Has anyone stayed in any of the Downtown Disney Area Resorts before?

[~*Belle 2003*~]

I'm after any comments, good & bad, on any of them please.

1. Best Western Lake Buena Vista
2. Doubletree Guest Suites
3. Grosvenor Resort
4. Hilton in the Walt Disney World® Resort
5. Holiday Inn in the Walt Disney World® Resort
6. Hotel Royal Plaza
7. Wyndham Palace Resort & Spa

Can you hear the noise from I4 from any of them?

Thanks.

[CarolA]

I have stayed at the Hilton, Wyndam, Hotel Royal Plaza and Holiday Inn (when it was the Courtyard) The only ones you might be able to hear I-4 on from my list ar the Holiday Inn and the Hotel Royal Plaza. I did hear it from the Holiday Inn, but was on the side away from I-4 with the Plaza.

Hilton and WYndam are pretty far from the interstate (closest to DTD)

[madisonsmom]

Check out Tripadvisor.com they usually have good(or bad) reviews from people that have stayed at hotels as well. Might be helpful..I personally have not stayed at any of those hotels.

[mrsmom]

I ahve stayed at hotel royal plaza and wyndham palace and spa before, and i never heard the traffic.
Kim

[lewdyan1]

We stayed at the Hilton. I loved the hotel, but the buses to the parks were horrible for us. We had to wait up to an hour for the bus to come and then on the way back from MGM, it was longer and we ended up taking a cab back. We landed up changing resorts mid stay as we had young children and felt like we were losing to much park time. To be fair, we only stayed two days, it might be better now.

Again, the hotel itself was fantastic...

[DaddyDon]

Stayed at the Hilton and Wyndham this past mothers day,At the Hilton we faced the interstate and yes you heard traffic...at the Wyndham we faced dtd and heard none..Morale to the story it depends where one is faceing..Both were really nice property's. :cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2:

[LonghornMickey]

We have stayed at the Wyndham in DTD and could not hear the traffic on I4. We did have noise, however. We paid to upgrade to a "suite" in the remote building. We heard garbage trucks early in the morning from our second floor room. Also, there were fireworks at DTD around midnight that woke us up after a long day of travel.

In spite of all this, being within walking distance of DTD made it a great place to stay. Plus, we got our room on Priceline, and even with the cost of upgrading to the suite (negotiated at the front desk after we arrived), we felt that we got a great deal.

[The_Banking_Scot]

Hi,

I have stayed at the Hillton several times ( take the half hourly bus to Epcot or Downtown Disney). good hotel, good swimminig pools. and a charcter breakfast on Sunday morning IIRC.

I suppose in late afternoon if you do not want to wait for the bus you could take a Disney bus to Downtown disney then walk back to the hilton).

In May I am spending three nights at thr Hilton then three nights at the Swan so I can better enjoy the Boardwalk and Illuminations at Epcot without worryiing about getting back ( just a nice lakeside stroll back to the Swan)

Regards

TBS

[KK Cat]

We stayed in Best Western LBV in Oct 2000. I believe it has had a rehab since then. We found it quite nice, no problems at all, average hotel room, walking distance to Downtown Disney which was nice and also walking distance to Crossroads Shopping area. I would also recommend the tripadvisor.com website to check out reviews, this is how I chose our accommodation for this year (we wanted a kitchen this year). BW was very clean and tidy, pool was small enough, but almost always empty anyway, we used pool a few times and it was fine. You can see WDW fireworks in the distance from the stairwells (outdoor balconies on stairwells as well as a balcony in each room). We had friends staying in the contemporary at the same time, and our rooms were similar size and layout (but they had a better view from their balcony, sigh)

[spiceycat]

the WDW DD buses do not go to the parks any longer. So it is hard to get back to DD. from a WDW theme park you would need to take a WDW resort bus get off at the resort then take a DD bus. however the hour buses at DD hotels are much better than off-site.

[Epcotkids]

Wendy,

Who will be traveling with you?

[Aimee K]

I've stayed at the Hilton, and the Grosvenor. We've done the Hilton many times, and had great experiences. We had our car, so we didn't need to rely on busses. They were incredibly friendly, and we thought, were the best at keeping the Disney 'magic' for a non-Disney hotel (this includes the Dolphin too). We celebrated my dd's 8th birthday there, and were surprised by a beautiful chocolate tray and balloons on her birthday. I had forgotten we had even mentioned it!

The Grosvenor I really just didn't like. Small room. Outside entry. CM's that were just barely friendly.

Keep in mind that we stayed at the Hilton last in March 2002, and the Grosvenor in November 2002, so things may be different now.

Aimee K :flower:

[spiceycat]

I did stay in the Royal Plaza once - it was okay.

about the noise - lots of the trees in this area are down - noises you couldn't heard before you can definitely heard now - (because of the hurricanes).

so I would definitely try for the DD side if noise is a problem for you.

we were just at OKW and boy it was different. they lost a great number of trees and the noise level from the streets were noticeable increased....

[EEYORERULES]

I stayed at the Best Western in 2002, it was going thru some renovations ta that time. We liked the hotel. It was clean, quiet & the rooms were quite large. As for the buses, we had no trouble at all using them. It was a short walk to Downtown disney which we did 2-3 times for shopping or if we caught that bus instead of the hotel bus. We booked thru dreams unlimited & the room was only $31/night which was great .. I would stay again.

