just back from Wyndham Palace

[iwannago!!]

We just got back from 4 nights at the Wyndham.. priceline stay for $33/night. We were given a room on the 26th floor (2640 -top floor for rooms, presidential level - nicer furniture I guess). We had a view of the Epcot Ball - but we didn't get to see the fireworks from there since we were in the parks. I had signed up for WBR and we did receive a plate with a BIG Gouda cheese, Carr's crackers, a small bottle of wine and a small bottle of water... great snack before bedtime! Room was nice, bathtub/shower could use a better cleaning.. Housekeeping must have seen the 1/2 used bottle of shampoo and decided not to leave us any additional.. so we ran out.. 2 showers a day for 3 people uses more than one little bottle!
The gift shop on the bottom level sells park tickets, and they DO offer the Ultimate hopper...
They do have a bus system to the parks, we did not use it though. Instead, we walked to the Westside of Downtown Disney and took the Disney bus to the MK..
Once, we had breakfast at the Contemporary (drove) and took the monorail to the MK for a couple hours - at lunch, we grabbed car and drove over to the Boardwalk, had lunch, rode surrey bikes and took the boat to MGM for the afternoon/evening.
Valet parking was $10/day and was not very efficient.. long waits to get someone's attention to take your car.
We visited the pool one day for a break... free, fresh, whole fruit at the pool concierge and fresh towels without having to give your room number or sign anything.. that was nice. Pool is not extravagant, but layout is nice for little kids.. it has 3 outlets and 2 are 3.5 feet deep and one is 5-6+ feet deep.. so kids can go in on the steps and go between the 2 outlets (one has a waterfall thing) without being where they cannot touch... pool is not tooooo big, nice for parents to keep little ones in sight. (our DD is 6&1/2 and a fish - so I could keep all eyes on her while catching rays).
At checkout we were charged for 5 days valet (s/b 4 days only) and girl removed the charge without a question. I DID put up a fight about the 'resort fee' - $8.88/night.. I thought that this charge was an outright joke! At checkin they give you this little pamphlet which says that they have 'eliminated incidental charges in favor of this resort fee' and it is supposed to include:
coffee in room (housekeeping forgot to leave us coffee one day)
USA today delivered to room (NO PAPER EVER DELIVERED - they say that it is left by elevators- we never saw a paper)
free local phonecalls (we didn't call anyone)
a 'vacation planner' (pointless I would say - if you are there then you probably 'planned' your vacation)
and the bus to disney (we did not use)
SO.. after telling the gal that I would NOT be paying that and her telling me that she could not take it off the bill, .. I told her that I would dispute it with my credit card.. I ended up speaking with a manager behind closed doors and he did remove the charge.
FYI - If valet parking was included in that 'resort fee' then I would have paid it without question... but $10/day for valet (parking is hard to find and far away) AND an $8.88/day resort fee in addition to the $33/day for the room was just 'over the top'.


so, all in all.. $33/night is a great value for this hotel.. not such a great value if you have to pay an additional $20/day in parking and 'resort fee's'...
I would stay here again.. but I would not pay a 'resort fee' if valet was not included.

 

[BuhByeNebraska]

Thanks for the review. These boards have prepared me for the resort fee, and I have figured it in to my budget. Just another way to slip in a price increase. Good for you for sticking to your guns. If parking is THAT far way that you actually paid to have someone else do it, we will leave the car and will be taking the busses. How far is the walk to the west side of DD to catch the Disney bus?

 

[iwannago!!]

The walk is not far at all. We took the Disney bus to the park and back to Downtown Disney and walked through. We did it with a 6.5 year old and she was fine.
I would guess it is a couple of blocks.
The resort fee would not be bad.. if it included the valet parking. But they present the resort fee as a charge for coffee - vacation planner - newspaper etc.. we did not use these services and it should be included in their rate. Furthermore, when I 'won' the priceline bid for the Palace, it was a 4 star hotel.. not a resort and there was not a mention of a resort fee...
so, I stood my ground!!

hope you have a great time!

 

[robinb]

I also stayed at the Wyndham (for $33 via Priceline), but I always self-parked. I never had a problem finding a place in the lot near the convention center doors. It really wasn't too long of a walk to my car and worth saving the extra $10 per day.

 

[EyesandEarsJami]

Do you or anyone else out there know if you can get e-night tickets if you stay at the wyndham. I thought these were just for disney resort guests but I'm not sure. Thanks for the help.

 

[iwannago!!]

Yes, you can do Enight if you are a Wyndham Palace guest.. we did without a problem at all.

RobinB.. I am so glad that you were able to find space over at the convention center. We tried all 3 nights and were not lucky at all. The restaurant is over there and every available space was blocked off with cones. There might have been a 'special event' or something. Maybe it is timeing and a little 'disney magic'

good luck either way!!

 

[Jane E.]

You got an excellent rate!!! I went in January and I think I paid $48 per night plus a bonus. Congrats on a great deal! Its funny when I went they didn't charge me a resort fee; perhaps, because I was there in January and it was freezing - so no one was using the pools. You also did well on the freebies - wow a bottle of wine! I was happy with a fruit plate and two plastic water bottles! Will you bid for me next time?

