Anyone stayed at Fairfield Inn, Marriott Village, Lake Buena Vista?

[Disbabe]

We'll be staying at Fairfield Inn, Marriott Village at Lake Buena Vista in 19 days!
Has anyone got any info, advice, opinions (good hopefully!!) on this hotel complex of 3 hotels that we can use the facilities of?
Thanks in advance!

 

[tim june and sam]

Also very interested in this Disbabe - we are due to visit in October.

I know the LBV area after a trip 2 years ago, but specifics about this property would be appreciated, inc. nearby restaurants that you sample and recommend.

Regards and have a great trip!

 

[stubb]

hi Sheila

we stayed at the springhill suite- the area is really nice very near to the orlando premium outlet and has imo the best golden coral in the area [we always got one of the little voucher books located when you go out the door of the golden coral usually get one of the kids to go round and pick one up. They were doing dinner for $8 really worth a visit if you have had a long day at the parks and are starving] you could use the facilities of all the hotels we did not do this.

Only negative note the first time we went there was alot more choice for breakfast the second time i think they had had a managment change and every day there was less and less. The area was quiet at night and we always felt safe.

have fun

michelle

 

[tim june and sam]

Only negative note the first time we went there was alot more choice for breakfast the second time i think they had had a managment change and every day there was less and less. The area was quiet at night and we always felt safe.

Hi Michelle

Can you say when you went first/last - clearly you have been more than once. How recent was the poorer experience?

Just two specific questions - is the complex guarded at the gate do I recall(?) and what are the quality of the rooms?

Thanks!

 

[stubb]

hi there

first time was in august2003 and second time was august 2004. There was a guard on the gate. The first time we went we saw the room but it was on the ground floor next to a side door which seemed in constant use! The staff were very good and gave us the choice of a couple of different rooms. There was a fridge/microwave in the room 2 queen sized beds and a pull out settee.If you look at the marriott website there is a slide show of the hotel which i think has a picture of the rooms.

michelle

 

[Disbabe]

We visited the Premium Outlet Mall last time we went in 2003, and was excellent. It also states in the brochure that the hotel complex has a starbucks inside - a definate must as my favourite thing to do is sit and take in the atmosphere with a frappuchino! As long as the rooms are clean, we're not too bothered as we're out all day every day and bearly spend too much time in the room, other than to sleep!! We love to go to Downtown Disney when we're out there and what swayed us to stay at this hotel is the close proximity to it. I'm presuming of course that Virgin are correct in their description!
I've read a few reports on the web of this hotel and everyone mentions good things about the breakfast, which will hopefully set us up for the day!
Will certainly give my opinion on our return, which doesn't bear thinking about! Wish the 2 weeks could seem like a year! Orlando is my bit of heaven on earth!

 

[tim june and sam]

Would love to hear/see your comments when you get back disbabe

The hotel looks good from brochure and previous drive-by, but you never know? Our criteria are same as yours it appears - clean, functional and convenient are our top three requirements.

Love to hear others opinion/feedback....

 

[eeyoreangel1]

we are also interested in what people think about this complex as were are staying at the Courtyard by Marriott but sadly not till next easter.
hope you have a good holiday disbabe

 

[keasden]

We stayed at the Springhill Suites on the same complex as the Fairfield Inn in February 2004. I'll give you a clue as to how much we rated it, we have booked to go back to this complex in May next year

The complex consists of 3 Marriot chain hotels situated on one site which is controlled by a security guard at the main entrance and entry is via your room swipe card, so I would consider it much safer than the average roadside motel / hotel.

Once you drive in through the main gate you approach a large fountain which the road forms a roundabout around and the Suites is on your right and the Fairfield and the Courtyard hotel are to the left. There is one large parking lot that services all three hotels and in our first week there the hotels were very quiet and we parked right next to the reception every night, the second week was much busier and on occasions we had to park round the back of the hotel which meant a short walk back to reception. Just a minor irritation which wouldn't have bothered me at all if we hadn't been so fortunate with parking in the first week.

You can use the pool at three hotels but we never saw the need to visit any other than the one where we were staying at Springhill Suites, although if you want a change the hotels are literally a stones throw apart.

The breakfast is included at the Springhill and Fairfield and although I felt there was very limited choice we looked on it as a 'freebie' and on that basis it was great. The choice was limited to cereal, bread, bagels, jam, muffins, fruit and tea/coffee and orange juice. There were plenty of toasters around to do your own toast.

