Anyone stayed at Buena Vista Palace?

[jaykat]

My husband's colleague just got back from a conference in orlando. He stayed at the Doubletree, which he said was fine but basic, with a pool that was not overly special. However, he said that the hotel that looked the best in the area was Buena Vista Palace. From my reserarch, I understand that Buena Vista palace has been recently renovated, with modern rooms and suites available. It has very positive reviews on tripadvisor (hmm, sometimes that makes me worried...).

So has anyone stayed there recently and what can you tell me about it? I assume it has a shuttle to the theme parks? Anyone know how long it actually takes on these shuttles to get to the parks?

 

[joestein]

We stayed there on our Honeymoon 13 years ago!! I remember we loved it!

 

[schumigirl]

We stayed here last Sept and absolutely loved it. Very beatiful hotel, rooms airy, bright and most importantly very clean. Not much shelf space in bathroom area for all our "stuff" but not a problem. Staff were extremely friendly and very helpful as it was our first trip to the US. We had a DTD view room and it was excellent to see everything all lit up and some of the fireworks. Balconies are very small though. And of course it is a 5 min walk to DTD.
There were still some renovations to be done, not sure if they are completed now but there was no intrusion while people were working. The pool area had still to be made over but it was still pleasant and the little pool bar served some nice snacks.
The watercress cafe downstairs was excellent. We ate breakfast in there every morning a good range of food and very nice coffee. Not in the restaurant bit i should add as we didn`t want a big breakfast, just croissants or pastries normally. And very good value for money.
I know what you mean about Trip advisor but we loved it so much we wanted to go back again this year but we are travelling with Virgin Holidays and they don`t offer that choice of hotel anymore. The guy on the phone said he had no idea why as it was an excellent seller.
As for the shuttles well we had a car so never used them, but a couple we spoke to said they were ok and they used them every day with two young kids so i presume they were fine.
Didn`t like the Outback restaurant in there(not the chain) but Kooks sports bar on the ground floor was fantastic.
Hope that helps, I`m sure you would love it it`s a great hotel.

 

[Disney grandma]

I checked their website but couldn't find any information on whether there is an additional resort fee added to the room and is there a fee for parking>

 

[Justin8302]

I've heard good things about it.

 

[schumigirl]

I checked their website but couldn't find any information on whether there is an additional resort fee added to the room and is there a fee for parking>

We didn`t have to pay a resort fee as Virgin customers don`t but I`m sure it was around $13 or $14 a day.
Parking is free but they do offer a valet parking service which i don`t remember how much that was, I do remember reading some people thought the main car park was a huge trek away from the hotel entrance. It wasn`t. You can cut through the event centre which is a lot easier and cooler!!

 

[LuvSnowWhite]

I stayed there last Feb and we were in one of the newly renovated rooms. It was very nice. Just across the street from DTD and they also have their own shuttles to all the Disney parks. There is I think 2 or 3 pools and a hottub, a spa, a gym, giftshop, 2 or 3 restaurants. Very nice. I do believe they charge a resort fee. You will like it.
Gina.

 

[Trish.Glenn]

My husband and are going on an unexpected trip to the World and I got a great deal on Hotwire $85.00 a night for this hotel! I have stayed here once before it was renovated and it cost us $169 a night. Cannot wait to go, great location!

The resort fee I was quoted on the phone was $15.00 a day!

Trish
We are leaving July 18, 2008!

 

[LadyTrampScamp&Angel]

We stayed there last summer in a rennovated room and the room was great. The only negative we had was the bus service, and that was terrible. Going to the parks, the bus was full a couple of times when it got to us so they told us to wait for the next one. Well, buses seemed to come about every half hour so it was about an hour wait. After that we didn't even try but hopped across the street to DTD and caught a resort bus, then transferred to park transportation - but that was also time consuming. One day we took a towncar (no taxis out front, just the towncars) and that was a perfect way to get to a park but it was $17 plus tip to one way to MGM. It was a very nice hotel, we had a wonderful Disney view room, but I wouldn't stay there without my own car.

This was June 2007 BTW. DH was going to a class and using our car during the day so the kids and I were trying to use the resort transportation. It got to where we would have DH meet us in the parks after his class so we could use our car to get back to the hotel. There was no charge for the parking. I also didn't think the walk from the parking to our room was that long. We too cut through the meeting room area, love the air conditioning in June!