Hotel comparing

[Stitchfan712]

Planning a trip to WDW on the 21st.


I've been comparing hotel after hotel after hotel. Been using Tripadvisor as a guide, but it seems that just about everyone has a bone to pick with all disney area hotels and it's frustrating to be down to a few final selections and hitting a relative dead end.


So I'd like to ask your advice on hotel selection.


I've gone through comparing value for the dollar, location, room quality, reputation, etc...and eliminated everything that isn't on this list. This is the result of about a week's worth of research into WDW area hotels.

Based on the selections below where would you recommend staying?


Cost is definitely an issue. I have to keep it reasonable. And I require at least 3 beds in the room, probably 1 sofa bed and 2 doubles/queens. Three of us are splitting the cost, none of us want to share a bed!


3 star hotels-

Hampton Inn Maingate West
Country Inn & Suites Lake Buena Vista
Fairfield Inn at the Marriott Village
Courtyard by Marriott at the Marriott Village
Courtyard by Marriott at Vista Centre
Quality Suites Maingate East


3.5 star hotels-

Club Hotel by Doubletree
Caribe Royale ($)
Sheraton Royal Safari ($)
Amerisuites Lake Buena Vista
Grand Lake Resort (?)

4 star resorts-

Best Western Lake Buena Vista in Walt Disney World
Wyndham Palace in Walt Disney World
Sierra Suites Lake Buena Vista
Hilton in the Walt Disney World
Staybridge Suites Lake Buena Vista


4.5 star resorts-

Radisson Resort Parkway




Now, I'm not asking, at all, for anyone to decide for me. I'm just wondering if you guys know anything about the above hotels and can offer advice or recommendations on any of them.

Some of those are pricey, some are not. Thanks for any help you can give. :sohappy:

 

[wannabeBelle]

Well I personally cant help as all of these hotels are not owned by Disney so I dont know anything about any of them, as I havent stayed at any of them. I would advise you to contact the board sponsor, Kingdom Konsultant, Pam at 1866-566-7858 and see if she can assist you. She may have more knowledge on these hotels than I do. Belle

 

[nibblesandbits]

I have stayed at one of the Quality Inns in Florida. I can't remember which one it was, but I know it was on I-Drive and it was across the street from the Waterworks building. That hotel was really nice and it was very reasonably priced. (We paid like $60 for the room a night) It was great b/c it had a nice pool and it had a deli-type place where you could buy food. Since it was on I-Drive you can go to just about anywhere to eat cause you can walk to quite a few restaurants from there.

Another great hotel that is not on your list is the Holiday Inn Maingate East. Now, it's kinda geared for the kiddies, but it has something for everyone. They have two really nice pools plus a deli-area like the other hotel, but in the deli area they also had a mini-grocery store in there. It's just a really nice hotel. I've stayed there at least 3 times in my life and I've loved it every time. They also have a restaurant. And there are a few restaurants close by, but you would have to drive to get to most of them.

I would also suggest (that is unless it's 3 guys staying in one room, then I'd understand!) sleeping in the same bed. In the end it would save you a lot of money b/c I'm pretty sure at these 2 hotels there are no couches to sleep on, so you'd have to rent 2 rooms.

Ok, that's about it, if you have any other questions about these 2 hotels, I'd be happy to help. Otherwise, I'm sure someone else on these boards will have plenty of information to help you too.

 

[Stitchfan712]

I eliminated all the hotels on I-drive because of traffic and distance issues.

Holiday Inns were eliminated because all of them had atrocious reviews on Tripadvisor.


It's going to be two guys and one woman sharing the room. The woman is about 40-ish and surely doesn't want to share a bed with me or my 18 year old friend.

We're rooming to save costs without having to stay in a dump.