[Pooh Girl 71]

We stayed at Courtyard (which is now the Holiday Inn) for the $20.02 rate in 2002. We were in a tower room and didn't hear any noise from I4

[floridagirrl2]

We stayed at the Wyndham about a year ago. We thought it was a nice hotel but pricey for what you get. If you like the amenities of the pool, spa, fitness center, and expensive restaurants, then the Wyndham is a good place. We, personally, would rather stay onsite at the POP or AllStars for less $$ and have the reasonably priced food courts and excellent transportation (bus transportation from the DTD hotels is not the best). We could not hear traffic from our room at the Wyndham.

[Phrank40]

Hotel Royal Plaza had traffic noise from I-4, we were in tower about half way up on north side of building. I liked Plaza but noise to me was a problem, I'm a light sleeper.

Have stayed at BW Lake Buena Vista several times, noise never a problem since it is on other side of road and away from I-4. Recently (last couple of years) redecorated rooms. Enjoyed stay, especially with good rate.

I had no road noise problems at Hilton or Grosvenor.

Phrank

[cyansmom]

Aloha!

My family of 5 just stayed in DD. 1st night in orlando, we stayed at the Best Western. It was spacious for all of us. the bathroom was really small and had a bit of mold (which seems to plague a lot of the hotels in Orlando). We also stayed 3 nights at the Doubletree suites. It was really spacious with a separate living room/bedroom. The bathroom was in the bedroom so there wasn't true privacy. There was a mini fridge, sink and microwave. The cookies are really delicious! Can't compare to staying on property but it was fine for us.

cyansmom

[Bride2Be0705]

I'm after any comments, good & bad, on any of them please.

2. Doubletree Guest Suites

Can you hear the noise from I4 from any of them?

Thanks.

My family and I have stayed at this one, the last time we were at WDW. We liked it, normally we stay on-site, but mom and dad got SUCH a good deal with this room that we stayed there. I couldn't hear any noise, and the room was nice. We had a 1 bedroom suite. The staff was nice, the only bad thing is that there is no shuttle service, you have to walk a little while.

I agree with floridagirrl2. I would rather stay at POP or All-Stars for less money, but on-site.

[brer rabbit 28]

stayed there last year.It was ok just to sleep in.Thought breakfast was dear but there was a ponderosa just down the road.Free transport excellent though,loads of buses all day,last bus at night was usually a bit of a fight to get on though!!! :sad2:

[Grumpy's Gal]

we stayed in the CourtYard (now Holdiay Inn) in 2003 Sun thru Thur for $20 a night. (no kidding) An internet special. It was fine. Noise was fine. Busses were fine. Great deal!!!!! Then we left on Fri morning and stayed at AKL and our one night there was more than our whole week at Courtyard!

[pooh4evr]

We are staying at the Best Western Lake Buena Visat May 3- 10 I have stayed there before and really liked it, but that was 6 yrs ago. I am hoping things will still be great but will let you know when we return!
:Pinkbounc :bounce: 10 days to go! :bounce: :Pinkbounc

[kylara]

The Grosvenor I really just didn't like. Small room. Outside entry. CM's that were just barely friendly.

Keep in mind that we stayed at the Hilton last in March 2002, and the Grosvenor in November 2002, so things may be different now.

Aimee K

Just to let you know, I just stayed at the Grosvenor and Aimee's description still fits! But the room was clean and it was very convenient to DD.

[pammy1027]

Loved the Grosvenor, but we stayed in the tower, not the courtyard (outside entry rooms). Great view of the fireworks from Epcot and Pleasure Island, large rooms, refrigerator, extra bed besides the 2 fulls, clean, etc. The staff were all very friendly and we loved having the little store/cafe type place just before the bus picked us up for the parks.

Also, couldn't beat the 5-7 minute walk to DTD- it's the closest. I didn't see many kids at this hotel, but we were there in January 2004. That was fine with me though :p

[becobscot]

I've stayed at the Hilton. The hotel is very nice. I don't recall any noise. There were a few negatives though. There were time share vendors in the lobby. Our flight was delayed and we arrived late( I had noted on my rez we would be arriving late) so two mishaps occurred. The hotel had us as "no shows" so Ticket mania did not deliver our tickets to our hotel and I was billed for an additional night! It took several calls to get it resolved. I'd look elsewhere! Sorry this post is so long! :blush:

[Alicnwondrln]

i have stayed at teh double tree guest suites and it was great
we got a great rate from mousesavers.com
the only thing that was bad were the buses
we used our car instead

[golfgal]

Do any of the DTD hotels have a shuttle from the airport to the hotel?

[we3disneygo]

we too stayed at the courtyard for the 20.03 deal, we didn't hear any noise. we didn't take the buses....ate in the resturant every am very good.we had a very nice stay. :cool1:

[jjsmom]

This one isn't on your list, but we stayed at the Embassy Suites LBV (the pink building you see from I4) in June '96. We had 4 adults and 1 child in a suite. It was great. The full breakfast in the am was a huge savings; we loaded up on food then usually could go til dinner with only a snack.

Good points-beautifully maintained & decorated hotel, good breakfast, good value, good service (the kitchen stayed open late on our arrival night; flight was 4 hrs late and we hadn't had anything to eat)
Bad points-no Disney magic, inefficient transportation (we used our rental car the entire time and had to pay parking).