I would have been miffed if we had paid extra for this, but like I said it was free and it was pleasant as a change from the usual heavy breakfasts we normally indulge in over there.

Our room was a decent size with a microwave and fridge, 2 large TV's and a seperate sitting area, but no balcony. It was spotlessly clean and appeared fairly new.

There are a number of eating choices in a food court situated between the Fairfield and Courtyard but to be honest we never used it.

We did use the Golden Corral situated behind the hotel and my advice would be to park the car at hotel and walk to this if you are eating before retiring for the night. You simply walk past the hotel food court and Golden Corral is 1 minute away! There is also a Bahama Breeze on the same site too which we never tried but always appeared busy.

Premium Outlets is just a 2 minute drive away, as is a large Publix supermarket. The crossroads shopping area with a few other restaurants including a TGI's (our favourite) is jsut 5 minutes away. As someone else has said, Downtown Disney is only around 5 to 8 minutes drive.

When we go back next time we are staying at the Fairfield Inn as the cost with Virgin was way less for there than the Springhill Suites so we decided to save a few quid because all three hotels are on the site and allappeared to be of decent quality, and as they say the 3 most important considerations are location, location and location!

Please return the favour and let me know what you thought of the Fairfield on your return, and if you have any more questions just post them or PM me.

 

[tim june and sam]

Fantastic detail Keasden, much appreciated!

 

[Disbabe]

Thanks keasden for that info - very informative!
Will definately post a thread on our return. I can't wait for the holiday to come now - although I'm a little miffed that Lunn Poly still haven't contacted us about the tickets and its only 11 days till we go. Have spent the last few days planning a strategy - not that we really need one as this is our 4th time to Orlando! Unfortunately it'll be a couple more years till we get back there again as we're off to the Dominican Republic next year as it's my Dad's 60th birthday and we're all going as a treat!

 

[tim june and sam]

.....not that we really need one as this is our 4th time to Orlando!

LOL! Disbabe, this will be our eighth trip with three more to DLP inbetween and we still plan like a military campaign - not finite detail, but....

Enjoy your trip and hope to hear good things about The Fairfield when you return safe 'n sound.

 

[Disbabe]

I laughed reading your reply, Tim, June and Sam - I do plan quite well - ie. the shows and rides around them, but we've found in the past - it doesn't always go to to plan!!
I keep a diary of what we did and at what time (if I remember!) and type it up when I get back.
It should be better this year as my 6 year old is tall enough to go on some more of the rides, which means we can all go on together, which will save a little time. We've planned 2 days at MK, 2 days at Epcot, 1 1/2 days at Disney Studios, 1 1/2 days Animal Kingdom, 1 day Seaworld, 1 day Busch Gardens, 1 day IOA and 2 days Universal (not in that order!). It sounds alot but we love to fill all our time there and bearly spend any time at the hotel. We don't come away from the parks midday, as we love to relax at the parks!

 

[scooch]

Just stayed 10 nights in the Fairfield Inn at LBV.
The location for us was perfect when driving, its so easy to find just off a junction 68 on the I4, about 2 minute drive to crossroads/downtown disney area. About 15 mins on the I4 to universal. I wouldnt recommend it too much if you dont have a car though, unless you dont mind paying taxis.
We loved the breakfast and didnt get bored of it during the 10 night stay. Theres also a hot drinks machine in the reception thats free to use. It has pg tips/coffee and big cups with lids so we made use of that instead of a kettle in the room. Between that, the breakfast and fridge in room (giant publix supermarket along the street to stock it) we had everything we could possibly need.
Bahama breeze was brilliant, nicely themed & fantastic service. We told the server we dont have big appetites and he suggested we shared a starter and main course between us. A big plate of nachos and a rack of ribs were great.

We booked through findorlandorooms.com and got a good price. About £35 a night if i remember right.

Rooms were comfortable (nothing special really) but served the purpose, youre in florida, you dont spend much time in the room

We also used the laundry room. Very nice big washers and dryers on most floors, $1 for washer, $1 for dryer. Takes about an hour in all.

Hope this helps,

David

 

[tim june and sam]

Fantastic information David - really appreciate it.

If only I was leaving this weekend instead of there being another 138 days...

