Holiday Inn Kidsuites

[DJBounce]

Hullooo all you fellow Disney fanatics!!
Right after we got back from our last trip 2 months ago(Seems forever though) we decided to start planning our next trip. After staying in a cramped 2 double bed room at POR, we decided to try out the HI Kidsuites. I would like feedback on this place from anyone whos ever stayed there...we are going in Dec of 2003 for 10 days and there will be 5 of us Me, DW, DS-10, DD-8, DS-7. Just looking at the brochure sent to us and the website was very impressive. The rates were great and we booked our reservations already. The last trip we drove everywhere and found it to be very easy and faster than relying on the busses on site, so driving into WDW will not be an issue. IF anyone can give any advice regarding location to ask for, best routes into WDW (if I remember right it is very near UMO's right outside the DD area), etc...etc.... I would very much appreciate it. Thanks!

:cool:

[dtauer]

There are at least 3 Holiday Inns in the area with Kidsuites. The Holiday Inn Maingate East, the Sunspree and HIFS.

You'll find lots of information here about HIFS, and there is currently a thread about the Sunspree.

Which one are you asking about? Based on your reply I can probably give some specifics.

[DJBounce]

Sorry it took so long to get back to you...but we are staying at
Holiday Inn Family Suites Resort
Lake Buena Vista
14500 Continental Gateway
Orlando, FL 32821 .
Thanks!

[wee-haggis]

We were there last year and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Unfortunately the prices have incresed substantially from last year so we'll be going elsewhere this year.
The rooms are themed.We had the Kidsuite with the bunk beds,TV,Radio and Nintendo in one room and a Queen size bed in the main bedroom and a nice sitting room with TV ,VCR ,Couch table and chairs .In the corner was a small kitchen area with fridge and microwave.The bathroom was really nice.
The pool area was very handy and never got busy while we were there.The pool area also includes a kids play area,bar,rental shop,shuffle board,ping pong,mini golf and hot tubs.
The dining room got a bit busy but we only used it for the all you can eat breakfast .There is also a store along side the pizza,AW take out section.There is handy ample parking and the proximity to the parks is very close.Its quiet (no highway noise for sleeping) and very clean.Other than the new prices I would highly recommend it(particularly if you have kids).
http://www.hifamilysuites.com/

[taylor1293]

We were just at HIFS in August and it's a great place for a family!

The kid suites were large enough for our family of 4. Plus we enjoyed having 3 tv's and a seperate area where the girls could bring out their toys and play :).

Request a building near the lobby with a poolview. That is the ideal location IMO.

The parks are only minutes away, and you are practically on-site.

Their rates are great, and we will return next year if we get a similar rate!

Have fun!

Teresa

[sandyrob]

DJBOUNCE:

We stayed at the HIFS the week of 8/26. No complaints here! They were very good to honor our special requests. We would definitely stay there again. Our family of 5 (at the time the girls were 8 or younger) stayed at a moderate priced Disney resort, and we were very disappointed with the room size. You'll have lots of room at HIFS.

We requested ground floor (what's worse than waiting for an elevator when you're on vacation??), poolside, non-smoking, and a building close to the lobby, and all requests were honored.

You're right outside the Disney property. We encountered no traffic during our drives to the parks.

[wee-haggis]

I'm sorry to disagree with the last post....but do not stay on the ground floor.
At certain parts of the hotel if you were to have a room at ground level ,the noise of people coming and going the restaurant,car parks,main buliding and pool would drive you crazy (unless you were on the car park side which may be a little quieter).
Its a low rise building so,if the elevator is busy take the stairs.

[sandyrob]

DJBOUNCE:

Wee-haggis may have a point, but we did not have a problem with the noise. So I guess you have to choose your lesser evil :)

We spent little time in the room (very early morning and 8:00 p.m. or later). Maybe it's noisier during the day.

Wee-haggis, what month did you stay on ground level at HIFS? Just curious.

Sandy

[mark & sandra]

We've stayed there before and would gladly stay again. I can't say enough good things about this resort. If you do a search of HIFS, or of my past posts, you'll see some great things said of it. I do however have 2 small but related problems to tell you about. The first one is that many people, including us, bring back lots and lots of food from the breakfast buffet for our family. It usually means many uneaten leftovers. Some people leave their leftovers in their room for the housekeeping staff to clean, but others leave the stack of trays with leftovers outside their doors. This attracts these little salamanders to dine off of the trays. The second problem is that the front doors on the rooms don't form a tight seal on the bottom( you can pass a small magazine through). Now remember those little salamanders. One day on the way to the pool I noticed one of those cute guys scurry right under a door into a room. Needless to say I stopped leaving trays of food in the room and stuffed towels under the door at night.