Melia or Nickelodeon Suites?

[zoicca]

Help me! I need your opinion on which hotel to book. My family and I are heading to WDW for a week in March. We're big -- 5 of us in all. Kids ages are 9, 6 and 6 (girls). Done a lot of research and have narrowed it down to 2 hotels that meet our criteria:
- must accommodate 5 peeps.
- must have a kitchenette
- must have a pool and hot tub
- close to WDW with (preferably) a shuttle
- affordability is a consideration.

1. Nickelodeon: I can get this for $115/night but this doesn't include extra costs such as resort fees and internet. Haven't looked into those yet.

2. Melia Orlando: On Hotwire, there's a 2 bedroom that I'm guessing is the Melia Orlando. This is an educated guess based on matching up the amenities on the Orlando Hotwire hotel list HotelDealsRevealed.com

I'll be saving about $300 for the week by staying at the Melia and I personally think it's a nicer hotel but my kids would enjoy the Nickelodeon suites a lot more. What are your opinion on these based on my hotel requirements?

 

[4kids4karen]

Help me! I need your opinion on which hotel to book. My family and I are heading to WDW for a week in March. We're big -- 5 of us in all. Kids ages are 9, 6 and 6 (girls). Done a lot of research and have narrowed it down to 2 hotels that meet our criteria:
- must accommodate 5 peeps.
- must have a kitchenette
- must have a pool and hot tub
- close to WDW with (preferably) a shuttle
- affordability is a consideration.

1. Nickelodeon: I can get this for $115/night but this doesn't include extra costs such as resort fees and internet. Haven't looked into those yet.

2. Melia Orlando: On Hotwire, there's a 2 bedroom that I'm guessing is the Melia Orlando. This is an educated guess based on matching up the amenities on the Orlando Hotwire hotel list HotelDealsRevealed.com

I'll be saving about $300 for the week by staying at the Melia and I personally think it's a nicer hotel but my kids would enjoy the Nickelodeon suites a lot more. What are your opinion on these based on my hotel requirements?

I would not call what the Nick Hotel offers as Kitchenette. I don't even think they had a mini fridge. Just really a sink and counter and microwave. Not really a place where you can cook your own meals.

This hotel has gone downhill. We live in Tampa and all of our friends who have stayed here within the past couple years have passed on their stories of bad maintenance and not being clean anymore.

There are much better options, unless you really want to be at the Nick Hotel. When we have stayed here when the kids were younger, they did like the shows and slides. We never paid more than $117 as we always booked military or boy scout discounts. They offer random discounts on occasions.

 

[Upatnoon]

Help me! I need your opinion on which hotel to book. My family and I are heading to WDW for a week in March. We're big -- 5 of us in all. Kids ages are 9, 6 and 6 (girls). Done a lot of research and have narrowed it down to 2 hotels that meet our criteria:
- must accommodate 5 peeps.
- must have a kitchenette
- must have a pool and hot tub
- close to WDW with (preferably) a shuttle
- affordability is a consideration.

1. Nickelodeon: I can get this for $115/night but this doesn't include extra costs such as resort fees and internet. Haven't looked into those yet.

2. Melia Orlando: On Hotwire, there's a 2 bedroom that I'm guessing is the Melia Orlando. This is an educated guess based on matching up the amenities on the Orlando Hotwire hotel list HotelDealsRevealed.com

I'll be saving about $300 for the week by staying at the Melia and I personally think it's a nicer hotel but my kids would enjoy the Nickelodeon suites a lot more. What are your opinion on these based on my hotel requirements?

Have you thought about renting a 2 bedroom at Wyndham Bonnet Creek? This would likely cost the same as your budget (likely less) and give you more space, a full kitchen, lots of busses to the parks, and a better location.

As for the Nick hotel, the many families I know who go do it to please their kids -- and only for a couple of nights. Also, they don't go to the themeparks, they do the stuff at the Nick hotel.

 

[4kids4karen]

Have you thought about renting a 2 bedroom at Wyndham Bonnet Creek? This would likely cost the same as your budget (likely less) and give you more space, a full kitchen, lots of busses to the parks, and a better location.

As for the Nick hotel, the many families I know who go do it to please their kids -- and only for a couple of nights. Also, they don't go to the themeparks, they do the stuff at the Nick hotel.

