Buena Vista Suites - Review

[BriarfoxinWA]

Well we just made it back from our trip to WDW. We spent 3 nights at the BVS.

I'd rate it one step down from an Embassy Suites. The room we had was the 2 queen bed suite. It has a separate bedroom/bathroom from the main sitting area. My older DS slept on the sofa bed - which is basically a full sized bed. There is a small fridge and little microwave. The room was nice but nothing too fancy. There was a TV in both the bedroom and the sitting area.

Breakfast - was a zoo while we were there. There were several high school competitions going on and the place was packed every morning. The food was o.k. - nothing too great. They tended to run out of some things like bacon and french toast if you got down there too late. It was worth what I paid per night to have the hot breakfast included.

Shuttle bus - the bus schedule varies depending on the park hours and is first come first served. I tried several times to get an idea of the schedule prior to our arrival and never got a real answer. The schedule is basicall that they make approximately 3 trips to MK and 2 trips to the other parks (AK, MGM, Epcot) in the morning. With another 2 to 3 trips in the afternoon/evening. There are a few scheduled returns each day and the bus is shared with Caribe Royale. The biggest problems for us was that the last bus back to the hotel was running at say 9p.m. with MK being open until midnight. We arrived at 7 p.m. on Wed. March 30th and there were no other shuttles to the park that night. I think we only used the shuttle bus one time.

Taxis - since the bus schedule didn't work well for us we asked Guest Services to call a taxi for us. A van arrived and the flat fee to MK was $18 one way - which I thought was pretty high. We had to take a cab back to the hotel that night so we opted to get a metered cab - which was $19!

Let me know if you have questions!

 

[JoEllen]

Thank you Briarfox for your review. We are staying there for a few nights in May before we check into OKW and wondered if they have two bathroom sinks or one. Were the rooms pretty quiet? Is there a Starbucks close by?

We aren't flying the non-stop on Alaska Air this time. The prices never dropped for us. Hope you found a deal on the non-stop. It's a great way to go!

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

There is only one bathroom sink, but there is a second sink at the "bar" area where the fridge and microwave is. The bedroom was pretty quiet - esp. if you have that door closed. We did notice some noise when some of the kids were running up and down the hall. You could clearly hear everything they said when in the "sitting area" of the room.

I don't remember seeing a Starbucks near the hotel - but I wasn't really looking for one either. There is a Ponderosa Steakhouse, 7-11, pizza place, sushi bar, and a drug store in the little mini-mall across the street. Just be aware that you have to cross 6 lanes of traffic with no cross walk

We paid $230 each for our tickets on the non-stop flights to and from MCO. I had booked at the 330 day mark so I could be sure to upgrade for miles. I'm really glad I did. We had 130 high school band members on the flight back - they were over booked and looking for volunteers to take a later flight. I wish we could have volunteered (free round trip tickets!) but the kids have to be back in school today.

 

[JoEllen]

Thanks for the info. We are staying at the Spring Hill suites in the Marriott complex in December at a comparable rate so anxious to see which we prefer.

Right now Alaska is at $449 for RT in December. Hoping they go down soon, but probably won't wait too long and take a chance.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

Ouch - that seems awfully high! I suppose that since it's the only non-stop flight with a decent departure time - they can get the higher price.

 

[ttfn3]

I was checking out your review and I can answer the Starbucks question. We stayed at the Vistana Resort which is near the Buena Vista Suites. There's a Starbucks in the Marriott World Center - but you can't park there for free. There's also a Starbucks retail store/coffee shop in the Orlando Premium Outlet on Vineland Ave, which is a short drive down 535, hang a left (if you're going towards the Downtown Disney hotels such as the Hilton). The Starbucks is in the food court and it does open earlier that the mall. I would head out for early a.m. coffee. LOL I'm such a Starbucks addict!

 

[livyzmom]

THANK YOU FOR THE INFO... . WE WILL BE HEADING TO BVS IN 11 DAYS.
WAS THE BREAKFAST ANY GOOD?? HOW ABOUT THE POOL...?..
ARE THE ROOMS CLEAN???WE ARE TAKING OUR 1ST TRIP WITH DD WHO IS 2 AND WERE LOOKING FOR A PLACE PRICED JUST RIGHT WITH A FEW AMMENETIES ;CLOSE TO WDW FOR US TO GET HER BACK FOR AFTERNOON NAP AND NOT BE IN A CRAMPED ROOM. ANY INFO WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. <WE ARE RENTING A CAR INSTEAD OF USING THE SHUTTLE>

 

[ttfn3]

Oops! I just read my Starbucks directions. You want to make a RIGHT off of 535 onto Vineland if you are heading towards I-4/Downtown Disney hotels area. Sorry!

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

THANK YOU FOR THE INFO... . WE WILL BE HEADING TO BVS IN 11 DAYS.
WAS THE BREAKFAST ANY GOOD?? HOW ABOUT THE POOL...?..
ARE THE ROOMS CLEAN???WE ARE TAKING OUR 1ST TRIP WITH DD WHO IS 2 AND WERE LOOKING FOR A PLACE PRICED JUST RIGHT WITH A FEW AMMENETIES ;CLOSE TO WDW FOR US TO GET HER BACK FOR AFTERNOON NAP AND NOT BE IN A CRAMPED ROOM. ANY INFO WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. <WE ARE RENTING A CAR INSTEAD OF USING THE SHUTTLE>

The breakfast was o.k. - they had pancakes, french toast, scrambled eggs, and either bacon, ham, or sausage. They also had fruit, an assortment of danishes and muffins, dry cereal, and toast, bagels, english muffins. You have to ask for the toast, bagels etc. at the counter where they cook the eggs and omletes.

The room was very clean and the pool was pretty warm when we were there. The pool was also not as crowded as I expected even though the hotel seemed pretty full.

 

[MidwestPiglet]

We were at the Buena Vista Suites from 4/7 - 4/11 and enjoyed our stay. I second everything Briarfox has written, with the exception that the hotel was not crowded at all when we were there. Maybe the Spring Break crowd had died down by then.

We rented a car because we didn't want to rely on BVS's shuttle service, and we're really gald that we did. With a 20, 17 and 8 year old, we liked the flexibility of coming back whenever we wanted, or dropping the older ones off at a park.

The staff at the front desk were VERY helpful. We got lost coming back from Magic Kingdom the first day, then stopped at the desk to make sure we knew where we were going the next day. They gave us a map that was excellent, and knew where all the attractions were, as well as good restaurants nearby.

The food was just OK for breakfast. It does get busy at times. It reminded me of good cafeteria food. It sure was a bargain with 3 kids, though!

The pool was great for our 8 year old -- it was small but she didn't care. We did walk over to the Caribe Royale one night to swim there, that pool is much bigger with a water slide. (We asked at the front desk, and they said we could just walk on over.)

Enjoy your stay!