royal hotel plaza in dtd- any good?

[julieannbabe]

looking to stay in the dtd area.

was looking at grosvenor but it has some bad reviews.

what is the royal hotel plaza like?

thanks.

xjx

 

[5mins2disney]

I've heard mixed reviews, check the review boards. Staying there on 1/19/06 for 1 night though, so I will check back in and let you know! Our place (we own a home in Windsor Hills Resort) is booked the first night we arrive, and a friend has a block of 65 rooms at Royal Plaza DTD, so I was able to get a suite cheaply. Well...cheap is a relative thing....for what I paid for 1 night in this suite...and we have friends renting 2 other rooms as well that night...I could have rented a 6 bedroom house in Windsor Hills!

Or...gotten a MUCH nicer 3BR condo or townhome for a fraction of the cost...I almost rented a WHR home from another owner and paid the cleaning fees you pay for a less than 7 night stay (still would have been cheaper)...but it doesn't usually make sense to do that just for 1 night.

Suggestion...go check www.windsorhillsrent.com before you go off and waste a ton of $$ on a DTD hotel!

 

[smileyk8]

We stayed there last June- overall the hotel looks lovely after the remodel and the beds are very snuggly. The general location is very good- an easy walk to DTD with good size rooms compared to other resorts.

The room location within the hotel is quite important: stay away from rooms over the I4 as the noise can be very intrusive and also maybe the top floor due to air con unit noise. Our family like to stay in the tower rooms (you get a roman bath), but some prefer those around the pool.

We feel that this is a good hotel if you can get a reasonable rate. One great thing is you can rent a fridge for $24 length of stay (forgive me if this hire charge has changed a little).

To be honest, i would chose staying in the DTD area over any other area as I spent plenty of afternoons down there whilst my parents slept and they could get hold of me on my walky talky from the room when they woke up!!!

 

[f7prez]

HRP is one of our favorite DTD hotels. Buena Vista Palace and Hilton are the others. If you choose not to stay at a Disney hotel, I think DTD is the next best thing. HRP has good size rooms, great beds, is clean, within walking distance to DTD Marketplace and offers great complimentary bus service to the 4 Disney theme parks.

Definitely avoid Grosvenor

 

[rosiep]

HRP is one of our favorite DTD hotels. Buena Vista Palace and Hilton are the others. If you choose not to stay at a Disney hotel, I think DTD is the next best thing. HRP has good size rooms, great beds, is clean, within walking distance to DTD Marketplace and offers great complimentary bus service to the 4 Disney theme parks.

Definitely avoid Grosvenor

I stayed at the Grosvenor last year 10/05 and I really liked it. I had great service and I loved having the small cafe area to purchase cereal and the like. What was it about the hotel you didn't like?

 

[Michiganfamily]

Can anyone report on the Hilton there in Downtown Disney?

We are debating off versus on site. A downtown disney location seems very nice. Do you lose that much "magic" by not staying in one of the disney official resorts?

Thanks!

 

[f7prez]

The Hilton will probably be more expensive than Hotel Royal Plaza. My guess is that you could probably get a Disney Moderate for the same money as the Hilton, maybe even less.
Both the Hilton and HRP are great choices, but here is where the difference is.
The Hilton is a bit more upscale with nicer amenities throughout, including two heated pools and a nice tropical jacuzzi. Hilton is also the only DTD hotel that offers the Extra Magic Hour at the Disney parks. The Hilton is literally across the street from Downtown Disney. Some rooms overlook the Marketplace, and offer great views. The bus service that serves the DTD hotels picks up at the Hilton first, giving you first pick of seats. You are also dropped off first when returning from the parks. Both hotels are a good choice and I don't think you would be disappointed with either one. With Hilton you do get more for the higher price.

To answer rosiep's question about why I say to avoid the Grosvenor: Our room was not very clean, from the carpets to the bathroom, even the smell. We asked for a different room and of course they were completely full. Asked for more towels and it took two days for them to arrive. Now to be fair, this was probably about 10 years ago before we new better. Maybe they have improved. All I know is that their nickname is Grossnor.

 

[we3disneygo]

we always stay in a downtown disney hotel and love the location!

 

[Michiganfamily]

we3disneygo, Which downtown hotels do you like? So far the prices don't seem all that lower than the disney value or moderates, but maybe I haven't seen all the available discounts yet.

 

[we3disneygo]

our last trip we stayed at the Doubletree, while we had some housekeeping issue's for the price 95.00 a night including tax we enjoyed the extra room and always asked for a warm choc.chip cookie on our way in or out!! in 2003 we stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott which is now no longer in business. We like the short drive to WDW and being so close to downtown disney, we also ate at Crossroads area during the week we ate at taco bell, subway and had a great meal at Red Lobster, we also ate down the road at Steak n Shake. hope this info. has helped.

 

[Stick_to_Disney]

We stayed at the Dolphin hotel last summer and the Downtown Disney Hilton last month. The rooms were basically the same rate (I had a teacher discount). I much preferred the Dolphin. We found the Mears busses to be unreliable, and if you're going to the MK, the bus will drop you at the Ticket and Transportation Center, and from there you catch the Monorail to MK. We were also harassed several times by a woman by the elevator trying to sell us time shares. If you can get the Swan or Dolphin for about the same price, I say do that. You'll have the Boardwalk area for shops, dining, and the location is excellent.

 

[Disney MAINEiac]

Can anyone report on the Hilton there in Downtown Disney?

We are debating off versus on site. A downtown disney location seems very nice. Do you lose that much "magic" by not staying in one of the disney official resorts?

Thanks!

stayed at the Hilton last year for a conference, very nice hotel, great service and some excellent places to eat right in the hotel, a nice pub with nachos pizza and such, great sandwich shop/grocery item store and a benihana(sp?) japanese steak house. Just a hop across the road to DTD.

i have also stayed in the grosvenor, while rooms aren't as nice and it is showing some age it was clean and it is within walking distance of the DTD bus stop, so no need for a car. staff was polite and you can get snack, meals or just drinks on site. and the price was very right $85/night (3yrs ago).

if memory serves me the hilton had EMH rights but Grosvenor did not.

 

[lchadwick]

I just got back from a stay at the Grosvenor and likes it. My room was super clean and they brought my towels within 30 minutes of calling. My kids also loved the character breakfast in Baskerville's. They are in the process of redoing the rooms and it look slike it will be super nice then. We were in the tower and it was soooo quiet. Staff was great. Just chiming in!