 

[Master Yoda]

Here is a trick that might work for you that will allow you to stay on property and have 3 beds. Some of Animal kingdom lodge’s savanna rooms have 1 queen and a bunk bed. Normal rate on the savannah rooms is like $300 a night but they very frequently have them on special for half that price. Not to mention Animal kingdom lodge is an incredible hotel.

 

[Stitchfan712]

right now all disney properties show sold out on the main site. Strange because Expedia shows availability. :brick:

 

[Master Yoda]

call disney at 407-WDISNEY.

 

[jordanyosh]

what are your travel dates? i still see some availability depending on how long u are staying.

 

[cj2me]

My sister in law and brother in law stayed at the Hilton and after one day ended up checking out and relocating to Coronado Springs. They said for the little money they saved it wasn't worth the trouble, too much travel time to the parks and didn't feel the "disney magic" being there. Check out PO Riverside they have trundle beds in a number of the rooms.

 

[Shaman]

The Caribe Royale ain't too bad...the room is nicely distributed...you have a small living space separated from the bedroom with the bed(s) and the bathroom...they used to include a complimentary buffet breakfast...I think the there was a resort ownership change...so maybe thats not the case anymore...the good thing about Caribe...is that its close to Disney...just hop onto SR-536 West and that will take you right into WDW...

Also look at the Marriot World Center and the Holiday Inn across from that...those are also nice hotels, very near Disney...

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

I agree. Caribe Royal was nice. The pool is fun, and it is very close to Disney. Rack rates were very pricey, but I've seen discounts recently. I don't remember all that much about the rooms. They also had a pretty cool looking bar, I think it had a piano player at peak hours.

 

[Stitchfan712]

Yeah Caribe royale was just too pricey. Even with discounts.


Got it narrowed down and here's what's left on my list:


Courtyard Marriott Village
Quality Suites Maingate East
Best Western Lake Buena Vista Resort
Radisson Resort Parkway
Country Inn Lake Buena Vista



Thoughts?

 

[speck76]

Yeah Caribe royale was just too pricey. Even with discounts.


Got it narrowed down and here's what's left on my list:


Courtyard Marriott Village
Quality Suites Maingate East
Best Western Lake Buena Vista Resort
Radisson Resort Parkway
Country Inn Lake Buena Vista



Thoughts?

The Courtyard Marriott Village is very nice.....upgraded compared to a standard Courtyard. It has a nice pool (zero-depth entry), a large arcade, and a food court with Starbucks.

The other hotels are all a bit older.

 

[maelstrom]

We have stayed at the Homewood Suites, which is in the same area as where the Hyatt Orlando used to be. I think it's technically on 4. The main room has a kitchenette, a large (for a hotel room) table with a couple of chairs, a sofa, chair, coffee table, tv, and a huge window. The bedroom has two queen beds and a tv and a dresser I'd imagine. I don't really recall the bathroom, but you got to it from the bedroom. We stayed there twice and found it to be really nice and clean and it isn't far from Disney at all. I've looked on their website and found one in Kissimmee and one in "Orlando", but both say they're the closest to Disney so I'm not sure which one it is. The two addresses given are Palm Parkway and Parkway Boulevard, so if anyone knows which one of those is by the Hyatt Orlando, it's that one.

We've also stayed at the Hilton in the Hotel Plaza, but that was in 1989, and I'm sure things have changed by now. But at that time it was really nice!

If you want to stay on Disney property, there's a couple of ways you could go about having three beds in the room. A small number of rooms at the Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge have one queen bed and bunk beds. It's up to you to fight it out for the queen bed. Also, the Alligator Bayou rooms at Port Orleans have trundle beds. Again, fight over who has to sleep in the trundle bed.

 

[cru5h]

I 100% swear by Quality Suites Maingate East. Even that free breakfast buffet they offer is decent. The pool there is really nice, newspaper delivered to the front door of your room, large bathroom (probably because we had the handicap room though), lots of bed space and the kitchenette was a great help. Not 1 complaint - and believe me, I love to complain. Good luck in choosing.