 

[PatHill]

These rates sound wonderful although we have never used priceline. we are thinking strongly about using them for our November trip to Disney. I would like to know if you all choose the Category RESORTS and how much did you select for the price. How did you all get the Wyndham on Priceline? Any information would be so appreciated.
Thanks..........
Tracy
Palm HArbor, Florida

 

[Happy2Be]

Thanks for the report. We'll be staying there soon so I was interested in reading any info about it. I'm just curious about why you used the Downtown Disney bus instead of the resort bus. Did they run more often?

 

[BuhByeNebraska]

I think Robinb may have been refering to a $20 AMEX bonus on her bid of $33, and this bonus is no longer available. The lowest rates I've seen for this "Resort" are at $48- $52 plus the currently available bonus of $5 . Thye also have an additional resort fee of $8.88. If you select the resort category, Disney area, you may also be assigned to the Orlando Marriott World Center. I have been trying my darndest, but there doesn't seem to be any availability after Christmas week thru New Years on Priceline for either hotel.

 

[iwannago!!]

Yes, it was $33/night PLUS the $20 Amex bonus that was offered.. once upon a time! That bonus is no longer available.. I have been seeing people get the Wyndham for $48+$5bonus though. They DO charge the resort fee (I did not pay it at checkout though). It is a great location and the rooms were nice. Down sides were the resort fee.. parking too far.. valet $10/day... housekeeping could do a better job (bathroom - shampoo's - coffee - etc).. walls are thin and doors are not as secure as I would have liked. great location and worth a priceline bid (resort level). The Marriott Orlando World Center is also a 'resort' and is NOT on disney property.. but I have heard it is very nice. - I would not be happy about paying 'full price - or even discounted price on the Wyndham -and then to be charged an add'l 'resort fee' would definitely push my limits!!"

We did not use the hotel bus system because it ran every 1/2 hour... we walked to Downtown Disney the one day and took the Disney bus to the MK.. and we drove to the Swan once & the BW once and took the boats to MGM and Epcot...
FYI.. we DID rent surrey bikes and have dinner at the resorts that we parked at. Our DD is a big MGM fan (TOT and RNR) so that is where we spent a lot of our time.

good luck if you bid.. a very usefull website is www.biddingfortravel.com

have fun!

 

[Boots]

Thanks for sharing this info. I hadn't heard too much one way or the other about Wyndham.

 

[Gypsywanab]

I just bid $47 + the $5 bonus on Priceline and got The Wyndham Palace for this Saturday nitethe resort category and started with $43 then $45. We've stayed there many times, (have always been lucky enough to get good hotels with Priceline). We live in Florida, have annual Passes and go to WDW as often as we can. I'd be glad to answer any questions via e-mail or this board.

 

[Brer-Rabbit]

We have stayed there many times on priceline and have always been pleased. I think that this resort is wonderful and we have had excellent experiences there. I have never had a problem with the resort fee as I feel it is reasonable -- especially with the way they treated us, even though we were there with priceline. We too were placed on the Presidential (see links to pics in my signature to see both regular and presidential level rooms) level and snacks were delivered to our room upon check-in. I felt that the resort fee was warrented, because it is standard practice in the industry, I knew it was a resort when I booked it via priceline and the amenities were made available to me.

I will stay at the Wyndham again, I think its an excellent value through priceline, or otherwise.

 

[iwannago!!]

Brer -
It was your post of your stay at the WP that made me want to win that bid on Priceline!! Initially, I had no problem with the resort fee and presented my credit card. It was throughout my stay that I deemed it excessive and unreasonable in light of the amenities it 'covered' . I have been privilaged to stay at some of the most fantastic resorts and hotels in the world, and I would disagree with the resort fee being 'a standard'. I would have gladly paid for the used amenitites on a per charge basis.. $8.88/day was not in line with the amenities offered or used.. IMHO

 

[cbrlmgr]

Spent a few nights at WP in August. At check-in we paid a $30 cash deposit instead of leaving a credit card. When checking out we did not get charged the resort fee and got our cash back. Thought this may help. We also used the bus service once. The WP is the first of 8 stops picking up guests from hotels. But when you are returned to the WP you are the first stop.

 

[EyesandEarsJami]

Does anyone know what level is concierge. I know that the 26th is the presidential level but I didn't know if it is also the concierge level.
Thanks

 

[robinb]

Does anyone know what level is concierge.

10th floor, IIRC. We received a surprise upgrad to the concierge (because I was smoozing about toddlers with the manager, I think), but it was a smoking room. We were reassigned a non-smoking room a few flights up, but still had concierge access. IMO, it would not be worth any extra $$. The breakfast was not replenished in the last hour of when it was served, so if there were no sweet rolls by the time you got to the lounge, tough luck. The evening snacks were also nothing to write home about. The "honor bar" was lame and the staff was inattentive. Since I didn't pay anything for it (except the $33 Priceline rate ), I didn't complain. If I had been paying for concierge and got that treatment, I would have been mad.

 

[susy]

I just got the 25.00 rate at Courtyard for Nov. Are they going to surprise me with a resort fee???