lol) tradition. We stayed there the first year it opened..it opened in April of 200 and we stayed in July..and again in July of last year (2006) and the place really had become very run down..in one year. 1.3 year old wallpaper shouldn't be peeling from walls, cabinets shouldn't be broken, etc.

However, that being said, I had the pleasure (or shall I say displeasure) of stayn inthe North Garden wing of the Contemporary in 2005. I would suppose the decision had been made to tear it down already because...no A/C in the entire building..it was really hot everywhere from our room to the hallways, same tired hallway carpet from 1971 (I know I've been there almost every year from 1971 on), drawer fronts were falling off, the mini fridge cabinet door was hangin by one hinge, and the patio door fell of the track when we tried to open it.

We still had a wonderful time, but I wouldn't expect such shoddines from a Disney Deluxe resort (even if they were planning on tearing the place down). It was the kids first trip down and they said :"This is the Contemporary that you always rave about???!!" I guess that any hotel can have its problems..but if you look at the travel sites you'll see more negative reviews than positives about the Nick Hotel.

 

[Deadmanwalking]

Their character buffet is awful...cost me $100 for 5 people to eat cereal, stale pastries, and greasy eggs/bacon/sausage...

Sorry but that sounds like a bargain compared to a character breakfast in Cinderella's castle... it has all the bad food you described but costs a lot more for 5 people.

 

[mkt]

Sorry but that sounds like a bargain compared to a character breakfast in Cinderella's castle... it has all the bad food you described but costs a lot more for 5 people.

Having eaten at both places, I can confidently state that the food at the Castle is infinitely better than the crap at the Nick.

 

[bears163]

even if i could stay there for FREE you could not get me to stay there one night