That is true. The few times we have stayed at the Nick Hotel we didn't go to any parks. Maybe just Downtown Disney. We stayed at the hotel and used the pool and went to the shows. The food is terrible at the Nick Hotel. We did the character breakfast once just to say we did it. What we learned from others is to just eat outside the hotel or order pizza to be delivered to the hotel gate (hotel won't let them in) where we met them pizza guy. The microwave they have in there is the smallest one possible and won't hold most microwaveable food.

If your kids are huge Nick fans, then stay there. But just be prepared that it is very loud, and no real kitchen. They charge you extra for a poolside room and for a spongebob decorated room. If they put me poolside I would refuse to pay extra. I prefer the parking lot side because it is so noisy. Be prepared to be in the pool with your kid. If you think you can sit in a lounge and watch them, you will lose them in the crowd (depending on time of year). We spent most time pool side saying "where are they" "oh there they are" "where are they". Luckily we had two teenagers that were assigned to each kid to stay in the pool with them. I always worry a kid is going to be kidnapped from this place because when it is busy there are kids running and screaming everywhere. To have a kid scream because they are being taken by a stranger would not stand out at all. A lot of the kids are running around the pools and slides unsupervised.

We did enjoy our stay here, so don't get me wrong. We have stayed here like three times but the last time was more than 3 years ago. We have friends who have stayed here since and friends who go to their cheer came "Cheer Surge" and have just heard it has gone really downhill.

Also, be prepared to pay extra for all the fun in the resort. There are free shows, but there are also other temptations to spend money on.

 

[4kids4karen]

Oh, the "slime" at the Nick hotel is just green water when you are pool slide. The only way to get real slime is to pay for it, or win the game show where ONE person in your group gets slimed. We won the gameshow once. I danced on stage in a chicken suit! LOL. They put one person from your team into an inflatable pool and slime them.

 

[Legendteri]

I looked into Nick Hotel but that place just gets terrible terrible reviews on Trip advisor. We instead stayed at WorldQuest Orlando. For about $145 a night including fees and taxes, we got a three bedroom, three bath 1500 sq ft villa with a FULL kitchen, laundry room and a nice enclosed patio. They also have two bedrooms available for a cheaper price as well. It really was a wonderful resort and I would recommend it to anyone ( especially since we were able to split the cost among three familes so we only paid $50 a night). What finally convinced me to book there were the reviews on trip advisor. It is ranked 6th out of over 300 hotels in Orlando. That is right 6TH ! A lot of the reviews called it a hidden gem and that they wouldn't go anywhere else. After staying there I would agree. We got a little bit of a discount because we are AAA members, but I think you can aslo get a discount just by being their fan on facebook.

Again, like you I thought Nick Hotel would be good since my DD loves some of the Nick Jr shows, but after reading the reviews, I couldn't bring myself to go there.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...orldQuest_Orlando_Resort-Orlando_Florida.html

 

[zoicca]

Thanks all. Decided against Nick per your suggestions. As for Wynham Bonnet Creek, this looks right up our alley. What's the cheapest way to book?

 

[reelmom]

I looked into Nick Hotel but that place just gets terrible terrible reviews on Trip advisor. We instead stayed at WorldQuest Orlando. For about $145 a night including fees and taxes, we got a three bedroom, three bath 1500 sq ft villa with a FULL kitchen, laundry room and a nice enclosed patio. They also have two bedrooms available for a cheaper price as well. It really was a wonderful resort and I would recommend it to anyone ( especially since we were able to split the cost among three familes so we only paid $50 a night). What finally convinced me to book there were the reviews on trip advisor. It is ranked 6th out of over 300 hotels in Orlando. That is right 6TH ! A lot of the reviews called it a hidden gem and that they wouldn't go anywhere else. After staying there I would agree. We got a little bit of a discount because we are AAA members, but I think you can aslo get a discount just by being their fan on facebook.

Again, like you I thought Nick Hotel would be good since my DD loves some of the Nick Jr shows, but after reading the reviews, I couldn't bring myself to go there.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...orldQuest_Orlando_Resort-Orlando_Florida.html

Is WorldQuest a timeshare property?