 

[Disbabe]

Well, the holiday's all over so here's my update to my own question for those of you who'd like to know!
We arrived at the Fairfield Inn after a really good flight and quick route through the airport etc. to find out that both our booking and another families booking had been made for 2004! We only booked the holiday 12th May 2004 and could not believe that the Fairfield had us booked in 16 days later - and Memorial day weekend. They only found out as the man at the front desk looked through the no-shows for 2004 and found our names there for the same date! Apparently it also happened to another group of Virgin brochure booked guests the week before and he had been there to deal with it.
This then said - Fairfield Inn had no rooms left as they were fully booked for the Memorial Weekend! We were more than slightly peeved but left the nice man on reception to deal with it. He rang Virgin and they told them it was Marriott's responsibility as they must have made the mistake! Fairfield would not accept responsibility! Michael on the front desk then spoke to his boss and who knows what was said as the next minute 2 rooms were found for us 2 parties standing there! Some other poor people were inevitably going to end up with no room!
We had to see the funny side and kept our cool throughout the entire time and left Michael to deal with it and he was so apologetic and nice about it all. Hasten to add he upgraded us to a room 5 doors from the main reception and it was overlooking the pool! The room was great, nice and clean with a good sized fridge to keep bottles of water in. The hotel was spotless and well decorated, the staff did everything they could to make it welcoming - that included everyone, as they all said hello! The breakfast each morning was well worth it and set us up for the morning - the waffles were gorgeous, and very popular. One tip - make sure you get down nice and early as we went at about 8am one morning and couldn't get a table!
The Golden Corral restaurant was absolutely fantastic value! $10.99 per adult and $4.99 for a child. For just over $50 for the 5 of us including drinks (free refills on pop) - and it was a buffet. We all had 3 courses and the steak straight off the grill was out of this world and there was lots of other things besides. The deserts were also out of this world. We all came out feeling absolutely bloated!
Anyone staying at Fairfield Inn or either of the other 2 hotels on site at the Marriott Village will not regret it.
I read many reports on various website's about this hotel and funnily enough it had good reviews from UK visitors and not so good from US and Canadian visitors. I don't know what sort of place they are used to staying at but I've stayed in both 3 and 4 star hotels in the UK and the room at the Fairfield easily matched their quality. The location was absoltely ideal and we had no idea just how easy and close to Disney it was - literally just down the road.
Tim, June and Sam - you'll love it and I hope your holiday is as fantastic as ours - I also hope you have better weather (the only thing to let the holiday down - we had 6 days of Sunshine, the other days it rained continuously all day! Having been our 4th visit at the exact same time of year, it was really different) Mind you it kept the crowds down and we virtually had Universal Studios to ourselves as we literally walked straight onto the rides (Loved The Mummy Ride and Soarin' at Epcot and was also our first time to Mission Space - we did all 3 at least twice!) We just donned the ponchos and got on with it all - it didn't stop us a bit as it wasn't the heavy downpours they usually get - it was like a usual day here in the UK!
Hope this info is of help and if there's any questions - just ask!

 

[tim june and sam]

Cheers Disbabe!

I'm just about to take your report down for a read with June & Sam and will come back to you if any questions spring up - stay on-line!!!!

 

[tim june and sam]

First let me say welcome home and thanks for the detailed report - we loved it that it answered some of the questions that we all want to ask!

So, for now, let me ask - what else besides waffles was on the breakfast menu and what times did they serve it from/to - the latter is important as at least on the day we go to BG, we will need an early breakfast by 7.00/7.15?

Thanks again, Disbabe!

 

[Disbabe]

Hi,
Sorry it's taken so long for a reply - I've been working!
Breakfast times change at weekends to weekdays.
Mon - Fri: 6.30 - 10.30AM.
Sat - Sun & Bank Holidays: 7.00 - 11.00AM.
The items at breakfast included Bagels, Muffins, Doughnuts and some other pastries. Cereals (4 kinds), yoghurts, bread (for toast) and fruit. There was also soft cheese and jams etc. to put on toast/bagels etc. and there was juices and tea/coffee to drink. It was nothing spectacular but as its included complimentary, there was a better selection than I've seen elsewhere and you can certainly fill yourself up. We used it every day and ate more than we would normally at home! There was no hot food at all - unless you count the waffles which takes 2 minutes in the machine.
If your off to Busch Gardens allow slightly longer as there are alot of roadworks going along the I4 and it goes on for about ?30 miles. We got caught on the way home as in parts they narrowed the I4 down to 1 lane and it really extended our journey time. The lane closures occured after 8pm. Hope this bit of info helps - I don't know how long its going on for, but they had roadworks last time we went 2 years ago along that stretch!

 

[tim june and sam]

Thanks again Sheila - you are spot on with your summaries and tell us just what we wanted to know.

Regards